mysteries of egyptian zodiacs - HiddenMysteries Information Central

162 7 The Dates Shown on the Monumental Zodiacs in the Denderah and Esna Temples
be higher more than 1 o , so it wouldn’t change the invisibility
conditions. Indeed, on April 22, 1168 A.D., which is the first
day of the solution, the submersion of the Sun at the moment
when Mercury was rising, was only 4 o in Cairo and less than
5 o in Luxor. In the same time, the brightness of Mercury was
very low M = +3.3, so it wasn’t possible to observe Mercury
in these conditions. On the last day of the solution, which
was April 26, 1168 A.D., the submersion of the Sun was 6 o
in Cairo and not more than 7 o in Luxor. At that time the
brightness of Mercury was little bit higher (M = +2.1) but
still insufficient for the visibility in such conditions. Consequently,
Mercury was invisible at all the days of the solution,
and we can conclude that in this solution, Mercury must be
represented by the two-faced figure between Aries and Taurus.
Recall that this figure of Mercury has no star over his
head, which means it was in invisible position. Moreover, the
position of Mercury in the solution was in the middle of Aries,
what ideally corresponds to the location of this figure on the
Long Zodiac. In this case, the second figure of Mercury should
either belong to the partial horoscope of the summer solstice,
in which area it shown, or it simply represents a separate
supplementary astronomical scene. Notice that such scenes
are present on the Long zodiac. For example, there is a scene,
that we will discuss below, showing Mars on a goose approaching
Saturn. In any case in this solution, the second figure of
Mercury can not belong to the main horoscope, because on
April 22–26, 1168, Mercury stayed in Aries, while the second
Mercury is shown in Taurus. Moreover the second one is not
on the same side of the Sun as in the solution. That means,
the second figure of Mercury should be included in the other
category of the check-up list. We closed this column with an
encircled sign plus to signal that all these condition is fully
satisfied by the solution.
Column 2: VISIBILITY OF VENUS. On the Long zodiac,
the figure representing Venus has a star over its head, which
means it was visible. On all the days included in the solution,
Venus was clearly visible in the morning. On April 22,
1168, when Venus was rising, the submersion of the Sun was
SUH=10 o in Cairo, and the brightness of Venus was high
M = −2.8, so Venus was very well visible. On April 26, 1168,
which is the last day in the solution, the visibility conditions
were even better. The submersion of the Sun was SUH=12 o
and the brightness of Venus was M = −3.7. That means
Venus was perfectly well visible in the mornings on all days
specified in the solution. In the solution, Venus was in the
middle of Aries, while Mercury was also in Aries not far from
Venus on the Taurus side. This configuration corresponds perfectly
to the astronomical picture on the Long zodiac. Again,
we marked this column with the plus sign to show that the
specified condition was satisfied.
Column 3: PARTIAL HOROSCOPE OF THE AUTUMN
EQUINOX. The variant of the beginning of the Egyptian year
was determined through the verification process. It turned out
that it was in September, so the year related to the solution
started in September 1167 and ended by September 1168 (see
section 5.11). This choice of the beginning of the year fits well
not only the Long zodiac, but practically all the Egyptian
zodiacs (with one exception). Therefore, the autumn equinox
for this solution occurred in September 1167.
Let us remark that we can not expect from the creators
of the Long zodiac the precise determination of the dates of
the equinoxes and solstices. It is not an easy task and even
in the 14th century the errors of up to six days were made 20 .
The exact date of the autumn equinox in the year 1167 was
on September 11-12 (see Appendix ??). By assuming a six
days margin of error, we obtain the interval September 5–
18, 1167 for checking the planetary positions in the partial
horoscope of the autumn equinox. The six day discrepancy
from the exact date of the autumn equinox is significant only
for Moon and possibly for Mercury. With respect to other
planets (which are relatively slow) these few days make no
difference.
Let us indicate the planetary positions in the period
September 13–15, 1167 (see Table 7.2):
Julian day (JD) = 2147560.00
Year/Month/Day = 1167/9/13
Sun Moon Saturn Jupiter Mars Venus Mercury
188.1 o
168.4 o
309.3 o
324.4 o
178.9 o
209.3 o
179.6 o
5.93 9.91 10.07 11.37 .51 .67 .95
Julian day (JD) = 2147561.00
Year/Month/Day= 1167/9/14
Sun Moon Saturn Jupiter Mars Venus Mercury
189.1 o
181.2 o
309.2 o
324.3 o
179.5 o
210.5 o
178.9 o
5.36 5.16 9.27 9.81 5.12 5.88 5.11
Julian day (JD) = 2147562.00
Year/Month/Day = 1167/9/15
Sun Moon Saturn Jupiter Mars Venus Mercury
190.1 o
193.8 o
309.2 o
324.3 o
180.2 o
211.8 o
178.4 o
5.38 5.47 9.27 9.81 5.14 5.91 5.09
Table 7.2: Planetary Positions in the Period September 13–
15, 1167
Using Turbo-Sky program we’ve calculated that the New
Moon appeared on September 17, 1167, at the distance 0.5 o
from Venus. It became visible in evening on September 17,
when it moved a little bit away from Venus, but it was still
very close to it (see Figure 7.17).
On the days of the autumn equinox, on the evening sky
one could observe very bright Venus and no other planets
around. On September 17, the New Moon appeared beside
Venus. Before dawn there were no visible planets near the
horizon. Mars and Mercury were too close to the Sun to be
visible. This situation matches perfectly the information from
the partial horoscope of the autumn equinox, i.e. on that date
20 See [121].