Dendera Zodiacs

Definition: [Source Texts of Astrology] Zodiac ceilings at the Temple of Hathor, Dendera, Egypt. Archeologists consider the 'Circular Zodiac' to have been crafted c 30 BC, and hence it is an Egyptian representation of the, by then, well-established Greek astrological view. As the zodiacs are almost certainly the first Greek zodiac figures depicted in Egypt they have been the subject of considerable debate, much of which you can find on the web. This page doesn't replicate any of the debate; it tells you about Dendera and brings together as many primary source images of the zodiacs as I can find.

Where and What is Dendera? Dendera was the main centre for the worship of the goddess Hathor. In the Egyptian pantheon, Hathor, was goddess of fertility, of women, and of childbirth. The village of Dendera is situated 60km north of Luxor on the west bank of the Nile opposite the provincial town of Qena, where the Nile Valley road branches off to the Red Sea town of Hurghada. Its ancient name was Iunet and it was known as Tentyris during classical times.

The Temple: The central temple of Hathor at Dendera is a 1st and 2nd century BC structure. Inscriptions to Ptolemy VIII Euergetes II (Physkon), reigned 145-116 BC, are found on the crypts. The inscriptions continue through to the Roman Emperors, notably Augustus, reigned - in Egypt - 30 BC-14 AD.

Ceasarion [Ptolemy XIV], reigned 36-30 BC [son of Julius Ceasar and Cleopatra VII] and Cleopatra VII, reigned c 51-30 BC, are depicted in relief on the temple's outer wall. There are also later Roman works on the site, for example a bath house next the temple, and a much later Coptic church.

Map of the Dendera Temple Showing the north-south orientation of the main building. The entrance of the hypostyle hall faces north. [Click on the above for a larger version, 56 kB.]

The Ceiling of the Hypostyle Hall Showing the lines of Hathor-headed columns, between which lie the 'Rectangular Zodiacs.'

The 'Rectangular Zodiacs': The Hypostyle Hall Ceiling in Hathor's Temple: [Hypostyle - a Greek word for a room that has many columns.] The main temple has an imposing facade [see below] constructed as a low screen wall divided by six massive Hathor-headed columns and a huge curved cornice with a winged sun-disc over the entrance. This leads straight into the hypostyle hall [its ceiling shown right] containing eighteen Hathor columns similar to the six in the facade. The ceiling of this first hypostyle hall is divided into seven bands of well-preserved astronomical figures. The colors are beautiful and are mostly still original. The walls are decorated with scenes of Roman emperors as pharaohs making offerings to Hathor.

The central band of the ceiling consists of a row of winged creatures with disks. The two outer bands in the west and east consist of double rows of constellation characters, the 'rectangular zodiacs', surrounded in each case by a large female figure with a star covered dress: whom authorities consider to be the Goddess Nut. In the eastern 'rectangular zodiac' a Sun-like object is emerging, perhaps being born, from Nut's abdomen. A significant section of the western 'rectangular zodiac', towards Nut's feet end, is missing.

Between the western 'rectangular zodiac' and the central winged vultures [bottom half of the figure] lie a double row band and a single row band. I have not been able to find any reproduction of these. Between the central band and the eastern 'rectangular zodiac' [top half of the figure] lie a triple row band and a double row band. Again I have been unable to locate their reproductions on the web. However, they are pictured in Plate 19 of Description de l'Egypt, of which a Taschen version has recently been released.

This hypostyle hall is probably the last part of the main temple to be built, perhaps as late as 35 AD, its back wall forming the front of the earlier version of the temple. Hence these roof carvings are younger than the 'Circular Zodiac'.

A drawing of the hypostyle hall ceiling of Hathor's temple North is to the right in this drawing, east at the top - it's a plan of a ceiling - and west at the bottom, with the entrance to the hypostyle hall being middle right in the north wall. The black sqaures are the tops of Hathor-head columns. This forms plate 18 of Description de l'Egypte ou Recueil des observations et des recherches qui ont ete faites en Egypte pendant l'expedition de l'armee Francaise.

