In all ancient Mediterranean civilizations the constellation known to us as the Pleiades had a most important role. It served as a celestial marker or sign for one of the year's great events, i.e. the springtime's arriving rain or flood. In fact, these stars were thought to be connected, in a meta-astrological sense, with the concept "blessing".
          Thus the Pleiades were signaling and initiating "the wet season" which then became more enhanced by other signals from a next following star group, the Hyades, in Greek 'to rain'.
          Later in antiquity, Greek and Roman authors enjoyed to write about the especial popular stellar group of the Pleiades, to which there already existed several mythological accounts.
          For instance, the Pleiades group is depicted on the ancient Egyptian vizier Senmut's 3,500-years old star map - i.e. these stars are placed on the map precisely as the location where the Pleiades are situated in the sky. More so, on the map the specific picture have been attached some hieroglyphs showing clearly to be read in the direction from the right to the left, displaying the name mw(jt) nwt ht , i.e. 'the watery bodies', 'the humids', or '...of moisture'. - And, as very often in Egyptian texts, it also may have an additional interpretation: 'three parts of Nut's body (in the sky)'.
          The now so famous Senmut map is adorning the ceiling of his tomb (Thebes Tomb 353, at Deir el-Bahari, near Luxor) which like a tunnel is leading beneath Queen Hatshepsut's Temple of Hathor, goddess of the sky.
          However, a certain analysis of the map reveals such kind of information being of greatest importance in connection with the history and chronology of Antiquity - cf. below, the sections 5 and 6 - the detection was made by Ove von Spaeth. His discovery was first published in 1984 (in the Magazine 'Stjernerne') - and later added further scientific details, now published as the treatise: "Dating Egypt's Oldest Star Map", in "Centaurus Magazine of The History of Mathematics, Science, and Technology" (Vol. 42:3, July 2000, pp. 159-179).

          Some of the Egyptian temples have been constructed in a way connecting to the star of Sirius when - each year in the summer after a period of invisibility of 70 days - Sirius rose together with the sun (i.e. Sirius's Heliacal rising) that the light would travel down the temples' main corridor and reach the innermost sanctum of the temple. Here, Sirius would in that moment place its light at the altar, and this light from Sirius (Sothis) was then considered as being transformed into Sobdet which is the name of Sirius as Egyptian star god. This divinity was a special version of Isis, the greatest goddess.
          Also, it is the case with the Egyptian temple of Isis in Denderah, a temple build as a copy of more ancient temples. Similary here when the altar was lighted by the beam, the star Sirius (Sothis) was thought to be transformed into the divinity Sobdet.
          For instance, this is the case with the Egyptian temple of Isis in Denderah, a temple build as a copy of more ancient temples. When the altar was hit by the beam, the Sirius star was thought to be transformed into Sothis (Sirius) as a star god, i.e. special version of Isis, the greatest goddess.
          On the basis of the same understanding a similar principle was already involved in connection with previously mentioned Hatshepsut's Temple of Hathor, which with its axis directed at the line of winter solstice (cf. below: section 3), even also could receive the beams of the (in the mythology: seven) Stars of the Pleiades. This was interpreted in a way that the light consisting of the seven beams were being transformed into the Egyptian celestial goddess Hathor's seven female judges to judge mankind.
          In a similar way later in Greek temples - for instance in the very Parthenon - being constructed with the direction to the beams of the Stars of the Pleiades. Thus, when the temples were oriented geographically to receive these beams of light into the inner sanctums, the light-rays were described in a symbolic way as being "transformed into seven women", i.e. "The Seven Sisters", The Pleiades.

