Menit
Authors: Susanne M Hoffmann, Juan Antonio Belmonte Avilés
Menit, , The Mooring Post, is an Egyptian name, used in RSC/ ... . It designates an area of Bootes, incl. Arcturus (Ἀρκτοῦρος)).[1]
Concordance, Etymology, History
The constellation is mentioned in the Ramesside Star Clocks and identified by right ascension. Ramesside Star clocks (RSC) are astronomical devices developed in ancient Egypt to measure time by the, most likely, meridian or close to meridian transit of stars. These hour stars were single stars in a few cases or belong to constellations, some of them very large, of Egyptian sky maps.
There has been two dedicated approaches including an attempt to identify these hour stars: Leitz (1995)[2] and Belmonte (2003)[3]. Pioneers Neugebauer and Parker (1969)[4] thought this was a worthless exercise.
Leitz (1995)[2] followed N&P hypothesis of stars transiting close to the southern horizon and reached a solution which for Belmonte (2003) was not satisfactory for various reasons. These are amply discussed in Lull and Belmonte (2006 & 2009)[5]. This new hypothesis suggests that several RSC constellations were located in the northern skies such as the Giant (Nekht), the She-Hippo (Reret), the Mooring Post (Menyt) and the Bird (Apdu), among others of lesser entity (see also Davies, 1985[6]).
Belmonte and Lull (2023)[1] suggest the identification of Menit with an area in Bootes, including the bright star Arcturus (Ἀρκτοῦρος).
Origin of Constellation
Variants
- Menit
- Menyt
Transfer and Transformation of the Constellation
Religion/ Tales/ Mythology
mnemonic tales and cultural significance
Weblinks
References
- References (general)
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 Belmonte, J.A. andd Lull, J., 2023. Astronomy in ancient Egypt: a cultural perspective. Cham: Springer.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 Leitz, Ch., 1995. Altägyptische Sternuhren. OLA, 62. Leuven: Peeters.
- ↑ Belmonte, J. A., 2003. The Ramesside star clocks and the ancient Egyptian constellations. In M. Blomberg, P. E. Blomberg and G. Henriksson (Eds.), Calendars, Symbols, and Orientations: Legacies of Astronomy in Culture (pp. 57–65). Uppsala Astronomical Observatory report, 59. Uppsala Ocarina Books.
- ↑ Neugebauer, O. and Parker, R. A., 1969. Egyptian Astronomical Texts, vol. III. Providence: Brown University.
- ↑ Belmonte, J.A. andd Lull, J., 2023. Astronomy in ancient Egypt: a cultural perspective. Cham: Springer.
- ↑ Davis, V. L., 1985. Identifying Ancient Egyptian Constellations. Journal of the History of Astronomy, 16, 102–104.
