Three aspects of the disappearance of stars should be noted:

1. stars disappear when they set below the western horizon - this phenomena necessitated an explanation that was incorporated into AE funerary rituals.

2. stars had to 'travel' from the western horizon back to the eastern horizon - this phenomena necessitated explanations that were incorporated into AE afterlife beliefs.

3. stars gradually faded from sight as the Sun rose.



As the Sun rises, the hundreds of stars left in the sky gradually fade in the glaring light of the Sun, but they are still in the sky, apparently moving across the sky from east to west as they were before the Sun rose. Were the AE aware that stars were still 'moving' across the sky even though they were gradually made invisible by the light of the Sun? There is no reason to think they did not.


From as early as the Old Kingdom, the ancient Egyptians were probably systematically observing stars. Rising and setting ‘hour-stars’ or ‘time-marking stars’ are alluded to in the earliest Pyramid Texts at the end of Dyn 5:

"O you in charge of the hour-stars, who precede the Sun....", and: "Now that Unis has swept away the night and Unis has sent off the hour-stars....." (‘Hour-stars’ (wnwt) is written with the star determinative, N14, repeated three times)


By observing the risings of the 'hour-stars' over the course of the year, priests became very familiar with the relative position / timing of the 'hour-stars' to each other - for example, if an 'hour-star' had just risen, the priest knew just where he would need to look to find another 'hour-star' that had risen earlier in the night or when to expect an 'hour-star' that rose later in the night - they just followed the sequence. When the brightest star in their sky rose, all the other stars in the sky slowly faded from view, but they were still there in the sky accompanying the Sun, and the priests would know more or less where they were even though they were not visible, by referring to the sequence of rising and setting hour-stars.


Apart from being useful for time keeping, stars were believed to be the akhs / bas of the kings, and gods. The Imperishable Stars also had an active role to play in raising the dead king aloft - to the sky.


In the Book of Nut, the stars travel outside the body of Nut during the night when they shine and are visible, and during the day these same stars travel back within the body of Nut where they are invisible. Nut, the personification of the sky, 'ate' the stars after they set. The stars rose up through her throat and traveled from west to east back through her body that was arched over the earth until they descended below the eastern horizon only to emerge from below the eastern horizon and appear again alive and shining in the sky 'sailing' along the underside of her body from east to west. According to this cosmological viewpoint, stars simply went back the opposite way they had come above the earth. This applies to stars that had set before daylight, but what about all the hundreds of stars that were in the sky when the brightest star in their sky rose and outshone all the other stars in the sky causing them to slowly fade from view? They obviously remained in the sky, but because of the glare of the Sun, they were not visible. However they accompanied the Sun as it traveled from east to west, setting with the Sun and traveled back through the body of Nut with the Sun during the night.


The PTs mention an 'undersky' or 'lower sky' (nwt, nnwt) "the counterpart of Nut in the Duat....." (J.P. Allen 2005: 443) that may represent an alternative explanation to the idea of stars returning to the east from the west through the body of Nut arched over the earth, but the lack of explicit information makes it difficult to form a clear idea of the multi-layered AE beliefs.


The northern circumpolar stars are a special set of stars that do not set or rise, they did not 'die' or need to brought back to 'life' - they simply fade from view because the light of the brightest star in their sky was so overwhelming it outshone all other stars - the circumpolar stars were not 'extinguished' however, the light of the northern Imperishable Stars / kings / akhs / gods, simply faded temporarily from sight while the brightest star in their sky traveled from east to west across the sky, but the circumpolar stars were still there in the sky - they did not go anywhere just because their light was temporarily overwhelmed by a much brighter light.

The North or Pole Star, Thuban, was a circumpolar star that was visible every night of the year, weather permitting, and at upper culmination due north, was visible to the surveyors for about five months of the year - this means from around January to May they could have sighted to Thuban and determined its altitude due north at upper culmination. With this data, the designers / builders could have made sure the top of the upper northern shaft was facing an area of the sky where Thuban reached its highest point due north.

The top of the upper southern shaft was facing an area of the sky the 3-star asterism in the centre of Orion crossed every 24 hours throughout the year. This was a visible 'event' from around August to January. Thuban at upper culmination was a visible 'event' from around January to May.


Khufu's 'Akhet' has four shafts - accurate survey data that enables us to know what area of the sky they were facing only exists for the two upper shafts.

If these enigmatic shafts were 'targeting' stars that were significant to the AE in the OK, then the lower southern shaft was most likely 'targeting' Sopdet. Sopdet (spdt, 'Sirius'), and Sah (sAH, 'Orion') are often mentioned together - from the earliest PTs: "Orion has become encircled by the Duat.......Sirius has become encircled by the Duat.......Unis (the king) has become encircled by the Duat......"

Sirius was visible at its highest point in the sky due south from around September to February.


Insufficient survey data for the lower northern shaft means its difficult to know what this shaft may have been 'targeting'. It was probably aligned with a circumpolar star but which one? Lets assume for this exercise RB's proposal of an alignment with the circumpolar star, Kochab. This star was visible at upper culmination from around June to October.


