Vistas in Astronomy Vol. 41, No. 4, pp.

507-525,1998
@ 1998 Elsevier Science Ltd
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THE EVOLUTION OF THE ZODIAC IN THE CONTEXT

OF ANCIENT ORIENTAL HISTORY
ALEX A. GURSHTEIN
Mesa State College, Colorado, USA

Abstract- The dates for the second (ca. 2700 B.C. to within 250 years)
and the third ecliptical quartets (ca. 1200 B.C. to within 400 years) evaluated earlier are considered in the context of ancient Egyptian history. The
origin of the second quartet coincides with the Great Pyramids and the initiation of the Egyptian solar, or so-called civil calendar, the first of such a
type in the world. The third quartet is concurrent with the solar conversion of
Amenhotep IV (Akhenaton) and takes place at the finale of the great Sothic
period of 1461 years after the initiation of the solar calendar. It is argued that
the Great Pyramids seem to be monuments to the Sun-god built in honor of
the Egyptians having reached an understanding of the Suns track upon the
starry background, Akhenatons conversion being in a direct connection with
the original Pyramids ideology. This paper is the third part of a single investigation. The first two parts On the Origin of the Zodiacal Constellations
and Prehistory of Zodiac Dating: Three Strata of Upper Paleolithic Constellations were published in Vistas in Astronomy in 1993 and 1995. @ 1998
Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.

1. INTRODUCTION
For centuries historians, archaeologists and anthropologists have attempted to outline a scenario describing the progress of the human race. Among many others, such illustrious scholars
as Charles Francois Dupui and Mircha Eliade have to be mentioned first of all [ 11.Now it seems
conditions have matured for developing our archaic spiritual legacy by an astronomical approach
for dating some events and decoding their meanings.
In the two previous parts of the current investigation [2] the following conclusions have been
drawn:
(1) In the Upper Paleolithic, about 14000 B.C. (within not more than l-2 thousand years)
dwellers of the middle latitudes of the Northern hemisphere (the Magdalenians) harmonized
Visiting Professor; pennancntly Vice Director, Institute for History of Science and Technology, Russian
Academy of Sciences.

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A.A. Gurshtein

stellar constellations into three symbolical strata. This was a reflection of the vertical cosmos
structure with the Lower, Middle and Upper Worlds. The names of the constellations for the
Lower World were derived from aquatic beings and things; the names for the Middle World
came from humans and land animals; the names of constellations for the Upper World were
derived from air-born (pneumatic) creatures.
(2) About 5600 B.C. (within about 150 years) the first farmers, probably in the Fertile Crescent, due to the need for an agricultural calendar, retraced the annual way of the Sun upon the
starry background. They established via Solis - the ecliptic - by fixing four distinctive points corresponding to the vernal equinox, summer solstice, autumnal equinox and winter solstice. The
names of constellations to mark the points (Gemini, Virgo, Sagittarius and Pisces) continued to
reflect the three celestial strata previously introduced. Due to the geometry of the celestial sphere
and the inclination of the ecliptic to the celestial equator, the ecliptic did not touch the Upper
World (air) stratum at all. Only one distinctive point, the winter solstice, was submerged into the
water stratum (Pisces). The other three were in the vast Middle World (mainly anthropomorphic)
stratum, so one may identify this first ecliptical quartet as a circle of humans.
(3) After three millennia, about 2700 B.C. (with an uncertainty of 250 years), it became evident that constellations of the human circle were no longer in correspondence with the seasons
because of the precession of the Earths axis. As a result, the former stellar marks were shifted
into a new constellation quartet with completely new social-cultural symbology. The vernal renewal came to be signed by Taurus (a bull), the embodiment of male productivity. The kingly
symbol represented by Leo (a lion) became the indicator of the Suns reaching the highest point
of its path. The Suns fall into the waters of the Worlds ocean was marked by Scorpio (a scorpion), who kills himself in the autumn. Finally, Aquarius (a water carrier) became the master of
the waters of the Lower World where the Sun withdraws for the winter period. In contrast to the
circle of humans, the constellations for this new quartet were mainly from the animal kingdom,
and it is a time when the term the Zodiac (a circle of animals) may have arisen.
(4) About 1200 B.C. (within 400 years) the last quartet of ecliptical constellations to mark
the Suns track was proposed. After this time the number TWELVE became to be linked closely
to the sky and gods, although the real number of constellations on the ecliptic is 13, including
Ophiuchus.

2. THE ENIGMAS OF THE GREAT PYRAMIDS

One of the first questions which occur to the mind of anyone looking at an ancient monument
is its date. In the case of Egyptian monuments it is often difficult, and sometimes impossible,
to answer the question in terms of years before the beginning of the Christian era, because our
knowledge of Egyptian chronology, especially in the early periods, is still very incomplete. We
know the main sequence of events and frequently their relationship to one another, but, except in
rare instances, an exact chronology will not be possible. . . , - barely anyone will disagree with
this competent judgment of I.E.S. Edwards, the Keeper of Egyptian Antiquities for the British
Museum from 1955 [3].
With an uncertainty of not more than 100-200 years, an absolute chronology of our interest
may be compiled as follows [4].
l About 3200 or 3100 B.C. Two separate lands of Upper and Lower Egypt are united by
the Pharaoh Menes; Egyptians were to become the worlds first united nation and, together with
Mesopotamias Sumer and Ancient China, to take the eventual step from an archaic obscurity into
the full light of history. The unification was to be a launching pad for the forthcoming economic

Evolution of the Zodiac

509

power of the state.

