by neufer » Wed Apr 02, 2014 10:00 am
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spica wrote:
<<The name Spica derives from Latin spīca virginis "Virgo's ear of grain" (usually wheat).
Spica is believed to be the star that provided Hipparchus with the data that enabled him to discover the precession of the equinoxes. A
temple to
Menat/Hathor at Thebes was oriented with reference to Spica when it had been constructed in 3200 BC, and, over time, precession resulted in a slow but noticeable change in the location of Spica relative to the temple. Nicolaus Copernicus made many observations of Spica with his home-made
triquetrum for his researches on precession.>>
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dendera_Zodiac wrote:
<<The sculptured Dendera zodiac (or Denderah zodiac) is a widely known Egyptian bas-relief from the ceiling of the pronaos (or portico) of a chapel dedicated to Osiris in the Hathor temple at Dendera, containing images of Taurus (the bull) and the Libra (the scales). This chapel was begun in the late Ptolemaic period; its pronaos was added by the emperor Tiberius. The relief, which John H. Rogers characterised as "the only complete map that we have of an ancient sky", has been conjectured to represent the basis on which later astronomy systems were based. It is now on display at the Musée du Louvre. The zodiac is a planisphere or map of the stars on a plane projection, showing the 12 constellations of the zodiacal band forming 36 decans of ten days each, and the planets. These decans are groups of first-magnitude stars. These were used in the ancient Egyptian calendar, which was based on lunar cycles of around 30 days and on the heliacal rising of the star Sothis (Sirius).
The controversy around the zodiac, called the "Dendera Affair", involved people of the likes of Joseph Fourier (who estimated that the age was 2500 BC), Thomas Young, Jean-François Champollion, and Jean-Baptiste Biot. Johann Karl Burckhardt and Jean-Baptiste Coraboeuf held, after analysis of the zodiac, that the ancient Egyptians understood the precession of the equinoxes. Champollion, among others, believed that it was a religious zodiac. Champollion placed the zodiac in fourth century AD. Georges Cuvier placed the date 123 AD to 147 AD. His discussion of the dating question is an interesting summary of the reasoning as he understood it in the 1820's.>>
[quote=" http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spica"]
[float=right][img3=""]http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/c/cd/Denderah1.jpg/250px-Denderah1.jpg[/img3][/float]
<<The name Spica derives from Latin spīca virginis "Virgo's ear of grain" (usually wheat).
Spica is believed to be the star that provided Hipparchus with the data that enabled him to discover the precession of the equinoxes. A [url=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dendera_Temple_complex]temple[/url] to [url=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Menat]Menat/Hathor[/url] at Thebes was oriented with reference to Spica when it had been constructed in 3200 BC, and, over time, precession resulted in a slow but noticeable change in the location of Spica relative to the temple. Nicolaus Copernicus made many observations of Spica with his home-made [url=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Triquetrum_%28astronomy%29]triquetrum[/url] for his researches on precession.>>[/quote][quote=" http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dendera_Zodiac"]
[float=right][img3="[b][color=#0000FF]Denderah zodiac with original colors (reconstructed)[/color][/b]"]http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/7c/Zodiaque_de_Denderah_aux_couleurs_d%27origine.jpg[/img3][/float]
<<The sculptured Dendera zodiac (or Denderah zodiac) is a widely known Egyptian bas-relief from the ceiling of the pronaos (or portico) of a chapel dedicated to Osiris in the Hathor temple at Dendera, containing images of Taurus (the bull) and the Libra (the scales). This chapel was begun in the late Ptolemaic period; its pronaos was added by the emperor Tiberius. The relief, which John H. Rogers characterised as "the only complete map that we have of an ancient sky", has been conjectured to represent the basis on which later astronomy systems were based. It is now on display at the Musée du Louvre. The zodiac is a planisphere or map of the stars on a plane projection, showing the 12 constellations of the zodiacal band forming 36 decans of ten days each, and the planets. These decans are groups of first-magnitude stars. These were used in the ancient Egyptian calendar, which was based on lunar cycles of around 30 days and on the heliacal rising of the star Sothis (Sirius).
The controversy around the zodiac, called the "Dendera Affair", involved people of the likes of Joseph Fourier (who estimated that the age was 2500 BC), Thomas Young, Jean-François Champollion, and Jean-Baptiste Biot. Johann Karl Burckhardt and Jean-Baptiste Coraboeuf held, after analysis of the zodiac, that the ancient Egyptians understood the precession of the equinoxes. Champollion, among others, believed that it was a religious zodiac. Champollion placed the zodiac in fourth century AD. Georges Cuvier placed the date 123 AD to 147 AD. His discussion of the dating question is an interesting summary of the reasoning as he understood it in the 1820's.>>[/quote]