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Photograph of the astronomical ceiling (dating to the Late Ptolemaic Period (i.e., late Hellenistic Period)) that was located at the temple of Hathor in Denderah, Egypt. The representation of the Egyptian sky is called the Denderah zodiac because it depicts the zodiacal constellations. (All Egyptian zodiacs are late and originated in the Hellenistic and Roman periods.) (The Ptolemaics were a Greek dynasty originating from the break-up of of the Greek Empire after the death of Alexander the Great. The Ptolemaic Period lasted from circa 300 BCE until the early Christian era.) (The temple was used primarily for the celebration of the new year.)
The zodiac was situated in the ceiling in a middle room of the small eastern Osiris chapel located on the roof of the Hathor temple - specifically on the western half of the ceiling of the central (i.e., first enclosed) chamber - and formed the greater part of the ceiling. (It is essentially comprised of two concentric circles. The entire disk is approximately 240 centimetres in diameter. The circular star map is approximately 150 centimetres in diameter. Its thickness is approximately 90 centimetres. The weight of the two huge blocks of sandstone comprising the disc is many tonnes.) Construction began on the temple of Hathor circa 125 BCE and was finished circa 60 CE. (The Denderah circular zodiac is dated circa 36 BCE or 30 BCE. It is the oldest known representation of the zodiac.)
Accounts differ as to who discovered the Denderah circular zodiac. One source states it was discovered in 1798 by Louis Chastel, a captain of dragoons. Another source states it was first discovered in 1799 by Napoleon's General Louis Desaix when he was pursuing the remnants of Murad-Bey's army (up the Nile) across the Thebaid (near Luxor). It would seem that Napoleon's troops reached Denderah on 25th May 1799.
Accounts of who sketched (or re-sketched) the Denderah skymap, and when, tend to be a bit confusing. The French artist Vivant (I have also seen his first name appear as Dominique) Denon was the first to make a drawing of the Denderah planisphere. Vivant Denon accompanied Napoleon's Egyptian expedition and he was commissioned by General Louis Desaix to do such for the projected Description de l'Egypte. The ceiling was rapidly sketched by the artist in 1799. The artist published the drawing in his 1802 account (a massive folio book titled Voyage) of his experiences traveling with Napoleon's Egyptian expedition. Vivant Denon's published drawing of what appeared to be a zodiac created immediate interest and caused immense discussion in Paris. In 1820 it was redrawn by Vivant Denon's compatriot the Italian scientist Girolamo Segato.
It would appear that the actual drawing/engraving of the Denderah zodiac ("The Round Denderah B Zodiac") that appeared in Description de l'Egypte was made by the French scholars Jean Jollois and René Devilliers (both scientists) also whilst accompanying Napoleon's Egyptian expedition (1798-1801). It was later published circa 1815 in the multi-volume Description de l'Egypte (Volume 4). (The drawing/engraving is not a completely accurate rendition of the actual ceiling.)
The British consul Henry Salt had attempted to acquire the ceiling for the British Museum but the French antiquities collector Sebastian Saulnier employed a French engineer/master mason, Jean Lelorrain, to remove the sandstone slab and arrange its transport to France by ship. Jean Lelorrain left for Egypt in early October, 1820 with some specially constructed tools. After considerable effort at sawing and pulling he eventually made careful use of gun powder to blow holes in the temple roof to effect the removal of the ceiling.
The original sandstone carving was moved from Denderah in 1821 and arrived by ship (the La Lorainne) at Marseilles on September 9, 1821. Due to quarantine restrictions it was not off-loaded until November 27. It arrived in Paris in 1822 and was put on show until it was sold to King Louis XVIII for 150,000 francs. (Public pressure had led to Sebastian Saulnier being paid this enormous sum of money for the zodiac.) It was then placed in the royal library (which later became the Bibliothéque Nationale). In 1919 it was moved to the Louvre Museum, Paris where it was initially placed on display in the Grand Gallery on the ground floor. It was then moved several times and even located on a stairway. Since 1997 it has been in the Galerie D'Alger. (A plaster replica (a cast made from the original zodiac) only is now in the ceiling of the Osiris chapel at the Denderah temple. This mould from the original zodiac was made and sent to Egypt in 1920.) (It would appear that a marble copy of the Denderah star map, sculpted by the French sculptor J. Castex in 1819 from casts of the original, is located in the Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge, England. (Rosalind Park has commented that whilst a life-size replica probably exists the claim of it being a marble copy may be erroneous.) English visitors arrived at Denderah prior to 1820.)
The first appearance in Egypt of our own 12 zodiacal constellations comes from the so-called Zodiac of Denderah. All available evidence indicates that the concept of the zodiac was not native to Egypt but that it was imported at a late (but unknown) date. (Perhaps during the period of the expansion of the Assyrian Empire.) The Denderah star map integrates ancient Egyptian star-groups with the zodiacal constellations of the Babylonians (and Greeks). The Babylonian zodiac has been integrated into the Egyptian sky. (The French Egyptologist Christiane Desroches-Noblecourt has argued for an Egyptian origin of the zodiacal signs. She connects them with the cycle of the sun and Osiris.) The constellation figures outside the zodiac (except the Southern Fish, which was regarded as part of the Waterman) are Egyptian. (The identity of most of the other (purely Egyptian) constellation symbols remain unknown.)
