Planisphaerium Bianchini – The Greco-Egyptian Constellation

 

Planisphaerium/Tabula Bianchini or the Planisphere astrologique de style Egyptian (From Origine de tous les cultes, ou religion universelle, par Dupuis. (Paris E. Babeuf 1822) Dupuis (1742-1809), Author.)

 

This drawing is a graphical depiction of an astrological dicing board made of marble, which involved divination by throwing a dice on top of it. It is probably from the 3rd century AD. It was found on the Aventine Hill, Rome, and now was kept in Louvre, Paris.

The center of the system is drawn on the pole of the ecliptic (which is exactly alpha Draconis), and not on the pole of the equator (Ursa Major), because the Sun’ passage through the sky along the ecliptic is the relevant path for astrology. Because of this, three polar constellations are depicted in an interesting manner: Ursa Major and Ursa Minor, with Draco coiling between them.

The first band from the center depicts the animal of the Dodecahoros Chaldaike, a Chaldean zodiac. It was incomplete, but based on another finding from Egypt (see below), it can be listed that the constellations are: a sitting cat (Aries), a dog or a jackal (Taurus), a serpent (Gemini), a scarabeus or a crab (Cancer), a donkey (Leo), a walking lion (Virgo), a goat or gazelle (Libra), a bull (Scorpio), a falcon (Sagittarius), a baboon/ape (Capricorn), an ibis (Aquarius), and a crocodile (Pisces)

The complete marble slab of the Dodecahoros, sighted in Cairo antique shop in 1901.

 

The next two outer band depicts the standard Greek zodiac.

The last band shows the Egyptian decans, the Greco-Egyptian names of each one is inscribed below each figure. Just outside this band are depiction of faces of the 7 planetary gods that is associated with the decans. We can see that a woman holding a mirror is definitely Venus, and the one with a winged hair is Mercury. Based on this, I can - more or less - list the name of each decans and the associated god:

Aries Asiccan, Mars Senacher, Sun Acentacer, Venus	Taurus Asicath, Mercury Viroaso, Moon Aharph, Saturn	Gemini Thesogar, Jupiter Verasua, Mars Thepisatosoa, Sun
Cancer Sothis, Venus Sith, Mercury Thuimis, Moon	Leo Aphruimis, Saturn Sithacer, Jupiter Phuonisi, Mars	Virgo Thumis, Sun Thopithus, Venus Aphuth, Mercury
Libra Semeuth, Moon Aterechinis, Saturn Arpien, Jupiter	Scorpio Senthacer, Mars Thepiseuth, Sun Sencmer, Venus	Sagittarius Eregbuo, Mercury Sagen, Moon Chenen, Saturn
Capricorn Themeso, Jupiter Epima, Mars Homoth, Sun	Aquarius Oroasoer, Venus Astiro, Mercury Thepisathras, Moon	Pisces Archathapias, Saturn Thopibui, Jupiter Athembui, Mars

It’s a pity that I cannot find a complete list of these figures that represent the decans.

And the lastly, on the four corners are winged heads representing the four main winds, only one is depicted here.

 

Source:

http://members.optusnet.com.au/gtosiris/page11-14.html

http://digitalgallery.nypl.org