Senenmut's Astronomical Ceiling

Pippa Dell retired from a long academic career in Psychology and now pursues her interests in Egyptology, art, and gardening. She recently went to Egypt with the Kemet Klub on their Sacred Landscapes tour and had the privilege of visiting Senenmut’s tomb (TT353), including its wonderful astronomical ceiling!

Like many others, I was first introduced to the wonders of ancient Egypt as a child when I went to the Tutankhamun and His Time exhibition in Paris in 1967. This started a long-term interest in Egyptology, which has been honed over the years with trips to Egypt and attending a range of excellent courses. Ken Griffin’s recent Egypt Centre series Causing Their Names to Live, which focused on some of the individuals who make up the history of Egypt, is a case in point.

One of the individuals Ken introduced was Senenmut, son of Ramose and Hatneferet. Senenmut (fig. 1) described himself as Treasurer and Overseer of the House of Amun (ceiling, TT 353) and Hereditary Prince, Count, Administrator of the Great Ones of Upper and Lower Egypt, Overseer of Places of Refreshment, and Spokesman who speaks when other mouths are silent (false door, TT 353). He was also the Steward of the God’s Wife, and Steward (Tutor) of the King’s Daughter (Neferure). As a non-royal, he is known for an extraordinary number of statues (at least 25), many with Neferure. He is probably best known for being the architect of Hatshepsut’s Memorial Temple complex at Deir el-Bahari, and for supervising the erection of twin obelisks at Karnak. He disappears from the historical records in the later years of Hatshepsut’s reign and seems to suffer a Damnatio Memoriae after death. Unusually, for a private individual, he also built himself at least two tombs in the Theban necropolis (TT 71 and TT 353).

Fig. 1: Senenmut (copyright Dr Ahmed Abdul Ella)

TT71 is to be found on the northeast brow of the Sheikh Abd el-Qurna cliffs that overlook Hatshepsut’s temple complex. It is laid out as a typical tomb chapel of the time; a transverse hall with columns, an inner chamber, and decoration that is similar in content to contemporary private tombs (funerary procession, pilgrimage to Abydos, agricultural, and workshop activities). Innovations include rock cut stelae and the design of the ceilings (Dorman, 1988; 1991). The tomb appears not to have been used.

 

At the base of the cliffs is a quarry. Carved into its floor Herbert Winlock found the entrance to Senenmut’s second tomb (TT 353) in January 1927. This is a subterranean rock cut tomb, with a ground plan of three chambers laid out sequentially, accessed via three descending passageways. The first passageway, with a vaulted ceiling 2m high descends some 61.2m at a 25-degree angle to the first of the three chambers (Chamber A). A daunting climb, as I found out recently on a Kemet Klub tour of Sacred Landscapes (fig. 2). Towards the end of the staircase is a rare drawing of Senenmut (fig. 1).

Fig. 2: The person pictured is about half way down the stairs!

 

The reason people visit this tomb is because of the decoration of Chamber A and its wonderful astronomical ceiling. The chamber itself is small (3.6m x 3m), with dressed and plastered walls. The main focus of the walls is a false door on the West side opposite the entrance to the tomb. The walls contain what Assmann (1982) has identified as a new corpus of funerary liturgies, reminiscent of both Pyramid and Coffin Texts, and some of the earliest known examples of Book of the Dead spells. These were chosen to provide Senenmut with the topography of the netherworld and knowledge of how to move freely through it. 

The ceiling, recorded by Charles Wilkinson (Wilkinson and Hill, 1983) and published by Neugebauer and Parker (1960–69), is the earliest astronomical ceiling known (fig. 3), the next being that of Seti 1 (KV 17).

Fig. 3: Overview of ceiling (Wikipedia)

The ceiling is divided into two panels of astronomical representations by several transverse bands of text, containing Senenmut’s name (fig. 4) and Hatshepsut’s titulary. Each panel is surrounded by rows of stars.

Fig. 4: Senenmut’s name in transverse band

 

The southern panel (top panel in the ceiling overview [fig. 5]) contains a list of named decans (stars), whose arrangement is related to the star clocks of the Coffin Texts of the Middle Kingdom. These are clearly laid out on the right-hand side. They are interspersed with star cluster constellations (for example the ship and sheep). Left of these are the planets, from right to left Isis, Jupiter, and Saturn, and in the last columns Mercury and Venus.

Fig. 5: Part of the upper panel

 

The northern panel (bottom in the ceiling overview [fig. 6]) contains the 12 lunar months (Dorman, 1991) of the year, schematised as 12 circles each divided into 24 sectors (hours of the day?). The top four (of eight) on the right-hand side are the months of Akhet (Inundation) and the lower four, Shemu (Harvest). The four on the left-hand side are Peret (Emergence). Each month has associated feast days, and are accompanied along the bottom by various deities, including the four sons of Horus.