          The Greek scholar, philosopher, and astronomer, Eratosthenes in Alexandria (276-194 BC), was the director of the famous, enormous library of Alexandria and having admission to huge amounts of knowledge, and he described the Pleiades as "the seven stars of which the one of them is not visible". Already the Greek writer Hesiod states, ca. 700 BC, that according to the old star lore this group of 7 stars represents the 7 daughters of Atlas (also known as the giant who carried the very sky globe on his shoulders).
          Even though we can only see 6 Pleiades in the sky it is a fact that all the way from Greece throughout to the South Pacific, and - notice - also in Pre-Columbian North America, accounts everywhere tell about "the seven stars of which one is gone".
          Gajus Julius Hyginus (64 BC-17 AD), Latin author and the appointed (by Emperor Augustus) head of the Palatine Library, writes in his work "Astronomica" (Poeticon Astronomicon, 2.21): "... Pleiades are called seven in number, but only six can be seen ...".
          Around the world, in many countries and localities, - which in prehistoric times may appear to have had some kind of connection - this constellation is, in addition, often called "the young women" or "girls". The star cluster was also seen in this way by the ancient Hebrews - as well as by America's Coyote Indians in Oregon and the Iroques Indians.
          Also by e.g. the Dyaks and the Malaysians on Borneo these stars are exactly counted as "seven of which the one is invisible". And by Australia's Aboriginals who, too, call them "the young girls". They are called by this name, likewise, on the Solomon's Islands in the Pacific. And on the Northern Sumatra this 6-star constellation is called "Bindtang Tudjohc", i.e. 'of the 7 stars".

          All this could refer to a much older age of the concept of the star system than most historians today would like to accept. Ancient, widespread civilizations of prehistoric times - being traced and discovered more and more by modern science - could have existed several places on earth. And from some of these connections the Hebrews, the Greeks, and the Egyptians seem to have possessed such a heritage - "the 7 young women", "the sources of blessing", "the humids" - and have carried it further on.
          The biblical Job text - mostly in archaic Hebrew and 3,500 years of age - could contain an extra allusion. It may be showing a lingering loss of the 7th Pleiad which apparently failed to remain being fixed on the firmament: "... Canst thou bind together the brilliant Pleiades? ..." (Book of Job, 38:31).

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Illustrations. Below: The stars of the Pleiades cluster as depicted on ancient Egyptian vezire Senmut’s star map.
These stars are designated “the watery bodies”, “the humids”, - and this group of stars is marking the season of rain or flood
          In all ancient Mediterranean civilizations the Pleiades were important in use in the agricultural calendars.

Further below:  Senmut portrait placed in a contemporary Egyptian craftman's projection grid to be used as a model for decorating Senmut's tomb.

Transatlantic versions of constellations:  It is a fact that reminiscences of our well-known zodiac system were found with the Mayas - prior to the arrival of the Spaniards in Central America in 1492. Thus, several of their star sign symbols are in principle identical with the ancient Middle East zodiac symbols.
          As with the prehistoric world's widespread, common ideas on the Pleiades something similar is seen also regarding the constellation Ursa Major, i.e. Great Bear. This constellation of its own seven-star-group, also known as Charles's Wain, is a non-existing tail-bear - strangely enough known all over the world. This is except on the Senmut star map where it is shown in quite another version. Yet it has still been placed correctly - near the top of the celestial World-axis.
          This axis was the most famous celestial line of sight - connecting the brightest main stars Canopus, Sirius, and Lyra/Wega. The axis is, possibly emphasized for the very first time, depictured on the Senmut map. (More about the axis, cf. the following page).
          This axis is the most famous celestial line of sight - connecting the brightest main stars Canopus, Sirius, and Lyra/Wega. The axis is, possibly for the very first time, depictured on the Senmut map.
          Europeans, Asians, as well as the North American Indians prior to Columbus all perceived the constellation in question as the picture of a bear. In many cases they had the same designations for the same constellations; and concerning Great Bear, in the different continents with their several local languages, this same group of stars was called by the same designation, the "Great Bear", which is remarkable as it does not at all look like a bear!
          And this is even a bear with a long tail - non-existing in any earthly zoological issue or concept - i.e. an identical "fantasy" product re-found across the oceans.

          The above mentioned idea (cf. Section 1) about a past "intercontinental" range of even several cases of identical names of stars/constellations seems not only based on an apparently wide spread knowledge of a principally uniform astronomical system; especially with matching identical features in the symbols of the 12 sections of the zodiac. Such "agreements" also concern several other identical astronomical names or descriptions.
          For instance, this is the case with the sun, called 'Ra'  or 'Re'  by the Egyptians; the Chinese called it 'Re', and so did the Polynesians. And all over the Pacific Ocean it is also called 'Ra'  - despite the lack of relation/affinity between the Egyptian, Chinese, and Polynesian languages - and irrespective of the huge geographical distances.
          To this it should be added that apart from the almost identical pronunciation of Ra/Re (Ri), the Chinese still use in their special writing the very same pictographic sign for the sun as the Egyptians. It is the well-known ancient symbol of a circle with a dot in the middle (in later Chinese pictography the circle has been changed to be square-like, for reasons of a calligraphic writing technique).
 