l 3 100-2700
B.C. Early Dynastic Period (I-II Dynasties).
l Ca. 2700 B.C. The beginning of the OLD KINGDOM (2700-2150 B.C.), or the Pyramid
Age, originated with the Third Dynasty. As an improvement over the previous regular flat-topped
tombs built of sun-baked mud-brick (the Mastabas - an Arabic word meaning the bench), the
first large construction of stone, called the monumental Step Pyramid at Saqqara, was erected in
about three decades for the founder of the Third Dynasty, the Pharaoh Zoser (Djoser, ca. 27002650 B.C.), by his vizier Imhotep [5]. On the north side of Imhoteps Step Pyramid there is a
small stone cubicle, canted toward the north, with a pair of tiny holes in its facade likely for
astronomical observations by the dead Pharaoh. About 280 B.C. Manetho, a skilled priest who
emigrated from Egypt and drafted a history of his country in Greek, credited Imhotep with having
been the inventor of the art of building in hewn stone. Later generations regarded him also as a
sculptor, a priest, a magician, a healer who was the father of medicine and, last but not least, as
an astronomer. His official title was Chief of the Observers. In about 1200 B.C., Imhotep was
deified.
l Ca. 2600 B.C. The IV Dynasty started with the Pharaoh Snefru. At this time important
progress in the design of the royal tomb occurred: the Step Pyramid was replaced by true pyramids. Snefrus son and successor to the throne, Khufu (better known by his Greek name Cheops),
beginning about 2550 B.C. (according to other valuations about 2675 B.C.) in 23 years erected
the largest stone monument in the world up to that time at a plateau of Giza (Gizeh) near Memphis. The official name of his Great Pyramid was Khufu is one belonging to the horizon [6].
Two latter kings of the IVth Dynasty, Khaef-RE (Khufus son) and Men-kau-Re (Khufus grandson), in Greek called Chephren and Mycerinus, followed Khufu by building their gigantic pyramids on the same plateau. East of his pyramid, facing the rising Sun behind the Nile, the giant
Sphinx, a rock lion with a mans head, being the kings portrait, was sculpted by Chephrens
order. (According to some estimates Men-kau-Re erected his pyramid as early as 2610 B.C. in
an absolute scale of time). All together, these three colossal pyramids and the Sphinx constitute
the most celebrated group of monuments in the world created in a very short period of time, less
than one century.
Although direct documentary records are lacking, there are many indications that it was the
pyramid-maker Pharaohs who raised the cult of the Sun-god Ri? to the position of the official
state religion. The cult was derived from a more primitive cult of a temple located to the north of
Memphis at the City of On. Later the Greeks called this the City of the Sun-god, in their
spelling Heliopolis. The sanctorum within Ons temple was the benben, perhaps a conically
shaped stone structure which later was depicted on a sacred image of the Sun-god Rg-Atum
in the form of an obelisk. (Some scholars think that the benben may have had an obelisk form
originally). After Imhotep, the title Chief of the Observers was recognized as a permanent title
of the High Priest of On. All three direct successors of Cheops - his sons Djedef-Re and KhaefRs (Chephren), and his grandson Men-kau-Ri? (Mycerinus) - had proclaimed their recognition
of the Sun-god Re by forming their names of compounds with his name. There is also some
evidence that Chephren and Mycerinus had adopted the title Son of RF; a royal title which
became routine from the Vth Dynasty onwards.
l Ca. 2500 B.C. The start of the Vth Dynasty. This time each of the Pharaohs erected peculiar
Sun-temples in honor of Re in which the principal feature was a rectangular podium built to
support a squat obelisk as the sacred symbol of the Sun-god. In a general sense, the pyramid
building process now became much more modest. The Iron Age in the Middle East began.
l Ca. 2350 B.C. The end of the Vth Dynasty. The earliest corpus of hieroglyphic inscriptions,
which are known as the Pyramid Texts, were carved on the walls of the chambers and corridors

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A.A. Gurshtein

Fig. 1. The Egyptian Sun temple near the Great Pyramids excavated by L. Borchardtand H. Schaefer in 189&1901
It was built in honor of RZ by the Pharaoh Niuserre who was among the closest successors of the &at Pyramid
makers. An obelisk used to be a sacred symbol of Ri5 (The line-drawing is by J.C. Rose from I.E.S. Edwards, The
Pyramids of Egypt, Penguin Books, 1964, p. 173).

of pyramids, a collection of spells to be assembled in no fixed order; their purpose was to secure
for the king or queen a happy after-life. In view of the constant appeals to the solar cult, it seems
certain the Texts were arranged by the Observers, the priesthood of Heliopolis. During the
MIDDLE KINGDOM, modified inscriptions appeared on the interior surfaces of the wooden
coffins, so named the Coffin Texts. During the NEW KINGDOM, the texts, after undergoing still
further modifications, were written on papyrus, and were called the Book of the Dead.
Hieroglyphic writing has recently been traced back to 3200 B.C., but at the Old Kingdom time
script was used for titles, epithets, and bureaucratic records. There is no literature, no glimpse into
the human side of the epoch, and no explanation for a meaning of pyramids and methods of their
erection. Thus Egyptologists are forced to answer the basic questions about the Great Pyramids
by reconstructions only. Unfortunately, those great monuments in stone have been subjected to
fantastic speculations in many works during the last centuries [7]. Meanwhile, it is a matter of
fact that today neither Egyptologists nor historians of astronomy hesitate to consider that the
Great Pyramids have some astronomical, mainly solar, significance [8].
It is well known, for example, that the pyramids were oriented astronomically along the cardinal points of the horizon with very high accuracy. These figures are an indication of the great
significance of the pyramid astronomical orientation. According to W.M.F. Petries survey, the
errors in the orientations are as follows (Ref. [3], p. 256):
Maidum Pyramid
Bent Pyramid
The Greatest Cheops Pyramid

Pyramid of Chephren
Pyramid of Mycerinus

O2425
O912
O228 (North side)
O157 (South side)
O530 (East side)
0230 (West side)
O526 (mean error of the East and West sides)
0 1403

Evolution of the Zodiac

511

There is an another pressing question associated with the previous one. All the artifacts which
exist are indicative that there was a solar cult of the Pyramids in Egypt. Meanwhile, turning
again to the Pyramid texts, it may be seen that the dead king was frequently considered to have
ascended to the stars.. . On the ground of internal evidence alone it has been deduced that the
Pyramid texts which refer to the stars had an independent origin from the solar spells and that
eventually they were merged into the Heliopolitan doctrine (Ref. [3], p. 292). This is the problem: how to combine the solar cult with the astral one?
A question arises about the meaning of the geometrical true-pyramid form for tombs. J.H.
Breasted, analyzing the question, stated: The pyramidal form of the kings tomb was of the
most sacred significance. The king was buried under the very symbol of the Sun-god which stood
in the holy of holies in the Sun-temple at Heliopolis [9]. I.E.S. Edwards continues the query:
Although it now seems probable that the stone symbol of the Sun-god at Heliopolis, the benben,
was conical and not pyramidal in shape, Breasted was undoubtedly right in associating it with the
true Pyramid.. . What did the benben and its architectural derivative, the true Pyramid, represent?
Only one answer suggests itself: the rays of the sun shining down on earth.. . The temptation to
regard the true Pyramid as a material representation of the suns rays and consequently as a
means whereby the dead king could ascend to heaven seems irresistible (Ref. [3], p. 291).
In the middle of the fifth century B.C., Herodotus the Father of History travelled throughout
Egypt and reported many features of the pyramids [lo]. According to Herodotus, the pyramids
were not built by slaves but by free Egyptians; the worship was postponed in the temples during
this work. There is autonomous evidence that in the Old Kingdom people really believed in the
great importance of building a pyramid. Worship could be postponed only if the act of working
itself was another way to worship the same god.
It is well known by archaeologists that the Great Pyramids were built with copper and even
some partially stone tools. It was a very old technology for the time, and obviously the building
of the Pyramids may be considered not as a result of some technological progress but a result of
ideological ambitions only.
It is puzzling that the Great Pyramids were not the result of a long evolutionary process.
Moreover, these greatest monuments were constructed initially but after their erection the whole
process was downgraded. The building of the Great Pyramids took less than one century. On the
historical background of the millennia it was not a process but only a point, a short-lived flash
of lightning, so to say. And one more puzzle: in the whole history of mankind there is no other
example that such a great construction was created in honor of a dead ruler. A lot of money
usually was spent in honor of living rulers for palaces, temples, feasts, festivals, ceremonies, and
so on.
Herodotus informs us that the kings, builders of the Great Pyramids, were contemptuous of
the old gods of ancient Egypt, with the exception only of the Sun-god.
So we have collected some intriguing features of the pyramids and some unanswered questions. All these questions may be very naturally answered if we assume that the occurrence
during the same period of time of the Great Pyramid construction and the initiation of the second
ecliptical quartet, as was described in my earlier presentations, was not coincidental.
Let us assume it was the Egyptians during the time of Imhotep - and more probably Imhotep
himself - who discovered the misalignment between the track of the Sun during a year and its
theoretical positions marked by the old constellation quartet, and provided adequate explanations
for all the above mentioned questions. The establishing of the new, Egyptian-born, quartet for
the Sun-god behavior explains completely why the Sun-god was chosen as a main natural god
among others and why this event became a stimulus for the new cult of the Sun. It explains why
the Pharaohs declared themselves as the sons of the Sun and why they included the Suns name

