Wia

Authors: Susanne M Hoffmann, Juan Antonio Belmonte Avilés

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Image that shows the earliest map or drawing

Image that shows the cultural object (e.g. in archaeological museum)

Wia (... ), The Boat, ... ... is an Egyptian constellation. It forms a super-constellation with its Crew, Kemenu.

<here comes a short explanation: what is the earliest known occurance, what does it mean in their culture, perhaps were it stems from if e.g. taken over from other roots...>

Concordance, Etymology, History

What does the term mean, does it always have the same meaning - was it changed over time.

Origin of Constellation

The original Egyptian constellation of Wia, the Boat, was huge, stretching from Scorpius through Sagittarius. Wia is huge in RA (covering several hours) as proven by the decan diagonal clocks and  celestial diagrams (see Fig. 4.10 in Belmonte & Lull 2023). This is also illustrated in Fig. 4.41.

In the decan diagonal clocks and in the celestial diagrams of NK there is a clear decan named Hery-ib-Wia, which meams The Core of the Boat. Belmonte and Lull (2023) strongly believe this is Kaus Australis.

Wia on the circular zodiac of Dendera

In the circular zodiac of the Hathor Temple in Dendera that shows strong Babylonian influences, this boat is depicted as tiny barge below the front feet of Sagittarius. This area, roughly in Sgr/ CrA, hosts the Babylonian constellation MA₂.GUR₈, The Ship. This Boat at the feet of Sagittarius in the Circular Zodiac can be either Wia, or the parazodiacal Babylonian Boat, rr even both in an abstract or mnemonic representation

Transfer and Transformation of the Constellation

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  ancient manuscript 1
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  modern mapping by author XY
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  The figure in the place of Sagittarius on the circular zodiac in Denderah (two photos, one drawing, CC BY WGSN).

Religion/ Tales/ Mythology

mnemonic tales and cultural significance

IAU WGSN star name discussion

The name was suggested to WGSN in 2025. Wia is a huge Egyptian constellation as Reret of Nekhet, spreading from Scorpius to Sagittarius, so I do not see appropriate to name a single star after it. Much more appropriate might be Hery-ib-Wia ("In the Middle of the Boat") if we find a star close to Kaus Australis without a name (see Fig 4.1 and Table 4.5 in Belmonte and Lull, 2023, for ideas).

References

• References (general)