the etymology and story of the constellations

The Constellations as they appears through the Seasons

Starting with the Spring

Leothe Lion

Urania's Mirror 1825

Contents:1. Clues to the meaning of this celestial feature2. The fixed stars in this constellation3. History_of_the_constellation

Clues to the meaning of this celestial featureLeo the Lion, from Latin leo, 'lion', the word was borrowed by the Greeks from some unknown source. The Latin word is related to Greek leon, leontos (earlier *lewon, *lewontos), which appears in the name of the Spartan king Leonidas, Lion's son. The Greek word is somehow related to Coptic labai, laboi, lioness. In turn, Coptic labai is borrowed from a Semitic source related to Hebrew labi and Akkadian labbu [AHD]. Compare also Homeric liz, 'lion', which is probably a loan word from Hebrew layish, 'lion' [Klein]. Related names: Lionel, Leander, Leonard, Leonid, Leonine.

In Greek and Roman myth Leo represented the Nemean Lion slain by Hercules, giving the titles for this constellation: Nemeaeus, Nemeas Alumnus, Nemees Terror, Nemeaeum Monstrum. The first of Hercules' twelve labors was to slay the Nemean Lion and bring back its skin to his cousin Eurystheus who had set twelve labors for him.

The name Nemea is believed to be cognate with Latin nemus, from Greek nemos, 'grove' [Klein].

“A grove (nemus) is named for divinity (numen), because pagans set up their idols there, for groves are sites with larger trees, shady with foliage.” [The Etymologies of Isidore of Seville, 7th century AD, p.341.]

"Etymologically the Latin word numen originally and literally meant 'nodding.' It has the sense of inherent vitality and presiding, and was also associated with meanings of 'command' or 'divine majesty'" [1]. This is also how Varro understood it to mean:

"By invoking your name And your numen with many a prayer. Numen ‘divine will or sway,' they say, is imperium ‘power,' and is derived from nutus ‘nod,' because he at whose nutus ‘nod’ everything is, seems to have the greatest imperium ‘power’; therefore Homer uses this word in application to Jupiter, and so does Accius a number of times. [Varro: On The Latin Language, 1st century AD, p.339.]

Latin numen, 'divine will, divine command', properly 'divine approval expressed by nodding the head', from nuere, 'to nod', which is cognate with Greek neuein, 'to nod' [Klein], from the Indo-European root *neu-2 'To nod'. Derivatives: nutation (nodding the head), innuendo, numen (plural numina), numinous (characterized by a sense of a supernatural presence). [Pokorny 2. neu- 767. Watkins]

[The changing of names of the crown prince of Nemea, must have some significance; Nemea might also relate to the word 'name' from Indo-European root *no-men- 'Name'?]

Nemea in Southern Greece on the Peloponnesian Peninsula was also famous in Greek myth as the place where the infant Opheltes, the crown prince of Nemea, lying on a bed of parsley, was killed by a serpent while his nurse fetched water for the Seven against Thebes. The Seven founded the Nemean Games, as a funerary festival, in his memory which were one of the four great Greek athletic festivals conducted every second year, starting in 573 B.C., and the crown of victory was made of parsley (others say celery). This infant who before he was killed by a serpent was called Opheltes (from Greek ophis, serpent - the infant was found dead within the coils of a snake [1]). The Seven Heroes renamed him Archemoros, from arche beginning + moros, death; 'Beginner of Death'. Other legends attribute the institution of the Nemean games to Heracles, after he had slain the Nemean Lion [2].

Regulus, the alpha star of Leo, was referred to in Greek as Basiliskos by Ptolemy, translated "Little King", and his name was also believed to be related to the basilisk serpent. Greek !"#$%&#'() Basilískos, "little king"; is translated into Latin as Regulus, the word being a diminutive of Latin rex, "king". There seems to be no myth or legend linked to the naming of Regulus. It seems likely to me that there could be a connection between the infant Opheltes, whose name is from Greek ophis, serpent, and Latin Regulus, Greek Basilískos; both names translated "little king", and the Greek name also meaning a type of snake.

The comparison of the resurrected Christ to a lion's whelp was made in the second century AD Physiologus, the story is told of the lion whose cubs are born dead and receive life after three days when the father lion comes and roars over them, or vivifies them by his breath [3, p.73]. "Just so did the Father Omnipotent raise Our Lord Jesus Christ from the dead on the third day" [The Book of Beasts: p.8].

The lion traditionally symbolizes royalty, and rulers. Greek leon was sometimes translated as 'king' (rex) from Greek into Latin, because the lion is the king of all the beasts. [4]. Regulus is the alpha star of Leo, from Latin rex, "king", from the Indo-European root *reg-, 'To move in a straight line, with derivatives meaning to direct in a straight line, lead, rule. right just, correct, straight'. Derivatives: right (as in a privilege or legal claim, also 'morally correct, just, good, fair, proper, fitting, straight'), realm, rectitude, recto, rector, rectum (the straight portion of the lower bowel.), rectus (straight muscles, as of the abdomen, eye, neck, and thigh.), regent, regime, regimen, regiment, region (an area ruled), address, adroit, alert, correct, direct, dirge (Latin dirige (first word of the antiphon in the funeral service, Psalm 5:8), imperative singular of dirigere to guide ), dirigible (to steer, an airship), dress (arrange, make straight, prepare), address, droit (claim due), adroit (deft skillful), direction, director, erect (vertical, 'Homo erectus', 'upright man'), erection, incorrigible, rectangle, resurge, resurrect, resurrection, source, surge (Latin surgere, to rise : sub-, from below; + regere, ), Reich, rich, regal, regulus, reign, royal, viceroy, raj, rajah, maharajah, rail, regular, regulate, rule, rake (for raking grass), rack, reckon (counting up), abrogate, arrogant, arrogate ('claim for oneself' without right'), interrogate, prerogative, surrogate, ergo (in consequence of), reck (to take heed), reckless. [Pokorny 1. reg- 854. Watkins]

Jason, leader of the Argonauts, was compared to a lion when he and the Argonauts were stranded in the Libyan desert:

"He spoke, and leapt to his feet, and shouted afar to his comrades, all squalid with dust, like a lion when he roars through the woodland seeking his mate; and far off in the mountains the glens tremble at the thunder of his voice; and the oxen of the field and the herdsmen shudder with fear" [The Argonautica, Apollonius Rhodius, 2nd century B.C.]

“Hercules killed an enormous lion in Greece and set it among the twelve signs as a mark of his own valor. When the sun reaches this sign, it gives excessive heat to the world, and causes the annual Etesian winds.” [The Etymologies of Isidore of Seville, 7th century AD, p.106.]

On page 253 of Star Names Allen says the Syrians called Leo Aryo; the Jews, Arye; meaning a Lion. Ari or Aryeh, is the Hebrew for "lion", cognate with Akkadian aria, Aramaic arya. Aryeh in Sanskrit (a PIE, Proto-Indo-European, language) means "noble" and in Hebrew means "lion". Ari was used in Hebrew as an honorific for an important man. The Hebrew name Ari-el translates to "lion of God" [9]. The word Aryan is a synonym for Indo-European (people and language). The original word in Vedic Language for Lion is 'Hari' [10] which is phonically similar to ari. Linguists say that the Indo-European languages are not related to Hebrew and might deny a link in this case, but they are unsure of some words and they term the Hebrew words that have strayed into these languages "borrowings". The term "Arya" derived from the Proto-Indo-European, generally carries the meaning of "noble" or "free", is cognate with the Greek-derived word "aristocrat" [11].

The astrological influences of the constellation given by Manilius:

"Who can doubt the nature of the monstrous Lion, and the pursuits he prescribes for those born beneath his sign? The lion ever devises fresh fights and fresh warfare on animals, and lives on spoil and pillaging of flocks. The sons of the Lion are filled with the urge to adorn [or 'dress'; from *reg-] their proud portals with pelts and to hang up on their walls the captured prey, to bring the peace of terror to the woods, and to live upon plunder. There are those whose like bent is not checked by the city-gates, but they swagger about in the heart of the capital with droves of beasts; they display mangled limbs at the shop-front, slaughter to meet the demands of luxury, and count it gain to kill. Their temper is equally prone to fitful wrath and ready withdrawal, and guileless are the sentiments of their honest hearts" [Manilius, Astronomica, 1st century AD, p.237.]

© Anne Wright 2008.

Fixed stars in Leo

Star 1900 2000 R A Decl 1950 Lat Mag Sp

Alterf lambda 16LEO29 17LEO52 142 13 05 +23 11 22 +07 53 07 4.48 K5

Ras Elased Australis epsilon 19LEO18 20LEO42 145 45 15 +24 00 19 +09 42 43 3.12 G3

Ras Elased Borealis mu 20LEO02 21LEO26 147 28 51 +26 14 36 +12 20 49 4.10 K3

Subra omicron 22LEO51 24LEO15 144 37 15 +10 07 15 -03 45 34 3.76 F5

Adhafera zeta 26LEO10 27LEO34 153 28 42 +23 40 02 +11 51 43 3.65 F0

Al Jabhah eta 26LEO30 27LEO54 151 09 09 +17 00 26 +04 51 46 3.58 A0

Algieba gamma 28LEO12 29LEO37 154 18 16 +20 05 43 +08 48 45 2.61 K0

Regulus alpha 28LEO26 29LEO50 151 25 40 +12 12 44 +00 27 47 1.34 B7

rho 05VIR00 06VIR23 157 32 42 +09 33 52 +00 08 52 3.85 B1

Zosma delta 09VIR55 11VIR19 167 51 47 +20 47 52 +14 19 58 2.58 A2

Coxa theta 12VIR02 13VIR25 167 54 17 +15 42 11 +09 40 27 3.41 A4

Denebola beta 20VIR14 21VIR37 176 37 39 +14 51 06 +12 16 15 2.23 A4

p 06LIB01 07LIB24 158 47 56 -47 57 56 -51 03 23 4.06 FO

Hevelius, Firmamentum, 1690

History of the constellationfrom Star Names, 1889, Richard H. Allen

In pride the Lion lifts his mane

To see his British brothers reign

As stars below.

— Edward Young's Imperium Pelagi.

Leo, the Lion, is Lion in France, Lowe in Germany, and Leone in Italy. In Anglo-Norman times it was Leun. It lies between Cancer and Virgo, the bright Denebola 5° north of the faint stars that mark the head of the latter constellation; but Ptolemy extended it to include among its … the group now Coma Berenices.

The Loewe Surname: German Löwe: from Middle High German lewe, löuwe ‘lion’, hence a nickname for a brave or regal person. The personal Jewish names Levin, and Levy, also used by German Christians is a derivative of Liebwin. The surname in the sense ‘lion’ is also found in Dutch, Swedish, and Danish. [1]

In Greek and Roman myth this was respectively Leon and Leo, representing the Nemean Lion, originally from the moon, and, after his earthly stay, carried back to the heavens with his slayer Hercules, where he became the poet's Nemeaeus; Nemeas Alumnus; Nemees Terror; Nemeaeum Monstrum; and, in later times, No Animal Nemaeo truculento of Camoes. It also was Cleonaeum Sidus, from Cleonae, the Argolic town near the Nemean forest where Hercules slew the creature; Herculeus; and Herculeum Astrum. But the Romans commonly knew it as Leo, Ovid writing Herculeus Leo and Violentus Leo.

Bacchi Sidus was another of its titles, that god always being identified with this animal, and its shape the one usually adopted by him in his numerous transformations; while a lion's skin was his frequent dress. But Manilius had it Jovis et Junonis Sidus (Jovis = Roman Jupiter or Greek Zeus; Junonis = Roman Juno or Greek Hera), as being under the guardianship of these deities; and appropriately so, considering its regal character, and especially that of its lucida (Regulus).

The Egyptian king Necepsos, and his philosopher Petosiris, taught that at the Creation the sun rose here near Denebola; and hence Leo was Domicilium Solis, the emblem of fire and heat, and, in astrology, the House of the Sun, governing the human heart, and reigning in modern days over Bohemia, France, Italy, and the cities of Bath, Bristol, and Taunton in England, and our Philadelphia. In ancient times Manilius wrote of it as ruling over Armenia, Bithynia, Cappadocia, Macedon, and Phrygia. It was a fortunate sign, with red and green as its colors; and, according to Ampelius, was in charge of the wind Thrascias mentioned by Pliny, Seneca, and Vitruvius as coming from the north by a third northwest.

Ancient physicians thought that when the sun was in this sign medicine was a poison, and even a bath equally harmful (!); while the weather-wise said that thunder {53} foretold sedition and deaths of great men. The adoption of this animal's form for a zodiac sign has fancifully been attributed to the fact that when the sun was among its stars in midsummer the lions of the desert left their accustomed haunts for the banks of the Nile, where they could find relief from the heat in the waters of the inundation; and Pliny is authority for the statement that the Egyptians worshiped the stars of Leo because the rise of their great river was coincident with the sun's entrance among them. For the same reason the great Androsphinx is said to have been sculptured with Leo's body and the head of the adjacent Virgo; although Egyptologists maintain that this head represented one of the early kings, or the god Harmachis. Distinct reference is made to Leo in an inscription on the walls of the Ramesseum at Thebes, which, like the Nile temples generally, was adorned with the animal's bristles; while on the planisphere of Denderah its figure is shown standing on an outstretched serpent. The Egyptian stellar Lion, however, comprised only a part of ours, and in the earliest records some of its stars were shown as a Knife, as they now are as a Sickle. Kircher gave its title there as Pimentekeon, Cubitus Nili.

The Persians called it Ser or Shir; the Turks, Artan; the Syrians, Aryo; the Jews, Arye; and the Babylonians, Aru, — all meaning a Lion; the last title frequently being contracted to their letter equivalent to our A.

It was the tribal sign of Judah, allotted to him by his father Jacob as recorded in Genesis xlix, 9, and confirmed by Saint John in The Revelation v, 5; Landseer suggesting that this association was from the fact that Leo was the natal sign of Judah and so borne on his signet-ring given to Tamar.

Christians of the Middle Ages and subsequently, who figured biblical characters throughout the heavens in place of the old mythology, called it one of Daniel’s lions; and the apostolic school, doubting Thomas.

On Ninevite cylinders Leo is depicted as in fatal conflict with a bull, typifying the victory of light over darkness; and in Euphratean astronomy it was additionally known as Gisbar-namru-sa-pan, variously translated, but by Bertin as the Shining Disc which precedes Bel; the latter being our Ursa Major, or in some way intimately connected therewith. Hewitt says that it was the Akkadian Pa-pil-sak, the Sceptre, or the Great Fire; and Sayce identifies it with the Assyrian month Abu, our July-August, the Fiery Hot; Minsheu assigning as the reason for this universal fiery character of the constellation, "because the sunne being in that signe is most raging and hot like a lion."

Thus throughout antiquity the animal and the constellation always have been identified with the sun, — indeed in all historic ages till it finally appears {Page 254} on the royal arms of England, as well as on those of many of the early noble families of that country. During the 12th century it was the only animal shown on Anglo-Norman shields.

As a zodiacal figure it was of course entirely different from the ancient Asad of Arabia, that somewhat mythical Lion extending from Gemini over our Cancer, Leo, Virgo, Libra, and parts of other constellations, both north and south of the zodiac; but the later Arabians also adopted Ptolemy's Leo and transferred to it the Asad of the early constellation. This appeared in the various corrupted forms cited by Bayer, — Alasid, Aleser, Asis, Assid, and others similar, of which Assemani gives a long list; Schickard adding Alasado and Asedaton; and Riccioli, specially mentioning Asid and Ellesed, cautioned his readers against the erroneous Alatid and Alezet.

Early Hindu astronomers knew it as Asleha, and as Sinha, the Tamil Simham; but the later, influenced by Greece and Rome, as Leya, or Leyaya, from the word Leo. It contained the 8th nakshatra (Moon Mansion), Magha, Mighty, or Generous; as also the 9th and 10th, Purva, and Uttara, Phalguni, the Former, and the Latter, Phalguni, a word of uncertain meaning, — perhaps the Bad One, — the single station being represented by a Fig-tree, and the combined by a Bed or Couch.

Nearly the same stars were included in the 8th, 9th, and 10th manazil of Arabia as Al Jabhah, the Forehead; Al Zubrah, the Mane; and Al Sarfah, the Turn.

Of the sieu (Chinese Moon Mansion), however, none appear in Leo, the Chinese having adopted, instead, stations among the stars of Hydra and Crater, so that many infer that their lunar asterisms were original with themselves. In the later native solar zodiac of China the Lion's stars were the Horse, and in the earlier a part of the Red Bird; while Williams says that they also were Shun Ho, the Quail's Fire; but in the 16th century the Chinese formally adopted our Leo, translating it as Sze Tsze. The space between it and Virgo was Tae Wei, or Shaou Wei, and the western half of Leo, with Leo Minor, was regarded as a Yellow Dragon mounting upwards, marked by the line of ten stars from Regulus through the Sickle. It also was another of the Heavenly Chariots of imperial China.

Its symbol, , has been supposed to portray the animal's mane, but seems more appropriate to the other extremity (the tail); the Hyginus of 1488 and the Albumasar of 1489 showing this latter member of extraordinary length, twisting between the hind legs and over the back, the Hyginus properly locating the star Denebola in the end; but the International Dictionary, in a more scholarly way, says that this symbol is a corruption of the initial letter of Leon. Lajard's Culte de Mithra mentions the hieroglyph of Leo {Page 255} as among the symbols of Mithraic worship, but how their Lion agreed, if at all, with ours is not known.

One of the sultans of Koniyeh, ancient Iconium, put the stellar figure on his coins.

Its drawing has generally been in a standing position, but, in the Leyden Manuscript, in a springing attitude, with the characteristic Sickle fairly represented. Young astronomers know the constellation by this last feature in the fore parts of the figure, the bright Regulus marking the handle; its other stars successively being eta, gamma, zeta, mu, and epsilon. Nor is this a recent idea, for Pliny is thought to have given it separately from Leo in his list of the constellations; but not much could have been left of the Lion after this subtraction except his tail.

These same Sickle stars were a lunar asterism with the Akkadians as Gis-mes, the Curved Weapon; with the Khorasmians and Sogdians as Khamshish, the Scimetar; but with the Copts as Titefui, the Forehead.

The sun passes through Leo from the 7th of August to the 14th of September. Argelander catalogues in it 76 stars, and Heis 161.

In Leo and Virgo lay the now long forgotten asterism Fahne, of which Ideler wrote:

The Flag is a constellation of the heavens, one part in Leo and one part in Virgo. Has many stars. On the iron [the arrowhead of the staff] in front one, on the flag two, on every fold of the flag one.

This is illustrated in the 47th volume of Archaeologia, and it appeared as a distinct constellation in a 15th-century German manuscript, perhaps the original of the work of 1564 from which Ideler quoted. Brown repeats a Euphratean inscription, "The constellation of the Yoke like a flag floated," although he claims no connection here, and associates the Yoke with Capricorn.

II Petto del lione ardente.

— Dante's Paradise.

Ursa Majorthe Greater Bear



Clues to the meaning of this celestial feature

Located at the top of the heavens the stars of the two bear-constellations, Ursa Major and Ursa Minor, never set, i.e., they never disappear below the horizon, they are always visible in the night sky, all night, every night, throughout the year. One of these stars, Polaris, the Pole Star in Ursa Minor, appears to stand still making it a good reference point for navigators at sea to identify, while the other stars in these two constellations, called circumpolar stars, revolve around it.One myth explains why they were positioned so; Zeus (Jupiter) placed Callisto in the sky as the constellation Ursa Major, or 'Great Bear,' and her son, Arcas who was also Zeus' son, as Ursa Minor, as 'Little Bear':"Hera, Zeus' wife, was not pleased with this arrangement, especially since Callisto was another of her husband's infidelities. She went to her nurse, Tethys, the wife of Oceanus, and beseeched her to punish Callisto and Arcas. Tethys decided to deprive the pair of water, and so the Great Bear and the Little Bear are cursed to circle in the skies, never to dip below the horizon for a refreshing bath or a cool drink" [1].The constellations never sink below the horizon, thus they never appear to be going into the water.

The Ursa of Ursa Major is from the Indo-European root *rtko, 'Bear'. Derivatives: arctic (meaning north from Latin arcticus, from Greek arktikos), ursine (bear-like), from Latin ursus, Greek arktos. [Pokorny rktho-s 875. Watkins]. The names Ursula and Orson, are related.

In the northern branches of the Indo-European languages, the name of the bear was subject to a taboo and there was a proliferation of euphemisms; 'honey-licker', 'honey eater', 'shaggy', etc. The word for bear in Russian is 'medved', and the same in Czech. In Polish, bear is a similar word 'niedzwiedz', and in Old Church Slavonic, bear is 'medvedi'. All of these words mean something like 'honey-eater' and are derived from the

common Slavic words 'medu' = 'honey' (PIE *medhu-, from which we also get the English word 'mead', an alcoholic beverage made from fermented honey and water) plus 'ed-' = 'eat' [2]. Our word bear2 appears to be another taboo term, from Dutch 'bruin', meaning 'the brown one', French 'brun' and 'brunette'. Related to the Norse name Bjorn, and place-names Berlin, Berne.

Our word bear, the animal, comes from the Indo-European root *bher2, 'Bright, brown.' Derivatives: brown (one meaning of brown was 'shining', and it was often used to describe swords in Old English poetry), bruin (a bear), Bruno (name), brunet, burnet, burnish (meant to make something brown.), from Old French brun, shining, brown, beaver (a semiaquatic rodent noted for felling trees to build dams and partially submerged dens called lodges), Bernard (name, 'bold bear'), bear* (the animal), from Old English bera, bear, from Germanic *ber, 'the brown animal'), berserker, from Old Norse björn, bear, from Germanic *bernuz. [Pokorny 5. bher- 136.]

There might be a relationship between the roots bear1, to tolerate (from *bher1), and bear2 (from *bher2). Aristotle (according to Olcott, p.348) "held that the name (Ursa) was derived from the fact that of all known animals the bear was thought to be the only one that dared to venture into the frozen regions of the north and tempt the solitude and cold". The bear was the only animal able to bear the cold. Navigators used the two bear constellations (Ursa Major and Ursa Minor) to get their bearings on sea. Arabs imagined the asterism, the Big Dipper, as a Bier with the three stars in the tail as the mourners following the Bier. Olcott (p.350) says the title "'the Bier' is so similar to the almost universal appellation 'the Bear,' that we might almost suppose that the latter title was a confused rendering of the former."

In the Hindu tradition, the Great Bear (sapta-riksha) is the abode of the seven Rishi; identifying Kratu with the star Dubhe; Pulaha with Merak; Pulastya with Phecda; Atri with Megrez; Angiras with Alioth; Vasishtha with Mizar; Bhrigu with Alkaid. [2]

Ursa Major represents Callisto (Kallisto) as the Great Bear. Callisto from Greek kalos, or kallos, beautiful, from the Indo-European root *kal-2, 'Beautiful'. Derivatives: Callisto, calomel, kaleidoscope, (these words from Greek kalos, beautiful), calligraphy, Calliope (the Muse of epic poetry), hemercallis (the day-lily),' calisthenics', from Greek kallos, beauty. [Pokorny 2. kal- 524. Watkins]

Kaleidoscope literally means 'observer of beautiful forms', 'a complex, colorful, and shifting pattern or scene', or, 'a complex set of events or circumstances'. The word might relate to this explanation of how this constellation Ursa Major appears to us as explained by Julius Staal:

"The bear is a quadruped but is able to stand upright on two legs and move about like a human being. Much mythological significance has been ascribed to this similarity between the posture and movement of humans and bears. The daily circumpolar movement of Ursa Major is simple, easy to observe, and can be imagined readily as similar to the shifting movement of a bear changing regularly from quadrupedal to bipedal to quadrupedal posture. As Ursa Major makes its daily transit around the Pole star, it gives the appearance of a bear running on all fours when it is near the lower culmination of its transit. However, a few hours after lowest culmination the quadrangle gradually rises into an upright position, just as a real bear would do as it stands up in its cumbersome way" (The New Patterns in the Sky, Julius D.W. Staal).

The female bear archetype might represent the 'fallen woman' in society, bears have loud passionate 'love affairs' and then part company leaving the female pregnant and alone. This was the experience of Callisto who was a hunting partner in Artemis' virgin group. After she became pregnant by Zeus Callisto was cast out and turned into a bear (Ursa Major, the Great Bear) for her sexual transgressions against that society's mores. Olcott (p.353) tells of a legend; "this constellation represented a Princess, transformed into a bear on account of her pride in rejecting all suitors. For this her skin was nailed to the sky as a warning to other proud maidens." Female bears stay with their bear lovers for a period of time and studies have found that it is often the female that rejects the male causing him to leave her, also knowing he could harm the cubs.

"Linguists hypothesize that in old common Germanic, the true name of the bear was under a taboo — not to be spoken directly. The exact details of the taboo are not known. Did it apply to hunters who were hunting the bear and did not want to warn it? Or to hunters hunting other animals and did not wanting to rile up the bear and have it steal their prey? Or did it apply to anyone who did not want to summon the bear by its name and perhaps become its prey? Whatever the details, the taboo worked so well that no trace of the original *rtko- word remains in Germanic languages, except as borrowed historically in learned words from Greek or Latin. The Greeks and Romans apparently had a more laid-back relationship with the bear, perhaps because there were relatively few encounters, and preserved the ancient name". http://www.cloudline.org/LinguisticArchaeology.html

Speculating on the word dub: Dabu, was the Babylonian name the Great Bear constellation [3]. A bear is Hebrew Dobh, the name for this constellation; Phoenician Dub; and Arabian Al Dubb. The English verb 'to dub' means to give another name or nickname, or give a new title or description. Because of the taboo of calling a bear a bear, bears were dubbed with various descriptive titles in European languages.

Helice representing Ursa Major, and Melissa (honey or honey bee), or Cynosura, representing Ursa Minor, were the nurses of the baby Zeus. The Latin name Helice and its Greek cognates seems to have been the most common title for this constellation with both Greeks and Romans. Of the name Helice Allen in Star Names says that in Greece Ursa Major was referred to as Elix (with the h dropped), meaning curved, or spiral (helix), and Elike, Homer's Elikopes, apparently first used for the constellation by Aratos (310 BC – 240 BC). Some, however, derived the name from the curved or twisted position of the chief stars; and others, still more probably, from the city Helice, Kallisto's birthplace in Arcadia [Star Names, see below] (ancient Helike a city on Gulf of Corinth lost in a tidal wave in 373 BC was rediscovered in 2001). The Roman poet Ovid used this title, Helice, in the Fasti, where he wrote of both the Bears, in navigation. Manilius (see below) also called it Helice. The word helix and the Greek name Helice comes from Greek elix, meaning a helix form, or

revolving form, from the Indo-European root *wel-3 'To turn, roll'. Derivatives: waltz, welter, whelk+ (marine snail), whelk, willow (Salix), walk, well+ (a water hole), wallet, wale (a weal or welt), wallow, vault+ (an arched structure), voluble, volume, volute, archivolt, circumvolve, convolve, devolve, evolve, evolution (to unroll as one unrolled a scroll), involve, revolve, (these words from Latin volvere, to roll), convolution, devolution, evolution, revolt, revolution, vulva (the external genital organs of the female, including the labia majora, labia minora, clitoris, and vestibule of the vagina), valve, ileus (from Greek eilein), vale+, valley (a vulva metaphor), Helen (from the Greek name Helen, oldest form Welen), helicon, helix, helicopter, (theses words from Greek helix, spiral object), Mt. Helicon (the legendary abode of the Muses), heliculture (snail farming), helical (spiral shaped), helico- (spiral), helminth (a worm, especially a parasitic roundworm or tapeworm) [Pokorny 7. wel- 1140. Watkins]

"There the revolving Bear, which the Wain they call" [The shield of Achilles, in Sir John Herschel's rendering: Allen, Star Names]

"The Bear, revolving, points his golden eye". [Pope rendered the original the Northern Team, and the lines on Orion: Allen, Star Names]

The bear is a quadruped but is able to stand upright on two legs and walk (from *wel-3 ) like a human being.

Maybe it is because the word Helice is a cognate with the word vulva that made it so taboo to call the bear by its real name?

"The vulva is so called as if it were a folding-door, that is, the door of the belly; either because it receives the semen or because the fetus goes forth from it." [The Aberdeen Bestiary]

Hellas in Greece is bordering Arcadia; Arcadia was named after Callisto's son Arcas of Ursa Minor:

“Hellas is so called from king Hellen, the son of Deucalion and Pyrrha; from him the Greeks first took the name Hellenes. This is the same territory as Attica, earlier called 'Acte.' There was a certain Granus, a native of Greece, after whose daughter's name, Attis, Attica was named. It lies in the middle between Macedonia and Achaea, connected to Arcadia on its northern side. This is the true Greece, where the city of Athens was located, the mother of the liberal arts and the nurse of philosophers; there was nothing nobler and more illustrious in all of Greece” [The Etymologies of Isidore of Seville, 7th century AD, p.290.]`

John F. Blake (Astronomical Myths, 1877, p.63.) said the word "Ursa is said to be derived from versus, because the constellation is seen to turn about the pole. It has been called the Screw (Greek Elike), or Helix,

which has plainly reference to its turning." [The words ursa and versus are not recognized as etymological relatives. Versus comes from I.E. wer2]

Perhaps Helen [from *wel-3 above] of Troy, 'the face that launched a thousand ships' [I have not seen her identified with any constellation]. Callisto is from Greek kalos, or kallos, meaning 'beautiful'.

Greek kalos, or kallos, is usually translated 'beautiful' in English. Kalos is a common word in the Greek language, but does not appear to have cognates in other languages, except' Old Indian kalyah, 'healthy'. Here is a suggestion that the word is related to health:

'"One word, then, let us take as the representative of Greek feeling — a word very small and not at all picturesque, but enshrining within itself all that is essentially and peculiarly Hellenic — to kallos, 'beauty.' In its origin Curtius connects the word with the Gothic hails ( = hale, 'sound') and from the frequency with which the word itself and the prefix kalli are applied to streams of running water, it is not unreasonable to suppose that in the beginning personal beauty meant simply health'... This meaning holds good for more than one of the kallos family - kallyno, e.g., signifies not only 'adorn' but 'cleanse' '....." [The makers of Hellas: a critical inquiry into the philosophy and religion of ancient Greece, 1903, djvu 138, p.104'.]

Gothic hails ( = hale, 'sound')' comes from' the Indo-European root *kailo- 'Whole, uninjured, of good omen'. Derivatives: hale+ (free from infirmity or illness), whole, wholesome, hail* (to salute or greet), wassail (to drink to the health of; toast), health, heal (Middle English helen, from Old English haelan), holy, holiday, hollyhock, (these words from Old English halig, holy, sacred), holly tree (genus Ilex), Hollywood, hallow (to make or set apart as holy), Allhallowmas (all Saints' Day), Halloween (from Old English halgian, to consecrate, bless), Helga, Helge (Old Norse 'Holy One'), Oleg, Olga, from Old Norse Helge (feminine Helga), 'holy'. [Pokorny kai-lo- 520. Watkins] [Indo-European and Sanskrit /k/ becomes European /h/]

"The first of the signs is Arctos, which, fixed on the pole, rotates with its seven stars revolving around it. Its name is Greek (i.e. arktos, 'bear'), and in Latin it is called the Bear (Ursa). Because it turns like a wagon, we call it the Septentriones (i.e. septem, 'seven' + triones). For triones, strictly speaking, are plowing oxen, so called because they tread (terere) the soil, as if the word were teriones. Their proximity to the pole causes them not to set, because they are on the pole.” [The Etymologies of Isidore of Seville, 7th century AD, p.104.]

[Isidore sees a link between the words Taurus and Latin terra, earth. The plowing oxen are treading (terere) the earth (not the planet earth?).]

Ursa Major represents the Great Mother Bear, and the adjacent constellation, Ursa Minor, represents her son Arcas. Little bear cubs are born very small, about 500th of the mother's weight (essentially an embryo, not a foetus), and in legend it was believed that it was born as a shapeless lump of flesh which the mother bear (Ursa Major) shapes into its proper form by licking it, and this is said be the origin of the expression 'to lick into shape'; to give proper form to.

“The bear (ursus) is said to be so called because it shapes its offspring in its 'own mouth' (ore suo), as if the word were orsus, for people say that it produces unshaped offspring, and gives birth to some kind of flesh that the mother forms into limbs by licking it. Whence this is said (Petronius, Anthol. Latina, ed. Riese, 690.3): 'Thus with her tongue the bear shapes her offspring when she has borne it'. But prematurity is what causes this kind of offspring; the bear gives birth after at most thirty days, whence it happens that its hurried gestation creates unshaped offspring. Bears have weak heads; their greatest strength is in their forepaws and loins, whence they sometimes stand up erect” [The Etymologies of Isidore of Seville, 7th century AD, p.252.]

Isidore says that bear (ursus) is from 'own mouth' (ore suo), as if the word were orsus. Latin orsus, 'beginning', is related to ordiri, 'order' [4], and to the word 'art', from the Indo-European root *ar-, 'To fit together' [5], and also to the word 'harmony', from Greek harma, a chariot, and this constellation was known as Arthur's Chariot or Wain. The mother bear is essentially an artist, she employs artwork to shape her formless offspring into its proper form by licking it. Celtic words for 'bear' are art or artos (identical to the Greek arct, and arctos).


"Now when, after completing a revolution round the pole, the Bear (Ursa Major) with muzzle foremost replaces her unceasing steps in her former tracks, never immersed in Ocean but ever turning in a circle, to those born at such a time wild creatures will show no hostile face, and in their dealings with animals these men will find them submissive to their rule. Such a one will be able to control huge lions with a gesture, to fondle wolves, and to play with captive panthers; so far from shunning the powerful bears that are the kin of the constellation, he will train them to human accomplishments and feats foreign to their nature; he will seat himself on the elephant's back and with a goad will direct the movements of a beast which disgraces its massive weight by yielding to tiny jabs; he will dispel the fury of the tiger, training it to become a peaceful animal, whilst all the other beasts which molest the earth with their savageness he will join in friendship to himself; keen-scented whelps he will train..." [here the translator notes that eight pages have been lost] [Astronomica, Manilius, 1st century AD, book 5, p.357, 359]

"Now where heaven reaches its culmination in the shining Bears, which from the summit of the sky look down on all the stars and know no setting and, shifting their opposed stations about the same high point, set sky and stars in rotation, from there an insubstantial axis runs down through the wintry air and controls the universe, keeping it pivoted at opposite poles: it forms the middle about which the starry sphere revolves and wheels its heavenly flight, but is itself without motion and, drawn straight through the empty spaces of the great sky to the two Bears and through the very globe of the Earth, stands fixed, since the entire atmosphere ever revolves in a circle, and every part of the whole rotates to the place from which it once began, that which is in the middle, about which all moves, so insubstantial that it cannot turn round upon itself or even submit to motion or spin in circular fashion, this men have called the axis, since, motionless itself, it yet sees everything spinning about it. The top of the axis is occupied by constellations well known to hapless mariners, guiding them over the measureless deep in their search for gain. Helice (Ursa Major), the greater, describes the greater arc; it is marked by seven stars which vie with each other under its guidance the ships of Greece set sail to cross the seas. Cynosura [Ursa Minor] is small and wheels round in a narrow circle, less in brightness as it is in size, but in the judgment of the Tyrians it excels the larger bear. Carthaginians count it the surer-guide when at sea they make for unseen shores. They are not set face to face: each with its muzzle points at the other's tail and follows one that follows it. Sprawling between them and embracing each the Dragon separates and surrounds them with its glowing stars lest they ever meet or leave their stations." [Astronomica, Manilius, 1st century AD, book 1, p.27, 29].


Fixed stars in Ursa Major


pi 21CAN26 22CAN49 128 58 00 +64 30 17 +44 01 20 4.76 K2

Muscida omicron 21CAN36 23CAN00 126 31 55 +60 53 14 +40 14 22 3.47 G1

h 29CAN26 00LEO49 141 54 09 +63 16 55 +45 09 45 3.75 A4

Talitha iota 01LEO25 02LEO48 133 56 57 +48 14 22 +29 34 30 3.12 A4

kappa 02LEO33 03LEO56 135 03 20 +47 21 21 +28 58 31 3.68 B9

upsilon 04LEO53 06LEO16 146 51 47 +59 16 30 +42 39 04 3.89 A6

theta 05LEO53 07LEO16 142 22 53 +51 54 23 +34 54 11 3.26 F6

phi 07LEO58 09LEO21 147 10 46 +54 17 56 +38 15 22 4.54 A3

Dubhe alpha 13LEO47 15LEO12 165 09 52 +62 01 17 +49 40 39 1.95 K0

Merak beta 18LEO02 19LEO26 164 42 35 +56 39 03 +45 07 41 2.44 A1

Tania Borealis lambda 18LEO09 19LEO33 153 31 21 +43 09 53 +29 52 58 3.53 A2

Tania Australis mu 19LEO50 21LEO14 154 50 23 +41 45 06 +28 59 40 3.21 M0

psi 27LEO26 28LEO49 166 42 54 +44 46 12 +35 32 07 3.15 K1

Phecda gamma 29LEO04 00VIR29 177 48 09 +53 58 22 +47 08 16 2.54 A1

Megrez delta 29LEO39 01VIR04 183 14 24 +57 18 37 +51 39 11 3.44 A3

El Kophrah chi 02VIR15 03VIR40 175 51 15 +48 03 24 +41 32 31 3.85 K1

Alula Boreale nu 05VIR15 06VIR39 168 56 45 +33 22 02 +26 09 36 3.71 K3

Alula Australe xi 05VIR57 07VIR21 168 52 48 +31 48 39 +24 43 58 3.88 G0

Alioth epsilon 07VIR31 08VIR56 192 57 32 +56 13 51 +54 18 58 1.68 A0

Mizar zeta 14VIR17 15VIR42 200 28 45 +55 11 09 +56 22 37 2.40 A2

Alcor 80 14VIR27 15VIR52 200 48 23 +55 14 53 +56 32 55 4.02 A1

Alkaid eta 25VIR31 26VIR56 206 23 35 +49 33 44 +54 23 22 1.91 B3



'Twas noon of night, when round the pole

The sullen Bear is seen to roll.

— Thomas Moore's translation of the Odes of Anacreon.

. . . round and round the frozen Pole Glideth the lean white bear.

— Robert Williams Buchanan's Ballad of Judas Iscariot.

Ursa Major, the Greater Bear the Grande Ourse of the French, the Orsa Maggiore of the Italians, and the Grosse Bar of the Germans, always has been the best known of the stellar groups, appearing in every extended reference to the heavens in the legends, parchments, tablets, and stones of remotest times. And Sir George Cornewall Lewis, quoting allusions to it by Aristotle, Strabo, and many other classical writers, thinks, from Homer's line,

Arctos, sole star that never bathes in the ocean wave

(by reason of precession it then was much nearer the pole than it now is), that this was the only portion of the arctic sky that in the poet's time had been reduced to constellation form. This statement, however, refers solely to the Greeks; for even before Homer's day we know that earlier nations had here their own stellar groups; yet we must remember that the Arktos and Amaxa (from ama-axa, ama- "together with", -axa, meaning axle, the axle is Ursa Minor) of the Iliad and Odyssey consisted of but the seven stars, and that these alone bore those names till Thales formed our Ursa Minor. Later on the figure was enlarged "for the purpose of

uranographic completeness," so that Heis now catalogues 227 components visible to his naked eye, although only 140 appeared to Argelander, down to the 6th magnitude.

It is almost the first object to which the attention of beginners in astronomy is called, — a fact owing partly to its circumpolar position for all points above the 41st parallel rendering it always and entirely visible above that latitude, but very largely to its great extent and to the striking conformation of its prominent stars. It is noticeable, too, that all early catalogues commenced with the two Ursine constellations (Ursa Major and Ursa Minor).

Although the group has many titles and mythical associations, it has almost everywhere been known as a Bear, usually in the feminine, from its legendary origin. All classic writers, from Homer to those in the decline of Roman literature, thus mentioned it, — a universality of consent as to its form which, it has fancifully been said, may have arisen from Aristotle's idea that its prototype was the only creature that dared invade the frozen North. {Page 420} Yet it is remarkable that the Teutonic nations did not know this stellar group under this shape, although the animal was of course familiar to them and made much of in story and worship. With them these stars were the Wagen, our familiar Wain. Aratos wrote in the Phainomena:

Two Bears

Called Wains move round it, either in her place;

Ovid, in the Tristia, Magna minorque ferae; and Propertius included both in his Gemmae Ursae; while Horace, Vergil, and Ovid, again, called them Gelidae Arcti (Glacial Artics). We also meet with Arctoi and Arctoe. The Anglo-Saxon Manual of Astronomy of the 10th century adopted the Greek Arctos, although it adds "which untaught men call Carles-waen"; rare old Ben Jonson, in 1609, in his Epicoene, or the Silent Woman, called Kallisto

a star Mistress Ursula in the heavens;

and La Lande cited Fera major, Filia Ursae, and Ursa cum puerulo, referring to Arcas (Ursa Minor).

The well-known, although varied, story of Kallisto, — as old as Hesiod's time, — who was changed to a bear because of Juno's jealousy and transferred to the skies by the regard of Jove, has given rise to much poetical allusion from Hesiod's day till ours, especially among the Latins. In Addison's translation of Ovid's Metamorphoses, where this myth is related, we read that Jove

snatched them [Kallisto (Ursa Major and Arcas (Ursa Minor)] through the air

In whirlwinds up to heaven and fixed them there;

Where the new constellations nightly rise,

And add a luster to the northern skies;

although the dissatisfied Juno still complained that in this location they proudly roll

In their new orbs and brighten all the pole.

This version of the legend turned Kallisto's son Arcas into Ursa Minor, although he was Bootes; Matthew Arnold correctly writing of the mother and son in his Merope:

The Gods had pity, made them Stars.

Stars now they sparkle

In the northern Heaven —

The guard Arcturus,

The guard-watched Bear.

{Page 421} Another version substituted her divine mistress Artemis; — also known to the Greeks as Kalliste, the Roman Diana — for the nymph of the celestial transformation; the last Greek word well describing the extreme beauty of this constellation. La Lande, however, referred the title to the Phoenician Kalitsah, or Chalitsa, Safety, as its observation helped to a safe voyage.

Among its names from the old story are Kallisto herself; Lycaonia, Lycaonia Puella, Lycaonia Arctos, from her father, or grandfather, king of the aboriginal race that was known as late as Saint Paul's day, with the distinct dialect alluded to in the Acts of the Apostles, xiv, 11; Dianae Comes and Phoebes Miles are from her companionship in arms with that goddess; and it was one of the

arctos oceani metuentes aequore tingi,

because Tethys, at Juno's instigation, had forbidden Kallisto to enter her watery dominions. Yet Camoes, from a lower latitude, wrote of As Ursas:

We saw the Bears, despite of Juno, lave

Their tardy bodies in the boreal wave.

Ovid's arctos aequoris expertes; immunemque aequoris Arcton, liquidique immunia ponti, and utraque sicca, were from the fact that, being circumpolar, neither of the Bears sets below the ocean horizon. This was a favorite conceit of the poets, and astronomically correct during millenniums before and centuries after Homer's day, although not so in recent times as to the Greater, except in high latitudes. Chaucer reproduced this in his rendering of the De Consolatione Philosophiae by Boetius, whom he styles Boece:

Ne the sterre y-cleped "the Bere," that enclyneth his ravisshinge courses abouten the soverein heighte of the worlde, ne the same sterre Ursa nis never-mo wasshen in the depe westrene see, ne coveiteth nat to deyen his flaumbe in the see of the occian, al-thogh he see other sterres y-plounged in the see;

our Bryant rendering this idea:

The Bear that sees star setting after star

In the blue brine, descends not to the deep.

Poetical titles induced by the legend of Arcas were Virgo Nonacrina and Tegeaea Virgo, from the Arcadian towns Nonacris and Tegea; Erymanthis, perhaps the Erymanthian Boar that Hercules slew, but more probably the Erymanthian Bear (the male of a bear is called a boar); Maenalia Arctos, Maenalis, and Maenalis Ursa, from those mountains; Parrhasis, Parrhasia Virgo, and Parrhasides Stellae, from {Page 422} the tribe, although Pluche went farther back for this to the Phoenician pilots' Parrasis, the Guiding Star, — the Hebrews' Pharashah. Sophocles wrote of it in the Oedipus as Arcadium Sidus, referring to the whole country of Arcadia, the Switzerland of Greece, famous in the classical world for its wild mountain scenery; and very early silver coins of Mantinea showed the Bear as mother of the patron god.

Such has been the myth of this constellation current for at least three millenniums; but Mueller discards it all, and says: "The legend of Kallisto, the beloved of Zeus and mother of Arkas, has nothing to do with the

original meaning of the stars. On the contrary, Kallisto was supposed to have been changed into the Arktos or Greater Bear because she was the mother of Arkas, that is to say, of the Arcadian1 or bear race, and her

name, or that other son, reminded the Greeks of their long established name of the northern constellation". [1Allen notes at bottom of page: Lucian, in De Astrologia, wrote that "the Arcadians were an ignorant people and despised astronomy"; and Ovid graphically described their great antiquity and primitive mode of life, well justifying their title of the Bear Race, his lines being quaintly translated by Gower: "Therefore they naked run in sign and honour Of hardiness and that old bare-skinned manner." ]

Aratos' version of the legend, from very ancient Naxian tradition, made the two Bears the Cretan nurses of the infant Jupiter, afterwards raised to heaven for their devotion to their charge. From this came the Cretaeae sive Arctoe of Germanicus; but Lewis said: "This fable is inconsistent with the natural history of the island; for the ancients testify that Crete never contained any bears or other noxious animals."

Subsequent story changed the nurses into the Cretan nymphs Helice and Melissa (Ursa Minor). Hyginus and Germanicus also used the masculine form Ursus as well as Arctus.

The Hebrew word 'Ash or 'Ayish in the Book of Job, ix, 9, and xxxviii, 32, supposed to refer to the Square in this constellation as a Bier, not a Bear, was translated Arcturus by Saint Jerome in the Vulgate: and this was adopted in the version of 1611 authorized by King James. Hence the popular belief that the Bible mentions our star alpha Bootes (Arcturus); but Umbreit had already corrected this to "the Bear and her young," and in the Revision of 1885 the patriarch talks to us of "the Bear with her train," these latter being represented by the three tail stars [the bier was marked by the Plough or Big Dipper stars on the body of the Bear - Merak (beta), Dubhe (alpha), Phecda (gamma) and Megrez (delta). The coffin was followed by "Mourners"; the three big stars on the tail of the Great Bear; epsilon (Alioth), zeta (Mizar), and eta (Alkaid).]. Von Herder strangely rendered the first of these passages "Libra and the Pole Star, the Seven Stars ";

but the second, more correctly, as "the Bear with her young" feeding around the pole; or, by another tradition, the nightly wanderer, a mother of the stars seeking her lost children, — those that no longer are visible. The {Page 423} Breeches Bible has this marginal note to its word Arcturus: "The North Star, with those that are about him."

Hebrew observers called the constellation Dobh; Phoenician, Dub; and Arabian, Al Dubb al Akbar, the Greater Bear, — Dubhelacbar with Bayer and Dub Alacber with Chilmead, — all of these perhaps adopted from Greece. Caesius cited the "Mohammedans'" Dubbe, Dubhe, and Dubon; and Robert Browning, in his Jochanan Hakkadosh, repeated these as Dob.

But whence came the same idea into the minds of our North American Indians? Was it by accident? or is it evidence of a common origin in the far antiquity of Asia ? The conformation of the seven stars in no way resembles the animal, — indeed the contrary; yet they called them Okuari and Paukunawa, words for a "bear," before they were visited by the white men, as is attested by Le Clercq in 1691, by the Reverend Cotton Mather in 1712, by the Jesuit missionary La Fitau in 1724, and by the French traveler Charlevoix in 1744. And Bancroft wrote in his history of our country:

The red men . . . did not divide the heavens, nor even a belt in the heavens, into constellations. It is a curious coincidence, that among the Algonquins of the Atlantic and of the Mississippi, alike among the Narragansetts and the Illinois, the North Star was called the Bear.

In justice, however, to their familiarity with a bear's anatomy, it should be said that the impossible tail of our Ursa was to them either Three Hunters, or a Hunter with his two Dogs, in pursuit of the creature; the star Alcor being the pot in which they would cook her. They thus avoided the incongruousness of the present astronomical ideas of Bruin's make-up, although their cooking-utensil was inadequate. The Housatonic Indians, who roamed over that valley from Pittsfield through Lenox and Stockbridge to Great Barrington, said that this chase of the stellar Bear lasted from the spring till the autumn, when the animal was wounded and its blood plainly seen in the foliage of the forest.

The long tail of the Bear, a queer appendage to a comparatively tailless animal, is thus accounted for by old Thomas Hood in his didactic style:

Scholar,

I marvel why (seeing she hath the form of a bear) her tail should be so long.

Master.

Imagine that Jupiter, fearing to come too nigh unto her teeth, lay hold on her tail, and thereby drew her up into the heaven; so that she of herself being very weighty, and the distance from the earth to the heavens very great, there was great likelihood that her tail must stretch. Other reason know I none.{Page 424} My friend the Reverend Doctor Robert M. Luther of Newark, New Jersey, tells me that a similar story was current with the Pennsylvania Germans of forty years ago. The same "weightie" reason will apply equally well to the Smaller Bear (Ursa Minor); indeed the latter's tail is even proportionately longer, although the kink in it takes a different turn. It is probably this association of these Seven Stars with our aborigines that has given them the occasional title of the Seven Little Indians.

Trevisa derived the title thus: "alwey thoo sterres wyndeth and turneth rounde aboute that lyne, that is calde Axis, as a bere aboute the stake. And therefore that cercle is clepid the more bere." Boteler borrowed this for his Hudibras':

And round about the pole does make

A circle like a bear at stake.

The great epic of the Finns, the Kalewala, makes much of this constellation, styling it Otawa and Otawamen, in which Miss Clerke sees likeness to the names used by our aborigines for "the great Teutonic King of beasts." But that people also said that the Bear stars, and especially the pole-star (Polaris), were young and beautiful maidens highly skilled in spinning and weaving, — a story originating from a fancied resemblance of their rays of light to a weaver's web.

The Century Dictionary has a theory as to the origin of the idea of a Bear for these seven stars, doubtless from its editor, Professor Whitney, that seems plausible, — at all events, scholarly. It is that their Sanskrit designation, Riksha, signifies, in two different genders, "a Bear," and "a Star," "Bright," or "to shine," — hence a title, the Seven Shiners, — so that it would appear to have come, by some confusion of sound, of the two words among a people not familiar with the animal. Later on Riksha was confounded with the word Rishi, and so connected with the Seven Sages, or Poets, of India [identifying Kratu with the star Dubhe; Pulaha with Merak; Pulastya with Phecda; Atri with Megrez; Angiras with Alioth; Vasishtha with Mizar; Bhrigu with Alkaid. [2]]; afterwards with the Seven Wise Men of Greece, the Seven Sleepers of Ephesus, the Seven Champions of Christendom, etc.; while the Seven Stars of early authors, as often used for Ursa Major as for the Pleiades, certainly is much more appropriate to the Ursine figure than to the Taurine. Minsheu had "the Seven Starres called Charles Waine in the North," and three centuries earlier Chaucer wrote of "the sterres seven" with manifest reference to this constellation. The Kalewala (Kalevala) had the equivalent Seitsen tahtinen; the Portuguese Camoes, Sete Flammas; and the Turks, Yidigher Yilduz.

Hewitt says that these seven stars at first were known in India as Seven Bears, although also as Seven Antelopes, and again as Seven Bulls, the latter merged into one, the Great Spotted Bull, as the Seven Bears also {Page 425} were into Ursa Major, with our Arcturus for their keeper; and he gives their individual titles as Kratu for alpha, Pulaha for beta, Pulastya for gamma, Atri for delta, Angiras for epsilon, and Marici for eta, the six sons of Brahma, who himself was Vashishtha, the star zeta. The Vishnu-Dharma, however, claimed Atri as their ruler; indeed, there seems to be much variance in Sanskrit works as to the identity of these stars and titles.

When the figure of the Bear was extended to its present dimensions, four times as great as Homer's Arktos, we do not know, and, to quote again from Miss Clerke,

we can only conjecture; but there is evidence that it was fairly well established when Aratos wrote his description of the constellations. [He stretched it over Gemini, Cancer, and Leo] Aratos, however, copied Eudoxus, and Eudoxus used observations made — doubtless by Accad or Chaldaean astrologers — above 2000 B.C. We infer, then, that the Babylonian Bear was no other than the modern Ursa Major. . . . Thus, circling the globe from the valley of the Ganges to the great lakes of the New World, we find ourselves confronted with the same sign in the northern skies, the relic of some primeval association of ideas, long since extinct. Extinct even in Homer's time.

And Achilles Tatios distinctly asserted that it was from Chaldaea. But Brown thinks, in regard to the identity of the archaic and modern constellations of this name in that country, that at present there is no real evidence to connect the Kakkabu Dabi (or Dabu, the Babylonian Bear) with the Plough or Wain, still less with Ursa Major; and identifies the latter with the Euphratean Bel-me-Khi-ra, the Confronter of Bel, — Berlin, with Bel himself. A group of seven stars is often shown on the cylinders from Babylonia, Lajard's Culte de Mithra giving many instances of this, although the reference may have been to the Pleiades; while it is Sayce's suggestion that perhaps "the god seven," so frequently mentioned in the inscriptions, is connected with Ursa Major.

Among the adjacent Syrians it was a Wild Boar, and in the stars of the feet of our Bear (now Leo Minor) the early nomads saw the tracks of their Ghazal (gazelle). Similarly, in the far North, it has been the Sarw of the Lapps, their familiar Reindeer, the Los of the Ostiaks, and the Tukto of the Greenlanders.

Smyth wrote in his Speculum Hartwelliauum: "King Arthur, the renowned hero of the Mabinogion, typified the Great Bear; as his name, — Arth, bear, and Uthyr, wonderful, — implies in the Welsh language; and the constellation, visibly describing a circle in the North Polar regions of the sky, may possibly have been the true origin of the Son of Pendragon's famous Round Table, the earliest institution of a military order of knighthood."

{Page 426} Whatever may be the fact in this speculation, we know that the early English placed King Arthur's home here, and that the people of Great Britain long called it Arthur's Chariot or Wain, which appears in the Lay of the Last Minstrel:

Arthur's slow wain his course doth roll,

In utter darkness, round the pole.

In Ireland it has been King David’s Chariot, from one of that island's early kings; in France, the Great Chariot, and it was seen on Gaulish coins. The Anglo-Norman poet De Thaun of the 12th century had it Charere; and La Lande cited the more modern la Roue, the Wheel. Occasionally it has been called the Car of Bootes.

And this carries us back to another of the earliest titles for our constellation, the Amaxa, Wain or Wagon, — Riccioli's Amaxa, — of the Iliad and Odyssey, that Homer used equally with Arktos, although with the same limitation to the seven stars. Describing the shield made by Hephaistos for Achilles, the poet said, in Sir John Herschel's rendering:

There the revolving Bear, which the Wain they call, was ensculptured,

Circling on high, and in all its course regarding Orion;

Sole of the starry train which refuses to bathe in the Ocean;

which I have quoted, in preference to others more rhythmical, from the interest that we all feel in the translator as an astronomer, although but little known as a poet. Homer repeated this in the 5th book of the Odyssey, where Ulixes, in Bryant's translation, is

Gazing with fixed eye on the Pleiades,

Bootes setting late and the Great Bear,

By others called the Wain, which wheeling round,

Looks ever toward Orion and alone

Dips not into the waters of the deep.

For so Calypso, glorious goddess, bade

That, on his ocean journey, he should keep

That constellation ever on his left;

Ithaca, whither he was bound, lying due east from Calypso's isle, Orgygia. Pope rendered the original the Northern Team, and the lines on Orion:

To which, around the axle of the sky,

The Bear, revolving, points his golden eye.

These passages clearly show the early use of the Wain stars in Greek navigation before Cynosura (Polaris) was known to them; as Aratos wrote:

{Page 427}

By it on the deep

Achaians gather where to sail their ships;

Ovid imitating this in the Fasti and Tristia. Orion seems to have been often joined in this use, for Apollonius wrote:

The watchful sailor, to Orion's star

And Helice, turned heedful.

Aratos called the constellation the "Wain-like Bear "; and, alluding to the title Amaxa, asserted that the word was from ama, "together," the Amaxai, thus circling together around the pole; but no philologist accepts this, and it might as well have come from axon, "axle," referring to the axis of the heavens. In fact, Hewitt goes far back of Aratos in his statement that the Sanskrit god Akshivan, the Driver of the Axle (Aksha), was adopted in Greece as Ixion, whose well-known wheel was merely the circling course of this constellation. Anacreon mentioned it as a Chariot as well as a Bear; and Hesychios had it Aganna, an archaic word from agein, "to carry," singularly like, in orthography at least, the Akkadian title for the Wain stars, Aganna, or Akanna, the Lord of Heaven; and Aben Ezra called it Ajala, the Hebrew word for "wagon."

The Romans expressed the same idea in their Currus; Plaustrum, [The Latin plaustrum, originally a two-wheeled ox-cart, appears in the De Re Rustics of Cato Censorius as plaustrum maius for one with four wheels.] or Plostrum, magnum; with the diminutive Plaustricula, which Capella (alpha Auriga) turned into Plaustriluca, imitating the "Noctiluca" used by Horace for the moon. Apollinaris Sidonius, the Christian writer of the 6th century, called the constellation Plaustra Parrhasis; and Rycharde Eden wrote it Plastrum, —

al the sterres cauled Plastrum or Charles Wayne, are hydde under the Northe pole to the canibals.

In all these, of course, reference was made to the seven stars only, Bartschius plainly showing this on his chart, where he outlines them, with the title Plaustrum, included within the limits of the much larger Ursa Major.

The Italians have Cataletto, a Bier, and Carro; and the Portuguese Camoes wrote it Carreta. The Danes, Swedes, and Icelanders knew it as Stori Vagn, the Great Wagon, and as Karls Vagn; Karl being Thor, their greatest god, of whom the old Swedish Rhyme Chronicle, describing the statues in the church [It is in this church, or cathedral, that the great Linnaeus lies buried, and over its south porch is sculptured the Hebrew story of the Creation. ] at Upsala, says: {Page 428} "The God Thor was the highest of them; He sat naked as a child, Seven stars in his hand and Charles's Wain."

The Goths similarly called the seven stars Karl Wagen, which has descended to modern Germans as Wagen and Himmel Wagen, the last with the story that it represents the Chariot in which Elijah journeyed to heaven. But in the heathen times of the northern nations it was the Wagon of Odin, Woden, or Wuotan, the father of Thor, and the Irmines Wagen of the Saxons. Grimm cites Herwagen, probably the Horwagen of Bayer and the Hurwagen of Caesius; while a common English name now is the Waggon. The Poles call it Woz Niebeski, the Heavenly Wain. In all these similes the three tail stars of our Bear were the three draught-horses in line. The royal poet King James wrote:

Heir shynes the charlewain, there the Harp gives light,

And heir the Seamans Starres, and there Twinnis bright.

This old and still universally popular title, Charles’s Wain, demands more than mere mention. It has often been derived from the Saxon ceorl, the carle of mediaeval times, our churl, and thus the "peasant's cart "; but this is incorrect, and the New English Dictionary has an exhaustive article on the words, well worthy of repetition here:

Charles’s Wain. Forms; carles-waen, Cherlemaynes-wayne, Charlmons wayn, carle wen-sterre, carwaynesterre, Charel-wayn, Charlewayn, Charle wane, Charles wayne or waine, Charles or Carol's wain(e), Charlemagne or Charles his wane, wain(e), Charle-waine, Charl-maigne Wain, Charles's Wain. [OE. Carles waegn, the wain (amaxa, plaustrum) of Carl (Charles the Great, Charlemagne). The name appears to arise out of the verbal association of the star-name Arcturus with Arturus or Arthur, and the legendary association of Arthur and Charlemagne; so that what was originally the wain of Arcturus or Bootes ('Bootes' golden wain,' Pope) became at length the wain of Carl or Charlemagne. (The guess churl's or carle's wain has been made in ignorance of the history.)]

As the name Arcturus was formerly sometimes applied loosely to the constellation Bootes, and incorrectly to the Great Bear, the name Carlewayne-sterre occurs applied to the star Arcturus (alpha Bootes).

The editor cites from various authors since the year 1000, when he finds Carleswaen, and quotes from Sir John Davies, the philosophical poet of the Elizabethan age:

Those bright starres

Which English Shepheards, Charles his waine, do name;

But more this He is Charles, his waine,

Since Charles her royal wagoner became;

and from John Taylor, "the King's water-poet," of 1630: {Page 429}

Charles his Cart (which we by custome call Charles his wane) is most gloriously stellifide.

The list ends with a quotation from J. F. Blake, of 1876, who even at this late day had King Charles’ Wain. This connection of these Seven Stars with England's kings was due to the courtiers of Charles I and II, who claimed it as in their masters' honor, and elsewhere occurs, William Bas, or Basse, about 1650, having, in Old Tom of Beulam:

Bid Charles make ready his waine;

James Hogg, the Ettrick Shepherd, in the Queen's Wake of 1813:

Charles re-yoked his golden wain;

and Tom Hood, of fifty years ago:

looking at that Wain of Charles, the Martyr's.

This is from the Comet, the humorous Astronomical Anecdote of the great Sir William Herschel, whom the poet called the "be-knighted," and further described as

like a Tom of Coventry, sly peeping,

At Dian sleeping;

Or ogling thro' his glass

Some heavenly lass

Tripping with pails along the Milky Way.

Coverdale's Bible alludes to it and its companion as the Waynes of Heaven, which Edmund Becke, in his edition of 1549, transforms into Vaynes, and Cadmarden, in his Rouen edition of 1515, into the Waves of Heaven. Dutch and German versions have Wagen am Himmel; the Saxon versions, Waenes Thisl, or Wagon-pole; and this idea of a wagon, or its parts and its driver, is seen in all the Northern tongues where the Bear is not recognized. Grimm's Teutonic Mythology is very full as to this branch of the stellar Wain's nomenclature.

Pleiada, the Septuagint's rendering of the Hebrew 'Ash, is manifestly incorrect, but may have misled the later Rabbis who applied this last word to the group in Taurus (the Pleiades). The Peshitta-Syriac Version translates the Mazzaroth (constellation) of the Book of Job by ‘galta, meaning our Wain.

The 15th-century German manuscript so often alluded to mentions it as the Southern Tramontane, a title more fully treated under Ursa Minor; and Vespucci, in his 3d Lettera, wrote of the two Bears:

{Page 430}

La stella tramontana o l'orsa maggiore & minore.

Both of these have been — perhaps still are — night clocks to the English rustic, and measures of time generally, as in Poe's Ulalume, "star-dials that pointed to morn." Shakespeare's Carrier at the Rochester inn-yard said:

An't be not four by the day, I'll be hanged; Charles Wain is over the new chimney, and yet our horse not pack'd;

Tennyson, in his touching New Year's Eve:

We danced about the May-pole and in the hazel copse,

Till Charles's Wain came out above the tall white chimney tops;

and again, in the Princess:

I paced the terrace, till the Bear had wheei'd

Thro' a great arc his seven slow suns.

Spenser, in the Faerie Queen, thus refers to the Wain as a timepiece, and to Polaris as a guide:

By this the northern wagoner had set

His sevenfold teme behind the steadfast starre

That was in ocean waves never yet wet

But firme is fixt, and sendith light from farre

To all that in the wide deep wandering arre.

Its well-known use by the early Greeks in navigation was paralleled in the deserts of Arabia, "through which," according to Diodorus the Sicilian, "travellers direct their course by the Bears, in the same manner as is done at sea." They serve this same purpose to the Badawiyy of to-day, as Mrs. Sigourney describes in The Stars, writing of Polaris:

The weary caravan, with chiming bells,

Making strange music 'mid the desert sands,

Guides by thy pillared fires its nightly march.

Sophocles made a similar statement of the Bear as directing travelers generally; Falstaff, in King Henry IV, said:

We that take purses go by the moon and the seven stars;

and the modern Keats, in his Robin Hood:

the seven stars to light you,

Or the polar ray to right you.

{Page 431} But the astrologers of Shakespeare's time ascribed to it evil influences, which Edmund, in King Lear, commented upon with ridicule:

This is the excellent foppery of the world, that, when we are sick in fortune, (often the surfeit of our own behavior), we make guilty of our disasters the sun, the moon, and the stars, —

claiming that his own

nativity was under Ursa Major, so that it follows I am rough and lecherous.

Both of the Bears have been frequently found on the old sign-boards of English inns, and, in a more important way, are emblazoned on the shields of the cities of Antwerp and Groningen in the Netherlands.

The Plough has been a common title with the English down to the present time, even with so competent a scientist as Miss Clerke, one of the few astronomical writers who still continue the use of the good old names of stars and constellations. She, however, takes the three line stars as the Handle, not the Team. Minsheu mentioned it in the same way, but added ut placet astrologis dicitur Temo, i. e. the Beam, a term originating with Quintus Ennius, the Father of Roman Song, adopted by Cicero, Ovid, Statius, and Varro, and common with the astrologers. Fale, in 1593, described it as called "of countrymen the plough," the first instance in print that I have found. Thus it was, perhaps still is, the Irish Camcheacta. Hewitt sees this Heavenly Plough even in prehistoric India, and quotes from Sayce the title Sugi, the Wain, which later became Libra's name as the Yoke.

With the Wain and Plough naturally came the Plough Oxen, the Triones of Varro, Aulus Gellius, and the Romans generally, turned by the grammarians into Teriones, the Threshing-oxen, walking around the threshing-floor of the pole. Martial qualified these by hyperborei Odrysu and Parrhasii, but also called the constellation Parrhasium Jugum; and Claudian, inoccidui, "never setting." Cicero, with contemporary and later Latin writers, said Septem- or Septentriones, as did the long-haired Iopas in his Aeneid song of the two Northern Cars; and Propertius wrote of them:

Flectant Icaru sidera tarda boves;

while Claudian designated them as pigri; all of which remind us of similar epithets for their driver Bootes.

Septentrio seems to have been applied to either constellation (Ursa major and Ursa Minor); and Dante used it for the Minor, with a beautiful simile, in his Purgatorio. Eventually it became a term for the north pole and the north wind; then for the North {Page 432} generally, as the word Arctic has from the stellar Arktos. Dante had settentrionale sito; Chaucer spoke of the "Septentrioun" as a compass point; Shakespeare, in King Henry VI:

as the South to the Septentrion;

Michael Drayton, the friend of Shakespeare and poet laureate in 1626, wrote in the Poly-Olbion of "septentrion cold"; Milton, in Paradise Regained, of "cold Septentrion blasts blasts"; and, in our day, Owen Meredith in the Wanderer has "beyond the blue Septentrions"; while the word seems current as an adjective in nearly all modem languages. Still there is nothing new in all this, for in the Avesta the Seven Stars marked the North in the four quarters of the heavens.

The Persian title was Hafturengh, Heft Averengh, or Heft Rengh, qualified by Mihin, Greater, to distinguish it from Kihin, Lesser; Hewitt giving this as originally Hapto-iringas, the Seven Bulls, that possibly may be the origin of the Triones. Cox, however, goes far back of this classic title and says:

They who spoke of the seven triones had long forgotten that their fathers spoke of the taras (staras) or strewers of light; and Al Biruni derived the word from tarana, "passage," as of the stars through the heavens. Thus from the results of modern philological research it is possible that our long received opinions as to the derivations of many star-names should be abandoned, and that we should search for them far back of Greece or Rome.

Heraclitos, the Ionic philosopher of Ephesus of about 500 B.C., asserted that this constellation marked the boundary between the East and the West, which it may be regarded as doing when on the horizon.

A coin of 74 B.C., struck by the consul Lucretius Trio, bears the Seven Stars disposed in an irregular curve around the new moon, while the word Trio within the crescent is an evident allusion to the consul's name, albeit one hardly known in Roman history.

The Hebrew 'Ash, or 'Ayish, is reproduced by, or was derived from, the Arabic Banat Naash al Kubra, the Daughters of the Great Bier, i.e. the Mourners, — the Benenas, Benethasch, and Beneth As of Chilmead and Christmannus, — applied to the three stars in the extreme end of the group, eta being Al Ka'id, (Alkaid Alkaid or Alcaid, Al-Qaid) the Chief One; from this came Bayer's El Keid for the whole constellation. Riccioli, quoting Kircher, said that the Arabian Christians with more definiteness termed it Na’ash Laazar, the Bier of Lazarus, with Mary, Martha, and Ellamath, — this last being given in {Page 433} Mrs. Jameson's Sacred and Legendary Art as Marcella or Martilla, but by Smyth as Magdalen; Riccioli's word should be Al Amah, the Maid, the position that Marcella occupied toward the two women during their journey to Marseilles, where she was canonized. Karsten Niebuhr said that the constellation was known, even in his day, as Na’ash by the Arabs along the Persian Gulf; and Wetzstein tells the modern story, from that people, in which these mourners, the children of Al Na'ash, who was murdered by Al Jadi, the pole-star, are still nightly surrounding him in their thirst for vengeance, the walidan among the daughters — the star Mizar — holding in her arms her new-born infant, the little Alcor, while Suhail is slowly struggling up to their help from the South. Delitzsch says that even to-day the group is known as a Bier in Syria; Flammarion attributing this title to the slow and solemn motion of the figure around the pole. This seems to have originated in Arabia; and from it come the titles even now occasionally heard for the quadrangle stars — the Bier and the Great Coffin. With the early Arab poets the Banat stars were an emblem of inactivity and laziness.

It had other names also Cynosuris appeared with Ovid and Germanicus for this, although it generally is applied to the Lesser Bear; Plintion, used for it or for its quarter of the sky, was from the Greek, as we see in Plutarch's ai ton plintion upographai, the "fields," Or "spaces," into which the augurs divided the heavens, the templa, or regiones, coeli of the Latins; while Elix, the Curved, or Spiral, One, and Elike, apparently first used for the constellation by Aratos and Apollonius Rhodius, became common as descriptive of its twisting around the pole, — whence one of its titles now, the Twister; Sophocles having the same thought in Arktos Strophades, the "circling paths of the Bear." Some, however, derived the name from the curved or twisted position of the chief stars; and others, still more probably, from the city Helice, Kallisto's birthplace in Arcadia [ancient Helike a city lost in a tidal wave in 373 BC, rediscovered in 2001]. Ovid used this title in the Fasti, where he wrote of both the Bears, in navigation:

Esse duas Arctos, quarum, Cynosura petatur

Sidonus, Helicen Graia carina notet;

but later on Helice was considered a nymph, one of the two Cretan sister nurses who nourished the infant Jupiter

In odorous Dikte, near the Idaian hill,

whence she was transferred to the skies. Dante, in the Paradiso, alludes to barbarians

coming from some region

That every day by Helice is covered

Revolving with her son (Arcas of Ursa Minor) whom she delights in {Page 434} Homer's Elikopes has been rendered "observing Helice," and so applied to the early Grecian sailors; but there seems to be no foundation for this, as the word merely signifies "black-," "glancing-," or "rolling-eyed," and frequently was applied to various characters in the Iliad, with no limitation as to sex or profession.

Ancient, however, as are Arktos and Ursa, 'Ash and the Bier, Amaxa, Plaustrum, and Triones, this splendid constellation ran still further back — three or four or even more millenniums before even these titles were current — as the Bull’s Thigh, or the Fore Shank, in Egypt. There it was represented on the Denderah planisphere and in the temple of Edfu by a single thigh or hind quarter of the animal, alluded to in the Book of the Dead as;

The constellation of the Thigh in the northern sky;

and thus mentioned in inscriptions on the kings' tombs and the walls of the Ramesseum at Thebes. Sometimes the figure of the Thigh was changed to that of a cow's body with disc and horns; but, however called or represented, these stars always were prominent in the early astronomy and mythology of Egypt. Mesxet seems to have been their designation, and specially for some one of them, as representative of the malignant red Set, [Set, also Anubis, Apap, Apepi, Bes, Tebha, Temha, and Typhoeus according to Plutarch, was one of Egypt's greatest gods, who subsequently became the Greek giant Typhon, father of the fierce winds, but slain by Zeus with a thunderbolt and buried under Mount Aetna.] Sit, or Sith, Sut or Sutech, who, with his wife Taurt or Thoueris, shown by the adjoining Hippopotamus (now a part of our Draco), represented darkness and the divinities of evil. Set also was a generic term applied to all circumpolar constellations, because, as always visible, they somewhat paradoxically were thought to typify darkness.

Hewitt writes of Set in his earliest form as Kapi, the Ape-God, stars of our Cepheus marking his head; while at one time on the Nile the Wain stars seem to have been the Dog of Set or of Typhon. This may have given rise to the title Canis Venatica (Canes Venatici ) that La Lande cited, if this be not more correctly considered as the classic Kallisto's hound; and the same idea appears in the Catuli, Lap-dogs, and Canes Laconicae, the Spartan Dogs, that Caesius cited for both of the Wains.

The myth of Horus, one of the most ancient even in ancient Egypt, deciphered from the temple walls of Edfu, 5000 B.C., as connected with the stellar Hippopotamus, was, about 3000 years afterwards, transferred to the Thigh, which then occupied the same circumpolar position that the Hippopotamus did when the original inscription was made. In view of this, Champollion alluded to the Thigh as Horus Apollo.

{Page 435} Towards our era, when Egypt began to be influenced by Greece, her former pupil, our Wain was regarded as the Car of Osiris, shown on some of that country's planispheres by an Ark, or Boat, near to the polar point, although it also seems to have been known as a Bear.

Al Biruni devoted a chapter of his work on India to these seven stars, saying that they were there known as Saptar Shayar, the Seven Anchorites, with the pious woman Al Suha (the star Alcor), all raised by Dharma to the sky, to a much higher elevation than the rest of the fixed stars, and all located "near Vas, the chaste woman Vumdhati"; but who was this last is not explained. And he quoted from Varaha Mihira: "The northern region is adorned with these stars, as a beautiful woman is adorned with a collar of pearls strung together, and a necklace of white lotus flowers, a handsomely arranged one. Thus adorned, they are like maidens who dance and revolve round the pole as the pole orders them."

Professor Whitney tells us that to these stars the ancient astronomers of India, and many of the modern upon their authority, have attributed an independent motion about the pole of the heavens, at the rate of eight minutes yearly, or of a complete revolution in 2700 years; and that this strange dogma well illustrates the character of Hindu astronomy. The matter-of-fact Al Biruni, commenting on this same thing, and on the absurdly immense numbers in Hindu chronology, wrote: "The author of the theory was a man entirely devoid of scientific education, and one of the foremost in the series of fools who simply invented those years for the benefit of people who worship the Great Bear and the pole. He had to invent a vast number of years, for the more outrageous it was, the more impression it would make."

In China, the Tseih Sing, or Seven Stars, prominent in this constellation, were known as the Government, although also called Pih Tow, the Northern Measure, which Flammarion translates the Bushel; while the centre of the Square was Kwei, an object of worship and a favorite stellar title in that country, as it occurs twice in their list of sieu, although there rendered the Spectre, or Striding Legs. Reeves said that the four stars of the Square were Tien Li, the Heavenly Reason, and Edkins, in his Religion in China, assigns to this spot the home of the Taouist female divinity Tow Moo. Colas gives Ti Tche, the Emperor's Chariot; but this was doubtless a later designation from Jesuit teaching.

Weigel of Jena figured it as the heraldic Danish Elephant; but Julius Schiller, as the archangel Michael; while Caesius said that it might represent one of the Bears sent by Elisha to punish his juvenile persecutors, or the Chariot that Pharaoh gave to Joseph.

{Page 436} Popular names for it have been the Butcher’s Cleaver, somewhat similar to the Hindu figure for the other Seven Stars, the Pleiades; the Brood Hen, also reminding us of that cluster, as do the Gaelic Grigirean, Crann, and Crannarain; Peter’s Skiff, from, or the original of, Julius Schiller's Ship of Saint Peter; the Ladle; and, what is known to every one, star-lover or not, the Big Dipper, the universally common title in our country. In southern France this has been changed to Casserole, the Saucepan.

Pliny strangely blundered in some of his allusions to Ursa Major, asserting in one its invisibility in Egypt, and, again, describing the visit to Rome of ambassadors from Ceylon, — Milton's "utmost Indian isle Taprobane," — wrote of them:

Septentriones Vergiliasque apud nos veluti novo coelo mirabantur.

Virgothe Virgin



Clues to the meaning of this celestial featureVirgo was often drawn with a staff or rod in her right hand and an ear of wheat in her left hand. Virgo is thought to represent Erigone who on finding her father Icarius (Bootes) dead, hanged herself in grief and was raised to heaven for her piety. An alternative story (cf. Aratus, Phaen. 98 ff.) identified her as Astraea, daughter of Jupiter (or Astraeus), who at the advent of the Bronze Age fled to heaven. [Manilius, Astronomica, 1st century A.D, Introduction, p.xxiv]. Astraea has been identified with the Greek goddess Dike, and Roman Justitia.

The word virgo is Latin for virgin. Klein explains the word virgo; "is probably related to virga, 'a young shoot, twig', virgate", virgate (shaped like a wand or rod, also an early English measure of land area), from Latin virgatus, 'made of twigs', from virgo, 'twig, switch, rod', which is of uncertain origin. It stands perhaps for *wiz-ga, from Indo-European base *weis-, 'to turn, twist', whence also Old English weoxian, 'to wipe'". Indo-European base *weis-, gives as derivatives: whisk, from Old English weoxian, 'to wipe', 'quick stroke, sweeping movement' (with a whisk or brush), 'implement for beating eggs, etc' [1], whisker, 'hair of a man's face', originally a playful formation, from Middle English wisker, anything that whisks or sweeps' [2], whiskey (an obsolete word meaning a light vehicle. — Formed from whisk) [Klein, Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary]. [Arista was a Roman title for this constellation from Latin arista, 'beard of grain'. Beard is the hair growing on a man's face as is whiskers?].

Latin virgo or virga, 'twig, rod, wand', has more cognates: verge (edge or margin, also the rod held by a feudal tenant while swearing fealty to a lord), verger (an officer of the church, literally 'one bearing a verge', or rod), virgule (a diagonal mark (/) used especially to separate alternatives, as in and/or). The word verge, 'a rod, wand, or staff carried as an emblem of authority or office', Klein explains; "the sense 'limit, margin, edge', developed from the meaning 'staff of office', through the medium of the term within the verge used in the sense 'within the sphere of authority of the Royal Steward'". The word virgate, from Latin virgo, was an old English land measure, "used also in the sense of measuring rod, a measure of length" [Klein].

"For sense development [of Virgo] compare Greek talis, 'a marriageable girl', is cognate with Latin talea, 'rod, stick, bar'" [Klein].

This word might also be in Virgo's domain because it is related to the word 'detail' and Virgos are well known for paying extreme attention to detail. Derivatives of Latin talea are: tally, detail, entail, retail, tailor, curtail.

The Greek word for virgin is parthenos, and Virgo had the title Parthenos Dios, the Virgin Goddess; parthenic, 'of the nature of a virgin', Parthenon, the name of the temple of the virgin goddess Athena on the Acropolis at Athens. Parthenogenesis means reproduction without fertilization, from Modern Latin, literally 'birth from a virgin', the word is sometimes also used to describe reproduction modes in hermaphroditic species which can self-fertilize.

"In folk etymology the word virgin comes from vir- (Latin for 'man') and -gyne (Greek for 'woman'), a man-woman or androgyne" [3].

“She who is nowadays called a woman (femina) in ancient times was called vira; ... so also woman (vira) from man (vir). Some people believe that the word for 'virgin' (virgo) is from vira. A 'heroic maiden' (virago) is so called because she 'acts like a man' (vir + agere), that is, she engages in the activities of men and is full of male vigor. The ancients would call strong women by that name. However, a virgin cannot be correctly called a heroic maiden unless she performs a man's task. But if a woman does manly deeds, then she is correctly called a heroic maiden, like an Amazon” [p.242.]. “The term 'virgin' (virgo) comes from 'a greener (viridior)

age,' just like the words 'sprout' (virga) and 'calf (vitula). Otherwise it is derived from lack of corruption, as if the word were formed from 'heroic maiden,' because she has no knowledge of female desire” [p.242]. “Calves (vitulus) and heifers (vitula) are named from their greenness (viriditas), that is, their green (i.e. 'vigorous') age, just as a maiden (virgo) is. A heifer, therefore, is small and has not yet produced young, for after she has been put to breed, she is called a iuvenca or a cow” [p.249.]. [The Etymologies of Isidore of Seville, 7th century AD.]

"'Vitulus' and 'Vitula', the calf and the heifer, are named from their greenness (a viriditate) i.e. from their greenhorn age, like a virgin's, for a Vitula is a very little maid and not vigorous, though her mother the 'Juventa', i.e. the 'Vacca', is vigorous." [The Book of Beasts: Being a Translation from a Latin Bestiary of the Twelfth Century, p.78]

Viriditas comes from from Latin viridis, 'green', from virere, 'to be green, to flourish', "which is of uncertain origin. Compare verdant, verdantique (a variety of serpentine marble), verderer, verdigris, verdure, verditer, verjuice, vert, 'the color green', virescent, farthingale" [Klein, Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary].

Klein says that the Middle-Latin word vitula is possibly a back formation from Latin vitulari, 'to exult, be joyful', which probably stands for vi-tulari and originally meant 'to lift up one's voice in joy', from *vi, exclamation of joy (compare Greek euoi) + tulo, a secondary form of tollo, 'I raise'. Vitula comes from the Indo-European root *wet-* 'Year'. The originally meaning of these words was 'yearling'. Derivatives: wether (a castrated ram), bellwether, veteran, inveterate (from Latin vetus, old < 'having many years'), veterinary (from Latin veternus, of beasts of burden, of cattle, - perhaps chiefly old cattle), etesian (occurring annually, used of the prevailing northerly summer winds of the Mediterranean, from Greek etos, year), veal (the meat of a calf, from Latin vitellus, a diminutive of vitulus, ‘calf’), vellum (parchment made from calfskin), vitellus (the yolk of an egg), from Latin vitulus, calf, yearling. [Pokorny wet- 1175. Watkins].

The Middle-Latin word vitula also referred to a fiddle, as well as a calf or heifer (might be from where they obtained the gut strings); the word vitula became 'fides' (meaning string or lute) and evolved into 'fidula' and 'fithela' (Old English), finally becoming the modern English 'fiddle.'[4]. The word violin also originates from the Latin vitula, as does viol, and viola. The name Italy is said to derive from this source; from Latin Italia, from Vitelia (compare Oscan Viteliu, 'Italy'), which probably meant originally 'Land of cattle', and is related to Latin Vitulus, 'calf [Klein]. A heifer is virgin, older than a calf and younger than a cow.

“They located the sign Virgo among the constellations because on the days when the sun runs through it the earth is parched by the heat of the sun and bears nothing, for this is the season of the dog days.” [The Etymologies of Isidore of Seville 7th century AD, p.106.]

Vellum is parchment made from calfskin.

"I tentatively suggest that Late Middle English parchen derived through back formation from parchment The noun, parchment was divided into parch-ment and through this division the verb parch in the sense 'to dry' was 'reconstructed'. (The originally meaning of parchment was supposed to have been 'anything dried', and the meaning 'dried skin of animals used for writing' to be secondary). This etymology is supported by the rather striking fact that while the originally form parchemin appears for the first time in English about 1300, the form parchment and the verb parch appear for the first time only about a hundred years later (see OED.)" [Klein, Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary]

In meteorology, virga is precipitation that falls from a cloud but evaporates before reaching the ground.

A Latin title for Virgo was Erigone, — "perhaps from the Homeric Erigeneia, the Early Born, for the constellation is very old" [Allen, Star Names]. Erigone from Greek eri, early, + -gone, from Greek gonos, 'child, procreation, seed'. Greek eri is cognate with our word early from the Indo-European root *ayer- 'Day, morning'. Derivatives: early, ere, erst (as in erstwhile, from Old English aerest, earliest, from Germanic superlative *airista-). [Pokorny aier- 12. Watkins] Klein supplies more cognates: "Compare also the first element in Erigenia, Erigeron (the fleabane, from 'early' + geron, 'an old man'), aristology (Greek ariston 'breakfast')".

Greek eri, early, Old English aerest, Germanic *airista-; bears a resemblance to Greek aristos, best, and Latin arista 'beard of grain'? Arista was a Roman title for this constellation.

Virgo is the sign of work and service. If the i, and the last e, is dropped in the word Erigone, it gives the Greek word for 'work,' ergon:

"Virgo, virginis, a virgin or damsel. Sometimes, though very rarely, it is said of one married, as in Virg. Eel. 6, 47. As we say Spinster, that is, Spinning woman, for damsel—so the Greeks might say a working woman under the same idea. From Greek ergo might be erganis, (same as ergane), which could produce verginis, virginis. Or Greek ergon, might be used as both masculine and feminine, and from Greek ergon could be vergo, virgo. Alternatively from vireo (green), whence virigo, virgo." [An etymological dictionary of the Latin language, Valpy, 1828, p.512-513]

Greek ergon is cognate with the English word 'work' and derives from the Indo-European root *werg- 'To do'. The Indo-European root *werg-, has the Latin pronunciation verg-, or virg-, as in Virgo. Some derivatives: energy, erg, ergonomics, -urgy, work, wrought, erk, -wright, organ, organize, orgy. [Pokorny 2. werg- 1168.]

Astraea, meaning 'starry', was a Greek title for Virgo which as Aratus says might derive from Astraeus who was her father. Astraea once dwelt on earth among mankind. She became ever critical of the Brazen Age man, for their violence and greed, and for no longer upholding justice. She departed the earth in disgust.

Virgo is also portrayed as Justice (Justitia) or Dike holding the scales of Libra. Aratus says about Virgo:

Beneath both feet of Bootes mark the Maiden who in her hands bears the gleaming Ear of Corn (Spica). Whether she be daughter of Astraeus, who, men say, was of old the father of the stars [Greek astor, star], or child of other sire, untroubled be her course! But another tale is current among men, how of old she dwelt on earth and met men face to face, nor ever disdained in olden time the tribes of men and women, but mingling with them took her seat, immortal though she was. Her men called Justice (Dike); but she assembling the elders, it might be in the market-place or in the wide-wayed streets, uttered her voice, ever urging on them judgments kinder to the people. Not yet in that age had men knowledge of hateful strife, or carping contention, or din of battle, but a simple life they lived. Far from them was the cruel sea and not yet from afar did ships bring their livelihood, but the oxen and the plough and Justice herself, queen of the peoples, giver of things just, abundantly supplied their every need. Even so long as the earth still nurtured the Golden Race, she had her dwelling on earth. But with the Silver Race only a little and no longer with utter readiness did she mingle, for that she yearned for the ways of the men of old. Yet in that Silver Age was she still upon the earth; but from the echoing hills at eventide she came alone, nor spake to any man in gentle words. But when she had filled the great heights with gathering crowds, then would she with threats rebuke their evil ways, and declare that never more at their prayer would she reveal her face to man. "Behold what manner of race the fathers of the Golden Age left behind them! Far meaner than themselves! but ye will breed a viler progeny! [the Iron Age?]. Verily wars and cruel bloodshed shall be unto men and grievous woe shall be laid upon them." Even so she spake and sought the hills and left the people all gazing towards her still. But when they, too, were dead, and when, more ruinous than they which went before, the Race of Bronze was born, who were the first to forge the sword of the highwayman, and the first to eat of the flesh of the ploughing-ox, then verily did Justice loathe that race of men and fly heavenward and took up that abode, where even now in the night time the Maiden is seen of men, established near to far-seen Bootes. [Aratus, Phaenomena, 3rd century B.C., p.237-239]

In the Secret Teachings of All Ages, Manly P. Hall shows how the Assumption of the Virgin Mary is a parallel to Astraea rise into the Heavens; "and she flew away to the stars" as Hyginus puts it [Astronomy 2.25 (3)]: Concerning the Catholic Feast of the Assumption and its parallel in astronomy, he quotes:

"At the end of eight months, when the sun-god, having increased, traverses the eighth sign, he absorbs the celestial Virgin in his fiery course, and she disappears in the midst of the luminous rays.... This phenomenon, which takes place every year about the middle of August... The Roman calendar of Columella marks the death or disappearance of Virgo at this period. This is where the Catholics place the Feast of the Assumption, or the reunion of the Virgin to her Son, formerly called the feast of the Passage of the Virgin. The ancient Greeks and Romans fix the assumption of Astraea, who is also this same Virgin, on that day.'" http://www.lf8.org/taboo/TheSecretTeachingsofAllAges.pdf

"In Egypt Virgo was drawn on the zodiacs of Denderah and Thebes which Eratosthenes and Avienus identified with Isis, the thousand-named goddess, with the wheat ears in her hand that she afterwards dropped to form the Milky Way" [Allen, Star Names]. (In another myth Hercules is responsible for the formation of the Milky Way)


"spicifera est Virgo Cereris" — "The Virgin with her sheaf belongs to Ceres". [Astronomica, Manilius, 1st century AD, p.117]

"Virginis in propriam descendunt ilia sortem", — "the belly comes down to the Maid as her rightful lot" [Astronomica, Manilius, 1st century AD, p.119]

"At her rising Erigone, who reigned with justice over a bygone age and fled when it fell into sinful ways, bestows high eminence by bestowing supreme power; she will produce a man to direct the laws of the state and the sacred code; one who will tend with reverence the hallowed temples of the gods. [Astronomica, Manilius, 1st century AD, p.265]

The temperaments of those whose span of life she pronounces at their birth Erigone will direct to study, and she will train their minds in the learned arts. She will give not so much abundance of wealth as the impulse to investigate the causes and effects of things. On them she will confer a tongue which charms, the mastery of words, and that mental vision which can discern all things, however concealed they be by the mysterious workings of nature. From the Virgin will also come the stenographer [scriptor crit velox]: his letter represents a word, and by means of his symbols he can keep ahead of utterance and record in novel notation the long speech of a rapid speaker. But with the good there comes a flaw: bashfulness handicaps the early years of such persons, for the Maid, by holding back their great natural gifts, puts a bridle on their lips and restrains them by the curb of authority. And (small wonder in a virgin) her offspring is not fruitful. [Astronomica, Manilius, 1st century AD, p.237 and 239]

Manilius says: "From the Virgin will also come the stenographer [scriptor crit velox]: his letter represents a word" ; the speedwriter, the shorthand writer. Vellum and parchment, derived from the skins of animals, were very expensive commodities. The need to economise had encouraged the use of a highly abbreviated style of writing in Latin. The Celtic ogham, and Germanic runes were written on vellum and parchment. Paper making started in Europe in the 13th century.


Fixed stars in Virgo

Star 1900 2000 R A Decl 1950 Lat Mag Sp Orb

nu 22VIR47 24VIR10 175 49 21 +06 48 35 +04 35 19 4.20 M1 34m

Zavijava beta 25VIR45 27VIR10 177 01 21 +02 02 47 +00 41 37 3.80 F8 37m

Zaniah eta 03LIB08 04LIB31 184 20 12 -00 23 21 +02 04 51 4.00 A0 35m

Vindemiatrix epsilon 08LIB33 09LIB56 194 55 18 +11 13 39 +16 12 28 2.95 G6 45m

Porrima gamma 08LIB46 10LIB08 189 46 53 -01 10 32 +02 47 41 2.91 F0 46m

Auva delta 10LIB04 11LIB28 193 16 15 +03 40 07 +08 37 06 3.66 M3 38m

theta 16LIB51 18LIB14 196 50 22 -05 16 21 +01 44 46 5.65 B0 19m

Heze zeta 20LIB29 22LIB52 203 02 09 -00 20 28 +08 38 25 3.44 A2 41m

Spica alpha 22LIB27 23LIB50 200 38 20 -10 54 04 -02 03 03 0.98 B2 65m

tau 26LIB22 27LIB45 209 46 30 +01 47 08 +13 03 58 4.34 A1 33m

Syrma iota 02SCO24 03SCO48 213 20 49 -05 45 46 +07 12 33 4.16 F5 34m

kappa 03SCO07 04SCO30 212 33 33 -10 02 31 +02 54 55 4.31 K2 33m

Khambalia lambda 05SCO33 06SCO57 14h18m -13.08 00 +00 29 00 4.60 A2 29m

109 07SCO08 08SCO31 220 55 46 +02 06 08 +17 06 22 3.76 A0 37m

mu 08SCO45 10SCO08 220 06 19 -05 26 31 +09 40 49 3.95 F3 35m


History of the constellationfrom Star Names,1889, Richard H. Allen

Virgo, the Virgin, is the Anglo-Saxon Maeden, the Anglo-Norman Pulcele, the French Vierge, the Italian Virgine, Bayer's Junckfraw, and the present German Jungfrau, — in fact a universal title, — generally has been figured with the palm branch in her right hand and the spica, or ear of wheat, in her left. Thus she was known in the Attic dialect as Kore, the Maiden, representing Persephone, the Roman Proserpina, daughter of Demeter, the Roman Ceres; while in the Ionic dialect Nonnus, of our 5th century, called her stakhuodes Koure {Page 461} (Stachyodes Koure), the Wheat-bearing Maiden, spicifera Virgo Cereris, the Virgo spicea munera gestans of Manilius. When regarded as Proserpina, she was being abducted by Pluto in his Chariot, the stars of adjacent Libra; and the constellation also was Demeter herself, the Ceres spicifera dea, changed by the astrologers to Arista, Harvest, of which Ceres was goddess. Caesius had it Arista Puellae, that would seem more correct as Aristae Puella, the Maiden of the Harvest.

Those who claim very high antiquity for the zodiacal signs assert that the idea of these titles originated when the sun was in Virgo at the spring equinox, the time of the Egyptian harvest. This, however, carries them back nearly 15,000 years, while Aratos said that Leo first marked the harvest month; so that another signification has been given to the word stachyodes (stakhuodes). We read, too, that "In Ogygian ages and among the Orientals, she was represented as a sun-burnt damsel, with an ear of corn in her hand, like a gleaner in the fields;" and, like most of that class, with a very different character from that assigned to her by the classic authors. Is it not this ancient story of the Maiden of the Wheat-field that is still seen in the North English and South Scottish custom of the Kern-baby, or Kernababy, — the Corn, or Kernel, Baby, — thus described by Lang in his Custom and Myth ?

The last gleanings of the last field are bound up in a rude imitation of the human shape, and dressed in some rag-tags of finery. The usage has fallen into the conservative hands of children, but of old "the Maiden" was a regular image of the harvest-goddess, which, with a sickle and sheaves in her arms, attended by a crowd of reapers, and accompanied with music, followed the last carts home to the farm. It is odd enough that the "Maiden" should exactly translate the old Sicilian name of the daughter of Demeter. "The Maiden" has dwindled, then, among us to the rudimentary Kernababy; but ancient Peru had her own Maiden, her Harvest Goddess.

And in Vendee the farmer's wife, as the corn-mother, is tossed in a blanket with the last sheaf to bring good luck in the subsequent threshing. Perhaps Caesius had some of this in view when he associated our sky figure with Ruth, the Moabitess, gleaning in the fields of Boaz.

Virgo also was Erigone, — perhaps from the Homeric Erigeneia, the Early Born, for the constellation is very old, — a stellar title appearing in Vergil's apotheosis of his patron Augustus. This was the maiden who hung herself in grief at the death of her father Icarius, and was transported to the skies with Icarius as Bootes, and their faithful hound Maira as Procyon, or Sirius; all of which is attested by Hyginus and Ovid. It may have been this Icarian story that induced Keats' Lines on the Mermaid Tavern:

{Page 462}

Sipping beverage divine,

And pledging with contented smack

The Mermaid in the Zodiac.

Sometimes she was figured with the Scales in her hands, —

Astraea's scales have weighed her minutes out,

Poised on the zodiac, —

whence she has been considered Dike, the divinity of Justice, the Roman Justa or Jastitia; and Astraea, the starry daughter of Themis, the last of the celestials to leave the earth, with her modest sister Pudicitia, when the Brazen Age began. Ovid wrote of this:

Virgo caede madentes,

Ultima coelestum, terras Astraea reliquit;

when, according to Aratos, she

Soared up to heaven, selecting this abode,

Whence yet at night she shows herself to men.

Thus she is the oldest purely allegorical representation of innocence and virtue. This legend seems to be first found with Hesiod, and was given in full by Aratos, his longest constellational history in the Phainomena, Other authors mentioned her as Eirene, Irene, the sister of Astraea, and the Pax of the Romans, with the olive branch; as Concordia; as Parthenos Dios, the Virgin Goddess; as Sibulla, the Singing Sibyl, carrying a branch into Hades; and as Tukhe, the Roman Fortuna, because she is a headless constellation, the stars marking the head being very faint.

Classical Latin writers occasionally called her Ano, Atargatis, and Derceto, the Syrorum Dea transferred here from Pisces; Cybele drawn by lions, for our Leo immediately precedes her; Diana; Minerva; Panda and Pantica; and even Medusa. Posidippus, 289 B.C., gave Thesbia or Thespia, daughter of Thespius, or of the Theban Asopus; and some said that one of the Muses, even Urania herself, was placed here in the sky by Apollo.

Aspolia is from Kircher, who in turn took it from the Coptic Egyptians, the Statio amoris, quem in incremento Nili du ostendebant. This, however, is singularly like H Polias, designating Minerva as guardian of citadels and the State, already seen as a title for this constellation; and there was a Coptic Asphulia in Leo as a moon station.

In Egypt Virgo was drawn on the zodiacs of Denderah and Thebes, much disproportioned and without wings, holding an object said to be a distaff marked by the stars of Coma Berenices; while Eratosthenes and Avienus identified her with Isis, the thousand-named goddess, with the {Page 463} wheat ears in her hand that she afterwards dropped to form the Milky Way, or clasping in her arms the young Horus, the infant Southern sun-god, the last of the divine kings. This very ancient figuring reappeared in the Middle Ages as the Virgin Mary with the child Jesus, Shakespeare alluding to it in Titus Andronicus as the

Good Boy in Virgo's lap;

and Albertus Magnus, of our 13th century, asserted that the Savior's horoscope lay here. It has been said that her initials, MV, are the symbol for the sign c; although the International Dictionary considers this a monogram of Par, the first syllable of Parthenos, one of Virgo's Greek titles; and others, a rude picturing of the wing of Istar, the divinity that the Semites assigned to its stars, and prominent in the Epic of Creation.

This Istar, or Ishtar, the Queen of the Stars, was the Ashtoreth of the 1st Book of the Kings, xi, 5, 33, the original of the Aphrodite of Greece and the Venus of Rome; perhaps equivalent to Athyr, Athor, or Hathor of the Nile, and the Astarte of Syria, the last philologically akin to our Esther and Star, the Greek Aster. Astarte, too, was identified by the Venerable Bede with the Saxon goddess of spring, Eostre, at whose festival, our Easter, the stars of Virgo shine so brightly in the eastern evening sky; and the Sumerians of southern Babylonia assigned this constellation to their sixth month as the Errand, or Message, of Istar.

In Assyria Virgo represented Baaltis, Belat, Belit, and Beltis, Bel's wife; while some thought her the Mylitta of Herodotus. But this was a very different divinity, the Babylonian Molatta, the Moon, the Mother, or Queen, of Heaven, against whose worship the Jews were warned in the Book of the Prophet Jeremiah, xliv, 17, 19, and should not be confounded with Ashtoreth, the goddess of the Zidonians, that our figure symbolized.

In India Virgo was Kanya, the Tamil Kauni, or Maiden, — in Hyde's transcription, Kannae, — mother of the great Krishna, figured as a Goddess sitting before a fire, or as a Gul; and in the Cingalese zodiac as a Woman in a Ship, with a stalk of wheat in her hand. Al Biruni thought this ship marked by the line of stars beta (Zavijava), eta (Zaniah), gamma (Porrima), delta (Auva), and epsilon (Vindemiatrix), like a ship's keel. Varaha Mihira borrowed the Greek name, turning it into Parthena, Partina, or Pathona.

In Persia it was Khosha, or Khusak, the Ear of Wheat, and Secdeidos de Darzama, this last often translated the "Virgin in Maiden Neatness"; but Ideler, doubting this, cited Beigel's conjecture that it was a Persian rendering of Stachys, one of the Greek titles of Virgo's star Spica. Bayer had it Seclenidos de Darzama.

The early Arabs made from some members of the constellation the {Page 464} enormous Lion of their sky; and of others the Kennel Corner, with dogs barking at the Lion. Their later astronomers, however, adopted the Greek figure, and called it Al 'Adhra' al Nathifah, the Innocent Maiden, remains of which are found in the mediaeval titles Eladari, Eleadari, Adrendesa, and in the Adrenedesa of Albumasar. But as they would not draw the human form, they showed the stars as a sheaf of wheat, Al Sunbulah, or as some stalks with the ripened ears of the same, from the Roman Spica, its brightest star. Kazwini gave both of these Arabian names, the last degenerating into Sunbala, found in Bayer, and Sumbela, still occasionally seen. The Almagest of 1515 says Virgo est Spica.

The Turcomans knew the constellation as Dufhiza Pakhiza, the Pure Virgin; and the Chinese, as She Sang Neu, the Frigid Maiden; but before their Jesuit days it was Shun Wei, which Miss Clerke translates the Serpent, but Williams, the Quail's Tail, a part of the early stellar figure otherwise known as the Red Bird, Pheasant, or Phoenix.

It appears as Ki, the 20th in the Euphratean cycle of ecliptic constellations, and considered equivalent to Asru, a Place, i. e. the moon station that Spica marked; but Jensen thinks that the original should be Siru, or Shiru, perhaps meaning the "Ear of Corn"; much of this also is individually applied to Spica.

In the land of Judaea Virgo was Bethulah, and, being always associated with the idea of abundance in harvest, was assigned by the Rabbis to the tribe of Asher, of whom Jacob had declared "his bread shall be fat." In Syria it was Bethulta.

Thus, like Isis, one of her many prototypes, Virgo always has been a much named and symbolized heavenly figure; Landseer saying of it, "so disguised, so modernized and be-Greek'd . . . that we literally don't know her when we see her."

In astrology this constellation and Gemini were the House of Mercury, Macrobius saying that the planet was created here; the association being plainly shown by the caduceus of that god, the herald's trumpet entwined with serpents, instead of the palm branch, often represented in her left hand. But usually, and far more appropriately, Virgo's stars have been given over to the care of Ceres, her namesake, the long-time goddess of the harvest. For her astrological colors Virgo assumed black speckled with blue; and was thought of as governing the abdomen in the human body, and as bearing rule over Crete, Greece, Mesopotamia, Turkey, Jerusalem, Lyons, and Paris, but always as an unfortunate, sterile sign. Manilius asserted that in his day it ruled the fate of Arcadia, Caria, Ionia, Rhodes, and the Doric plains. Ampelius assigned to it the charge of the wind Argestes, that blew {Page 465} to the Romans from the west-southwest according to Vitruvius, or from the west-northwest according to Pliny.

The latter said that the appearance of a comet within its borders implied many grievous ills to the female portion of the population.

Virgo was associated with Leo and with the star Sirius in the ancient opinion that, when with the sun, they were a source of heat; Ovid alluding to this in his Ars Amatoria:

Virginis aetherus cum caput ardet equis.

And John Skelton, the royal orator of King Henry VII, wrote:

In autumn when the sun in Virgine

By radiant heat enripened hath our corne.

A coin of Sardis, the capital of the kingdom of Lydia, bears her figure with the wheat ear in her left hand and a staff in her right; and the stateres of Macedonia have much the same. The Alfonsine Tables showed her as a very young girl with wings; the Leyden Manuscript and the Hyginus of 1488 as a young woman with branch and caduceus, and the Albumasar of 1489, as a woman with a fillet of wheat ears. The old German illustration also gave her wings, but dressed her in a high-necked, trailing gown; and Durer drew her as a lovely winged angel.

Julius Schiller used her stars to represent Saint James the Less, and Weigel, as the Seven Portuguese Towers.

But all these figurings, ancient as some of them may be, are modern when compared with the still enduring Sphinx generally claimed as prehistoric, perhaps of the times of the Hor-she-shu, long anterior to the first historical Egyptian ruler, Menes; and constructed, according to Greek tradition, with Virgo's head on Leo's body, from the fact that the sun passed through these two constellations during the inundation of the Nile. Some Egyptologists, however, would upset this astronomical connection of the Virgin, Lion, and Sphinx, Mariette claiming the head to be that of the early god Harmachis, and others as of an early king.

Ptolemy extended the constellation somewhat farther to the east than we have it, the feet being carried into the modern Libra, and the stars that Hipparchos placed in the shoulder shifted to the side, to correct, as he said, the comparative distances of the stars and members of the body. Upon our maps it is about 52° in length, terminating on the east at lambda and mu, and so is the longest of the zodiac figures. It is bounded on the north by Leo, Coma Berenices, and Bootes; on the east by Serpens and Libra; on the {Page 466} south by Hydra, Corvus and Crater; and on the west by Leo, Crater, and Corvus.

While the beautiful Spica is its most noteworthy object to the casual observer, yet the telescope shows here the densest nebular region in the heavens, in the space marked by its beta (Zavijava), eta (Zaniah), gamma (Porrima), delta (Auva), and Denebola of Leo; while other nebulae are scattered all over this region of the sky. Sir William Herschel found here no less than 323, which later search has increased to over 500, — very many more nebulae than naked-eye stars in the constellation. Argelander gives 101 of the latter, and Heis 181.

It is for these four stars in Virgo, forming with epsilon (Vindemiatrix) two sides of a right-angled triangle open towards Denebola, gamma (Porrima) at its vertex, that Professor Young uses his mnemonic word Begde to recall their order. They extend along the wings through the girdle, and were the Kennel Corner of the Barking Dogs of the Arabs, often considered as the Dogs themselves.

Von Zach, of Gotha, rediscovered here on the last day of the first year of this century the minor planet Ceres, whose position had been lost some time after its discovery by Piazzi on the previous New Year's Day; Olbers repeating this, and independently, the next evening, the first anniversary of the original discovery. Here, too, Olbers found, on the 28th of March, 1802, another minor planet, Pallas, the second one discovered, and appropriately named, for the thirty-first of the Orphic Hymns described this goddess as "inhabiting the stars."

The sun passes through the constellation from the 14th of September to the 29th of October; and during this time

the Virgin trails No more her glittering garments through the blue.

[Star Names: Their Lore and Meaning, Richard H. Allen, 1889.]

Bootesthe Herdsman, the Ploughman, the Ox Driver, or the Shepherd



Clues to the meaning of this celestial featureBootes is the cultivator or Ploughman who drives the Bears, Ursa Major and Ursa Minor around the Pole Star, Polaris. The bears, tied to the Polar Axis, are pulling a plough behind them, tilling the heavenly fields "in order that the rotations of the heavens should never cease".

"It is said that Bootes invented the plough to enable mankind to better till the ground and as such, perhaps, immortalizes the transition from a nomadic life to settled agriculture in the ancient world. This pleased Ceres, the Goddess of Agriculture, so much that she asked Jupiter to place Bootes amongst the stars as a token of gratitude". [The New Patterns in the Sky, Julius D.W. Staal, p.152].

Bootes is the ox-driving Ploughman or Herdsman, from Latin Bootes, from Greek Boötes, plowman, from Greek botein (or bootein), to plow, from bous, cow, from the Indo-European root *gwou- [American Heritage Dictionary].

Allen (Star Names) says the word Bootes "has been variously derived: some say from Bous, 'ox', + Greek -othein, 'to drive'". [The suffix -othein is related to the suffix -mosis in the words; osmosis, endosmosis, exosmosis].

Bootes seems to be both the cow-herder and also the cow (Taurus is a Bull, not a cow). Bootes is related to Old French bovier, herdsman, from Latin bovis, genitive of bos, cow, from the Indo-European root *gwou- 'Cow'. Derivatives: cow+ (Latin bos, bovis, Greek bous, Sanskrit gau, gaus), kine, cowslip, beef, bovine, bugle+ (these words from Latin bos, stem bov-), buccinator (the buccinator muscles hold in our cheeks during whistling and forceful blowing as in playing a trumpet, hence, the 'trumpeter' muscles, from Latin bucina, horn, trumpet, from *bou-kan-, 'bellower'), Boötes, bucolic (a farmer or shepherd; a rustic), bulimia (excessive or insatiable appetite), butter, butyric (butyric acid, occurs in the normal vaginal secretions of primates, including humans, from Greek bous, ox, bull, cow), buffalo, Gurkha. [Pokorny gwou- 482. Watkins] Klein relates Gautama (Buddha's epithet) to this root.

The above root might be related to Gaea or Gaia 'earth', or goddess of the earth, Mother Earth, whence geography.

“Gâus [from the Indo-European root *gwou- 'Cow'] has in Sanskrit the two meanings ‘cow’ and ‘earth.’ In Greek gê, ‘earth’ can be traced to this word [as well as Gaea, the Greek goddess of the earth.]” The Rigveda-Aryans, like the Iranians, have given the primeval cow this place in their mythology and compare her nourishing to the nourishing earth and call the earth “cow” so often in their hymns, that the Sanskrit word gô, cow, also has the meaning earth. [Investigations into Germanic Mythology, Viktor Rydberg, Vol. II, p.18]

Arctophylax is a Greek title for Bootes, and John F. Blake in Astronomical Myths, 1877, thought that the original title of this constellation in all probability was 'Arcturus'.

"Arctophylax, on earth Bootes named" [Aratos 3rd century B.C].

Arctophylax (i.e. the 'bear-keeper') is so named because it follows Arctos, that is, the Great Bear (Ursa Major). People have also called this constellation Bootes, because it is attached to the Wain (Ursa Major). It is a very noticeable sign with its many stars, one of which is Arcturus. Arcturus is a star located in the sign of Bootes beyond the tail of the Great Bear. For this reason it is called Arcturus, as if it were the Greek arktos oura (i.e. 'tail of the bear'), because it is located next to the heart of Bootes. It rises in the season of autumn.” [The Etymologies of Isidore of Seville, 7th century AD, p.105.]

The word 'Bootes' actually means 'cow-driver', but in connection with the two Bears (Ursa Major and Ursa Minor) he is often seen as a Bear Driver or Bear Herder (Arctophylax) who chases the Bears around the pole

star, Polaris. The prefix Arcto- is from Greek arktos, and related to Latin Ursa, bear. The suffix -phylax is from Greek phulax, from Greek phulassein, phulasso, 'watcher, guard, sentry-keeper'. A phylax was a guard or watchman in ancient Rome, phylaxis relates to the defense of the body against infection, from Greek phulakterion ‘amulet’, prophylaxis is preventive treatment of disease.

“A gazo-phylacium is a strongbox in a temple where what is given for the needs of the poor is gathered. The term is a composite from Persian and Greek, for gaza in Persian means 'treasury,' and phulakion in Greek means 'custody.' [The Etymologies of Isidore of Seville, 7th century AD, p.401.]

Manilius (Astronomica, 1st century AD, see below) said of Bootes:

"fortune herself makes bold to entrust her treasures, so that the wealth of monarchs and temple finances will be in their keeping".

Another suggestion for the root of Greek phylax, phulax, phulasso, is given by Strong's Greek Dictionary; "probably from phule which is translated from Greek as 'an offshoot, i.e. race or clan, kindred, tribe'". Greek

phule comes from the Indo-European root *bheue- Also bheu-. 'To be, exist, grow, pertaining to nature'. Derivatives: be, forebear, bondage, bound4 (on the way somewhere), bustle+, husband ('house' + Old Norse buandi from bua 'to dwell'), booth (bothe, market stall), build, boodle (estate, from Middle Dutch bodel, riches, property), physic, physician (physikoi were early Greek philosophers who also taught medicine, and eventually their name was applied to doctors), physics, physio-, physique, -phyte, phyt, phyto- (plant), phyton (the smallest unit of plant structure), diaphysis (the shaft of a long bone), epiphysis (epi, -on + physis, growth. The pineal organ), hypophysis (from hupophuein, to grow up beneath. The pituitary gland), imp (a mischievous child, also to furnish with wings), eisteddfod (an annual competitive festival of Welsh poets and musicians), bothy (a hut or small cottage, from Old Irish both, a hut). Suffixed form *bhu-tu-; future (from Latin futurus, 'that is to be'), bower+ ('dwelling space'), neighbor (from Old English neahgebur: neah, near + gebur, dweller), Boer, boor (from Middle Dutch gheboer, ghebuer, peasant, dweller, especially farmer), byre (a barn for cows, from Old English byre, stall, hut), bylaw, phyle (a large citizens' organization based on kinship), phyletic (relating to the evolutionary descent and development of a species or group of organisms), phylo-, phylum (from Greek phulon ‘race’, a major taxonomic rank, humans are in the phylum Chordata), phylogeny (the evolutionary development and history of a species or higher taxonomic grouping of organisms. Also called phylogenesis. The historical development of a tribe or racial group, from Greek phulon, tribe,

class, race, and phule, tribe, clan), beam (from Old English bam, tree, beam, 'growing thing'), boom* (from Middle Dutch boom, tree, maybe related to boom1 a deep sound), bumpkin+, bumpkin* (from Flemish boom, tree). [Pokorny bheu- 146. Watkins] Klein adds the second element in these words to this root: dubious, probate, prove, superb, tribe, tribune, tribute.

Along with -phylax of Arctophylax being related to *bheue-, it has been suggested that the word Bootes itself may also be linked to this root - a suggested link with Bootes and Dutch boor. In any case there is a phonetic and semantic correspondence with some of the *bheue- words and Bootes: The name Booth is an English place-name for the man who lived in a small hut or bothy from the Middle English word bothe, and usually designated a cowman or shepherd [1]. Byre is a barn for cows.

Physis was a primeval god or goddess of the origin and ordering of nature. The primal being of creation was regarded as both male and female. See Physis (or Phusis).

"O Natura [Phusis, nature], mighty mother of the gods [Gaia (see above) is probably meant], and thou, fire-bearing Olympus’ lord [Zeus] ... why dost thou dwell afar, all too indifferent to men, not anxious to bring blessing to the good, and to the evil, bane?" [Seneca, Phaedra 959]

"Then Phusis (Nature), who governs the universe and recreates its substance [after the world-shattering battle between Zeus and Typhoeus], closed up the gaping rents in earth’s broken surface, and sealed once more with the bond of indivisible joinery those island cliffs which had been rent from their bed." [Nonnus, Dionysiaca 2. 650 ff (trans. Rouse) (Greek epic C5th A.D.) http://www.theoi.com/Protogenos/Phusis.html]

The word Bootes was seen as related to Greek boetes which seems to have meant a loud voice. According to Allen (Star Names) "Others thought the word Boetes, Clamorous, transcribed as Boetes, descriptive of the shouts of the Driver to his Oxen (the Bears), or the calls of encouragement to the Hounds" (Canes Venatici), hence the constellation had been sometimes called 'Vociferator' and 'Clamator'. "Bootes is related to the ancient Greek verb Boao, Boo. It means 'roar', 'make a loud roaring noise' and 'command in a loud roaring way'" [from a Greek lady who wrote to me]. Latin has the word bovinor 'bellow', bovo, 'I roar'. Boo originally was an imitation of a cow’s lowing [1]. The word boom, a deep sound, might be related.

Titles for Bootes were Latin Clamans, Clamator from Latin clamorous. As a calendar sign it was first mentioned by Hesiod (Allen Star Names). Bootes who invented the plough could represent the transition from a nomadic life to settled agriculture (as Julius Staal suggested). In order to establish his territory, the aspiring farmer would have needed to make a claim. The claiming of territory has associations with cows as in the Greek myth of Cadmus, who after consulting the oracle was ordered to follow a special cow with a half moon on her flank, which would meet him, and to build a town on the spot where she should lie down exhausted, it guided him to Boeotia, he named the place Boeotia, after the word 'cow' (bos) [2]. A bovate (from Latin bos) is an archaic term for a measure of land also known as an oxgang. It was 1/8 of a ploughgate or as much land as one ox could plough in a year [3]. The word low 'to make the sound of a cow' is related to the word claim. 'Claim' comes from the Indo-European root *kela-2 'To shout'. Derivatives: low* ('to make the sound of a cow'), claim, clamant, clamor, clamorous, acclaim, declaim, exclaim, proclaim (from Latin clamare, to call, cry out), haul (from Old French haler, to haul). Suffixed form *kal-yo-; conciliate (to overcome the distrust or animosity of), council (con-caliom), reconcile (from Latin concilium, a meeting, gathering < 'a calling together' con-, together, + caliom, to call). Suffixed form *kal-end-; calendar, calends (from Latin kalendae, Greek kaleo 'to call'), ecclesia (ek-, out + kalein, to call, ecclesiastical), Paraclete (para- + kalein, literally ‘to call to your side’, the word appears a few times in the New Testament and, as a title for the Holy Spirit), intercalate (to insert a day or month in a calendar), nomenclator (one who assigns names, from Latin calare, to call, call out), clear, glair (the white of an egg), clairvoyant ('clear seeing'), declare, éclair (from Latin clarus, bright, clear), claret, clarify, class (from Latin classis, summons, division of citizens). [Pokorny 6. kel- 548. Watkins]

Icarus, or Icarius, also was a title for Bootes, the name relates to the story of the farmer Icarius who welcomed Dionysus to Attica and in return received the gift of the vine, or received the secret of wine-making from the god. Icarius gave wine to the neighboring shepherds, but when they became intoxicated they thought Icarius had poisoned them, and so they slew him [3].

Bootes is associated with Icarius who was the first man to learn the cultivation of grapes and their fermentation into wine. The traditional astrological influences for Bootes; "likes fine wine". In view of Bootes association with liquor, the word booze, or bouse, might belong here, from Middle English bous, a drink. 'Bootleg' is illegal liquor and refers to the notion of smuggling liquor in one's boot [4]. Boots are generally worn by farmers. To say a man is "in his boots" implies that he is very drunk.

Bootes could also relate to another mythological character named Icarus. Icarus was famous for his death by falling into the Icarian Sea near Icaria, the island that still bears his name. He was the son of Daedalus, the master craftsman. According to Ovid's description of him he appears to have been a very young boy, whose playful antics hindered his father's work [5]. Daedalus made artificial wings for himself and Icarus. Icarus flew too close to the sun, melting the wax holding his artificial wings together, causing him to fall into the Icarian sea and drown. From the Indo-European root above, *bheue-, there is the word imp which along with meaning a mischievous child, it also means to furnish with wings, and it was used in the context of grafting new feathers onto the wings of a trained falcon or hawk to repair damage or increase flying capacity.

Some see the word boy as deriving from the root *gwou-, related to English bovine and cow. "Boy from French *imboiare, a compound verb based on Latin boiae 'leather collar, fetter,' which was adapted from Greek boeiai dorai 'oxhides' (hence 'ox-leather thongs'), from bous 'ox'." [John Ayto, Dictionary of Word Origins]

As has been suggested Bootes may immortalize the transition from a nomadic life to settled agriculture in the ancient world. The aspiring farmer who made claims on land would need to guard his property and produce against those who had still remained nomads, at least before bylaws became established. Titles for Bootes were Greek Arktophulax, translated 'the Bear-watcher' and the 'Bear-guard', from Greek phulax, 'watcher, guard, sentry-keeper'. A phylax was a guard or watchman in ancient Rome, and in earlier Chaldea Arcturus was identified with Papsukal, the Guardian Messenger. The name of the alpha star, Greek Arktouros, Latin Arcturus, was often interchanged with the name of the constellation. The suffix -urus is from Greek ouros, 'watcher, guard, ward'. This -ouros root is related to the word guard in the Germanic languages. Manilius below says "those born under Arctophylax - Arcturus, ... are charged with the guardianship of the people or, as the stewards of grand houses. The suffix -urus of Arcturus is from the Indo-European root *wer-4 'To perceive, watch out for'. Derivatives: wary, aware, ware*, ward, lord (from hlaf, loaf of bread + weard, warder), steward (a steward was a sty-ward, warder of pigs), stewardess, warder*, warden, award, reward, wardrobe, warder, guard, garderobe, regard, guardian, rearward*, ware+, beware. From the Greek root ouros; Arcturus, pylorus (pylorus pule, gate + ouros, guard; the passage at the lower end of the stomach that opens into the duodenum, from Greek ouros, a guard. In myth Pylos is the gate to the underworld). Probably variant *(s)wor-, *s(w)or-; ephor (elected magistrates exercising a supervisory power over the kings of Sparta), panorama (pan- + Greek horan, to see), revere+ (to regard with awe, from Latin vereri, to respect, feel awe for). [Pokorny 8. wer- 1164. Watkins] Edward (composed of the Anglo-Saxon elements ead 'riches, prosperity, happiness' and weard 'protector'), Stuart from steward.

"Old Oxherd was on guard with unsleeping eyes, in company with the heavenly Serpent [Draco] of the Arcadian Bear [Ursa Minor], looking out from on high for some nightly assault of Typhon" [DIONYSIACA BOOK 2]

Bootes has been identified with Philomelus, or Philomelos, 'Friend of Ease' [6], or Philomenus, whose brother Plutus was very wealthy, but gave none of his riches to his brother. Out of necessity Philomenus bought two oxen, invented the wagon or plough, and supported himself by ploughing his fields and cultivating crops. His mother, Demeter (Ceres), admiring him for this, put him in the heavens as the constellation Bootes, his wagon or plough being the constellation Ursa Major. [7]:

"[Constellation Waggoner] Hermippus, who wrote about the stars, says that Ceres [Demeter] lay with Iasion (Jason), son of Thuscus. Many agree with Homer that for this he was struck with a thunderbolt. From them, as Petellides, Cretan writer of histories, shows, two sons were born, Philomelus and Plutus, who were never on good terms, for Plutus, who was richer, gave nothing of his wealth to his brother. Philomelus, however, compelled by necessity, bought two oxen with what he had, and became the inventor of the wagon. So, by plowing and cultivating the fields, he supported himself. His mother, admiring his invention, represented him plowing among the stars, and called him Bootes" [Pseudo-Hyginus, Astronomica 2. 4 (trans. Grant) (Roman mythographer C2nd A.D.) http://www.theoi.com/Georgikos/Bootes.html ]

"[On inventions:] The ox and the plough [were invented] by Buzyges (Ox-Yoker) of Athens, or, as others say, by Triptolemus." [N.B. Bouzyges is the same as Bootes.] [Pliny the Elder, Natural History 7. 199 [8]]

The second and third centuries Hermetic documents attributed to Hermes Trismegistus, or the Egyptian deity Thoth, were translated by G.R.S. Mead in 1906. In the The Mystery Myth section it tells how Isis went to see her son Horus who was being reared at Boutos. Mead comments "Generally supposed to stand for the city Buto, but may be some word-play. Can it be connected with Bootes, the Ploughman—the constellation Arcturus—the voyage being celestial. Budge (p. 192) gives its [Bootes] Egyptian equivalent as Per-Uatchit, i.e. 'House of the Eye'". Buto was a cobra-goddess whose original home and cult center was in the Delta of the Nile at Per-Uatchit. The 'House of the Eye' might mean to be translated 'the Watcher'. The Uatchit, of Per-Uatchit looks like it could be pronounced 'watchit'. Buto was a cobra-goddess or sometimes was depicted in art as a woman wearing the uraeus. The uraeus is a cobra-headdress which the Greeks called ouraios [similar to Greek ouros, a guard? Arct-urus]. Wikipedia (quoting Herod. ii. 155, and Aelian. V. Hist. ii. 41) says that the Greeks identified the goddess Wadjet (Buto) with Leto, mother of Apollo and Artemis, whom the Romans called Latona.


