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The title is probably inspired by the twelve baboons portrayed on the west wall of the tomb of Ay, the vizier of Tutankhamun, who replaced the latter as pharaoh. When Belzoni first stumbled upon the chamber, he called it the "Tomb of the 12 Monkeys." They are depicted adoring the sun in the tomb of Tutankhamen (who is believed to have been assassinated) and also appear in the tomb of Thutmose III (literally 'son of Thoth'). The movie dramatizes, in modern (and futuristic) garb, the events that were supposed to take place in the After-Life (Am-Duat). Its logo, which is also that of the Army of the 12 Monkeys, represents them as the hour markings on a clock, and is even shown spiraling. Each monkey represented an hour of the night during which the soul of the dead pharaoh traversed, with the sun, the darkness of the after-world. In the movie, there are clock prompts all along James itinerary (the first is on the ladder as he is about to climb up out of the sewer to the ruined dead city and department store), as if he has a schedule and if he is the night sun (Af-Re / Ka of Osiris) he would be on a tight schedule to make it through to the dawn. From late Egyptian (Denderah) perspective of cosmic order, the monkeys could additionally represent the 12 animal-constellations through which the sun traversed. The baboon par excellence is Thoth, who guides the soul, teaching him through various clues the secrets of the various entities he'll encounter. To the extent that these other characters play a similar role, they are all monkeys. Since the initiate has to assimilate their 'essences' one-by-one of every entity he encounters and addresses by its correct name, James is perhaps the greatest monkey of all, the fullness of (cyclic) Time.
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