SEYFFAHTH — ORIGINAL EGYPTIAN NAMES OF PLANETS. 



The original Egyptian names of the Planets, according 

 to a Turin papyrus, and some 7ieiv Planetary Configu- 

 rations. 



By Prof. Gust. Seyffarth, Phil. & Theol. D. 



The question how the Egyptians called and represented their 

 seven planets — Saturn (b), Jupiter {%), Mars (/), the Sun (©), 

 Venus ( 9 ), Mercury ( 5 ), the Moon (^) — as they were com- 

 monly enumerated according to their apparent velocities, interests 

 not only all professed Egyptologists and astronomers, but in gen- 

 eral every friend of science. It involves the key to the astrono- 

 mical monuments of the Egyptians, Greeks, Romans, etc., and 

 the emendation of the whole of the usual ancient chronology. 



First, all ancient classic astronomers report that the 12 signs 

 of the Zodiac passed for the houses of the planets, and hence the 

 names and emblems of the zodiacal segments depend on the names 

 and emblems of the planets. 



Further, Jamblicus, apart from other authorities, bears witness 

 to the fact that the ancient Egyptians worshipped only two classes 

 of higher deities — the seven planets, called Cabiri, i.e. the mighty 

 ones, and the 12 signs of the Zodiac, the so-called 12 great gods. 

 The passage is to be seen in vol. i. p. 358, of these Transactions. 

 The same we read in Apollonius Rhodus, v. 262 : Acyunzio: — za 

 dcodexa Qcodca d^sou^ ^ouXaiouQ Trpoaayopeuaiv, zoh<; de Tz/Mvrjza^ 

 f>a6do(f6pou<;. Accordingly, the names and emblems of the plan- 

 ets will inform us what the numberless mythological images 

 occurring on Egyptian monuments and papyrus-scrolls refer to. 



Besides, Plutarch (De Is. p. 377), Aristotle (Met. xi. 8), Cicero 

 (N. D. i. 30, '•'• quot ko7ninum linguce, tot nomina deorum" and 

 N.D. i. 10), Seneca (iv. 7,8), Porphyrins (De Abst. iv. 9), Jere- 

 miah (li. 7; X. 2), unanimously testify (see their words in these 

 Transactions, vol. i. p. 357, 381) that all nations of old worship- 

 ped the same deities, namely, the seven planets, to which some- 

 times the god of the Earth was added, and the 12 constellations 

 of the Zodiac. Consequently the Egyptian deities must bring to 

 light what all other pagan deities, particularly those mentioned 

 in the Old and New Testaments, properly signified. Vice versa, 

 sometimes the Greeks and Romans explain Egyptian deities by 

 iv— 3— 2 



