posted
I wasn't going to ask this question and it may have been on the forum prior to this inquiry. This forum is an ancient Egyptian and Egyptology forum so it makes sense to ask this question.
I don't really know if the Grecians or Romans or maybe even the original Egyptian put together this Zodiac carving but how is one supposed to interpret it? They date this art to 50 a.a.e but was this art floating around prior to its arrival in Dendera?
The art on the carving looks totally Egyptian, but I'm curious as to what the 36 images represent ... what time span they represented? Was it of 10 day per sign which represent 360 days? ... 7 day Solstice celebration from December 25th to the first of the new year?
If this is actually the cases then which sign is first and did the first day of the year start in the summer or was it based on the european calendar? I've been curious as to what the ancient Africans such as Km.t thought of the first day of the year.
Was the first day or last day July 22 i.e. 22/7 which equals if divided 3.14 (Pi/Py)or was it the last day which represented the full circle?
I believe what moderns now call 'philosophy of the ancient Egyptians' today was an actual science of the past that could be relevant today; especially in concerns to math.
Like I said, I started not to post this topic but this definitely have something to do with the ancient Egyptian culture. I assume this may float away as another uninteresting post but if there is someone that has some info, it would be greatly appreciated...
Peace!~
Posts: 951 | From: where rules end and freedom begins | Registered: Jun 2004
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Dendara Temple Zodiac: Ptolemaic Period, reign of Cleopatra VII, 50 BC
This sandstone slab comes from the domain dedicated to the goddesses Hathor and Isis at Dendera. It was part of the ceiling of one of the chapels where the resurrection of Osiris was commemorated, on the roof of the great Temple of Hathor.
The vault of heaven is represented by a disc, held up by four women assisted by falcon-headed spirits. Thirty-six spirits or "decans" around the circumference symbolize the 360 days of the Egyptian year. The constellations shown inside the circle include the signs of the zodiac, most of which are represented almost as they are today. Aries, Taurus, Scorpio, and Capricorn, for example, are easily recognizable, whereas others correspond to a more Egyptian iconography: Aquarius is represented as Hapy, the god of the Nile flood, pouring water from two vases. The constellations of the northern sky, featured in the center, include the Great Bear (Ursa Major) in the form of a bull's foreleg. A hippopotamus goddess, opposite Ursa Major and Ursa Minor, represents the constellation of the Dragon.
The five planets that were known at the time [50 BC] are associated with certain signs of the zodiac: Venus ("the god of the morning") is behind Aquarius, Jupiter ("Horus who Reveals the Mystery") is near Cancer, Mars ("Horus the Red") is directly above Capricorn. Mercury is called "the Inert" and Saturn "Horus the Bull". This particular configuration of the planets among the constellations occurs only about once every thousand years; an astrophysicist has dated it between 15 June and 15 August 50 BC. Two eclipses are represented exactly where they occurred. The solar eclipse of 7 March 51 is depicted as the goddess Isis holding a baboon (the god Thoth) by its tail, signifying her attempt to stop the moon from hiding the sun. The lunar eclipse of 25 September 52 is represented by an udjat-eye (the "whole one"), because a lunar eclipse only occurs when the moon is full.
The Zodiac of Dendera was transported to France in 1821 with the permission of Egyptian ruler Mohamed Ali Pasha.
So it appears that the ancient Egyptian has a strong knowledge of Astrophysics & Astrology. The 36 decans are a strong representation of this.
It appears as though the 12 signs are still significant as the primary influences but the 36 are as equally important. If the 36 decans are the 36 of the Egyptian year which last 25,920 years then each decan have a time span of 720 years. There are 3 decans per month (the 3 phases of the moon) which means each month is for a time span of 2160 years. 12 X 2160 = 25,920 which is equal to what an Egyptian year is; so:
1 year = 25,920 an if you add the numbers together then we would have 2+5+9+2+0 = 9
1 Month = 2160 if added together would be 2+1+6+0 = 9
1 decan = 720 if added together would equal 7+2+0 = 9
Now according to Ra Un Nefer Amen ... Auset/Isis represent the 9th stage if you will, so there seems to be something of importance to the number 9. I mean I don't think the Egyptian did anything that wasn't calculated to the exact science of Math.