512

A.A. Gurshtein

Re as part of their titles. Under these conditions, the Great Pyramids were not only the tombs but
the eternal houses of the god, sanctuaries in honor of the Suns power. The pyramids remained
one form of the main ancient device for the solar astronomical observations - an obelisk - with
the slopes being a paraphrase of the Suns rays at sunrise. The orientation of the Pyramids,
consistent with the cardinal points of the horizon, is one more reminder of the Suns glory.
The astronomical observations of the Sun coordinated its position on the starry background.
That is why the elements of the Sun cult were mixed very tightly with the elements of the astral
cult. The tracking of the Sun resulted in the establishing of four distinctive points for the spring,
summer, autumn and winter, and that is why the four-sloped form of a true pyramid was the best
one to worship the Sun and celebrate this great discovery.
The fact that the discovery described was Egyptian is reflected in the purely Egyptian symbolism of the newly-introduced ecliptical quartet: a bull (a sacred bull Apes with its mummification),
a lion (the Sphinx had a lion body), a scorpion (there was a Pharaoh named Scorpion), and a male
related with an after-life, i.e. with water. So the symbolism of the second ecliptical quartet is in
complete agreement with the Egyptian animal deity pantheon. This symbolism was repeated in
the Sphinx which is a combination of the signs for the highest and the lowest position of the Sun:
the summer and winter, It really was perhaps a watchfigure and a guard of the Suns track among
the stars.
A modem historian of astronomy wrote: The great reputation the Egyptians have enjoyed for
most of the last two thousand years is based, however, on a confusion (Ref. [8], p. 17). In my
mind, the confusion is that we misinterpreted the Egyptians.

3. THE ORIGIN OF THE CIVIL EGYPTIAN CALENDAR

When Julius Caesar decided to give the Romans a new calendar, the expert whom he chose
to design it was an Egyptian - though probably of Greek descent - Sosigenus of Alexandria.
This was because the Egyptian possessed the only wholly reliable calendar known to the ancient
world.. . The ancient Greeks, and after them the Romans, had great respect for the wisdom of the
Egyptians (Ref. [ 111, p. 175).
It is accepted world-wide that the protodynastic Egyptians, like all ancients, used a lunar calendar. A solar one of 365 days was securely in place by the time of the Old Kingdom. An
investigation of the origins of this calendar is fraught with uncertainty and difficulty, but such an
investigation will be most useful for anyone attempting to understand the steps taken in Pharaonic
times to organize society and express its religious culture in a satisfying, efficient and productive
way [ 121. This comment is from an up-to-date source book on ancient Egyptian science.
The remarkable systematic Egyptian calendar contained 365 days arranged into 12 equal
months of 30 days each plus 5 additional days; all trustworthy facts concerning the problem
may be found in the works by R. Parker [ 131.From Freret ( 1758), a fundamental conclusion was
reached: the calendar under consideration remained essentially unchanged from the time of its
recognition to have a New Years Day (The first day of Thot month) at the heliacal rising of Sirius, which called wp mpt (Opener of the Year), throughout the whole Pharaonic period [ 141. To
estimate the beginning of the calendar, information by Censorinus was taken, which in Clagetts
interpretation from Latin, is the following (Ref. [12], p. 334-335):
For just as among our ancestors and the Egyptians certain [different] eras (anni) are utilized in
their writings, like that which they call the Years of Nabonnazar (i.e. the Era of Nabonnazar),
because they (i.e. the years of the Era) begin from the first year of his reign. We are now in the
986th year of that era. Then comes the Years (Era) of Philip, whose years are numbered from

Evolution of the Zodiac

513

the death of Alexander the Great, and if they are extended to our time they embrace 562 years.
But the beginnings of these eras are always taken from the first day of that month whose name
among the Egyptians is Thoth, which day in the current year was vii kal. July (= June 25) and
which 100 years ago [in 139 A.D. Julian] under the second consulate of the emperor Antoninus
the Pius and that of Bruttius Praesens fell on xiii calends August (July 20), at which time the
Dog-star [Sirius] was accustomed to rise in Egypt. Thus we see that we are today in the 100th
year of that Great Year (Era) which, as has been said above, is called Solar Year, Year of the
Dog-star, and the Year of the God. [ 151.
Censorinus information is confirmed by the fact that about 139 A.D. the Roman emperor
Titus Aurelius Antoninus the Pius (born 86 A.D., ruled 138-161 A.D.) struck coins with the word
A I C2Nmeaning ERA; it was the celebration of the Phoenix Era, or the Birth of the Phoenix, i.e.
return of the Egyptian New Years Day onto its starting point [ 161;after 30 B.C. Ptolemaic Egypt
was a regular Roman province.
Hence a scholar had the data needed for calculations. The civil Egyptian year with 365 days is
shorter than the real period between successive risings of Sirius (for Egyptians the star of Sothis)
by about a quarter of a day. As a result, New Years Day in the Egyptian civil calendar (civil
year) was about one day earlier after four regular (Sothic) years. As a result, 1461 civil years =
1460 Sothic years.
Wandering along throughout the different months, New Years Day of the civil Egyptian calendar would return to its original place every 1460 Sothic (in modern terms Julian) years.
If we work backward from Censorinus 139 A.D., the dates of the coincidence of the New
Years Day (lth Thot) with the rising of Sirius had to take place about
. . . . . . 4241 B.C.. . . . . .2781 B.C.. . . . . .132 B.C.. , . . . .
From the 18th century, scholars vacillated between 1321 B.C. and 2781 B.C. as the starting
years of the Egyptian calendar ([ 171 Vol. 1, p. 126). In 1904 Eduard Meyer [ 181 went back to
4241 B.C. as the starting year. He believed that the date of 2781 B.C. was too recent for the
establishment of the Egyptian civil calendar. With the promotion of the short chronology of
Egyptian history, however, it was clear that in the fifth millennium, Egyptian society was an
undeveloped one and was not a unified state. 0. Neugebauer criticized Meyers concept very
strongly [ 191. R. Parker opposed 0. Neugebauer with many arguments and considered his views
to be unsatisfactory. In Parkers mind, the civil calendar must have been introduced between
ca.2937 and ca.2821 B.C.; with the probability that it was in the direction of the former rather
than the latter date [13]. Parkers conclusions have been disputed by R.K. Krauss [20] and some
other current scholars without any real progress.
M. Clagett in his very concentrated up-to-date monograph stated that the civil Egyptian calendar originated ca. 3000 B.C. [ 121.
Meanwhile there is one more source of information that was overlooked by M. Clagett and
others. I would like to draw attention to Cyril Fagan, who was a scholar in the history of astrology [21]. The cornerstones for Fagans studies were the most instructive inscriptions in the great
temple of Edfu (from the Graeco-Roman period ca. 237 B.C.) as well as the Palermo Stone, a
fragment of an inscription which recorded the official annals of the early kings of Egypt. According to these texts, it would appear that it was in the year 363 of the Harakhte Era that Imhotep
inaugurated the Sothic Era in the face of intense opposition from the Seth (Harakhte) worshipers.
Fagans calculations led him to the conclusion that Sothic calendar was introduced by Imhotep in
July 16,2767 B.C. - very close to the date pointed out above based on Censorinus information.
C. Fagans arguments appear to support some more very important features in our current investigation. He stated that from 3 130 B.C., in archaic Egypt, there was a calendrical era founded

