Astronomical ceiling decoration in its earliest form can be traced to the Tomb of Senemut (Theban tomb no. 353), located at the site of Deir el-Bahri, Egypt. The tomb and the ceiling decorations date back to the 18th Dynasty of ancient Egypt (ca. 1473 B.C.).
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The tomb of Senemut was discovered during the 1925-1927 excavations directed by Herbert Winlock for the Egyptian Expedition of the Metropolitan Museum of Art.[1]
The unearthing of the 10x12 ft. chamber yielded the two panels of what is now referred to as the Egyptian Celestial Diagram.[2]
The Celestial Diagram consisted of a northern and a southern panel which depicted circumpolar constellations in the form of discs; each divided into 24 sections suggesting a 24 hour time period, lunar cycles, and sacred deities of Egypt. Of the constellations present on the diagram, the only certainly identifiable was Meskhetyu with the Big Dipper because of the difficulty that arises when an attempt is made to match modern day constellations with the depictions made thousands of years ago by the ancient Egyptians.[3]
The map on the southern panel proves to reflect a specific conjunction of planets around the longitude of Sirius. The four planets Jupiter, Saturn, Mercury and Venus are relatively easily recognizable. The planet Mars is not included in the actual grouping and at first sight seems to be missing in the map. However, Mars is also pictured in the Senenmut map, but it is represented by an empty boat in the west. This seems to refer to the fact that Mars was retrograde so that in this backward movement (well known phenomenon to the Egyptians) the Mars position was perhaps not consider to be ”concrete”.[4]
Although the tomb had been unfinished and had sustained damage throughout the centuries, the ceiling yielded new information about astronomy, chronology, mythology, and religion in Egypt because of the incorporation of all these elements as a means of connecting the divine to the mortal world.
Egyptian astronomy consisted of the identification of the heavenly bodies in the sky and their connection with the deities that were believed to play a role in religious mythology and practice.[5]
Astronomical ceilings bore significant symbolism for the Egyptians as they combined divine religion with more earthly aspects of daily life such as agriculture and labor. The detailed depiction of astronomy and deities illustrates the Egyptians desire to understand the heavens and the attempt to apply that understanding to the gods that they believed influenced all aspects of life.
According to Joanne Conman, the universe was seen as sacred to the Egyptians and, therefore, depictions were highly religious and cherished. The North served as the direction of eternity, immortality, and celestial rebirth because it is where Re is rejuvenated.[6]
The assimilation of these elements insured that the Egyptian calendar would differ from the ancient calendars of the Sumerians and the Babylonians. Otto Neugebauer suggests that the complexity of Egyptian calendars:
The use of astronomical calendars was not limited to ceiling tombs as they appeared on coffin boards, water boards, temples, and various other surfaces and objects.[3]
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