Ancient Egyptian Calendar: Origins, Transformation, Influence on the Modern Calendars

Relevance. The Ancient Egyptian calendar has long been a subject of fascination of historians, archaeologists, and astronomers. However, this topic remains relevant even today. Scientists continue to ask many questions about the origins and development of the calendar in the Ancient Egypt, which is one of the oldest civilizations on Earth. Aim. The purpose of this research is to determine the exact circumstances and time of emergence of the Ancient Egyptian calendar, its transformation over millennia, and how it served as a basis for the creation of Julian, Gregorian, French Republican, Coptic, and Ethiopian calendars. Methodology. While working on this problem, we used analytical and synthetic source criticism as well as historical comparative method and retrospective method etc. Also, we utilised research methods borrowed from natural sciences – particularly, astronomy, which studies natural phenomena in the universe. Results. As a result, it was confirmed that the ancient Egyptians used lunar, lunisolar, and solar calendars. In prehistoric times, they used lunar calendar, as their practical needs only called for short and medium units of measurement of time – a day, a week or a month. It is valid to support opinions of some scholars, who believe that lunar calendar was later replaced by a lunisolar one, with an additional thirteenth month inserted periodically. The use of solar calendar has a deep-rooted tradition in the Ancient Egypt as well. The inspections of temples-observatories in the Neolithic Malta, Great Britain, and Egypt have led scholars to the conclusion that the focus of observation was placed on monitoring solar phases over the millennia. Using solar calendar, priests tracked lengthy periods of time – universe cycles. Conclusions. In conclusion, we may summarize that it was the solar calendar that laid the foundation for the Ancient Egyptian calendar, which was finally formed after the rise of the Old Kingdom of Egypt. It borrowed such units of measurement of time as a month and a decade from the lunar calendar, which is confirmed by their names alone. It is worth noting that despite the humongous workload performed by the scholars towards studying the Ancient Egyptian calendar, a great number of questions still remain unaddressed, which, first of all, concern the circumstances of its emergence and functioning throughout prehistoric times. This issue could possibly be helped by analysis of archaeological materials.