"True is the name men have given him (the Bearwarden), threatening-like he presses forward as one does over a team of bullocks." [Manilius, Astronomica, 1st century AD, book 5, p.29.]

"To those born under Arctophylax - Arcturus, fortune herself makes bold to entrust her treasures, so that the wealth of monarchs and temple finances will be in their keeping [translator's note: custodianship is a suitable endowment for the Bearward]; they will be kings under kings and ministers of state [politicians], and be charged with the guardianship of the people or, as the stewards of grand houses, they will confine their business to the care of another's home." [Translator's note: strictly speaking Arcturus is a star, but the name is used by ancient astrologers for the whole constellation of Bootes and for the star alone, it is often difficult to distinguish which of these the authors are referring to]." [Manilius, Astronomica, 1st century AD, book 5, p.329.]

"...as the stewards of grand houses, they will confine their business to the care of another's home". It was the serving of wine to neighboring shepherds that caused Icarius (above) to lose his life. The association with wine, and being "the stewards of grand houses" (domibusve), should mean what we now term 'butlers'. The butler or bottler is the person who has charge of the liquors in a large establishment, so called from the French bouteiller, from bouteille. Though 'bottle' and 'butler' are not recognized cognate of 'Bootes', the words have a similar resonance. Dionysus, the god, showed Icarius his gratitude for his hospitality by teaching him the cultivation of the vine, and giving him bags filled with wine [9]. Wineskins or animal skins were a common vessel before glass bottles were invented.

"The role of the butler, for centuries, has been that of the chief steward of a household, the attendant entrusted with the care and serving of wine and other bottled beverages which in ancient times might have represented a considerable portion of the household's assets." http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Butler


Fixed stars in Bootes


kappa 28VIR34 29VIR57 212 55 23 +52 01 23 +58 53 52 4.60 A7

theta 01LIB13 02LIB36 215 52 24 +52 04 52 +60 06 57 4.06 F6

lambda 05LIB35 06LIB58 213 37 15 +46 19 02 +54 38 57 4.26 A1

Merga 38 14LIB03 15LIB26 221 52 56 +46 19 25 +57 53 03 5.76 F4

Seginus gamma 16LIB16 17LIB40 217 30 59 +38 31 34 +49 33 11 3.00 A7

Mufrid eta 17LIB56 19LIB20 208 04 33 +18 38 51 +28 05 04 2.80 G0

rho 19LIB19 20LIB42 215 25 08 +30 35 24 +41 42 40 3.78 K3

Arcturus alpha 22LIB50 24LIB14 213 20 42 +19 26 31 +30 46 15 0.04 K2

Nekkar beta 22LIB50 24LIB15 225 00 56 +40 35 12 +54 09 16 3.63 G5

Izar epsilon 26LIB42 28LIB06 220 42 03 +27 17 02 +40 37 42 2.70 K0

zeta 01SCO39 03SCO02 219 41 24 +13 56 30 +27 52 56 3.86 A2

Princeps delta 01SCO45 03SCO09 228 22 17 +33 35 24 +49 03 09 3.54 G4

Alkalurops mu 01SCO47 03SCO11 230 39 00 +37 33 05 +53 25 31 4.47 A7

Ceginus phi 03SCO41 05SCO06 234 00 27 +40 30 55 +57 13 10 5.41 G5

Fixed stars in Bootes


kappa 28VIR34 29VIR57 212 55 23 +52 01 23 +58 53 52 4.60 A7

theta 01LIB13 02LIB36 215 52 24 +52 04 52 +60 06 57 4.06 F6

lambda 05LIB35 06LIB58 213 37 15 +46 19 02 +54 38 57 4.26 A1

Merga 38 14LIB03 15LIB26 221 52 56 +46 19 25 +57 53 03 5.76 F4

Seginus gamma 16LIB16 17LIB40 217 30 59 +38 31 34 +49 33 11 3.00 A7

Mufrid eta 17LIB56 19LIB20 208 04 33 +18 38 51 +28 05 04 2.80 G0

rho 19LIB19 20LIB42 215 25 08 +30 35 24 +41 42 40 3.78 K3

Arcturus alpha 22LIB50 24LIB14 213 20 42 +19 26 31 +30 46 15 0.04 K2

Nekkar beta 22LIB50 24LIB15 225 00 56 +40 35 12 +54 09 16 3.63 G5

Izar epsilon 26LIB42 28LIB06 220 42 03 +27 17 02 +40 37 42 2.70 K0

zeta 01SCO39 03SCO02 219 41 24 +13 56 30 +27 52 56 3.86 A2

Princeps delta 01SCO45 03SCO09 228 22 17 +33 35 24 +49 03 09 3.54 G4

Alkalurops mu 01SCO47 03SCO11 230 39 00 +37 33 05 +53 25 31 4.47 A7

Ceginus phi 03SCO41 05SCO06 234 00 27 +40 30 55 +57 13 10 5.41 G5


History of the constellationfrom Star Names: Their Lore and Meaning, 1889, Richard H. Allen

Bootes' golden wain. — Pope's Statius His Thebais.

Bootes only seem'd to roll

His Arctic charge around the Pole. — Byron's 3d Ode in Hours of Idleness.

Bootes, the Italians' Boote and the French Bouvier, is transliterated from Bootes, which appeared in the Odyssey, so that our title has been in use for nearly 3000 years, perhaps for much longer; although doubtless at first applied only to its prominent star Arcturus. Degenerate forms of the word have been Bootis and Bootres.

It has been variously derived: some say from Bous, Ox, and othein, to drive, and so the Wagoner, or Driver, of the Wain Ursa Major; Claudian writing:

Bootes with the wain the north unfolds;

or the Ploughman of the Triones that, as Arator, occurs with Nigidius and Varro of the century before our era. But in recent times the figure has been {Page 93} imagined the Driver of Asterion and Chara in their pursuit of the Bear around the pole, thus alluded to by Carlyle in Sartor Resartus:

What thinks Bootes of them, as he leads his Hunting Dogs (Canes Venatici) over the zenith in their leash of sidereal fire ?

Others, and perhaps more correctly, thought the word Boetes, Clamorous, transcribed as Boetes, from the shouts of the Driver to his Oxen, — the Triones (the Bears; Ursa Major and Ursa Minor), — or of the Hunter in pursuit of the Bear; Hevelius suggesting that the shouting was in encouragement of the Hounds (Canes Venatici). In translations of the Syntaxis this idea of a Shouter was shown by Vociferator, Vociferans, Clamans, Clamator, Plorans, the Loud Weeper, and even, perhaps, by Canis latrans, the Barking Dog, that Aben Ezra applied to its stars in the Hebrew words Kelebh hannabah. The Arabians rendered their similar conception of the figure by Al ‘Awwa’, — Chilmead's Alhava.

The not infrequent title Herdsman, from the French Bouvier, also is appropriate, for not only was he associated with the Oxen of the Wain, but in Arab days the near-by circumpolar stars were regarded as a Fold with its inmates and enemies.

Other names were Arktophulax and Arktouros, the Bear-watcher and the Bear-guard, the latter first found in the Works and Days, "a Boeotian shepherd's calendar," by Hesiod, eight centuries before our era. But, although these words were often interchanged, the former generally was used for the constellation and the latter for its lucida (Arcturus), as in the Phainomena and by Geminos and Ptolemy. Still the poets did not always discriminate in this, the versifiers of Aratos confounding the titles notwithstanding the exactness of the original; although Cicero in one place definitely wrote:

Arctophylax, vulgo qui dicitur esse Bootes.

Transliterated thus, — or Artophilaxe, — and as Arcturus, both names are seen for the constellation with writers and astronomers even to the 18th century; Chaucer having "ye sterres of Arctour." The scientific Isidorus knew it as Arcturus Minor, his Major being the Greater Bear. Smyth derived this word from Arktou oura, the Bear's Tail, as Bootes is near that part of Ursa Major; but this is not generally accepted — indeed is expressly condemned by the critic Buttmann.

Statius also called it Portitor Ursae; Vitruvius had Custos and Custos Arcti, the Bear-keeper; Ovid, Custos Erymanthidos Ursae; the Alfonsine Tables, {Page 94} Arcturi Custos; while the Bear-driver is often seen with early English writers.

Although Manilius knew it in connection with the Bear, he changed the simile when he wrote:

whose order'd Beams

Present a Figure driving of his Teams;

and Aratos long before had united the two thoughts and titles:

Behind and seeming to urge on the Bear,

Arctophylax, on earth Bootes named,

Sheds o'er the Arctic car his silver light.

Plaustri Custos, the Keeper of the Wain, was another name for it that altered the character of Bootes' duties; Ovid following in this with:

interque Triones

FIexerat obliquo plaustrum temone Bootes .

It has been Lycaon, the father, or grandfather, of Kallisto, when that nymph was identified with Ursa Major; as well as Arcas, her son; Ovid distinctly asserting in the 2d of the Fasti that Arctophylax in the skies was the earthly Arcas, although it is often wrongly supposed that the latter is represented by Ursa Minor; it was Septentrio, from its nearness to the north, so taking one of the Bear's titles; and Atlas, because, near to the pole, it sustained the world.

Hesychios, of about A.D. 370, called it Orion, but this seems unintelligible unless originating from a misunderstanding of Homer's lines, translated by Lord Derby:

Arctos call'd the Wain, who wheels on high

His circling course, and on Orion waits, as if they were in close proximity. Or the title may come from some confusion with the Orus, or Horus, of the Egyptians, that was associated with both Orion and Bootes. La

Lande alluded to this when he wrote:

Arctouros ou l'Orus voisin de 1'Ourse, pour le distinguer de la constellation meridionale d'Orion;

and, in considering this very different derivation of our word Arcturus, it should be remembered that Kandaus; and Kandaon were the titles also applied to Bootes, as the latter Greek word was to Orion by the Boeotians. It would be interesting to know more of this connection.

Philomelus is another designation, as if he were the son of the neighboring Virgo Ceres; and the early title Venator Ursae, the Hunter of the Bear, again {Page 95} appears as Nimrod, the Mighty Hunter before the Lord, with the biblical school of two or three centuries ago; although this was more usual for Orion.

Pastor, the Shepherd, presumably is from the Arabic idea of a Fold around the pole, or from the near-by flock in the Pasture towards the southeast, in our Hercules and Ophiuchus; or perhaps by some confusion with Cepheus, who also was a Shepherd with his Dog.

Pastinator is Hyde's rendering of a supposed Arabic title signifying a Digger or Trencher in a vineyard. A commentator on Aratos called it Trugetes, the Vintager, as its rising in the morning twilight coincided with the autumnal equinox and the time of the grape harvest; Cicero repeating this in his Protrygeter; but both of these names better belonged to the star Vindemiatrix, our epsilon Virginis (Virgo).

Still its risings and settings were frequently observed and made much of in all classical days, and even beyond the Augustan age, although many, perhaps most, of these allusions were to its bright star. As a calendar sign it was first mentioned by Hesiod, thus translated by Thomas Cooke:

When in the rosy morn Arcturus shines,

Then pluck the clusters from the parent vines;

and again, but for a different season of the year:

When from the Tropic, or the winter's sun,

Thrice twenty days and nights their course have run;

And when Arcturus leaves the main, to rise

A star bright shining in the evening skies;

Then prune the vine.

Columella, Palladius, Pliny, Vergil, and others have similar references to Bootes, or to Arcturus, as indicating the proper seasons for various farm-work, as in the 1st Georgic:

Setting Bootes will afford the signs not obscure.

Icarus, or Icarius, also was a title for our constellation, from the unfortunate Athenian who brought so much trouble into the world by his practical expounding of Bacchus' ideas as to the proper use of the grape, and who was so unworthily exalted to the sky, with his daughter Erigone as Virgo, and their faithful hound Maera as Procyon or Sirius. From this story came the Icarii boves applied to the Triones (Ursa Major and Ursa Minor) by Propertius, and in the Andrews-Freund Lexicon to Bootes himself.

Ceginus, Seginus, and Chegninus, as well as the Cheguius of the Arabo-Latin Almagest, may have wandered here in strangely changed form from the neighboring Cepheus; although Buttmann asserted that they probably {Page 96} came, by long-repeated transcription and consequent errors, from Kheturus, the Arabian orthography for Arcturus. Bayer had Thegius, as usual without explanation; still I find in Riccioli's Almagestum Novum: Arabice Theguius, quasi plorans aut vociferans; but Arabic scholars do not confirm this.

La Lande cited Custos Boum, the Keeper of the Oxen, and Bubulus, or Bubulcus, the Peasant Ox-driver, although Ideler denied that the latter ever was used for Bootes. Juvenal, however, had it, and Minsheu defined Bootes as Bubulcus coelestis. Landseer, following La Lande, said that the Herdsman was the national sign of ancient Egypt, the myth of the dismemberment of Osiris originating in the successive settings of its stars; and that there it was called Osiris, Bacchus, or Sabazius, the ancient name for Bacchus and Noah; and that Kircher's planisphere showed a Vine instead of the customary figure, thus recalling incidents in the histories of those worthies, as well as of Icarius.

Homer characterized the constellation as opse duon, late in setting, a thought and expression now become hackneyed by frequent repetition.

Aratos had it:

he, when tired of day,

At even lingers more than half the night;

Manilius somewhat varying this by

Slow Bootes drives his ling'ring Teams;

Claudian, Juvenal, and Ovid, by tardus, slow, piger, sluggish, which their later countryman Ariosto, of the 16th century, repeated in his pigro Arturo; and Minsheu, in the 17th century, wrote of it as

Bootes, or the Carman, a slow moving starre, seated in the North Pole neere to Charles Waine, which it followes.

And all this because, as the figure sets in a perpendicular position, eight hours are consumed in its downward progress, and even then the hand of Bootes never disappears below the horizon — a fact more noticeable in early days than now. The reverse, however, takes place at its rising in a horizontal position; hence the athroos, "all at once", of Aratos.

Some say that these expressions of sluggishness are from its setting late in the season when the daylight is curtailed, or a reference to the natural gait of the Triones that Bootes is driving around the pole; while still others, more astronomically inclined, attributed them to his comparative nearness to

that point where slowest are the stars,

Even as a wheel the nearest to its axle,

that Dante wrote of in the Purgatorio.

{Page 97} Bootes' association with the Mons Maenalus, on which he is sometimes shown, is unexplained unless by the suggestion found under that constellation heading. This association was current even in early days, if Landseer be correct where he says:

Eusebius, quoting an ancient oracle which has apparent reference to this constellation as formerly represented, writes —

A mystic goad the mountain herdsman bears.

Brown says that it was known in Assyria as Riu-but-same, "that reappears in Greek as Bootes"; and thus

"the idea of the ox-driving Ploughman or Herdsman, as applied to the constellation, is Euphratean in character".

Among its Arabian derivatives are Nekkar, often considered as Al Nakkar, the Digger, or Tearer, analogous to the classic Trencher in the vineyard; but Ideler showed this to be an erroneous form of Al Bakkar, the Herdsman, found with Ibn Yunus.

Alkalurops, which appeared for Bootes in the Alfonsine Tables as Incalurus, is from Kalaurops, a herdsman's Crook or Staff, with the Arabic article prefixed; this now is our title for the star mu (Alkalurops). The staff, ultimately figured as a Lance, gave rise to the name Al Ramih, which came into general use among the Arabians, but subsequently degenerated in early European astronomical works into Aramech, Ariamech, and like words for the constellation as well as for its great star.

The same figure is seen in Al Hamil Luzz, the Spear-bearer, or, as Caesius had it, Al Kameluz, Riccioli's Kolanza, and the Azimeth Colanza of Reduan's translator, which Ideler compared to the Latin cum lancea and the Italian colla lancia. Similarly, Bayer said that on a Turkish map it was Oistophoros, the Arrow-bearer; and elsewhere Sagittifer and Lanceator.

Al Haris al Sama’ of Arabic literature originally was for Arcturus, although eventually applied to the constellation. But long before these ideas were current in Arabia, that people are supposed to have had an enormous Lion, their early Asad, extending over a third of the heavens, of which the stars Arcturus and Spica were the shin-bones; Regulus, the forehead; the heads of Gemini, one of the fore paws; Canis Minor, the other; and Corvus, the hind quarters.

In Poland Bootes forms the Ogka, or Thills, of that country's much-extended Woz Niebeski, the Heavenly Wain; and in the Old Bohemian tongue it was Przyczck, as unintelligible as it is unpronounceable.

{Page 98} The early Catholics knew it as Saint Sylvester; Caesius said that it might represent the prophet Amos, the Herdsman, or Shepherd Fig-dresser, of Tekoa; but Weigel turned it into the Three Swedish Crowns (representing Scandinavia).

Proctor asserted that Bootes, when first formed, perhaps included even the Crown, as we know that it did the Hunting Dogs (Canes Venatici); and that, so constituted,

"it exhibits better than most constellations the character assigned to it. One can readily picture to one's self the figure of a Herdsman with upraised arm driving the Greater Bear before him".

The drawing by Heis, after Durer, is of a mature man, with herdsman's staff, holding the leash of the Hounds (Canes Venatici); but earlier representations are of a much younger figure: in all cases, however, well equipped with weapons of the chase, or implements of husbandry; the earliest form of these probably having been the winnowing fan of Bacchus.

The Venetian Hyginus of 1488 shows the Wheat Sheaf, Coma Berenices, at his feet; Argelander's Uranometria Nova has different figures on its two plates — one of the ancient form, the other of the modern holding the leash of the Hounds (Canes Venatici) in full pursuit of the Bear Ursa Major.

This constellation and the Bear Ursa Major, Orion, the Hyades, Pleiades (Taurus), and Dog (Canis Major) were the only starry figures mentioned by Homer and Hesiod; the latter's versifier, Thomas Cooke, giving as a reason therefore — "the names of which naturally run into an hexameter verse"; but the general assumption that these great poets knew no other constellations does not seem reasonable, although it will be noticed that

all those alluded to are identical with each author.

Bootes is a constellation of large extent, stretching from Draco to Virgo, nearly 50° in declination, and 30° in right ascension, and contains 85 naked-eye stars according to Argelander, 140 according to Heis.

Poises Arcturus aloft morning and evening his spear.

— Emerson's translation of Hafiz' To the Shah.


Cancerthe Crab



Clues to the meaning of this celestial featureCancer is the sign of the summer solstice, and represents the sun at the highest point of summer. The constellation is identified with the crab, Karkinos, or Carcinus, that was sent by Hera to bite the foot of Hercules as he battled with the monstrous Hydra. Hercules crushed the crab with his foot. Hera placed the crab in the sky for this service. The crab is a symbol of powerful gripping and holding power.

According to Chaldaean and Platonist philosophy, Cancer was the 'Gate of Men' through which souls descended from heaven into human bodies, or into creation. Its opposite sign Capricorn represents the 'Gate of the Gods' where souls of the departed ascended back to heaven. Kuhn in The Lost Light explains; "in sign of Cancer the crab is emerging from the water and in Capricorn the goat (half goat or land animal, half fish or sea animal) is in the water. The crab lives part of its time on the earth, and part in the water. In this constellation there is a configuration of two Asses, the Aselli (gamma, Asellus Borealis, and delta, Asellus Australis) outflanking a star cluster called the 'Manger' (Praesaepe). Some think this might be the origin, as seen in nativity pictures of the birth of Christ, of the positioning of a donkey always behind the manger. The baby born in a manger might relate to this idea of Cancer being the 'Gate of Men'.

The word Crab is from the Indo-European root *gerbh- 'To scratch'. Derivatives: carve (from Old English ceorfan, to cut), kerf (a groove or notch made by a cutting tool, from Old English cyrf, a cutting off). Variant form

*grebh-; crab1 (from Old English crabba, a crab, from Germanic *krab(b)-), crayfish (from Old High German kerbiz, edible crustacean, from Germanic *krabiz-). Perhaps Germanic *krab-; crawl1 (from Old Norse krafla, to crawl). Zero-grade form *grbh-; glamour, graffito, graft+, gram+, -gram, grammar, -graph, -grapher, graphic, -graphy; agrapha, agraphia, anagram, diagram, epigram, epigraph, graphite, graphic, graffiti, iconography, paragraph, parallelogram, program, programme, telegram, gramophone (these words from Greek graphein, to scratch, draw, write), landgrave (a man in medieval Germany who had jurisdiction over a particular territory), margrave (governor of a medieval German border province), palsgrave, (these words from Middle Dutch grave and Middle Low German grave, count, from West Germanic *grafa, a designation of rank, possibly borrowed from Greek grapheus, scribe). [Pokorny gerebh- 392. Watkins] The verb 'to crab', is to drift sidewise (nautical and aviation). The word craps, for the dice game, derives from the word crab and is unrelated to the term for excrement.

The crab performs a sideways scuttle rather than a direct, linear line, then it appears to move backwards, like the movement of the Sun appears to us as it reaches the Summer Solstice before it turns southward. The path that the sun traces might look similar to a graph. Greek graphein, 'to scratch, draw, write', might also relate to the scratching marks in the sand from the crab's movements, the graphic tracks in the wake of their crawling.

Cancer is a hard-shelled animal with strong gripping and holding power in its pincers. The word Cancer comes from the reduplicated form *kar-kr-o- of the Indo-European root *kar-1 Also *ker-. 'Hard'. Also ker-. 'Hard.' Derivatives: cancer, canker, carangid, chancre [a type of ulcer], from dissimilated Latin cancer, crab, cancer, constellation Cancer. 4. Suffixed form *kar-k-ino-. carcino-, carcinoma, from Greek karkinos, cancer, crab. ] [Pokorny 3. kar- 531. Watkins]

In Egypt Cancer was the scarab beetle:

"In the Egyptian records of about 2000 B.C. the constellation of Cancer was described as a Scarabaeus, sacred, as its specific name sacer signifies (Scarabeus sacer are dung beetles), and an emblem of immortality. This was the Greek karabos (or Kharabos), with its nest-ball of earth in its claws, an idea which occurs again even as late as the 12th century, when an illuminated astronomical manuscript shows a Water-beetle" [Allen, Star Names].

"The hieroglyph of a Scarab in ancient Egyptian has the phonetic value of (k)hpr (the adopted pronunciation is Kheper, with vowels added). It acts as an ideogram for the following words:

• (k)hprr: The insect itself - the dung-beetle• (k)hpr: a verb that expresses the concept of taking a place within the cyclical nature of the world, of existence.

"Further, while not acting as an ideogram in this context, Kheper adds its phonetic value to the name of the god Khepri, the first stage of the sun god - that of the sun just risen. The word also has phonetic associations with:

• nhp: the ball of dung that the dung-beetle rolls, and• nhp the verb for shaping something on a potter's wheel"

[http://everything2.com/index.pl?node=Scarab]

The Egyptians sacred scarab (Scarabaeus sacer), a beetle which rolls its dung in the dust, making pellets in which its eggs are laid. This related to their concept that a celestial scarab beetle symbolically pushed the Sun across the heavens [1]. "Sometimes the scarab would be standing in the boat bearing the Sun in its pincers" [2]. A caravel is a 'small wicker boat covered with leather', from Late Latin carabus from Greek karabos, beetle. "In Egyptian mythology, Khepri (also spelt Khepera, Kheper, Chepri, Khepra) is the name of the god associated with the scarab" [3]. It has been suggested that because of the phonetic similarity of the words; the word keeper, said to be 'of uncertain origin', could come from this source; the crab (and by extension those influenced by the sign) holds onto, or keeps what it can grab onto.

Cancer was the 'Gate of Men' through which souls descended from heaven into human bodies, or into creation. The god Khepri ('he who has come into being') represented the scarab. It was believed that the dung beetle was only male in gender, and reproduced by depositing semen into a dung ball. The supposed self-creation of the beetle resembles that of Khepri, who creates himself out of nothing.

“Crabs (cancer) are so called because they are shellfish possessing legs (crus, genitive cruris)” [The Etymologies of Isidore of Seville, 7th century AD, p.262.]

In astrology the sign Cancer, along with representing the Summer solstice, also represents the Moon. Crabs are influenced by the phases of the Moon and the tides which are governed by the Moon. Cancer also represents the mother, yet to my knowledge it has not been identified with any particular mother in mythology.

Hor-Apollo observes: "They say also that the beetle lives six months underground and six above". If he does, nature surely has cast him in the role of Proserpina [who is the Roman Kore], not to say that of the human soul, figuratively. The six lower signs typify incarnate life. But the beetle has further instruction for us. He observes that the beetle deposits its ball of eggs rolled in dung in the earth for the space of twenty-eight days--a lunar cycle--during which the moon passes through its smaller round of the twelve zodiacal signs. But on the twenty-ninth day, the day of the resurrection according to lunar markings, there occurs the baptism of the beetle. The Scarabaeus then casts his ball into the water. It opens to give birth to the young beetle. This immersion and baptism leads to renewal and regeneration. So Taht (Ptah) [Khepri?], the lunar god, was always declared to be self-created, never born. [The Lost Light by Alvin Boyd Kuhn]

The disease Cancer is the result of cells escaping normal control mechanisms and growing uncontrollably as a result.

One habit crabs have is when they are put in a barrel and one tries to escape the others will pull him back down, giving rise to the term "crabs in a barrel". It relates to people who envy another's success and go out of their way to do things to hold them back and drag them down. The expression is generally applied to those who are from the same class or race that do not like to see others of their kind achieve more than they had.

The fifth century Greek lexicographer Hesychius of Alexandria wrote that the Cabeiri, "the Great Gods of Samothrace" whose cult reached its height in the 4th century BC.,

"were karkinoi ('crabs'). The Cabeiri as Karkinoi were apparently thought of as amphibious beings (again recalling the Telchines). They had pincers instead of hands, which they used as tongs (Greek: karkina) in metalworking". [http://www.answers.com/topic/cabeiri ]

Other "sons of Hephaestus" were the Kabeiroi on the island of Samothrace; they were identified with the crab (karkinos) by the lexicographer Hesychius, and the adjective karkinopous, "crab-footed" signified "lame", Detienne and Vernant have observed: the Kabeiroi were seen as lame too. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hephaestus ]


Shining at the hinge of the year by the blazing turning-point which when recalled the Sun rounds in his course on high, the Crab occupies a joint of heaven and bends back the length of day. Of a grasping spirit and unwilling to give itself in service the Crab distributes many kinds of gain, and skill in making profits; he enables a man to carry his investment of foreign merchandise from city to city and, with an eye on steep rises in the price of corn, to risk his money upon sea-winds; to sell the world's produce to the world, to establish commercial ties between so many unknown lands, to search out under foreign skies fresh sources of gain, and from the high price of his goods to amass sudden wealth. With heaven's favor he also sells seasons of idleness at rates of interest to his liking, wishing the swift passage of time to add to the principal. His is a shrewd nature, and he is ready to fight for his profits." [Astronomica, Manilius, 1st century AD, book 4, p.235.]


Fixed stars in Cancer

Fixed Star Long 1900 Long 2000 Decl 2000 Lat 2000 RA. Sp. Cl Mag.

AL TARF Beta 02LEO52 04LEO15 +09.09 -10.17 08h16m K4 3.8

ACUBENS (Sertan) Alpha 12LEO15 13LEO38 +11.52 -05.04 08h58m F0 4.3

iota Cancer 04LEO57 06LEO21 +28.46 -10.17 (130 55 09) G6 4.2

The Asses

ASELLUS BOREALIS Gamma. 06LEO09 07LEO32 +21.28 +03.11 08h43m A0 4.7

ASELLUS AUSTRAL Delta 07LEO19 08LEO43 +18.09 +00.04 08h44m K0 4.2

The Beehive

PRAESAEPE M44 05LEO57 07LEO20 +19.41 +01.17 08h40m C 3.7



. . . and there a crab

Puts coldly out its gradual shadow-claws,

Like a slow blot that spreads, — till all the ground,

Crawled over by it, seems to crawl itself.

— Mrs. Browning's Drama of Exile.

Cancer, the Crab, is der Krebs of the Germans, — die Krippe of Bayer; le Cancre, or l’Ecrevisse, of the French; and il Cancro or Granchio of the Italians, lies next to Gemini on the east, and is popularly recognized by its distinguishing feature, the Beehive, ancient Presaepe. Aratos called it Karkinos, which Hipparchos and Ptolemy followed; the Carcinus of the Alfonsine Tables being the Latinized form of the Greek word. Eratosthenes extended this as Karkinos, Onoi, kai phatne, the Crab, Asses, and Crib; and other Greeks have said Opisthobamon, and Oktapous, the Octipes of Ovid and Propertius. Litoreus, Shore-inhabiting, is from Manilius and Ovid; Astacus (the European crayfish) and Cammarus (the mantis shrimp) appear with various classic writers; and Nepa is from Cicero's De Finibus and the works of Columella, Manilius, Plautus, and Varro, — all signifying Crab, or Lobster, although more usual, and perhaps more correct, for Scorpio. Festus, the grammarian of the 3d century, said that this was an African word equivalent to Sidus, a Constellation or Star.

It is the most inconspicuous figure in the zodiac, and mythology apologizes for its being there by the story that when the Crab was crushed by Hercules, for pinching his toes during his contest with the Hydra in the marsh of Lerna, Juno exalted it to the sky; whence Columella called it Lernaeus. Yet few heavenly signs have been subjects of more attention in early days, and few better determined; for, according to Chaldaean and Platonist philosophy, it was the supposed Gate of Men through which souls descended from heaven into human bodies.

In astrology, with Scorpio and Pisces, it was the Watery Trigon; and has {Page108} been the House of the Moon, from the early belief that this luminary was located here at the creation; and the Horoscope of the World, as being, of all the signs, nearest to the zenith. It was one of the unfortunate signs, governing the human breast and stomach; and reigned over Scotland, Holland, Zealand, Burgundy, Africa (especially over Algiers, Tripoli, and Tunis), and the cities of Constantinople and New York. In the times of Manilius it ruled India and Aethiopia, but he termed it a fruitful sign. Its colors were green and russet; and early fable attributed its guardianship to the god Mercury, whence its title Mercurii Sidus. When the sun was within its boundaries every thunder-storm would cause commotions, famine, and locusts; and Berossos asserted that the earth was to be submerged when all the planets met in Cancer, and consumed by fire when they met in Capricorn. But this was a reversal of the astrologers' rule; for, as Pascal wrote:

"They only assign good fortune with rare conjunctions of the stars, and this is how their predictions rarely fail."

It is said to have been the Akkadian Sun of the South, perhaps from its position at the winter solstice in very remote antiquity; but afterwards it was associated with the fourth month Duzu, our June-July, and was known as the Northern Gate of the Sun, whence that luminary commences its retrograde movement. Nan-garu is Strassmaier's transliteration of the cuneiform title; others being Puluk-ku and Khas, Division, possibly referring to the solstitial colure as a dividing line. Brown has recently claimed for it the title Nagar-asagga, the Workman of the Waterway.

The early Sanskrit name was Karka and Karkata, the Tamil Karkatan, and the Cingalese Kathaca; but the later Hindus knew it as Kulira, from Kolonros, the term originated by Proclus for our colure.

The Persians had it Chercjengh and Kalakang; the Turks, Lenkutch; the Syrians, and perhaps the later Chaldaeans, Sartono; the Hebrews, Sartan; and the Arabians, Al Saratan, all words equivalent to Cancer. Al Biruni added Al Liha’, the Soft Palate, but this was an early title of the Arabs in connection with their manzil Al Nathrah.

Kircher said that in Coptic Egypt it was Klaria, the Bestia seu Static Typhonis, the Power of Darkness; La Lande identifying this with Anubis, one of the divinities of the Nile country commonly associated with Sirius. But the Jews assigned it to the tribe of Issachar, whom Jacob likened to the "strong ass" that each of the Aselli (asses - gamma, Asellus Borealis, and delta, Asellus Australis) represents; Dupuis asserting that these last titles were derived from this Jewish association.

A Saxon chronicle of about the year 1000 had "Cancer that is Crabba”; {Page 109} Chaucer had Cancre, probably a relic of Anglo-Norman days, for in his time it generally was Canser; and Milton called it the Tropic Crab from its having marked one of these great circles.

Showing but few stars, and its lucida being less than a 4th-magnitude, it was the Dark Sign, quaintly described as black and without eyes. Dante, alluding to this faintness and high position in the heavens, wrote in the Paradiso:

Thereafterward a light among them brightened,

So that, if Cancer one such crystal had,

Winter would have a month of one sole day.

Jensen makes it the Tortoise of Babylonia, and it was so figured there and in Egypt 4000 B.C.; although in the Egyptian records of about 2000 B.C. it was described as a Scarabaeus, sacred, as its specific name sacer signifies, and an emblem of immortality. This was the Greek karabos (or Kharabos), with its nest-ball of earth in its claws, an idea which occurs again even as late as the 12th century, when an illuminated astronomical manuscript shows a Water-beetle. In the Albumasar of 1489 it is a large Crayfish; Bartschius and Lubienitzki, in the 17th century, made it into a Lobster, and the latter added toward Gemini a small shrimp-like object which he called Cancer minor.

Caesius likened it to the Breastplate of Righteousness in Ephesians vi, 14; while Praesaepe and the Aselli (asses - gamma, Asellus Borealis, and delta, Asellus Australis) were the Manger of the infant Jesus, with the Ass and Ox presumed to be standing by. Julius Schiller said that the whole represented Saint John the Evangelist.

Our figure appears on the round zodiac of Denderah, but in the location of Leo Minor.

Cancer appears on the Farnese globe underneath a quadrangular figure, in the location of our Lynx, of which I can find no explanation.

In this constellation, with some slight variations as to boundaries at different times in Hindu astronomy, — gamma (Asellus Borealis) and delta (Asellus Australis) – the Aselli (asses) - always being included and occasionally eta, theta, and Praesaepe, — was located the 6th nakshatra Pushya, Flower, or Tishiya, Auspicious, with Brihaspati, the priest and teacher of the gods, as presiding divinity. It was sometimes figured as a Crescent, and again as the head of an Arrow; but Amara Sinha, the Sanskrit author of about 56 B.C., called it Sidhaya, Prosperous.

The manzil, Al Nathrah, the Gap in the hair under the muzzle of the supposed immense ancient Lion, was chiefly formed by Praesaepe; but later gamma (Asellus Borealis) and delta (Asellus Australis) – the Aselli - were sometimes included, when it was Al Himarain, the Two Asses, a title adopted from the Greeks. The Arabs also knew it as Al Fum al Asad and as Al Anf al Asad, the Mouth, and the Muzzle, of the Lion, both referring to the early figure.

The sieu (Moon mansion) Kwei, Spectre, anciently Kut, the Cloud-like, was made up from Praesaepe with eta and theta, the latter most strangely selected, as it is now hardly distinguishable by the naked eye, and yet was the determining star, — perhaps a case of variation in brightness. This asterism, with Tsing in our Gemini, formed Shun Show, one of the twelve zodiacal Kung, which Williams translates as the Quail's Head, giving the modern title as Keu Hea, the Crab; this Quail being otherwise known as the Phoenix, Pheasant, or the Red Bird that, with the stars of Leo and Virgo, marked the residence of the Red, or Southern, Emperor.

Like Gemini and Taurus, it was shown rising backward, to which some of the ancients fancifully ascribed the slower motion of the sun in passing through these constellations, as well as its influence in producing the summer's heat; even Doctor Johnson, in Rasselas, alluded to "the fervours of the crab." Very differently, however, Ampelius associated it with the cold Septentrio, or North Wind.

Coins of Cos in the Aegean Sea bore the figure of a Crab that may have been for this constellation.

The symbol of the sign, , probably is "the remains of the representation of some such creature"; but it is also referred to the two Asses (gamma, Asellus Borealis, and delta, Asellus Australis) that took part in the conflict of the gods with the giants on the peninsula of the Macedonian Pallene, the early Phlegra, afterwards rewarded by a resting-place in the sky on either side of the Manger.

The sun is in Cancer from the 18th of July to the 7th of August; but the {Page 111} solstice, which was formerly here and gave name to the tropic, is now about 33° to the westward, near eta Geminorum.

The celebrated Halley comet first appeared here in 1531; and in June, 1895, all the planets, except Neptune, were in this quarter of the heavens, an unusual and most interesting occurrence. Argelander catalogues 47 stars in the constellation in addition to Praesaepe; and Heis, 91.


Hydrathe Water Snake



Clues to the meaning of this celestial featureThe Hydra of Lerna was a fabulous water serpent with nine heads, killed by Hercules in the second of his twelve labors. Hercules found that if he cut off one of the heads, two new heads grew back: hence some evils are spoken of as "many headed hydras". Hercules' nephew and charioteer, Iolaus, used a burning firebrand to scorch the neck stumps after each decapitation, and Hercules buried the ninth head, the one that was immortal, under a huge stone. The expression "hydra-headed" refers to a weed or trouble that is very difficult to get rid of.

Read the myth of the Hydra of Lerna http://www.theoi.com/Ther/DrakonHydra.html

Carlos Parada's webpage on Lerna http://homepage.mac.com/cparada/GML/Lerna.html

Lerna features in another myth, the myth of the fifty Danaids. The Danaids, except one, killed their bridegrooms on their wedding night, burying their (49) heads in Lerna. There is a common element of beheading and heads in both myths in Lerna. "Now, some may think that the many heads of the Lernaean Hydra—a monster that appeared afterwards—could be the reincarnated heads of the murdered bridegrooms, a curse from the past" [Carlos Parada, Lerna].

This constellation represents the feminine Hydra, the masculine Hydrus is another constellation near the South Pole at the southern end of the river Eridanus (Hydrus might represent the ocean, Oceanus). The etymology for these two constellations are intertwined. Hydra and Hydrus come from the Indo-European root *wed-+ 'Water, wet'. Derivatives: water, wet, wash (a body of water), winter (the 'wet season'), hydrant, hydro-, hydrous, utricle (a membranous sac contained within the labyrinth of the inner ear - involved in balance; also a small vestigial blind pouch of the prostate gland), dropsy, hydathode (water-excreting), hydatid, (these words from Greek hudor, water), undine (a being having water as its element), undulate (wave), abound, abundant, inundate, redound, redundant ('overflows' because there is too much of it), surround, (these words from Latin unda, wave), otter ('water animal'), nutria (from Latin lutra, otter), Hydrus (from Greek hudros, a water snake), Hydra, hydrilla (diminutive of Latin hydra, a submersed plant; Hydrilla verticillata), hydrate (from Greek hudor, a water serpent), hydrocortisone (a steroid hormone to treat inflammatory conditions and adrenal failure), hydrogen (the lightest of all gases and the most abundant element in the universe), hydrochloric acid (HCl, used in petroleum production, it is found in the stomach in dilute form), hydrocephalus (abnormal accumulation of fluid in the cerebral ventricles), hydrops (old-fashioned name for heart failure, caused by a surfeit of water), hydrology, usquebaugh, whiskey, vodka. [Pokorny 9. aw(e)- 78. Watkins]

In mythology the Lernaean Hydra was reared by Hera under a plane-tree near the source of the River Amymone, from where she would go out onto the flat-land to raid flocks and ruin the land. A number of sources relate this to flooding water.

Lerna, the scene of the story of the Hydra, was a region of springs, and what is now a former lake, the Alcyonian Lake. The name of this lake, Alcyonia, is cognate with Halcyon, the kingfisher, a fabled bird, that was supposed to have had the power to calm the wind and the waves (Latin unda, wave) on the surface of the sea in order to brood her eggs on a floating nest during the winter solstice. Ceyx and (H)Alcyone were turned into kingfishers. This metamorphosis is the origin of the term "halcyon days".

The Latin word for otter (from *wed-+ 'Water, wet') is the feminine Latin word lutra, a beast that lives in the water. "The Greek word translated as 'ichneumon' was the name used for the 'pharaoh's rat' or mongoose, which attacks snakes; it can also mean 'otter'" [1]. "The Ichneumon lives in the water, and is thought to be a type of Otter (or the Otter is a type of Ichneumon)" [2]. The North African mongoose, the ichneumon, is a derivative of ikhnos 'track, footstep, from this root we get ichnite, a fossilized footprint, ichnography (the art or process of drawing ground plans), ichnology (the branch of paleontology dealing with the study of fossilized footprints, tracks, burrows, or other traces as evidence of the activities of the organisms that produced them).

This constellation represents the Hydra of Lerna. The name Lerna resembles the word learn. An ichnite is a fossilized footprint, the imprint of the sole of the foot. The myth says "even smelling the Hydra's footprints was enough to bring death to an ordinary mortal". It was while battling the Hydra that Hercules crushed the Crab (Cancer) under the sole of his foot. The essence of the verb 'to learn' comes from the idea of following tracks, "to follow a course of study", "gain experience by following a track". The word learn comes from the Indo-European root *leis-+ 'Track, furrow'. Derivatives: last, (a block or form shaped like a human foot and used in making or repairing shoes. To mold or shape on a last, last, sole of the foot), last* (to continue in time), lore+, learning, learn (to follow a course of study'), delirium (mental confusion, a going off the ploughed track, a madness, from Latin lira, a furrow). [Pokorny leis- 671. Watkins]

Hydras, Jan Parmentier

Hydra is the name used for the small freshwater polyps of the genus Hydra, having a naked cylindrical body and an oral opening surrounded by tentacles. They are usually a few millimetres long and are best studied with a microscope. Biologists are especially interested in hydras due to their regenerative ability. If a hydra is cut in pieces each piece will turn into a perfect hydra. It was uncertain whether the hydra was a plant or an animal. It was as green as a plant, yet it could move like an animal. A hydra can regrow like a plant propagated from cuttings or from seeds.

[This feminine Hydra and the masculine Hydrus are separate constellations. The etymology for these two constellations are intertwined, the word hydrogen could relate to either or both.] Hydrogen is the most

abundant element in the universe. Most of the Earth's hydrogen is in the form of chemical compounds such as hydrocarbons and water. Hydrogen gas is produced by some bacteria and algae and is a natural component of flatus or flatulence. The myth says "even smelling the Hydra's footprints was enough to bring death to an ordinary mortal".

The idra [hydra] is a dragon with many heads of the kind that lived on the island, or marsh, of Lerna in the province of Arcadia. It is called in Latin excedra because when one of its heads is cut off, three grow in its place. http://www.abdn.ac.uk/bestiary/translat/69r.hti

Hydra is a serpent with heads, 'serpens cum capitibus,' similar to St. Gall Minor's water serpent, from the Greek called 'excedra,' that which exceeds or surpasses (perhaps because of its ever-increasing heads). [Medieval Mythography, Jane Chance, p.219]

The hydra, or Excedra, from the Latin excedere, comes from the Indo-European root *ked- 'To go, yield'. Derivatives: cease, cede (to give way), cession, abscess (abscedere ‘to go away), accede (‘to come to’), access, ancestor, antecede, antecedent, cession, concede, concession, decease (Latin decessus ‘death', decedere ‘to go away’), exceed (Latin excedere ‘to go beyond, depart’), incessant, intercede, precede (‘to go in front’), precess, precession, predecessor, procession, proceed, recede, retrocede, secede, succeed (‘to go after’), success (from Latin cedere, to go, withdraw, yield), successor, succession, necessary, (from Latin necesse, inevitable, unavoidable). [Pokorny sed- 884. Watkins]

Another version of a legend involving the Hydra is told in Ovid's Fasti [2.243-66], that the adjacent Raven (Corvus), being sent with a cup (Crater) for water, loitered at a fig-tree until the fruit became ripe, and then returned to the Sun-god, Apollo, with a water-snake (Hydra) in his claws, told Apollo the lie that the snake was the cause of his delay. In punishment he was forever fixed in the sky with the Cup (Crater) and the Snake (Hydra) [4]. The Hydra caused the snake's delay (even if it was not the complete truth). To cease is generally meant to stop, it comes from Latin cessare, 'to delay, loiter', frequentative of cedere (past participle cessus), 'to withdraw'.

Biologists believe that all life began with a common ancestor (from *ked-). Hydra is the name for any of several small freshwater polyps of the genus hydra. In 1740, Abraham Trembley, with the aid of a microscope, discovered the green species of hydra, Chlorohydra viridissima. Here was a creature, the hydra, that seemed to have characteristics of both plants and animals, that seemed to be on the border between the plant and animal kingdoms. With this discovery the concept of a great chain of being was developed long before the idea of evolution became widely accepted. Perhaps the Hydra, which can reproduce both sexually and asexually, is the common ancestor of all life on earth.

The alpha star of this constellation, Alfard, is also called 'the Solitary', or the 'Solitary One in the Serpent'. In mythology the Hydra had an uncertain number of heads, of which the middle one was immortal which Hercules cut off and placed under a rock. The alpha star, Alfard, might represent this head (and maybe the Sun, Sol, that the planets revolve around?). A part of this constellation was the Chinese Moon Mansion Lieu, was an emblem of immortality. It has often been assumed that hydras are unique among animals in that they do not undergo senescence (aging), and so are biologically immortal [6]. However, having sex kills them.

Hercules slaying the Lernean hydra. Caeretan Hydria, Circa 6th BC, Malibu, The J. Paul Getty Museum, Malibu, California

'Herakles and the Hydra'; the Greek hero Herakles battles the Lernean Hydra while a large crab nips at his foot. His companion Iolaos attacks from the other side, cutting off one of the monster's heads. The ichneumon was the name used for the mongoose, can also mean 'otter'. Mongoose from Dravadian mangus, Mungos mungo, resembles the word mung in mung beans? See picture, the heads of the Hydra look like sprouting mung beans. [Just a suggestion.]

“They talk also of Hydra, a serpent with nine heads, which in Latin is called 'water-snake' (excetra), because when one head was cut off three would grow back. But in fact Hydra was a place that gushed out water, devastating a nearby city; if one opening in it were closed, many more would burst out. Seeing this, Hercules dried up the area, and thus closed the opening for the water. Indeed hydra means 'water' (compare Greek hudor). Ambrose makes mention of this in a comparison of it with heresies, saying (On Faith 1.4): "For heresy, like a certain hydra in the fables, grew from its own wounds, and as often as it would be cut down, it spread; it should be fed to the fire and will perish in a conflagration" [p.246.] “The hydra (hydra) is a dragon with many heads; this kind of dragon was in the Lernean swamp in the province of Arcadia. It is called excetra in Latin, because when one head is 'cut off, three (caesus tria) more grow back. But this is only a story; for it happens that Hydra was a place that spewed out floods that devastated the neighboring city. If one outlet for the water were closed up in this Hydra, many others would burst forth. When Hercules saw this he dried up the place itself and thus closed up the path of the floods" [p.256.] [The Etymologies of Isidore of Seville, 7th century AD]

A hydria is a three-handled water pitcher.


Fixed stars in Hydra


delta 08LEO55 10LEO18 128 45 09 +05 52 45 -12 23 49 4.18 A0

sigma 09LEO50 11LEO13 129 02 11 +03 31 05 -14 36 22 4.54 K3

eta 10LEO55 12LEO18 130 09 11 +03 34 46 -14 15 18 4.32 B5

epsilon 10LEO58 12LEO21 131 01 57 +06 36 12 -11 06 26 3.48 G0

rho 11LEO32 12LEO55 131 26 47 +06 01 25 -11 33 21 4.42 A0

zeta 13LEO12 14LEO35 133 11 17 +06 08 13 -10 58 25 3.30 G5

theta 18LEO54 20LEO17 137 56 27 +02 31 35 -13 03 08 3.84 A1

Alfard alpha 25LEO53 27LEO17 141 16 57 -08 26 27 -22 23 09 2.16 K3

iota 26LEO16 27LEO39 144 19 33 -00 54 54 -14 16 47 4.10 K3

upsilon 04VIR19 05VIR42 147 16 05 -14 36 40 -26 04 45 4.29 G6

lambda 07VIR59 09VIR22 152 02 15 -12 06 22 -22 00 48 3.83 G9

mu 13VIR40 15VIR03 155 55 03 -16 34 50 -24 40 16 4.06 K5

gamma 18VIR59 20VIR22 161 47 21 -15 55 53 -21 48 05 3.32 K3

xi 06LIB37 08LIB00 172 38 04 -31 34 51 -31 35 43 3.72 G7

beta 12LIB04 13LIB27 177 35 39 -33 37 47 -31 28 01 4.40 B9

gamma (46) 25LIB38 27LIB01 199 02 58 -22 54 30 -13 44 21 3.33 G6

49 07SCO15 08SCO38 210 52 46 -26 26 33 -13 02 37 3.48 K3

The threefold constellations Hydra, Corvus and Crater [The Witness of the Stars].


Close by the Serpent spreads; whose winding Spires

With ordered stars resemble scaly Fires.

— Creech's Manilius.

The Hydra of Lerna with its multiple heads represents the Water-snake which Hercules encountered and combated in his second labor, is the French Hydre, the German Grosse Wasserschlange, and the Italian Idra, and may be classed among the Argonautic constellations, as it was said to represent the Dragon of Aetes.

{Page 247} Its stars are now well defined under this single title, but anciently were described, with their riders Corvus and Crater, as Ovid wrote:

Anguis, Avis, Crater, sidera juncta micant.

This continued to the 18th century, Flamsteed and other early astronomers making of them even four divisions, Hydra, Hydra et Crater, Hydra et Corvus, and Continuatio Hydrae. Nepa and Nepas, originally African words for the terrestrial crab (Cancer) and scorpion (Scorpio), seem also to have been used for this constellation in classic times.

In Low Latin it has been Hidra, Idra, and Ydra; and, in the Almagest of 1551, Hydrus in the masculine, which, correct enough before Bayer's day, would now confound it with the new southern figure (Hydrus). Riccioli,

and Hyde in his translation of Ulug Beg's catalogue, had it thus, showing its continuance till then as a common title, although often written Idrus and Idrus aquaticus, as well as changed to Serpens aquaticus.

Other names, also used for the northern Dragon (Draco), have been Draco, Asiua, and Asuia, or Asvia. Chilmead wrote it Alsugahh. Still another conception and title may be seen in the Arabo-Latin Almagest's Stellatio Ydre: et est species serpentium; et jam nominatur Asiua.

Coluber, the Snake, and Echidna, the Viper, also obtain for Hydra, with the adjectives Furiosus, Magnanimus, and Sublimatus, here used as proper nouns, as they were for Orion. The Arabians similarly called it Al Hayyah, another of their words for a snake, — El Havic in Riccioli's New Almagest.

Its representation has generally been as we have it, but the Hyginus of 1488 added a tree in whose branches the Hydra's head is resting; probably a recollection of the dragon that guarded the apple-trees of the Hesperides, although this duty really belonged to our Draco; and at times it has been shown as three-headed. Map-makers have always figured it in its present form, the Cup resting midway on its back, with the Raven pecking {Page 248} at one of its folds; Hydra preventing the latter's access to the Cup in punishment for its tattling about Coronis; or for its delay in Apollo's service. The minor constellation Turdus, or Noctua, only recently has been added to it.

Those who saw biblical symbols among the stars called Hydra the Flood; Corvus, Noah's Raven; and Crater, the Cup "out of which the patriarch sinned"; but Julius Schiller said that the whole represented the River Jordan.

The 7th sieu, Lieu, a Willow Branch, or Liu, a Circular Garland, — was the creature's head, 15° south of Praesaepe, delta being the determinant, and formed the beak of the Red Bird; it governed the planets and was worshiped at festivals of the summer solstice as an emblem of immortality.

Here, too, was the 7th nakshatra, Aclesha, or Acresha (Ashlesha, ninth nakshatra or Moon Mansion), the Embracer, figured as a Wheel, with Sarpas, the Serpents, as presiding divinities; epsilon marking the junction with the nakshatra Magha.

The 8th sieu (Chinese Moon Mansion), Sing, a Star, anciently Tah, was formed by alpha, delta, and tau, with others smaller lying near them, alpha (Alfard) being the determinant. This asterism constituted the neck of the Red Bird, and, Edkins asserts, was also known as the Seven Stars.

The 9th sieu (Chinese Moon Mansion) consisted of kappa, nu1, nu2, lambda, mu, phi, and another unascertained, and was called Chang or Tchang, a Drawn Bow, — Brown says "anciently Tjung, the Archer," — nu1 being the determinant; the god Chang using this bow to slay the Sky Dog, our Crater. The stars between Corvus and Crater were Kien Mun, and those between gamma Hydrae and Spica of the Virgin (Virgo) were Tien Mun, Heaven's Gate. These lie beyond the outlines of the Virgin's robe on the Heis map, but on Burritt's are included in the tip of her left wing.

Hydra is supposed to be the snake shown on a uranographic stone from the Euphrates, of 1200 B.C., "identified with the source of the fountains of the great deep," and one of the several sky symbols of the great dragon Tiamat. Certain stars near, or perhaps in the tip of Hydra's tail and in Libra, seem to have been the Akkadian En-te-na-mas-luv, or En-te-na-mas-mur, the Assyrian Etsen-tsiri, the Tail-tip.

Theon said that the Egyptians considered it the sky representative of the Nile, and gave it their name for that river.

After Al Sufi's day, in our 10th century, the figure was much lengthened, and now stretches for nearly 95° in a winding course from Cancer to Scorpio; this well agreeing with the fable of its immense marine prototype, the Scandinavian Kraken. Conrad Gesner, the 16th-century naturalist, gave an illustration of this in its apparently successful attack upon the ship Argo.

{Page 249} The constellation cannot be seen in its entirety till Crater is on the meridian. Argelander enumerates in it 75 stars; Heis, 153.

For an unknown period its winding course symbolized that of the moon; hence the latter's nodes are called the Dragon's Head and Tail. When a comet was in them poison was thought to be scattered by it over the world; but these fanciful ideas are now associated with Draco.

Al Sufi mentioned an early Arab figure, Al H'ail, the Horse, formed from stars some of which now belong to our Hydra, but more to Leo and Sextans.


Corvusthe Raven



Clues to the meaning of this celestial featureApollo gave a feast to Jupiter and requiring water sent the raven with a cup (Crater) to fetch some. On his way the raven noticed a fig tree, and, resting there until the figs became ripe, feasted himself upon them until, remembering his errand and fearing the anger of Apollo, he picked up a snake (Hydra) and on his return gave as an excuse that the hydra had prevented him from filling the cup by having kept the spring from flowing, this being the cause of the delay. The god was not deceived by the lie and ordained in punishment that the raven should never drink so long as figs were not ripe. Apollo placed the raven (Corvus), cup (Crater) and snake (Hydra) in the heavens as a memorial, where the Water-snake guards the water from the everlastingly thirsty Raven. Corvus now sits within sight of the Cup of water, but he can never drink.

"Oppian gives another explanation--that it likes living in stony, waterless regions; and it requires little sagacity to perceive that such a mode of life proves, not that it is always thirsty, but that it is never thirsty." [Birds and Beasts]

Another myth tells us that Corvus, the raven, was given a task by Apollo of keeping a watchful eye on Apollo’s pregnant lover Coronis (her name might relate to crow or crown, one of the Hyades in Taurus is named Coronis). The raven reported back to Apollo the unwelcome news that she was having an affair with someone else. Apollo in anger cursed the raven, and its color changed from its former silver hue to the present black. Corona was killed by Apollo's sister Artemis. The unborn child of Coronis and Apollo was rescued and raised as Asclepius who is identified with Ophiuchus.

Folklore involving ravens and crows has intermingled over time. The word 'crow' might relate to a different constellation.

Corvus is from Latin corvus, Greek korax, related to Swedish korp, Old High German hraban, Old Norse hrafn. The words Corvus and Raven comes from the Indo-European root *ker-2 'Echoic root, base of various

derivatives indicating loud noises or birds'. Derivatives: ring2 (from Old English hringan, to resound, clink), retch (from Old English hraecan, to clear the throat, relating to the deep guttural croak of the raven), raven1 (from Old English hraefn, raven, from Germanic *hrabnaz, raven), corbel, corbina, cormorant (literally, raven of the sea), corvine, Corvus, coracoid (korakias, chough), screech (from Old Norse skraekja, to shreik, from Germanic *skrekjan). [Pokorny 1. ker- 567. Watkins] The names Ingram (from Teutonic angil, 'angel', and hram, hramn, is a collateral form of hraban, 'raven'), Bertram (from beraht, 'bright', and hram, hramn, raven). Klein supplies the Indian word kos, 'the distance within which a man's shout can be heard'. A corbel is a likely place for a crow to perch, a bracket projecting from the face of a wall and generally used to support a cornice or arch. Ravens are found at the top of the highest peaks.

In Norse mythology, the omniscient god Odin had a pair of ravens, Hugin (mind) and Munin (memory). They flew around the world every day to learn of the day's news and then returned to Odin [1]. They sat on each of the god Odin's shoulders (maybe on the coracoid bones), and informed him of everything that happens in the world. There are examples from Germany, India, Siberia, Iceland, and elsewhere where people are advantaged by speaking with these birds or eavesdropping on the conversation of ravens [2].

These characteristics imply that these birds have something to do with; news, journalism, information, gossip.

"The raven gets its name, corvus or corax, from the sound it makes in its throat, because it utters a croak" [6]

The word raven is related to retch, from Old English hraecan, to clear the throat. Polish kruk, 'raven', krakac, 'croak (like a raven)', English croak [7]. The onomatopoeic deep, guttural croak of the raven.

The myth above tells how Apollo sends the Raven to fetch water (Hydra) in the god's cup (Crater). The procrastinating Raven got back late because he waited for some figs to ripen before returning. Ravens, crows, and rooks, go 'kraa kraa' [3]. The call of the crow is a nasal caw compared to the deep, guttural croak of the raven, although both species have extensive and varied vocal repertoires [4]. The cawing of the ravens or crows was heard as "Cras! Cras!" by Latin speakers, and was thought to mean "Tomorrow! Tomorrow!" We get the word procrastination, "postpone until the morrow", from Latin cras.

When Typhon came rushing toward Olympus, the gods fled in terror to Egypt where they disguised themselves as animals; Apollo (Phoebus) became a raven.

"Corvinus, winner of spoils and a name, aided in combat by a bird which hides beneath a bird's exterior the godhead of Phoebus" [Astronomica, Manilius, 1st century AD, p.67.]

The Corvinus Manilius refers to is Valerius Corvinus, a Roman politician. The story goes that he got the name 'Corvinus' when under attack by an enemy, a raven flew down from nowhere, perched upon Valerius's helmet, and began to attack his foe. A title, referring to this incident, for Corvus, was "Pomptina, from the victory of Valerius when aided by a raven on the Pontine Marsh" [Allen, Star Names], the word 'marsh' is related to 'maar', a crater lake. There are a number of stories from different cultures about how ravens "aid in combat" with gods.

There are scientific studies on ravens and wolves associating in foraging strategy [8]. In the book Mind of the Raven, biologist Bernd Heinrich says ravens and wolves (Lupus) work in tandem: they rely on wolves to kill, and to open carcasses (which might be one of the reasons why wolves are described as ravenous?). Ravens have been reported to alert wolves to potential food sources and to danger. The Inuit believe ravens help them hunt caribou, polar bears and seals by dipping their wings in the right direction.

The name Bran, from Welsh Brân, from brân, raven, refers to gigantic Celtic god and ruler of Britain. After he was mortally wounded in battle his head was buried in London where it served as a protection against invaders [AHD]. Some believe the still-current practice of keeping ravens at the Tower of London is associated with this story of Bran [9]. Bran is an archetypal British Celtic hero, and it has been surmised that he is the root of the character known as the Fisher King from Arthurian romance [10]; Bron or Bran the Blessed. The raven brought the cup (Crater, also representing the Holy Grail) to Apollo. "Boron also says that it was the Rich Fisher, named Bron, who was the brother-in-law of Joseph of Arimathea, and that it was he who brought the Grail to Britain". Hebrew Corban means a gift or votive offering for the god, also the name given to the Treasury of the Temple at Jerusalem [11]. Corbenic (also Carbonek and Corbin) is the name of the castle of the Holy Grail in the Lancelot-Grail cycle and Thomas Malory's Le Morte d'Arthur. It is the domain of the Fisher King and the birth-place of Sir Galahad [12].


Fixed stars in Corvus

Fixed Star Long 1900 Long 2000 Decl 2000 Lat 2000 RA Sp. Cl. Mag

Gienah (CRV) Gamma 09LIB20 10LIB44 -17.31 -14.29 12h15m B8 2.8

Minkar Epsilon 10LIB17 11LIB40 -22.36 -19.40 12h10m K3 3.2

Alchita Alpha 10LIB51 12LIB15 -24.44 -21.44 12h08m F2 4.2

Algorab Delta 12LIB04 13LIB27 -16.31 -12.11 12h29m A0 3.1

Kraz Beta 15LIB58 17LIB22 -23.22 -18.02 12h34m G4 2.8

The threefold constellations Hydra, Corvus and Crater [The Witness of the Stars].


Till, rising on my wings,

I was preferred

To be the chaste Minerva's virgin bird.

— Joseph Addison's translation of Ovid's Metamorphoses.

Corvus, the Crow was the Raven in Chaucer's time, and the Germans still have Rabe; but the French follow the Latins in Corbeau, as the Italians do in Corvo, and we in the Crow.

Although now traversed by the 20th degree of south declination, 2000 years ago it lay equally on each side of the celestial equator. It contains only 15 naked-eye stars according to Argelander, — 26 according to Heis, — yet was a noted constellation with the Greeks and Romans, and always more or less associated with the Cup (Crater) and with the Hydra, on whose body it rests. Ovid said of this combination in his Fasti:

Continuata loco tria sidera, Corvus et Anguis,

Et medius Crater inter utrumque jacet;

but while always so drawn, the three constellations for a long time have been catalogued separately.

The Greeks called it Korae, Raven; and the Romans, Corvus. Manilius designating it as Phoebo Sacer Ales, and Ovid as Phoebeius Ales, mythology having made the bird sacred to Phoebus Apollo in connection with his prophetic functions, and because he assumed its shape during the conflict of the gods with the giants.

{Page 180} Ovid, narrating in the Metamorphoses the story of Coronis, and of her unfaithfulness to Apollo,1 [Note by Allen: It may be noted here that Apollo and Coronis were even still more closely connected with astronomy in being the parents of Aesculapius, who afterwards became the Serpent-holder Ophiuchus] said that when the bird reported to his master this unwelcome news he was changed from his former silver hue to the present black, as Saxe concludes the story:

Then he turned upon the Raven,

"Wanton babbler! see thy fate !

Messenger of mine no longer,

Go to Hades with thy prate!

Weary Pluto with thy tattle!

Hither, monster, come not back;

And — to match thy disposition —

Henceforth be thy plumage black !"

This story gave rise to the stellar title Garrulus Proditor. Another version of the legend appears in the Fasti — viz., that the bird, being sent with a cup for water, loitered at a fig-tree till the fruit became ripe, and then returned to the god with a water-snake (adjacent Hydra) in his claws and a lie in his mouth, alleging the snake to have been the cause of his delay. In punishment he was forever fixed in the sky with the Cup (Crater) and the Snake (Hydra); and, we may infer, doomed to everlasting thirst by the guardianship of the Hydra over the Cup and its contents. From all this came other poetical names for our Corvus — Avis Ficarius, the Fig Bird; and Emansor, one who stays beyond his time; and a belief, in early folklore, that this alone among birds did not carry water to its young.

Florus called it Avis Satyra, the Bird of the Satyrs, and Pomptina, from the victory of Valerius when aided by a raven on the Pontine Marsh.

This bird and an ass appear together on a coin of Mindaon, which is interpreted as a reference to the almost simultaneous setting of the constellations Corvus and Cancer, for the ass always has been associated with the latter in the Onoi, or Asini [Asellus Borealis, and Asellus Australis], of its stars.

The Raven of Rome and Greece became Al Ghurab in Arabia; but in earlier days four of its stars were Al ‘Arsh al Simak al Azal, the Throne of the Unarmed One, referring to the star Spica. These naturally have been considered beta (Kraz), gamma (Gienah), delta (Algorab), and eta; but Firuzabadi, as interpreted by Lach, said that they were theta, kappa, psi, and g; and the same stars were Al ‘Ajz al Asad, the Rump of the ancient Lion (Leo). Other early titles for the whole were Al Ajmal {Page 181} the Camel, and Al Hiba’, the Tent; this last generally qualified by Yamaniyyah, the Southern, to distinguish it from that in Auriga. Instead of Ajmal, Hyde quoted, from the Mudjisat, Ahmal, or Hamal, the Ram, but this does not seem probable here.

As these stars were utilized by the Arabs in forming their exaggerated Asad (lion), so also were they by the Hindus in the immense Praja-pati, of which they marked the hand, — this title being duplicated for Orion, and much better known for that constellation. The head of the figure was marked by Citra, our Spica, and the thighs by the two Vicakhas, alpha and beta Libra; while the Anuradhas, delta, and pi Scorpio, formed Praja-pati's standing-place. Incongruously enough, they considered Nishtya, or Svati, — our star Arcturus, — as the heart; but as this was far out of the proper place for that organ, Professor Whitney substituted iota, kappa, and lambda Virginis of the manzil and sieu.

The Avesta mentions a stellar Raven, Eorosch; but how, if at all, this coincided with ours is unknown; although Hewitt thinks that our Corvus, under the title Vanant, marked the western quarter of the earliest Persian heavens.

Nor is the reason for the association of Corvus with Hydra evident, although there is a Euphratean myth, from far back of classical days, making it one of the monster ravens of the brood of Tiamat that Hydra represented; and upon a tablet appears a title that may be for Corvus as the Great Storm Bird, or Bird of the Desert, to which Tiamat gave sustenance: just as Aratos described Korae; pecking the folds of the Hydra. The prominent stars of Corvus have otherwise been identified with the Akkadian; Kurra, the Horse.

The Hebrews knew it as ‘Orebh, or Orev, the Raven; and the Chinese, as a portion of their great stellar division the Red Bird, while its individual; stars were an Imperial Chariot ruling, or riding upon, the wind.

In later days it has been likened to Noah’s Raven flying over the Deluge, or alighting on Hydra, as there was no dry land for a resting-place; or one of those that fed the prophet Elijah; but Julius Schiller combined its stars with those of Crater in his Ark of the Covenant.

Craterthe Cup, or the Crater



Clues to the meaning of this celestial featureA crater is a circular depression created by the impact of some body; an asteroid or comet or meteorite. A volcanic crater is a circular depression in the ground caused by volcanic activity.

Crater, the Cup, is often considered a part of the threefold constellation; Hydra, Corvus and Crater. It relates to the myth [Ovid's Fasti, 2.243-66] that Apollo sent a Raven (Corvus) to fetch water in the god's cup (Crater). The raven got back late because he waited at a fig tree for figs to ripen before returning. He brought back a Water-snake (Hydra), along with the water-filled cup (Crater), and told Apollo that the Hydra had caused the delay. Apollo was not deceived by the lie and placed the Raven (Corvus), the cup (Crater), and the Water-snake (Hydra) among the stars, where the Water-snake guards the water from the thirsty Raven.

The word Crater comes from the Indo-European root *kere-1 'To mix, confuse, cook'. Derivatives: uproar (from Middle Low German hror, motion), rare* (cooked just a short time, from Old English hrer), idiosyncrasy, acrasia (Greek akrasia, a-, 'not' + kerannunai, 'to mix'; 'bad mixture', excess; intemperance), dyscrasia (any disease condition, especially in hematology, as in 'blood dyscrasias.' The term 'dyscrasia' was borrowed from the Greek meaning 'a bad mixture' referring to imbalance between the four humors which caused disease [1]), crater (from Greek krater, mixing vessel). [Pokorny kere- 582. Watkins]According to Christian legend, the Holy Grail was the dish, plate, or cup used by Jesus at the Last Supper, said to possess miraculous powers [2]. The word grail is believed to be related to Crater, grail is from Old French graal, grael, from Medieval Latin gradalis, 'cup, platter', from Vulgar Latin *cratalis, from *cratus, 'a mixing bowl', from Latin crater, from Greek krater. [Klein, Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary]"Manilius described Crater as 'gratus Iaccho Crater' (Iaccho is Roman Bacchus, who is identified with Greek Dionysus and may be Orion), so using the mystic, poetical name often applied to Bacchus" (Allen, Star Names):

"The Bacchic feast of intoxication was, however sensual in later performance, a token of the legitimate and blessed ecstasy of the soul upon partaking of the heavenly wine. The vine and the mixing bowl were constellated as celestial symbols, the latter as the cluster called the Crater (Latin: bowl) or the Goblet, the sacramental cup or grail. The juice of the grape was the blood of Horus or Osiris, in the Egyptian Eucharist" [The Lost Light, Alvin Boyd Kuhn].

The grail, the Holy Chalice, the Cauldron, according to medieval legend is the platter used by Jesus at the Last Supper, and contained the blood of Jesus Christ turned into wine, from Old French graal, grael, from Medieval Latin gradalis, ultimately from Latin crater.

In Old French, san graal, or san greal, means 'Holy Grail', literally meaning 'sanctified grail'.

"According to the Catholic Encyclopedia, after the cycle of Grail romances was well established, late medieval writers came up with a false etymology for sangreal an alternate name for 'Holy Grail'. In Old French, san graal or san greal means 'Holy Grail' and sang real means 'royal blood' [real means royal]; later writers played on this pun. Since then, 'Sangreal' is sometimes employed to lend a medievalizing air in referring to the Holy Grail" [3].

Blood in Latin is called sanguis. Centuries before the Medieval times Isidore saw a relationship between sanguis, blood and sanctus:

"Holy (sanctus), so called from an ancient custom, because those who wished to be purified would be touched by the blood (sanguis) of a sacrificial victim, and from this they received the name of holy ones (sanctus).” [p.228.] "A sanctum is so called from the blood (sanguis) of sacrificial victims, for among the ancients nothing was called holy (sanctus) except what had been consecrated and sprinkled with the blood of a sacrifice. Again sanctum, what is known to have been sanctified (sancire, ppl. sancitum). Moreover to sanction (sancire) is to confirm, and to defend from wrong by imposing punishment. Thus both laws and city walls are said to be holy (sanctus)” [p.309.] [The Etymologies of Isidore of Seville, 7th century AD]

“Wine (vinum) is so called because a drink of it speedily replenishes the veins (vena) with blood" [The Etymologies of Isidore of Seville, 7th century AD, p.397.]

Greek krater is a mixing vessel, from kerannunai, 'to mix'. Blood consists of several types of cells suspended in a fluid medium known as plasma.

A certain man named Cerasus mixed wine with the river Achelous in Aetolia, and from this 'to mix' is called kerasai. http://www.theoi.com/Text/HyginusFabulae5.html

From Catholic Encyclopedia (1913) on The Holy Grail:

"The meaning of the word [Grail] has also been variously explained. The generally accepted meaning is that is given by the Cistercian chronicler Helinandus (d. about 1230), who, under the date of about 717, mentions of a vision, shown to a hermit concerning the dish used by Our Lord at the Last Supper, and about which the hermit then wrote a Latin book called 'Gradale.' "Now in French," so Helinandus informs us, "Gradalis or Gradale means a dish (scutella), wide and somewhat deep, in which costly viands are wont to be served to the rich in degrees (gradatim), one morsel after another in different rows. In popular speech it is also called 'greal' because it is pleasant (grata) and acceptable to him eating therein" etc. The medieval Latin word 'gradale' because in Old French 'graal,' or 'greal,' or 'greel,' whence the English 'grail.' Others derive the word from 'garalis' or from 'cratalis' (crater, a mixing bowl). It certainly means a dish, the derivation from 'grata' in the latter part of the passage cited above or from 'agréer' (to please) in the French romances is secondary".

Helinandus says "Gradalis or Gradale means a dish, wide and somewhat deep, in which costly viands are wont to be served to the rich in degrees (gradatim), one morsel after another in different rows". Greek krater is translated, 'mixing vessel', with the meaning 'to mix, confuse, cook'. An element in a mixture is called an ingredient. These words come from the Indo-European root *ghredh- 'To walk, go'. Derivatives: gressorial, aggress, congress, degression, digress, egress, ingredient, ingress, introgression, pinnigrade, plantigrade, progress, regress, retrograde, retrogress, tardigrade, transgress, (these words from Latin gradi, past participle gressus, to walk, go), aggression, gradient, grade, gradual, graduate, gree, centigrade, degrade, degree, (these words from Latin gradus, step, stage, degree, rank). [Pokorny ghredh- 456. Watkins] The word 'grail' has another meaning; 'book for use of the choir' which according to Klein is from "Old French grael, from Medieval Latin gradale, a collateral form of graduale. See gradual".

In Thrice-Greatest Hermes, Vol. 1 "The Crater was the Cup in which the Creator mixed the Elements of the World-Soul; for we read in Timæus (41 D), where Plato is treating of the formation of human souls: "

“Thus spake He, and once again into the Cup [Crater] which He had used in blending and mingling the Soul of the Universe, He poured the remains of the Elements He had employed, and mingled them in much the same manner; they were not, however, pure as before, but in the second and third degree.”

"In popular speech it is also called 'greal' because it is pleasant (grata) and acceptable to him eating therein" [6]. Manilius described the constellation as 'gratus Iaccho Crater'. Latin grata and gratus comes from the

Indo-European root *gwere-3 'To favor'. Derivatives: grace, gracious, grateful, gratify, gratis, gratitude, gratuitous, gratuity, agree, congratulate, disgrace, ingrate, ingratiate, maugre (notwithstanding; in spite of, from Latin gratus), bard+ ('he who makes praises' from Celtic bardo-, bard), engrail (indented along the edge with small curves in heraldry, en- + gresle, slender, tapered, from Latin gracilis). [Pokorny 4. gwer(e)- 478. Watkins] Gracilis muscle; originates from the lower edge of pubic bone and is inserted into the upper part of the tibia, flexes knee and hip and medially rotates the thigh and tibia (rotates them inwards). The Greek Graces were three sisters who have the power to grant charm, happiness, and beauty.

"The authors of the Vulgate Cycle used the Grail as a symbol of divine grace. ... the Grail is a symbol of God's grace, available to all but only fully realized by those who prepare themselves spiritually, like the saintly Galahad.... [7]

Known in the East as 'kundalini', and in the West as 'grace' [8]

A maar is a volcanic crater lake of explosive origin that is often filled with water. This term comes direct from German for one of the craters or crater-lakes of the Eifel district in Germany where the type occurrence is located. Its generic meaning is any low-relief volcanic crater which does not lie in a cone, was formed by single or multiple explosive events, and is usually occupied by a lake [9].

Whoever derives hence his birth and character [from the constellation Crater] will be attracted by the well-watered meadows of the countryside, the rivers, and the lakes [Manilius, Astronomica 1st century AD, p.318]. [inde trahit quicumque genus moresque, sequetur irriguos ruris campos amnesque lacusque]

The word maar comes from Latin mare (meaning sea), which gives us the words marine, maritime. As no Indo-European root-word exists for sea, except for their word *mori, which is thought to represent a small body of water, it is theorized that the Indo-Europeans originated in a land-locked region. The Indo-European navigated these small bodies of water in ships [10], hence the word maritime, meaning marine shipping or navigation. These words come from the Indo-European root *mori- 'Body of water; lake (?), sea (?)'. Derivatives: mere* (small lake, pond, or marsh), mermaid (from Old English mere, sea, lake, pond), marram (beach grass), meerschaum (sepiolite, or a tobacco pipe with a bowl made of this mineral), meerkat (a small, burrowing mammal, Suricata suricatta, related to the mongoose, from Middle Dutch meer, sea), marsh (from Old English mersc, merisc), morass (from Old French maresc, mareis, marsh, water-logged land), -maar, maar (a volcanic crater that is often filled with water), mare* (the large dark areas on the moon or Mars or on other planets), marinara (a sauce), marine, maritime, cormorant (sea-raven, shag), mariculture (cultivation of marine organisms in their natural habitats). [Pokorny mori- 748. Watkins] Merlin, a wizard in the Arthurian legend, the enchanter, his name is thought to derive from Mori-genos, 'born from the sea'. [Latin mare, meaning 'the sea', is a homophone of English mare, a female horse]. The name Muriel, is believed to be related to Latin mare and translated 'sea bright'.

Klein sees the word moor, 'waste ground', as a cognate with *mori-, moor comes from the Indo-European root *ma-3 'Damp'. Derivatives: moor2 (swampy land, from Old English mor, marsh, wilderness, from Germanic *mora-), emanate (ex-manare, from Latin manare, to flow, trickle). [Pokorny 2. ma- 693. Watkins] Crater, the Cup, is often considered a part of the threefold constellation Hydra, Corvus and Crater. Latins had the title Emansor for adjacent Corvus, related to the word emanate, from Latin ex + manare, to flow out, relating to the story of Apollo sending out the raven with a cup to fetch water. Apollo sent out (emanare) the

Raven (Corvus) with a cup (Crater) to fetch water (Hydra, from Indo-European root *wed-1, water).

The remaining astrological influences given by Manilius for Crater:

"He will sow corn among the grapes and will adopt any other of the countless forms of cultivation that exist throughout the world as the conditions of the district will require. "He will drink without stint the wine he has produced and enjoy in person the well earned fruits of his labors; neat wine will incite him to jollity, when he will drown all seriousness in his cups.Nor only on the soil will he stake his hopes for paying his yearly vows he will also go in pursuit of the grain tax (become a tax collector), and of those wares (papyrus, for example, or sponges) especially which

are nourished by moisture or to which water clings. Such are the men to be fashioned by the Bowl, lover of all that is wet". [Manilius, Astronomica, 1st century AD, book 5, p.318-321].


Fixed stars in Crater


Alkes alpha 22VIR19 23VIR41 164 20 03 -18 01 56 -22 42 56 4.20 K1

epsilon 24VIR52 26VIR15 170 31 14 -10 35 05 -13 28 12 5.07 M0

Labrum delta 25VIR18 26VIR41 169 12 35 -14 30 28 -17 34 28 3.82 K0

beta 27VIR11 28VIR34 167 17 56 -22 33 09 -25 38 10 4.52 A2

theta 27VIR13 28VIR36 173 32 09 -09 31 32 -11 18 12 4.81 B9

gamma 27VIR51 29VIR14 170 35 42 -17 24 33 -19 39 56 4.14 A5

zeta 02LIB41 04LIB04 175 33 23 -18 04 22 -18 17 44 4.90 G8

eta 04LIB43 06LIB06 178 21 57 -16 52 21 -16 05 22 5.16 A0

The threefold constellations Hydra, Corvus and Crater [The Witness of the Stars]


Crater, the Cup is the French Coupe, the German Becher, and the Italian Tazza, formed by several 4th and 5th-magnitude stars above the Hydra's back, just westward from Corvus, and 30° south of Denebola, in a partly annular form {Page 183} opening to the northwest. This was long considered a part of the threefold constellation Hydra et Corvus et Crater; but modern astronomers catalogue it separately, Argelander assigning to it 14 stars, and Heis extending the number to 35.

the generous Bowl

Of Bacchus flows, and chears the thirsty Pole.


In early Greek days it represented the Kantharos, or Goblet, of Apollo, but universally was called Krater, which in our transliterated title obtained with all Latins, Cicero writing it Cratera; while Manilius described it as gratus Iaccho Crater (Iaccho is Bacchus, Greek Dionysus), so using the mystic, poetical name often applied to Bacchus. In ancient manuscripts it appears as Creter. The Greeks also called it Kalpe a Cinerary Urn; Argeion, Ugreion, and Ugria, a Water-bucket.

The Romans additionally knew it as Urna, Calix, or Scyphus, and, poetically, as Poculum, the Cup, variously, of Apollo, Bacchus, Hercules, Achilles, Dido, Demophoon, and Medea; its association with this last bringing it into the long list of Argonautic constellations.

Hewitt connected it with the Soma-cup of prehistoric India; and Brown with the Mixing-bowl in the Euphratean myth of Istar-Kirke, referring to the words of the prophet Jeremiah:

Babylon hath been a golden cup in the Lord's hand.

But any connection here would seem doubtful, although the Jews knew it as Cos, a Cup. Hewitt also identifies it with "the Akkadians' Mummu Tiamut, the chaos of the sea, the mother of heaven and earth, and the child of Tiamut, the mother (mut) of living things (tia)"; but all this better suits Corvus.

It was known in England two or three centuries ago as the Two-handed Pot; and Smyth tells us of a small ancient vase in the Warwick collection bearing an inscription thus translated:

Wise ancients knew when Crater rose to sight,

Nile's fertile deluge had attained its height;

although Egyptian remains thus far show no allusion to the constellation.

In early Arabia it was Al Ma’laf, the Stall, — a later title there for the Praesaepe of Cancer; but when the astronomy of the Desert came under Greek influence it was Al Batiyah, the Persian Badiye, and the Al Batinah of Al Achsasi, all signifying an earthen vessel for storing wine. Another title, Al Kas, a Shallow Basin, — Alhas in the Alfonsine lists, — has since been turned into Alker and Elkis; but Scaliger's suggestion of Alkes generally has been adopted, although now applied to the star alpha (Alkes). These same Tables Latinized it as Patera, and as Vas, or Vas aquarium.

{Page 184} Riccioli's strange Elvarad and Pharmaz I cannot trace to their origin.

Its more conspicuous stars, with chi and others in Hydra, twenty-two in all, formed the 10th sieu, Yh, Yih, or Yen, Wings or Flanks; and the whole constellation may have been the Chinese Heavenly Dog shot at by Chang, the divinity of the 9th sieu in Leo, which also bore that god's name.

Caesius said that Crater represented the Cup of Joseph found in Benjamin's sack, or one of the stone Water-pots of Cana, or the Cup of Christ’s Passion; others called it the Wine-cup of Noah, but Julius Schiller combined some of its stars with a part of Corvus as the Ark of the Covenant.

Astrologically it portended eminence to those born under its influence.

Centaurusthe Centaur



Clues to the meaning of this celestial featureRead what writers of myth have written on the Centaurs on this page of the Theoi Project website.

Centaurus represents the Centaurs who were a tribe of half-man, half-horse savages, living on the mountains of Thessaly. They were people who tamed horses and are depicted as having the torso of a human joined at the (human) waist to the horse's withers where the horse's neck would be. In earlier times a man on horseback was an uncommon sight, resembling at a distance a figure half man, half horse. "This half-human and half-animal composition has led many writers to treat them as liminal beings, caught between the two natures, embodied in contrasted myths, and as the embodiment of untamed nature, as in their battle with the Lapiths, or conversely as teachers, like Chiron" [1].

How Centaurs came to be:

"Ixion fell in love with Hera and tried to rape her, but she reported his behavior to Zeus, who decided to test his wife's testimony. For this purpose, the god made a Cloud Resembling Hera (this cloud was named

Nephele1), and laid it beside Ixion [Ixion on his wheel is identified with Corona Australis]. So when Ixion went around boasting that he had enjoyed Hera, Zeus bound him to a wheel, on which he is whirled by winds through the air. The cloud (Nephele) gave birth to Centaurus, and when he consorted with the Magnesian Mares, the Centaurs were born." http://www.maicar.com/GML/CENTAURS.html

The word centaur might be related to the word century, hundred, cent, and Centaury (the herb whose medical qualities are fabled to have been discovered by Chiron the centaur):

"Dromicrites in his Theologia writes that Ixion first aspired to the glory of a kingdom in Greece, and that he first of all men assembled for his use a hundred horsemen, whence the hundred armed men were called Centaurs (they ought to be called centippi, because they are depicted as part horses), but also as a real hundred armed men." [Fulgentius, Mythologies, late C5th or early C6th AD]

The English word centaur comes from Latin Centaurus, from Greek Kentauros. Akkadian Habasiranu, Sumerian EN.TE.NA.BAR.HUM [2]. The Centaurs lived in the mountains of Thessaly and forests of Magnesia. Thessaly is a region of east-central Greece, and the Thessalians were renowned for their cavalry [3]. Poseidon was said to have produced the first horse by striking the ground in Thessaly with his trident (Virgil, Georgics, i. 12) [4].

“Their appearance gave their name to the Centaurs, that is, a man combined with a horse. Some say that they were horsemen of Thessaly, but because, as they rushed into battle, the horses and men seemed to have one body, they maintained the fiction of the Centaurs” [The Etymologies of Isidore of Seville, 7th century AD, p.246.]

Chiron is identified with this constellation, his name is related to the Greek word for hand, kheir, from the Indo-European root *ghes- 'Hand'. Derivatives: chiro-, chirurgeon (surgeon), enchiridion (a handbook, a manual), surgeon, surgery (from Latin chirurgia, from Greek kheir, hand, to perform work with one's hands), chiropractor, chiroptera (the zoological name for the bat family, meaning 'hand wing'), press* (conscription or impressment into service), presto (so suddenly that magic seems involved as in the expression 'hey presto', also a very fast tempo in music), imprest (an advance or a loan of funds, from Latin praesto, at hand),

Chiron, chiral (used to describe a molecule whose arrangement of atoms is such that it cannot be superimposed on its mirror image) [Pokorny 1. ghesor- 447. Watkins] Klein supplies more cognates: "See yard2, 'enclosure', and compare words there referred to. Compare also chorion, chorus, chronic, and the second element in Dashahara and in vihara."

“A certain Greek, Chiron, invented medical practice for draft animals. For this reason he is pictured as half man, half horse. He was named Chiron from the term Keirizesthai (i.e. 'operate by hand'), because he was a surgeon (chirurgus)” [The Etymologies of Isidore of Seville, 7th century AD, p.114.]

Our English word hand is related to Old Norse henda, 'to grasp', Gothic -hinthan, 'to seize', and also to the verb hunt, the obsolete hent (to take hold of; seize), hint, handsome (hand-some), handicap.

The Latin word for hand is manus, and derives from the Indo-European root *man-* 'Hand'. Derivatives: manacle, manage, manège (the art of training and riding horses), manner, manners, manual, manubrium, manus (the wrist and hand of humans or the carpus and forefoot of other vertebrates), amanuensis (scribe), maintain (manu + tenere), maneuver, manicure, manifest, mansuetude (gentleness of manner, mildness which described Chiron and Pholus), manufacture, manure, manuscript, mastiff, quadrumanous (having four feet with opposable first digits, as primates other than humans, from Latin manus, hand), manipulate, manoeuvre, commandment, emancipate (ex- + mancipare), mandamus (an order from a high court), mandate (order), Maundy Thursday (ceremony of washing the feet of the poor on this day), command, commando, commend, countermand, demand, recommend, remand (from Latin compound mandare, 'to put into someone's hand'). [Pokorny me-r 740. Watkins]

"It is believed that Centaurs arose from a misinterpretation of horse and riders which seems to explain the origin of the name, Centaurus, -cento meaning 'to goad or prick' and -tauros meaning 'bull', which implies they were cattle herders" [3]. Greek kenteo means to goad, urge on, drive on, kenteo-tauros, 'goad a bull', 'to prick a bull'. Centaurs had a similar occupation to modern cowboys, rounding up herds of cattle while on horseback, cowboys were also called cowpokes implying goading or pricking. The South Americans have gauchos. Greek kenteo comes from the Indo-European root *kent- 'To prick, jab'. Derivatives: center, centre, eccentric ('out of the center'), -centric, concentrate, concentric, (these words from Greek kentein, to prick, kentron 'needle'). Suffixed form *kent-to-; cestus+ (a woman's belt or girdle worn around the waist in ancient Greece, from Greek kestos, belt, girdle). [Pokorny kent- 567. Watkins]

"Greek kentron is formed from the stem of kentein to prick, goad, stab, which is probably cognate with Old High German hantag, sharp, pointed, and Gothic handugs, wise (from Proto-Germanic *Handazas) [resembling the English word hand?], and with Old Icelandic hannarr, skillful, smart (from Proto-Germanic *Hantheraz), from Indo-European *kent-/kont- prick (Pok.567)" [Chamber’s Dictionary of Etymology]

"... possible reflexes of *kent-/*kont-/*k@nt-. Latin has contus 'barge-pole, pike' < *kontos (an expected derivative). Germanic *xanduz 'hand'..." [in a discussion from Cybalist list].

Latin contus is derived from the Indo-European root *(s)teu-1 'To push, stick, knock, beat; with derivatives referring to projecting objects, fragments, and certain related expressive notions and qualities'. Derivatives:

steep1, steeple, step-, stoop1, stub, stiver, stint, stoss, stutter, stock, livestock, alpenstock, linstock, tuck3 (a slender sword; a rapier), shtick, stucco (plaster), stoker, stupendous, stupid, stupify, stupor, (these words from Latin stupere, to be stunned), etude, étui, student, study, tweezers, (these words from Latin studere, to be diligent < 'to be pressing forward'), Styx (Styx is a river which formed the boundary between Earth and

the Underworld, Hades. To swear on it was the most holy oath a god could make), toil1, ratatouille, (these words from Latin tudes, hammer), tussis (cough), pertussis (whooping cough, from Latin tussis), contuse, obtund, pierce (pertusus, 'to thrust through', from per- and tundere), retuse, obtuse, obtund, (these words from Latin tundere, to beat), type, typical, antitype, archetype, (these words from Greek tupos, a blow, mold, die), tympanum (eardrum, from Greek tumpanon), tympany, studio, studious. [Pokorny 1. (s)teu- 1032. Watkins]

Chiron was a teacher or tutor to many young gods in Greek mythology who came to study with him on Mount Pelion. The Centaurs skills in urging on and taming wild horses might be extended to Chiron's duty as a tutor, taming the wild spirit in his young students.

"The Hebrew letter Lamed (Greek lambda, English L) signifies both Learning and Teaching. Most sources assert that its literal meaning was originally an 'ox goad' [5].

"lamed, lamedh, name of the 12th letter of the Hebrew alphabet. — Hebrew lamedh, literally probably 'the rod of the teacher', from the stem of lamadh, 'he exercised, learned', whence also malmadh, 'ox goad', talmidh, 'scholar, pupil'. See Talmud and compare lambda" [Klein].

Horse-taming and horseback culture arose first in the Eurasian Steppes believed to be around 3,000 B.C.

“A spear (hasta) is a shaft (contus) with an iron head; its diminutive is 'dart' (hastilia). The name hasta comes from 'craft' (astus), whence also is the term 'cunning' (astutia)" [The Etymologies of Isidore of Seville, 7th century AD, p.362.]

Latin hasta, translated 'spear', is related to gad2, a goad. Old Indian or Sanskrit has the word hasta or hastah, meaning 'hand'. Sanskrit hasta 'hand' is related to the chiro- root from *ghes- 'Hand'; "Latin praesto ... as in the pre-Latin phrase prai hestod, prai before + ablative case of a lost noun *hestos which is cognate with Sanskrit hasta-s hand, from Indo-European *ghestos" [Chamber’s Dictionary of Etymology].

A goad is a sharp, pointed stick used in driving oxen. It comes from the Indo-European root *ghei-1 'To propel, prick'. Derivative: goad (from Old English gad, goad, from Germanic *gaido, goad, spear). [Pokorny I. ghei- 424. Watkins] Klein says the word goad is also related to gore, 'a triangular piece of land', literally 'a spear-shaped piece of land', and gore, 'to pierce'. These words come from the Indo-European root *ghaiso- 'A

stick, spear'. Derivatives: gore1 (to pierce or stab), garfish (a primitive freshwater fish), garlic (from Old English gar, spear, Old Norse geirr, also in personal names), Edgar (from Old English Eadgar, 'happy spear, rich

spear'), Osgar, Oscar, Gerald, Gerard, Gertrude, gyrfalcon, from Germanic *gaizaz, spear, gore2 (a triangular or tapering piece of cloth forming a part of something, as in a skirt or sail). [Pokorny ghaiso- 410. Watkins]

[There are separate Indo-European roots for goad (from *ghei-1), and gad2 (also meaning a goad, from *ghazdh-o-), but there does not seem to be a recognized link?] Goad comes from Old English gad, 'goad', and

the word gad2, a pointed tool or goad, comes from the Indo-European root *ghazdh-o- 'Rod, staff'. Derivatives: yard1 (unit of length, also a spar slung to a mast to support and spread the head of a sail, from Old

English gierd, geord, staff, twig, measuring rod, from Germanic *gazdjo), gad2 (a goad, as for prodding cattle, from Old Norse gaddr, rod, goad, spike. A gadfly is literally 'a goading fly'), attelet (a skewer), haslet (edible viscera of an animal), hastate (hastate shaped leaves), from Latin hasta, spear, gadfly. [Pokorny 1. ghasto- 412. Watkins]

An attelet is a slender skewer. The constellation Centaurus is depicted taking adjoining Lupus, the Therion, or wild animal, to Ara, the Altar, skewered on a pike as a sacrificial offering.

A gadfly goaded the goddess Io on, driving her to wander around the world. [Read what writers of myth say about Io here.] The Greeks called the gadfly oistros. Greek oistros is related to the word 'estrogen'. The estrogen replacement hormone is made from mare's urine.

The word yard1 (from *ghazdh-o-) is a spar on a mast from which sails are set; sailyard. Centaurus is adjacent to Vela, the sails of the ship Argo Navis. Klein sees the word yard2, an enclosure, as related to cheiro-.

"The general character of Centaurs is that of wild, lawless and inhospitable beings, the slaves of their animal passions. They are often represented drawing the car of Dionysus, or bound and ridden by Eros, in allusion to their drunken and amorous habits" [6]. The Centaurs had a problem with manners (related to Latin manus, hand) and one example shows appalling manners; they were invited to a wedding and after getting drunk assaulted the female guests ("laid hands upon them"), and attempted to carry off the bride. By contrast some were of mild manner (mansuetude means mildness of manner) and hospitable (describing Chiron, Pholos and some others).

The left and right hands are mirror images of each other, i.e. a left hand appears as a right hand in a mirror. The term chiral is used to describe an object that is non-superimposable on its mirror image, human hands being the most universally recognized example of chirality.

"The Kentauroi were spawned by the cloud nymph Nephele. Her double-formed brood were deposited on Mount Pelion where the daughters of the centaur-god Kheiron nursed and fostered them to adulthood" [7]. "They were begotten on a cloud or phantom, and are variously explained by a fancied resemblance to the shapes of clouds, or as spirits of the rushing mountain torrents or winds" [8]. The Centaurs have been identified with the Sanskrit Gandharvas (though a disputed identification, Allen in Starnames under Corona Australis, p.172, says "Gandharvas, the Aryan celestial horses that probably were the forerunners of the

Centaurs"), ghost-like beings, known for their power to cast illusions, and their skill with horses". The river Styx (see *(s)teu-1 above) was where the newly dead were ferried onto Hades. In Rome the constellation was Centaurus, the 'duplici Centaurus imagine' of Manilius description. Chiron fashioned an image (an imago) of Actaeon after he died to comfort his dogs. A ghost is an image, an imago. The Manes were the "deified ghosts of the dead", related to Latin m-nus, 'good' (similar to Latin manus, 'hand', but not a recognized cognate).

The Centaurs in myth were nearly always portrayed in the context of being host, or guest, their good and bad manners (related to Latin manus, hand) as guests, and their hospitality (of the 'good Centaurs') as hosts. Centaurus is depicted taking adjoining Lupus, the Therion, or wild animal, to Ara, the Altar, skewered on a pike as a sacrificial offering. Hostia, is the Latin term for sacrificial offering, related to the word host, the consecrated bread or wafer of the Eucharist.

There is a resemblance between the cognates of the Greek word for hand, kheir, and the words ghost and guest:

Greek kheir, Latin chiro-, comes from from Indo-European base *ghes-, *ghesor, related to *ghes-to-, [*ghestos - Chambers], meaning to press2.

The word ghost is from the Indo-European root *gheis-, *ghois.

The word guest from Old Norse gestr, from the Indo-European root *ghos-ti-.

The IE roots *gheis- 'ghost', and the root *ghos-ti- 'guest', are believed to be related (ghosts are a type of guest).

There is a similarity between the words haunt and hand: Old English hanten, means 'haunt'; Old High German hant, means 'hand'.

Chiroptera is the zoological name for the bat family, meaning 'hand wing'. "Bats seem unreal, like ghosts, which is what the Greeks thought they were" [9].

Ghosts of Kentauroi were encountered in Hades; "and the empty rage of Centauri". [Statius, Thebaid 4.536] [10]. The word ghost is related to Old Norse geisa (rage) [11]. [The Japanese geisha (from Japanese gei, 'art' + sha, person) is a hostess with a ghostly white face and other-wordly glide].

Chiron, Cheiron or Kheiron ("hand") is identified with this constellation, Centaurus. During a battle, the centaur, Chiron, was accidentally wounded by one of Hercules' arrows that had been treated with the blood of the Hydra (an adjacent constellation). To avoid a life of excruciating pain from this arrow's poison, Chiron gave up his immortality to Prometheus and died. Crux, the Cross, is a modern constellation that was once part of Centaurus. In this drawing of Centaurus taken from a picture by Hyginus (Roman, ca. A.D. 1, from The New Patterns in the Sky, Staal). Crux is placed on the hind feet of the Centaur. One of these hind feet may have been the place where Chiron was wounded, perhaps the left hind foot with the star Acrux. The words crux, cross, Acrux, and excruciating, are related. Ovid (on this page) says he was wounded in the left foot.

__________

An adjoining constellation Circinus, is the Pair of Compasses that draws a circle, and the needle of that pair of compasses shoud be here in Centaurus. Ayto (Dictionary of Word Origins) explains:

"The word centre came originally from the spike of a pair of compasses which is stuck into a surface while the other arm describes a circle round it. Greek kentron meant 'sharp point,' or more specifically 'goad for oxen' (it was a derivative of the verb kentein 'prick'), and hence was applied to a compass spike; and it was not long before this spread metaphorically to 'midpoint of a circle.'"

The glyph in astrology for the sun is a circle with a dot in the center: !


"The Centaur, from his own nature assigns qualities to his progeny. Such a one will either urge on asses with the goad and yoke together quadrupeds of mixed stock or will ride aloft in a chariot; else he will saddle horses with a fighter or drive them into the fight (translator's note: "he will load horses with arms or drive them into arms", that is yoked to war-chariots).

"Another knows how to apply the arts of healing to the limbs of animals [translator's note; "these endowments reflect the identification of Centaurus as Chiron"] and to relieve the dumb creatures of the disorders they cannot describe for his hearing.

"His is indeed a calling of skill, not to wait for the cries of pain, but recognize betimes a sick body not yet conscious of its sickness". [Astronomica, Manilius, 1st century A.D, book 5, p.329].


Fixed stars in Centaurus


? 18LIB41 20LIB04 177 09 33 -44 53 43 -41 24 54 4.71 K4

pi 20LIB49 22LIB12 169 40 48 -54 13 01 -51 48 27 4.26 B5

delta 26LIB06 27LIB29 181 26 21 -50 26 39 -44 30 22 2.88 B3

rho 28LIB01 29LIB24 182 15 25 -52 05 25 -45 34 43 4.20 B3

gamma 00SCO57 02SCO20 189 41 13 -48 41 08 -40 09 26 2.38 A0

iota 01SCO45 03SCO08 199 26 41 -36 26 57 -26 00 33 2.91 A2

lambda 03SCO10 04SCO33 173 21 59 -62 44 35 -56 47 04 3.34 B9

xi 05SCO20 06SCO43 195 09 44 -49 15 32 -38 50 36 5.02 A0

nu 09SCO47 11SCO10 206 37 27 -41 26 22 -28 15 46 3.53 B2

mu 10SCO09 11SCO32 206 38 56 -42 13 32 -28 58 27 3.32 B2

Menkent theta 10SCO56 12SCO19 210 55 58 -36 07 30 -22 03 57 2.26 G9

zeta 13SCO34 14SCO57 208 06 07 -47 02 35 -32 56 15 3.06 B3

epsilon 14SCO11 15SCO34 204 10 35 -53 12 47 -39 34 50 2.56 B2

eta 18SCO52 20SCO15 218 04 49 -41 56 22 -25 30 26 2.65 B3

Agena beta 22SCO25 23SCO48 210 04 08 -60 07 58 -44 07 53 0.61 B3

kappa 23SCO47 25SCO10 223 58 28 -42 57 40 -25 01 41 3.35 B2

Toliman alpha 28SCO10 29SCO33 219 02 48 -60 37 49 -42 34 41 0.27 G4

The New Patterns in the Sky, Julius D.W. Staal, 1988, p.171.


The Centaur's arrow ready seems to pierce

Some enemy; far forth his bow is bent

Into the blue of heaven.

— John Keats Endymion

Centaurus, the Centaur, is from the Kentauros that Aratos used, probably from earlier times, for it was a universal title with the Greeks; but he also called it Ippota pher, the Horseman Beast, the customary term for a centaur in the Epic and Aeolic dialects. This, too, was the special designation of the classical Pholos, son of Silenus and Melia, and the hospitable one of the family, who died in {Page 149} consequence of exercising this virtue toward Hercules. Apollodorus tells us that the latter's gratitude caused this centaur's transformation to the sky as our constellation, with the fitting designation Eumeneus, Well-disposed [Eumaneus was the Swineherd in Homer].

Eratosthenes (around 200 BC) asserted that the stellar figure represented Cheiron, a title that, in its transcribed forms Chiron and Chyron, was in frequent poetical use in classical times, and is seen in astronomical works even to Ideler's day. This has appropriately been translated the Handy One, a rendering that well agrees with this Centaur's reputation. He was the son of Chronos and the ocean nymph Philyra, who was changed after his birth into a Linden tree, whence Philyrides occasionally was applied to the constellation; although a variant story made him Phililyrides, the son of Phililyra, the Lyre-loving, from whom he inherited his skill in music. He was imagined as of mild and noble look, very different from the threatening aspect of the centaur Sagittarius; and Saint Clement of Alexandria wrote of him that he first led mortals to righteousness. His story has been thought in some degree historic, even by Sir Isaac Newton. As the wisest and most just of his generally lawless race he was beloved by Apollo and Diana, and from their teaching became proficient in botany and music, astronomy, divination, and medicine, and instructor of the most noted heroes in Grecian legend. Matthew Arnold wrote of him in Empedocles on Etna:

On Pelion, on the grassy ground,

Chiron, the aged Centaur lay,

The young Achilles standing by.

The Centaur taught him to explore -

The mountains where the glens are dry

And the tired Centaurs come to rest,

And where the soaking springs abound.

…He told him of the Gods, the stars,

The tides.

Indeed, he was the legendary inventor of the constellations, as we see in Dyer's poem The Fleece:

Led by the golden stars as Chiron's art

Had marked the sphere celestial;

and the father of Hippo, mentioned by Euripides as foretelling events from the stars.

The story of Pholos is repeated for Chiron: that, being accidentally wounded by one of the poisoned arrows of his pupil Hercules, the Centaur renounced his immortality on earth in favor of the Titan Prometheus, and was raised to the sky by Jove. His name and profession are yet seen in {Page 150} the mediaeval medicinal plants Centaurea, the Centaury, and the still earlier Chironeion.

Prometheus evidently inherited Chiron's astronomical attainments, as well as his immortality, for Aeschylus, who thought him the founder of civilization and "full of the most devoted love for the human race," made him say in Prometheus Bound:

I instructed them to mark the stars,

Their rising, and, a harder science yet,

Their setting.

The conception of a centaur's figure with Homer, Hesiod, and even with Berossos, probably was of a perfect human form, Pindar being the first to describe it as semi-ferine, and since his day the human portion of the Centaur has been terminated at the waist and the hind quarters of a horse added. William Morris thus pictured him in his Life and Death of Jason:

at last in sight the Centaur drew,

A mighty grey horse trotting down the glade,

Over whose back the long grey locks were laid,

That from his reverend head abroad did flow;

For to the waist was man, but all below

A mighty horse, once roan, but now well-nigh white

With lapse of years; with oak-wreaths was he dight

Where man joined unto horse, and on his head

He wore a gold crown, set with rubies red,

And in his hand he bare a mighty bow,

No man could bend of those that battle now.

Some ancient artists and mythologists changed these hind quarters to those of a bull, thus showing the Minotaur, and on the Euphrates it was considered a complete Bull. The Arabians drew the stellar figure with the hind parts of a Bear, but adopted the Greek title in their Al Kentaurus, that has been considered as the original of the otherwise inexplicable Taraapoz, used in Reduan's Commentary for our constellation.

Some of the Centaur's stars, with those of Lupus, were known to the early Arabs as Al Kadb al Karm, the Vine Branch; and again as Al Shamarih, the broken-off Palm Branches loaded with dates which Kazwini described as held out in the Centaur's hands. This degenerated into Asemarik, and perhaps was the origin of Bayer's word Asmeat. He also had Albeze; and Riccioli, Albezze and Albizze, — unintelligible unless from the Arabic Al Wazn, Weight, that was sometimes applied to alpha (Toliman or Bungula) and beta (Agena).

Hyde is our authority for another title (from Albumasar), Birdun, the Pack-horse.

{Page 151} Ptolemy described the figure with Lupus in one hand, and the Thyrsus in the other, marked by four 4th-magnitude stars, of which only two can now be found; this Thyrsus being formed, Geminos said, into a separate constellation by Hipparchos as thursologkos, — in the Manitius text as thursos, — and Pliny wrote of it in the same way, but their selection of such small stars seems remarkable.

The Centaur faces the east, and the Farnese globe shows him pointing with left hand to the Beast and the adjacent circular Altar; but in the Hyginus of 1488 the Beast is in his outstretched hands, the Hare on the spear, and a canteen at his waist; the Alfonsine Tables have the Thyrsus in his right hand and Lupus held by the fore foot in his left, which was the Arabian idea. The Leyden Manuscript gives a striking delineation of him with shaven face, but with heavy mustache (!), bearing the spear with the Hare dangling from the head, and a Kid, instead of the Beast, held out in his hands towards the Altar (Ara), the usual libation carried in the canteen. Bayer shows the Centaur with Lupus; Burritt has him in a position of attack, with the spear in his right hand and the shield on his left arm, the Thyrsus and vase of libation depicted on it; Grotius calling this portion of the constellation Arma. The Century Dictionary illustrates a Bacchic wand with the spear.

In Rome the constellation was Centaurus, the duplici Centaurus imagine of Manilius, and the Geminus biformis of Germanicus; Minotaurus; Semi Vir, the Half Man, and Semi Fer, the Half Beast; Pelenor and Pelethronius from the mountain home of the centaurs in Thessaly; Acris Venator, the Fierce Hunter; and Vergil had Sonipes, the Noisy-footed. The Alfonsine Tables designated it as Sagittarius tenens pateram seu crateram to distinguish it from the other Sagittarius with the more appropriate bow.

Robert Recorde, in 1551, had the Centaure Chiron, but Milton, in 1667, wrote Centaur for the zodiac figure, as so many others have done before and since his day; in fact, Sagittarius undoubtedly was the original Centaur and from the Euphrates, the Centaur of the South probably being of Greek conception. But in the classical age confusion had arisen among the unscientific in the nomenclature of the two figures, this continuing till now; much that we find said by one author for the one appearing with another author for: the other. During the 17th century, however, distinction was made by English authors in calling this the Great Centaure.

In some mediaeval Christian astronomy it typified Noah, but Julius Schiller changed the figure to Abraham with Isaac; and Caesius likened it to Nebuchadrezzar when "he did eat grass as oxen."

This is one of the largest constellations, more than 60° in length, its {Page 152} centre about 50° south of the star Spica below Hydra's tail; but Aratos located it entirely under the Scorpion and the Claws, an error that Hipparchos criticized. It shows in the latitude of New York City only a few of its components in the bust, of which theta, a variable 2nd-magnitude on the right shoulder, is visible in June about 12° above the horizon when on the meridian, and 27° southeast from Spica, with no other star of similar brightness in its vicinity. It was this that Professor Klinkerfues of Gottingen mentioned in his telegram to the Madras Observatory, on the 30th of November, 1872, in reference to the lost Biela comet which he thought had touched the earth three days previously and might be found in the direction of this star.

Chamaeleonthe chameleon, Well Hidden

Johann Bode, Uranographia, 1801


Clues to the meaning of this celestial featureThis constellation, Chamaeleon, is adjacent to Octans which contains the South Pole. The name 'chameleon' means 'Earth lion', or 'lion of the earth', and is derived from the Greek words chamai (on the ground, on the earth) and leon (lion).

Main features of the chameleon: Skin changes color to camouflage itself. The eyes can move in different directions simultaneously, can rotate to observe two different objects simultaneously giving a full 360-degree arc of vision around their body. Long tongues, sometimes longer than their own body length, with suction cap at the tip.

Chamaeleon, chamae + lion, the prefix chamae comes from the Indo-European root *dhghem- 'Earth'. Derivatives: bridegroom, (bride-groom, from Old English guma, man), chthonic (Greek khthon, Earth), autochthon (one of the earliest known inhabitants of a place; an aborigine. An indigenous plant or animal), chamaephyte (a low-growing perennial plant whose dormant overwintering buds are borne at or just above the surface of the ground), chameleon, chamomile, germander, (these words from Greek khamai, on the ground), humble, humiliate, humility, humus+, omerta, exhume, inhume, transhumance, (these words from Latin humus, earth, earthling), homage, hombre+, hominid, homo+, homunculus, ombre, bonhomie, homicide, (these words from Latin homo, human being, man), human, humane, (from Latin humanus, human), chernozem (Russian for 'black earth', chërnyi, black + zemi, earth), sierozem, zemstvo, (these words from Old Russian zemi, land, earth), zamindar (from Persian zamin, earth, land). [Pokorny ghdem- 414. Watkins] The 'homo' of 'homo sapiens' is a Latin word meaning 'human being, man'. The 'homo' of 'homo sapiens' has no connection with the 'homo-' of homosexual.

Humans, or human beings, are bipedal primates belonging to the species Homo sapiens (Latin: 'wise man' or 'knowing man', modern humans) in the family Hominidae (the great apes) [2].

The theoi chthonioi, were the gods of the nether or underworld.

"The word 'human' itself is from Latin humanus, an adjective cognate to homo, both derived from Proto-Indo-European language dhghem- 'earth'. Compare Hebrew adam, meaning 'human', cognate to adamah, meaning 'ground'. (And compare Latin humus, meaning 'soil'.) Both homo/humanus/humus and adam/adamah share a conjectured Nostratic superroot, ad-ham-" [3]. "Adam was, as his prototype Atum in Egypt, the first formation in the worlds above of the mind-in-matter combination. He was the archetypal model in ethereal mold of the earthly man to be" [4].

The word chameleon can be resolved into 'the human lion' - 'the humus lion'.

Life in Cold Blood Chameleon by David Attenborough is a fascinating ten minute YouTube video on chameleons.


Fixed stars in Chamaelon


alpha 27SCO56 29SCO19 124 57 45 -76 45 44 -75 24 15 4.08 F5

gamma 29SCO03 00SAG26 158 43 26 -78 20 54 -68 04 39 4.10 M0

beta 04SAG04 05SAG27 183 50 34 -79 02 05 -63 35 15 4.38 B5

[1]


Chameleon is the German Chamaleon, the French Cameleon, and the Italian Camaleonte, is a small and unimportant constellation below Carina, Octans separating it from the south pole. It was first published and figured by Bayer among his new constellations from observations by navigators of the preceding century. Pontanus, in Chilrnead's Treatise, included it with Musca as "the Chamaeleon with the flie"; but Julius Schiller entirely changed its character by combining it with Apus and Musca in his biblical Eve.

None of its stars seem to be named except in China, where some of the larger were Seaou Tow, a small Measure or Dipper, that our alpha, theta, eta, iota, epsilon, mu2, and mu1 well show.

Lynxthe Lynx


Contents:1. Clues to the meaning of this celestial feature

2. The fixed stars in this constellation3. History_of_the_constellation


Eurasian lynxLynx are solitary animals known for their short tails and characteristic tufts of black hair on the tips of their ears, cheek ruffs that look like a double, pointed beard. They have very large "padded snowshoe paws" for threading the snowy mountains. The presence of this animal in an area may go unnoticed for years. "The Lynx has often played an important role in mythology, because it is such an elusive, ghost-like animal that sees without being seen. Because of it's qualities of silence and watching, the Lynx has also been associated with scientists, and the search for knowledge" [1]. They were supposed to be able to see through objects, through walls and underground, Plutarch saying; "the lynx, who can penetrate through trees and rocks with its sharp sight." The bob-cat is an American variety of the lynx. The Lynx software program is a web browser used by people to navigate the World Wide Web.

Isidore says:

“The lyncurius is so named because it is formed from lynx urine that has hardened with time. Like amber, it is yellow, and it attracts nearby leaves with its spirit. [p.324.]

"People say that its urine hardens into a precious stone called lyncurius. That the lynxes themselves perceive this is shown by this proof: they bury as much of the excreted liquid in sand as they can, from a sort of natural jealousy lest such excretion should be brought to human use. [The Etymologies of Isidore of Seville, 7th century AD, p.252.]

There are four myths associated with Lynceus and Lyncus whose name means lynx

Myth 1. The Danaides, the fifty daughters of King Danaus. King Danaus invited his fifty nephews to visit him from Egypt and marry his daughters. On their wedding night he presented each of his daughters with a dagger and made them all swear to kill their husbands. This they did, except for Hypermestra, who spared Lynceus ('lynx') because he had behaved with honor and spared her virginity. Lynceus took refuge on a hill near Argos. Hypermestra let him know it was safe to return by waving a torch. In memory of this the Argives had a torchlight festival. Lychnis, is from the Greek for 'lamp'.

Myth 2. While the above Lynceus behaved with honor another lynx character behaved with dishonor in attempting to murder a guest: King Lyncus or Lynkos ('lynx') of the Scythians was taught the arts of agriculture by Triptolemus "That barbarous king was jealous, and to gain himself the credit for that gift so great lavished his hospitality, and when his guest was sunk in sleep, attacked him with a dagger. As he tried to stab his heart..." - Ovid, Metamorphoses 5.643. Or "he refused to teach the arts of agriculture to his people". Demeter turned him into a lynx.

Myth 3. Another Lynceus was the jealous murderer of Castor (of the adjacent constellation Gemini), along with his brother, Idas. Idas and Lynceus murdered Castor because they all (along with Pollux) sought Phoebe and Hilaeira, daughters of Leucippus. The avenger Pollux [Polydeukes] spears Lynceus where the neck joins and presses the shoulders. - Ovid, Fasti 5.697

Myth 4. Lynceus was one of the Argonauts and he participated in the hunt for the Caledonian Boar. He was a son of Aphareus and Arene and was said to have excellent sight, even able to see underground.

Lynx comes from the Indo-European root *leuk- 'Light, brightness'. Derivatives: light+, lightning, Lucina (the goddess of the moon, who introduces newborns into the light, the same as Luna), luculent (clear or lucid), lux (the International System unit of illumination, equal to one lumen per square meter), Lucifer (morning Venus 'Bringer of Light'), luciferin (a chemical substance present in the cells of bioluminescent organisms, such as fireflies), limbers (bending or flexing readily; pliable), limn (to describe), lumen (the cavity or channel within a tubular structure), luminary, luminous, illuminate, (these words from Latin lumen, light, opening), Luna (the goddess of the moon. The same as Lucina), semilunar valve (two valves, one located at the opening of the aorta and the other at the opening of the pulmonary artery, each consisting of three crescent-shaped cusps and serving to prevent blood from flowing back into the ventricles), lunar, lunate, lunatic (effected by the full moon), lune (a crescent-shaped portion of a plane or sphere bounded by two arcs of circles), lunula (a small crescent-shaped structure or marking, especially the white area at the base of a fingernail that resembles a half-moon), mezzaluna (a curved steel blade, often with a vertical handle at each end, used to chop food), (these words from Latin luna, moon), luster, lustrum (a ceremonial purification of the entire ancient Roman population after the census every five years, from Latin lustrum, purification), illustrate (from Latin lustrare, to purify, illuminate), lucubrate (from Latin lucubrare, to work by lamplight, produce scholarship), elucubration (a written work produced by working long and diligently, from Latin lucubrare, to work by lamplight), leuko- (white or colorless in the words: leukoderma, leukocyte, leukopenia, leukorrhea, leukemia (white blood), from Greek leukos), lea (a grassland or meadow, 'place where light shines'), levin (lightning), from Middle English levin, lucent, lucid (Latin lucidus, from lucere ‘to shine’, from the stem luc- ‘light’), elucidate, pellucid ( per-, through; + lucere, to shine; transparent or translucent. The ovum is surrounded by a transparent wall called the Zona Pellucida), translucent, (these words from Latin lucere, to shine), antelucan (the hours before dawn), link* (a torch formerly used for lighting one's way in the streets), lychnis (plants of the genus Lychnis, which includes the campions, from Greek lukhnos, lamp), lynx (Greek lunx, German luchs, as if from its shining eyes), ounce* (snow leopard), lucerne (is alfalfa, originally ‘glowworm’), Lucerne is a city of central Switzerland. [Pokorny leuk- 687. Watkins] Some think the Celtic god Lugh is from this root, (variations of his name are: Lug, Lugos, Lugus, Lucoubus, Gaulish Lugubus, Luga, Irish Lug and Welsh Lleu). Names: Lucy, Lucia, Lucius, Lynceus, Lyncus, Lynkos.

The lynx is named after the luminescence of its eyes which have expanding irises and reflectors that enable them to hunt effectively at night when they are most active. The lynx is used to symbolize the sense of sight or vision and were credited with the particular ability to be able to see through material things as though these objects were translucent (eagles have another type of sight, they can see for miles but have poor close-up vision). Pliny's canonical compendium of natural history had called the lynx "the most clear sighted of all quadrupeds." An eye is an organ of vision that detects light. German luchs, lynx, resembles the word look? Old Norse gaupa, lynx', resembles the word gape (to stare wonderingly or stupidly)?

Lynxes live alone in wilderness areas on rugged dry and rocky hills and mountains, leaping over chasms from cliff to cliff, evoking an image of linking a chain of mountains (from link1, link in a chain? Maybe Lucy, hailed as the missing link between ape and human?)

The Accademia dei Lincei, 'Academy of the Lynxes', is an Italian science academy. Founded in 1603 by Federico Cesi who had named his academy after the lynx and said "... the acuity of the lynx arose from two paired and complementary virtues - sharpness of vision and depth of insight, the outside and the inside, the eye and the mind", "just as the lynx, with its superior vision, not only sees what lies outside but also notes what arises from inside" (1). Cesi and his friends aimed to understand all of the natural sciences. They wrote the Saggiatore of Galileo, and the Tesoro Messicano describing the flora, fauna, and drugs of the New World, which took decades of labor; a reminder of the word elucubration which means a written work produced by working long and diligently, from Latin lucubrare, to work by lamplight. The Linceans produced an important collection of micrographs, or drawings (illustrations), made with the help of the newly invented microscope.

In Rome the Greek word lychnos - Latinized as lychnus - remained the standard term for 'lamp' until imperial times, when the Latin word lucerna was used. The generic name for the flowers, Lychnis, is from the Greek for 'lamp', and refers to the fact that the felt-like leaves that were formerly used for lamp wicks. Lynchnobius, a Greek compound from lychnos (lamp) and bios (life), meaning one who lives by lamplight.

One famous lamp is the subject of a story in the Arabian Nights. The young boy, Aladdin, acquires a magic oil lamp that, when rubbed, or polished, brings forth a jinni, a genie (from Latin genius), who grants Aladdin's wishes.


Fixed stars in Lynx


2 01CAN43 03CAN06 093 48 12 +59 01 54 +35 37 04 4.42 A2

5 07CAN46 09CAN09 103 14 18 +58 29 27 +35 25 58 4.54 G6

21 14CAN19 15CAN42 110 44 13 +49 18 47 +26 56 32 4.45 A0

31 26CAN11 27CAN34 124 51 18 +43 21 01 +23 06 05 4.43 K5

36 05LEO55 07LEO18 137 38 08 +43 25 31 +25 50 41 5.30 A1

38 09LEO11 10LEO34 138 56 06 +37 00 56 +20 05 53 3.82 B9

alpha 10LEO28 11LEO51 139 30 14 +34 36 19 +17 57 37 3.30 M0



Lynx sive Tigris, the Lynx or Tiger, is the Italian Lince, the German Luchs and Linx, the French Lynx.

Its stars may have been those intended by Aratos where he mentioned, {Page 280} in our motto, some in front of the Greater Bear (Ursa Major); but for the modern figure we are indebted to Hevelius (in 1690). He used in it nineteen stars, and in, explaining the title said that those who would examine the Lynx ought to be lynx-eyed, in which he acknowledged the insignificance of the components. Of these Argelander has catalogued 42, and Heis 87; but the boundaries are not accurately determined.

The alternative name, now in disuse, came from the fancied resemblance of the many little stars to spots on the tiger; and the same word was applied by Bartschius in 1624, although as the river Tigris, to some stars that subsequently-were made into the Polish Bull and the Little Fox with the Goose.

In the Lynx appeared in July, 1893, the much-discovered comet b of that year, the Rordame-Quenisset.

The constellation seems chiefly noticeable for the beauty of its numerous doubles, of which Espin mentions fifty in his edition of Webb's Celestial Objects. Of one of these Professor Young writes in his Uranography:

38, or rho Lyncis; Mags. 4, 7.5; Pos. 240°; Dist. 2".9; white and lilac. This is the northern one of a pair of stars which closely resembles the three pairs that mark the paws of Ursa Major. This pair makes nearly an isosceles triangle with the two pairs gamma, mu and iota, kappa Ursae Majoris.

It might well have been utilized by the modern constructor, whoever he was, of our Ursa Major to complete the quartette of feet.

Fl. 31 Lyncis, of 4.4 magnitude, the 8th of Ptolemy's Amorphotoi of Ursa Major, is given by Assemani as the Arabic Alsciaukat, a Thorn (Al-Shaukah), and Mabsuthat (Mabsutah), Expanded.

The constellation comes to the meridian in February, due north from the star Castor.

Leo Minorthe Lesser Lion




Hevelius (1690)

Leo Minor, the Smaller Lion, as shown in this picture by Hevelius (1690), is the figure of a small lion positioned under the feet of the Great Bear, Ursa Major, and above the constellation Leo, the larger Lion.

The picture shows three of the Bear's paws are placed on the ground and her right front paw is lifted - not leaving a track. The Arabs called these tracks the 'three gazelle leaps'. Ideler, translator of Kazwini, an Arabian

astronomy book, surmised that the stars of Leo Minor were the Arabs' Al Thiba' wa-Auladuha, the Gazelle with her Young, shown in this location on the Borgian globe.

The gazelle left tracks in the sky as it ran, they are the three pairs in Ursa Major, the three sets of 'leaps,' closely-spaced pairs of stars on the feet of the Bear which became the stars of Leo Minor. "Across the top of the picture are three pairs of stars that represent three feet of Ursa Major (the three gazelle 'leaps' of the Arabs, from right to left the third, second and first leaps). To the right of the first leap is Praecipua of Leo Minor, the Smaller Lion. The top of the Sickle of Leo is at the bottom, while the eastern end of the modern constellation Lynx is to the far right" [http://www.astro.uiuc.edu/~kaler/sow/lmi-t.html]

The Leaps of the Gazelle: In ancient Arabia, before the Arabs adopted the Greek Astronomical figures for the constellations, they had different configurations in the sky. Many of starnames comes to us from this tradition.

Nu (the star: Alula Boreale) and xi (Alula Australe) marking the right hind foot of the Greater Bear (Ursa Major) were 'the First Leap' of the Gazelle. lambda (Tania Borealis) and mu (Tania Australis) together, marking the Bear's left hind foot, were 'the Second Leap' of the Gazelle. Iota and kappa, the two Talithas together, marking the Third Leap. Each pair of stars marking one 'spring' or 'leap'.

"They were collectively designated Kafzah al Thiba', the Springs of the Gazelle. The Gazelle being imagined from the unformed stars since gathered up as Leo Minor, and the springing from the Pond (adjacent Coma Berenice) of the animal being due to its fear of the greater Lion's tail (Leo). In early Arabia Coma Berenices was Al Haud, the Pond, into which the Gazelle, our Leo Minor, sprang when frightened at the lashing of the Lion's tail (Coma Berenices is the tuft of the Lion's tail in the Arabian figure of Leo which was a huge lion encompassing a number of our constellations); although some of the Arabic observers claimed that this Pond lay among the stars of the neck, breast, and knees of the Greater Bear Ursa Major; and Lach substituted it for the Gazelle in our location of Leo Minor. Ideler adopted this from Al Tizini and the Cufic globe at Dresden; while the Borgian globe shows a Gazelle and her Young in the same location. Kazwini, however, described this group as extending over the eyes, eyebrows, ears, and muzzle of the figure of our Ursa Major" [Allen, Star Names].