So the tops of the four shafts were facing areas of the sky where stars visibly crossed at various times of the year:


1. upper south shaft: the 3-star asterism in the centre of Orion at its highest point due south was visible from around August to January.

2. upper north shaft: Thuban at upper culmination was a visible 'event' from around January to May.

3. lower south shaft: Sirius was visible at its highest point in the sky due south from around September to February.

4. lower north shaft: Kochab was visible at upper culmination from around June to October.

That just about covers all the year.


The shafts gave Khufu the option of joining the northern Imperishable Stars that are always visible in the northern part of the sky, and in the southern sky, he had the option of being raised by the Sun, and accompanying Sopdet and Sah across the sky.


Does four shafts mean that Khufu divided himself into four, and every day the four pieces of Khufu simultaneously ascended to the sky through all four shafts - of course not. However, the four shafts may have given Khufu various options of ascent to the sky, perhaps through any one of the shafts at any one potent moment, and perhaps only in the right season when the appropriate star / stars were visible for a particular shaft.


On the other hand, there is nothing to suggest that Khufu could not have ascended to the sky at any time he chose regardless of whether or not the stars that crossed the area of the sky the tops of the shafts were facing, were visible or not. If Khufu ascended to Sah / Sopdet when these stars accompanied the Sun across the sky in daylight, it was possible, because the 3-star asterism in the centre of Orion crossed an area of the sky the top of the upper south shaft was facing every 24 hours, night or day, and for reasons given above, it is highly likely the priests knew more or less where it was in the sky, day or night, above the horizon or below the horizon. The observation of 'hour-stars' gave the priests knowledge of the sky that enabled them to predict or know just where the Sun or a star was in their cosmos at any moment of the day or night, visible or invisible - that kind of knowledge was power - magic - it enabled them to time their funerary rituals so the magic was enhanced - or so they may have believed.


The Sun (ra), Orion (sAH), Sirius (spdt) and the Morning Star / God (nTr dwA) all had a part to play in the celestial afterlife of the king:

So, has that great one fallen on his side and he in Nedit* (ndjt) been thrown down? Your arm has been received by the sun, your head has been raised by the Dual Ennead. "Look, he has come as Orion," (they say). "Look, Osiris is come as Orion: the Lord wine-colored with supplies, the perfect one of whom his mother has spoken, the heir of whom his father has spoken, the one whom the sky has conceived and the morning-star has given birth." The sky shall conceive you with Orion, the morning-star shall give you birth with Orion. Live! Live, as the gods have commanded you live. With Orion in the eastern arm of the sky shall you go up, with Orion in the western arm of the sky shall you go down. Sothis, whose places are clean, is the third of you two: she is the one who will lead you two in the Marsh of Reeds to the perfect paths of the sky. P 38 (N 9); PT 442 §819 *Nedit, ndjt, 'Place of Throwing Down'. Site near Abydos, mythological locale of Osiris's murder (ndj, 'throwing down', by Seth.


The sky's two reedfloats have been set for the Sun, that he may go on high from east to west to the midst of his brothers the gods. Orion is his brother, Sothis is his sister, and he will sit between them in this world forever. Nt 277


I have gone up (as one of) the great ones and descended into the leaking basins (SAsw). I have gone up on the ladder, with my foot on Orion (sAH with town / place det. O 49) and my arm is in elevation. I have grabbed onto Thighs-Forward's rope and my arm has been received at the great place. Nt 272b


In an inscription from the pyramid of Neferzahor ('The Young One of Horus's Aegis'), the king's ascent to the sky was associated with Sah:

The paths of (the sky's) arcs have been swept for you and a path laid down [for] you away from the Duat and toward the place where Orion (sAH) is. P 311


and from the pyramid of Nemtiemzaf ('Nemti is His Aegis'):


A stairway has been laid down for you away from the Duat and toward the place where Orion (sAH) is, and the Sky's Ox shall receive your arm. M 375


Here the idea of prepared 'pathways' and a 'stairway' for the king's ascent to the sky, hint at possible reasons why stellar links with some architectural components of the royal funerary complex and significant stars were important enough to be incorporated into the design of a pyramid where the sarcophagus chamber was high up within the pyramid's superstructure.


from the pyramid of Neferkare ('The Perfect One of the Sun's Ka'):

When you go forth to the sky, the sky shall give you birth like Orion (sAH). N 524
When she (Nut) gives birth to you, Pepi Neferkare, like Orion (sAH), she will make your abode at the fore of the Dual Shrines. N 564

Be alive! Become young! Be young! - at your father's fingers, at Orion's (sAH) fingers, at the sky. N 593


The shafts may have been designed to allow Khufu to rise up through the shafts and ascend to regions of the sky where significant stars were found at certain potent times of the day or night in due season. Or it may have been enough that 'magical' links with special regions of the north and south parts of the sky were established that enhanced the potency of the king's funerary rituals and his ascent to the sky. Unfortunately we may never know, as the design criteria / specifications of the design of his pyramid, and explicit information on the afterlife beliefs of Khufu have not survived in the archeological record.

CT