The 'Circular Zodiac': The Roof Temple Zodiac: A suite on the eastern side of the roof depicts the lunar festival of Khoiakh in which an 'Osiris bed' was filled with earth and grain seed as part of an important fertility rite. The walls of the first room show scenes of the burial goods of Osiris, including his canopic jars and on the ceiling Nut is again shown with other astronomical figures. On the other half of the ceiling is a plaster copy of the 'Dendera Zodiac', the original having been 'removed' by Sebastien Saulnierin in 1820 to the Bibliothèque Nationale, Paris. It is now in the Museum of the Louvre [museum piece D38]. However before removal it does seem to have been depicted in-situ in Description de l'Egypte ou Recueil des observations et des recherches qui ont ete faites en Egypte pendant l'expedition de l'armee Francaise the pictorial record of Egypt made by Napoleon's expeditionary army in Egypt. [The inner room depicts scenes from the Osiris myth, similar to that of the western suite as well as astrological reliefs. These two suites of chambers are dedicated to the death and resurrection myth of Osiris, which reflect the mysteries of the divine birth of Hathor's own son, Ihy.]

A drawing of the 'circular zodiac' Based on Plate 21 of Description de l'Egypte ou Recueil des observations et des recherches qui ont ete faites en Egypte pendant l'expedition de l'armee Francaise. See below for access to larger versions

Pictures of the Dendera Temple:


Temple of Hathor, Dendera The facade of the Hypostyle Hall, seen from southeast.	Rear external temple wall Caesarion [Ptolemy XV Caesar [son of Cleopatra VII Philopator and Julius Ceasar]] makes an offering to Hathor. Cleopatra VII is also depicted at Dendera.

Photographs of the Dendera Zodiacs and their Replicas:

Clicking on most of the images below will open up a larger one. Warning: some of the images are quite large.


The Louvre's original Dendera Zodiac [complete] Click on the above for a larger image, 108 kB.	The copy in situ at Dendera Click on the above for a larger image, 62 kB.	A portion of the Louvre's original Dendera Zodiac Click on the above for a larger image, 117 kB.


A portion of the Louvre's original Dendera Zodiac Click on the above for a larger image, 65 kB.	A portion of the Louvre's original Dendera Zodiac Click on the above for a larger image, 66 kB.	A portion of the Louvre's original Dendera Zodiac Click on the above for a larger image, 60 kB.


Section of a copy of the 'circular zodiac', in the Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge I am not sure how much fidelity these copies possess as they are oddly more detailed than the Louvre original.	Section of a copy of the 'circular zodiac', in the Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge I am not sure how much fidelity these copies possess as they are oddly more detailed than the Louvre original. Click on the above for a larger image, 20 kB.	Section of a copy of the 'circular zodiac', in the Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge I am not sure how much fidelity these copies possess as they are oddly more detailed than the Louvre original.

Dendera Zodiac Drawings - Large-Scale Drawing of the Rectangular Zodiacs:

Clicking on any image below will open up a larger one. Warning: some of the images are quite large.

High contrast, complete version of the 'rectangular zodiac' at the east end of the ceiling of hypostyle hall ceiling of Hathor's temple The originator of this scan has added some zodiac sign indicators. Corresponds to plate 20 of Description de l'Egypte ou Recueil des observations et des recherches qui ont ete faites en Egypte pendant l'expedition de l'armee Francaise.

Click on the above for a larger image, WARNING 633 kB.

High contrast, complete version of the 'rectangular zodiac' at the west end of the ceiling of hypostyle hall ceiling of Hathor's temple The originator of this scan has added some zodiac sign indicators. Corresponds to plate 20 of Description de l'Egypte ou Recueil des observations et des recherches qui ont ete faites en Egypte pendant l'expedition de l'armee Francaise.

Click on the above for a larger image, WARNING 674 kB.

