Graham: “At Djoser's Saqqara complex there is an inscription: "Horus is the star at the head of the sky”
The name of Netjerikhet’s pyramid is ‘Horus is the star at the head of the sky’ according to Quirke (after Helck), but if, as you state, this name is found in Djoser’s mortuary complex, where is it found?
Early Dynastic agricultural domains were set up to support the royal mortuary cult with names like ‘Horus, star of the corporation’, ‘Horus risen as a star’, Horus the star of souls (bAw)’, and Netjerikhet’s domain name, ‘Horus the foremost star of the sky’ (Hrw sbA xnti pt)
A tomb in the necropolis of Khafra belonged to a manager of a vineyard in the Delta - the same agricultural domain established by Netjerikhet named ‘Horus, the Foremost Star of the Sky’ operational for about 1400 years.
(Netjerikhet’s domain name has been variously translated as ‘‘Horus the foremost star of the sky’, ‘Horus is the star at the head of the sky’ and ‘Star of Horus foremost of heaven’).
A PT inscription might allude to the same idea:
“….Horus at the sky’s starry ceiling, who brings the sun to life every day, shall build Unis and bring Unis to life every day.” W 206 (PT 301) Sethe Vol. 1: 232; §449b
Graham: “'the head of the sky' I would guess is the celestial pole. So the best candidate for this is Thuban, the pole star.”
Possibly, but an earlier domain name ‘Horus risen as a star’ suggests the star was not circumpolar. However, this could also be translated ‘Horus appears as a star’ (Hrw xa sbA), The same N28 (xa) ‘sun’s rays above hill’ used in this domain name, is also found in the names of pyramids - for example: in the names of Sneferu’s pyramids at Dashur: ‘Sneferu appears’ and also in the name of Sahure’s pyramid, ’the appearance of the ba of Sahure’. In the Pyramid Texts, Nut the personification of the sky, was ‘She of a Thousand Bas’ (Allen’s note: “Nut whose ’Thousand Bas’ are the stars of the night sky”), that suggests these kings appeared as stars, so perhaps Thuban is still a contender.
Capella, the 6th brightest star in their sky, is also a potential candidate, if it can be identified with ‘Sharp Horus’ (Hrw Spd) / ‘Sopdet Horus’ (Hrw spdt) / ‘Horus in Sopdet’ (Hrw jaj spdt).
Horus was referred to as ‘Sharp Horus’ (Hrw spd) in the earliest PTs, the male equivalent? of Sopdet (spdt) the personification of the brightest star in their sky, Sirius. Sopdet (spdt) has a steep sided triangle M44 (spd) as the determinative.
“Do not be ignorant of Unis, Sharp Horus (Hrw spd), since you know him and he knows you.” W 172
“Your sister Isis has come to you, aroused [for] love of you. You have put her on your phallus so that your seed might emerge into her, sharp as Sothis, and sharp Horus (Hrw spd) has emerged from you as Horus in Sothis (Hrw jmj spdt).” T 198
Capella is easily identified among the stars, as it is accompanied by a distinctive 3-star pattern in the form of a steep sided triangle similar to the ‘steep sided triangle’ determinative M44 (spd). The other interesting aspect of Capella is that when it crossed the north/south meridian at its highest point in the sky, it was virtually directly overhead above all other stars - the ideal vantage point in the sky for the sky god Horus ‘at the head of the sky’ to observe his land below.
Simultaneously, at lower culmination, Thuban, the then Pole Star, was together with Capella, also on the north/south meridian. At the same time, Sirius was 45 degs. south of east (alt. 24 degs.) alined with the diagonals of the square bases of the pyramids. (azimuths of stars accurate to within 2 arc. mins).
This celestial occurrence happened around the beginning of Khufu’s reign, and may have been the auspicious moment that triggered a sighting to Thuban.
Horus was a sky god, associated with the sun, later with the bright planets Jupiter, Saturn and Mars, and possibly with the bright star Capella as suggested here.
Chris
Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 02/06/2020 01:49PM by Chris Tedder.