Helen Glazer, Bull's Thigh

Touch the Stars detail: The Bull's Thigh Ancient Egypt

The Ancient Egyptians referred to this constellation as a bull's hind leg. It was associated with the goddess Seshat. One of her roles was laying out foundation plans for temples and wall reliefs show her with the pharaoh establishing the orientation of temple plans in relation with texts explaining that this was determined in relation to the Bull's Thigh constellation. Since this constellation never sets, it also symbolized immortality, and in paintings priests are shown performing a ceremony where the mouth of the king's mummy was touched with a bull's thigh or an adze made to remsemble the constellation's shape. The Bull's Thigh was also linked with the leg of the god Set.