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{| class="wikitable"
{| class="wikitable"
|+
|+
!Star / Asterism Name  
! colspan="2" |Star / Asterism Name
(transliteration)
(transliteration)
!Translation
!Translation
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!ident. (Belmonte 2003)
!ident. (Belmonte 2003)
|-
|-
|tpy' ṥwty nt nḫt
|
|
|Predeccesor of the giant’s 2 feathers
|Predeccesor of the giant’s 2 feathers
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|[[Altair]] (17.1)
|[[Altair]] (17.1)
|-
|-
|ṥwty nt nḫt<sub>4</sub>
|
|
|The 2 feathers of the giant
|The 2 feathers of the giant
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|[[Sualocin]] -alf Del- (18.1)
|[[Sualocin]] -alf Del- (18.1)
|-
|-
|
|
|
|Head of mace (or Crown) of giant
|Head of mace (or Crown) of giant
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|[[Sadalsuud]] (18.5)
|[[Sadalsuud]] (18.5)
|-
|-
|
|
|
|Mace (or Crown) of the giant
|Mace (or Crown) of the giant
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|Area of [[Aquarius]] ?
|Area of [[Aquarius]] ?
|-
|-
|
|tp nḫt<sub>4</sub>
|Tepennekhet
|Head of the giant
|Head of the giant
|
|
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|Area of [[Equuleus]]
|Area of [[Equuleus]]
|-
|-
|
|
|
|Nape of his neck
|Nape of his neck
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|[[Enif]] -alf Peg- (18.8)
|[[Enif]] -alf Peg- (18.8)
|-
|-
|
|
|
|Neck of the giant
|Neck of the giant
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|[[Enif]] -alf Peg- (18.8)
|[[Enif]] -alf Peg- (18.8)
|-
|-
|
|
|
|His breast
|His breast
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|tet Peg (19.2) or iot Peg (19.5)
|tet Peg (19.2) or iot Peg (19.5)
|-
|-
|
|
|
|Hip of the giant
|Hip of the giant
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|[[Markab]] -alf Peg- (20.2)
|[[Markab]] -alf Peg- (20.2)
|-
|-
|
|
|
|His shank
|His shank
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|[[Scheat]] -bet Peg- (20.3)
|[[Scheat]] -bet Peg- (20.3)
|-
|-
|
|
|
|Knee of the giant
|Knee of the giant
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|Area of the Square of [[Pegasus]]
|Area of the Square of [[Pegasus]]
|-
|-
|
|
|
|His foot
|His foot
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|alf And (21.3)
|alf And (21.3)
|-
|-
|
|
|
|Pedestal
|Pedestal
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|alf And & gam Peg (21.3)
|alf And & gam Peg (21.3)
|-
|-
|
|
|
|The one coming after his pedestal
|The one coming after his pedestal
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|del And (21.8)
|del And (21.8)
|-
|-
|
|
|
|star of the back of the pedestal
|star of the back of the pedestal

Latest revision as of 14:00, 20 May 2026

Authors: Susanne M Hoffmann, Juan Antonio Belmonte Avilés

Detail from the circular zodiac of Dendera between the Pegasus Square ("Peg") and a Duck depicted in Aquila ("Aql") with some figures drawn, including an animal cadava resembling the Mesopotamian constellation of The Corpse, instead of one big Giant, this image is not clearly traditionally Egyptian (photo: Musée du Louvre, GIF SMH).

Nekhet, nḫt, The Giant, is an Egyptian constellation, preserved in the 2nd millennium BCE. Based on Ramesside Star Clocks,[1][2] it is known that it covers 5 RA-hours.[3]

Concordance, Etymology, History

Nekhet in hieroglyphs.

Variants

  • nḫt
  • Nekhet
  • Nekht

Sources

Ramessside Star Clocks schematically, fig. 1 in Belmonte (2003)[4]
Stars in the Egyptian constellation The Giant, Nekhet, mentioned in the RSCs (CC BY Belmonte 2003[4], tab. 2).

The constellation is mentioned in the Ramesside Star Clocks (RSC) and identified by right ascension. Ramesside Star Clocks (RSC) are ceiling paintings in some tombs in the Valley of Kings, Egypt, from the Ramesside Period.[5] They are not actually used star clocks but information on stars in transit (probably through the meridian) provided in tabular layout. It was assumed that they depict a practice in ancient Egypt to measure time by the, most likely, meridian or close to meridian transit of stars. These hour stars were single stars in a few cases or belong to constellations, some of them very large, of Egyptian sky maps.

There has been two dedicated approaches including an attempt to identify these hour stars: Leitz (1995)[6] and Belmonte (2003)[7]. Pioneers Neugebauer and Parker (1969)[8] thought this was a worthless exercise.

Leitz (1995)[6] followed  N&P hypothesis of stars transiting close to the southern horizon and reached a solution which for Belmonte (2003) was not satisfactory for various reasons. These are amply discussed in Lull and Belmonte (2006 & 2009)[9]. This new hypothesis suggests that several RSC constellations were located in the northern skies such as the Giant (Nekht), the She-Hippo (Reret), the Mooring Post (Menyt) and the Bird (Apdu), among others of lesser entity (see also Davies, 1985[10]).