514

A.A. Gurshtein

on the heliacal rising of the planet Mars, which was known under a name Horus of the Horizon (later on it became Horus the Red). This calendrical era was the Harakhte Era, the word
Harakhte being the Greek translation of the Egyptian Hor-akhti which literally means Horus of
the Horizon. This time the observers could not perform the measurements on the starry dome of
the sky and they were limited by the measurements along the line of the horizon only. Systematical observations of luminaries risings and settings took place, partially in comparison with each
other, and one may identify this time as a period of the astronomy on the horizon. As a result
of the long systematical astronomical observations, an occasional coincidence of Sirius (in the
Egyptian - spit, or Sothis) heliacal rising with the Nile flooding was discovered. It seems to be
Imhotep who created a new calendrical system and simultaneously introduced the Sothic Era, ca.
2767 B.C., as mentioned above.
C. Fagan insists that modern scholars are absolutely wrong in their understanding of the ancient meaning of the term horoscope. At first, the term was used to represent not time, but space.
Its key etymology was not from the word hour (as a unit of time) but from the Egyptian term HoTUS[on the Horizon]. The word HOROSCOPE is generally held to mean a birth chart or figure
of the heavens for the moment of birth or for any other such event. This is incorrect. Dr. Richard
Gamett, Curator of the Printed Books in the British Museum, London, who, as an astrologer,
wrote under the anagram A.G. Trent and who also was one of the great Greek scholars of his
day, contributed a most learned paper to the Classical Review, July 1899. Therein he points
out that the Greek word hors not only meant hour and season but also the degree of the zodiac
ascending in a nativity and cites, at length, from Manetho and other Greek astrological writers
to that effect. Hence, the Greek word homscopus (horoscope) literally means an observation of
the degree of the Zodiac crossing the eastern horizon at any given moment. In short, the words
Ascendant and Horoscope are synonymous [22].
According to C. Fagan (and it is astronomically absolutely correct), the vernal equinox had no
predominant meaning itself, and this point was pinpointed on the background of fixed (immovable) constellations. For the Egyptians, the first among ecliptical constellations was Taurus, the
Bull, with the very attributive bright star Aldebaran, Oculus Tauri (the Bulls Eye).
According to Fagans studies for old Egyptian and Babylonian horoscopes, at the time under consideration, the Egyptian ecliptic was sectioned not into twelve, but into only eight segments. Each segment was considered to be a watch or a unit of time. Ancient Greeks named
their horoscope system Dodekotopos, i.e. the Bvelve places. But this term Dodekotopos came
about initially from the hermetical writings by Hermes Trismegest which were only Hellenistic reminiscences of the Egyptian prototype. As to the prototype, it was described in the Greek
Michigan Papyrus N 149, probably written by Pseudo-Manetho (born about 80 A.D.) and translated into English by R. Gleadow [23]. The same original Egyptian scheme&e Octotopos, is
described in the Astronomicon of Manilius who lived in Rome during the rule of Augustus
and TX&us [24]. The Octotopos contained not twelve, but only eight places (watches) clockwise. This scheme was not connected with the Zodiacal signs counted from the vernal equinox
but served for measuring time along fixed constellations. These investigations of Cyril Fagan
were supported very strongly by R. Gleadow [ 111. It seems that Fagans results also support my
position [25].
So far, at the moment all the facts in hand from the Old Egyptian Kingdom contirm the period
and likely the very person who was responsible for some innovations of the greatest importance.
It was the immortal counsellor Imhotep. The coincidence of some meaningful events in the history of the Old Kingdom was not accidental.
Absorbing the experience of previous generations, it was probably Imhotep who introduced
the new ecliptical constellation quartet to mark the Suns track on the starry background. He

Evolution of the Zodiac

515

may even have established the new calendrical system as well as the new Sothic Era and, finally,
may have formulated an ideological format for a Pyramid as the Suns sanctuary. In spite of the
triumph of the Sun cult, the starry sky continued to be an important component of the Egyptian
religion because ecliptical constellations served as a pattern to mark the Suns annual track. All
these issues were the incredible Egyptian achievement which became known to their neighbors
and impressed them very strongly. As a result, this achievement was reflected in many other
contemporary cultures. The Babylonians took the second ecliptical quartet from the Egyptians,
and not vice versa. The most probable moment for the beginning of Imhoteps activity is, from
Censorinus information, about 2780 B.C.
S. Langdon [26] has traced the history of different calendars and proved that the calendars of
all civilized people of western Asia who surrounded Egypt - Sumerians, Accadians, Assyrians,
as well as West Semithic calendars up to our era, and continued in the Jewish calendar to our
day, the Syriac Christian calendar, and the religious year of the Sabeans of the Middle Ages
- were under great influence of the Nippurian lunar calendar which finally prevailed over all
other lunar calendars. The Egyptians were alone with their perfect solar calendar. Is it a small
and unimportant result? Is it possible to reach this original, outstanding result without proper
astronomical observations? Undoubtedly, the Egyptians performed astronomical observations.
The problem is that we have no written information on them.
J. Goody (Ref. [27], p. 51) paid attention to this problem: It is not accidental that major steps
in the development in what we now call science followed the introduction of major changes in
the channels of communications in Babylonia (writing), in Ancient Greece (the alphabet), and in
Western Europe (printing). Scholars possess Babylonian astronomical cuneiforms but have no
chance to check the adequate Egyptian texts. Misunderstanding is because the Egyptians made
their astronomical discoveries too early for writing and protected it by another type of social
memory.
In the beginning of the 19th century all roots of modern civilization were seen in ancient
Greece. After cuneiform texts were read it seemed to be clear that history begins at Sumer and
the Greeks are followers of the Babylonians. But we have no adequate astronomical data from
ancient Egypt, and it is extremely hard to trace connections between Egypt and Babylonia. But
there is one more remarkable fact. S.J. Tester, the historian of astrology who considered the Greek
astrology to be taken from Babylonia, points out one very important item: Greek astrology began
to blossom after the Greeks touched the Egyptian soil - in Hellenistic Alexandria only [28].

4. MORE COINCIDENCES
In one of my first publications on the Zodiac, I made a suggestion that the emergence of
Amenhotep (Amenophis) IV as a true Sun believer could be influenced by astronomical motivation [29]. Let us recall the circumstances.
The Old Kingdom was followed by the Middle Kingdom (2133-1786 B.C.) and later on by the
New Kingdom (1570-1070B.C.). The latter, in a general sense, was a fall of the great agricultural
empire. Meanwhile in the reign of Amenhotep III, in the 14th century B.C. (probably 13861349), the 18th Dynasty reached its highlight. Egypt was at peace and trade was flourishing. The
Pharaoh fulfilled a vast building program - a court, colossal statues, a funeral temple for himself
and temples in other cities throughout the land.
Then came his son, Amenhotep IV (ca. 1350-l 334 B.C.), the heretical Pharaoh, who undertook
to revolutionize Egypts religion and to introduce monotheism [30]. He failed. No clear motive is
seen concerning his actions, and current historians know only an external outline of events. The

A.A. Gurshtein

516
t--2.781

1,460years ---i--_

B.C.

