The original of this is in the Louvre Museum, a plaster copy is at the Dendera Temple
slightly larger view for the click through...
The original of this is in the Louvre Museum, a plaster copy is at the Dendera Temple
slightly larger view for the click through...
| The temple at Dendera, dedicated to Hathor, belongs to the Ptolemaic era of Egypt. This was a time of foreign rulers, who adopted Egyptian culture and religion. The sculptured Dendera zodiac is a widely known Egyptian artefact, containing images of Taurus (the bull) and the Libra (the balance). 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. However, certain other figures on the ceiling, such as the Hippo and the Foreleg (Constellation of the Thigh) in the center, are indigenous to Egypt, dating back to the earliest astral records we have, some 2000 years before this round zodiac. |