Individual Stars / Body Parts

Belmonte and Lull (2023)[11] suggest the identification of Nekhet with an area "From Aquila to the Square of Pegasus". There are 16 stars related to Nekht named in the Ramesside Star Clocks (RSC)[4].

Star / Asterism Name

(transliteration)

Translation RA (degr) RA (h) ident. (Belmonte 2003)
tpy' ṥwty nt nḫt Predeccesor of the giant’s 2 feathers 260 17.3 Altair (17.1)
ṥwty nt nḫt4 The 2 feathers of the giant 273 18.4 Sualocin -alf Del- (18.1)
Head of mace (or Crown) of giant Sadalsuud (18.5)
Mace (or Crown) of the giant Area of Aquarius ?
tp nḫt4 Tepennekhet Head of the giant Area of Equuleus
Nape of his neck 280 18.7 Enif -alf Peg- (18.8)
Neck of the giant 280 18.7 Enif -alf Peg- (18.8)
His breast 290 19.3 tet Peg (19.2) or iot Peg (19.5)
Hip of the giant 300 20.0 Markab -alf Peg- (20.2)
His shank 304 20.2 Scheat -bet Peg- (20.3)
Knee of the giant 309 20.6 Area of the Square of Pegasus
His foot 317 21.1 alf And (21.3)
Pedestal 317 21.1 alf And & gam Peg (21.3)
The one coming after his pedestal 327 21.8 del And (21.8)
star of the back of the pedestal Area of Andromeda
Star map of the Egyptian Sky for the Ramesside Star Clocks. Petrie W.M.F. (1940)[3]. Wisdom of the Egyptians. London, fig. 4.45.
Egyptian constellation Nekhet, The Giant, identified with Ramesside Star Clocks, mapped to Stellarium (CC BY Petrie 1940, SMH 2026). For this screenshot the time and date settings are Alexandria -1180.

Previous Identification(s)

  • "From Aquila to the Pegasus Square. Including his Feathers, Mace (or Crown) and Pedestal" (Belmonte 2003)[4]
  • "From Aquila to the Square of Pegasus" (Belmonte & Lull 2023)[12]
  • Petrie's drawing also extends across this area
  • The circular zodiac in Dendera the image is drawn above the "Duck" in Aquila. An accurate identification is not possible but it matches the suggestions above.

Mythology

IAU Working Group on Star Names

The name "Nekhet" suggested to be considered by the IAU WGSN in 2023. Nekht extends for five hours of RA (from the RSCs) and it does not make justice to call a single petty star with the name of such a huge constellation. Therefore, if WGSN wants to call a star either in Sagitta or Aquila with the name of Nekht, then the suggestion would be to call it: Sebannekhet (Seba en Nekhet), meaning "Star of the Giant", i.e. this is a star of Nekht but without further details.  

The WGSN chose ... (not to apply/ to apply the name to a neighbouring star/ to ...) in the IAU-CSN.

Reference

  1. ↑ Neugebauer, O. and Parker, R. A., 1969. Egyptian Astronomical Texts, vol. III. Providence: Brown University.
  2. ↑ Leitz, Ch., 1995. Altägyptische Sternuhren. OLA, 62. Leuven: Peeters.
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 Petrie W.M.F. (1940). Wisdom of the Egyptians. London.
  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 4.3 Belmonte, J. A., 2003. The Ramesside star clocks and the ancient Egyptian constellations. In M. Blomberg, P. E. Blomberg and G. Henriksson (Eds.), Calendars, Symbols, and Orientations: Legacies of Astronomy in Culture (pp. 57–65). Uppsala Astronomical Observatory report, 59. Uppsala Ocarina Books.
  5. ↑ Marshall Clagett (1989). Ancient Egyptian Science: Calendars, clocks, and astronomy. American Philosophical Society.
  6. ↑ 6.0 6.1 Leitz, Ch., 1995. Altägyptische Sternuhren. OLA, 62. Leuven: Peeters.
  7. ↑ Belmonte, J. A., 2003. The Ramesside star clocks and the ancient Egyptian constellations. In M. Blomberg, P. E. Blomberg and G. Henriksson (Eds.), Calendars, Symbols, and Orientations: Legacies of Astronomy in Culture (pp. 57–65). Uppsala Astronomical Observatory report, 59. Uppsala Ocarina Books.
  8. ↑ Neugebauer, O. and Parker, R. A., 1969. Egyptian Astronomical Texts, vol. III. Providence: Brown University.
  9. ↑ Belmonte, J.A. andd Lull, J., 2023. Astronomy in ancient Egypt: a cultural perspective. Cham: Springer.
  10. ↑ Davis, V. L., 1985. Identifying Ancient Egyptian Constellations. Journal of the History of Astronomy, 16, 102–104.
  11. ↑ Belmonte, J.A. andd Lull, J., 2023. Astronomy in ancient Egypt: a cultural perspective. Cham: Springer.
  12. ↑ Belmonte, J.A. andd Lull, J., 2023. Astronomy in ancient Egypt: a cultural perspective. Cham: Springer.
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