Fig. 6: Part of the lower panel

For me, the most interesting part of the northern panel is the middle section with three constellations depicted, the so-called “Northern Constellations”. Meshketyu (fig. 7), a bull-covered oval body; Anu, a falcon-headed standing figure piercing the oval bull with a spear; and Sekenet (Serket) the goddess behind the bull. What is happening here? And what is the figure below doing? The standing hippo, grasping a crocodile, with a second one on her back is named as Iset-Djamet-Heb-Pet (Isis-Djamet, Festival of the Sky [fig. 8]). How is she involved with the Northern Constellations? Are these images part of a theology that Senenmut was developing to explain the cosmos? And why was the oval bull being pierced?

Fig. 7: Spearing Meshketyu

 

Fig. 8: Iset-Djamet-Heb-Pet

Finally, and intriguingly, Dorman notes that “there is no evidence of a burial in Tomb 353, nor was there any article from Senenmut's burial equipment”. So, either all the funerary equipment was destroyed, or more tantalisingly, was never there in the first place. I fondly imagine Senenmut having an afterlife as an effective spirit interred peacefully elsewhere. But in the meantime, may we “cause his name to live” and make a voice offering for his ka (fig. 9).

Fig. 9: Offerings for Senenmut

References:

Assmann, J. (1982) Funerary Liturgies in the coffin texts, Third International Congress of Egyptology, Toronto, September 1982

Dorman, P.F. (1988) The monuments of Senenmut: Problems in historical methodology. New York: Kegan Paul International Ltd.

Dorman, P.F. (1991) The tombs of Senenmut: The Architecture and decoration of Tombs 71 and 353. Metropolitan Museum of Art Egyptian Expedition 34. New York: Metropolitan Museum of Art.

Neugebauer, O. and Parker, R. (1960–69) Egyptian astrological texts. Brown Egyptological Studies 3, 5, & 6. London: Lund Humphries.

Wilkinson, C. and Hill, M (1983) Egyptian wall paintings: the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s collection of facsimiles. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art.

The Mysterious Life and Death of Antinous

The blog post for this week is written by Linda Kimmel, from Ann Arbor, Michigan, in the United States. When she retired from full-time work as a data research manager in late 2020, she began studying about the ancient world, and serving as a docent at the University of Michigan’s Kelsey Museum of Archaeology. Linda had never heard of the Egypt Centre before the pandemic but has taken every course offered since she first noticed a tweet about the museum in the fall of 2020 and has been taking online courses there ever since. Linda is looking forward to another trip to Egypt this fall.

In the fourth session of the latest Egypt Centre class (Causing Their Names to Live Part II: The Lives of the Ancient Egyptians), we covered notable Egyptians from the Old Kingdom through the Roman Period. When our instructor, Ken Griffin, told us he would cover Antinous in the class, I knew that was who I wanted to write about. In addition to studying a lot about ancient Egypt, I have also taken numerous courses on ancient Rome and am particularly interested in the intersection of the two. In an odd coincidence, in a Roman art history course I am currently taking, we touched on art during Hadrian’s reign this week, and discussed several images of Antinous (fig. 1).

Fig. 1: Statue of Antinous (Vatican Museums)

Antinous is one of the more well-known individuals we have covered in the class. However, the ancient record lacks details about his life. It is known he was born in the city of Claudiopolis in the Roman province of Bithynia c. 111 CE (fig. 2). In 123 CE the Roman Emperor Hadrian was traveling through Bithynia, and was introduced to Antinous. The boy joined the royal entourage, perhaps with the intent of becoming an imperial page boy (Matyszak and Berry 2023). During their time together, Antinous became a favorite of the Emperor, and Hadrian may have provided him with a formal education. At some point, Antinous became Hadrian’s lover and accompanied the Emperor on his many travels.

Fig. 2: Map highlighting Bithynia (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bithynia#/media/File:Roman_Empire_-_Bythinia_et_Pontus_(125_AD).svg)

While traveling with Hadrian in Egypt in 130 CE, Antinous died before his twentieth birthday under mysterious circumstances. We know he drowned in the Nile, but was it an accident, a suicide, or murder, either by Hadrian or someone close to Hadrian? Or was it perhaps a human sacrifice offered to the Nile? All that is known is that Hadrian was reported to be bereft after his death. So why should people interested in ancient Egypt care about Antinous? After all, he was born and lived most of his life outside Egypt. It is because of the ways in which Antinous was memorialized by Hadrian.