1,321

of

and

the

the beginning
Pyramid Age

Initiation
Of e solar
calendar
The

second ecliptics1
quartet

years

B.C.

AkhG!natOn

-1

139 A.D.
I

Imhotep

1.460

and his
religion

SOlW

A celebration
forfhe
return
of the Egyptian New Year Day
to its initial point

A return of the EgYPtian

to its
New Year Day
initial point
The

third

eCliptiCa
quaI-tot
Moses
and the
figure-of-twelve

Fig. 2. Coincidences in ancient Egyptian history.

Pharaoh tried to overthrow the polytheistic accretion of centuries and, in particular, to replace the
traditional worship of the god Amon with Aton (or Aten), conceived as a single universal god
of the whole world, the source of all life, and represented by the Suns disc with its life-saving
rays. The Pharaoh changed his own name from Amenhotep, which meant Anion is content,
to Akhenaton (Akhenaten, Ikhnaton), meaning Pleasing-to-the-Aton, or Service-able-to-theAton - the name by which he is known in history.
In regnal year eight, this heretical Pharaoh moved the capital into the middle part of Egypt
near the modern site of Tell-el-Amarna where the Sun disc, Aton, was elevated to the status of
the only true god. The capital was filled with Sun-inspired art of a new style. The king called
his new capital Akhetaton, the Horizon of Aton. When he erected his own tomb at Tell-elAmama, all rooms and corridors leading up to the burial chamber, in violation of a tradition
of his forebears and successors, were along a single axis from south-east to north-west (a Sun
rising direction at the solstices).
Akhenaton and his wife Nefertiti were focused on truth and the natural. The revolutionary
Akhenaton tried to transform the canons of art and literature as he did the tenets of religion. No
artists subject was ever better fitted for naturalistic treatment than Akhenaton himself, for he
was a strange-looking man with a scrawny neck, a pear-shaped torso, thin, unmuscular legs and
a soft, sensitive mouth. It was something of a new movement in art, the so-called Amama style.
That is why we have a life-like bust of Nefertiti. But historians have no idea concerning what
was the truth about Akhenatons worship of the Sun.
Akhenaton launched a heretical revolt against the great god Amon, the principal deity of the
time, and sought to impose upon Egypt a new truthful god and a new form of worship. He was
a visionary who was not in tune with his time. He engaged in a life-and-death struggle with
the bureaucracy and the priesthood. He displaced the clergy and he had to destroy the gods the
clergy served. But his religious reformation, owing to the opposition of the priests of Amon-Re
at Thebes, did not survive him. His revolution failed. After Akhenaton died, at the time of his
very young son Tutankhamun (1334-1325 B.C.), the Egyptians returned to their old ways.
Historians do not know Akhenatons motivation, but it may probably be clarified if we remember that Akhenaton took the crown before the end of the Great Cycle of the Egyptian calendar
which, according to Censorinus information, had to happen in 1321 B.C. - a moment that was
potentially within the kings life. For the present author it is extremely important that both events
are concurrent with the initiation of the thiid ecliptic quartet as well.
Let me suggest that the Pharaoh Akhenaton knew - and it was his duty to know - the circumstances connecting the establishing of the civil Egyptian calendar and the second ecliptic quartet

Evolution

of the Zodiac

517

as well as the reasons for the construction of the Great Pyramids by his prominent forefathers.
Meanwhile his rule began only a short time before the first returning of the New Years Day to
its initial point. Such an event was triumphantly celebrated one and a half millennia later by the
Roman Emperor, and of course, it had to be of the utmost significance during Akhenatons time.
In this connection, the Pharaoh may ask the priesthood if the aboriginal Egyptian constellations
mark properly four distinctive positions of the Sun-god during its annual track throughout the
sky. An honest-minded reaction had to be: No, we do not know why but to mark four distinctive
positions of the Sun god properly it is necessary to establish four new ecliptic constellations.
Under such conditions it is not hard to believe that this was the issue that Akhenaton may have
had in mind in his bold desire to struggle for the truth. This may be his supreme truth and a strong
motivation - accurate observations of the Sun-god.
During the Pyramid Age, Pharaohs introduced the native Egyptian constellations into the sky
in honor of the priesthood instead of ancient ones with unknown roots. This time Akhenaton
proposed to replace traditional symbols, causing disastrous consequences for the priests. Undoubtedly they would try to block the Pharaohs actions eagerly. Of course, one may speculate
in a different way as we have no direct and forceful evidence. But once more we have found a
meaningful coincidence of three events:
(1) the finalizing of Egypts Great Cycle of Eternity and the New Years Day coming back to
its initial point within a year;
(2) the solar conversion of Akhenaton; and, finally,
(3) the astronomically calculated fact that the third quartet of ecliptical constellations was
established at the very same time.
Moreover, due to the Great Cycle of the Egyptian calendar, these three events are interconnected with three other events investigated above, all six items constituting a single conclusion.

5. THE EGYPTIAN LEGACY

Akhenatons overthrow was exemplified in the post-Akhenaton illustrations, sculpture, and architecture, but all features of his ideological concepts in religion were destroyed with the same
fanaticism which characterized his own practice. Meanwhile, world history recognizes an intellectual who had an inside understanding of these events, opposed the Egyptian traditions, and
had strong grounds to support the innovations which the Egyptian priesthood had objected to
so strenuously. His education was probably gained in the priestly circle of Heliopolis, where
the complex motifs of the cult of R5 would form the background of his instruction.. . [He] was
probably familiar with.. . the institution of solar monotheism by Ikhnaton and its overthrow under Bnankhamon, and the wide range of priestcraft that would be included in the education of
one who came from the royal household [31]. This considerable testimony is about Moses, the
great religious reformer, who lived only some decades after Akhenatons overthrow, according
to the Holy Bible (Exodus, Ch. 1) at the time of the Pharaohs Pithem and Raamses; historically
they are identified more probably with Sety I (1292-1279 B.C.) and Rameses II the Great who
reigned for 67 years (September 1279 -July 1212 B.C.),
As usual, there are contradictions concerning the dates. Some modem archaeologists believe
that in absolute chronology Moses headed the Exodus as early as 1470 B.C. [32]. But let us not
mix a relative and an absolute chronological scale. At this moment, only an order of events is of
interest, and in any case Moses undoubtedly went to Canaan shortly after Akhenatons reign.
There is no need to narrate the well-known story of Moses whose name is Egyptian and means
son [33]; the story of his birth and education is told in the Old Testament. At that time astron-

