The circular zodiac relief on the ceiling of the Temple of Dendera is known as the?

The circular zodiac relief on the ceiling of the Temple of Dendera is known as the Dendera zodiac.

This celebrated bas-relief came from the ceiling of an Osirian chapel within the Temple of Hathor at Dendera. It presents a circular map of the sky with zodiacal constellations, planets, and Egyptian astronomical figures. The work is distinctive because circular zodiac imagery is unusual in ancient Egyptian art; rectangular astronomical ceilings were more typical.

The chapel belongs to the late Ptolemaic and Roman setting of the temple, and the zodiac is usually dated to the first century BCE. Its imagery combines Egyptian traditions with Greco-Babylonian zodiac forms. For example, Aquarius appears as the inundation god Hapi, while familiar signs such as Taurus and Libra are also represented.

The relief became famous in Europe after Vivant Denon sketched it during Napoleon’s Egyptian campaign. French excavators removed the original in the nineteenth century, and it was transported to Paris; it is now displayed at the Louvre. A copy occupies its original position at Dendera, which sometimes causes confusion about where the original can be seen.