Sothis is Aldebaran the Eye of Ra & the red Sirius is Ain the Eye of Horus - the two Eyes of Taurus

 

This is the transcript to my Youtube video with the same title.

The ancient Egyptian calendar was a solar calendar having a fixed 365 days per year. Now the Earth revolves around the Sun at almost exactly 365.256363004 days, and unlike other calendars that have leap years wherein the discrepancy is corrected every certain period of time, the Egyptian calendar does not compensate for the 0.256363004 of a day difference every year. This means the Egyptian New Year is observed one day earlier, or slides back one day, every approximately 4 years.

The Sothic cycle is a period of about 1,461 Egyptian calendar years of exactly 365 days each which is equivalent to about 1,460 solar years averaging 365.25 days each. At the end of one complete Sothic cycle, the calendar having 365 days a year - loses enough time that the start of its year, or its New Year, once again coincides with the heliacal rising of Sopdet (Egyptian name) or Sothis (Greek and Latin name) which Egyptologists associate with the star Sirius. 

I said the Sothic cycle is about 1,460 solar years because the start of a new Sothic cycle depends on actual observation of the star rise of Sopdet falling on the day before the Egyptian New Year’s day. And the precession of Earth’s equinoxes causes the date of the heliacal rise of stars to move forward slowly in time. For example, the star rise of Sirius was June 18 Gregorian calendar in 3500 BC, but was June 30 Gregorian calendar in 2000 BC, or an advance of 12 days in a period of only 1500 years, which by the way is just 40 years more than the supposed 1,460 years Sothic cycle. Because of this, the actual observed period of the Sothic cycle should be less than the calculated and presumed 1,460 solar years.

The Egyptians call the start of a new Sothic cycle a Great or Divine Year and it corresponds to the life cycle of the sacred Phoenix or the Bennu of Heliopolis, which is a symbol of rebirth. Now the first month of the Egyptian calendar is Thoth, which is ‘by name only’, the first month of the flooding season which the Egyptians call Akhet.  

I said ‘by name only’ because this becomes true solely at the start of the Sothic cycle when the first day of the first month of Thoth starts on the heliacal rise of Sopdet. Most scholars agree that the Egyptian day began at dawn, before the rising of the Sun, rather than sunrise. And the heliacal rise of Sopdet is sighted during this time. Thus the Sothic rise falling on the first day of Thoth marks both the end of the previous Sothic cycle and the start of a new one. 

The concept of a Sothic year comes to us via a Roman author named Censorinus. In 238 AD he wrote that 99 years before (or in 139 AD), a Great Year began on the Egyptian calendar, which is based on the motions of Sirius, the Dog Star, and that it is 1460 years long. Astronomical calculation definitely dates this heliacal rising to July 20, 139 AD, Julian calendar. Theon of Alexandria, who lived a century after Censorinus, agreed with him, and declared that the previous Sothic cycle began with the ‘Era of Menophres’ in 1322-1321 BC, or exactly 1460 years before July 20, 139 AD. 

Armed with that information, the Egyptologists looked for a pharaoh named Menophres. They settled on Ramesses I, because one of his other names was Menpehtire. Since Ramses is credited with only a one-year reign, both he and the beginning of the 19th Dynasty were initially pegged at 1321 BC although it has now been revised to 1292 BC. 

The earliest record of the start of the Sothic cycle can be found in the ivory tablet of Djer, the third Pharaoh of the First Dynasty of ancient Egypt whose capital was in Thinis. This heliacal rise was dated by Egyptologists on July 17, 2773 BC Julian calendar. However, this date is too late for Djer's reign which is dated circa 3000 BC. 

And this is a big problem, because the Sothic cycle was used for absolute dating of the Egyptian Chronology, not just for the 19th Dynasty under Ramesses I which I discussed earlier, but also for the 18th Dynasty and the 12th Dynasty. And if the Sothic rise calculation for Djer’s reign is too late, then this means the Sothic rise calculation used for dating the other dynasties may be faulty as well. 

In Djer’s ivory tablet, one can find a clear and unambiguous description of the star Sopdet. Note that I omitted any reference to Sopdet being Sirius in the following quote, as I consider it a bias on the part of the author: 

May a 'Sothic fault line’ exist in the Civil Calendar of Egypt? by Zoltan Simon Page 6: His [Djer’s] ivory tablet commemorates the heliacal rising of Sothis… on the first day of the first month of Akhet, the first season of the year. It is related to a divine day, the beginning of the first Sothic cycle. The star… between the horns of the lying cow, that represents the new year or New Year’s Day, indicates on the tablet that its heliacal rising coincided with [the] I [month of] Akhet [day] 1.