A.A. Gurshtein

518
Table 1

The figure-of-SEVEN
The seven celestial wandering luminaries;
The seven stars in archaic constellations (Ursa Major, Orion,
Bootes, Pleiades, etc.);
A week, the period of the seven days;
The seven days of Creation;
The seven colors of the rainbow;
The seven gates of Thebes, each of which had the name of a planet;
The seven malicious demons of Babylon;
The seven storeys of the tower of Babylon, surmounted by the eighth which represented Heaven;
The seven archangels of the Chaldeans and of the Jews;
A minora -the candlestick with seven branches;
The period of seven times seven years of the Jews;
The seven in Josephs explanations of Pharaohs dreams;
The seven doors of the cave of Mithras;
The seven Amchaspands or great spirits invoked by the Persians;
The seven prophetic rings of the Brahmins, on each of which the name of a planet was engraved;
The flute of seven pipes put into the hands of the God Pan;
The lyre of seven strings, played by Apollo;
The seven notes of a musical sequence;
The seven hills of Rome;
The seven sacraments of the Christians;
The seven ringing towers of ancient Byzantium;
The book of Fate, composed of seven books;
The seven idols, which the Bonzes carry every year with great ceremony into seven different temples;
The seven wonders of the world, etc.

omy was of great importance for the ancient Hebrews as well as for the ancient Egyptians and all
other ancient people. But the Old Testament was particularly written as a rejection of the Egyptian religious polytheism and other dogmas. Moses was interested in the proper innovations and,
especially, he might like to adopt new features which the Egyptian priesthood objected against.
That is why I see reason to speculate whether Moses, who might have known about the new
constellation quartet proposed by Akhenaton, took this fresh idea into consideration. It probably
was after Moses that the figure-of-TWELVE - the new number of constellations on the ecliptic
- became a meaningful and sacred one.
In Table 1, I have assembled the numerous items connected with the figure-of-SEVEN, and
in Table 2 - the items connected with the figure-of-TWELVE. Of course, the task to contrast
these tables symbolically is not very easy, but to my mind it is possible to conclude that the
tables reflect the archaic age of the figure-of-SEVEN symbolism contrary to that of the figureof-TWELVE which is younger and mainly has a Judeo-Christian religious character.
The first time the figure-of-TWELVE became widely known was as the number of precious
stones from the high priests breastplate or pouch in the Book of Exodus (Ref. [28], 17-20 and
Ref. [39], 10-13). The same number is an important one for the Tribes [Revelation, 7,5-8, and
some other fragments] as well as for the gates of New Jerusalem (Ref. [ 111,pp. 122-151). As to
the figure-of-SEVEN, its roots are much deeper and may be traced up to the Roman literature.
It was the great Albrecht Dtirer who has visioned the seven stars at the hand of God the Creator
(Fig. 3). And it would be a highlight of my next paper, currently under preparation, if I could
establish that before the sky was patterned with three symbolical strata in the Upper Paleolithic,
a pattern of constellations had existed with each of them introduced as a group of the seven

Evolution of the Zodiac

519

Table 2

The figure-of-TWELVE
The twelve months in a solar year;
The twelve signs of the Zodiac;
The twelve hours of a day and the twelve hours of a night;
The twelve precious stones of the rational or the ornament worn by the high-priest of the Jews;
The twelve sons of Jacob or the twelve tribes of Israel;
The twelve gates of New Jerusalem;
The twelve labors of Hercules;
The twelve wards of the city of which Plato conceived the plan;
The four tribes of Athens, subdivided into three fratries;
The twelve governors in the Manichean system;
The twelve cantons of the Etruscan league;
The twelve altars of Janus;
The confederationof the twelvecitiesof Ionia,and that of Eolia;

The twelveApostles;
The city of the twelvegatesin the Apocalypse;
The twelveassesof the Scandinavians;
The twelveTcheuinto which Chun divided China;
The twelve regions into which the natives of Korea divided the World, etc.

attributive stars [34].

The problem of Egypts astronomical legacy is still waiting its definitive investigators. We
have to understand that in the 2-l millennium B.C. mental development went, at a minimum,
in three different ways. The Babylonians were mainly interested in mystic applications and they
improved astrology very actively. The Hebrews concentrated on moral relationships between
humans as well as between people and God. The Greeks focused on rational cognition of Nature
and they advanced that type of knowledge which we identify as real science today. For all of
them, the Egyptian astronomical legacy was of great importance but in every case it was reflected
in different ways.
Are there ways to obtain more astronomical evidence in the absence of written texts? Yes, of
course. We may disclose the traces of figures of four and eight as symbols from the existence of
the first and the second ecliptical quartets before the time the Zodiac was established in its final
form.
According to R. Gleadow, it was Zimmem who first suggested that the Cherubim in the first
chapter of Ezekiel represent the cardinal constellations of the third and fourth millennium B.C.
(Ref. [ 111,p. 126). He continues with the sample of the winged bulls from the British Museum
which have a human head, the forefeet of a bull, the hind feet of a lion, and eagles wings (Fig. 4).
It is necessary to remember that astrologers, when they made the equation with the four cardinal
signs, used an eagle instead of Scorpio and pretended that it represents the higher side of that
maligned constellation. There may be many more examples.

6. THE CHRONOLOGICAL

SUMMARY

As a result of three successive parts of the investigation, the following astronomical chronology may now be presented for discussion.
l After 60 OOflB.C. The ending of the Lower Paleolithic and the Mousterian Culture (70 OOO32000 B.C.) associated with Neanderthal Man. In climate, the last glacial (Wurm) period

520

A.A. Gurshtein

Fig. 3. God the Creator with the seven stars by his hand (From the Complete Woodcuts of Albrecht Diirer, Edited
by Dr. Willi Kurth, Dover Publications, Inc., New York, 1963; S. Johns Vision of Christ and the seven candlesticks,
1498.)

Fig. 4. This Assyrian creature combined the four symbols for the cardinal constellations of the Zodiac: a bull, a lion,
an eagle (instead of a scorpion, see the text) and a man. The same symbols appeared in the vision of the prophet
Ezekiel (ca. 590 B.C.)

