DIAGONAL

STAR TABLES 𓇼

César Guerra Méndez & Amy Elizabeth Gilliatt

PROVENANCE
Almost 30 rectangular coffin lids
Early Middle Kingdom
Mostly from the Asyut necropolis

Some of the earliest evidence of systematic, formal observation in the world

CONTENT
Lists of ‘decan star names’
Decan: modern word for star names appearing in
either diagonal star tables, or in lists of stars
present in astronomical diagrams
Decans are members of set of stars which rise and
set
They may refer to a single star or a group of stars.
Presented as a consistently ordered group or list
2 traditions: ‘T’ (ṯmȝt) tables [or diagonal] and ‘K’
(knmt) tables [or broken diagonals]
“Ideal type” of diagonal star table:
36 columns, each representing one of the 10-day
weeks of the civil year (ie 360 days)
Within each column, a list of 12 decans –in strict
order, perform some astronomical action - 12
hours of night? (diff between longest and shortest
night in Aswan: 2:57, as opposed to 8:47 in
London)
Depict what?
The motion of stars?
Time?
PROBLEMS IN INTERPRETATION
Translation and terminology
Do we understand
astronomy/astrology the same way
the Egyptians did? If not, can we use
the same words?

New technologies
We can now understand the night sky
with a higher degree of accuracy –
computing, etc – which may not have
been relevant or understood by the
Egyptians who produced these
diagrams
PROBLEMS IN INTERPRETATION
‘T’ and ‘K’ Tables
Accuracy of one over other?
Coffin variations – appear to be copies of an original by
people who didn’t understand them?
‘T’ tables contain 34 decans, ‘ideal’ tables would contain
36 – are we working with constructed ideals, or the real
evidence?

Decan ‘K’ – duplicated, how is this possible?

1) Two stars with identical names
2) One of the two is a an imposition or substitution
3) Neugebauer and Parker – ‘sȝbw creature’ (Facing
backwards?)

Intentional mistakes?
Don’t match up to our modern understanding, but
perhaps representative of an accurate Egyptian
understanding?
CONCLUSIONS
Neugebauer and Parker: Tables intended
to mark time using stars rising

Depuydt: Schematic, idealised and

descriptive – artistic and aesthetic
representation of the night sky

Symons: A mix of the two, descriptive

and idealised representation but also
intended for observation and practical
use

Lull: Tables intended to mark time, but

the beginning position of the stars
debatable
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Depuydt, L. (2010) ‘Ancient Egyptian star tables: A
reinterpretation of their fundamental structure’ in
Imhausen, A. and Pommerening, T. (eds.) Writings of Early
Scholars in the Ancient Near East, Egypt, and Greece:
Translating Ancient Scientific Texts. Berlin: De Gruyter, pp.
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Lull García, J. (2016) La astronomía en el antiguo Egipto.
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