The organisation of the zodiac is not haphazard but also it is not a very accurate astronomical representation. (None of the Egyptian zodiacs were very accurate astronomical representations.) (Like all the Egyptian zodiacs it includes the signs of the zodiac (ultimately of Babylonian origin), the old hour decans, the planets, and native Egyptian stars and constellations.) The astronomical ceiling shows all 12 zodiacal constellations (as well as other constellations, and the planets). It is a syncretistic zodiac based on Egyptian and Greek ideas and is most likely based on a Hellenistic model (i.e., from the use of the zodiacal Ram). The figures of 36 decans (from the Tanis family of decans), indicators of the hours of the night, are depicted standing on the circumference (as walking men, snakes, and other animals) (adjacent to the hands of the supporting figures). The signs of the zodiac are located inside the decan ring and the planets in their exaltations and some constellations are interspersed among them. (The planets are depicted as gods holding staffs.) The northern constellations are in the centre of the disc (and the north celestial pole is approximately at the centre of the disc).
The 12 zodiacal constellations form an inner (and properly offset) ring (and follow a circle that corresponds to the ecliptic). All the 12 zodiac constellations are easily recognizable. The Egyptians, however, have varied the figures and also have varied the attitudes of the figures from those of the Babylonian-Greek sky. The identification of the zodiacal constellations can be made in clockwise sequence near the eccentric circle at the centre of the star map. (The positioning of the constellations Cancer and Libra is irregular.) To the right of centre are located the two fishes (Pisces), next (below the fishes) the Ram and the Bull, next the Twins, the Crab (Cancer), and the Lion. More upwards the Virgin with the Corn-Ear, the Balance, and the Scorpion. The next three zodiacal constellations/signs are the Archer, the Goat-fish, (Capricorn), and the Waterman.
Cancer the Crab is represented by the Scarab Beetle. The figure of the Lion near the Scales (which is not the zodiacal Lion) is the constellation Centaurus. A man and a woman with joined hands represent Gemini. The Ram and the Bull are both reversed from their normal pose, and the figure of the Bull is complete, not the usual truncated (half) figure. The woman (Isis?) who holds a spike of wheat is an obvious representation of Virgo. (Also, the female figure standing on the Lion's tail, which she grasps with her hand, has been interpreted by some as representing Virgo.) The Scales point in a different direction, the Waterman's vessel and stream of water are on the reverse side of his body; the zodiacal Fishes swim in parallel directions instead of divergent ones.
The familiar northern Egyptian constellations of the Bull's Foreleg ((part of) Ursa Major, the Big Dipper asterism) and the Hippopotamus (Draco, the Dragon) are easily identifiable. The figure of the Hippopotamus is in the centre. (One controversial view is that a mark on the breast of the Hippopotamus identifies the north ecliptic pole.) The figure of an Ape is under the Scorpion. Instead of the Great Bear there is the figure of a crocodile. Also, the small crouched lion next to (i.e., beneath) the Bull's Foreleg on the Denderah zodiac is part of Egypt's indigenous Northern group of constellations (near the celestial pole). Currently (circa 2002 onwards) there is a manufactured controversy over whether this particular figure is a lion or a ram. The depiction does not suggest a ram. Unfortunately there is a lack of textual information to clarify the identification. However, the star map depiction on the Heter coffin from Roman Egypt indicates the figure is indeed a crouching lion belonging to the northern group of early Egyptian constellations. (Many other figures representing constellations have not yet been identified with those in present use.)
Hydra and the Raven are in fairly correct positions under the Lion. The representation of Orion and Sirius is not quite identical with that in the "rectangular zodiac" in the Great Hypostyle Hall. (Below Leo is situated a cow in a boat with a star between its horns. This figure is Sirius.) The bow behind Sirius reminds us that "the Bow Star" was one of the Babylonian names of Sirius. Orion is the figure holding a staff and standing near Taurus. The jackal near the Hippopotamus is Ursa Minor.
The symbols of the planets are located in the constellations in which they were thought to be particularly (astrologically) influential. The disc between Pisces and Aries may be the full moon.
The zodiac (i.e., sky) is supported by four human-headed feminine figures standing erect (at the four corners of the canopy of heaven), who are the goddesses of the cardinal points of the compass (the other identification given is: four standing figures of the sky-goddess Nut), and also four pairs of kneeling falcon-headed deities (the other identification given is: eight figures of the kneeling earth-god Geb).
A much larger "rectangular (straight) zodiac" is still situated in the ceiling of the Hathor temple's Great Hypostyle Hall. (The term "hypostyle" denotes a hall with a roof borne on columns. Its use first appeared in Diodorus, 1st century BCE.) The capitals of the columns supporting the decorated ceiling of the Hypostyle Hall are carved in the shape of a naos sistrum. The naos sistrum is a musical instrument (a rattle) with its body shaped like Hathor's head, and its upper part shaped like a shrine (naos).
Copyright © 2001-2006 by Gary D. Thompson
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