mysteries of egyptian zodiacs - HiddenMysteries Information Central

• Mercury — in the middle of Aquarius, not far from Pisces
(Aquarius occupies only 17 o on the ecliptic);
• Mars — in Capricorn from the side of Aquarius, not far
from the Sun, but visible;
• Saturn — in Gemini;
• Jupiter — on the border between Leo and Virgo;
• Moon — in Sagittarius, it looks like a crescent, it is 25
days old.
After comparing the planetary positions corresponding to
the obtained solutions with the locations of the planets on the
Athribis zodiacs, we have arrived to the following conclusion:
the Upper zodiac perfectly matches the astronomical solution
and the Lower zodiac almost perfectly fits the astronomical
solution with the exception for Venus, which was invisible on
the date indicated by the solution. Since Venus disappeared
in the morning ray, the author of the zodiacs was not able
to observe on which side of the Sun it was located at that
time. In order to obtain this information, it was necessary to
accomplish additional tasks. However, it is not reasonable to
assume that the author of these zodiacs performed astronomical
computations in order to determine the exact locations
of the planets. In other words, we simply assume that the
Athribis zodiacs were designed based on the astronomical observations
only. From this point of view, the match between
the planetary configurations on the both zodiacs and the corresponding
astronomical solutions is ideal.
Consequently, we need only to verify if the astronomical
solution for the Upper zodiac provides us with an explanation
for the “meeting scene” in Leo, and for the Lower zodiac,
to check if the solution satisfies the partial horoscope of the
summer solstice.
Regarding the supplementary scenes illustrating the
Paschal Moon on the Athribis zodiacs, they should not be
considered as an argument for rejecting astronomical solutions.
On the color annotated zodiacs, these scenes are marked
in green. Their meaning was already discussed in subsection
5.9.1
8.1.7 Validation of the Solutions According
to the Partial Horoscope of the Summer
Solstice
Let us show the exact planetary locations on the ecliptic
J2000 for the summer solstice days on June 12, 1268, and
on June 12, 1267. The first of these dates, should be considered
in the case the beginning of the year was assumed to
take place in September or January, while the another one is
according to the convention that the beginning of the year
was in March or June.
Let us analyze the first date: June 12, 1268. In Table 8.6,
we present for this date the positions of the planets on the
ecliptic J2000 using degrees, as well as, the coordinates on the
constellation scale (see section 6.10). In addition, for each of
the listed planets we indicate the corresponding zodiacal constellation.
Just by looking at these numbers, we can already
8.1 The Athribis Zodiacs of Flinders Petrie 223
say that our astronomical solution fits quite well the partial
horoscope of the summer solstice on the Lower zodiac. On the
summer solstice day, all the planets gathered indeed around
the Sun in Gemini. Nevertheless, this correspondence with the
partial horoscope is not perfect. The planetary configuration
on that day was clearly different than the one depicted on
the partial horoscope of the summer solstice on the Lower zodiac.
Recall that on the Lower zodiac, there were three planets
shown on one side of the Sun, while there were two more on
the other side. But, on the June 12, 1268, there were four
planets on the one side of the Sun (without counting Moon)
and only one — Mars, on the other side. It is clear that these
two configurations are different, so it is hard to consider them
as matching.
Julian day (JD) = 2184358.00 — Summer Solstice
Year/Month/Day = 1268/6/12
Beginning of the Year in September or January
Mars Sun Moon Saturn Mercury Venus Jupiter
57.1 o
98.6 o
101.6 o 112.4 o
117.4 o
1.15 2.31 2.41 2.79 2.96 3.10 4.15
Taurus Gemini Gemini Gemini Gemini Cancer Leo
121.0 o 148.1 o 6
Table 8.6: Planetary Positions on June 12, 1268
Let us look now on the second date: June 12, 1267. This is
the date of the summer solstice (with accuracy of 1–2 days) in
the year indicated by the solution (February 8–11, 1268) according
to the convention that the beginning of the year was
in March or June. We should remember that in the present
times the beginning of the year is in January, that’s why we
got here two different years. In Table 8.7, we list the positions
of the planets on June 10, 1267, i.e. two days before the summer
solstice day. The planetary configuration on that day was
very close to the picture shown on the Lower zodiac. In fact,
even two days later, on June 12, 1267, these similarities still
remained very strong. The only difference was that Mercury
managed to move on the other side of the Sun. Since at all
that time Mercury was located in close proximity to the Sun,
it was not visible, so it is clear that these changes couldn’t be
observed with a naked eye. Thus, the author of the Athribis
zodiacs could only speculate what was the appropriate side
of the Sun to show Mercury. We should also remember that
in this epoch, there were no yet available precise timekeeping
devices. Even in the 14th century books, the dates of the solstices
and equinoxes were determined with errors up to 5–6
days.
It is clear that we have here a perfect match, up to the
smallest detail.
Indeed, on June 10, 1267, all the five planets: Mercury,
Venus, Jupiter, Saturn and Mars, gathered around the Sun.
Their configuration was exactly the same as shown on the