Ancient Calendric Stele Newly Discovered in Egypt

Ancient Calendric Stele Newly Discovered in Egypt

Phluzein points to the discovery of an ancient calendric stele in Egypt.

Here is our comment on that find, which we think is one of the most significant finds of ALL TIME for the chronology of the ancient world.

Mainstream Opinion on the Stele

As can be read here, the April 19, 2004 article entitled "Ancient inscribed slab brought to light" states:

"... A team of German and Egyptian archaeologists working in the Nile Delta has unearthed "quite a remarkable" stele dating back 2200 years to Ptolemaic Egypt which bears an identical inscription in three written languages - like the famed Rosetta Stone.

... University of Potsdam chief Egyptologist Christian Tietze said the stone fragment was "quite remarkable and the most significant of its kind to be found in Egypt in 120 years"....

It shows a royal decree, written in ancient Greek, Demotic and Hieroglyphs, that mentions King Ptolemy III Euergetes I along with the date 238 BC.

"The decree is significant because it specifically mentions a reform of the ancient Egyptian calendar which was not in fact actually implemented until some 250 years later under Julius Caesar," Tietze said.

The inscription consists of 67 lines of Greek text and 24 lines of Demotic along with traces of Hieroglyphs outlining the calendar reform and praising Ptolemy.

The king is lauded for importing grain from Syria, Phoenicia and Cyprus to alleviate famine in ancient Egypt, among other deeds.

"It documents the might and beneficence of Ptolemy III," Tietze said."

A Calendric Reform Inscribed but only Implemented 250 Years Later?

One must truly wonder why the mainstream archaeologists claim that this inscribed slab documents an Egyptian calendar reform which was then only implemented 250 years later by Julius Caesar. Why would anyone inscribe a calendric reform which was also not executed at that time?

Importance of the Stele to Ancient World Chronology

In fact - so our view - the "inscribed slab" just found CLEARLY documents a calendar reform actually made - IN EGYPT - at the time of the writing of the inscriptions, as one would expect.

See my chronology of the world page where I write: "236 BC Restoration of the Etruscan 'Secular (calendric) Games' in Rome".

The 1440-year Calendric Period (4 x 360 years viz. 3 x 480 years)

What calendric reform is being made?

The calendric reform is the "great leap year" adjustment for the passage of 1440 years (4 x 360 viz. 3 x 480 years).

The calendar of Pharaonic Egypt (as also that of the Maya, of China, and the Hindu), as I have discovered and always alleged, began in 3117 BC, when a solar eclipse occurred at sunrise at the Winter Solstice in the the solar boat (solar bark) of Capricorn at the stars Al Giedi (Algiedi) and Nashira, accompanied by the planet Jupiter (hence, Winkin', Blinkin' and Nod in their silvery shoe). This rare and awesome event was used to start humanity's first worldwide calendar at year 0, 3117 BC, even though of course astronomical observation and calendric calculation of some kind will have preceded this event - which may account for the Hebrews calculating their calendar back to allegedly ca. September 1, 3761 BC, which in my opinion looks correctly more like September 25, 3760 BC when there was a close conjunction near the Autumn Equinox of the Sun, Moon, Saturn, Jupiter, Mars, Venus and Mercury, i.e. the heavenly orbs known to the ancients.

1440 years later was 1677 BC, which was the beginning of the Second Intermediate Period in Egypt.

Calendric Reform began with Khasekhemwy (Khasekhemwi, Chasechemui)

Another 1440 years later (4 x 360 viz. 3 x 480) gives us 237 BC, continuing a tradition established by Khasekhemwy in 2637 BC (2638 BC) of adjusting the calendar every 480 years, which I have long had posted at LexiLine.

The years in the chart below are all adjusted here to reflect the 480-year divisions exactly, whereas actual calendric reform will result in uneven yearly divisions due to overlapping of years, etc.

3117 BC start of the calendar (Egypt, Maya, Hindu - so our opinion)
2637 BC reform of the Calendar by Khasekhemwy for the tropical year
2157 BC First Intermediate Period
1677 BC Second Intermediate Period
1197 BC Rule of King David (Sethos) begins - whence Hall of Records
717 BC Start of the reign of Numa Pompilius, the 1st calendric king of Rome, begins
237 BC Restoration of the Etruscan "Secular (calendric) Games" in Rome - whence the building of Edfu

Ptolemy III Euergetes I and the Temple of Edfu

It was in fact at the time referred to in the newly found inscribed calendric slab that Ptolemy III Euergetes I began the building of the Horus Temple of Edfu (see Dieter Kurth, Edfu, Wissenschaftliche Buchgesellschaft, Darmstadt, 1994 where he gives the date as 237 BC). [I have this book in my own library. One copy of this book was available today at Abe Books.]

In fact, as the mainstream Egyptologists have not recognized, but as we now clearly see, Edfu is a calendric temple marking this calendric reform and the celebration of the passage of 1440 years (4 x 360 years or 3 x 480 years). Note that Ed-fu = Latvian Dievu "belonging to God" which is the same meaning given to "Ed-fu" by the Egyptologists.

Traditionally, it has been thought that the Sothic period of 4 x 365 years - based on the star Sirius - was determinative for adjusting the solar to the tropical year, but as the German Egyptologist Eduard Meyer wrote correctly many years ago, no Egyptian source ties the Sothic Year to Sirius nor to the period of 1460 (or 1440) years. Rather, it is clear in our view that the Papyrus of Ebers adjusted the calendar for Sirius and only Manetho first apparently used the Sothic Period.

Based on the newly discovered stele, we now know that the Pharaonic Egyptian "great leap year" was tied to the Sun (RA) and extended over a period 1440 years.