The Dendera Zodiac

Temple of Hathor, Dendera (plan)

This celebrated zodiac was originally located in the east chapel of Osiris on the temple roof. It was removed from the temple (by permission) and carted off to France in 1821, where it now resides in the Louvre. The relief can be dated to 50 BC, based on the specific position of the stars, planets, and two eclipses that it displays.

The original relief is difficult to make out, because its paint is lost. The image shown here is from Description de l'Egypte; see the Linda Hall Library for a zoomified version. Only some of the constellations, like Scorpio and Sagittarius (upside down, top), are familiar to us; the Dendera Zodiac is a mixture of Ptolemaic and native Egyptian constellations.