Dendera Zodiac Drawings:


High contrast complete version of a drawing of the 'circular zodiac' [Zodiaque Sculpte au Plafond de l'une des Salles Superieures du Grand Temple] from Description de l'Egypte ou Recueil des observations et des recherches qui ont ete faites en Egypte pendant l'expedition de l'armee Francaise. Vol IV published: C.L.F. Panckoucke, 2nd Edition (c 1820 - 1830).Corresponds to plate 21. Click on the above for a larger image, WARNING 753 kb.	Large scale line-drawing of the 'circular zodiac' [Zodiaque Sculpte au Plafond de l'une des Salles Superieures du Grand Temple] from Description de l'Egypte ou Recueil des observations et des recherches qui ont ete faites en Egypte pendant l'expedition de l'armee Francaise. Vol IV published: C.L.F. Panckoucke, 2nd Edition (c 1820 - 1830). Corresponds to plate 21. Click on the above for a larger image, WARNING 479 kb.	A drawing of the 'circular zodiac' [Zodiaque Sculpte au Plafond de l'une des Salles Superieures du Grand Temple] from Description de l'Egypte ou Recueil des observations et des recherches qui ont ete faites en Egypte pendant l'expedition de l'armee Francaise. Vol IV published: C.L.F. Panckoucke, 2nd Edition (c 1820 - 1830) plate 21. Photo of the actual plate. Click on the above for a larger image, 63 kb.


Detail of a drawing of the 'circular zodiac' [Zodiaque Sculpte au Plafond de l'une des Salles Superieures du Grand Temple] from Description de l'Egypte ou Recueil des observations et des recherches qui ont ete faites en Egypte pendant l'expedition de l'armee Francaise. Vol IV published: C.L.F. Panckoucke, 2nd Edition (c 1820 - 1830) plate 21. Shows the zodiac's orientation with respect to the figure of the goddess presumably still at Dendera. Click on the above for a larger image, 81 kb.	A drawing of the 'rectangular zodiac' [Zodiaque Sculpte au Plafond du Portique du Grand Temple] from Description de l'Egypte ou Recueil des observations et des recherches qui ont ete faites en Egypte pendant l'expedition de l'armee Francaise. Vol IV published: C.L.F. Panckoucke, 2nd Edition (c 1820 - 1830) plate 20. Photo of the actual plate. Click on the above for a larger image, 47 kb.	A drawing of the 'rectangular zodiac' [Zodiaque Sculpte au Plafond du Portique du Grand Temple] from Description de l'Egypte ou Recueil des observations et des recherches qui ont ete faites en Egypte pendant l'expedition de l'armee Francaise. Vol IV published: C.L.F. Panckoucke, 2nd Edition (c 1820 - 1830) plate 20. Click on the above for a larger image, 79 kb.


A drawing of the 'circular zodiac' from J. Bentley's A Historical View of Hindu Astronomy (1825) Plate VIII. Click on the above for a larger image, 382 kB.	A drawing of the 'rectangular zodiac' from J. Bentley's A Historical View of Hindu Astronomy (1825) Plate VII. Click on the above for a larger image, 117 kB.	A drawing of a section of the 'rectangular zodiac' From J.N. Lockyer'sThe Dawn of Astronomy (1894) p 136. Click on the above for a larger image, 130 kB.


A drawing of the 'circular zodiac' From R.A. Schwaller de Lubicz 's Sacred Science: the king of Pharaonic theocracy (1961) p 178. Click on the above for a larger image, 119 kB.	A larger area drawing of the 'circular zodiac' From an unknown source. It shows the heiroglyphs by the supporting figures. Very similar in size to the total portion removed to the Louvre Click on the above for a larger image, 35 kB.	A version, colored by an unknown asrtist Of the central sction of the drawing from R.A. Schwaller de Lubicz 's Sacred Science: the king of Pharaonic theocracy. Click on the above for a larger image, 249 kB.


A version, colored by an unknown artist Of the drawing of the 'circular zodiac' from J. Bentley's A Historical View of Hindu Astronomy. It also labels constellations and purports to show thirty-six decans on the zodiac. Click on the above for a larger image, 31 kB.	A version, colored by an unknown artist Of the drawing of the 'circular zodiac' from an unknown source. Click on the above for a larger image, 73 kB.	A version, colored by an unknown artist Of the drawing of the 'circular zodiac' from an unknown source. Click on the above for a larger image, 42 kB.

© Dr Shepherd Simpson, Galactic Astrologer

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