                              

The Egyptians' hieroglyph for Re or Ra, 'the sun', (here, together with a glyph meaning 'son of Ra') - and in China the sign for Re or Ri, 'the sun', (and a later, square version more easy to write).

          When, for example, children make drawings of a sun it is always just a circle - possibly equipped with rays or a face - but never a circle with a dot in the centre. The very specific sun symbol consisting of a non-empty circle contour and "characteristically made" with its centre-dot as the 'core' is therefore no coincidence when it is found in the same special form both with the ancient Egyptians and the Polynesians, and in the Chinese script as well.
           Similarly, both the ancient Egyptians and the Chinese have a glyph or symbolic sign showing a scorpion. According to the ancient traditions of astrological significances, for instance in use among the Greeks and the Romans, the celestial sign of Scorpio (originally the constellation named Scorpio) may symbolize or refer to "huge quantities or numbers"; and when a picture of a scorpion is used as a hieroglyph in an Egyptian text - or as a writing sign in the Chinese writing still used - this also means the same thing in both of these written languages, i.e. "huge numbers". In the same symbol concept at all the places the by nature toxic Scorpion signified also something concerning death, and America's Mayas called this particular constellation "the sign of the god of death".
          Also the stars known by us as the Gemini have the same Greek and Babylonian name or meaning, which is also the case among the ancient inhabitants of the southern Pacific Ocean.
          Heritage from earlier civilizations? Archetypes? For all these examples too it goes that the concepts and designations they had in common are hardly each time just a coincidence, but could indicate a form of transport of traditions, for example, via the ancient seafarers, who, all over the world at all times navigated by means of the stars. Thus, the spreading of some of the mutual ideas could also have been done in this way; although not necessarily as the only way.

          In this connection it is interesting that the ancient Egyptians did not call the constellation in question Great Bear, but Meshkitu, i.e. the 'shank of an ox'. In ancient myths, and also in the Bible, a shank, thigh, or loin refer conceptually to the delivery process or re-birth and were also well known euphemisms for the reproductive organs.
          In the Senmut star map and in numerous other ancient Egyptian pictures the Meshkitu - the constellation of the Great Bear/Charles's Wain - has been made unusually flat. When the Egyptian mythological tradition seems to have many references to a previous civilization - could the idea have been faithfully passed on from that?

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Illustrations. Below:  - Left: The Great Bear constellation on many Egyptian pictures.
- Centre:  the constellation's movements thousands of years ago.
- Right:  the constellation shown as a bear with the unnatural tail (Beyer's map from the Renaissance).

The combination of archaeology and the rare but informative data from ancient astronomy - together with Egyptology and textual research - is a basic way to a better understanding of some of the great enigmas in the history of the past.
          These conditions have brought light to what seems to be the existence of a special connection between the Senmut star map and the Moses era, this being discovered by Ove von Spaeth's researching.

          In his five-volume book-series "Assassinating Moses" Ove von Spaeth has most carefully analysed and published a great amount of ancient traces and highly important clues of the historical Moses. This task has been thoroughly supported by the author's substantial basis of historical and astronomical learning and experience.
          In his many years of intensive studies Ove von Spaeth has, furthermore, made extensive use of research into archaeology, anthropology, ancient languages, history of religion, Egyptian tradition as well as the ancient teachings of mystery and mythology. He throws new light on the unusually abundant and also controversial material, and even using holistic angle.
          It is in this context that Ove von Spaeth has meticulously investigated the chronological background, in order to obtain a considerably better precision concerning the historical time-frame of the era in question.