This constellation is thought to be a gazelle in the Arabic figuring. It has also been called 'Leaena, the Lioness'. The Aramaic word ariel seems to be a name for both for a gazelle and also for lioness? There were numerous names for lions in Middle Eastern cultures.

Ideler (German astronomer 1766–1846, translator of Kazwini, an Arabian astronomy book) surmised that the stars of Leo Minor were the Arabs' Al Thiba' wa-Auladuha, the Gazelle with her Young. Arabic Thiba meaning gazelle and is related to the name Tabitha. The name Tabitha is derived from an Aramaic word that meant gazelle. Greek Tabitha, from Aramaic tabhyetha, emphatic state of tabhya, 'gazelle', which is related to Hebrew tzebhi, feminine tzebhiyyah, Arabic zaby, Akkadian sabitu, of same meaning [Klein]. It seems that Greek Dorcas is translated from Aramaic Tabitha, in the Acts of the Apostles, she was a Christian woman of Joppa whom St. Peter raised from the dead. She was a dressmaker, who made clothes for the poor in her village. When she died, the people of the village called upon Saint Peter who is said to have raised her from the dead. [1].

This constellation, Leo Minor, represents the footsteps of the Great Bear, Ursa Major, or a gazelle in the Arabic figuring, or the footprints of a gazelle (confusing?). Helice was a common classical name for Great Bear (whose tracks represent the stars of Leo Minor). Helice is the Great Bear, Ursa Major, the name Helice is cognate with the name Helen, who might also be Helen of Troy? [I have never seen Helen of Troy identified with any constellation]. Female bears might represent the 'fallen woman' in society; bears have loud passionate 'love affairs' and then part company, leaving the female pregnant and alone. This was somewhat like the experience of Callisto, identified with Ursa Major, who was a hunting partner in Artemis' virgin group. After she became pregnant by Zeus she was cast out and turned into a bear (Ursa Major, Great Bear) for her sexual transgressions. Helen of Troy eloped with Paris, sparking the siege of Troy after her husband raised an army to take her back.

The Arabic verbal root ghazala (gazelle) means to 'display amorous behavior; to court, woo' [2].

Layla and Majnun are 7th-century star-crossed lovers from warring Bedouin tribes in pre-Islamic Middle-East, and could not therefore marry; similar to Romeo and Juliet of Shakespeare [and maybe Ovid's Pyramis and Thisbe]. There is a depiction in which:

"Gazelles frolic near two intertwining pine trees that grow out of star-crossed lovers Leila and Majnoons graves. Leila (Arabic, night) and Majnoon (Majnun, Arabic for love-crazed) are the Romeo and Juliet of Middle Eastern poetry and may have served as the basis for Shakespeare's play. The gazelle, a powerful symbol in Persian and Arabic poetry and art, symbolizes feminine beauty". http://www.boulder-dushanbe.org/ak02spring.html

In poetry, the ghazal is a [Persian or Turkish] poetic form consisting of couplets which share a rhyme and a refrain. Each line must share the same meter. Etymologically, the word literally refers to 'the mortal cry of a gazelle'. The animal is called Ghizaal, from which the English word gazelles stems, or Kastori haran (where haran refers to deer) in Urdu. Ghazals are traditionally expressions of love, separation and loneliness, for which the gazelle is an appropriate image. A ghazal can thus be understood as a poetic expression of both the pain of loss or separation and the beauty of love in spite of that pain [3].


Fixed stars in Leo Minor


21 19LEO37 21LEO00 151 07 18 +35 29 21 +22 05 45 4.47 A5

beta 23LEO09 24LEO32 156 14 59 +36 57 51 +25 03 50 4.41 G8

Praecipua omicron 29LEO28 00VIR53 162 37 50 +34 29 05 +24 55 53 3.92 K2


Each after each, ungrouped, unnamed, revolve.

— Brown's Aratos.

Leo Minor, the Lesser Lion, is the French Petit Lion, the German Kleine Lowe, and the Italian Leoncino. Proctor arbitrarily changed the title to Leaena, the Lioness.

It was formed by Hevelius from eighteen stars between the greater Lion (Leo) and Bear (Ursa Major), in a long triangle with a fainter line to the south, and thus named because he said it was "of the same nature as these adjoining constellations. Argelander assigned to it 21 components, and Heis 40, {Page 264} Aratos is supposed to have alluded to these "ungrouped, unnamed" stars under the hind paws of Ursa Major; and Ptolemy had some of them among the amorphotoi of his leon. Ideler (translator of Kazwini, an Arabian book) surmised that they were the Arabs' Al Thiba' wa-Auladuha, the Gazelle with her Young, shown in this location on the Borgian globe; but Lach (Frederick W., German scholar), that they were Al Haud, the Pond, into which the Gazelle sprang, as noted under Coma Berenices.

The Chinese made two asterisms of it, — Nuy Ping, an Inner Screen, and Seaou Wei; but also included our Lesser Lion with the Greater in their still greater Dragon mounting to the highest heavens, and in yet another figure, the State Chariot.

The Denderah planisphere located here the zodiacal Crab, but whether by design, or in error, is unknown; although some see in the Lesser Lion's stars, with others from the Bear's feet, a well-marked Scarab that was Egypt's idea of Cancer. This was in a part of the sky thought to have been sacred to the great god Ptah.

F1.46, 4. To the lucida Hevelius applied the adjective Praecipua, Chief, which Piazzi inserted as a proper name in the Palermo Catalogue. Burritt mentioned it, under the letter l, as the Little lion, from its being the principal star in the figure.

It culminates on the 14th of April.

In Smyth's Bedford Catalogue we read that Praecipua has three distant companions, — 7., pale gray; 13, reddish; and 12, of violet tint.


Lach (Frederick W., German scholar), that the stars of Leo Minor were Al Haud, the Pond, into which the Gazelle sprang, as noted under Coma Berenices. Allen, on p.168 under Coma Berenices, says: "In early Arabia Coma Berenice was Al Haud, the Pond, into which the Gazelle, our Leo Minor, sprang when frightened at the lashing of the Lion's tail (Coma Berenice is the tuft of the Lion's tail in their figure of Leo.); although some of the Desert observers (Arabian astronomers) claimed that this Pond lay among the stars of the neck, breast, and knees of the Greater Bear; and Lach substituted it for the Gazelle in our location of Leo Minor. The Gazelle being imagined from the unformed stars since gathered up as Leo Minor, and the springing of the animal being due to its fear of the greater Lion's tail. Ideler adopted this from Al Tizini and the Cufic globe at Dresden; while the Borgian globe shows a Gazelle and her Young in the same location. Kazwini (an Arabian book), however, described this group as extending over the eyes, eyebrows, ears, and muzzle of the figure of our Ursa Major".

Canes Venaticithe two Hunting Dogs, or Greyhounds

Urania's Mirror 1825. Canes Venatici held on a leash by Bootes


Clues to the meaning of this celestial featureCanes Venatici represents two dogs, two hounds, or two greyhounds, on a leash or brach, the leash held by Bootes, the Herdsman or Bear Driver as they pursue the Great Bear, Ursa Major, as it circles the Pole. The northern dog is named 'Asterion', the southern 'Chara'. The stars of this constellation first appear in the Prodromus (1690) of the inventor of this constellation; Hevelius. According to Wikipedia some of its component stars were traditionally described as representing Bootes' cudgel, Greek Kollorobos.

This sculpture was found near Civita Lavinia on a spur of the Alban Hills south of Rome, and is in the Townley Collection of the British Museum.

The word for hunting [or chasing] in Ancient Greek, kynegia, is derived from kynos (cynos) 'dog' [2]. Around AD 150, Arrian wrote Cynegeticus ("The Hunter"), a supplement in Greek to the manual of the same name attributed to Xenophon, written five hundred and fifty years earlier. Indicating how hunting and hounds have changed in that time, Arrian describes the Vertragus (or Vertagus), a Celtic breed named for their swiftness, and ancestor of the modern greyhound [1]. Latin vertragus, is a Gaulish word from ver- + trag (Celtic := Greek trekho, to run). [2, p.119]

Canes, dogs, is the plural of Latin canis, dog. The word Venatici is from Latin vinaticus, from Latin venari, 'to hunt, pursue', and comes from Indo-European root *wen-1 'To desire, strive for'. Derivatives: win ('to seek to gain'), wynn (an Old English rune having the sound W or uu; rune for granting wishes), winsome, won+ (achieved victory), wont, wean (to accustom, train a young mammal gradually to get less milk from its mother), ween (to think; suppose), wish, Vanir (an early race of Norse gods who dwelt with the Aesir in Asgard), vanadium (from Old Norse Vanadis, name of the goddess Freya), venerate, venereal, venery+ (indulgence in or pursuit of sexual activity), Venus, venom (from Latin venenum, love potion or poison), Wend (to wend one's way, from Germanic *Weneda-, a Slavic people), venial (easily excused or forgiven; a venial offense, from Latin venia, favor, forgiveness), venery* (hunting or game), venison (used to mean any meat that was hunted, but is now restricted to the flesh of deer), venatic (relating to hunting, from Latin venari, to hunt), wanderoo (a monkey, Macaca silenus, of south-central Asia, having a ruff of gray hair about the face, from Sanskrit vanam, forest, vanarah, forest dweller). [Pokorny 1. wen- 1146. Watkins] Venus is said to have derived from the eponymous mother of Venetian tribes of the Adriatic, after whom the city of Venice was also named.

The grey- of greyhound is from Old English grighund, grieghund (grig-, grieg- 'bitch' + hund dog), related to Old Norse greyhundr, from grey, 'dog', and hundre, 'hound'. The word is not related to the color grey or gray. Vanidis (from *wen-1 above) was an epitaph of Freya, the Norse goddess of love. A greyhound, or a scenting dog, was called a brach, meaning a bitch hound. Greyhound from grig-, the translation of which is sometimes given as 'bitch'.

"The first element of Old English grighund is grig, translated 'bitch': The Old Norse form of the word is preserved in Hjalti's couplet that almost sparked war between pagans and Christians in early Iceland: 'I will not blaspheme the gods, but I think Freyja is a bitch'" [Online Etymology Dictionary].

Windhund is what Germans call the greyhound:

Varro says:

"Venilia (a name, possibly the mother of Turnus) was named from venire ‘to come’ and that ventus ‘wind’ which Plautus mentions:

As that one said who with a favoring wind was borne

Over a placid sea: I'm glad I went*".

[Note by translator: *Punning on ventum: the last phrase may mean also "I'm glad there was a wind"]. [Varro: On The Latin Language, p.69].

Varro says:

"venator ‘hunter’ from ventus ‘wind,' because he follows the stag towards the wind and into the wind". [Varro: On The Latin Language, p.91].

Windhund is what Germans call the greyhound, Dutch call it windhond, and Swedish vinthund. Latin ventus comes from the Indo-European root *wé- 'To blow'. Derivatives: weather, wind+, window, vent+, ventilate, wing, nirvana (an ideal condition of harmony and joy, from nis-, nir- 'out' + vati 'to blow'). [Pokorny 10. aw(e)- 81. Watkins]

Asterion, means 'starry', and it is the alternative name of the beta star on the Southern Hound (Chara). Asterion is also the name of the Northern Hound itself.

Canes Venatici comprises two dogs. "The northern of the two hunting dogs was named Asterion, and was sometimes regarded as an independent constellation or at least an asterism. The southern dog was named Chara" [1]. Two hounds in leash are known as a brache, which is the same word as brace, meaning pair, and embrace. Copula is the name of the Spiral Nebula, or the Whirlpool Nebula, N.G.C.5194, 51 M. in the Northern Hound, Asterion. 'Copula' is related to the words 'couple' and 'copulation'. Venery (hunting), embraces pairs or couples and opposites; pursuer and pursued, hunter (venator) and prey (venison), and venery (copulation). The fewterer was the keeper and handler of the greyhounds in medieval and Renaissance society. They took the hounds in "couples" into the fields for the hunt, and released them at the appointed time [2].

Canes Venatici, has connotations with the words Venus, and nirvana, "an ideal condition of harmony and joy", and the Vanir, an early race of Norse gods who dwelt with the Aesir in Asgard, the heavenly residence of the Norse gods and the promised land to the slain heroes of war. Sanskrit vanam, is a forest (from *wen-1). There is the native American's 'Happy Hunting Grounds'. Greyhounds were raised for deer chasing and hunting. Traditionally hunting dogs were kept in royal parks. The River Jordan was drawn on this part of the sky. In the Hebrew Bible, the Jordan is referred to as the source of fertility to a large plain ('Kikkar ha-Yarden'), called on account of its luxuriant vegetation 'the garden of God' (Genesis 13:10) [3].

The fewterer, 14-15th century vewter, is an obsolete word for a keeper and handler of greyhounds in medieval and Renaissance society; the person who let greyhounds loose in a chase, "so spelt as if connected with Old English feute, the scent or trace of a beast of chase" [Folk-etymology, p.119]. Skeat says the word vewters is explained by "men who tracked deer by the fewte or odour" (with dogs). Fewterer is related to Old French veutre, Italian veltro, the name of the greyhound in Dante's Inferno: [Notes on English etymology, Skeat, p.94, and 315]

Nehalennia of the Greyhound was a pre-Celtic goddess.


Fixed stars in Canes Venatici

Fixed Star Long 1900 Long 2000 RA Decl 2000 Lat 2000 Sp Cl Mag

ASTERION (Chara) Beta 16VIR20 17VIR42 12h33m +41.21 +40.32 G0 4.3

COPULA M51 23VIR43 25VIR08 13h29m +47.12 +50.55 Nebula -

COR CAROLI Alpha 23VIR10 24VIR34 12h55m +38.19 +40.07 A0

Fixed stars in Canes Venatici

Fixed Star Long 1900 Long 2000 RA Decl 2000 Lat 2000 Sp Cl Mag

ASTERION (Chara) Beta 16VIR20 17VIR42 12h33m +41.21 +40.32 G0 4.3

COPULA M51 23VIR43 25VIR08 13h29m +47.12 +50.55 Nebula -

COR CAROLI Alpha 23VIR10 24VIR34 12h55m +38.19 +40.07 A0

Atlas Coelestis, John Flamsteed, 1729


Bootes hath unleash'd his fiery hounds.

— Owen Meredith's Clytemnestra.

Canes Venatici, the Hunting Dogs are the French Chiens du Chasse, Hunting Dogs, or Levriers; Greyhound, the German Jagdhunde, Hunting Dogs, and the Italian Levrieri, lying between Bootes and Ursa Major. Ptolemy entered their stars among the amorphotoi of the latter constellation, and the {Page 115} modern forms first appear in the Prodromus (1690) of their inventor Hevelius. The more northern one is Asterion, Starry, from the little stars marking the body (Copula the Spiral Nebula, or the Whirlpool Nebula marks the northern one); and the other, which contains the two brightest stars (Asterion and Cor Caroli), is Chara, as Dear to the heart of her master. Flamsteed followed in the use of these names, and the Hounds are now well established in the recognition of astronomers, as is the case with most of the stellar creations of Hevelius, which were generally placed where needed.

Proctor, in his attempt to simplify constellation nomenclature, called them Catuli, the Puppies; but the usual illustration is of two Greyhounds held by a leash in the hand of Bootes, ready for pursuit of the Bear around the pole; their inventor thus reviving the idea that Bootes was a hunter.

The Chinese designated three stars in or near the head of Asterion as Ban Kung, the Three Honorary Guardians of the Heir Apparent.

Assemani alluded to a quadrate figure on the Borgian globe, below the tail of the Greater Bear (Ursa Major), as Al Karb al Ibl, the Camel's Burden, that can be no other than stars in the heads of the Hunting Dogs.

Bartschius drew on his map of this part of the sky the River Jordan, his Jordanis and Jordanus, not now recognized, indeed hardly remembered. Its course was from Cor Caroli, under the Bears and above Leo, Cancer, and Gemini, through the stars from which Hevelius afterwards formed Leo Minor and the Lynx, ending at Camelopardalis. But the outlines of his stream were left somewhat undetermined, much like those of Central African waters when guessed at by map-makers thirty years or more ago. This river, however, had already existed before his day on French star-maps and globes.

Coma BerenicesBerenice's Hair



Clues to the meaning of this celestial featureThe story of Berenice

The constellation, Coma Berenices, refers to a classical story concerning the hair of Berenice II, the wife of Ptolemy Soter III of Egypt. Berenice had beautiful long amber-colored hair. Ptolemy was away at war against the Assyrians, and Berenice was worried. She asked the royal oracle, Conon, what to do [his story here]. Conon advised the queen to offer her hair to Aphrodite for the safe return of her husband. After weeks of waiting and tension Ptolemy returned safe and sound. The nation rejoiced but when Berenice told Ptolemy about her promise to sacrifice her hair, Ptolemy was very upset because it was the crowning glory of his queen; and it had the admiration of the nation, and it gave inspiration to the poets. Nothing, however, would change Berenice's mind. She went to the temple where her beautiful locks were cut off and laid on the altar by the priests.

The next day when the king went to the temple to have a look at his wife's hair, he was furious to find the hair had been stolen. He summoned the priests and would have put them to death then and there had not the court astrologer Conon, intervened: "No, no, your majesty, do not blame the priests, it is not their fault, wait until it is dark and I will show you where your wife's hair is".

So when day turned into night the astronomer took the king to look at the night sky "Look! Dost thou not see the clustered curls of thy queen, too beautiful for a single temple to possess, placed there by the gods for all the world to see? Look! They glitter like a woven net, as golden as they were on Berenice's head".

And there, between Canes Venatici, Bootes, Leo and Virgo, twinkled a mass of very faint stars. The astronomer declared that Jupiter had descended from Heaven the night before to take the golden locks up to the heavens where they could be admired by the whole world, not only by one nation. The king was satisfied with this explanation and Berenice was delighted that Venus had so honored her. [The New Patterns in the Sky, Julius D.W. Staal 1988, p.149].

The coma of Coma Berenices is the Latin word for 'hair of the head' and comes from Greek kome, 'hair of the head', or 'cloud around head of a comet', the word coma is related to comet 'a long-haired star'; "with no apparent cognates in other languages" [1].

There were four queens of the Egyptian Ptolemaic dynasty named Berenice [2], and this constellation refers to Berenike 11, or Berenice 11. The name Berenike is the Macedonian variant of Greek Pherenike, which literally means 'carrying off victory', from Greek pherein, 'to bring, carry', and nike, 'victory'. The Berenices in Coma Berenices is from Greek *beronikhe, bernikhi, from the Lybian town Berenike, Berenice (near Bengasi), where varnish was first used. The town was named after this particular queen, Berenike 11. The city was later given the name Hesperides, in reference to the Hesperides, the guardians of the mythic western paradise [3].

Berenice is related to the Latin name Veronica.

"Aristotle uses kome, the Greek word for 'hair of the head,' to mean 'luminous tail of a comet.' Aristotle then uses the derived word kometes, 'wearing long hair,' as a noun meaning 'comet.' The Greek word was adopted into Latin as cometes, which was refashioned in Late Latin and given the form cometa, furnishing Old English with cometa, the earliest English ancestor of our word comet" [AHD].

“'Long hair' (comae) in the strict sense of the word is hair that has not been cut, and it is a Greek word, for the Greeks call long hair caimos, from being cut, whence they also say keirein for shearing. From this curls (cirrus) derive their name as well, which the Greeks call mallos” [The Etymologies of Isidore of Seville, 7th century AD, p.232.]

The constellation represents hair, or shorn locks, that was cut off from Berenice's head. The Greek keirein to which Isidore refers is the source of our word shear, from Old English scieran, from the Indo-European root *sker-+ Also *ker-, *(s)qer-. 'To cut'. Derivatives: shear, shears. [Pokorny 4. (s)ker-, Section I. 938. Watkins]. In a 1910 book, Supplementary discoveries showing Aryo-Semitic cognation, (PDF, entry s563pa) the author suggests a link with the Greek verb, keirein, keirô ('to cut,' crop or shear, from *sker-+ above), and the English word 'hair'.

The word harvest is from Old English hærfest < *harubist. The English word hair is from Old English hær, German haar. [These words are not recognized cognates]. This constellation was given a title 'Sheaf of Wheat', meaning a bundle of cut stalks of grain.

Karmanor (or Carmanor) was the Cretan demi-god of the harvest. His name was derived from karma a form of the verb keirô, 'to cut,' crop or shear. Karmanor was the Cretan consort of the goddess Demeter. He was said to have received and purified Apollo and Artemis, after they had slain the monster Python. His grand-daughter Karme (Carme) shared his name and function, her name was derived from the word karma a form of

keirô, 'to cut,' 'crop' or 'shear.'

Callimachus' poem Berenice's Lock (Catullus 66), is about the constellation Coma Berenices, in which the lock of hair that was cut from Berenice's head speaks as an independent entity. Kristin O. Lord on this webpage comments on the poem: "The Coma Berenices and Ovid both utilize the high rhetoric of mock tragedy, such as hyperbole and anaphora". [There is a resemblance between the word coma and comedy.]


Fixed stars in Coma Berenice


gamma 22VIR30 23VIR53 186 06 43 +28 32 46 +28 24 00 4.56 K3

12 22VIR43 24VIR06 184 59 54 +26 07 24 +25 47 25 4.73 F2

beta 03LIB00 04LIB23 197 23 08 +28 07 52 +32 30 26 4.32 G0

Diadem alpha 07LIB34 08LIB57 196 53 20 +17 47 36 +22 58 49 4.32 F4



The streaming tresses of the Egyptian queen.

— William Cullen Bryant's The Constellations.

Not Berenice's locks first rose so bright,

The heavens bespangling with disheveli'd light.

— Pope's Rape of the Lock.

Coma Berenice, Berenice's Hair, the Chevelure of the French, Chioma of the Italians, and the Haupthaar of the Germans, lies southwest from Cor Caroli. It seems to have been first alluded to by Eratosthenes as Ariadne’s Hair in his description of Ariadne's Crown; although subsequently, in his account of Leo, he mentioned the group as Plokamos Berenikes Euergetidos [Plokamos is Greek for a lock of hair. The Euergetidos relates to Berenice as the wife of Ptolemy III Euergetes, the ruler of Egypt]. But for nearly 2000 years its right to a place among the constellations was unsettled, for it has been the amorphotoi behind the Lion's tail, or connected with Virgo, or partly recognized as an asterism by itself. Tycho, however, set the question at rest in 1602 by cataloguing it separately, adopting the early title as we have it now.

Aratos, perhaps, alluded to it, although indefinitely, in the 146th line of the Phainomena:

Each after each, ungrouped, unnamed, revolve;

but, of course, did not give its name, for he wrote under the 2nd Ptolemy (Philadelphus), whereas it was not known till about 243 B.C., in the reign of the 3rd (Euergetes, Ptolemy III Euergetes, the ruler of Egypt), the brother and husband of Berenice, whose amber {Page 169} hair we now see in the sky figure. It was the happy invention of this constellation by Conon that consoled the royal pair after the theft of the tresses; from the temple of Arsinoe Aphrodite at Zephyrium. Some versions of the story turned the lady's hair into a hair-star, or comet.

The scholiast on Aratos, however, referred to it, as did Callimachus, the latter calling Bostrukhos Berenikes and his poem on it, now lost, was imitated 200 years later by Catullus, in one of his most beautiful odes, describing it as the consecrated spoils of Berenice's yellow head, which the divine Venus placed, a new constellation, among the ancient ones, preceding the slow Bootes, who sinks late and reluctantly into the deep ocean.

[Allen notes at end of page 169: The word Berenice, sometimes Beronice, is from Bernikhe the Macedonian form of the purer Greek pherenike, Victory-bearing (the phere- 'to bear', -nike 'victory'); and is the Bernice, of the New Testament, the name of the notorious daughter and wife of the Agrippas. From it some philologists derive the Italian Vernice, the French Vernis, the Spanish Barniz, and our varnish, all from the similar amber color of the lady's hair; Berenikhe having later become the Low Greek word for amber.] [Greek Berenice becomes Veronica in Latin ("v" changes to "b")]

The beautiful and touching legend of the Sudarium of Veronica with its vera icon, has been associated with our constellation from the similarity in words (Allen refers to Sextans, Sudarium Veronicae, the sacred handkerchief of Saint Veronica), some supposing the saint to have been the Herodian Bernice, — in Latin Beronica, — converted to Christianity through her sympathy for the Savior's sufferings. Lady Eastlake has fully told this story in her continuation of Mrs. Jameson's History of our Lord.

Hyginus had Berenikes plokamos, and Ptolemy, simple plokamos (Greek for a lock of hair); for three of its stars among the amorphotoi of Leo, calling it nepheloeides, a cloudy condensation. This was rendered Al Atha by Reduan, or, as Golius printed it, Al Ultha, literally a Mixture.

Manilius did not mention Coma, although he wrote 250 years after Conon; nor of course did the versifiers of Aratos, at least by name, as the figure is not distinctly specified in the Phainomena.

Crines and Crines Berenices are found in classical times; Flamsteed has the plural Comae Berenices, and La Lande Capilli. Cincinnus appears on Mercator's globe of 1551, but there consists of only one star and two nebulae; and the Latin Almagest of the same year wrote

Convolutio nubilosa quae cincinnus vocatur,

with this marginal note, all for Coma's stars as informes of Leo:

Plocamos graece, latine vero cincinnus, hoc est, caesaries & coma virginis, Berenices fortasse crinis qui a Poeta Calimacho in astra relatus est. Sed cincinnum barbari tricam vacant.

The Almagest of 1515 already had Trica, describing it as nubilosa and luminosa gamma but Bayer {Page 170} changed this to Tricas, Tericas, and Triquetras, taking these probably from the Low Greek trikhes, which doubtless is the origin of our word "tresses."

Pliny wrote in the Historia Naturalis: nec (cernif) Canopum Italia et quem vacant Berenices crinem, which Bostock and Riley correctly translated, in 1855, "nor can we, in Italy, see the star Canopus, or Berenice's Hair"; but Holland had rendered this, in 1601, "neither hath Italy a sight of Canopus, named also Berenices Hair," from which mistranslation it was long inferred that the southern heavens contained another sky group bearing this same title. And this blunder has been perpetuated, even in Doctor Murray's New English Dictionary, which defines the word as the name "formerly of the southern star Canopus," citing as authority the foregoing passage from Holland. Pliny's statement as to the invisibility of Coma from Italy of course was incorrect then as now.

Julius Schiller asserted that the constellation represented the Flagellum Christi.

Thompson writes in his Glossary, p. 134, that

"It has been suggested by Landseer, Sabaean Researches, p. 186, from the study of an Assyrian symbolic monument, that the stars which Conon converted into the Coma Berenice, (Hygin. P. A. ii, 24, cf. Ideler, Sternnamen, p. 295) and which lie in Leo opposite to the Pleiades in Taurus, were originally constellated as a Dove; and that this constellation, whose first stars rise with the latest of those of Argo, and whose last rise simultaneously with the hand of the Husbandman, links better than the Pleiad into the astronomical Deluge-myth. The case rests on very little evidence, and indeed is an illustration of the conflicting difficulties of such hypotheses: but it is deserving of investigation, were it only for the reason that the Coma Berenices contains seven visible stars (Hygin.), and the Pleiad six, a faint hint at a possible explanation of the lost Pleiad".

Serviss (Garrett Putnam Serviss, American astronomer and writer), who has some beautiful stellar similes, says that it is a

"curious twinkling, as if gossamers spangled with dewdrops were entangled there. One might think the old woman of the nursery rhyme who went to sweep the cobwebs out of the sky had skipped this corner, or else that its delicate beauty had preserved it even from her housewifely instinct".

In Hudibras the constellation was Berenice’s periwig; while another old-fashioned name has been Berenice’s Bush, found in Thomas Hill's Schools of Skil of 1599, but even then rendered classic in its use by Chaucer and Spenser; and Smyth says that there has been a name still homelier.

Bayer also mentioned Rosa, a Rose, or a Rose Wreath; but he figured it on his plate of Bootes as a Sheaf of Wheat, in reference to the Virgo Ceres close by; indeed, Karsten Niebuhr, at Cairo in 1762, heard it called Al Huzmat, the Arabic term for that object, or for a Pile of Fruit, Grain, {Page 171} or Wood. The Dresden globe has it as an Ivy Wreath, or, just as probably, a Distaff held in the Virgin's hand, which has been designated Fusus vel Colus, Fila et Stamina, the Distaff, Thread, and Woof; or perhaps the Caduceus of Mercury, placed here when Coma was a part of Virgo and this latter constellation the astrological house of that planet.

But very differently in early Arabia it was Al Haud, the Pond, into which the Gazelle, our Leo Minor, sprang when frightened at the lashing of the Lion's tail; although some of the Desert observers claimed that this Pond lay among the stars of the neck, breast, and knees of the Greater Bear (Ursa Major); and Lach substituted it for the Gazelle in our location of Leo Minor. The Arabian astronomers knew Coma as Al Halbah, or Al Dafirah, the Coarse Hair, or Tuft, in the tail of the Lion of the zodiac, thus extending that figure beyond its present termination at the star Denebola.

Coma probably was known in early Egypt as the Many Stars.

The Chinese had several names here; the lucida being Hing Chin; u and w in the Reeves list, Chow Ting, the Imperial Caldron of the Chow dynasty; a small group toward Virgo, Woo Choo How; a, b, c, d, epsilon, and f, Lang Wei, Official Rank; p, Lang Tseang, a General, and upsilon (?), Shang Tseang, a Higher General; [Some of these letters maybe from Flamsteed, as he applied a, b, c, d, e, f, g, and h to a small portion — the centre — of the constellation; but Baily, his editor, has rejected them as being only a temporary arrangement.] while Tsae Ching, the Favorite Vassal, was the title for Bode's 2629. This abundant nomenclature, in so faint a figure, shows great interest on the part of the Chinese in this beautiful little group.

Although it is not easy for the casual observer to locate any of the individual stars except the lucida, three have been lettered — alpha, beta, gamma — that Baily claimed for Flamsteed's 7, 15, and 23. Of these Fl. 15, an orange star, is generally supposed to be the Arabian Al Dafirah, from Ulug Beg's name for the whole that he located among the informes of Leo. Hyde cited some ancient codices as applying to Fl. 21, toward the south, the title Kissin, a species of Ivy, Convolvulus (bindweed), or perhaps the climbing Dog-rose. This appeared with Ulug Beg, evidently from Ptolemy's kissinos (from Greek kissos, ivy), but Ideler said that it was

intended to mark c, g, and h, and Baily, that it was for Fl. 21 or 23.

There evidently is much uncertainty as to the lettering and numbering of Coma's stars; and it seems remarkable that such minute objects should bear individual names.

{Page 172} Near Fl. 6 is the Pin-wheel Nebula, N. G. C, 4254, 99 M., one of the pyrotechnics of the sky; while Fl. 31 closely marks the (north) pole of the Milky Way, more exactly in right ascension 12° 40' and north polar distance 28°; the southern pole lying in Cetus (the south pole is believed to be in the adjacent Sculptor).

Sextans Uranaethe Sextant of Urania




A sextant is a navigational instrument containing a graduated sixty-degree arc, sixth part of a circle, used for measuring the altitudes of celestial bodies to determine latitude and longitude. Or a sextant is an instrument used to measure the angle between any two visible objects. Its primary use is to determine the angle between a celestial object and the horizon [1]. The alpha and beta stars of Sextans are right on the zero latitude line (zero declination) on the celestial equator. Above the alpha star of Sextans, Regulus, the alpha star of Leo, straddles the ecliptic line.

The word sextant comes from the Indo-European root *s(w)eks, 'Six'. Derivatives: six (from Latin sex, Greek hex), sixteen, sixty, senary (relating to the number six), sex- (six, from Latin sex, six,), semester (se, six + mensis, month), sestet (a poem or stanza containing six lines), sextant (from the Latin stem sextant- from sextus), sextile, siesta ('the sixth hour, i.e. after the sunrise, noon'), Sistine (relating to the Sistine Chapel in the Vatican, from Latin sextus, sixth). [Pokorny sweks 1044. Watkins]

Christians saw a representation of the Sudarium Veronicae, the sacred handkerchief of Saint Veronica, in the stars of Sextans, the face-cloth that bears the resemblance of the face of Jesus imprinted on it (not the shroud of Turin that covered his body in the tomb). Saint Veronica was a pious woman of Jerusalem, who moved with pity as Jesus carried his cross to Golgotha, gave him her handkerchief that he might mop the sweat from his forehead. Jesus accepted the offering and after using it, handed it back to her, the image of his face miraculously impressed upon it [1]. The event is commemorated in the sixth Station of the Cross with Veronica depicted holding a cloth with the face of Jesus face imprinted on it. Saint Veronica is the patron of linen-drapers and washerwomen.

The words sweat and sudarium come from the Indo-European root *sweid-2 'Sweat'. Derivatives: sweat (from Old English swetan), sudorific, sudoriferous, (from Latin sudor), sudatory, sudatorium (hot-air room used for sweat baths), suint (a natural grease formed from dried perspiration found in the fleece of sheep, used as a source of potash), exude, transude (to pass through pores or interstices in the manner of perspiration), hidrosis (the formation and excretion of sweat, from Greek hidros, sweat). [Pokorny 2. sweid- 1043. Watkins]

A sudatorium was an ancient Roman bath-house, a room for sweating in, resembling European saunas, jacuzzis, and natural sweat lodges near hydrothermal vents of volcanic craters (Crater is an adjacent constellation).

This constellation, Sextans Uraniae was created with Urania the muse of astronomy in mind. It was placed on the Hydra's back and named by Hevelius "as a sort of commemoration of the destruction of his instruments when his house at Dantzic was burnt in September, 1679; or, as he expresses it, when Vulcan overcame Urania" [Allen, Star Names]. "Ourania (or Urania) was one of the nine Muses, the goddesses of music, song and dance. In Classical times Ourania came to be titled the muse of astronomy and astronomical writings and as such was usually depicted pointing to a globe with a staff" [2]. Uranography is the branch of astronomy concerned with mapping the stars, galaxies, or other celestial bodies. The constellation Sextans represents the astronomical sextant used by Johannes Hevelius to compile one of the first accurate star maps.

The Sudarium Veronicae, the face-cloth used to mop the sweat from the face of Jesus, is often referred to as a napkin on the internet. Sextans Uranae represents the sextant used by Johannes Hevelius to compile one of the first accurate star maps. A map in Latin meant a napkin, a cloth on which maps were drawn. Napery is household linen; Saint Veronica is the patron saint of linen-drapers and washerwomen [3]. These words come from the Semitic root *npy 'To sift'. Derivatives: apron, map, mop, napery (household linen), napkin, nappe (a sheet of water flowing over a dam or similar structure), nappy, from Latin mappa, originally napkin, cloth, said by the Roman author Quintilian to be of Punic origin, perhaps from Phoenician (Punic) *mappe, from Common Semitic *manpay- or *manpiy-, sieve, fine cloth.

What writers on myth have written on Ourania from this Theoi Project webpage:

"And the sweet-voiced cock [the poet] of lyre-ruling Ourania." - Greek Lyric IV Bacchylides, Frag 3

"Since fine-throned Ourania has sent me from Pieria [cult centre of the Mousai in northern Greece] a golden cargo-boat laden with glorious songs." - Greek Lyric IV Bacchylides, Frag 16

"For the name of each Mousa, they say, men have found a reason appropriate to her: ... Ourania, because men who have been instructed by her she raises aloft to heaven (ouranos), for it is a fact that imagination and the power of thought lift men’s souls to heavenly heights." - Diodorus Siculus, Library of History 4.7.1

"Corymbus of Helicon ... formerly the Musae’s friend, to whom Uranie herself, knowing full well his Stygian destiny, had long foretold his death by the position of the stars [the goddess presided over astronomy as well as astrology]." - Statius, Thebaid 8.548

"[the Mousa] Ourania, who knew all the courses of the stars, a revolving globe like the speckled form of Argos." - Nonnus, Dionysiaca 33.55 [Argos, Argus, became the Peacock, Pavo, representing the starry sky]

Sextan in Latin also means a 'sixth', and SEX is the abbreviation for this constellation, and resembles our word sex from Latin sexus. Latin sex (six), and sex from Latin sexus (the condition of being male or female), are not recognized cognates. According to Ayto Latin sexus has traditionally been explained as a relative of Latin secare 'cut' (source of English section, sector, and insect, the creatures with six legs, etc), as if it denoted etymologically that 'section' of the population which is male or female. The use of the word sex for 'sexual intercourse' was first recorded in the works of D H Lawrence.

The fact that the alpha and beta stars of Sextans are right on the zero latitude line on the celestial equator might have some significance; as though they were marking the coming together of the two hemispheres, the north/south, and by extension the masculine/feminine natures of the spheres of the heavens, that are divided by the celestial equator.

"The number six is expressed either in the hexagon [hex- from Greek hex, six], or, better still, in the six-pointed star formed by a pair of inverted triangles. This, in Hindu terms, represents the lingam penetrating the yoni" [The Penguin Dictionary of Symbols].

Masonic author, Albert Mackey, tells us of the sexual connotation of the hexagram:

"The triangle pointing downward is a female symbol corresponding to the yoni and the upward pointing triangle is the male, the lingam. When the two triangles are interlaced, it represents the union of the active and passive forces in nature; it represents the male and female elements." [Mackey, The Symbolism of Freemasonry, 1869, p.195 - 4]

The sixth commandment forbids adultery; sexual intercourse with a partner other than the lawful spouse.

On the sixth day of creation God created man as male and female, and made them in his image, and after his likeness. The image of Jesus' face miraculously impressed upon Veronica's napkin might relate in some way to this?

In Hinduism the Sacral Chakra is symbolized by a lotus with six petals, Svadisthana, "located in the sacrum (hence the name) and is considered to correspond to the testes or the ovaries that produce the various sex hormones involved in the reproductive cycle." http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chakra


Fixed stars in Sextans


gamma 01VIR53 03VIR16 147 30 29 -07 52 07 -19 42 49 5.16 A0

alpha 02VIR44 04VIR07 151 20 41 -00 07 35 -11 07 03 4.50 A0

beta 08VIR07 09VIR30 156 56 02 -00 22 48 -09 19 16 4.95 B5

Picture by Hevelius who invented the constellation, published in Firmamentum, 1690


Sextans Uraniae was formed by Hevelius to commemorate the Sextant so successfully used by him in stellar measurements at Dantzig from 1658 to 1679. The {Page 377} original figure comprised the twelve unclaimed stars between Leo and Hydra, west of Crater; and Smyth writes: With more zeal than taste, he fixed the machine upon the Serpent's (Hydra's) back, under the plea that the said Sextant was not in the most convenient situation, but that he placed it between Leo and Hydra because these animals were of a fiery nature, to speak with astrologers, and formed a sort of commemoration of the destruction of his instruments when his house at Dantzic was burnt in September, 1679; or, as he expresses it, when Vulcan overcame Urania.

Its inventor's great name has kept it in the sky till now, and it is still generally recognized by astronomers as Sextans.

Here, on the frame of the instrument, 9° south by east from the star Regulus, De Rheita thought that he had found a representation of the Sudarium Veronicae, the sacred handkerchief of Saint Veronica. Commenting upon this discovery, Sir John Herschel said that "many strange things were seen among the stars before the use of powerful telescopes became common."

The lucida, a 4th-magnitude, is 12° south from Regulus.

One of the Sextant stars, which Reeves gives as q, Bode's 2306, a 6th-magnitude, was the Chinese Tien Seang, the Heavenly Minister of State.

Scorpiothe Scorpion



Clues to the meaning of this celestial featureThe word Scorpio comes from Latin scorpio, from Greek skorpios, "which is probably ultimately connected with Hebrew 'aqribh (or akrabh), 'scorpion'" [Klein].

Akrabh or acrab (a-crab), is the Hebrew word for scorpion. That scorpions were engendered from crabs was a belief in classical times: Ovid (Metamorphoses, 1st century CE, 15, 369-371) said:

"If you remove the hollow claws of land-crabs, and put the rest under the soil, a scorpion, with its curved and threatening tail, will emerge from the parts interred" [1].

The first Scorpions are believed to have evolved from the Eurypteridae or water scorpions 425 to 450 million years ago in the Silurian Period. Sea scorpions might have been the first animals to move onto land [2], making scorpions one of the pioneers of terrestrial life. They would have needed to be able to withstand the strong ultraviolet rays before the ozone layer buildup, scorpions fluoresce under ultraviolet light.

Skorpios (Scorpius) was a giant scorpion sent by the earth-goddess Gaia to slay the giant Orion when he threatened to kill all the beasts of the earth. The Scorpion stung Orion on the heel (marked by the star Rigel, beta Orion) and killed him. These two opponents Orion and the Scorpion were placed amongst the stars as their namesake constellations, but are positioned on opposite sides of the sky, one sets as the other rises. The Scorpion rises as Orion starts to sink into the other side of the sky, and this was seen as Orion running away from the attacker, and still in fear of him.

"Scorpius, because of its position, is one of the two ‘gateways’ to the Milky Way, the other being the opposite constellation of Orion. The Scorpion men attacked Osiris in Egyptian legend, and the Scorpions sting killed Orion in Greek myth." [3].

"Scorpion men feature in several Babylonian and Sumerian myths, including the Enûma Elish and Gilgamesh. They are also known as aqrabuamelu or girtablilu. In the Epic of Gilgamesh, they stand guard outside the gates of the sun god Shamash at the mountains of Mashu. These give entrance to Kurnugi, the land of darkness. The scorpion men open the doors for Shamash (Sun) as he travels out each day, and close the doors after him when he returns to the underworld at night. They also warn travellers of the danger that lies beyond their post. Their heads touch the sky, their 'terror is awesome' and their 'glance is death'" [4].

[The Scorpion stung Orion on the heel.] "Mythologically, a sacred heel is that part of the sun or moon that at setting touches earth or sea [on the horizon]. The bruise it receives is poisonous in that it causes the whole body to collapse or sink." [Outer Space: Myths, Name Meanings, 1964. p.239.] "The Semang believe that at death the soul leaves the body through the heel (ELIC p. 281). Scorpions and snakes most often bite the heel. The heel is, as it were, the foundation-stone of the human being with the characteristically upright stance. Once the heel is affected, the person falls down. In the logic of the imagination, then, there is no contradiction for the entry-point of death to be also the final exit-point of the soul" [The Penguin Dictionary of Symbols].

The Scorpion-men of Babylonian myth guards the horizons where the sun rises and sets. "The scorpion men open the doors for Shamash, the Sun, as he travels out each day, and close the doors after him when he returns to the underworld at night [5]." Klein says the word horizon is probably cognate with Latin urvus, 'furrow, marking a boundary line', and related to the words urban, and suburb.

"When the Scorpion uplifts the stars which shine at the end of its tail, the man then born with the blessing of the planets will enrich the world with cities [urbes] and, with robes hitched up and driving a team of oxen, will trace the circuit of the walls with curved plough; else he will level the cities which have been erected and turn towns back into fields, and produce ripe corn [aristas] where houses stood. Such will be his worth and such the power which is joined thereto" [Manilius, Astronomica, 1st century AD, p.267].

The Latins occasionally wrote the word Scorpius, or Scorpio for this constellation; while other Roman writers; Cicero, Ennius, Manilius, and perhaps Columella gave the kindred African title Nepa, or Nepas [Allen, Star Names]:

'Prodigal' (nepos), so called from a certain kind of scorpion (i.e. nepa) that consumes its offspring except for the one that has settled on its back [scorpion mothers carry their young on their backs]; for in turn the very one that has been saved consumes the parent; hence people who consume the property of their parents with riotous living are called prodigals. Hence also nepotatio means riotous living, by which any belongings are surely consumed.” [The Etymologies of Isidore of Seville, 7th century AD, p.225.]

Isidore says that nepa, scorpion, is related to the Latin nepos, translated 'grandson or nephew', he also says "the word nepos refers to either sex” (p.207). Latin nepos is translated 'prodigal', and Greek has the word skorpizo (related to skorpios, scorpion) which they translate 'scatter' or 'squander', the word was used to translate the Prodigal son's 'squandering' of his wealth. Nepos is from the Indo-European root *nepot 'Grandson, nephew'. Derivatives: nephew, nepotism, niece, from Latin nepos, grandson, nephew, and neptis, granddaughter, niece. [Pokorny nepot- 764. Watkins] The illegitimate child of an ecclesiastic was referred to as nephew or niece.

Klein supplies another cognate to the word nephew; "compare Greek nepodes (Odyssey 4, 404; said of seals) which probably means 'children, descendants', and is the plural of nepos, (equivalent to Latin nepos)."

Odyssey 4, 404:

"When the sun is at the zenith, the wise Old Man of the Sea (Proteus) emerges from the brine, masked by the dark wave, while the west wind blows. Once risen, he lies down and sleeps in an echoing cave, and the seals (Greek nepodes), the daughter of the sea’s children, slithering from the grey water, lie down around him in a slumbering herd, breathing out the pungent odour of the deep". http://www.tonykline.co.uk/PITBR/Greek/Odyssey4.htm

In Egyptian mythology, Serket (also spelt Serket-hetyt, Selket, Selkis, Serkhet, Selchis, and Selkhit) was originally the deification of the scorpion [6]. A number of those Egyptian words resemble the Indo-European words for seals (the animals): Selkies (also known as silkies or selchies) are mythological creatures in Irish, Icelandic, and Scottish legend that can transform themselves from seals to humans [7]. The legend apparently originated on the Orkney Islands where selch or selk(ie) is the Scots word for seal (Old English seolh).

Scorpaeniformes (scorpionfishes) are united as an order because of a distinctive caudal skeleton [8].

Scorpios armata violenta cuspide cauda: "By virtue of his tail armed with its powerful sting" [Manilius, Astronomica, 1st century AD, p.239-240]

"caudaque minabitur unca glosses and translates scorpio, describing the animal's main attribute which is responsible for its name (cauda, tail)" [Ancient Etymologies in Ovid's Metamorphoses, Andreas Michalopoulos].

Enchanted Learning

The Greek word for 'scatter' is skorpizo (Strong's 4650), and it is related to the word 'scorpion', "apparently from the same as skorpios (through the idea of penetrating); to dissipate, i.e. (figuratively) put to flight, waste, be liberal, disperse abroad, scatter (abroad) [10]. Here, (‘skorpios’) is akin to ‘(skorpizo’) which means to scatter, (‘diaspeiro’) further means to scatter abroad, as in (‘dia’) and ‘(spiro’) to sow seed [11]. Luke uses the same Greek word (skorpizo) for both ‘scatters’ and ‘squanders’ and has been used in the context of the Prodigal Son's dissipation [12], diaskorpizo 'to scatter abroad,' (‘diaspeiro’) is also used metaphorically of 'squandering property'.

Strong's Bible Dictionary has for skorpios (scorpion) number 4651; "Probably from an obsolete skerpo (perhaps strengthened from the base of skopos and meaning to pierce); a 'scorpion' (from its sting)". The word skerpo is explained; "from skeptomai (to peer about 'skeptic'; perhaps akin skapto 4626 through the idea of concealment; compare 4629); a watch (sentry or scout), i.e. (by implication) a goal:--mark" [13]. Greek skeptomai comes from the Indo-European root *spek- 'To observe'. Derivatives: spy, espionage, specimen, spectacle, spectrum, speculate, speculum (from Latin, ‘mirror’, from specere, specula, a mirror), spice, aspect, circumspect, conspicuous, despise, expect, inspect, introspect, perspective, prospect, respect, respite (from respicere 'to look back'), retrospect, suspect, (from Latin specere, to look at), spectre (or specter), special, spectator, spectacular (from spectare), specific, specify, species, specious, especial, despicable, skeptic (from Greek skeptesthai, to examine, consider), sceptical, scope (from Latin scopus, from Greek skopos, 'aim, target, watcher'), -scope, -scopy, bishop (epi- + skopos). [Pokorny spek- 984. Watkins]


"The Scorpion presides over arms" [Manilius, Astronomica, 1st century AD, book 4, p.253]

"By virtue of his tail armed with its powerful sting, wherewith, when conducting the Sun's chariot through his sign, he cleaves the soil and sows seed in the furrow, the Scorpion creates natures ardent for war and active service, and a spirit which rejoices in plenteous bloodshed and in carnage more than in plunder. Why, these men spend even peace under arms: they fill the glades and scour the woods; they wage fierce warfare now against man, now against beast, and now they sell their persons to provide the spectacle of death and to perish in the arena, when, warfare in abeyance, they each find themselves foes to attack. There are those, too, who enjoy mock-fights and jousts in arms (such is their love of fighting) and devote their leisure to the study of war and every pursuit which arises from the art of war." [Manilius, Astronomica, 1st century AD, p.239-240].

Sowing seed is a metaphor for sexual intercourse. Scorpio is the sign of sex and death, the beginning and ending of things [14].


Fixed stars in Scorpio


Dschubba delta 01SAG10 02SAG34 239 20 34 -22 28 52 -01 58 48 2.54 B0

pi 01SAG34 02SAG57 238 57 20 -25 58 18 -05 28 08 3.00 B1

rho 01SAG46 03SAG09 238 26 53 -29 04 11 -08 35 34 4.02 B4

Acrab beta 01SAG48 03SAG11 240 37 53 -19 40 13 +01 00 50 2.90 B1

Jabbah nu 03SAG15 04SAG39 242 16 17 -19 19 57 +01 38 23 4.29 B2

sigma 06SAG25 07SAG48 244 32 11 -25 28 29 -04 01 52 3.08 B1

Antares alpha 08SAG22 09SAG46 246 35 03 -26 19 22 -04 33 48 0.98 var M1

tau 10SAG05 11SAG28 248 11 29 -28 06 51 -06 06 56 2.91 B0

epsilon 13SAG58 15SAG21 251 43 48 -34 12 16 -11 43 40 2.36 G9

My1 14SAG46 16SAG09 252 07 10 -37 57 49 -15 24 59 3.09 B2

Grafias zeta 2 15SAG51 17SAG14 252 45 54 -42 16 40 -19 38 03 3.75 K5

eta 19SAG22 20SAG45 257 08 30 -43 10 31 -20 10 23 3.44 A7

Lesath upsilon 22SAG37 24SAG01 261 50 26 -37 15 29 -14 00 05 2.80 B3

Shaula lambda 23SAG11 24SAG35 262 33 09 -37 04 10 -13 46 54 1.63 B2

Sargas theta 24SAG12 25SAG36 263 25 51 -42 58 05 -19 38 19 2.04 F0

Aculeus NGC6405 M6

24SAG20 25SAG44 264 10 30 -32 11 00 -08 50 18 5.30 C

kappa 25SAG06 26SAG27 264 45 23 -39 00 23 -15 38 15 2.51 B3

iota 26SAG08 27SAG31 266 01 17 -40 06 35 -16 42 28 3.14 F6

G 26SAG32 27SAG55 266 36 48 -37 01 46 -13 36 59 3.25 K2

Acumen NGC6475 M7

27SAG21 28SAG45 267 39 00 -34 48 00 -11 22 13 3.20 C



. . . that cold animal

Which with its tail doth smite among the nations.

— Longfellow's translation of Dante's Purgatorio.

Scorpio, or Scorpius, the Scorpion was the reputed slayer of the Giant (Orion), exalted to the skies and now rising from the horizon as Orion, still in fear of the Scorpion, sinks below it; {Page 361} although the latter itself was in danger, — Sackville writing in his Induction to the Mirror of Magistrates, about 1565:Whiles Scorpio, dreading Sagittarius' dartWhose bow prest bent in flight the string had slipped,Down slid into the ocean flood apart.Classical authors saw in it the monster that caused the disastrous runaway of the steeds of Phoebus Apollo when in the inexperienced hands of Phaethon.

For some centuries before the Christian era it was the largest of the zodiac figures, forming with the Khelai, its Claws, — the prosectae chelae of Cicero, now our Libra, — a double constellation, as Ovid wrote:

Porrigit in spatium signorum membra duorum;

and this figuring has been adduced as the strongest proof of Scorpio's great antiquity, from the belief that only six constellations made up the earliest zodiac, of which this extended sign was one.

With the Greeks it universally was Skorpios; Aratos, singularly making but slight allusion to it, added Megatherion, the Great Beast, changed in the 1720 edition of Bayer to Melatherion; while another very appropriate term with Aratos was Teras mega, the Great Sign. This reputed magnitude perhaps was due to the mythological necessity of greater size for the slayer of great Orion, in reference to which that author characterized it as pleioteros prophaneis, "appearing hugher still."

The Latins occasionally wrote the word Scorpios, but usually Scorpius, or Scorpio; while Cicero, Ennius, Manilius, and perhaps Columella gave the kindred African title Nepa, or Nepas, the first of which the Alfonsine Tables copy, as did Manilius the Greek adjective Opistho Bamon, Walking Backward. Astronomical writers and commentators, down to comparatively modem times, occasionally mentioned its two divisions under the combined title Scorpius cum Chelis (Scorpio and Libra); while some representations even showed the Scales in the creature's Claws.

Grotius said that the Arabians called the Claws Graffias, and the Latins, according to Pliny, Forficulae.

In early China it was an important part of the figure of the mighty but genial Azure Dragon of the East and of spring, in later days the residence of the heavenly Blue Emperor; but in the time of Confucius it was Ta Who, the Great Fire, a primeval name for its star Antares; and Shing Kung, a Divine Temple, was applied to the stars of the tail. As a member {Page 362} of the early zodiac it was the Hare, for which, in the 16th century, was substituted, from Jesuit teaching, Tien He, the Celestial Scorpion.

Sir William Drummond asserted that in the zodiac which the patriarch Abraham knew it was an Eagle; and some commentators have located here the biblical Chambers of the South, Scorpio being directly opposite the Pleiades (in Taurus) on the sphere, both thought to be mentioned in the same passage of the Book of Job with two other opposed constellations, the Bear (Ursa Major) and Orion; but the original usually is considered a reference to the southern heavens in general. Aben Ezra identified Scorpio, or Antares, with the K’sil of the Hebrews; although that people generally considered these stars as a Scorpion, their Akrabh, and, it is claimed, inscribed it on the banners of Dan as the emblem of the tribe whose founder was "a serpent by the way." When thus shown it was as a crowned Snake or Basilisk. A similar figure appeared for it at one period of Egyptian astronomy; indeed it is thus met with in modern times, for Chatterton, that precocious poet of the last century, plainly wrote of the Scorpion in his line,

The slimy Serpent swelters in his course;

and long before him Spenser had, in the Faerie Queen:

and now in Ocean deepe

Orion flying fast from hissing snake,

His flaming head did hasten for to steepe.

But the Denderah zodiac shows the typical form.

Kircher called the whole constellation Isias, Static Isidis, the bright Antares having been at one time a symbol of Isis.

The Arabians knew it as Al ‘Akrab, the Scorpion, from which have degenerated Alacrab, Alatrab, Alatrap, Hacrab, — Riccioli's Aakrab and Hacerab; and similarly it was the Syrians' Akreva. Riccioli gave us Acrobo Chaldaeis, which may be true, but in this Latin word he probably had reference to the astrologers.

The Persians had a Scorpion in their Ghezhdum or Kazhdum, and the Turks, in their Koirughi, Tailed, and Uzun Koirughi, Long-tailed.

The Akkadians called it Girtab, the Seizer, or Stinger, and the Place where One Bows Down, titles indicative of the creature's dangerous character; although some early translators of the cuneiform text rendered it the Double Sword. With later dwellers on the Euphrates it was the symbol of darkness, showing the decline of the sun's power after the autumnal equinox, then located in it. Always prominent in that astronomy, Jensen thinks that it was formed there 5000 B.C., and pictured much as it now is; {Page 363} perhaps also in the semi-human form of two Scorpion-men, the early circular Altar, or Lamp, sometimes being shown grasped in the Claws, as the Scales were in illustrations of the 15th century. In Babylonia this calendar sign was identified with the eighth month, Arakh Savna, our October-November.

Early India knew it as Ali, Vicrika, or Vrouchicam, — in Tamil, Vrishaman; but later on Varaha Mihira said Kaurpya, and Al Biruni, Kaurba, both from the Greek Scorpios. On the Cingalese zodiac it was Ussika.

Dante designated it as Un Secchione,

Formed like a bucket that is all ablaze;

and in the Purgatorio as Il Friddo Animal of our motto, not a mistaken reference to the creature's nature, but to its rising in the cold hours of the dawn when he was gazing upon it. Dante's translator Longfellow has something similar in his own Poets' Calendar for October:

On the frigid Scorpion I ride.

Chaucer wrote of it, in the Hous of Fame, as the Scorpioun; his Anglo-Norman predecessors, Escorpiun; and the Anglo-Saxons, Throwend.

Caesius mistakenly considered it one of the Scorpions of Rehoboam; but Novidius said that it was

the scorpion or serpent whereby Pharaoh, King of Egypt, was enforced to let the children of Israel depart out of his country;

of which Hood said "there is no such thing in history." Other Christians of their day changed its figure to that of the Apostle Bartholomew; and Weigel, to a Cardinal’s Hat.

In some popular books of the present day it is the Kite, which it as much resembles as it does a Scorpion. Its symbol is now given as .

Ampelius assigned to it the care of Africus, the Southwest Wind, a duty which, he said, Aries and Sagittarius shared; and the weather-wise of antiquity thought that its setting exerted a malignant influence, and was accompanied by storms; but the alchemists held it in high regard, for only when the sun was in this sign could the transmutation of iron into gold be performed. Astrologers, on the other hand, although they considered it a fruitful sign, "active and eminent," knew it as the accursed constellation, {Page 364} the baleful source of war and discord, the birthplace of the planet Mars, and so the House of Mars, the Martis Sidus of Manilius. But this was located in the sting and tail; the claws, as Zugos, Jugum, or the Yoke of the Balance (Libra), being devoted to Venus, because this goddess united persons under the yoke of matrimony. It was supposed to govern the region of the groin in the human body, and to reign over Judaea, Mauritania, Catalonia, Norway, West Silesia, Upper Batavia, Barbary, Morocco, Valencia, and Messina; the earlier Manilius claiming it as the tutelary sign of Carthage, Libya, Egypt, Sardinia, and other islands of the Italian coast. Brown was its assigned color, and Pliny asserted that the appearance of a comet here portended a plague of reptiles and insects, especially of locusts.

Although nominally in the zodiac, the sun actually occupies but nine days in passing through the two portions that project upwards into Ophiuchus, so far south of the ecliptic is it; indeed, except for these projections, it could not be claimed as a member of the zodiac.

Scorpio is famous as the region of the sky where have appeared many of the brilliant temporary stars, chief among them, perhaps, that of 134 B.C., the first in astronomical annals, and the occasion, Pliny said, of the

catalogue of Hipparchos, about 125 B.C. The Chinese She Ke confirmed this appearance by its record of "the strange star" in June of that year, in the sieu (Chinese Moon Mansion) Fang, marked by beta, delta, pi, rho, and others in Scorpio. Serviss thinks it conceivable that the strange outbursts of these novae in and near Scorpio may have had some effect in causing this constellation to be regarded by the ancients as malign in its influence. But this character may, with at least equal probability, have come from the fiery color of its lucida, as well as from the history of the constellation in connection with Orion, and the poisonous attributes of its earthly namesake.

Along its northern border, perhaps in Ophiuchus, there was, in very early days, a constellation, the Fox, taken from the Egyptian sphere of Petosiris, but we know nothing as to its details.

Cygnusthe Swan



Clues to the meaning of this celestial featureIn Greek mythology there are four characters known as Cycnus or Cygnus, listed on this Wikipedia webpage.

The words Cygnus and cygnet, a young swan, are from Latin cygnus, 'swan', Greek kuknos.

The English word swan comes from the Indo-European root *swen- 'To sound'. Derivatives: swan+ (from Old English swan), sone (a subjective unit of loudness, as perceived by a person with normal hearing), resonate, sonic, sonnet, sound+, unison, (these words from Latin sonus), sonar, sonant (voiced, as a speech sound), sonata, sonorous, assonance, consonant, dissonant, resound, (these words from Latin sonare, to sound). [Pokorny swen- 1046. Watkins]. The trumpeter swan's call has been likened to the sonorous notes of a French horn.

“But in some cases, with incorrect usage and improperly, a sound is called a 'voice,' as for example "the voice of the trumpet bellowed," and (Vergil, Aen. 3-556): ... and voices broken on the shore. For the word proper to rocks on the shore is 'sound' (sonare). Also, (Vergil, Aen. 9.503): But the trumpet far off (made) a terrible sound with its sonorous brass.” [The Etymologies of Isidore of Seville, 7th century AD, p.96.]

Swans spend a lot of their time swimming on lakes, where they do their courting. The word sound, from Latin sonare, is sound4. The words sound3 (a long wide body of water, the air bladder of a fish), and sound4 (to

measure the depth of water, to dive swiftly downwards) are related to the the word swim [Pokorny swem- 1046. Watkins]. To dive swiftly downwards is sound4.

In the myth concerning Cycnus the friend of Phaeton, it was said;

"after Phaeton died, Cycnus dove repeatedly into the river Eridanos attempting to retrieve Phaeton's body. The gods turned him into a swan".

In reality swans seldom dive but they plunge their head and neck below the surface with tail tipped up to feed on roots or pondweeds. This habit of the swan sailing around in a pensive manner and thrusting its head in the water was seen as having another purpose as explained by the author of The Glorious Constellations;

"this story (of Cycnus searching for Phaeton) explains why swans wander over water seemingly in search of something and deep in thought and occasionally plunge their heads below the surface".

Ovid in Metamorphosis thus describes:

His voice was lessened as he tried to speak, And issued through a long extended neck: His hair transforms to down ; his fingers meet In skinny films, and shape his oary feet: From both his sides the wings and feathers break, And from his mouth proceeds a blunted beak: All Cycnus now into a swan was turned. [1]

Swans are known for their swan-song, it was believed that swans sing only once in their lifetimes, just before they die. A swan-song has the meaning of a person's last piece of creative work, or performance, especially in literature, music, or art.

"To be swanlike is to greet one's death with a song of exceptional beauty, as in a famous passage of Plato (Phaedo 84D—85B), where Socrates hopes his own prophecy will match that of swans, "who, though they also sing in earlier times, sing especially well when on the point of death, because they are about to go off to the god whose servant they are." Their god, of course, is Apollo, famous for his associations with singing swans and their distant northern retreat in the land of the Hyperboreans" [p.31-34]. "Indeed, after Phaethon's death, his friend, Cygnus, is metamorphosed into a swan—whose lamenting death song is of proverbial beauty (2.376—80) [p.176-177]." [Metaformations, Frederick Ahl].

In mythology Zeus took the form of a swan to seduce Leda. Perhaps he could be called a swain, means a lover or wooer.

Men marching and singing are like swans The Similes of the Aeneid http://boston.k12.ma.us/BLA/studentprojects/APlatin/outline.html

Arion is one of the alternative titles for the star Alpha Cygnus, Deneb Adige: "This star also was Aridif, from Al Ridf, the 'Hindmost'; variations were Arrioph, and Arion" [Allen, Star Names]. Both Arion and Orpheus were famous lyre-players turned into swans at death. Arion2, who lived in Corinth was the best citharist or lyre-player of his time. On his return from an artistic tour in Italy he was robbed by the crew of his ship and forced to cast himself into the sea. Against all odds, however, he landed on shore in Greece, riding on the back of a dolphin.

"Now Arion2, not wishing to die in a meaningless way, decided to take for his shroud the sophisticated attire he used to wear at competitions, and with it on sing a final song to life, as swans generously do". http://www.maicar.com/GML/Arion2.html

[Another Arion, Arion1, was the title of a black horse (an immortal horse born to the goddess Demeter after she was raped by Poseidon in the shape of a horse) and Cygnus would seem an unlikely placement for it, but it might relate to the fact that under those white feathers of swans is pure black skin?]

Allen in Star Names says "it [Cygnus] was considered to be Orpheus, placed after death in the heavens, near to his favorite Lyre" [Lyra].

"Several etymologies for the name Orpheus have been proposed. A probable suggestion is that it is derived from a hypothetical PIE verb *orbhao-, 'to be deprived', from PIE *orbh-, 'to put asunder, separate' [Orpheus was torn asunder by the Maenads]. Cognates would include Greek orphe, 'darkness', and Greek orphanos, 'fatherless, orphan', from which comes English 'orphan' by way of Latin. Orpheus would therefore be semantically close to goao, 'to lament, sing wildly, cast a spell', uniting his seemingly disparate roles as disappointed lover, transgressive musician and mystery-priest into a single lexical whole. The word 'orphic' is defined as mystic, fascinating and entrancing, and, probably, because of the oracle of Orpheus, 'orphic' can also signify 'oracular'" http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orpheus

The word orphan comes from the Indo-European root *orbh- 'To change allegiance or status'. Derivatives: orphan (from Greek orphanos), robot (from Czech robota, compulsory labor, drudgery, servitude, from rab, slave), Gastarbeiter (a guest worker, especially one in Germany, from Old High German arabeit(i), labor, from Germanic *arbaithi-). [Pokorny orbho- 781. Watkins] Latin Orbona was goddess of orphans; the sense of which seems to be 'thing that changes allegiance' (in the case of the slave, from himself to his master).

Orphism, Orphic Mysteries was a religion of ancient Greece, prominent in the 6th century B.C. According to legend Orpheus founded these mysteries and was the author of the sacred poems from which the Orphic doctrines were drawn [1]. In Greek mythology Orpheus was a poet and musician who went to the underworld to retrieve his dead wife Eurydice. He succeeded in charming Hades with his lyre (adjacent Lyra), and he was allowed to lead his wife out of the underworld on the condition that he not look back at her until they reached the surface. Just before they arrived at the surface his love for her overcame his will and he glanced back at her, causing her to be drawn back to Hades [2].

“The swan is the bird that the Greeks call olos. It is called 'swan' (olor) because it is 'entirely' white in its plumage; for no one mentions a black swan; in Greek 'entire' is called kuknos. The cycnus (i.e. cygnus, another word for swan, borrowed, in fact, from the Greek kuknos just cited) is named for singing (canere) because it pours out a sweetness of song with its modulated voice. It is thought to sing sweetly because it has a long curved neck, and a voice forcing its way by a long and winding path necessarily renders varied modulations. People say that in the Hyperborean regions, when musicians are singing to citharas, swans come flocking

in large numbers, and sing with them quite harmoniously. Olor is the Latin name, for in Greek they are called kuknos. Sailors say that this bird makes a good omen for them, just as Aemilius (Macer) says (fr. 4): The

swan is always the most fortunate bird in omens. Sailors prefer this one, because it does not immerse itself in the waves." [Note by translator: Isidore's source for Macer's lines, Servius's commentary on Aen. 1.393, originally read "is never immersed" for "does not immerse itself." Because swans are never overwhelmed by waves, they are an omen of good weather. ] [The Etymologies of Isidore of Seville, 7th century AD, p.264-265.]

Latin olor is related to auk, a diving sea birds of the family Alcidae, "from Old Norse alka, which probably derives from the Indo-European imitative base *el-, *ol-, 'to shout, cry', whence also Latin olor (for *elor), 'swan', Middle Irish ela, 'swan', and possibly also Greek elea, 'a marsh bird', elorios, 'a water bird'" [Klein]. Alcedinidae are a family of birds comprising the kingfishers, from Latin alcedo, 'kingfisher', which is Latinized from Greek alkhuon, Latin halcyon. The kingfisher (of the family Alcedinidae), that was said to nest on the sea and was believed to be able to calm the waves for fourteen days centered on the winter solstice (i.e., seven days before and seven days after).

Orpheus (with whom this constellation is identified) could also calm or quite the seas;

"enchanted all animals through his playing of the lyre and even succeeded in calming a storm-tossed ocean". http://www.lyricalworks.com/home/commentary.htm

On The Shield of Heracles translated by Evelyn-White:

(ll. 413-423) Then Cycnus, eager to kill the son of almighty Zeus [Hercules], struck upon his shield with a brazen spear, but did not break the bronze; and the gift of the god saved his foe. But the son of Amphitryon, mighty Heracles, with his long spear struck Cycnus violently in the neck beneath the chin, where it was unguarded between helm and shield. And the deadly spear cut through the two sinews [the two vocal cords? two bands of sinew that produce sound]; for the hero's full strength lighted on his foe. And Cycnus fell as an oak falls or a lofty pine that is stricken by the lurid thunderbolt of Zeus; even so he fell, and his armor adorned with bronze clashed about him. ...(ll. 467-471). But the son of Alemena [Hercules] and glorious Iolaus [Hercules' charioteer] stripped the fine armour off Cycnus' shoulders and went, and their swift horses carried them straight to the city of Trachis. ...(ll. 472-480) ... But Anaurus, swelled by a rainstorm, blotted out the grave and memorial of Cycnus; for so Apollo, Leto's son, commanded him, because he used to watch for and violently despoil the rich hecatombs that any might bring to Pytho [3].

Etruscan word for swan is Tusna "Perhaps from *Turansna, 'of Turan.' The swan of Turan" [4].

Etymologically, consonants 'sound together' with vowels, while vowels are 'vocal', being pronounced with the vocal cords. Consonant derives from Latin consonans, formed from com- 'together' and sonare 'to sound'. Vowels might relate to Delphinus, the Dolphin. Arion, associated with this constellation rides a dolphin


"Hard by is the place allotted to the Swan: as a reward for the shape with which he [Jupiter or Zeus] snared the admiring Leda, when, a god changed into a snow-white swan, he came down and offered his feathered form to the unsuspecting woman. Now too with outspread wings it flies among the stars" [Manilius, Astronomica, 1st century AD, book 1, p.31.]

"Its down and glittering wings figured by stars. Accordingly he who at its rising leaves his mother's womb and beholds the light of day shall make the denizens of the air and the race of birds that is dedicated to heaven the source of his pleasure and profit.

"From this constellation shall flow a thousand human skills (artes): its child will declare war on heaven and catch a bird in mid-flight, or he will rob it of its nestling, or draw nets up and over a bird whilst it is perched on a branch or feeds on the ground (swans have a reputation for being hostile to other birds). And the object of these skills is to satisfy our high living. Today we go farther afield for the stomach than we used to go for war: we are fed from the shores of Numidia and the groves of Phasis; our markets are stocked from the land whence over a new-discovered sea was carried off the Golden Fleece. Nay more, such a man will impart to the birds of the air the language of men and what words mean; he will introduce them to a new kind of intercourse, teaching them the speech denied them by nature's law.

"In its own person the Swan hides a god (as being in the disguise of Jupiter) and the voice belonging to it; it is more than a bird and mutters to itself within. Fail not to mark the men who delight to feed the birds of Venus in pens on a rooftop, releasing them to their native skies or recalling them by special signs; or those who carry in cages throughout the city birds taught to obey words of command, men whose total wealth consists of a little sparrow (for such performing birds)." [Manilius, Astronomica, 1st century AD, book 5, p.331].


Fixed stars in Cygnus


Albireo beta 29CAP52 01AQU15 292 10 33 +27 51 12 +48 58 22 3.24 K1

chi 08AQU30 09AQU53 297 09 37 +32 47 12 +52 36 00 var S7

eta 11AQU33 12AQU56 298 36 25 +34 56 58 +54 16 45 4.03 K0

delta 14AQU53 16AQU16 295 51 09 +45 00 28 +64 25 04 2.97 A0

Sador gamma 23AQU27 24AQU50 305 06 29 +40 05 44 +57 07 40 2.32 F8

Gienah Cyg epsilon 26AQU21 27AQU45 311 02 48 +33 46 55 +49 25 23 2.64 K0

zeta 01PIS40 03PIS03 317 42 06 +30 01 15 +43 41 52 3.40 G8

Deneb Adige alpha 03PIS57 05PIS20 309 55 53 +45 06 03 +59 54 30 1.25 A2

Azelfafage pi 26PIS54 28PIS17 325 04 45 +50 57 39 +58 52 32 4.78 B3



Those deathless odalisques of heaven's hareem,

The Stars, unveil; a lonely cloud is rolled

Past by the wind, as bears an azure stream

A sleeping swan's white plumage fringed with gold.

— Adam Mickiewicz' Polish Evening Hymn,

Cygnus, the Swan that modern criticism says should be Cycnus, lies between Draco and Pegasus. The French know it as Cygne; the Italians as Cigno; the Spaniards as Cisne; and the Germans as Schwan. It was Kuknos with Eratosthenes, but usually Ornis; with other Greeks, by which was simply intended a Bird of some kind, more particularly a Hen; although the aiolos of Aratos may indicate that he had in view the "quickly flying swan"; but, as this Greek adjective also signifies "varied," it is possible that reference was here made to the Bird's position in the Milky Way, in the light and shade of that great circle. With this idea, Brown renders it "spangled." Aratos also described it as eroeis, "dark," especially as to its wings, an error which Hipparchos corrected.

When the Romans adopted the title that we now have, our constellation became the mythical swan identified with Cycnus, the son of Mars, or of the Ligurian Sthenelus; or the brother of Phaethon, transformed at the river {Page 193} Padus (Eridanus) and transported to the sky. [Allen notes: While Cygnus was thus prominent in myth and the sky, the swan was especially so in ancient ornithology, and the subject of many fables, where its "hostility" to other birds and to beasts was made much of; but in these Thompson sees astronomical symbolism, as already has been alluded to under Aquila.] Associated, too, with Leda, the friend of Jupiter and mother of Castor, Pollux, and Helena, it was classed among the Argonautic constellations, and Helenae Genitor, with other names derived from the well-known legend, was applied to it.

Popularly the constellation was Ales, Avis, and Volucris, a Bird, — Alea Jovis, Ales Ledaeus, and Avis Veneris, — while Olor, another word for the Swan, both ornithological and stellar, has been current even to modern times. Phoebi Assessor is cited by La Lande, the bird being sacred to that deity; and Vultur cadens is found for it, but this was properly Lyra's title. As the bird of Venus it also has been known as Myrtilus, from the myrtle sacred to that goddess; and it was considered to be Orpheus, placed after death in the heavens, near to his favorite Lyre (Lyra).

Our Cygnus may have originated on the Euphrates, for the tablets show a stellar bird of some kind, perhaps Urakhga, the original of the Arabs' Rukh, the Roc, that Sindbad the Sailor knew. At all events, its present figuring did not originate with the Greeks, for the history of the constellation had been entirely lost to them, as had that of the mysterious Engonasin (Hercules), — an evident proof that they were not the inventors of at

least some of the star-groups attributed to them.

In Arabia, although occasionally known as Al Ta’ir al Arduf, the Flying Eagle, Chilmead's Altayr, or as Al Radif, it usually was Al Dajajah, the Hen, and appears as such even with the Egyptian priest Manetho, about 300 B.C., this degenerating into the Adige, Adigege, Aldigaga, Addigagato, Degige, Edegiagith, Eldigiagich, etc., of early lists, some of these even now applied to its brightest star.

Scaliger's Al Ridhadh, for the constellation, which degenerated to El Rided, perhaps is the origin of our Arided for the lucida (Alpha star, Deneb Adige), but its signification is uncertain, although the word is said to have been found in an old Latin-Spanish-Arabic dictionary for some sweet-scented flower.

Hyde gives Katha for it, the Arabic Al Katat, a bird in form and size like a pigeon; indeed, Al Sufi's translator, Schjellerup, defined the latter's title for it, Al Ta’ir, as Ie pigeon de poste; but Al Katat is now the Arabs' word for a common gallinaceous game-bird of the desert, perhaps the mottled partridge.

The Alfonsine Tables, in the recent Madrid edition, supposed to be a reproduction of the original, illustrate their Qalina by a forlorn Hen instead (Page 194} of a Swan, with the bungled Arabic title altayr aldigeya, although elsewhere they say Olor: Hyparcus Cygnum vocat; the Arabo-Latin Alwagest of 1515 had Eurisim: et est volans; et jam vocatur gallina. et dicitur eurisim quasi redolens ut liliuin ab ireo; the Alfonsine Tables of 1521 have Hyresym; et dicitur quasi reddens ut lilium: et est volans: et jam vocatur gallina; Bayer wrote of it, quasi Rosa redolens Lilium: Riccioli, quasi Galli rosa; and contemporaries of this last author wrote Hirezym and Hierizim. Ideler's comments on all this well show the roundabout process by which some of our star-names have originated, and are worthy quotation entire:

They have, moreover, made use of the translated Greek Ornos, as is shown by the Borgian Globe, on which is written Lurnis, or Urnis (for the first letter is not connected with the second, so that we have both readings). It is most probable that from this Urnis originated the Eurisim in the foregoing rare title. Probably the translator found in the Arabic original the, to him, foreign word Urnis. He naturally surmised that it was Greek, only he did not know its proper signification. On the other hand, the plant Erusimon (Erysimum officinale, Linn.) [now seems to be known as Sisymbrium officinale, this plant was at one time known as the 'singer's plant' because of its use in treating loss of the voice] occurred to him, which the Romans called Ireo (see Pliny, Hist. Nat. xviii, 10, xxii, 25), and this recalled the richly scented Iris or Sword Lily (Iris florentina, Linn.), and so, as it seems to me, he traced the thought through a perfectly natural association of ideas to his beautiful Eurisim, quasi redolens ut lilium ab ireo. At the same time I believe I have here struck the trail of the title Albireo, which has never yet been satisfactorily explained. This is given to the star on the beak, — beta, — by Bayer and in our charts. It seems to me to be nothing more than the above abireo, which came to be turned into an Arabic star-name by means of an interpolated.

The early Gallina continued in use by astronomers even to the last century.

Cygnus usually is shown in full flight down the Milky Way, the Stream of Heaven, "uppoised on gleaming wings "; but old drawings have it apparently just springing from the ground.

Caesius thought that the constellation represented the Swan in the Authorized Version of Leviticus xi, 18, the Timshemath of the Hebrews; but this is a Horned Owl in the Revision, or may have been an Ibis. Other Christians of his time saw here the Cross of Calvary, Christi Crux, as Schickard had it, Schiller's Crux cum S. Helena; these descending to our day as the Northern Cross, well known to all [the Southern Cross is Crux], and to beginners in stellar observations probably better than by the stars' true title. Lowell was familiar with it, and thus brings it into his New Year's Eve, 1844:

Orion kneeling in his starry niche,

The Lyre whose strings give music audible

To holy ears, and countless splendors more,

Crowned by the blazing Cross high-hung o'er all;

and Smith, in Come Learn of the Stars:

{Page 195} Yonder goes Cygnus, the Swan, flying southward, —

Sign of the Cross and of Christ unto me.

This Cross is formed by alpha, gamma, eta, and beta, marking the upright along the Galaxy, more than 20° in length, zeta, epsilon, gamma, and delta being the transverse.

These last also were an Arab asterism, Al Fawaris, the Riders; alpha and kappa sometimes being added to the group.

The Chinese story of the Herdsman, or Shepherd, generally told for our Aquila, and of his love for the skilful Spinster, our Lyra, occasionally includes stars in Cygnus.

While interesting in many respects, it is especially so in possessing an unusual number of deeply colored stars, Birmingham writing of this:

A space of the heavens including the Milky Way, between Aquila, Lyra, and Cygnus, seems so peculiarly favored by red and orange stars that it might not inaptly be called the Red Region, or the Red Region of Cygnus.

Argelander locates 146 naked-eye members of the constellation, and Heis 197, its situation in the Galaxy accounting for this density. Of these stars Espin gives a list of one hundred that are double, triple, or multiple. The Lace-work Nebula, N. G. C. 6960, also lies within its borders.

We find among classical authors Iktinos, Miluus, Milvus, and Mylvius, taken from the Parapegmata, and, even to modern days, supposed to be titles for our Cygnus, Aquila, or some unidentified sky figure; but Ideler showed that by these words reference probably was made to the Kite, the predaceous bird of passage annually appearing in spring, and not to any stellar object.

Sagittariusthe Archer



Clues to the meaning of this celestial featureAn arrow is a pointed projectile that is shot with a bow and penetrates a distant target. Sagitta is the constellation of the arrow, and Sagittarius is the constellation of the bow or Archer. The constellation of Aquila separates these two constellations. The English word arrow (constellation Sagitta) is confounded with the archer (Sagittarius) and cognate with Latin arcus, 'bow, arch'. The English word Sagitta, arrow, is also confounded with the word Sagittarius, the archer, or 'arrow shooter'.

The word Archer comes from the Indo-European root *arku- 'Bow and arrow (uncertain which, perhaps both as a unit)'. Derivatives: arrow, arc, arcade, arch1, archer, arbalest, archivolt, archiform, arcuate, from Latin arcus, bow. [Pokorny arqu- 67. Watkins]

“The arrow (sagitta) is named for its 'keen striking' (sagax ictus), that is, its swift striking.” [The Etymologies of Isidore of Seville, 7th century AD, p.363.]

The word sagax of 'sagax ictus' should belong to the constellation of Sagittarius (rather than Sagitta), the Archer, from Latin sagire, to seek, 'seek to know'. The keywords for Sagittarius is 'I seek'. Latin sagax comes from the Indo-European root *sag- 'To seek out'. Derivatives: seek, beseech, sake+, forsake, ramshackle, ransack, presage, (these words from Latin sagire, to perceive, 'seek to know'), sagacious (from Latin sagax,

'of keen perception'), exegesis, hegemony (from Greek hegeisthai, to lead < 'to track down'), sic2 (to set upon; attack, usually used as a command to a dog). [Pokorny sag- 876. Watkins]

There is an etymological relationship between the words sic2, and Latin sagire above. The word sic2, to set upon, attack, is usually used as a command to a dog. Jupiter rules this constellation, but it also was the domicile, or under the protection of Artemis/Diana (according to Allen below, and Manilius p.117), the huntress who is often portrayed with a bow and arrow. In Greek mythology Artemis/Diana sicced a pack of dogs on Actaeon [1].

The Greeks called this constellation Toxeutes, the Archer, from Toxon, bow. Modern archers are known as toxophilites or 'bow lovers', toxophily is the sport of archery. The word Taxus, the yew genus and the Latin word for yew, is of the same origin as Greek toxon, bow. In Europe bows were mostly made from yew, and English bows in particular were invariably cut from yew trees. Greek toxicon, neuter of the adjective toxicos,

means 'arrow poison' and poisons smeared on arrows were fired from bows (toxa or toxon) derived from the yew-tree. Our verb intoxicate originally meant 'to poison'. The 17th century herbalist Nicolas Culpepper said of Yew toxins: "it is the most active vegetable poison known in the whole world, for in a small dose it instantly induces death" [1].

This constellation had the titles Crotus (Krotos), and Croton: Krotos was a rustic spirit or satyr who consorted with the Muses on Mount Helikon, the Muses were the nine daughters of Mnemosyne and Zeus, each of whom presided over a different art or science. Krotos was a great hunter and, according to some, the inventor of the hunting bow and the rhythmic beat which accompanied music. The Muses rewarded him with a place amongst the stars as the constellation Sagittarius [2].

"Mortals who were made immortal ... Crotos (Krotos), son of Pan and Eupheme ('the well-spoken'), was put in sky by Muses as Sagittarium." - Hyginus, Fabulae 224. http://www.theoi.com/Georgikos/SatyrosKrotos.html

"[Constellation] Sagittarius (the Archer) ... Some say that he is Crotus, son of Eupheme, nurse of the Musae. As Sositheus, writer of tragedies [C3rd BC], says, he had his home on Mount Helicon and took his pleasure in the company of the Musae (Muses), sometimes even following the pursuit of hunting. He attained great fame for his diligence, for he was very swift in the woods, and clever in the arts. As a reward for his zeal the Musae asked Jove [Zeus] to represent him in some star group, and Jove did so. Since he wished to display all his skills in one body, he gave him horse flanks because he rode a great deal. He added arrows, since these would show both his keenness and his swiftness, and he gave him a Satyrus’ tail because the Musae took no less pleasure in Crotus than Liber [Dionysos] did in the Satyri. Before his feet are a few stars arranged in a circle, which some said were a wreath, thrown off as by one at play." - Hyginus, Astronomica 2.27 http://www.theoi.com/Georgikos/SatyrosKrotos.html (These "few stars arranged in a circle" is the wreath representing the adjacent constellation Corona Australis)

Crotos was the inventor of the rhythmic beat which accompanied music, it was also said that: "When he listened to the timeless performances of the muses he expressed his delight by striking (clapping) his hands". Crotalum or crotalos was an ancient Greek and later Roman instrument similar to castanets or clappers and used to accompany dancing. Greek krotos or crotos 'the sound of rattling, beating, striking or clapping' (whence also crotein or krotein, 'to cause to rattle; to knock, beat, strike, clap'), from Indo-European base *kret- 'To beat'. Derivatives: Crotalus, the genus consisting of the rattlesnakes from Greek crotalos 'rattle', crotoxin (a crystalline neurotoxin found in the venom of rattlesnakes), dicrotism (an anomaly of the pulse, condition in which the pulse is felt as two beats per single heartbeat), tricrotism (three beats of the pulse per single heartbeat), acrotic is the absence of a pulse. [Pokorny 2. kret- 621. Watkins] From this root also comes crotaphion, the tip of the greater wing of the sphenoid bone; a point in craniometry, from Greek krotaphos 'side of the forehead, or the temple of the head ', properly meaning 'the place of beating', and related to Greek crotos 'the sound of beating' [Klein] (of the pulse). Crotaphite, means the temple or temporal fossa.

The beat of the pulse is a sign of life. The philosopher Heraclitus comments on how the name of the bow (biós) is associated with life (bíos), with a different accent on the vowels, and said "The bow has the name bios, life; its work is death" [3]. Greek bíos is the word for life, related to Latin vita, life, from the Indo-European root *gwei- 'to live'.

In astrology the zodiacal sign, Sagittarius, or its ruling planet Jupiter, governs the liver. It is said that Sagittarians tend to have an active, sensitive liver that instantly suffers from overuse of alcohol (intoxication), and susceptible to hepatitis [4]. The liver removes toxins from the blood. The English words life and liver derive from the Indo-European root *leip- 'To stick, adhere; fat'.

Sagittarius has always been a sign associated with shooting for far off goals. An arrow is shot with a bow. The constellation of Sagittarius was the German Schutze, Schutz, the Anglo-Saxons had Scytta, a

manuscript of 1386 calling it the Schoter; Shoot comes from the Indo-European root *skeud 'To shoot, chase, throw'. Derivatives: shoot, shot, shut, shout, shuttle, scuttle1. [Pokorny 2. (s)keud- 955. Watkins]

The word Scythia originally means "shooter, archer", and it ultimately derived from the Proto-Indo-European root *skeud- "to shoot, throw". The Scythians or Scyths were a nation of horse-riding nomadic pastoralists.

Arrows are made from the off-shoots or cuttings of trees, the shooting of which would have caused some of these shots to have taken root in more distant places other than their usual environment. [Some of these words might belong to Sagitta, the Arrow, because for both arrows and cuttings for planting, the young shoots representing the current season's growth are used. The previous season's growth are favored for making bows].

This constellation represents Crotus who consorted with the Muses (muse from *men-1 'To think', maybe Delphinus), the nine sisters who embody nine talents or nine facets of the mind. When Pythagoras arrived at Croton, his first advice to the Crotoniates was to build a shrine to the Muses at the center of the city, to promote civic harmony and learning [5]. Sagittarius traditionally rules the 9th House of the zodiac, this is the house the ancients refer to as the house of the higher mind and belief systems. In Cratylus by Plato, Hermogenes asks: "What do you think of doxa (opinion), and that class of words?" and Socrates answers: "Doxa is either derived from dioxis (pursuit), and expresses the march of the soul in the pursuit of knowledge, or from the shooting of a bow (toxon); the latter is more likely, and is confirmed by oiesis (thinking), which is only oisis (moving), and implies the movement of the soul to the essential nature of each thing - just as boule (counsel) has to do with shooting (bole); and boulesthai (to wish) combines the notion of aiming and deliberating - all these words seem to follow doxa, and all involve the idea of shooting, just as aboulia, absence of counsel, on the other hand, is a mishap, or missing, or mistaking of the mark, or aim, or proposal, or object" [6].

Doxa comes from the Indo-European root *dek-1 'To take, accept'. Derivatives: decent (from Latin decere, to be fitting < 'to be acceptable'), docent, docile, doctor, doctrine, document, (these words from Latin docere, to teach < 'to cause to accept'), documentary, endocrine glands (ductless glands, capable of providing bursts of energy), dogma, dogmatic, doxology, heterodox, orthodox, paradox, (these words from Greek dokein), décor, decorate (from Latin decus, grace, ornament; 'to be appropriate, to be suitable'), decorous, dainty, deign, dignity, condign, dignify, disdain, indign, indignant, indignation, (these words from Latin dignus, worthy, deserving, fitting), dignitary, disciple, discipline, (these words from Latin discere, to learn), dowel, pandect (pandects is a complete body of laws; a legal code). [Pokorny 1. dek- 189. Watkins]

"From the Sumerians, who invented the first written Western language, we find references to the Mesopotamian god Enki masturbating, his ejaculation filling the Tigris River with flowing water" [7]. (Tigris 'arrow river' - Sagitta - Sagitta might also be the penis. Tigers only drink from flowing water and won't drink from still waters)

The star Nunki, the sigma star of Sagittarius, is identified with Enki - "of Enki, Sumerian god of waters and of most ancient city of Eridu": Jaculum was one title for Sagitta, 'jaculum' and 'ejaculate' are both derived from Latin iaculum, meaning a dart; there might be a correlation between the releasing arrows from a bow and releasing semen.


"As for the Archer, when the foremost portion of his cloak rises, he will give birth to hearts renowned in war and will conduct the conqueror, celebrating great triumphs in the sight of all, to his country's citadels. Such a one will build high walls (moenia from Latin murus) one moment and pull them down the next. But if Fortune favours them too generously with success, the mark of her envy is to be seen on their faces,

for she works cruel havoc upon their features. So was it that a dread warrior* paid for his victories at the Trebia, Cannae, and the Lake, even before the hour of his retreat, with such disfigurement." [Translator's note: *Hanibal who lost an eye (Livy 22.2.11: Sagittarius is one-eyed; see p.103] [Manilius, Astronomica, 1st century AD, book 4, p.267]

"But they whose lot it is to be born under the Centaur of double form delight in yoking a team, in bringing a fiery horse to obey the pliant reins, in following herds which graze all over the grasslands, and in imposing a master on every kind of quadruped and taming them: they soften tigers, rid the lion of his fierceness, speak to the elephant and through speech adapt its huge bulk to human skills in a variety of displays. Indeed, in the stars of this constellation the human form is blended with a beast's and placed above it; wherefore it has lordship over beasts. And because it carries a shaft poised on drawn bow, it imparts strength to limb and keenness to the intellect, swiftness of movement, and an indefatigable spirit." [Manilius, Astronomica, 1st century AD, book 4, p.241.]


Fixed stars in Sagittarius


Spiculum Lagoon Nebula NGC6523

29SAG40 01CAP04 270 10 30 -24 23 00 -00 56 17 6.00 N

Alnasl gamma 29SAG52 01CAP16 270 38 56 -30 25 36 -06 58 56 3.07 K0

Polis mu 01CAP49 03CAP13 272 43 00 -21 04 26 +02 20 24 3 0 var B8

Kaus Medius delta 03CAP11 04CAP35 274 26 54 -29 51 05 -06 27 56 2.84 K2

Kaus Australis epsilon

03CAP41 05CAP05 275 12 48 -34 24 37 -11 02 37 1.95 B9

Kaus Borealis lambda

04CAP55 06CAP19 276 13 15 -25 27 04 -02 07 36 2.94 K1

Facies M22 NGC6656

06CAP54 08CAP18 278 19 30 -23 58 00 -00 44 25 5.90 C

theta 08CAP48 10CAP11 280 37 60 -27 02 39 -03 56 52 3.30 B8

Nunki sigma 10CAP59 12CAP23 283 02 29 -26 21 39 -03 26 34 2.14 B3

Ascella zeta 12CAP15 13CAP38 284 51 29 -29 10 06 -06 23 31 2.71 A4

tau 13CAP27 14CAP50 285 57 18 -27 44 43 -05 04 46 3.42 K1

Manubrium omicron 13CAP36 14CAP59 285 27 00 -21 49 00 +00 52 00 3.90 G8

Arkab Prior beta 1 14CAP23 15CAP47 289 45 42 -44 33 18 -22 08 18 4.24 B8

Arkab Posterior beta 2

14CAP26 15CAP50 289 54 09 -44 53 45 -22 29 24 4.51 A9

Albadah pi Sagittarius

14CAP51 16CAP15 286 43 00 -21 06 18 +01 26 36 3.00 F3

Rukbat alpha 15CAP14 16CAP38 290 06 23 -40 42 43 -18 22 20 4.11 B8

Terebellum omega 24CAP27 25CAP51 298 1300 -26 26 02 -05 25 01 4.80 G5



. . . glorious in his Cretian Bow,

Centaur follows with an aiming Eye,

His Bow full drawn and ready to let fly.

-- Creech's Manlius

Sagittarius, the Archer, is the French Sagittaire, the Italian Sagittario, and the German Schutze, — Bayer's Schutz, — next to the eastward from Scorpio, was Toxeutes, the Archer, and Rutor toxon, the Bow-stretcher, with Aratos; Toxeuter with other Greeks; and Toxetes with Eratosthenes, Hipparchos, Plutarch, and Ptolemy. The Belokrator cited by Hyde, though not a lexicon word, probably signifies the Drawer of the Arrow.

These were translated by Lucian and the Romans into our title, although Manilius had Sagittifer; Avienus, Sagittiger; and Cicero, Sagittipotens, a term peculiar to him. His equivalent Arquitenens, the ancient form of Arcitenens, — reappearing with Ausonius and with Al Biruni in Sachau's {Page 352} translation, — was also used by early classic writers for this constellation; although where the word is seen with Vergil it is for the god Apollo.

Flamsteed's Atlas has Sagittary, common for centuries before him; Shakespeare calling Othello's house — probably the Arsenal in Venice — the Sagittary, i. e. bearing the zodiac sign. The word was early written Sagitary; and Sagittarie and Saagittare in Chaucer's Astrolabe, from his Anglo-Norman predecessor, De Thaun. The Anglo-Saxons had Scytta.

Columella called it Crotos, and Hyginus, Croton, the Herdsman; but how these names are applicable does not appear. (Read about the mythological satyr Crotos here)

Others have been Ippotes (hippotes meaning knight), On Horseback; Semivir, the Half Man; Taurus and Minotauros, from his fabled early shape, although now figured in equine form; while Cicero's Antepes and Antepedes may be for this, or for our Centaur (the constellation Centaurus). Cornipedes, Horn-Footed, also has been applied to it.

Sometimes the whole was personified by its parts, as with Aratos, where we see Toxon, the Bow, the Arcus of Cicero and Germanicus; and the Haemonios Arcus of Ovid; in Egypt, where it is said to have been known as an Arrow held in a human hand; and with Ovid again in Thessalicae Sagitta, Thessaly being the birthplace of the Centaurs. This induced Longfellow's lines in his Poets' Calendar for November:

With sounding hoofs across the earth I fly,

A steed Thessalian with a human face.

And it has been Sagitta arcui applicata; or plain Telum with Capella of Carthage. Bayer cited Pharetra, the Quiver, and, recurring to the Bow, Elkausu or Elkusu, Schickard's Alkauuso, from the Arabic Al Kaus. The translator of Ulug Beg added to its modern name quem etiam Arcum vocant, which the Almagest of 1515 confirmed in its et est Arcus. It was the Persian Kaman and Nimasp; the Turkish Yai; the Syriac Keshta and the Hebrew Kesheth; Riccioli's Kertko, "from the Chaldaeans"; all signifying a Bow, whence some early maps illustrated Sagittarius simply as a Bow and Arrow. This was an idea especially prevalent in Asiatic astronomy.

Among the Jews it was the tribal symbol of Ephraim and Manasseh, from Jacob's last words to their father Joseph, "his bow abode in strength."

Novidius claimed it as Joash, the King of Israel, shooting arrows out of "the window eastward," at the command of the dying Elisha; but the {Page 353} biblical set generally identified it with Saint Matthew the Apostle, although Caesius claimed that Sagittarius was Ishmael.

The formation of this constellation on the Euphrates undoubtedly preceded that of the larger figure, the Centaur Chiron (the constellation Centaurus); but the first recorded classic figuring was in Eratosthenes' description of it as a Satyr, probably derived from the characteristics of the original Centaur, Hea-bani (Heabani), and it so appeared on the more recent Farnese globe. But Manilius mentioned it, as in our modern style, mixtus equo, and with threatening look, very different from the mild aspect of the educated Chiron, the Centaur of the South (Centaurus); while it sometimes is given in later manuscripts and maps with flowing robes; but his crown (the constellation Corona Australis) always appears near his fore feet, and his arrow is always aimed at the Scorpion's heart.

Dupuis said that it was shown in Egypt as an Ibis or Swan; but the Denderah zodiac has the customary Archer with the face of a lion added, so making it bifaced. Kircher gave its title from the Copts as IIemaere, Statio amoenitatis.

The illustrated manuscript partly reproduced in the 47th volume of Archaeologia has a centaur-like figure, Astronochus, which, perhaps, is our Archer; but the title is of unexplained derivation, unless it be the Star-holder, as Ophiuchus is the Serpent-holder, and Heniochus, the Rein-holder.

It is in this same manuscript that is illustrated a sky group, Joculator, [Allen notes: The Latin word, the equivalent of the early French Jongleur, is seen with old Bishop Thomas Percy for a Minstrel, applied to King

Alfred] usually rendered the "Jester," and representing the Court Fool of mediaeval days; but I find no trace of this elsewhere.

We have already noticed the confusion in the myths and titles of this zodiacal Centaur with those of the southern Centaur (the constellation Centaurus), some thinking Sagittarius the Chiron of the Greeks, — Chiron with Hyginus and the Romans; although Eratosthenes and others, as did the modern Ideler, understood this name to refer to the Centaur proper (the constellation Centaurus). Ovid's Centaurus, however, and Milton's Centaur are the zodiac figure (Sagittarius), as has been the case with some later poets; James Thomson writing in the Winter of his Seasons:

Now when the chearless empire of the sky

To Capricorn the Centaur Archer yields.

Early tradition made the earthly Chiron (the constellation Centaurus) the inventor of the Archer constellation (Sagittarius) to guide the Argonauts in their expedition to Colchis; although, and about as reasonably, Pliny said that Cleostratos originated it, with Aries, during the 6th or 5th century B.C. As to this we may consider {354} that, while Cleostratos, possibly, was the first to write on it, certainly none of the Greeks gave it form or title, for we see abundant evidence of its much greater antiquity on the Euphrates.

Cuneiform inscriptions designate Sagittarius as the Strong One, the Giant King of War, and as the Illuminator of the Great City, personifying the archer god of war, Nergal or Nerigal, or under his guardianship, as the Great Lord [Allen notes: This may be seen in the Mandaeans' name to-day — Nerig — for the planet Mars]. This divinity is mentioned in the Second Book of Kings, xvii, 30. An inscription, on a fragment of a planisphere, transcribed by Sayce as Utucagaba, the Light of the White Face, and by Pinches as Udgudua, the Flowing (?) Day, or the Smiting Sun Face, is supposed to be an allusion to this constellation; while on this fragment also appear the words Nibat Anu, which accord with an astrolabe of Sennacherib, and were considered by George Smith as the name of its chief star. Another inscribed tablet, although somewhat imperfect, is thought to read Kakkab Kastu, the Constellation, or Star, of the Bow, — in Akkadian Ban, — indicating one or more of the bow stars of the Archer. This will account for the Toxon of Aratos and the Arcus of the Latins, Sayce agreeing with this in his rendering Mulban, the Star of the Bow. Pa and (khut?), Dayspring, also seem to have been titles, the latter because our Archer was a type of the rising sun. Upon some of the boundary stones of Sippara (Sepharvaim of the Old Testament), a solar city, Sagittarius "appears sculptured in, full glory." In Assyria it always was associated with the ninth month, Kislivu, corresponding to our November-December, with which we have already seen Orion associated. From all the foregoing it would seem safe to assume the Archer to be of Euphratean origin.

India also claimed Sagittarius for its zodiac of 3000 years ago, figured as a Horse, Horse’s head, or Horseman, — Acvini, — a word that appeared in Hindu stellar nomenclature in different parts of the sky. Al Biruni said that the constellation was the Sanskrit Dhanu, or Dhanasu, the Tamil Dhamsu, given by Professor Whitney as Dhanus; while we have a very early statement that the stars of the bow and human part of the Archer represented the fan of lions' tails twirled by Mula, the wife of Chandra Gupta, the Sandrokottos of 300 B.C., ruler over the Indian kingdom Maurya and the Gangaridae and Prasii along the Ganges. But in later Indian astronomy it became Taukshika, derived from the Greek Toxotes.

The Hindus located here another of their double nakshatras (Moon Mansion), the 18th and 19th, the Former and the Latter Ashadha, Unconquered, which, in the main, were coincident with the manazil and sieu of the same numbering. These were under the protection of the divinities Apas, Waters, and Vicve {Page 355} Devas, the Combined Gods; each being figured as an Elephant’s Tusk, and both together as a Bed.

In ancient Arabia the two small groups of stars now marking the head and the vane of the Archer's arrow were of much note as relics of still earlier asterisms, as well as a lunar station. The westernmost of these, — gamma, delta, epsilon, and eta — were Al Na’am al Warid, the Going Ostriches; and the easternmost, — sigma, zeta, phi, chi, and tau, — Al Na’am al Sadirah, the Returning Ostriches, passing to and from the celestial river, the Milky Way, with the star lambda for their Keeper. Ideler thought it inexplicable that these non-drinking creatures should be found here in connection with water, and Al Jauhari compared the figures to an Overturned Chair, which these stars may represent. But Al Biruni said that Al Zajjaj had a word that signifies the Beam over the mouth of a well to which the pulleys are attached; while another authority said that

pasturing Camels, or Cattle, were intended. There evidently is much uncertainty as to the true reading and signification of this title. All of the foregoing stars, with mu1 and mu2, were included in the 18th manzil, Al Na’am.

The 19th manzil (Moon Mansion) lay in the vacant space from the upper part of the figure toward the horns of the Sea-Goat, and was known as Al Baldah, the City, or District, for this region is comparatively untenanted. It was marked by one scarcely distinguishable star, probably pi, and was bounded by six others in the form of a Bow, the Arabs' Kaus, which, however, was not our Bow of Sagittarius. It also was Al Kiladah, the Necklace; and Al Udhiyy, the Ostrich's Nest, marked by our tau, nu, psi, omega, alpha, and zeta; while the space between this and the preceding mansions was designated by Al Biruni as "the head of

Sagittarius and his two locks." In his discussion of this subject, quoting, as he often did, from Arab poets, he compared this 19th manzil to "the interstice between the two eyebrows which are not connected with each other," — a condition described by the word 'Ablad, somewhat similar to the Baldah generally applied to it.

The 18th sieu, (Moon Mansion of the Chinese) Ki, a Sieve, anciently Kit, was the first of these groups; and the 19th, Tew, Tow, or Nan Tow, a Ladle or Measure, anciently Dew, was the second; both being alluded to in the She King:

In the south is the Sieve

Idly showing its mouth…

But it is of no use to sift;

the commentator explaining that the two stars widest apart were the Mouth, and the two closer together the Heels; but he does not give the connection of these with the Sieve. And of the second group:

{Page 356} In the north is the Ladle

Raising its handle to the west

But it lades out no liquor;

so that our Milk Dipper, zeta (Ascella), tau, sigma (Nunki), phi, and lambda (Kaus Borealis), in the same spot, is not a modem conceit after all. The stars of this Ladle were objects of special worship in China for at least a thousand years before our era; indeed, also were known as a Temple.

The whole constellation was the Chinese Tiger, Williams giving, as another early name, Seih Muh, the Cleft Tree, or Branches cut for fire-wood, and the later name, from the Jesuits, Jin Ma, the Man-Horse. A part of it was included with Scorpio, Libra, and some of Virgo's stars in the large zodiacal division the Azure Dragon. The astrologers incorporated it with Capricomus in their Sing Ki.

Astrologically the constellation was the House of Jupiter, that planet having appeared here at the Creation, a manuscript of 1386 calling it the Schoter "ye principal howce of Jupit "; although this honor was shared by Aquarius and Leo. Nor did Jupiter monopolize its possession, for it also was the domicile of Diana, one of whose temples was at Stymphalus, the home of the Stymphalian birds. These last, when slain by Hercules, were transferred to the sky as Aquila, Cygnus, and Vultur Cadens (Lyra), and are all paranatellons of Sagittarius, as has been explained under Aquila. Thus the constellation was known as Dianae Sidus. It inclined to fruitfulness, a character assigned to it as far back as the Babylonian inscriptions; and was a fortunate sign, reigning over Arabia Felix, Hungary, Liguria, Moravia, and Spain, and the cities of Avignon, Cologne, and Narbonne; while Manilius said that it ruled Crete, Latium, and Trinacria. Ampelius associated it with the south wind, Auster, and the southwest wind, Africus; Aries and Scorpio being also associated with the latter. Yellow was the color attributed to it, or the peculiar green sanguine; and Arcandum in 1542 wrote that a man born under this sign would be thrice wedded, very fond of vegetables, would become a matchless tailor, and have three special illnesses, the last at eighty years of age. Such was much of the science of his day!

Sagittarius is shown on a coin of Gallienus of about A.D. 260, with the legend Apollini Conservatori; and on those of King Stephen emblematic of his having landed in England in 1135 when the sun was here.

La Caille took the star eta out of this constellation for the beta of his new Telescopium. This was the 25th of Ptolemy's list in the sphuron, or pastern (or sphere?), which would indicate that with him the feet had a very different situation from that on the present maps.

{Page 357} The symbol of the sign, , shows the arrow with part of the bow.

The sun passes through the constellation from the 16th of December to the 18th of January, reaching the winter solstice1 near the stars mu (Polis) on the 21st of December, but then of course in the sign Capricorn.

A noticeable feature in the heavens lies within the boundaries of Sagittarius, an almost circular black void near the stars mu and delta, showing but one faint telescopic star; and to the east of this empty spot is another of narrow crescent form.

Lupusthe Wolf



Clues to the meaning of this celestial featureThe wolf is said to be placed in the heavens as a reminder of the religious nature of Chiron the Centaur (Centaurus), who is depicted as spearing it in order to offer it as a sacrifice. [Fixed Stars and Constellations in Astrology, Vivian E. Robson, 1923, p.50.]

The adjacent constellation, Centaurus, is traditionally depicted as carrying Lupus, the Wolf, to sacrifice on Ara. The Lupercalia was a sacrificial celebration.

The word wolf, is cognate with Latin lupus, Greek lukos, and comes from the Indo-European root *wlkwo 'Wolf'. Derivatives: wolf (from Germanic wulf), lobo, lupine, lupus, robalo (inshore tropical snook fish), loup-garou, (these words from Latin lupus, wolf), lycanthrope, lycopodium, lyceum, (these words from Greek lukos, wolf), lytta, alyssum (from Greek lussa). [Pokorny wlkwos 1178. Watkins].

The words hearse, rehearse, are rooted in the Oscan word for wolf; hirpus, a large iron-toothed rake; a harrow, and the meaning alluded to the long, sharp, pointed, jagged teeth of wolves. Hearse derives from the Old French herce, from Latin hirpex, 'rake, harrow', describing the framework for candles hung over a coffin, and later came to refer to a vehicle for conveying a coffin in a funeral. The Roman 'hirpex' was actually what we would today call a 'harrow' a heavy frame with sharp iron teeth used to break up and even off plowed ground, and was called irpices, from Oscan hirpus, wolf. Rehearse meant to 'reharrow, go over again, repeat'. Latin lupata, and lupatus also referred to the sharp pointed wolf's teeth, and was applied to sundry things furnished with many sharp points and indentations, e.g., a handsaw, and a jagged bit for hard-mouthed horses [1].

The Swedish and Norwegian term for wolf is varg, Gothic vargs (warg in Old High German, verag in Anglo-Saxon) and stands for an outlaw. The verdict "thou art a warg" declared the culprit an outlaw. Those people were banished forever from human society and were forced to live in the wild [2].

"Ululate means to howl like a wolf. After his transformation into a wolf by Zeus: "Lycaon flees into the silent countryside—silentia ruris (1.232); when he tries to speak, he howls, EXULulat (1.233). The verb is well chosen, since it carries within it EXUL, 'exile'; he runs howling into exile, where his transformation into a wolf is completed (Metamorphoses 1.236—39)". [Metaformations, Frederick Ahl, p.72.]

The constellation Lupus was not recognized as a wolf until about the 16th century, and from then the animal was considered a wolf, Fera Lupus, 'wild wolf'. The Greeks and Ptolomy thought of these stars merely as a generic wild animal, the Therion that the Centaur (Centaurus) was taking to Ara, the Altar, skewered on a pike as a sacrificial offering. Greek ther, means 'wild beast'. Latin Fera and Greek Therion comes from the Indo-European root *ghwer- 'Wild beast'. Derivatives: feral, fierce, ferocious, (these words from Latin ferus), treacle, theropod (these words from Greek ther, wild beast). [Pokorny ghwer- 493. Watkins]

A possible association of Latin ferrum, iron, with Latin ferus/fera, wild: Michalopoulos (Ancient Etymologies in Ovid's Metamorphoses) says "Ovid vertically aligns ferrum and ferarum". The Roman mythological poet Ovid described four ages of man: Golden, Silver, Brazen, and Iron (the present age). In the Iron Age men become evil, greedy and dishonest. Zeus/Jupiter tells the assembled gods on Mount Olympus that he must punish these men and proceeds to tell them how he dealt with an especially corrupt man, Lycaon, king of Arcadia, whom he turned into a wolf for the crime of offering Zeus a dish of human flesh in order to test his divinity. This gave rise to the story that a man was turned into a wolf at each annual sacrifice to Zeus Lycaeus, the Lupercal, but recovered his human form if he abstained from human flesh for nine years. The wolves seem to be holding to their side of the bargain; there has been no documented proof in the past 150 years that any wild, healthy wolf has killed a human [2]. Lycanthropes are people that could assume the shape of wolves. They are regarded as 'werewolves' of folklore.

Lykaion, Wikipedia explains, is a mountain in Arcadia, sacred to Zeus Lycaeus (epithet Lykaios, 'wolf-Zeus', is assumed by Zeus only in connection with the Lykaia), who was said to have been born and brought up on it, and the home of Lycaon, who is said to have founded the ritual of Zeus practiced on its summit. The altar [the adjoining constellation is Ara, the altar] of Zeus on the mountain consisted of a great mound of ashes with a retaining wall. The sanctuary of Zeus played host to athletic games held every four years, the Lykaia (a mysterious archaic festival) [3]. According to Plato (Republic 565d-e), a particular clan would gather on

the mountain to make a sacrifice every nine years to Zeus Lykaios, and a single morsel of human entrails would be intermingled with the animal's. Whoever ate the human flesh was said to turn into a wolf, and could only regain human form if he did not eat again of human flesh until the next nine-year cycle had ended. Apollo, too had an archaic wolf-form, Apollo Lycaeus, worshipped in Athens at the Lykeion, or Lyceum (see below) [4].

“The 'wolf (lupus) or 'little dog' (canicula) is an iron grapple that takes such names because if anything falls in a well it snatches them and draws them out.” [The Etymologies of Isidore of Seville, 7th century AD, p.405.]

The legendary lawgiver of Sparta, Lycurgus, had a wolf name meaning 'He who brings into being the works of a wolf': Among the reforms attributed to Lycurgus are the substitution of iron money for gold and silver coinage.

Middle High German isen, 'iron', German eisen 'iron', and Isengrim, the Wolf’s name in Renard the Fox, is Flemish—Isengrin, meaning the iron helm [5].

The Greeks thought of these stars, Lupus, as the Therion, the animal that the Centaur (Centaurus) was taking to Ara, the Altar, as a sacrificial offering. In Mediaeval Christian astronomy the figure Centaurus, Centaur, became 'Abraham with Isaac'. Abraham was about to sacrifice his son Isaac on the altar as the then current religious law demanded that the first-born son be sacrificed to God. "Then Abraham lifted his eyes and looked, and there behind him was a ram (Aries) caught in a thicket by its horns. So Abraham went and took the ram, and offered it up for a burnt offering instead of his son" [Gen. 22:10-13] [This might make the wolf Isaac, representing the Centaur's sacrifice and Abraham's sacrifice. The Biblical school said that Aries represented Abraham’s Ram caught in the thicket].

Despite their often negative image, wolves have variously been credited, in mythology, fiction and reality, with adopting, nursing, and raising human feral children, the most famous examples being Romulus and Remus and Mowgli of The Jungle Book [4]. The Lupercal was a cave at the foot of the Palatine Hill in Rome. In the legend of Rome's foundation, Romulus and Remus were found there by the lactating female wolf, lupa, who suckled them until they were found by Faustulus. "The mediaeval Irish are reported to have taken wolves as 'gossips,' i.e., godfathers and godmothers, and also to have tamed and made use of them" [Gaelic names of beasts, Forbes, 1905, p.229.].

Fenrisulfr (Fenris or Fenrir) was an Old Norse wolf-god. According to the Edda, at one stage the gods decided to shackle Fenrisulfr, but the beast broke every chain they put upon him and broke loose. Eventually they had the dwarfs make them a magical ribbon called Gleipnir from such items as a woman's beard and a mountain's roots. Even though it was as thin as a silken ribbon, it is stronger than any iron chain. [This magical ribbon, Gleipnir, might be a loop, and I suggest related to lup- of lupus, French loup, wolf; a loop is described as "a length of line, thread, ribbon, or other thin material that is curved or doubled over making an opening".] "The Fenris-wolf advances with wide-open mouth; the upper jaw reaches to heaven and the lower jaw is on the earth." It is prophesied that at Ragnarok, the battle of the gods at the end of the world, the wolf will at last break free and join forces with the enemies of the gods and will then devour Odin himself.

Wolf words have associations with higher education. The Lyceum (from Greek lycos, wolf), named for its sanctuary to Lycian Apollo, was a gymnasium in ancient Athens, most famous for its association with Aristotle, whose writings cover many subjects, including physics, metaphysics, logic, rhetoric, theater, politics, and ethics. The debate concerning the existence of God is an issue in philosophy. It seems to be our wolf nature that investigates the existence or nature of God. In medieval church symbolism wolves represented heresy [4], and in Greek mythology Lycaon held an opinion at variance with established religious beliefs. Ovid (Bk I:199-243) tells the story of Lycaon, king of Arcadia, who was turned into a wolf for the crime of offering Zeus a dish of human flesh in order to test his divinity. Zeus tells the story to the assembled gods; "I gave them signs that a god had come, and the people began to worship me. At first Lycaon ridiculed their piety, then exclaimed ‘I will prove by a straightforward test whether he is a god or a mortal. The truth will not be in doubt’" [5]. Lycaon boiled some parts of a human victim while roasting others, and placed them on the table as a meal before Zeus [6]. Lycaon was essentially performing a scientific experiment in order to establish whether the god Zeus was really god. The story implies that he was making an analysis; "the method of proof in which a known truth is sought as a consequence of a series of deductions from that which is the thing to be proved" (AHD). Aristotle, who taught in the Lyceum, described his style of logic as 'Analytic'. I suggest that there is a resemblance between the Greek word lussa, “wolfish rage” and the Greek -lusis of analysis from the Indo-European root *leu- 'To loosen': The myth of Fenrisulfr who broke loose his chains and will break loose again at Ragnarok might add further confirmation. And in the wolf-lore of the Bestiaries it is said that "if the wolf senses that the man has seen it first, it loses its fierceness and its power to run" [The Aberdeen Bestiary Project], it becomes paralyzed para-lusis.

The vampire is sometimes regarded as an example of lycanthropy [7]. The vampire was linked to the werewolf in East European countries. In Serbia, the werewolf and vampire are known collectively as one creature; Vulkodlak. [8].

The verb to vamp means "to behave seductively and exploit" [10].

"Lupa (lit. "she-wolf), a prostitute, so called from her rapaciousness, because she seizes wretched people for herself and takes possession of them." [The Etymologies of Isidore of Seville, 7th century AD, p.223.]

Geri and Freki (also Gere and Freke) are a pair of wolves, companions of the god Odin. Geri is 'Greedy'. Freki is translated as 'Ravenous' or 'fierce'.

Geri, from Old Norse gerr, greedy, related to Old Norse giarn, gjarna, to yearn, from the Indo-European root *gher-5, 'To like, want'. Related words are: yearn, greedy, exhort, charisma, Eucharist, chervil. [Pokorny 1. gher- 440.]

Lupus, the Eucharist? Lupus is a sacrifical animal. As explained above on Mt. Lykaion, sacred to Zeus Lycaeus 'wolf-Zeus', a ritual was celebrated in remembrance of Lycaon serving Zeus a dish of human flesh. Centaurus is depicted taking Lupus, the Therion, or wild animal, to Ara, the Altar, skewered on a pike as a sacrificial offering. Hostia, is the Latin term for sacrificial offering, related to the word 'host', the term used for the consecrated bread or wafer of the Eucharist. Holy Communion is called the Eucharistic Sacrifice, a sacrament which was instituted at the Last Supper, in which bread and wine are consecrated and consumed, representing the consummation of the body and blood of Jesus Christ.

Charis the Greek word for grace, from which the word charisma derives, Klein sees this word as a relative of Charon, the name of the ferryman that ferries the dead across the river Styx in Greek mythology. Greek Charon is identified with the Etruscan Charun, who is described as having wolf's ears. [The word Styx might relate to adjacent Centaurus]. The word 'hearse' (see above), a transporter of the dead, is rooted in the Oscan word for wolf; hirpus, harrow (see above). Fera Lupus, 'wild wolf', Greek Therion, were names for this constellation - fera is not a recognized relative of the word 'ferry', but it does bear a similarity?

Freki derives from the Old Norse word frekr. Related words are: freak, frisk, frisky, fresh, refresh, fresco.

"The Wolf Credo: Respect the elders. Teach the young. Cooperate with the pack. Play when you can. Hunt when you must..." [Del Goetz]

Perhaps like no other animal wolves have a strict, elaborate, social hierarchy, with the alphas at the top and the omega at the bottom, that affects all activities in the pack. Every single wolf knows their own 'alphabetical' order in the pack. Walking in line on a mountain pathway the alpha will be the first wolf of the pack and the omega the last.


Fixed stars in Lupus


alpha 22SCO07 23SCO30 219 38 52 47 10 30 30 01 13 2.89 B2

beta 23SCO39 25SCO02 223 48 42 42 56 02 25 02 23 2.81 B3

theta 26SCO07 27SCO30 229 39 23 36 04 54 17 10 17 3.59 K5

lambda 26SCO20 27SCO43 226 21 59 45 05 20 26 30 51 4.39 B3

delta 27SCO17 28SCO40 229 31 14 40 28 05 21 25 11 3.43 B3

epsilon 28SCO45 00SAG08 229 49 08 44 30 40 25 14 19 3.74 B3

zeta 29SCO23 00SAG46 227 10 12 51 54 38 32 49 27 3.50 G5

gamma 00SAG07 01SAG30 232 57 00 41 00 01 21 14 15 2.95 B3

chi 01SAG28 02SAG51 236 56 38 33 28 36 13 10 24 4.11 B9

eta 04SAG23 05SAG46 239 12 00 38 15 20 17 26 18 3.64 B3

theta 05SAG22 06SAG45 240 49 32 36 40 05 15 37 03 4.33 B3


. . . another form

That men of other days have called the beast.

— Poste's Aratos.

Lupus, the Wolf, is the Loup of the French, Lupo with the Italians, and Wolff in Germany, an idea for the figure said to be from the astrologers' erroneous translation of Al Fahd, the Arabian title for this constellation, their Leopard, or Panther; although Suidas, the Greek lexicographer of 970, is reported to have called it knekias, a word for the wolf found in the fables of Babrias of the century before our era. The Greeks and Romans did not specially designate these stars, and thought of them merely as a Wild Animal, the therion of Aratos, Hipparchos, and Ptolemy; the Bestia of Vitruvius; Fera of Germanicus; Quadrupes vasta of Cicero; Hostia, the Victim, of Hyginus;

Hostiola, cited by Bayer; Bestia Centauri, by Riccioli; and Victima Centauri.

The Wolf reappeared as Lupus in the Alfonsine Tables, and as Fera Lupus in the Latin Almagests, while Grotius said that Panthera was Capella's name for it.

Bayer also had Equus masculus and Leaena; and La Lande, Leo marinus, Deferens leonem, Canis ululans, Leopardus, Lupa, Martius, — the wolf being sacred to Mars, — and Lycisca, the Hybrid of the Wolf. Belua, the Monster, is found in early works.

The Arabians also called it Al Asadah, the Lioness, — found by Scaliger repeated on a Turkish planisphere and cited by Bayer as Asida, — and Al Sabu’, the Wild Beast, Chilmead's Al Subahh. But the Desert astronomers seem to have mixed some of its smaller stars with a part of the Centaur as Al Shamarili, the Palm Branches, and Kadb al Karm, the Vine Branch.

Zibu, the Beast, of Euphratean cylinders, may be for this constellation; and Urbat, the Beast of Death, or the Star of the Dead Fathers, is a title for it attributed to the Akkadians.

Caesius said that in Persia it was Bridemif, but Hyde, commenting on {Page 279} this from Albumasar, asserted that the word should be Birdun, the Packhorse, and was really intended for the Centaur.

Aratos wrote of it, "another creature very firmly clutched," and "the Wildbeast which the Centaur's (Centaurus) right hand holds "as an offering to the gods upon the Altar (Ara), and so virtually a part of the Centaur; but Eratosthenes described it as a Wineskin from which the Centaur was about to pour a libation; while others imagined both the Beast and the Wineskin in the Centaur's grasp.

Mythologists thought it the animal into which Lycaon was changed; Caesius, that it was the Wolf to which Jacob likened Benjamin; but Julius Schiller (who attempted to replace all of the pagan constellations with Christian counterparts) saw in its stars Benjamin (the word ben-jamin or Binyamin translates "son of the south" or "son of the right hand") himself.

Although very ancient, Lupus is inconspicuous, lying partly in the Milky Way, south of Libra and Scorpio, east of the Centaur (Centaurus), with no star larger than 2.6 magnitude, while the few visible in the latitude of New York City — gamma, delta, lambda, and mu — are even smaller than this.

The alpha star, 2.6, seems to be unnamed except in China, where it was Yang Mun or Men, the South Gate. On the Euphrates it probably was Kakkab Su-gub Gud-Elim, the Star Left Hand of the Horned Bull, said to have been a reference to the Centaur that was thus figured in that valley.

Lyrathe Lyre



Clues to the meaning of this celestial featureMercury found the body of a tortoise cast up by the Nile, and discovered that by striking the sinews after the flesh was consumed a musical note was obtained. He made a lyre of similar shape, having three strings, and gave it to Orpheus, the son of Calliope, who by its music enchanted the beasts, birds and rocks. After Orpheus was slain by the Thracian women, Jupiter placed the lyre in heaven at the request of Apollo and the Muses. This constellation was often called Vultur Cadens, or the Falling Grype by the ancients. [Fixed Stars and Constellations in Astrology, Vivian E. Robson, 1923, p.50.]

