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mysteries of egyptian zodiacs - HiddenMysteries Information Central

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Round Denderah zodiac. In Figure 2.31, the modern drawing<br />

15 , shown on the left, seems to be very precise. Therefore,<br />

we have decided to conduct our analysis based mostly on this<br />

drawing. However, we also verified all the details on the photographs<br />

made by Pr<strong>of</strong>. Y.V. Tatarinov.<br />

Figure 2.33: Fragment <strong>of</strong> the Round zodiac from the<br />

Napoleonic Album.<br />

There is another important detail which was altered in the<br />

Napoleonic Album. Look at Figure 2.33 showing a part <strong>of</strong> the<br />

same fragment as in Figure 2.31 taken from the Napoleonic<br />

Album. The figure in the center with a walking stick represents<br />

a planet. Over it’s head there is star and above it there<br />

is a curved snake.<br />

However, on the original zodiac in that place there is no<br />

symbol <strong>of</strong> a snake, but instead, there are three hieroglyphs<br />

(see Figure 2.34).<br />

The meaning <strong>of</strong> the three hieroglyphs 16 is in fact the name<br />

“SBK” standing for “Sebek”, which according to Brugsch is<br />

the Egyptian name <strong>of</strong> Mercury 17 . Notice that in ancient Egyptian<br />

hieroglyphical writing there were no vowels. We didn’t<br />

have access to many modern photos <strong>of</strong> other Egyptian <strong>zodiacs</strong>,<br />

but fortunately their composition is less complicated<br />

than the Round zodiac and we trust that the Napoleonic pictures<br />

are reliable copies. For example, the Long Zodiac on the<br />

Napoleonic picture seems to be very precise, however, some<br />

15 Taken from [10], p. 71.<br />

16 See [109]<br />

17 See [4], Vol. 6, p. 697.<br />

2.4 Pictures <strong>of</strong> Egyptian Zodiacs used for Dating in this Book 47<br />

Figure 2.34: Fragment <strong>of</strong> the Round zodiac. (Taken from [10],<br />

p. 29)<br />

minuscule differences still can be identified. On Figure 2.35,<br />

we compare a fragment <strong>of</strong> the Long zodiac with its representations<br />

taken from the Napoleonic Album. From this figure<br />

we can conclude that in general the Napoleonic picture <strong>of</strong> the<br />

Long zodiac is highly precise. Nevertheless, it’s possible to list<br />

several minor differences:<br />

• Over the head <strong>of</strong> the first female figure standing on the<br />

right from the sign <strong>of</strong> PISCES there is a rectangular<br />

frame. Inside this frame on the original, there is a falcon<br />

head which is missing in the Napoleonic picture.<br />

• Over the head <strong>of</strong> the female figure standing on the left<br />

from PISCES there is a symbol <strong>of</strong> a star. This symbol<br />

which is not so noticeable was omitted on the Napoleonic<br />

picture. Maybe the artist was not able to recognize this<br />

symbol.<br />

• The rectangular frame above the head <strong>of</strong> the male figure<br />

with a walking stick (on the right from PISCES) there is<br />

a symbol <strong>of</strong> falcon, but on the Napoleonic picture there<br />

is a bird definitely different than falcon.<br />

• The same male figure is holding in his right hand an Egyptian<br />

cross with handle. This cross is also omitted on the<br />

Napoleonic picture.<br />

Drawings <strong>of</strong> the both Esna <strong>zodiacs</strong> were included in the<br />

Napoleonic Album. In 2001, at the time we were dating the<br />

Esna <strong>zodiacs</strong> for the first time, we were not able to find other<br />

pictures or photographs <strong>of</strong> these <strong>zodiacs</strong>, and we were forced

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