Decans

The Decans are 36 groups of stars (small constellations) which rise consecutivel
y on the horizon throughout each earth rotation. The rising of each decan marked
the beginning of a new decanal "hour" (Greek hora) of the night for the ancient
Egyptians, and they were used as a sidereal star clock beginning by at least th
e 9th or 10th Dynasty (ca 2100 BCE.)
Because a new decan also appears heliacally every ten days (that is, every ten d
ays, a new decanic star group reappears in the eastern sky at dawn right before
the Sun rises, after a period of being obscured by the Sun's light), the ancient
Greeks called them dekanoi (pl. of dekanos) or "tenths" (and when the concept o
f decans reached northern India, they were called drekkana in Sanskrit.) These p
redictable heliacal re-appearances by the decans were eventually used by the Egy
ptians to mark the divisions of their annual solar calendar. Thus the heliacal r
ising of Sirius marked the annual flooding of the Nile.
Eventually this system led to a system of 12 daytime hours and 12 nighttime hour
s, varying in length according to the season. Later, a system of 24 "equinoctial
" hours was used.[1]
After astrology was introduced to Egypt, various systems attributing astrologica
l significance to decans arose. Decans were connected, for example, with various
diseases and with the timing for the engraving of talismans for curing them;[2]
with decanic "faces" (or "phases"), a system where three decans are assigned to
each zodiacal sign, each covering 10 of the zodiac, and each ruled by a planetar
y ruler (see below); and correlated with astrological signs.[3]
Decans continued to be used throughout the Renaissance in astrology and in magic
, but modern astrologers almost entirely ignore them.
Ancient Egyptian origins
Decans first appeared in the 10th Dynasty (2100 BCE) on coffin lids. The sequenc
e of these star patterns began with Sothis/Sirius, and each decan contained a se
t of stars and corresponding divinities. As measures of time, the rising and set
ting of decans marked 'hours' and groups of 10 days which comprised an Egyptian
year.
There were 36[4] decans (36 X 10 = 360 days). plus 5 added days to compose the 3
65 days of a solar based year. Decans measure sidereal time and the solar year i
s 6 hours longer; the Sothic and solar years in the Egyptian calendar realign ev
ery 1460 years. Decans represented on coffins from later dynasties (such as King
Seti I) compared with earlier decan images demonstrate the Sothic-solar shift.
Ancient India
In India, the division of the zodiac into 36 ten degree portions is called eithe
r the drekkana (drekka?a),the dreshkana (dre?ka?a), or the drikana (d?ka?a).[6]
The iconography and use of the drekkanas is mention earliest by Sphujidhvaja in Y
avanajataka (269-70 CE), and given detailed treatment by Varahamihira in his Bri
hat-Samhita (550 CE). Modern scholars believe the decans were imported into Indi
a through the Greeks, who learned about them from the Egyptians.[7]
There are multiple types of drekkana in use in Indian astrology. The parivritti
drekkana goes in order of the signs; the first decan is Aries, the second is Tau
rus, the third is Gemini, the fourth is Cancer, etc. Then there is the trinal ca
lculation which utilizes the elemental trines to each sign; In Aries there is Ar
ies, Leo, and Sagittarius, while in Taurus there is Taurus, Virgo, and Capricorn
. There are in total four variations of drekkana calculations. Indian astrologer
s will calculate these signs (varga) and create a new chart based upon the sign
placement for predictive purposes.