(ORDO NEWS) — Stargazing for the constellations that govern birth and life has a long and complicated history, and archaeologists have just discovered a small part of it.
An impressive series of relief paintings on the ceiling of an ancient Egyptian temple depicts the 12 signs of the zodiac.
In addition to images of the zodiac, the artwork restored at the Temple of Esna in Upper Egypt, dedicated to the ram-headed god Khnum and others, also includes images of the five planets of our solar system, the “seven arrows” of Sekhmet, and some of the decans used to measure the hours of the night.
This is a rare and beautiful find from a series of stunning and intricate works of art that are almost 2,000 years old that adorn the walls of the temple.
“Zodiac images are very rare in Egyptian temples,” says Egyptologist Christian Leitz of the University of Tübingen in Germany, whose team worked with the Egyptian Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities on the restoration project.
“The zodiac itself is part of Babylonian astronomy and did not appear in Egypt until the time of the Ptolemies.”
The construction of the Temple of Esna, located about 60 kilometers south of Luxor, began in the Ptolemaic era but continued for centuries.
All that remains now is the vestibule, or pronaos, which was placed during the Roman period, during the reign of Emperor Claudius between 41 and 54 AD.
Esna’s temple, according to the team of archaeologists, is unique for the variety of patterns that cover its walls and the preservation of colors under all the dirt.
By carefully cleaning the sandstone reliefs, scholars and visitors can see the breadth of the temple’s decorations in relation to each other.
However, even among this abundance of colorful figures, the depiction of the signs of the zodiac is an interesting surprise.
It is believed that the ancient Greeks introduced the zodiac to Egypt and it seemed to become very popular, but only in certain contexts.
“The zodiac was used to decorate private tombs and sarcophagi and was of great importance in astrological texts such as horoscopes found on pottery shards,” says Egyptologist Daniel von Recklinghausen from the University of Tübingen.
Currently, work is ongoing, but since it began in 2018, more than half of the ceiling has been cleared, as well as 8 of the 18 columns and 2 architraves supporting the ceiling.
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