The Astronomical Ceiling of

Senenmut: a Dream of Mystery and

Imagination
Juan Antonio Belmonte
Instituto de Astrofsica de Canarias, Spain

Mosalam Shaltout
Minufiya University, Egypt

To be published in the SEAC2005 Proceedings on

Light and Shadows in Cultural

Astronomy
Edited by Mauro Zedda and Juan A. Belmonte
Cagliari (2005)

The Astronomical Ceiling of Senenmut:

a Dream of Mystery and Imagination.
JUAN ANTONIO BELMONTE AND MOSALAM SHALTOUT
Abstract
The most ancient complete representation of the Egyptian (and of any other people) sky
is to be found in the ceiling of the first chamber at the tomb of Senenmut at Deir el
Bahari (Tomb 353 of the Theban western necropolis). Since the discovery of the tomb,
the astronomical ceiling was compared with other representations of the same celestial
diagram found in other monuments, such as the nearby Ramesseum or the tomb of
Sethy I. One important point was stressed, the absence of the planet Mars in Senenmuts
representation. Consequently, some scholars have tried to show that the diagram
represents a real celestial map and have tried to demonstrate that the ceiling was
designed in such or such epoch, when Mars was not visible, or visible in peculiar
position, in an attempt to date Senenmuts carrier and, consequently, a very important
period of Egyptian history, the reign of queen Hatshepsut. In this paper, we try to show
that all these hypotheses are based on erroneous foundations and that the absence of
Mars can be explained in a much more prosaic and simpler manner. Other problematic
aspects of the astronomical ceiling will be also briefly discussed.
Introduction
Senenmuts astronomical ceiling (see Figure 1) is the oldest representation of the
Egyptian Firmament and the first of a series of celestial diagrams that culminated in
the zodiacs of the Greco-Roman period. Dated in the first half of 15th century BC,
under the reign of Queen Hatshepsut, it is centuries older than other astronomical
ceilings and almost a millennium older than the first Mesopotamian astrolabes.
Numerous specialists have described the ceiling since the tomb was first discovered by
Winlock (1928), the earliest description being that of Pogo (1930), the most detailed
that of Neugebauer and Parker in the excellent Egyptian Astronomical Texts
(hereafter EAT) or one of the most recent by Etz (1997).
However, some scholars have recently tried to demonstrate that the ceiling is something
more than a pictorial astronomical scheme and that it actually represents a certain view
of the starry sky for a certain night. For example, on the one side, for Leitz (1991), it
shows the night sky for different nights in the year 1463 BC and specially that of
November 14th (all dates, unless expressed, are in the Julian Calendar) when Mars was
not visible (see Figure 2), and, on the other side, for von Spaeth, the night of May 22nd
1534 BC, identifying Mars with another star within the diagram (see Figure 3). It is the
intention of this paper to briefly analyse the different areas in which the celestial
diagram can be divided, to study various related mysteries, and to demonstrate the
improbability of both hypotheses. As shown in Figure 1, we have divided the
astronomical ceiling in six areas.
Area I stands for the northern constellations and it is related to area II which includes
the name of the months and the unique representation of twelve circles divided in 24
sectors. According to Leitz (1991) the northern constellations are represented as they

were visible in the night of March 19 1463 BC. However, as we show in Figure 4, it is
highly unlikely that the constellations depicted represent the real sky at a certain
moment. Also according to Leitz, who follows Parker (1950) in the identification of the
months of area II as those of the lunar calendar, they are representing the night of
Wepet-Renpet, or the heliacal rising of Sirius, in July 16 1463 BC. Clagett (1995) has
demonstrated the non-equivalence between Wepet-renpet and the rising of Sirius and
the first author has shown (Belmonte 2003b) that these are obviously the months of the
single calendar ever used in the Egypt of the pharaohs, the civil one. Hence, Leitzs
ideas for these two areas of the ceiling should be dismissed.
Area V

Area VI
Area IV

FIGURE 1. Senenmuts astronomical ceiling

showing the most relevant areas of the celestial
diagram: northern constellations (I), the
calendar and associated circles (II), series of
lunar deities (III), decans and southern
constellations (IV), the triangular decans and
inner planets (V), and the outer planets (VI).
(Adapted from Dorman 1991).