The ‘star between the horns of the lying cow’ is an obvious reference to the star rise of Sopdet being observed in the constellation Taurus. And I believe this star was also its brightest star, Aldebaran, which is also the ‘right eye’ of Taurus. Aldebaran was the divine star in the worship of the tribe Misam in pre-Islamic Arabia. This tribe thought that it brought rain, and that its heliacal rising unattended by showers portended a barren year. Also, the traditional name Aldebaran derives from the Arabic word “al Dabaran” meaning "the follower" because it seems to follow the Pleiades. 

And according to Arab astronomers, stretching from the left eye to the left ear of the Bull or Taurus were the Al Kalbain asterism, or the ‘Two Dogs’ of Al Dabaran which Al Dabaran uses to follow the Pleiades. I interpret this to mean that the left eye and the left ear of Taurus that borders the asterism were the ‘Two Dogs’. Epsilon Tauri, an orange giant star formally named Ain (or ‘eye’ in Arabic) is the left eye of Taurus. While Phi Tauri is an orange-hued star and is one of 5 stars making up the ‘Left Ear’ asterism of Taurus named Al Kalbain. Phi Tauri is the only star with an orange hue similar to Aldebaran among these 5 stars. 

Now in proving my point that Sopdet is Aldebaran and in disproving that it was Sirius, I will be using two methods:  The first method I will use is to show that Aldebaran as the star Sopdet fits the Egyptian mythology and symbolisms of their pantheon better than Sirius. The second method I will use is to show that the star rise of Sirius comes after the flooding season in Egypt has already started, and therefore late, both in the present time and in ancient times. Whereas the heliacal rise of Aldebaran is a reliable herald of the start of the flooding season in Egypt both in the present as well as in the distant past. 

Most people are aware of identifying Sopdet with Isis, however not many know that Hathor is associated with this ancient mystery as well. The following author is aware of this association, but just like all other Egyptologists, he is biased with identifying Sopdet with Sirius. For this reason I replaced Sirius with Sopdet encased in brackets in the following quote. Also, everything in brackets are my inserts for clarification of what I am quoting: 

Absolute Chronology of the Ancient World from 2840 BCE to 1533 BCE page 51: The ivory tablet of Djer mentions the oldest known heliacal rising of [Sopdet]. This astronomical phenomenon is depicted at [the figure on the] top right by three symbols: the sun Ra above a cow with a [Ma’at] feather on her [Hathor’s] head amidst two horns and above a papyrus swamp …  [The] Maat feather on her head symbolized the goddess Isis and the two horns symbolized the goddess Hathor.  

The three symbols in the ivory tablet mentioned by the author were: 1. The sun disc of Ra, 2. The horned cow (or bull) with a feather on its head, and 3. The papyrus swamp. The author showed two more figures (one in the bottom left and one in the bottom right) which he interpreted, but because these figures are no longer part of the ivory tablet of Djer, I will not be discussing them.

Hathor was often depicted as a cow with stars, either standing or stooping in boats surrounded by tall papyrus reeds. Her iconography shows two horns with the sun disc of Ra in between them, resting on the top of her head. This sun disc (which is always painted red) is why Hathor was one of several goddesses who acted as the Eye of Ra, or Ra's feminine counterparts. It is said that Ra gave rise to his daughter, the eye goddess, who in turn gave rise to him as her son every dawn, in a cycle of constant regeneration. Thus, the Eye of Ra goddess is both the daughter and mother of Ra.

Now Apis was a sacred bull identified as the son of Hathor, and is believed to be the symbolism behind the constellation Taurus (“The Bull”). Because Ra is the son of Hathor in her role as the Eye of Ra, one can say that Apis or Taurus is a symbol of Ra; and just like Ra, Taurus also has two eyes which are represented by stars. I mentioned earlier that Aldebaran was the right eye of Taurus and therefore the Right Eye of Ra as well. I also mentioned that Epsilon Tauri, formally named Ain which means “eye” in Arabic, is the left eye of Taurus and therefore the Left Eye of Ra as well. Ain is an orange giant star while Aldebaran is a red giant. 

The Eye of Horus, also known as the left wedjat eye, is specular (or the partner) to the Eye of Ra (the right wedjat eye). Thus one can say that the Eye of Horus is the Left Eye of Ra, which is symbolized by the left eye of Taurus, or Ain. If you look again at the ivory tablet of Djer, one can see that at its left side and horizontal to the sun of Ra (the Right Eye of Ra), there is an image of a falcon which represents Horus, and whose eye is also the Left Eye of Ra.  

Taurus lies on top of the constellation Eridanus which is depicted in ancient sky charts as a flowing river. This is why Hathor, the mother of Apis, was also depicted as a cow either standing or stooping in boats surrounded by tall papyrus reeds growing in a flowing river. 

In the ivory tablet of Djer, this flowing river is represented by the papyrus swamp underneath the stooping cow of Taurus. 