Another thing that has me pondering is the fact that Isis is seen on the 4 corners of this block. Heru is seen 8 time between the 4 Isis corners. This is equivalent 12 as well when you add Isis and Heru together.
I guess its all about decoding these mathematical charts.
Peace!~
Posts: 951 | From: where rules end and freedom begins | Registered: Jun 2004
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posted
Man this is a great thread. What is the connections you are trying to make with the 9's kaba.
Is there a site Myra that you have that corresponds Egyptian astrology(dieties) with grecko-roman astrology(dieties) or one that shows the difference?
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quote:Originally posted by vidadavida: Man this is a great thread. What is the connections you are trying to make with the 9's kaba.
Is there a site Myra that you have that corresponds Egyptian astrology(dieties) with grecko-roman astrology(dieties) or one that shows the difference?
I was playing with the numbers and I've noticed that the numbers based on the Egyptian year if divided by 12X2v/_25,920=.000012sec, and has the ability to divide even further. Now were talking about 12 second from 25,920 years. 12 or 1+2=3 & 1+2=3. If u take 12/3 and 12/3 adding the 3+3 obviously you get 6 which is equivalent to saying 12+12=24, 24 = 2+4 = 6.
This may sound confusing and then again it may not make sense at all, but from 25,920 years ... 12 month equivalent to 2160 each month broken down to 9 is interesting. like the moon has 3 period it is only logical to apply this same phase to the Egyptian months. When that is done you get 720 which is equivalent to 9 as well but then the number 3 was introduced. So now were dealing with 3&9. Now if you divided the number 25,920 14 times by 3 and 1 time by 12 (which obviously gave us our 12 months at 2160) then you can get down to the hours of a man/woman life. I took it as far as I could go and I got down to 4h44m. Where talking 4 hours and 44 minutes. Yet if you take 4+4+4 you get 12 = 1+2 = 3 and you take the amount of division and you get 15 which is = 1+5 = 6. Now we have 3 numbers; 3,6&9.
If 3 is the representation of creation (Christian /father Egyptian Sekert) 6 is equivalent to Son/Heru or Christians man was built on the 6th day which makes us children of God) And 9 which is the quest of the mother Isis/Auset (which Christian, Muslims and Jews deny). Does this make the egyptian year a representation of the father, mother an Son; 3f 6s 9m; which equal 9 known to the numerologist as the number of completion?
If you divide 3/25,920 you will get 8640 years which is equal to 9 as well (8+6+4+0=18=1+8=9).
Like the 3 phase of the moon do man live in 3 phases and like the moon we do it again? Basically I'm trying to understand the ancient teaching of the Egyptians. We have about 8 to 9 thousand years of remembered or known history which is about equal to 8640 years or 1/3.
Are we in what would be called the crescent moon of the Egyptian year? Meaning the last phase and then we start back over like the moon does at full? The crescent moon represents the masculine phase, which is what we've been in, a patriarch based society for the last 6 years plus. The waning period is before the crescent which is a time of total darkness ...
To make a long thesis short ... I believe the ancient Egyptians was telling us the stages of man through this Egyptian year and it is up to us to figure what they were. The Egyptian year is the true representation of what the so called Christian trinity is all about, meaning the father, mother and son. One of the reasons I started coming to this site was to learn the history of the ancient Egyptian ... but I've always been into the mysteries of the world and the Egyptians like some West African groups have plenty of them i.e. Yoruba, Dogon, etc ...
Theories ... Not facts ... it not something that I would write a book about unless there was evidence to totally support my theory ...
Peace!