Area II

Area I

Area III
Area III

Area III is frequently referred as that of the series of lunar gods (EAT). This
hypothesis is based on the similarity between some of the names (actually less than
40%) and those of names of the gods of the days of the lunar month as found in
depictions of the Greco-Roman period. More than twelve centuries separate both series
of personages and another striking elements, such as for example the case of Nehes (the
fourth in the left series), which is also the name of one of the gods within the nightly
solar boat, put a challenge to that simple hypothesis. There is even a text in the late
tomb of Petosiris (where a similar although not mysterious ceiling is visible) that
identifies them with the imperishable stars (EAT, Wilkinson 1991). Hence, many
uncertainties remain open yet.
Area IV stands for the decans and the southern constellations. Apart from the actual
long lasting discussions on the identification of the stars, asterisms and constellations of
that area (see e.g. EAT, Locher 1983, Bker 1984, Leitz 1995, Belmonte 2002 or Lull
2005, 261-262) no special problems are found there. One exception would be the
unrealistic identification (see Figure 3) of the decan Tjemes en Khentet with Mars as
proposed by von Spaeth (2000). Area V includes the inner planets, Mercury and
Venus, in that order, and the triangular decans, so-called because they appear in an
area with the form of a rectangular triangle in the diagonal star-clocks. They are
believed to be decanal stars or asterisms associated to the Epagomenal days. We will
come back to this peculiar group of stars at some stage in the future.

FIGURE 2. The main mystery of Senenmuts astronomical ceiling is the absence of Mars in the
representation of the outer planets, where only Jupiter and Saturn are mentioned. The list is completed
with the inner planets, Mercury and Venus after the triangular decans. However, other important
unresolved mystery is why Saturn is called the Mother of the Bull of Heaven instead of the standard
name of the planet as Horus, the Bull of Heaven. ( J.A. Belmonte).

FIGURE 3. The diagonal star-clock in the coffin-lid of Hekat, dated to the Middle Kingdom, showing the
decans of the constellation of the boat. Among these, the Red of the Prow (Tjemes en Khentet) is
represented on five occasions as time-keeper in five different decades (columns) of the Egyptian calendar.
Identical images are found in several other star-clocks of different epochs. This demonstrates, without a
doubt, that the equality of Tjemes en Khentet with Mars in the decan list of the tomb of Senenmut, as
proposed by Ove von Spaeth (2000) is completely erroneous. ( J.R. Belmonte).

FIGURE 4. A sector of the northern constellations in the astronomical ceiling. There are obvious traces
of a preliminary location of the constellations of the lion and of the crocodile (even the hieroglyphs of its
name can still be seen upon the skirt of the standing man). For reason unknown to us, both figures were
erased and represented further to the left and top in a smaller scale. Instead, the figure of the standing
man was painted. This figure is alien to this way of representing the celestial diagram, with examples
such as the Karnak clepsydra (see Fig. 7) or the Ramesseum. However, it is typical of another kind of
celestial diagrams, with Sethy Is ceiling as the most representative example. This fact probably speaks of
the strong unrealistic representation of the sky we are dealing with. Could the standing man be the
earliest representation of the Giant constellation (Nekht) of later Ramesside star-clocks? See text for
further discussions. ( J.A. Belmonte).

