Ancients didn't have Polaris it was Thuban. Around 2600 B.C., when the ancient Egyptians were building the earliest pyramids, Thuban appeared as the North Star. It is located 270 light-years from Earth in the constellation of Draco, the dragon.02 Thuban is bright enough to be seen by the naked eye and is part of a binary pair of stars that periodically eclipse one another.2 Thuban helped guide the ancient pyramid-builders, and some features inside the pyramids align with the stars.1 Today, Polaris is the North Star due to Earth's axis shifting in precession