Now Hathor is worshiped in the form of "Seven Hathors”, and these seven goddesses are the Pleiades (a star cluster in the constellation Taurus). Thus, both Hathor and her son Apis are associated with Taurus, and I even believe that the right body half of Taurus is Hathor, while the left body half of Taurus is Apis.

Ma’at’s iconography shows the tail feather of the Bennu on her head, while holding the Ankh and the papyrus staff that are also seen on Isis’ iconography. Now the Coffin Text Spell 1095 tells us explicitly that Isis is the same goddess as Ma’at. 

Looking back at the ivory tablet of Djer, the only symbol that represents the star Sopdet was the sun disc of Ra floating on top of the stooping bull. But my question is, why is the sun disc, and therefore the star Sopdet, always painted red? If Sopdet was Sirius, then it should be painted white since Sirius appears white to the unaided eye. 

Also, there is historical evidence based on interpretations of ancient texts from several cultures, including Babylonian and Greco-Roman, that the redness of what was referred to by past astronomers as ‘Sirius’ was deeper than that of the light orange color of Mars as recently as 2000 years ago. This led some to conclude that because of this ‘red Sirius anomaly’, the star supposed to be ‘Sirius’ at present may refer to some other red star in the past. 

The Egyptian astronomer Ptolemy described Sirius as ‘hipokeros’ (reddish) in the Almagest (circa 150 AD), and likened it in color to Aldebaran, Antares, Arcturus, Betelgeuse and Pollux - stars that are, of course, known to be red today. This means the real ‘Sirius’ could not have been Aldebaran (the ‘right eye’ of Taurus) either. Instead I believe Ain (the ‘left eye’ of Taurus), an orange giant star, was the ‘red Sirius’ (whose Greek name means scorching), as opposed to the star which ancient astronomers call Sopdet (by the Egyptians) or Sothis (by the Greeks and Romans) and which I believe was Aldebaran. Also, I mentioned earlier that Ain is one of two stars making up Al Kalbain, or the ‘Two Dogs’ asterism in Taurus. Thus Ain is also a ‘Dog Star’ to ancient astronomers. 

Now note closely the club held by Orion located at the left side of Taurus, and compare it to the club seen on the ivory tablet of Djer and located at the left side of the horned bull. If Sirius was Sopdet, then the sun of Ra (represented by Sopdet) should be positioned at the bottom left of the club in the ivory tablet, because this is also where Sirius is positioned relative to Orion’s club in the sky. 

Sopdet has a son, the hawk and falcon god Sopdu, represented by Venus. Notice that Sopdet has a 5 pointed star on top of her head, and the pentagram is believed to represent the orbit of Venus as seen from Earth. Just like Sopdet, Isis also has a son, the falcon god Horus whom I believe should be identified with Sopdu simply because Sopdet is also Isis. Therefore, just like Sopdu, Horus is represented by Venus as well.

The Bennu was a symbol of rebirth and Horus (Heru), son of Isis, was a form of Horus the Elder (Heru-ur), son of Nut (the mother of Isis). Therefore, Horus is a rebirth of Horus the Elder, implying that both Horus and Horus the Elder were the Bennu that was used as a symbol of rebirth. Others say that the Bennu represents Osiris; however, Osiris was not reborn, but was only briefly resurrected by Isis so she can give birth to Horus through Osiris. Because Venus and the Bennu are both symbols of Horus, I believe the Bennu feather is the hieroglyph image of the primordial Venus when Venus was appearing like a comet with a feather-like tail in the past. Looking at Comet Mcnaught, one can easily see why a feather can represent a comet. 

European Space Agency, When a planet behaves like a comet: The tail of Venus and the weak solar wind: During a rare period of very low density solar outflow, the ionosphere of Venus was observed to become elongated downstream, rather like a long-tailed comet.

Apparently during the reign of Djer, the third pharaoh of the First Dynasty, the solar outflow had a very low density causing the ionosphere of Venus to become elongated like a long-tailed comet. Thus in summary, the ivory tablet of Djer is telling us that the heliacal rise of Sopdet-Isis or Aldebaran (the sun disc of Ra between two horns whose star rise signals the start of the flooding season) happened in the constellation Taurus (the stooping bull representing Apis, the son of Hathor) while Venus (the feather of Maat-Isis representing Horus) was between the two horns of Taurus on the day a new Sothic cycle started.

Mehet-Weret (whose name means "Great Flood") is portrayed as a cow with a sun disk between her horns, and just like Hathor, Mehet-Weret could be called the "Eye of Ra" as well. Hathor and Mehet-Weret were both thought of as the cow who birthed the sun god and placed him between her horns each dawn. Mehet-Weret also caused the annual Nile River flood. In my opinion Mehet-Weret is Hathor. Thus, while the heliacal rise of Sopdet-Isis is a herald for the start of the flooding season Akhet, the ancient Egyptians actually credited Hathor, and not Isis, for the flooding of the Nile.

