The sun is perpendicular to the face of Ramses II in the Temple of Abu Simbel
The world's attention is directed to the city of Abu Simbel in Aswan, today, Tuesday, to follow the rare astronomical phenomenon of the perpendicularity of the rays of the sunrise, on the sanctuary of the Great Temple of King Ramses II, which begins at about 5:52 in the morning and lasts from 20 to 25 minutes.
Dr. Ashraf Tadros, head of the astronomy department at the National Institute for Astronomical and Geophysical Research, explained the reasons for the sun's perpendicularity to the Abu Simbel temple.
He said that the reason why the sun’s rays are perpendicular to anywhere on the surface of the earth is due to an important astronomical fact, which is the apparent path of the sun during the year, as the earth during its path around the sun during one year makes the sun’s rays perpendicular to any particular place twice.
Tadros explained that the phenomenon of sunlight perpendicular to the Temple of Abu Simbel, which recurs on October 22 and February 22 of each year, confirms the full knowledge of the ancient Egyptians in astronomy, especially the apparent movement of the sun in the sky.
The two temples of Abu Simbel were discovered by the Swiss oriental traveler, Johann Ludwig Burckhardt, on March 22, 1813, whose discovery was reported by the Italian explorer Giovanni Belzoni.
According to Burckhardt's description, Belzoni traveled to Abu Simbel, and began removing the sand that covered the two temples, and entered the temple in 1817, and in the same year Burckhardt died in Cairo, and was buried in the Bab al-Nasr cemetery.
The credit for the discovery of the phenomenon of intubation in the sun in Abu Simbel is due to the English novelist Emilia Edwards in 1870 and recorded it in her book "A Thousand Miles on the Nile" after the discovery of the two temples
In the past, orthodoxy took place on October 21 and February 21 of each year, but after the construction of the High Dam and the transfer of the temple to the top of the adjacent hill, elevated about 66 meters above the level of the Nile River, the phenomenon was delayed a full day, to become on time on October 22 and February 22 of every year.
The Abu Simbel temple is one of the most important rock temples in the world, as King Ramses II carved them in two mountains overlooking the Nile in the thirteenth century BC, and one of them dedicated to himself and the other to his wife, Queen Nefertari, and the great temple was built in 1275 BC. It took 19 years to finish.
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