Hatshepsut Pharaoh ascension and start of temple inauguration: November 23 1396 and January 1 1395 BCE

 ~Great strides can be made from the 25th year anniversary article preceding this one.

~Modern official surveying bearings of her magnificent temple passes the test issued by no other than Architect, Astronomer and Vizier Senenmut's astronomical ceiling.

~  This is likely the most precise back dates because Senenmut left for himself and indirectly for posterity, correct planetary positions along the ecliptic.  

     Popular to this day Pharaoh Hatshepsut has had many achievements throughout her lifetime.  She ruled largely at about the zenith of Egypt at peace, therefore great construction projects were possible,  of course, the climate was also favourable, even the political one.   Her said to be coronation as pharaoh, according to current chronology was 1479 BCE, off from a winter solstice alignment of her temple at Dair El Bahari by best calculations yet,  84 years.  This result is a reasonable tightening of the official chronology gap which was, according to EH2r, off by about 180 years for Khufu Akhet in 2371 BCE.  As time progresses towards the Roman Empire era, the current ancient chronology becomes more accurate. 

    Hatshepsut's home,  Thebes, was the Capital of Upper Egypt, where the great temples at Luxor and Karnak were not entirely dedicated to RA, but rather Amun-Ra amongst others, the main dedications are a blend of 2 Gods, not quite very similar to the lower Egypt RA dominance during  the Old kingdom.  The Hyksos capture of the Delta region has ensured an evolution whereas Upper Egyptian religiosity became dominant.   Therefore only one Akhet Khufu celebration was likely kept, the joining of the souls, during Hatshepsut days, November 23, from December 9.  Hatshepsut gender made her assert being daughter of a God, for this to happen, the days of the Gods,  or pharaoh "0" onset, needed to resurface, that is, when the winter solstice culminations of both Sirius and the Sun occurred on the same day.   With the winter solstice rekindled in importance as the second most important day, the inauguration of her temple, was set for January 1 1395 BCE, where there is a very small in length shaft, similar to the great pyramid only to view through and or project the imprint of sun rays, as with Akhet Khufu South shafts.

Astronomer Senenmut sets the record correctly

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Astronomical_ceiling_of_Senenmut%27s_Tomb

  As a reminder when awakening from his tomb, Senenmut inscribed important astronomical events, foremost the coronation day of his pharaoh.  Of which 4 planets occurred in this order: Venus, Mercury , Saturn and Jupiter

https://www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/abs/10.1086/346509

Page 322 323

                             Venus Mercury                                 Saturn                 Jupiter

Of which Saturn and Jupiter are adorned with the Horus name of Hatshepsut.  Strongly suggesting a coronation event, especially with Sopdep/Isis and Osiris on their celestial boats immediately to the right.  

The importance of Isis/Sopdet having the sun or RA on top her head should not be underestimated, it is the day of joining, when RA and Sopdet/Sirius rises from exactly the same horizon location and culminates again exactly at the same elevation due South.   Here the sun and Sirius are interchangeable.  

   November 23 1396 BCE starts with Mercury near the horizon and Venus above preceding the sunrise.  Saturn followed by Jupiter on the solar system ecliptic,  lagged behind the sun, can't be seen until much later.  At sunrise,  Sirius setting vanished nearly exactly on a parallel Western horizon azimuth, the merge of 2 Gods has started.  The noon sun transit has had all 4 planets present but invisible, in this order : Jupiter and Saturn,  the Sun, Mercury and Venus in the West.  At sunset, Sirius rose after in the East,  while visible Saturn followed by Jupiter were setting in the West.  Ancient Horizon wise,  Jupiter setting adjoined Sirius rising on the opposite Eastern horizon.  

     The two turtles between Mercury and Saturn columns are likely an attempt to explain, two pairs of stars, planets were considered stars, not visible due to sun brightness.  

  As always the view of the horizon must be taken, Senenmut Southern ceiling portion has two distinct periods, one for the near twilights (left),  the other for the night (right), night being the only time when Mars was visible ( inscribed by the boat with 5 stars above it).  With Venus and Mercury only visible before sunrise,  Saturn and Jupiter only observable for a while after sunset.  During the full day, Venus appeared first, but vanished after Mercury in morning daylight, later late evening Jupiter appeared first in soon to be dusk light, disappeared last like Venus did, the turtles signify brightness appearing to devour especially Mercury and Saturn. 

     Unlike modern astronomy perspective, the horizon was the standard of observation,  the line of which celestial objects were observed and measured.   Upon Hatshepsut's ascension day,  Venus appeared first, Mercury second.  With respect to the horizon evening and celestial objects rotation,  Saturn, in the West, was eventually seen nearest ground,  therefore third,  completing the day, Jupiter last to submerge 4th.  The horizon point of view, as presented on a ceiling,  accurately described the true celestial positions of the planets without always having tracked them in daylight.  The planetary hieroglyph columns elegantly reflected the horizon astronomical day illustratively, despite text reading from right to left.    

  As written above there are two important events in a life of a Pharaoh, the inauguration of a temple site and especially the coronation day.  

    On November 23 1396 BCE Hatshepsut ascent,  the day of joining,  when the sun and Sirius rose at the same location, and culminated at the same elevation perfectly to the South.  Senenmut planetary alignment was a perfect date stamp transcribed from the sky to his ceiling.  This planetary positional combination continued until a little after the winter solstice,  when  he inauguration of Hatshepsut's mortuary temple happened.

Magnificent temple 

       Winter Solstice  1395, January 1, is inauguration day at the start of construction of Hatshepsut's masterpiece, directed towards the horizon winter solstice sunrise, already carefully mapped during Hatshepsut's regency.  Figuratively and intentionally integrating in the building plans of her mortuary temple; the joining day of the very first coronation close to 2000 years prior.  

   Hatshepsut entrance way has a certain orientation (Google Earth),  definitely towards the winter solstice which is a great time setter because winter solstices do drift gradually Northwards. A proper high precision local GPS survey has not been available at time of this article.  

Of the paper:

Studying the Orientations of Luxor Ancient Egyptian

Temples Using QuickBird Images

by Mosalam Shaltout and Ahmed Ibrahim Ramzi

     We have:

    We have two satellite azimuths towards the solstice, having a small variance,  the Senenmut winter Solstice, with a computer program incorporating refraction of a net horizon height of .8 degrees,  gives an alignment of 116 degrees and 33 minutes, smack right in the middle between the two satellite results.  

Conclusion

     As presented in Khufu Akhet inclination article, it was very possible to demarcate a very precise sunrise position, by the knowledge of sun microdots positioning, within 2 arc seconds.  However the Great Pyramid had far less documentation than Hatshepsut's temple.  Thanks to Hatshepsut stellar architecture and Senenmut resurrection memory helper, we have 2 methods of narrowing a back date for Hatshepsut's ascension to the throne.  Both highlight the same days.   

   [ Hatshepsut coordinates:   25 degrees 44 minutes 12 seconds North 32 degrees 36 minutes 24 seconds East] .   WD April 18,19 2026