Ancient Egyptian Contributions
The ancient Egyptians processed thin flat sheets from the papyrus, a plant that grew along the Nile, and on these paperlike sheets they wrote their texts. Their earliest script, now known as hieroglyphs, began as a type of picture writing in which the symbols took the form of recognizable images. They originated many basic concepts in arithmetic and geometry, as well as the study of medicine and dentistry. They devised a calendar on the basis of their observations of the Sun and the stars.
The Egyptians had a decimal system using seven different symbols.
1 is shown by a single stroke.
10 is shown by a drawing of a hobble for cattle.
100 is represented by a coil of rope.
1,000 is a drawing of a lotus plant.
10,000 is represented by a finger.
100,000 by a tadpole or frog
1,000,000 is the figure of a god with arms raised above his head.
The ancient Egyptians had developed a glassy material known as faience, which they treated as a type of artificial semi-precious stone. Faience is a non-clay ceramic made of silica, small amounts of lime and soda, and a colorant, typically copper. The material was used to make beads, tiles, figurines, and small wares.
The ancient Egyptians produced a pigment known as Egyptian Blue, also called blue frit, which is produced by fusing (or sintering) silica, copper, lime, and an alkali such as natron. The product can be ground up and used as a pigment.
One of the two lasting contributions of the Egyptians to astronomy (in the large sense) is the 24-hour division of the day.
While at least three different systems for astronomical reference were invented in antiquity--the zodiac by the Mesopotamians, the lunar mansions in India, and the decans in Egypt--it was the decan--lO°-intervals along the ecliptic--which led to the division of the night (period of complete darkness) into 12 equal parts and ultimately the entire sidereal day into 24 hours. These decans, as they were called by the Greeks, were originally constellations rising helically 10 days apart.
A common sense desire for something fixed in the calendaric jungle led (quite early) to the adoption of a 360-day year, to which were added 5 extra days (for feasting), which the Greeks called 'epagomanal' days, making a total of 365 days. Since the mean sidereal year is approximately 365 1/4 days, even this fixed calendar fell behind the sun about 1 day every 4 years. Thus the calendar rotated over a period of 1460 years, back to its original position in relation to the position of the sun.
Some Notable Discovers or Scientist
Imhotep
Medical papyri show empirical knowledge of anatomy, injuries, and practical treatments. Wounds were treated by bandaging with raw meat, white linen, sutures, nets, pads and swabs soaked with honey to prevent infection, while opium was used to relieve pain. Garlic and onions were used regularly to promote good health and were thought to relieve asthma symptoms. Ancient Egyptian surgeons stitched wounds, set broken bones, and amputated diseased limbs, but they recognized that some injuries were so serious that they could only make the patient comfortable until he died.
Now began the work of the embalmers, who existed as a guild even to the time of the Roman Empire. This viscera were removed and preserved in canopen, vases of clay, limestone or alabaster, the lids of which were decorated with representations of one of the four genii of the dead. After the cranial cavity was cleared of the brain by means of hooks inserted through the nose, the cavities of both the cranium and abdomen were filled with spices, myrrh and cassia. The salters then laid the corpse in a solution of carbonate of soda, where it was left usually after seventy days. At the expiration of this period it was again washed in caustic soda, then coated over with gum and finally wrapped in a cloth of fine linen. In good mummies the hair and nails are preserved, but the eyeballs have obsidian eyes inserted in them.
In embalming “of the second class” method cedar resin was injected into the unemptied cavities of the body, which was then salted down for seventy days, after which the viscera and resin were removed together. Embalming of the “third class” consisted in simply salting the body after it had been washed.
The ancient Egyptians processed thin flat sheets from the papyrus, a plant that grew along the Nile, and on these paperlike sheets they wrote their texts. Their earliest script, now known as hieroglyphs, began as a type of picture writing in which the symbols took the form of recognizable images. They originated many basic concepts in arithmetic and geometry, as well as the study of medicine and dentistry. They devised a calendar on the basis of their observations of the Sun and the stars.
The Egyptians had a decimal system using seven different symbols.
1 is shown by a single stroke.
10 is shown by a drawing of a hobble for cattle.
100 is represented by a coil of rope.
1,000 is a drawing of a lotus plant.
10,000 is represented by a finger.
100,000 by a tadpole or frog
1,000,000 is the figure of a god with arms raised above his head.
The ancient Egyptians had developed a glassy material known as faience, which they treated as a type of artificial semi-precious stone. Faience is a non-clay ceramic made of silica, small amounts of lime and soda, and a colorant, typically copper. The material was used to make beads, tiles, figurines, and small wares.
The ancient Egyptians produced a pigment known as Egyptian Blue, also called blue frit, which is produced by fusing (or sintering) silica, copper, lime, and an alkali such as natron. The product can be ground up and used as a pigment.
One of the two lasting contributions of the Egyptians to astronomy (in the large sense) is the 24-hour division of the day.
While at least three different systems for astronomical reference were invented in antiquity--the zodiac by the Mesopotamians, the lunar mansions in India, and the decans in Egypt--it was the decan--lO°-intervals along the ecliptic--which led to the division of the night (period of complete darkness) into 12 equal parts and ultimately the entire sidereal day into 24 hours. These decans, as they were called by the Greeks, were originally constellations rising helically 10 days apart.
A common sense desire for something fixed in the calendaric jungle led (quite early) to the adoption of a 360-day year, to which were added 5 extra days (for feasting), which the Greeks called 'epagomanal' days, making a total of 365 days. Since the mean sidereal year is approximately 365 1/4 days, even this fixed calendar fell behind the sun about 1 day every 4 years. Thus the calendar rotated over a period of 1460 years, back to its original position in relation to the position of the sun.
Some Notable Discovers or Scientist
Imhotep
Medical papyri show empirical knowledge of anatomy, injuries, and practical treatments. Wounds were treated by bandaging with raw meat, white linen, sutures, nets, pads and swabs soaked with honey to prevent infection, while opium was used to relieve pain. Garlic and onions were used regularly to promote good health and were thought to relieve asthma symptoms. Ancient Egyptian surgeons stitched wounds, set broken bones, and amputated diseased limbs, but they recognized that some injuries were so serious that they could only make the patient comfortable until he died.
Now began the work of the embalmers, who existed as a guild even to the time of the Roman Empire. This viscera were removed and preserved in canopen, vases of clay, limestone or alabaster, the lids of which were decorated with representations of one of the four genii of the dead. After the cranial cavity was cleared of the brain by means of hooks inserted through the nose, the cavities of both the cranium and abdomen were filled with spices, myrrh and cassia. The salters then laid the corpse in a solution of carbonate of soda, where it was left usually after seventy days. At the expiration of this period it was again washed in caustic soda, then coated over with gum and finally wrapped in a cloth of fine linen. In good mummies the hair and nails are preserved, but the eyeballs have obsidian eyes inserted in them.
In embalming “of the second class” method cedar resin was injected into the unemptied cavities of the body, which was then salted down for seventy days, after which the viscera and resin were removed together. Embalming of the “third class” consisted in simply salting the body after it had been washed.
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