The Ancient Egyptian Conceptualization of the Milky Way

Description of Activity

For more than a century, Egyptologists have attempted to identify the ancient Egyptian name and depiction of the Milky Way. In this presentation, I will first show that the assumption that the Milky Way was a representation of the sky goddess Nut is not supported by textual and visual evidence. Instead, textual descriptions (e.g., from the Fundamentals of the Course of the Stars) and visual depictions of Nut on coffins throughout Egyptian history depict Nut as the entire sky: a backdrop for the Sun, Moon, and stars. I will then highlight a specific vignette of Nut, Shu, and Geb in which Nut’s body is covered in stars and bisected by a thick, undulating black curve. I will argue that this curve, variants of which appear in several tombs in the Valley of the Kings, may be a visual representation of the Milky Way. Finally, I will raise the possibility that this curve could be interpreted as mr-nḫa, the Winding Waterway that ferries the dead king to his rebirth in the east.

Period	26 Jun 2026
Event title	Ancient Egyptian Astronomy 2026
Event type	Conference
Location	London, United KingdomShow on map
Degree of Recognition	International