Earliest Milky Way Depiction Found in Coffin Art of Egyptian Sky Goddess Nut

Depiction of the past Egyptian goddess Nut swallowing the sun. Credit: Hans Bernhard. CC BY 3.0/Wikimedia Commons/Hans Bernhard

A caller survey suggests that past Egyptians whitethorn person captured the Milky Way successful their artwork much than 3,000 years ago, perchance offering our galaxy’s earliest-known ocular representation. Astrophysicist Or Graur, an subordinate prof astatine the University of Portsmouth, identified a striking ocular item of the Milky Way portion examining depictions of the entity goddess Nut.

His findings, published successful the Journal of Astronomical History and Heritage, constituent to a black, wavy enactment connected Nut’s assemblage successful definite funerary artwork.

Nut often appears successful Egyptian tomb creation and spiritual texts arsenic a bare pistillate covered successful stars, her arched fig stretching implicit the earth. She symbolizes the entity and plays a cardinal relation successful mythology, swallowing the Sun each nighttime and giving commencement to it astatine dawn.

Nut’s cosmological vignette connected the outer coffin of Nesitaudjatakhet. Credit: Vi Ko / CC BY-SA 4.0

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One coffin stood out. It belonged to Nesitaudjatakhet, a vocalist of the deity Amun-Ra who lived during Egypt’s Third Intermediate Period. On her outer coffin, Nut is shown with a bold, undulating achromatic enactment moving from her feet to her hands.

Stars are scattered connected some sides of the line, an antithetic diagnostic not commonly recovered successful different versions of the goddess.

Graur reviewed 125 akin images of Nut from a wider postulation of 555 coffins. He believes this enactment whitethorn correspond the Milky Way, peculiarly the Great Rift—a acheronian set of cosmic dust that appears to divided the postulation erstwhile viewed from Earth.

👀💭 A magical representation of the Milky Way. Nuit "The Great Enlightening the Gods" is the personified goddess of eden according to Egyptian mythology.

Nut, a salient deity successful past Egyptian #mythology, is often depicted successful a sublime practice arsenic an overarching #celestial… pic.twitter.com/QAJiPdLfwE

— Third Eye Seeks 🪬 (@Third_Eye_Seeks) February 23, 2024

He noted the resemblance is wide erstwhile compared to modern astronomical photographs. The line’s curve mirrors the operation seen successful the nighttime sky.

Royal tombs connection supporting evidence

This mentation is further supported by artwork recovered successful royal tombs. In astatine slightest 4 tombs successful the Valley of the Kings, including that of Ramses VI, Nut appears with aureate wavy lines flowing from her caput down her back.

These figures, painted connected the ceilings of burial chambers, disagreement scenes from the “Book of the Day and the Book of the Night”, texts that picture the Sun’s regular travel done the underworld.

Graur emphasized that portion determination is simply a ocular link, the goddess Nut should not beryllium equated with the Milky Way. Rather, the postulation whitethorn beryllium 1 of respective celestial features symbolically connected her body, representing the sky.

Ancient texts and entity simulations connection seasonal insights

“The rarity of these wavy lines reinforces a decision I reached successful a erstwhile study: though determination is simply a nexus betwixt Nut and the Milky Way, they are not the same,” helium noted.

In earlier enactment published successful April 2024, Graur examined past writings including the Pyramid Texts, Coffin Texts, and the Book of Nut, alongside simulations of Egypt’s nighttime sky.

That survey projected that antithetic parts of Nut’s assemblage could align with the Milky Way depending connected the season. In winter, her outstretched arms matched the galaxy’s path. In summer, it ran on her spine.