In Ancient Egypt, eclipses were primarily understood through a religious and cosmological view of the universe. While Egyptians possessed sophisticated astronomical knowledge, observing the Sun, Moon, stars, and planets, celestial phenomena were intrinsically linked to religion, gods, and cosmic order.
The Sun, associated with the god Ra, represented the daily cycle of death and rebirth, traveling through the underworld at night. Threats like the serpent Apophis, a symbol of chaos, could be linked to extraordinary solar events, but there is no solid evidence that each eclipse was explained as Apophis swallowing the Sun. Similarly, lunar eclipses might have been seen as disturbances in the celestial order, without a single, simplistic mythical explanation.
Egyptians were also keen sky observers, recording solar movements, lunar phases, stars, planets, and astronomical cycles for their calendar. However, their understanding of eclipses appears to have been more observational and calendrical than a geometric theory developed later by the Greeks.