Background knowledge of TOEFL listening: ancient Egyptian calendar
Background knowledge of TOEFL listening: ancient Egyptian calendar
Introduction:
Ancient Egyptian calendar
Calendars in ancient Egypt include lunar calendar and quasi-lunar calendar. Generally speaking, every year is divided into three seasons: flood season, grain growing season and harvest season. At the same time, 365 days are 1 year, 1 year,1February, 30 days per month, and 5 days at the end of the year are festivals. Only less than the current solar calendar 1/4 days. Julian calendar in ancient Rome was revised on this basis.
Background information:
The ancient Egyptian calendar was invented more than 5000 years ago. It was originally based on the moon cycle of 12 months, and the Egyptians divided it into three seasons, each with four months, to match the fluctuation of the Nile water. However, although the Nile flood begins at the end of June every year, the flood occurs within 80 days, which is not enough to accurately establish a calendar. Therefore, the ancient Egyptians noticed that the rise of the Nile coincided with the sunrise of Sirius (the brightest star in the sky), and determined a year according to its recurrence period.
The beginning of a year, also known as "the beginning of a year", is determined by the appearance of Sirius Canis, which occurs around June 2 1 day. However, because the rise of Sirius is a stellar event, this means that it occurs every 365 1? In 4 days, the rise of stars does not match the calendar completely. The calendar is based on the moon cycle, so it is 354 days less than a sun on average. This means that the rise of stars will soon be out of sync with the calendar. In order to correct this, the Egyptians introduced an extra month to create a "big year" with 384 days every two or three years.
However, because this calendar is not accurate enough, too complicated, or not suitable for economic and administrative purposes, a standard calendar was introduced into the old kingdom, parallel to the lunar calendar. This calendar may be produced by counting the days when Sirius rises continuously.
The new "citizen" calendar year is divided into three seasons, each with four months. 12 months has 30 days in each month, which is divided into 30 cycles (weeks), and each cycle has 10 days, totaling 360 days. The seasons of the Egyptian calendar are considered to be chosen to correspond to the cycle of the Nile, which is the center of Egyptian life. Because they live a farming life, these seasons are named after important farming events. Translated into our Gregorian calendar, the dates of these seasons seem to change greatly, as do the names of seasons and months. For example, in Akhet, there is a saying that it occurs between August 29th and1February 26th, while another saying that it occurs between June 26th and1October 26th.
Knowledge points:
1. The ancient Egyptian calendar was invented about 5000 years ago. It is based on the monthly transportation cycle of 12 months.
The Egyptians divided every four months into three seasons, combining the ups and downs of the Nile every four months.
The ancient Egyptians noticed that the rise of the Nile was consistent with the movement of Sirius.
4. The new citizen calendar coincides with the cycle of the Nile.
Vocabulary prediction:
flood
Back off, weaken
Sedimentation
Sunrise at sunrise
Test point–TPO17l3
professor
Ok, so one of the challenges faced by ancient civilizations like Egypt is timekeeping and calendars. When you have to grow food for people in the whole city, it is very important to grow it at the right time. When you start to have financial obligations, rent and taxes, you must record how often you pay them.
So today we will look at how the Egyptians solved these problems. In fact, they finally used two calendars, one to record the natural world or their agricultural problems, and the other to record the commercial functions of the kingdom. So let's look at the methods and reasons of the ancient Egyptian calendar system, starting with the Nile.
Why the Nile? Well, there is no other way. Egyptian life basically revolves around the mysterious river fluctuation. The success of their agricultural system depends on them knowing when the river will change. So, naturally, their first calendar was divided into three seasons, and each season was based on the changes of rivers: flooding, fading and harvesting.
The first season was flood, or flood, when the Nile valley was basically submerged for several months or so. Then in the sinking season, the water will sink, or recede, exposing a new layer of fertile black silt, allowing the planting of various crops. Finally, it's time to produce crops in the valley in a year, such as wheat, barley and fruit, which can be harvested. For the ancient Egyptians, it was very important to know when their Nile season appeared, and their way of life depended on it. Now, the method they use to calculate time is based on the moon's waning and waning, which is regular and predictable, and goes through a cycle, starting from the new moon, then reaching the full moon and then returning to the new moon. Now this cycle is used to determine the length of their month. So, um, a moon cycle is an Egyptian month, and about four months make up a season. Now, 12 of these months is about 354 days a year. So they have a 354-day agricultural calendar to help them determine when the Nile will flood the land.
learning point
1. For the ancient Egyptians, the calendar was very important for planting plants and collecting rents and taxes.
Egyptians have two calendars, one for agriculture and the other for commerce.
The first calendar invented by the Egyptians was based on the flood, ebb and harvest of the Nile.
Another statistical method is based on the moon phase, which is a period from the new moon to the full moon. This period is used to determine the length of each month. Therefore, the transportation cycle of one month in Egypt is one month, and four months or so make up a season.