Black Genesis: The Prehistoric Origins of Ancient Egypt

The rounded planisphere that is seen today at Dendera is not the original one but a facsimile made in the 1920s. The
original was taken to France after the Napoleonic invasion of Egypt in 1798, and it is now displayed at the Louvre
Museum in Paris. Books and articles abound on the meaning and date of the planisphere of Dendera. It is well outside
the scope of this investigation to review them all, but there is little doubt that the planisphere dates from the time when
the temple was built—circa 54 BCE . It is much less clear whether the planisphere represents the sky at that time or, as
some have suggested, a much older sky. In other words, we may wonder if the Dendera planisphere is a copy of a
much older one on which was incorporated the Babylonian-Greek astrological signs. If this is the case, then there is no
question that this artifact is a symbol of the precession of the equinoxes, which sees the astrological signs transit the
east-west axis of the planisphere in a neverending cycle of twenty-six thousand years. The first scholar to suggest that
this indeed was the case was the French astronomer Jean-Batiste Biot, who argued that a careful study of the position
of the constellations and planets on the Dendera planisphere indicates a much older sky and, by extension, knowledge
of the precession. Such ideas are usually vehemently rejected by Egyptologists and historians of science. Outside the
temple on its west side
Outside the temple on its west side are a series of mammisi, or “birth houses,” built in Roman times. And farther
still along the west side of the temple is a deep, artificial sacred lake, which is now dry and has palm trees growing in it.
At the back of the temple is a small chapel known as the Birth Place of Isis, sometimes also called the temple of Isis.
This temple of Isis has its outer area aligned toward the east and its inner area aligned toward the north and parallel
to the axis of the main temple of Hathor. The distinct impression it conveys is that observations toward east and north
were carried out simultaneously. An inscription at the temple reads: “She [the star of Isis—that is, Sirius] shines into her
temple on New Year’s Day, and she mingles her light with that of her Father Ra on the horizon.” 89
This inscription clearly refers to the heliacal rising of Sirius. 90 Yet we have seen how the conjunction of the heliacal
rising of Sirius with New Year’s Day can take place only at the start of a Sothic cycle. With this in mind, the astronomer
Edwin Krupp pointed out, “some traditions preserved at Dendera are thousands of years old,” 91 and he goes on to say
that the inscriptions “describe metaphorically the heliacal rising of Sirius . . . certainly this astronomical event was
watched from the roof of Dendera temple . . .” 92
The British astronomer Sir Norman Lockyer *62 first noted that the axis of the temple of Isis at Dendera had an
azimuth of 108 degrees 30 minutes, which corresponded to the azimuth of Sirius when the temple was constructed, circa
54 BCE. 93
Thus Lockyer concluded correctly, “the temple of Isis at Dendera was built to watch it [Sirius].” 94 On the other
hand, inscriptions at Dendera confirm that the axis of the main temple of Hathor was aligned northward, toward the Big
Dipper, using the traditional stretching the cord ceremony. Lockyer determined that it was aligned 18 degrees 30 minutes
east of north. According to Lockyer, the temple was aligned to the star Dubhe in the Big Dipper. *63
It seems clear that the axes of both temples—that of Hathor and of Isis—were aligned simultaneously, the latter
toward Dubhe in the north and the former toward Sirius in the east. Inscriptions at Dendera suggest this simultaneous
sighting and, furthermore, that the observations were made at dawn.
Figure 6.5. Cow head, probably Hathor, on the so-called Narmer Palette, first dynasty circa 3000 BCE
[East alignment toward Sirius]: The great goddess Seshat brings the writings that relate to your rising, O Hathor [as
Sirius], and to the rising of Ra [the sun at dawn] . . . 95