However, the most interesting and mysterious area in Senenmuts astronomical

ceiling is by far number VI, that of the outer planets, because of the endless discussions
it has generated. Why? the question is that the planet Mars, which should appear after
Jupiter and Saturn, like another representation of the sky-god Horus (actually as one of
the hypostasis of the god Horakhty), is absent of the celestial diagram (see Figure 2).
Indeed, that represents a great mystery.
Accordingly, various hypotheses have been proposed to explain that absence. We
have already discarded that of von Spaeth (2000) who found Mars in an impossible
position within the astronomical ceiling. However, the one that has obtained much
credit is that of Leitz (1991), despite of the severe and justified critics raised by Krauss
(1992, 1995). Leitz proposes that areas IV, V and VI of the astronomical ceiling
actually represent the sky as was visible in the night of November 14th 1463 BC, when
Mars was invisible. Thus, the diagram was designed (and probably tomb 353) within the
accepted dates for Hatshepsut usurpation of power. This speculation has been well
accepted by the Egyptological community as it has been reported by Dorman (1991,
138) in his otherwise excellent monograph on Senenmuts tombs and repeated, without
further questioning, until present (see e.g. Bedman and Martn-Valentn 2004, 173).
However, Leitzs idea is completely wrong as demonstrated in Figures 5 and 6. His
calculations were intended for November 14th 1463 BC in the Julian Calendar and that
night not only Mars but also Mercury were invisible in the sky (already argued by
Krauss 1995), although Mercury is obviously present in the ceiling (see Fig. 2). Even if
we accept an error of definition and we consider the night of November 14th 1463 BC
Gregorian as the one intended by Leitz (which is not the case), we would still have to

explain why Venus was visible in the sky before Mercury (see Fig. 6), which is not the
situation represented in the ceiling. Hence, we can be almost sure that no single part of
the astronomical ceiling of Senenmut represents the real sky of a certain night.
As a matter of fact, the absence of Mars is not the single mystery associated to area
VI, that of the outer planets. In every other celestial diagram Saturn is defined, among
other titles, as Horus, the Bull of Heaven. However, in Senenmuts astronomical
ceiling the planet is named as the Mother of the Bull of Heaven, where the falcon god
has been substitute by the vulture (see Fig. 2). In the cases that this fault is noticed in
the description of the diagram, as in EAT, it is normally assigned to a scribal error, a
quite frequent resource in Egyptology when there is no simple answer for a certain
problem.
However, in this case, there is a probable simpler answer not only to this mystery but
also to the absence of Mars. Figure 7 shows a lateral view of the decoration of the
Karnak clepsydra. More precisely, of that side that in the inner water-clock corresponds
to the month of the Flooding (Akhet) season. The clepsydra was decorated, and thus
possible constructed, during the reign of Amenhotep III, around the second quarter of
the 14th century BC (ca. 1370 BC). However, according to the interior monthly hourmarks, the clock was possibly designed for a much earlier epoch, possibly following the
earliest description of a water-clock made by the sage Amenemhat (ca. 1520 BC) in the
walls of his tomb in Thebes (Lull 2004, 136).
There are several important facts connected to the outer decoration of that particular
water-clock that are most relevant to our discussion: (i) Mercury and Venus are
represented in the standard order of most representations, (ii) there is a scene where the
King is making an offer to the god Re-Horakhty, in the presence of the lunar god Thot;
(iii) the presence of the northern constellations in an arrangement that is similar to
Senenmuts, but before the modification was made to include the image of the standing
man, and (iv), and most important, that only Jupiter and Saturn are represented, after
Sepdet and before the triangular decans (see Figure 7). Besides, the King is represented
standing close to each planet as a sort of planet-twin and identified by his cartouche and
his Horus title (including the standard epithet Strong Bull) which is not clear if it refers
to the king or to the planet (actually this title is located before each planet). As a matter
of fact, Mars is again absent! But, not Horakhty, who is represented in another scene in
his guise of solar god.
Does this mean that Mars would have been a sort of nocturnal aspect of Re-Horakhty
and thus it was not needed to be represented for a second time? This is a challenging
hypothesis connected to many aspect of ancient Egyptian religion and iconography, so a
whole discussion about this particular topic would clearly surpass the scopes of the
present paper.
The hypothesis we would like to defend in the present paper is that the astronomical
ceiling of the tomb of Senenmut is a gigantic copy of a papyrus draft of a celestial
diagram that would have existed and used to be represented in clepsydrae (as that of
Karnak). Because of the lack of space, when moving the design from a conical to a flat
surface, part of the decoration was lost. This could have been the case for the image of
the King (in this case it should have been Hatshepsut) offering to Re-Horakhty. As a
matter of fact, only two outer planets would have remained in the final representation.

