The Indestructibles (Ancient Egyptian:j.ḫmw-sk – literally "the ones not knowing destruction"[1][2]) was the name given by ancient Egyptian astronomers to two bright stars which, at that time, could always be seen circling theNorth Pole.[3] The name is directly related to Egyptian belief in constant North as a portal to heaven for pharaohs, and the stars' close association with eternity and theafterlife.[4] These circumpolar stars are now known asKochab (Beta Ursae Minoris), in the bowl ofUrsa Minor or, the Little Dipper, andMizar (Zeta Ursae Majoris), inUrsa Major, at the middle of the handle of theBig Dipper.[4]
EgyptologistToby Wilkinson explained the naming as apt metaphor in Egyptian ideology. "Circumpolar stars are a very good metaphor for the afterlife because when viewed, they never seem to set: they simply rotate around the pole star. They are the undying stars, or in Egyptian terminology, the Indestructibles, a perfect destination for the soul of the dead king," he said in 2001.[5]
The context for this is the Egyptian belief thatRa (the sun god) was given birth to byNut (the sky goddess). Nut was pictured as a naked female spread across the sky, and identified with theMilky Way – the legs formed by the bifurcation atDeneb inCygnus, and the head by the swelling atGemini. The head of Nut passes below the horizon about 75 minutes after the sun on the spring equinox, and at the same point on the horizon, "consuming" Ra, who was symbolically reborn 272 days later on the morning of theWinter solstice, on the same declination as Deneb.[6]
About 4,500 years ago, the Egyptians believed that the unmovable area the stars encircled by 10 degrees each, washeaven in the sense that it was the place of the afterlife.[7] Thepole star at the time wasThuban (Alpha Draconis).[1]
Egyptians associated those two stars with eternity and the afterlife of a king orpharaoh so that after death, a pharaoh would hope to join those stars.[3] During the Old Kingdom it was thought that only the pharaoh and his family could ascend to heaven.[8]
As Pharaohs were buried in pyramids there were implications for their afterlife and their immortality and consequently the structures were deliberately aligned astronomically. Believing that their kings became stars in the Northern sky after death, Egyptians aligned their pyramids and temples due north toward the "indestructible" stars, giving the departed pharaohs direct access to the northern sky.[3]
The entrances to all theFourth Dynasty pyramids at Giza (the Great Pyramid, thePyramid of Khafre, and thePyramid of Menkaure) are in their north faces and the corridors are sloped down from the entrances in such a way that both the circumpolar stars and the pole star were visible.[1] The positioning of the pyramids is such that they do not block each other's views of these stars.[1]
A pyramid was a resting place, rather than a tomb, providing the occupant with all the requirements both physical and mystical for the journey of theka to the afterlife to become anakh. Because of this, as David Warburton puts it, "In this sense... the entrance is in fact the exit".[9]
The North Shaft of the Kings chamber is also believed to have aligned with Beta Ursae Minoris to facilitate the King's journey asHorus to the stars.[10]
Dr. Kate Spence of the Faculty of Oriental Studies atCambridge University argues that the alignment of theGreat Pyramid of Giza was performed by waiting for a "simultaneous transit" of the circumpolar Indestructibles, and therefore, that by charting the precession of the stars a relatively accurate start date (+/- 5 years) for its construction can be given, namely 2480 BC.[11] PreviousEgyptian chronology for theOld Kingdom could only be considered accurate to within 100 years either way.[11]
Theka statue ofDjoser in his tomb at Saqqara was in aserdab (a type of chamber) in the north-eastern base of his pyramid, tilted at 17 degrees to enable it to observe the circumpolar stars through two holes.[9]