Posts: 951 | From: where rules end and freedom begins | Registered: Jun 2004
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quote:Originally posted by KaBa Un Hru: Now according to Ra Un Nefer Amen ... Auset/Isis represent the 9th stage if you will, so there seems to be something of importance to the number 9. I mean I don't think the Egyptian did anything that wasn't calculated to the exact science of Math.
The Genesis of the Empire
In the fourth month, the human fetus manifests its existence by moving; it becomes viable in the seventh month, then, during the eight month undergoes a renewal that enables it to be born in the ninth month.
In the history of pharaonic Egypt, the beginning of the fourth month of gestation corresponds approximately to the year 4300 BC, which is the date of the unification of the empire and the beginning of the Dynastic Period. It is the first historic dynasty and begins with Menes (a name related to men, foundation, and also to men.t, the thigh, and to Mentu).
This pushes the conception of the empire back to approximately 2160 years before Menes. This period, comprising three months of gestation, constitutes the Predynastic Period ruled by the sign of Gemini, which has a double character. All the evidence dating from the Predynastic Period shows a duality: the kingdom of the North (red crown) and the kingdom of the South (white crown) were still separated and would only be reunited under one scepter with Menes, the sole king of the North and the South.
These three decans of predynastic history—the three months of gestation before the manifest life of the fetus—constitute the period of "polarization." This is the embryonic phase during which the poles and the complements define themselves, the innermost glands as much as the nervous centers, and the distinction is made between the male and the female. For Egypt, it is the time when two double towns, Pe and Dep in the North and Nekheb and Nekhen in the South, were built, the towns of coronation for the kings of Lower and Upper Egypt. The two thousand years before Menes are thus devoted to the duality of Gemini (Shu and Tefnut).
With the accession of Menes to the throne, the vernal point entered the sign of Taurus, the Bull, whose cult became official from approximately 4300 B.C. to 2100 B.C. The cult of the bull Apis is the oldest evidence of animate symbolization in historical Egypt. In the First Dynasty, periodic festivals attached to the royal festivals took place in his honor, and his name, Hap, is included with several royal names from that time. Toward the end of the cycle, large temples were built and consecrated to Mentu-Ra, the stellar divinity who enjoyed total supremacy during this period and whose sacred animal was the bull. The last kings of this cycle still associated Mentu to their name (Mentuhotep, Eleventh Dynasty).
The detailed history of the kings from the first dynasties to the Mentuhoteps, in other words, during the complete Taurus cycle, is not well known; however, as tradition asserts, it was the time of the greatest purity in morals and of the greatest wisdom in government. The papyri and the texts date the establishment of all sciences back to this period, and declare them of divine origin, that is, prescribed and revealed through celestial harmony.
From approximately 2100 B.C., the official cult, beginning with Amenemhet (Twelfth Dynasty), is that of Aries—Amun—who was to reach his apogee at the second decan of the sign in 1500 B.C. with the dynasty of the Amenhoteps (Eighteenth Dynasty). Thus Amun, who is one of the "primordial Eight," only had total supremacy over the other neters while the precessional sign of Aries dominated.
The definitive end of the empire came in about 60 B.C. with Cleopatra. This corresponds to the beginning of the precessional sign of Pisces.
This basis for a gestation through nine decans of three zodiacal signs is, in my opinion, unquestionable, because it is absolutely confirmed by the cult of the ram, and it ends with this sign, preceded by the cult of the bull. One can point out in this regard that in the human figures in the Cheops (Khufu) period, in the tombs of the nobles at the foot of the Great Pyramid, there is emphasis placed on the strength of the neck, astrologically governed by Taurus. It is obvious that one sign does not erase another, and in the gestation the influence of the bull continues, submitting to the influence of a new cosmic period without the exclusion of the effects of past influence: today contains yesterday. The solar genesis contains the terrestrial genesis in one of its periods, and the terrestrial genesis, in one of its periods, contains the genesis of the empire, just as the empire contains in one of its periods the entire human genesis.
