Well, it turns out the Egyptians had only three seasons instead of our four, and they all revolved around the Nile River’s fluctuations.

The first season is Akhet, or Inundation, which was the time of year the Nile River flooded and inundated the land with water. Next came Proyet, or Emergence, when the flood waters receded and the land re-emerged from underwater. Lastly, there was Shomu, or summer, where the Nile just sat there evaporating.

The Egyptians only had 360 days in their calendar, but soon realized that this made them get out of synch with the stars and the sun and the seasons, so they added five more days. Actually, it was the god Thoth who came up with that solution. Clever fellow, that Thoth.

This entry was posted on Friday, December 1st, 1906 at 11:34 pm and is filed under Egyptian Culture. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.