Astronomical Ceilings

Definition

Astronomical ceilings are the painted and carved ceilings of Egyptian royal tombs, mortuary temples, and — later — cult temples that picture the sky: the sky goddess Nut arching overhead, lists of decan stars set out in horizontal rows, the never-setting northern constellations grouped around the Foreleg (our Big Dipper), the planets shown as gods, and, in Ptolemaic-Roman examples, the figures of the zodiac signs. The tradition runs from the early New Kingdom (the Senenmut tomb, about 1473 BCE) through the Ptolemaic-Roman period (the Round and Square Zodiacs at Dendera, before 30 BCE).

In Tradition

Egyptologists see astronomical ceilings as the main way Egyptian sky-knowledge was preserved in monumental form. Neugebauer and Parker provide the standard analytical edition (Egyptian Astronomical Texts Vol I-III, 1960-1969); Clagett reproduces the record with photographs and translations (Ancient Egyptian Science Vol II, 1995); Belmonte and Lull handle the archaeoastronomical context. The ceilings preserve the standard decan-lists, the identifications of the never-setting constellations — notably Meskhetyu, the Foreleg, as the Big Dipper — and which planet went with which god.

In Practice

These ceilings record what the Egyptians actually knew about the sky across two thousand years. From them scholars reconstruct the order of the decans (the Tanis family, the Senenmut family, and the Seti family of decans differ), which planet was which god (Khonsu the Moon, Sah Orion, Sopdet Sirius, and so on), the layout of the northern sky around the Hippopotamus and Foreleg, and the calendar-and-star schemes such as the decan tables and star clocks. Major examples run from the Senenmut tomb ceiling (TT 353, about 1473 BCE, the earliest extensive one), through the Seti I cenotaph and tomb ceiling (KV 17, about 1280 BCE) and the Ramesses VI tomb ceiling (KV 9), to the Dendera Round Zodiac (Hathor temple, before 30 BCE, the best-known and now in the Louvre), the Dendera Square Zodiac, and the Esna A and B zodiacs. Each ceiling is organised around Nut as a sky-spanning canopy, her body filled with decan and star figures.

Historical Origin

Astronomical ceilings are attested from the New Kingdom (the Senenmut tomb, about 1473 BCE) through the Ptolemaic-Roman period (Dendera, before 30 BCE). Standard study: Neugebauer and Parker, Egyptian Astronomical Texts Vol I-III (1960-1969); Clagett, Ancient Egyptian Science Vol II (1995); Belmonte and Lull, In Search of Cosmic Order (2009-2010).

Definition

In Tradition

In Practice

Historical Origin

Further Reading