> AS: "Please document the AE sources that say the
> sun was recognized as the equivalent of a star."
>
>
> The Sun was the brightest star in their sky - that is a fact and is not up for discussion.



Hermione: "We know that the sun is a star, because it's a fact discovered by modern science. But, unless the AE were in possession of this advanced scientific knowledge - and there is no evidence to suppose that they were - how would they have known that the sun was just another star?"



After "The Sun was the brightest star in their sky - that is a fact and is not up for discussion" I continued with: "I do not claim the AE thought the Sun was the brightest star in their sky, so there is no need for me to document AE sources."


If you had quoted me in full, you would have seen there is no problem.



The Sun is not the brightest star in our universe, but it is the brightest star in our sky - the planet earth's sky - the AE lived on planet earth so it was the brightest star in the AE sky too.


I refer to the Sun as 'the brightest light in the sky', the 'brightest star in the sky', and simply as, 'the Sun'. I freely use these terms that all refer to the same celestial body, but I have never claimed the AE thought of the Sun as just another star as in modern astronomical terms.


Gardiner sign N5, a circle with a small circle in the centre, represented the sun, (ra) in AE, and N14, a five-pointed star, often depicted with a small circle in the centre, represented a star (sbA)


Our present understanding of ancient Egyptian astronomical knowledge rules out any possibility the ancient Egyptians could have known the Sun was just another star in the sky.

However, think about what the AE actually did see in their sky - lights, lots of them - small twinkling lights (stars), little blobs of light (planets), some much brighter than stars, a disc of light (the moon) and the brightest light in their sky - the Sun that also appears as a disc of light the same size as the moon's disc.


All these were celestial deities, stars were the akhs of the dead kings, gods, the sun and moon were gods - it was all just one big happy family up there - well maybe not so happy when you read the so called 'Cannibal Hymn' and Nut eating stars etc.


Depictions of the sun and stars and texts concerning Horus give hints on the AE mind set - hints that could suggest the sun was the biggest and brightest light, and stars / planets were lesser lights or little suns, or then the other way round - the sun was the brightest star, bigger and brighter than all the other stars.


According to J.P. Allen, Horus (Hrw) was "the force of living kingship, manifest in both the person of the living king and the sun...." (Allen 2005: 433), but he was also the 'foremost star of the sky' (Hrw sbA hnti pt)


I reconcile this apparent contradiction, by thinking of Horus as a a sky god with a multi-faceted celestial persona manifest in stars, planets and the sun and moon, but I could be wrong - perhaps 'Horus, foremost star of the sky' was referring to Horus as the sun, the 'foremost star of the sky'.

I'll leave it there for now, because its something I would like to look into more without being distracted by a chorus of indignant voices crying foul - as you must know by now, trying to impartially discuss anything to do with stars here on Maat is like going for a stroll in Bagdad wearing an 'I Love America T-shirt'.

CT