The New Patterns in the Sky, Julius D.W. Staal, p.185

Lyra represents the lyre, an ancient stringed musical instrument. Lyra has titles identifying it with a variety of stringed instruments and some of these names might be due to a lack of knowledge of what a lyre was. That there was a difference between the lyre and the cithara is certain. Hermes invented the lyre, and Apollo invented the cithara (the zither and guitar are related to this word). "The lyre and chelys on the one hand, and the cithara and phorminx on the other, were similar or nearly identical" [1]. Aratos called Lyra Khelus olige, the Little Tortoise or Shell; Greek Khelus is equivalent to the Latin word Chelys (olige from Greek oligos, meaning 'little'). The chelys or lyre is a stringed musical instrument which had a vaulted back of tortoise-shell, or of wood shaped like that shell. The word cizelys was used in allusion to the oldest lyre of the Greeks which was said to have been invented by Hermes. According to tradition he was attracted by sounds of music while walking on the banks of the Nile, and found they proceeded from the shell of a tortoise across which were stretched tendons which the wind had set in vibration (Homeric Hymn to Hermes, 475 I) [2]. Pausanias says that it was in Khelydorea ('rich in Tortoises') adjoining Mount Kyllene, in Arcadia, that Hermes is said to have found a tortoise and made the lyre [3].

All living turtles belong to the crown group Chelonia, this generic name was derived from Greek Khelus (tortoise), Latin Chelys:

"When the wedding of Zeus and Hera took place, Hermes invited not only the gods, but also all the humans and even the animals to attend. Chelone was the only person who stayed at home. Hermes noticed that she was not there; he came down to earth, took hold of the house with the girl inside it and cast them both into a river. Chelone was changed into a tortoise which, like her, is inseparable from its house" [Grimal].

Another version:

"Zeus asked the tortoise (Khelone) her reason for not having come to the feast. The tortoise said, 'Be it ever so humble, there's no place like home.' Zeus got angry at the tortoise and ordered her to carry her house with her wherever she went" [Aesop, Fables 508 (from Chambry 125) 4]

The word chelone, is a siege performed with shields united so as to resemble the shell of a tortoise; the same as Latin testudo, from Greek kelone, 'tortoise', from Greek kelus, 'tortoise', literally 'the yellow animal',

related to Greek khloos 'greenish-yellow color', and cognate with Old Slavonic zely, from Indo-European base *ghel- 'yellow' [Klein]. Derivatives of *ghel-2: yellow, green, chloro-, chlorite+, chlorine, chlorophyll, gall, cholesterol, and the yolk of an egg. The hare of Hare Krishna (a chant to the Hindu god Krishna), Harijan (an Untouchable, from Sanskrit hari-, tawny yellow). [Pokorny 1. ghel- 429. Watkins]

Testudo, a shell-crab, tortoise. As covered (testa) with a shell. Also, a shell, crust, covering. A lyre, for the first lyre was said to have been made by straining strings over the shell of a tortoise. The Greeks use khelus in the same way. Testudo is said also, of the shields of soldiers held so as to form a shell or covering in making an attack, like Greek khelone. Also, like khelone, a machine used in sieges to cover soldiers while sapping or making breaches. Also, an arched or vaulted roof, as resembling a shell. [An etymological dictionary of the Latin language, Valpy, 1828, p.472]

Some etymologists have linked Latin word testudo, 'tortoise', from testa, 'shell', to the Latin texere 'to weave' [5] from the Indo-European root *teks-, 'to weave'. Derivatives: text, tissue, context, pretext, from Latin

texere, 'to weave, fabricate'; tiller2 (a lever), toil2 (a snare or trap), from Latin tela, 'web, net, warp of a fabric'; tectonic, architect, from Greek tekton, 'carpenter, builder'; technical, polytechnic, technology, from Greek tekhne, 'art, craft, skill'.

The Lyre has architectural associations in mythology; in the hands of Amphion the city of Thebes was built with the music of his lyre. "The tones of Amphion's lyre built the walls of Thebes" [6]. "The magic of his music caused the stones to move into place on their own accord" [7]. The Testudines, or chelonians, carry their homes on their back; architectural skills are needed to build homes. According to the Aberdeen Bestiary "the tortoise, testudo, is so called because it is covered by the vault of its shell, in the manner of an arched roof".

The lyre was also used to lull to sleep. Orpheus used his lyre to lull Cerberus to sleep, and Hermes used his lyre to lull Argus to sleep. The lyre was used in the sense of lull, to produce calm intervals. When Orpheus strummed his lyre on a visit to the Underworld there was a lull in normal activities there as they listened to the music, everyone stopped their jobs; Cerberus stopped growling, Sisyphus sat upon his stone instead of continually rolling it up a hill, Ixion's wheel stopped, and Tantalus ignored the receding wave. Related words: lullaby, loll (to lounge idly), lollop (to move with a bobbing motion), Lollard (Lollardy were religious reformers in England, followers of John Wycliffe in the 14th and 15th centuries.) The girl's names Lalage and Eulalia of Greek origin, from Gk lalage, (babble, prattle).

Plutarch would be referring to what we call the lullaby here when he says:

"like the notes of the lyre which the Pythagoreans used before sleep, to charm and heal the emotive and irrational part of the soul"

The word lyre, from Greek lura, is etymologically related to the word lyric, from Greek lurikos, 'pertaining to, or singing to, the lyre'. Erato is the Muse of lyric poetry and mime. Nature might provide an understanding of this connection between mime, lyric and lyre. The Lyrebird of the Australian bush has a tail shaped like lyre, they are ground-dwelling Australian birds most notable for their extraordinary ability to mimic natural and artificial sounds from their environment — chainsaws, car engines, alarms, rifle-shots, camera shutters, barking dogs and crying babies... Lyrebirds are shy birds and a constant stream of bird calls coming from one place is often the only way of identifying them and their presence.

John Gould's early 1800s painting of a Superb Lyrebird specimen at the British Museum. [Wikipedia]

David Attenborough explains in this YouTube video that not only has the lyrebird got a tail shaped like a lyre "but it is a liar in the sense that it mimics everything around them. You think you can hear a kookaburra, or all kinds of wrens... But it is actually that one lyrebirds that's doing it". The word lie comes from the Indo-European root *leugh- To tell a lie. Derivatives: warlock, from Old English leogan, to lie, from Germanic *leugan;

belie, from Old English beleogan, to deceive (be-, about; see ambhi) from Germanic *leugan. lie2, from Old English lyge, a lie, falsehood, from Germanic *lugiz. (Pokorny 1. leugh- 686.)

“The lyre (lyra) is so called from the word lerein (i.e. 'speak frivolously'), that is, from 'variety of voices,' because it renders diverse sounds. They say that the lyre was first invented by Mercury in the following way. When the Nile was receding into its channels, it left behind various animals on the plains, and a tortoise was one that was stranded. When it decomposed, and its tendons remained stretched out in the shell, it made a sound when Mercury plucked it. Mercury made a lyre of this shape and handed it over to Orpheus, who was by far its most zealous student. Whence it is thought that by his art he controlled not only wild beasts but also the rocks and the woods by the modulation of his song. On account of his love of musical pursuits and praise of song, musicians have imagined, in the fictions of their tales, his lyre as being located among the stars” [The Etymologies of Isidore of Seville, 7th century AD, p.98.]

"The tortoise (testudo) is so called because its back is covered over with a shell (testa) in the manner of a vaulted roof. There are four kinds of tortoise: land turtles; sea turtles; mud turtles, that is, those living in mud and swamps; the fourth kind are the river turtles, which live in fresh water. Some people say - and this is unbelievable - that ships go more slowly when they carry the right foot of a turtle." [The Etymologies of Isidore of Seville, 7th century AD, p.262.]

"A 'tortoise-shell vault' (testudo, lit. 'tortoise shell') is a transverse vault of a temple, for the ancients would make the roofs of their temples in the shape of a tortoise shell. These would be made thus to duplicate the image of the sky, which is evidently convex." [The Etymologies of Isidore of Seville, 7th century AD, p.312.]

Manilius giving the astrological influences of the constellation Lyra:

"... and one may see among the stars the Lyre, its arms spread apart in heaven, with which in time gone by Orpheus charmed all that his music reached, making his way even to the ghosts of the dead and causing the decrees of hell to yield to his song. Wherefore it has honour in heaven and power to match its origin: then it drew in its train forests and rocks; now it leads the stars after it and makes off with the vast orb of the revolving sky". [Manilius, Astronomica, 1st century AD, book 1, p.30]

"Next, with the rising of the Lyre, there floats forth from Ocean the shape of the tortoise-shell (testudinis), which under the fingers of its heir (Mercury) gave forth sound only after death; once with it did Orpheus, Oeagrus' son, impart sleep to waves, feeling to rocks, hearing to trees, tears to Pluto, and finally a limit to death. Hence will come endowments of song and tuneful strings, hence pipes of different shapes which prattle melodiously, and whatever is moved to utterance by touch of hand or force of breath. The child of the Lyre will sing beguiling songs at the banquet, his voice adding mellowness to the wine and holding the night in thrall. Indeed, even when harassed by cares, he will rehearse some secret strain, tuning his voice to a stealthy hum and, left to himself, he will ever burst into song which can charm no ears but his own. Such are the ordinances of the Lyre, which at the rising of Libra's twenty-sixth degree will direct its prongs to the stars". [Manilius, book 5, Astronomica, 1st century AD, p.327].


Fixed stars in Lyra


Vega alpha 13CAP55 15CAP19 278 48 41 +38 44 09 +61 44 07 0.03 A1

zeta 16CAP44 18CAP07 280 45 43 +37 33 06 +60 20 54 4.29 A9

epsilon 17CAP15 18CAP38 280 40 14 +39 37 00 +62 23 59 6.00 A4

Sheliak beta 17CAP30 18CAP53 282 03 30 +33 18 12 +55 59 24 3.50 var B2

delta 20CAP01 21CAP24 282 59 41 +36 54 29 +59 25 24 5.51 B3

Sulaphat gamma 20CAP32 21CAP55 284 16 04 +32 37 11 +55 01 07 3.30 B9



Ariones harpe fyn.

— Chaucer's Hous of Fame.

Lyra, the Lyre or Harp, is the Leier of Germany, Lira of Italy, and Lyre of France, and anciently represented the fabled instrument invented by Hermes and given to his half-brother Apollo, who in turn transferred it to his son Orpheus, the musician of the Argonauts, of whom Shakespeare wrote:

{Page 281} Everything that heard him play,

Even the billows of the sea,

Hung their heads, and then lay by.

While Manilius said that its service in its last owner's hands, in the release of Eurydice from Hades,

Gained it Heaven, and still its force appears,

As then the Rocks it now draws on the Stars.

From its ownership by these divinities came various adjectival titles: Ermaie and Kullenaie, referring to Hermes and his birthplace (Mount Kyllini or Cyllenia); Cicero's Clara Fides Cyllenea and Mercurialis, that Varro also used; and the Cithara, or Lyra, Apollinis, Orphei, Orphica, and Mercurii. It also was Lyra Arionis and Amphionis, from those skilful players; but usually it was plain Lyra and, later on, Cithara; Fides, — the Fidis of Columella, who, with Pliny, also used Fidicula; Decachordum; and Tympanum. In this same connection we see Fidicen, the Lyrist; Deferens Psalterium; and Canticum, a Song.

The occasional early title Aquilaris was from the fact that the instrument was often shown hanging from the claws of the Eagle (Aquila) also imagined in its stars.

In Greece it was Kithara; the ancient phormigx, the first stringed instrument of the Greek bards; and Aura or Aure, and Aura katopheres, the Pendent Lyre.

Ovid mentioned its seven strings as equaling the number of the Pleiades; Longfellow confirming this number in his Occultation of Orion:

with its celestial keys,

Its chords of air, its frets of fire,

The Samian's great Aeolian Lyre,

Rising through all its sevenfold bars,

From earth unto the fixed stars.

Still it has been shown with but six, and a vacant space for the seventh, which Spence, in the Polymetis, referred to the Lost Pleiad.

Manilius seems to have made two distinct constellations of this, — Lyra and Fides, — although we do not know their boundaries, and the subject is somewhat confused in his allusions to it.

The Persian Hafiz called it the Lyre of Zurah, and his countrymen translated Kithara, by Sanj Rumi; the Arabians turning this into Al Sanj, from which Hyde and others derived Asange, Asenger, Asanges, Asangue, Sangue, and Mesanguo, all titles for Lyra in Europe centuries ago. But Assemani thought that tliese were from Schickard's Azzango, a Cymbal. The {Page 282} reproduced Alfonsine Tables of 1863-67 give Alsanja; while Sanj was again turned into Arnig and Aznig in the translation of Reduan's Commentary, and into the still more unlikely Brinek, as has been explained by Ideler.

In Bohemia our Lyra was Hauslicky na Nebi, the Fiddle in the Sky; but the Teutons knew it as Harapha, and the Anglo-Saxons as Hearpe, which Fortunatus of the 6th century, the poet-bishop of Poitiers, called the barbarians' Harpa. With the early Britons it was Talyn Arthur, that hero's Harp. Novidius said that it was King David’s Harp; but Julius Schiller, that it was the Manger of the Infant Saviour, Praesepe Salvatoris.

Jugum has been wrongly applied to it, from the Zugon (yoke) of Homer, but this was for the Yoke, or Cross-bar, of the instrument, with no reference to the constellation, which Homer probably did not know; still the equivalent Zugoma was in frequent use for it by Hipparchos.

Sundry other fancied figures have been current for these stars.

Acosta mentioned them as Urcuchillay, the parti-colored Ram in charge of the heavenly flocks of the ancient Peruvians; Albegala and Albegalo occur with Bayer and Riccioli, like the Arabic Al Baghl, a Mule, although their appropriateness is not obvious; and Nasr al Din wrote of alpha, epsilon, and zeta collectively as Dik Paye among the common people of Persia; this was the Khutro-pous, or Greek tripod, and the Uthfiyyah of the nomad Arabs.

Chirka, also attributed to Nasr al Din, was, by some scribe's error for Hazaf, figured in this location on the Dresden globe as a circular vessel with a flat bottom and two handles; but on the Borgian it is a Scroll, commonly known, according to Assemani, as Rabesco.

The association of Lyra's stars with a bird perhaps originated from a conception of the figure current for millenniums in ancient India, — that of an Eagle or Vulture; and, in Akkadia, of the great storm-bird Urakhga before this was there identified with Corvus. But the Arabs' title, Al Nasr al Waki’ — Chilmead's Alvaka, — referring to the swooping Stone Eagle of the Desert, generally has been attributed to the configuration of the group alpha, epsilon, zeta, which shows the bird with half-closed wings, in contrast to Al Nasr al Ta'ir, the Flying Eagle, our Aquila, whose smaller stars, beta and gamma, on either side of alpha, indicate the outspread wings. Scaliger cited the synonymous Al Nasr al Sakit, from which came the Nessrusakat of Bayer and Nessrusakito of Assemani.

Al Sufi, alone of extant Arabian authors, called it Al Iwazz, the Goose.

Chrysococca wrote of it as kathemenos, the Sitting Vulture, and it has been Aquila marina, the Osprey, and Falco sylvestris, the Wood Falcon.

{Page 283} Its common title two centuries ago was Aquila cadens, or Vultur cadens, the Swooping Vulture, popularly translated the Falling Grype, and figured with upturned head bearing a lyre in its beak. Bartsch's map has the outline of a lyre on the front of an eagle or vulture.

Aratos called it Khelus olige, the Little Tortoise or Shell, thus going back to the legendary origin of the instrument from the empty covering of the creature cast upon the shore with the dried tendons stretched across it. Lowell thus described its discovery and use by Hermes:

So there it lay through wet and dry,

As empty as the last new sonnet,

Till by and by came Mercury,

And, having mused upon it,

"Why, here," cried he, "the thing of things

In shape, material and dimension!

Give it but strings and, lo ! it sings -

A wonderful invention."

The equivalent Latin word Chelys does not seem to have been often applied to the constellation, but the occasional adjectival titles Lutaria, Mud-inhabiting, and Marina were, and are, appropriate, while Testudo has been known from classical times. Horace thus alluded to it:

Decus Phoebi, et dapibus supremi

Grata testudo Jovis; O laborum

Dulce lenimen;

the poet doubtless having in mind the current story that the Tortoise-Lyre was placed in the sky near Hercules for the alleviation of his toil. The Alfonsine illustration is of a Turtle, Galapago in the original Spanish, which Caesius turned into the indefinite Belua aquatica, and La Lande into Mus and Musculus, some marine creature, not the little rodent.

Other names were Testa, the creature's Upper Shell; and Pupilla, which, by a roundabout process of continued blundering explained by Ideler, was derived from Testa, or, as seems more likely, from Aquila. Bayer's Basanos is probably a mistranslation of Testa that also signified a Test.

Smyth said that another Testudo was at one time proposed as a constellation title for some of the outside stars of Cetus, between the latter's tail and the cord of Pisces.

When the influence of Greek astronomy made itself felt in Arabia, many of the foregoing designations, or adaptations thereof, became current; among them Nablon, from Nabla, or Nablium, the Phoenician Harp; Al Lura, which degenerated into Allore, Alloure, Alohore, Alchoro, etc., found {Page 284} in the Alfonsine Tables and other bygone lists; Shalyak and Sulahfat, words for the Tortoise (gamma Lyra is Sulaphat), Ulug Beg's translator having the former as Shelyak, which Piazzi repeated in his catalogue; Salibak, which heads Kazwini's chapter on the Lyre; — Ideler tracing these Arabic words to Khelus. They were turned into Azulafe and Zuliaca in the original Alfonsine Tables, and Schaliaf in Chilmead's Treatise. The Almagest of 1515 combines all these figures for Lyra's stars in its Allore.- et est Vultur cadens: et est Testudo; while that of 1551 says Lyrae Testudo.

But, notwithstanding the singularly diverse conceptions as to its character, the name generally has been Lyra, and the figure so shown. Roman coins still in existence bear it thus, as does one from Delos, Apollo's birthplace in the Cyclades; and Cilician money had this same design with the head of Aratos on the obverse. The Leyden Manuscript has the conventional instrument, with side bars of splendid horns issuing from the tortoise-shell base; the Venetian Hyginus of 1488, with a similar figure, calls it Lura as well as Lyra; but the drawing of Hevelius shows "an instrument which neither in ancient nor in modern times ever had existence." Durer's illustration, as well as others, places it with the base towards the north.

Lyra is on the western edge of the Milky Way, next to Hercules, with the neck of Cygnus on the east, and contains 48 stars according to Argelander, 69 according to Heis. Its location is noted as one of the various regions of concentration of stars with banded spectra, Secchi's 3d type, showing a stage of development probably in advance of that of our sun.

From near its kappa, 5° southwest of Wega (Vega), radiate the swiftly moving Lyraids, the meteors which are at their maximum of appearance on the 19th and 20th of April, but visible in lesser degree from the 5th of that month to the 10th of May. These have been identified as followers of the comet 1 of 1861. . . azure Lyra, like a woman's eye, Burning with soft blue lustre. — Willis' The Scholar of Thebit ten Khorat.

Aquilathe Eagle

Aquila carrying Antinous in Urania's Mirror 1825


Clues to the meaning of this celestial featureThe English word eagle comes from Latin aquila. The word aquila, eagle, is believed to mean 'water-colored bird' and is related to Latin aqua-, water, as is Aquarius [Klein]. In Britain before 1678, the word eagle referred specifically to the Golden Eagle (Aquila chrysaetos). The other native species, the white-tailed Eagle, being known as the erne [1] which is a sea eagle (Haliaeetus albicilla) and a very close cousin of the American Bald Eagle. Aquila was a Roman military standard. Aquiline means having the characteristics of an eagle, or curved or hooked like an eagle's beak: as in 'an aquiline nose'.

From the Aquila name comes Eaglewood, Aquilaria agallocha, 'aloewood', from Spanish aguila, 'eagle'. The heartwood of Aquilaria species infected by certain fungi, is known as 'agarwood', agar, or Malay gaharu, and has a high commercial value for incense, perfume and traditional medicine. In Europe it was referred to as Lignum aquila (eagle-wood) or Agilawood, because of the similarity in sound of agila to gaharu.

Erne, a sea eagle (Haliaeetus albicilla), is cognate with Greek ornis, 'bird', and German aar, eagle. And from a separate root the Greek word for eagle, aetos, is cognate with Latin avis, 'bird' [Klein under 'aviary']. The name of the alpha star of Aquila, Altair, is Arabic for 'the bird". The eagle is often regarded as the prototype of the bird as a species. The eagle is thought of as 'king of birds' and this might explain the reason why the word for eagle has cognates with the word for bird in some languages? Euripides (ca. 480 BC–406 BC) tells us that "the birds in general are the messengers of the gods, but the eagle is king, and interpreter of the great deity Jupiter" [2].

Greek ornis, meaning bird, is an extension of an ancient stem *orn-, cognate with Old High German aro, arn (modern German aar eagle), Old English earn eagle, Old Slavic orilu, Welsh eryr, and Hittite haras (genitive haranas), from the Indo-European root *or- 'Large bird'. Derivatives: erne (sea eagle, from Old English earn, eagle), ornitho- (bird, from Greek ornis, stem ornith-, bird), ornithology, Adler (eagle), Arnold. [Pokorny 1. er- 325. Watkins] In heraldry the allerion, meaning 'noble eagle' (German adal, 'noble', the -erion, related to erne) is an eagle with expanded wings.

Ganymede and the Eagle in a 3rd-century Roman mosaic, Nea Paphos, Cyprus. [1]

"I will raise you up on eagles wings" [Psalm 91:1-16].

The expression 'eagle-eyed' describes the eagle who sees all from a distance. In mythology the Eagle acted like a talent scout for Zeus, instructed to find the most beautiful boy to be cup-bearer on Mount Olympus. With his 'eagle eyes', and far-seeing vision that can spot a rabbit three miles away (but has poor close-up vision), metaphorically possessing foresight, and hence the ability to see the potential. He captured Ganymedes (Aquarius) 'the most beautiful boy', in his talons.

Livy tells how an eagle seized the cap of Lucius Tarquinius, flew up with it into the sky, then descended and replaced it on his head. His wife Tanaquil, who knew how to interpret omens, told him to look for a high and majestic destiny, for such was the import of the eagle's action. He went on to become the seventh king of Rome. Lucius Tarquinius was, in effect, inaugurated by the eagle. Inaugurate from Latin auger, seems to have meant literally "one who performs with birds," from avis 'bird' [3].

"Aquila the Eagle is called so from the acuteness (acumine) of his eyes, for he is said to have such wonderful eyesight that, when he is poised above the seas on motionless plume - not even visible to the human gaze - yet from such a height he can see the little fishes swimming, and, coming down like a thunderbolt, he can carry off his captured prey to the shore, on the wing." [The Book of Beasts: Being a Translation from a Latin Bestiary of the Twelfth Century, p.105]

Eagles are also said to represent the rise towards Heaven:

"It was a widely used custom in many ancient cultures to release eagles at the funeral of a ruler: the flight of an eagle, as the body was cremated, symbolized the departure of the soul to live among the gods. In Christian iconography the eagle is often seen to symbolize John the Evangelist, the ascension of the prophet Elijah, and the ascension of Jesus Christ" [4].

I!unn is carried off by !jazi in this artwork by H. Theaker, 1920. Wikipedia

Aquila is said to be the Eagle that preyed on the liver of Prometheus in the Caucasian Mountains; and had the titles Aquila Promethei and Tortor Promethei: and The Eagle Kaukasios [Allen, Star Names].

Zeus baiting Typhon said: "let crafty Prometheus leave his chains, and come with you; the bold bird who makes hearty meals off that rejuvenescent liver shall show him the way to heaven" [5].

In Norse mythology the giant Thiassi had the ability to turn himself into an eagle. Thiassi arrived in eagle shape and snatched Idunn and flew away with her to his home in Thrymheim [6].


The relationship between the Emperor Hadrian and Antinous was compared with that between Zeus and Ganymedes (Aquarius) (the emperor was, after all, considered to be a god) [6] Ganymedes is identified with Aquarius

"Antinous was a former constellation south of Aquila. In modern times, Antinous was variously considered an asterism within Aquila, or a separate constellation, until IAU formalized the constellations in 1930, when Antinous was discarded." [5] "The origins of this obsolete constellation date back to the year 132 and the Emperor Hadrian. He had this constellation placed in the sky to honor a favorite youth of his court, who according to myth sacrificed himself in order to prolong the life of the emperor. Later astronomers recognized this constellation as the youth Ganymede, who the Greek god Zeus had brought to Olympus by his eagle Aquila, in order to serve as cup-bearer to the gods. The stars of this constellation have since been given to the constellation of Aquila." [Obsolete Constellations]

Aetites (Greek aetos, an eagle), also called Aquilaeus or eagle-stone, is a stone said to have magical properties, particularly connected to childbirth, and in the Mesopotamian legend of Etana travels on the back of an eagle to find a herb to ease his wife's pain in childbirth:

"the hero, Etana, wanting to ease the pain his wife was feeling during childbirth, rode on the back of the god Shamash's eagle to the heavens to retrieve a medicinal plant that would relieve her pain. The magical plant was only found in the upper reaches of heaven where Anu lived. While Etana rode on the back of the eagle he noticed that the earth was becoming smaller and smaller, lost his nerve, and according to some versions of the story, his grip. One description of the legend has him living for 1,560 years and leaving only two children. A second version has him crashing to earth for daring to attempt to enter the realm of Anu. The mythical plant may actually be the poisonous mountain arnica which, when taken in controlled doses, does ease the pain of childbirth" [The Glorious Constellations, Giuseppe Maria Sesti].

Giuseppe Maria Sesti postulates that the mythical plant may be arnica; the prefix arn- resembles Old English earn, eagle, as in the name Arnold.

The word prayer is a possibility? Eagles, the chief birds of prey, were believed to be carriers of prayers to the sky [6]. "Medieval mystics often invoked the eagle to evoke the vision of God and compared prayer with the eagle's soaring flight into the sunlight" [7]. Prayer is from the Indo-European root *prek-, 'To ask, entreat'. Derivatives: pray, prayer+, precarious, deprecate, imprecate, prie-dieu, (these words from *prex, prayer), postulate, expostulate, (these words from Latin postulare, to ask, request), postulant (a candidate for admission into a religious order.) [Pokorny 4. perk- 821. Watkins]

It seems that being carried by an eagle is a precarious position to be in. While Mesopotamian Etana was being carried heavenwards by an eagle, he became afraid, the eagle faltered, and they fell to earth, the second ascent was successful. And Zeus in the form of an eagle was not too sure of himself either while carrying Ganymedes; "Zeus appeared to be anxious as he flew through the air, holding the terrified boy with claws that tore not, gently moving the wings and sparing his strength, for he feared Ganymede might slip and fall headlong from the sky" (Nonnus, Dionysiaca 25.430 ) [8].

Aetites (Greek aetos, an eagle), also called Aquilaeus or eagle stone, is a stone said to have magical properties, particularly connected to childbirth. Supposed at one time to form part of an eagle's nest. Pliny mentions them. It is said that without these stones eagles cannot hatch their eggs. The stones are a hollow oval nodule of yellow clay ironstone, the nucleus of which, being of a different texture, had by drying become detached from the surrounding crust so as to rattle loosely. There was an ancient belief that the eagle found it necessary to have one in her nest before she could lay her eggs.

Maybe the aetites stone are similar to Russian nesting doll (matryoshka), where the top and bottom come apart to reveal a smaller, similar doll inside that similarly comes apart, and so on. Philosophers and theologians have conjectured that every individual existed as a homunculus in Adam's testicles (spermism) or Eve's ovaries (ovism), the hypothesis that each embryo could contain even smaller embryos ad infinitum, like a Matryoshka doll; spermists claimed the homonculus must come from the man, and ovists, who located the homonculus in the ova [9].

The eagle is Jove's guardian, called his armsbearer (armiger) because so full of heat that the coldest giant stone rattles, when warmed under a breeding eagle, as if an egg, according to Lucan [Medieval Mythography Jane Chance. P. 313].

Isidore says:

"The eagle (aquila) is named from the acuity of its vision (acumen oculorum), for it is said that they have such sight that when they soar above the sea on unmoving wings, and invisible to human sight, from such a height they can see small fish swimming, and descending like a bolt seize their prey and carry it to shore with their wings. It is said that the eagle does not even avert its gaze from the sun; it offers its hatchlings, suspended from its talons, to the rays of the sun, and the ones it sees holding their gaze unmoving it saves as worthy of the eagle family, but those who turn their gaze away, it throws out as inferior." [The Etymologies of Isidore of Seville, 7th century AD, p.264.]

Porphyry on why Zeus is pictured holding an eagle in his right hand:

"because he is master of the gods who traverse the air, as the eagle is master of the birds that fly aloft - or a victory, because he is himself victorious over all things." [On Images, Porphyry, trans. E.H. Gifford]

Aquilo is the word the Romans used for the north wind, which the Greeks called Boreas, it brought the cold winter air. Aquilo is believed to be from aquilus, 'dark-colored', as aquila, 'eagle', properly means 'the dark-colored (bird)':

In many countries the wind has been conceived as a mighty bird of prey which seizes and carries things away. In Greek aetos, the eagle, must have originally been the keen-winged bird, being akin to aetes, wind (from aemi, to blow), just as among the Romans Aquilo, the sharp northeaster was closely related to aquila, the eagle, the idea of forcible keenness being common to both (root ac, sharp, in ac-er, ac-uo, etc.). Quite similarly in Etruscan andas, the north-wind, antae, winds, seem to claim kinship with antar, the eagle; and in Finnish Pulmri, a personification of the north wind, wears the form of an eagle. [Some curios from a word-collector's cabinet, Abram Smythe Palmer, p.149-150]


"Then soars to the heights the bird of mighty Jupiter as though, winging its way with wonted effort, it were carrying thunderbolts; it is a bird worthy of Jupiter and the sky, which it furnishes with awful armaments." [Manilius, Astronomica, 1st century A.D, p.31]

Now I shall tell of the constellation of the Eagle : it rises on the left [translator's note: an error: Aquila, a northern constellation, rises on Aquarius's right] of the youth who pours, whom once it carried off from earth [the poet here identifies Aquarius as Ganymede], and with wings outspread it hovers above its prey [translator's note: another error (shared with Hyginus, Poet. Astr. 2. 16): Aquila hovers above Capricorn and Sagittarius rather than Aquarius]. This bird brings back the thunderbolts which Jupiter has flung and fights in the service of heaven. He that is born on earth in the hour of its rising, will grow up bent on spoil and plunder, won even with bloodshed; he will draw no line between peace and war, between citizen and foe, and when he is short of men to kill he will engage in butchery of beast. He is a law unto himself, and rushes violently wherever his fancy takes him; in his eyes to show contempt for everything merits praise. Yet, should perchance his aggressiveness be enlisted in a righteous cause, depravity will turn into virtue, and he will succeed in bringing wars to a conclusion and enriching his country with glorious triumphs. And, since the Eagle does not wield, but supplies weapons, seeing that it brings back and restores to Jupiter the fires and bolts he has hurled, in time of war such a man will be the aide of a king or of some mighty general, and his strength will render them important service". [Astronomica, Manilius, 1st century AD, book 5, p.341.].


Fixed stars in Aquila


12 14CAP40 16CAP03 284 45 09 -05 48 40 +16 51 07 4.15 K1

lambda 15CAP57 17CAP20 285 53 56 -04 57 33 +17 34 23 3.55 B9

epsilon 16CAP53 18CAP16 284 20 17 +14 59 56 +37 34 27 4.21 K0

Dheneb zeta 18CAP24 19CAP48 285 46 41 +13 47 15 +36 11 34 3.02 B9

Deneb Okab delta 22CAP14 23CAP38 290 44 39 +03 00 49 +24 49 20 3.44 A5

iota 24CAP27 25CAP50 293 32 02 -01 23 56 +20 00 57 4.28 B8

eta 29CAP03 0AQU26 297 28 53 +00 52 33 +21 31 43 var G0

Tarazed gamma 29CAP33 00AQU56 295 58 14 +10 29 24 +31 14 56 2.80 K3

Altair alpha 00AQU22 01AQU47 297 05 09 +08 44 05 +29 18 18 0.77 A7

Alshain beta 01AQU02 02AQU25 298 12 51 +06 16 50 +26 40 16 3.90 G8

theta 03AQU32 04AQU55 302 10 53 -00 58 16 +18 43 58 3.37 B9

!!!!!!


Aquila, the Eagle, is the French Aigle, the German Adler, and the Italian Aquila, next to and westward from the Dolphin, is shown flying toward the east and across {Page 56} the Milky Way; its southern stars constituting the now discarded Antinous. Early representations added an arrow held in the Eagle's talons; and Hevelius included a bow and arrow in his description; but on the Heis map the Youth is held by Aquila, for the Germans still continue this association in their combined title der Adier mit dem Antinous.

Our constellation is supposed to be represented by the bird figured on a Euphratean uranographic stone of about 1200 B.C., and known on the tablets as Idkhu Zamama, the Eagle, the Living Eye.

It always was known as Aquila by the Latins, and by their poets as Jovis Ales and Jovis Nutrix, the Bird, and the Nurse, of Jove; Jovis Armiger and Armiger Ales, the Armor-bearing Bird of Jove in this god's conflict with the giants; while Ganymedes Raptrix and Servans Antinoum are from the old stories that the Eagle carried Ganymede to the heavens and stood in attendance on Jove. Ovid made it Merops, King of Cos, turned into the Eagle of the sky (he was inconsolable over the death of his wife, and Hera placed him among the stars); but others thought it some Aethiopian king like Cepheus, and with the same heavenly reward.

As the eagles often were confounded with the vultures in Greek and Roman ornithology, at least in nomenclature, Aquila also was Vultur volans, the stars beta and gamma, on either side of alpha, marking the outstretched wings; this title appearing even as late as Flamsteed's day, and its translation, the Flying Grype, becoming the Old English name, especially with the astrologers, who ascribed to it mighty virtue.

Aetos, the Eagle, in a much varied orthography, was used for our constellation by all the Greeks; while poetically it was Dios Ornis, the Bird of Zeus; and Pindar had Oinon Basileus, the King of Birds, which, ornithologically, has come to our day. Later on it was Basanos and Basanismos (from basanizo; torture. Basanos is Greek for touchstone. Such a touchstone may be a piece of slate used to test gold, or it may be a

metaphor for torture or torment to test truthfulness [1]), all kindred titles signifying Torture, referred by Hyde to the story of the eagle which preyed on the liver of Prometheus. Similarly we find Aquila Promethei and Tortor Promethei; but Ideler said that this idea came from a confounding by Scaliger of the Arabic Ikab, Torture, and Okab, Eagle.

Dupuis fancifully thought that its name was given when it was near the summer solstice, and that the bird of highest flight was chosen to express the greatest elevation of the sun; and he asserted that the famous three Stymphalian Birds of mythology were represented by Aquila, Cygnus, and Vultur cadens, our Lyra, still located together in the sky; the argument being that these are all paranatellons of Sagittarius, which is the fifth in the line of zodiacal constellations beginning with Leo, the Nemean lion, the object of Hercules' first labor, while the slaying of the birds was the fifth. Appropriately enough, like so much other stellar material, these creatures {Page 57} came from Arabia, migrating thence either to the Insula Martis, or to Lake Stymphalis, where Hercules encountered them.

Thompson thinks that the fable, in Greek ornithology, of the eagle attacking the swan, but defeated by it, is symbolical of "Aquila, which rises in the East, immediately after Cygnus, but, setting in the West, goes down a little while before that more northern constellation."

A similar thought was in the ancient mind as to the eagle in opposition to the dolphin and the serpent; their stellar counterparts, Aquila, Delphinus, and Serpens, also being thus relatively situated.

In connection with the story of Ganymede, the eagle appeared on coins of Chalcis, Dardanos, and Ilia; and generally on those of Mallos in Cilicia and of Camarina; while it is shown perched on the Dolphin on coins of

Sinope and other towns, chiefly along the Black Sea and Hellespont. One, bearing the prominent stars, was struck in Rome, 94 B.C., by Manius Aquilius Nepos, the design being evidently inspired by his name; and a coin of Agrigentum bears Aquila, with Cancer on the reverse, — the one setting as the other rises.

To the Arabians the classical figure became Al ‘Okab, probably their Black Eagle, Chilmead citing this as Alhhakhab; while their Al Nasr al Tair, the Flying Eagle, was confined to alpha, beta, and gamma; although this was contrary to their custom of using only one star for a sky figure. Grotius called the whole Altair and Alcair; Bayer said Alcar and Atair. Al Achsasi, however, mentioned it as Al Ghurab, the Crow, or Raven, probably a late Arabian name, and the only instance that I have seen of its application to the stars of our Aquila.

Persian titles were Alub, Gherges, and Shahin tarazed, the Star-striking Falcon of Al Nasr al Din, but now divided for beta (Alshain) and gamma (Tarazed). In the Ilkhanian Tables, as perhaps elsewhere, it was Gups Petomenos, the Flying Vulture; the Turks call it Taushaugjil, their Hunting Eagle; — all these for the three bright stars.

The Hebrews knew it as Neshr, an Eagle, Falcon, or Vulture; and the Chaldee Paraphrase asserted that it was figured on the banners of Dan; but as these tribal symbols properly were for the zodiac, Scorpio usually was ascribed to Dan. This confusion may have originated from the fact, asserted by Sir William Drummond, that in Abraham's day Scorpio was figured as an Eagle. Caesius said that Aquila represented the Eagle of military Rome, or the Eagle of Saint John; but Julius Schiller had already made it Saint Catherine the Martyr; and Erhard Weigel, a {Page 58} professor at Jena in the 17th century, started a new set of constellations, based on the heraldry then so much in vogue, among which was the Brandenburg Eagle, made up from Aquila, Antinous, and the Dolphin (Delphinus). Hevelius said that the stellar Eagle was a fitting representation of that bird on the Polish and Teutonic coats of arms.

The Chinese have here the Draught Oxen, mentioned in the book of odes entitled She King, compiled 500 years before Christ by K'ung fu tsu, Kung the Philosopher (Confucius), — the passage being rendered by the Reveiend Doctor James Legge:

Brilliant show the Draught Oxen,

But they do not serve to draw our carts;

and the three bright stars are their Cowherd, for whom the Magpies' Bridge gives access to the Spinning Damsel, our Lyra, across the River of the Sky, the Milky Way. This story appears in various forms; stars in the Swan (Cygnus) sometimes being substituted for those in the Eagle, Lyra becoming the Weaving Sisters.

The Korean version, with more detail, turns the Cowherd into a Prince, and the Spinster into his Bride, both banished to different parts of the sky by the irate father-in-law, but with the privilege of an annual meeting if they can cross the River. This they accomplish through the friendly aid of the good-natured magpies, who congregate from all parts of the kingdom during the 7th moon, and on its 7th night form the fluttering bridge across which the couple meet, lovers still, although married. When the day is over they return for another year to their respective places of exile, and the bridge breaks up; the birds scattering to their various homes with bare heads, the feathers having been worn off by the trampling feet of the Prince and his retinue. But as all this happens during the birds' molting-time, the bare heads are not to be wondered at; nor, as it is the rainy season, the attendant showers which, if occurring in the morning, the story-tellers attribute to the tears of the couple in the joy of meeting; or if in the evening, to those of sorrow at parting. Should a magpie anywhere be found loitering around home at this time, it is pursued by the children with well-merited ill-treatment for its selfish indifference to its duty. Nor must I forget to mention that the trouble in the royal household originated from the Prince's unfortunate investment of the paternal sapekes in a very promising scheme to tap the Milky Way and divert the fluid to nourish distant stars.

Another version is given by the Reverend Doctor William Elliot Griffis in his Japanese Fairy World, where the Spinning Damsel is the industrious princess Shokujo, separated by the Heavenly River from her herd-boy lover, {Page 59} Kinjin. But here the narrator makes Capricorn and the star Wega represents the lovers.

The native Australians knew the whole of Aquila as Totyarguil, one of their mythical personages, who, while bathing, was killed by a kelpie; their stellar Eagle being Sirius.

It was in the stars of our constellation, to the northwest of Altair, that Professor Edward E. Bamard discovered a comet from its trail on a photograph taken at the Lick Observatory on the 12th of October, 1892 — the first ever found by the camera.

Herculesthe Kneeling Man



Clues to the meaning of this celestial feature"Next to the chill Bears and the frozen north comes a figure on bended knee [Engonasin], the reason for whose posture is known to none but him." [Manilius, Astronomica, 1st century, AD, p.29.]

This constellation is said to represent the Roman Hercules, Greek Herakles, who was the greatest of the Greek heroes and famous for his twelve labors. As an infant Hercules strangled two serpents sent by Juno to kill him as he lay asleep in his cradle. It is suggested that the two serpents represent the the Lunar Nodes. He died on a funeral pyre, became a god, and ascended to Mount Olympus to join the other gods. Engonasin is a Greek title for Hercules, with Roman writers translating it Geniculator or Geniculatus; these terms meaning 'the Kneeling Man'. Engonasi, from en gonasi, 'on his knees" [Valpy, p.136].

See this webpage on Roman Hercules, and this webpage on Greek Heracles, for the mythology associated with Hercules.

The name Hercules is from a Latin translation of Greek Herakles. Herakles' name is translated 'the glory of Hera' or 'the fame of Hera', the prefix of his name relates to Hera, wife of Zeus, the suffix is from Greek -kles, related to Latin cluere, variously translated; 'to listen', 'to hear oneself called', 'to be spoken of', 'called upon'. The second element in Hercules' name comes from the Indo-European root *kleu- 'To hear'. Derivatives:

leer (from Old English hlor, cheek < 'side of the face' < 'ear'; perhaps with the meaning of turning the side of the face to listen to sound), list4 (listen, from Old English hlystan, to listen), listen (from Old English hlysnan, to listen), loud (from Old English hlud, loud), ablaut (ab, off + laut, sound; vowel change, gradation), umlaut (vowel mutation), Clio (the Muse of history, from Greek kleiein, to praise, tell), cliometrics (the systematic use of economic theory and econometric techniques to study economic history), Hercules (from Greek Herakles), sarod (a many-stringed lute of northern India that is played with a plectrum), Clovis (relating to a prehistoric human culture in North America from about 12,000 to 9,000 B.C., distinguished by sharp fluted projectile points made of chalcedony or obsidian). [Pokorny 1. kleu- 605. Watkins]

It is thought that our English word 'glory' also derives from this root; *kleu- 'To hear'. [see Wordnik]

Hercules served as a slave to Omphale for a period of time. It is believed the word slave also derives from *kleu- 'To hear'. [see Wordnik]

Heracles was the son of the god Zeus and a mortal woman, Alcmene, whom Zeus visited in the form of her husband, Amphitryon. Early in life Herakles was called Alcaeus, or Alcides, after his mother Alcmene, the name Heracles came later. Heracles comes from Hera + kles, and is translated 'the glory of Hera.' The Hera- in his name refers to Hera (Roman Juno), wife of Zeus (Roman Jupiter). His name is somewhat ironic as the events in the myth of Herakles are motivated by the unrelenting hostility of Hera toward him for being Zeus' illicit son. The etymology of his name as 'the glory of Hera' is unmistakable as the Greeks understood it; "as the hero's name makes clear, he owes his heroic identity to his kleos and, ultimately, to Hera" [1], even though she persecuted, and tried to eliminate him throughout his life. Hercules becomes reconciled with Hera through death and marries her daughter Hebe on Mount Olympos.

"For readers of Vergil, one of the most important allegorical etymologies may be the connection of Hera ('Hra) and aera, which interprets the queen of the gods as a representation of 'the lower air, the sphere for storms of wind and cloud'" [Medieval Mythography: Jane Chance 1994. P.80.]

Hera's name is believed to be related to the word 'air' and Hercules or Herakles could also be interpreted as the 'glory of the air', or 'clashing against the air', as Porphyry understood it to mean:

"But inasmuch as the sun wards off the evils of the earth, they called him Heracles (from his clashing against the air) in passing from east to west. And they invented fables of his performing twelve labours, as the symbol of the division of the signs of the zodiac in heaven; and they arrayed him with a club and a lion's skin, the one as an indication of his uneven motion, and the other representative of his strength in "Leo" the sign of the zodiac." [Porphyry, On Images, (c. 232 AD - c. 304), Fragment 8.]

“They say that heroes (heros) take their name from Juno, for Juno is called Hera in Greek. Thus a son of hers, I don't know which, was called eros, ('the hero'), according to the legend of the Greeks. The legend evidently signifies in a mystical sense that the air (aer), where they claim that heroes live, is assigned to Juno. They name the souls of deceased people of some importance with this term, as if it were aeroas, that is, men of the air (aerius) and worthy of heaven on account of their wisdom and strength” [The Etymologies of Isidore of Seville, 7th century AD, p.189.]

Manilius, in giving the astrological influences for this constellation, associates Hercules with tightrope walking (funambulism):

"Hercules, the figure on bended knee and called by the Greek name of Engonasin, about whose origin no certainty prevails. Of this constellation is begotten the desertion, craftiness, and deceit characteristic of its children, and from it comes the thug who terrorizes the heart of the city. If perchance his mind is moved to consider a profession, Engonasin [a Greek title for constellation Hercules] will inspire him with enthusiasm for risky callings, with danger the price, for which he will sell his talents: daring narrow steps on a path without thickness, he will plant firm feet on a horizontal tightrope; then, as he attempts an upward route to heaven, (on a sloping tightrope) he will all but lose his footing and, suspended in mid-air, he will keep a multitude in suspense upon himself" [Manilius, Astronomica, 1st century, AD, p.353.]

Another title for Hercules was Trapezius, a trapeze artist. Tightrope walkers perform a balancing act, they need to know how to keep their centre of gravity constant so they don’t overbalance and topple off the tightrope. Balance is an inner ear function. The second element in the name Herakles -kles, -kleos, is related to the word listen, and to Latin cluere, ‘to listen’. His name might be analyzed as 'listening in the air', suggesting an early amphibious creature that emerged from the ocean and developed an ear function that gave the ability to listen in the then hostile air [hostile Hera] when the air was 'thin' due to low oxygen levels. The myth describes how Hercules, in a state of madness induced by Hera, heard voices in his ears telling him to kill his family. Listening is a function of the inner ear, the inner ear is also referred to as the Labyrinth.

The ancient name for epilepsy was Hercules morbus 'the disease of Hercules', it was also called the falling sickness, the sufferer loses balance and suddenly falls to the ground.

Hercules is the hero who performed twelve labors. The word labor resembles the first element in labyrinth (labyr-inth); Virgil makes this connection:

"Vergil's alludes to but does not use (i.e., he suppresses; see intro. 2.7) the word labyrinthus. Norden suggests that Vergil's unusual expression labor ille domus alludes to an etymology of labyrinthus from labor, and perhaps even to the spelling laborinthus, common in the medieval period. Norden refers to this etymology as 'much-discussed in antiquity,' but I know only of references to it in medieval sources, some of them not fully published, which are described by Doob. Doob also explores the connection between labyrinthine imagery and labor throughout the poem" [True Names, James J.O'Hara, p.166]

An adjacent constellation Corona Borealis, relates to the crown of Ariadne. Ariadne gave Theseus a ball of thread (clew or clue) to escape the Minotaur's labyrinth.

Inflammation of the labyrinth, Labyrinthitis, can cause balance disorders. Hercules was Trapezius, a trapeze artist, a tightrope walker performing a balancing act. [The words 'ear' and 'cochlea' might belong to Piscis Austrinus]

The second element in the name Herakles -kles, -kleos, meaning fame or glory, is related to the word listen, cognate with Latin cluere ‘to listen’, Greek kluein, 'hear', Greek kluo, I listen, or 'I am talked about, I am heard', as a famous hero is talked about, from the Indo-European root *kleu-. These cognates are similar to the English word clue (though not recognized cognates), as in 'listening for clues', "clue is merely a variation of the older form clew which comes from the Anglo-Saxon cleowen and originally meant a ball of thread such as that used by Theseus to escape from the Minotaur's labyrinth." [Wordly Wise] ["Theseus was a title for this constellation, supposedly from the similar adventures of Hercules": [Star Names]. Theseus deserted Ariadne whose crown is adjacent Corona Borealis].

The first land animals, included the labyrinthodont amphibians. Another title for Hercules was Saltator, the Leaper; related to salientia (from Latin saltare, to jump), Salientians are the order of frogs and toads (of the class Amphibia). Amphitryon (amphi- in amphibian) was the father of Hercules, or Amphitryon was the form Zeus took when he fathered Hercules.

Hercules is said to have been the creator of the Milky Way. One account of the origin of the Milky Way is that Zeus, who wanted to make Hercules immortal, had tricked Hera into nursing the infant Heracles; discovering who he was when she woke up, she pulled him from her breast, and a spurt of her milk formed the smear across the sky to become the Milky Way. This constellation, Hercules, is said to have been an object of worship in Phoenicia as the sky representative of the great sea-god Melkarth, with variations Malica, Melica, Melicartus, and Melicerta, from Phoenician Milk-Qart, 'the King of the City' [Allen, Star Names], from Aramaic malka, king, from the Semitic root *mlk-. Some see a relationship to the word milk (Milky Way) in Melkarth's name. Moloch, sometimes Ba'al Moloch, known as the Sacred Bull [2], was an old Canaanite idol, called by the Phoenicians and Carthaginians Melkarth, Baal-melech, Malcom, and other such names [3]. Children were sacrificed to him. [Seven boys and seven girls were sacrificed every nine years to the Minotaur in the labyrinth?]

Hercules becomes reconciled with Hera through death, becoming her 'son':

"Herakles now finds himself in the company of the gods, and at this point the goddess Hera, who had been the ultimate cause of the labors suffered by the hero throughout his life, becomes his surrogate mother: she even goes through the motions of giving him birth (Diodorus Siculus 3.39.3:

ten de teknosin genesthai phasi toiauten: ten Heran anabasan epi klinen kai ton Heraklea proslabomenen pros to soma dia ton endumaton apheinai pros ten gen, mimoumenen ten alethinen genesin

‘And the birth happened this way: Hera mounted her bed and took Herakles next to her body and ejected him through her clothes to the ground, re-enacting the true birth’)" [4].

In the myths about Hercules much was made of the manner of his birth and how long it lasted and many details surrounding it. Hercules might also represent a baby in labor; a baby's transition from living underwater to living in air; hostile Hera. He was bound as a slave to Omphale for a period of time, her name relates to the omphalos, 'Navel-stone'; the the umbilical cord [see Serpens]. After he was born he killed two snakes; there are two umbilicus arteries. [Ophiuchus might represent the fetus, and Delphinus is the womb.]

On Mount Olympus after his death Hercules marries Hera's daughter Hebe who has the power to renew life [5]. At the Heraion in Argos, Pausanias (2.17.6) saw a relief depicting this marriage, which takes place under the protection of Hera [6].

Hercules carried a club called clava in Latin. Epithets for Hercules were Greek Korunetes, and Korunephoros, the equivalents of Latin Clavator and Claviger, Club-bearer. Latin claviger, 'club bearer' is compounded of clava, 'club', and the stem of gerere, 'to carry'. Latin clava comes from the Indo-European root *klau- 'Possibly hook, peg'. Derivatives: clause, cloisonne, cloister, claustrophobia, close, closet, closure, cloze,

conclude, disclose, enclose, eclosion, exclude, include, occlude, preclude, recluse, seclude, seclusion, (these words from Latin claudere, to close), clave3, clavicle (the clavicle or collar bone is a bone that makes up part of the shoulder girdle - pectoral girdle, the ancient anatomists also believed that the 'clavicle' is the first bone to be formed in the fetus, and the last to die in the cadaver. Thus, the clavicle is the little key that opens and closes life itself. It receives its name from the Latin clavicula, 'little key', because the bone rotates along its axis like a key when the shoulder is abducted [8]), clavier, clef (musical symbol indicating the pitch, how loud the note), kevel, clavichord (an early keyboard instrument with a soft sound produced by small brass wedges striking horizontal strings), conclave (a private gathering of a select group of people, where

discussions are kept secret, - a club), enclave (from Latin clavis, key), ophicleide, sternocleidomastoid (from Greek kleis, stem kleid-, key), clove1 (the spice), cloy, cloying (sweet, rich, or sentimental that it is disgusting or distasteful), clafouti (from Latin clavus, nail), clavate, claviform, (from Latin clava, club), clathrate (from Greek kleiein, to close), cleistogamous, cleistothecium (from Greek verbal adjective kleistos, closed), sluice. [Pokorny kleu- 604. Watkins].

Ergot is a fungus (Claviceps purpurea, from the Indo-European root *klau-) that infects various cereal plants. The disease appears as a blackish-purple club shaped (Claviceps) growth on the tops of grain seeds [10]. Ergot is best known as the source from which Lysergic Acid Diethyamide (=LSD) was first derived. Ergot poisoning symptoms include hallucinations, delusions, paranoia. Whole communities in the Middle Ages in Europe were affected, the symptoms were often ascribed to witchcraft. Hercules was inflicted with a sudden fit of madness (Greek lyssa as in Lysergic) causing him to murder his wife and children. When he returned to his senses, he suffered from great sorrow and remorse. In order to expiate his crime he went to Delphi to consult the oracle and was told to serve his cousin, Eurystheus, who devised twelve labours as punishment for his crime [9]. It seems to me unlikely that epilepsy ("Hercules disease") would cause him to kill his family. Ergot poisoning may be a more likely explanation for the condition described in Euripides' play Hercules furens.

There is a similarity between the two Indo-European roots *kleu- [Her-cules] and *klau- [club].

“A club (clava) is of the kind that belonged to Hercules, so called because it is bound with rows of iron nails (clavus). It is made one and a half cubits long” [The Etymologies of Isidore of Seville, 7th century AD, p.363.]

"According to Greek tradition, probably based on Libanius, "Oration" XII, 99, or on the Epitome of the Library of Apollodorus, Heracles was conceived in the womb when Cronos, god of time, extended the night during his parents' nuptial. That miraculous event may have been a solar eclipse near daybreak, which took place on September 7, 1251 BCE. It lasted from 6:51 to 9:41 in the morning at Sparta, with 75.9% magnitude. The Legend has it that Heracles was born in Thebes, Greece, where Alcmene and Amphitryon lived. The eclipse could well be visible there also". [http://www.thelemapedia.org/index.php/Heracles ]

A Latin term for an eclipse of the Sun was "labores solis", translated "the Sun's labor", when the Sun is occluded by the Moon. Hercules as an infant strangled two snakes or serpents. The two serpents might relate to the nodes of the Moon which were termed dragons or serpents in the ancient Vedic tradition; North Node is called Rahu, South Node is Ketu, eclipses occur when there is a conjunction between one of the Nodes and the Sun or Moon. Hercules in lion-skin would be the Sun.

A Celt, in a discussion with Lucian, explained how the Celtic Ogmios, personifying the power of speech was represented by Heracles rather than Hermes. This Celt made various references to Greek myths in the course of the conversation. - John Rhys, Lectures on the Origin and Growth of Religion as Illustrated by Celtic Heathendom, London 1898.

"Stranger, I will tell you the secret of the painting, for you seem very much troubled about it. We Celts do not consider the power of speech to be Hermes, as you Greeks do, but we represent it by means of Heracles, because he is much stronger than Hermes. So if this old man Heracles, the power of speech, draws men after him, tied to his tongue by their ears you have no reason to wonder, as you must be aware of the close connection between the ears and the tongue. ...In a word, we Celts are of opinion that Heracles himself performed everything by the power of words, as he was a wise fellow, and that most of his compulsion was effected by persuasion. His weapons ... are his utterances which are sharp and well aimed, swift to pierce the mind: and you too say that words have wings" [9].

"...Heracles, the power of speech, draws men after him, tied to his tongue by their ears..." suggests Hercules has the power to make men listen to him.

An oath invoking Hercules (Hercle! or Mehercle!) was a common interjection in Classical Latin [10].


Fixed stars in Hercules


chi 06SCO51 08SCO14 237 44 11 +42 35 26 +60 17 37 4.61 F7

theta 10SCO15 11SCO38 241 47 53 +45 03 54 +63 46 58 4.26 A0

tau 13SCO00 14SCO23 244 33 32 +46 25 53 +65 50 03 3.91 B7

sigma 21SCO51 23SCO14 248 07 21 +42 32 21 +63 10 01 4.25 A0

Marsik kappa 24SCO19 25SCO43 241 27 15 +17 10 43 +37 13 15 5.34 G4

eta 27SCO24 28SCO46 250 17 42 +39 00 58 +60 17 47 3.61 G5

gamma 27SCO50 29SCO13 244 55 42 +19 16 09 +40 00 47 3.79 A6

Kornephoros beta 29SCO42 01SAG05 247 01 02 +21 35 50 +42 42 31 2.81 G8

zeta 00SAG05 01SAG28 249 51 00 +31 41 32 +53 06 43 3.00 G0

Kajam omega 00SAG10 01SAG35 245 46 36 +14 08 49 +35 10 30 4.53 A2

epsilon 06SAG57 08SAG20 254 35 38 +30 59 55 +53 15 15 3.92 A0

pi 10SAG35 11SAG58 258 19 33 +37 11 27 +59 52 46 3.36 K3

Sarin delta 13SAG22 14SAG46 258 14 39 +24 53 48 +47 41 38 3.16 A3

rho 13SAG59 15SAG22 260 29 21 +37 11 27 +60 07 53 4.52 B9

Ras Algethi alpha 14SAG45 16SAG09 258 05 34 +14 26 43 +59 03 04 3.50 F8

iota 18SAG29 19SAG53 264 30 46 +46 01 55 +69 16 19 3.79 B3

Maasym lambda 18SAG30 19SAG54 262 10 45 +26 08 49 +49 17 60 4.48 K4

mu 23SAG51 25SAG14 266 07 30 +27 44 55 +51 07 15 3.48 G5

theta 27SAG06 28SAG29 268 38 03 +37 15 21 +60 41 28 5.48 F2

omicron 01SAG19 02SAG42 271 23 51 +28 45 16 +52 11 26 3.83 B9

Fixed stars in Hercules


chi 06SCO51 08SCO14 237 44 11 +42 35 26 +60 17 37 4.61 F7

theta 10SCO15 11SCO38 241 47 53 +45 03 54 +63 46 58 4.26 A0

tau 13SCO00 14SCO23 244 33 32 +46 25 53 +65 50 03 3.91 B7

sigma 21SCO51 23SCO14 248 07 21 +42 32 21 +63 10 01 4.25 A0

Marsik kappa 24SCO19 25SCO43 241 27 15 +17 10 43 +37 13 15 5.34 G4

eta 27SCO24 28SCO46 250 17 42 +39 00 58 +60 17 47 3.61 G5

gamma 27SCO50 29SCO13 244 55 42 +19 16 09 +40 00 47 3.79 A6

Kornephoros beta 29SCO42 01SAG05 247 01 02 +21 35 50 +42 42 31 2.81 G8

zeta 00SAG05 01SAG28 249 51 00 +31 41 32 +53 06 43 3.00 G0

Kajam omega 00SAG10 01SAG35 245 46 36 +14 08 49 +35 10 30 4.53 A2

epsilon 06SAG57 08SAG20 254 35 38 +30 59 55 +53 15 15 3.92 A0

pi 10SAG35 11SAG58 258 19 33 +37 11 27 +59 52 46 3.36 K3

Sarin delta 13SAG22 14SAG46 258 14 39 +24 53 48 +47 41 38 3.16 A3

rho 13SAG59 15SAG22 260 29 21 +37 11 27 +60 07 53 4.52 B9

Ras Algethi alpha 14SAG45 16SAG09 258 05 34 +14 26 43 +59 03 04 3.50 F8

iota 18SAG29 19SAG53 264 30 46 +46 01 55 +69 16 19 3.79 B3

Maasym lambda 18SAG30 19SAG54 262 10 45 +26 08 49 +49 17 60 4.48 K4

mu 23SAG51 25SAG14 266 07 30 +27 44 55 +51 07 15 3.48 G5

theta 27SAG06 28SAG29 268 38 03 +37 15 21 +60 41 28 5.48 F2

omicron 01SAG19 02SAG42 271 23 51 +28 45 16 +52 11 26 3.83 B9



Hercules stretching from just west of the head of Ophiuchus to Draco, its eastern border on the Milky Way, is one of the oldest sky figures, although not {Page 239} known to the first Greek astronomers under that name, — for Eudoxos had Engounasi; Hipparchos, Engonasi, i.e. o en gonasi kathemenos, Bending on his Knees; and Ptolemy, en gonasin, Aratos added to these designations Oklazon, the Kneeling One, and Eidolon, the Phantom, while his description in the Phainomena well showed the ideas of that early time as to its character:

. . . like a toiling man, revolves

A form. Of it can no one clearly speak,

Nor to what toil he is attached; but, simply,

Kneeler they call him. Laboring on his knees,

Like one who sinks he seems; . . .

. . . And his right foot

Is planted on the twisting Serpent's head (Draco's head).

But all tradition even as to

Whoe'er this stranger of the heavenly forms may be,

seems to have been lost to the Greeks, for none of them, save Eratosthenes, attempted to explain its origin, which in early classical days remained involved in mystery. He wrote of it, outos, phasin, Erakles estin, standing upon the Ophis, our Draco (upside down); and some modern students of Euphratean mythology, associating the stars of Hercules and Draco with the sun-god Izhdubar [Izdubar, Gisdubar] and the dragon Tiamat, slain by him, think this Chaldaean myth the foundation of that of the classical Hercules and the Lernaean Hydra. Izhdubar is shown on a cylinder seal of 3000 to 3500 B.C., and described in that country's records as resting upon one knee, with his foot upon the Dragon's head, just as Aratos says of his Engonasi, and as we have it now. His well-known adventures are supposed to refer to the sun's passage through the twelve zodiacal signs, appearing thus on tablets of the 7th century before Christ. This myth of several thousand years' antiquity may have been adopted by Greece, and the solar hero changed into Hercules with his twelve familiar labors.

This constellation is said to have been an object of worship in Phoenicia's most ancient days as the sky representative of the great sea-god Melkarth. Indeed, it has everywhere been considered of importance, judging from its abundant nomenclature and illustration, for no other sky group seems to have borne so many titles.

The usual Greek name was transliterated Engonasi, Engonasis, and Engonasin down to the days of Bullialdus, with whom it appeared in the queer {Page 240} combination of Greek and Roman O en Gonacin; but the poets translated it as Genuflexus, Genunixus, and Geniculatus; Ingeniculatus with Vitruvius; Ingeniclus and Ingeniculus with Firmicus; while Ingenicla Imago and Ignota Facies appear in Manilius, — his familiar line,

Nixa venit species genibus, sibi conscia causae,

being liberally translated by Creech,

Conscious of his shame

A constellation kneels without a name.

We see with other authors the synonymous Incurvatus in genu, Procidens, Prociduus, Procumbens in genua, and Incumbens in genibus; Defectum Sidus and Effigies defecta labore; and the Tetrabiblos of 1551 had Qui in genibus est.

It also was Saltator,the Leaper; Kharops, the Keen-eyed One; Korunetes, and Korunephoros, the equivalents of Clavator and Claviger, the Club-bearer of the Latins: all applied to the constellation in early days, from classical designations of the hero Hercules, whose own name has now become universal for it. Although we first find this in the Catasterisms, Avienus asserted that it was used by Panyasis, the epic poet of 500 B.C., and uncle of Herodotus, perhaps to introduce into the heavens another Argonaut. The Nessus of Vitruvius came from the story of Deianira, the innocent cause of Hercules' death, when, as in the Death of Wallenstein,

Soared he upward to celestial brightness;

Nisus, from the city of Nisa; Malica, Melica, Melicartus, and Melicerta, from the name of its king, known later as Palaemon, — although some refer these to the title of the great god of Phoenicia, Melkarth, the King of the City; and Aper, from the Wild Boar slain at Elis. It was Cernuator, the Wrestler, from the hero's skill; Caeteus, Ceteus, and Cetheus, as son of Lycaon, and so uncle or brother of Kallisto, who, as Ursa Major, adjoined this constellation; indeed, it was even known as Lycaon himself, weeping over Kallisto's transformation. Ovid's Alcides was a common poetical title, either from Alke, Strength, or from Alcaeus, Hercules' grandfather; while Almannus and Celticus came from the fact that a similar hero was worshiped by the Germans and Celts, themselves noted for strength and daring deeds, and said to have been descended from Hercules. The unexplained Pataecus and Epipataecus are from Egypt; Maceris, from Libya; while Desanaus, Desanes, and Dosanes, or Dorsanes, are said to be of Hindu origin. {Page 241} Other titles are Ixion, laboring at his wheel, perhaps because Hercules also labored; or from the radiated object shown on Euphratean gems, a supposed representation of the solar prototype of Hercules, which in later times may easily have been regarded as a wheel; Prometheus, bending in chains on Caucasus; Thamyris, sad at the loss of his lyre; Amphitryoniades, from the supposed sire of Hercules; Heros Tirynthius, from the place where he was reared; and Oetaeus, from the mountain range of Thessaly whence he ascended the funeral pyre. The Sanctus that has appeared as a title is properly Sancus, the Semo Sancus, of Sabine-Umbrian-Roman mythology, identified with Hercules. Theseus was a name for this constellation, from the similar adventures of the originals; Mellus and Ovillus trace back to the Malum and Ovis in the myth of the Apples, or Sheep, of the Hesperides, with which the story of Hercules is connected, — different ideas, but both from melon, with this double signification; although La Lande thought that reference was made to the skin of the lion thrown over the hero's shoulder. We also occasionally see Diodas, Manilius, Orpheus, and Trapezius, the exact connection of which with our sky figure is not certain.

The 4th edition of the Alfonsine Tables singularly adds Rasaben, from the neighboring Draco's Al Ras al Thu'ban (Thuban in Draco).

Bayer erroneously quoted Gnux eripon, on Bended Knee, as if from Homer; and gave Eidolon apeuthos, the Unknown Image, and Imago laboranti similis. He also cited the Persians' Ternuelles, which Beigel suggested might be from their mistaken orthography of the word Hercules; and Hyde added another term, from that people, in Ber zanu nisheste, Resting on his Knees, a repetition of the earliest idea as to the figure.

Flammarion states that he found our modern title first mentioned in an edition of Hyginus of 1485, — but he had not read Eratosthenes; and some say that even this Hercules of Hyginus was really designed for the adjacent Ophiuchus.

The modern Italians' Ercole is like their Roman predecessors' abbreviated name for the deity, who was one of their most frequent objects of adjuration.

Our stellar figure generally has been drawn with club and lion-skin, the left foot on Draco and the right near Bootes, the reversal of these by Aratos being criticized by Hipparchos; but the Farnese globe shows a young man, nude and kneeling; while the Leyden Manuscript very inappropriately drew it as a young boy, erect, with a short star-tipped shepherd's crook, bearing a lion's skin and head. Bayer shows the strong man kneeling, clothed in the lion's skin, with his "all brazen" club and the Apple Branch.

{Page 242} This last he called Ramus pomifer (apple branch), the German Zweig (twig), placing it in the right hand of Hercules, on the edge of the Milky Way; but this even then was an old idea, for the Venetian illustrator of Hyginus in 1488 showed, in the constellation figure, an Apple Tree with a serpent twisted around its trunk. Argelander followed Bayer's drawing, but Heis transfers the Branch to the left hand, with two vipers as a reminder of the now almost forgotten stellar Cerberus with serpents' tongues, which Bayer did not know. The French and Italians, who give more prominence to these adjuncts of Hercules than do we, have combined them in a sub-constellation Rameau et Cerbere and Ramo e Cerbero. In all this, as well as in some of the titles of the Hercules constellation and of Draco, reappears the story of the Golden Fruits of the Hesperides with their guardian dragon.

It may have been the serpent and apples in our picturing of the constellation that aided Miss Rolleston to her substitution of the biblical Adam for the mythological Hercules. Others, however, changed the latter to Samson with the jawbone of an ass; and Julius Schiller multiplied him into the Three Magi.

The Arabians turned the classical Saltator, or Leaper, into Al Rakis, the Dancer; [The foregoing Dancer, Beigel said, was in the East merely a posture-maker, which the configuration of these stars plainly shows, and hence this title is appropriate. It seems to have wandered to the near-by Draco for the faint mu (Arrakis), although with a different signification, — the Trotting Camel. ] as also Engonasi, into Al Jathiyy a’la Rukbataihi, the One who Kneels on both Knees; this subsequently degenerating into Elgeziale rulxbachei, Alcheti hale rechabatih, Elzegeziale, and Elhathi. It also has often appeared as Alchete and Alcheti; as Algethi, and, in the 1515 Almagest and Alfonsine Tables of 1521, as Algiethi incurvati super genu ipsius.

Argelander catalogues 155 naked-eye stars in Hercules, and Heis 227.

Between zeta and eta, two thirds of the way from zeta, is N. G. C. 6205, 13 M., the finest cluster in the northern heavens. Halley discovered this in 1714 and thought it a nebula, whence its early title, the Halley Nebula; but it is remarkable that it was not sooner seen, for it is visible by the unaided eye, although only 8' in diameter. Herschel's estimate that it contains 14,000 stars.

{Page 243} In the early days of Arab astronomy a space in the heavens, coinciding with parts of Hercules, Ophiuchus, and Serpens, was the Raudah, or Pasture, the Northern Boundary of which, the Nasak Shamiyy, was marked by the stars 8 and gamma Herculis, the Syrians' Row of Pearls, with beta and gamma Serpentis in continuation of the Pasture line; while delta, alpha, and epsilon Serpentis, with delta, epsilon, zeta, and eta Ophiuchi, formed the Southern Boundary, the Nasak Yamaniyyah. The group of stars now known as the Club of Hercules was the Sheep within the Pasture.

Serpensthe Serpent



Clues to the meaning of this celestial featureThis snake, Serpens, that Ophiuchus holds (the snake-handler, who represents the healer Asclepius), is found on the symbol of medicine worldwide, the caduceus. The staff of Aesculapius was a single snake wrapped around a staff (often confused with the staff of Mercury or Hermes which has two snakes and is said to represent commerce). [See picture of the Rod of Asclepius]. Serpens is the only constellation divided into two separate pieces.

"Ophiuchus means 'he who holds the serpent' and that is how he is depicted. The struggle will last forever, since they wage it on equal terms with equal powers". [Manilius, Astronomica, 1st century AD, book 1, p.31]

Serpens and serpent comes from Latin serpere, to creep, from the Indo-European root *serp-2 'To crawl, creep'. Derivatives: serpent, serpigo (a spreading skin eruption or disease, such as ringworm, from Latin serpere, to crawl), herpes, herpetology (these words from Greek herpeton, 'crawling animal', from herpein, to crawl, creep). [Pokorny serp- 912. Watkins]

The word serpens is a synonym for snake; Wikipedia explains:

"Serpent is a word of Latin origin (serpens, serpentis) that is normally substituted for 'snake' in a specifically mythic or religious context, in order to distinguish such creatures from the field of biology".

The Bible interchanges the words dragon and serpent liberally. Draco, the dragon, is usually portrayed with feet and believed to be the 'Old Serpent', the tempter of Eve in the Garden.

“The snake (serpens) takes its name because it creeps (serpere) by secret approaches; it crawls not with open steps but by tiny thrusts of its scales. But those animals that support themselves on four feet, like the lizard and the newt, are not snakes, but are called reptiles (reptile). Snakes are also reptiles, because they crawl (repere) on their stomach and breast. Of these animals there are as many poisons as there are kinds, as many varieties of danger as there are of appearance, and as many causes of pain as there are colors.” [The Etymologies of Isidore of Seville, 7th century AD, p.255.]

This snake, Serpens, that Ophiuchus the snake-handler holds, or the snake that Asclepius has wrapped around his rod, is likely to be the kundalini snake; because it is a single snake, and because kundalini represents the life-force; the balanced flow of this energy is critical to health and harmony. The kundalini energy or 'serpent power' resides at the base of the spine and is represented symbolically as a snake coiled up upon itself, in three and a half circles like a true snake or serpent (unlike Draco which is a four-footed dragon). Kundalini is a Sanskrit word meaning either 'coiled up' or 'coiling like a snake'. The cultivation and management of this life-force has been the aim of the physician-priests, witch-doctors, and shamans who used drumming, trance, chanting, hallucinogenics etc. to facilitate intuitive diagnostics and cure illnesses. The adjacent constellation Ophiuchus is identified with Aesculapius, the snake-handler, snake-charmer, or doctor.

"One called Ophiuchus holds apart the serpent which with its mighty spirals [gyris] and twisted body encircles his own, that so he may untie its knots and back that winds in loops. But, bending its supple neck, the serpent looks back and returns; and the other's hands slide over the loosened coils. The struggle will last for ever, since they wage it on level terms with equal powers" [Manilius, Astronomica, 1st century AD. book 1, p.31].

Varro says Proserpina (Greek Persephone, the daughter of Ceres who became the goddess of the underworld when Pluto carried her away and made her his wife) received her name because she, like a serpens ‘creeper', but this derivation has been disputed by etymologists:

"From the fact that the Moon is wont to be under the lands as well as over them, Ennius's Epicharmus calls her Proserpina [Greek Persephone]. Proserpina received her name because she, like a serpens ‘creeper,' moves widely now to the right, now to the left. Serpere ‘to creep’ and proserpere ‘to creep forward’ meant the same thing, as Plautus means in what he writes: Like a forward-creeping beast". [Varro: On The Latin Language, p. 65-66.]

“Proserpina, because from her the fruits 'spread forth' (proserpere).” [The Etymologies of Isidore of Seville, 7th century AD, p.187.]

Snakes were seen as having the properties of different poisons according to their species: Isidore says of Mercury "he holds a staff with which he separates serpents, that is, poisons" [p.186.], and: "Of these animals there are as many poisons as there are kinds, as many varieties of danger as there are of appearance, and as many causes of pain as there are colors” [p.255.]

"The snake's venom is associated with the chemicals of plants and fungi that have the power to either heal, poison, or provide expanded consciousness (and even the elixir of life and immortality) through divine intoxication. Because of its herbal knowledge and entheogenic association the snake was often considered one of the wisest animals, being (close to the) divine". http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Serpent_%28symbolism%29

It was believed that snakes had the ability to discover health-giving medicinal herbs. Herbs have chemical properties and this attribute in snakes of being able to search out herbs might be related to their ability to smell out the chemicals in the herbs. They have what is called a Jacobson's organ in their mouths that functions as a chemical receptor, a snake flicks out its tongue to taste the air and when the tongue is withdrawn into the mouth, the forks of the tongue are placed into the Jacobson's organ where the chemical (molecules) is identified [1].

Ophiuchus is the snake-holder who holds this snake, Serpens, and represents the healer Asclepius. According to Hyginus (Hygin. Poet. Astr. ii. 14.), one day Asclepius killed a snake, but to his surprise a second snake carrying an herb in its mouth crawled into the room. It gave the herb to the first snake, which immediately recovered. This was how Asclepius learned how to raise people from the dead, by making use of this same herb which had the same resuscitating effect upon men [2].

"The serpent was placed in heaven and for this reason certain writers have identified Ophiuchus with Aesculapius. According to other accounts the serpent is one of those that would have slain Hercules in his cradle." [Fixed Stars and Constellations in Astrology, Vivian E. Robson, 1923].

A similar story is told about the seer Polyeidus (or Polyidus) who was locked in a Old Cretan vault with the corpse of Glaucus and ordered to resuscitate it. A snake soon crawled toward the body, but Polyeidus killed the snake. Another snake came into the room bearing an herb and laid this over the dead snake, which at once revived. Polyeidus then placed the same herb over the body of Glaucus, who immediately came to life.

Serpens is from Latin serpere, and Greek herpeton, 'crawling animal', from herpein, to crawl or creep, Sanskrit herpo 'creep'. With all this evidence of snakes association with herbs; is it not likely that Greek herp- might be related to the word herb? Snake venom has different chemical properties according to the species of snake, as have the various species of herbs.

Drugs made of various chemicals and herbs are called medicines. 'Medusa' the Gorgon, represented by the star Algol, whose head Perseus carries, is related to the word 'medicine'. Medusa has serpents for hair that might ultimately represent herbs and chemicals.

Ophiuchus, the snake holder, is the adjoining constellation that holds this serpent, and his name means serpent-holder (ophis, serpent + okhos, holder). The Greeks knew Serpens as Ophis which comes from the Indo-European root *angwhi-, 'Snake, eel'. Derivatives: ophidian, ophiolite, ophite (a green rock), ophicleide ('serpent-keys', a musical instrument of the bugle family), ophiology, Ophiuchus (the adjoining constellation Ophiuchus, the Serpent-Holder), ophiuroid, (these words from Greek ophis, snake, serpent). 2. Taboo deformation or separate root *eghi-; echino-, echinus, from Greek ekhinos, hedgehog (< 'snake-eater'), echidna (from Gk. ekhidna 'snake, viper,' from ekhis 'snake'). [Pokorny angw(h)i- 43. Watkins] The term ophiasis means a winding bald patch on the head, or a form of leprosy in which the patient sheds his skin like a snake.

There might be a connection between the two words sophia and ophis:

"The image of the serpent as the embodiment of the wisdom transmitted by Sophia (from sophos, meaning 'wisdom') was an emblem used by gnosticism, especially those sects that the more orthodox characterized as 'Ophites' ('Serpent People')" http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Serpent_%28symbolism%29

".. sophos, the Greek for wisdom, and Sophia, the Virgin of Light, may be traced to is ophis, the 'light of ophis,' the Serpent" [The Lost Language of Symbolism, Harold Bayley, p.219.]

"the Greeks call the Marsians 'Oscians,' as if it were ophskoi, because they had many serpents, and ophis means 'serpent.' They are also said to be invulnerable to the sorcery of spells. Like the Umbrians they inhabit the region of the Apennine mountains" [The Etymologies of Isidore of Seville, 7th century AD, p.196-197.]

On a fragment from the 3rd century Porphyry, On Images, fragment 8, (c. 232 AD - c. 304):

"Of the sun's healing power Asclepius [Ophiuchus] is the symbol, and to him they have given the staff as a sign of the support and rest of the sick, and the serpent is wound round it, as significant of his preservation of body and soul: for the animal is most full of spirit, and shuffles off the weakness of the body. It seems also to have a great faculty for healing: for it found the remedy for giving clear sight, and is said in a legend to know a certain plant which restores life."

A dragon is sometimes used (in the West) as a national emblem of China, possibly because dragons were featured on flags of China. I have seen where some see this dragon as represented by the constellation Draco, the Dragon. However, it might be that this serpent is a more likely representation. In Allen's book Star Names (p.375 online), he notes that a Christian missionary, Edkins, said "The twenty-two stars in the Serpent (Serpens) are named after the states into which China was formerly divided."

[Picture from Lana Rings' website] Ophiuchus might be the fetus (foetus) attached to the umbilicus cord (Serpens). Ophiuchus is depicted holding a snake, the snake is represented by the constellation Serpens. Ophiuchus from Greek Ophiukhos, literally 'holding a serpent', from Greek opis, the Greek word for 'serpent', + Greek ekhein, 'to hold, keep, have'. In a discussion on this linguist website there is a suggestion that there might be a relationship between Greek ophis and *omphi-. [Omphi from the Indo-European root *nobh-. Related words 'umbilicus', 'omphallus', 'navel', 'nave', the hub of a wheel]. The constellation Ophiuchus is identified with Asclepius, who was cut from his mother's womb as a foetus. The long tube-like shape of a snake bears a resemblance to an umbilical cord. When the snake is curled up it might appear to be like the nave or hub of a wheel. The womb is represented by Delphinus.


Fixed stars in Serpens


iota 15SCO48 17SCO11 234 49 48 +19 49 48 +38 06 39 4.49 A2

delta 16SCO58 18SCO21 233 06 09 +10 42 12 +28 53 04 5.16 A9

rho 18SCO08 19SCO31 237 16 00 +21 07 37 +40 00 24 4.88 K5

kappa 18SCO24 19SCO47 236 37 18 +18 17 41 +37 07 02 4.28 M1

beta 18SCO34 19SCO57 235 58 11 +15 34 37 +34 19 56 3.74 A0

Unukalhai alpha 20SCO40 22SCO05 235 27 03 +06 34 53 +25 30 44 2.75 K2

gamma 21SCO23 22SCO46 238 32 08 +15 49 24 +35 13 02 3.86 F5

epsilon 22SCO57 24SCO20 237 04 50 +04 37 36 +24 00 39 3.75 A6

mu 24SCO33 25SCO56 236 45 07 -03 16 43 +16 14 40 3.63 A0

xi 23SAG10 24SAG33 263 40 49 -15 22 08 +07 56 31 3.64 A5

omicron 24SAG01 25SAG24 264 39 02 -12 51 01 +10 29 49 4.39 A2

eta 04CAP18 05CAP41 274 40 50 -02 54 48 +20 27 05 3.42 G8

Alya theta 14CAP22 15CAP45 283 26 00 +04 08 13 +26 52 59 4.50 A5

Ophiuchus (Serpentarius) and Serpens from Hevelius' Firmamentum, 1690


The starry Serpent

Southward winding from the Northern Wain (Ursa Major),

Shoots to remoter spheres its glittering train.

— Statius.

Serpens, the Serpent, is le Serpent in France, il Serpente in Italy, and die Schlange in Germany, probably is very ancient, and always has been shown as grasped by the hands of Ophiuchus at its pair of stars delta, epsilon, and at nu, and tau - Ophiuchi. The head is marked by the noticeable group iota, kappa, gamma, phi, nu, rho, and the eight little stars all lettered tau, and consecutively numbered, 10° south from the Crown and 20° due east from Arcturus; the figure line thence winding southwards 15° to Libra, and turning to the southeast and northeast along the western edge of the Milky Way, terminating at its star theta, 8° south of the tail of the Eagle (Aquila) and west of that constellation's delta.

Of the four stellar Snakes this preeminently is the Serpent, its stars originally being combined with those of Ophiuchus, although Manilius wrote

Serpentem Graiis Ophiuchus nomine dictus dividit;

but it now is catalogued separately, and occasionally divided into Caput and Cauda on either side of the Serpent-holder.

The Greeks knew it as Ophis Ophioukhou, or simply as Ophis, and familiarly as Erpeton and Egkhelus (eel), respectively the Serpent and the Eel; the Latins, occasionally as Anguilla, Anguis, and Coluber; but universally as Serpens, often qualified as the Serpent of Aesculapius, Caesius, Glaucus, Laocoon, and of Ophiuchus; and as Serpens Herculeus, Lernaeus, and Sagarinus.

The 1515 Almagest and the Alfonsine Tables of 1521 had Serpens Alangue, thus combining their corrupted Latin with their equally corrupted Arabic, as often is the case with those works. It also was Draco Lesbius and Tiberinus, and, perhaps, Ovid's and Vergil's Lucidus Anguis.

In the astronomy of Arabia it was Al Hayyah, the Snake, — Chilmead's Alhafa; but before that country was influenced by Greece there was a very different constellation here, Al Raudah, the Pasture; the stars beta and gamma,{Page 375} with gamma and beta Herculis, forming the Nasak Shamiyy, the Northern Boundary; while delta, alpha, and epsilon Serpentis, with delta, epsilon, zeta, and eta Ophiuchi, were the Nasak Yamaniyy, the Southern Boundary. The enclosed sheep were shown by the stars now in the Club of Hercules, guarded on the west by the Shepherd and his Dog, the stars alpha in Ophiuchus and Hercules.

To the Hebrews, as to most nations, this was a Serpent from the earliest times, and, Renan said, may have been the one referred to in the Book of Job, xxvi, 13; but Delitzsch, who renders the original words as the "Fugitive Dragon," and others with him, consider our Draco to be the constellation intended, as probably more ancient and widely known from its ever visible circumpolar position.

The biblical school made it the serpent seducer of Eve, while in our day imaginative observers find another heavenly Cross in the stars of the head, one that belongs to Saint Andrew or Saint Patrick.

Serpens shared with Ophiuchus the Euphratean title of Nu-tsir-da, the Image of the Serpent; and is supposed to have been one of the representatives of divinity to the Ophites, the Hivites of Old Testament times.

The comparatively void space between nu and epsilon was the Chinese Tien Shi Yuen, the Enclosure of the Heavenly Market.

OphiuchusSerpentarius, the Serpent Holder



Clues to the meaning of this celestial featureOphiuchus, or Serpentarius, the Serpent-holder, the Serpent Bearer, the Serpent Wrestler, or the Snake Charmer, is depicted holding a snake, the snake is represented by the constellation Serpens. The constellation is located around the celestial equator with the two legs of Ophiuchus protruding right into the zodiac and south of the ecliptic. Ophiuchus is identified with Aesculapius (Asklepios, Asclepius), an ancient physician who grew so skilled in the craft of healing that he was able to restore the dead to life. However, because this was a crime against the natural order, Zeus destroyed him with a thunderbolt. According to one version (Pindar's) he offended Zeus by accepting a fee in exchange for raising the dead. Ophiuchus is identified with the Euphratean Sagimu (Sa-gi-mu), the God of Invocation.

Read what writers of myth have written on Asclepius on this Theoi Project webpage

The association of the serpent (Serpens) with this constellation, Ophiuchus, may indicate the miraculous powers which are ascribed to snake-charmers. Before medicine became a science the role of the physician and priest were combined in many cultures, and existed in what we know today as the witch doctor, shaman, or medicine man, and the earliest snake charmers were traditional healers. Their aim was holistic healing, the healing of both mind and body. They used herbs, potions, charms, incantations, exorcism, magic, divination, and prayers, in their means to establish the cure. Aesculapius, we are told, was the first doctor of medicine with the ability to restore people to life. The name and the profession were continued in the Asclepiadae, an order of priest-physicians in Greece. Those seeking aid in healing stayed for periods of time in what was called an Asclepieion (or Asklepieion), a sanctuary or shrine dedicated to Asclepius. They slept overnight in these places where the god was said to reveal the remedies for the disease in dreams, they reported their dreams to a priest the following day who prescribed a cure. The Asklepieion at Epidaurus is traditionally regarded as the birthplace of Asclepius. Other Asklepieions were located in Athens, Cos, Pergamum, and later Rome, where his worship spread after a plague in 293 B.C.

Phorbas, or Phorbaceus, who freed Rhodes from snakes, is identified with this constellation. Phorbas cleansed the island of the snakes and in gratitude the Rhodians venerated him as a hero. For his achievement he won a place among the stars as the constellation Serpentarius or Ophiuchus. Virgil tells how Somnus appeared to Palinurus; "Winged Somnus flies down from the sky and sits on the stern of Aeneas' ship, where he assumes the guise of Phorbas". Assuming the guise of Somnus should make Phorbas the same as Somnus. Latin somnus is from the Indo-European root *swep- 'To sleep'. Derivatives: sopor, soporific, somni-, somnolent, insomnia, (these words from Latin somnus, sleep), hypno-, hypnosis, hypnogogic, hypnotize, (these words from Greek hupnos, sleep). [Pokorny 1. swep- 1048. Watkins]

A core part of the shaman's or witch-doctor's role is the use of altered state of consciousness and hypnotism. Snake charming is the practice of hypnotizing a snake by playing a musical instrument [1].


The snake, Serpens, that Ophiuchus, the snake-handler, holds, is found on the symbol of medicine worldwide, the caduceus. The staff of Aesculapius was a single snake wrapped around a staff (often confused with the staff of Mercury or Hermes which has two snakes and is said to represent commerce). See picture of the Rod of Asclepius.

The snake, Serpens, that Ophiuchus, the snake-handler holds, and the symbol of the Rod of Asclepius, may have something to do with the kundalini; the kundalini is said to represent the life-force; the balanced flow of this energy is critical to health and harmony. The kundalini energy or 'serpent power' resides at the base of the spine, and is represented symbolically as a snake coiled up upon itself in three and a half circles like a true snake or serpent (Draco is a four-footed snake not depicted curled up in that manner, but Draco might also have something to do with this power). Kundalini is a Sanskrit word meaning either 'coiled up' or 'coiling like a snake'. The cultivation and management of this life-force has been the aim of the physician-priests, witch-doctors, and shamans, in many cultures who used drumming, trance, chanting, hallucinogenics etc. to facilitate intuitive diagnostics and the cure.

Ophiuchus had an Arabic title le Psylle, and the constellation is also said to be identified with the Psylli of Libya, Herodotus mentions the Psylli, a tribe of snake-charmers in North Africa. The word resembles the Latin word psylla, psyllius, Greek psullion, meaning a flea. Fleas are bloodsucking insects and doctors were called leeches. Latin word psylla is related to Latin pulex, the genus of fleas, genitive pulicis, 'flea', cognate with the color puce or peuce, perhaps because of the purplish color of the flea's engorged blood, and puceron, plant lice.

The name Asklepios is suggested to have been derived from (a)spalax, 'blind rat mole', a truly blind mole, also spelled skalops, aspalas, which this Wikipedia page says "refers to the resemblance of the Tholos in Epidauros and the building of a mole". The Greek word for mole was aspalae, the word is translated talpa, the Latin for the genus of moles. A mole was also called mus caecus, 'blind mouse' [2]. The constellation figure, Ophiuchus, also was associated with Caecius (from Latin caecus, blind) [Allen, below]. Moles are blind or nearly blind. Latin talpa, a mole, is believed to be related to Greek tuphle, tuphla, blind [Valpy, p.463].

According to Allen [Star Names] "the figure also was associated with Caecius, the Blinding One, slain by Hercules and celebrated by Dante in the Inferno":

"Asklepiades: Also 'Asklepieian/Asklepeian drug', but 'Asklepepian temple'. Also Asklepiadai, the doctors, from Asklepios. He [derived his name] from keeping bodies tough (askele) [probably a misprint and should be askete] and gentle (epia). Asklepios, the patron of medicine, could heal Pauson and Iros and any other hopeless case" [Suidas s.v. Asklepiades 3]

JAMA says Scholia in Homer's Iliad suggests that the name Asklepios was derived from words meaning applying (askein) and making the limbs gentle (epia). Greek askein gives us the word ascetic, a hermit or monk, from Greek asketikos, asketes, 'one that exercises or practices', from askein 'to exercise, train'. The -epia, -epios, in the name Asklepios is variously translated 'gentle', 'kind', 'calm', 'soothing'. Epione, 'the Mild

One', was the wife of Asklepios.

Medicine comes from the same root as the name Medusa, whose severed head Perseus carries, the star Algol represents her. The name of the sorceress and drug-brewer Medea also comes from this root. The blood that flowed on Medusa's left side was said to be fatal poison. The blood from her right side was beneficial. Asclepius used her blood to heal which might mean he used medicine to heal.

The Roman equivalent of the Greek name Asclepius is Aesculapius. Jacqueline Brook in Our Rock Who Art In Heaven gives an interesting opinion on the name:

"In examining the name Aesculapius, I discovered that the adjective relating to this god, Aesculapian, has an alternate spelling: Esculapian. The word "esculent" is from the Latin esculentus, meaning "edible"' and esca, meaning "food" [esca ‘food’, from edere ‘to eat’]. Lapis, in Latin, means 'stone'"

The constellation may have further associations with stones: As mentioned above Ophiuchus also was associated with Caecius (Greek Kaikias), the Blinding One. Kaikias is the North East wind, and depicted carrying a large shield which scatters hailstones upon the ground below.

Caesius, a Christian astronomer, gave the title Aaron to Ophiuchus. Aaron, whose staff became a serpent:

"Aaron threw down his staff in front of Pharaoh and his court, and it turned into a serpent". Exodus 7:12

Charmers often supplement their performances with juggling, sleight of hand, and other tricks. One occasional feat is "turning a rod into a serpent", a trick that has been known since Biblical times (see Exodus 7:12). This is reportedly accomplished by putting pressure on a particular nerve behind the snake's head, which causes it to stiffen up [3].

It is said that so expert in restoring life had Asclepius become that Hades, God of the Underworld, complained to his brother Zeus that fewer and fewer souls were being sent down to him in Hades. Zeus killed Asclepius with a thunderbolt.

The cock was sacred to Asclepius and the bird was sacrificed as his altar. "I owe a cock to Asclepius" were Socrates last words on the point of death. The cock crows and wakes people up from sleep. The cock's crow heralds daybreak, the awakening to a new day, or symbolically resurrection into a new life. Aesculapius became so skilled a physician that he was able to restore the dead to life; raise people from the dead. Perhaps this means the new life after death as the sacrifice of a cock by Socrates to Aesculapius seems to suggest. Socrates was executed with a dose of hemlock poison:

"When the poison reaches the heart, that will be the end. He was beginning to grow cold about the groin, when he uncovered his face, for he had covered himself up, and said (they were his last words)--`Krito, we owe a cock to Asklepios. Pay it and do not neglect it.'" [Plato, Phaedo 118a (trans. Lamb) (Greek philosopher C4th B.C.): http://www.theoi.com/Cult/AsklepiosCult.html]

"Alektryona athleten Tanagraion (A prize-fighting cock of Tanagra): These aristocrats sing [this]. `He sends it to be a votive offering and a delight to Asklepios, as if the bird were an attendant or servant in the temple, that man of Aspendos.' [Suidas s.v. Alektryona athleten Tanagraion (Byzantine Greek lexicon C10th A.D.) 1]

A chanticleer is a cock or rooster, and the name of the rooster in the tale of Reynard the Fox. The name for the cock or rooster is related to the word 'hen' in many languages; German hahn, Old Norse hani, Old English hana, etc., literally 'the singing bird'. Ophiuchus, the serpent-bearer, is also referred to as the snake charmer and identified with the Psylli of Libya, a tribe of snake-charmers in North Africa. In their range of traditional healing skills the snake charmer, witch doctor, shaman, or medicine man, uses charms, and incantations. Ophiuchus is identified with the Euphratean Sagimu (Sa-gi-mu), translated 'the God of Invocation'; to invoke can mean to summon with incantations. These words come from the Indo-European root *kan- 'To sing'. Derivatives: hen, canorous, cant*, cantabile, cantata, canticle (Canticles in the Bible. The Song of Songs), cantillate (to chant or recite a liturgical text in a musical monotone), canto, cantor, chant, chanteuse, accent, chanticleer (a rooster), enchant, incantation, incentive (Latin incanere, meaning, 'to sing to.' The idea is "if you play the music, someone has to dance" [4]), precentor (a cleric who directs the choral services of a church ), recant (re- + Latin canere, to sing), oscine (a songbird, from Latin oscen, a singing bird used in divination), charm (from Latin carmen, song, poem), Canens (the personification of song, Etruscan Carmina, goddess of spells), discant or descant (to comment at length, discourse) [Pokorny kan- 525. Watkins]

Skeat [An etymological dictionary of the English language, 1910, p.84] proposes a connection of the word 'caduceus', (from Greek keruk-, kerux, a herald), with Sanskrit karu-s (karu, karuh), a singer, and says "compare Latin car-men, a song" which is from the above root *kan- 'to sing'.

"Certain people have said that he holds the snake for the following reason. [N.B. The following myth is usually told of the seer Polyidos rather than Asklepios.] When he was commanded to restore Glaucus, and was confined in a secret prison, while meditating what he should do, staff in hand, a snake is said to have crept on to his staff. Distracted in mind, Aesculapius killed it, striking it again and again with his staff as it tried to flee. Later, it is said, another snake came there, bringing an herb in its mouth, and placed it on its head. When it had done this, both fled from the place. Whereupon Aesculapius, using the same herb, brought Glaucus, too, back to life. And so the snake is put in the guardianship of Aesculapius and among the stars as well. Following his example, his descendants passed the knowledge on to others, so that doctors make use of snakes." [Pseudo-Hyginus, Astronomica 2. 14 from Theoi website]

Of the sun's healing power Asclepius is the symbol, and to him they have given the staff as a sign of the support and rest of the sick, and the serpent is wound round it, as significant of his preservation of body and soul: for the animal is most full of spirit, and shuffles off the weakness of the body. It seems also to have a great faculty for healing: for it found the remedy for giving clear sight, and is said in a legend to know a certain plant which restores life. [Porphyry, On Images, (c. 232 AD - c. 304), Fragment 8.]

Lana Rings' website

Ophiuchus might be the fetus (foetus) attached to the umbilicus cord (Serpens). Ophiuchus is depicted holding a snake, the snake is represented by the constellation Serpens. Ophiuchus, from Greek Ophiukhos, literally 'holding a serpent', from Greek opis (or ophis), the Greek word for 'serpent', + Greek ekhein, 'to hold, keep, have'. In a discussion on this linguist webpage there is a suggestion that there is a likely relationship between the Greek words ophis and *omphi-. [Omphi from the Indo-European root *nobh-. Related words 'umbilicus', 'omphallus', 'navel', 'nave', the hub of a wheel]. The constellation Ophiuchus is identified with Asclepius who was cut from his mother's womb as a foetus. The long tube-like shape of a snake bears a resemblance to an umbilical cord. When the snake is curled up it might appear to be like the nave or hub of a wheel. [The womb is represented by Delphinus.]

Another clue could be the association with incubation which was practiced in all the Asclepius' sanctuaries in the ancient world.

Also the connection of Asclepius' name to the 'mole'. The life of a foetus is similar to that of a mole, in that it can sense light, but cannot see or focus clearly. Both feel around in a confined space.

The words (see above) soporific, somnolent, hypnogogic, are not unlikely words to describe the drowsy state of consciousness of a foetus in it's womb. Greek Hypnos' (Roman equivalent Somnus) is described as a sleeping baby living in a palace that is a dark cave where the sun never penetrates.


"When Ophiuchus, encircled by the serpent's great coils, rises he renders the forms of snakes innocuous to those born under him. They will receive snakes into the folds of their flowing robes, and will exchange kisses with these poisonous monsters and suffer no harm." [Manilius, Astronomica, 1st century AD, book 5, p.333].

"One called Ophiuchus holds apart the serpent which with its mighty spirals [gyris] and twisted body encircles his own, that so he may untie its knots and back that winds in loops. But, bending its supple neck, the serpent looks back and returns; and the other's hands slide over the loosened coils. The struggle will last for ever, since they wage it on level terms with equal powers." [Manilius, Astronomica, 1st century AD, book 1, p.31].


Fixed stars in Ophiuchus


Yed Prior delta (") 00SAG54 02SAG18 242 55 45 -03 34 02 +17 14 56 3.03 M1

Yed Posterior epsilon (#) 02SAG07 03SAG31 243 55 06 -04 34 20 +16 26 42 3.34 G8

Marfik lambda ($) 04SAG12 05SAG36 247 05 51 +02 05 31 +23 33 48 3.85 A1

Han zeta (%) 07SAG50 09SAG14 248 36 02 -10 28 03 +11 23 50 2.70 O9

kappa (&) 10SAG27 11SAG50 253 49 30 +09 27 04 +31 50 35 3.42 K2

Sabik eta (') 16SAG34 17SAG58 256 52 38 -15 39 53 +07 12 10 2.63 A2

theta (() 19SAG41 21SAG04 259 44 03 -24 57 05 -01 50 12 3.37 B2

Ras Alhague alpha ()) 21SAG03 22SAG27 263 09 11 +12 35 42 +35 50 41 2.14 A5

Kelb Alrai beta (*) 23SAG56 25SAG20 265 15 00 +04 35 11 +27 56 38 2.94 K1

gamma (+) 25SAG15 26SAG38 266 20 45 +02 43 28 +26 07 07 3.74 A0

Sinistra nu (,) 28SAG21 29SAG45 269 04 05 -09 46 09 +13 40 25 3.50 K0

Fixed stars in Ophiuchus


Yed Prior delta (") 00SAG54 02SAG18 242 55 45 -03 34 02 +17 14 56 3.03 M1

Yed Posterior epsilon (#) 02SAG07 03SAG31 243 55 06 -04 34 20 +16 26 42 3.34 G8

Marfik lambda ($) 04SAG12 05SAG36 247 05 51 +02 05 31 +23 33 48 3.85 A1

Han zeta (%) 07SAG50 09SAG14 248 36 02 -10 28 03 +11 23 50 2.70 O9

kappa (&) 10SAG27 11SAG50 253 49 30 +09 27 04 +31 50 35 3.42 K2

Sabik eta (') 16SAG34 17SAG58 256 52 38 -15 39 53 +07 12 10 2.63 A2

theta (() 19SAG41 21SAG04 259 44 03 -24 57 05 -01 50 12 3.37 B2

Ras Alhague alpha ()) 21SAG03 22SAG27 263 09 11 +12 35 42 +35 50 41 2.14 A5

Kelb Alrai beta (*) 23SAG56 25SAG20 265 15 00 +04 35 11 +27 56 38 2.94 K1

gamma (+) 25SAG15 26SAG38 266 20 45 +02 43 28 +26 07 07 3.74 A0

Sinistra nu (,) 28SAG21 29SAG45 269 04 05 -09 46 09 +13 40 25 3.50 K0



. . . the length of Ophiuchus huge

In the arctic sky.

— Milton's Paradise Lost.

Ophiuchus vel Serpentarius, the Serpent-Holder, not Ophiuchus Serpentarius, is Ofiuco with the Italians, Schlangentrager (Snake Bearer) with the Germans, and Serpentaire with the French. It stretches from just east of the head of Hercules to Scorpio; partly in the Milky Way, divided nearly equally by the celestial equator; but, although always shown with the Serpent (Serpens), the catalogues have its stars entirely distinct from the latter. The classical Hyginus, however, united the two figures into a single constellation, and some early nations, especially the Sogdians and Khorasmians, did the same, the stars being intermingled in their nomenclature.

{Page 298} The original title, Ophioukhos, appeared in the earliest Greek astronomy; mogeros, "toiling," being an adjectival appellation in the Phainomena.

Transliterated as in our title it was best known to the Latins, but also as Ophiulchus, Ophiulcus, Ophiultus, and, in the diminutive, Ophiuculus and Ophiulculus; while the classical word plainly shows itself in the Afeichus, Afeichius, and Alpheichius of the 16th and 17th centuries.

Serpentarius first appeared with the scholiast on Germanicus, while Serpentiger, Serpentis Lator, Serpentis Praeses, and Serpentinarius are seen for it; as also the Anguifer of Columella, which was Anguiger elsewhere. Cicero and Manilius had the peculiar Anguitenens. Golius insisted that this sky figure represents a Serpent-charmer, one of the Psylli of Libya, noted for their skill in curing the bites of poisonous serpents; and this would seem to be confirmed by the constellation's title le Psylle in Schjellerup's edition of Al Sufi's work.

But the Serpent-holder generally was identified with Asklepios, Asclepios, or Aesculapius, whom King James I described as "a mediciner after made a god," with whose worship serpents were always associated as symbols of prudence, renovation, wisdom, and the power of discovering healing herbs. Educated by his father Apollo, or by the Centaur Chiron, Aesculapius was the earliest of his profession and the ship's surgeon of the Argo. When the famous voyage was over he became so skilled in practice that he even restored the dead to life, among these being Hippolytus, of whom King James wrote:

Hippolyte. After his members were drawn in sunder by foure horses, Esculapius at Neptune's request glued them together and revived him.

But several such successful operations and numerous remarkable cures, and especially the attempt to revive the dead Orion, led Pluto, who feared for the continuance of his kingdom, to induce Jove to strike Aesculapius with a thunderbolt and put him among the constellations.

The figure also was associated with Caecius, the Blinding One, slain by Hercules and celebrated by Dante in the Inferno; indeed, it is said that the {Page 299} Hero himself was assigned to these stars by Hyginus, and gave them his name: a confusion that may have arisen because the boundaries between the two stellar groups were at first ill defined, or from the similarity of their original myths to that of Izhdubar (maybe Hercules) and the dragon Tiamat (maybe Draco). It also represented Triopas, king of the Perrhaebians; Carnabou, Carnabas, and Carnabus, the slayer of Triopas; Phorbas, his Thessalian son, who freed Rhodes from snakes; Cadmus changed to a serpent; Jason pursuing the golden-fleeced Aries; Aesacus, from the story of Hesperia; Aristaeus, from the story of Eurydice; Laocoon struggling with the serpent; (and Caesius, or Glaucus, the sea-god, although this latter title, identified by some with that of Androgeus, may have come from that namesake who was restored to life by Aesculapius.)

The Arabians translated the Greek name into Al Hawwa’, which Assemani repeated as Alhava, Collector_serpentum; but it appeared on the globes as Al Haur, turned by the Moors into Al Hague, and by early astronomical writers into Alangue, Hasalangue, and Alange; the Turks having the similar Yilange. It has been suggested, however, that these may have come from the Latin Anguis, a word that the astronomical Arabians and Moors well knew.

Euphratean astronomers knew it, or a part of it with Serpens, as Nu-tsir-da; and Brown associates it with Sa-gi-mu, the God of Invocation.

Pliny said that these stars were dangerous to mankind, occasioning much mortality by poisoning; while Milton compared Satan to the burning comet that "fires" this constellation, — a comparison perhaps suggested by the fact that noticeable comets appeared here in the years 1495, 1523, 1537, and 1569, which might well have been known to Milton, for Lord Bacon wrote in his Astronomy:

Comets have more than once appeared in our time; first in Cassiopeia, and again in Ophiuchus.

Novidius changed the figure to that of Saint Paul with the Maltese Viper; Caesius gave it as Aaron, whose staff became a serpent, or as Moses, who lifted up the Brazen Serpent in the Wilderness; but Julius Schiller, far more appropriately, made of it Saint Benedict in the midst of the thorns, for it was this founder of the order of the Benedictine monks who, with his followers in the 6th century, inspired and carried on all the learning of the times, as Aesculapius-Ophiuchus had done in his day.

The constellation generally has been shown as an elderly man, probably copied from the celebrated statue at Epidaurus; but the Leyden Manuscript and the planisphere of the monk Geruvigus represent it as an unclad boy {Page 300} standing on the Scorpion and holding the Serpent in his hands; and the Hyginus of 1488 has a somewhat similar representation.

Bayer added to his titles for Ophiuchus Grus aut Ciconia Serpenti cum inscriptione, Elhague, insistens, which he said was from the Moors, but Ideler asserted was from a drawing of a Crane, or Stork, on a Turkish planisphere instead of the customary figure; and the Almagest of 1551 alludes to Ciconia as if it were a well-known title. All this, perhaps, may be traced to ancient India, whose mythology was largely astronomical, and the Adjutant-bird, Ciconia argala, prominent in worship as typifying the moon-god Soma, so that its devotees would only be following custom in locating it among the stars.

Although this is not one of the zodiac twelve, Mr. Royal Hill writes:

Out of the twenty-five days, from the 21st of November to the 16th of December, which the sun spends in passing from Libra to Sagittarius, only nine are spent in the Scorpion, the other sixteen being occupied in passing through Ophiuchus.

Thus, according to his idea of the boundaries, this actually is more of a zodiacal constellation than is the Scorpion. But the boundaries are very variously given by uranographers.

[Note at end of page: According to Greek tradition, Asclepius was a lineal ancestor of the great physician Hippocrates; and Doctor Francis Adams, in his Genuine Works of Hippocrates', writes: "A genealogical table, professing to give a list of names of his forefathers, up to Aesculapius, has been transmitted to us from remote antiquity." This list, from the Chiliads of Tzetzes of our 12th century, makes Hippocrates the 15th in descent from Aesculapius through his son Podalirius, who, with his brother Machaon, was an army surgeon, as well as a valiant fighter before the walls of Troy. The name and the profession were continued in the Asclepiadae, an order of priest-physicians long noted in Greece.]

Corona Borealisthe Northern Crown



Clues to the meaning of this celestial featureCorona Borealis, the Northern Crown, represents a crown given by Dionysus (Bacchus-Liber) to Ariadne, the daughter of Minos of Crete. [The crown depicted in Corona Australis, the Southern Crown, represents the crown given by Dionysus to his mother Semele].

The story relating to Corona Borealis tells how Daedalus built a labyrinth, an elaborate maze-like construction, to house the Minotaur, a creature that was half man and half bull. Here it devoured the seven youths and seven maidens which were sent to it from Athens in tribute to king Minos of Crete who had conquered Athens. The tribute for the Minotaur was to be chosen by lot (sortis). When the third repetition of the nine-year tribute came around, Theseus inserted himself as one of the youths in the line-up. He got from Ariadne, daughter of Minos, who had fallen in love with him, the famous thread that enabled him to retrace his steps back through the Labyrinth. He slew the Minotaur, then, following the string or thread, he left the maze, unchained the young Athenians, and taking Ariadne, whom he had promised to marry, along with him, they sailed off from Crete to Naxos. There Theseus deserted her as she lay sleeping. Ariadne was essentially marooned on an island, a castaway, while Theseus in his ship sailed off without her. Then Dionysus (Bacchus-Liber) came to her:

"Deserted and weeping bitterly, as she was, Bacchus-Liber brought her help and comfort. So that she might shine among the eternal stars, he took the crown from her forehead, and set it in the sky. It soared through the rarified air, and as it soared its jewels changed to bright fires, and took their place, retaining the appearance of a crown, as the Corona Borealis, between the kneeling Hercules and the head of the serpent (Serpens) that Ophiuchus holds" [Ovid, Metamorphoses, Bk VIII:152-182].

Ariadne as the consort of Dionysos, late fourth century BCE, (Louvre). [2]

The myth of the Labyrinth can be read on this Theoi Project webpage. The myth of Ariadne on this Theoi Project webpage

Manilius' astrological influences for this constellation (see under astrological influences below) gives the cultivation of gardens, growing flowers, and arranging flowers into garlands (flores sertisque locabit, from Latin serta, garland). [Some see Greek anthos, flower, in the suffix -inth of labyrinth, labrys is Minoan for 'double-axe'. Labyrinth is a term for the inner ear]

Latin serta, 'wreathes of flowers, garlands', which Klein says "is properly plural neuter past participle of serere, 'to join together'." The pattern of the myth of 'deserted Ariadne' embraces a number of words from the

Indo-European root *ser-3. Latin serta, means a garland, from serere, to join. Crowns have a series of points, spikes (or they may be a turret shape). The tribute for the Minotaur was to be chosen by lot (sortilege, from

sors, genitive sortis). These words come from the Indo-European root *ser-3 'To line up, lining up lots before drawing them'. Derivatives: series (cognate with Old Indian sarat-, 'thread'), assert, desert, (abandon), dissertate, exert, exsert, insert, (these words from Latin serere, to arrange, attach, join - in speech, discuss), sermon, serried (in rows, from Latin sera, a lock, bolt, bar < 'that which aligns'), assortment, sorcerer, sorcery, sort (means in this sense 'destiny' or 'fortune'. Pronouncements from oracles were known as sortes in Latin, and sortes means 'lots' as in 'casting lots' or 'drawing lots'), assort, consort, ensorcel (to enchant;

bewitch), sortilege (the act or practice of foretelling the future by drawing lots). [Pokorny 4. ser- 911. Watkins] Klein and AHD adds desert1 (a barren desolate area).

"Our word disserit is used in a figurative meaning as well as in relation to the fields: for as the kitchen-gardener disserit ‘distributes’ the things of each kind upon his garden plots, so he who does the like in speaking is disertus ‘skilful.' Sermo ‘conversation,' I think, is from series 'succession,' whence serta ‘garlands’; and moreover in the case of a garment sartum ‘patched,' because it is held together: for sermo ‘conversation’ cannot be where one man is alone, but where his speech is joined with another's. So we are said conserere manum ‘to join hand-to-hand fight’ with an enemy; so to call for manum consertum ‘a laying on of hands' according to law; from this, adserere manu in libertatem’ to claim that so-and-so is free,' when we lay hold of him. So the augurs say: If you authorize me to take in my hand the sacred bough, then name my colleagues (consortes). From this, moreover, sors ’lot,' from which the consortes ‘colleagues’ themselves are named; from this, further, sortes ‘lots,' because in them time-ideas are joined with men and things; from these, the sortilegi ‘lot-pickers, fortune-tellers’; from this, the money which is at interest is the sors ‘principal,' because it joins one expense to another" [Varro: On The Latin Language, p.64, 66].

Ariadne, having married Dionysus, would be his consort. A consort crown is a crown worn by the Queen Consort of a kingdom for her coronation or on state occasions. Unlike with reigning monarchs, who may inherit one or more crowns for use, consorts sometimes had special crowns made uniquely for them and which were worn by no other later consort [3].

Flora says: Bacchus [Dionysus] loves flowers. Bacchus’ pleasure in the wreath can be known from Ariadne’s star. Light theatre suits her. Do not, believe me, do not rank her with the tragic-booted goddesses [referring to the buskin boots worn by actors of Greek and Roman tragedies]. Indeed the reason why a crowd of whores packs these shows is not difficult to find. She is neither one of the glum set nor a snob; she wants her rites open to the plebs, and warns us to use life’s beauty as it blooms. [Ovid, Fasti 5.183 4]

The Welsh knew the constellation, Corona Borealis, as Caer Arianrhod, 'castle of Arianhrod', the prefix Arian- bearing a noted similarity to the name Ariadne. Caer 'castle' or ceaster, 'castellated' means turreted like a castle. Some crowns are described as turreted, Cybele wore a mural or turreted crown.

Romans poets associated the Minoan-Greek, Ariadne, with their goddess Libera [5]. Liber [Dionysos, or Bacchus] says to Ariadne:

"Let us seek heaven’s heights together. You have shared my bed and you will share my name. You will be named Libera, when transformed. I will create a monument of you and your crown, which Volcanus [Hephaistos] gave Venus [Aphrodite] and she gave you.’ He does what he said, and turns its nine gems to fires, and the golden crown glitters with nine stars." - Ovid, Fasti 3.459 [6]

The Statue of Liberty might relate to this constellation? Libera with a crown. The Statue of Liberty symbolically represents Libertas (liberty), Ancient Rome's goddess of freedom from slavery, oppression and tyranny. Ariadne was marooned on an island. To be marooned is to be put ashore on a deserted island or coast and intentionally abandoned. A Maroon was the word for a fugitive slave in the West Indies in the 17th and 18th centuries. Liberia, a country in West Africa, was founded and settled mainly by freed slaves.

The crown has associations with both liberty and also slavery "in ancient times slaves taken by right of conquest were sold wearing garlands, and hence were said to be sold 'under a crown.' For as the crown was a sign that those who were being sold were captives" [Aulus Gellius, (ca. 125 AD—after 180 AD), Noctes Atticae, Book 6]. The word slave is related to the name of the adjacent constellation Hercules, who was a slave to Omphale for a period of time.

The crown given to Ariadne belonged to Venus: Allen (Star Names) says that when deserted by Theseus she became the wife of Liber Bacchus, and so took his name Libera; while the crown that Theseus — or, as some said, the goddess Venus — had given her was transferred to the sky:

"Victory herself is named from the fact that the overpowered vinciuntur ‘are bound.' Poetry bears testimony to both, because both Victory and Venus are called heaven-born; for Tellus ‘Earth,' because she was the first one bound to the Sky, is from that called Victory. Therefore she is connected with the corona ‘garland’ and the palma ‘palm' [the customary symbols of victory] because the garland is a binder of the head and is itself, from vinctura’ binding,' said vieri’ to be plaited,' that is, vinciri ‘to be bound’; whence there is the line in Ennius's Sota: The lustful pair were going, to plait the Love-god's garland". [Varro: On The Latin Language, p.59 ]


"Corona the Crown's lustrous ring, which twinkles with varying luminosity; for the circle is dominated by a single star [Alphecca], which with passing splendor sparkles in the mid forehead and enhances with its blazing flame the bright lights of the constellation. They shine as the memorial of deserted Ariadne" [Manilius, Astronomica, 1st century AD, book 5, p.29].

"Next to rise is Erigone [Virgo]. When you behold her ascending with five degrees wrested from the sea, there will emerge from the waves the bright memorial of what was once [in her lifetime] Ariadne's crown; and gentle will be the skills herefrom bestowed. For here shines a maiden's gifts. The child of the Crown will cultivate a garden budding with bright flowers and slopes. Grey with olive (trees) or green with grass. He will plant pale violets, purple hyacinths, lilies, poppies which vie with bright Tyrian dyes, and the rose which blooms with the redness of blood, and will stipple meadows with designs of natural color. Or he will entwine different flowers and arrange them in garlands; he will wreathe the constellation under which he was born, and like Ariadne's crown will be the crowns he fashions; and stems he will squeeze together, and distil mixtures (make perfume) therefrom, and will flavor Arabian with Syrian scents and produce unguents which give off a mingled fragrance, that the charm of the perfume be enhanced by the blending. His heart is set upon elegance, fashion, and the art of adornment, upon gracious living and the pleasure of the hour. Such is the endowment prescribed by the years of the Maid and the flowers of the Crown" [Manilius, Astronomica, 1st century AD, book 5, p.321.]


Fixed stars in Corona Borealis


Nusakan beta 07SCO43 09SCO07 231 26 30 +29 16 37 +46 03 30 3.72 A8

theta 08SCO04 09SCO27 232 43 40 +31 31 36 +48 33 24 4.17 B5

Alphecca alpha 10SCO53 12SCO18 233 08 33 +26 52 54 +44 19 43 2.31 A0

gamma 13SCO29 14SCO52 235 09 38 +26 27 10 +44 30 42 3.93 A0

delta 15SCO39 17SCO02 236 52 26 +26 13 12 +44 46 14 4.73 G4

iota 17SCO38 19SCO01 239 51 34 +29 59 23 +49 09 53 4.91 A1

epsilon 17SCO44 19SCO07 238 52 44 +27 01 17 +46 04 30 4.22 K2



Looke! how the crowne which Ariadne wore

Upon her yvory forehead, . . .

Being now placed in the firmament,

Through the bright heavens doth her beams display,

And is unto the starres an ornament,

Which round about her move in order excellent.

— Spenser's Faerie Queen.

Corona Borealis, the Northern Crown {Page 174} is the French Couronne Boreale, the German Nordliche Krone, and the Italian ancestral Corona. It was the only stellar crown known to Eratosthenes and the early Greeks, but they called it Stephanos, a Wreath; and their successors, who had begun to locate the Southern Crown (Corona Australis), added to this title of the original the distinguishing protos; and beta Borelos to show its priority and its northern position. The Latins adopted the Greek name and adjectives in Corona borea, borealis, and septentrionalis; and further knew it as the Crown of Vulcan fashioned ex auro et indicis gemmis; or of Amphitrite, probably from its proximity in the sky to the Dolphin (Delphinus) associated with that goddess. But generally it was Ariadnaea Corona, Corona Ariadnae, Corona Ariadnes, Cressa Corona, Corona Gnosida, Corona Cretica and Gnossis, varied by Minoia Corona and Minoia Virgo found with Valerius Flaccus and Germanicus, and Ariadnaea Sidus with Ovid; these classical designations referring to Ariadne, or to her father Minos, king of Crete, and to her birthplace in that island, at Gnosos, where Theseus married her. When deserted by him she became the wife of Liber Bacchus, and so took his name Libera; while the crown that Theseus — or, as some said, the goddess Venus — had given her was transferred to the sky, where it became our Corona; and, as early as the 3rd century B.C., Apollonius Rhodius wrote in his Argonauticae:

Still her sign is seen in heaven,

And midst the glittering symbols of the sky

The starry crown of Ariadne glides.

Keats changed this in his Lamia to Ariadne’s tiar; and others made it the Coiled Hair of Ariadne as companion to the Streaming Tresses of Berenice (Coma Berenices). Some authors, however, — Ovid among them in his Fasti — said that Ariadne herself became the constellation; and Mrs. Browning, in her Paraphrases from Nonnus of How Bacchus comforts Ariadne:

{Page 175} Or wilt thou choose

A still surpassing glory? — take it all —

A heavenly house, Kronion's self for kin.

This legend of Ariadne and her Crown seems to have been first recorded by Pherecydes early in the 5th century before Christ.

Dante, referring to Ariadne's descent, called these stars la Figliuola di Minoi, the poet giving much prominence to her father (King Minos) who "was so renowned for justice as to be called the Favorite of the Gods, and after death made Supreme Judge in the Infernal Regions."

In all ages Corona has been a favorite, popularly as well as in literature, and few of our stellar groups have had as many titles, although the English of the Middle Ages usually wrote its wearer's name "Adrian" and "Adriane."

Chaucer had this strange passage on the constellation:

And in the sygne of Taurus men may see

The stonys of hire coroune shyne clere;

but this seems unintelligible, unless from some confusion in the poet's mind with the location of Koronis of the Hyades. These, however, lie in the heavens just opposite the Crown, and Skeat ingeniously suggests that Chaucer may have meant that when the Sun was in Taurus the Crown was specially noticeable in the midnight sky, as is exactly the case.

"England's Arch Poet," Edmund Spenser, wrote in the Shepheard's Kalendar of 1579:

And now the Sunne hath reared up his fierie footed teme,

Making his way between the Cuppe (Crater) and golden Diademe;

one of the early titles of Corona being Diadema Coeli.

The Wreath of Flowers, occasionally seen for it, is merely the early signification of the words Stephanos and Corona.

Oculus was another name of the constellation — a term common in poetry and post-Augustan prose for any celestial luminary; and Prudens3 [Aurelius Clemens Prudentius, the Latin Christian poet of our 4th century] called it Maera, the Shining One.

As the ardens corona of the Georgics, Vergil included it with the Pleiades as a calendar sign. May translating the passage:

{Page 176} But if thou plow to sowe more solid graine,

A wheat or barley harvest to obtaine:

First let the morning Pleiades be set,

And Ariadne's shining Coronet,

Ere thou commit thy seed to ground, and there

Dare trust the hope of all the following yeare.

Columella, in a similar connection, called it Gnosia Ardor Bacchi, and Naxius Ardor, from Naxos, where Ariadne had been deserted by Theseus; and specially designated its lucida as clara Stella.

Its stars were favored also by the astrologers, Manilius expressing this in:

Births influenced then shall raise fine Beds of Flowers,

And twine their creeping Jasmine round their Bowers;

The Lillies, Violets in Banks dispose,

The Purple Poppy, and the blushing Rose:

For Pleasure shades their rising Mounts shall yield,

And real Figures paint the gawdy Field;

Or they shall wreath their Flowers, their Sweets entwine,

To grace their Mistress, or to Crown their Wine.

Bayer said of it Azophi Parma, by which he meant that Al Sufi called it a Shield; but the majority of Arabian astronomers rendered the classical title by Al Iklil al Shamaliyyah, which degenerated into Acliluschemali and Aclushemali, and appeared with Ulug Beg as plain Iklil.

But in early Arabia there was a different figure here, Al Fakkah, the Dish, which Ulug Beg's translator gave as Phecca, and others as Alphaca, Alfecca, Alfacca, Foca, Alfeta, and Alfelta; while Riccioli said Alphena Syrochaldaeis; and Schickard, Alphakhaco.

Hyde quoted Kasat al Salik, and Kasat al Masakin, the Pauper's Bowl; and the Persians had the same in their Kasah Darwishan, the Dervish's Platter, or Kasah Shekesteh, the Broken Platter, because the circle is incomplete. Bullialdus latinized some of these titles in his Discus parvus confractus, evidently taken from Chrysococca's Pinakin keklasmenon, a Small Broken Dish, which, however, should read Pinakion (A "pinax" or "pinakion", meaning "tablet," because of its flat shape.).

The Alfonsine Tables have Malfelcarre, "of the Chaldaeans," Riccioli's Malphelcane, considered by Ideler a degenerate form of the Arabic Al Munir al Fakkah, the Bright One of the Dish; though Buttmann derived it from Al Malf al Khatar, the Loop of the Wreath, or the Junction of the Crown; and Scaliger suggested Al Malif al Kurra, of somewhat similar meaning, more correctly written Al Milaff al Kurrah. Bayer said Malphelcarre quod est sertum pupillae, the Circle of the Pupil of the Eye; and, although he did not explain this, may have written better than he knew, {Page 177} for Pupilla is the Latin equivalent of Kore, which, as a proper name, was a title for Persephone. In La Lande's Astronomic Dupuis (circe 1862) devoted much space to his identification of this goddess, the Latin Proserpina, with the Chaldaean Phersephon, taking the title from Phe'er, Crown, and Serphon, Northern. Thus, if Dupuis be correct, the origin of the figure, as well as of the name, may lie far back of Cretan days. The Hebrews are said to have called it ‘Ataroth, the Crown, — perhaps of the Semitic queen Cushiopeia; and the Syrians, Ashtaroth, their Astarte, the Aphrodite of the Greeks and the Venus of the Latins; but all this seems doubtful, as also is Ewald's conjecture that it was the biblical Mazzaroth.