Source:
The Temple of Man; Apet of the South of Luxor, R. A. Schwaller de Lubicz, pp. 480-481 (1998)
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Posts: 1549 | From: California, USA | Registered: Jan 2006
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quote: Originally posted by vidadavida: Is there a site Myra that you have that corresponds Egyptian astrology(dieties) with grecko-roman astrology(dieties) or one that shows the difference?
"Some zodiac signs are said to be Egyptian in origin, including Aries, Leo, and possibly Gemini.
In the zodiac, Leo is opposite Aquarius. For this separative reason the symbol of Leo is used to represent the bolt. It is the break between opened and closed, before and after, and Leo has always played this part in pharaonic Egypt. That it would have been depicted thereafter in the zodiac of Dendera is natural, and the Greeks had no reason to introduce into Egypt the figure of a lion, an animal unknown in their homeland."
Source:
The Temple of Man; Apet of the South of Luxor, R. A. Schwaller de Lubicz (1998)
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Posts: 1549 | From: California, USA | Registered: Jan 2006
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quote:Originally posted by KaBa Un Hru: I'm curious as to what the 36 images represent ... what time span they represented? Was it of 10 day per sign which represent 360 days?
The edge of the circle, there is a procession of 36 figures that represent the spirits of the 36 decan stars, one corresponding to each of the Egyptians' 10-day weeks. The Egyptians used 36 bright stars that rose in the east just before sunrise to mark the start of their weeks. A new star rose about every 10 days. This outer ring of decans is meant to show the concordance of the decan stars with the Greek astrological zodiac. Certain other figures on the ceiling, such as the Hippo and the Foreleg in the center, are indigenous to Egypt, dating back to the earliest astral records we have, some 2000 years before this round zodiac. Deities indigenous to Egypt that are associated with certain stars or times are also shown on the ceiling.
The decan spirits were important in the astral religion of Egypt. The earliest mention of some individual decans dates from the Pyramid Texts of the Old Kingdom (c. 2450 BCE). The decan spirits' function in these afterlife texts appears to be to aid the deceased in navigating the sky, acting as guides and companions.
In New Kingdom tombs, the pharaohs are shown worshipping the decans. Egyptians believed that some stars were dangerous or hostile, while others afforded people protection and bestowed blessings. Images of decans were inscribed on protective amulets. At Denderah, the decans are described as "mighty, great, great gods, who are protecting the gods (or stars) and follow Sothis (nb: Sirius) on the sky. Living stars who are living on the east of heaven and are defending the deities of Denderah. They are messengers of her Majesty (Hathor) who make the slaughtering of those who are hostile towards her.
Source:
Neugebauer, Otto and Richard A. Parker, Egyptian Astronomical Texts Vol. III (Brown University Press, Providence, RI, 1969), p. 140
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Posts: 1549 | From: California, USA | Registered: Jan 2006
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posted
^Myra This point that you’re making is excellent...
The way that you explained the Leo brings me to the thought that there is a possible the Leo may have been the first sign of the Egyptian zodiac.
Myra Wysinger said:
quote:It is the break between opened and closed, before and after, and Leo has always played this part in pharaonic Egypt.
July 22, is the transitional point depending on what astrology you’re into, that egress out of Cancer/Scarab and into Leo/Lion. 22/7 is in fact 3.14 ... the calculation of Pi.
Cancer is known as 'Khepri' i.e. Scarab 'which was the first form of Ra'. This is how we come to understand that the Europeans totally messed up or purposely destroyed the original establishment of the astrological system the Egyptian maintained.
Khepri i.e. Ra is a 'Sun Deity' so how did Europeans come to associate the Cancer-Khepri-Scarab with the moon? In our more ancient knowledge for example the lion or minor earth deity Aker was the protector of the sun as it traveled from sun up to sun down. This corresponds to the statement quoted by Myra earlier when she said “It is the break between opened and closed, before and after”
If we take the minor deity to represent Leo as masculine then this makes total sense, but if we take the Leo to represent the feminine Sekhmet, the lioness deity that make just as much sense. Sekhmet was once to be a ferocious warrior who was responsible for eternal life. Either way it goes the lion represents the protector or enforcer. Now we can assign all types of lion [ess] based deities to the sign Leo but there is another story that servers with much interest.
