Identification
Title | Tuna el-Gebel Gallery C (A-31) |
Type | Astronomical Representation |
Decan List Family | AR1 |
EAT3 Number and Name | 40 Hermopolis A, central part |
EAT3 Pages and Plates | 54-56, Pl 26 |
EAT3 Decan List Family | Some similarities with Senmut noted |
Publications | Gabra (1939), Projekt Tuna el-Gebel, Schlüter (2015) |
Location | In situ; Baboon Chamber G-C-A-31 in the animal catacombs, Tuna el-Gebel |
Date | Ptolemaic, time of Ptolemy I |
Content
Registers | 2 |
Circumpolar Group and Deities | Yes: 9 figures behind hippo; 7 preserved opposite |
Planets |
Superior: Jupiter, Saturn (as label only), Mars Inferior: Venus, (Mercury omitted) |
Decan Names | Yes: only three are readable |
Decanal Stars | Yes |
Personifications of the Decans | No, unless the first two figures are taken to be personifications |
Cluster Numbers | No |
Depictions of Decanal Constellations | Yes |
Decanal Deity Names | None preserved |
Decanal Deity Figures | Yes: (Isis) plus the first two figures may be deities of decans |
Lunar Months | No |
Civil Months | No |
Nut | Yes |
Notes
This astronomical representation is the middle part of a ceiling in the animal catacombs. It is flanked by two decanal processions which contain decan names which follow a different tradition to this central part.
The head of Nut is to the west (left in the schematic below). At her feet are goddesses of the east and west. Her head, the beginning of the decan list, and all of the attendant deities opposite the hippo have now been lost.
Schematic
Legend for Schematic | |
---|---|
C | Circumpolar constellations |
A | Attendant circumpolar deities |
D | Decans |
P | Planets |
N | The sky-goddess Nut |
X | Other cosmic deities |
Damaged area | |
Location and orientation of the circumpolar hippo |
|
Indicates the starting point and directionality of list or procession of figures |
Decan List
Only three decan labels are noted, however the missing parts of the list are represented by depictions of decanal constellations. The list below gives an approximate layout for how the decans, decanal deities, and decanal figures (in bold) are arranged. However, the only way of perceiving the complete layout and orthography of the labels is by consulting photographs or drawings.
Deity | |
Deity | |
Boat | |
Sheep | |
35 sAH | Sahu |
Isis, 36 spdt | Sopdet |
SP1 wp-StA {DA}<sbA> rsy <n> pt | Planet |
SP2 <Hr-kA-pt> iAbty sbA | |
SP3 Hr-{t}<d>Sr rn=f | Planet |
A STw<y> |
Turtles |
IP2 DA b<a>H, Osiris | Benu |
The decan numbers and letters shown here are for the decan family AR1.
SP = superior planet
IP = inferior planet
Grey shading = damage
< > = omitted but understood
{ } = included in error
The number of star symbols accompanying the decans is also omitted here, as it is often impossible to tell to which decan the symbols refer. EAT3 deals with star symbols in some detail.