Blake quotes from Flammarion, Vichaca, but without explanation.

Reeves catalogued it as the Chinese Kwan Soo, a Cord. In Celtic story Corona was Caer Arianrod, the House of Arianrod or Ethlenn, the sister of Gwydyon and daughter of Don, the Fairy King, this name bearing a singular resemblance to that of the classical owner of the Crown.

The Shawnee Indians knew it as the Celestial Sisters, the fairest of them being the wife of the hunter White Hawk, our Arcturus.

Caesius said that it represented the Crown that Ahasuerus placed upon Esther’s head, or the golden one of the Ammonite King of a talent's weight, or the Crown of Thorns worn by the Christ.

Tlie Leyden Manuscript shows it as a laurel wreath, and thus, or as a typical crown, it appears on the maps. In the Firmamentum Firmianum, a work of 1731, in honor of the persecuting bishop of Salzburg, of the Firmian family, the figuring is that of the Corona Firmiana, with a stag's antlers from the coat of arms of that family. But an exception to the rule may be noted in an illustration, in the original Alfonsine Tables, of a plain three-quarter circle, entirely unlike either crown or wreath. Proctor suggested that in the earliest astronomy it may have formed the right arm of Bootes.

It is interesting to the astronomer from its many close binaries, and is a favorite object with youthful observers, who generally know it as Ariadne’s Crown. It certainly is much more like that for which it is named than usually is the case with our sky figures; and it is equally suggestive to the Australian native of the Woomera, our Boomerang, his idea of Corona's stars.

Here appeared very suddenly, 58' south of epsilon, on the 12th of May, 1866, the celebrated Blaze Star as a 2d-magnitude visible to the naked eye for only eight days, declining, with some fluctuations, to the 10th magnitude at the rate of half a magnitude a day, but rising again to the 8th, where it {Page 178} still remains as T Coronae, a pale yellow, slightly variable star. Although called a nova, Argelander had already mapped it on the 18th of May, 1855, and again noted it on the 31st of March, 1856, probably at its normal magnitude. It was the first temporary star to be "studied by the universal chemical method" — the spectroscope.

Near its place the Variabilis Coronae, now lettered R, was discovered by Pigott in 1795, still varying from 5.8 to 13, but with much irregularity.

Professor Young repeats the bagdel of Cassiopeia as a help to the memory in locating the stars of this constellation. The extreme northern one is theta, but then follow in order beta, alpha, gamma, delta, epsilon, iota. They form an almost perfect semicircle 20° northeast of Arcturus.

Argelander gives a total of 27 stars visible to the naked eye; and Heis, 31.

One plac'd i' th' front above the rest displays

A vigorous light, and darts surprising rays —

The Monument of the forsaken Maid.


Corona Australisthe Southern Crown



Clues to the meaning of this celestial featureThe stars of this constellation, Corona Australis, represent the wreath "thrown off as by one at play" at the feet of Crotos who is identified with the constellation Sagittarius:

"The constellation, Sagittarius is identified with Crotus, he had his home on Mount Helicon and took his pleasure in the company of the Musae (Muses), sometimes even following the pursuit of hunting... Before his feet are a few stars arranged in a circle, which some said were a wreath, thrown off as by one at play." - Hyginus, Astronomica 2.27 http://www.theoi.com/Georgikos/SatyrosKrotos.html

The Arabs had the title Al Kubbah, the Tortoise, for Corona Australis. The Chinese knew it as Pee, the Tortoise. Tortoise from Latin tartaruca, is related to the word Tartarus. Corona Australis also had the titles Trokhos Ixionos, and Rota Ixionis, the Wheel of Ixion. Ixion was chained eternally to a revolving, fiery wheel in Tartarus. A picture of Ixion on his wheel can be seen on this Greek mythology link. Ixion is compared with the wryneck bird, genus Jynx, iunx in Greek:

"There are two clues to the special nature of Ixion's wheel. Pindar says that it is 'winged' and that it has four spokes. A four-spoked wheel with wings upon it would have called to mind a word Pindar does not actually use in Pythian 2, the word 'iunx'. The wings referred to are those of a bird, the 'iunx' or wryneck, whose habits in mating apparently intrigued the ancient Greeks enough to result in their use of it for magical rites designed to procure sexual satisfaction from a reluctant partner. The bird was pinned to a four-spoked wheel and the wheel was spun with appropriate incantations uttered over it, to draw the desired partner into the spell..." [Paul A. Iversen, The Ohio State University Dept. of Greek and Latin Center for Epigraphical Studies]

The wrynecks (genus Jynx) are a small but distinctive group of small Old World woodpeckers. These birds get their English name from their ability to turn their heads almost 180 degrees. When disturbed at the nest, they use this snake-like head twisting and hissing as a threat display. This odd behavior led to their use in witchcraft, hence to put a 'jinx' on someone [1].

"Iynx used her enchantments to charm Zeus, or make him, by magic means, fall in love with Io; in consequence of which Hera metamorphosed her into the bird called lynx (iynx torquilla)" [2].

According to another story, Iynx was a daughter of Pierus, and as she and her sisters had presumed to enter into a musical contest with the Muses, she was changed into the bird Iynx. [3]

"Before his [Sagittarius, Crotus] feet are a few stars arranged in a circle, which some said were a wreath, thrown off as by one at play" [Hyginus, Astronomica 2.27], "or one in commemoration of the fivefold victory of Corinna over Pindar in their poetical contest" [below, Allen, Star Names].

Corona Australis was believed to be placed in the sky to commemorate the fivefold victory of Corinna over Pindar in their poetical contest. And in response to these defeats, Pindar called her a sow. Or it is the bunch of flowers that Crotus "threw off as if in play", translated wreath. A posy is a bunch of flowers, and also a short poetic verse or sentimental inscription. Posy is related to poetry, poet, poem, from Greek poiein, to make, create. Corinna (or Korinna) was an Ancient Greek poet, traditionally attributed to the 6th century BC.

Corona Australis is also said to represent the Crown that Bacchus placed in the sky in honor of his mother Semele. Roman Bacchus who is Greek Dionysus also placed the other crown Corona Borealis, in the northern sky in honor of Ariadne. Eventually Dionysus retrieved his mother, Semele, from the underworld, named her Thyone, and placed her crown in the sky.


Fixed stars in Corona Australis


theta 05CAP10 06CAP33 277 28 59 -42 21 02 -19 03 23 4.69 G5

kappa 05CAP23 06CAP46 277 29 03 -38 45 51 -15 28 32 5.95 B8

lambda 07CAP30 08CAP53 280 05 18 -38 22 25 -15 12 50 5.13 A0

eta 08CAP11 09CAP34 281 29 48 -43 29 29 -20 23 57 5.59 A2

epsilon 10CAP39 12CAP02 283 50 17 -37 10 28 -14 16 19 4.87 F0

zeta 10CAP58 12CAP21 284 53 38 -42 10 06 -19 19 23 4.85 A0

delta 12CAP12 13CAP35 286 13 03 -40 34 34 -17 51 10 4.66 K1

gamma 12CAP14 13CAP37 285 45 36 -37 08 14 -14 23 44 4.26 F7

beta 12CAP41 14CAP04 286 38 53 -39 25 20 -16 44 45 4.16 G5

alpha 12CAP45 14CAP08 286 31 06 -37 59 04 -15 18 22 4.12 A2

Fixed stars in Corona Australis


theta 05CAP10 06CAP33 277 28 59 -42 21 02 -19 03 23 4.69 G5

kappa 05CAP23 06CAP46 277 29 03 -38 45 51 -15 28 32 5.95 B8

lambda 07CAP30 08CAP53 280 05 18 -38 22 25 -15 12 50 5.13 A0

eta 08CAP11 09CAP34 281 29 48 -43 29 29 -20 23 57 5.59 A2

epsilon 10CAP39 12CAP02 283 50 17 -37 10 28 -14 16 19 4.87 F0

zeta 10CAP58 12CAP21 284 53 38 -42 10 06 -19 19 23 4.85 A0

delta 12CAP12 13CAP35 286 13 03 -40 34 34 -17 51 10 4.66 K1

gamma 12CAP14 13CAP37 285 45 36 -37 08 14 -14 23 44 4.26 F7

beta 12CAP41 14CAP04 286 38 53 -39 25 20 -16 44 45 4.16 G5

alpha 12CAP45 14CAP08 286 31 06 -37 59 04 -15 18 22 4.12 A2



Corona Australis, the Southern Crown often qualified by other synonymous adjectives, austrina, meridiana, meridionalis, or notia, is an inconspicuous constellation, although accepted in Ptolemy's time as one of the ancient forty-eight. On modern maps its location is close to the waist of Sagittarius, on the edge of the Milky Way.

. . . other few,

Below the Archer under his forefeet,

Led round in circle roll without a name.

-- Brown's Aratos.

The Germans know it as the Sudliche Krone; the French, as the Couronne Australe; and the Italians, as the Corona Australe.

Aratos did not mention it by name unless in his use of the plural Stephanoi for both of the Crowns; yet doubtless had it in mind when he wrote of the Dinotoi Kuklo in our motto. His scholiast and Geminos had Ouraniskos, the Canopy; Deuteros, the Second; and Deutera Kukla, the Second Circle. Hipparchos is said to have known it as Kerukeion, the Caduceus, or Herald's Wand of Peace, but this is not found in his Commentary. Ptolemy called it Stephanos notios, the Southern Wreath.

Germanicus rendered the supposed reference in the Phainomena as Corona sine honore — i.e. without any such noteworthy tradition as is connected with the Northern Crown [Corona Borealis]; commenting upon which, Grotius said that this author, as well as Cicero and Avienus, understood Aratos to refer to the southern figure; and added that this was the Centaur's Crown, those personages frequently being represented as wearing such. This idea doubtless originated from the outspreading sun-rays, in crown-like form, around the heads of the Gandharvas, the Aryan celestial horses that probably were the forerunners of the Centaurs. It was thus appropriately associated with the centaur Sagittarius and took the title Corona Sagittarii.

{Page 173} Manilius did not allude to it; but others of the classical poets thought it the Crown that Bacchus placed in the sky in honor of his mother Semele; or one in commemoration of the fivefold victory of Corinna over Pindar in their poetical contest; and some considered it the early Bunch of Arrows radiating from the hand of the Archer, often imagined as a wheel. This idea was expressed in its titles Trokhos Ixionos, and Rota Ixionis, the Wheel of Ixion, perhaps from the latter's relationship to the centaur Pholos.

Albumasar called it Coelum, while Coelulum and parvum Coelum, the Little Sky, i.e. Canopy, are from the Satyricon the encyclopaedic writings of the Carthaginian Martianus Mineus Felix Capella of the 5th century, in the 8th book of which he treats of astronomy.

La Lande cited Sertum australe, the Southern Garland, and Orbiculus Capitis; Proctor, Brown, and Gore of the present day have Corolla, the Little Crown, but this was used 250 years ago by Caesius, who also gave Spira australis, the Southern Coil, and said that its stars represented the Crown of Eternal Life promised in the New Testament. Julius Schiller, however, went back a millennium before our era to the Diadem of Solomon.

Al Sufi is our authority for the Arabs' Al Kubbah, literally the Tortoise, but secondarily the Woman's Tent, or traveling apartment, from its form; and it was Al Hiba', the Tent, and Kazwini's Al Udha al Na'am, the Ostrich's Nest, for the same reason; the birds themselves being close by in what now are the Archer and the Eagle. Al Fakkah, the Dish, was borrowed from the Northern Crown, but among the later Arabians it was Al Iklil al Janubiyyah, their equivalent for our title; Chilmead giving this as Alachil Algenubi; Riccioli, Elkleil Elgenubi; and Caesius, Aladil Algenubi.

The Chinese knew it by the figure current in early Arabia — Pee, the Tortoise.

Bayer illustrated Corona as a typical wreath, but without the streaming ribbons of its northern namesake, and the original Alfonsine Tables show a plain heart-shaped object with no semblance to the name. Gould assigns to it forty-nine stars, many more than even Heis does to its much more celebrated and noticeable counterpart in the north. Its lucida, the 4th-magnitude alpha, at the eastern edge of the constellation, is Alfecca meridiana in the Latin translation of Reduan's Commentary. It culminates on the 13th of August.

Scutum SobiescianumSobieski's Shield




Jan Sobieski leading the Hussars at the Battle of Vienna [1]

Scutum is the only constellation that owes its name to a non-classical historical figure. It was created by Johannes Hevelius in 1684. Later, the name was shortened to Scutum [3].

The constellation, Scutum Sobiescianum, Sobieski's Shield, commemorates Sobieski, a king of Poland, who was a brilliant military leader celebrated throughout Europe for his role in repelling the Ottomans from the gates of Vienna in 1683. Pope Innocent XI called for Europe to unite in a Crusade against the Sultan Grand Vizier, Kara Mustafa [2], who along with his 140,000 troops had surrounded Vienna, laying siege to the city. The Turks, after overrunning Serbia, Croatia, Romania, Bulgaria and Hungary, believed that if they could 'crack' Vienna, the rest of Europe would easily fall into their hands.

"The combined army of Sobieski moved forward in column ... advanced into line and into the sunlight. Dazzling bright sunlight reflected off thousands of pieces of metal and jeweled accoutrements [the shields], and then Sobieski himself with his personal banner advanced to the front of his army... The Turks were thunderstruck!" (Polish Manuscripts, from Internet Modern History Sourcebook).


Sobieski won victory after victory with a much smaller force of 30,000 Polish-Lithuanian, and 11,000 Austrian and Prussian troops, they broke the siege of Vienna, and evicted the Ottomans. The battle marked the turning point in the 300-year struggle between the forces of the Central European kingdoms, and the Ottoman Empire. Seven years later, Hevelius commemorated these events with the inclusion of Scutum Sobiescianum in the heavens. The cross on the shield should represent this crusade, and the constellation serves as a memorial to a victory that defended Christian Europe from was believed to be an inevitable Islamic take-over.

Scutum, Sobieski's Shield, is the name of this constellation. The word 'shield' is a generic term covering all defensive weapons. The scutum is one particular type of shield and the main type of shield used by the Roman army.

The word Scutum comes from the Indo-European root *skei- 'To cut, split'. Derivatives: shin+, shinbone (< 'piece cut off'), chine (from Old French eschine, backbone, piece of meat with part of the backbone), science, conscience, consciousness, conscious, nice (from Latin nescire, 'not to know'), conscientious (from Latin scire, to know < 'to separate one thing from another,' discern), shit (the sense here is of 'separating' excrement from the body), schism, schist, schizo-, (these words from Greek skhizein, to split), scission, exscind, prescind, rescind, (these words from Latin scindere, to split), shed+ ('give off, drop' shed tears, blood, or skin), sheath (< 'split stick'), ski (snow or water skis, from Old Norse skidh), ecu, escudo (type of coins), escutcheon (a shield), esquire (from Latin scutarius, 'shield-bearer'), scutum, squire, (these words from Latin scutum, shield < 'board'), shiver*, scute (plates or scales on the shell of a turtle or the underside of a snake), scutellate (covered with shieldlike bony plates or scales), scutage (shield money). [Pokorny skei- 919. Watkins]

The Romans used their shields to create a tortoise-like formation called a testudo in which entire groups of soldiers would be enclosed in an armored box to provide protection against missiles. The Latin word testudo (Testudo was a name for adjacent Lyra) is given to the ancient Roman protective shelter formed by soldiers with shields overlapping above their heads when attacking a fort. Scutum is related to the word scute; scutes are plates or scales on the shell of a turtle or the underside of a snake.

The root of scutum is related to the word sky (according to Klein and others). There is a relationship in mythology with the sky and shields. Varro says that Ennius called the heavens the caeli clipeus, "the shield of the sky". (According to Allen in Star Names, Scutum was known as Clypeus Sobieskii, more correctly written Clipeus).

"Agamemnon says, 'In the shield of the sky, that soundeth on high, for a shield is a hollow thing...'". [Varro: On The Latin Language, p.331.]

Our word 'sky' is seen etymologically in terms of cloud, from an old Norse word for cloud sky, and Old Saxon skio, 'cloud'. The English language seems to be unique in this substitution of cloud for the heavens, perhaps the notion being that clouds shield the earth from too much solar radiation and insulate the Earth from losing valuable heat into space. A well-polished shield was seen to have the reflective properties of a mirror, as the sky is reflected in the sea. The word sky is related to Gothic skuggwa 'mirror'. These meanings suggest a daylight sky in which clouds create shadows and reflections can be seen in water. The common Latin term for sky was caelus from Caelum (another constellation) from which we get our word 'celestial'.

The word consciousness, the state or condition of being conscious, comes from the same root as Scutum, from the Latin verb scire, 'to know' or 'to be conscious of'. "Buddhists call the state of consciousness 'mirror-like awareness': The self is completely transparent to itself, can see and be itself fully, just like looking in the mirror" [5]. Perseus, who carries the Gorgon Medusa's severed head, was not able to look at the dreaded Medusa directly where to gaze upon the monster was to be turned to stone — but he was able to see her form reflected in a shield of polished bronze, thereby avoiding her gaze [6]. Perseus later gave Medusa's severed head to Athena, who placed it in the center of her shield, the Aegis; the boss or umba is the middle part of a shield. A polished shield will also reflect the opponent's image back to himself.

Scenes were depicted on shields. The Shield of Achilles in the Iliad, had a number of scenes from mythology, engraved in intricate detail, as did Hesiod's Shield of Hercules.


Fixed stars in Scutum


gamma 05CAP46 07CAP09 276 35 12 -14 35 58 +08 41 56 4.73 A3

alpha 07CAP38 09CAP01 278 07 17 -08 16 51 +14 55 50 4.06 K5

beta 11CAP00 12CAP23 281 07 48 -04 48 11 +18 11 33 4.47 G7


Scutum Sobiescianum, Sobieski's Shield, the French Ecu, or Bouchiere, de Sobieski, the Italian Scudo di Sobieski, and the German Sobieskischer Schild, was formed by Hevelius from the seven unfigured 4th-magnitude stars in the Milky Way west of the feet of Antinous, between the tail of the Serpent (Serpens) and the head of Sagittarius. The title is often seen as Scutum Sobieskii or Sobiesii, sometimes as Clypeus Sobieskii, more correctly written Clipeus; but our astronomers follow Flamsteed in his plain Scutum.

It is pictured as the Coat of Arms of the third John Sobieski, king of Poland, who so distinguished himself in the defensive wars of his native land, as well as in his successful resistance of the Turks in their march on Vienna when turned back at the Kalenberg on the 12th of September, 1683. It was just after this, when he had made his triumphal entry into the city, that at the cathedral service of thanksgiving the officiating priest read the passage:

There was a man sent from God, whose name was John.

Seven years subsequently this new constellation was named for him by Hewel, with a glowing tribute to his merit and heroic deeds; the sign of the Cross for which he fought being emblazoned on his Shield as we have it to-day. Some identify this Cross, however, with that of the fighting Franciscan friar, Saint John Capistrano, famous at Belgrade in 1456, and now honored by a colossal statue on the exterior of the Vienna cathedral. The four stars on the border of the Shield are for the four sons of the king.

Although Scutum is a recent creation with us, it has long been known in China as Tien Pien, the Heavenly Casque, but in this are included some components of Antinous.

It comes to the meridian about the 10th of August.

It has no named star, — indeed the figure itself does not appear upon some modern maps, — and is chiefly noticeable from the peculiar brightness of the surrounding Galaxy; for within its boundaries, in five square degrees of space, Sir William Herschel estimated that there are 331,000 stars; and it is very rich in nebulae. Of these the notable cluster N. G. C. 6705,11 M., discovered by Kirch in 1681 and likened by Smyth to a flight of wild ducks, lies on the dexter chief of the Shield. This is just visible to the naked eye, and Sir John Herschel called it "a glorious object."

Just below the constellation is the celebrated Horseshoe, or, Nebula, N. G. C. 6618, 17 M., one of the most interesting in the heavens, although {Page 374} in small glasses it bears more resemblance to a swan seen on the water, whence comes another title, the Swan Nebula.

Librathe Scales, the Claws



Clues to the meaning of this celestial featureAstraea was the last of the gods to stay on Earth, as mankind became wicked, she ascended to heaven to become the constellation Virgo; the Scales of Justice she carried became the nearby constellation Libra. Originally the Greeks saw the Scales of Balance as being the claws of the Scorpion.

Read what writers on mythology have said about Astraea on this Theoi Project webpage

"They named Libra from the equal balance of this month because on September 24 the sun makes the equinox while running through this sign. Whence Lucan also says (Civil War 4.58): To the scales of just Libra” [The Etymologies of Isidore of Seville, 7th century AD, p.106.]

The word Libra, from Latin libra, plural librae, Greek lithra, a weighing scale, is related to the words: level, lira, deliberate, equilibrium (from æquus, equal + libra), litra (name of a Greek weight and coin), litre (liter, a metric unit of volume)", librate (land worth a pound a year, the word used to mean; to vibrate as a balance; to be in equipoise; to waver between one thing and another). The process of librating or swinging from side to side is spoken of as libration.

"From time immemorial the scales have been the principle attribute of justice, it being impossible to even a little right with any quantity of wrong" [Brewers Book of Myth and Legend, p.253].

The scales are balanced when they are just even, level. The words just and justice come from the Indo-European root *yewes- 'Law'. Derivatives: jural (law), jurist, jury+, abjure (to renounce under oath; forswear), adjure (to command or enjoin solemnly, as under oath), conjure (to summon up energy for a specific purpose), injury, juridical, jurisconsult, jurisdiction, jurisprudence, objurgate, perjure, (these words from Latin jus, ius, stem iur-, law, and its derivative iurare, 'to pronounce a ritual formula,' swear), just+ (from Latin justus, iustus, just), justice. [Pokorny ieuos- 512. Watkins] Names: Justin, Justina, Justus.

The word balance comes from Latin bi-, 'two, twice', + Latin lanx, genitive lancis, 'plate, dish; scale of weighing machine'.

“A pound is made of twelve ounces [Troy weights?], and thus it is considered as a type of perfect weight because it consists of as many ounces as there are months in the year. It is called a 'pound' (libra) because it is independent (liber) and contains all the aforementioned weights within it.” [The Etymologies of Isidore of Seville, 7th century AD, p.333.]

The symbol for the British currency called the pound '£' (L with a horizontal line), and the pound, weight, is also known as the 'lira sign'. The pound currency unit was so named because it was originally the value of 1 pound Tower Weight of fine silver. Both symbols derive from librum, the basic Roman unit of weight, in turn derived from the Latin word pendere, for scales or balance.

“A weight (pondus) is so called because it hangs (pendere) balanced in the scales, hence also the term pensum ('something weighed'). The term pondus is loosely used for one pound (libra). Hence also the dipondius (i.e. dupondius) is named, as if it were duo pondera ('two pounds'); this term has been retained in usage up to today.” [p.332.] “Steward (dispensator) is the name for a person entrusted with the administration of money, and such a one is a dispensator because in former times the person who dispensed money would not count it but 'weigh it out' (appendere).” [p.217.] “A 'measure of wool' (pensum) for women is named from weighing (pendere, past participle pensus), whence also the words 'rations' (pensa) and 'expense' (impensa) [p.389.]” [The Etymologies of Isidore of Seville, 7th century AD]

"From the same pendere ‘to weigh or pay, comes dispensator ‘distributing cashier,' and in our accounts we write expensum ‘expense’ and therefrom the first pensio ‘payment’ and likewise the second and any others, and dispendium ‘loss by distribution,' for this reason, that money is wont to become less in the dispendendo ‘distributing of the payments’; compendium ‘saving,' which is made when it compenditur ‘is weighed all together’" [Varro: On The Latin Language, 1st century AD, p.171.]

Latin pendere comes from the Indo-European root *(s)pen- 'To draw, stretch, spin'. Derivatives: spend, spider (related to the verb pendere, to hang, let hang; scales 'hang in the balance', Arachne, the spinster spider hanged herself), spin, spindle (a slender, tapered rod for twisting and holding thread in spinning), spinster, painter* (a rope attached to the bow of a boat, used for tying up, as when docking or towing), pansy (French pensée 'thought.' The flower resembles a little face crinkled up in thought, from Latin pensare to weigh and ponder about), penchant, pend, pending, pendant+, pendentive, pendulous, pendulum, pensile (hanging loosely; suspended), pension+, pensive, peso, poise+ (to carry or hold in equilibrium; balance), antependium (a decorative hanging for the front of an altar, lectern, or pulpit), append, appendectomy, appendix (a human appendix hangs at the end of the large intestine), avoirdupois (weight or heaviness, especially of a person), compendium (a short, complete summary; an abstract), compensation, counterpoise, depend, independence, independent, dispense, expend, expensive, impend, penthouse, perpend (to consider carefully; ponder), perpendicular, prepense (contemplated or arranged in advance; premeditated: malice prepense), propend (to have a propensity; incline or tend), recompense, stipend, suspend, vilipend (treat with contempt; despise), -penia (lack; deficiency as in leukopenia), geoponic (agriculture or farming), lithopone (a white pigment), span* (to bind or fetter), spancel (a rope used to hobble an animal, as a sheep), spanner, span+ (the extent or measure of space, the span of life determined by the fates, lifespan), spangle (sparkling object), pound+, ponder, ponderous; equiponderate, preponderate, spontaneous. [Pokorny (s)pen-(d-) 988. Watkins] In the names: Spencer, Aspen, Pentagon, Pennsylvania.

Johann Bode, Uranographia, 1801.

The head of an obsolete modern constellation, Turdus Solitarius, encroaches onto one of the scales of Libra, the one with the alpha star, Zuben Algenubi. Turdus Solitarius, the solitary thrush was a constellation that was never widely recognized and was replaced by other birds, including Noctua, the owl, and the Hermit Bird. The constellation was located on the end of the tail of Hydra, the water-snake, just below Libra, the scales. Its stars have been incorporated back into Hydra. Manilius says the scales represent 'balancing night with the length of day'. This particular scale, alpha, might represent the night scale; Noctua means night owl. The words ostrich and thrush comes from the same root, ostrich (avis + Late Latin struthio, Greek strousthos), turdus and thrush (from Greek strousthos). It is said that the Egyptian goddess Maat used an ostrich feather to measure the weight of the heart, or soul, in which a person’s heart or soul lies in one pan and the ostrich feather of the goddess Maat in the other [3].

In earlier times, Libra was represented not by a balance, but as the claws of a scorpion, Scorpio. At first Scorpio held the scales in his claw, or his claws were the scales. The Zuben- prefix in the names of the stars of Libra is from the Arabic word for 'claw'. The Romans created the constellation, Chelae, 'claws', was a common Roman title for Libra, but as Ian Ridpath (Star Tales) explains the idea of a balance in this area did not originate with the Romans. The Sumerians knew this area as ZIB-BA AN-NA, the balance of heaven, 2000 years BC, and where no doubt the Arabs got the name Zuben. Hence it seems that the Romans revived a constellation that existed before Greek times.

Allen [Star Names] says that the sacred books of India mentions this constellation as Tula, the Tamil Tulam or Tolam, a Balance. Greek has the plural word talanton, 'pair of scales', 'balance', related to Sanskrit tula, 'balance', tulayati, 'lifts up, weighs', from the Indo-European root *tele- 'To lift, support, weigh; with derivatives referring to measured weights and thence to money and payment'. Derivatives: telamon (a figure of a man used as a supporting pillar from Greek talanton, 'pair of scales, balance, a weight'.), toll+ (a fixed charge or tax for a privilege, especially for passage across a bridge or along a road), philately (stamp collecting), tolerate (from Latin tolerare, to bear, endure), talion (a punishment identical to the offense, as the death penalty for murder), retaliate (from Latin talio, reciprocal punishment in kind, possibly 'something paid out'), talent (from Greek talanton, any of several specific weights of gold or silver, hence the sum of money represented by such a weight), ablation (from ab, away + latus, carried), collate (to examine and compare carefully in order to note points of disagreement), dilatory (dis + latus, intended to delay), elate, elated (used as the past participle stem of effere ‘to carry up’, from ferre ‘to carry’. Exultantly proud and joyful), elative, illation (the act of inferring or drawing conclusions), illative (drawing conclusions), legislator (lex, law, + lator, bearer, from latus), oblate+, prelate, prolate, relate, sublate, superlative, translate, (these words from Latin latus, 'carried, borne,' used as the suppletive past participle of ferre, to bear), dilate (Latin dilatare, literally ‘to spread widely apart’, from latus ‘wide’), lateral, latitude (Latin latitudo, ‘breadth, width’, from latus ‘broad’), tola (a unit of weight used in India, from Sanskrit tul, tula, scales, balance, weight), extol (to praise highly; exalt). [Pokorny 1. tel- 1060. Watkins] Atalanta means 'equal in weight', derived from Greek atalantos. Atalanta was a fierce huntress, she said she would marry anybody who could beat her in a foot race - a competition.

[I speculate that Latin tela, 'a web', from the stem of texere, 'to weave', might fit here. The word bears a phonetic similarity to *tele- word above, and could explain the cognates of pendere ‘to weigh'; i.e. 'spider' and 'spin'? Derivatives of tela 'web': text, textile, tissue, context, texture, subtle (sub 'beneath' + tela 'web'), technical; from *teks- 'To weave'.]

The lex talionis (law of retaliation) is a theory of retributive justice which says that proper punishment should be equal to the wrong suffered [6]. The most common expression of lex talionis is 'an eye for an eye'.

In the Bible Daniel 5:27 Tekel can mean weighed or shekel.

"Tekel: You have been weighed on the balances and found wanting."

“Spiders (aranea) are vermin of the air (aer), named from the air that is their nourishment. They spin out a long thread from their little body and, constantly attentive to their webs, never leave off working on them, maintaining a perpetual suspension in their own piece of craftsmanship.” [The Etymologies of Isidore of Seville, 7th century AD, p.258.]


"Balancing night with the length of day when after a year's space we enjoy the new vintage of the ripened grape, the Scales will bestow the employment of weights and measures and a son to emulate the talents of Palamedes, who first assigned numbers to things, and to these numbers names, fixed magnitudes, and individual symbols. He will also be acquainted with the tables of law, abstruse legal points, and words

denoted by compendious signs; he will know what is permissible and the penalties incurred by doing what is forbidden; in his own house he is a people's magistrate holding lifelong office. Under no other sign would Servius [translator's note: Servius Sulpicius Rufus, ca. 106-43 BC, extolled as the greatest of jurists by Cicero] more fittingly have been born, who in interpreting the law framed legislation of his own. Indeed, whatever stands in dispute and needs a ruling the pointer of the Balance will determine" [Manilius, Astronomica, 1st century AD, book 4, p.239].

Some scholars have connected the name of Palamedes with palame, "palm of the hand" [7]. Libra is stamped on the coins of Palmyra. The palms of the hands are used like scale-pans of balance to judge weights.


Fixed stars in Libra


Zuben Elgenubi alpha 13SCO41 15SCO05 222 01 38 -15 50 07 +00 20 22 2.90 A3

Zuben Elakribi delta 13SCO53 15SCO17 224 34 27 -08 19 18 +08 15 07 4.90 var A1

Zuben Hakrabi nu 17SCO22 18SCO46 225 57 29 -16 03 51 +01 12 07 5.28 K5

Zubenelschemali beta 17SCO59 19SCO22 228 34 41 -09 11 59 +08 30 06 2.74 B8

sigma 19SCO18 20SCO41 225 17 04 -25 05 13 -07 38 18 3.41 M4

iota 19SCO37 21SCO00 227 20 30 -19 36 14 -01 50 37 4.66 B9

Zuben Elakrab gamma 23SCO44 25SCO08 233 10 53 -14 37 28 +04 23 28 4.02 G6

upsilon 27SCO31 28SCO54 233 49 58 -27 58 16 -08 25 51 3.78 K5

tau 27SCO58 29SCO21 233 53 40 -29 36 54 -10 00 53 3.80 B3



the scale of night

Silently with the stars ascended.

— Longfellow's Occultation of Orion.

Libra, the Balance or Scales, is the Italian Libra and Bilancia, the French Balance, the German Wage, — Bayer's Wag and Bode's Waage, — but the Anglo-Saxons said Wæge and Pund, and the Anglo-Normans, Peise, all meaning the Scales, or a Weight.

The early Greeks did not associate its stars with a Balance, so that many have thought it substituted in comparatively recent times for the Chelae, the Claws of the Scorpion (Scorpio), that previously had been known as a distinct portion of the double sign; Hyginus characterizing it as dimidia pars Scorpionis, and Ptolemy counting eight components in the two divisions of his Khelai (claws), — Boreios and notios with nine amorphotoi. Aratos also knew it under that title, writing of it as a dim sign, — phaeon epiduees, — though a great one, — megalas khelas. Eratosthenes included the stars of the Claws with those of our Scorpio, and called the whole Skorpios, but alluded to the Khelai; as did Hipparchos, although with him the latter also were Zugon, or zugos, these words becoming common for our Libra, and turned by {Page 270} codices of the 9th century into Zichos. They were the equivalents of the Latin Jugum, the Yoke, or Beam, of the Balance, first used as a stellar title by Geminos, who, with Varro, mentioned it as the sign of the autumnal equinox. Ptolemy wrote these two Greek titles indiscriminately, and so did the Latin poets the three, — Chelae, Jugum, Libra, — although the scientific writers of Rome all adhered to Libra, and such has been its usual title from their day. The ancient name was persistent, however, for the Latin Almagest of 1551 gave a star as in jugo sive chelis, and Flamsteed used it in his description of Libra's stars.

The statement, often seen, that the constellation was invented when on the equinox, and so represented the equality of day and night, was current even with Manilius, —

Then Day and Night are weighed in Libra's Scales

Equal a while, —

repeated by James Thomson in the Autumn of his Seasons, —

Libra weighs in equal scales the year, —

by Edward Young in his Imperium Pelagi, apostrophizing his king, —

The Balance George ! from thine

Which weighs the nations, learns to weigh

More accurate the night and day, —

and by Longfellow in his Poet's Calendar for September, —

I bear the Scales, when hang in equipoise

The night and day.

This idea gave rise to the occasional title Noctipares; yet Libra is rarely figured on an even balance, but as described by Milton where

The fiend looked up, and knew

His mounted scale aloft.

The Romans claimed that it was added by them to the original eleven signs, which is doubtless correct in so far as they were concerned in its modern revival as a distinct constellation, for it first appears as Libra in classical times in the Julian calendar which Caesar as pontifex maximus {Page 271} took upon himself to form, 46 B.C., aided by Flavius, the Roman scribe, and Sosigenes, the astronomer from Alexandria. Some have associated Andrew Marvell's line,

Outshining Virgo or the Julian star,

with Libra, but this unquestionably referred to the comet of 43 B.C. that appeared soon after, and, as Augustus asserted, in consequence of, Caesar's assassination in September of that year, being utilized by the emperor and Caesar's friends to carry his soul to heaven. This comet, perhaps, was the same that has since appeared in 531, 1106, and 1680, and that may return in 2255.

Medals still in existence show Libra held by a figure that Spence thought represented Augustus as the dispenser of justice; thus recalling Vergil's beautiful allusion, in his 1st Georgic, to the constellation's place in the sky. Addressing the emperor, whose birthday coincided with the sun's entrance among the stars of the Claws, he suggested them as a proper resting-place for his soul when, after death, he should be inscribed on the roll of the gods:

Anne novum tardis sidus te mensibus addas,

Qua locus Erigonen inter Chelasque sequentes

Panditur; ipse tibi jam brachia contrahit ardens

Scorpius, et coeli justa plus parte relinquit;

so intimating that the place was then vacant, the Scorpion having contracted his claws to make room for his neighbor. But subsequently he wrote:

Libra die somnique pares ubi fecerit horas;

and a few lines further on tells of twelve constellations, — duodena astra.

Milton has a reference in Paradise Lost to Libra's origin, where

Th' Eternal, to prevent such horrid fray,

Hung forth in heaven his golden scales, yet seen

Betwixt Astraea and the Scorpion sign;

and Homer's

Th' Eternal Father hung

His golden scales aloft,

is similar; but, although doubtless the original of Milton's verse, probably is not a reference to our Libra; for the Greek poet very likely antedated the knowledge of it in his country, and is supposed to have known but few of {Page 272} our stellar figures, — at all events, has alluded to but few in either the Iliad or the Odyssey.

Bayer said that the Greeks called it Stathmos [representing the distance between two stations on the Persian royal road, or a day's march. Equal to about five Persian parasangs, or about 28 kilometers], a Weigh-beam, and Stater, a Weight; while Theon used for it the old Sicilian Litra and Litrai, which, originally signifying a Weight, became the Roman Libra. Ampelius called it Mochos, after the inventor of the instrument; and Virgo's title, Astraea, the Starry Goddess, the Greek Dike has sometimes been applied to these stars as the impersonation of Justice, whose symbol was the Scales. Addison devoted the 100th number of the Tatler — that of the 29th of November, 1709 — to "that sign in the heavens which is called by the name of the Balance," and to his dream thereof in which he saw the Goddess of Justice descending from the constellation to regulate the affairs of men; the whole a very beautiful rendering of the ancient thought connecting the Virgin Astraea with Libra. He may have been thus inspired by recollections of his student days at Oxford, where he must often have seen this sign, as a Judge in full robes, sculptured on the front of Merton College.

Manilius, using the combined title, wrote of it in much the same way as of influence over the legal profession:

This Ruled at Servius' Birth, who first gave

Our Laws a Being; —

a reference to Servius Sulpicius Rufus Lemonia, the great Roman lawyer, pupil, and friend of Cicero.

Cicero himself used Jugum as though it were well known; and, with evident intention of upsetting Caesar's claim to its invention, wrote:

Romam in Jugo Cum esset Luna, natam esse dicebat .

The sacred books of India mention it as Tula, the Tamil Tulam or Tolam, a Balance; and on the zodiac of that country it is a man bending on one knee and holding a pair of scales; but Varaha Mihira gave it as Juga or Juka, from Zugon, and so a reflex of Greek astronomy, which we know came into India early in our era; but he also called it Fire, perhaps a recollection of its early Altar form, mentioned further on.

In China it was Show Sing, the Star of Longevity, but later, copying our figure, it was Tien Ching, the Celestial Balance; and that country had a law for the annual regulation of weights supposed to have been enacted with some reference to this sign. In the early solar zodiac it was the Crocodile, or Dragon, the national emblem.

{Page 273} Manetho and Achilles Tatios said that Libra originated in Egypt; it plainly appears on the Denderah planisphere and elsewhere simply as a Scale-beam, a symbol of the Nilometer. Kircher gave its Coptic-Egyptian title as Lambadia, Statio Propitiationis.

The Hebrews are said to have known it as Moznayim, a Scale-beam, Riccioli's Miznaim, inscribing it, some thought, on the banners of Asher, although others claimed Sagittarius for this tribe, asserting that Libra was unknown to the Jews and that its place was indicated by their letter Tau, while still others claimed Virgo for Asher, and Sagittarius for Joseph.

The Syrians called it Masa’tha, which Riccioli gave as Masathre; and the Persians, Terazu or Tarazuk, all signifying Libra; the Persian sphere showing a human figure lifting the Scales in one hand and grasping a lamb in the other, this being the usual form of a weight for a balance in the early East.

Arabian astronomers, following Ptolemy, knew these stars as Al Zubana, the Claws, or, in the dual, Al Zubanatain, degenerating in Western use to the Azubene of the 1515 Almagest; but later on, when influenced by Rome, they became Al Kiffatan, the Trays of the Balance, and Al Mizan, the Scale-beam, Bayer attributing the latter to the Hebrews. This appeared in the Alfonsine Tables and elsewhere as Almisan, Almizen, Mizin; Schickard writing it Midsanon. Kircher, however, said that Wazn, Weight, is the word that should be used instead of Zubana; Riccioli adopting this in his Vazneschemali and Vazneganubi, or Vaznegenubi, respectively applied to the Northern and Southern Scale as well as to their lucidae.

Libra is stamped on the coins of Palmyra, as also on those of Pythodoris, queen of Pontus.

While it seems impossible to trace with any certainty the date of formation of our present figure and its place of origin, yet there was probably some figure here earlier than the Claws, and formed in Chaldaea in more shapes than one; indeed, Ptolemy asserted that it was from that country, while Ideler and modern critics say the same.

Brown thinks that its present symbol, , generally considered a representation of the beam of the Balance, shows the top of the archaic Euphratean Altar, located in the zodiac next preceding Scorpio [Ara, the altar is below Scorpio], and figured on gems, tablets, and boundary stones, alone or in a pair. Miss Clerke recalls the association of the 7th month, Tashritu, with this 7th sign and with the Holy Mound, Tul Ku, designating the biblical Tower of Babel, surmounted by an altar, — the stars in this constellation, alpha, mu, xi, delta, beta, chi, zeta, and nu, well showing a circular altar. Sometimes this Euphratean figure was varied to that of a Censer, and frequently to a Lamp; Strassmaier confirming this by {Page 274} his translation of an inscription as die Lampe als Nuru, the Solar Lamp, synonymous with Bir, the Light, also found for the sky figure. In this connection it will be remembered that another of the names for our Ara, a reduplication of the zodiacal Altar, was Pharus, or Pharos, the Great Lamp, or Lighthouse, of Alexandria, one of the seven wonders of the world. This Lamp also has been found shown on boundary stones as held in the Scorpion's claws, and we see the same idea even as late as the Farnese globe and the Hyginus of 1488, where the Scales have taken the place of the Lamp. When the Altar, Censer, and Lamp were in the course of time forgotten, or removed to the South, the Claws were left behind, and perhaps extended, till they in turn were replaced by Libra. Miss Clerke additionally writes:

The 8th sign is frequently doubled, and it is difficult to avoid seeing in the pair of zodiacal scorpions, carved on Assyrian cylinders, the prototype of the Greek Scorpion and Claws. Both Libra and the sign it eventually superseded thus owned a Chaldaean birthplace.

Brown also says that the Euphratean Sugi, the Chariot Yoke, which he identifies with alpha and beta of this constellation, remind us by sound and signification of the Zugon and Jugum of Greece and Rome respectively, and that astrology adds evidence in favor of a Chaldaean origin, for it has always claimed Libra — the Northern Scale at least — as a fruitful sign, taking this from the very foundations of astrology in the Chaldaean belief that "when the Sugi stars were clear the crops were good." In modern astrology, however, the reverse of this held in the case of the Southern Scale.

It seems not unreasonable to conclude that in Chaldaea the 7th sign had origin in all its forms.

In classical astrology the whole constituted the ancient House of Venus, for, according to Macrobius, this planet appeared here at the Creation; and, moreover, the goddess bound together human couples under the yoke of matrimony. From this came the title Veneris Sidus, although others asserted that Mars was its guardian; astrologers of the 14th century insisting that

Whoso es born in yat syne sal be an ille doar and a traytor.

It was of influence, too, over commerce, as witness Ben Jonson in The Alchemist:

His house of Life being Libra: which foreshowed

He should be a merchant, and should trade with balance;

{Page 275} and governed the lumbar region of the human body. Its modem reign has been over Alsace, Antwerp, Austria, Aethiopia, Frankfurt, India, Lisbon, Livonia, Portugal, Savoy, Vienna, and our Charleston; but in classical times over Italy and, naturally enough from its history, especially over Rome, with Vulcan as its guardian. It thus became Vulcani Sidus.

To it was assigned control of the gentle west wind, Zephyrus, [This was the same as Roman Favonius, — at first regarded as strongly blowing, but later as the genial Zephyros, the Life-bearing] personified as the son of Astraeus and Aurora.

Pious heathen called it Pluto’s Chariot, in which that god carried off Proserpina, the adjacent Virgo; but early Christians said that it represented the Apostle Philip; and Caesius identified it with the Balances of the Book of Daniel, v, 27, in which Belshazzar had been weighed and "found wanting."

Delphinusthe Dolphin



Clues to the meaning of this celestial featureDelphinus and Dolphin comes from Greek delphis, genitive delphinos, 'dolphin', whence Greek delphus, womb, (referring to its shape), Sanskrit garbha womb. Greeks called siblings born of the same mother adelphoi (singular), adelphos (brother), and adelphas (sister), literally "from the same womb".

"The thing with fins was evidently named the 'wombfish' because, unlike other 'fish' known to the Greeks, it was a mammal" [1].

Dolphin is related to dauphin (the eldest son of the king of France from 1349 to 1830), Philadelphus, Philadelphia, calf (young of a cow, and various species of mammals including dolphins), chilver (a ewe lamb, often referred to as a 'chilver lamb'), the name Chilvers, the second element in dagoba which is the short form of dhatu-garbha, a Buddhist shrine or stupa, a beehive shaped building. The common dolphin is Delphinus delphi.

Delphi was the site of the sanctuary to Phoebus Apollo because Apollo appeared there in the guise of a dolphin. It was the site of the Pythian Games and the legendary Oracle 'Pythia' ("the Python"; constellations can have a number of related symbols). Delphi was also known as the center of the world. To find out exactly where the center of the world was located, Zeus released two eagles (Aquila, eagle, is an adjoining constellation) from opposite ends of the earth, one from the east and one from the west, and the precise spot where they met, was in Delphi. The Delphic Oracle was known as the 'Pythia'.

In nature there are two creatures with reticulated patterns on their skin; the giraffe and the python. The python relates to the constellation Delphinus, and Delphi. Zeus released two eagles from opposite ends of the earth, one from the east and one from the west, and the precise spot where they met, was Delphi. Therefore the constellation, Delphinus, should relate to the latitude lines; east to west are latitudinal lines on a map. The giraffe of that long constellation, Camelopardalis, with the long neck extending to the north pole should relate to the longitude line. Reticulum represents the nodes, the connecting lines. Pythons have net-like patterns on their epidermis, in reticulated pythons these net-like pattern are more pronounced?

"This earliest oracle [at Delphi] was protected by a horrible dragon named Delphyne or Python, who was devastating the countryside. When Apollo was still very young, he slew the dragon, claimed the oracle for himself and established funerary games (the Pythian Games) in order to appease the dead monster’s spirit. He dedicated one of his symbols—a three-legged stool called a tripod—to the shrine and installed his own priestess, the Pythia, upon it. According to tradition, the Pythia was seated in the midst of vapors billowing from the earth beneath her tripod, seated in a trancelike state induced by the mists and by chewing laurel leaves, babbling her incoherent prophecies that were then translated into Homeric hexameter by a priest [1]. From her sometimes garbled muttering, the priest would translate into hexameter verse. The Pythia never gave a straight answer..." [Delphi by Ron Leadbetter].

Delphi (from Greek delphos, meaning a womb), is often translated as the Omphalos, but Varro disagrees:

"...for there all things originate in the centre, because the earth is the centre of the universe. Besides, if the ball of the earth has any centre, or umbilicus, it is not Delphi that is the centre; and the centre of the earth at Delphi—not really the centre, but so called—is something in a temple building at one side, something that looks like a treasure-house, which the Greeks call the omphalos, which they say is the tomb of the Python [Varro: On The Latin Language, p.287].

"The name Delphi from Greek Delphoi, is connected with delph, 'hollow' or delphus, 'womb'" [2]. Greek delph 'hollow', is cognate with our word delve, from Old English delfan, meaning to search deeply and laboriously, or to dig the ground, as with a spade, and comes from the Indo-European root *dhelbh- 'To dig, excavate'. The city Delft or Delf in Holland is related to this root from where we get delft, glazed earthenware. Some etymologists see the word delve as related to dell, and dale, meaning a valley. Dell and dale come from the Indo-European root *dhel- 'A hollow'. Derivatives: dell (from Old English dell, valley), dale (from Old English dael), thalweg (a subterranean stream, from Old High German tal, valley), dalles (from Old Norse daela, wooden gutter on a ship, from Germanic *del-). [Pokorny 1. dhel- 245. Watkins]

In Greek mythology Delphyne, the daughter of Gaia (Earth), is the name of the female dragon appointed, by Gaia, to guard the oracle of Delphi, and slain by Apollo. She is sometimes called Python. She is sometimes equated with Echidna, a monster with the head and torso of woman, but the lower part of a snake, and the consort of Typhon. In one tale Delphyne (here half maiden, half snake, like Echidna) guards the sinews of Zeus, which had been stolen by her mate Typhon. Apollo had a title Delphinius which in some stories was interpreted as having come from his slaying of Delphyne (or from showing the Cretan colonists the way to Delphi whilst riding on a dolphin) [3].

'Persuasor Amphitrites' was a title for Delphinus, from the story of the Dolphin who persuaded Amphitrite to marry Poseidon. The story goes that Poseidon (Neptune) wanted Amphitrite's hand in marriage. Amphitrite would have nothing to do with him, and to elude him she tried to hide, sometimes in deep water, sometimes on land (her name implies amphibian). Poseidon asked the Dolphin, Delphin, to trace her which he was able to do, and he persuaded her to marry Poseidon. Hyginus said that Delphin himself took charge of the wedding [Hyginus, Astronomica 2.17 (4)]. The grateful god rewarded his service by placing him among the stars [5]. The Pythia (also called Delphyne, although this is uncertain...) was the priestess presiding over the Oracle of Apollo at Delphi. Greek peitho (from peithein) means persuasion and this word resembles Pythia and Python. Greek peitho is personified as a goddess called Peitho, a daughter of Aphrodite. She is identified with the Roman Suada, Suadela, the personification of persuasion [6]. Persuade comes from the Indo-European root *swád- 'Sweet, pleasant'. Derivatives: sweet, suasion, assuasive, dissuade, persuade, (these words from suasus, Latin suadere, to advise, urge < 'recommend as good'), suave, assuage, (these words from Latin suavis, delightful), aedes (a mosquito of the genus Aëdes, transmits diseases such as yellow fever and dengue, from Greek edos, pleasure). Suffixed form *swad-ona; hedonic (pleasure), hedonism, from Greek hedon, pleasure. [Pokorny swad- 1039. Watkins]

A womb wraps a baby in 'swaddling' [not a recognized of *swád-] clothes, with numerous layers of 'skins' or membranes.

Note how close the Greek word hedon, 'pleasure', is to the word Eden, as in the 'Garden of Eden'? It is often suggested that the Garden of Eden is probably the womb.

Greek delphus or delphos, means a womb, and so it seems does the meaning of Pandora's pithos, or Pandora's Box, mistranslated by sixteenth century monk Erasmus who changed the original Greek word pithos to Latin pyxis, box.

"A pithos is a jar that is womb-like in shape and is a symbol for the earth, the mother of all. The implications of the pithos to the story of Pandora are obvious. Pandora's gifts are released from her own womb. Her fault lies not in her curiosity, but in her being. She is constitutionally deceptive and lethal because she draws men into her pithos, and brings new men forth for a life of misery. The image of Woman as a pithos is extremely ancient. In many ancient Helladic burials, the pithos was used as a coffin. The deceased was placed inside in a fetal position, covered with honey, and buried in the hope of new life and regeneration" [Robert E. Meagher, Helen, Myth, Legend, and the Culture of Misogyny].

Pythia, the Python, the Delphian oracle; Greek pithos, a jar; and Greek peitho, persuasion; have a similar resonance.

Popularly in England Delphinus is now Job’s Coffin [Allen, Star Names]. A pithos is a jar that is womb-like in shape. Anything could be placed in a pithos; however, they were used primarily for grains, seeds, wine and oil. In many ancient Helladic burials, the pithos was used as a coffin. The deceased was placed inside in a fetal position, covered with honey, and buried in the hope of new life and regeneration [Meagher]. A coffin is a tomb, and a womb is often likened symbolically to a tomb. Varro called Delphi the tomb of the Python. A number of Etruscan tombs show dolphins leaping from the waves, often below funerary banqueters [11]. Greek pithos is cognate with Latin fidelia, 'clay vessel', fiscus, 'storage jar; treasury'. The Greek word pithos is known in its Latin form as the fiscus where the funds are stored [12]. From this root, pithos, we derive fisc [state treasury], fiscal, and confiscate [com- + fiscus, treasury].

A womb as an entity would have an interest in promoting marriage so that it can fulfill its purpose. The Dolphin played the part of a procurer, matchmaker, or proxy, for Neptune. The name Pandora resembles Pandare. Chaucer's Pandare is depicted as a kind and friendly go-between for the lovers, his name is borrowed from Greek Pandaros, who was a leader of the Lycians in the Trojan war, said to have procured for Troilus the love of Chryseis. His name is related to the word pander which in earlier times had good connotations but later acquired the debased meaning of 'a procurer for a prostitute, pimp', or 'arranger of sexual liaisons'. Its modern use as a verb, meaning 'indulge,' dates from the 19th century [John Ayto].

Pandora was the first woman, bestowed upon humankind as a punishment for Prometheus's theft of fire. Entrusted with a box containing all the ills that could plague people, she opened it out of curiosity and thereby released all the evils of human life, except hope which got trapped in the lid. The words curious and procure are related.

Another explanation for the name:

"Python actually means serpent but there is a possibility that Pythia is derived from pythao [to rot], since Apollo left the body of the serpent to rot in the sun."

When dolphins beach themselves and die they rot in the sun.

Pythons are egg-bearing snakes, and are a close relative of the boa which bears live young, both from the family boidae. Pythons are unusual amongst snakes in caring for their eggs. A female will coil round, guard and incubate her eggs for 2-3 months. As the sun rises, she will leave them to bask. When shade envelops the eggs they cool and the female, now warm, returns and wraps herself around them. She will, when necessary, increase her body heat by 'shivering' [7].

It seems that this constellation was associated with the Muses from Greek Mousa, a Muse. Muse and music are from the Indo-European root *men-1 'To think'.

The motif of a boy riding a dolphin could relate to a womb carrying a baby.

"In continuation of the Greek story of Arion [probably Cygnus, who was rescued by a dolphin; the dolphins, lovers of music, were attracted to Arion's singing and playing on the lyre] and his Lyre [Lyra] appears Greek Mousikon zodion, the Musicum signum of the Latins [as titles for Delphinus]; or this may come from the fact mentioned in Ovid's Fasti that the constellation was supposed to contain nine stars, the number of the Muses ..." [Allen, Star Names]

"Ovid's Fasti that the constellation was supposed to contain nine stars, the number of the Muses ...". A baby spends nine months in the womb. The Kuretes/Curates were nine dancers, the words curious and procure and Curates are related.

Greek delphus, womb, seems to have the same meaning as English womb, and Latin uterus. The term uterus is commonly used within the medical and related professions, whilst womb is in more common usage. Uterus comes form the Indo-European root *udero-. Derivatives: uterus, from Latin uterus, womb (reshaped from *udero-). Perhaps taboo deformation *wen-tri-; venter, ventriloquism, from Latin venter, belly. Perhaps taboo deformation *wnd-ti-; vesica, from Latin vesica, bladder. Variant form *ud-tero-; hysteria (a word coined because of the belief that hysteria originated in disorders of the womb - Collins Concise), hysteric, hystero-, from Greek hustera, womb. [Pokorny udero- 1104. Watkins] The family Hystricidae, are the porcupines. [Delphyne, or Pythia is sometimes equated with Echidna. Echidna’s are Australian animals, similar in

spike function to the American porcupine, and dubbed porcupines.]

Aristophanes in Vestas I., reg. 28, calls Pythia 'Pythia ventriloqua vates' or the 'ventriloquial prophetess', on account of her stomach-voice [8].

"The hysterics of the Pythonesses or priestesses at the oracles of Apollo in Delphi were regarded as the utterances" [9].

Herodotus has told the story of Arion, the boy musician who rides on a dolphin's back. Arion became a swan (Cygnus) at his death. The words swan, and consonant are related, from Latin sonare, 'to sound'. Aristotle says the dolphin has a voice that can utter vowel [10], vocal (from Indo-European *wekw-) sounds, which might explain the significance of Arion riding a dolphin; consonants and vowels; and the utterances of the Pythia or Delphine which no one could understand; the voice from the womb:

"The dolphin, when taken out of the water, gives a squeak and moans in the air, ... For this creature has a voice (and can therefore utter vocal or vowel sounds), for it is furnished with a lung and a windpipe; but its tongue is not loose, nor has it lips, so as to give utterance to an articulate sound (or a sound of vowel and consonant in combination.)" [The History of Animals, Aristotle]

Greek delphus, womb, is related to Sanskrit garbha womb, and dagoba, the Buddhist stupa.

"The classical form of the stupa consists of a solid, hemispherical dome. Early Buddhist texts refer to this as the garbha, meaning 'womb' or 'container.' With this reference the stupa as a whole is called the 'dhatu-garbha.' Dhatu is Sanskrit for element. Herein lies the derivation of the word 'dagoba,' which is the short form of dhatu-garbha and which is the most usual designation of the stupa in Sri Lanka. ... Hiranyagarbha. Hiranya is Sanskrit for 'golden' and garbha, means 'womb'. According to Vedic cosmology, this golden womb was the nucleus from which all creation evolved. ...The dome is a symbol of both the womb and the tomb. ... Our physical conception in the womb follows our death in the spiritual realm. The womb is thus the symbol of the tomb. This is the metaphysical counterpart of the historical view that the stupa evolved out of the ancient funerary mound" [10].

"Classically, the womb was regarded as an independent organism, a kind of animal within the female body hungry to bear children. The Book of proverbs speaks of the grave and the womb being equally insatiable. Plato in his Timaeus wrote that the womb was a creature longing to be fertilized. If unfruitful for long it became restless and angry and left its proper place and wandered about the body, closing the passages for air, stopping respiration and causing anxiety, feelings of dread and other symptoms of illness. Hysteria (from the Greek hystera meaning 'womb') was long thought to be caused by the womb tearing itself loose from its anchorage and wandering in the female body. In Bavaria, the hungry uterus was offered small round morsels made of cat's grease, honey, nutmeg and other ingredients. It was believed that while the woman slept the womb-creature would emerge from the woman's mouth and partake of the fare and be appeased. In modern societies, 'pre-menstrual syndrome' is a medically recognized condition that has also recently been accepted as a legitimate legal defense in a number of court cases in the US and Europe" [THINGS FEMALE Benjamin Walker].

Perhaps the utterances of the Pythia or Delphine, or the voice from the belly ventriloquism, has some basis in reality:

"It has been said that for some weeks before birth the foetus is aware of the catastrophic nature of its forthcoming experience. Occasionally its fear is expressed vocally. Cases have been recorded of children crying out while still in the womb. This cry, called the vagitus uterinus, 'uterine cry,' may sound like a whimper, or like a bleat, a howl or yelp. People who have heard it describe the experience as unforgettable, and one of the most eerie imaginable. It is entirely different from the first normal cry the baby makes after birth" [THINGS FEMALE, Benjamin Walker]

In the Sanskrit texts, the Caraka-samhita (circa first century C.E.) and the Susruta-samhita (circa second century C.E.) mention is made of the voice from the womb:

Both texts include month-by-month descriptions of what should ideally happen to the garbha during gestation. We find embedded within these narratives a number of different systems through which the voice of the fetus, as well, can be heard and interpreted through its mother’s desires: her pregnancy cravings are variously read as omens, as indicators of the gestating fetus’ personality type, and are also understood as the fetus’ own voice, communicating its intense wishes for substances and foods through its own personal 'hot line' to the outside world as it exists in the condition of dohada ('two-heartedness') with its mother, a unique expression that is tied to and explained by the elegant system of color and visceral substance-coding accepted by both texts. This paper will examine issues of dividuation and personality formation during gestation in terms of fetal desire and maternal habit as the definition of garbha becomes increasingly monovalent during the last two trimesters of pregnancy. http://www.aasianst.org/absts/1999abst/sasia/s-186.htm

Rigveda X, 121, 1; v. 7: The first born is Hiranyagarbha (literally the golden fetus or "golden womb") that appeared in Chaos is the source of the creation of the Universe or the manifested cosmos in Indian philosophy:

“when came the great water, which contained all fertility within it, then the gods came to life, from it alone (namely Hiranyagarbha).” [Viktor Rydberg’s Investigations into Germanic Mythology, Volume II, p.7.]

Living in cities used to mean 'civilized people' (from the same root kei-):

‘Diviner than the Dolphin is nothing yet created, for indeed they were aforetime men and lived in cities along with mortals, but…they exchanged the land for the sea, and put on the form of fishes; but even now, the righteous spirit of men in them preserves human thoughts and human deeds’. [Oppian, Halieutica (12)]


"Then the Dolphin too rises starward from the deep, the pride of sea and sky, in each revered." [Manilius, Astronomica, 1st century AD, book 5, p.31]

"The sea-dark Dolphin ascends from the Ocean to the heavens and emerges with its scales figured by stars, birth is given to children who will be equally at home on land and in the sea. For just as the dolphin is propelled by its swift fins through the waters, now cleaving the surface, now the depths below, and derives momentum from its undulating course, wherein it reproduces the curl of waves, so whoever is born of it will speed through the sea. Now lifting one arm after the other to make slow sweeps he will catch the eye as he drives a furrow of foam through the sea and will sound afar as he thrashes the waters; now like a hidden two-oared vessel he will draw apart his arms beneath the water; now he will enter the waves upright and swim by walking and, pretending to touch the shallows with his feet, will seem to make a field of the surface of the sea; else, keeping his limbs motionless and lying on his back or side, he will be no burden to the waters but will recline upon them and float, the whole of him forming a sail-boat not needing oarage.

"Other men take pleasure in looking for the sea in the sea itself: they dive beneath the waves and try to visit Nereus and the sea nymphs in their caves; they bring forth the spoils of the sea and the booty that wrecks have lost to it, and eagerly search the sandy bottom.

From their different sides swimmers and divers share an equal enthusiasm for both pursuits, for their enthusiasm, though displayed in different ways, springs from a single source.

"With them you may also reckon men of cognate skill who leap in the air, thrown up from the powerful spring-board, and execute a see-saw movement, the first's descent throwing up the second and the plunge of the second lifting the first on high; or hurl their limbs through the fire of flaming hoops, imitating the dolphin's movement in their flight through space, and land as gently on the ground as they would in the watery waves: they fly though they have no wings and sport amid the air.

Even if the Dolphin's sons lack these skills, they will yet possess a physique suited to them; nature will endow them with strength of body, briskness of movement, and limbs which fly over the plain" [Manilius, Astronomica, 1st century AD, book 5, p.335].


Fixed stars in Delphinus


Rotanev beta 14AQU57 16AQU20 308 48 03 +14 25 12 +31 55 23 3.72 F3

Sualocin alpha 15AQU59 17AQU23 309 19 44 +15 44 04 +33 01 35 3.86 B8

delta 16AQU44 18AQU07 310 16 51 +14 53 38 +31 56 53 4.53 A5

gamma 17AQU59 19AQU22 311 04 53 +15 56 35 +32 42 34 5.47 F6



. . . the Delphienus heit

Up in the aire.

— King James I, in Ane schort Poeme of Tyme.

Delphinus, the Dolphin is Dauphin in France, Delfino in Italy, and Delphin in Germany: all from the Greek Delphis and Delphin, transcribed by the Latins as Delphis and Delphin. This last continued current through the 17th century, and in our day was resumed by Proctor for his reformed list. Chaucer, in the Hous of Fame, had Delphyn, and later than he it was Dolphyne.

It now is one of the smallest constellations, but originally may have included the stars that Hipparchos set off to form the new Equuleus; and in all astronomical literature has borne its present title and shape, with many and varied stories attached, for its namesake was always regarded as the most remarkable of marine creatures.

{Page 199} In Greece it also was Ieros Ikhthus, the Sacred Fish, the creature being of as much religious significance there as a fish afterwards became among the early Christians; and it was the sky emblem of philanthropy, not only from the classical stories connected with its prototype, but also from the latter's devotion to its young. It should be remembered that our stellar Dolphin is figured as the common cetacean, Delphinus delphis, of Atlantic and Mediterranean waters, not the tropical Coryphaena that Dorado represents.

Ovid, designating it as clarum sidus, personified it as Amphitrite, the goddess of the sea, because the dolphin induced her to become the wife of Neptune, and for this service, Manilius said, was "rais'd from Seas" to be

The Glory of the Floud and of the Stars.

From this story the constellation was known as Persuasor Amphitrites, as well as Neptunus and Triton.

With Cicero it appeared as Curvus, an adjective that appropriately has been applied to the creature's apparent form in all ages [Allen notes: Huet, in his notes on Manilius, quoted many examples of the use of this term by the Latins, and said Perpetuam hoc Delphinum Epitheton] down to the "bended dolphins" in Milton's picture of the Creation. Bayer's Currus merely is Cicero's word with a typographical error, for he explained it, Ciceroni ob gibbum in dorso; but he also had Smon nautis, and Riccioli Smon barbaris, which seems to be the Simon, Flat-nosed, of old-time mariners, quoted by Pliny for the animal.

Another favorite title was Vector Arionis, from the Greek fable that attributed to the dolphin the rescue of Arion on his voyage from Tarentum to Corinth — a variation of the very much earlier myth of the sun-god Baal Hamon. Hence comes Henry Kirke White's

lock'd in silence o'er Arion's star,

The slumbering night rolls on her velvet car.

In continuation of the Greek story of Arion and his Lyre (Lyra) appears Mousikon zodion, the Musicum signum of the Latins; or this may come from the fact mentioned in Ovid's Fasti that the constellation was supposed to contain nine stars, the number of the Muses, although Ptolemy prosaically catalogued 10; Argelander, 20; and Heis, 31.

Riccioli and La Lande cited Hermippus for Delphinus, and Acetes after the pirate-pilot who protected Bacchus on his voyage to Naxos and Ariadne; while to others it represented Apollo returning to Crissa or piloting Castalius from Crete.

{Page 200} The Hindus, from whom the Greeks are said to have borrowed it, — although the reverse of this may have been the case, — knew it as Shi-shu-mara, or Sim-shu-mara, changed in later days to Zizumara, a Porpoise, also ascribed to Draco. And they located here the 22d nakshatra, Cravishtha, Most Favorable, also called Dhanishtha, Richest; the Vasus, Bright or Good Ones, being the regents of this asterism, which was figured as a Drum or Tabor: beta marking the junction with Catabishaj.

Brown thinks that it may have been the Euphratean Makhar, although Capricorn also claimed this.

Al Biruni, giving the Arabic title Al Ka’ud, the Riding Camel, said that the early Christians — the Melkite and Nestorian sects — considered it the Cross of Jesus transferred to the skies after his crucifixion; but in Kazwini's day the learned of Arabia called alpha, beta, gamma, and delta Al ‘Ukud, the Pearls or Precious Stones adorning Al Salib, by which title the common people knew this Cross; the star epsilon, towards the tail, being Al ‘Amud al Salib, the Pillar of the Cross. But the Arabian astronomers adopted the Greek figure as their Dulfim, which one of their chroniclers described as "a marine animal friendly to man, attendant upon ships to save the drowning sailors."

The Alfonsine tables of 1545 said of Delphinus, Quae habet stellas quae sapiunt naturam, a generally puzzling expression, but common in the 1551 translation of the Tetrabiblos, where it signifies stars supposed to be cognizant of human births and influential over human character, — naturam. Ptolemy, as is shown in these Four Books, was a believer in the genethliacal influence of certain stars and constellations, of which this seems to have been one specially noted in that respect.

Delphinus lies east of Aquila, on the edge of the Milky Way, occupying, with the adjoining aqueous figures, the portion of the sky that Aratos called the Water. It culminates about the 15th of September.

Caesius placed here the Leviathan of the 104th Psalm; Novidius, the Great Fish that swallowed Jonah; but Julius Schiller knew some of its stars as the Water-pots of Cana. Popularly it now is Job’s Coffin, although the date and name of the inventor of this title I have not been able to learn.

The Chinese called the four chief stars and zeta Kwa Chaou, a Gourd.

Sagittathe Arrow



Clues to the meaning of this celestial featureSagitta is said to represent the arrow with which Hercules slew the eagle (Aquila) that fed upon the liver of Prometheus.

An arrow is a pointed projectile that is shot with a bow and penetrates a distant target. Sagitta is the constellation of the arrow, and Sagittarius is the bow or Archer. The constellation of Aquila, the Eagle, separates these two constellations. The shooter is the Archer (Sagittarius) and the shot is the Arrow (Sagitta). The English word arrow is confounded with the word archer (Sagittarius) and cognate with Latin arcus, 'bow, arch'. The English word Sagitta, arrow, is also confounded with the word Sagittarius, the archer.

“The arrow (sagitta) is named for its 'keen striking' (sagax ictus), that is, its swift striking. It is borne on feathers like a bird so that death might swiftly hasten for a person. The people of Crete first used arrows, on which feathers, as we have said, were glued so that they would be light and fly.” [The Etymologies of Isidore of Seville, 7th century AD, p.363.]

The word sagax of 'sagax ictus' should belong to the constellation of Sagittarius, the Archer, from Latin sagire, to seek, 'seek to know'. The keywords for Sagittarius is 'I seek'. The word ictus in medicine means sudden attack, blow, stroke, or seizure. In music 'ictus' is the instant when a beat occurs. Latin ictus is past participle of icere, 'to strike'; cognate with Greek aikhme, 'point of a spear, spear', Latvian iesms, 'roasting spit', related to the first element in Aechmophorus (in reference to its bill), a genus of birds in the grebe family.

The Armenians and Persians called this constellation Tigris [Allen, Star Names], meaning an arrow in their language:

“The tiger (tigris) is so called because of its rapid flight, for this is what the Persians and Medes call an arrow. It is a beast distinguished by varied markings, amazing in its strength and speed. The river Tigris is called after the name of the animal, because it is the most rapid of all rivers” [The Etymologies of Isidore of Seville, 7th century AD, p.251.]

According to one Chinese legend, a young boy severely whipped or 'given many stripes' by his teacher ran off into the forest and in his rage became the first tiger. [1]

"From the Sumerians, who invented the first written Western language, we find references to the Mesopotamian god Enki masturbating, his ejaculation filling the Tigris River with flowing water" [2].

The star Nunki, the sigma star of Sagittarius, is identified with Enki - "of Enki, Sumerian god of waters and of most ancient city of Eridu": Jaculum was one title for Sagitta, 'jaculum' and 'ejaculate' are both derived from Latin iaculum, meaning a dart; there might be a correlation between the releasing arrows from a bow and releasing semen.

An arrow is basically a pointed stick, that sticks into a chosen target when released from the bow. The word stick is related to the word tiger from *steig- 'To stick; pointed'. Derivatives: stitch, stick, etiquette, ticket, distinct, distinguish, extinct, extinguish, instinct, stigma, stigmata, astigmatism, tiger, instigate, steak (to roast - on a spit or stick), thistle. [Pokorny (s)teig- 1016. Watkins]

The Tasmanian tiger is extinct.

Throughout the Northern Steppe it was custom, or etiquette, to require all who came to the king's assembly to bring arrows with them and to present them personally to the king. From these arrows a census was taken, each man submitting but a single shaft, which represented him and bore his distinct mark. Historically, these sticks 'rods or staffs' were bundled together as a ritual bundle and signified the unity of the nation... Invitation-sticks (usually arrow-formed) was required by American Indians to bring with them as tickets to the feast. (Hugh Nibley, The Arrow, the Hunter, and the State).

A story originating from classical Roman times is told by Bestiaries (a medieval collection of stories) with a number of different versions about the nature of the tiger to illustrate its instinctive characteristic as opposed to calculating intelligence. The tigress, seeing that her cubs are gone, tracks them by scent and chases the hunter. When the hunter sees the tigress catching up, he drops one cub. The tigress stops to pick up the cub and takes it back to the den and then runs after the hunter again. The hunter repeats this ruse until he reaches his ship; in this way he escapes with at least one of the cubs.

In describing the astrological influences of Sagitta Manilius illustrates another facet of how this characteristic instinct operates:

"Under this constellation indeed may well have been born that luckless parent who caught sight of a serpent couched upon his son's face and sapping the life-blood of the sleeping child, but nerved himself to let fly a shaft (arrow) at it and succeeded in killing the reptile. Fatherhood supplied his skill; a natural instinct overcame the danger and delivered the boy from sleep and death alike ...". [Manilius, Astronomica 1st century AD, book 5, p.235].

Obelus was mentioned as a title for this constellation [Allen, Star Names]. The Greek word Obolus was translated by the Latins into sagitta. Oboloi (measures of weight) were once made from bronze in the shape of an arrow, whence they get the Greek name meaning arrow, or roasting-spit, diminutive of obelos, 'skewer' or roasting stick (3). "Obelisk was said to be a petrified ray of the Egyptian aten, the sundisk. It was also thought that the god Aten existed within the structure" [3].

There seems to be a number of associations between the arrow and the penis, an organ known for its uncontrollable ability to react instinctually:

"The arrow would seem to be associated with the erect male penis as the single most representative feature of masculinity and the one thing never associated with the feminine" [4].

Sigmund Freud believed that the obelisk was a giant phallus (erect penis) with its ability to penetrate.

"The taboo factor certainly has to be taken into account. Modern Dutch 'piel' (a not so often used word for 'penis') e.g. is etymologically the same as 'pijl' (arrow)" [5].

Isis substituted the dead Osiris' missing penis with a stick provided by her good friend Thoth [6].

“Mesfres, king of Egypt, is said to have been the first to make an obelisk, for the following reason. Because the Nile once had damaged Egypt with a violent flood, the indignant king, as if to exact a penalty from the river, shot an arrow into the water. Not long afterwards, seized by a serious illness, he lost his sight, and once his vision was restored after this blindness he consecrated two obelisks to the sun god. 'Obelisk' (obeliscus) is the name of the arrow that is set up in the middle of the circus because the sun runs through the middle of the world. Moreover, the obelisk, set up in the midpoint of the space of the racetrack equidistant from the two turning-posts, represents the peak and summit of heaven (the pinnacle), since the sun moves across it at the midpoint of the hours, equidistant from either end of its course. Set on top of the obelisk is a gilded object shaped like a flame, for the sun has an abundance of heat and fire within it.” [The Etymologies of Isidore of Seville, 7th century AD, p.367.]

Aratos (ca. 240 BC) called this constellation the Feathered Arrow (the word feather might relate to Libra, also penna the flight feathers): A classical Latin title for this constellation was Calamus, meaning the hollow shaft of a feather, also known as the quill. Artisans who make arrows are known as 'fletchers,' a word related to the French word for arrow, flèche. The verb 'fletch', meaning to provide an arrow with its feathers.

A neighboring constellation is named Aquila, the eagle, it separates the two constellations Sagitta and Sagittarius. In mythology Aquila carries the armor of Zeus, amongst his armor he carries the arrows (maybe quills?) An eagle is carrying and throwing the arrow of thunder in the Russian folklore [7]. In mythology the Stymphalian man-eating birds used their feathers as arrows [8].

The word arrow, air-row, might also relate to the meaning of a row of sticks in the air. Zeno of Elea (490-425 BC), a Greek philosopher famous for his Zeno Paradoxes, of 'the Arrow' he says: Consider a flying arrow. At any given moment it is in a space equal to its own length, and therefore is at rest at that moment. That the flying arrow is at rest, which result follows from the assumption that time is composed of moments [9].

The shooter is the Archer (Sagittarius) and the shot is the Arrow (Sagitta). Arrows are made from the off-shoots, or cuttings of trees, a straight-up shoot was preferred, the shooting of which would have caused some of these shots to have taken root in far-off places outside their usual environment, at least those with unpeeled bark. For both arrows and cuttings for planting the young shoots representing the current season's

growth are used; the previous season's growth is favored for making bows. Shoot comes from the Indo-European root *skeud 'To shoot, chase, throw'. Derivatives: shoot, shot, shut, shout, shuttle, scuttle1. [Pokorny 2. (s)keud- 955. Watkins] [Some of these words may belong to the constellation Sagittarius which was the German titles Schutze, and Schutz, the Anglo-Saxons had Scytta, a manuscript of 1386 calling Sagittarius the Schoter. An arrow is shot with a bow.]

A sagittal plane divides the body into left and right portions; this section through an axis is called a plane. Sagittal relates to the suture uniting the two parietal bones of the skull. The sagittal plane, a front-to-back plane parallel to the midline of a body, "like an arrow passing through the body".

There is the story of a man named Abaris, a Hyperborean, who was given a magical arrow by the god Apollo, on which he flew around the world (like a witch on a broomstick) performing miracles. Abaris is said to have purified Sparta and Knossos, among other cities, from plagues. Plagues (and maybe the cure for plagues - Achilles) were associated with bows and arrows. Artemis is like her brother, Apollo, armed with a bow, quiver, and arrows, and sends plague and death among men and animals [1].


"Sagitta, The Arrow, will bestow the skill of hurling the javelin with the arm, of shooting the arrow from the string and missiles from rods, and of hitting a bird on the wing in the sky that is its home or piercing with three-pronged spear the fish that deemed itself so safe. What constellation or nativity should I rather have given Teucer? To what degree should I prefer to assign Philoctetes? His bow enabled Teucer to repel the flaming torches of Hector which threatened to pour fell fire upon a thousand ships (Those of the Greeks at Troy). Carrying in his quiver the fate of Troy and the Trojan War, Philoctetes*, who tarried in exile, proved a foe more potent than an armored host. Under this constellation indeed may well have been born that luckless parent who caught sight of a serpent couched upon his son's face and sapping the life-blood of the sleeping child, but nerved himself to let fly a shaft at it and succeeded in killing the reptile. Fatherhood supplied his skill; a natural instinct overcame the danger and delivered the boy from sleep and death alike, given then a second life and snatched whilst dreaming from the grave". [Translator's note:*It was decreed that Troy could not be taken without the arrows of Hercules; these were held by Philoctetes, who, afflicted with a noisome wound in the foot, had been abandoned by the Greeks in Lemnos; subsequently healed and brought to Troy, he slew many of the Trojans, including Paris. Unlike most of the Greeks Philoctetes, as an archer, wore no armor]. [Manilius, Astronomica, 1st century AD, book 5, p.235].


Fixed stars in Sagitta


Sham alpha 29CAP41 01AQU04 294 27 54 +17 53 51 +38 47 52 4.37 F8

beta 29CAP50 01AQU13 294 42 01 +17 21 32 +38 13 26 4.45 G7

delta 02AQU01 03AQU24 296 17 21 +18 24 35 +38 55 05 3.78 M2

gamma 05AQU40 07AQU03 299 07 58 +19 21 18 +39 11 42 3.71 M0



There is in front another Arrow cast

Without a bow; and by it flies the Bird

Nearer the north.

— Brown's Aratos.

Sagitta, the Arrow, is the French Fleche, the German Pfeil, and the Italian Saetta, lies in the Milky Way, directly north of Aquila and south of Cygnus, pointing eastward; and, although ancient, is insignificant, for it has no star larger than the 4th magnitude, and none that is named. {Page 350} It has occasionally been drawn as held in the Eagle's (Aquila) talons, for the bird was armor-bearer to Jove; but Eratosthenes described it separately, as Aratos had done, and as it now is on our maps. It has been regarded as the traditional weapon that slew the eagle of Jove, or the one shot by Hercules towards the adjacent Stymphalian birds, and still lying between them, whence the title Herculea; but Eratosthenes claimed it as the arrow with which Apollo exterminated the Cyclopes; and it sometimes was the Arrow of Cupid. The Hyginus of 1488 showed it overlying a bow; indeed, Eratosthenes called it toxon, a Bow, signifying Arrows in its plural form; Aratos mentioned it as the Feathered Arrow and the Well-shaped Dart, the allos oistos, of our motto, "another arrow," in distinction from that of Sagittarius. Still, it has often been thought of as the latter's weapon strayed from its owner. Hipparchos and Ptolemy had plain oistos.

Latin authors of classical times and since knew it as Canna, Calamus, and Harundo, all signifying the Reed from which the arrow-shafts were formed; and as Missile, Jaculum, and Telum, the Weapon, Javelin, and Dart; Telum descending even to Kepler's day. But Sagitta was its common title with all the Romans who mentioned its stars; Cicero characterizing it as clara and fulgens, which, however, it is not.

Bayer, who ascribed to it the astrological nature of Mars and Venus, picked up several strange names: Daemon, Feluco, and Fossorium, apparently unintelligible here; Obelus, one of the semeiai, or notae, of ancient grammarians, or, possibly, an Obelisk, which it may resemble; Orfercalim, cited by Riccioli and Beigel from Albumasar for the Turkish Otysys Kalem, a Smooth Arrow; Temo meridianus, the Southern Beam; Vectis, a Pole; Virga and Virgula jacens, a Falling Wand.

The Hebrews called it Hes or Hets; the Armenians and Persians, Tigris; and the Arabians, Al Sahm, all meaning an Arrow; this last, given on the Dresden globe, being turned by Chilmead into Alsoham, by Riccioli into Schaham, and by Piazzi into Sham.

In some of the Alfonsine Tables appeared Istusc, repeated in the Almagest of 1515 as Istiusc, both probably disfigured forms of oistos; and the Alfonsine Tables of 1521 had Alahance, perhaps from the Arabic Al H'ams or H'amsah, the Five (Stars), its noticeable feature. The same Almagest also had Albanere, adding est nun, all unintelligible except from Scaliger's note: {Page 351} legendum Alhance, id est Sagitta, hebraicae originis, converso Dages in Nun, ut saepe accidit in Arabismo et Syriasmo.

Schickard wrote it Alchanzato.

Sagitta is not noticed in the Reeves list of Chinese asterisms.

Caesius imagined it the Arrow shot by Joash at Elisha's command, or one of those sent by Jonathan towards David at the stone Ezel; and Julius Schiller, the Spear, or the Nail, of the Crucifixion.

Vulpecula et Anserthe Fox and the Goose



Clues to the meaning of this celestial featureIt was originally known as Vulpecula cum Ansere: the Fox and the Goose. The Goose was pictured in the jaws of the Fox, the Goose is no longer officially in the sky but reputedly remains in the name of the alpha star: Anser (1). Anser, the Goose, is usually seen as a sub-constellation of Vulpecula.

Vulpecula is a diminutive of Latin vulpes, fox, and believed to be from Greek alopex, Aeolian Greek falopex, whence valopes, volpes, vulpes [Valpy, Greek..., p.18], and comes from the Indo-European root *wlpé- 'Fox'. Derivatives: vulpine, from Latin vulpes, alopecia (loss of hair, baldness, literally ‘fox mange’, from Greek alopex, fox), vixen (feminine of fox, alteration of Middle English fixen, from Old English fyxe). [Pokorny wlpe- 1179. Watkins]. The red fox is Vulpes vulpes.

The Old French for fox is goupil, is also a derivative of Latin vulpes, fox. Because of the popularity of the Reynard stories, renard was often used as an euphemism to the point that today renard is the standard French word for "fox" and goupil is now dialectal or archaic [2].

The Modern English word 'fox' is derived from Germanic fukh, German fuchs, Dutch vos, which corresponds to the Proto-Indo-European word puk, meaning 'tail', Indian pucchah, 'tail', or puccha, Polish puch, 'woolly hair'. The bushy tail is also the source of words for fox in Welsh (llwynog, from llwyn meaning 'bush') and fox in Lithuanian is uodegis, from uodega meaning 'tail'. The Irish word for fox is sionnach, and it is believed that the word shenanigans could come from Irish sionnachuighim `I play the fox.'[2].

In Scotland and Northern England a fox was called a tod1. The collective term for foxes is skulk. The color fuchsia (magenta), fuchsin (bluish red dye), was named after fuchs (fox). The plant genus Fuchsia (named after the German botanist Leonhart Fuchs) has a similar color. The drug digitalis (found in foxgloves) is used in treating heart conditions. Bovista, a genus of gasteromycetous fungi, the first element is from Middle High German vohe, 'vixen'.

The 'fox and goose' might have long-forgotten connotations, the fox was seen as representing the preaching friar on the pulpit, with the 'silly geese' representing the congregation. In Symbolism of Animals and Birds, Represented in English Architecture, 1913, Arthur H. Collins tells about the satirical 13th century carvings of foxes in friar’s garb, and how the begging friars were much disliked by the secular and monastic clergy:

"The Bestiaries relate that the fox ensnares unwary fowls by pretending to be dead; in like manner the devil deceives unwary souls who love the corrupt things of the world. When geese are listening to a fox we suppose that they symbolize the silly souls who put their trust in the monk or friar, as the case may be. But, of course, the meaning is often simpler than that. Quite as frequently the fox is represented as preaching in a monk’s or friar’s habit to geese and other creatures, as on the stalls of Beverley Minster, S. Mary’s Beverley, and Ely Cathedral (13th century). Generally such carvings are accompanied by others which represent Reynard devouring his flock, or paying the penalty of his crimes on the scaffold: from which ordeal he sometimes emerges alive to try again! At Worcester Cathedral there are carved on a misericord foxes running in and out of holes. St. John the Evangelist stands near by with his Gospel in his hand, and his eagle at his feet. Here we can see an allusion to our Savor’s words, “Foxes have holes,” etc., in S. Matt. viii. 20. It has been supposed that the object of this particular carving is to induce him who sees it to choose between good and evil."

The sanctimonious fox of the mediaeval stories, preaching from a pulpit to a flock of gullible geese, characterizes the pious fraud:

"'Semper peccator, semper Justus' (ever sinning, ever righteous), so Germaine Dieterlen sums up the verdict of African folk wisdom upon this creature" [Penguin Dictionary of Symbols, p.407].

"Reynard can often be found dressing up as a religious figure or pretending to be pious in order to avoid punishment or get a meal" [3].

The Gnostics ... admonition of Solan:

"Fools, ye are treading in the footsteps of the fox; can ye not read the hidden meaning of these winning words?" [The Lost Language of Symbolism, v. 2, p.104]

Foxes are notorious for cunning and slyness, and they characterize falsety. In Reynard the Fox he was referred to many times 'as the false fox', the French word for false is faux, faux pas, a blooper, is meant to be pronounced 'foe pa' but it is sometimes pronounced in English 'fox paws' or 'fox pass' by the ignorant. False comes from Latin fallere, derivatives are: fail, failure, fallacy, fallacious, fallible, false, fallible, infallible, fault, default, faucet, fault, French faux.

Fox fire is the ignes fatui or 'Will o' the wisp'. In Scandinavian mythology the 'light of the fox' is the Aurora Borealis. Fox-fire - i.e. fause or 'false fire,' the phosphoric light, without heat, which plays round decaying matter, especially that produced by certain fungi found on rotting wood.

The fox, goose and bag of beans puzzle is a mental puzzle originating from an old riddle, and can be read here

"The fox is a crafty and deceitful animal that never runs in a straight line, but only in circles. When it wants to catch birds to eat, the fox rolls in red mud so that it appears to be covered in blood. It then lies apparently lifeless; birds, deceived by the appearance of blood and thinking the fox to be dead, land on it and are immediately devoured" [http://bestiary.ca/beasts/beast179.htm]

Foxes painting themselves with red mud evokes the concept of using make-up or cosmetics. Fucus is phonetically similar to fuchs(?) and denoted a kind of red dye obtained from lichens, later this name was applied to 'rouge' or 'face paint'.. Fucus also meant disguise, deceit "...a fucus that cannot be detected..." [4]. Its linguistic offspring, infucate, 'To apply cosmetics; paint the face', isn't used all that often today [5]. Latin had the word offucia, paint; disguise, trick, from ob-fucus [Valpy, p.299]. The brownish seaweed or algae, rockweed, is of the order Fucales, from fucus.

Foxites was a term for the Quakers. So called from George Fox, who organized the sect (1624-1690).

“Foxes (vulpes) are so named as if the word were volupes, for they are 'shifty on their feet' (volubilis + pes) and never follow a straight path but hurry along tortuous twistings. It is a deceitful animal, tricking others with its guile, for whenever it has no food it pretends to be dead, and so it snatches and devours the birds that descend to its apparent corpse.” [The Etymologies of Isidore of Seville, 7th century AD, p.253.]

Another translation:

Foxes (vulpes) are named as if pleasurable (volupes), because the fox flies with its feet (volat pedibus). They are deceptive animals that never run on a direct course, but only follow a winding path. To get food fox pretends to be dead, then captures birds that come to feed on what they suppose to be its corpse. [Aberdeen Bestiary]

"Foxes (vulpes) are named as if pleasurable (volupes)", from *volupis, pleasant (cognate with Greek elpis, 'hope'). Greek alopex, fox, may be relate to Greek elpis 'hope' from obsolete alpos? The Latin counterpart of Elpis, Spes, had several temples in Rome.

The god Dionysus (might be Crater) had an epithet Bassareus when he was in his fox form. His followers, the Maenads (or Bacchae or Bacchantes of Roman mythology), were called Bassarids, Greek Bassaris, from bassara, 'fox', a word of unknown etymology; so called because their dresses were made of foxskins [Klein]. A variant form was Bassaros, 'the Vulpine One', Lord of the Bassarids [6]. "Others derive the name Bassareus from a Hebrew word, according to which its meaning would be the same as the Greek protrugês, that is, the precursor of the vintage. On some of the vases discovered in southern Italy Dionysus is represented in a long garment which is commonly considered to be the Thracian bassara" [7].

Foxes were destructive to vineyards, being plunderers of ripe grapes. The well known Aesop fable The Fox and the Sour Grapes is about grapes hanging too high up for the fox to reach. Frustrated, he gave up trying, and walked away with an air of feigned dignity and unconcern, remarking, "I thought those Grapes were ripe, but I see now they are quite sour" [8]. The English idiom "sour grapes" is derived from this fable.

The verb 'to fox', foxing, is to make sour by fermenting, used of beer and wine. Foxy is a tasting term for the musty character of wines with an animal aroma or taste which reminds the smell of fox. It is not certain if the the term is related to the animal, 'fox', or derives from the French faux, faulx ('false'). According to this wine tasting terminology website, the French phrase "gout de renard" literally translates as 'odour' or 'taste' of fox, but means something more like "presence of fox" in the intangible sense.

Fox, a term for a sword frequent in the Elizabethan dramatists, may perhaps be the French faux, faulx, Latin falx, a "falchion" (a short, broad sword with a convex cutting edge and a sharp point, used in medieval times. from Latin falx, falc-, sickle). Fox, a cant term for to make, or become, drunk, perhaps akin to Fr. fausser, as if to disguise (?). Compare also the French fausser, or faulser, to pierce or broach a cask, whence fausset, a, faucet for a hogshead. [to make wine go sour] Fuller uses fauxety for faussete (falsity), with allusion to Guy Faux. It is worth noting, however, that in Icelandic fox is a fraud or deception, and perhaps to fox is to beguile or fuddle one. Fuzzed (=z fuddled) is perhaps related. A print or book is said to be foxed, when the paper has become spotted or discoloured by damp (musty). In Warwickshire the same term is applied to timber when discoloured by incipient decay. It is, no doubt, the same word as the West country foust, soiled, mouldy, and fust, to become mouldy, Scot, foze, the same. Compare fouse, a Craven form of fox. Fust is from O. French fuste, "fusty," originally smelling of the cask (fust, from Lat. fustis). [Folk-etymology; 1882, Abram Palmer, p.127-128]


Fixed stars in Vulpecula


1 23CAP16 24CAP39 288 30 60 +21 18 03 +43 13 07 4.60 B5

alpha 28CAP08 29CAP31 291 39 21 +24 33 45 +45 51 54 4.63 M1

13 05AQU40 07AQU03 297 50 02 +23 56 53 +43 56 38 4.50 A0

1 From Hevelius atlas


Vulpecula cum Ansere, the Little Fox and the Goose, is known in Italy as Volpe colla Oca; in Germany as Fuchs, or Fuchschen, mit der Gans; and in France as Petit Renard avec l'Oie.

Smyth wrote that this is "a modern constellation, crowded in by Hevelius to occupy a space between the Arrow (Sagitta) and the Swan (Cygnus), where the Via Lactea (Milky Way) divides into two branches. For this

purpose he ransacked the infamies of this bifurcation, and was so satisfied with the result, that the effigies figure in the elaborate print of his offerings to Urania. He selected it on account of the Eagle (Aquila), Cerberus (an obsolete constellation in Hercules) and Vultur Cadens (Lyra). "I wished," said he, "to place a fox and a goose in the space of the sky well fitted to it; because such an animal is very cunning, voracious and fierce. Aquila and Vultur are of the same nature, rapacious and greedy.''

The two members are sometimes given separately; indeed the Anser is often omitted. Flamsteed's Atlas shows both, but separates the titles; and Proctor arbitrarily combined both in his Vulpes. Astronomers now call the whole Vulpecula.

Its inventor saw 27 stars here, but Argelander catalogued 37, and Heis 62. They come to the meridian toward the end of August.

Although I have elsewhere found no named star in Vulpecula, and its {Page 474} general faintness would render it doubtful whether there ever has been one, yet the Standard Dictionary says of it under the word Anser: a small star in the constellation of the Fox and the Goose; and the Century Dictionary has much the same. This may have been alpha, the lucida, a 4.4-magnitude just west of the Fox's head.

A meteor stream, the Vulpeculids, appearing from the 13th of June to the 7th of July, radiates from a point in this constellation; but the latter's most noteworthy object is the Double-headed Shot, or Dumb-bell Nebula, N. G. C. 6853, 27 M., just visible in a 1/-inch finder, 7° southeast from the star Albireo.

Dracothe Dragon

Urania's Mirror 1825. The Dragon surrounding the Little Bear, Ursa Minor

Contents:1. Clues to the meaning of this celestial feature2. The fixed stars in this constellation3. History_of_the_constellation3. The Draconic Transverse

Clues to the meaning of this celestial featureDraco is Latin for 'dragon' from Greek dracon. 'Dragon' seems to be a term for any mysterious snakelike creature in mythology. Dragons are often depicted as having a snake body on four feet. There is no fossil evidence for dragons ever having existed.

"'The tree of the Summit' was a type of the Celestial Pole, Seat of Judgment, and was guarded by the celestial serpent, the constellation Draco" [1]. "The constellation Ursa Minor which contains the Polestar, Polaris, as is now drawn enclosed on three sides by the coils of Draco; formerly it was almost entirely so" [Allen, Star Names, under Ursa Minor]. This pole, or the constellation Ursa Minor, was also imagined as a tree, and Draco, or the Dragon Ladon, is seen as guarding either the constellation Ursa Minor, or the tree in the garden of the Hesperides. Ladon, representing Draco, was the serpent-like dragon that twined round the tree in the Garden and guarded the golden apples, while tormenting the Titan Atlas (maybe Camelopardalis) as he held the heavens on his shoulders.

There are three known myths of dragons that relate to this constellation

1. One is the dragon, Ladon, who guards the apples in the land of the Hesperides [2]. Ladon was a River-God of northern Arkadia (Arcadia), in the Peloponnesos [3]. This is in the general direction of Ursa Minor, who represents Arcas, from which the name Arcadia derives.

2. "Some also say this Draco was thrown at Minerva (Athene) by the Gigantes (Giants), when she fought them. Minerva snatched its twisted form and threw it to the stars, and fixed it at the very pole of heaven. And so to this day it appears with twisted body, as if recently transported to the stars." [Hyginus, Astronomica 2.3 4] "Today we see him forever asleep as the much-knotted, battered, and twisted Draco" [5]. [Minerva threw the dragon to the stars — or slung it. A German word for snake is Schlange "which is probably related to 'sling'", Old English *slang ‘a snake, sinuous, snakelike, long and narrow and winding’ and slingan ‘twist oneself, creep’ [6, p.195], cognates are sling and slink, from Indo-European *slengwh- 'To slide, make slide, sling, throw', and maybe slang (casual speech).]

3. The dragon slain by Cadmus at Thebes: Boeotian Thebes, the City of the Dragon. (Allen, p.209).

See Barry Long's feature excerpted from the book; The Origins of Man and the Universe. Subtitle: The Myth That Came to Life, The Draconic Syndrome... The character of myth and the Draconic Transverse (Draco).

Draco from the Latin dracon, Greek drakon, from drak, 'monster with the evil eye', cognate with Greek derkomai 'I see', derkesthai, 'to look at', Sanskrit darc (see), Avestic darstis (sight), Old Irish derc (eye), Old

English torht, and Old High German zoraht, from the Indo-European root *derk- 'To see'. Derivatives: dragon, dragoon, drake2 (a mayfly or drake fly used as fishing bait), draconian (harsh, strict, drastic), tarragon (Artemisia dracunculus, from Greek drakontion ‘dragonwort’, New Latin tarchon), rankle (to cause persistent feelings of bitterness, resentment, or anger, from draoncle, 'abscess, festering sore'. The notion is of an ulcer caused by a snake's bite). [Pokorny derk- 213. Watkins] Other related words: Dracula, Dracaena, mandrake, Mandragora, snapdragon.

The longan tree, 'dragon eyes' from Chinese long, dragon, is so named because of the fruit's resemblance to an eyeball when it is shelled. The black seed shows through the translucent flesh like a pupil/iris. See picture.

The root *derk- should relate to the 'drakon-breeding Dirke', a fountain of Thebes [5]. Derketis (or Dercetis) identified with Dirke which is interpreted as coming from this root; 'to look upon, see, shine (derkô)' [6]. Dirke was the second wife of Lycus (after he abandoned his first wife Antiope), she was jealous of Antiope and had her imprisoned and ill-treated. Antiope escaped and found her sons Amphion and Zethus. In revenge for their mother's mistreatment Amphion and Zethus had Dirke tied to the horns of a wild bull and dragged (drag, from Old English dragan, is not a recognized cognate of 'dragon') to death over rocks. Dionysus made the famous spring, Dirke, near Thebes in Boeotia, spring up from her body.

Dercetis is also referred to as the Philistine Derceto [7], or Derketo, was said to have thrown herself into a lake near Ascalon, on which she was changed into a fish or mermaid. The Greeks recognized Atargatis under the name Derketo, known in Syria as Tirgata, also known as Dea Syria, 'Goddess of Syria'.

"And there appeared another wonder. In heaven; and behold a great red dragon... and his tail drew the third part of the stars of heaven, and did cast them to the earth...." (Rev. 12:3-4).

The words drag and draw comes from the Indo-European root *dhragh- 'To draw, drag on the ground'. Rhyming variant of *tragh-. Derivatives: draw, drawer, (these words from Old English dragan, to draw, pull), drag (from Old Norse draga, to draw, pull, or Old English dragan), dray (from Old English draege, dragnet), draft (from Middle English draught, a pull, from a Scandinavian source akin to Old Norse *drahtr, drattr, act of drawing), dredge. [Pokorny dheragh- 257. Watkins]

“The dragon (draco) is the largest of all the snakes, or of all the animals on earth. The Greeks call it drakon, whence the term is borrowed into Latin so that we say draco. It is often drawn out of caves and soars aloft, and disturbs the air. It is crested, and has a small mouth and narrow pipes through which it draws breath and sticks out its tongue. It has its strength not in its teeth but in its tail, and it causes injury more by its lashing tail than with its jaws. Also, it does not harm with poison; poison is not needed for this animal to kill, because it kills whatever it wraps itself around. Even the elephant with his huge body is not safe from the dragon, for it lurks around the paths along which the elephants are accustomed to walk, and wraps around their legs in coils and kills them by suffocating them. It is born in Ethiopia and India in the fiery intensity of perpetual heat.” [The Etymologies of Isidore of Seville, 7th century AD, p.255.]

"Today we see him forever asleep as the much-knotted, battered, and twisted Draco" [8]. To wake a sleeping dragon is to awake a dormant power.

"Dr. John Tanke has theorized that the words dragon and draugr might be related. He notes that both the serpent and the spirit serve as jealous guardians of the graves of kings or ancient civilizations. Dragons that act as draugar appear in Beowulf as well as in the stories of Siegfried" [9]. Draugrs seem to be dream characters or characters from a vision as described here. The word dream is related to Old Norse draugr, German traum, 'dream', Old Saxon bi-driogan, 'to deceive', Old High German triogan, 'to lie', from the Indo-European root *dhreugh- 'To deceive'. [Pokorny 2. dhreugh- 276. Watkins] With Australian aboriginals, creation is the

Dreaming.

According to Carl Jung, "the structure of a dream is similar to a drama", dreams are drawn from our life experiences and those past experiences that rankle us influence our dreaming (rankle from the same root as dragon; *derk- 'To see'.)

In Sanskrit *derk- became darsanam, 'seeing, meeting'. In Hinduism Darshan refers to a sight or glimpse of a holy personage, such as a guru [12]. darshana, refers to any of the six schools of Hindu philosophy (literally, 'views').

Greek dorkas, a gazelle (so called in reference to its large bright eyes), from derkesthai, perfect dedorka, see, look at. Drake and dragon are of the same ult. origin. 'dedorka' , 'have seen' 'I see' [13, p.116]. [There is no English cognate word in the IE *derk root referring to 'sight' or 'see', but there is the word 'gaze' (a word of unknown origin) in 'gazelle' which is a translation of the Greek dorkas?]

The word draconian came into being to describe to the nature of Draco, an Athenian legislator. Draco (620 B.C.) produced a comprehensive set of laws for the city-state, perhaps the first such written code of laws in European history, a code mostly concerned with criminal law [12]. His laws were considered harsh (or drastic); anything from stealing a head of cabbage to murder merited the death penalty under the Draconian code. These days, Draco is identified with anything harsh, out-dated, or oppressive [13].

In modern Albania Djall is the name of the Devil. He is also called Dreqi from the Latin draco [14]. The 'Old Serpent' (believed to be Draco), in the Garden of Eden, is often interpreted as the 'Devil', (or sometimes Satan). ''Dracula' in the Wallachian language means 'devil'. Stoker copied this into his notes for Dracula, which suggests that this was probably why he chose the name. The later meaning of 'devil' probably derives from the medieval association of the devil with the image of the dragon, as in St George slaying the dragon" [15].

The Bible in Revelation 12:7-9 says:

"And the great dragon was cast out, That Old Serpent, called The Devil, and Satan, which deceiveth the whole world: he was cast out into the earth, and his angels were cast out with him" [16].

The word Dragoman (not a recognized cognate of dragon) is a guide or an interpreter in countries where Arabic, Turkish, or Persian is spoken, ultimately from Akkadian targumanu, 'interpreter' (from ragamu, 'to call'). Ladon (the dragon slain by Herakles and identified with Draco), was said to have had a hundred heads and that the heads spoke with a multitude of voices in many languages. The Targum (related to the word dragoman) is the Aramaic translations or paraphrasings of the Hebrew Scriptures of the Bible, from Hebrew tirgem, 'he interpreted, translated'. Dreams are interpreted, or dreams are the subconscious mind's symbolic interpretations of experiences.

The forked tongue (multiple tongues, language from lingua, tongue) of serpents seems to mean; interpretation, and the potential for misinterpretation. The serpent in the Garden of Eden in dialogue with Eve tells her that the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil had a different interpretation to what she understood it to be. She says that even if she touches the tree she will die. The serpent responds that she will not die, rather she would become like a god, knowing good and evil [17].

The symbolic connection between serpents and deceit may depend in part on the observation that snakes have forked tongues. A forked tongue is a tongue which has not one end, but two, pointing in different directions. In humans, the tongue is an essential tool in speech, and the presence of only one tip signifies the unity of truthful speech, and corresponds to the unity of the truth itself. There is only one truth, but there are many lies. The forked tongue represents the disunity of deceitful speech [18].

And when the serpent is slain or the devils cast out:

"And these signs shall follow them that believe: In my name shall they cast out devils; they shall speak with new tongues. They shall take up serpents; and if they drink any deadly thing, it shall not hurt them; they shall lay hands on the sick, and they shall recover." (Mark 16:17-18)

“The isles of the Hesperides are so called after the city of Hesperis, which was located within the borders of Mauretania. They are situated beyond the Gorgades, at the Atlantic shore, in the most remote bays of the sea. Stories tell of an ever-watchful dragon guarding golden apples in their gardens. There, it is said, is a channel from the sea that is so twisted, with winding banks, that when seen from afar it looks like the coils of a serpent.” [The Etymologies of Isidore of Seville, 7th century AD, p.294.]

"The Bears (Ursa Major and Ursa Minor) are not set face to face: each with its muzzle points at the other's tail and follows one that follows it. Sprawling between them and embracing each the Dragon (Draco) separates and surrounds them with its glowing stars lest they ever meet or leave their stations." [Astronomica, Manilius, 1st century AD, p.27].


Fixed stars in Draco


Nodus 11 Altaisy delta 15ARI51 17ARI10 288 08 14 +67 34 25 +82 53 06 3.24 G8

Tyl epsilon 01TAU21 02TAU42 297 05 17 +70 08 26 +79 29 15 3.99 G3

upsilon 18TAU57 20TAU20 283 45 15 +71 13 51 +83 12 60 4.91 K0

Phi 09GEM43 11GEM06 275 22 08 +71 18 42 +84 52 14 4.24 A0

chi 14GEM38 16GEM01 275 29 22 +72 42 42 +83 33 34 3.69 F5

Dziban psi 12CAN21 13CAN48 265 42 26 +72 10 26 +84 11 02 4.90 F5

Giansar lambda 08LEO55 10LEO20 172 06 53 +69 36 26 +57 14 13 4.01 M0

omega 10LEO52 12LEO15 264 18 36 +68 46 52 +86 53 55 4.87 F4

kappa 14LEO52 16LEO15 187 50 24 +70 03 49 +61 45 31 3.88 B5

Thuban alpha 06VIR02 07VIR27 210 45 30 +64 36 51 +66 21 38 3.64 A0

Nodus 1 zeta 01LIB51 03LIB23 257 09 33 +65 46 34 +84 45 45 3.22 A3

Edasich iota [body] 03LIB31 04LIB57 230 57 12 +59 08 26 +71 05 40 3.47 K2

eta 13LIB05 14LIB28 245 49 37 +61 37 37 +78 26 34 2.89 G6

Theta [Neck] 15LIB17 16LIB40 240 14 14 +58 41 53 +74 26 21 4.11 F8

Arrakis mu [Head] 23SCO21 24SCO45 256 04 21 +54 32 08 +76 14 18 5.06 F6

Kuma nu [Head] 08SAG56 10SAG19 262 47 50 +55 13 04 +78 09 10 4.98 A8

Alwaid beta [Head] 10SAG34 11SAG58 262 19 32 +52 20 15 +75 17 02 2.99 G2

Grumium xi [Head] 23SAG21 24SAG45 268 09 55 +56 52 47 +80 17 15 3.90 K3

Etamin gamma [Head] 26SAG35 27SAG58 268 51 39 +51 29 38 +74 55 44 2.42 K5



With vast convolutions Draco holds

The ecliptic axis in his scaly folds.

O'er half the skies his neck enormous rears,

And with immense meanders parts the Bears.

— Erasmus Darwin's Economy of Vegetation.

Draco, the Dragon, circles around the North Pole. The German Drache, the Italian Dragone, and the French Dragon, was Dracon with the Greeks — indeed this has been the universal title in the transcribed forms of the word. Classic writers, astronomers, and the people have known it thus, although Eratosthenes and Hipparchos called it Ophis (Greek for snake), {Part 203} and in the Latin Tables, as with some of the poets, it occasionally appeared, with the other starry snakes, as Anguis, Coluber, Python, and Serpens (another constellation Serpens). From the latter came Aesculapius (identified with Ophiuchus), and perhaps Audax.

It was described in the Shield of Hercules, with the two Dogs (Canis Major and Canis Minor), the Hare (Lepus), Orion, and Perseus, as "The scaly horror of a dragon, coiled Full in the central field"; and mythologists said that it was the Snake snatched by Minerva from the giants and whirled to the sky, where it became Sidus Minervae et Bacchi, or the monster killed by Cadmus at the fount of Mars, whose teeth he sowed for a crop of armed men.

Julius Schiller, without thought of its previous character, said that its stars represented the Holy Innocents of Bethlehem; others, more consistently, that it was the Old Serpent, the tempter of Eve in the Garden.

Delitzsch asserted that a Hebrew conception for its stars was a Quiver; but this must have been exceptional, for the normal figure with that people was the familiar Dragon, or a sea monster of some kind. Renan thought that the allusion of Job to "the crooked serpent" in our Authorized Version is to this, or possibly to that of Ophiuchus; but the Dragon would seem to be the most probable as the ancient possessor of the pole-star (now Polaris), then, as ours now is, the most important in the heavens; while this translation of the original is specially appropriate for such a winding figure. The Reverend Doctor Albert Barnes renders it "fleeing," and Delitzsch, "fugitive "; but the Revised Version has "swift," a very unsuitable epithet for Draco's slow motion, yet applicable enough to the more southern Hydra (Hydrus).

Referring to Draco's change of position in respect to the pole from the effect of precession, Proctor wrote in his Myths and Marvels of Astronomy:

"One might almost, if fancifully disposed, recognize the gradual displacement of the Dragon from his old place of honour, in certain traditions of the downfall of the great Dragon whose 'tail drew the third part of the stars of heaven,' alluded to in The Revelation xii, 4; and the conclusion of that verse, 'did cast them to the earth,' would show a possible reference to meteors."

{Page 204} In Persia Draco was Azhdeha, the Man-eating Serpent, occasionally transcribed Hashteher; and, in very early Hindu worship, Shi-shu-mara, the Alligator, or Porpoise, which also has been identified with our Delphinus.

Babylonian records allude to some constellation near the pole as a Snail drawn along on the tail of a Dragon that may have been our constellation; while among the inscriptions we find Sir, a Snake, but to which of the sky serpents this applied is uncertain. And some see here the dragon Tiamat,overcome by the kneeling sun-god Izhdubar or Gizdhubar, our Hercules, whose foot is upon it [note at bottom of page: This notable creation of Euphratean mythology (Tiamat) was the personification of primeval chaos, hostile to the gods and opposed to law and order; but Izhdubar conquered the monster in a struggle by driving a wind into its opened jaws and so splitting it in twain. Cetus, Hydra, and the Serpent of Ophiuchus (Serpens) also have been thought its symbols. Its representation is found on cylinder seals recently unearthed.] Rawlinson, however, said that Draco represented Hea or Hoa, the third god in the Assyrian triad, also known as Kim-mut.

As a Chaldaean figure it probably bore the horns and claws of the early typical dragon, and the wings that Thales utilized to form the Lesser Bear (Ursa Minor); hence these are never shown on our maps. But with that people it was a much longer constellation than with us, winding downwards and in front of Ursa Major, and, even into later times, clasped both of the Bears in its folds; this is shown in manuscripts and books as late as the 17th century, with the combined title Arctoe et Draco. It still almost encloses Ursa Minor. The usual figuring is a combination of bird and reptile, magnus et tortus, a Monstrum mirabile and Monstrum audax, or plain Monstrum with Germanicus. Vergil had Maximus Anguis, which, "after the manner of a river, glides away with tortuous windings, around and through between the Bears;" — a simile that may have given rise to another figure and title, found in the Argonauticae, — Ladon, from the prominent river of Arcadia, or, more probably, the estuary bounding the Garden of the Hesperides, which, in the ordinary version of the story, Draco guarded, "the emblem of eternal vigilance in that it never set." Here he was Coluber arborem conscendens, and Custos Hesperidum, the Watcher over the golden fruit; this fruit and the tree bearing it being themselves stellar emblems, for Sir William Drummond wrote: "a fruit tree was certainly a symbol of the starry heavens, and the fruit typified the constellations"; and George Eliot, in her Spanish Gypsy: {Page 205}

"The stars are golden fruit upon a tree

All out of reach."

Draco's stars were circumpolar about 5000 B.C., and, like all those similarly situated, — of course few in number owing to the low latitude of the Nile country, — were much observed in early Egypt, although differently figured than as with us. Some of them were a part of the Hippopotamus, or of its variant the Crocodile, and thus shown on the planisphere of Denderah and the walls of the Ramesseum at Thebes. As such Delitzsch says that it was Hes-mut, perhaps meaning the Raging Mother. An object resembling a ploughshare held in the creature's paws has fancifully been said to have given name to the adjacent Plough.

The hieroglyph for this Hippopotamus was used for the heavens in general; while the constellation is supposed to have been a symbol of Isis Hathor, Athor, or Athyr, the Egyptian Venus; and Lockyer asserts that the myth of Horus which deals with the Hor-she-shu, an almost prehistoric people even in Egyptian records, makes undoubted reference to stars here; although subsequently this myth was transferred to the Thigh, our Ursa Major. It is said that at one time the Egyptians called Draco Tanem, not unlike the Hebrew Tannim, or Aramaic Tannin, and perhaps of the same signification and derived from them.

The Egyptian Necht was close to, or among, the stars of Draco; but its exact location and boundaries, how it was figured, and what it represented, are not known.

Among Arabian astronomers Al Tinnin and Al Thu'ban were translations of Ptolemy's Drakon; and on the Borgian globe, inscribed over beta and gamma, are the words Alghavil Altannin in Assemani's transcription, the Poisonous Dragon in his translation, assumed by him as referring to the whole constellation. That there was some foundation for this may be inferred from the traditional belief of early astrologers that when a comet was here poison was scattered over the world. Bayer cited from Turkish maps Etanin, and from others Aben, Taben, and Etabin; Riccioli, Abeen vet Taeben; Postellus, Daban; Chilmead, Alanin; and Schickard, Attanmo. Al Shuja', the Snake, also was applied to Draco by the Arabians, as it was to Hydra; and Al Hayyah, the Snake, appeared for it, though more common for our Serpens, with which word it was synonymous.

Bayer had Palmes emeritus, the Exhausted Vine Branch, that I do not find elsewhere; but the original is probably from the Arabs for some minor group of the constellation.

Williams mentions a great comet, seen from China in 1337, which passed through Yuen Wei, apparently some unidentified stars in Draco. The {Page 206} creature itself was the national emblem of that country, but the Dragon of the Chinese zodiac was among the stars now our Libra: Edkins writes that Draco was Tsi Kung, the Palace of the Heavenly Emperor, adding, although not very clearly, that this palace is bounded by the stars of Draco, fifteen in number, which stretch themselves in an oval shape round the pole-star. They include the star Tai yi, xi, omicron, sigma, s, of Draco, which is distant about ten degrees from the tail of the Bear and twenty-two from the present pole. It was itself the pole in the Epoch of the commencement of Chinese astronomy.

Draco extends over twelve hours of right ascension, and contains 130 naked-eye components according to Argelander; 220, according to Heis: but both of these authorities extend the tail of the figure, far beyond its star lambda, to a 4th-magnitude under the jaws of Camelopardalis, — much farther than is frequently seen on the maps.

Ursa Minorthe Lesser Bear

Ursa Minor surrounded by Draco in Urania's Mirror 1825


Clues to the meaning of this celestial featureUrsa Minor was once seen as Draco's wings, the wings of the Dragon, Thales around 600 B.C. used them to form this constellation. Ursa Minor, the Little Bear, represents Arcas, the son of the Great Mother Bear who is represented in the adjoining constellation, Ursa Major. Ursa Minor also had the title Cynosura, 'dog's tail', in Greek mythology, Cynosura was a nymph on Mount Ida in Crete, who along with Helice (Ursa Major), nursed Zeus/Jupiter when he was being hidden from his father, Cronus/Saturn. In gratitude, Zeus placed her in the heavens as the constellation Ursa Minor. Cynosura is another name for the constellation Ursa Minor

or its brightest star, Polaris. According to Allen (Star Names, under Ursa Major) "Subsequent story changed the nurses into the Cretan nymphs Helice and Melissa", Melissa might represent Ursa Minor.

"Now the one men call by name Cynosura (Ursa Minor) and the other Helice (Ursa Major). It is by Helice that the Achaeans (Greek sailors) on the sea divine which way to steer their ships, but in the other (Ursa Minor) the Phoenicians put their trust when they cross the sea. But Helice (Ursa Major) appearing large at earliest night, is bright and easy to mark; but the other is small, yet better for sailors: for in a smaller orbit wheel all her stars. By her guidance, then, the men of Sidon (Phoenicians) steer the straightest course…" [Phaenomena, Aratus, p.209]

According to Diodorus "the Sicilian travelers direct their course by the Bears, in the same manner as is done at sea" [Star Names]. The expression 'to get one's bearings' would also mean for a navigator to know your position in reference to the bears (Ursa Major and Ursa Minor), especially Polaris, although I don't know if this is how the expression originated. An Italian name for Polaris was la Tramontana which is a classical name for the cold northern wind in Italy. Allen says in Star Names p.454 "One derivation of this transmontane is from the fact that the nations along the Mediterranean saw the star beyond their northern mountain boundary; and the word appears in the popular saying, current among the Latin races, of a man's "losing his Tramontane" when one had lost his bearings."

Ursa Minor contains the guiding star Polaris. Nowadays our word Cynosure, from Latin cynosura, from Greek kunosoura, 'dog's tail', is often used just for the Polestar, Polaris, alpha Ursa Minor. Cynosura was a title for the whole constellation of Ursa Minor in classical times. Cynosure means an object that serves as a focal point of attention, or something that serves to guide.

"Ursa Minor (Lesser Bear). Aglaosthenes (Greek poet circa 7th BC), who wrote the Naxica, says that she is Cynosura (the dog's tail), one of the nurses of Jove from the number of the Idaean Nymphae. He says, too, that in the city called Histoe, founded by Nicostratus and his friends, both the harbour and the greater part of the land are called Cynosura from her name. She, too, was among the Curetes who were attendants of Jove (Zeus). Some say that the nymphae Helice (Ursa Major) and Cynosura were nurses of Jove, and so for gratitude were placed in the sky, both being called Bears. We call them Septentriones." - Hyginus, Astronomica 2.2 [1]

This constellation also represents Arcas, the son of the Zeus (Jupiter, Jove), and Callisto (Kallisto - Ursa Major or Arktos). The land that is called Arcadia was named after Arcas. Arcadia, or Arcady, is often described in idyllic terms; the ideal land of rustic simplicity:

"Arcadia has become a poetic byword for an idyllic vision of unspoiled wilderness filled with the bounties of nature and inhabited by shepherds ... Arcadia may refer to some imaginary idyllic paradise, immortalized by Virgil's Eclogues, ... Arcadia (utopia)" [2].

"Arcadia, that’s older than the moon (if we believe it), takes its name from great Arcas, Callisto’s son" [Ovid Book 1, The Carmentalia 3 ].

"Ancient Greeks heard similarities in its sound to arkys, a hunter's snare or net. Arcadia was the stomping grounds of the goddess Artemis, the virgin huntress known to the Romans as Diana. It reminded the Greeks also of their verb arkein 'to be strong, to endure, to be sufficient,' and its impersonal form, arkei moi, 'it's enough for me; I'm happy, content.'" [Acadian Food Words & New Origin of the Word Acadia]

"The Greek verb arkein is of unknown origin, but showing archaic Indo-European features like alternation arkh-; o-grade orkh-, with derivatives arkhe, rule, beginning, and arkhos, ruler" [Watkins, American Heritage Dictionary of Indo-European Roots, p.5]. Words relating to the Greek verb arkein, 'to begin, rule, command' include: arc (part of the circumference of a circle or other curve), arch-, -arch, archaeo-, Archaean age (3800 to 2500 million years ago. First life appears after the Hadean age which had no life), archaic, archi-, architect, architecture, archetype, archive, archon, -archy, autarchy, endarch, exarch, menarche, mesarch, xerarch, archives, archaeology, monarchy, anarchy, patriarch, archbishop, arch enemy, archi-.

"In earliest Northern India the star nearest the pole was known as Grahadhara, the Pivot of the Planets, representing the god Dhruva, and Al Biruni said that among the Hindus of his time it was Dhruva himself" [Allen, Star Names under Polaris].

"Dhruva, in Hindu mythology, was the prince blessed to eternal existence and glory as the Pole Star (Dhruva Nakshatra in Sanskrit) by Lord Vishnu [4]. "Dhruva started his penance, and went without food and water for six months, his mind fixed on the Lord. The austerity of his penance shook the heavens and the Lord appeared before him, but the child would not open his eyes because he was still merged in his inner vision of Vishnu's form described to him by Narada. Lord Vishnu had to adopt a strategy by causing that inner vision to disappear. Immediately Dhruva opened his eyes and seeing outside what he was all along seeing inside his mental eyes, prostrated before the Lord. ...When his sojourn in the world came to an end, a celestial chariot came to take him to ‘God’s Abode’. He told the charioteer that God was everywhere and so the question of taking him to god’s place did not arise. So saying, he sat down closing his eyes in meditation and merged in the Divine". http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dhruva

This constellation which contains the guiding star, Polaris, might represent the polar bears in particular, because the North Pole and its surrounds is their environment. "Dhruva went without food and water for six months"; polar bears hibernate for six months and go without food and water; "he sat down closing his eyes in meditation and merged in the Divine"; bears usually den up, and spend their winter in the state of winter dormancy, called torpor. They do not truly hibernate like other hibernating animals [5]. The Poles have six months of light and six months of darkness. Right at the Poles, the sun only rises once and sets once each year; the sun shines for half the year and it is dark for the other half of the year. This makes a year like one long day; six months of light and six months of darkness. At the summer solstice (about June 22) the Sun reaches the point farthest north of the celestial equator. (The South Pole is in the constellation Octans).

"Ursa Minor, as is now drawn, is enclosed on three sides by the coils of Draco" [Allen, Star Names]. This Pole, or the constellation Ursa Minor, was also imagined as a tree, with Draco, the Dragon (Ladon) guarding the tree in the garden of the Hesperides, or twined round the tree and guarding the golden apples, while tormenting the Titan Atlas (perhaps Camelopardalis) as he held the heavens on his shoulders. Or the dragon in the heavens is guarding the North Pole, or the constellation Ursa Minor.

"'The tree of the Summit' was a type of the Celestial Pole, Seat of Judgment, and was guarded by the celestial serpent, the Constellation Draco" [6].

"By the Hermetic principle, the World Axis or Tree (or Ladder of Isis, or Djed Column) joins the north celestial pole, the opening in the sky, with the opening in the earth, which is a figure of an entrance to the Hall of Records (archives?)" [7].

The word 'true' is cognate with Sanskrit dhruva-s, and related to Dhruva, the Hindu god representing the Pole star. True and tree derive from the Indo-European root *deru- Also dreu-. 'To be firm, solid, steadfast; hence specialized senses 'wood,' 'tree,' and derivatives referring to objects made of wood'. Derivatives: tree (from Old English trow), truce (from Old English trow, pledge), true (from Old English trowe), truth, trow (to think, to suppose), troth, betroth (from Old English trowth), trust (‘to be solid’), tryst (from Old French triste, waiting place < 'place where one waits trustingly'), tray, trough, trim, (these words from Old English trum, firm, strong), shelter (shield + truma, troop, from Old English truma, troop), tar+ (resin, pitch obtained from the pine tree, also the -tar of nectar), tarpaulin, tarmac, dour, duramen (the nonliving central wood of a tree), duress, durum (a hardy wheat), dura mater or dura matter (the outermost of the three meninges that surround the brain and spinal cord), endure, indurate, obdurate, (these words from Latin drus, hard), dryad (female deities associated with trees from Greek 'drus', 'an oak tree'), hamadryad, dendro-, dendrites, dendron, philodendron, rhododendron, (these words from Greek dendron, tree), druid (from Latin druides, the Celtic priestly caste from dru, tree + wid, 'know', hence literally meaning 'they who know the oak'). [Pokorny deru- 214. Watkins] Irish placename Derry. "Dorians, Dorus (son of Hellen, Helen and Hellenes might be Ursa Major), Julius Pokorny derives Dorian from Doris, 'woodland' ...The Dori- segment would be from the o-grade of Indo-European *deru-, 'tree'. The original forest must have comprised a much larger area than just Doris. Dorian might be translated as 'the country people', 'the mountain people', 'the uplanders', 'the people of the woods' or some such appellation, which is eminently suitable to their reputed origin" [8].

Shakespeare wrote in Julius Caesar:

constant as the Northern Star,

Of whose true fixed and resting quality

There is no fellow in the firmament.

