The Mythological Importance of the Constellation Msḫtjw in Mortuary Representations Until the End of the New Kingdom
The mythological importance of the constellation Msḫtjw in mortuary representations until the end of the New Kingdom Gábor W. Nemes Eötvös Loránd University, Budapest N VARIOUS CULTURES of the world, and hence also in western culture, probably the most well-known asterism of the northern sky is the so-called Big Dipper, or Plough, which I actually forms a part of the much greater constellation of Ursa Major, also known as the Great Bear. Various people have seen into it different formations, so it is not at all surprising that there is an apparent lack of uniformity in naming it in European culture as well.1 The particular designations, as in the case of most other constellations, were based on the fact that respective cultures considered different groups of stars to be part of a given constellation. However, considering the sign the ancient Egyptian idea is in unison with modern concepts in a particular respect, namely that both emphasise the same seven stars that at clear-skied nights are easily observable even with a naked eye, even in the heavily light-polluted skies of modern cities, due to them being the brightest ones in Ursa Major. The ancient Egyptians identified the group formed by Dubhe (α UMa), Merak (β UMa), Phad (γ UMa), Megrez (δ UMa), Alioth (ε UMa), Mizar (ζ Uma), and Alkaid (η Uma) with a thigh or foreleg of a bull, or either a partial or full scale depiction of a bull, and called it Ḫpš or Msḫtjw.2 This very sign may be the only one that we can identify with great certainty among the northern constellations known by the ancient Egyptians.3 In its shape, or differently said, in its form designated by its respective stars, it plainly overlaps with one of the instruments by the same name, used during the Ritual of Opening the Mouth, an adze with a bent handle (U19A).
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