THE PAPYRUS OF EBERS
A GREGORIAN-TYPE CALENDAR REFORM
To Correct for Precession - 1749 BC

Egyptologists date the Papyrus of Ebers to ca. 1600 BC and assign it to the reign of Amenhotep (Amenophis) which is incorrect. See Narmer and Heb-Sed. The name of the Pharaoh on the document is Zeserkere, who is Pharaoh Khendjer Userkare (German transcription Chendjer Userkare, where Zeserkere = Userkara viz. Userkare). The Papyrus of Ebers lists the Feasts of the twelve Pharaonic months together with a calendric "shift" of the months.

These shifted months have served as a cause of great puzzlement to the non-astronomically trained Egyptologists, since these months are all "shifted" nine days from the start of the month as calculated from Sirius. We have organized the months correctly with respect to stars in the heavens so that one can understand the Papyrus simply and easily (SEE BELOW).



The Papyrus of Ebers states that the start of the New Year fell in the month of Epiphi, on the ninth day of that Month, whereas, as noted by Eduard Meyer, Brugsch had proven that the New Year's Feast accountable to the rising of the star Sirius corresponded to the first of the month of Mesori. Up to now, no one has been able to explain the Papyrus of Ebers for this reason.

The Precessional Explanation of the Calendric Correction Made by the Papyrus of Ebers

In 2433 BC, 684 years after the start of the Pharaonic Calender in 3117 BC, and 684 years prior to 1749 BC, the date of the Papyrus of Ebers, the Vernal Equinox was at Aldebaran in Taurus and Sirius was 30 days or one full month removed from the position of the Equinox, which marked the start of the next month after it. In the period from 2433 BC to 1749 BC, precession would have moved 9 degrees in 684 years and the Papyrus of Ebers is the precessional correction.

As noted aptly in Clayton's Chronicle of the Pharaohs (p. 13 of the German edition), the heliacal rising of Sirius would IDEALLY fall together with the actual Pharaonic New Year's Day, i.e. the first day of the first month, but, of course, this in fact can occur only once in 1460 years.

What was so special about this heliacal rising of Sirius, which NORMALLY had nothing to do with the normal start of the Egyptian New Year? WHEN DID THE HELIACAL RISING OF SIRIUS COINCIDE WITH THE START OF THE EGYPTIAN NEW YEAR? When would the heliacal rising of Sirius then have fallen on the Egyptian New Year's Day. i.e. on the 1st day of the 1st Month?

The Papyrus of Ebers starts with hieroglyphs which say "Year 9 of King Zeserkere". This is then followed by the hieroglyph for the month Epiphi, next to which is the hieroglyph of the Sun, next to which are 9 notches, and next to that is the hieroglyph for the New Year AS ATTRIBUTABLE TO SIRIUS - which, according to Meyer (see below) means that the New Year attributable to the heliacal rising of Sothis (Sirius) began in the 9th of Epiphi (i.e. NOT at the cusp of an otherwise calendric month). There then follow the hieroglyphs for the rest of the months, which are further divided up into THREE Seasons (growing, dry, inundation of the Nile) consisting of four months each, represented by three other hieroglyphs. Each season is divided into four months and each subsidiary month has 1, 2, 3 or 4 additional notches, indicating which month of which season it is (i.e. month 4 of season 2, etc.).

Eduard Meyer, in his Aegyptische Chronologie, writes that the Papyrus of Ebers has caused the Egyptologists a great amount of difficulty, since, as Meyer writes (p. 48), Brugsch had proven that the New Year's Feast accountable to Sirius corresponded to the 1st of Mesori, and, not, as on the Papyrus of Ebers, to the 9th of Epiphi. Hence, the Papyrus of Ebers corrects the position of Sirius in the calendar for precession.
In interpreting the Papyrus of Ebers, Egyptologists say that the heliacal rising of Sirius occurred on the 9th day of the 3rd Month of the 3rd season in the 9th year of reign of Amenhotep (Amenophis), but this is incorrect, for the text of the Papyrus clearly identifies the king of this period as Zeserkere, who we find to be Khendjer Userkara, and Userkara is the same as Zeserkere, showing the error in transcription of "User".