 

Nut was the mother of Isis, and I believe Nut was also Hathor for the following reasons: Hathor was given the epithets ‘mistress of the sky’ and ‘mistress of the stars’, and was said to dwell in the sky as a celestial cow. Similarly, the sky goddess Nut is also depicted as a celestial cow. And Nut, just like Hathor, was said to give birth to the sun god Ra each dawn. Also, the welcoming afterlife goddess was often portrayed as a goddess in the form of a tree, giving water to the deceased. Nut most commonly filled this role, but the tree goddess was sometimes called Hathor instead. 

Accepting that Nut (mother of Horus the Elder) is also Hathor, and that Horus the Elder was reborn as Horus, son of Isis, will explain the unresolved paradox about the identity of Horus’ mother whether it was Isis or Hathor. This is because the twice born Horus was both the son of Isis and the son of Hathor-Nut (when Horus was Horus the Elder):

Wikipedia, Hathor - Motherhood and queenship: Isis and Osiris were considered Horus's parents in the Osiris myth as far back as the late Old Kingdom, but the relationship between Horus and Hathor may be older still. If so, Horus only came to be linked with Isis and Osiris as the Osiris myth emerged during the Old Kingdom. Even after Isis was firmly established as Horus's mother, Hathor continued to appear in this role [as Horus’ mother].

Now if Nut was Hathor, and Isis was the daughter of Nut, this means Isis was the daughter of Hathor; and since Sopdet was conflated with Isis, this means Sopdet was the daughter of Hathor. Now why is it important to identify Hathor with Nut? Both Hathor and Nut play an important role in the last 5 days, or the epagomenal days, preceding the Egyptian New Year. These days, also known as the days of demons, were added to the original 360 day calendar in order for the births of five children of Nut (or Hathor) to occur. These children are Osiris, Horus the Elder, Set, Nephthys, and Isis, and I ordered their names  according to the order of their birthdays as observed during the Ptolemaic and Roman period. 

The 5 epagomenal days were considered to be spiritually dangerous and the day Set was supposed to be born, the third day, was particularly evil. During these 5 days, the Pharaoh performed a ritual known as "Pacifying Sekhmet'' to protect himself and the world from that goddess' plague. Sekhmet, who also wears the red sun disc of Ra on her head, is often associated with the goddess Hathor. In a myth about the end of Ra's rule on the earth, Ra sends the goddess Hathor, in the form of Sekhmet, to destroy mortals who conspired against him.

The Hyades is a star cluster that appears in the constellation Taurus, where its brightest stars form a "V" shape along with the still-brighter Aldebaran. This “V’ shaped asterism forms the Head of Taurus. The Golden Gate of the Ecliptic is an asterism in the constellation Taurus that has been known for several thousand years. The Golden Gate is built by the two eye-catching open star clusters of the Pleiades and the Hyades that form the two posts of a virtual gate at the two sides (the northern and the southern sides) of the ecliptic line. 

From 4000 to 1500 BC the equinox was within the constellation Taurus, and therefore, the Golden Gate asterism was attached with great importance. This is especially true with the ancient Egyptians who worshiped Hathor in the form of "Seven Hathors”, where these seven goddesses are the Pleiades.

I will now list five of the brightest stars of Hyades together with Aldebaran, followed by their current heliacal rise and the deities they represent. The observation site is in Thinis (Djer’s capital who was the first Pharaoh to record the star rise of Sopdet at the start of the Sothic cycle): 

Delta1 Tauri (a red star also known as Secunda Hyadum or the second of Hyades), heliacal rise June 16, birth of Osiris.  

Gamma Tauri (a red star also known as Prima Hyadum or the first of Hyades). Its heliacal rise is on June 17, and on the same day as the heliacal rise of Epsilon Tauri or Ain (a red orange star and the left eye of Taurus). The heliacal rise of these two stars represent the birthdays of Horus the Elder and Horus respectively.

71 Tauri (a yellow-white star), heliacal rise June 18, birthday of Set.

Theta Tauri B (a red star also known as the third of Hyades), heliacal rise June 19, birthday of Nephthys.

Alpha Tauri (a red star also known as Aldebaran, and as Sopdet by the ancient Egyptians), heliacal rise June 20, birthday of Isis.

Note that a Chinese asterism named ‘Net’ includes 71 Tauri along with Delta, Gamma, Epsilon, Alpha, and Lambda Tauri. Of these stars, only Lambda Tauri is not part of the Head of Taurus asterism, while Theta Tauri is omitted. Note also that only the star of Set (71 Tauri which rises on the third day of the 5 epagomenal days) is a yellow-white star, while the rest are all red stars. This may be the reason why the third day was considered particularly evil.