I can't really say what the motivation was other than three stars next to the celestial version of the Nile, Hydra (not the Milky Way). I don't know what particular significance those stars may have had to them. The Sphinx seems to suggest a connection with the lion constellation but there's no way to know for sure. The constellation Leo being known to the Egyptians is not essential to my theory at all but I would think that at least the priests would have known about Leo, since it was known to the Babylonians and Indians. Surely the high priests of Egypt would not have been ignorant of that. It is rather suspicious that the Sphinx has huge paws and that the star corresponding to the GP is also at the paws of the Sphinx. I think people underestimate the knowledge of the astronomer priests of Egypt.
I'm no longer saying that Alpha Sextantis represents the Sphinx, being too far West, but the Sphinx is just left of Alphard and would be looking right at it.
Here's the Petrie diagram overlay image.





Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 02/11/2008 07:35AM by Sah_4.