What is the Egyptian Zodiac?

What we know of the Egyptian Zodiac stems from a piece of Egyptian astrological history at the Louvre in Paris – a Zodiac from the ceiling of a chapel of the Hathor temple in Dendera. Dating back to 50 BCE, the Dindera Zodiac is the oldest known representation of the classical 12 zodiac signs – Sagittarius, Taurus, Aries, Libra, and the rest.

Egyptian Astrology did not create the classical zodiac signs. The Babylonians created them and the Egyptians learned about them from the Greeks.

How did Ancient Egypt use Astronomy?

Astronomy in Ancient Egypt wasn’t that different from astronomy today.

It used the same basic constellations we use today, but the ancient Egyptians viewed them differently than we do. For example, what we call the “Big Dipper” was called the foreleg of an ox.

The Cairo Calendar

In 1943, the Cairo museum purchased a damaged papyrus. The papyrus turned out to be a method to track the days. It was named the Cairo Calendar.

The Cairo Calendar lists all of the days in the Egyptian Year. The days can be split into 3 categories:

1. favorable and unfavorable days
2. mythological events which can make a day favorable or unfavorable
3. how you’re supposed to behave on each day

Decans in Egyptian Astrology

Egyptian Astrology contains 12 constellations that form 36 decans (groups of stars). Each decan had its own ruling planet, covered 10 degrees in the zodiac, and lasted for 10 days.

Because there is a new decan every 10 days, the 36 decans formed the basis of the Egyptian calendar. The Egyptians knew that it took 365 days for the Earth to complete its cycle around the sun. The 36 decans, each lasting for 10 days, gave them 360 days. They added an extra 5-days at the end of the year to reach 365. The extra 5 days were mainly used for festivities.

What are the Egyptian Zodiac Signs?

Like Western Astrology, Egyptian Astrology has 12 zodiac signs. Each sign is based on gods and goddesses, similar to how Western Astrology bases the signs on Aries, Libra, etc. The god or goddess of your sign represents your character, behavior, strengths, weaknesses and skills.

Each sign covers 3 decans, or 30 days. This means that you can have the same Egyptian zodiac sign as a friend of yours, but both of you can fall in different decans. Since each decan is related to a different planet, the two of you are affected by different planets.

But because much isn’t known about Egyptian Astrology today, there are actually two different schools of Egyptian Astrology – one that assigns a traditional date based on the decans and one that assigns a date based on the influences of what the Ancients Egyptians learned from the Ancient Greeks about Babylonian astrology. The latter method of assigning a date is very similar to Western Astrology. However, because there are two schools, you may have two different ancient Egyptian Zodiac Signs.

What is Your Egyptian Zodiac Sign?

This list covers both schools of Egyptian Astrology: the traditional date based on the decans and the date based on Greek influence.

Click on the names and icons to learn more about each sign:

Amon-ra

• Using decans: January 8-21 and February 1-11
• Based on Greek influence: April 26 – May 25

Anubis

• Using decans: May 8-27 and June 29 – July 13
• Based on Greek influence: July 25 – August 28

Anubis

• Using decans: May 8-27 and June 29 – July 13
• Based on Greek influence: July 25 – August 28

Bastet

• Using decans: July 14-28, September 23-27, and October 3-17
• Based on Greek influence: n/a

Geb

• Using decans: February 12-29 and August 20-31
• Based on Greek influence: n/a

Horus

• Using decans: April 20 – May 7 and August 12-19
• Based on Greek influence: September 28 – October 27

Isis

• Using decans: March 11-31, October 18-29, and December 19-31
• Based on Greek influence: February 25 – March 26

Mut

• Using decans: January 22-31 and September 8-22
• Based on Greek influence: n/a

The Nile

• Using decans: January 1-7, June 19-28, September 1-7, and November 18-26
• Based on Greek influence: n/a

Osiris

• Using decans: March 1-10 and November 27 – December 18
• Based on Greek influence: March 27 – April 25

Sekhmet

• Using decans: July 29 – August 11 and October 30 – November 7
• Based on Greek influence: November 27 – December 26

Seth

• Using decans: May 28 – June 18 and September 28 – October 2
• Based on Greek influence: n/a

Thoth

• Using decans: April 1-19 and November 8-17
• Based on Greek influence: August 29 – September 27

Wadjet

• Using decans: n/a
• Based on Greek influence: October 28 – November 26

Sphinx

• Using decans: n/a
• Based on Greek influence: December 27 – January 25

Shu

• Using decans: n/a
• Based on Greek influence: January 26 – February 24

Hathor

• Using decans: n/a
• Based on Greek influence: May 26 – June 24

Phoenix

• Using decans: n/a
• Based on Greek influence: June 25 – July 24

I hope you enjoyed learning about Egyptian astrology and zodiac signs.