Astrology in ancient Egypt

ARTICLE

Astronomical and astrological representations in ancient Egypt's buildings and objects.

Initially and like many other people, ancient Egyptians looked at the stars to organize cults, ceremonies and agricultural activities. For instance, they noticed the Nyle river used to cause floods at the beginning of the summer, when Sirius was visible for the first time before sunrise. The star indicated the beginning of the agricultural cycle and a new year.

In those times, Egyptians mainly looked at a band of 36 stars, assigning a group of three of them to each month, as Ancient Babylonian astronomers did. And they added them to the Zodiac just during the V-VI B.C. centuries, when signs were introduced from Mesopotamia, too. Then, the stars were called deans, ruling each one of them 10° of the celestial dome.

In the image, the brightest star, at the bottom and centered, is Sirius in Canis Major, in a kind of a triangle along with Procyon in Canis Minor (upper left) and Betelgeuse in Orion (upper right). Photo credits: Akira Fujii.

Stars were used to measure nighttime by marking hours as they were rising. The study of the engraves on which they were represented allows reconstructing celestial domes for the moment in the sky Egyptians wanted to point out. But when those stars remained associated to signs, it was easier to identify their equivalences by looking at right ascensions! In all of those engraves on which deans remained not associated to signs, identifying them is still a matter of study to decode equivalences.

The integration between deans and signs can be appreciated, for instance, at a Dendera's temple built during the Ptolemaic age (323-30 B.C.) in Upper Egypt. Meant to worship Hathor, the goddess of love and fertility, a low-relief sculpted on the ceiling in one of the chambers dedicated to Osiris represents a circular planisphere, and it is believed that it's the horoscope of the world, with stars drawn where they were at the date they considered for the event.

Zodiac in a temple's ceiling near Dendera — Zodiac in a temple's ceiling, near Dendera

Initially, the planisphere was around 141" x 94" x 35" and weighed almost 20 tons. In the most external area, it's supported by the goddess of Heaven, Nut, drawn as four female characters in the four directions, representing pillars supporting the sky. Between them, there are 8 paired kneeled characters with hawk heads. From the central point to the periphery:

Canis Major, Canis minor and Draco constellations - Dendera (Egypt) — The central point is the North Pole, where three constellations are represented. From right to left: Canis Major as a bull's leg, Canis Minor as a little jackal, and Draco as the hippopotamus Tuaret

Sagittarius constellation - Dendera (Egypt) — The Zodiac can be appreciated around the central constellations, for instance Sagittarius under Tuaret

On Dendera's ceiling, signs were drawn according to the Mesopotamic tradition, which was inherited by Egyptians:

Gemini - Dendera (Egypt) — Gemini is a man and a woman

Leo - Dendera (Egypt) — Leo is a lion on a serpent (Tiamat, Mesopotamian goddess of salt water and mother of gods)

Sagittarius - Dendera (Egypt) — Sagittarius is a two-headed man, with a horse's body and a scorpion's tail

Capricorn - Dendera (Egypt) — Capricorn is a mixture of goat and fish

Aquarius - Dendera (Egypt) — Aquarius is Hapy (the Egyptian god of floods)

Pisces - Dendera (Egypt) — Pisces is two fishes linked at their tails, with a dividing pool between them

Constellations in Dendera (Egypt) — Venus between Aquarius and Pisces (1), Mars in Capricorn (2), Saturn between Virgo and Libra (3), Mercury in Cancer (4), and Jupiter between Cancer and Gemini, aligned to Sirius (5). Orion constellation (6) and two stars of Canis Major: Canopus in Gemini (7) and Sirius (8).

In between the signs, the five planets known by that time are emplaced where they were at the time the world was born (1 to 5). Between Leo and Taurus, and towards the periphery, some Southern stars are represented (6 to 8). The 36 deans considered in ancient times were now represented as figures all along the border, as it can be appreciated in the bigger image above, which made it easier to identify them.

But zodiacal signs were also integrated into mortician representations, usually drawn inside coffins' covers to last forever as part of the funeral trousseau of the owners. Like in the Zodiac at Dendera's temple, the main character in the coffin is Nut again, with opened arms to protect the deceased's mummy. The 12 signs display the Mesopotamic iconography, and are represented around the goddess' body, too. At the bottom, from left to right: Leo, Virgo, Libra, Scorpio, Sagittarius and Capricorn. At the top, from right to left: Aquarius, Pisces, Aries, Taurus, Gemini and Cancer.

Imaginary vertically aligned axes (in the picture displayed here) connect signs according to ancient planetary rulerships. From left to right: Gemini - Virgo & Mercury; Taurus - Libra & Venus; Aries - Scorpio & Mars, Pisces - Sagittarius & Jupiter, and Aquarius - Capricorn & Saturn.

The axes' ordering in the sequence is the classic way to register planetary positions on ephemeris. Except the first axis, and from left to right in the picture: Mercury (Virgo - Gemini), Venus (Libra - Taurus), Mars (Scorpio - Aries), Jupiter (Sagittarius - Pisces), and Saturn (Capricorn - Aquarius).