After his death, Hadrian had Antinous deified. While numerous Roman Emperors were deified (Julius Caesar, Augustus, Vespasian, to name just a few), it was highly unusual for a commoner to be deified in Rome (The Fitzwilliam Museum). The cult of Antinous spread throughout the Mediterranean until it was eventually abolished as Christianity became dominant in the fourth century CE.

Fig. 3: Statue of Antinous (Vatican Museums)

Vout (2005) suggests that more statues were created of Antinous than any other figure from ancient Rome, with the possible exceptions of Augustus and Hadrian. Some of the statues have been found with Antinous in deified form such as this full-figure statue, containing both Egyptian and Roman features (fig. 3). In this format, Antinous is typically shown wearing the nemes headcloth, which is normally associated with pharaohs (fig. 4). Ken noted that Antinous was frequently associated with Osiris, taking the form of Osiris-Antinous.

Fig. 4: Statue of Antinous in Munich (https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/bc/Standing-striding_egyptianized_figure_of_Antinoo_-_%C3%84gyptisches_Museum_-_Munich_-_Germany_2017_%282%29.jpg)

 

But Antinous was also portrayed in classical Greek style, as a Greek or Roman god, including Apollo, Mercury (or the Greek god Hermes), and Dionysus, as in this bust in the Fitzwilliam Museum (fig. 5). In addition to all of the statues, Vout (2005) reports that coins were minted in honor of Antinous in over thirty cities of the Roman provinces.

Fig. 5: Bust of Antinous as Dionysus (Fitzwilliam Museum)

In an even more lavish display than all of the images of Antinous, Hadrian founded an Egyptian city, Antinoopolis, in memory of Antinous. Antinoopolis is located in Middle Egypt, close to Amarna and Beni Hasan. It is said the location is close to where Antinous died, although the exact site of his death is unknown. Ken noted that with the exception of an existing temple to Ramesses II, everything else was essentially leveled to create a new city. Texts report that close to a million people lived in the city at one time. Bagnall and Rathbone (2004) note that Antinoopolis was built with Greek architecture and special Greek privileges, with its population coming from other Greek cities throughout Egypt. Ryan (2016) calls Antinoopolis a Greek city within Egypt, and notes that at its centre, the city was dominated by a temple to Osiris-Antinous.

Fig. 6: Pincian Obelisk (https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Hadrianic_Obelisco_del_Pincio,_Rome,_Italy.jpg)

The inscription on the Pincian Obelisk created in memory of Antinous provides more details about Antinoopolis (fig. 6):

A city is named after him; to it belongs a population of Greeks and sons of Horus and children of Seth, resident in the cities of Egypt; they have come from their cities, and valuable lands have been given to them, to enrich their lives greatly. There is a temple there of this god – his name is Osiris Antinous, justified” – built from fair white stone. Sphinxes stand on its perimeter, and statues numerous columns like those once made by the ancients, and also like those made by the Greeks. All the gods and all the goddesses give him there the breath of life, and he breathes in of it, having rediscovered his youth.

 

The Pincian obelisk also contained an image of the deified Antinous receiving gifts from the god Thoth, another strong link to Egypt for this Bithynian youth (fig. 7).

Fig. 7: Antinous before Thoth (https://i0.wp.com/followinghadrian.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/obelisk91.jpg?ssl=1)

In addition to the mysteries surrounding his death, the burial site of Antinous also remains a mystery. Some say that he was mummified, but where he was buried is uncertain. Perhaps his tomb is at the site of Antinoopolis. Then again, it may have been at one of Hadrian’s villas.

While he was not Egyptian, the numerous images and texts about Antinous that were spread throughout the Mediterranean, have definitely caused his name to live and be remembered. Perhaps, with continuing excavations at Antinoopolis, even more will be discovered about Antinous. I know I will be keeping a watch out for new information.

 

Bibliography

Bagnall, Roger S. and Dominic W. Rathbone (Eds.) 2004. Egypt: From Alexander to the Copts. London: The British Museum Press.

Matyszak, Philip and Joanne Berry 2023. A History of Ancient Rome in 100 Lives. London: Thames & Hudson, Ltd.

Ryan, Garrett 2016. Placing Power: Greek Cities and Roman Governors in Western Asia Minor, 69-235 CE. Dissertation, University of Michigan (Greek and Roman History).

The Fitzwilliam Museum. Bust of Antinous as Dionysos, https://fitzmuseum.cam.ac.uk/explore-our-collection/highlights/GR1001937 [accessed 04/10/24].

Vout, Caroline. 2005. Antinous, Archaeology and History. The Journal of Roman Studies 95, 80-96.