Khepri which means ‘Scarab’ in the Egyptian language represent the sign Cancer in European astrology. In European astrology Cancer represents the moon, but if Khepri was in fact the original sign of Cancer then Cancer is not a representation of the moon but the sun. Khepri was the representation or the fusion of the young ‘Ra’ and ‘Atum’. Once Ra came into its adulthood so to speak, Khepri became known as ‘Nefertem’. From the representation of the sun to the represent of the lion headed one shows the transition from the scarab/Khepri to Nefertem/Lion-head deity. This is the transition from Cancer to Leo and that transition point is 7/22 or 22/7 3.14 Pi.
So then as Myra Wysinger and her description of the Leo being the Opening and Closing point makes more sense than ever if the Scarab/Khepri sign Cancer and Leo combined on that one day or the transition point is equally both. 7/22 – 22/7 is the last and first day of the year depending on the time of day. Cancer is the last sign of the Zodiac and Leo is the first But Cancer or Scarab/Khepri is actually the sun sign and not the Moon sign as modern astrology has deemed it to be. July 22 is when Khepri transforms into the Lion which is the sign of Leo … July 23 on modern charts.
I keep bring up 22/7 because this is the point of open and close if you will, when in reality there is no open and close in concerns with the circumference to the diameter of a circle. This circle is never ending and it is the opening and closing point, it is the beginning and the end which seem only logical that Cancer/Scarab into Leo/Lion.
The numbers 3, 6 & 9 has strong scientific meaning especially if we can find the original beginning point of the true year. We have become so accustom to this time chart that we’ve lost contact of the original timing system. Europeans have totally messed it up. They have leap years … 28 days of February and sometimes 29 days … Some months are 31 and some are 30. They’ve made a complete mess of time. I’m also reminded by a scripture in the Tanakh in the book of Daniel:
Daniel 7: 24 And the ten horns out of this kingdom are ten kings that shall arise: and another shall rise after them; and he shall be diverse from the first, and he shall subdue three kings. 25 And he shall speak great words against the most High, and shall wear out the saints of the most High, and think to change times and laws: and they shall be given into his hand until a time and times and the dividing of time.
Now don’t get me wrong, I don’t believe in the bible like that but there are some things in it that are true. To be honest there is no such thing as a Hebrew writing because the bible came out of and was created in Egypt by Egyptian text written on papyrus. This is a different topic for different discussion. The scriptures sited above, shows that at one point time was changed.
I will stop right here…
Peace!~
Posts: 951 | From: where rules end and freedom begins | Registered: Jun 2004
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quote:Originally posted by KaBa Un Hru: I'm curious as to what the 36 images represent ... what time span they represented? Was it of 10 day per sign which represent 360 days?
The edge of the circle, there is a procession of 36 figures that represent the spirits of the 36 decan stars, one corresponding to each of the Egyptians' 10-day weeks. The Egyptians used 36 bright stars that rose in the east just before sunrise to mark the start of their weeks. A new star rose about every 10 days. This outer ring of decans is meant to show the concordance of the decan stars with the Greek astrological zodiac. Certain other figures on the ceiling, such as the Hippo and the Foreleg in the center, are indigenous to Egypt, dating back to the earliest astral records we have, some 2000 years before this round zodiac. Deities indigenous to Egypt that are associated with certain stars or times are also shown on the ceiling.
The decan spirits were important in the astral religion of Egypt. The earliest mention of some individual decans dates from the Pyramid Texts of the Old Kingdom (c. 2450 BCE). The decan spirits' function in these afterlife texts appears to be to aid the deceased in navigating the sky, acting as guides and companions.