Ursa Minor is the Little Bear, Arcas, son of the the Great Mother Bear, Ursa Major. Little bear cubs are born very small, about 500th of the mother's weight, and in legend it was believed that it was born as a shapeless lump of flesh, and the mother bear (Ursa Major) completes the work of gestation by licking the foetus into its proper form, the origin of the expression 'to lick into shape'; to give proper form to. Little bears are essentially embryos; en- 'in' + bryein, 'to swell, be full', from Greek bryon, moss, Klein says; "and probably cognate with German kraut, 'herb', perhaps also with Latin veru, 'spit' which in the Celtic languages is Irish bior, Welsh bêr, Celtic beru-". Latin veru means a dart, a spit used in roasting, or a toasting fork; the word resembles verus, the Latin word for true? The suffix -bryo- of embryo is from Greek bruein 'to be full, to swell';

Greek bruein resembles the poetic name for a bear, bruin. The words bear, brown and bruin, derives from the Indo-European root *bher-2 'Bright, brown'.

When a pregnant female bear begins hibernation, the embryo will attach itself to the uterine wall, and after about eight weeks the cubs will be born while the mother is still in hibernation [9]. In medicine, the developing fertilized ovum is not called an embryo until after the long axis appears ["By the Hermetic principle, the World Axis or Tree joins the north celestial pole" 8]. From the end of the second week after fertilization until the end of the eighth week, it is termed an embryo, then it becomes a fetus when its embryonic tail disappears [bears have no tail, a feature of these two bear constellations is that they do have tails, explained by the myth that Jupiter lay hold of the tails of the two bears and lifted them up into the heavens giving them long tails]. Embryonic also has the meaning; "in an initial or rudimentary stage of development", an in; "an embryonic nation, not yet self-governing". This might explain why Arcadia, or Arcady, is described in idyllic terms; the ideal land of rustic simplicity - underdeveloped and shapeless - like an embryo perhaps?

"Arcadia was applied to the Atlantic regions of New France, particularly to present-day Nova Scotia. The letter r began to disappear from the name on early maps—probably at first through a single copyist's error—so that eventually the region was known as Acadia and in French Acadie. ... [Acadian Food Words & New Origin of the Word Acadia]


"Now where heaven reaches its culmination in the shining Bears, which from the summit of the sky look down on all the stars and know no setting and, shifting their opposed stations about the same high point, set sky and stars in rotation, from there an insubstantial axis runs down through the wintry air and controls the universe, keeping it pivoted at opposite poles: it forms the middle about which the starry sphere revolves and wheels its heavenly flight, but is itself without motion and, drawn straight through the empty spaces of the great sky to the two Bears and through the very globe of the Earth, stands fixed, since the entire atmosphere ever revolves in a circle, and every part of the whole rotates to the place from which it once began, that which is in the middle, about which all moves, so insubstantial that it cannot turn round upon itself or even submit to motion or spin in circular fashion, this men have called the axis, since, motionless itself, it yet sees everything spinning about it.

"The top of the axis is occupied by constellations well known to hapless mariners, guiding them over the measureless deep in their search for gain. Helice (Ursa Major), the greater, describes the greater arc; it is marked by seven stars which vie with each other under its guidance the ships of Greece set sail to cross the seas.

"Cynosura [Ursa Minor] is small and wheels round in a narrow circle, less in brightness as it is in size, but in the judgment of the Tyrians it excels the larger bear.

"Carthaginians count it the surer-guide when at sea they make for unseen shores. They are not set face to face: each with its muzzle points at the other's tail and follows one that follows it. Sprawling between them and embracing each the Dragon (Draco) separates and surrounds them with its glowing stars lest they ever meet or leave their stations." [Astronomica, Manilius, 1st century AD, p.27].


Fixed stars in Ursa Minor


Polaris alpha 27GEM10 28GEM34 027 12 07 +89 01 44 +66 05 44 2.12 F8

Yildun delta 29GEM48 01CAN12 267 04 38 +86 36 35 +69 56 22 4.44 A0

epsilon 07CAN45 09CAN08 252 45 15 +82 07 21 =73 54 60 var G5

zeta 26CAN01 27CAN24 236 26 58 +77 56 57 +75 06 59 4.34 A2

eta 28CAN56 00LEO19 244 44 06 +75 52 16 +77 49 39 5.04 A8

Kochab beta 11LEO54 13LEO19 222 42 26 +74 21 35 +72 59 01 2.24 K4

Pherkad gamma 20LEO10 21LEO36 230 11 51 +72 00 43 +75 14 16 3.14 A2

Fixed stars in Ursa Minor


Polaris alpha 27GEM10 28GEM34 027 12 07 +89 01 44 +66 05 44 2.12 F8

Yildun delta 29GEM48 01CAN12 267 04 38 +86 36 35 +69 56 22 4.44 A0

epsilon 07CAN45 09CAN08 252 45 15 +82 07 21 =73 54 60 var G5

zeta 26CAN01 27CAN24 236 26 58 +77 56 57 +75 06 59 4.34 A2

eta 28CAN56 00LEO19 244 44 06 +75 52 16 +77 49 39 5.04 A8

Kochab beta 11LEO54 13LEO19 222 42 26 +74 21 35 +72 59 01 2.24 K4

Pherkad gamma 20LEO10 21LEO36 230 11 51 +72 00 43 +75 14 16 3.14 A2



The other, less in size but valued more by sailors,

Circles with all her stars in smaller orbit.

— Poste's Aratos.

Ursa Minor, The Lesser Bear, is the Orsa Minore of Italy, Petite Ourse of France, and Kleine Bar of Germany, shared with its major companion the latter's Septentrio, Arktos, Amaxa, Aganna, and Elike.

Similarly it was Kunosouris, but solely Kunosoura; this early and universal title, usually translated the "Dog's Tail," (from Greek kuon, dog, and oura, tail) continuing as Cynosura down to the time of the Rudolphine Tables; although with us "Cynosure" is applied only to Polaris. The origin of this word is uncertain, for the star group does not answer to its name unless the dog himself be attached; still some, recalling a variant legend of Kallisto and her Dog instead of Arcas, have thought that here lay the explanation. Others have drawn this title from that of the Attican promontory east of Marathon, because sailors, on their approach to it from the sea, saw these stars shining above it and beyond; but if there be any connection at all here, the reversed derivation is more {Page 448} probable; while Bournouf asserted that it is in no way associated with the Greek word for "dog."

Cox identified the word with Aukosoura, which he renders Tail, or Train, of Light. Yet this does not seem appropriate to a comparatively faint constellation, and would rather recall the city of that title in Arcadia, the country so intimately connected with the Bears. But the stellar name probably long antedated the geographical, old as this was; Pausanias considering Lycosura the most ancient city in the world, having been founded by Lycaon (Lupus) some time before the Deluge of Deucalion. Indeed the Arcadians asserted that they and their country antedated the creation of the moon, an assertion which gave occasion to Aristotle's term for them, — Proselenoi and the Latins' Proselenes.

Singularly coincident with the foregoing Aukosoura was the title that the distant Gaels gave to these stars, — Drag-blod, the Fire Tail.

Very recently, however, Brown has suggested that the word is not Hellenic in origin, but Euphratean; -and, in confirmation of this, mentions a constellation title from that valley, transcribed by Sayce as An-ta-sur-ra, the Upper Sphere. Brown reads this An-nas-sur-ra, High in Rising, certainly very appropriate to Ursa Minor; and he compares it with K-uv-os, or, the initial consonant being omitted, Unosoura. This, singularly like the Euphratean original, "might easily become Kunosoura under the influence of a popular etymology, aided by the appearance of the tail stars of the constellation. And in exact accordance with the foregoing view is the following somewhat curious passage in the Phainomena, 308-9:

Then, too, the head of Kynosure runs very high,

When night begins.

Ursa Minor was not mentioned by Homer or Hesiod, for, according to Strabo, it was not admitted among the constellations of the Greeks until about 600 B.C., when Thales, inspired by its use in Phoenicia, his probable birthplace, suggested it to the Greek mariners in place of its greater neighbor, which till then had been their sailing guide. Aratos, comparing the two, wrote, as in our motto, of the Minor, its Guards, beta and gamma, then being much nearer the pole than was alpha, our present pole-star. Thales is reported to have formed it by utilizing the ancient wings of Draco, perceiving that the seven chief components somewhat resembled the well-known Wain, but reversed with respect to each other. From all this come its titles Phoinike, Phoenice, and Ursa Phoenicia [these words should relate to the constellation Phoenix, and the related word Phoenician; the Phoenician mariners used Polaris as their guiding star].

The later classical story that made sister nymphs out of the stars of our two Bears, and nurses on Mount Ida of the infant Jove, is alluded to by Manilius in his line {Page 449};

The Little Bear that rocked the mighty Jove.

Although occasionally, but wrongly, figured and described as equal in size, — Euripides wrote:

Twin Bears, with the swift-wandering rushings of their tails, guard the Atlantean pole, —

they have always occupied their present respective positions, and, as Manilius said:

stand not front to front but each doth view

The others Tayl, pursu'd as they pursue;

the scientific poet Erasmus Darwin of the last century, grandfather of Charles Robert Darwin of this, imitating this in his Economy of Vegetation:

Onward the kindred Bears, with footsteps rude,

Dance round the pole, pursuing and pursued.

This "dancing" of the stars generally, as well as of the planets, was a favorite simile, and in classical days specially gave name to delta and epsilon of this constellation, as well as in Hindu astronomy; while Dante thus applied it to all those that were circumpolar:

Like unto stars neighboring the steadfast poles,

Ladies they seemed, not from the dance released.

The Arabians knew Ursa Minor as Al Dubb al Asghar, the Lesser Bear, — Bayer's Dhub Elezguar, and Chilmead's Dub Alasgar, — although earlier it was even more familiar to them as another Bier; and they called the three stars in the tail of our figure Banat al Na’ash al Sughra, the Daughters of the Lesser Bier.

Here, and in Ursa Major, some early commentators located the Fold, an ancient stellar figure of the Arabs, and an appropriate title, as Firuzabadi called beta and the gammas in Ursa Minor Al Farkadain, usually rendered the Two Calves, but, better, the Two Young Ibexes; Polaris, too, was well known as a Young He Goat, and adjacent stars bore names of desert animals more or less associated with a fold. Perhaps Lowell had this in mind when he wrote, in Prometheus, of

The Bear that prowled all night about the fold

Of the North-star.

But Manilius anticipated him in writing of the Bears:

Secure from meeting they're distinctly rolled,

Nor leave their Seats, and pass the dreadfull fold.

{Page 450} The Arabs also likened the constellation to a Fish, while with all that nation, heathen or Muhammadan, it was Al Fass, the Hole in which the earth's axle found its bearing.

Others of them, as well as the Persians, figured here the Ihlilagji, the Myrobalanum, or Date-palm Seed or Fruit, which the grouped stars were thought to resemble; but Hyde, writing the word Myrobalanaris, said that it signified one of their geometrical figures, — described by Ideler as bounded by our alpha, delta, epsilon, zeta, eta, gamma, beta, b, and the stars in the head of Camelopardalis. In Persia, where this foregoing figure was

popular, Ursa Minor also was Heft Rengh, Heft Averengh, or Hafturengh Kihin, the last word designating its inferiority in size to Ursa Major.

Jensen sees here the Leopard of Babylonia, an emblem of darkness which this shared, there and in Egypt, with all other circumpolar constellations; while on the Nile it was the well-known Jackal of Set even as late as the Denderah zodiac. This Jackal also appears in the carvings on the walls of the Ramesseum, but is there shown with pendent tail strikingly coinciding with the outlines of the constellation.

Plutarch said that with the Phoenicians it was Doube or Dobher (?), similar to the Arabian title, but defined by Flammarion as the "Speaking Constellation," — better, I think, the "Guiding One," indicating to their sailors the course to steer at sea. Jacob Bryant assigned it to Egypt, or Phoenicia, as Cahen ourah, — whatever that may be.

The early Danes and Icelanders knew it as the Smaller Chariot, or Throne, of Thor; and their descendants still call it Litli Vagn, the Little Wagon; as also, but very differently, Fiosakonur a lopti, the Milkmaids of the Sky. But the Finns, apparently alone among the northern nations of Europe in this conception, have Vaha Otawa, the Little Bear.

Dante called the seven stars Cornu, doubtless then a common name, for it appeared in Vespucci's 3a Lettera as Elcorno, his editor erroneously explaining this as a typographical error for carro, the wain; Eden and others of his time translating this as the Horne. And it has been the Spanish shepherds' similarly shaped Bocina, a Bugle; and the Italian sailors' Bogina, a Boa.

Caesius mentioned Catuli, and Canes Laconicae, the Lapdogs or Puppies, and the Spartan Dogs, as titles for both of the Bears.

With the Chinese it was Peih Sing.

Alrucaba, or Alruccaba, which probably should be Al Rukkabah, is first found in the Alfonsine Tables, although the edition of 1521 applied it only to the lucida (alpha, Polaris). While this generally is supposed to be from the Arabic Al Rakabah, the Riders, Grotius asserted that it is from the Chaldee Rukub, {Page 451} a Vehicle, the Hebrew Rekhubh; and, if so, would seem to be equivalent to the Wain and from the Hebrew editor of Alfonso. Others have thought it from Rukbah, the Knee, as beta always has marked the forearm of the Bear, and Alrucaba, in a varied orthography, was current for that star some centuries ago, as it is now for Polaris. Riccioli gave a queerly combined name for the constellation, Dubherukabah; and Bayer had Eruccabah, ending his list of titles with Ezra, a blunder in some connection with the commentator Aben Ezra, whom he often cited as an authority; still Riccioli followed him in this.

The Geneva Bible, rendering the Hebrew Ash, etc., by "Arcturus with his Sonnes," incorrectly added the marginal note, "the North Star with those that are about him."

Caesius typified the constellation as the Chariot sent by Joseph to bring his father down into Egypt, or that in which Elijah was carried to heaven; or as the Bear that David slew.

Young astronomers now know it as the Little Dipper.

In the old German manuscript already alluded to mention is made of "Ursa Minor under the North Pole, which is called by another name Tramontane (i. e. because on one side of the Mons Coelius, whereon sits the Pole Star)"; thus indicating another origin for this name than that found under Polaris as from the Mediterranean nations. I have seen no explanation of this, yet frequent references are met with in early records to some mountain located in the North as the seat of the gods and the habitation of life, the South being, "the abode of the prince of death and of demons." Sayce writes:

In early Sumerian days the heaven was believed to rest on the peak of "the mountain of the world" in the far northeast, where the gods had their habitations (cf. Isai. xiv, 13) [the mount of congregation, in the uttermost parts of the north], while an ocean or "deep" encircled the earth which rested upon its surface.

Von Herder referred to it as

Albordy, the dazzling mountain, on which was held the assembly of the gods;

and identified it with "the holy mountain of God" alluded to in the Book of the Prophet Ezekiel, xxviii, 14; and Professor Whitney quoted from the 62d verse of the 1st chapter of the Surya Siddhanta:

the mountain which is the seat of the gods;

and from the 34th verse of the 12th chapter:{Page 452} A collection of manifold jewels, a mountain of gold, is Meru [Allen notes: Whatever geographical foundation there may be for this Meru probably lies in the Pamir, the Roof of the World, that has lately become of strategical importance in Asia.] passing through the middle of the earth-globe, and protruding on either side.

Commenting upon which, he says:

"the 'seat of the gods' is Mount Meru, situated at the north pole."

The Norsemen had the same idea in their Himinbiorg, the Hill of Heaven, and the abode of Heimdallr, the guardian of the bridge Bifrost, the Rainbow, which united the earth to Asaheimr, or Asgard, the Yard, City, or Stronghold of the Ass, their gods, and the Olympus of Northern mythology. While far back of them the Egyptians supported their heavenly vault by four mountains, one at each of the cardinal points. Towards our day, in the report by "Christophorus Colonus, the Admyrall," recorded by Peter Martyr,

we read that the great discoverer thought "that the earth is not perfectlye rounde; But that when it was created, there was a certeyne heape reysed thereon, much hygher than the other partes of the same."

Columbus called this Paria, asserting that it contained Paradise; but it would seem from his narrative that he located it somewhere in the neighborhood of his discoveries between North and South America. Even in Chilmead's Treatise, more than a century after Columbus, we find serious reference to this mythical mountain as

"the mountaine Slotus, which lies under the Pole, and is the highest in the world."

May we not see in these the origin of Mons Coelius, the Heavenly Mountain, and of the name Tramontana from our constellation's location above that celestial elevation ? And I would here call attention to the old story of the Seven Sleepers of Ephesus, [These canonized Sleepers are still commemorated in the ritual of the Roman Catholic Church for the 27th of June] who, under the persecution of Decius in our 3d century, slumbered for nearly 200 years in the grotto under the similarly named Mount Coelian; these worthy successors of Epimenides the Cnosian and predecessors of our Rip Van Winkle being early associated with the seven stars of Ursa Major, and so perhaps with this, the Minor.

The latter's genethliacal influence was similar to that of its companion; the Prince, in Tennyson's Princess, thus accounting for his temperament:

For on my cradle shone the Northern star;

and likeness in their motions is alluded to in the same author's In Memoriam where

{Page 453} the lesser wain

Is twisting round the polar star, —

one of the Greater Bear's titles being the Twister; and in the Lazy Team, a designation that it still more deserves than does Ursa Major.

In Proctor's attempt to reform constellation names he calls this simply Minor, the Greater Bear being Ursa.

Ursa Minor, as now drawn, is enclosed on three sides by the coils of Draco; formerly it was almost entirely so. Argelander here enumerates 27 stars down to the 5. magnitude, and Heis 54.one unchangeable upon a throne Broods o'er the frozen heart of earth alone, Content to reign the bright particular star Of some who wander and of some who groan. Christina G. Rossetti's Later Life

Andromedathe chained woman

Urania's Mirror, 1825

Contents:1. Clues to the meaning of this celestial feature

2. The fixed stars in this constellation3. History_of_the_constellation

Clues to the meaning of this celestial featureRead the drama of the celestial royal family (Andromeda, Perseus, Cepheus, and Cassiopeia) on this Theoi Project webpage

Andromeda, the original "maiden in distress" is daughter of Cepheus, king of Ethiopeia, and his wife Cassiopeia. Cassiopeia was proud of her daughter's beauty and boasted that Andromeda was more beautiful than the Sea Nymphs, the Nereids, who were daughters of Poseidon (Neptune). The Nereids complained to Poseidon who sent a sea monster (Cetus) to ravage the coast. With his kingdom in grave danger Cepheus consulted the oracle of Ammon in Libya for advice. He learned the only way to save his kingdom was to sacrifice his daughter, Andromeda, to the sea monster. Andromeda is chained to a rock and left to the mercy of the monster. The hero, Perseus, riding through the air on winged sandals, arrives at the scene and they fall in love. Perseus has a consultation with Cepheus and Cassiopeia, it is agreed that if he rescues their daughter he could marry her. The sea monster (Cetus) arrives and Perseus kills it by turning it to stone with the Medusa's Head (Algol). Perseus breaks the chains that bound Andromeda to the rock and frees her. The wedding follows.

The English translation of the myth of Andromeda as told by Manilius in Astronomica, 1st century A.D. is not found elsewhere on the web (the Latin text can be found on this page). I am including it here because Manilius tells the myths from an astrological perspective and I think this is the best version of the story:

"There follows the constellation of Andromeda, whose golden light appears in the rightward sky when the Fishes [Pisces] have risen to twelve degrees. Once on a time the sin of cruel parents [Cepheus and Cassiopeia] caused her to be given up for sacrifice, when a hostile sea in all its strength burst upon every shore, the land was shipwrecked in the flood, and what had been a king's domain was now an ocean. From those ills but one price of redemption was proposed, surrender of Andromeda to the raging main for a monster [Cetus, the sea-monster] to devour her tender limbs.

"This was her bridal; relieving the people's hurt by submitting to her own, she is amid her tears adorned as victim for the beast and dons attire prepared for no such troth as this; and the corpseless funeral of the living maiden is hurried on its way.

"Then as soon as the procession reaches the shore of the tumultuous sea, her soft arms are stretched out on the hard rocks; they bound her feet to crags and cast chains upon her; and there to die on her virgin cross the maiden hung. Even in the hour of sacrifice she yet preserves a modest mien: her very sufferings become her, for, gently inclining her snow-white neck, she seemed in full possession of her liberty. The folds of her robe slipped from her shoulders and fell from her arms, and her streaming locks covered her body.

"You, princess, halcyons in circling flight lamented and with plaintive song bewailed your fate, shading you by linking their spans of wing. To look at you the ocean checked its waves and ceased to break, as was its wont, upon the cliffs, whilst the Nereids raised their countenance above the surface of the sea and, weeping for your plight, moistened the very waves. Even the breeze, refreshing with gentle breath your pinioned limbs, resounded tearfully about the cliff-tops.

"At length a happy day brought to those shores Perseus returning from his triumph over the monstrous Gorgon [Perseus is carrying the head of the Gorgon Medusa in his left hand, marked by Algol, the beta star of the constellation Perseus]. On seeing the girl fastened to the rock, he, whom his foe [the Gorgon Medusa] had failed to petrify with her aspect, froze in his tracks and scarcely kept his grasp of the spoil [the Gorgon's head that turned all who looked at it to stone]: the vanquisher of Medusa was vanquished at the sight of Andromeda. Now he envies the very rocks and calls the chains happy to clasp such limbs. On learning from the maiden's lips the cause of her punishment, he resolves to go through war against the sea to win her hand, undaunted though a second Gorgon come against him [Cetus, the sea-monster]. He quickly cuts a path through the air and by his promise to save their daughter's life awakens hope in the tearful parents; with the pledge of a bride he hastens back to the shore.

"Now had a heavy surge begun to rise and long lines of breakers were fleeing before the thrust of the massive monster [Cetus]. As it cleaves the waves, its head emerges and disgorges sea, the waters breaking loudly about its teeth and the swirling sea afloat in its very jaws; behind rise its huge coils like rings of an enormous neckchain, and its back covers the whole sea. Ocean clamors in every quarter, and the very mountains and crags quake at the creature's onset.

"What terror then, unhappy maiden, was expressed on your countenance, defended though you were by such a champion! How all your breath fled into the air! How all the blood ebbed from your limbs, when from the cleft in the rocks you beheld with your own eyes your fate, the avenging monster swimming towards you and driving the waves before it, how helpless you a victim for the sea!

"Hereupon with a flutter of winged sandals Perseus flies upwards and from the skies hurls himself at the foe, driving home the weapon stained with the Gorgon's blood. The beast rises to meet him, rears its head, twisting it out of the water, leaps aloft upon its support of winding coils, and towers high in the air with all its bulk. But as much as it rises hurtling up from the deep, always so much does Perseus fly higher and mock the sea-beast through the yielding air, and strike its head as it attacks. Yet not submitting to the hero the monster bites furiously at the breezes, though its teeth snap vainly and inflict no wounds; it spouts forth sea towards heaven, drenches its winged assailant with a blood-stained deluge, and sends in spray the ocean to the stars.

"The princess watches the duel of which she is the prize and, no longer mindful of herself, sighs with fear for her gallant champion: her feelings more than her body hang in suspense.

"At last, its frame riddled with stabs, through which the sea fills its body, the beast sinks, returns once more to the surface, and covers the mighty ocean with its massive corpse, still a fearful sight, and not for a maiden's eyes to look on.

"Having bathed his body in pure water, Perseus, a greater warrior now, flies from the sea to the lofty crags and releases from the chains which bind her to the rock the girl whose betrothal was sealed by his readiness to fight and who could now become a bride thanks to the bridegroom's dowry of her life.

"Thus did Perseus win place in heaven for Andromeda and hallow in a constellation the prize of that glorious battle, wherein a monster no less terrible than the Gorgon herself perished and in perishing relieved the sea of a curse". [Manilius, Astronomica, 1st century A.D., Book 5, p.344-351]

Then Manilius goes on to give the astrological influences:

The man whose birth coincides with the rising of Andromeda from the sea will prove merciless, a dispenser of punishment, a warder of dungeon dire; he will stand arrogantly by while the mothers of wretched prisoners lie prostrate on his threshold, and the fathers wait all night to catch the last kisses of their sons and receive into their inmost being the dying breath. From the same constellation comes the figure of the executioner, ready to take money for a speedy death and the rites of a funeral pyre, for him execution means profit, and oft will he bare his axe; in short, he is a man who could have looked unmoved on Andromeda herself fettered to the rock. Governor of the imprisoned he occasionally becomes a fellow convict, chained to criminals so as to save them for execution. [Manilius, Astronomica, Book 5, 1st century A.D., p.351.]

The wedding ceremony and wedding feast for Andromeda and Perseus as described by Ovid:

"Without a dower he takes Andromeda, the guerdon of his glorious victory, nor hesitates. ... Cupidus [Eros] and Hymen wave the flaring torch, abundant perfumes lavished in the flames. The houses are bedecked with wreathed flowers; and lyres and flageolets resound, and songs – felicit notes that happy hearts declare. The portals opened, sumptuous halls display their golden splendors, and the noble lords of Cepheus' court take places at the feast, magnificently served" [Ovid, Metamorphoses 5.1 - 238]

The prefix andro- in Andromeda's name means 'man' in Greek. The Greeks used the word andreia, for courage, with the sense of manly courage [1]. The drug Androstendione, or simply known as 'andro', is a hormone, a direct precursor of testosterone, the principal male sex hormone. Greek andro-, andr-, 'man', from aner, genitive andros 'man', is cognate with Old Indian naram, 'man', naryah, 'virile', Sabine-Latin Nero, Welsh ner, 'hero', Old Irish nert, Cornish nerth, 'virility'. Compare Andrew, Andrias, andron, dandy, 'a fop', and the second element in Alexander, Ardhanari, Dianira, Leander, philander, sundari. "Compare also the first element in anthropo-" [Klein]. Greek name -andros has the female counterparts in -aneira - Leandros/Leaneira, Deiandros/Deianeira [2].

Greek Andromeda is a compound of Greek aner, 'man', + -meda, the suffix -meda is from Greek medesthai, 'to be mindful of, give heed to, think on', or 'to meditate on', from Indo-European *med-, 'To take appropriate measures' [Klein]. The suffix -meda of her name is contained in the names Medusa and the second element in automedon, Diomedes, Ganymedes (Aquarius). From this same *med- root comes the word 'modern'; the name Andromeda might also relate to 'modern man'?

Greek anthropos, from andros opse = "he who has the aspect of human" [2]; her father is Cepheus and his name seems to relate to 'ape', a term used for early man and tailless extinct apes.

Andromeda is featured in an ancient Greek romance or novel called Aethiopica (the Ethiopian Story) or 'Theagenes and Chariclea' written 3rd A.D. by Heliodorus. The heroine, Chariclea ('Glory of Grace'. Charicles was the name of the priest who raised her), is a white woman with two black parents, the king and queen of Ethiopia, King Hydaspes and Queen Persine (Persinna). In the novel Persina explains to Chariclea that after ten unfruitful years of marriage, one hot day while she and her husband were making love in the king’s bridal chamber where the walls were decorated with pictures of Perseus and Andromeda:

"your father had to do with me..., and I by and by perceived myself to be with child... But thou wert born white, which color is strange among Ethiopians. I knew the reason, that it was because, while my husband had to do with me, I was looking at the picture of Andromeda naked brought down by Perseus from the rock, and so by mishap engendered presently thee, white, and very similar to her" [2]

The story goes that Persinna had been looking at an image (an icon) of Andromeda, a white woman, at the moment of conception. The explanation given by Heliodorus attributes the marvel to the power of the imagination [3], or imaging, later commentators suggest maternal impression, or mental imprinting, while others suggest the explanation could be albinism. "The identification of Chariclea with Andromeda is made explicit, and her likeness to a painting of Andromeda forms a key part of the final recognition scene" [4]. The picture was brought out of the bedroom and compared to Chariclea, and this convinced all present that she was the iconic image of Andromeda. Chariclea is the model for the white Ethiopian warrior princess Clorinda in Tasso’s epic poem 'Jerusalem Delivered' (1580) [5]. In the second century of our era there existed a painting by Evanthes of Perseus and Andromeda in the Zeus temple at Pelusium. Achilles Tatius, describes the painting:

"In the picture of Andromeda, the virgin was laid in a hollow of the rock, not fashioned by art, but rough like a natural cavity; and which, if viewed only with regard to the beauty of that which it contained, looked like a niche holding an exquisite fresh from the chisel; but the sight of her bonds, and of the monster approaching to devour her, gave it rather the aspect of a sepulchre. On her features extreme loveliness was blended with deadly terror, which was seated on her pallid cheeks, while beauty beamed forth from her eyes; but, as even amid the pallor of her cheeks a faint tinge of color was yet perceptible, so was the brightness of her eyes, on the other hand, in some measure dimmed, like the bloom of lately blighted violets. Her white arms were extended, and lashed to the rock; but their whiteness partook of a livid hue, and her fingers were like those of a corpse. Thus lay she, expecting death, but arrayed like a bride, in a long white robe, which seemed not as if woven from the fleece of the sheep, but from the web of the spider, or of those winged insects, the long threads spun by which are gathered by the Indian women from the trees of their own country. The monster was just rising out of the sea opposite to the damsel, his head alone being distinctly visible, while the unwieldy length of his body was still in a great measure concealed by the waves, yet so as partially to discover his formidable array of spines and scales, his swollen neck, and his long flexible tail, while the gape of his horrible jaws extended to his shoulder, and disclosed the abyss of his stomach. But between the monster and the damsel, Perseus was depicted descending to the encounter from the upper regions of the air—his body bare, except a mantle floating round his shoulders, and winged sandals on his feet—a cap resembling the helmet of Pluto was on his head, and in his left hand he held before him, like a buckler, the head of the Gorgon, which even in the pictured representation was terrible to look at, shaking its snaky hair, which seemed to erect itself and menace the beholder. His right hand grasped a weapon, in shape partaking of both a sickle and a sword; for it had a single hilt, and to the middle of the blade resembled a sword; but there it separated into two parts, one continuing straight and pointed, like a sword, while the other was curved backwards, so that with a single stroke, it might both inflict a wound, and fix itself in the part struck. Such was the picture of Andromeda". [Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine, 1844, by Various]

In his description of the painting Achilles Tatius describes the cave or hollowed rock where Andromeda was chained as "having the aspect of a sepulchre". According to Allen (see History below) Julius Schiller, a Christian interpreter of the constellations, in 1627, made of her stars Sepulchrum Christi, the "new Sepulchre wherein was never man yet laid."

Her name itself provides few clues to the meaning of this constellation. Libya is a possibility. Andromeda was the daughter of Cepheus and Cassiopeia. An association has been made between Libya's parents and Epaphus and Cassiopeia (Epaphus and Memphis) of another myth. "The husband of Cassiopeia is sometimes said to be Epaphus, by whom she bore Libya. She is also said to have been the wife of Cepheus of Ethiopia" [Grimal]. Cepheus consulted the Oracle of Ammon in Libya where he was advised to sacrifice Andromeda to the sea-monster.

And so Andromeda says to Night;

You who traverse the hollows of sky

With your chariot marked by the stars. [Varro p.19. http://www.sentex.net/~tcc/fvarro.html]

“The Palestinians built the seaside city Joppe of Palestine. There a rock is displayed which still retains traces of the fetters of Andromeda; it has the shape of a sea-monster larger than an elephant.” [The Etymologies of Isidore of Seville, 7th century AD, p.302.]

The flowering shrub Andromeda (Pieris japonica) is also called fetterbush, or Lily of the Valley Shrub. "The plant, growing on hummocks in the middle of bogs, reminded Linnaeus of Andromeda. Linnaeus saw the sea monster in the toads that inhabited the bogs in which he found the plant. He named the genus Andromeda after the distressed virgin (Black, 1979) and even drew a picture of her in his notebook" [6].

Olcott quoting Pluche [History of the Heavens, Abbé Pluche, 1739], in Star Lore of All Ages, p.24, says "Pluche accounts for the names of the constellations Perseus, Andromeda, and Cepheus in the following ingenius way:"

"It was an ordinary turn of the Hebrew and Phoenician languages to say that a city or country was the daughter of the rocks, deserts, rivers, or mountains that surrounded her or that were enclosed within her walls. Thus Jerusalem is often called "the daughter of Sion," that is, the daughter of drought or daughter of the barren hills contained within its compass. Palestine originally was nothing more than a long maritime coast consisting of rocks and a sandy flat shore. It was proper to speak of this long coast as the daughter of Cepheus and Cassiope, Cepha signifying a stone. If you would say in Phoenician, a long coast or a long chain or ridge, you would call it Andromeda [Andromeda is the chained woman]. Palestine would have been destroyed had it not been for the assistance of the barks [barques, small sailing ships] and pilots that voyaged to Pharos and Sais to convey provisions. Strabo informs us that the Phoenicians were accustomed to paint the figure of a horse upon the stern of their barks, but there was beside the winged horse (the emblem of navigation - Pegasus) a horseman bearing a peculiar symbol, and, as it were, the arms of the city of Sais (Sais is the Greek name for the Ancient Egyptian city ‘Sa’ in the western Egyptian delta). This was the Medusa's head (the star Algol is on the Medusa's head). Furthermore, a bark in the vulgar tongue was called Perseus, which means a runner or horseman. This then according to Pluche was the meaning of the fabled sacrifice of Andromeda:—Exposed to a cruel monster on the rocks of Joppa, in Syria, Andromeda (or the coast towns of Palestine), owed her deliverance to a flying rider, Perseus (the Phoenician barks), to whom the goddess of Sais had lent the frightful head of Medusa to turn all her enemies into stone with terror. Josephus wrote that in his day the inhabitants of Joppa showed the links and remains of the chain that bound Andromeda to the rock, and the bones of the sea monster (Cetus)."


Fixed stars in Andromeda


omicron 6ARI24 7ARI47 344 54 14 +42 03 25 +43 44 57 var B6

Alpherarz alpha 12ARI55 14ARI18 001 26 57 +28 48 52 +25 40 53 2.15 B8

lambda 16ARI54 18ARI17 353 46 37 +46 11 14 +43 46 47 4.00 G8

delta 20ARI26 21ARI49 009 09 42 +30 35 15 +24 20 59 3.48 K3

pi 21ARI18 22ARI41 008 33 03 +33 26 40 +27 08 46 4.44 B4

Vertex M31 NGC224 26ARI28 27ARI51 010 01 00 +41 00 00 +33 21 10 4.80 N

mu 27ARI48 29ARI11 013 29 33 +38 13 43 +29 39 20 3.94 A2

Mirach beta 29ARI01 00TAU24 016 43 53 +35 21 22 +25 56 31 2.37 M0

phi 05TAU03 6TAU26 016 38 50 +46 58 33 +36 21 56 4.28 B8

Adhil xi 06TAU28 07TAU52 019 52 00 +45 16 03 +33 49 45 5.00 G9

Almach gamma 12TAU50 14TAU14 030 12 18 +42 05 27 +27 48 08 2.28 K2



Andromeda, the Woman Chained, the Andromede of Aratos, and Andromeda of Eratosthenes, Hipparchos, and Ptolemy, represents in the sky the daughter of Cepheus and Cassiopeia, king and queen of Aethiopia, chained in exposure to the sea monster (Cetus) as punishment other mother's boast of beauty superior to that of the Nereids. Sappho, of the 7th century before Christ, is supposed to mention her, while Euripides and Sophocles, of the 5th, wrote dramas in which she was a character; {Page 32} but she seems to go far back of classical times, and we probably must look to the Euphrates for her origin, with that of her family and Cetus. Sayce claims that she appeared in the great Babylonian Epic of Creation, of more than two millenniums before our era, in connection with the story of Bel Marduk and the dragon Tiamat that doubtless is the foundation of the story of Perseus and Andromeda. She was noted, too, in Phoenicia, where Chaldaean influence was early felt.

As a constellation these stars have always borne our title, frequently with the added Mulier Catenata, the Woman Chained, and many of the classical Latins alluded to her as familiar and a great favorite. Caesar Germanicus called her Virgo Devota; a scholiast, Persea, as the bride of Perseus; while Manilius, and Germanicus again, had Cepheis, from her father (Cepheus).

In some editions of the Alfonsine Tables and Almagest she is Alamac, taken from the title of her star gamma (Almach); and Andromada, described as Mulier qui non vidit maritum, evidently from Al Biruni, this reappearing in Bayer's Carens Omnino viro. Ah Aben Reduan (Haly), the Latin translator of the Arabian commentary on the Tetrabiblos, had Asnade, which in the Berlin Codex reads Ansnade et est mulier quae non habet vivum maritum; these changed by manifold transcription from Alarmalah, the Widow, applied by the Arabians to Andromeda; but the philologist Buttmann said from Anroneda, another erroneous form of our word. The Antamarda of the Hindus is their variation of the classical name.

The original figure probably was, as Durer drew it, that of a young and beautiful woman bound to the rocks, Strabo said at Iope, the biblical Joppa [Joppa is a Biblical name for the Israeli city of Yafo, otherwise known as Jaffa, now a part of Tel Aviv - Yafo]; and Josephus wrote that in his day the marks of her chains and the bones of her monster foe (Cetus) were still shown on that sea-shore. But this author, "who did not receive the Greek mythology, observes that these marks attest not the truth but the antiquity of the legend."

Others, who very naturally thought her too far from home at that spot, located Iope in Aethiopia and made her a negress; Ovid expressing this in his patriae fusca colors suae, although he followed Herodotus in referring her to India. Manilius [author of the Astronomica] on the contrary, in his version of the story described her as nivea cervice; but the Aethiopia of this legend probably was along the Red Sea in southwestern Arabia. {Page 33}

Arabian astronomers knew these stars as Al Mar’ah al Musalsalah, their equivalent of the classical descriptive title, — Chilmead's Almara Almasulsala, — for Western mythological names had no place in their science, although they were familiar with the ideas. But they represented a Sea Calf, or Seal, Vitulus marinus catenatus [The common seal is Phoca vitulina], as Bayer Latinized it, with a chain around its neck that united it to one of the Fishes; their religious scruples deterring them from figuring the human form.

The Spanish edition of the Alfonsine Tables pictures Andromeda with an unfastened chain around her body, and two fishes, one on her bosom, the other at her feet, showing an early connection with Pisces; the Hyginus, printed at Venice anno salutifere incarnationis, 7th of June, 1488, by Thomas de blauis de alexandria, with some most remarkable illustrations, has her standing between two trees, to which she is bound at the outstretched wrists; in the Leyden Manuscript she is partly clothed on the sea beach, chained to rocks on either side.

Caesius [author of Coelum Stellatum Christianum (1627)] said that she represented the biblical Abigail ("her Father's joy") of The Books of Samuel; and Julius Schiller, in 1627, made of her stars Sepulchrum Christi [This appeared in the Coelum Stellatum Christianum, which, according to its title-page, was the joint production of Schiller and Bayer, an enlarged reprint of the Uranometria of 1603], the "new Sepulchre wherein was never man yet laid."

[Page 34 } The apparently universal impulse of star-gazers to find earthly objects in the heavens is shown in the Cross which is claimed for some of Andromeda's stars; ß beta (Mirach), gamma (Almach) and delta, marking the upright, a alpha (Alpheratz) and k kappa the transverse. But a much more noticeable group, an immense Dipper, is readily seen in following up its gamma (Almach) and ß beta (Mirach) to the Square of Pegasus, far surpassing, in extent at least, the better-known pair of Dippers around the pole.

Andromeda is bounded on the north by Cassiopeia and Perseus; on the east by Perseus; on the south by Pisces and Triangulum; and on the west by Lacerta and Pegasus.

Milton's passage in Paradise Lost, where Satan surveys our world from eastern point of Libra to the fleecy star that bears Andromeda far off Atlantic seas Beyond the Horizon, seems to have puzzled many; but the poet was only seeking to show the comprehensive view had by the arch-fiend east and west through the six signs of the zodiac from the Scales to the Ram (Aries) with the golden fleece; Andromeda, above the latter, apparently being borne on by him to the westward, and so, to an observer from England, over the Atlantic. Kingsley's Andromeda well describes her place:

"I set thee High for a star in the heavens, a sign and a hope for the seamen, Spreading thy long white arms all night in the heights of the aether, Hard by thy sire and the hero, thy spouse, while near thee thy mother Sits in her ivory chair, as she plaits ambrosial tresses; All night long thou wilt shine;

these members of the royal family, Andromeda, Cassiopeia, Cepheus, and Perseus, lying contiguous to each other, wholly or partly in the Milky Way.

The stars that mark her right arm may be seen stretching from delta to iota and kappa and zeta marking the left arm with the end of the chain towards Lacerta; but in early days she was somewhat differently located, and even till recently there has been confusion here; for Smyth wrote: Flamsteed's Nos. 51 and 54 Andromedae are psi and upsilon Persei, though placed exactly where Ptolemy wished them to be — on the lady's foot: so also alpha (Alpheratz) in this asterism has been lettered delta Pegasi by Bayer, and beta (Mirach) has been the lucida of the Northern Fish (in Pisces).

La Lande and Dupuis asserted that the Phoenician sphere had a broad Threshing-floor in this spot, with stars of Cassiopeia as one of the Gleaners {Page 35} in the large Wheat-field that occupied so much of that people's sky; its exact boundaries, however, being unknown to us.

Pegasusthe Flying Horse



Clues to the meaning of this celestial featurePegasus (Greek Pegasos) is the winged white horse, son of Poseidon in the shape of a horse. At birth Pegasus sprang forth from the bloody neck of the Gorgon Medusa (Algol) when she was beheaded by the hero Perseus. Two springs were created when Pegasus' hooves struck the earth; one on Mount Helicon, the fabled spring of Hippocrene, at the behest of Poseidon to prevent the mountain swelling too much, and another at Troezen. Pegasus was tamed by Bellerophon who rode him into battle against the fire-breathing Chimera. Later Bellerophon attempted to fly to Mt. Olympus, the home of the gods, on the back of Pegasus. The gods sent a gadfly to sting Pegasus causing the horse to buck, throwing Bellerophon back down to earth. Pegasus, freed of his burden, continued to wing his way to Mt. Olympus where he took a place in the stables of Zeus/Jupiter. One of his wing feathers fell to earth close to Tarsus giving the city its name. It is said that Pegasus bears for Jupiter the lightning and thunder. Pegasus was a great favorite with the nine Muses who gathered around the Mount Helicon spring to sing and dance, for its water was said to bring poetic inspiration.

Read what writers of myth have written on Pegasus on this Theoi Project webpage

Hevelius, Firmamentum, 1690, depicts the head of Aquarius (Ganymedes) encroaching onto the heads of the two horses; Pegasus and Equuleus. This might have significance: To compensate the father of Ganymedes, King Laomedon of Troy, for abducting his son Zeus gave him two horses [1].

Allen (Star Names) says that some of the mythologists said that Equuleus represented Cyllarus, given to Pollux by Juno. In myth the Gemini Twins ride two horses "the immortal steeds Cyllarus and Harpagus" [2]. It seems that Equuleus is Cyllarus, and Harpagus must be Pegasus.

Johann Bode, Uranographia, 1801 In myth Pegasus carries the thunderbolts of Zeus. Pegasus, also called Sonipes, 'Noisy-footed', "becoming the Thundering Horse of Jove that carried the divine lightning" [Star Names].

There is a type of fish, called the 'pegasus sea moth' of the family Pegasidae. Their horselike face, coupled with pectoral fins that spread horizontally like a pair of wings. They live in monogamous pairs, scratching the sand on the ocean floor. The specialized morphology of the pectoral fins enlarges and form 'wings' which they use to 'fly' through the water. Captive individuals have also been observed shedding their entire skin in one piece with a rapid jump every few days [3]. To jump out of skin is a metaphor for excitement, or shock.

"But when Perseus had cut off the head of Medousa [Medusa, see Algol] there sprang from her blood stout-hearted Khrysaor and the horse Pegasos so named from the 'pegai' (springs) of Okeanos, where he was born" [Hesiod, Theogony 280 4]

The word Pegasus is believed to be related to Greek pegai, or pege, a spring, Greek pegazo, 'spring forth' or 'to gush forth' [5]. Pegasus caused springs to gush forth as he pawed the earth with his hoof, on Mount Helicon, and another on Hippocrene ('horse spring'). There is a phonetic similarity between the English word 'peg', and Greek pege, spring. One of the uses for pegs is to determine the levels of underground water or springs; English peg comes from German pegel, 'gauge rod, watermark'; hence a semantic correspondence between these words.

Another meaning of peg is a nail, horses have one toe and one large nail on each foot. A peg can also be a nail for hanging things on. Pegasus is a horse that is particularly associated with using his hooves, it was with his hoof that he scratched (ungula rupit) or scraped the surface of the ground and caused the springs to gush forth. Called Sonipes, 'Noisy-footed', "as his hooves could be heard thundering across the skies in a storm".

Pegasus, so named from the Greek pegai (springs), Greek pegazo, 'spring forth' or 'gush forth' [6]. Pegasus is said to have sprang from the blood of Medusa after she was killed by Perseus [7]. Pegasus is the creator of springs through pawing the ground and causing springs to spring up. The word spring means three things; a leap or jump; the source of water, source of something; and the season in which plants spring up and

grow. Spring is related to the word spurn which originally meant 'to kick', from Old High German spurnan to kick, Old Indian sphurati, 'kicks with the foot', Latin spernere 'to spurn'. In myth Bellerophon attempts to fly to heaven on the back of Pegasus. Pegasus kicked, causing Bellerophon to fall off his back. After spurning Bellerophon, Pegasus continued on to Mount Olympus on his own. Klein gives an explanation for the root and the likely relatives of the word spurn, "from Old English spurnan, 'to kick with the foot, drive away', ... Greek spairein 'to move convulsively', sphura, 'hammer', spuron, 'ankle', Latin spernere, 'to reject, spurn', Lithuanian spiriu, spirti, ... Lithuanian sparnas, 'wing', Middle Irish seir (for *speret-s), 'heel', Welsh ffer, ffern, 'heel', and possibly also Greek spaira 'a sphere, ball, globe'. Compare Sphyraena, sphere. Compare also sperm, spore. Compare also spring".

A cognate of spurn: Middle Irish seir (for *speret-s), 'heel', Welsh ffer, ffern, 'heel'; Tarsus, a Cilician city attributed its name to the feather which fell to the ground from Pegasus at birth, or in another version of the myths where Bellerophon fell from Pegasus. The tarsus is known as the hock in many domestic mammals. It is the anatomical homologue of the heel of the human foot [8].

The Paganalia was the festival of sowing seeds, or propagating seed. The word sperm which Klein suggests is cognate with spring and spurn, is from Greek sperma, sperm seed < 'that which is scattered'. Sperma: something sown, i.e. seed (including the male 'sperm'). Sperm comes from the Indo-European root *sper- 'To strew'. Derivatives: sprawl, sprout, spruce, spritz, spritzer, sprit, bowsprit, spray*, spread, Diaspora, sperm+, spore, sporo-, exosporium, sporadic, spray+. [Pokorny 2. (s)p(h)er- 993. Watkins] [Pegasus was created by the blood of Medusa’s severed head mixed with the foam and sand of the sea - Pegasus is adjacent to Pisces, the sea. The sperm (white liquid, white horse) mixing with the semen?]

Wikipedia gives another etymology for Pegasus "the name's origins may come from the word in the Luwian language: pihassas, meaning 'lightning.'"

The word spirit [related to; aspire, conspire, esprit, expire, inspire, perspire, respire, sprightly, transpire] has a number of associations with Pegasus. It was the action of his hoof pawing the ground that the Hippocrene (horse-springs), the inspiring fountain of the Muses sprang forth. "Everywhere the winged horse struck hoof to earth, an inspiring spring burst forth" [9]. In poetry, the phrase "My Pegasus will not go this morning" means the author's brain will not work (lacks inspiration), and "I am mounting my Pegasus" means he's going to write (he's becoming inspired), and "I am on my Pegasus" means he's engaged in writing [10]. The word peg also means 'a drink of spirits'. Horses, more than any other animal, are referred to as spirited. "The use of 'spring' (pege) alludes to the Jacob tradition, while 'welling up' (hallomenou) is a verb used for the action of the Spirit of God in the Septuagint (e.g., Judges 15:14 and 1 Samuel 10:10)" [11]. "Sperm was thought to contribute the spirit to the matter of the maternal egg" [12].

Hylas soon found a spring, which the people of the neighborhood call Pegai. ... a Nymphe Ephyatie (of the water), was just emerging from the limpid water as Hylas drew near. And there, with the full moon shining from a clear sky, she saw him in all his radiant beauty and alluring grace. Her heart was flooded by desire; she had a struggle to regain her scattered wits. But Hylas now leant over to one side to dip his ewer in: and as soon as the water was gurgling loudly round the ringing bronze she threw her left arm round his neck in her eagerness to kiss his gentle lips. Then with her right hand she drew his elbow down and plunged him in midstream … http://www.theoi.com/Nymphe/NymphaiMysiai.html

Ephyatie might be called a water-sprite (a doublet of spirit), who springed Hylas (springe means to trap or snare), a sprite is also the word for a large, dim, red flash that appears above active thunderstorms in conjunction with lightning. In myth Pegasus carries the thunderbolts of Zeus on Mount Olympos.

Pegasus is described as a white horse "snowy white in color" [Star Names]:

"Then I saw heaven open and there was a white horse. Its rider is called Faithful and True....His eyes were like a flame of fire, and he wore many crowns on his head....The armies of heaven followed him riding on white horses...on his robe and on his thigh was written the name: King of kings and Lord of lords" Revelations 19:11. [13]

[The winning sperm might relate to adjacent Equuleus, the racehorse, 'the first horse' in a race. The sperm and egg together might be the two kid goats in Auriga]

Ingenium. - Seneca. - Plato. - Aristotle. - Helicon. - Pegasus. - Parnassus. - Ovid. - First, we require in our poet or maker (for that title our language affords him elegantly with the Greek) a goodness of natural wit. For whereas all other arts consist of doctrine and precepts, the poet must be able by nature and instinct to pour out the treasure of his mind, and as Seneca saith, Aliquando secundum Anacreontem insanire jucundum esse; by which he understands the poetical rapture. And according to that of Plato, Frustrà poeticas fores sui compos pulsavit. And of Aristotle, Nullum magnum ingenium sine mixturâ dementiæ fuit. Nec potest grande aliquid, et supra cæteros loqui, nisi mota mens. Then it riseth higher, as by a divine instinct, when it contemns common and known conceptions. It utters somewhat above a mortal mouth. Then it gets aloft and flies away with his rider, whither before it was doubtful to ascend. This the poets understood by their Helicon, Pegasus, or Parnassus; and this made Ovid to boast, “Est deus in nobis, agitante calescimus illo, Sedibus æthereis spiritus ille venit.” [“There is a god within us, and when he is stirred we grow warm; that spirit comes from heavenly realms.”] [Discoveries Made Upon Men and Matter, and Some Poems, by Ben Johnson]

The two horses, Cyllarus and Hylonome, might relate to the two adjacent constellations Equuleus and Pegasus. Cyllarus is identified with Equuleus. Hylonome “browser of the wood”, is from the district Pagasae, similar to 'pegasus', and 'pagan' (from the above root *pag-).

"Many a centauress would be his [Cyllarus'] mate, but one had gained his heart, [she-centaur] Hylonome. In the high woods there was none comelier of all the centaur-girls, and she alone by love and love’s sweet words and winning ways held Cyllarus, yes, and the care she took to look her best (so far as that may be with limbs like that). She combed her glossy hair, and twined her curls in turn with rosemary or violets or roses, and sometimes she wore a pure white lily. Twice a day she bathed her face in the clear brook that fell from Pagasae’s high forest, twice she plunged her body in its flow, nor would she wear on her left side and shoulder any skin but what became her from best-chosen beasts. Their love was equal; on the hills they roamed together, and together they would go back to their cave; and this time too they went into the Lapithae’s palace side by side and side by side were fighting in the fray. A javelin (no knowing from whose hand) came from the left and wounded Cyllarus, landing below the place where the chest joins neck – slight wound, but when the point was pulled away, cold grew his damaged heart and cold his limbs. Hylonome embraced him as he died, caressed the wound and, putting lips to lips, she tried to stay his spirit as it fled. And when she saw him lifeless, she moaned words that in that uproar failed to reach my ears; and fell upon the spear that pierced her love, and, dying, held her husband in her arms." - Ovid, Metamorphoses 12.210 http://www.theoi.com/Georgikos/KentaurisHylonome.html

The two lovers were pegged together in death when Hylonome, in leaning over Cyllarus to embrace him, fell upon the spear that had pierced through his body, thus impaling herself.

According to Allen (below) Pegasus seems to have been regarded by the Phoenicians as the sky emblem of a ship. They used Pag, or Pega, the Bridled Horse, for the figurehead on a ship. In the old work the Destruction of Troye,, we read of "a ship built by Perseus, and named Pegasus, which was likened to a flying horse." (Allen p.323, below). This might explain the association with ships in the astrological influences ("the constellation portends events concerning ships").


"Him the Horse in swift career strives to overtake and speeds along, his front distinguished by a resplendent star [beta Peg, Scheat]" [Manilius, Astronomica, 1st century AD, book 1, p.31.] [tries to overtake the other horse, Equuleus which is a head in front as the pictures show]

"Pegasus the winged Horse will appear and gallop aloft in the heavens. It will bring forth people endowed with swiftness of movement and limbs alert to perform every task. One man will cause his horse to wheel round in caracoles, and proudly mounted on its back he will wage war from on high; horseman and soldier in one. Another will possess the ability to rob the racecourse of its true length such is his speed that he will seem to dissemble the movement of his feet and make the ground vanish before him. Who more swiftly could fly back from the ends of the earth as messenger or with light foot to the earth's ends make his way? He will also heal a horse's wounds with the sap of common plants, and will know the herbs which bring aid to an animal's limbs and those which grow for the use of man." [Manilius, Astronomica, 1st century AD, book 5, p.350-353.]

© Anne Wright 2008

Fixed stars in Pegasus


Kerb tau 29PIS40 01ARI03 349 32 23 +23 27 59 +25 34 08 4.65 A5

Algenib gamma 07ARI46 09ARI09 002 39 51 +14 54 20 +12 35 54 2.87 B2

Enif epsilon 00PIS30 01PIS53 324 25 55 +09 38 41 +22 06 09 2.54 K2

Biham theta 05PIS26 06PIS50 331 55 09 +05 57 04 +16 20 38 3.70 A2

kappa 07PIS33 08PIS56 325 35 41 +25 24 52 +36 38 26 4.27 F2

iota 13PIS02 14PIS25 331 10 12 +25 06 00 +34 15 29 3.96 F3

Homam zeta 14PIS45 16PIS09 339 44 30 =10 34 11 +17 40 52 3.61 B8

pi 17PIS59 19PIS22 331 45 08 +32 55 39 +41 03 11 5.65 G6

lambda 21PIS41 23PIS04 341 01 48 +23 18 07 +28 47 49 4.14 G6

Markab alpha 22PIS06 23PIS29 345 34 01 +14 56 09 +19 24 26 2.57 B9

Sadalbari mu 23PIS00 24PIS23 341 53 48 +24 20 14 +29 23 19 3.67 G6

Matar eta 24PIS20 25PIS43 340 09 50 +29 57 33 +35 06 30 3.10 G2

Scheat beta 27PIS59 29PIS22 345 20 12 +27 48 40 +31 08 22 2.61 M2


That poetic steed,

With beamy mane, whose hoof struck out from earth

The fount of Hippocrene.

— Bryant's The Constellations.

Pegasus called thus in Germany, but Pegase in France and Pegaso in Italy, lies north of the Urn of Aquarius and the easternmost Fish (of Pisces), the stars of the Great Square inclosing the body of the Horse (the Great Square of Pegasus marked by the stars Alpheratz (alpha Andromeda), Scheat, Markab, and Algenib). Mythologically he was the son of Neptune and Medusa, sprung by his father's command from the blood of the latter which dropped into the sea after her head had been severed by Perseus; and he was named either from Pegai, the Springs of the Ocean, the place of his birth, or from Pegos, Strong. He was snowy white in color, and the favorite of the Muses, for he had caused to flow their fountain Pirene on Helicon,— or Hippocrene on the Acrocorinthus, — whence came one of the constellation titles, Fontis Musarum Inventor. Longfellow prettily reproduced in modern dress this portion of the story, in his Pegasus in Pound, where "this wondrous winged steed with mane of gold," straying into a quiet country village, was put in pound; but, finding his quarters uncomfortable, made his escape, and {Page 322} To those stars he soared again...

But they found upon the greensward

Where his struggling hoofs had trod,

Pure and bright a fountain flowing

From the hoofmarks in the sod.

He seems, however, to have come back to earth again, for he was subsequently caught by Bellerophon at the waters of his fountain, and ridden by him when he slew the Chimaera, helping in the latter's destruction. By this time classical legend had given him wings, and Bellerophon sought by their aid to ascend to heaven; but Jupiter, incensed by his boldness, caused an insect to sting the steed, which threw his rider, and, as Wordsworth wrote:

Bold Bellerophon (so Jove decreed In wrath) fell headlong from the fields of air.

Pegasus then rose alone to his permanent place among the stars, becoming the Thundering Horse of Jove that carried the divine lightning.

Ptolemy mentioned the wings as well recognized in his day; and this has continued till ours, for the sky figure is now known as the Winged Horse, — a recurrence to Etruscan, Euphratean, and Hittite ideas, for the wings are clearly represented on a horse's figure on tablets, vases, etc., of those countries, where this constellation may have been known in pre-classical times. Indeed, it is said to have been placed in the heavens by the early Aryans to represent Asva, the Sun.

Early classical mythology did not associate the Horse with Perseus, although artists and authors do not seem to have remembered this, for the celebrated picture by Rubens in the Berlin Gallery shows the winged Pegasus held by a Cupid, while Perseus in full armor is unbinding Andromeda from the rocks, Cetus raging in the waters close by; and the late Lord Leighton left unfinished his Perseus on Pegasus at the cliffs of Joppa, with the Gorgoneion in his hand; while in Troilus and Cressida Shakespeare mentioned "Perseus' horse."

The Greeks called the constellation simply Ippos (which Latins pronounced Hippos), although Aratos added ieros, "divine," and Eratosthenes alluded to it as Pegasos, but distinctly asserted that it was without wings, and until after middle classical times it generally was so drawn, although loose plumes at the shoulders occasionally were added. The figure was considered incomplete, a possible reason for this being given under Aries. Thus it was characterized as emiteles and emitomos, "cut in two,"or as if partly hidden in the clouds; while Nonnus had Emiphanes Libus Ippos, the Half-visible Libyan Horse.

{Page 323} Thus the Equi Sectio used by Tycho and others for Equuleus would seem equally appropriate for this.

Euripides is said to have called it Melanippe, after a daughter of Chiron, also known as Euippe, changed by the goddess Artemis into a Black Mare and placed in the sky; but Bayer quoted from some later writer Menalippe. The Theiana, or Theano, of Nonnus does not seem intelligible.

Translated from Greece by the Romans, it was Equus, and later on Equus Ales, qualified at times by the adjectives alter, major, Gorgoneus, and Medusaeus; but Isidorus and Lampridius degraded it to Sagmarius Caballus, a Pack-horse; La Lande cited Ephippiatus, Caparisoned; and elsewhere it was Cornipes, Horn-footed; Sonipes, Noisy-footed; and Sonipes Ales. Germanicus was apparently the first of Latin authors to style it Pegasus.

In the Alfonsine Tables it was Alatus, Winged, Secundus sometimes being added to distinguish it from Equuleus, which preceded it on the sphere; the Almagest of 1551 had Equus Pegasus, which the 17th-century astronomers extended to Pegasus Equus alatus, Caesius cited Pegasides, and Bayer quoted Equus posterior, volans, aereus, and dimidiatus, Bellerophon, and Bellerophontes.

Jewish legends made it the mighty Nimrod's Horse; Caesius, one of those of Jeremiah iv, 13, that "are swifter than eagles"; other pious people, the Ass on which Christ made his triumphal entry into Jerusalem; but Julius Schiller exalted it into the Archangel Gabriel. Weigel drew it as the heraldic Luneburg Horse.

Pegasus appears on coins of Corinth from 500 to 430 B.C., and from 350 to 338 B.C., and 200 years thereafter, on the decadrachma, complete and with wings; as well as on coins of Lampsacus, Scepsis, and Carthage, — on these last with the asterisk of the sun, or with the winged disc, and the hooded snakes over its back. It is also shown on a coin of Narbonne as a sectional winged figure, and as a winged horse on a Euphratean gem, with a bull's head, a crescent moon, and three stars in the field. A coin of Panormus, the modern Palermo, has the Horse's head with what was probably intended for a dorsal plume.

Bochart said that the word is a compound of the Phoenician Pag, or Pega, and Sus, the Bridled Horse, used for the figurehead on a ship, which would account for the constellation being shown with only the head and fore quarters; but others have considered it of Egyptian origin, from Pag, "to cease," and Sus, "a vessel," thus symbolizing the cessation of navigation at the change of the Nile flow. From this, Pegasus seems to have been regarded, in those countries at least, as the sky emblem of a ship. In the {Page 324} old work the Destruction of Troye, we read of "a ship built by Perseus, and named Pegasus, which was likened to a flying horse."

Brugsch mentions as in its location an Egyptian constellation, the Servant; and some of its stars would seem to be shown on the Denderah planisphere as a Jackal.

The Arabs knew the familiar quadrangle as Al Dalw, the Water-bucket, the Amphora of some Latin imitator, which generally was used for the Urn in Aquarius; and the Arabian astronomers followed Ptolemy in Al Faras al Thani, the Second Horse, which Bayer turned into Alpheras; Chilmead, into Alfaras Alathem; and La Lande, into Alphares.

Argelander catalogued 108 stars here, down to the 6th magnitude; and Heis, 178, to the 6..

The starless region toward Pisces was Al Biruni's Al Baldah, the Fox's Kennel, a term for whose stellar connection I find no explanation.

Before leaving this constellation, it is worth while to note that an asterism, now virtually lost to us and seldom mentioned except in the lists of Al Sufi, Al Amasch, and Kazwini, is described by the last-named under the title Al Faras al Tamm, the Complete Horse. Although somewhat indefinitely marked out, it is said to have occupied the space between the eastern wing of the Swan (Cygnus), the chest of Pegasus, Equuleus, and the tail of Lacerta, drawing for its components from the last three; but Beigel held that it could have existed only with the grammarians, — the Tamm in its title being easily confused, in transcription, with the Thani in the Arabians' name for Pegasus. Ideler's Sternnamen is the sole modern work in which I find any reference to this Complete Horse, and even that author, in one passage, seems to regard Monoceros as the modern representative of this somewhat mythical constellation; but this is impossible if Kazwini's description be accepted. Indeed, Ideler himself, later on in his book, changed his opinion to agree with that of Beigel.

Triangulumthe Northern Triangle

Cornelius, Starlore Handbook


Clues to the meaning of this celestial feature"There follows, with two equal sides parted by one unequal, a sign seen flashing with three stars and named Deltoton, called after its likeness [i.e. called after its deltoid shape]". [Manilius, Astronomica, 1st century A.D, p.33]

A triangle is a geometric shape that has three sides. There are two triangles in the sky, each suggesting a trinity. The Southern Triangle, Triangulum Australe, was called the 'Three Patriarchs' and might be a masculine trinity. The word patriarch (pa-tri-arch) has its feminine counterpart in matriarch, which can be broken down into ma-tri-arch 'three mother archetype', or, ma-tribe-arch, which is the usual understanding of the word; a mother who rules her family or tribe (the words triangle, tribe and three come from the same Indo-European root *trei- 'Three'). The Northern Triangle, Triangulum, has feminine associations, it represents the island of Sicily and was put in the sky at the behest of Demeter (Roman Ceres), or was a wedding present to her daughter Persephone. The three goddesses Persephone, Demeter and Hecate (also called Hecate Triformis 'three forms', and Hecate Trivia 'three ways') are seen as a type of trinity. The northern triangle was also given the title 'the Mitre of Saint Peter'. The word mitre or miter (from the IE root *mei-4 'To tie'), is a triangular hat, and related to the word mitochondrion, the mitochondria DNA is inherited and transmitted exclusively by our mothers.

Hevelius 1690

Triangulum's titles: "Sicilia (sicily), Trinacria (from treis akrai with reference to the 'three promontories' of Sicily), and Triquetra are those of the ancients for the similarly shaped island of Sicily, — that Ceres/Demeter had begged of Jove/Jupiter might be reproduced in the sky, — triangular from its three promontories, Lilybaeum, Pelorus (said to be built by Orion), and Pachynus" [Allen, Star Names]. Jupiter gave Sicily to Persephone (daughter of Ceres) as a wedding present on her marriage to Pluto.

“Sicily (Sicilia) was named 'Sicania' after king Sicanus, then 'Sicily' after Siculus, the brother of Italus. But in earliest times it was known as Trinacria, because it has three acra ('capes'), that is, promontories: Pelorus, Pachynum, and Lilybaeum. Trinacria is in Greek what in Latin would be triquetra, as if divided into 'three pieces' (tres quadrae). It is separated from Italy by a narrow strait, and looks out upon the African Sea; it has rich soil and abundant gold, and is riddled with caves and tunnels, full of winds and sulfur; accordingly the flames of Mount Etna show themselves there. In this strait Scylla and Charybdis either swallow up ships or smash them. This island first produced from the river Achates the agate (achates) stone. Its sea produces coral and it yields the Agrigentian salts, which dissolve in fire and crackle in water. Its entire circumference is three thousand stades (i.e. 375 Roman miles). Sallust (see Histories 4.26) moreover says that Sicily used to be joined to Italy, but that the intervening space was divided by the onslaught of the sea and cut across its narrowest part.” [The Etymologies of Isidore of Seville, 7th century AD, p.296.]

The sickle of Saturn's (Cronus), the sickle with which Saturn used to castrate his father, Uranus, fell on Sicily. This sickle was given to Saturn by his mother Gaia (Earth) who created the element of grey flint and

shaped a great sickle from it, according to Hesiod, or she made the sickle of adamant, according to Apollodorus [1].

The Astronomical glyphs for both Saturn and the asteroid Ceres have a sickle; handle-down sickle is a symbol of Ceres; the handle-up sickle is a symbol of Saturn. [2]

"It is appropriate that Saturn's sickle that fell on the island of Sicily was also said to be responsible for its fertility, although Macrobius also admits that the sickle symbolizes the (destructive) passing of time" (i.e. the Grim Reaper). [Medieval Mythography, Jane Chance, P. 73.]

Latin sicilis, 'a sickle' resembles Latin Sicilia, Sicily, said to be from Siculi, an ancient people who emigrated to the island.

This constellation was called Orbis terrarum tripertitus as representing the three parts of the then known earth, Europe, Asia, and Africa. For thousands of years the geographical position of Sicily at the center of the Mediterranean made it a natural crossroads, or intersection, for people to meet and trade. This is reflected in the genetic structure of the Sicilians. Sickle cell disease afflicts about four thousand Sicilians, it originated in Africa and was carried to Sicily in ancient times, and it seems to have been confined to there until recent migrations.

The sickle of Saturn's (Cronus) fell on Sicily. It fell on a place now called Trapani that was originally named Drepanon, from the Greek word for 'sickle' from drepane, sickle, drepanoid, sickle-shaped. Another legend says it is the sickle which fell from the hands of the goddess Demeter.

Nile River delta, as seen from Earth orbit, from NASA

The constellation was known in ancient times as Deltoton because its triangular shape resembled the capital letter, D, delta (0), in the Greek alphabet, and was associated with the Nile Delta. Nili Donum, was a title from Herodotus, "the Gift of the Nile". A delta really is a gift given by a river. A river delta is the area where a river splits into smaller streams called tributaries when it meets the ocean. Deltas are formed from the deposits of the sediment carried by the river, and as the flow reaches the mouth of the river it slows down due to the pressure of the sea or ocean. Over long periods of time, this deposition builds the characteristic geographic pattern of a river delta [3]. Over time tributary networks are formed which channels the river throughout the delta. Reciprocal to a tributary is a distributary, a river that branches off of and flows away from the main stream. Distributaries are most often found in river deltas [4]. These channels, or tributaries, from time to time change course and divide up a delta into districts, separating lands and people. This must be how the word 'tribe' came into being. Tribes would often demand a tribute to use their section of their tributary. The word tributary is from Latin tribus, 'tribe', used in the sense of 'division, part', originally 'division into three' (from I.E. roots *tri- "three" + *bheu- 'to be').


Fixed stars in Triangulum


Metallah alpha 05TAU28 06TAU52 027 33 21 +29 20 10 +16 47 58 3.58 F2

beta 10TAU58 12TAU21 031 38 24 +34 45 06 +20 34 37 3.08 A5

gamma 12TAU08 13TAU31 033 35 00 +33 37 01 +18 56 39 4.07 A0



Five splendid Stars in its unequal Frame

Deltoton bears, and from the shape a Name;

But those that grace the sides dim Light display

And yield unto the Basis brighter Ray.


Triangulum, the Northern Triangle, is the German Dreieck, the French and English Triangle, and the Italian Triangolo, appeared as Triangulus in the Rudolphine Tables, always qualified {Page 415} as major till the Lesser Triangle was discarded. It lies just south from gamma Andromedae on the edge of the Milky Way, and although small and faint notwithstanding our poet's description, is one of the old constellations evidently more noticed by the ancients than by us. They drew it as equilateral, but now it is a scalene figure, beta, delta, gamma at the base and alpha at the vertex.

Hood strangely said that it was placed in the heavens only that the head of Aries might be better known, which recalls the blunder of Aratos as to the faintness of Aries' stars.

It was Deltoton with the earlier Greeks, from their similarly shaped letter (delta), to which Ovid in his Nux likened it; as did Aratos in his lines that Brown renders, more literally than rhythmically:

Below Andromeda, in three sides measured

Like-to-a-Delta; equal two of them

As it has, less the third, yet good to find

The sign, than many better stored with stars.

Transcribed by Cicero and Hyginus as Deltoton, it became Deltotum with the Romans, as well as with astronomers to the 17th century. Naturally it also was Delta, and so, associated with Egypt and the Nile, became Aegyptus, Nilus, Nili Domum, the Home of the Nile, which originally was Nili Donum, the Gift of the Nile, from Herodotus' potamou doron, "the river's gift."

Trigonon, used by Hipparchos and Ptolemy, became Trigonum with Vitruvius, and Trigonus with Manilius, translated Trigon by Creech. Tricuspis, Three-pointed, and Triquetrum, the Trinal Aspect of astrology, are found for it; while Bayer had Triplicitas and Orbis terrarum tripertitus as representing the three parts of the earth, Europe, Asia, and Africa; and Triangulus Septentrionalis, to distinguish it from his own Southern Triangle (Triangulum Australis).

Pious people of his day said that it showed the Trinity, its shape resembling the Greek initial letter of Dios while others of the same sort likened it to the Mitre of Saint Peter.

Its titles Sicilia (Sicily), Trinacria (In Latin, Sicily is Trinacria), and Triquetra (Latin tri-, "three", and quetrus, "cornered" see a triquetra shape here) are those of the ancients for the similarly shaped island of Sicily, — that Ceres (Greek Demeter) had begged of Jove (Roman Jupiter, Greek Zeus) might be reproduced in the sky, — triangular from its three promontories, Lilybaeum, Pelorus, and Pachynus, and at times identified with the mythical Thrinakia of the Odyssey, the pasture-ground of the Oxen of the Sun, that Gower called Mela's Holy Oxland. In modern days it has been noted as the site of the famous Palermo Observatory.

It was here that was discovered by Piazzi, on the first New Year Day of the present century, the first minor planet, which he named {Page 416} Ceres Ferdinandea (now called Ceres) in joint honor of the patron goddess of the island and of his king, the Bourbon Ferdinand of Naples; but the adjective (Ferdinandea) has been dropped by astronomers as not conforming to their rule of mythological nomenclature for the planets, —

a rule, however, much deviated from in recent times in the naming of these little bodies. Perhaps the astronomers have exhausted their classical dictionaries! It was found 1 as an 8th-magnitude star — Flammarion says as a comet — between Aries and Taurus, coincidentally not far from our Triangulum, the ancient Sicilia; but it was little imagined at the time that 433 similar bodies would be found in the next ninety-seven years,

more than 150 of them since 1892, and all but seven of these last by photography,2 then an unknown art.

The Arabians translated our title as Al Muthallath, variously seen in Western usage as Almutallath, Almutaleh, Almutlato, Mutlat, Mutlaton, Mutlathum, Mutlathun, and Mutlatun, with probably still other similarly degenerated forms of the original.

The Jews are said to have known it as Shalish, from the name of an instrument of music of triangular shape, or with three cords, mentioned in the 1st Book of Samuel, xviii, 6. This same figure, for the three bright stars of Aries, has already been noticed at gamma of that constellation.

The Chinese asterism Tsien Ta Tseang, Heaven's Great General, included this with lambda of Andromeda and the stars of the Smaller Triangle.

This, like many other important discoveries, was by a happy accident, — Piazzi, very differently, being in search of an extra star, the eighty-seventh of Mayer's list, wrongly laid down in Wollaston's catalogue. Recent measurements by Barnard show that Ceres is only a little less than 500 miles in diameter, and thus the first in size of the minor planets as in order of discovery.

The first of such discoveries by the camera was by Wolf on the 20th of December, 1891, of Brucia, No. 333; the first applications of the new art to the heavens having been made with the daguerreotype process by Doctor John W. Draper, of New York City, on the moon in 1840; again, by the professional Whipple of Boston, under Bond's direction, at the Harvard Observatory, on the star Wega in 1850; and at the same place on Mizar and Alcor in 1857. The first photograph of a star's spectrum was in 1872; of a nebula, in 1880; of a comet (near the sun during the latter's total eclipse), in 1882; and of a meteor, in 1891.

Cassiopeiathe Ethiopian Queen, the Seated Woman



Clues to the meaning of this celestial featureCassiopeia (Greek Kassiope, Kassiepeia) is queen of the celestial royal family, her husband Cepheus is king of Ethiopeia, they are parents of Andromeda. Cassiopeia was proud of her daughter's beauty and boasted that her daughter was more beautiful than the Sea Nymphs, the Nereids, who were daughters of Poseidon (Neptune). The Nereids complained to Poseidon who sent a sea monster, Cetus, to ravage the coast. With his kingdom in grave danger, Cepheus consulted the oracle of Ammon in Libya for advice. He learned that the only way to save his kingdom was to sacrifice his daughter Andromeda to the sea monster. Andromeda was chained to a rock and left to the mercy of the sea monster. The hero, Perseus, arrives at the scene and falls in love with her, he has a quick consultation with Cepheus and Cassiopeia, it is agreed that if he rescues their daughter, he could marry her. The sea monster arrives and Perseus kills it. Perseus breaks the chains that binds Andromeda to the rock. The wedding follows.

The constellation is in a circumpolar position, i.e. it revolves around the pole star, Polaris, and being so close to the pole, its position appears to change dramatically throughout the night. The five brightest stars trace the shape of a slightly distorted M, known as the Celestial M, when above the pole, and a W, known as Celestial W, when below the pole, when Cassiopeia is in an upside-down position.

Cassiopea, is the name of the genus of the "upside-down" jellyfish.

Cassiopeia, the Enthroned Queen, is a sitting figure, at times suspended upside-down in the sky in a very undignified position, she is depicted firmly bound to her throne and refrained from falling out of it, in going around the pole head downward (rather like being on a Ferris wheel I imagine). Greeks knowing it as Kassiepeia E tou thronou, 'Cassiopeia, She of the Throne'; and Hyde gave it the title Inthronata. The constellation is often referred to as Cassiopeia's throne because the stars clearly outline the chair, or throne, upon which the queen sits. The word 'throne' comes from the Indo-European root *dher-2 'To hold firmly, support'. Derivatives: farm, fermata (in music the prolongation of a tone, chord), firm+, firm*, firmament, affirm, confirm, furl, infirm, infirmary, (these words from Latin firmus, firm, strong), throne (from Greek thronos, seat, throne < 'support'), dharma (from Sanskrit dharma, statute, law < 'that which is established firmly'), dharna (the practice of protesting against an injustice by sitting and fasting outside the door of the offender, from Prakrit dharana, a holding firm), Darius (from old Persian darayava(h)us, 'holding firm the good', from daraya- to hold firm, uphold). [Pokorny 2. dher- 252. Watkins]

The Egyptian word for 'throne' or 'seat' is 'KXA' ('kazhaa') [1] which looks like it could be pronounced 'cassa', resembling Cassiopeia's name.

According to Wikipedia Cassiopeia's name in Greek is 1assiope, which means "she whose words excel".

The word 'dharma' (from *dher-2) is related to the word throne. According to the American Heritage Dictionary; "dharma in Hinduism and Buddhism is the principle or law that orders the universe, also the body of teachings expounded by the Buddha". Hindus called this constellation Casyapi (Kasyapi, similar to Cassiopeia or Kassiopeia). In Buddhist tradition there is a monk Kasyapa (Kashyapa, Kasiapa) whom Zen Buddhists consider their First Patriarch and the founder of their lineage [2], of whom the Buddha remarked that he alone of all his students had received his teaching (dharma), and should thereafter be known as Mahakasyapa, the Buddha said “I have true dharma, and I transmit my dharma to Mahakasyapa” [3].

An extinct constellation occupied a position in what is now northern Cassiopeia, Custos Messium, the Harvest Keeper. The Phoenicians are said to have imagined a large Wheat Field in this part of the sky. This might explain 'farm' cognate of *dher-2

__________

The name Ethiopeia, from Greek aitho, 'I burn' from the verb aithein, 'to burn', and ops, 'face', is believed to derive from the Indo-European root *ai-2 'To burn'. Related words: ember, estival, estivate, from Latin aestas, heat, summer; aestus, 'heat', estuary, aedile, edifice, edify, ether, etheric, ethyl, ethane, Mt Etna. [Pokorny, ai-dh- 11, Watkins]. "Akasha (or Akash) is the Sanskrit word meaning "aether" in both its elemental and mythological senses" [4].

Cepheus and Cassiopeia are king and queen of Ethiopeia. The name Ethiopeia is a cognate of Greek aither, Latin aether, shortened to ether. There are masculine and feminine derivatives from the word 'aether'; the Greek word Aither, Latin spelling Aether, is masculine, and may relate to Cepheus; and the feminine Cassiopeia to Aithre, Latin spelling Aithra. Aither was the ancient Greek Protogenos (first-born elemental god) of the bright, glowing upper air of heaven. His female counterpart was Aithre, "Titanis of the Clear Blue Sky, mother of the Sun and Moon."

Aether or ether was understood to be the element itself; and aethra is the glow of the aether; according to Isidore (The Etymologies, p.272.):

"The ether (aether) is the place where the stars are, and signifies that fire which is separated high above from the entire world. Of course, ether is itself an element, but aethra (i.e. another word for ether) is the radiance of ether; it is a Greek word."

The aether (ether) was a general word for the sky, kindle, burn, shine, the regions of space beyond the earth's atmosphere; the heavens (not the same as Ouranos, Uranus, Caelum). Aether was also the element believed in ancient and medieval civilizations to fill all space above the sphere of the moon and to compose the stars and planets [AHD]. The precise nature of the aether is an open question. Scientists in the late 19th century failed to detect the aether because it could not be measured, and concluded that the space was filled with void, or was a vacuum. Some think that what is now called 'quintessence' or 'dark-matter' is what the ancients meant by aether [5].

Cassiopeia may be Aithre, Latin spelling Aithra. Aithre was also apparently a female aspect of the protogenos Aither, the bright upper air, or shining blue sky. Aithra was the Greek word for the sky, usually translated "the bright sky." Firmamentum is the classical Latin term for the sky, the firmament, this word is related to throne. See the etymology of the word 'throne' above.

Aithra was also known as Theia.

Theia was the Titan goddess of sight (thea) and shining light of the clear blue sky (aithre). She was also, by extension, the goddess who endowed gold, silver and gems with their brilliance and intrinsic value. Theia married Hyperion, the Titan-god of light, and bore him three bright children--Helios the Sun, Eos the Dawn, and Selene the Moon. [http://www.theoi.com/Titan/TitanisTheia.html ]

"Theia was the Titan goddess of sight (thea)..." Greek thea is the root of our word theatre, literally 'a place for seeing', or viewing.

Theia was "the goddess who endowed gold, silver and gems with their brilliance and intrinsic value". See the astrological influences given by Manilius below: "Cassiope will produce goldsmiths who can turn their work into a thousand different shapes, endow the precious substance with yet greater value, and add thereto the vivid hue of Jewels..."

__________


"and Cassiepia, her face upturned to witness the sacrifice she caused" (to her daughter Andromeda) [Manilius, Astronomica, book 1, 1st century AD, p.33.]

"Cassiope will produce goldsmiths who can turn their work into a thousand different shapes, endow the precious substance with yet greater value, and add thereto the vivid hue of Jewels. From Cassiope come the gifts of Augustus which gleam in the temples he consecrated, where the blaze of gold rivals the sun's brightness and the fires of gems flash forth light out of shadow. From Cassiope come the memorials of Pompey's triumph of old and the trophies which bear the features of Mithridates: they remain to this very day, spoils undimmed by the passage of time, their sparkle as fresh as ever.

"From Cassiope come the enhancement of beauty and devices for adorning the body: from gold has been sought the means to give grace to the appearance; precious stones have been spread over head, neck, and hands and golden chains have shone on snow-white feet. What products would a grand lady like Cassiope prefer her sons to handle rather than those she could turn to her own employments? And that material for such employment should not be lacking, she bids men look for gold beneath the ground, uproot all which nature stealthily conceals, and turn earth upside down in search of gain; she bids them detect the treasure in lumps of ore and finally, for all its reluctance, expose it to a sky it has never seen. The son of Cassiope will also count greedily the yellow sands, and drench a dripping beach with a new flood; he will make small weights to measure the tiny grains, or else will collect the wealth of gold-foaming Pactolus [Pactolus]; or he will smelt lumps of silver, separating the hidden metal and causing the mineral to flow forth in a running stream; otherwise he will become a trader of the metals produced by these two craftsmen, ever ready to change coinage of the one metal into wares of the other. Such are the inclinations which Cassiope will fashion in those born under her" [Manilius, Astronomica, book 5, 1st century AD, p.343.]


Fixed stars in Cassiopeia

Fixed Star Long 1900 Long 2000 Decl 2000 Lat 2000 RA Sp.Cl Mag

zeta 03TAU41 05TAU04 +53.37 +44.43 (008 32 35) B2 3.7

Caph Beta 03TAU43 05TAU07 +59.09 +51.13 00h09m F2 2.4

Schedir Alpha 06TAU24 07TAU47 +56.31 +46.37 00h40m K0 2.5

Achird Eta 08TAU50 10TAU15 +57.49 +47.00 00h49m F9 3.6

Cih Gamma 12TAU33 13TAU56 +60.43 +48.48 00h56m B0 VAR

Rucha Delta 16TAU32 17TAU56 +60.13 +46.24 01h25m A5 2.8

Segin Epsilon 23TAU22 24TAU46 +63.39 +47.32 01h54m B3 3.4



A place where Cassiopea sits within

Inferior light, for all her daughter's sake.

— Mrs, Browning's Paraphrases on Nonnus.

Cassiopeia, or Cassiope more correctly Cassiepeia, although variously written, is one of the oldest and popularly best known of our constellations, and her throne, "the shinie Casseiopeia's chair" of Spenser's Faerie Queen, is a familiar object to the most youthful observer. It also is known as the Celestial W when below the pole, and the Celestial M when above it.

Hyginus, writing the word Cassiepia, described the figure as bound to her seat, and thus secured from falling out of it in going around the pole head downward, — this particular spot in the sky having been selected by the Cassiopeia (Page 143) queen's enemies, the sea-nymphs, to give her an effectual lesson in humility, for a location nearer the equator would have kept her nearly upright. Aratos said of this:

She head foremost like a tumbler sits.

Her outstretched legs also, for a woman accustomed to the fashions of the East, must have added to her discomfort.

Euripides and Sophocles, of the fifth century before our era, wrote of her, while all the Greeks made much of the constellation, knowing it as Kassiepeia. and E tou thronou, "She of the Throne". But at one time in

Greece it was the Laconian Key, from its resemblance to that instrument, the invention of which was attributed in classical times to that people; although Pliny claimed this for Theodorus of Samos in Caria, 730 B.C., whence came another title for our stars, Carion. The learned Huetius (Huet, bishop of Avranches and tutor of the dauphin Louis XV) more definitely said that this stellar key represented that described by Homer as sickle-shaped in the wardrobe door of Penelope:

A brazen key she held, the handle turn'd,

With steel and polish'd elephant adorned;

and Aratos wrote of the constellation:

E'en as a folding door, fitted within

With key, is thrown back when the bolts are drawn.

But even Ideler did not understand this simile, although the outline of the chief stars well shows the form of this early key.

The Romans transliterated the Greek proper name as we still have it, but also knew Cassiopeia as Mulier Sedis, the Woman of the Chair; or simply as Sedes, qualified by regalis or regia; and as Sella and Solium. Bayer's statement that Juvenal called it Cathedra mollis was an error from a misreading of the original text. Hyde's title Inthronata has been repeated by subsequent authors; and Cassiopeia's Chair is the children's name for it now.

The Arabians called it Al Dhat al Kursiyy, the Lady in the Chair, — Chilmead's Dhath Alcursi, — the Greek proper name having no signification to them; but the early Arabs had a very different figure here, in no way connected with the Lady as generally is supposed, — their Kaff al Hadib, {Page 144} the large Hand Stained with Henna, the bright stars marking the fingertips; although in this they included the nebulous group in the left hand of Perseus. Chrysococca gave it thus in the Low Greek Kheir bebamene; and it sometimes was the Hand of, i. e. next to, the Pleiades, while Smyth said that in Arabia it even bore the title of that group, Al Thurayya, from its comparatively condensed figure.

The early Arabs additionally made Two Dogs out of Cassiopeia and Cepheus, from which may have come Bayer's Canis; but his Cerva, a Roe, is not explained, although La Lande asserted that the Egyptian sphere of Petosiris had shown a Deer to the north of the Fishes. Al Tizini imagined a Kneeling Camel from some of its larger stars, whence the constellation's name Shuter found with Al Nasr al Din, and common for that animal in Persia.

The Alfonsine tables and Arabo-Latin Almagest described the figure as habens palmam delibutam, "Holding the Consecrated Palm", from some early drawing that is still continued; but how the palm, the classic symbol of victory and Christian sign of martyrdom, became associated with this heathen queen does not appear. Similarly La Lande cited Siliquastrum (Cercis siliquastrum, commonly known as Judas Tree), the name for a tree of Judaea, referring to the branch in the queen's hand.

Bayer's Hebrew title for it, Aben Ezra, was by a misreading of Scaliger's notes.

La Lande quoted Harnacaff from the Metamorphoses of Vishnu, but the later Hindus said Casyapi, evidently from the classical word.

Grimm gives the Lithuanian Jostandis, from Josta, a Girdle, although without explanation.

As the figure almost wholly lies in the Milky Way, the Celts fixed upon it as their Llys Don, the Home of Don, their king of the fairies and father of the mythical character Gwydyon, who gave name to that great circle.Schiller's Wallenstein, as versified by Coleridge, has

That one White stain of light, that single glimmering yonder,

Is from Cassiopeia, and therein

Is Jupiter —

a blunder on the part of the translator that has puzzled many, as "therein "should be "beyond" or "in that direction," but even then what did the poet have in mind ?

In early Chinese astronomy our constellation was Ko Taou according to Williams, although Reeves limited that title to the smaller nu, xi, omicron, and pi with {Page 145} the definition of a Porch-way; but later on its prominent stars were Wang Liang, a celebrated charioteer of the Tsin Kingdom about 470 B.C.

As a stellar figure in Egypt Renouf identified it with the Leg, thus mentioned in the Book of the Dead, the Bible of Egypt, that most ancient ritual, 4000 years old or more:

Hail, leg of the northern sky in the large visible basin.

And in some constellated form its stars unquestionably were well known on the Euphrates with the rest of the Royal Family, and shown there on seals. The earthly Cassiopeia ought to have been black, and is so described by Milton in his verses of // Penseroso on

That starr'd Ethiop Queen that strove

To set her beauty's praise above

The Sea-nymphs;

while Landseer with the same idea called her Cushiopeia, the Queen of Cush, or Kush, but the Leyden Manuscript makes her of fair complexion, lightly clad, upright and unbound in a very uncomfortable chair; and such is the general representation. But in the 17th-century reconstruction of sky figures in the interests of religion, our Cassiopeia became Mary Magdalene; or Deborah sitting in judgment under her palm tree in Mount Ephraim; - or Bathsheba, the mother of Solomon, worthy to sit on the royal throne. The astrologers said that it partook of the nature of Saturn and Venus. Professor Young gives the word Bagdei as a help to memorizing the order of the chief components from their letters beta (Caph), alpha (Schedir), gamma (Cih), delta (Rucha), epsilon (Segin), iota; the last being the uppermost when the figure is on the horizon, hanging head downwards.

Cassiopeia lies between Cepheus, Andromeda, and Perseus, Argelander cataloguing 68 stars here, but Heis. 126; and the constellation is rich in clusters.

Cepheusthe Ethiopian King



Clues to the meaning of this celestial featureCepheus is a crowned king in royal robes, whose foot is planted on the Pole star (Polaris). On the Farnese globe (2nd century A.D.) he is depicted in the garb of a tragic actor. He was the son of Belus (Belos), king of Egypt. Cepheus is husband of Cassiopeia, and their daughter is Andromeda. His wife was proud of their daughter's beauty and boasted that Andromeda was more beautiful than the Sea Nymphs, the Nereids who were daughters of Poseidon (Neptune). The Nereids complained to Poseidon who sent a sea monster, Cetus, to ravage the coast. With his kingdom in grave danger Cepheus consulted the oracle of Ammon in Libya for advice. He learned that the only way to save his kingdom was to sacrifice his daughter to the sea monster. Andromeda is chained to a rock and left to the mercy of the monster. The hero, Perseus, arrives at the scene and falls in love with Andromeda, he has a quick consultation with Cepheus and Cassiopeia, it is agreed that if he rescues their daughter he could marry her. The sea monster arrives and Perseus kills it. Perseus breaks the chains that bind Andromeda to the rock. The wedding follows.

The later Hindus knew Cepheus, or Kepheus, as Capuja, adopted from Greece; but a linguist (George Hewitt) claims that with their prehistoric ancestors Cepheus represented Kapi, the Ape-God, when its stars alpha and gamma, Alderamin and Alrai, were the respective pole-stars of 21,000 and 19,000 B.C. [Allen, Star Names]. A word for 'ape' is common to Greek kepos and Sanskrit kapi, or kapih, these words also link, with k/mute alteration, with Germanic and Celtic words like Old Norse api, Old English apa, Old High German affo, Welsh epa and Irish apa, 'ape'. The Greek word kepos, ape, resembles cepheus or kepheos.

The verb 'to ape' is to mimic characteristics of others which is what actors do and this might relate to the astrological influences given for Cepheus by Manilius (below) who lauds his acting talents. On the Farnese globe (2nd century A.D.) Cepheus is depicted in the garb of a tragic actor.

Cepheus is depicted with one foot on the polar star (Polaris, Alruccabah in the picture above). The Pole star is at the apex of the heavens. His name may be related to the word ape, the word 'ape' might also relate to the 'apex', the highest point?

Aratos called it Iasidao Cepheus to which Germanicus (around 19 A.D.) Latinized it to Iasides; or Iasid by the Harvard translators.

"Nor all unnamed shall rest the hapless family of Iasid Cepheus. For their name, too, has come unto heaven, for that they were near akin to Zeus [Note by translator: "As descended from Io"]. Cepheus himself is set behind the Bear Cynosura (Polaris), like to one that stretches out both his hands. From her tail-tip to both his feet stretches a measure equal to that from foot to foot.'" [Note by translator: Cepheus, King of Aethiopia, father of Andromeda by Cassiepeia. He was descended from Io whose father, according to one version, was Jasus, son of Argos (Apollod. ii. 5)]. [Aratos Phaenomena, 3rd century B.C. p.221.]

The translators of Phaenomena (Professor Mair, Harvard), sees the appellation Iasid (Iasides) as deriving from Io, and Cepheus as the son or descendant of Io. Io had an affair with Zeus who transformed her into a cow to hide her from the jealous gaze of his wife Hera. The goddess was not fooled and sent a gadfly to torment her. It drove her to wander all the way to Egypt, where she gave birth to Epaphus (Epaphos, Epopeos, Apopis, Apophis, Apepi), ancestor of the Pharaohs.

The husband of Cassiopeia is sometimes said to be Epaphus, by whom she bore Libya. She is also said to have been the wife of Cepheus of Ethiopia [Grimal].

“Libya is so called because the Libs, the African wind, blows from there. Others say that Epaphus, the son of Jupiter and founder of Memphis in Egypt, had a daughter named Libya with his wife Cassiopeia, and Libya afterwards established a kingdom in Africa” [The Etymologies of Isidore of Seville, 7th century AD, p.292.]

Isidore may have got his information from Hyginus (circe 19 A.D.) who said that Libya was daughter of Epaphus and Cassiopea [Fabulae 149]. According to Apollodorus, Cassiopea's name was Memphis and the city of Memphis was named after her [1].

Epaphus was married to Cassiopeia, which might make him Cepheus, or Kepheus. In Greek mythology, Epaphus, also called Apis (Egyptian form, Herodotus say that Apis was the Egyptian rendering of the Greek name Epaphus), is the son of Zeus and Io. He was born in Euboea (Herodotus, Strabo) or according others in Egypt [2]. [The word Apis, who also had the Egyptian name Apepi, resembles the word ape, Greek kepos, which may be the root of Kepheus' name].

In Egyptian mythology, Apis or Hapis (alternatively spelt Hapi-ankh), was a bull-deity worshipped in the Memphis region. Apis was originally the Ka (power/life-force 'the renewal of the life') of Ptah, the chief god in the area around Memphis (named after Epaphus' wife Cassiopeia or Memphis). After death he became Osorapis, i.e. the Osiris Apis, which the Greeks called Serapis, just as dead men were assimilated to Osiris, the king of the underworld [3]. His worship was brought from Egypt to Greece and Rome.

Many see a relationship between the word Cepheus or Kepheus and the Semitic cephas or kephas, a rock. Jesus said to Peter: "Thou art Simon the son of Jona: thou shalt be called Cephas". This was translated into Greek Petros, Latin Petrus, a name Jesus gave to apostle Simon Bar-Jona (Matt. xvi:17), historically known as St. Peter. [Son of Jona, or Jonas, is Latin Ionas; similar to Io?)]

A relationship has been suggested between the words Ptah, Egyptian PTH, and Peter.

"Ptah is the father of Atum = Adam, the father of human beings" [4]

Egyptian Ptah (the power of Apis), or Epaphus, is identified with Greek Hephaestus, Socrates in Cratylus examines the name Hephaestus; "the princely lord of light (Phaeos istora) ... Ephaistos is Phaistos, and

has added the eta (e) by attraction; that is obvious to anybody". [5]

Allen (below) says that a Phoenician title for Cepheus was Phicares, believed to be the Phoenician equivalent to Flammiger (flame-bearing, flaming, aflame), and identical with Purkaeus, the Fire-kindler, which, transliterated as Pirchaeus, has been used for these stars.

"Again, the power of fire they called Hephaestus, and have made his image in the form of a man, but put on it a blue cap as a symbol of the revolution of the heavens, because the archetypal and purest form of fire is there. But the fire brought down from heaven to earth is less intense, and wants the strengthening and support which is found in matter: wherefore he is lame, as needing matter to support him." [Porphyry, On Images, (c. 232 AD - c. 304), Fragment 8.]

Hephaestus is the son of Zeus and Hera. Sometimes it is said that Hera alone produced him and that he has no father. He was physically ugly (maybe apelike?) and lame (unable to walk upright?). Some say that Hera, upset by having an ugly child, flung him from Mount Olympus into the sea, breaking his legs.

Another Cepheus in mythology was son of Aleus and Naeara (or Cleobule). He succeeded his father as the ruler of Tegea in Arcadia. He is the reputed founder of Caphyae [6], an ancient city of Arcadia [Arcadia is from Arcas identified with Ursa Minor].

__________

The name Ethiopeia, from Greek aitho, 'I burn' from the verb aithein, 'to burn', and ops, 'face', is believed to derive from the Indo-European root *ai-2 'To burn'. Related words: ember, estival, estivate, from Latin aestas, heat, summer; aestus, 'heat', estuary, aedile, edifice, edify, ether, etheric, ethyl, ethane, Mt Etna. [Pokorny, ai-dh- 11, Watkins]. "Akasha (or Akash) is the Sanskrit word meaning "aether" in both its elemental and mythological senses" [7].

Cepheus and Cassiopeia are king and queen of Ethiopeia. The name Ethiopeia is a cognate of Greek aither, Latin aether, shortened to ether. There are masculine and feminine derivatives from the word 'aether'; the Greek word Aither, Latin spelling Aether is masculine, and may relate to Cepheus; and the feminine Cassiopeia to Aithre, Latin spelling Aithra. Aither was the ancient Greek Protogenos (first-born elemental god) of the bright, glowing upper air of heaven. His female counterpart was Aithre, "Titanis of the Clear Blue Sky, mother of the Sun and Moon."

Aether or ether was understood to be the element itself; and aethra is the glow of the aether; according to Isidore (The Etymologies, p.272.):

"The ether (aether) is the place where the stars are, and signifies that fire which is separated high above from the entire world. Of course, ether is itself an element, but aethra (i.e. another word for ether) is the radiance of ether; it is a Greek word."

The aether (ether) was a general word for the sky, kindle, burn, shine, the regions of space beyond the earth's atmosphere; the heavens (not the same as Ouranos, Uranus, Caelum). Aether was also the element believed in ancient and medieval civilizations to fill all space above the sphere of the moon and to compose the stars and planets [AHD]. The precise nature of the aether is an open question. Scientists in the late 19th century failed to detect the aether because it could not be measured, and concluded that the space was filled with void, or was a vacuum. Some think that what is now called 'quintessence' or 'dark-matter' is what the ancients meant by aether [8].

Kepheus was believed to be Egyptian Khufu by the Arabic astronomers (see Allen below). Khufu was the pharaoh who built the Great Pyramid of Giza which might explain the edifice cognate of *ai-2 'To burn'.

__________


"Cepheus will not engender dispositions inclined to sport. He fashions faces marked by a stern demeanor, and moulds a countenance whereon is depicted gravity of mind. Such men will live on worry and will incessantly recall the traditions of a bygone age and commend old Cato's maxims [Cato the censor].

"Cepheus will also create a man to bring up boys of tender age he will lord it over his lord [dominum dominus] by virtue of the law which governs a minor and, bemused by this semblance of power, will mistake for reality the role of arrogant guardian or stern uncle which he plays.

"Offspring of Cepheus will also furnish words for the buskin of tragedy [on the 2nd-century Farnese globe Cepheus is depicted in the garb of a tragic actor] whose pen, if only on paper, is drenched in blood; and the paper [the audience at a performance], no less will revel in the spectacle of crime and catastrophe in human affairs. They will delight to tell of scarce one burial accorded three [translator's note; Thyestes unwittingly ate his three sons, whom, their extremities cut off, his brother Atreus served up to him as a meal: the burial incomplete because the sons were not completely eaten, took place in the father's stomach - Cicero, who perhaps quotes the Atreus of Accius]. The father belching forth the flesh of his sons, the sun fled in horror, and the darkness of a cloudless day; they will delight to narrate the Theban war between a mother's issue [between Eteocles and Polynices] and one [Oedipus] who was both father and brother to his children; the story of Medea's sons, her brother and her father, the gift which was first robe and then consuming flame, the escape by air, and youth reborn from fire. A thousand other scenes from the past will they include in their plays and perhaps Cepheus himself will also be brought upon the stage.

"If anyone is born with the urge to write in lighter vein, he will compose for presentation at the merry games scenes of comedy about the loves of headstrong youths and abducted maidens, hood-winked old men, and slaves of infinite resource. In such plays Menander made his own day live for all generations: a man whose eloquence surpassed that of his native Athens [and that when its language attained its richest bloom], he held up a mirror to life and enshrined the image in his works.

"Should his powers not rise to such masterpieces, the child of Cepheus will yet be fitted to perform those of others he will interpret the poet's words, now by his voice, now by silent gesture and expression, and the lines he declaims he will make his own.

"On the stage he will take the part of Romans or the mighty heroes of myth; he will assume every role himself, one after another, and in his single person represent a crowd; he will draw over his limbs the aspect of fortune's every vicissitude and his gestures will match the songs of the chorus; he will convince you that you see Troy's actual fall and Priam expiring before your very eyes." [Manilius, Astronomica, 1st century AD, book 5, p.336-341]


Fixed stars in Cepheus


eta 03ARI17 04ARI40 311 04 08 +61 38 39 +71 46 25 3.59 G7

theta 03ARI30 04ARI53 307 11 11 +62 49 32 +73 55 57 4.28 A5

Erakis mu 08ARI20 09ARI42 325 29 38 +58 33 00 +64 11 34 4.10 var M2

Alderamin alpha 11ARI24 12ARI47 319 20 48 +62 22 24 +68 54 48 2.60 A7

epsilon 11ARI40 13ARI03 333 17 51 +56 47 37 +59 56 39 4.23 A6

zeta 12ARI36 13ARI59 332 16 44 +57 57 15 +61 08 43 3.62 K5

nu 12ARI59 14ARI22 326 00 05 +60 53 22 +65 28 33 4.46 A2

lambda 14ARI34 15ARI57 332 27 09 +59 10 02 +61 53 42 5.19 O6

delta 16ARI14 17ARI37 336 49 38 +58 09 32 +59 32 21 var G0

Kurdah xi 22ARI50 24ARI13 330 36 00 +64 23 11 +64 45 10 4.60 FG

iota 01TAU52 03TAU15 341 58 24 +65 56 14 +62 36 45 3.68 K1

Alphirk beta 04TAU11 05TAU33 322 00 21 +70 20 28 +71 08 55 3.32 B2

pi 22TAU10 23TAU33 346 34 30 +75 07 01 +65 33 31 4.56 G1

Alrai gamma 28TAU42 00GEM06 354 19 09 +77 21 12 +64 39 45 3.42 K1



Kepheus is like one who stretches forth both hands.

— Brown's Arates.

Cepheus, the French Cephee and the Italian Cefeo, is shown in royal robes, with one foot on the pole (Polaris), the other on the solstitial colure, his head marked by a triangle, the 4th-magnitudes delta, epsilon, and zeta; gamma (Alrai) and kappa, near the knees, forming an equilateral triangle with Polaris; and almost universally has been drawn as Aratos described in the motto. Some see in his stars a large K open towards Cassiopeia, — epsilon, zeta, xi (Kurdah), beta (Alphirk), and kappa, with nu and gamma. Achilles Tatios, probably of our 5th century, claimed that the constellation was known in Chaldaea twenty-three centuries before our era, when the earthly King was recognized in that country's myths as the son of Belos, of whom Pliny wrote, Inventor hic fuit sideralis scientiae.

{Page 156) In Greek story, like so many other stellar personages, Cepheus was connected with the Argonautic expedition.

The figure bore our title among all early astronomers and classic authors, but Germanicus added Iasides from the Iasidao of Aratos; Nonnus had Aner Basilelos; from his royal station, which became Vir regius and even Regalus. Others said that he was the aged Nereus and thus also Senex aequoreus, and others strangely called it Juvenis aequoreus.

Cantans, Sonans, and Vociferans show early confusion with the not far distant Bootes; while Dominus solis, Flammiger, Inflammatus, and Incensus are fiery epithets that do not seem appropriate for so faint a figure, unless originating from the fable that the tables of the Sun were spread in Aethiopia, the land where Cepheus reigned when on earth. Someone, however, has suggested that they are from the fact that his head is surrounded and illuminated by the Milky Way, although itself in an entirely bare spot in that great circle of light. This appeared in Horace's lines:

Clarus occultum Andromedae pater

Ostendit ignem.

Cepheus is an inconspicuous constellation, but evidently was highly regarded in early times as the father of the Royal Family, and his story well known in Greek literature of the 5th century before Christ. The name Kepheus compared by Brown to Khufu of Great Pyramid fame, was the source of many queer titles from errors in Arabic transcription — first into Kifaus, Kikaus, Kankaus; later into Fikaus, Fifaus, and Ficares, or Phicares, its usual designation in Persia, and Phicarus. Chilmead suggested that Phicares was a Phoenician title equivalent to Flammiger, and identical with Purkaeus, the Fire-kindler, which, transliterated as Pirchaeus, has been used for these stars. Later on in astronomical literature we find Caicans, Ceginus, Ceichius, Chegnius, Chegninus, Cheguinus, and Chiphus, some of which also are seen for Bootes.

The later Hindus knew Cepheus as Capuja, adopted from Greece; but Hewitt claims that with their prehistoric ancestors it represented Kapi, the Ape-God, when its stars alpha (Alderamin) and gamma (Alrai) were the respective pole-stars of 21,000 and 19,000 B.C.

Dunkin derives our title from the Aethiopic Hyk, a King, but the connection with Aethiopia probably can only be allowed by considering that country the Asian Aethiopia, for our Cepheus is unquestionably of Euphratean origin. Still Bayer's illustration of it is that of a typical African.

In China, somewhere within this constellation's boundaries, was the Inner Throne of the Five Emperors.

{Page 157} Arabian astronomers translated Inflammatus into Al Multahab; but the nomads knew Cepheus, or at least some of its stars, as Al Aghnam, the Sheep, and thus associated with the supposed Fold, a large figure around the pole very visible traces of which appear in the nomenclature of components of this and other circumpolar constellations. Bayer specified certain of these, — eta, theta, gamma (Alrai), kappa, pi, and rho, — as the Shepherd, his Dog, and the Sheep; but Smyth alluded to the whole of Cepheus as the Dog, Cassiopeia being his mate. Riccioli quoted from Kircher, as to these, the Arabic "Raar, Kelds & San: nempe Pastorem, Canem, Oves," more correctly transcribed Rai’, Kalb, and Sham.

A translator of Al Ferghani's Elements of Astronomy called the constellation Al Radif, the Follower, which may have come by some misunderstanding from the near-by Al Ridf in the tail of the Swan, for Cepheus does not seem ever to have been known by any such title. The early Arabs' Kidr, the Pot, was formed by the circle of small stars from zeta, and eta on the hand of our figure extending to the wing of the Swan.

In the place of Cepheus, Caesius wished to substitute King Solomon, or Zerah, the Aethiopian, whom King Asa overthrew, as told in the 2nd Book of the Chronicles, xiv, 9-12; but Julius Schiller said that it should be Saint Stephen.

Perseusthe Champion, the Rescuer



Clues to the meaning of this celestial featureRead what ancient writers have written on Perseus on this Theoi Project webpage, and a profile on Perseus at Wikipedia

Zeus (Jupiter) came to Perseus' mother, Danae, in the form of a shower of gold, and impregnated her resulting in the birth of Perseus, also called Perseus Eurymedon. As a young man Perseus undertook a mission to kill the Medusa. He was furnished with the sword, cap and wings of Mercury and the shield of Minerva. He killed the Medusa by cutting off her head and afterwards killed the sea monster Cetus and then rescued and married Andromeda. Perseus founded a city, having dropped his cap or found a mushroom (both named myces) at Mycenae.

"According to star lore, the Perseid Meteor Shower commemorates the time when Zeus, the king of the gods, visited the mortal Danae in the form of a Shower of Gold" [1].

The Perseid Meteor Shower. In this picture from NASA these shooting stars give the appearance of a rain-shower.

The Perseid meteorite shower, the most impressive in the sky, does not actually come from the constellation Perseus but is the rubble left behind from the Comet Swift-Tuttle, the supposed parent of the Perseids. Comet Swift-Tuttle is within our solar system and orbits the Sun roughly every 130 years. The meteors appear to flow from the constellation Perseus (hence the name Perseids) in mid-August. The shower appears as shooting stars and are composed of fireballs, grains of rocky ice, chunks of space rock or dust still flying around out in space. Aratos' (ca. 310 BC – 240 BC) characterization of Perseus as "stirring up a dust in heaven" might relate to this phenomena. Little pieces of this debris rains down onto the earth. Bruce McClure's on this Astronomy Page says; "while you’re watching the fiery show, you could be seeing the original source of water on earth. Some scientists think that the vaporization of comet ice in meteors is where water on this planet first came from".

From Roman times Perseus has been associated with Mithras (see Allen below) and Mithraism, a mystery men-only religion practiced throughout the Roman Empire. Mithras' Hindu counterpart is Mitra, one of Mitra's functions was 'bringer of rain'. In modern Hebrew, the umbrella is called a mitriyah (compare mitra and mithras), from the same root as Hebrew matar = rain, shower (the Hebrew word geshem in Scriptures is usually associated with a heavy rain) [2].

In Greek mythology Perseus undertook a mission to kill the Gorgon Medusa, the snake-haired monster who had the power of turning anyone who looked at her into stone. In the portrayal of the constellation Perseus holds Medusa's severed head under his left arm, or is sometimes depicted holding the head up by his left hand, the star Algol, or beta Perseus, is positioned on this head. An adult jellyfish is a medusa (plural: medusae), named after the Gorgon Medusa. The Medusae jelly-fish have a umbrella-shaped body called a bell. The medusa's tentacles hang from the border of the bell. Its name derives from its tentacles, resembling the snakes borne by Medusa in place of hair.

Mushrooms and umbrellas have a similar shape, and mushrooms pop up after a shower of rain:

"Perseus founded Mycenae and called the city so because on its site the cap (myces) fell from his scabbard, and he regarded this as a sign to found a city. It is also said that Perseus, being thirsty, picked up a mushroom (myces), and drinking the water that flowed from it, named the site" [3].

The hilt of Perseus' sword fell off at Mycenaea and it was taken as a omen of the location to build the city. This 'cap' had the appearance of a mushroom [4]. The reconstructed Mycenaean Greek name of the place is Mukanai, Greek mukes, mushroom, is believed to be derived from this source, hence our word mycology from the Indo-European root *meug- 'Slimy, slippery; with derivatives referring to various wet and slimy substances and conditions. Related to *meus-'. Derivatives: emunctory (an organ or duct that removes or carries waste from the body, from Latin mungere, to blow the nose). Possibly Germanic *(s)muk-, referring to wetness and also to figurative slipperiness; smock (from Old English smoc, shirt), smug (from Middle Low German smucken, to adorn < 'to make sleek'), schmuck (from Middle High German smuck, 'clothing,'

adornment, jewels), muggy (from Middle English muggen, to drizzle, from a source akin to Old Norse mugga, drizzle-), smuggle (from Low German smukkelen, smuggein, to smuggle 'to slip contraband through'),

mold2 (from Middle English molde, mold, from a source akin to Old Norse mjukr, mold, mildew), meek (from Old Norse mjukr, soft, from Germanic *meuk-). Variant form *meuk-; moist, mucilage, muco-, mucosa, mucus, musty, (these words from Latin mucus, mucus). Zero-grade form *muk-; -mycete, myco- (fungus), mycology (the study of fungi), mycosis, saccharomyces, streptomyces, streptomycin, (these words from

Greek mukes, fungus, mushroom). Suffixed form *muk-so-, match2 (for lighting a fire, 'wick of a lamp'), myxo- (these words from Greek muxa, mucus, lamp wick <'nozzle of a lamp' < 'nostril'). [Pokorny 2. meuc 44. Watkins] Also muck, mullet (from Latin mugil, are a family, Mugilidae, of ray-finned fish), Mycteria (a genus of large tropical storks), mycteric (pertaining to cavities of nose).

The root *meug- 'Slimy, slippery', is related to the Indo-European root *meus- 'Damp; with derivatives referring to swampy ground and vegetation and to figurative qualities of wetness. Related to meug-' [Calvert Watkins, IE Roots]. Derivatives of *meus- include: moss (from Old English mos, bog), litmus (from Middle Dutch mos, moss., and from a Scandinavian source akin to Old Norse mosi, bog, moss, from Germanic *meus-, *mus-), mire (Swedish myra, Danish myre, myr, a bog, Old Norse myrr 'swamp'), quagmire (quag-mire, from Old Norse myrr, bog, from Germanic suffixed form *meuz-i-). Suffixed zero-grade form *mus-to-;

must3 (fermenting juice expressed from fruit, especially grapes), mustard (from Latin mustus, new, newborn < 'wet'). Possibly suffixed zero-grade form *mus-so-; mysophobia (from Greek musos, uncleanness). [Pokorny I. meu- 741. Watkins]

Klein says the word mushroom, "from French mousseron was influenced in form by French mousse, 'moss', with which it has nothing in common".

Perseus is the Greek hero known as "the Champion" who slew the monster Medusa with a sword. The word Champion, is from Latin campus, field (of combat). The French and German word for mushroom is champignon, from Late Latin campaneus, 'pertaining to the fields', from Latin campus, field. Latin campus is the root of the following words: camp, campaign, campane, campanile, Campanula, camper, campion,

Campo, campus, campylo-, champaign, champignon, champion, decamp, encamp, gamb, gamba (leg), gambol, gammon3 (ham, a side of bacon), scamp (a mischievous child), scamper, schanz, sconce ('cover'), the first element in Camponotus, Camptosorus, champerty, and the second element in elecampane, Kulturkampf. The hippocampus of the brain has a central role in memory processes and spatial orientation. Seahorses are the genus Hippocampus known for the males becoming 'pregnant'.

The Latin word for mushroom is fungus, Klein says that Latin fungus, 'mushroom, fungus', is a loan word from Attic sphoggos, from which we get the words sponge, spunk ("origin uncertain: perhaps via Irish sponc ‘tinder’ from Greek spoggia, 'sponge'").

The name Medusa and the word medicine come from the same Indo-European root; *med- (the name of the sorceress and drug-brewer Medea also comes from this root). The blood that flowed on Medusa's left side was said to be fatal poison. The blood from her right side was beneficial. The physician Aesculapius (Ophiuchus) used her blood to heal. Medusa had serpents for hair which might represent herbs and chemicals used in medicine (see Serpens). Snakes were seen as having the properties of different poisons (venom) according to their species; Isidore says "Of these animals there are as many poisons (venom) as there are kinds” [p.255.]

Some think that the name Perseus might be from the ancient Greek verb, perthein, 'to waste, ravage, sack, destroy' from the Greek verb perth-. Wikipedia on Perseus says the origin of perth- is obscure but believed to be derived from the Indo-European root *bher-, (ordinarily *bh- descends to Greek as ph-) from which Latin ferio, 'strike' derives. This corresponds to Julius Pokorny’s *bher-(3), “scrape, cut.” Listed as *bher-2 in

Watkins dictionary, 'To cut, pierce, bore'. Derivatives: bore1 ('make a hole'), barrow3 (from OE bearg, barg, 'castrated pig'), burin (a steel cutting tool for scraping or carving, also called a graver), foramen (a cavity in a human or animal body), perforate (from Latin forare, to pierce, bore). Perhaps Greek pharunx, throat (< "a cutting, cleft, passage")> pharynx, Dukhobor (Russian Christian movement founded in the 18th century, from Slavic bor- to fight , to overcome). Boris (personnel name). [Pokorny 3 bher- 133. Watkins].

Wikipedia says the name Perseus is likely to be related to Latin ferio. Latin ferire is the present active infinitive of ferio. Latin forare, 'to bore', is related to ferire to strike [Miriam-Webster]. Latin ferire is the root of the second syllable in interfere; inter- + ferir, 'to strike' (from Latin ferire). The Latin verb ferire had the basic meaning of 'to strike', and also 'to strike a bargain' [1]. Klein gives more relatives (under 'bore'): brackish, broom, foralite, and says "compare bark, 'rind of a tree', barranca, board, 'table, plank', board, 'side of a ship'.

The name 'Perseus' seems to be related to the word 'pharynx'. In astrology the beta star of Perseus, i.e. Algol, is associated with Medusa. Perseus in Greek mythology severed Medusa's head at the neck. Astrologers note how this star is associated with "beheading, suffocation, choking, injuries to the neck" [http://ye-stars.com/oldalgol.htm].

Perseus is thought to be related to the word Persian, although it is said that Perses, the son of Perseus and Andromeda, is the eponymous ancestor of the Persians. Related words are; peach, from Latin persica, 'Persian apple', and perse, the color dark grayish blue or purple.

"The Persian peach (Persicus) is so called because Perseus - from whom the Ptolemies claimed that they sprang first planted that tree in Egypt. In Persia this tree produced a deadly fruit, but in our region the fruit is pleasant and sweet" [The Etymologies of Isidore of Seville, 7th century AD, p.343.]

“The pagans also believed that Perseus and his wife Andromeda had been received into the heavens after they died, and so they traced out their images in stars and did not blush to name these constellations after them.” [The Etymologies of Isidore of Seville, 7th century AD, p.106.]


Fixed stars in Perseus


Capulus M34 NGC869 22TAU48 24TAU12 033 52 30 +56 55 00 +40 21 51 4.40 C

chi 22TAU53 24TAU16 033 38 06 +57 17 10 +40 45 13 6.15 G6

Algol beta 24TAU46 26TAU10 046 13 36 +40 45 52 +22 25 22 2.10 var B8

Misam kappa 26TAU19 27TAU42 046 31 42 +44 40 10 +26 04 47 4.00 G8

tau 26TAU32 27TAU55 042 40 28 +52 33 34 +34 21 56 4.06 G1

Miram eta 27TAU18 28TAU41 041 45 30 +55 41 22 +37 28 44 3.93 K4

iota 27TAU52 29TAU15 046 21 41 +49 25 27 +30 37 59 4.17 G1

gamma 28TAU39 00GEM02 045 17 24 +53 18 44 +34 31 28 3.08 F7

Atiks omicron 29TAU45 01GEM09 055 19 00 +32 07 53 +12 10 45 3.80 B1

Mirfak alpha 00GEM41 02GEM05 050 11 06 +49 41 06 +30 07 12 1.90 F5

zeta 01GEM45 03GEM08 057 44 45 +31 44 12 +11 19 39 2.91 B1

nu 02GEM27 03GEM50 055 26 49 +42 25 21 +22 08 51 3.93 F4

delta 03GEM25 04GEM48 054 50 20 +47 37 46 +27 17 46 3.10 B5

Menkib xi 03GEM35 04GEM58 058 55 44 +35 38 56 +14 56 15 4.05 O7

epsilon 04GEM18 05GEM41 058 37 22 +39 52 02 +19 06 31 2.96 B1

upsilon 08GEM07 09GEM30 061 15 19 +47 34 52 +26 13 46 4.03 B3

lambda 08GEM22 09GEM45 060 42 43 +50 13 03 +28 52 49 4.33 AO

mu 09GEM25 10GEM48 062 48 15 +48 17 03 +26 42 03 4.28 G2



There was the knight of fair-haired Danae born, Perseus.

— Elton's translation of the Shield of Hercules.

Perseus, even amid the stars, must take

Andromeda in chains aetherial!

— Mrs. Browning's Paraphrases on Nonnus.

Perseus, the Champion, is the French Persee, the Italian Perseo, and the German Perseus, formerly was catalogued as Perseus et Caput Medusae. Perseus is shown in early illustrations as a nude youth wearing

the talaria, or winged sandals, with a light scarf thrown around his body, holding in his left hand the Gorgoneion, or head of Medusa-Guberna, the mortal one of the Gorgons, and in his right the, or falx, (scythe) which he had received from Mercury. A title popular at one time, and still seen, was the Rescuer, for, according to the story, Perseus, when under obligations to furnish a Gorgon's head to Polydectes, found the Sisters asleep at the Ocean; and, using the shield of {Page 330} Minerva (Athena) as a mirror, that he might not be petrified by Medusa's (Algol) glance, cut off her head, which he then utilized in the rescue of Andromeda. Some one has written about this:

In the mirror of his polished shield

Reflected, saw Medusa slumbers take,

And not one serpent by good chance awake;

Then backward an unerring blow he sped,

And from her body lopped at once her head.

Aratos (ca. 310 BC – 240 BC) characterized the stellar hero as "stirring up a dust in heaven," either from the fact that his feet are in the celestial road, the Milky Way, or from the haste with which he is going to the rescue of Andromeda; and Manilius, describing his place in the sky, wrote:

Her Perseus joyns, her Foot his Shoulder bears

Proud of the weight, and mixes with her Stars.

His story probably was well known in Greece anterior to the 5th century B.C., for Euripides and Sophocles each wrote a drama based on Andromeda's history; and with them, as with the subsequent Greeks, he was Perseus, a word that may be derived from the Hebrew Parash, a Horseman, although Ctesias, in his Persika of about 400 B.C., had Parsondas as a stellar name from Babylonia that may be this. Parasiea, current in late Indian astronomy, is only another form of the Greek original.

Ippotes (Hippotes), the Horseman, and Profugus, the Flying One, also are titles for these stars.

Classical poets called it Pinnipes, referring to the talaria; Cyllenius, the Hero having been aided by Mercury; Abantiades and Acrisioniades, from his grandfather and father; Inachides, from a still earlier ancestor, the first king of Argos; and Deferens caput Algol, Victor Gorgonei monstri, Gorgonifer, Gorgonisue, and Deferens cathenam, from the association of Perseus with Medusa and the chain of Andromeda.

Alove probably came, by some error in transcription, from Al Ghul, more correctly applied to the star beta (Algol); while Bershawish, Fersaus, and Siaush are plainly the Arabians' orthography of the Greek title, the letter P not being found in their alphabet. They, however, commonly called it Hamil Ras al Ghul, the Bearer of the Demon's Head, which became Almirazgual in Moorish Spain, and was translated from Ulug Beg as Portans caput larvae, the same being still seen in the German Trager des Medusen Kopf.

The Celeub, Cheleub, and Chelub of the 1515 Almagest, Alfonsine Tables, and Bayer's Uranometria probably are from the Arabic Kullab, the Hero's weapon, although Grotius and others have referred them to Kalb, a Dog, which would render intelligible the occasional title Canis.

{Page 331} La Lande identified the figure with the Egyptian Khem, and with Mithras of Persia, Herodotus having asserted that Perseus, through his and Andromeda's son Perses, gave name to that country and her people, who previously were the Chephenes, as descended from Chepheus, the son of Belus, identified by some with the Cepheus of the sky. The kings of Cappadocia and of Pontus, similarly descended, represented the Hero on their coins.

Cacodaemon was the astrologers' name for this constellation, with special reference to Algol as marking the demon's head; while Schickard, Novidius, and the biblical school generally said that it was David with the head of Goliath; but others of the same kind made of it the Apostle Paul with his Sword and Book. Mrs. Jameson thought that the legend of Perseus and Cetus was the foundation of that of Saint George and the Dragon, one version making this saint to have been born at Lydda, only nine miles from Joppa, the scene of Perseus' exploit.

The constellation is 28° in length, — one of the most extended in the heavens, — stretching from the upraised hand of Cassiopeia nearly to the Pleiades, and well justifying the epithet perimeketos, "very tall," applied to it by Aratos. It offers a field of especial interest to possessors of small telescopes, while even an opera-glass reveals much that is worthy of observation. Argelander gives a list of 81 naked-eye stars, and Heis 136.

The former has suggested that within its boundaries may lie the possible central point of the universe, which Madler located in the Pleiades and Maxwell Hall in Pisces, — all probably unwarranted conclusions.

Delta, psi, sigma, alpha, gamma, eta, and others on the figure's right side, form a slight curve, open towards the northeast, that has been called the Segment of Perseus.