Evolution of the Zodiac

l
l

521

started 70 thousand years ago. Artifacts tell about regulating burial habits. The roots of the
cave bear cult.
60 000-40 000 B.C. Middle Paleolithic. Emergence of an anthropological type of human being
who is learning to think and to speak.
30000-26000 B.C. Aurignacian culture of Cro-Magnon inhabitants of Western Europe. This
culture is known for burying its dead elaborately, bodily ornamentation, subtle tool-making
methods, decoration of objects, invention of musical instruments and symbolic notations, and
some other great spiritual and technological improvements. This culture of hunters and gatherers probably has to be recognized as the front-runner of establishing four cardinal points of
the horizon and indicating time with lunar phases as well. An engraved plaque with complex
markings has come from the Abri Blanchard cave that A. Marshack has interpreted as a lunar
calendar.
26000-20000 B.C. The Gravettian period. People are arriving in North America by the
Bering Strait land bridge.
20000-16000 B.C. The Solutrean period. The production of female figurines implies a fertility cult (Venus of Willendorf, Austria, a sculpture of woman holding bison horn, France,etc).
Probably not later than this period the first pattern of constellations was established, the sky
to be divided into the stable groups of the seven attributive stars. One of the groups was due
to a totem of a great she-bear. The heavens to serve for orientations in space and time; in
the seven-day week and the likeness of constellations, the figure-of-seven had started its long
usage as a sacred symbol.
16000-8000 B.C. The Magdalenian period. The names of existing constellations were harmonized into three strata for the Lower, Middle and Upper Worlds upon the sky (with water,
land and air symbolism).
Ca. 13 500 B.C. A sea level rise of about 40 meters floods large areas of lowland; the result of
the melting of the North American ice shield. Soon after the Bering Strait opens and hunter
migration to North America is stopped.
Ca. 10000 B.C. The end of the Ice Age in Europe.
Ca. 8000 B.C. The Neolithic Revolution. Permanent settlement in mudbrick villages became
normal. In contrast to hunting and gathering, the farming was closely attached to the solar
year, and under these new circumstances it was necessary to monitor the annual Sun track
along the starry background.
Ca. 5600 B.C. Probably in an area of the Fertile Crescent, four constellations to mark the
Suns track upon the starry background for a calendar were elaborated onto the three strata
that existed. These were modem Zodiacal constellations with the most archaic and universal
symbolism - Gemini, Virgo, Sagittarius and Pisces, and they corresponded to the spring,
summer, autumn, and winter. The names continue to reflect the previous symbolical strata.
4000-1500 B.C. In Europe, megalithic monuments (Great Britain, Brittany, Malta, Iberian
peninsula). The observers could not catch the positions for the moving luminaries on the twodimensional celestial sphere but they had discovered the tracks of the luminaries are strongly
bound with their rising and setting on the horizon, the megaliths then becoming the common
structures as devices for astronomical predictions.
About 3200-3100 B.C. The unification of the Upper and the Lower Egypts by the Pharaoh
Menes.
Between 2800 and 2650 B.C. In Egypt, the Step Pyramid at Saqqara is built for the Pharaoh
Zoser by his vizier Imhotep. It was probably Imhotep who introduced the new quartet to mark
the ecliptic with Egyptian symbology, probably by giving the new names to four constellations previously existing. They were the modern Taurus, Leo, Scorpio and Aquarius (the term

522

A.A. Gurshtein

Zodiac arises). Imhotep most likely established a solar calendar and formulated the format for
a Pyramid as the Suns sanctuary. Astrology was born at this time.
Ca. 2600-2500 B.C. Three Great Pyramids and the Sphinx are erected in honor of the Sungod, being the sanctuaries for Egyptians to recall their great spiritual achievements. In spite of
the triumph of the Sun cult, the stars continued to be an important component of the Egyptian
religion.
About 2100 B.C. The Carnac alignments (France). Sarsen Circle and Trilithons of Stonehenge
(UK). Temple of Enlil and ziggurat at Nippur (Iraq). West Kennet post circles, near Avebury
(UK).
About 2000 B.C. The beginning of Hebrew history when Habiru nomadic tribes entered a
land between the Tigris and the Euphrates.
About 1700 B.C. The religion of Judaism is founded by Abraham who replaced human sacrifice with a ram. The roots of the Hebrew astronomical knowledge during the Patriarchal
age.
Ca. 1375 B.C. In Egypt, the Pharaoh Amenhotep IV (Akhenaton) had started his reign on
the eve of the end of the first Great Calendar Cycle of Egypt. He undertook to revolutionize
Egypts religion, to introduce the Solar monotheism, and to replace old Solar markers with
new ones.
Between 1300 and 1200 B.C. Moses and the Exodus of the Hebrews. It was probably Moses
who used Amenhoteps rejected approach to relate twelve lunar months of the Solar year
with twelve Zodiacal constellations. It was after Moses that the figure-of-twelve became a
meaningful and sacred one.
Ca. 1200 B.C. Priams city of Troy falls to Greek armies after a lo-year siege (the Trojan War
of Homer).
Ca. 1100 B.C. The first astronomical observatory in China. The Tower of Babylon (partially
built for astronomical observations).
During the first millennium B.C. The final form of the Zodiac was developed, retaining the
successive influences of many previous epochs and cultures.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
It is the authors great pleasure to thank sincerely several colleagues for their participation in
essential and stimulating discussions: first of all Profs. R. Frank (University of Iowa), 0. Gingerich (Harvard Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics), A. Marshack (Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology, Harvard University), I.L. Kyzlasov (Archaeological Institute), D.S.
Raevsky (Institute for Eastern Studies), both of the Russian Academy of Sciences, C. Ruggles
(University of Leicester, Great Britain) as well as Prof. A.E. Roy (University of Glasgow, Scotland) for his profound and very professional comments.
The basic portion of the current paper was written during my very fruitful stay at Mesa State
College (Colorado, USA) when I had an opportunity to use its excellent library. For such a
support I am cordially obliged to the Vice-President of the College, Prof. James P. Rybak who
was so helpful to correct and to edit the English language of this text; I am very grateful to him
for his extraordinary and beneficial support.
My acknowledgments also to Mr. P. Beer, Editor of Vistas in Astronomy, with whom I have
spent some remarkable hours of talks.

Evolution of the Zodiac

523

[ 1] Originally, a monograph by Ch.F. Dupui (1742-1809) was published in 12 volumes in

French (1795). The abridged English translation was published in New Orleans in 1872
under the title, The Origin of All Religious Worship (condensed by the author himself); the
new edition was published by Garland, New York, 1984. As to M. Eliade, see, for instance,
a new publication, Myths, Dreams, and Mysteries: the encounter between contemporary
faiths and archaic realities, Magnolia Mass: Peter Smith, 1992, and many others.
[2] A.A. Gurshtein, On the origin of the zodiacal constellations, Vistas in Astronomy 36 (1993)
pp. 171-190;
A.A. Gurshtein Prehistory of Zodiac dating: three strata of Upper Paleolithic constellations,
vistas in Astronomy 39 (1995) pp. 347-362;
the same results are presented in some other publications of the author, for example, in
English, A.A. Gurshtein, The Zodiac and the roots of European civilization, preprint for the
Int. Archaeoastronomical Conf. Oxford-4, Stara Zagora, 1993, (20 pages);
A.A. Gurshtein, Dating the origin of constellations by precession, Physics-Dokludy (Official
English Translation of the Russian Academy of Sciences Transactions) 39 (1994) No. 8,
pp. 575-578;
A.A. Gurshtein, Signs of the Zodiac: at the dawn of culture, Science in Russia (1994) No. 5
(83) pp. 34-41;
A.A. Gurshtein, When the Zodiac climbed into the sky, Sky ana Telescope 90 (1995) No. 4,
October, pp. 28-33;
A.A. Gurshtein, Discovery of prehistoric skies, Bull. Amex Astl: Sot. 27 No.4 (1995) abstr.
27.01;
A.A. Gurshtein, Physics-Doklady 41(1996) No. 5, pp. 228-232 and in Russian;
A.A. Gurshtein, Dead civilizations in the mirror of the Zodiac, Prinxfa (1991) No. 10,
pp. 57-71;
A.A. Gurshtein, Reconstruction of Zodiacal constellations origin, Na rubezhachpoznaniya
Vselennoi (Studies in History of Astronomy), Moscow, Nauka (1992) pp. 19-63;
A.A. Gurshtein, The birth of the Zodiac, Novoe vremya (New Ames) (1993) No. 43, pp. 4043;
A.A. Gurshtein, The sky was divided on constellations in the Paleolithic, Prinxiu (1994)
No. 9, pp. 60-71;
A.A. Gurshtein, Zodiac and the sources of European culture, Vestnik drevnei istorii (The
Herald of Ancient History) (1995) No. 1, pp. 153-161 (An introductory paper for a set of
presentations on discussion of Gurshteins concept, Zodiac History in the History of Culture,
pp. 153-200.)
[3] See, I.E.S. Edwards, The Pyramids of Egypt (Penguin, Baltimore, 1964) (Reprinted from
Revised edition) p. 19.
[4] In the next summary I use some modern standard text-books on the history of Egypt
among which it seems to be meaningful to point out the above-mentioned Edwards book
in English as well as The History of the Ancient Orient. Creation of the most ancient
class communities and the first hearths of a slave-owning civilization. Part 2. The Middle
East, Egypt, edited by G.M. Bongard-Levin, Moscow, Nauka, 1988 (in Russian); a very
valuable up-to-date summary is Egypts Old Kingdom: Age of Pyramids by David
Roberts (National Geographic, January 1995) pp. 2-43.
151The absolute dating by historians is really very uncertain. For the beginning of the
Step Pyramid, D. Roberts in National Geographic mentioned 2630 B.C.; that date is in