In New Kingdom tombs, the pharaohs are shown worshipping the decans. Egyptians believed that some stars were dangerous or hostile, while others afforded people protection and bestowed blessings. Images of decans were inscribed on protective amulets. At Denderah, the decans are described as "mighty, great, great gods, who are protecting the gods (or stars) and follow Sothis (nb: Sirius) on the sky. Living stars who are living on the east of heaven and are defending the deities of Denderah. They are messengers of her Majesty (Hathor) who make the slaughtering of those who are hostile towards her.
Source:
Neugebauer, Otto and Richard A. Parker, Egyptian Astronomical Texts Vol. III (Brown University Press, Providence, RI, 1969), p. 140
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Very interesting ...
I'm in the process of trying to recreate what the ancient astrological chart may have looked like in modern times. As a master numerologist and astrologist (which many today reference as pseudoscience)I find it necessary to learn the true science behind what was once considered a legitimate science. The 36 decans represent 10 days as stated above adding up to 360 which is the degree of a full circle. 3 +6 = 9, these are the first two numbers in 360. The 9 represents that which came from the 0 i.e. Amen;
I read Ra Un Nefer Amen's work on the Mdu Ntr a few years back but I still hold his teachings on the Paut Neter as one of the best that I've heard to date (taking suggestions if anyone know of someone better). The 9 stages from Ausar to Auset as I see it are the 9 that dwell within the 0 (Amen).
I personally believe that if there is a god then the writings of this deity is in the stars (Psalms 19:1-7) and his/her handy work is based on numbers/sacred mathematics. Even in todays environment, our computers communicate using 1's and 0's and a car cannot operate properly if one thing is off mathematically. 'As is above so is below', something the Egyptians understood on levels that we cannot understand; YET!!!
I personally believe because this is now viewed as a pseudoscience the ability to create new inventions and many other wonders are lost. This is why we have so many lawsuits and copyright infringements because we have limited science to one strict form which constrict creativity.
Djehuti is into science which I'm sure he has already been taught by our educational system that this form of science is of no value. Yet, they are promoting the ideal of Quantum physics now when in previous times that would have been unfounded or unconventional.
Myra Wysinger, please keep the information flowing, this research is a very big part of what makes the km.t culture what it is as well.
Peace!~
Posts: 951 | From: where rules end and freedom begins | Registered: Jun 2004
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Hope to have more to offer than this anecdote. In my youth I painted the sun signs from this zodiac on my mentor's living room wall. I used the images reproduced on a plate in J. G. Jackson's Intro to African Civilization. [See zodiac related pp.133-138 of this work by using GOODLE's book search feature for -- zodiac "john g jackson" --]
Though it's even older than old school, Volney's Ruins has something interesting to say about the natural genesis of the zodiac.
Sorry I have nothing up to date to contribute to this very on-topic discussion.
Posts: 8014 | From: the Tekrur in the Western Sahel | Registered: Feb 2006
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quote: "Should it be asked at what epoch this system took its birth, we shall answer on the testimony of the monuments of astronomy itself; that its principles appear with certainty to have been established about seventeen thousand years ago,* and if it be asked to what people it is to be attributed, we shall answer that the same monuments, supported by unanimous traditions, attribute it to the first tribes of Egypt; and when reason finds in that country all the circumstances which could lead to such a system; when it finds there a zone of sky, bordering on the tropic, equally free from the rains of the equator and the fogs of the North;** when it finds there a central point of the sphere of the ancients, a salubrious climate, a great, but manageable river, a soil fertile without art or labor, inundated without morbid exhalations, and placed between two seas which communicate with the richest countries, it conceives that the inhabitant of the Nile, addicted to agriculture from the nature of his soil, to geometry from the annual necessity of measuring his lands, to commerce from the facility of communications, to astronomy from the state of his sky, always open to observation, must have been the first to pass from the savage to the social state; and consequently to attain the physical and moral sciences necessary to civilized life.