Algol

beta Perseus

Algol, the Demon, the Demon Star, and the Blinking Demon, from the Arabians' Ra’s al Ghul, the Demon's Head, is said to have been thus called from its rapid and wonderful variations; but I find no evidence of this, and that people probably took the title from Ptolemy. Al Ghul literally signifies a Mischief-maker, and the name still appears in the Ghoul of the Arabian Nights and of our day. It degenerated into the Alove often used some centuries ago for this star.

Ptolemy catalogued it as ton en gorgonio o lampros, "the bright one of those in the Gorgon's head," which Al Tizini followed in his Na’ir, for, with pi, rho, and omega, it made up that well-known group, itself being the Gorgonea prima; the Gorgonion of Chrysococca, Gorgoneum Caput of Vitruvius, Caput Gorgonis of Hyginus, and the Gorgonis Ora of Manilius.

With astronomical writers of three centuries ago Algol was Caput Larvae, the Spectre's Head. Hipparchos and Pliny made a separate constellation of the Gorgon stars as the Head of Medusa, this descending almost to our own day, although always connected with Perseus.

The Hebrews knew Algol as Rosh ha Satan, Satan's Head, Chilmead's Rosch hassatan, the Divels head; but also as Lilith [*1], Adam's legendary first wife, the nocturnal vampire from the lower world that reappeared in the demonology of the Middle Ages as the witch Lilis, one of the characters in Goethe's Walpurgis Nacht.

The Chinese gave it the gruesome title Tseih She, the Piled-up Corpses. {Page 333} Astrologers of course said that it was the most unfortunate, violent, and dangerous star in the heavens, and it certainly has been one of the best observed, as the most noteworthy variable in the northern sky. It "continues sensibly constant at 2.3 magnitude during 2. days, then decreases, at first gradually, and afterward with increasing rapidity, to 3.5 magnitude"; its light oscillations occupying about nine hours; its total period being stated as 2 days 20 hours 48 minutes 55 seconds. Al Sufi, a good observer for his day, yet strangely making no allusion to its variability, called it a 2nd-magnitude; and the phenomenon was first scientifically noted by Montanari during several years preceding 1672. This was confirmed by Maraldi's observations of 1694, and, later, by those of the Saxon farmer Palitsch, [Palitsch also was famous for his discovery of Halley's comet on Christmas night, 1758.] but its approximate period seems to have been first announced by Goodricke in 1782, who even then advanced the theory of a dark companion revolving around it with immense velocity, which periodically cut off its light. This, reaffirmed by Pickering in 1880, was made certain by the spectroscope in the hands of Vogel of Potsdam in 1889. Chandler thinks that there must exist another invisible body larger than either Algol or its companion, around which both revolve in a period of 130 years; but Tisserand has shown that the phenomenon on which Chandler bases this opinion can be explained in a different and simpler way. Its name is used for the type indicating short-period variables whose changes may be explained by this theory of "eclipses." Of these seventeen are now known.

[*1] Allen notes at end of page 332: We are indebted to the Talmudists for this story, which probably originated in Babylonia; and they added that, after Adam had separated from Lilith and their demon children, Eve was created for him. Our Authorized Version renders the original word, in Isaiah xxxiv, 14, by "screech owl"; the Revised Version, by "night-monster"; Cheyne adopts the Hebrew Lilith in the Polychrome Bible; and Luther's Bible had Kobold, but this corresponded to the Scottish Brownie and the English "Robin Goodfellow," — Shakespeare's "Puck." Saint Jerome's Vulgate translated it "Lamia," the Greek and Roman title for the fabled woman, beautiful above, but a serpent below, that Keats reproduced in his Lamia.

Cetusthe Whale, or Sea Monster




Cetus, the whale, or Sea Monster, has been identified, at least since Aratos' day (3rd century B.C.), with the fabled creature sent by Neptune (Poseidon) to devour Andromeda, but turned to stone at the sight of the Medusa's head (Algol) in the hand of Perseus. Cetus is positioned on the banks of the River Eridanus, the other side of his body is bordered by the constellation Pisces.

Manilius in Astronomica tells of the drama of the sea-monster, Cetus, coming to devour Andromeda:

"Now had a heavy surge begun to rise and long lines of breakers were fleeing before the thrust of the massive monster. As it cleaves the waves, its head emerges and disgorges sea, the waters breaking loudly about its teeth and the swirling sea afloat in its very jaws; behind rise its huge coils like rings of an enormous neckchain [the star Mira has been called the constellation's necklace], and its back covers the whole sea. Ocean clamors in every quarter, and the very mountains and crags quake at the creature's onset.

"What terror then, unhappy maiden [Andromeda], was expressed on your countenance, defended though you were by such a champion! [Perseus] How all your breath fled into the air! How all the blood ebbed from your limbs, when from the cleft in the rocks you beheld with your own eyes your fate, the avenging monster swimming towards you and driving the waves before it, how helpless you a victim for the sea!

"Hereupon with a flutter of winged sandals Perseus flies upwards and from the skies hurls himself at the foe, driving home the weapon stained with the Gorgon's blood [Medusa, see Algol]. The beast rises to meet him, rears its head, twisting it out of the water, leaps aloft upon its support of winding coils, and towers high in the air with all its bulk. But as much as it rises hurtling up from the deep, always so much does Perseus fly higher and mock the sea-beast through the yielding air, and strike its head as it attacks. Yet not submitting to the hero the monster bites furiously at the breezes, though its teeth snap vainly and inflict no wounds; it spouts forth sea towards heaven, drenches its winged assailant with a blood-stained deluge, and sends in spray the ocean to the stars...

"At last, its frame riddled with stabs, through which the sea fills its body, the beast sinks, returns once more to the surface, and covers the mighty ocean with its massive corpse, still a fearful sight, and not for a maiden's eyes to look on." [Manilius, Astronomica, 1st century A.D., Book 5, p.347-349]

Cetus is a Latin word for the order Cetacea which includes the whales, dolphins, and porpoises. Derivatives of Latin cetus, Greek ketos: cetacean, cetaceous, cetene, cetyl (an alcoholic substance taken from whale wax and is called cetyl alcohol), spermaceti. Spermaceti is derived from a wax in the Sperm Whale's head. A large whale can hold as much as three tons [1].

The word whale is from Old English hwael, and comes from the Indo-European root *(s)kwal-o- 'Big fish'. Derivatives: whale1, narwhal, rorqual, (these words from Old Norse hvalr, whale, from Germanic *hwalaz), squalene (from New Latin Squalus, shark genus from its occurrence in the liver oil of sharks, from Latin squalus, a sea fish), squalid (related to Latin squales filth, squalus filthy, squalere, to be covered with a rough or

scaly layer). [Pokorny (s)kwalo-s 958. Watkins] "Probably related to the word squall1, a brief harsh cry, and squall2, a brief sudden violent windstorm, to blow strongly for a brief period" [Klein], and squeal.

"Cetus undulates its scaly back (Cetos convolvens squamea terga), it rises aloft upon a spiral of coils and splashes with such a belly as drove the sea beyond its proper shores when it appeared from the waves to destroy the daughter of Cepheus exposed upon the cliffs..." [Manilius Astronomica 1st century AD, P.39] [The daughter of Cepheus is Andromeda]

Manilius in describing the astrological influences associates this constellation with the production of salt:

"Moreover, such men [those astrologically influenced by Cetus] will be able to fill great salt-pans, to evaporate the sea, and to extract the sea's venom [salt], they prepare a wide expanse of hardened ground and surround it with firm walls, next conduct therein waters channeled from the nearby sea and then deny them exit by closing sluice-gates, so the floor holds in the waves and begins to glisten as the water is drained off by the sun. When the sea's dry element has collected, Ocean's white locks [salt] are shorn for use at table, and huge mounds are made of the solid foam; and the poison of the deep, which prevents the use of sea-water, vitiating it with a taste, they commute to life-giving salt and render a source of health" [Manilius, Astronomica, 1st century AD, book 5, p.355.].

Salt comes from the Indo-European root *sal-1 'Salt'. Derivatives: salt, souse+ (pickled meat), silt (fine sand, salt marsh), salsa, sauce, sausage, sal, salad, salami, salary, sali-, saline, halo- (from Latin halos, threshing floor, disc around the Sun or Moon), Halogen (Greek hals + genes = born, from Greek halos, stem hal-, salt, sea), Halon (a halocarbon used as fire-extinguishing agents). [Pokorny 1. sal- 878. Watkins] Salzburg, Salamanca, Salamis, from salama ("he was safe or free").

"Take it with a grain of salt" (to accept a statement with skepticism). "To salt away" (to protect money for future use, budget, see below), In his Sermon on the Mount, Jesus referred to the crowd as the "salt of the earth".

Apparently the pre-Indo-European Proto-Finno-Baltic word for the whale was 'hal', borrowed by Germanic speakers and ended up in English through a long complicated process as 'whale', from Germanic *hwalaz. The Finnish is 'kala' and the Magyar (Hungarian) is 'hal'. Greek hal is salt.

The inhaling and the dramatic exhaling (from Latin halare 'to breathe'), of a whale as it breaks surface, that blows from the blowholes, is a reminder of the squall2, "a brief sudden violent windstorm, to blow strongly for a brief period".

Manilius is describing the making of sausage, sauce, salami, souse, pickled meat, in his astrological influences:

This monster enlists its sons [those influenced astrologically by Cetus] in an onslaught on the deep and a butchery of scaly creatures; theirs will be a passion for ensnaring the deep with nets spread wide and for straitening the sea with bonds; they will confine in spacious prisons seals which deem themselves as safe as in the open sea and shackle them fast in fetters; the unwary tunny they will draw along in a network of meshes. Their capture is not the end, the fish struggle against their bonds, meet a new assault, and suffer death by the knife, and the sea is dyed, mixed with blood of its own. Furthermore, when the victims lie dead along the shore, a second slaughter is perpetrated on the first; the fish are torn into pieces, and a single body is divided to serve separate ends. One part is better if its juices [sauce] are given up, another if they are retained. In the one case a valuable fluid is discharged, which yields the choicest part of the blood, flavored with salt, it imparts a relish to the palate. In the other case all the pieces of the decaying carcass are blended together and merge their shapes until every distinguishing feature has been lost, they provide food with a condiment of general use. Or when, presenting the very likeness of the dark-hued sea, a shoal of the scaly creatures has come to a stop and cannot move for their numbers, they are surrounded and drawn from the water by a huge drag-net, and fill large tanks and wine-vats, their common endowment of liquid is exuded upon each other, for their inward parts melt and issue forth as a stream of decomposition. [Manilius, Astronomica, 1st century AD, book 5, p.353, 355.]

This constellation is the French Baleine, the Italian Balaena, the 1515 Almagest and the Alfonsine Tables called it Balaena, the fourth century Christian astronomer, Firmicus, called it Belus, the Beast or Monster, Ovid called it Belua Ponti (Sea-Monster). There are two orders of whales, the other suborder of the Cetacea, the toothed whales, are of the family Delphinidae (oceanic dolphins) and have a constellation of their own, Delphinus. This constellation, Cetus, might refer to the baleen whales in particular, also called whalebone whales or great whales, the Mysticeti. Baleen whales have baleen plates instead of teeth which they use to filter their food.

“Whales (ballena) are beasts of enormous size, named from casting forth and spraying water, for they throw waves higher than the other sea animals; in Greek ballein means 'cast forth'. The sea-monster (cetus, plural cete) is named ketos, plural kete, that is, on account of its vastness. These are huge types of sea-monsters (bellua), and their bodies are the same size as mountains. Such a cetus swallowed Jonah; its belly was so big that it resembled hell, as the prophet says (compare Jonah 2:3): "He heard me from the belly of hell." (The Etymologies of Isidore of Seville, 7th century AD, p.260.]

Star Phosphoros cried out (to Phaethon)

"...Spare this wild driving, and let not the Olympian Ketos [starry Cetus the Sea-Monster] entomb you in his belly in high heaven..." Nonnus, Dionysiaca 38. 90 ff

Whales produce blubber, the fat of the whale, the originally meaning was 'bubble, foam'. Compare bleb, blob, the verb blubber, to weep loudly [Klein]. Most of Europe's and American lamps were lit by whale oil obtained from the blubber of various species of whales, until replaced by kerosene after 1860.

Cetus is a whale positioned on the banks of the river Eridanus; the banks of the Eridanus is where the sisters of Phaeton, the Heliades ("children of the sun"), were weeping (blubbering) before being turned into poplar tree. From the tears of the Heliades comes amber which floated down the Eridanus River. Whales produce ambergris. The word 'amber' is probably derived from the Arabic word anbar, meaning ambergris, a substance from sperm whales used as a base to make perfume. Another etymology is suggested on this webpage quoting Eugenion Ragazzi (2000): "'amber' is believed to derive from the Arabic word 'Haur Rumi' that means 'Roman poplar tree': the following corrupted terms were Haurum, Habrum, Hambrum and finally Ambarum and Amber". [Arabic Rumi means Rome, and haur seems to what they call the Populus alba 1]

“Amber (sucinus), which the Greeks call electron, has the color of tawny wax, and is said to be the sap (sucus) of trees, and for the reason is called 'amber.' An explanation taken from myth has led it to being called electrum, for the story goes that when Phaethon was killed by a bolt of lightning, his sisters, in their grief, were turned into poplar trees, and they exude amber (electrum) as tears, year in and out, by the river Eridanus (i.e. the Po); and it is called electrum because many poets said the sun used to be called Elector (the 'Shining One'). But in fact amber is not the sap of the poplar tree but of the pine tree, for when it is burned it gives off the fragrance of pine pitch.” [The Etymologies of Isidore of Seville, 7th century AD, p.323.].

Elector (the 'Shining One'), might relate to Latin halos, 'threshing floor, disk around the sun or moon'. In chemistry, solutions of salts in water are called electrolytes. Electrolytes as well as molten salts conduct electricity. Salt is a preservative and amber preserves the body of an insect trapped in the resinous drop of amber. A salt is an ionic compound composed of positively charged cations and negatively charged anions (cation from Greek kation, go down kata-, + ienai, 'to go', 'ion'. Anion, from Greek anienai, to go up: ana-, up, + ienai, 'to go', 'ion'). An ion or group of ions having a positive charge and characteristically moving toward the negative electrode in electrolysis.

Greeks used the same word for 'salt' and 'sea'; als (which became sal in Latin), alos, alas, this root survives in th-alas-sa (Thalassa) which means 'sea' [2]. The word isle (which is not related to the word 'island') is from Old French isle (French ile), from Latin insula; Klein says "which is of uncertain origin. Following the ancients, some modern philologists derive Latin insula from in salo, 'that which is in the sea', from in, 'in', and ablative of salum, 'the open sea, the high sea', which is cognate with Middle Irish sal (genitive saile), 'sea; compare Greek en-alos, en-alios, 'in the sea', from Greek en, 'in', and als, genitive alos (masculine), 'salt'; (feminine), 'sea'. Compare islet, insular, isolate, peninsula." Also insulin which is a hormone secreted by the islets of Langerhans in the pancreas. One legend about whales, with a number of variations, tells how sailors mistake a whale for an island (or isle). They proceed to land there and build a fire to cook their food. After a time the heat penetrates the whale's thick skin, and it dives to cool itself. The ship is dragged down with it and the sailors drown.

Within the borders of this constellation was a modern constellation created in 1800, Machina Electrica, to honor the creation of the first electricity generator. Composed of dim stars that can be found south of Cetus, the sea-monster [south of the belly] between Fornax, the furnace, and Sculptor. The constellation appeared in a few star atlases, but was never widely accepted and is no longer recognized by astronomers [3].

"The Elektrides (Amber) Islands that lie off the Pados." [Pados is an alternate name for the Po or Eridanus River] mentioned by Strabo, Geography 5.1.9 [4] are identified with the Kvarner islands in the Adriatic.

"Amber was prized for its perfume, warmth, electrical properties, and ability to preserve life in its resin (Pliny NH 37). Martial suggests that insects preserved in amber have eternity as jewels. Amber was probably traded down from northern Europe to the Adriatic via the Po and the Rhone. But neither river was the source of amber in antiquity. It came from northern Europe, from Jutland in Denmark, and from the Baltic coast". [Frederick Ahl, Metaformations, p.189-190]

Mythology tells us that amber originated from the tears shed by the Heliades that flowed into the river Eridanus. Eridanus or Eridanos, was a name given by geologists to a river which flowed where the Baltic Sea is now. In the Pleistocene era, the current Baltic Sea was the river basin of a river, currently named Eridanos. The tertiary forests of the Baltic produces the best amber in the world and the Baltic sea area contains 90% of the world's amber - Heliades tears.

“Eridanos … swallowed a foreigner, Phaethon in his flood … he brings wealth from his trees to the friends who live near him as he rolls along the brilliant amber gifts of the Heliades.” – Dionysiaca 22.90

The names of goddesses Electra 1, and Electra 2 (one of the seven Pleiades), should be from the same root as 'electric', we know that the isle of Electra was near the Eridanus, as is the constellation Cetus:

"And quickly they [the Argonauts] entered the ship, and toiled at their oars unceasingly until they reached the sacred isle of Electra, the highest of them all, near the river Eridanus [Grimal]

Electra is translated from Greek 'a-lektron', 'with no marriage bed' [5].

The spouting exhale of a whale creates a steaming misting fountain of air and water through which the observers, depending on their position in reference to the sun, can see the colors of the rainbow in the mist above the head of the whale, giving them a halo [from the above Indo-European root *sal-1 ], a sort of holy, mystical image. This constellation with Roman authors were titled Pristis, Pristix, and Pistrix, these words are related to the word 'prism'. A prism has the same effect as a water-drop in the air where rays of light are decomposed into colored rays of rainbow. [Cetus is not the rainbow itself; Electra (see above) is mother of Iris, the rainbow].

Another meaning of cetus.

*Qet- (meaning hole in the ground for dwelling, living space or living room) in the IE protolanguage was adopted, after some mutations in the meaning, as ketos in Greek [6].


Fixed stars in Cetus


iota 29PIS32 00ARI55 004 13 12 -09 06 03 -10 01 19 3.75 K3

Deneb Kaitos beta 01ARI11 02ARI35 010 16 12 -18 15 39 -20 47 01 2.24 K0

eta 10ARI22 11ARI45 016 31 06 -10 26 48 -16 07 01 3.60 K1

theta 14ARI51 16ARI14 020 22 51 -08 26 27 -15 46 03 3.83 K0

tau 16ARI27 17ARI50 025 26 11 -16 12 00 -24 50 19 3.65 G4

upsilon 18ARI02 19ARI25 029 24 44 -21 19 10 -31 02 09 4.18 M1

Baton Kaitos zeta 20ARI33 21ARI57 027 14 51 -10 34 53 -20 20 12 3.92 K0

Mira omicron 00TAU07 01TAU31 034 12 15 -03 12 13 -15 56 15 3.00 var M6

xi 06TAU05 07TAU28 036 22 27 +08 14 13 -51 51 35 4.34 A0

delta 06TAU11 07TAU34 039 13 45 +00 06 50 -14 27 58 4.04 B2

Kaffaljidhma gamma 08TAU02 09TAU26 040 10 36 +03 01 34 -11 59 58 3.58 A2

mu 10TAU33 11TAU56 040 33 32 +09 54 15 -05 34 11 4.36 F4

Menkar alpha 12TAU55 14TAU19 044 54 57 +03 53 41 -12 35 23 2.82 M2

lambda 13TAU43 15TAU06 044 15 29 +08 42 33 -07 47 27 4.69 B5



The south wind brings her foe

The Ocean beast.

— Brown's Aratus.

Cetus, the Whale or Sea Monster, is the French Baleine, the Italian Balaena, and the German Wallfisch.

This constellation has been identified, at least since Aratos' day, with the fabled creature sent to devour Andromeda, but turned to stone at the sight of the Medusa's head (Algol) in the hand of Perseus. Equally veracious additions to the story, from Pliny and Solinus, are that the monster's bones were brought to Rome by Scaurus, the skeleton measuring forty feet in length and the vertebrae six feet in circumference; from Saint Jerome, who wrote that he had seen them at Tyre; and from Pausanias, who described a nearby spring that was red with the monster's blood. But the legend in which Cetus figured seems to have been current on the Euphrates long before our era; and, descending to Euripides and Sophocles, appeared in their dramas, as also in much subsequent literature.

For its stellar title the Greeks usually followed Aratos and Eratosthenes in Ketos, but they also had Orphis, and Orphos, some species of {Page 161} cetacean; and the equivalent Prestis; and Pristis,1 [This word is seen in more modern days in the Physetere that Rabelais used.] from prethein, to blow or spout, the common habit of the animal. The last word, variously transliterated, was common for the constellation with Roman authors, appearing as Pristis, Pristix, and Pistrix, qualified by the adjectives auster, Nereia, fera, Neptunia, aequorea, and squammigera. Cetus, however, has been the usual title from the days of Vitruvius, varied by Cete with the 17th-century astronomical writers, although the stellar figure is unlike any whale known to zoology.

The Harleian2 and Leyden Manuscripts show it with greyhound head, ears, and fore legs, but with a long, trident tail; the whole, perhaps, modeled after the ancient bas-relief of Perseus and Andromeda in the Naples Museum. It is found thus on the Farnese globe, and this figuring may have given rise to, or originated from, the early title that La Lande cited, Canis Tritonis, his own Chien de Mer. But the Hyginus of 1488 has a dolphin-like creature with proboscis and tusks, all imitated in the edition of 1535 by Micyllus; and Durer still further varied the shape of the head and front parts.

Thus in these, as, in fact, in all delineations, it has been a strange and ferocious marine creature, in later times associated with the story of Andromeda, and at first, perhaps, was the Euphratean Tiamat, of which other forms were Draco, Hydra, and Serpens; indeed, some have thought that our Draco was Andromeda's foe because of its proximity to the other characters of the legend. But as an alternative signification of the word

ketos is Tunny,3 [This tunny, the horse-mackerel of the American coast and the Attacora thynnus of ichthyology, is found in the Mediterranean up to 1000 pounds' weight.] also a signification of Khelidonias, applied to the Northern Fish of the zodiac, it is not unlikely that the latter figure should be substituted in the story for the time-honored Whale.

Cetus is sometimes represented swimming in the River Eridanus, although usually as resting on the bank with fore paws in the water; its head, directly under Aries, marked by an irregular pentagon of stars, and its body stretching from the bend in Eridanus to that in the Stream from the Urn. It occupies a space of 50° in length by 20° in breadth, and so is one of the most extended of the sky figures; yet it shows no star larger than of the 2nd magnitude, and only one of that lustre.

{Page 162} Argelander enumerates 98 stars in the constellation, and Heis 162.

The 1515 Almagest and the Alfonsine Tables called it Balaena, but Firmicus said Belus, the Beast or Monster, a more appropriate name than ours. Bayer mentioned it as Draco, and drew it so, but without wings; he also cited for it Leo, Monstrum marimim, Ursus marinus, Orphas, and Orphus; and Grotius quoted Gibbus, Humped, from anonymous writers.

The Arabian astronomers of course knew the Greek constellation and called it Al Ketus, from which have come Elketos, Elkaitos, and Elkaitus; but their predecessors, who had not heard of the Royal Family and its

foe, separated these stars into three very different asterisms. Those in the head, alpha (Menkar), gamma (Kaffaljidhma), delta, lambda, mu, xi +and xi2, were Al Kaff al Jidhmah, the Part of a Hand, from a fancied resemblance to their Stained Hand, our Cassiopeia; eta, theta, tau, and upsilon, in the body of our Cetus, were Al Na’amat, the Hen Ostriches; and the four in a straight line of 3° length across the tail, all lettered phi, were Al Nitham, the Necklace.

The biblical school of the 17th century of course saw here the Whale that swallowed Jonah; and commentators on that great astronomical poem, the Book of Job, have said that it typified the Leviathan of which the Lord spoke to the patriarch. Julius Schiller thought it "SS. Joachim and Anna.” [Grandparents of Jesus]

The Easy Chair has popularly been applied to it from the arrangement of its chief stars, the back of the chair leaning towards Orion.

Although an old constellation, Cetus is by no means of special-interest, except as possessing the south pole of the Milky Way [actually in nearby Sculptor - Coma Berenices contains the North Galactic Pole, the northern perpendicular to the Milky Way. The South Galactic Pole is in Sculptor] and the Wonderful Star, the variable Mira; and from the fact that it is a condensation point of nebulae directly across the sphere from Virgo, also noted in this respect.

Lacertathe Lizard



Clues to the meaning of this celestial featureLacerta is the name of a genus of lizards of family Lacertidae. Lacerta, is derived from Spanish lagarto, from Latin lacertus (masculine), re-spelled lacerta (feminine), 'lizard', which stand for *lacer-tos, *lacro-tos, re-spelled *lacer-ta, *lacro-ta, and derive from Indo-European base *leq-, 'to bend, twist', whence probably also Latin locusta, 'grasshopper, locust', literally 'the jumper', Old Norse leggr, 'leg'. Related words are: lizard, leg, Lacerta, lacertian, lobster, locust, and alligator [Klein]. Lizard is a nautical term used for a piece of rope with a thimble spliced into the end. Lizard is also a term used for a piece of timber with a forked end, used in dragging a heavy stone, a log, or the like, from a field.

Alligator is an alteration of Spanish el lagarto, 'the lizard': el, the (from Latin ille, that), + lagarto.

Lizards differ from crocodiles in having a broader, shorter snout. Lizards (which include alligators, crocodiles and their ancestors) possess lachrymal glands, i.e. tear glands. The voice of crocodiles and alligators may be compared to broken sobs, or bellowing, which are sometimes mistaken for the cries of a child [1]. It is interesting that the name of the Egyptian crocodile god was Sobek. Alligators and crocodiles can spend prolonged periods of time out of the water and the eyes need to be protected from drying out by the development of tear glands. The variant spelling of the word for lizard *lacer-, to *lacro-, resembles the Latin cognate

for tear2 (as in 'crocodile tears'); lachrymal, also lacrimal, from Latin lacrima, from the Indo-European root *dakru- 'Tear'. [Pokorny dakru- 179. Watkins].

The biceps tendon is controlled by the lacertus fibrosus. Lacertus was a Latin term for the upper arm, or a bundle or fascicle of muscular fibers. The Latin word was used for 'muscle' as well as 'lizard,' perhaps because the ripple of a muscle beneath the skin reminded people of a lizard's movement (an exactly parallel development links mouse and muscle). [John Ayto, Dictionary of Word Origins]

“The lizard (lacertus) is a type of reptile, so named because it has arms (compare lacertus, 'upper arm'). There are many kinds of lizards, such as the botrax, the salamander, the saura, and the newt.” [p.257.] "In the arms is the brawn of the upper arms (lacertus), and there the marked strength of the muscles is located.” [p.235] [The Etymologies of Isidore of Seville, 7th century AD]

“Some believe that the word for tears (lacrima) comes from an injury of the mind (laceratio mentis); others maintain that it is identical with what is called lakruon ('tear') in Greek.” [The Etymologies of Isidore of Seville, p.233.]

The word Lacertus resembles lacerate from Latin laceratus, from lacerare 'tear to pieces, mangle,' from lacer 'torn, mangled'. Unlike snakes which shed their skin in one piece, lizards shed their skin in patches and can look very ragged for a few days - their skin is torn to pieces. Also lizards can be torn to pieces in another way; they can escape from their enemies by breaking off their tail, and are capable of regenerating lost limbs or tails. A detached tail wiggles for several minutes.

The shed skin of lizards might resemble pieces of lace? Some lizards have names like the Lace Monitor, Frilled neck Lizard ... Lizard is a nautical term used for a piece of rope with a thimble spliced into the end. A shoelace is a piece of string with a tipped end, or aglets.

Lacerta, the Lizard, is adjacent to Cygnus, the Swan. This constellation might relate to the myth of Hyrie, mother of Cycnus (Cygnus). Hyrie (also Thyria, or Thyrie) turns into a lake weeping tears for her son. Hyrie was a woman (perhaps from Hyria in Boiotia, Central Greece) who bore Apollon a son Cycnus, who was transformed into a swan by Apollo when he leapt off a cliff. "Hyrie, not knowing he was safe, pined away with weeping, and became the lake that carries her name". Lake Hyrie, and Cycnean Tempe are closeby. Referring to Medea flying over the earth Ovid says: "Then she saw Lake Hyrie, and Cycnean Tempe" [http://etext.virginia.edu/latin/ovid/trans/Metamorph7.htm] Swans are usually depicted swimming on lakes and prefer the still waters of lakes to flowing rivers. The word lake from Latin lacus, resembles some cognates of lacerta?


Fixed stars in Lacerta


6 00ARI04 01ARI27 337 04 53 +42 52 00 +47 32 07 4.54 B3

2 00ARI53 02ARI16 334 44 20 +46 17 03 +51 18 04 4.66 B5

5 03ARI51 05ARI14 336 51 38 +47 27 01 +51 24 26 4.61 K6

4 04ARI30 05ARI53 335 37 15 +49 13 20 +53 19 15 4.64 B8

alpha 06ARI46 08ARI09 337 18 24 +50 01 30 +53 17 24 3.85 A0

beta 07ARI16 08ARI39 335 23 50 +51 58 41 +55 33 53 4.58 K0

1 22PIS38 24PIS01 333 26 48 +37 29 57 +44 23 42 4.22 K4


Lacerta, the Lizard is the French Lezard, the Italian Lucertola, and the German Eidechse, — Bode's Eideze, — extending from the head of Cepheus to the star pi at the left foot of Pegasus, its northern half lying in the Milky Way.

This inconspicuous constellation was formed by Hevelius from outlying stars between Cygnus and Andromeda, this special figure having been selected because there was not space for any of a different shape. But he drew "a strange weasel-built creature with a curly tail," heading the procession of his offerings to Urania illustrated in his Firmamentum Sobiescianum of 1687. Flamsteed's picture is more like a greyhound, but equally uncouth; that by Heis is typically correct.

Its inventor gave it the alternative title of Stellio, the Stellion, a newt with star-like dorsal spots found along the Mediterranean coast. Somewhat coincidentally its stars, with those in the eastern portion of Cygnus, were combined by the early Chinese in their Flying Serpent.

Hevelius catalogued 10 components; Argelander, 31; and Heis, 48. They come to the meridian about the middle of April. It has no named star, and its lucida, alpha, is only of 3.9 magnitude.

Before the Lizard was formed, Royer introduced here, in 1679, the Sceptre and the Hand of Justice commemorating his king, Louis XIV; and a century later Bode substituted the Frederici Honores, in honor of his sovereign Frederick the Great; but Lacerta has held its place, while Royer's figure has been entirely forgotten, and Bode's nearly so.

Capricornthe Goat



Clues to the meaning of this celestial featureCapricorn represents the Winter Solstice (December 21st or 22nd) where the Sun, going south reaches its lowest point on the ecliptic, the Tropic, or turning, of Capricorn. There the Sun turns and starts to climb up, heading towards the northern hemisphere, and thereafter the Sun begins to appear higher and higher in the sky each day. An analogy can be drawn with this pattern and a goat climbing a mountain, because according to Olcott (p.116) that animal in feeding always ascends the hills, and is naturally a climbing animal. The sun in like manner when it arrives at Capricorn begins to mount the sky, and hence the goat was adopted as a symbol of the apparent climbing motion of the sun, while the fish-tail was significant of the rains and floods of the winter season. The name Capricorn translates "horned goat" and denotes a male goat, or billy-goat, and is associated with two types of goats: the Mountain-Goat and the Sea-Goat.

The Sea-Goat is said to express the more esoteric nature of Capricorn. Manilius (Astronomica, p.267) in referring to this sea-goat tail part of the figure says: "The last part of Capricorn, which consists of the sting at the end of its tail, prescribes for its children service upon the seas and the handling of ships, a hardy calling and one which is ever close to death." See the word captain below, also the story below of Acoetes, identified with this constellation, the captain of a pirate ship. Two named stars mark the tail of the Goat, the Two Friends, the two were the "Bringer of Good Tidings"; gamma (2, Nashira) and delta (3, Deneb Algedi).

There are other goats in the constellations; the female goat or nanny-goat, Capra, is represented in the alpha star of the constellation Auriga, i.e. Capella. There are also two kid goats in Auriga; Hoedus 1, and Hoedus 11, these words are from Latin haedus, 'kid, young goat', and cognate with the English word goat.

Capra is the term used for the goat genus. Capricorn, the he-goat, and the feminine Capella, the she-goat of Auriga, come from the Latin word caper, 'goat'. Latin caper comes from the Indo-European root *kap-ro- 'He-

goat, buck'. Derivatives: cabriolet (a two-wheeled, one-horse carriage, French cabriole, 'leap of a goat, caper'), cab (car), caper1 (a playful leap or hop), caprine (characteristic of a goat), capriole (a playful leap or jump; a caper), chevre (cheese made from goat's milk), chevron (denotes rank on a uniform, an inverted V shape pattern, the inverted V peak shape of a roof of a house, or rafter), caproic acid (also known as hexanoic acid). [Pokorny kapro- 529. Watkins]

Caproic acid is a fatty acid found naturally in various animal fats and oils, and is one of the chemicals that gives the decomposing fleshy seed coat of the ginkgo (gingko) its foul goaty smell [1].

Capricorn is from caper, 'goat', + cornu, horn, literally 'having horns similar to those of a goat', properly loan translation of Aigokeros, the old Greek name for this constellation [Klein, Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary]. The Capricorn Goat represents Aigipan, "Goat Pan", a character distinct from Pan (some say Aigipan is identical with Pan), sometimes said to be the father of Pan, or a companion of Pan, and he has been depicted together with Pan. When the gods fled from the monster Typhon and hid themselves in animal form, Aigipan assumed the form of a fish-tailed goat. According to Hyginus (Fab. 155) Aigipan was the son of Zeus and a goat, or of Zeus and Aega (Aix or Aex), the wife of Pan [2], who some think might be Aix Amaltheia, identified with the star Capra (Capella) in the constellation Auriga.

The two goats of Yom Kippur might represent the dual nature of Capricorn, the climbing mountain goat and the sea goat. On Yom Kippur, the festival of the Day of Atonement, two goats were chosen and lots were drawn for them. One was sacrificed and the other allowed to escape into the wilderness, symbolically carrying with it the sins of the community. From this comes the word 'scapegoat'. When used as a metaphor, a scapegoat is someone selected to bear blame for a calamity [3]. The escaping goat might relate to the theory that Capricorn is the 'Gate of the Gods' where one 'escapes' this life on earth. According to Chaldaean and Platonist philosophy, Cancer was the 'Gate of Men' through which souls descended from heaven into human bodies, or into creation. Its opposite sign Capricorn, represents the 'Gate of the Gods' where souls of the departed ascended back to heaven. Kuhn in The Lost Light explains;

"in the sign of Cancer the crab is emerging from the water and in Capricorn the goat (half goat or land animal, half fish or sea animal) is in the water".

To escape as Klein explains originally meant 'to throw off the cowl', formed from ex- and Late Latin cappa, and he supplies these relatives of Latin cappa: cap, cape, caparison, capeline, capuche, Capuchin, cappuccino, chape, chapeau, chapel, chapelet, chaperon, chaplet, cope (a long cloak), escape, kepi (a peaked cap worn by soldiers).

“A hood (capitulum) is commonly called a capitulare. This is also called a cappa (i.e. another word for 'hood,' or perhaps 'kerchief'), because it has two tips like the letter kappa, or because it is an ornament for the head (caput).” [The Etymologies of Isidore of Seville, 7th century AD, p.390.]

Etymologists (Ayto and Chambers) say that Latin cappa is probably related to Indo-European *kaput- 'Head', = life, a person, the top of anything, beginning (which may underlie Latin capilla, `hair'). Derivatives: head (from Old English hafod, head), caddie, cadet, cap, cape* (a point or head of land projecting into a body of water), capital+, capital*, capitation (a poll tax), capitellum (the rounded protuberance at the lower end of the humerus in the arm that articulates with the radius), capitulate, capitulum, caprice, captain, cattle (properly neuter of the Latin adjective capitalis, 'pertaining to the head, chief '; 'head of cattle'), caudillo (a leader or chief, especially a military dictator), chapter, chef, chief, chieftain, corporal* (the lowest noncommissioned officer, French caporal), achieve, biceps, kerchief, mischief, precipitate (to throw from or as if from a great height; hurl downward: ‘headlong’, to cause to happen, especially suddenly or prematurely, rain and dew are called precipitation), triceps, capit-, capt-, ceps-, chapt-, chef, cip-, -cup-, cheiftain, chapter, caption, capitol, capita, cabbage, capitate, cadet, biceps, precipice. [Pokorny kap-ut- 529. Watkins]

The word precipitate means to throw from or as if from a great height; hurl downward: ‘headlong’. Azazel is the word translated as 'scapegoat', azazel is also the name of the cliff the goat was pushed over [4]. This goat, with the sins of the people placed on it, was either sent over a cliff, or allowed to escape, or driven into the wilderness to perish.

A leader or king was sometimes compared to a male goat leading the flock [5]; chief or head. The knees are the part of the human body which the Capricorn rules in astrology, a knee has a cap, a kneecap. Capricorn rules the 10th house in astrology, and in mundane astrology the 10th house represents the capital cities of countries. In a personal astrological chart the midheaven represents the climax of one's achievements. The goat's aim is to reach the top of a mountain which is often capped with snow. When climbing, a goat can cleave onto the tiniest ledges with its cloven feet. It will carefully lean against the vertical incline before making the leap (Latin caper 'leap of a goat') to the next precipice.

Allen in Star Names mentions Acaetes (Acoetes or Acetes) in connection with Capricorn. Ovid tells the story of Acoetes, who was the captain of a pirate ship, and was perceptive enough to recognize a god in Bacchus/Dionysus. Acoetes tells how he climbed to the top of a high hill to see what the wind promised before sailing. He was captured and taken to Pentheus who told him "O you who are about to die, and, by your death, teach the others a lesson". Pentheus (whose name means pain) told his attendants to put Acoetes in a dungeon and to torture him. Acoetes manages to escape from his dungeon (Ovid's Metamorphosis).

Dabih was the title of the Arabic 20th manzil, the stars of which were alpha (Gieda Prima) and beta (Dabih) Capricorn. The influences of this Moon Mansion were: "Helps the escape of servants and captives".

Goats have a hierarchical society, only the leader goat is allowed to mate with the females, the other males in the herd accept this situation and remain bachelors. There is also the proverbially lusty goat. A Roman depiction of Eros riding on the back of an Aigipan, the sea goat, of Capricorn. Eros represents erotic love. Eros riding a goat would be an allusion to the goat's lusty habits.

Hircus is a Latin term for a male he-goat; related to the word hirsutism, the growth of excessive male-pattern hair on a woman:

“The he-goat (hircus) is a lascivious animal, butting and always eager to mate; his eyes look sideways on account of wantonness, whence he has taken his name, for according to Suetonius (Prata, fr. 171), hirqui are the corners of the eyes. His nature is so ardent that his blood by itself dissolves adamantine stone [diamonds], which can be overpowered by neither fire nor iron. Larger he-goats are called cinyphii from the river

Cinyps in Libya [meaning Africa], where they are born large” [The Etymologies of Isidore of Seville, 7th century AD, p.247.]

Double Chevron-Rank: Corporal E4, US Army

The chevron (from *kap-ro-) denotes rank on a uniform, an inverted V shape pattern, and male goats have what is described as a rank smell. Isidore says:

"Some call the armpits subhirci, 'undergoats' [sub-hircus], because in many people they give off the rank smell of goats [6].” "Goatish (ircosus, i.e. hircosus), because one stinks with the fetid sweat of his body." [The Etymologies of Isidore of Seville, 7th century AD, p.222].

An important feature of male goat which Capricorn represents is the very strong smell which is compared to human body odor. The word hercine, "of or characteristic of a goat, especially in strong odor", is from the Latin word for the billy goat, hircus. The word fetid, or foetid, is also believed to belong here. Valpy (An etymological dictionary of the Latin language, p.534) quoted Varro as saying the Latin word foeteo, or feteo, comes from the Sabines, an Italian tribe, and was derived from hoedus, to smell like a goat. Isidore might have drawn from this source along with Vergil's Aeneid in the following quotation:

"Foul (foedus) takes its name from goats and kids (haedus, also spelled aedus), with the letter f added. The ancients would use this with a serious connotation, as (Vergil, Aen. 2.502): Defiling (foedare) with his blood the fires that he himself had consecrated" [The Etymologies of Isidore of Seville, 7th century AD, p.219.]

The word gutter, with its smelly connotations, is from Old English gotere, and believed by folk-etymology to be a relative of 'goat', because in some English dialects a 'gutter' was spelled 'goat', 'got', 'goyt', and 'gowt' [Folk-etymology; 1882, Abram Palmer, p.146].

Latin also had the word tragus, "the smell of the armpits", from Greek tragos, a goat [Valpy, p.481]. Our word tragedy, goat-song, is derived from Greek tragos, "a singer competing for a he-goat as a prize", another explanation is given by Ayto (Dictionary of Word Origins) "it is thought that the underlying reference may be to a sort of ancient Greek drama in which the chorus were dressed as satyrs, goatlike woodland deities", tragic, tragus, the pointed flap of cartilage that lies above the earlobe [7].

A Judas goat is a goat trained to lead other goats to a place of slaughter, or a goat trained to find feral goats that are targeted for eradication. http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/Judas_goat


"In her shrine Vesta tends your fires, Capricorn: and from her you derive your skills and callings. For whatever needs fire to function and demands a renewal of flame for its work must be counted as of your domain. To pry for hidden metals, to smelt out riches deposited in the veins of the earth, to fold sure-handed the malleable mass—these skills will come from you, as will aught which is fashioned of silver or gold. That hot furnaces melt iron and bronze, and ovens give to the wheat its final form, will come as gifts from you. You also give a fondness for clothes and wares which dispel the cold, since your lot falls for all time in winter's season, wherein you shorten the nights you have brought to their greatest length and give birth to a new year by enlarging the daylight hours. Hence comes a restless quality in their lives and a mind which is often changed and floats this way and that; the first half of the sign is the slave of Venus, and that with guilt involved, but a more virtuous old age is promised by the conjoined fish below." [Astronomica, Manilius, 1st century AD, book 4, p.241.]


Fixed stars in Capricorn


Giedi Prima alpha 02AQU22 03AQU46 303 43 09 -12 39 51 +06 59 37 4.55 G5

Dahib beta 02AQU39 04AQU03 304 33 03 -14 56 27 +04 35 38 3.25 F8

Alshat nu 03AQU02 04AQU26 304 30 00 -12 55 05 +06 34 52 4.80 A0

Oculus pi 03AQU19 04AQU43 306 08 00 -12 55 16 +00 54 16 5.20 B8

Bos rho 03AQU46 05AQU10 306 32 00 -17 59 02 +01 12 12 5.00 F1

psi 05AQU47 07AQU10 310 47 04 -25 27 07 -07 01 18 4.26 F1

omega 06AQU35 07AQU58 312 12 38 -27 06 28 -08 57 30 4.24 M1

Armus eta 11AQU21 12AQU44 315 25 00 -20 03 26 -02 59 14 4.90 A4

Dorsum theta 12AQU27 13AQU51 315 47 04 -17 25 58 -00 34 49 4.19 A0

zeta 15AQU33 16AQU56 320 57 14 -22 37 45 -06 59 14 3.86 G4

iota 16AQU18 17AQU41 319 51 59 -17 02 55 -01 21 46 4.30 G6

Castra epsilon 18AQU48 20AQU12 328 36 00 -19 41 40 -04 58 21 4.70 B5

Nashira gamma 20AQU23 21AQU47 324 19 51 -16 53 21 -02 33 09 3.80 F2

Deneb Algedi delta 22AQU08 23AQU33 326 04 15 -16 21 19 -02 35 36 2.98 A5



Capricornus next to the eastward from Sagittarius, is our Capricorn, the French Capricorne, the Italian Capricorno, and the, German Steinbock, — Stone-buck, or Ibex, — the Anglo-Saxon Bucca and Buccan Horn.

The common Latin name was varied by the Caper of Ausonius, flexus Caper of Manilius, Hircus corniger of Vergil, hircinus Sidus of Prudens, Capra and aequoris Hircus, the Sea Goat; while Minpheu's "Capra illa Amalthea” indicates that it was identified by some with the goat usually assigned to Auriga. All this, doubtless, was from oriental legends, perhaps very ancient, which made Capricorn the nurse of the youthful sun-god that long anticipated the story of the infant Jupiter and Amalthea. The Latin poets also designated it as Meptuni proles, Neptune's offspring; Pelagi Procella, the Ocean Storm; Imbrifer, the Rain-bringing One; Signum hiemale, and Gelidus, because then at the winter solstice, the equivalent Athalpes appearing with the Greeks, which Riccioli repeated as Athalpis.

Aratos called it Aigokeros, the Horned Goat, to distinguish it from the Aix of Auriga (a female or nanny-goat), as did Ptolemy, but Ionic writers had Aigokereus and this word, Latinized as Aegoceros, was in frequent use with all classical authors who wrote on astronomy. The Arabo-Latin Almagest of 1515 turned this into Alcaucurus, explained by habens cornua hirci; and Bayer mentioned (Page 136} Alcantarus. Eratosthenes knew it as Pan, and Aigi-Pan, the Goat-Footed Pan, half fishified, Smyth said, by his plunge into the Nile in a panic at the approach of the monster Typhon; the same story being told of Bacchus, so that he, too, always was associated with its stars.

In Persia it was Bushgali, Bahi or Vahik, and Goi; in the Pahlavi tongue, Nahi; in Turkey, Ughlak; in Syria, Gadjo; and in Arabia, Al Jady, usually written by us Giedi; all meaning the Goat, or, in the latter country, the Badan, or Ibex, known to zoologists as Capra beden. Burritt's Tower of Gad, at first sight presumably Hebrew, would seem rather to be a bungled translation [The Arabic word Burj signifies both Constellation and Tower, or Fortress] from the Arabic, and in no way connected with the Jewish tribe. Riccioli had Elgedi, Elgeudi, and Gadio.

Very frequent mention was made of this constellation in early days, for the Platonists held that the souls of men, when released from corporeity, ascended to heaven through its stars, whence it was called the Gate of the Gods; their road of descent having been through Cancer. But some of the Orientals knew it as the Southern Gate of the Sun, as did the Latins in their altera Solis Porta. Berossos (the Babylonian historian Berossos, about 200 BC) is reported by Seneca to have learned from the old books of Sargon [this Sargon has been considered the almost mythical founder of the first Semitic empire, 3850 BC.] that the world would be destroyed by a great conflagration when all the planets met in this sign.

Numa Pompilius, the second mythical king of Rome, whose date has been asserted as from 715 to 673 B.C., began the year when the sun was in the middle of Capricorn, and when the day had lengthened by half an hour after the winter solstice.

In astrology, with Taurus and Virgo, it was the Earthly Trigon, and black, russet, or a swarthy brown, was the color assigned to it; while, with Aquarius, it was the House of Saturn, as that planet was created in this constellation, and whenever here had great influence over human affairs; as Alchabitus asserted, in the Ysagogicus of 1485, caput et pedes habet; and it always governed the thighs and knees. It also was regarded as under the care of the goddess Vesta, and hence Vestae Sidus. Ampelius singularly associated it with the burning south wind Auster, and Manilius said that it reigned over France, Germany, and Spain; in later times it ruled Greece, India, Macedonia, and Thrace, Brandenburg and Mecklenburg, {Page 137} Saxony and Wilna, Mexico and Oxford. Manilius also wrote of it as in our motto,

And at Caesar's Birth Serene he shone.

The almanac of 1386 has: "Whoso is borne in Capcorn schal be ryche and wel lufyd"; in 1542 the Doctor, as Arcandum was called, showed that a man born under it would be a great gallant, would have eight special illnesses, and would die at sixty; and according to Smyth it was "the very pet of all constellations with astrologers, having been the fortunate sign under which Augustus and Vespasian were born," although elsewhere, in somewhat uncourtly style, he quotes: "prosperous in dull and heavy beasts." It also appears to have been much and favorably regarded by the Arabians, as may be seen in their names for its chief stars, and in the character assigned by them to its lunar mansions. But these benign qualities were only occasional, caused probably by some lucky combination with a fortunate sign, as is known only to the initiated, for its general

reputation was the reverse; and, in classical days, when coincident with the sun, it was thought a harbinger of storms and so ruler of the waters, — Horace's

tyrannus Hesperiae Capricornus undae.

Aratos had clearly showed this long before:

Then grievous blasts

Break southward on the sea, when coincide

The Goat and sun; and then a heaven-sent cold.

Ovid expressed much the same opinion in connection with the story of Acaetes (Acoetes or Acetes); but ages before them this seems to have been said of it on Euphratean tablets.

Caesius and Postellus are authority for its being Azazel, the Scapegoat of Leviticus; although Caesius also mentioned it as Simon Zelotes, the Apostle. Suetonius in his Life of Augustus, and Spanheim in his De Nummis, said that Capricorn was shown on silver coins of that emperor, commemorating the fact that it was his natal sign; and it always has been regarded in astrology as the Mansion of Kings. It is seen, too, on a coin found in Kent, struck by the British prince Amminius, and was the most frequent of the zodiacal figures on uranographic amulets of the 14th and 15th centuries, "worn as a kind of astral defensive armor."

Its figuring generally has been consistent, and as we now see it, with the head and body of a goat, or ibex, ending in a fish's, tail. Manuscripts from the 2nd to the 15th century show it thus; a Syrian seal of 187 BC. has it in the same way; as also an early Babylonian gem, surmounted, not {Page 138} inappropriately, by the crescent moon, for Capricorn was a nocturnal sign; and the same figure is on a fragment of a Babylonian planisphere, now in the British Museum, supposed to be of the 12th century B.C. So that this may be considered its original form, in full agreement with its amphibious character, and with some resemblance, in the grouping of the chief stars, to a goat's horns and a fish's tail. From this figuring Camoes, in Os Lusiadas of 1572, called it the Semi-Capran Fish, as it now is with us the Goat-Fish and the Sea Goat. Still at times it has been a complete goat-like animal, and was so considered by Aratos, Eratosthenes, and Ptolemy, as by the more modern Albumasar, Kazwini, Ulug Beg, and in occasional mediaeval manuscripts. It was thus shown on some Egyptian zodiacs; although on that of Denderah it appears in its double form, where "an ibis-headed man rides on Capricomus, under which sign Sirius rose anti-heliacally"; the ibis being sacred to Isis, with which Sirius was identified. Still differently, a silver bowl from Burma engraved with the Brahmin zodiac, probably copied from original sources, makes the Fish entire in Capricorn, and omits the Goat; while Jensen says that in Babylonia the Goat and Fish, both complete, were occasionally used together for the constellation.

Jewish Rabbis asserted that the tribe of Naphtali adopted this sign as their banner emblem, — "Naphtali is a hind let loose," — as if Capricorn were a deer, or antelope; others ascribed it to Benjamin, or to Reuben; but Aquarius more fitly represented the latter.

Some connect the sign in Egyptian astronomy with Chnum, Chnemu, Gnoum, or Knum, the God of the Waters, associated with the rising of the Nile and worshiped in Elephantine at the Cataracts, this divinity bearing goat's, not ram's, horns. Others have said that it was the goat-god Mendes; and La Lande cited the strange title Oxirinque from the Greek adjective descriptive of a Swordfish, our constellation sometimes being thus shown, when it was considered the cause of the inundation. In Coptic Egypt it was Opeutus, Brachium Sacrificii; and Miss Clerke says that it was figured in that country as a Mirror, emblematic of life.

Earlier Hindu names were Mriga and Makara, — the Cingalese Makra and the Tamil Makaram, an Antelope; but occasionally it was shown with a goat's head upon the body of a hippopotamus, signifying some amphibious creature, and a later term was Shi-shu-mara or Sim-shu-mara, the Crocodile, although this originally was marked by stars of Draco. Varaha Mihira took his title for it, Akokera, from the Greeks; and it was the last in order of the zodiacal signs of India, as on the Euphrates. In the Aztec calendar it appeared as Cipactli, with a figure like that of the narwhal.

{Page 139} It was the zodiacal Bull, or Ox, of Chinese astronomy, that later became Mo Ki, the Goat-Fish. Williams says that, with stars of Sagittarius, it was Sing Ki, the Starry Record, and with a part of Aquarius Hiuen hiau; while in very early days, with Aquarius and Sagittarius, it was the Bark Warrior, etc., the so-called Northern one of the four large divisions of the zodiac. Flammarion asserts that Chinese astronomers located among its stars a conjunction of the five planets 2449 B.C.

Sayce, Bosanquet, and others think that they have without doubt identified it with the Assyrian Munakha, the Goat-Fish; and we see other probable names in Shah or Shahu, the Ibex, and in Niru, the Yoke, this last perhaps a popular one. Brown gives for it the Akkadian Su-tul of the same meaning; and another possible title, resembling the early Hindu, was Makhar, claimed also for Delphinus. It seems likewise to have been known as the Double Ship. Jensen says that "the amphibious Ia Oannes of the Persian Gulf was connected with the constellation Capricomus"; Sayce, that a cuneiform inscription designates it as the Father of Light, — a title which, astronomically considered, could not have been correct except about 15,000 years ago, when the sun was here at the summer solstice; that "the goat was sacred and exalted into this sign"; and that a robe of goatskins was the sacred dress of the Babylonian priests. So that, although we do not know when Capricomus came into the zodiac, we may be confident that it was millenniums ago, perhaps in prehistoric days. It was identified with the 10th Assyrian month Dhabitu, corresponding to December-January.

Its symbol, , usually is thought to be tr, the initial letters of tragos, Goat, but La Lande said that it represents the twisted tail of the creature; and Brown similarly calls it "a conventional representation of a fish-tailed goat." Indeed it is not unlike the outline of these stars on a celestial globe.

The sun is in the constellation from the 18th of January to the 14th of February, when, as Dante wrote in the Paradiso,

The horn of the celestial goat doth touch the sun;

and Milton mentions the latter's low elevation during this time,

Thence down amain

= As deep as Capricorn.

The title Tropic of Capricorn, originating from the fact that when first observed the point of the winter solstice was located here, now refers to the sign and not to the constellation, this solstice at present being 33° to the westward, in the figure of Sagittarius, near its star mu.

{Page 140} Capricorn is, after Cancer, the most inconspicuous in the zodiac, and chiefly noticeable for the duplicity of its lucida.

Aquariusthe Water Pourer


Contents:

1. Clues to the meaning of this celestial feature

2. The fixed stars in this constellation

3. History_of_the_constellation

Clues to the meaning of this celestial featureIn Greek mythology Aquarius is represented by Ganymedes (Ganymede), the beautiful Phrygian boy who was carried off by an eagle to Mount Olympus to become the cup-bearer of Zeus (Roman Jupiter, or Jove). Ganymedes was kidnapped from Mount Ida in Phrygia while tending a flock of sheep. Zeus saw him and fell in love with him, either sending an Eagle (Aquila) or assuming his own eagle nature to transport Ganymede to Mount Olympus [1]. In compensation, Zeus gave some fine horses to Ganymedes' father, King Laomedon of Troy. As the cup-bearer of the gods Ganymedes was shown pouring nectar from a jug. In Roman times Ganymedes was an appellation sometimes given to handsome slaves who officiated as cupbearers [2].

Read what the writers of mythology have said about Ganymedes on the Theoi Project website.

Latin Aquarius is a loan translation of Udrokoos, 'the water-pourer', the old Greek name of this constellation [Klein], derived from Latin aqua, water, from the Indo-European root *akw-a. Derivatives: ait (a small island), island (aqua is the source of the i in island, thing on the water), aquarium, aquatic, aqui-, ewer, aquamarine, aqueduct, sewer, sewage (Latin ex-aquaria = "out of the water." literally ex-ewer, ex-aquaria), from Latin aqua, water. The last syllable of Orkney, Jersey, Guernsey, etc. means "island". [Pokorny akwa- 23. Watkins]

Ganymede and the Eagle in a 3rd-century Roman mosaic, Nea Paphos, Cyprus. [1]

Eagles (Aquila) are also used to represent the rise towards Heaven. "I will raise you up on eagles wings" (Psalm 91:1-16). The eagle acted like a talent scout for Zeus, picking out Ganymedes who was considered "the most beautiful of the mortals". The eagle or Zeus in eagle form captured Ganymedes in his talons.

Ganymede or Ganymedes, is from Latin Ganymedes, from Greek ganumai, 'I rejoice'. (The suffix -meda of his name is from Indo-European *med- 'To take appropriate measures' or 'meditate on', and is contained in the names; Medusa, Diomedes and Andromeda). According to Klein the prefix gany- in Ganymedes' name "is related to gaud, ornament, from Middle English gaude, probably from Old French gaudir, 'to make merry, rejoice', from Vulgar Latin *gaudire, corresponding to Latin gaudere, 'to rejoice', Latin gaudium ‘joy’, and is cognate with Greek gaio, 'I rejoice, exult', Greek getheo, 'I rejoice', 'exulting, superb'. Compare joy, rejoice. Compare also Gaura (the genus of bee blossom plants), the first element in ganoid, Ganymede, and the second element in Origanum" [Klein]. These words come from the Indo-European root *gáu- 'To rejoice; also to have religious fear or awe'. Derivatives: gaud, gaudy, joy, enjoy, rejoice (from Latin gaudere, to rejoice), ganoid (bony fishes, such as the sturgeon and the gar, that have armorlike scales consisting of bony plates covered with layers of dentine and enamel, from Greek ganusthai, to rejoice, Greek ganos ‘brightness’), oregano ('rejoice in the mountains'). [Pokorny gau- 353. Watkins] The word gay, from Old French gai, of uncertain origin; "possibly from Latin gaudium ‘joy’" [3].

The word catamite, a boy used in pederasty, is from Latin Catamitus, from Etruscan Catamite, and is a corrupt collateral form of Ganymedes, Greek Ganumedes.

In astrology Aquarius is said to rule the legs from the knees to the ankles [4] which can also be, or include, the shanks. Allen (Star Names below) says about the constellation;

"the queer title Skinker has puzzled more than one commentator, is found in the rare book of 1703, Meteorologiae: 'Jupiter in the Skinker opposed by Saturn in the Lion did raise mighty South-west winds'. But the passage affords its own explanation; for we know our sign to be the opposite of Leo, while the dictionaries tell us that this archaic or provincial word signifies a Tapster, or Pourer-out of liquor, which Aquarius and Ganymede have notably been in all ages of astronomy".

Skinker is related to skink, an archaic word meaning 'to serve', Old English scencan, and Old High German skenken, 'to give to drink', also related to the word 'shank', and Manilius (Astronomica) says "the pouring Waterman has the lordship of the shanks"; "crurum fundentis Aquari arbitrium est" (Latin cruris is translated into English shank - the part of the human leg between the knee and the ankle). Klein (Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary) says "Compare scazon, skate (for gliding over ice, skate properly means 'lengthened leg'), skink, the second element in nuncheon". Skink lizards are of the family Scincidae. The expression 'to ride Shank's Mare' meant using one's own legs as a means of transportation.

A genesis for the Ganymede myth as a whole has been offered in a Hellene reading of one of the numerous Akkadian seals depicting the hero-king Etana riding heavenwards on an eagle [4]. Etana "the shepherd, who ascended to heaven and consolidated all the foreign countries" [5]. King of Kish “he who stabilized all the lands” [6].

"The idea of Ganymedes being the cupbearer of Zeus (urniger) subsequently gave rise to his identification with the divinity who was believed to preside over the sources of the Nile [Hapi], and of his being placed by astronomers among the stars under the name of Aquarius". http://www.theoi.com/Ouranios/Ganymedes.html

Constellations Antinous (below) and Aquila ("Adler" in German). From Johann Bode's Uranographia (1801). Wikipedia

The Egyptian god Hapi, the god of the Nile, was shown carrying a tray of food or pouring water from urns or two large jugs, and is often identified with Aquarius. It was in the Nile that Antinous, who is compared with Ganymedes drowned:

"The real-life relationship between Hadrian and Antinous had already been compared with the mythological one between Zeus and Ganymedes (the emperor was of course also considered to be a god), and for that reason Antinous was placed in the sky below Ganymedes Raptrix, carried by the eagle of Zeus across the sky to Hadrian just as it had bourn Ganymedes to Zeus on Mount Olympus. The mythological symbolism was perfect: mighty god and beautiful young lover. Some starmaps continued to show Antinous until the late 18th century, after which time it was universally dropped." "From Roman times some of the stars that would later become Scutum, along with a number from Aquila, formed the constellation of Antinous, devised in the 2nd century A.D. and dedicated to the handsome young man who was the lover of the gay Roman emperor Caesar Traianus Hadrianus Augustus, better known to history as Hadrian (of Scottish wall-building fame). Hadrian was touring the then Roman province of Egypt, with Antinous, when a fortune-teller told them that one of the two would soon die. Hoping to save his beloved emperor by making the prophecy come true on the spot, Antinous, with rather more loving devotion than common sense, promptly threw himself into the Nile." http://users.bigpond.net.au/bstone/Gay%20Astronomy.htm

In Greek literature Aquarius was Udrokhoos, Udrochoeus, Hydrochous, Hydrochoos, meaning Water-Pourer; Chusis Udatos, 'the Pouring Forth of Water'. The suffixes -khoos, -choeus, -chous, -choos, and the word chusis, all come from Greek khusis (chusis), 'effusion', khulos, khumos, 'juice', and from the Indo-European root *gheu- 'To pour, pour a libation'. Derivatives: gut, foison, fondant, fondue, font* (set of type), found* (to melt metal and pour into a mold), foundry (a building where metals are made and poured into molds), fund, funnel, fuse* (to become mixed or united by or as if by melting together), fusile, fusion, affusion, circumfuse, confound, confounding, confuse, confusion, diffuse, effuse, infuse, perfuse, profuse, refund, refuse+, refuse* (discarded rubbish), suffuse, transfuse, transfusion (from Latin fundere, to melt, pour out), gust+ (from Old Norse gustr, a cold blast of wind), gush (from Middle English gushen, to gush), geyser (a type of hot spring that intermittently erupts jets of material, from Old Norse geysa, to gush), chyme (Gk. khumos, juice, chyme, from Greek kheo, 'I pour', the thick semifluid mass of partly digested food that is passed from the stomach to the duodenum), ecchymosis (ruptured blood vessels, from Greek khumos, juice), chyle (a milky fluid consisting of lymph and emulsified fat, from Greek khulos, juice), futile (from Latin futilis, 'of a vessel, easily emptied, leaky'), choanocyte (sponges sort food particles out of sea water brought by choanocytes or collar cells), parenchyma (the primary tissue of higher plants, from Greek khein, to pour, with o-grade noun khoan, funnel), fuselage (the central body of an aircraft, 'something shaped like a spindle'). [Pokorny gheu- 447. Watkins] The funnel-like stalk connecting the pituitary to the hypothalamus is called the infundibulum (another name for this structure is the pituitary stalk).

Some linguists see the word Goth (the Goths are Germanic, Teutonic) as derived from *gheu-. Some linguists also speculate that the word God belongs to this group of words (not unlike Ganymedes' name which is related to gaud and gaudy - and the exclamation 'O Gaud!' for 'O God!'). Uranus rules Aquarius and is the embodiment of the sky or heavens. God is referred to "our Father who art in heaven". Klein has for God "Compare bigot, giddy, good-by, gossip".


Hevelius, left, depicts the head of Aquarius (Ganymedes) encroaching onto the heads of the two horses; Pegasus and Equuleus. To compensate the father of Ganymedes, King Laomedon of Troy, for abducting his son Zeus gave him two "immortal steeds"; Cyllarus [Equuleus is thought to be Cyllarus] and Harpagus [might be Pegasus]. Pausanias says that the horses "were given to Tros in exchange for him" [9].

Allen (Star Names) says "Al Biruni said that at one time in India Aquarius was Khumba, or Kumbaba, which recalls the Elamite divinity of that name, the Kombe, or Storm God".

Old Indian or Sanskrit kumbhah, kumbha, means a 'waterpot'. Klein relates this word to hump, cognate with Sanskrit kumba-s thick end of a bone, from Indo-European base *qumb- (*kemb-), 'to bend, curve', whence also Old Indian kumbhah, 'pot, jar', Greek khumbe, 'the hollow of a vessel, cup, boat'. There is a common belief that the camel's hump is a type of water storage tank when in fact it contains fatty tissue. Hump comes from the Indo-European root *kemb- (also *qumb-), 'To bend, turn, change, exchange'. Derivatives: hump (from Dutch homp, hump), Cambridge (from Welsh cam, crooked), cambium, change (from Latin cambire 'barter'), exchange, interchange, (these words from Latin cambiare, to exchange), canteen, canton (a small territorial division of a country), decant (from Latin cantus, iron tire, rim, from Celtic suffixed form *kamb-to-). [Pokorny (s)kamb- 918, kan-tho- 526. Watkins]

In astrology Aquarius is ruled by the planet Uranus and Uranus brings change.


"The youthful Waterman, who from upturned pot pours forth his stream, likewise bestows skills which have affinity with himself: how to divine springs under the ground and conduct them above, to transform the flow of water so as to spray the very stars, to mock the sea with man-made shores at the bidding of luxury, to construct different types of artificial lakes and rivers," and to support aloft for domestic use streams that come from afar. Beneath this sign there dwell a thousand crafts regulated by water. Why, water will even set in motion the face of heaven and the starry habitations, and will cause the skies to move in a novel rotation. Never will the sons of Aquarius grow tired of the works which come in the wake of water and follow springs. They who issue from this sign are a gentle sort and a lovable breed, and no meanness of heart is theirs; they are prone to suffer losses; and of riches they have neither need nor surfeit. Even thus doth the urn's stream flow" [Astronomica, Manilius, 1st century AD, book 4, p.243.]

On page 126 of Astronomica Manilius refers to Aquarius as aequoreum iuvenem [Latinized to Aequoreus Juvenis] - "youth with his waters". The word aequoreus is sometimes used to refer to "the surface of the the sea", aequor "to calm smooth sea".

On page 118/9 Manilius has "Iovis adverse Iunonis Aquarius astrum est agnoscitque" — "Opposite Jupiter [Leo], Juno has the sign of Aquarius".


Fixed stars in Aquarius


Albali epsilon 10AQU20 11AQU43 311 14 33 -09 40 48 +08 05 09 3.83 A1

Sadalsuud beta 22AQU00 23AQU24 322 13 54 -05 47 32 +08 37 07 3.07 G0

Ancha theta 01PIS52 03PIS16 333 34 00 -08 01 59 +02 42 37 4.30 G6

Sadalmelik alpha 02PIS22 03PIS46 330 48 14 -00 33 49 +11 43 09 3.19 G1

Sadalbachia gamma 05PIS19 06PIS43 334 46 06 -01 38 24 +08 14 16 3.97 AO

tau 06PIS37 08PIS00 341 15 52 -14 19 14 -05 55 03 4.70 A0

pi 07PIS13 08PIS36 335 40 51 +01 07 23 +10 28 30 4.64 B1

Skat delta 07PIS29 08PIS52 342 59 58 -16 05 14 -08 11 22 3.51 A2

zeta 07PIS32 08PIS55 336 33 48 -00 16 35 +08 50 55 4.59 F1

Situla kappa 08PIS01 09PIS25 338 47 30 -04 29 11 +04 06 49 5.33 K1

88 08PIS38 10PIS01 346 41 45 -21 26 39 -14 29 19 3.80 K1

eta 09PIS01 10PIS24 338 11 48 -00 22 30 +08 09 02 4.13 B8

lambda 10PIS12 11PIS35 342 30 06 -07 50 46 -00 23 08 3.84 M2

98 b 12PIS05 13PIS28 350 05 12 -20 22 26 -14 47 05 4.20 K0

99b 12PIS32 13PIS55 350 51 20 -20 54 59 -15 34 22 4.52 K5

psi 14PIS55 16PIS18 348 19 05 -09 21 38 -03 59 54 4.46 K0

psi2 15PIS21 14PIS44 348 49 35 -09 27 21 -04 16 56 4.56 B5

psi 15PIS25 16PIS48 349 05 24 -09 53 04 -04 46 42 5.16 A0

theta 15PIS45 17PIS08 347 55 60 -06 19 08 -01 02 56 4.40 M2

103a 17PIS14 18PIS37 354 49 31 -18 05 38 -14 30 47 4.95 G1

106i 17PIS35 18PIS58 355 24 07 -18 53 16 -15 10 14 5.26 B8

107i 17PIS49 19PIS12 355 51 18 -18 57 22 -15 42 48 5.45 A5

omega 18PIS17 19PIS40 354 17 53 -14 29 54 -11 02 06 5.16 A5

omega 18PIS49 20PIS12 355 01 57 -14 49 18 -11 37 05 4.61 A0

108i 18PIS55 20PIS18 357 11 36 -19 11 14 -16 26 48 5.32 A0

!



The sun his locks beneath Aquarius tempers,

And now the nights draw near to half the day,

What time the hoarfrost copies on the ground

The outward semblance other sister white,

But little lasts the temper of her pen.

------ Longfellow's translation of Dante's Inferno.

Aquarius, The Waterman, il Aquario in Italy, le Verseau in France, der Wassermann in Germany, has universally borne this or kindred titles; Ideler assigning as a reason the fact that the sun passed through it during the rainy season. In connection with this the proximity of other analogous stellar forms is worthy of note: Capricornus, Cetus, Delphinus, Eridanus, Hydra, Pisces, and Piscis Australis, all the watery shapes in the early heavens, with Argo and Crater, are in this neighborhood; some of whose stars Aratos said "are called the Water"; indeed in Euphratean astronomy this region of the sky was 'the Sea', and thought to be under the control of Aquarius.

The constellation immemorially has been represented, even on very early Babylonian stones, as a man, or boy, pouring water from a bucket or urn, with an appropriate towel in the left hand, the human figure sometimes being omitted; while the Arabians, who knew of the latter but did not dare to show it, depicted a mule carrying two water-barrels; and again simply a water-bucket. This last was Ulug Beg's idea of it, his original word being rendered by Hyde Situla, the Roman Well-bucket; but Al Biruni had it in his astrological charts as Amphora, a Two-handled Winejar, {Page 46} that he may have adopted from Ausonius the poet of our 4th century. Even Vercingetorix, Caesar's foe in Gaul, 52 B.C., is said to have put the similar figure on his stateres with the title Diota, a Two-eared Jar.

On a Roman zodiac it was a Peacock, the symbol of Juno, the Greek Hera (another constellation Pavo is the peacock), in whose month Gamelion — January-February — the sun was in the sign; and at times it has been shown as a Goose, another bird sacred to that goddess.

New Testament Christians of the 16th and 17th centuries likened it appropriately enough to John the Baptist, and to Judas Thaddaeus the Apostle, although some went back to Naaman in the waters of Jordan, and even to Moses taken out of the water.

Its nomenclature has been extensive but consistent. In Greek literature it was Udrokhoos, the epic Udrochoeus, or Waterpourer, transliterated by Catullus as Hydrochous, and by Germanicus as Hydrochoos; although the latter also called it Aquitenens and Fundens latices, saying that it personified Deucalion of the Greek Deluge, 1500 B.C. Ausonius had Urnam qui tenet; Manilius, Aequoreus Juvenis, or simply Juvenis, and Ganymedes, the beautiful Phrygian boy, son of Tros and cup-bearer of Jove, of whom Statius wrote in his Thebais:

Then from the chase Jove's towering eagle (Aquila) bears,

On golden wings, the Phrygian to the stars.

This title also appeared with Cicero, Hyginus, and Vergil; and with Ovid, in the Fasti, as Ganymede Juvenis, Puer Idaeus, and Iliacus, from his birthplace, and Juvenis gerens aquam; while in a larger sense it was said

to represent the creator Jove, the pourer forth of water upon the earth.

We find it, too, as Aristaeus, their Elijah, who brought rain to the inhabitants of Ceos, and Cecrops, from the cicada nourished by the dew, whose eggs were hatched by the showers; while Appian, the historian of our 2nd century, called it Hydridurus, which reappeared in the 1515 Almagest as Idrudurus and Hauritor aquae. The great Grecian lyric poet Pindar asserted that it symbolized the genius of the fountains of the Nile, the life-giving waters of the earth. Horace added to its modern title Tyrannus aquae, writing of it as "saddening the inverted year," which James Thomson, 1700-1748, followed in the Winter of his Seasons:

fierce Aquarius stains the inverted year;

and Vergil, calling it frigidus, similarly said that when coincident with the sun it closed the year with moisture:

{Page 47} In Babylonia it was associated with the 11th month Shabatu, the Curse of Rain, January-February; and the Epic of Creation has an account of the Deluge in its 11th book, corresponding to this the 11th constellation; each of its other books numerically coinciding with the other zodiacal signs. In that country its Urn seems to have been known as Gu, a Water-jar overflowing, the Akkadian Ku-ur-ku, the Seat of the Flowing Waters; and it also was Ramman or Rammanu, the God of the Storm, the still earlier Imma, shown pouring water from a vase, the god, however, frequently being omitted. Some assert that Lord of Canals is the signification of the Akkadian word for Aquarius, given to it 15,000 years ago (!), when the sun entered it and the Nile flood was at its height. And while this statement carries the beginnings of astronomy very much farther back than has generally been supposed, or will now be acknowledged, yet for many years we have seen Egyptian and Euphratean history continuously extended into the hitherto dim past; and this theory would easily solve the much discussed question of the origin of the zodiac figures if we are to regard either of those countries as their source, and the seasons and agricultural operations as giving them names.

Aben Ezra called it the Egyptians' Monius, from their muau, or Mo, Water; Kircher said that it was their Upeutherian, Brachium beneficum, the Place of Good Fortune; which Brown, however, limits to its stars, alpha, gamma, zeta, and eta as a Coptic lunar station; and our Serviss writes that "the ancient Egyptians imagined that the setting of Aquarius caused the rising of the Nile, as he sank his huge urn in the river to fill it."

With the Arabians it was Al Dalw, the Well-bucket; and Kazwini's Al Sakib al Ma’, the Water-pourer; from the first of which came the Edeleu of Bayer, and the Eldelis of Chilmead. The Persians knew it as Dol or Dul; the Hebrews, as Deli (Riccioli's Delle); the Syrians, as Daulo, like the Latin Dolium; and the Turks, as Kugha, — all meaning a Water-bucket. In the Persian Bundehesh it is Vahik.

In China, with Capricornus, Pisces, and a part of Sagittarius, it constituted the early Serpent, or Turtle, Tien Yuen; and later was known as Hiuen Ying, the Dark Warrior and Hero, or Darkly Flourishing One, the Hiuen Wu, or Hiuen Heaou, of the Han dynasty, which Dupuis gave as Hiven Mao. It was a symbol of the emperor Tchoun Hin, in whose reign was a great deluge; but after the Jesuits came in it became Paou Ping, the Precious Vase. It contained three of the sieu, and headed the list of zodiac signs as the Rat, which in the far East was the ideograph for "water," and still so remains in the almanacs of Central Asia, Cochin China, and Japan.

Some of the minor stars of Aquarius, — iota, lambda, sigma, and theta, — with others of {Page 48} Capricornus and Pisces, formed the asterism Luy Peih Chin, the Camp with Entrenched Walls.

On the Ganges, as in China, it began the circle of the zodiacal signs; and Al Biruni said that at one time in India it was Khumba, or Kumbaba, which recalls the Elamite divinity of that name, the Kombe, or Storm God, of Hesychios. This, too, was the Tamil title for it; La Lande writing it Coumbum. Varaha Mihira, under the influence of Greek astronomy, called it Hridroga and Udruvaga, in which we can see Udrokhoos.

With the Magi and Druids it represented the whole science of astronomy. The Anglo-Saxons called it se Waeter-gyt, the Water-pourer; while not long after them John of Trevisa, the English translator, in 1398 thus quaintly recalled the classical form:

The Sygne Aquarius is the butlere of the goddes and yevyth them a water-potte.

English books immediately succeeding had Aquary, Aquarye, and, still later, the queer title Skinker [related to Old English scencan, 'to give to drink', Old Saxon skenkian, Old Frisian skenka, Old High German skenken, 'to give to drink']. This last, which has puzzled more than one commentator, is found in the rare book of 1703, Meteorologiae by Mr. Cock, Philomathemat: "Jupiter in the Skinker opposed by Saturn in the Lion did raise mighty South-west winds." But the passage affords its own explanation that ought not to have been delayed till now; for we know our sign to be the opposite of Leo, while the dictionaries tell us that this archaic or provincial word signifies a Tapster, or Pourer-out of liquor, which Aquarius and Ganymede have notably been in all ages of astronomy.

Although early authors varied in their ascription of the twelve zodiacal constellations to the twelve tribes of Israel, yet they generally were in accord in assigning this to Reuben, "unstable as water." But the fountainheads of all this Jewish banner story, Jacob's death-bed address to his sons in Egypt, and Moses' dying song on Mount Nebo, are not clear enough to justify much positiveness as to the proper assignment of any of the tribal symbols, if indeed the Israelites had any at all. The little that we have on the subject is from Josephus and the Chaldee Paraphrase.

Dante, in the 19th canto of II Purgatorio, wrote that here geomancers their Fortuna Major See in the Orient before the dawn Rise by a path that long remains not dim; which Longfellow explains in his notes on the passage: Geomancy is divination by points in the ground, or pebbles arranged in certain figures, which have peculiar names. Among these is the figure called the Fortuna Major, which {Page 49} is thus drawn, (see explanation here) and, by an effort of the imagination, can also be formed out of some of the last stars ** in Aquarius and some of the first in Pisces.

In astrology it was the Airy Trigon, Gemini and Libra being included, and a sign of no small note, since there was no disputing that its stars possessed influence, virtue, and efficacy, whereby they altered the air and seasons "in a wonderful, strange, and secret manner"; and an illuminated manuscript almanac of 1386, perhaps the earliest in our language that has been printed, says of the sign:

"It is gode to byg castellis, and to wed, and lat blode."

With Capricorn it was the House of Saturn, governing the legs and ankles; and when on the horizon with the sun the weather was always rainy. When Saturn was here, he had man completely in his clutches — caput et collum; while Jupiter, when here, had humeros, pectus et pedes.

As Junonis astrum it was a diurnal sign, Juno and Jove being its guardians, and bore rule over Cilicia and Tyre; later, over Arabia, Tatary, Denmark, Russia, Lower Sweden, Westphalia, Bremen, and Hamburg.

Proctor's Myths and Marvels of Astronomy has a list of the astrological colors of the zodiac signs attributing to Aquarius an aqueous blue; while Lucius Ampelius, of our 2d century, assigning in his Liber Memorialis the care of the various winds to the various signs, entrusts to this the guardianship of Eurus and Notus, which blew from the east, or southeast, and from the south.

The astronomers' symbol for the sign, showing undulating lines of waves, is said to have been the hieroglyph for Water, the title of Aquarius in the Nile country, where a measuring-rod may have been associated with it; indeed Burritt drew such in the hand of the figure as Norma Nilotica, a suggestion of the ancient Nilometer.

Brown, in the 47th volume of Archaeologia, has these interesting remarks on the symbols of the signs: Respecting these Mr. C. W. King observes:

"Although the planets are often expressed by their emblems, yet neither they nor the signs are ever to be seen represented on antique works by those symbols so familiar to the eye in our almanacs. Wherever such occur upon a stone it may be pronounced without any hesitation a production of the cinque-cento, or the following century. ... As for the source of these hieroglyphics, I have never been able to trace it. They are to be found exactly as we see them in very old medieval MSS."; and Mr. King is inclined, in default of any other origin, "to suspect they were devised by Arab sages" — an opinion which I do not follow. The subject is certainly shrouded in great obscurity; and even Professor Sayce recently informed me that he had been unable to trace the history of the zodiacal symbols up to their first appearance in Western literature.

{Page 50} While Miss Clerke writes that they are found in manuscripts of about the 10th century, but in carvings not until the 15th or 16th. Their origin is unknown; but some, if not all, of them have antique associations.

Hargrave's Rosicrucians has an illustration of an object showing an Egyptian cross and disk with our present symbols of Leo and Virgo, or Scorpio, purporting to be from the breast of a mummy in the museum of the London University. If this statement be correct, a much earlier origin can be claimed for these symbols than has hitherto been supposed.

From his researches into the archaic astronomical symbolism on classic coins, monuments, etc., Thompson concludes that the great bas-relief of the Asiatic Cybele, now in the Hermitage Museum at Saint Petersburg, was designed to represent the ancient tropics of Aquarius and Leo; and that Aquarius, Aquila, — or more probably the other Vultur, our Lyra, — Leo, and Taurus appear in the familiar imagery of Ezekiel i, 10, and x, 14, and of The Revelation iv, 7.

Aquarius is not conspicuous, being chiefly marked by the stars gamma, zeta, eta, and pi, — the Urn, the familiar Y, — called by the Greeks Kalpe, Kalpis, Kalpeis, (water jar) and Situla, or Urna, by the Latins, Pliny making a distinct constellation of the latter, and by the line of fainter stars, lambda, phi, chi, psi, omega, and others indicating the water running down into the mouth of the Southern Fish, or, as it is occasionally drawn, uniting with the river Eridanus. Spence, commenting on this figure on the Farnese globe and its description by Manilius, Ad juvenem, aeternas fundentem Piscibus undas, and Fundentis semper Aquarii, wrote: Ganymedes, the cup-bearer of Jupiter. He holds the cup or little urn in his hand, inclined downwards; and is always pouring out of it: as indeed he ought to be, to be able from so small a source to form that river, which you see running from his feet, and making so large a tour over all this part of the globe.

Manilius ended his lines on Aquarius with Sic profluit urna, which Spence translated "And so the urn flows on"; adding:

"which seems to have been a proverbial expression among the ancients, taken from the ceaseless flowing of this urn; and which might be not inapplicable now, when certain ladies are telling a story; or certain lawyers are pleading."

Geminos, in his Isagoge or Eisogoge, about 77 B.C., made a separate constellation of this stream as Chusis Udatos, the Pouring Forth of Water; but Aratos also had called it this as well as the Water, although in the latter he included, beta Ceti and the star Fomalhaut. Cicero gave it as Aqua; and the {Page 51} scholiast on Germanicus, as Effusio aquae; while Effusor and Furoraquae were common titles. The modern Burritt has Fluvius Aquarii and Cascade.

The stars marking the ribs of the figure in this constellation are, in some maps, mingled with iota and others in Capricorn.

Although of astronomical importance chiefly from its zodiacal position and from its richness in doubles, clusters, and nebulae, it also is interesting from the fact that one of its three stars, psi, was occulted by the planet Mars on the 1st of October, 1672. This occultation was predicted by Flamsteed, and, on his suggestion, observed and verified in France and by Richer at Cayenne; and the several independently accordant results are considered reliable, although made more than two centuries ago. These have enabled our modern astronomers, especially Leverrier, accurately to ascertain the mean motion of Mars, and materially aid them in calculating the mass of the earth and our distance from the sun.

Aquarius lies between Capricornus and Pisces, the sun entering it on the 14th of February, and leaving it on the 14th of March.

La Lande, citing Firmicus and the Egyptian sphere of Petosiris,1 wrote in V Astronomic:

Aquarius se leve, aver un autre constellation qu'il nomme Aquarius Minor avec la Faulx, Ie Loup, Ie Lievre & I'Autel;

but elsewhere I find no allusion to this Lesser Waterman, and the statement is incorrect as to the other constellations; indeed the Faulx is entirely unknown to us moderns.

Piscesthe Fishes



Clues to the meaning of this celestial featureRead the Theoi Project page on The Ikhthyes (or Ichthyes) the two fishes (Pisces) who rescued Aphrodite and Eros when they were fleeing from the monster Typhoeus.

The word Pisces comes from the Indo-European root *peisk- 'Fish'. Derivatives: fish (from Old English fisc, fish). Suffixed form *pisk-i; piscary, piscatorial, Pisces, pisci-, piscina. [Pokorny peisk- 796. Watkins]

Grimm law in linguistics; Latin /p/ becomes Germanic /f/ as in pisces / fish; another example is pes / foot. The Greek word for fish is ikhthus.

Jesus Christ was represented in the Catacombs by two fishes. There is the famous acronym Ikhthus (= 'fish'), Iesous Khristos Theou Huios Soter: 'Jesus Christ (of) God (the) Son, Savior' [1].

Scientists believe that there were two types of fish that evolved from the same parent fish (the ostracoderms are believed to be the parent). One stayed in the sea and one moved onto land to become our ancestor. "In early legend our Piscis Austrinus was the parent of the zodiacal pair, the 'Two Fishes', Pisces" [Allen, Star Names].

In the constellation, one, the eastern fish, faces east and swims upward, vertically, north from the ecliptic, while the other, the western fish, swims west horizontally along the plane of the ecliptic. The Vernal Equinox Point, through the precession of the equinoxes (backward motion), conjoined the alpha fixed star of Pisces, Alrisha, around 122 B.C. (according to Solarfire program, although others think it to be 111 B.C.). Alrisha (now at Aries 29 degrees 28 minutes longitude), is positioned on the knot in the cord that joins the two fishes, and is the nearest star to Aries and the first star of Pisces that the vernal equinox conjuncted. The vernal equinox then precessed along the cord (maybe two degrees, or less) until it aligned with the figure of the first fish which might have been at that time of the birth of Jesus as some people think. It is difficult to pinpoint exactly when this occurred because of how the feature is drawn (and if it is a correct figuring, if there is such a thing...). In her book Jung and Astrology Maggie Hyde explains:

The eastern Fish suggesting an upward ascent or a heavenly/spiritual disposition and is associated with Christ; the western Fish, a mundane/earthly alignment and is associated with the Antichrist. Around the time of Christ, the Spring Equinox Point lay between the constellations of Aries and Pisces, moving backwards out of Aries the Ram and into Pisces the Fish at the knot in the cord - Alrisha (Al Rischa). Hence Christ is associated with the closing of the Arian Age and the dawn of the Piscean Age. ... At the time of Christ, the Spring Point lay at the beginning of the first fish. ... As the Equinox Point moved through the constellation, passing through the first fish, the Church was founded and Christianity developed. It flourished as the Spring Point moved along the cord uniting the fishes but then, as the Spring Point arrived mid-way between the fish, the challenge to the Church and the predictions of Antichrist began. From this time on, during the scientific revolution of 1500-1700, an 'enantiodromian' or mirror image process set in as the Spring Point began to creep along the cord towards the second fish. In contrast to the first fish swimming upward in a 'Gothic' striving towards the heights, this second fish swims horizontally outwards. The Spring Point reached the first star in the second fish's tail, Omega Piscium, around 1817. Although this is the fish of Antichrist, its manifestations are not embodied in any one person or messiah. Rather, they are revealed in philosophies, 'damnable sects', and an 'evil and magical law', which is "utterly contrary and inimical to the law of Christ"...

We are now in the closing era of the Age of Pisces, on, or near the cusp of the age of Aquarius. The figure of Aquarius is positioned below the ecliptic and the stream of water from the jar overlaps some of the stars of the second fish that swims along the ecliptic. Various dates have been given for Vernal Equinox's entry into the constellation of Aquarius; from 2012-2150.

The two fishes of Pisces are bound by a cord and swim in different directions. The story goes that to escape Typhon (can also mean a typhoon) both Venus/Aphrodite and Cupid/Eros changed into fishes and disappeared into the the sea. In order not to lose each other in the dark waters of the Euphrates, they tied their tails together with a long cord, the alpha star, Alrisha, representing the knot of the cord. Or, alternatively, Pisces is the two fishes that carried Venus and Cupid to safety. This escape is commemorated in Pisces. The Romans knew them as 'Venus et Cupido'. [A number of other constellations arise from the attack of the great beast Typhon, sent by the Titans to crush the Olympians in their epic war for heavenly supremacy.]

The streamlined fishes depicted in Pisces evolved in the Devonian geologic period which is known as the Age of Fishes, about 400 million years ago. Named after Devon, England, where rocks from this period were first studied. Also during the Devonian Period the first fish evolved feet from fish fins (see Tiktaalik) and started to walk on land (before legs evolved; the word leg is cognate with Lacerta, lizard). The feet of human embryos taking shape in the womb reveal links to prehistoric fish [2]. Feet evolved from fish and traditional astrology says that Pisces rules the feet, and shoes hold a special attraction to Pisceans (perhaps suggesting this particular area of the feet enclosed by the shoe is ruled by Pisces). The Indo-European root *peisk-, fish, does not offer any clues to related words. I suggest that there must be a relationship between the word Pisces and Latin pes, foot? Latin pes, foot, resembles the Italian variation pesce, fish. Latin pes, foot, and English foot, from Indo-European root *ped- 'Foot'.

Or another translation:

“Fish (piscis) are named from the same source as livestock (pecus), that is, from 'grazing' (pascere).” [The Etymologies of Isidore of Seville, 7th century AD, p.259.]

This sentence embraces three Indo-European roots: Pisces from *peisk- 'Fish'; pecus from *peku- 'Wealth, movable property'; and pascere, from *pá- 'To protect, feed'. The Book of Beasts [p.71] says the ancients commonly used 'pecora' or 'pecudes' to indicate all animals-whether they were creatures to eat, like sheep, or creatures which were named thus because they grazed (a pascendo).

Varro, an ancient Roman etymologist, says pes, foot, is related to pecus (cattle or food) Latin pes, foot, is from Indo-European root *ped-:

"Because the herdsmen's pecunia ‘wealth’ then lay in their pecus ‘flocks’ and the base for standing is a pes ‘foot’ and a man who has founded a business is said to have established his pes ‘footing ', from pes ‘foot’ they gave the name pecus, pecudis ‘one head of cattle,' just as from the same they said pedica ‘fetter’ and pedisequus ‘footman’ and peculianae ‘privately owned’ sheep or anything else: for this was the first private property. Hence they called it a peculatus ‘peculation’ from the state in the beginning, when a fine was imposed in pecus ‘cattle’ and there was a collection into the state treasury, of what had been diverted." [Varro: On The Latin Language, p.91].


The folk engendered by the two Fishes, the last of the signs, will possess a love of the sea; they will entrust their lives to the deep, will provide ships or gear for ships and everything that the sea requires for activity connected with it. The consequent skills are numberless: so many are the components of even a small ship that there are scarcely enough names for things. There is also the art of navigation, which has reached out to the stars and binds the sea to heaven. The pilot must have sound knowledge of the earth, its rivers and havens, its climate and winds; how on the one hand to ply the mobile helm this way and that, and brake the ship and spread apart the waves, and how on the other to drive the ship by rowing and to feather the lingering blades. The Fishes further impart to their son the desire to sweep tranquil waters with dragnets and to display on shores which are their own the captive peoples of the deep, either by hiding the hook within the bait or the guile within the weel. Naval warfare too is of their gift, battles afloat, and blood-stained waves at sea. The children of this sign are endowed with fertile offspring, a friendly disposition, swiftness of movement, and lives in which everything is ever apt to change. [Astronomica, Manilius, 1st century AD, book 4, p.243.]


Fixed stars in Pisces


omega 01ARI12 02ARI35 359 11 08 +06 35 11 +06 21 51 4.03 F3

delta 12ARI46 14ARI09 011 31 17 +07 18 48 +02 10 32 4.55 K5

epsilon 16ARI09 17ARI32 015 05 11 +07 37 17 +01 05 26 4.45 G5

nu 24ARI08 25ARI31 024 42 24 +05 14 07 -04 41 52 4.68 K4

Al Pherg eta 25ARI25 26ARI49 022 12 03 +15 05 19 +05 22 28 3.72 G3

sigma 25ARI50 27ARI13 015 01 04 +31 32 11 +23 04 41 5.46 B9

xi 26ARI08 27ARI31 027 44 27 +02 56 29 -07 55 31 4.84 G7

omicron 26ARI22 27ARI45 025 41 15 +08 54 25 -01 37 26 4.50 C6

tau 26ARI56 28ARI19 017 13 30 +29 49 29 +20 44 11 4.70 K1

upsilon 27ARI24 28ARI47 019 10 41 +27 00 07 +17 27 44 4.67 A2

Alrisha alpha 27ARI59 29ARI23 029 51 51 +02 31 23 -09 03 52 3.94 A2

beta 17PIS12 18PIS35 345 19 58 +03 33 02 +09 03 15 4.58 B5

gamma 20PIS04 21PIS27 348 38 35 +03 00 32 +07 15 42 3.85 G5

kappa 21PIS31 22PIS54 351 05 31 +00 58 54 +04 26 04 4.94 A3

theta 23PIS49 25PIS12 351 21 27 +06 06 15 +09 02 00 4.45 K0

lambda 25PIS13 26PIS36 354 52 24 +01 30 17 +03 25 07 4.61 A5

iota 26PIS16 27PIS39 354 20 39 +05 21 18 +07 09 40 4.28 F5



Pisces, the Fishes, are the German Fische, the Italian Pesci, the French Poissons, the Anglo-Norman Peisun, and the Anglo-Saxon Fixas. The Alfonsine Tables of {Page 337} 1521 had Pesces, and the Almagest of 1515 Echiguen, Bayer's Ichiguen, a word that has defied commentators unless Caesius has explained it as being a corruption of Greek Ichthues.And here fantastic fishes duskly float,

Using the calm for waters, while their fires

Throb out quick rhythms along the shallow air.

— Mrs. Browning's A Drama of Exile.

The figures are widely separated in the sky, the northeastern one lying just south of beta Andromedae, headed towards it, and the southwestern one east from and headed towards Aquarius and Pegasus, the lucida (Alrisha) marking the knot of the connecting bands. Both are north of the ecliptic, the first culminating on the 28th of November, and the second about three weeks earlier. In early days they were shown close together, one above the other, but in reversed directions, although united as now.

By reason of precession this constellation is now the first of the zodiac, but entirely within its boundaries lies the sign Aries; the vernal equinox being located in a comparatively starless region south of omega in the tail of the southwestern Fish, and about 2° west of "a line from alpha Andromedae through gamma Pegasi continued as far again." This equinoctial point is known as the First of Aries, and the Greenwich of the Sky; and from their containing it, the Fishes are called the Leaders of the Celestial Host.

The Greeks knew them as Ikhthue, and Ikhthues (ichthys in borrowed words), in the dual and plural; the Romans as we do, often designating them as Imbrifer Duo Pisces, Gemini Pisces, and Piscis Gemellus. Classic authors said Aquilonius, sometimes Aquilonaris; and very appropriately, for the Aquilo of the Romans, perhaps derived from agua, or aquilus, signified a rain-bringing wind from the north, and well represented the supposed watery character of the constellation, as also its northerly position. Ampelius, however, ascribed Aquilo to Gemini, and Eurus, or Vulturnus, the Southeast Wind, to Pisces.

Miss Clerke thinks that the dual form of this constellation recalls the additional month which every six years was inserted into the Babylonian calendar of 360 days; and Sayce, agreeing in this opinion, translates the early title for these stars as the Fishes of Hea or Ia. It has also been found on Euphratean remains as Nuni, the Fishes, a supposed equivalent of its other title, Zib, of the later Graeco-Babylonian astronomy; although this last word may mean "Boundary" as being at the end of the zodiac. Another signification is the Water, which we have already seen with Aratos for this part of the sky; this also is the meaning of the word Atl, the Aztecs' name for Pisces.

It was the Babylonian Nunu, the Syriac Nuno, the Persian Mahik, and the Turkish Balik, all translated "Fish"; while Kircher cited, from Coptic Egypt, Pikotorion, Piscis Hori, which Brown translates "Protection," but claims for a Coptic lunar asterism formed by beta and gamma Arietis.

In earliest Chinese astronomy, with Aquarius, Capricornus, and a part of {Page 338} Sagittarius, it was the northern one of the four quarters of the zodiac, the Dark Warrior, or the residence of the Dark, or Northern, Emperor; but later, in their zodiac of twelve figures, it was the Pig, Tseu Tsze; and, after the Jesuits, Shwang Yu, the Two Fishes.

With the Arabians it was Al Samakah, — Chilmead's Alsemcha, — or, in the dual, Al Samakatain; and Al Hut, the Fish, referring to the southern one, the Vernal Fish, as marking that equinox; the northern being confounded with Andromeda's stars and so not associated with the zodiac. From these came Sameh, Haut, El Haut, and Elhautine in Bayer's Uranometria.

Dante combined the two in his Celeste Lasca, the Celestial Roach or Mullet, saying that here and in Aquarius geomancers saw their Fortuna Major; and thus described I Pesci:

quivering are the Fishes on the horizon,

And the Wain wholly over Caurus lies.

This was on a Saturday morning, and the positions of the constellations indicate that the time was just before sunrise in the month of April; Caurus, or Corus, the Northwest Wind, symbolizing that quarter of the heavens.

Varaha Mihira mentioned the constellation as Ittha, in which the Greek word appears; but before his day it was Anta, Jitu, and Mina or Minam in the Tamil dialect.

The 26th nakshatra, Revati, Abundant or Wealthy, lay here in the thirty-two stars from zeta northwards, figured as a Drum or Tabor. But the manzil (Moon Mansion), Batn al Hut, the Fish's Belly, or Al Risha’, the Cord, and the corresponding sieu, Koei, or Kwei, Striding Legs, were formed by sixteen stars in a figure 8 from psi Piscium to nu Andromeda, and mainly lay in this constellation, although beta and zeta, in Andromeda seem to have been their determinant points. All of these stations, however, may have been even more extended, for there certainly is "a perplexing disagreement in detail among the three systems."

Al Biruni asserted that "the name of the sign in all languages signifies only one fish," and it is probable that the original asterism was such, for, according to Eratosthenes, it symbolized the great Syrian goddess Derke

or Derketo, and so, later, was named Dea Syria, Dercis, Dercetis, Dercete, Proles Dercia, and Phacetis. The Greeks called this Atargatis [Allen notes: Allusion was made to this Atargatis in the apocryphal 2nd Book of Maccabees. xii, 26; and gems now in the British Museum show the fish-god with a star or other astronomical symbol. ] and from a supposed derivation of this word from Adir and Dag (Great and' Fish) it was drawn with a woman's head upon a huge fish's body. In this manner it was connected with the Syrian Dagon and the Jews' Dagaim, their {Page 339} title for the Two Fishes, — Riccioli's Dagiotho. Avienus called the constellation Bombycii Hierapolitani; Grotius correcting the error in orthography to Bambycii, as Derke was worshiped at Bambyce, — the Mabog of Mesopotamia, or Hierapolis, — on the borders of Syria. Thus, too, it was Dii Syrii.

But the Greeks confounded this divinity with another Syrian goddess, Astarte, identified with Aphrodite (Venus), who precipitated herself, with her son Eros (Cupid), into the Euphrates when frightened by the attack of the monster Typhon; these becoming two fishes that afterwards were placed in the zodiac. Latin classical authors, with the same groundwork of the story, made Pisces the fishes that carried Venus and her boy out of danger, so that, as Manilius said,

Venus owed her Safety to their Shape.

The constellation was thus known as Venus et Cupido, Venus Syria cum Cupidine, Venus cum Adone, Dione, and Veneris Mater; and it has been Ourania and Urania, the Sarmatian Aphrodite. All this, perhaps, was the foundation of the Syrians' idea that fish were divine, so that they abstained from them as an article of food; Ovid repeating this in the Fasti, in Gower's rendering:

Hence Syrians hate to eat that kind of fishes;

Nor is it fit to make their gods their dishes.

But Xenophon limited this restriction to the fish of the river Chalos.

A scholiast on Aratos, commented on by Grotius, said that the "Chaldaeans" called the northernmost Fish Khelidonias Ikhthus; shown with the head of a swallow, a representation that Scaliger attributed to the appearance of the bird in the spring, when the sun is in this region of the sky. Dupuis had much to say about this changed figure, calling it l’Hirondelle (swallows are of the family Hirundinidae,), but as of the Arabs; and this idea has led to confusion in the Piscine titles already noticed under Apus. The Greek word, however, was common for a Tunny (tuna), so that there is reason enough for its application to either of the Pisces in their normal shape. This northern Fish has sometimes been considered as representing the monster sent to devour Andromeda, and its proximity to the latter would render this more appropriate than the comparatively distant Cetus; in fact, ketos, was as often used by the Greeks for the Tunny (tuna) as it was for the Whale.

Some of the Jews ascribed the joint constellation to the joint tribes of Simeon and Levi, whose sanguinary character Jacob on his death-bed so vividly portrayed; others, to Gad the Marauder. Perhaps it was from {Page 340} this that Pisces was considered of such malignant influence in human affairs, — "a dull, treacherous, and phlegmatic sign"; yet this opinion, doubtless, was anterior to the patriarch's time, for the Egyptians, the instructors of the Hebrews in astrology, are said to have abstained from eating sea-fish out of dread and abhorrence; and when they would express anything odious, represented a fish in their hieroglyphics. Pliny, too, asserted that the appearance of a comet here indicated great trouble from religious differences besides war and pestilence; but this became the common reputation of comets wherever they showed themselves.

In early astrology the constellation appropriately was under the care of the sea-god Neptune, and so the Neptuni Sidus of Manilius; and it was the Exaltation of Venus, as Chaucer said in the Wyf of'Bathes Tale, —

In Pisces where Venus is exalted, —

which Sir Thomas Browne, the author-physician of the 17th century, thus commented upon:

Who will not commend the wit of astrology ? Venus, born out of the sea, hath her exaltation in Pisces.

Thus it naturally ruled the Euphrates, Tigris, and the Red Sea, and Parthia; but in later days was assigned to the guardianship of Jupiter, whose House it was, reigning over Egypt, Calabria, Galicia, Normandy, Portugal, Spain, and Ratisbon. It was predominant in influence with mariners, and had charge of the human feet; the designated color being a glistening white, as of fish just out of the water; and it was fruitful, like its namesakes, for, according to Manilius. "Pisces fill the Flood."

Ptolemy distinguished the members of the constellation as epomenos," the rear or eastern," and egoumenos, "the front or western "; the Southern Fish being his notios; a precaution rendered necessary by the frequent confounding of these three by classical writers. A notable instance of this is seen in the Poeticon Astronomicon, where our Pisces are made to receive the water from the Urn. In Humboldt's Cosmos they are Pisces Boreales.

The constellation is popularly thought to have taken its name from its coincidence with the sun during the rainy season; and the symbol for the sign, , to represent the two Fishes joined; but Sayce thinks it the Hittite determinative affix of plurality.

Postellus asserted that the Fishes represented those with which Christ fed "about five thousand men, beside women and children"; and Caesius, that they were the Iesous Khristos Theou Huios Soter: ["Jesus Christ (of) God (the) Son, Saviour"], a fish {Page 341} always being the symbol of the early Christians' faith; but when the old twelve figures were turned into those of the apostles, these became Saint Matthias, successor to the traitor Judas.

The Fishes were changed to a Dolphin in the zodiac sculptured on the wall of Merton College, taken from the armorial bearings of Fitz James, bishop of London, and warden of the college from 1482 to 1508; a dolphin being of as sacred significance among pagans as a fish was among Christians.

Within their boundaries took place the three distinct conjunctions of Jupiter and Saturn in the year 747 of Rome, — the year to which for a long time was assigned Christ's birth; these phenomena strikingly agreeing in some of their details with Saint Matthew's account of the Star of Bethlehem. The opinion that these appearances guided the Magi in their visit to Judaea was first advanced and advocated by the celebrated Kepler, and worked out in 1826 by Ideler, and in 1831 by Encke. [Allen notes at bottom of page 341: More recent determinations, by the late Reverend Mr. Charles Pritchard of Oxford, have somewhat altered the previous conclusions, while our chronologists, meanwhile, have changed the date of the Nativity, so that the time-honored identification of the Star of the Magi with these planetary conjunctions now seems to be discarded. ] It is noticeable that the Rabbis held the tradition, recorded by Abrabanel in the 15th century, that a similar conjunction took place in Pisces three years previous to the birth of Moses, and they anticipated another at their Messiah's advent. Thus the Fishes were considered the national constellation of the Jews, as well as a tribal symbol. Jupiter and Saturn were again together here in February, 1881, Venus being added to the group, — a well remembered and most beautiful sight.

Here, too, was the seat of the predicted conjunction of three planets that Stoffler said would cause another Deluge in 1524, — an announcement that created universal consternation; but, unfortunately for the prophet's reputation, the season was unusually dry.

It was in Pisces, on the 2nd of September, 1804, that Harding, of Lilienthal in Hanover, discovered the minor planet Juno.

In his Shepheard's Kalendar for November, Edmund Spenser thus described the constellation's place in the sky:

But nowe sadde Winter welked hath the day,

And Phoebus, weary of his yerely taske,

Ystabled hath his steedes in lowly laye,

And taken up his ynne in Fishes haske.

La Lande, quoting indirectly from Firmicus, mentioned as from the Egyptian sphere of Petosiris:

au nord des Poissons, il place Ie Cerf, & une autre constellation du Lievre;

{Page 342} but this second Hare I cannot trace, although Bayer had Cerva as a title for Cassiopeia "north of the Fishes."

There is a sprinkling of indistinct stars between the Fishes and the Whale (Cetus) that Vitruvius called Ermedone, explained by Hesychios as the Stream of Faint Stars, but by some French commentator as les delices de Mercure, whatever that may be. Riccioli, calling it Hermidone, said that it was effusio Aquarii, the classical designation for the Stream from the Urn; but Baldus, with Scaliger, said that the word was Arpedone, the Cord, although this seems equally inapplicable here. These stars may be the proposed new Testudo noted under beta Ceti.

Ariesthe Ram



Clues to the meaning of this celestial featureAries is the first sign of the zodiac. The Greeks associated Aries with the Ram who carried Phrixus and his sister Helle on his back to Colchis (the Georgian region of the Caucasus) to escape the evil designs of their stepmother, Ino, who was about to kill them. In crossing the strait that divides Europe from Asia, Helle became giddy and lost her hold, falling off the Ram into the sea when she disobeyed a warning not to look down, the place thereafter became the Hellespont which today separates Greece and Turkey. Continuing his flight, the ram bore the boy to Colchis, at the eastern end of the Euxine or Black sea. On reaching his journey's end Phrixus sacrificed the ram and hung its fleece in the Grove of Ares where it was turned to gold and became the object of the Argonauts' (Argo Navis) quest.

I suggest that one possible consequence of Helle falling off the Ram might be symbolic over-representation of the masculine element in the Arian psyche.

According to Apollonius Rhodius, Phrixos had journeyed to Aia (better known as Kholkis, or Colchis);

"bestriding a ram which Hermes had made all of gold" (2.1143-45; Seaton 1912) [1].

The Biblical school said that Aries represented Abraham’s Ram caught in the thicket [Allen, Star Names] when the then current religious-law demanded that the first-born son be sacrificed to God.

"Then Abraham lifted his eyes and looked, and there behind him was a ram caught in a thicket by its horns. So Abraham went and took the ram, and offered it up for a burnt offering instead of his son [Isaac]" Gen 22:10-13

Abraham and Isaac are said to be represented by the Centaur Centaurus [or perhaps Centaurus and Lupus]. Ara, the Altar, was the place where the sacrifice took place.

Aries' symbol, , represents the spiral horns of a Ram. The Hebrew word for a ram's horn was shofar, from Hebrew shophar, 'ram's horn,' related to Arabic sawafiru, 'ram's horns,' Akkadian shapparu, 'wild goat' [2]. The shofar was blown on two days of the year; Rosh Hashanah, corresponding to the Christian Feast of Trumpets, - rosh means 'head', and hashanah, 'year'; and Yom Kippur, corresponding to the Christian Day of Atonement. The shofar blown at mount Sinai, when the Torah was given, came from the ram which had been sacrificed in place of Isaac [3].

Less commonly, the shofar was called yobel [4]. In Leviticus xxv, the Jubilee Year was laid down as a year of celebration proclaimed every fifty years by blowing trumpets throughout Israel. The word jubilee is related to yobel, a ram's horn trumpet. Hebrew yobhel meant 'leading animal, ram,' and by extension 'ram's horn,' and since a ram's horn was a trumpet blown to announce the start of a special year in which slaves were freed, land left untilled, etc, the term yobel came to be used for the year itself. [John Ayto, Dictionary of Word Origins].

Linguists say that the word 'jubilee' (from Hebrew yobel) is not related to 'jubilation' (an expression of joy) from Latin jubilare; because 'Jubilee' comes from Hebrew and 'jubilation' from Latin. However, Klein says the word 'jubilee' was influenced in form by a confusion of this word with Latin jubilare; "the shared sense of 'celebration' means that jubilee and jubilation have been confused for sixteen hundred years, ever since the Bible was first translated into Latin" [5].

The 49th year is termed the Sabbath. The jubilee is the fiftieth year after the cycle begins, but the cycle only has seven sets of seven years, or 49 years. Thus, the 50th year of the cycle is the same as the first year of

the cycle [6]:

“A jubilee (iubileus) is translated as 'a year of forgiveness.' Both the term and the number are Hebrew. It is made up of seven sets of seven years, that is, forty-nine years. On the jubilee trumpets blared, and their old holdings reverted to each person, debts would be forgiven, and liberties confirmed. We ourselves celebrate this number still in the number of days of Pentecost after the resurrection of the Lord, with sin forgiven and the written record of our whole debt erased, as we are freed from every trammel, receiving the grace of the Holy Spirit coming upon us” [The Etymologies of Isidore of Seville, 7th century AD, p.129.]

Freedom from slavery has further associations with Aries, the Jewish Nisan, our March-April, for Josephus said that it was when the sun was here in this month that his people were released from the bondage of Egypt [Allen, Starnames].

In Northern European countries they used a word for ram which is related to our word hurt; Old French hurter, originally meant 'to butt or toss like a ram', Frankish *hurt, 'ram', Old Norse hrutr, 'ram'; hurtle is another relative.

[7] Female reproductive system

[8] Dodge Ram logo

There are a number of comments on the Net on the resemblance of the Dodge Ram logo to the human female reproductive system:

This is not a new idea, 7th century Isidore commented on the likeness:

"it is called uterus because it is two-fold and divides on both (uterque) sides, into two parts that extend apart and bend back in the shape of a ram's horn" [The Etymologies of Isidore of Seville, 7th century AD, p.240.]

The "two parts that extend apart and bend back in the shape of a ram's horn" is what we call the fallopian tubes, salpinges (singular salpinx). Tuba is a Latin word for trumpet, related to the English 'tube'. In the textbooks the fallopian tubes are called oviducts (the adjective applying to sheep is ovine). Greek salpinx has three meanings; a trumpet, a fallopian tube, and also the eustachian tube in the ear. The Greek salpinx, trumpet, might be the same as the shofar trumpet which has been translated as salpinx into Greek [9]. The salpinges are two tubes leading from the ovaries of female mammals into the uterus. After the ovum or egg matures in the ovary it falls into and down the fallopian tube. The trip to the uterus takes hours or days. Conception takes place in the fallopian tube (with some exceptions).

"Many think that our figure [Aries] was designed to represent the Egyptian King of Gods shown at Thebes with ram's horns, and variously known as Amon, Ammon, Hammon, Amen, or Amun, and worshiped with great ceremony at his temple in the oasis Ammonium, now Siwah, 5° west of Cairo on the northern limit of the Libyan desert [Libya was a term for the African continent]. Kircher gave Aries' title there as Tametouro Amoun, Regum Ammonis" [Star Names]. Sacred to Ammon is a fat-tailed species of ram--ovis platyura aegyptiaca, whose horns are large, curved and downturned-- that is found only in the area of the Sceptre Nome, Egypt.

"Pliny [31st book, ch. 7] tells us that the word Ammonia comes from the Greek word ammos (sand), ammonia being a salt found below the sand in Cyrenaica in Africa. The Greeks and Romans became acquainted with the worship of Jupiter Ammon through the Cyrenians, and so in heathen mythology the addition of Ammon was given to Jupiter in allusion to the sandy desert of Sahara, where a temple to Jupiter was built" [Roots And Ramifications, Arthur John Knapp, 1857, p.133-134]

"they have named Aries (i.e. the Ram) on account of Ammon Jupiter, because those who made the idols fashioned the horns of a ram on his head” [p.106]. “Ammon, whose name for good reason is rendered 'the son of my people,' is so derived that partly its sense is of a proper name, and partly it is an expression in itself, for ammi, after which the Ammonites are named, is the word for 'my people'". [The Etymologies of Isidore of Seville, 7th century AD, p.163]

Several words derive from the ancient Egyptian name Amun via the Greek form Ammon: ammonite (an extinct marine mollusk with a flat partitioned spiral shell, from Latin cornu Ammonis, literally ‘horn of Ammon'), ammonia (‘salt of Ammon’, from Greek Ammon, an Egyptian god near whose temple ammonia and ammoniac were said to be obtained), ammonium chloride (chemical used in batteries), amino (intermediates in metabolism), amine, -amine (ammonia derivatives). Argali is a large wild sheep found in the dry mountainous areas of central and northern Asia. Latin name: Ovis ammon. Also related the word amen, 'so be it' at the end of a prayer.

There is a part of our brain called the horn of Ammon, a group of nerve cells within the hippocampus, which are clustered together in the shape of a horn, and make up the 'horn of Ammon'. "The hippocampus consists of two 'horns' that curve back from the area of the hypothalamus to the amygdala. It appears to be very important in converting things that are 'in your mind' at the moment (in short-term memory) into things that you will remember for the long run (long-term memory)" [10]. Whatever its exact function one thing we do know is that Aries people have short term memory and soon forgive and forget; perhaps in character with the spirit of the Jubilee when sins are forgiven and debts erased etc. The acronym RAM, r(andom-)a(ccess) m(emory), in computer science is a memory device in which information can be accessed in any order.

Rams or lambs were sacrificed to redeem the firstborn of animals and humans, to make atonement for sin, as God told Moses to do in Exodus 12:29. The jubilee was proclaimed by the sound of a ram's horn on the Day of Atonement. Amenhotep IV introduced the worship of Aten - Aton, the sun's disc itself, identifying it as Amun-Ra [11]. Atone comes from the words at + one, the word resembles Aton?

Another derivation:

"The Libyan Jupiter [Ammon]; so called from the Greek ammos (sand), because his temple was in the desert. Herodotus calls it an Egyptian word (ii. 42)." (Brewers Dictionary)

Greek ammos (sand) is believed to be related to Ammon, and the Latin word for sand, arena, resembles the word Aries. Latin harena, arena, was the place of combat (literally 'place strewn with sand'). The arena was the area in the center of an ancient Roman amphitheater where contests and other spectacles were held. They were one-to-one combats like two rams with locked horns. Farmers have trouble with rams locking horns and sometimes have to intervene "if they are locked for a day or so" [12]. Nowadays an arena denotes a scene of contest—physical, mental, or figurative. Arenaria are the genus of flowering plants called sandworts.

"Ram is a general West Germanic word for 'male sheep,' now shared only by Dutch (although German has the derivative ramme, 'rammer'). It may be related to Old Norse ramr, 'strong.' the allusion being to the ram's strength in butting. This is reflected in the word's metaphorical applications', it was being used in English for a 'battering-ram,' and by the 14th century the verb ram had emerged. Another relative is the verb ramble, which etymologically denotes 'wander around like a randy ram, looking for ewes to copulate with.' It was borrowed from Middle Dutch rammelen, a derivative of rammen, 'copulate with,' which is

connected with ram" [John Ayto, Dictionary of Word Origins].

The word ramble is probably a variant of Middle English romblen, frequentative of Middle English romen, 'to roam' [Klein].

In classical times battering rams were used to break through doors and walls. The zodiacal sign Aries rules the head in general. When a baby is about to be born, the head acts as a battering ram until the cervix is wide enough to let the head through. "To act as a dilating wedge against the cervix, the infant's head must push against it with a rhythmic force. A battering ram is a crude yet accurate metaphor" [13].

"... he [Aries the Ram] will yield his produce for the common benefit, the fleece which by a thousand crafts gives birth to different forms of gain, now workers pile into heaps the undressed wool, now card it, now draw it into a tenuous thread, now weave the threads to form webs, and now they buy and sell for gain garments of every kind... So important is this work that Pallas herself has claimed it for her own hands, of which she has judged it worthy, and deems her victory over Arachne a token of her greatness" [Astronomica, Manilius, 1st century AD, book 4, p.233]. See under 'Astrological influences' below for the full excerpts.

Manilius is describing the process of deriving thread from wool, "and now weave the threads to form webs", and associates it with the weaving competition of Pallas (Greek Athena) and Arachne, who hanged herself. Athena took pity on Arachne. Sprinkling her with the juices of aconite (a-, not, + konis, 'dust', 'without dust', understood to mean the dust of the arena, hence 'without struggle, unconquerable' [Klein]), Athena loosened the rope, which became a cobweb, while Arachne herself was changed into a spider; "and her descendants to forever hang from threads and to be great weavers" (Ovid). [Arachne gives her name to the arachnids; spiders, scorpions, mites, and ticks. Spiders are of the order Araneae, aranea, this word resembles the word Aries; and arena, the Latin word for sand?]. The word 'spider' is cognate with the Latin or Roman word for balance or scales, pendere. The Aries/Libra axis represents the two equinoxes, Aries is the vernal equinox, and Libra the autumnal equinox. The competition between Arachne and Pallas/Athena might be represented in the two equinoxes.

“The battering ram (aries) gets its name from its appearance, because like a fighting ram (aries) it batters a wall with its impetus. A head of iron is fashioned on a strong and knotty tree-trunk, and, suspended by ropes, the ram is driven against a wall by many hands, and then drawn back it is aimed again with a greater force. Finally, beaten with frequent blows, the side of the wall gives way, and the battering ram breaks through where it has caved in, and makes a breach. Against the thrust of a battering ram the remedy is a sack filled with straw and set in the place where the battering ram strikes, for the impact of the thrust of the battering ram is softened in the yielding hollow of the sack. Thus harder things give way rather easily to softer.” [The Etymologies of Isidore of Seville, p.364.]

The ancients (Isidore and Varro) saw a link between the word Aries the word ara (another constellation Ara), meaning altar, Isidore says:

“The ram (aries) is either named after the word Ares, that is, after 'Mars' - whence we call the males in a flock 'males' (mas, genitive maris) - or because this animal was the first to be sacrificed on altars (ara, genitive aris) by pagans. So, the 'ram' because it was placed on the altar; whence also this (Sedulius, Paschal Poem 1.115: The ram is offered at the altar.” [Isidore, The Etymologies, 7th century AD, p.247.]

The Roman god of war, Mars, was identified with the Greek god Ares. His name is the basis of the words; martial (as in martial arts or martial law), March (the third month of the year), the names Marcus, Mark, Martin. Roman Mars/Greek Aries represents the masculine archetype; Isidore sees a relationship between the words Mars and male, from Latin masculus, diminutive of mas, male. Isidore thinks the word marriage is also a relative:

“But 'husband' (maritus) without an additional term means a man who is married. 'Husband' comes from 'masculine' (mas, adjective) as if the word were mas (i.e. 'male,' noun), for the noun is the primary form, and it has masculus as a diminutive form; maritus is derived from this” [Isidore, The Etymologies, 7th century AD, p.210.]

Also a connection between musculus (from Indo-European *mus- 'A mouse; also a muscle') and masculus:

“The mussel (musculus) is a shellfish from whose milt oysters conceive, and they are called musculus as if the word were masculus (i.e. 'male')” [Isidore, The Etymologies, 7th century AD, p.262.]

On the word frankincense Isidore says:

“Also we call it masculum because it is spherical in its nature like testicles (compare masculus, 'male')" [Isidore, The Etymologies, 7th century AD, p.348.]

The Babylonians called this constellation 'The Hired Laborer':

"indicating that the month of Aries was a time of special activity when extra help is needed. From about 1730 BCE until AD 217 Aries was the Princeps Signorum Coelestium - the background constellation of the first day of spring, 'the Indicator of the Reborn Sun'. After AD 217, due to the precession of the Equinoxes, Aries relinquished this honor to Pisces, the Fishes" [The New Patterns in the Sky, Julius D.W. Staal 1988.]


"The Ram, who is rich with an abundance of fleecy wool and, when shorn of this, with a fresh supply, will ever cherish hopes; he will rise from the sudden shipwreck of his affairs to abundant wealth only to meet with a fall, and his desires will lead him to disaster; he will yield his produce for the common benefit, the fleece which by a thousand crafts gives birth to different forms of gain, now workers pile into heaps the undressed wool, now card it, now draw it into a tenuous thread, now weave the threads to form webs, and now they buy and sell for gain garments of every kind; no nation could dispense with these, even without indulgence in luxury. So important is this work that Pallas herself has claimed it for her own hands, of which she has judged it worthy, and deems her victory over Arachne a token of her greatness. These are the callings and allied crafts that the Ram will decree for those born under his sign: in an anxious breast he will fashion a diffident heart that ever yearns to commend itself by its own praise. When the Ram emerges above the surface of the waves (rising) and the curve of his neck appears before his horns, he will give birth to hearts that are never content with what is theirs; he will engender minds bent on plunder and will banish all sense of shame: such is their desire for venture. Even thus does the ram himself rush forth with lowered horns, resolved to win or die. Not for them the gentle ease of a fixed abode with none but peaceful cares; it is ever their delight to travel through unknown cities, to explore uncharted seas, and enjoy the whole world's hospitality. The Ram himself gives you evidence of this: once furrowing a trail through the glassy sea, he tinged it with the gold of his fleece, when on his back he carried Phrixus, bereft of his sister (Helle) by fate's decree, and brought him to the banks of the Phasis and to Colchis". [Astronomica, Manilius, 1st century AD, book 4, p.233].


Fixed stars in the Aries


Mesarthim gamma 01TAU47 03TAU11 027 41 44 +19 03 06 +07 09 43 4.83 A0

Sheratan beta 02TAU34 03TAU58 027 58 05 +20 33 52 +08 29 06 2.72 A5

Hamal alpha 06TAU16 07TAU40 031 05 13 +23 13 37 +09 57 49 2.23 K2

41 16TAU49 18TAU12 041 45 32 +27 03 20 +10 26 46 3.68 B8

Botein delta 19TAU27 20TAU51 047 11 29 +19 32 20 +01 49 09 4.53 K2



. . . the fleecy star that bears

Andromeda far off Atlantic seas

Beyond th' Horizon.

- Milton's Paradise Lost.

Aries the Ram, is Ariete in Italy, Belier in France, and Widder in Germany — Bayer's Wider; in the Anglo-Saxon tongue it is Ramm, and in the Anglo-Norman of the 12th century, Multuns. The constellation is marked by the noticeable triangle to the west of the Pleiades, 6° north of the ecliptic, 20° north of the celestial equator, and 20° due south from gamma Andromedae (Mirach).

It always was Aries with the Romans; but Ovid called it Phrixea Ovis; and Columella, Pecus Athamantidos Helles, Phrixus, and Portitor Phrixi; others, Phrixeum Pecus and Phrixi Vector, Phrixus being the hero-son of Athamas, who fled on the back of this Ram with his sister Helle to Colchis to escape the wrath of his stepmother Ino. It will be remembered that on the way Helle fell off into the sea, which thereafter became the Hellespont, as Manilius wrote:

First Golden Aries shines (who whilst he swam

Lost part of 's Freight, and gave the Sea a Name);

and Longfellow, in his translation from Ovid's Tristia:

The Ram that bore unsafely the burden of Helle.

{Page 76} On reaching his journey's end, Phrixus sacrificed the creature and hung its fleece in the Grove of Ares, where it was turned to gold and became the object of the Argonauts' quest. From this came others of Aries' titles: Ovis aurea and auratus, Chrysomallus, and the Low Latin Chrysovellus.

The Athamas used by Golumella was a classical reproduction of the "Euphratean Tammuz Dum-uzi (Semetic Tammuz who is Sumerian Dumuzid, prototype of the Classical Adonis), the Only Son of Life, whom Aries at one time represented in the heavens, as did Orion at a previous date, perhaps when it marked the vernal equinox 4500 B.C.