Hence, the explanation for the absence of Mars would be very prosaic, merely
iconographical and not related at all with astronomy. Indeed, we would like to mention
that the hypothesis that an astronomical ceiling might represent an extended design of a
clepsydra was already defended by Spalinger (1995), but in reference to the
astronomical ceiling of the Ramesseum, where the three outer planets are represented.
Thus, that particular ceiling should correspond to a later and improved design of waterclock decoration.
The clepsydra like astronomical ceiling of Senenmut would include some other
peculiarities. The outer planets were also named also after the Horus title of Queen
Hatshepsut, which as a matter does not include the epithet strong bull (see Fig. 2),
presumably because she was a woman. As a consequence, her twin-planet could not be
Horus, the Bull of Heaven, and was transformed to the Mother of the Bull of
Heaven (no blame for the scribe, who did an excellent work). However, the most
important of these peculiarities would refer to areas I and II of the celestial diagram.

FIGURE 5. Mercury and Mars in almost conjunction with the sun at sunset of November 14th 1463 BC
(in the Julian Calendar). For the latitudes of Egypt, it was almost impossible to see any of these planets
during that particular night. Hence, Senenmuts astronomical ceiling, where Mercury is obviously
present, can not represent the actual sky of that night as firstly proposed by Christian Leitz (1991), and
continuously repeated since then by many scholars, even after Krauss (1995) severe and justified critics

FIGURE 6. The sky before sunrise in Thebes at

the morning of November 29th (night of 28th)
1463 BC, according to the Julian Calendar
(November 14th in the Gregorian Calendar).
Curiously, on this occasion Mars is still in
conjunction with the sun but Mercury is already
visible at dawn. However, even if the date of
November 14th Gregorian is considered as that
presumably proposed by Leitz, we still have to
deal with the problem that Mercury appeared
after Venus, a fact which is not found in
Senenmuts astronomical ceiling where both
planets are represented in the opposite order.

FIGURE 7. Karnak clepsydra snapshot of the area of Akhet season. This time-keeping device is dated to
Amenhotep III (ca. 1370 BC) but very likely it is a copy of a previous exemplar designed in the second
half of the 16th century BC. As in Senenmuts ceiling, Mars is also absent within the group of the outer
planets. However, Saturn is appropriately named as Horus Bull of Heaven and the standing man is not
represented, with the lion and the crocodile in the original positions (as in Senenmuts before being erased
and relocated). Is the astronomical ceiling of Senenmut a draft copy of such a diagram with some curious
appropriate modifications induced by the owner of the tomb? See text for further discussions.

FIGURE 8. A close-up of the stellar charts in the Ramesside star-clock of the tomb of Ramesses IX. The
sitting figure had been normally identified, since the earliest proposal by Sloley (1931), as that of a hourpriest who served as a reference for the observation of the transiting hour-stars. However, it is impossible
to imagine this figure as a priest because he wears a beard, exclusive element of gods and kings. Similar
representations in the tomb of Ramesses VI rather suggest that he actually is the image of a god of time.
This may drive to a complete different approach to the problem of identifying the constellations,
asterisms and individual stars mentioned in these astronomical devices as the one suggested in Belmonte
(2003b). The earlier working date of these charts (ca. 1470 BC) might suggest a connection with some
intriguing facts of Senenmuts ceiling. ( M. Sanz de Lara).

