Mooring Post (mnjt / Menit Constellation)

MEN-it

egyptian: mnjt

Definition

The Mooring Post (Egyptian mnjt, also mnt; conventionally read "Menit") is an Egyptian constellation of the Ramesside star clocks — the third-most-cited northern constellation in those tables, supplying six hourly stars (Neugebauer and Parker's group Q). Belmonte and Lull identify it with stars of Boötes, chiefly Arcturus (α Boötis) and Muphrid. Its sign-shape matches the Gardiner hieroglyph P11, a mooring-post. The name carries the Egyptian image of the sun-boat tying up at hourly posts as it travels the sky.

In Tradition

Belmonte and Lull treat the Mooring Post as one of the chief constellations of the New Kingdom transit-based star clocks, used to mark the hours of the night. They identify mnjt with Boötes — mainly Arcturus and Muphrid — its northern reach extending to Alkaid in Ursa Major. In the Ramesside tables the Mooring Post hours follow those of the Hippopotamus (Reret) — the same order kept in the Dendera circular zodiac, where the mooring posts come before the northern hippopotamus.

In Practice

The Mooring Post is a worked example of how Egyptian timekeeping and funerary belief share one sky. As a star-clock constellation, mnjt supplies six hourly stars to the Ramesside transit tables; a priest tracked these stars across the meridian to read the hours of the night. In the images on astronomical ceilings, the chains drawn from Meskhetyu are tied to the mnjt-shaped pole held by the Hippopotamus constellation, making the Mooring Post a structural anchor of the northern-sky panel. The name carries the Egyptian image of celestial boats tying up at hourly posts along the sun's nightly journey. The constellation also appears in the Pyramid Texts: the celestial Mooring Post calls the dead king to his place among the imperishable stars (the ikhemu-sek), setting it into the Old Kingdom afterlife. Belmonte and Lull further note a possible link between Arcturus rising over Heliopolis around 2450 BCE and the 4th-Dynasty pyramid at Zawiyet el-Aryan, whose royal name invokes a "great star."

Historical Origin

The Mooring Post is attested as a star-clock constellation in the New Kingdom Ramesside transit star clocks (c. 1500-1000 BCE) and is identified with Boötes / Arcturus by Belmonte and Lull (Lull and Belmonte 2009; Belmonte 2012). Its cross-attestation in the Pyramid Texts, where the celestial Mooring Post summons the king to the imperishable stars, carries it back to the Old Kingdom. Modern scholarly treatment: Belmonte and Lull, Astronomy of Ancient Egypt (2018); Neugebauer and Parker, Egyptian Astronomical Texts.

Etymology

Origin: Egyptian. Meaning: mnjt — "mooring post"; the post to which celestial boats are tied.

Definition

In Tradition

In Practice

Historical Origin

Etymology

Further Reading