524

A.A. Gurshtein

disagreement with all other sources. No single opinion exists on the time of Zoser and
Imhotep; for example, in: World History: A Chronological Dictionary of Dates, by Rodney
Castleden (Shooting Star Press Inc, New York, 1994), Zosers reign is estimated as 29002870 B.C.
[6] R.G. Bauval, The horizon of Khufu: A stellar name for Cheops Pyramid, Discussions in
Egyptology 30 (1994) pp. 17-20.
[7] A flood of pyramidology was reached after the three volumes by the second Astronomer
Royal for Scotland, Charles Piazzi Smyth, Life and Work at the Great Pyramid, Edinburgh,
1867;
for more see H.A. Bruck and M.T. Bruck, The Peripatetic Astronomer: The Life of Charles
Piazzi Smytb (Adam Hilger, Bristol and Philadelphia, 1988).
[8] In the recent book on the History of Astronomy by John North, we read the cautious
statement: For all their outward simplicity, there seems to have been a relationship of sorts
between the pyramids and the Sun and stars Astronomy and Cosmology, Fontana History
ofScience Series (Fontana, London 1994).
[9] J.H. Breasted, The Development of Religion and Thought in Ancient Egypt (New York,
1912) p. 72.
[lo] G. Rawlinson, History of Herodotus edited by E.H. Blakeney (Everymans Library, London,
1912).
[ 1l] R. Gleadow, The Origin of the Zodiac (Castle Books, New York, 1968).
[ 121 M. Clagett, Ancient Egyptian Science, 2 Memoirs of the American Philosophical Society
held in Philadelphia for Promoting Useful Knowledge, 214 Philadelphia, 1995, xiv + 576
pp. 106 ill.; p. 1.
[ 131 R. Parker, The Calendars of Ancient Egypt (Chicago, 1950). In 1974 he published, Ancient
Egyptian Astronomy (Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London, A.276,
pp. 51-65) and later on a summary of his studies Egyptian Astronomy, Astrology and
Calendrical Reckoning, in: CC. Gillispie (Ed.) Dictionary of Scientific Biography 15 (New
York, 1978) pp. 706-727.
[ 141 E.J. Bickermann, Chronology of the Ancient World (Cornell University Press, Ithaca, New
York, 1968), pp. 41-42.
[ 151 This extract is from N. Sallmann, Censorini de die natali liber ad Q. Caerellium (Teubner,
Leipzig, 1983) Chapter 21, Sections 9-10, pp. 52-53
[16] G. Dattari, Numi Augg. Alexandrini, Cairo, 1901; Pl. xxxii, No. 2428.
[ 171 Ch.L. Ideler, Handbuch der Chronology 1-2, 1825-l 826.
[ 181 Eduard Meyer, Aegyptische Chronologie, Berlin, 1904;
see also, Nachtraege zur Aegyptischen Chronologie, Berlin, 1908.
[ 191 0. Neugebauer, Die Bedeutungslosigkeit der Sothisperiode fuer die aelteste aegyptische
Chronologie, Acta orientalia 17 (1938) pp. 169-195; and, The Origin of the Egyptian
Calendar, J. of Near Eastern Studies 1 (1942) pp. 396-403. Both presentations
were reprinted in 0. Neugebauer, Astronomy and History, Selected Essays (New
York/Berlin/Heidelberg/rokyo, 1983).
[20] R.K. Krauss, Probleme des altaegyptischen Kalenders und der Chronologie des mittleren
und neuen Reiches in Aegypten (Dissertation, Berlin, 1981).
[21] Cyril Fagan (1896-1970) was the founder and for a long time the President of the Irish
Astrological Society but it is not a belief in astrology, of course, that led me to quote this
author. In ancient times astrology overlapped astronomy. Both had the same observational
roots. Fagan has studied these roots. The main books from him on the problem were:,
Zodiacs Old and New (the first edition was from Llewellyn Publ., St Paul, 1950 and the

Evolution of the Zodiac

525

second one - Anscombe, London, 1951) and, Astrological Origins (Llewellyn, St. Paul,
MN, 1971).
[22] C. Fagan, Astrological Origins, p. 168.
[23] American Astrology, September and October, 1950.
[24] Manilii Astronomicon, ed. A.E. Housman (Grant, London) 1903-1930.
[25] I am very thankful to my colleague A. Kuzmin, of Moscow, who first drew my attention to
Fagans presentations.
[26] S. Langdon, Babylonian Menologies and the Semithic Calendars (Oxford University Press,
London, 1935).
[27] J. Goody, The Domestication of the Savage Mind (Cambridge, 1977).
[28] S.J. Tester, A History of Western Astrology (The Boydell Press, Suffolk, 1987) pp. 11-12.
[29] A.A. Gurshtein, Reconstruction of Zodiacal Constellations Origin, in: Nu rubezhuch
pomaniya Vselennoi (Studies in History of Astronomy), Moscow, Nauka, 1992, p. 61 (in
Russian).
[30] For chronological information of the New Kingdom, I am using a contribution by Edward
F. Wente and Charles C. Van Siclen III, A chronology of the New Kingdom, in: Studies in
Honor of George R. Hughes Studies in Ancient Oriental Civilization, No. 39 (The Oriental
Institute, Chicago, 1976).
[31] R.K. Harrison, Old Testament Times (William B. Eerdmans, Grand Rapids, MI (second
printing), 1974) p. 124.
[32] John J. Bimson, Redating the Exodus and Conquest (The Almond Press, Sheffield, 1981).
[33] An Encyclopedia of World History, Compiled and edited by William L. Lancer (Houghton
Mifflin, Boston, 1952) p. 30.
[34] I am not the first person to believe that the figure-of-SEVEN played a significant role in
the establishment of archaic constellations. Boris A. Frolov has mentioned this idea in
Russian. Much earlier Robert Brown in his Researches into the Origin of the Primitive
Constellations of the Greeks, Phoenicians and Babylonians, Vol. 1 (Williams and Norgate,
Oxford, 1899); Vol. 2 (1900) devoted a special chapter XII, Some stellar Groups of Sevens
(see Vol. 2, pp. 106-142). But as far as I know, I am the first to have found an astronomical
approach to date the seven-star constellations and to have estimated their establishment to
be at the Upper Paleolithic.