There we have, without a reasonable answer, the adding of the standing man and the
presence of the 24-division circles associated to each month of the civil calendar. The
explanation might have to deal with the interpretation of the Ramesside stellar clocks
(see Figure 8). These are table of 13 stars (or asterisms) used to measure time (i.e. 12
hours) during the night for periods of half a month. Thus 24 stars would be necessary to
measure time during a month of the civil calendar. In Belmonte (2003b), the first author
obtained quite reasonable identifications for several of these stars (and the
corresponding constellations) by simply ignoring previous limiting ideas of transiting
stars near the southern horizon with a hour-priest used as a reference frame (Sloley
1931, see Fig. 8). These ideas had frustrated previous attempts, such as that performed
by Leitz (1995) or the much better made by Lull (2004, 269-272). On the contrary,
Belmontes proposal locates in the northern sky (i.e. north of the Ecliptic or of the
Equator), constellations such as the Hippopotamus (Reret), the Lion (Mia), the Mooring
Post (Menet) or the Giant (Nekht). This clarify the outstanding possibility, already
defended by Le Page Renouf in the 19th century for other celestial diagrams, that part of
the constellations found in area I of the astronomical ceiling and the ones mentioned
(but not represented) in the Ramesside star-charts are exactly the same.
Although found in tombs of the 12th century BC, the Ramesside charts apparently
represent an astronomical device that, due to the displacement of the civil year against
the seasons, was most useful in the first half of the 15th century BC (Le Page Renouf
1874, EAT), surprisingly at the time of Senenmut. In his first description of the
astronomical ceiling, Pogo (1930) made the hypothesis (between brackets and with a
question mark) that the 24 sectors in the circles would be unfinished monthly starcharts. Our idea recovers this hypothesis and identify the 24 sectors with the 24 stars or
asterisms of the Ramesside clocks that would have been useful to measure time during
each month of the civil year. However, it would be a matter of discussion if the
intention was to write the names within the 24 sectors, and the charts were left
unfinished although there was enough space, or not.
As a logical corollary of this discussion, an important question might arise: Would
Senenmut have invented, or helped to develop, the Ramesside system of time-keeping
around 1470 BC and tried to represent it within his tomb? He lived at the correct time
when apparently the devices were designed, he had the knowledge and opportunity, and
the decoration of his astronomical ceiling gives us some clues in the positive sense. This
hypothesis could explain our last unsolved mystery; why the standing man
appeared suddenly in the decoration of the tomb (see Fig. 4). We speculate with the idea
that it could represent the Nekht constellation of the recently invented system of time
keeping (the constellation could be much older) and consequently it should occupy its
deserved position in the sky close to, among many others, his time-keeping relatives the
Lion, the Hippo or the Mooring Post.
A final point to discuss is the orientation of the tomb. From the outer chamber of tomb
353, where the astronomical ceiling is found, a small section of the sky is perfectly
visible. This corresponds to an azimuth of ~99 and an inclination of the access corridor
of ~25 (nearly the local latitude). Hence, either by chance or by design, the corridor
was facing the climbing in the sky of the bright star Aldebaran and the Hyades cluster
nearly at the epoch of construction of the tomb. There has been much speculation about
whether the constellation represented by four stars encircled by an ovoid, prominently

located within the southern constellations and called the Asterism of Water, might
represent the Hyades (also related to water in Greece) or not. Unfortunately, the Karnak
clepsydra is broken exactly where this asterism should have appeared and we do not
know if its pre-eminence within the constellations is particular to Senenmut tomb or not.
If the former were the case, it would be possible that, for an unknown reason, it could
represent the Hyades and the tomb could have been orientated accordingly.
As a final remark, we can conclude that the astronomical ceiling of the tomb of
Senenmut at Deir el Bahari (# 353) does not represent any real astronomical event but
rather a schematic celestial diagram that might have been used previously to decorate
water-clocks (where Mars was not present within the outer planets because Horakhty
was already represented somewhere else as a manifestation of the sun-god Re). That
diagram was copied to the ceiling in the first chamber of tomb 353, incorporating new
elements that were relevant to Senenmut particular situation such as the new female
name of the planet Saturn, the out-of-place image of the standing man (the
constellation Nekht?) or the monthly hour-circles (earliest unsuccessful attempt to
represent the stellar charts of the Ramesside clocks?), not to be repeated in any other
celestial diagram.
Acknowledgements
We acknowledge the Egyptologist Prof. Miguel Angel Molinero for some comments
and corrections that greatly improved the paper. The measurement of the orientation and
the local study of the iconography of tomb 353 was made under the frame of the
Egyptian-Spanish Mission on Ancient Egyptian Archaeoastronomy under the
auspices of the Egyptian Supreme Council of Antiquities. This work has been partially
financed by the Instituto de Astrofsica de Canarias under Project P07/93
Arqueoastronoma and by the Spanish Plan Nacional de Astronoma y Astrofsica
under Project AyA2004-01010 Orientatio ad Sidera.
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