It was, then, on the borders of the upper Nile, among a black race of men, that was organized the complicated system of the worship of the stars, considered in relation to the productions of the earth and the labors of agriculture; and this first worship, characterized by their adoration under their own forms and natural attributes, was a simple proceeding of the human mind. But in a short time, the multiplicity of the objects of their relations, and their reciprocal influence, having complicated the ideas, and the signs that represented them, there followed a confusion as singular in its cause as pernicious in its effects.
As soon as this agricultural people began to observe the stars with attention, they found it necessary to individualize or group them; and to assign to each a proper name, in order to understand each other in their designation. A great difficulty must have presented itself in this business: First, the heavenly bodies, similar in form, offered no distinguishing characteristics by which to denominate them; and, secondly, the language in its infancy and poverty, had no expressions for so many new and metaphysical ideas. Necessity, the usual stimulus of genius, surmounted everything. Having remarked that in the annual revolution, the renewal and periodical appearance of terrestrial productions were constantly associated with the rising and setting of certain stars, and to their position as relative to the sun, the fundamental term of all comparison, the mind by a natural operation connected in thought these terrestrial and celestial objects, which were connected in fact; and applying to them a common sign, it gave to the stars, and their groups, the names of the terrestrial objects to which they answered.* Thus the Ethopian of Thebes named stars of inundation, or Aquarius, those stars under which the Nile began to overflow;* stars of the ox or the bull, those under which they began to plow; stars of the lion, those under which that animal, driven from the desert by thirst, appeared on the banks of the Nile; stars of the sheaf, or of the harvest virgin, those of the reaping season; stars of the lamb, stars of the two kids, those under which these precious animals were brought forth: and thus was resolved the first part of the difficulty.
Moreover, man having remarked in the beings which surrounded him certain qualities distinctive and proper to each species, and having thence derived a name by which to designate them, he found in the same source an ingenious mode of generalizing his ideas; and transferring the name already invented to every thing which bore any resemblance or analogy, he enriched his language with a perpetual round of metaphors. Thus the same Ethiopian having observed that the return of the inundation always corresponded with the rising of a beautiful star which appeared towards the source of the Nile, and seemed to warn the husbandman against the coming waters, he compared this action to that of the animal who, by his barking, gives notice of danger, and he called this star the dog, the barker (Sirius). In the same manner he named the stars of the crab, those where the sun, having arrived at the tropic, retreated by a slow retrograde motion like the crab or cancer. He named stars of the wild goat, or Capricorn, those where the sun, having reached the highest point in his annuary tract, rests at the summit of the horary gnomon, and imitates the goat, who delights to climb the summit of the rocks. He named stars of the balance, or libra, those where the days and nights, being equal, seemed in equilibrium, like that instrument; and stars of the scorpion, those where certain periodical winds bring vapors, burning like the venom of the scorpion. In the same manner he called by the name of rings and serpents the figured traces of the orbits of the stars and the planets, and such was the general mode of naming all the stars and even the planets, taken by groups or as individuals, according to their relations with husbandry and terrestrial objects, and according to the analogies which each nation found between them and the objects of its particular soil and climate.* From this it appeared that abject and terrestrial beings became associated with the superior and powerful inhabitants of heaven; and this association became stronger every day by the mechanism of language and the constitution of the human mind. Men would say by a natural metaphor: The bull spreads over the earth the germs of fecundity (in spring) he restores vegetation and plenty: the lamb (or ram) delivers the skies from the maleficent powers of winter; he saves the world from the serpent (emblem of the humid season) and restores the empire of goodness (summer, joyful season): the scorpion pours out his poison on the earth, and scatters diseases and death. The same of all similar effects.
