A rare full set of ancient Egyptian astrological symbols has been uncovered under 2,000 years’ worth of grime in Luxor’s Temple of Esna, in southern Egypt.
The set is just one of three full sets of ancient Egyptian zodiac signs uncovered in Egyptian temples, said Dr. Daniel von Recklinghausen, a Tübingen Egyptologist who worked on the project.
“Representations of the zodiac are very rare in Egyptian temples,” Professor Christian Leitz, an Egyptologist of the University of Tübingen who worked on the project, said in a press release.
The temple was already famous for its astronomical ceiling, but some of the star signs had not been detected in previous archaeological missions, Mostafa Waziri, secretary-general of Egypt’s Supreme Council of Antiquities, said in a briefing per Arab News.
With these last signs uncovered, the archaeologists were able to confirm the temple contains a full set of the 12 Egyptian star signs, from Aries to Pisces, Hisham El-Leithy, head of the Egyptian expert team, per Arab News.
The symbols were hidden under a thick layer of muck
The zodiac sign Sagittarius Ahmed Emam, Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities
The discovery was made by a joint team of experts from the Egyptian Center of Documentation of Antiquities and the University of Tübingen, Germany, who are renovating and documenting the temple’s original colors.
“The zodiac was used to decorate private tombs and sarcophagi and was of great importance in astrological texts, such as horoscopes found inscribed on pottery sherds,” said Recklinghausen, adding: “However, it is rare in temple decoration.”
Several of the signs are recognizable to us. These include the Sagittarius, which is represented by a horse with the torso of a human archer — though in ancient Egyptian times, he also had a spiked tail and wings.
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The scorpio is also easily recognizable, represented by a scorpion surrounded by stars.
An ancient Egyptian representation of the zodiac sign Scorpio. Ahmed Emam, Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities
These symbols were hidden under nearly 2,000 years of dust and dirt which has kept them in an incredible state of preservation.
This is what the Sagittarius looked like before restoration.
source:businessinsider.com