Cicero and Ovid styled the constellation Cornus; elsewhere it was Corniger ("Horn-bearer) and Laniger ("Wool-bearer"); Vervex, the Wether; Dux opulenti gregis; Caput arietinum; and, in allusion to its position,

Aequinoctialis. Venms Portitor, the Spring-bringer, is cited by Caesius (Dutch astronomical writer), who also mentioned Arcanus, that may refer to the secret rites in the worship of the divinities whom Aries represented.

From about the year 1730 before our era he was the Princeps signorum coelestium, Princeps zodiaci, and the Ductor exercitus zodiaci, continuing so through Hipparchos' time; Manilius writing of this:

The Ram having passed the Sea serenely shines,

And leads the Year, the Prince of all the Signs.

But about A.D. 420 his office was transferred to Pisces.

Brown writes as to the origin of the title Aries, without any supposition of resemblance of the group to the animal:

The stars were regarded by a pastoral population as flocks; each asterism had its special leader, and the star, and subsequently the constellation, that led the heavens through the year was the Ram.

Elsewhere he tells us that when Aries became chief of the zodiac signs it took the Akkadian titles Ku, I-ku, and I-ku-u, from its lucida Hamal, all equivalents of the Assyrian Rubu, Prince, and very appropriate to the leading stellar group of that date, although not one of the first formations.

He also finds, from an inscription on the Tablet of the Thirty Stars, that the Euphratean astronomers had a constellation Gam, the Scimetar, stretching from Okda (another name for Alrisha) of the Fishes (Pisces) to Hamal of Aries, the curved blade being formed by the latter's three brightest components. This was the weapon protecting the kingdom against the Seven Evil Spirits, or Tempest Powers.

Jensen thinks that Aries may have been first adopted into the zodiac by the Babylonians when its stars began to mark the vernal equinox; and that the insertion of it between Taurus and Pegasus compelled the cutting off a {Page 77} part of each of those figures, — a novel suggestion that would save much theorizing as to their sectional character.

The Jewish Nisan, our March-April, was associated with Aries, for Josephus said that it was when the sun was here in this month that his people were released from the bondage of Egypt; and so was the same month Nisanu of Assyria, where Aries represented the Altar and the Sacrifice, a ram usually being the victim. Hence the prominence given to this sign in antiquity even before its stars became the leaders of the rest; although Berossos and Macrobius attributed this to the ancient belief that the earth was created when the sun was within its boundaries; and Albumasar, of the 9th century [This author, known also as 'Abu Ma'shar and Ja'phar, was from Balh' in Turkestan, celebrated as an astrologer and quoted by Al Biruni, but with the caution that he was a very incorrect astronomer. The Lenox Library of New York has a copy of his Opus introductorii in astronomia Albumazaris abalachi, Idus Februarii, 1489, published at Venice with illustrations. Its similarity to the Hyginus of the preceding year would indicate that they issued from the same press.], in his devolution of Years wrote of the Creation as having taken place when "the seven planets" — the Sun, Moon, Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter, and Saturn — were in conjunction here, and foretold the destruction of the world when they should be in the same position in the last degree of Pisces.

Dante, who called the constellation Montone, followed with a similar thought in the Inferno:

The sun was mounting with those stars

That with him were, what time the Love Divine

At first in motion set those beauteous things.

To come, however, to a more precise date, Pliny said that Cleostratos of Tenedos first formed Aries, and, at the same time, Sagittarius; but their origin probably was many centuries, even millenniums, antecedent to this, and the statement is only correct in so far as that he may have been the first to write of them.

Many think that our figure was designed to represent the Egyptian King of Gods shown at Thebes with ram's horns, or veiled and crowned with feathers, and variously known as Amon, Ammon, Hammon, Amen, or Amun, and worshiped with great ceremony at his temple in the oasis Ammonium, now Siwah, 5° west of Cairo on the northern limit of the Libyan desert. Kircher gave Aries' title there as Tametouro Amoun, Regum Ammonis. But there is doubt whether the Egyptian stellar Ram coincided with ours, although Miss Clerke says that the latter's stars were called the Fleece.

{Page 78} As the god Amen was identified with Zeus, and Jupiter of the Greeks and Romans, so also was Aries, although this popularly was attributed to the story that the classical divinity assumed the Ram's form when all the inhabitants of Olympus fled into Egypt from the giants led by Typhon. From this came the constellation's titles Jupiter Ammon; Jovis Sidus (Jovis is Jupiter and sidus means constellation); Minervae Sidus, the goddess being Jove's daughter (or the Greek Athena - Athena's constellation); the Jupiter Libycus of Propertius, Dens Libycus of Dionysius, and Ammon Libycus of Nonnus.

The Hebrews knew it as Teli, and inscribed it on the banners of Gad or Naphtali; the Syrians, as Amru or Emru; the Persians, as Bara, Bere, or Berre; the Turks, as Kuzi; and in the Parsi Bundehesh it was Varak: all these being synonymous with Aries. The unexplained Arabib, or Aribib, also is seen for it. The early Hindus called it Aja and Mesha, the Tamil Mesham; but the later followed the Greeks in Kriya.

An Arabian commentator on Ulug Beg called the constellation Al Kabsh al ‘Alif, the Tame Ram; but that people generally knew it as Al Hamal, the Sheep, — Hammel with Riccioli, Alchamalo with Schickard, and Alhamel with Chilmead (Hamal is also the alpha star of the constellation).

As one of the zodiacal twelve of China it was the Dog, early known as Heang Low, or Kiang Leu; and later, under Jesuit influence, as Pih Yang, the White Sheep; while with Taurus and Gemini it constituted the White Tiger, the western one of the four great zodiac groups of China; also known as the Lake of Fullness, the Five Reservoirs of Heaven, and the House of the Five Emperors.

Chaucer and other English writers of the 14th, 15th, and 16th centuries Anglicized the title as Ariete, which also appeared in the Low Latin of the 17th century. It was about this time, when it was sought to reconstruct the constellations on Bible lines, that Aries was said to represent Abraham’s Ram caught in the thicket; as also Saint Peter, the bishop of the early church, with Triangulum as his Mitre. Caesius considered it the Lamb sacrificed on Calvary for all sinful humanity.

Aries generally has been figured as reclining with reverted head admiring his own golden fleece, or looking with astonishment at the Bull (Taurus) rising backward; but in the Albumasar of 1489 he is standing erect, and some early artists showed him running towards the west, with what is probably designed for the zodiac-belt around his body. A coin of Domitian bears a representation of him as the Princeps juventutis, and he appeared on those of Antiochus of Syria with head towards the Moon and Mars — an appropriate figuring; for, astrologically, Aries was the lunar house of that planet. In common with all the other signs, he is shown on the zodiacal rupees generally attributed to the great Mogul prince Jehangir Shah, but {Page 78} really struck by Nur Mahal Mumtaza, his favorite wife, between 1616 and 1624, each figure being surrounded by sun-rays with an inscription on the reverse.

Its equinoctial position gave force to Aratos' description of its "rapid transits," but he is strangely inexact in his

faint and starless to behold

As stars by moonlight —

a blunder for which Hipparchos seems to have taken him to task. Aratos however, was a more successful versifier than astronomer. Among astrologers Aries was a dreaded sign indicating passionate temper and bodily hurt, and thus it fitly formed the House of Mars, although some attributed guardianship over it to Pallas Minerva, daughter of Jove whom Aries represented. It was supposed to hold sway over the head and face; in fact the Egyptians called it Arnum, the Lord of the Head; while, geographically, it ruled Denmark, England, France, Germany, Lesser Poland and Switzerland, Syria, Capua, Naples and Verona, with white and red as its colors. In the time of Manilius it was naturally thought of as ruling the Hellespont and Propontis, Egypt and the Nile, Persia and Syria; and, with Leo and Sagittarius, was the Fiery Trigon.

Ampelius said that it was in charge of the Roman Africus, the Southwest Wind, the Italians' Affrico, or Gherbino; but the Archer (Sagittarius) and Scorpion (Scorpio) also shared this duty, Pliny wrote that the appearance of a comet within its borders portended great wars and wide-spread mortality, abasement of the great and elevation of the small, with fearful drought in the regions over which the sign predominated; while 17th-century almanacs attributed many troubles to men, and declared that "many shall die of the rope "when the sun was in the sign; but they ascribed to its influence "an abundance of herbs."

Its symbol, , probably represents the head and horns of the animal.

The eastern portion is inconspicuous, and astronomers have mapped others of its stars somewhat irregularly, carrying a horn into Pisces and a leg into Cetus.

The sun now passes through it from the 16th of April to the 13th of May.

A nova is reported to have appeared here in May, 1012, described by Epidamnus, the monk of Saint Gall, as oculos verberans.

Piscis AustrinusPisces Australis, the Southern Fish

Hevelius, Firmamentum 1690


Clues to the meaning of this celestial featurePisces Australis, or Piscis Aistrinus, is the Southern Fish, and not to be confused with the two fishes of Pisces. The Southern Fish is depicted with its mouth open, drinking the water that is being poured from the jar of Aquarius. According to Staal, the fish is often seen as a sign of salvation in the legends of a great deluge: "The fish drinks the waters of the flood to save the world."

Allen [Star Names] says that this constellation was believed to be the "Oxyrinque adored in Egypt." Oxyrhynchus is the town named after a species of fish of the Nile River which was important in Egyptian mythology as "the fish that swallowed the penis of Osiris." It is generally believed to be the elephantfish of the family Mormyrid [see a story on this fish, there is a picture of the fish here with the horns of Hathor and sun disc of Ra]. Mormyrid or Elephant-nose fish are depicted in ancient Egyptian tombs dating from around 2500 B.C. Oxyrhynchus' papyrus-rich garbage heaps were excavated in the late 1890s and yielded paper fragments of books and documents of seven centuries of Graeco-Egyptian life. The Long-nosed elephant fish has an electrical organ which it uses to find its food in dark and murky waters. This fish is used by water departments in the U.S. and Germany to test the quality of drinking water. Its brain size to body weight ratio is higher than that of humans [1]. The human brain uses 15-20% of the body's oxygen supply. The brain of the African elephant nose fish uses 60% of its body's oxygen supply [2]. (Maybe this explains the prefix oxy- in Oxyrhynchus, -rhynchus is Greek for beak). The particular sturgeon species called the Acipenser oxyrhynchus oxyrinchus is the Atlantic sturgeon.

Piscis Austrinis represents the "Oxyrinque adored in Egypt," important in Egyptian mythology as "the fish that swallowed the penis of Osiris." Isis fashioned a replacement for Osiris' missing penis or phallus, either out of clay, wood or gold, and attached this to her dead husband's body, brought him to life and conceived Horus. The replacement phallus should also relate to this constellation. Diodorus Siculus (circe 1st B.C.) says Isis commanded that their temples in an erect position and that this is the myth about the birth of Priapus, also called by some Ithyphallus (Greek ithus or ithys 'straight or erect' + phallus). Priapism is a persistent, usually painful erection of the penis. The human penis relies entirely on engorgement with blood to reach its erect state. Piscis Austrinus is a drinking fish, depicted with its mouth open drinking (or engorging) the water pouring from the jar of Aquarius. In astrology Aquarius rules the circulation of blood (among other things) [3]. This hauriant fish (a fish posture that show a fish rising, or swimming vertically upwards) might represent the penile erection.

Allen [Star Names, below] says "La Lande asserted that Dupuis had proved this [constellation] to be the sky symbol of the god Dagon of the Syrians". The chief god of the ancient Philistines, represented as half-man and half-fish and had merman characteristics.

"The 'southern-fish' (Piscis Australis) is named either because it takes up (translator's note; compare (h)aurire, past participle of (h)austus, 'drink') a wave of water in its mouth (os, genitive oris) or because it appears (oriri) at the time when the Pleiades begin to decline in the west" [The Etymologies of Isidore of Seville, 7th century AD, p.261.]

Latin aurire comes from the Indo-European root *aus-3 'To draw water'. Derivatives words: haustellum (a proboscis in certain insects adapted for sucking blood or juices of plants), haustorium (a specialized absorbing structure of a parasitic plant, such as the rootlike outgrowth of the dodder, that obtains food from a host plant), exhaust, to drain of resources or properties; deplete, from ex- + haurire, 'to draw out (water), drain, breathe', which is probably cognate with Greek (pur)auein 'to light (a fire)' (for Greek ausiein and with Old Norse ausa, 'to scoop (water)', austr, 'the act of scooping' - Klein.) [Pokorny aus- 90. Watkins]. In heraldry Hauriant is a fish posture that show a fish rising, or swimming vertically upwards [4].

"The austra (i.e. haustrum, 'scoop of a waterwheel'), that is, the waterwheel, is so called from 'drawing' (haurire, past participle of haustus) water" [p.405.]. "Drained (exhaustus), because one is consumed and made empty (compare haurio, past participle haustus, 'drain')” [p.218.] [The Etymologies of Isidore of Seville, 7th century A.D.]

The Latin word for south is austral from which we get the second word in the title 'Pisces Australis'. Pisces Australis was also titled Notus from Greek notos, 'south'. Latin Auster was the name of the Roman god of the south wind, from which comes the adjective austral, from Latin australis, referring to anything 'of, or related to, the southern hemisphere,' and thus we have the name the southern continent, Australia.

Isidore sees a relationship between Latin (h)aurire 'to drink in'; and auris, ear:

“The ear (auris) owes its name to the fact that it draws in (aurire, i.e. haurire, 'drink in') sounds, whence Vergil also says (cf. Aen. 4.359): 'He drank in with these ears (auribus ausit) his words'. Or it is because the Greeks called the voice itself aude, from 'hearing' (auditus); through the change of a letter ears (auris, plural aures) are named as if the term were audes” [p.234.] “Hearing (auditus) is so called, because it draws (aurire, i.e. haurire) in voices; that is to say, it catches sounds when the air is reverberating" [p.232.]. [The Etymologies of Isidore of Seville, 7th century AD]

Ear, Latin auris comes from the Indo-European root *ous- Also *aus- 'Ear'. Derivatives: ear+, aural+, auricle (an auricle of the heart: auricular fibrillation. The outer projecting portion of the ear, also called pinna), auriform (shaped like an ear, from Latin auris, ear), ormer (abalone fish; sea-ear), auscultation (the act of listening), scout+, (from Latin auscultare, to listen to), myosotis (the flower 'forget-me-not'.), parotid gland (either of the pair of salivary glands situated below and in front of each ear). [Pokorny 2. ous- 785. Watkins] Klein adds: oto- (ear: otology, from Greek otion denoting ear or auricle), oyer (oyer and terminer, a hearing or trial), oyez (used three times in succession to introduce the opening of a court of law). "The fifth finger is called auricularis, because we scrape our ear, auris, with it" (Aberdeen Bestiary).

Johann Bode, Uranographia, 1801. The feet above the fish belong to Aquarius who is pouring the water into the fish's mouth. The Air Balloon to the side, Globus Aerostatitus, Montgolfier balloon, is an obsolete constellation [ 5].

The cochlea is the auditory portion of the inner ear. The word 'cochlea' is related to 'conch', it was called a cochlea because it resembles the spiral of a conch. The conch is a large spiral shell, often used as a horn or trumpet. Manilius (see below), in giving the astrological influences for this constellation, says that those influenced by the Southern Fish are pearl divers who gather pellucid stones (pearls). Manilius used the Latin word conchae for pearls. The depiction of Piscis Austrinus by Johann Bode shows the fish with a spiral, or conch-like tail.

"Auster is named from gathering (aurire, i.e. haurire) waters, with which it makes the air thick and feeds the rain-clouds. It is called notos in Greek, because it sometimes corrupts the air (compare notheuein 'corrupt, adulterate'), for when Auster blows, it brings to other regions pestilence, which arises from corrupted air. But just as Auster brings pestilence, so Aquilo [north wind] drives it away. Euroauster [south-east wind] is named because on one side it links with Eurus [east] and on the other with Auster.” [The Etymologies of Isidore of Seville, 7th century AD, p.275.]

Piscis Austrinus was titled Notus from Greek notos, 'south', Notos or Notius is the god of the South Wind, a warm and very moist wind.

The word notheuein that Isidore refers to is related to notho-, from Greek notho- from nothos, 'bastard, spurious'; of unknown origin. Nothos (singular) and nothoi (plural) is the ancient Greek term for illegitimate child, or bastard. Ancient Greek nothos also had the meaning of fake, not genuine, false [5].

Pisces Austrinus is also south of Capricorn, i.e. Aigokeros:

"... and Notos, that hot wind, round about the southern foot of Aigokeros [Capricorn] flogged the aerial vaults, leading against Typhon a glowing blaze with steamy heat" [6].

Nothosaurus means 'false lizard'.

The alpha star of this constellation is called Fomalhaut [see a picture of the star here.] From the New Scientist Magazine, June 22nd 2005: "A recent image captured with the Hubble Space Telescope [of the star Fomalhaut] - which makes the system look uncannily like 'the Great Eye of Sauron' from the blockbusting Lord of the Rings trilogy..." [7].

Eratosthenes called this constellation the Great Fish, and said that it was the parent of the two smaller fishes of Pisces. In evolutionary terms the parents of the standard streamlined fishes (Pisces) were the Ostracoderms ('shell-skinned').


"Then rises the Southern Fish in the quarter of the wind after which it is named" [Manilius, Astronomica, 1st century AD, book 1, p.39].

"When the Southern Fish rises into the heavens, leaving its native waters for a foreign element, whoever at this hour takes hold of life will spend his years about sea-shore and river-bank he will capture fish as they swim poised in the hidden depths; he will cast his greedy eyes into the midst of the waters, craving to gather pellucid stones (pearls) and, immersed himself, will bring them forth together with the homes of protective shell wherein they lurk. No peril is left for man to brave, profit is sought by means of shipwreck, and the diver who has plunged into the depths becomes, like the booty, the object of recovery. And not always small is the gain to be derived from this dangerous labor (implying that a diver's life was usually an unenviable one) pearls are worth fortunes, and because of these splendid stones there is scarcely a rich man left. Dwellers on land are burdened with the treasures of the sea. A man born to such a lot plies his skill along the shore; or he purchases at a fixed wage another's labor and sells for a profit what it has brought him, a pedlar in the many different forms of sea products". [Manilius, Astronomica, 1st century AD, book 5, p.333.]


Fixed stars in Piscis Austrinus


iota 15AQU52 17AQU15 325 29 36 -33 15 18 -18 20 13 4.35 A0

mu 20AQU42 22AQU05 331 20 04 -33 14 01 -20 04 10 4.62 A2

tau 21AQU16 22AQU39 331 48 20 -32 47 41 -19 48 33 5.06 F5

beta 25AQU48 27AQU11 337 10 02 -32 36 11 -21 21 44 4.36 A0

epsilon 29AQU52 01PIS15 339 23 24 -27 18 18 -17 14 30 4.22 B8

gamma 29AQU57 01PIS20 342 26 15 -33 08 28 -23 38 35 4.52 A0

delta 00PIS49 02PIS12 343 17 45 -32 48 26 -23 38 17 4.33 G3

Fomalhaut alpha 02PIS27 03PIS52 343 43 23 -29 53 16 -21 07 45 1.16 A2



Next swims the Southern Fish which bears a Name

From the South wind, and spreads a feeble Flame.

To him the Flouds in spacious windings turn.


(Piscis Austrinus is a single fish and should not to be confused with the zodiacal Pisces, consisting of two fishes tied together)

Piscis Australe (or Piscis Austrinus) "the Southern Fish", is the Italian Pesce Australe; the French Poisson Australe; and the German Sudliche Fisch. It lies immediately south of Capricorn and Aquarius, in that part of the sky early known as the Water, Aratos describing the figure as "on his back the Fish," and

The Fish reversed still shows his belly's stars;

but modern representations give it in a normal attitude. In either case, however, it is very unnaturally drinking the whole outflow from the Urn. This idea of the Fish drinking the Stream is an ancient one, and may have given rise to the title Piscis aquosus (piscis aquosi), found with Ovid and in the 4th Georgic, which has commonly been referred to this constellation; Vergil mentioning it in his directions as to the time for gathering the honey harvest; but the proper application of this adjectival title is uncertain, for Professors Ridgeway and Wilkins, in their admirable article on Astronomia in Doctor Smith's Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities, write:

The Piscis in question has been variously supposed to be one of the Fishes in the Zodiac — the Southern Fish — Hydra — the Dolphin — or even the Scorpion.

Smyth said that

In the early Venetian editions of Hyginus, there is a smaller fish close under it, remora fashion, interfering with the Solitarius by which that astronomer, from its insulated position, designated Piscis Notius.

Accordingly the edition of 1488, with this representation, had it Pisces, and the German manuscript of the 15th century showed it with a still larger companion.

The figure is strangely omitted from the Farnese globe, the stream from the Urn of Aquarius ending at the tail of Cetus.

In early legend our australis was the parent of the zodiacal two, and has always been known under this specific title, varied by the other adjectives of equivalent signification, austrinus, meridionalis, and notius [Notus from Greek notos, "south" is the god of the South Wind, a warm and very moist wind. ].

La Lande asserted that Dupuis had proved this to be the sky symbol of {Page 345} the god Dagon of the Syrians, the Phagre and Oxyrinque adored in Egypt; and it even has been associated with the still greater Oannes.

It also was Ikhthus (ichthys), and Ikhthus notios; and Piscis magnus; Ikhthus monazon and Piscis solitarius; Piscis Capricorni, from its position; and it is specially mentioned by Avienus as the Greater Fish. Longfellow, in the notes to his translation of the Divine Comedy, called it the Golden Fish, probably as being so much more conspicuous than those in the north.

When the Arabians adopted the Greek constellations and names this became Al Hut al Janubiyy, the Large Southern Fish, distorted in late mediaeval days into Haut elgenubi, and given by Chilmead as Ahant Algenubi; but their figure was extended further to the south than ours, and so included stars of the modern Grus. Smyth wrote of it:

The Mosaicists held the asterism to represent the Barrel of Meal belonging to Sarephtha's widow; but Schickard pronounces it to be the Fish taken by St. Peter with a piece of money in its mouth.

Bayer said that it partook of the astrological character of the planet Saturn. Gould assigns to it 75 naked-eye components.

Fomalhaut

alpha, 1.3, reddish. Fomalhaut, from the Arabic Fum al Hut, the Fish's Mouth, has long been the common name for this star, Smyth saying that Fom Alhout Al-genubi appears, with its translation Os Piscis Meridiani, in a still existing manuscript almanac of 1340.

Aratos distinctly mentioned it as

One large and bright by both the Power's feet,

which is its location in the maps of today, although sometimes it has marked the eye of the Fish, and formerly was still differently placed, as is noted at beta.

In addition to putting it in its own constellation, Ptolemy inserted it in his Almagest, and Flamsteed followed him in making it his 24 of Piscis Australis and 79 of Aquarius, calling it Aquae Ultima Fomalhaut.

No other star seems to have had so varied an orthography. The Alfonsine Tables of 1521 locate it in Aquarius as Fomahant and of the 1st magnitude, but they describe it in Piscis Meridionalis as in ore, omitting its title and calling it a 4th-magnitude. The other editions of these Tables, and Kazwini, do not mention it at all in this constellation, but {Page 346} in Aquarius; nor does Bullialdus in his edition of the Rudolphine Tables, although in his reproduction of the Persian Tables of Chrysococca he calls it Os Piscis notii and Fumahaud. The Astronomica Danica of Longomontanus includes it in Aquarius as ultima in effusione Fomahant, giving no Piscis at all; Tycho's Rudolphine Tables, in Kepler's edition of 1627, have the same, and Hevelius also puts it there as Fomahandt. Bayer cites it, in Piscis Notius (Piscis Austrinus), as Fumahant, Fumahaut recfius Fumalhaut; Chilmead, Phom Ahut; Caesius has Fomahand and Fontabant; Riccioli's names for it are Fomauth, Phomaut, Phomault, Phomant, Phomaant, Phomhaut, Phomelhaut; La Caille's, Phomalhaut; La Lande's are Fumalhant, Fomahaut, and Phomahant; and Schickard's, Fomalcuti. Costard gives it as Fomahout; and Sir William Herschel had it Fomalhout.

More correctly than all these, Hyde wrote it Pham Al Hut. Burritt's Atlas has the present form Fomalhaut, but his Planisphere, Fomalhani. It generally, but wrongly, is pronounced Fomalo, as though from the French.

The Harleian Manuscript of Cicero's Aratos has the words Stella Campus at the Fish's mouth, which is either an erroneous title, or another use of the word for any very bright star, as is noted under alpha Argus, — Canopus.

Among early Arabs Fomalhaut was Al Difdi’ al Awwal, the First Frog; and in its location on the Borgian globe is the word Thalim, the Ostrich, evidently another individual title.

Flammarion says that it was Hastorang in Persia 3000 B.C., when near the winter solstice, and a Royal Star, one of the four Guardians of Heaven, sentinels watching over other stars; while about 500 B.C. it was the object of sunrise worship in the temple of Demeter at Eleusis; and still later on, with astrologers, portended eminence, fortune, and power.

The Chinese knew it as Pi Lo Sze Mun.

With Achernar and Canopus it made up Dante's Tre Facelle; and sixty years ago, Boguslawski thought that it might be the Central Sun of the Universe.

It lies in about 30° 15' of south declination, and so is the most southerly of all the prominent stars visible in the latitude of New York City, but it is in the zenith of Chile, the Cape of Good Hope, and South Australia. To the uninstructed observer it seems a full 1st-magnitude, perhaps from the absence of near-by stars. It culminates on the 25th of October. As one of the so-called lunar stars it is of importance in navigation, and appears in the Ephemerides of all modern sea-going nations. {Page 347} See calls its color white, and has discovered a 14.8 bluish companion 30" away, at a position angle of 36°. 2.

Sculptorthe Sculptor

Johann Bode's Uranographia, 1801 (Skywatching)


Clues to the meaning of this celestial featureSculptor is one of the modern constellations in the Southern Hemisphere named in 1752 by Abbe Nicholas Louis de Lacaille. It was originally named L' Atelier du Sculpteur (the Sculptor's Workshop), the name was shortened to Sculptor. The constellation is bordered by Cetus, Fornax, Phoenix, Grus, Piscis Australis and Aquarius. "Although its stars are dim, it contains the South Galactic Pole. Thus when viewing Sculptor we are looking at right angles to the Milky Way and deep into space, unobscured by stars or gas. Many galaxies both bright and faint are visible. Many are members of the Sculptor group. Also in the group is NGC 247 in Cetus." [1]

The word sculptor comes from Latin sculpere, related to scalpere, to cut, from the Indo-European root *skel-+ 'To cut'. Derivatives: shell, scagliola (plasterwork in imitation of ornamental marble), shale, scale+, scall, scalp, scale, (weighing scales), skoal (drinking vessel made from a shell), shield (a generic word covering all defensive weapons), shelter, skill, sheldrake, school* (of fish), shoal*, coulter, cultrate, cutlass, scalene (having three unequal sides, used of triangles, from Greek skallein, to stir up, hoe > skalenos, uneven), shelf, half, halve, scalpel, sculpture, (these words from Latin scalpere, to cut, scrape, to carve). [Pokorny 1. (s)kel- 923. Watkins] Also scallops, the shell, which is a bivalve, or two half shells.

Shells are composed of calcium carbonate, and chalk is derived chiefly from fossil seashells. Klein (under calcareous) supplies more cognates of *skel-+: "Compare also calcine, calculate, calculus, calx (chalk, limestone, heelbone), calcium, cauk, causeway, causey, chalk". These words are also related to the Latin calx root: calcaneum (limestone; chalky), calcaneus (heelbone), calcar (a spur found on the base of a petal or on the wing or leg of a bird), calk, caulk, cockatrice (calcatrix), inculcate, calculate (Latin calculus, 'small stone used in reckoning', diminutive of calx), cauchemar (incubus, meaning 'to trample'), recalcitrant (originally 'to kick back with the heel').

Klein also sees the word silicate as cognate with *skel-+: The chemical compound silicon dioxide, also known as silica or silox (from the Latin 'silex' 'flint, pebblestone'), and the silicon in the silicon chip.

The word scale as in the 'scales of balance' of the constellation Libra are related to the above group of words and may have been originally two shells. According to Klein (Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary); "German Schale meant 'drinking cup, bowl; shell, scale of a balance', from Teutonic *skelo-, which originally denoted a drinking cup made from a skull, so called in allusion to the skull as separated from the other bones of the head".

Coma Berenices, the hair of the scalp of the head, is located directly opposite in the sky and contains the North Galactic Pole, the northern perpendicular to the Milky Way. The South Galactic Pole is in Sculptor which might be the scalp of the head.

In Ovid's Metamorphoses Pygmalion is the name of a sculptor who created an ivory statue, or sculpture, named Galatea ('milk-white'), and fell in love with it. He offered the statue presents and prayed to Venus, Venus brought the statue to life. Pygmalion and Galatea marry and have a son, Paphos. Galatea's name from Greek Galateia translates to 'milk-white'. Sculptor contains the south galactic pole of the Milky Way. Milk is a source of calcium, and this constellation portrays a bust (see Bode's picture above) which along with the meaning of a person's head, shoulders, and upper chest, can also mean a woman's bosom. Pygmalion might relate to this constellation because he is the most famous sculptor in Greek myth. His name is believed to be related to the word pygmy; in myth it is said that the cranes were always at war with the Pygmies. Sculptor is adjacent to Grus, the Crane. The Pygmalion story was adapted by Jonathan Swift as a template for Lilliputians [2]. This constellation contains the Sculptor Dwarf, a dwarf galaxy which is a member of the Local Group [3].

In Greek mythology Aphrodite (Venus) rose from the foam of the sea and was carried by a Scallop shell first to the island of Cythera and then all the way to Cyprus. The names of other shells are sometimes given, but Aphrodite is far more often portrayed in sculpture and paintings on a scallop shell. Scallops are the only seashells that travel the oceans. Scallop shells were the badge of pilgrims and served both as a symbol of the pilgrimage and were used as drinking cups, spoons, and dishes. Pilgrims of Japan also carry scallop shells. Scallops are unusual as bivalves (half shells) in their ability to swim, they travels by jet propulsion which they do by spasmodic clapping movements; opening and closing of the valves; the water, ejected in jetlike spurts, propels the animal forward. "The scallops look for all the world like sets of false teeth jouncing around the intruding divers" [4]. A single scallop can possess over a hundred eyes around the shell. They remind me of flying sauces or UFO's, the eyes like the lights of these vehicles. The scallop shell was an emblem of St. James of Compostella, the so-called 'St James's shell'. "Legend has it that this is the St. James that was miraculously conveyed to Spain in a ship of marble from Jerusalem, where he was bishop. A knight saw the ship sailing into port, his horse took fright, and plunged with its rider into the sea. The knight saved himself by 'boarding the marble vessel,' but his clothes were found to be entirely covered with scallop shells" [5].


Fixed stars in Sculptor


gamma 05PIS37 07PIS00 349 01 55 -32 48 17 -25 41 05 4.51 G8

beta 05PIS51 07PIS14 352 34 26 -38 05 43 -31 42 22 4.46 B9

delta 14PIS11 15PIS34 356 34 51 -28 24 25 -24 33 21 4.64 A0

alpha 29PIS06 00ARI29 014 02 58 -29 37 38 -32 30 49 4.39 B5


Sculptor as it is now generally known, was formed by La Caille (1752) from stars between Cetus and Phoenix. He called it l’Atelier du Sculpteur, the Sculptor's Studio or Workshop, which Burritt and others have changed to Officina Sculptoria, or occasionally Apparatus Sculptoris. The Italians say Scultore, and the Germans Bildhauerwerkstatte, — Bode's Bildhauer Werkstadt.

It is an inconspicuous figure, but contains the intensely scarlet variable R, one of the most brilliantly colored stars in the heavens, with a period of variability from 5.8 to about 7.7 in 207 days.

The constellation culminates with the bright star of the Phoenix on the 17th of November, and is visible from the latitude of New York City.


The brightest star is a Sculptor, a SX Arietis-type variable star with the magnitude of only 4.31m. This is explained by the fact that Sculptor contains the south galactic pole where stellar density is very low. The constellation contains the Sculptor Dwarf, a dwarf galaxy which is a member of the Local Group, as well as the Sculptor Group, the group of galaxies closest to the Local Group

Equuleusthe Foal, or the Colt



Clues to the meaning of this celestial feature"He, O Castor, was a courser worthy thee ...Coal-black his color, but like jet it shone:His legs and flowing tail were white alone."

Dryden: Ovid's Metamorphose, xii.

Equuleus is the second smallest constellation in the Northern Hemisphere, tucked between the head of Pegasus and the dolphin, Delphinus. There is no certain legend applied to Equuleus and it is supposedly created by the second-century Greek astronomer Ptolemy because it was added to his Algamest, though according to Geminos (130 - 60 B.C.) it was created by Hipparchos (Hipparchus), the Greek astronomer who lived around 190-120 B.C. Hipparchus mapped the position of 850 stars in the earliest known star chart. His observations of the heavens form the basis of Ptolemy's geocentric cosmology [AHD] [Allen argues on p.218 of Star Names that because Ptolemy did not mention the star near the south pole, Achernar, that his catalogue was not based upon original observations, but drawn from the now lost catalogue of Hipparchos]. Hipparchos is also credited with discovering the precession of the equinoxes, or as Allen believes (p.209), may have been merely the publisher of that discovery made by the Egyptians, or perhaps adopted by them from Chaldaea.

Equuleus is the head of a horse with a flowing mane which the Arabs called Al Faras al Awwal, 'the First Horse', in reference to its rising before Pegasus. Ptolemy called it Ippou Protome; Ippou, or hippo, is Greek for horse. Greek protome means head or bust (in sculpture), with later astronomers it was Equus primus and prior. The image is traditionally a figure of a horse or foal, said to represent either Celeris, the brother of Pegasus, given by Mercury to Castor (Ovid, Met., xii. 408); or Cyllarus, given to Pollux by Juno, (Virgil, Geor., iii. 90). Others say he was Pegasus' offspring and a flying colt, or the creature struck by Neptune's trident from the earth when contesting with Minerva for superiority of Athens.

Hevelius, Firmamentum, 1690, depicts the head of Aquarius (Ganymedes) encroaching onto the heads of the two horses; Pegasus and Equuleus. A Homer poem tells how Ganymedes was carried off by Zeus and to compensate the father of Ganymedes, King Laomedon of Troy, Zeus gave him two horses [1].

This horse is identified with Celeris, the word celeris is related to Greek keleuein, 'to urge on, exhort, order', kellein, 'to drive on', Greek keles, 'race horse', 'racing boat', from the Indo-European root *kel-3 'To drive, set

in swift motion'. Derivatives: hold (keep in one's grasp), behold (to look upon), upholsterer, halt1(to stop), avast (a command to stop or desist), celerity, acceleration, accelerate, accelerant (a substance that is used as a catalyst, as in spreading an intentionally set fire). Possibly further suffixed form *keles-ri-; celebrate, celebrant, celebrity, (these words from Latin celeber, which originally meant 'attend in great numbers, 'to attend a festival' from celeber, celebris, celebre, 'thronged, frequented, well-known'). [Pokorny 5. kel- 548. Watkins]

Klein supplies more cognates to *kel-3 ': acolyte (one who assists the celebrant in the performance of liturgical rites, from Greek akholouthos, a- + keleuthos is cognate with Lithuanian kelias, 'way', keliauju, 'I journey', from Indo-European base *qeleu-, enlargement of *qel-, *kel-, 'to drive', whence Latin celer, 'swift'), clonus (from the Greek for 'violent, confused motion', is a series of involuntary muscular contractions due to sudden stretching of the muscle), hodden (a coarse kind of cloth made of undyed wool, in Scotland), holt (lair of an animal), proceleusmatic (a metrical foot of four short syllables, from Greek prokeleusmatikos, 'to give orders before', from keleuein, to rouse to action. "The ancient proceleusmatic song by which the rowers of galleys were animated may be supposed to have been of this kind." [Samuel Johnson 3]).

Greek keles meant race-horse to be ridden upon but not horse to work with [4]. Celeris is characterized as a race-horse, and I am assuming that the word race2, 'running', belongs here too, the reason described more

fully below. The word race comes from Indo-European root *ers-1 'To be in motion'. Derivatives: race2 (a competition of speed, from Old Norse ras, rushing), err, erratic, erratum, erroneous, error, aberration, (these words from Latin errare, to wander), rishi (from Sanskrit rsih, poet, seer, as in maharishi). [Pokorny 2. ere-s- 336. Watkins]

The word race2, 'running', Klein says; "is probably cognate with Greek eroe (for erosa), 'quick, motion, rush, force', erosein, 'to rush, rush forth', Latin rorarii, 'lightarmed troops', literally 'runners'" [Klein, Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary].

"Rorarii ‘skirmishers’ were those who started the battle, named from the ros ‘dew-drops,' because it rorat ‘sprinkles’ before it really rains". [Varro: On The Latin Language, p.321]

Ros is the Latin for dew. The word horse is related to Dutch ros, Teutonic hros, ros, Old Provencal rosa. [A connection between these two words, Latin ros, dew and Germanic ros, horse, has been suggested.] This constellation, Equuleus, had a title 'Rosa mystica'. Rose from Latin rosa may be an Etruscan form of Greek Rhodia, “Rhodian, originating from Rhodes.” Rhodes rose from the sea, Helios made the island rise up for the nymph Rhodes. Hipparchus (hipp + archus, 'horse archetype') of Rhodes is the likely creator of this constellation, Equuleus, which Ptolemy called Ippou Protome. Hipparchus is believed to have died on the island of Rhodes where he spent most of his later life. Ptolemy attributes observations made on Rhodes in the period from 147 BC to 127 BC to Hipparchus [5]. Hipparchus is likely to have created this constellation while on the island of Rhodes. Hipparchus was a Greek astronomer who mapped the position of 850 stars in the earliest known star chart. His observations of the heavens form the basis of Ptolemy's geocentric cosmology [AHD].

Equuleus, identified with Celeris, from Greek keles, 'race horse', which the Latins Equus primus, and later the Arabs called Al Faras al Awwal, both titles meaning 'the First Horse', in reference to its rising before Pegasus, also implies a winner of a race. In the constellation depiction at the top of this page the two horses appear to be racing with Equuleus a head in front. Pegasus is described "in swift career strives to overtake

and speeds along" (Manilius, book 1, p.31). The horse-racing industry with their concern for selective breeding and bloodlines of racehorses is a similar concept to race1, the genealogical lineage in humans. [The word

race1, meaning a tribe of people, is not a recognised cognate of race2, a competition of speed]

Equuleus is depicted as just a head of a horse and this might have some significance. "It was the Equi Caput (head of horse) of some Latin writers, and the Horse’s Head of our day. Ptolemy catalogued it as Greek Ippou Protome" [Star Names], Greek protome means head or bust (in sculpture). Klein says of the word race (tribe); "probably derives from Arabian ra's, 'head, beginning, origin', which is related to Hebrew rosh, of same meaning". Rosh is related to Hebrew Bereshith from prefix be-, 'in', and reshith (for *re'eshith), 'beginning', a derivative of rosh, 'head'. The book Bereshith contains 12 portions which detail the creation of the universe and the beginning of the human race.

The etymology of the word 'race' (lineage) is still unclear, although most likely it derives from the old Latin word 'radix,' meaning roots, or the German 'reiza, meaning family lineage. A discussion on Sci. Lang. gives a possible alternative root for the word race (tribe), one contributor says; "two of the three (English) references on my shelf trace it 'possibly' back to Latin 'ratio', an account or a species, and a third back to Latin 'generatio', generation".

Hipparchus (190-125 B.C.), the likely creator of Equuleus, was a mathematician (arithmetician), he determined the distance to the moon by comparing the radius of curvature of the earth's shadow with the radius of the moon during a lunar eclipse. From the observed ratio the size of the moon could be inferred, since the size of the earth was already known from the work of Eratosthenes [6]. He made ordered lists of the fixed stars. He estimated the rates of precession of the equinoxes.

"Some of the mythologists said that the constellation represented ... the creature struck by Neptune's (Poseidon) trident from the earth when contesting with Minerva (Athena) for superiority" (over Athens. See that myth below). [Allen, Star Names].

Or it could be the foal (Equuleus is also said to be a foal) Rhea tricked Cronus into swallowing as a substitute for their son Poseidon (an aspect of Poseidon)? Poseidon is said to have invented horse racing. Horses were sacrificed in his honor [7]. "Some storytellers insisted he invented the horse by smashing his trident down upon a rock. In any case, it is said that he invented horse racing" [8] Pegasus was a son of Poseidon because he mated with the Gorgon Medusa in that form.

"Poseidon was a son of Cronus and Rhea. In most accounts, he is swallowed by Cronus at birth. However in some versions of the story, he, like his brother Zeus, did not share the fate of his other brother and sisters who were swallowed by Cronus. He was saved by his mother Rhea who tricked Cronus into eating a foal instead, saying that she had given birth to a horse. Poseidon was raised by the Telchines on Rhodes, just as Zeus was raised by the Korybantes on Crete" [9].

The myths associated with Equuleus

"Some of the mythologists said that the constellation represented the creature struck by Neptune's (Poseidon) trident from the earth when contesting with Minerva (Athena) for superiority" [Allen, Star Names]:

"Athena (Minerva) became the patron goddess of the city of Athens, in a competition with Poseidon (Neptune). They agreed that each would give the Athenians one gift and the Athenians would choose whichever gift they preferred. "Neptune struck the ground with his trident and there sprang forth a horse. The gods were filled with wonder at the sight of the noble animal, and when Neptune explained how useful it would be to man, they all thought that the victory would be his. Minerva then produced an olive tree; at this all the gods laughed with scorn, but when the goddess, heedless of their laughter, had explained how all its parts--the wood, the fruit, and the leaves--could be used by man, how it was the sign of peace while the horse was the symbol of war, they decided that Minerva had won, and since her name among the Greeks was Athene, she gave to the city the name of Athens". http://www.sacred-texts.com/time/smd/smd13.htm

There might be a connection between the Greek words; polis, city, and polos, foal:

"Graves (1959: I-171) suggests that Athene Polias (‘of the city’) may have originally been Athene Polias (goddess of the local horse cult), from the Greek polos meaning ‘foal’". [http://blacktaj.homestead.com/files/documents/The_Sumerians_and_Gemini.pdf].

This horse is also said to be Cyllarus (Greek Kullaros), given by Mercury to Castor of whom Ovid describes:

"[In the battle of the Kentauroi and Lapithes:] Nor did his beauty ransom [centaur] Cyllarus, fighting that day, if hybrids such as he be granted beauty. His beard was just beginning, a golden beard, and golden tresses fell down on his shoulders reaching to his flanks. High-mettled grace shone in his face; his neck, chest, shoulders, hands and every manly part seemed like a sculptor’s much-praised masterpiece. Unblemished too his equine shape, nor less fine than his man’s. With horse’s head and neck he’s make fit mount for Castor, so high stood his chest-muscles, so rideable his back. Jet black he was, the whole of him, save that his tail was white and legs were milk-white too. Many a centauress would be his mate, but one had gained his heart, [she-centaur] Hylonome. In the high woods there was none comelier of all the centaur-girls, and she alone by love and love’s sweet words and winning ways held Cyllarus, yes, and the care she took to look her best (so far as that may be with limbs like that). She combed her glossy hair, and twined her curls in turn with rosemary or violets or roses, and sometimes she wore a pure white lily. Twice a day she bathed her face in the clear brook that fell from Pagasae’s high forest, twice she plunged her body in its flow, nor would she wear on her left side and shoulder any skin but what became her from best-chosen beasts. Their love was equal; on the hills they roamed together, and together they would go back to their cave; and this time too they went into the Lapithae’s palace side by side and side by side were fighting in the fray. A javelin (no knowing from whose hand) came from the left and wounded Cyllarus, landing below the place where the chest joins neck – slight wound, but when the point was pulled away, cold grew his damaged heart and cold his limbs. Hylonome embraced him as he died, caressed the wound and, putting lips to lips, she tried to stay his spirit as it fled. And when she saw him lifeless, she moaned words that in that uproar failed to reach my ears; and fell upon the spear that pierced her love, and, dying, held her husband in her arms." - Ovid, Metamorphoses 12.210 http://www.theoi.com/Georgikos/KentaurisHylonome.html

In myth the Gemini Twins ride two horses "the immortal steeds Cyllarus and Harpagus" [2]. It seems that Equuleus is Cyllarus, and Harpagus must be Pegasus.

The two centaur horses, Cyllarus and his wife Hylonome, might relate to these two adjacent constellations Equuleus and Pegasus. Cyllarus is identified with Equuleus. Hylonome 'browser of the woods', is from the district Pagasae, similar to 'pegasus', and 'pagan' etc. (from the root *pag- as explained on the Pegasus page).


Fixed stars in Equuleus


Kitalpha alpha 21AQU43 23AQU07 318 19 51 +05 02 24 +20 07 36 4.14 F6

delta 23AQU04 24AQU27 318 00 40 +09 48 12 +24 44 24 4.61 F3


... the flaming shoulders of the Foal of Heaven.

— Omar Khayyim's Rubaiyat.

Equuleus, the Foal that modern Latin critics would turn into Eculeus, lies half-way between the head of Pegasus and the Dolphin (Delphinus), marked by the trapezium of 4th- to 5th-magnitude stars, — alpha, beta, gamma, and zeta, — although Argelander catalogues nine others, and Heis twelve down to 6.7 magnitude. Thus "the flaming {Page 213} shoulders" of our motto are lacking here, and the reference may be to Pegasus, to which the characterization certainly is more appropriate.

The Germans call it Fullen, the Filly, and Kleine Pferd, which with us is the Little Horse, the French Petit Cheval, and the Italian Cavallino.

Hood wrote of it about 1590:

This constellation was named of almost no writer, saving Ptolomee and Alfonsus who followith Ptolemy, and therefore no certain tale or historic is delivered thereof, by what means it came into heaven; but we know that Geminos mentioned it as having been formed by Hipparchos, its stars till then lying in the early Dolphin. Still Hipparchos did not allude to it in his Commentary, nor did Hyginus, Manilius, or Vitruvius, a century after him.

Ptolemy catalogued it as Ippou Protome, this last word equivalent to our Bust for the upper part of an animal figure; but with later astronomers it was Equus primus and prior, as preceding Pegasus in rising; while from its inferior size come our own title and Equulus, Equiculus, and Equus Minor. Gore's translation of I'Astronomic Populaire, following Proctor, has Equus, the larger Horse being Pegasus.

Ptolemy's idea of the incompleteness of the figure was repeated in the Equi Sectio, Equi Praesectio, Sectio equina, Sectio Equi minoris, Semi-perfectus, and Praesegmen of various authors and Latin versions of the Syntaxis and of the Alfonsine Tables; the Almagest of 1551 gave Praecisio Equi.

Chrysococca's Tables had Kephale Ippou, the Equi Caput of some Latin writers, and the Horse’s Head of our day.

The Arabians followed Ptolemy in calling it Al Kitah al Faras, Part of a Horse, Chilmead's Kataat Alfaras; Al Faras al Thani, the Second Horse, alluding either to its inferior size, or to the time of its adoption as a constellation; and Al Faras al Awwal, the First Horse, in reference to its rising before Pegasus. From the first of these comes the modem Kitalpha (Kitalpha is the alpha star), sometimes applied to the constellation, and generally to the brightest star. Riccioli's Elmac Alcheras certainly is a barbarism, — not unusual, however, with him; but La Lande's rarely used Hinnulus, a Young Mule, has more to commend it.

With the Hindus it was another of their Acvini, the Horsemen, although their figuring resembled ours.

Some of the mythologists said that the constellation represented Celeris, the brother of Pegasus, given by Mercury to Castor; or Cyllarus, given to Pollux by Juno; or the creature struck by Neptune's trident from the earth when contesting with Minerva for superiority; but it also was connected {Page 214} with the story of Philyra and Saturn. Caesius, in modern times, associated it with the King’s Horse that Haman hoped for, as is told in the Book of Esther; and Julius Schiller, with the Rosa mystica.

The constellation comes to the meridian on the 24th of September.

Microscopiumthe Microscope



Clues to the meaning of this celestial featureNamed after the microscope invented in 1590. The first inventors of the microscope were probably two brothers, Hans and Zacharias Janssen of Holland.

The micro- of microscope is from Greek mikros: Related to: micro-, micr-. Micro- is cognate with Latin mica, 'crumb or meal', mica (the aluminum silicate mineral), Micronesia, and microbe. MIC is the abbreviation for this constellation.

The purpose of a microscope is to magnify, to make greater in size, to enlarge, from the Indo-European root *meg- 'Great'. Derivatives: mickle (great), much, magnate, magnitude, magnum, magnanimous (magnus, + animus, soul, mind), magnific, magnificent, magnifico, magnify, magniloquent, (these words from Latin magnus), major, major domo, majority, majuscule, mayor, (these words from Latin maior, greater), maestoso, majesty (from Latin maiestas, greatness, authority), maestro, magisterial, magistral, magistrate, master, mister, mistral, mistress, (these words from Latin magister, master, high official < 'he who is greater'), maxim, maximum (from Latin maximus, greatest), may*, May (from Latin Maia, the goddess of growth), mega, megalo (large; of exaggerated size or greatness), omega (the letter o + mega, the 24th letter of the Greek alphabet, the end, from Greek megas, stem megal), Almagest (a comprehensive treatise on astronomy, geography, and mathematics compiled by Ptolemy about A.D. 150), Hermes Trismegistus ('thrice greatest', tris + megistos), maharajah, maharani, maharishi, mahatma, Mahayana, mahout (the keeper and driver of an elephant, from Sanskrit maha, mahat, great), magnum, Magna Carta, magna cum laude, megaphone, megalomanic, Cro-Magnon (these words from Latin magnus). [Pokorny meg(h)- 708. Watkins]

"Words formed with meg-, mega- often have contrasting terms formed with micr-, micro- and sometimes also synonyms formed with macr-, macro-" [Chamber’s Dictionary of Etymology].

The words micro- and macro- are used in pairs as in microcosm and macrocosm. Hermes Trismegistus's axiom 'As above, so below', meaning that all that is in the Cosmos is mirrored in man the small universe, reflects the macro/micro correspondence [1]. Macro- comes from the Indo-European root *mák- 'Long, thin'. Derivatives: meager (from Latin macer, thin), macro-, macron (mark indicating long sound), amphimacer (three syllables with second unstressed, from Greek makros, long, large), emaciate (to make or become extremely thin, from Latin maciare), mecopteran (insect with beaky structure on head), paramecium (a single-celled microscopic aquatic organism", from Greek mekos, length. [Pokorny mak- 699. Watkins] Macedonia.

The Greeks seem to have used the word mikros in the same way as we use the words 'small' and 'little':

"Greek mikros ‘small,' a variant of smikros, which may be distantly related to English "small" [Ayto].

The words micro- and million are equivalent in connotation. The prefixes mega- and micro- are sometimes used to denote a multiple by one million, and the millionth part, respectively, as for example microgram denotes the millionth part of a gram. The word million which is a thousand-thousand, meant 'a big thousand', comes from the Indo-European root *gheslo- 'Seen by some as a base for words meaning thousand.' Derivatives: chiliad (thousand), kilo- (from Greek khilioi, thousand), mile, millenary (a millenarian is a thousand years), milli- (one thousandth), milliary (the distance of an ancient Roman mile, which equaled 1,000

paces), million, milfoil, millefleur, millennium, millepore (a type of choral), millipede, per mil, (these words from Latin mille, thousand). [Pokorny ghéslo- 446. Watkins]

"One thousand' (mille) comes from 'great number' (multitudo), and whence also 'the military' (militia), as if the word were multitia; and whence also 'thousands' (milia), which the Greeks call myriada (i.e. 'myriads'), with letters changed" [p.90.] “A soldier (miles) is so called because formerly there were a thousand (mille) in one troop, or because one in a thousand was chosen” [p.201.] [The Etymologies of Isidore of Seville, 7th century AD]

The word military comes from the stem of Latin miles ‘soldier’, from Latin militaris, of uncertain origin.

The ant is of the family Formicidae: Latin mica, 'crumb or meal', is related to micro:

“The ant (formica) is so named because it 'carries bits of grain' (fert micas farris)". [The Etymologies of Isidore of Seville, 7th century AD, p.254.]

The -mica of Latin formica is related to Greek myrmex, ant, from the Indo-European root *morwi-, 'ant'. Ovid tells how after a plague had wiped out the population of Aegina, its king, Aeacus, prayed to Zeus to restore his people as he watched a line of ants crawling up a tree, carrying grains in their mouths. He asked Zeus for as many subjects as the number of ants he saw. That night he dreamed that the ants changed into human beings. Next morning, he found that the vision in his dream had come true. He named the new people Myrmidons from the Greek name of the ant from which they came, myrmex. According to Greek legend, the Myrmidons were a troop of fierce warriors (military) who fought tirelessly under the leadership of the hero Achilles in the Trojan War. Today the term myrmidon refers to an individual who carries out a command faithfully, regardless of how cruel or inhuman it might be [2]. 'Myrmex' means 'ant' in Greek, an image that evokes small and insignificant workers mindlessly fulfilling their duty. Ovid specifies their talents as 'industry, thrift, endurance; they are eager for gain, and never easily relinquish what they have won' (miserly?) [3].

The prophet Micah's name is short for Mîkâ’l, Michael, the suffix -el meaning God, translated to mean 'who is like god'. St. Michael the Archangel, Leader of the army (military) of God during the Lucifer uprising. He is considered in many Christian circles as the patron saint of the warrior. Police officers and soldiers, particularly paratroopers, regard him as their patron saint [4].

The great enigma of alchemy is the mystery between the Macrocosm and Microcosm. Macrocosm and microcosm is an ancient Greek schema of seeing the same patterns reproduced in all levels of the cosmos [5]. In the 3rd century CE the Greek Olympiadorus, stated, "the mythic Hermes calls man a small cosmos", the literal meaning of mikro-kosmos. The Macrocosm/Microcosm schemata was developed further by the Swiss physician and alchemist Paracelsus, who proposed that within man was an inner heaven with stars [6].

The physical body is constantly at war and under attack from a multitude of micro-organisms, and malignant bacteria. Like a military operation, the immune cells in response to these threats, rushes to the scene of battle to repel the microbe invaders.


Fixed stars in Microscopium


alpha 04AQU15 05AQU38 311 42 45 -33 57 58 -15 26 26 5.00 G6

gamma 07AQU03 08AQU26 314 33 27 -32 27 16 -14 39 38 4.71 G4

epsilon 10AQU33 11AQU56 318 43 39 -32 22 58 -15 38 49 4.79 A0



Microscopium, formed by La Caille south of Capricorn and west of Piscis Australis, although small and unimportant, contains sixty-nine stars, varying in magnitude from 4.8 to 7, the lucida being theta1.

The constellation comes to the meridian in September, nearly due south of beta Aquarii.In its vicinity, perhaps including it, was an early figure referred to, in a German astronomical work of 1564 from Frankfurt, as Neper, the Auger, Ideler's Bohrer, which he thus described:"It is situated at the tail of Sagittarius and Capricornus, and has many stars. At the head of the Neper two, and on the iron three."Brown alludes to it as an unknown object, and illustrates it in the 47th volume of Archaeologia as from a German astronomical manuscript of the 15th century; but Flammarion, in les Etoiles, probably referring to this same manuscript, thus mentions Neper, as the predecessor of Monoceros: Il est question de la constellation du Neper ou Foret, qui n'est autre que la Licorne.

Grusthe Crane

The Starlore Handbook


Clues to the meaning of this celestial featureThe constellation was added by Bayer in 1603.

Cranes are noted for their elaborate courtship dances; humans on stilts copied the dance. "Cranes are the exotic dancers of the bird kingdom. Their gyrations have been compared to the antics of fervent pioneer preachers leading their congregations" [1]. They are credited with great diligence, intelligence and vigilance; they are reported to post sentries while they sleep. They spend a long time preening their feathers and paint themselves with mud to camouflage themselves. Greek letters of the alphabet came from myths about cranes. The crane was used as a symbol of the astronomer by the Ancient Egyptians.

Grus is a genus of large birds in the crane family. The Latin word grus and English word crane are cognates as Klein explains: crane, from Middle English crane, crone, Middle High German krone, Old English cranoc,

cornoc, German Kranich, 'crane', and cognate with Greek geranos, Cornish, Welsh, Breton garan, 'crane', Latin grus, 'crane', from the Indo-European imitative base *gere-2, 'to utter a hoarse cry'. Related words: the first element in cranberry, geranium, Gruiformes (order Gruiformes, the coots, cranes, and rails), and the last element in pedigree. The name Pettigrew.

“Cranes (grus) took their name from their particular call, for they whoop with such a sound. When they fly, they follow a leader in formation like a letter (i.e. Greek lambda, an upside down V shape). Concerning them Lucan says (Civil War 5-716): And the letter-shape is disturbed and lost in their scattered flight. They seek the heights, from which they can more easily see which lands to make for. The one leading the flock chides with its voice, but, when it begins to grow hoarse, another crane takes its place. At night they divide up the watches, and alternate their vigils; they hold stones in their extended claws to let it be known if they fall asleep - the noise (i.e. of the stones dropping) indicates the need to be on the alert. Their color reveals their age, for they turn black as they grow old.” [The Etymologies of Isidore of Seville, 7th century AD, p.264.]

Festus, the grammarian was of the opinion that the words congruous, and similar derivatives are from grues, from Latin grus, crane [An etymological dictionary of the Latin language, p.97], apparently from the sound of their calls which formed the root of the word 'congruence,' from Latin congruus, from congruere, 'to agree'. This word reflects the highly coordinated and cooperative behavior typical of cranes. Cranes disperse when searching for food and nesting and congregate when flying or migrating. The word congruent comes from the Indo-European root *ghreu- 'To rub, grind'. Derivatives: grit, groats, grout, gruel, grueling, great, groat, gruesome, chroma (color), chromatic, chromato-, chrome, -chrome, chromium, chromo-, chromosome, gravel, congruent, congruence, congruous. [Pokorny 2. ghreu- 460. Watkins]

The word 'pedigree' comes from the Old French phrase, 'pie (pied) de grue', which means 'foot of a crane'. The pedigree diagram (symbol /|\) resembles the branches coming out of a crane's foot [2]; for the shape of the sign used in showing lines of descent in genealogical charts. The association of the word pedigree with cranes might relate to the chromosomes (from *ghreu-) which carry the genes or genetic information, coiled threadlike structures of DNA, and found in the nucleus of all plant and animal cells. Cranes are reported to post sentries while they sleep, the sentry, standing on one foot, holding a stone (gravel?) in its claw, if it fell asleep the stone dropped and woke the bird. Cranes fill themselves with ballast (coarse gravel or crushed rock) to avoid being blown off course when migrating on their long grueling journey. Cranes start breeding around four years of age (?), and would live long enough to see their great-grandchildren and their great-great-grandchildren, etc.

The Trojans were compared to migrating cranes. The Trojans were always at war with the Pygmies (might be adjacent Sculptor), the word gruesome might describe the savage battles:

"The Iliad compares the noisy Trojan warriors to shrieking cranes descending upon the silent Pygmy soldiers (the Greeks or Achaeans) in the following passage: "The Trojans came with cries and the din of war like wildfowl when the long hoarse cries of cranes sweep on against the sky and the great formations flee from winter's grim ungodly storms, flying in force, shrieking south to the ocean gulfs, speeding blood and death to the Pygmy warriors, launching at daybreak savage battle down upon their heads" [3].

In every land where they appear cranes have always been a symbol of longevity. For cranes living in the wild an age of up to 60 years has been cited, and there is one record of a captive Siberian crane living for 83 years and fathering chicks at age 78. By comparison swans only live to around thirty years. The partly gray feathers of cranes, and some species having predominantly gray feathers, might symbolically suggest

aging. Geranos is the Greek for crane and geras, from where we get the word geriatrics, is old age, geron, 'old man', gerus, 'old woman; wrinkled skin', from Indo-European root *gere-1 'To grow old'. Derivatives: ageratum (a-, without; + geras, old age; a plant that is called ageless or everlasting), geriatrics (from Greek geras, old age), geronto- (from Greek geron, stem geront-, old man), progeria (aging disease). [Pokorny ger- 390. Watkins]

Klein says the word Zoroaster from Avestic Zarathushtra, literally 'whose camels are old', from *zarant, 'old', and ushtra, 'camel', *zarant is cognate with Greek geron, 'old man'.

"Horapollo, the grammarian of Alexandria, about A.D. 400, tells us that the crane was the symbol of a star-observer in Egypt, presumably from its high flight" [Allen, Star Names], or maybe from a habit of looking up at the sky as a number of pictures of cranes on this website show? The term 'Magos' was used in the Hellenistic world rather loosely for astrologers, astronomers, and magicians (there was no distinction in the Hellenistic era drawn between astrology and astronomy) [4]. The magus were the Zoroastrian priestly caste of the Medes and Persians [5]. Magi is used in English for the three 'Wise Men' who visited the infant Christ.

“The first interpreters of the stars were called Magi (magus), as we read of those who made known the birth of Christ in the Gospels; afterwards they only had the name mathematicus.” [The Etymologies of Isidore of Seville, 7th century AD, p.183.]

A crane, meaning also 'a machine for raising weights' is so called from the long neck of the instrument. People were struck with some kind of similarity between the long-legged bird picking up his food with his long beak and their rude engines for lifting weights. In Greek, too, geranos has both meanings [6, p.386]. In Greek and Roman theatre, a crane was used as a stage prop to create the special effects of flying characters, it could lift actors into the air portraying the appearance of gods in flight, hence the Latin term deus ex machina ('god from the machine'). It was usually known as the mechane ('machine'), but also known as the geranos ('crane') or krade ('branch') [7] [see picture].

The words mechane, and magus, come from the Indo-European root *magh-1 'To be able, have power'. Derivatives: may+ (from Old English mæg, to be strong, be able), dismay (to deprive of might or the power to act as a result of fear or anxiety), might+ (power), almighty, main (most important, from Old English mægen), machine, mechanic, mechanism, mechano-, magic, magus, (these words from Old Persian magu, member of a priestly caste < 'mighty one'). [Pokorny magh- 695. Watkins]

The verb 'crane', to extend the neck, is also related. Cranes fly with necks outstretched, not pulled back like many other birds.

Cranes have elaborate courting displays or 'dances'. In mythology the Crane Dance called Geranos, was performed by Theseus after his escape from the Labyrinth. Theseus had used a ball of thread to find his way out of the Labyrinth, and the dance he performed with the Athenians who escaped with him was an imitation of the windings of the Labyrinth. The ball of thread might relate to the chromosomes which carry the genes, they are coiled, threadlike structures of DNA? and why the word pedigree is related to 'crane' and 'grus'. The Labyrinth (see Hercules) is also the term for a system of fluid passages in the inner ear, including both the cochlea which is part of the auditory system, and the vestibular system which provides the sense of balance. It is named by analogy with the mythical maze that imprisoned the Minotaur, because of its appearance [7]. [The word ear (auris) might be adjacent Pisces Australis and Grus was once part of that constellation.] There are Mechanoreceptors in the cochlea of the ear that detect sounds and the motion of the body. Sound is a mechanical wave, meaning it produces vibrational energy in the medium through which it moves, such as air. The crane standing on one leg might also suggest something to do with balance. [Hercules whose name might be resolved into 'listening in the air' performed twelve labors, and the word 'labyrinth' may be related to 'labor' as explained on Hercules' page].

The phrase "the cranes of Ibycus" became a proverb among the Greeks for the discovery of crime through divine intervention. It relates to the story of Ibycus, a Greek lyric poet, of the 6th century BC. While in the neighbourhood of Corinth, the poet was mortally wounded by robbers. As he lay dying he saw a flock of cranes flying overhead, and swore "Those cranes will avenge me." Shortly afterward the robbers were sitting in a theater in Corinth and saw a flock of cranes flying by. One joked to his friend "there go the avengers of Ibycus" [9]. The remark was overheard and the robbers were arrested. Cranes pointed to the killers by mysteriously circling over the head of one of the guilty. This old proverb has been referred to as "The Cranes of Ibycus" [8]. This legend is probably a play on the similarity between the poet's name and the Ancient Greek word for 'crane' (ibyx) [9].

The Ancient Greek word for was 'crane' (ibyx) [9]. It may be that the crane of Europe was equivalent to the similar wading bird, the ibis, of the Egyptians. "Abis, the Egyptian Crane ... the Greeks expressed it Ibis" [A Mythological, Etymological, and Historical Dictionary, Bryant, Holwell, 1793, p.2]. The ibis-headed god, Thoth, was a scribe, whose pen repeatedly dipped in ink in a manner that the long beaks of the ibises dipped into the mud [10]. The word nib (n-ib), a bird's beak, and the tip of a pen, might be related to this source; "nib meant an ibis" [Cleopatra's Needle, p.58]. [Egyptian hib is the official translation for 'ibis']


Fixed stars in Grus


Alnair alpha 14AQU30 15AQU54 331 16 21 -47 12 15 -32 54 24 2.16 B5

gamma 16AQU02 17AQU25 327 43 36 -37 36 04 -23 02 44 3.16 B8

lambda 17AQU33 18AQU56 330 46 38 -39 47 08 -25 57 52 4.60 M0

mu 18AQU37 20AQU00 333 09 09 -41 35 47 -28 20 20 4.86 G2

epsilon 19AQU21 20AQU44 341 23 11 -51 34 49 -39 46 57 3.69 A2

delta 20AQU13 21AQU36 336 34 19 -43 45 06 -31 20 36 4.02 G2

zeta 20AQU33 21AQU56 344 29 04 -53 01 22 -41 58 55 4.18 G4

beta 20AQU56 22AQU19 339 55 21 -47 08 48 -35 25 39 2.24 M6



Grus, the Crane, is one of the so-called Bayer groups (Grus was named by Johann Bayer, as listed in his 1603 star atlas), la Grue of the French and Italians, der Kranich of the Germans; and the title is appropriate, for Horapollo, the grammarian of Alexandria, about A.D. 400, tells us that the crane was the symbol of a star-observer in Egypt, presumably from its high flight as described in our motto.

Caesius, who carried his biblical symbols even to the new constellations, imagined this to be the Stork in the Heaven of Jeremiah viii, 7, although the Crane occurs in the same verse; but Julius Schiller combined it with Phoenix in a representation of Aaron the High Priest.

The Arabians included its stars in the Southern Fish (Pisces Austrinus), Al Sufi giving its alpha, beta, delta, theta, iota, and lambda as unformed members of that constellation.

The components, with the exception of the lucida, form a gentle curve southwest from this Fish, and among them are stars noted in astronomy.

{Page 238} One hundred and seven are catalogued by Gould as being visible to the naked eye.

alpha, (Al Nair), marking the body of the bird, is the conspicuous 2d-magnitude southwest from Fomalhaut when the latter culminates in autumn evenings, itself coming to the meridian on the 11th of October. It was Al Tizini's Al Na'ir, the Bright One, i. e. of the Fish's tail (Pisces Austrinus), when that constellation extended over the stars of our Grus. The Chinese knew it as Ke.

beta, a 2.2-magnitude red star, was Al Tizini's Rear One at the end of the tail of his Fish (Pisces Austrinus), thirty-five minutes of arc to the eastward from alpha. It is in the left wing of the Crane.

gamma, a 3d-magnitude,was the same author's Al Dhanab, the Tail itself (of Pisces Austrinus), but now marks the eye in the bird's figure.

pi1, a 6.7-magnitude deep crimson star, and its somewhat brighter white companion, pi2, are like "little burnished discs of copper and silver, seen under strong illumination."

{p.238} The alternative title for the stars of Grus;

Phoenicopterus, the Flamingo,

is now seldom, if ever, used, nor can I find any record of its inventor, or date of its adoption as a constellation name. Chilmead's Treatise contains this reference to it:

"The Phoenicopter we may call the Bittour [the old English word for Bittern]. The Spaniards call it Flamingo: and it is described with the wings spread abroad, and as it were striking with his bill at the South Fish (Pisces Austrinus), in that part where he boweth himselfe: This Asterisme consistith 13 Starres: of which, that of the second magnitude in his head is called, the Phoenicopters Eye: and it hath two other Stars also of the same magnitude, one in his backe, and the other in his left wing. And those two which are in the middle of his necke, Paulus Merula in his first booke of his Cosmography, calleth his Collar or Chaine."

The absence of our titles in the foregoing description would show that the Bittern, or Flamingo, was the popular English figuring and title in the early part of the 17th century.

Phoenixthe Phoenix



Clues to the meaning of this celestial featureFor the legends of the Phoenix click on these pages; Theoi Project and Wikipedia. Also the entry for the Phoenix in The Aberdeen Bestiary.

The Phoenix is often referred to as the firebird, and is the constructor of a funeral pyre:

“The phoenix is a bird of Arabia, so called because it possesses a scarlet (phoeniceus = purple) color, or because it is singular and unique in the entire world, for the Arabs say phoenix for 'singular.' This bird lives more than five hundred years, and when it sees that it has grown old it constructs a funeral pire for itself of aromatic twigs it has collected, and, turned to the rays of the sun, with a beating of its wings it deliberately kindles a fire for itself, and thus it rises again from its own ashes” [The Etymologies of Isidore of Seville, 7th century AD, p.265.]

Johann Bode, Uranoographia, 1801

“After Phoenix, the brother of Cadmus, moved from Egyptian Thebes to Syria, he reigned at Sidon and named those people Phoenicians and the province Phoenicia after his own name” [The Etymologies of Isidore of Seville, 7th century AD, p.194.]

"The phoenix built its nest on top of the phoenix date-palm. It came from Arabia; i.e. Araba/Syria - Phoenicia, present-day Syria and Lebanon. As well as 'phoenix' the word denoted 'Phoenician' and the word 'purple'. The Phoenicians traveled to the edges of the known world at the time and introduced their alphabet, based on symbols for sounds - phonetics - rather than cuneiform or hieroglyphic representations, to the Greeks and other early peoples." [AHD].

The fifth century Greek Horapollo said that the phoenix signifies in hieroglyphs a man returning from a prolonged residence abroad. [The Odyssey re-formed, Frederick Ahl]

The figurative sense is of "that which rises from the ashes of what was destroyed" [1]. The city of Phoenix in Arizona was so named because it was reborn out of the ancient remains of the Hohokam Indian people, who once populated the land around 300 B.C - 1450 A.D. Western Apaches referred to the area as 'Fiinigis' [2].

Klein (Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary) says that phoenix is related to; "Greek phoinos 'bloodred', phonos (for *gwhonos), 'murder', phonos (for *ghenyein), 'to strike' and cognate with Latin de-fendere ..." Latin defendere comes from the Indo-European root *gwhen- 'To strike, kill'. Derivatives: bane (a cause of harm, ruin, or death), baneful, gun, defend, defense, fence, fend, offend, offense. [Pokorny 2. gwhen-(e)- 491, bhen- 126. Watkins]

The word Punic is from Greek Phoinix, Phoenician, and relates to ancient city of Carthage which was founded by the Phoenician Dido [4, p.98]. Dido fell in love with Aeneas (might be Indus) and committed suicide in grief after he abandoned her. Like the phoenix, Dido, whose epithet was 'Phoenissa' constructed a funeral pile and threw herself on the flames.

From ancient Greek times the phoenix has been associated with the bennu (benu) bird of Egyptian mythology. It is said that this identification is supported by the fact that in Greek the word Phoenix can mean 'palm tree', and so does benu have the alternative meaning of 'palm tree' in Egyptian. The ancient Egyptian benu is thought to be really the Purple Heron (Ardea purpurea) [5, p.125]. The planet Venus was called the 'star of the ship of the Bennu-Ausar' (Osiris), mentioned as the Morning Star in this invocation to the sacred sun bird. "I am the Bennu, the soul of Ra, and the guide of the gods in the Tuat; let it be so done unto me that I may enter in like a hawk, and that I may come forth like Bennu, the Morning Star" [6].


Fixed stars in Phoenix


epsilon 08PIS16 09PIS39 001 43 11 -46 01 24 -41 57 05 3.94 G7

zeta 10PIS59 12PIS22 016 34 18 -55 30 46 -55 07 49 4.13 B7

kappa 13PIS08 14PIS31 005 56 13 -43 57 26 -41 47 34 3.90 A3

Ankaa alpha 14PIS05 15PIS30 005 57 15 -42 34 39 -40 37 33 2.44 G5

beta 19PIS03 20PIS26 015 57 50 -46 59 10 -48 11 58 3.35 G4

Aberdeen Bestiary


Phoenix, the French Phenix, the German Phonix, and the Italian Fenice, is one of Bayer's new figures, between Eridanus and Grus, south of Fornax and Sculptor, — its alpha, kappa, mu, beta, nu, and gamma in a line curving toward the south like that of a primitive Boat, by which figure, as Al Zaurak, the Arabs knew them. Al Sufi cited another name, — Al Ri’al, the Young Ostriches, — which Hyde wrongly read Al Zibal, perhaps a synonymous title; and Kazwini used Al Sufi's term in describing some stars of Al Nahr, the River, in which our Phoenix was then included by Arabian astronomers.

{Page 336} Others changed the figure to that of a Griffin, or Eagle, so that the introduction of a Phoenix into modern astronomy was, in a measure, by adoption rather than by invention.

But, whether Bayer knew it or not, his title is an appropriate one, for with various early nations — at all events, in China, Egypt, India, and Persia — this bird has been "an astronomical symbol of cyclic period," some versions of the well-known fable making its life coincident with the Great Year of the ancients beginning at noon of the day when the sun entered among the stars of Aries; and, in Egypt, with the Sothic Period when the sun and Sirius rose together on the 20th of July. Thompson further writes of this:

"A new Phoenix-period is said to have commenced A.D. 139, in the reign of Antoninus Pius; and a recrudescence of astronomical symbolism associated therewith is manifested on the coins of that Emperor."

Coincidently, Ptolemy adopted as the epoch of his catalogue the year 138, the first of Antoninus. With the Egyptians, who knew this bird as Bennu and showed it on their coins, it was an emblem of immortality; indeed it generally has been such in pagan as well as in Christian times.

In China the constellation was Ho Neaou, the Fire Bird, showing its derivation there from the Jesuits.

Julius Schiller combined it with Grus in his Aaron the High Priest. Gould catalogues 139 naked-eye stars here, from 2.4 to 7.

Orionthe Giant, the Hunter



Clues to the meaning of this celestial featureRead what mythological writers have written on Orion on this Theoi Project webpage. Read a profile on Orion at Wikipedia

The name Orion is from Greek ourios, 'urine'. The story goes that Hyrieus of Boeotia was granted a wish in reward for his hospitality to the gods Zeus (Jupiter), Poseidon (Neptune) and Hermes (Mercury), who were visitors in disguise, Hyrieus asked for a son. The gods responded by urinating on a bull's hide and burying it in the earth which produced a child nine months later. He was named Orion or Ourion (of ouria), urine, after this event.

The word urine is from Latin urina, comes from the Indo-European root *wé-r-, "water, liquid, milk". Related words are: urine, from Latin urina, urea, uracil (a component of RNA that carries hereditary information in cells. Chemically, it is a pyrimidine derivative), ureter (the long, narrow duct that conveys urine from the kidney to the urinary bladder or cloaca).

The Greek word for urine, ouron (or ourion), comes from the Indo-European root *wers-2 "To rain, drip." (Oldest form *a2wers-) Suffixed o-grade form *(a)wors-a-. ureter, urethra, uretic, -uria, uro-1, diuretic, enuresis, natriuresis, from Greek ouron, urine, whence verb ourein, to urinate, make water. Related to Sanskrit varsa- 'rain.' [In Pokorny 9. aw(e)- 78.]

The word Orion was also believed by Strabo to be related to the Greek word for mountain, oros, from where we get our word orogeny and orology, the study of mountains.

"Oreios (in Euboia) is situated at the foot of the mountain Telethrios in the Drymos ... perhaps, it was because the Ellopians who formerly inhabited it were mountaineers that the name Oreios ('Of the Mountain') was assigned to the city. It is also thought that Orion was so named because he was reared there." - Strabo, Geography 10.1.4 [1]

Fortis and Fortissimus, were Roman titles for Orion [Allen, Star Names] and these words are related to the Germanic word for mountain, berg, from the Indo-European root *bhergh-2 'High; with derivatives referring to hills and hill-forts'. Derivatives: barrow* (a large mound of earth above a prehistoric tomb, from Old English beorg, hill), iceberg, borough, burg, (these words from Old English burg, burh, byrig, fortified town), bourg,

bourgeois, burgess, burglar, faubourg, (these words from Late Latin burgus, fortified place), borough, burgher, Burgundy, force, fort, fortalice, forte1, forte2, fortis, fortissimo, fortitude, fortress, comfort, effort, enforce, fortify, pianoforte, reinforce, (these words from Latin fortis, strong). [Pokorny bheregh- 140. Watkins]

Fortitude is a good word to fit the description Manilius gives in his astrological influences for Orion:

"Orion will fashion alert minds and agile bodies, souls prompt to respond to duty's call, and hearts which press on with unflagging energy in spite of every trial." [Manilius, Astronomica, p.305.]

For many animals urine is used to define territorial borders and any transgression can result in 'war'. The words 'war' and 'urine' might be ultimately related, and Orion was seen as a warrior. Pindar spelled the name; Oarion, Allen (below) says this was the usual ancient Greek term for Orion; "the initial letter having taken the place of the ancient digamma, which, pronounced somewhat like the letter W, rendered the early word akin to our Warrior." Digamma is an old Greek letter pronounced w in English.

The Greek word for urine, ouron (or ourion), comes from the Indo-European root *wers-2 "To rain, drip" (see above). The English word 'war' comes from the Indo-European root *wers-1 "To confuse, mix up". Derivatives: war, guerrilla (from Spanish guerra, war), worse, worst (from Old English wyrsta, worst), wurst, liverwurst (from Old High German wurst, sausage < mixture). [Pokorny wers- 1169.]

A constellation can represent a number of things:

"Orion shines in the south, in front of the tracks of Taurus. It is named 'Orion' from urine (urina), that is, from a flood of waters, for it rises in the winter season, and troubles the sea and the land with waters and storms ['pissing rain'?]. Latin speakers call this constellation the Jugula [translator's note: compare iugulum, 'throat,' with a figurative sense 'slaughter'] because it is armed, as if it has a sword, and is terrible and very brilliant in the light of its stars. If all of its stars are shining, then calm weather is forecast, but if their sharpness is blunted, then a storm is understood to loom.” [The Etymologies of Isidore of Seville, 7th century AD, p.105.]

Allen [Star Names, below] says "Plautus, Varro, and others called the constellation of Orion Jugula and Jugulae, the Joined, referring to the umeri (shoulder), the two bright stars in the shoulders, as if connected by the jugulum, or collar-bone. Such, at least, is the generally received derivation, but Buttmann claimed it as from jugulare (the jugular vein), and hence the Slayer, a fitting title for the Warrior" [Allen, Star Names, p.306]. The jugulum is the cavity of the posterior part of the head to which the neck is annexed. The jugular vein is the large veins of the neck that drain blood from the head. Jugula comes from the Indo-European root *yeug- 'To join'. Derivatives: yoke, jug-, jugate, jugular, jugum, conjugate, subjugate, zygo-, zygote, jostle, joust, adjust, join, joint, conjugal, conjunct, yoga. [Pokorny 2. ieu- 508. Watkins]

These etymologies should make this 'Mighty Hunter', this 'Giant', the zygote; the product of the conjunction of the sperm and egg cells in conception. A zygote is the original cell that comes to creation and will survive in this state for four days before dividing into a blastiocyst. In the micro realm a zygote cell would appear gigantic compared to other cells.

According to Allen [Star Names] some think that the Belt of Orion stars, delta, epsilon, zeta, known to the Arabs as the Golden Nuts, first bore the name Jauzah, from another meaning of that word, — Walnut, and that title was later given to the whole figure of Orion. In early Arabia Orion was Al Jauzah. Walnuts (genus Juglans, note the similarity of Orion's title 'Jugula') from Latin juglans, 'walnut', is a contraction of 'Jovis glans'. Mythology describes a Golden Age when men lived on acorns the gods lived on walnuts thus the name Jovis glans or 'Jupiter's nut's. Jauzah also seems to be the term used for a black sheep with a white spot on the middle of the body.

Orion had a number of titles signifying the word 'giant': The Jews called Orion Gibbor, the Giant. "The Syrians knew Orion as Gabbara; the Arabians as Al Jabbar, both signifying 'the Giant', Gigas, giant, Greek title for Orion with Ptolemy, — and in Latin days occasionally Gigas; the Arabian word gradually being turned into Algebra (the prefix al- means 'the'), Algebaro, and, especially in poetry, Algebar, which Chilmead gave as Algibbar (Al Gibbar, 'the giant')". Our words giant and gigantic, and the word giga- (prefix meaning a billion) come from Latin gagas, Greek gigas. Orion is referred to as 'earthborn' because the gods Zeus, Hermes and Poseidon urinated into a bull's hide and buried it in the earth. In Greek mythology the gigantes were (according to the poet Hesiod) the children of Uranos and Gaea (the Heaven and the Earth). The prefix gi- of 'giant', is believed to come from Gaia, or Gaea, meaning earth, Gaea-antis.

Algebra, another Arabic title for Orion, that because of the sound similarity should relate to that branch of mathematics, algebra from Arabic al-jabr, from al-, the, + jabr, meaning to join broken bones, to set bones, [a joint (from *yeug-) is the location at which two or more bones make contact] from Semitic *gpr, and related to the name Gabriel; Gabriel, Jibril or Jibrail, 'Fortitudo Dei', 'force from God' said to Mary "And, behold, thou shalt conceive in thy womb, and bring forth a son, and shalt call his name Jesus." -- Luke 1:31. "In that same time that she had thus given her assent to the angel, she conceived in her Jesus Christ" [2]. Conception took place while Gabriel was present; something involved in the creation of the zygote, perhaps the spirit, soul, or life force (or something else?)

Algebra from Arabic al-jabr, from al-, the, + jabr, meaning to join broken bones, to set bones. Orion is identified with Egyptian Osiris who was cut up into pieces by Set and his body was reassembled by Isis.

Sahu, Sah, was an ancient Egyptian title for Orion. Allen [Star Names] says that in Egypt, Orion in the great Ramesseum of Thebes about 3285 B.C. was known as Sahu. This twice appears in the Book of the Dead: "The shoulders of the constellation Sahu"; and: "I see the motion of the holy constellation Sahu". "The Ancient Egyptians, their soul - their being - were made up of many different parts. Not only was there the physical form, but there were eight immortal or semi-divine parts that survived death. Sahu - The incorruptible spiritual body of man that could dwell in the heavens, appearing from the physical body after the judgment of the dead was passed (if successful) with all of the mental and spiritual abilities of a living body" [3]. Budge, in his introductory treatise to the Book of the Dead, writes that the Egyptians conceived the sahu, or spiritual body... "That sublimated vesture, then, which seems to be the spiritual body in which the dead specifically rise, is the Sahu, though the next higher one, the Khu, is frequently mentioned in the experience" [4]. Massey says that the word 'Sahu' means 'to incorporate' [join]. "Then as a Sahu he is reincorporated in a spiritual body, and as a Khu he is invested with the robe of light and glory" [5]. Sahu = The phantom body, psychic

identity of self boundaries [6].

"That sublimated vesture, then, which seems to be the spiritual body in which the dead specifically rise, is the Sahu" [Budge].

The god Sah, or Sahu, is personified in the constellation of Orion and his consort, Sopdet (or Greek name Sothis), is personified in the adjacent constellation, Canis Major, or its alpha star Sirius (the 'dog star'). These two constellations came to be viewed as manifestations of Osiris and Isis. In a fourth century B.C. papyrus, Isis asserts that she is Sothis, who will unswervingly follow Osiris in his manifestation as Orion in heaven [8]. The deceased king is said to enter the sky "In the name of the Dweller in Orion, with a season in the sky and a season on earth" [9]. Osiris was addressed as follows in one of the Isis chants:

There proceedeth from thee the strong Orion in heaven at evening, at the resting of every day!Lo it is I (Isis), at the approach of the Sothis (Sirius) period, who doth watch for him (the child Osiris),Nor will I leave off watching for him; for that which proceedeth from thee (the living Osiris) is revered.An emanation from thee causeth life to gods and men, reptiles and animals, and they live by means thereof.Come thou to us from thy chamber, in the day when thy soul begetteth emanations,--The day when offerings upon offerings are made to thy spirit, which causeth the gods and men likewise to live. [297:1 The Burden of Isis, Dennis, p. 24 - source]

Skorpios (Scorpio) was a giant scorpion sent by the earth-goddess Gaia to slay the giant Orion when he threatened to kill all the beasts of the earth. The Scorpion stung Orion on the heel (marked by the star Rigel, beta Orion) and killed him. These two opponents Orion and the Scorpion were placed amongst the stars as their namesake constellations, but are positioned on opposite sides of the sky, one sets as the other rises. The Scorpion rises as Orion starts to sink into the other side of the sky, and this was seen as Orion running away from the attacker, and still in fear of him.

"Scorpius, because of its position, is one of the two ‘gateways’ to the Milky Way, the other being the opposite constellation of Orion. The Scorpion men attacked Osiris in Egyptian legend, and the Scorpions sting killed Orion in Greek myth." [3].

Orion died from the bite of a scorpion (Scorpio):

"After being poisoned by the Scorpion, Orion was resurrected by Asclepius the God of Healing, whom we see in the sky as Ophiuchus, the Serpent Wrestler. Asclepius himself was killed by a thunderbolt of Zeus, because he was restoring too many souls to life so that the Underworld, the realm of the dead, was becoming depopulated" [7].

The Greeks (and Romans) associated Dionysus with Osiris, and Osiris was associated with Orion by the Egyptians.

Orion, according to the myth, was born from a bull's hide. At the request of Hyrieus for a son the gods Zeus, Poseidon and Hermes, urinated in the hide of the sacrificed bull, buried it in the earth, and from it Orion was born. The Hyades, 'the rain-nymphs', a group of stars on the face of the Bull, Taurus, are close to the constellation Orion. The infant Dionysus was nursed by the Hyades at Nysa (hence the name Dio-nysus), the Hyades were also called the Nysiades. Ovid brings in another character to the equation, Hyas: "To some they [the constellation Hyades] were the nurses of Bacchus [Dionysos], to others [i.e. the daughters of Atlas, sisters of Hyas]" [1]. Plutarch, a Greek writer living in Rome about the 1st century BC, visited Egypt and gives clues to the identifications of Greek and Egyptians characters of myths in his essay on Isis and Osiris, two translations are available online; here and here. He says:

"For the Greeks ... call a son hyios from hydor (water) and hysai (to rain), and Dionysus Hyes as being the lord of moist nature [all these words come from the same root as Hyades], since he is none other than Osiris. And indeed Hellanicus seems to have heard Osiris pronounced Hysiris by the priests... but as for what the priests openly do in the burial of the Apis when they transport its carcass on a raft, this in no way falls short of Bacchic (Roman name for Dionysus) revelry, for they wear fawn-skins and carry thyrsus-rods and produce shouts and movements as do the ecstatic celebrants of the Dionysiac rites. For this reason many of the Greeks make bull-shaped images of Dionysus, and the women of Elis urge in their prayers 'that the god may come with his foot of a bull' to them, while among the Argives Dionysus bears the name 'born of a bull', [Plutarch. De Iside et Osiride. Ed. with intro J. Gwyn Griffiths. Cambridge: U of Wales P, 1970.]

Nemesis to Artemis:

"What impious son of Earth persecutes you? ... What? Orion is using force against you once more? The wretch that touched your dress still lies in his mother’s flanks [Gaia, the earth], a lifeless corpse; if any man has clutched your garments with lustful hands, grow another scorpion to avenge your girdle." - Nonnus, Dionysiaca 48.395 [10]


"Near neighbor to the Twins (Gemini), Orion may be seen stretching his arms over a vast expanse of sky and rising to the stars with no less huge a stride. A single light marks each of his shining shoulders, and three aslant trace the downward line of his sword; but three mark Orion's head, which is imbedded in high heaven with his countenance remote. It is Orion who leads the constellations as they speed over the full circuit of heaven." [Astronomica, Manilius, 1st century AD. p.35.]

"Orion will fashion alert minds and agile bodies, souls prompt to respond to duty's call, and hearts which press on with unflagging energy in spite of every trial. A son of Orion's will be worth a multitude and will seem to dwell in every quarter of the city; flying from door to door with the one word of morning greeting, he will enjoy the friendship of all." [Astronomica, Manilius, 1st century AD. p.305.]


Fixed stars in Orion


pi (-) 11GEM07 12GEM30 072 54 41 +02 21 37 -20 00 42 var B2

Rigel beta (*) 15GEM26 16GEM50 078 01 60 -08 15 29 -31 07 46 0.12 B8

eta (') 18GEM47 20GEM10 080 29 26 -02 26 29 -25 32 23 var B1

Bellatrix gamma (+) 19GEM33 20GEM57 080 36 44 +06 18 22 -16 49 21 1.70 B2

nu (,) 20GEM32 21GEM55 082 22 39 -07 20 13 -30 33 02 4.64 B0

Mintaka delta (") 21GEM00 22GEM24 082 21 45 -00 20 04 -23 33 34 2.48 O9

theta (() 21GEM36 22GEM59 083 12 15 -05 25 16 -28 41 06 5.36 O6

Hatysa iota (.) 21GEM36 23GEM00 083 14 48 -05 56 28 -29 12 23 2.87 O9

Ensis M42 Great Orion Nebula NGC1976

21GEM35 22GEM59 083 13 30 -05 25 00 -28 40 54 4.00 N

Alnilam epsilon (#) 22GEM04 23GEM28 083 25 08 -01 13 56 -24 30 46 1.75 B0

Meissa lambda ($) 22GEM19 23GEM42 083 05 43 +09 54 08 -13 22 34 3.66 O8

sigma (/) 22GEM43 24GEM06 084 03 32 -02 37 38 -25 56 13 3.78 O9

Alnitak zeta (%) 23GEM17 24GEM41 084 33 32 -01 58 03 -25 17 59 2.05 B0

Saiph kappa (&) 25GEM00 26GEM24 086 20 45 -09 41 09 -33 04 37 2.20 B0

Betelgeuse alpha ()) 27GEM21 28GEM45 088 06 57 +07 23 58 -16 02 01 0.50 var M2

xi (0) 01CAN33 02CAN56 092 16 27 +14 13 18 -09 12 23 4.35 B3

Tabit pi3 (1) (- 3) (1) 10GEM31 11GEM55 071 46 51 +06 52 32 -15 23 24 3.31 F5

pi (10) (- 10) 12GEM09 13GEM32 073 59 20 +01 38 20 -20 51 28 4.73 K3

pi (2) (- 2) 10GEM59 12GEM22 071 58 17 +08 48 58 -13 29 22 4.35 A0

tau (20) (- 20) 16GEM28 17GEM51 078 47 39 -06 53 49 -29 50 39 3.68 B8

pi (3) (2) (- 3) (2) 10GEM43 12GEM06 072 08 06 +05 31 16 -16 46 42 3.78 B2

chi (1) 27GEM18 28GEM41 087 51 18 +20 16 07 -03 09 44 4.62 F9

mu (61) (µ 61) 29GEM13 00CAN36 089 54 29 +09 38 57 -13 47 48 4.19 A2

chi (62) (1 62) 29GEM32 00CAN55 090 14 15 +20 08 29 -03 18 15 4.71 B2

mu (67) (µ 67) 00CAN28 01CAM51 091 10 45 +14 46 34 -08 39 54 4.40 B3



Orion, the Giant, Hunter and Warrior admired in all historic ages as the most strikingly brilliant of the stellar groups, lies partly within the Milky Way, extending on both sides of the {Page 304} celestial equator entirely south of the ecliptic, and so is visible from every part of the globe.

With Theban Greeks of Corinna's time, about the year 490 before our era, it was Oarion, the initial letter having taken the place of the ancient digamma, which, pronounced somewhat like the letter W, rendered the early word akin to our Warrior. Corinna's pupil Pindar followed in Oarioneios, but by the time of Euripides the present Orion prevailed, and we see it thus in Polymestor's words in the Ekabe (Hecuba) of 425 B.C.:

through the ether to the lofty ceiling,

Where Orion and Seirios (Sirius) dart from their eyes

The naming rays of fire.

Catullus transcribed Oarion from Pindar, shortened to Arion, and sometimes changed to Aorion; but the much later Argion, attributed to Firmicus, was for Procyon, probably from Argos, the faithful dog of Ulixes.

The derivation of the word has been in doubt, but Brown refers it to the Akkadian Uru-anna [Note at end of page 304:This divinity was the later Chaldaeo-Assyrian sun-god Dumuzi, the Son of Life, or Tammuz, widely known in classical times as Adonis. Aries also represented him in the sky], the Light of Heaven, originally applied to the sun, as Uru-ki, the Light of Earth, was to the moon; so that our title may have come into Greek mythology and astronomy from the Euphrates. The Ourion, Ouron, or Urion, of the Hyriean, or Byrsaean, story, the Urion of the original Alfonsine Tables, graphically explained by Minsheu, is in no sense an acceptable title, although Hyginus and Ovid vouched for it, thus showing its currency in their day. Caesius' derivation from Ora, as if marking the Seasons, seems fanciful.

At one time it was Aletropodion, found in the Uranologia of Petavius of the 16th century, which Ideler said should be Alektropodion, Cock's Foot, likening the constellation to a Strutting Cock; but Brown goes back to Ale, Roaming, and so reads it Aletropodion, the Foot-turning Wanderer, mythologically recorded as roaming in his blindness till miraculously restored to sight by viewing the rising sun.

The Boeotians, according to Strabo, fellow-countrymen of the earthly Orion, called his stars Kandaon, their alternative title for Ares, the god of war, well agreeing with, perhaps originating, the Greek conception of the Warrior.

Ovid said that the constellation was Comesque Bootae; and some authors asserted that Orion never set, an idea possibly coming from the early confusion in name with Bootes already alluded to; although even as to that constellation the assertion would not have been strictly correct. Matthew Arnold similarly wrote in his Sohrab and Rustum: {Page 305} the northern Bear (Ursa Major), Who from her frozen height with jealous eye Confronts the Dog (Sirius) and Hunter (Orion) in the South.

Dianae Comes, and Amasius, Companion, and Lover, of Diana, were other titles, the Hero, after his death from the Scorpion's sting inflicted for his boastfulness, having been located by Jove in his present position, at the request of the goddess, that he might escape in the west when his slayer, the Scorpion (Scorpio), rose in the east, — as Aratos said:

When the Scorpion comes

Orion flies to utmost end of earth.

Thompson sees in this alternate rising and setting of these two sky figures an astronomic explanation of the symbolism in classic ornithology of the mutual pursuit and flight of Haliaetos and Keiris, the Sea Eagle and Kingfisher, compared in the poem Ciris to these opposed constellations. In Horace's Odes the constellation is termed pronus; and Tennyson had

Great Orion sloping slowly to the west,

which, with the rest of the beautiful opening passage, adds much to the charm of his Locksley Hall.

Homer, who made but a single allusion in the Iliad to this constellation, followed by a parallel passage in the Odyssey, wrote of "the might of huge Orion," and described the earthly hero as the "Illustrious Orion, the tallest and most beautiful of men, — even than the Aloidae," adjectives all well applied to our stellar figure; Hesiod said:

When strong Orion chases to the deep the Virgin stars (meaning the Pleiades of Taurus);

Pindar, that he was of monstrous size; as did Manilius in his Magna pars maxima coeli; and nearly all authors, as well as illustrators, have thus described Orion, and as an armed warrior. In the Ekabe we read:

with his glittering sword Orion armed;

in Ovid's works, of ensiger Orion.; in Lucun's of ensifer; and Vergil has a fine passage in the Aeneid quaintly translated in 1513 by the "Scottis" Gavin Douglas, where Palinurus

Of every sterne the twynkling notis he

That in the still heaven move course we see,

Arthur's house, and Hyades betaikning rane,

Watling strete, the Home and the Charlewane,

The fires Orion with his golden glave;

{Page 306} these last a very liberal translation of the much quoted armatumque auro. But later on in the voyage, when the fleet was off Capreae, the old pilot, in his astronomical enthusiasm dum sidera servat, lost his balance, and tumbled overboard.

The constellation's stormy character appeared in early Hindu, and perhaps even in earlier Euphratean days, and is seen everywhere among classical writers with allusions to its direful influence. Vergil termed it aquosus, nimbosus, and saevus; Horace, tristis and nautis infestus; Pliny, horridus sideribus; and the Latin sailors had a favorite saying, Fallit saepissime naulas Orion. Polybios, the Greek historian of the second century before Christ, attributed the loss of the Roman squadron in the first Punic war to its having sailed just after "the rising of Orion"; Hesiod long before wrote of this same rising:

then the winds war aloud,

And veil the ocean with a sable cloud:

Then round the bark, already hauled on shore,

Lay stones, to fix her when the tempests roar;

and Milton, in Paradise Lost:

when with fierce winds Orion armed

Hath vexed the Red-sea coast, whose waves overthrew

Busiris and his Memphian chivalry.

Many classical authors variously alluded to it as a calendar sign, for its morning rising indicated the beginning of summer, when, as we find in the Works and Days, the husbandman was instructed to

Forget not, when Orion first appears,

To make your servants thresh the sacred ears;

his midnight rising marked the season of grape-gathering; and his evening appearance the approach of winter and its attendant storms: an opinion that prevailed as late as the 17th century, for in the Geneva Bible, familiarly known as the Breeches Bible, the marginal reading in the Book of Job, xxxviii, 31, is "which starre bringeth in winter." Plautus, Varro, and others called the constellation Jugula and Jugulae, the Joined, referring to the umeri, the two bright stars in the shoulders, as if connected by the jugulum, or collar-bone. Such, at least, is the generally received derivation, but Buttmann claimed it as from jugulare, and hence the Slayer, a fitting title for the Warrior.

The Syrians knew it as Gabbara; the Arabians, as Al Jabbar, both signifying "the Giant", gigas; with Ptolemy, — and in Latin days occasionally Gigas; {Page 307} the Arabian word gradually being turned into Algebra, Algebaro, and, especially in poetry, Algebar, which Chilmead gave as Algibbar.

In early Arabia Orion was Al Jauzah, a word also used for stars in Gemini, and much, but not very satisfactorily, discussed as to its derivation and meaning in its stellar connection. It is often translated Giant, but erroneously, for it, at first, had no personal signification. Originally it was the term used for a black sheep with a white spot on the middle of the body, and thus may have become the designation for the middle figure of the heavens, which from its preeminent brilliancy always has been a centre of attraction. Some think that the Belt stars, delta, epsilon, zeta, known to the Arabs as the Golden Nuts, first bore the name Jauzah, either from another meaning of that word, — Walnut, — or because they lay in the centre of the splendid quadrangle formed by alpha, beta, gamma, and kappa; or from their position on the equator, the great central circle; the title subsequently passing to the whole figure. Grotius adopted the first of these derivations, quoting from Festus the passage quasi nux juglans, that a lesser light, Robert Hues, thus enlarged upon:

Now Geuze signifieth a Wall-nut; and perhaps they allude herein to the Latin word Jugula, by which name Festus calleth Orion; because he is greater than any of the other Constellations, as a Wall-nut is bigger then any other kind of nut.

In mediaeval as well as in later astronomy, the original appears in degenerate forms, such as Elgeuze, Geuze, Jeuze, and the Geuzazguar of Grotius.

Al Sufi's story of the feminine Jauzah has been noticed at the star Canopus and under Canis Minor.

Hyde quoted from an Arabian astronomer, Al Babadur, the Strong One, as a popular term for the constellation. Sugia and Asugia were thought by Scaliger to be corruptions of the Arabs' Al Shuja’, the Snake, applied to Orion in the sense of Audax, Bellator and Bellatrix, Fortis and Fortissimus, Furiosus and Sublimatus, and all proper names for it in Bayer's and other early astronomical works, Chilmead translating Asugia as "the Madman." Similar titles at one time obtained for Hydra.

Al Firuzabadi's Al Nusuk may be equivalent to the Nasak, a Line, or Row, applied to the Belt stars, but there signifying a String of Pearls.

Niphla, attributed to Chaldaea, has not been confirmed by modern scholars.

In Egypt, as everywhere, Orion was of course prominent, especially so in the square zodiac of Denderah, as Horus in a boat surmounted by stars, followed by Sirius, shown as a cow, also in a boat; and nearly three thousand years previously had been sculptured on the walls of the recently discovered step-temple of Sakkara, and in the great Ramesseum of Thebes about 3285 B.C. as Sahu. This twice appears in the Book of the Dead: {Page 308}

The shoulders of the constellation Sahu;

and:

I see the motion of the holy constellation Sahu.

A similar title, but of Akkad origin, appeared for Capricornus. Egyptian mythology laid to rest in this constellation the soul of Osiris, as it did in the star Sirius that of Isis; and, again, in the Book of the Dead we read:

The Osiris N is the constellation Orion;

in this connection, Orion was known as Smati-Osiris, the Barley God.

The Giant generally has been represented with back turned toward us and face in profile, armed with club, or sword, and protected by his shield, or, as Longfellow wrote,

on his arm the lion's hide

Scatters across the midnight air

The golden radiance of its hair.

Durer drew him facing the Bull (Taurus), whose attack he is warding off; but the Leyden Manuscript has a lightly clad youth with a short, curved staff in the right hand, and the Hare (Lepus) in the background.

The head is marked by lambda, phi1, and phi*, the stars alpha (Betelgeuse) and gamma (Bellatrix) pointing out the shoulders, beta (Rigel) and kappa (Saiph) the left foot and right knee. But Sir John Herschel observed from southern latitudes that the inverted view of the constellation well represents a human figure; the stars that we imagine the shoulders appearing for the knees, Rigel forming the head, and Cursa of Eridanus, one of the shoulders.

In astrology the constellation was Hyreides, Bayer's Hyriades, from Ovid's allusion to it as Hyriea proles, thus recalling the fabled origin from the bull's hide still marked out in the sky. This, formerly depicted as a shield of rawhide, is now figured as a lion's skin; and it perhaps was this Hyriean story that gave the stellar Orion the astrological reputation, recorded by Thomas Hood, of being "the verie cutthrote of cattle "; at all events, it certainly gave rise to the tripatros and Tripater, applied to him.

Saturnus has been another title, but its connection here I cannot learn, although I hazard the guess that as this divinity was the sun-god of the Phoenicians, his name might naturally be used for Uruanna-Orion, the sun-god of the Akkadians.

Anterior to much of this, we find in the various versions of the Book of Job and Amos the word Orion for the original Hebrew word Kesil, literally signifying "Foolish," "Impious," "Inconstant," or "Self-confident." {Page 309} This perhaps is etymologically connected with Kislev, the name for the ninth month of the Hebrew calendar, the tempestuous November-December. Julius Furst considered this Kislev an early title for Orion. The epithet "Inconstant" has fancifully been referred to the storms usual at his rising.

The Kesilim of Isaiah xiii, 10, rendered "constellations" in some versions, is also thought to refer to it and other prominent sky figures; in fact, Cheyne translates the word as "the Orions" in the Polychrome Bible; while Rahab, in the Revised Version of the Book of Job, ix, 13, — the "proud helpers" in the Authorized, — is referred by Ewald, Renan, and others to this, — possibly to some other group of stars, — with the same significations as those of Kesil, or perhaps "Arrogance," "Rebellion," "Strength," or "Violence."

Later on the Jews called Orion Gibbor, the Giant, considered as Nimrod bound to the sky for rebellion against Jehovah, whence perhaps came the Bands, or Bonds, of Orion, which some say should be Cords, or a Girdle; but the conception of Nimrod as "the mighty Hunter before the Lord," at least in the ordinary sense of that word, is erroneous, for the original, according to universal Eastern tradition, signifies a Lurking Enemy, or a Hunter of men rather than of beasts. This idea may have led to a Latin title, Venator, for the stellar Orion.

But, relative to the renderings of biblical words supposed to refer to sky groups, the Reverend Doctor Adam Clarke wrote in his Commentary

that 'Aish has been generally understood to signify the Great Bear (Ursa Major); Kesil Orion; and Kimah the Pleiades (of Taurus), maybe seen everywhere; but that they do signify these constellations is perfectly uncertain. We have only conjectures concerning their meaning.

As to the Hebrew words, they might as well have been applied to any of the other constellations ot heaven; indeed, it does not appear that constellations at all are meant.

The discordance between the various renderings would indicate the probable correctness of these comments, and that we are in no respect assured as to the identification of Bible star-names. Yet it is worth noting that the three constellations adopted by the translators of the Book of Job and of Amos in the Revised Version fitly represent the cardinal points of the sky: the Bear in the north, Orion in the south, and the Pleiades rising and setting in the east and west.

In the Hindu Brahmanas Orion is personified as Praja-pati, [Allen notes: He was also, and differently, represented in the sky by Hindu astronomers as an immense figure stretching from Bootes through Virgo, Corvus, and Libra into Scorpio] under the form of a stag, Mriga, in pursuit of his own daughter, the beautiful roe Rohini, our Aldebaran. In his unnatural chase he was transfixed by the {Page 310} three-jointed arrow — the Belt stars — shot by the avenging Hunter, Sirius, which even now is seen sticking in his body. This hero was the father of twenty-seven daughters, the wives of King Soma, the Moon, with whom the latter equally divided his time, thus referring to the nakshatras.

The Chinese made up their 4th sieu (Moon Mansion) from the seven conspicuous stars in the shoulders, belt, and knees of Orion, with the title Shen, or Tsan, Three Side by Side, anciently Sal, which may have originated from the Belt having at first alone formed the sieu. Indeed, the lunar asterism was mentioned in the She King as the Three Stars, delta was its determinant; but it overlapped the corresponding nakshatra, although entirely distinct from the 4th mansil in the feet of the Twins. Orion was worshiped in China during the thousand years before our era as Shen, or Sh’i Ch’en, from the moon station; but it also was known as the White Tiger, a title taken from the adjacent Taurus.

The Khorasmians adopted Orion's stars as a figure of their zodiac in place of Gemini.

The early Irish called it Caomai, the Armed King; the Norsemen, Orwandil; and the Old Saxons, Ebuorung, or Ebioring, — words that Grimm thought connected with Iringe, or Iuwaring, of the Milky Way.

Caesius cited the singular title Ragulon, perhaps from Al Rijl, the Arabic designation for the star beta (Rigel), but he made this the equivalent of the Latin Vir, the Man par excellence, the Hero; and suggested that Orion represented Jacob wrestling with the angel; or Joshua, the Hebrew warrior; but Julius Schiller, that it was Saint Joseph, the husband of the Blessed Virgin. Weigel figured it as the Roman Two-headed Eagle; and De Rheita, of 1643, found somewhere among its stars Christ’s Seamless Coat and a Chalice; but he was addicted to such discoveries.

Argelander has 115 stars here; Heis, 136; and Gould, 186; while the whole is as rich in wonderful telescopic objects as it is glorious to the casual observer. Flammarion calls it the California of the sky.


The Belt of Orion

One of the most obvious features people see in the sky is the three stars that form the "belt" across the middle of Orion; three stars in a row that appear to us of almost equal size and of equal distance from each other; Mintaka, the westernmost star in the belt, comes from the Arabic word for belt; Alnilam, the center star in the belt, means "a belt of pearls"; and Alnitak, the eastern-most star, means the girdle.

Orion's studded belt.

— Scott's Lay of the Last Minstrel.

These Arabian titles of delta (Mintaka), epsilon (Alnilam), and zeta (Alnitak), although now applied to them individually, were at first indiscriminately used for the three together; but they had other names also, — Al Nijad, the Belt; Al Nasak, the Line; Al Alkat, the Golden Grains, Nuts, or Spangles; and Fakar al Jauzah, the Vertebrae in the Jauzah's back. Niebuhr cited the modern Arabic Al Mizan al H'akk, the Accurate Scale-beam, so distinguishing them from the curved line of the fainter c, theta, iota, d, and kappa, Al Mizan al Batil, the False Scale-beam. The Chinese similarly knew them as a Weighing-beam, with the stars of the sword as a weight at one end.

They were the Jugula and Jugulae of Plautus, Varro, and others in Roman literature; the Balteus, or Belt, and the Vagina, or Scabbard, of Germanicus. The Zona of Ovid may have been taken from the Zone of Aristotle.

The early Hindus called them Isus Trikanda, the Three-jointed Arrow; but the later transferred to it the nakshatra title, Mrigashiras (or Mrigashirsha).

The Sogdian Rashnawand and the Khorasmian Khawiya have significations akin to our word "Rectitude," which this straight line of stars personified. The Rabbi Isaac Israel said that it was the Mazzaroth, Mazzaloth, or Mazlatha that most of his nation applied to the zodiac.

Riccioli cited Baculus Jacobi, which became in popular English speech Jacob's Rod or Staff, — the German Jakob Stab, — from the tradition given by Eusebius that Israel was an astrologer, as, indeed, he doubtless was; and some had it Peter's Staff. Similarly, it was the Norse Fiskikallar, or Staff; the Scandinavian Frigge Rok, Frigg's, or Freya's, Distaff, — in West Gothland Frigge Rakken, — and Maria Rok, Mary's Distaff; in Schleswig, Peri-pik. In Lapland it was altered to Kalevan Miekka, Kaleva's Sword, or still more changed to Niallar, a Tavern; while the Greenlanders had a very different figure here, — Siktut, the Seal-hunters, bewildered when lost at sea, and transferred together to the sky.

The native Australians knew the stars as Young Men dancing a corroboree, the Pleiades being the Maidens playing for them; and the Poignave Indians of the Orinoco, according to Von Humboldt, as Fuebot, a word that he said resembled the Phoenician.

The University of Leipsic, in 1807, gave to the Belt and the stars in the Sword the new title Napoleon, which a retaliating Englishman offset by Nelson; but neither of these has been recognized on star-maps or globes.

{Page 316} Seamen have called it the Golden Yard-arm; tradesmen, the L, or Ell, the Ell and Yard, the Yard-stick, and the Yard-wand, as occupying 3° between the outer stars, — the Elwand of Gavin Douglas; Catholics, Our Lady's Wand; and the husbandmen of France and along the Rhine, Rateau, the Rake. In Upper Germany it has been the Three Mowers; and it is often the Magi, the Three Kings, the Three Marys, or simply the Three Stars, that Tennyson had in his Princess, —

those three stars of the airy Giants' zone

That glitter burnished by the frosty dark.

The celestial equator now passes through the Belt, but was 12° below it 4000 years ago.

Eridanusthe River



Clues to the meaning of this celestial featureThe Eridanos was a purely mythical river of the north which was later variously identified with the Istros (Danube) of Hungary and the river Padus or Po of northern Italy [1]. The constellation Eridanus traditionally represents the river into which Phaeton fell when slain by Jupiter for having set the world on fire by misguiding the chariot of his father Phoebus.

The story of Phaeton's fall into the Eridanus can be read on Wikipedia and at Theoi Greek Mythology.

Read what writers of myth have said about Eridanus here.

The geological Eridanos

Allen in Star Names writes: "Other authors identified our Eridanus with the fabled stream flowing into the ocean from north-western Europe — a stream that always has been a matter of discussion and speculation (indeed, Strabo called it 'the nowhere existing')". Eridanus or Eridanos, is a name given by geologists to a river which flowed where the Baltic Sea is now. In the Pleistocene era, the current Baltic Sea was the river basin of a river, currently named as Eridanos. It began in Lapland, and then flowed through the area of the modern-day Gulf of Bothnia and Baltic Sea to western Europe, where it had an immense delta which spanned almost the entire current North Sea. It was comparable in size to the current-day Amazon River. The Eridanos disappeared during the first Ice age of 700,000 years ago, which completely covered its valley. When the ice caps retreated the ancient river valley had been scoured out into a deep hollow which became the Baltic Sea. Remnants of the Eridanos are found all through northern Europe, from the Netherlands at its western end to sediments in northern Lapponia (Lapland). [Retrieved from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eridanus_%28geology%29]

Herodotus (5th century BC) writes in Book 3 of his Histories:

"...for I cannot accept the story of a river called by non-Greek peoples the Eridanus, which flows into the northern sea, where amber is supposed to come from.......Yet it cannot be disputed that tin and amber do come to us from what one might call the ends of the earth... [tin from Britain, amber from the Baltic sea]. In any case it does seem to be true that the countries which lie on the circumference of the inhabited world produce the things which we believe to be most rare and beautiful." [http://www.britam.org/now/now305.html]

Myth tells us that amber originated from the tears shed by the Heliades (maybe Cetus) that flowed into the river Eridanus. The tertiary forests of the Baltic sea area contains 90% of the world's amber which is the best amber in the world. This is one certain identification we can make for Eridanus.

The river Eridanus is named after the river-god who was the son of Oceanus and Tethys. He is generally considered as a river of the West. He is featured in Heracles' journey to the Garden of Hesperides (11th labor) and he also played a part in the voyage of the Argonauts (Argo Navis). He was said to have guided the Argo to the land of the Celts and into the Adriatic. [Dictionary of Classical Mythology, Pierre Grimal, p.141].

Eridanus has been identified with a large number of rivers and this could be so because Eridanus might have been a generic term for a river. One of the most common identifications however is with the Po (Latin: Padus, Italian: Po, ancient 'Eridanus') in Italy, and the Greeks made this identification even though they had an Eridanos of their own in Attica, Southern Greece. Strabo a Greek historian, geographer and philosopher, who died ca. AD 24) says:

"I must disregard most of the mythical or false stories [about the River Eridanos, modern-day Po or Padus, in Italy], as, for example, the stories of Phaethon, and of the Heliades that were changed into poplar-trees near the Eridanos (the Eridanos that exists nowhere on earth, although it is spoken of as near the Pados), and of the Elektrides (Amber) Islands that lie off the Pados." - Strabo, Geography 5.1.9 [1] [The Kvarner islands in the Adriatic are identified with the Elektrides]

According to Isidore the name Eridanus seems to have been an appellation for Phaeton, whose body fell into the Eridanus:

“The Padus (i.e. the Po), a river in Italy flowing from the Alpine heights, arises from three sources. The name of one of these sources is Padus, which, having spread out like a lake, sends the river from its lap. The river Padus is named from this. The Greeks also give it the cognomen Eridanus, from Eridanus the son of the Sun, whom people call Phaeton. After being struck by lightning he fell into this river and died. It is fed by melting snows at the rising of the Dog Star [Sirius, in Canis Major, representing the hot dog days of summer which causes ice and snow to melt on mountains and flow into rivers], and with the addition of thirty other streams it empties into the Adriatic Sea near Ravenna.” [The Etymologies of Isidore of Seville, 7th century AD, p.282.]

The name Phaeton comes from the Indo-European root *bhá-1 'To shine'. Derivatives: beacon, beckon, buoy, buoyant, berry (< 'bright-colored fruit'; from Old English berie, berige), bandoleer (from Spanish banda, sash), banderilla, banderole (flag on masthead), banner, banneret+, banneret* (from Latin bandere from Late Latin bandum, banner, standard, 'identifying sign,' also 'company united under a particular banner'), phos-, phot, photo-, photons (electromagnetic waves. "An angle of light coming from above to the earth is a Photon which science calls a messenger particle. An Angel of Light coming down from above is considered spiritually as a messenger of God" [2]), phosphorus (because it glows in the dark, our bones are mainly calcium phosphate), photograph, Phaëthon (Phaeton or Phaethon from Greek phaeithein, to shine, burn), fantasy, fantastic, fancy, pant (frogs pant), -phane, phantasm, phantom, phase (Latin phases also ‘moon phases’, from Greek from phainein ‘to show’,‘appearance’), pheno-, phenomenon, diaphanous, emphasis, emphatic, epiphany (the manifestation of a divine being, sudden realization: the coming of the Magi to the infant Jesus), hierophant (an ancient Greek priest who interpreted sacred mysteries, especially the priest of the

Eleusinian mysteries; also the Pope), phanerogam (a plant that produces seeds, berries), Phanerozoic (570 million years ago to the present period during which the Earth has been inhabited by multicellular organisms that leave fossil traces in the rocks), phantasmagoria, phosphene (a sensation of light as when the eyeballs are pressed through closed lids), sycophant (Greek sykos, fig, + phantes, one who points out), theophany (the appearance of a god in a visible form to a human being), tiffany (a transparent gauze of material from Greek phainein, 'to bring to light'). [Pokorny 1. bha- 104. Watkins]

Eridanus is the constellation of the River, and probably represents a generic river. "Etymologically, the term river denotes the 'banks' of a river, rather than the water that flows between them. Its distant ancestor is

Latin ripa 'bank'" [Ayto], 'that which is cut out by the river'. The word river comes from the Indo-European root *rei-1 'To scratch, tear, cut', from the extended form *reip-. Derivatives: rive (from Old Norse rifa, to tear), riven (torn apart), rift (from Middle English rift, rift, from a Scandinavian akin to Danish rift, breach, from Germanic *rifti), rife, (from Old English ryfe abundant), riparian ('of a river bank'), rivage (shore), river (French riviere, 'river', 'land lying along a river; river', from Late Latin riparia, 'land lying along a riverbank', feminine of riparius, 'of a riverbank', from ripa, 'riverbank'), arrive ('to reach the shore'), rivet (from Latin ripa, bank < 'that which is cut out by a river'). [Pokorny 1 rei- 857. Watkins] Riparia is a genus of passerine birds in the swallow family. They nest in tunnels on sand of riverbanks. The songbird or 'sand martin' is Riparia riparia.

Some etymologists see the word river as a cognate of Greek eripne, ereipia, ereipein: "Latin riparius, from ripa ... cognate with Greek ereipein plunge down, from Indo-European *reip-/rip-" [Chambers Dictionary of Etymology]. Miriam-Webster's Dictionary says of the word river; "perhaps akin to Greek ereipein to tear down". Greek ereipein comes from the Indo-European root *rep- 'To snatch'. Derivatives: rapacious, rape+ (the sex crime), rapid, rapids (an extremely fast-moving part of a river, caused by a steep descent in the riverbed), rapture (from the Latin 'rapiemur'), rapine (forcible seizure of another's property), rapt (deeply moved or delighted; enraptured, 'taken and carried up to heaven, carried away by force, carried away in spirit'), ravage (devastate), raven* (to consume greedily; devour, to seek or seize as prey or plunder), ravin (voracity; rapaciousness, the act or practice of preying), ravine (a deep narrow valley or gorge in the earth's surface worn by running water), ravish, erepsin (an enzyme in intestinal and pancreatic juices that functions in the breakdown of polypeptides into amino acids), subreption (a calculated misrepresentation of the truth through concealment of the facts), surreptitious (secret or sneaky methods, from Latin rapere, to seize), raptor (a bird of prey), ravenous. [Pokorny rep- 865. Watkins] Klein says harpy is probably related to rapid. Psalterium Georgii, George's harp: was a modern constellation formed in 1781 out of stars taken from Eridanus, and is located between Eridanus and Cetus. Psalterium Georgii, is no longer considered an official constellation and its stars have been returned to Eridanus.

“A river (fluvius) is an unceasing flow of water, named from perpetually flowing (fluere). Strictly speaking, flumen is the water itself, while fluvius is the channel of the water. The word flumen is earlier than fluvius, that is, water comes before its flow” [The Etymologies of Isidore of Seville, 7th century AD, p.280.]

The Latin word for river is flumen and titles for Eridanus were Flumen, Fluvius, from the Indo-European root *bhleu- 'To swell, well up, overflow'. Derivatives: bloat, fluctuate, fluent, fluid, flume, fluor, fluoro-, flush2, fluvial, flux, affluent (notion of 'a plentiful flow'), confluent, effluent, effluvium, efflux, fluoride, fluviomarine, influence, influenza, influx, mellifluous, reflux, solifluction, superfluous, (these words from Latin fluere, to flow, and -fluus, flowing), phlyctena (a small blister or vesicle caused by a mild burn, from Greek phlein, phlzein, to boil over). Possibly Greek phloos, phloios, tree bark (< 'swelling with growth'); phloem (the food-conducting tissue of vascular plants). [Pokorny bhleu- 158. Watkins]

"The river may have been named Eridanos (Early Burnt) after the story of Phaethon, the boy who attempted to drive the chariot of the sun, and fell flaming into the waters of this mythical river" [3].

Herodotus, (5th century BC). The Histories (ed. A. D. Godley) book 3, chapter 115, section 2:

"The very name Eridanus betrays itself as not a foreign but a Greek name, invented by some poet; nor for all my diligence have I been able to learn from one who has seen it that there is a sea beyond Europe".

If from Greek origin as Herodotus speculated, the word Eridanus could be analysed as 'early river', or 'earlier a river', as was the Eridanus where the Baltic Sea is now. The eri- of Eridanus would be related to Greek eri, and cognate with the English word 'early'; The -danus of Eridanus would be cognate with the Proto-Indo-European word for 'river'; *danu- 'River'. This root is contained in a number of European river names: Don (river in Scotland), Danube (ancient Greek Istros, from Latin Danuvius, German Donau), Don (river in Russia) from Russian Don, Dnieper, Dniester ('nearer river, river in front') [Pokorny da- 175. Watkins] It is also in the names Rhone from Ro-Danus, and the Hebrew Jordan (perhaps meaning 'garden river').

Klein sees a relationship with the words Danube and Danae (daughter of Acrisius and mother of Perseus): "Danaus a king of Argos, who commanded his fifty daughters, the Danaides [see story], to murder their husbands on the wedding night; 'the Danaans', i.e. 'descendants or subjects of Danaus', which probably derives from Hebrew-Phoenician Danish and literally means 'one who judges'; the Danaans are identical with the men of Tanaus, king of the Scythians, who allegedly came to Argos in the 15th century B.C. and became blended with the Greeks. Kretschmer also assumes that there is a relationship between Tanaus and the river names Tanais (now called the Don) and Latin Danubius (whence French and English Danube), and Danu-, name of an Indo-Iranian people". The Danes live near the Baltic sea which was the river basin of the river, currently named Eridanos.

The word Dane comes from the Indo-European root *dan- 'Low ground'. Derivatives: den, from Old English denn, 'valley', 'lair of a wild beast' and probably cognate with Old Indian dhanuh, 'sandbank' [Klein]. Possibly from Old English dene; the Danes, and Old Norse Danr, Dane, Danish, Denmark. [Pokorny 2 dhen- 249. Watkins]. Klein puts Daniel (from Hebrew 'God is my judge'; -el, god) here, also thenar (the fleshy mass on the palm of the hand at the base of the thumb).

A number of tribes are believed to be related to this root: The Tuatha De Danann ('People of the goddess Danu') are the Irish race of gods founded by the goddess Danu. Danaoi was the name of the Greeks (or a tribe of Greeks) during the Trojan war. The tribe of Dan from Israel.

Quotes on Eridanus from mythology

Typhon to Zeus:

I will drag down from heaven the fiery Eridanos whose course is among the stars, and bring him back to a new home in the Celtic land: he shall be water again, and the sky shall be bare of the river of fire." [Nonnus, Dionysiaca 23.380 (4)]

Ovid, Metamorphoses 2.319 (5):

But Phaethon [after being struck by Zeus from the chariot of the Sun], flames ravaging his glowing hair, is hurled headlong, leaving a long trail in the air, as sometimes a star does in the clear sky, appearing to fall although it does not fall. Far from his own country, in a distant part of the world, the river god Eridanus takes him from the air, and bathes his smoke-blackened face. There the Italian nymphs consign his body, still smoking from that triple-forked flame, to the earth, and they also carve a verse in the rock:

HERE PHAETHON LIES WHO THE SUN’S JOURNEY MADEDARED ALL THOUGH HE BY WEAKNESS WAS BETRAYED

Phaethon falls into the river Eridanus where, according to Apollonius Rhodius (3rd century BC), the Argonauts could smell the stench of his smouldering corpse when they came upon it in their travels:

"And far on sped Argo under sail, and entered deep into the stream of Eridanus; where once, smitten on the breast by the blazing bolt, