Egyptian

Introduction

Late Egyptian astronomy/astrology follows that of Greco/Roman culture. The belief that the stars could influence human destiny does not appear to have reached Egypt until the Ptolemaic period. The temple of Hathor at Denderah dates from Ptolemaic times, probably the first century BCE, and has a wonderful illustration of the sky that illustrates this point.

Description

However there were differences in names. For example, 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 [#1].

Earlier constellations are more problematic, but some indications exist that some modern zodiac signs are very ancient indeed [#2], although the constellations did change significantly over time [#3].

The Egyptians recognized five planets and called them the "stars that knew no rest". Their movement across the heavens reminded the Egyptians of the five gods sailing across the sky in their solar barque (boat). The planet now known as Jupiter was called "Horus Who Limits the Two Lands"; Mars was "Horus of the Horizon"; Mercury was "Sebegu", associated with Set; Saturn was "Horus the Bull of the Sky"; and Venus was "the God of the Morning" [#7].

References

• [#1]: Gary D. Thompson. Ancient Zodiacs, Star Names, and Constellations: Essays and Annotated Bibliographies. Section 11: Episodic survey of the history of the Occidental/Oriental constellations, and significant investigators. Illustration 17: Mithraic uranography.
• [#2]: Three archaic Egyptian constellations used as seasonal markers?
• [#3]: Gary D. Thompson. Ancient Zodiacs, Star Names, and Constellations: Essays and Annotated Bibliographies. Section 11: Episodic survey of the history of the Occidental/Oriental constellations, and significant investigators. Illustration 15: Farnese celestial globe.
• [#7]: <notr>Pat Remler: Egyptian mythology A to Z / 3rd ed., 2010, Chelsea House, ISBN 978-1-60413-926-6</notr>

Authors

This sky culture was contributed by Karrie Berglund of Digitalis Education Solutions, Inc. based on the paper "A Map of the Ancient Egyptian Firmament” by Juan Antonio Belmonte.

This sky culture was updated by misibacsi (names of planets)

License

GNU GPL v2.0