mysteries of egyptian zodiacs - HiddenMysteries Information Central

32 2 Ancient Egyptian Zodiacs
Figure 2.3: Zodiac found in the Kings Valley near Thebes.
(Taken from [2] – “Tableau Astronomique peint au plafond
du premier tombeau des Rois à l’Ouest”, plate 82)
found by Europeans in 1799 during the Napoleonic invasion of
Egypt and later removed and taken to Paris. Today the original
Round Denderah zodiac is displayed in Louvre museum
in Paris while a copy decorates the ceiling of the Denderah
temple.
The central part of the Round zodiac is shown on Figure
2.5, where it is possible to see better some of the figures representing
zodiac constellations and planets. We will discuss
in detail all these symbols later in Chapter 5.
Figure 2.4: Round Denderah Zodiac. (Taken from [120], p.115)
Figure 2.5: Central part of the Round Denderah Zodiac. Taken
from [13], p.255)
A drawing of the complete Round zodiac is presented on
Figure 2.7 and the drawing of the Round zodiac taken from
the Napoleonic Album “La Description de l’Egypte” is shown
on Figure 2.6.
This picture looks very nice and it is clear that the artist
tried to be accurate in the smallest detail. However, in the
same time, it is easy to notice that its style was modified following
eighteenth century fashion — the original is much more
primitive. It is not hard to recognize on the Round zodiac
symbols of all twelve zodiac constellations which are placed
inside the central circle of the zodiac. It is strange that these
symbols appear exactly in the same way as in the European
medieval astronomical books. Leo is represented by a figure
of lion, Sagittarius is a centaur shooting an arrow, Capricorn
is a fantastic creature with a fish tail and goat head, etc.