Archaeologists have resurfaced a complete series of the zodiac painted almost 2,000 years ago on the ceilings of the Egyptian temple of Esna, about 37 miles south of Luxor. After removing centuries of dirt, soot and dust, researchers also discovered and restored paintings of the sky, including Jupiter, Saturn, Mars and star constellations. A collaboration between the Egyptian Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities and the University of Tübingen in southwestern Germany, the excavations are part of an ongoing effort to preserve the temple created around AD 250.
Historians rarely find signs of the zodiac on the walls of Egyptian temples. Part of Babylonian astronomy, the astronomical system is said to have been transferred from Greece to Egypt during the Ptolemaic period. Images of these constellations would have decorated private tombs and sarcophagi, but did not adorn the walls and ceilings of temples.
“Apart from Esna, only two completely preserved versions remain, both from Dendera,” said Daniel von Recklinghausen, a researcher in Tübingen and a member of the excavation team.
In addition to paintings of the zodiac signs Sagittarius and Scorpio, excavators have also revealed previously unseen inscriptions, possibly hymns to local deities, and images of various animals and beasts both real (crocodiles and snakes) and fantastic, like a bird with two extra wings, the head of a crocodile and the tail of a snake. Von Recklinghausen said Hyperallergic that the decorations date back to the Roman period (50-250 CE). Artists are said to have painted the ceiling in relief around the end of the 2nd century AD.
“The coloring shows that the original decoration had an immense richness of detail (until now the decoration of the temple was considered poor or clumsy from an art historical point of view) as well as the plethora of new previously unknown inscriptions written only in ink and not carved in relief,” von Recklinghausen said.
Since 2018, archaeologists have been working on clean, preserve and document decoration of the temple in the pronaos, a hall where pillars support the roof. Led by Ahmed Emam, the team has worked for the past five years to preserve what remains of the vestibule. The structure, over 120 feet long and nearly 50 feet high, has fascinated scholars since the Napoleonic era. Last May, the research team revealed 46 representations of the vulture goddesses Nekhbet and the serpent goddess Wadjet. Archaeologists suspect pronaos remained well preserved for almost 2,000 years due to its location in the city center and because it was little disturbed for two millennia. In the 19th century, the temple stored cotton, but temple materials were not mined or damaged.