This language, understood by every one, was attended at first with no inconvenience; but in the course of time, when the calendar had been regulated, the people, who had no longer any need of observing the heavens, lost sight of the original meaning of these expressions; and the allegories remaining in common use became a fatal stumbling block to the understanding and to reason. Habituated to associate to the symbols the ideas of their archetypes, the mind at last confounded them: then the same animals, whom fancy had transported to the skies, returned again to the earth; but being thus returned, clothed in the livery of the stars, they claimed the stellary attributes, and imposed on their own authors. Then it was that the people, believing that they saw their gods among them, could pray to them with more convenience: they demanded from the ram of their flock the influences which might be expected from the heavenly ram; they prayed the scorpion not to pour out his venom upon nature; they revered the crab of the sea, the scarabeus of the mud, the fish of the river; and by a series of corrupt but inseparable analogies, they lost themselves in a labyrinth of well connected absurdities.
Such was the origin of that ancient whimsical worship of the animals; such is the train of ideas by which the character of the divinity became common to the vilest of brutes, and by which was formed that theological system, extremely comprehensive, complicated, and learned, which, rising on the borders of the Nile, propagated from country to country by commerce, war, and conquest, overspread the whole of the ancient world; and which, modified by time, circumstances and prejudices, is still seen entire among a hundred nations, and remains as the essential and secret basis of the theology of those even who despise and reject it.
quote: In the representation of the Zodiac in the Temple of Denderah (in Egypt) the figure of Virgo is annotated by a smaller figure of Isis with Horus in her arms; and the Roman Church fixed the celebration of Mary's assumption into the glory at the very date (15th August) of the said constellation's disappearance from sight in the blaze of the solar rays, and her birth on the date (8th Sept.) of the same constellation's reappearance.
Edward Carpenter Love's Coming of Age New York: , 1926) between pp.146–149 as per J. G. Jackson's Pagan Origins of the Christ Myth
quote: The Zodiac of Dendera gives a brief glimpse into aspects of Nile Valley astronomy, astrology, agriculture and calendar making. The inner circle of figures, which move counter clockwise like the stars, shows the astrological signs of the zodiac circling around the North Pole, which is symbolized by the deity Anpu. The outer circle of figures represents the 36 decans (ten day weeks) of the Egyptian year. Thus one had a circle (36 * 10 = 360 degrees). The twelve figures outside the circle represent the 12 months of the year and their arms, the 24 hours of the day. It was in this manner that the 12 signs of the zodiac, which regulated agriculture, were created. Each sign was associated with a decan and was called one of "the watchers of the hours." The word "hour" derives from the deity Heru or Horus. Thus the signs of the zodiac were also "the watchers of Heru/Horus" and hence the origin of the word "Horoscope." (Photo and Information courtesy of Man, God and Civilization by John G. Jackson and Ancient Egypt)
quote: The Zodiac of Dendera gives a brief glimpse into aspects of Nile Valley astronomy, astrology, agriculture and calendar making. The inner circle of figures, which move counter clockwise like the stars, shows the astrological signs of the zodiac circling around the North Pole, which is symbolized by the deity Anpu. The outer circle of figures represents the 36 decans (ten day weeks) of the Egyptian year. Thus one had a circle (36 * 10 = 360 degrees). The twelve figures outside the circle represent the 12 months of the year and their arms, the 24 hours of the day. It was in this manner that the 12 signs of the zodiac, which regulated agriculture, were created. Each sign was associated with a decan and was called one of "the watchers of the hours." The word "hour" derives from the deity Heru or Horus. Thus the signs of the zodiac were also "the watchers of Heru/Horus" and hence the origin of the word "Horoscope." (Photo and Information courtesy of Man, God and Civilization by John G. Jackson and Ancient Egypt)
posted
Myra is correct. The Egyptians have a much more extensive and of course much older knowledge of astronomy than the Greeks. I am not at surprised that they concieved an astrology of their own or that such astrology influenced the Greeks.
Posts: 26239 | From: Atlanta, Georgia, USA | Registered: Feb 2005
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-------------------- It's not my burden to disabuse the ignorant of their wrong opinions Posts: 2699 | From: New York | Registered: Jun 2015
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