          "Concerning Ove von Spaeth's momentous, new-orientating treatise on "Dating the Oldest Egyptian Star Map" which was published in "Centaurus International Magazine on The History of Mathematics, Science, and Technology" in 2000 (Vol. 42:3, pp. 159-179): - a scientific pioneering work which has gained sustained admiration and respect internationally for its non-traditional observations and for finding solutions to the special difficult problems of key importance to the ancient Egyptian astronomy and the chronological perspectives. - In addition, the actual findings have furthered research on rendering more accurate the dating of Moses' historical period."

Hans Baron Anckarstjerna, historian, editor-in-chief, - Swedano Journal
 

A certain background concerning the star-map and the Moses-research:

The following information - about similar astronomically based chronology studies from Ove von Spaeth's first volume on the Moses-research - is an introduction written by Kristian Peder Moesgaard, D.Sc., Professor on History of Astronomy, at The University of Aarhus:

"Already the overall picture in this book - of the detection of some radical circumstances behind Moses' role in the history of Egypt and the Hebrew people - is extremely exciting in itself. Rightly, Ove von Spaeth has chosen a vivid style in order to reach a wider circle of readers than mere specialists. Furthermore, this work of Ove von Spaeth is inter-disciplinary to an exceptional degree based on extensive and thorough studies within history, theology, archaeology, and the history of religion as well as the history of astronomy.
          With zeal and flair Ove von Spaeth has collected evidence from widely different sources to support his main thesis regarding Moses and his status and place in history; and from the astronomical-historical point of view I find the basic assumption of a certain planetary constellation in 1537 BC worth testing in relation to biblical research Egyptology archaeology as well as general history.

          The actual occurrence of the above-mentioned planetary constellation and other astronomical circumstances may be objectively verified by computation based on modern astronomical theory. And the author argues that the Moses tradition in source material from Egyptology, the Bible, the Rabbinical Texts, and from a number of historians of antiquity reflects these astronomical phenomena. He is also of the opinion that this starting point throws new light on the coherence of the remaining source material.

          The author's dating of Moses at 1500-1400 BC, about 200 years earlier than the most frequently accepted dating in 11th century BC, has previously been suggested by researchers of various backgrounds and nationalities: Egyptologists, historians of religion, and archaeologists throughout the last one hundred years (e.g. G. Lefébure, V.H. Juvelius, J. Garstang, and lately, J.J. Bimson and S. Ratié, among others). Thus Ove von Spaeth's assertion is not unprecedented and in the present work the hypothesis has been confronted with a much wider spectrum of source material than in the works of the researchers mentioned.
          An extensive bibliography reveals extraordinarily thorough background studies. The entire account and its results deserve to be known also outside Scandinavia."

Kristian Peder Moesgaard, D.Sc., Professor, History of Science Department, Aarhus University; - Director of the Steno Museum, Danish National Museum for the History of Science, Aarhus
 

An introduction (to Vol. 2 of Ove von Spaeth's Moses-series) - of relevance in relation to The Antiquity's sources on Ancient Egypt - was written by Leo Hjortsoe, University lecturer in Classical Philology:

"This work by Ove von Spaeth reassesses Moses' historic situation, and - if properly published and put into circulation - it could alter our current view of this historic sequence of events in the Near East during the last half of the second millennium BC.
          This is a well-articulated, thought-provoking text that is very enjoyable reading and which should interest any avid reader of ancient history for scientific and personal reasons alike.
          The writer presents a truthful, comprehensive presentation of his material - with no ulterior motives. The primary sources used here go far beyond those used in contemporary research; and his secondary sources, including the results of modern research all the way up to the present, are applied and discussed to an astonishing degree.
          Ove von Spaeth's work - the result of year-long efforts on partly unheeded problems up to now - not only constitutes serious historical research, but is a vivid historiography appealing both to scientific history research and ordinary readers interested in history."

Leo Hjortsoe, University lecturer, Classical Philology, University of Copenhagen
 

Naturally and as already referred to, Ove von Spaeth's research of the very Senmut star map and its chronological perspectives contains valuable data which were later taken into consideration in relation to his work on the investigation of the historical Moses and the era concerned.
 

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Illustrations. Below:  Quarry with modern entrance to Senmut tomb TT353 - from where its hidden, long tunnel continues through the deep underground beneath Hatshepsut's temple.

Further below:  Senmut's astronomical ceiling from 'Chamber A' in his tomb, No TT353.