Klaipėdos universitetas

This paper presents a preliminary approach to the problem of royal tomb orientation in ancient Egypt from the early dynastic mausoleums at the necropolis of Umm al Qab to the impressive subterranean chambers of the tombs at the Valley of the Kings (Biban al Muluk). This clearly shows that the correct orientation of the monuments, from the earlier mastabas to the later hypogea, was mandatory and that the sky plays a key role in understanding ancient Egyptian funerary monuments.

The antiquity of the Egyptian ritual of the “stretching of the cord” can be traced back to the 1st Dynasty, although the possibility that it was even older can not be absolutely discarded. Right up until the latest representations of the ceremony, which date to the Roman period, one goddess always appeared in it: Seshat. The iconography of the ritual retained throughout several features that are present in the earliest scene known, dating to king Khasekhemuy. We know that the “stretching of the cord” was used for the orientation of Egyptian constructions and that the scenes represented in several temples were accompanied by texts with astronomical references. During the Ptolemaic period, these texts referred to the constellation Meskhetyu. However, it is the question of the iconography of the goddess, and especially of her hieroglyphic sign, that has moved us to propose a new hypothesis for the technique developed and used during the foundation ceremony. Despite many theories, there is no definitive explanation of the sign held by Seshat over her head. The hypothesis we consider here takes into account the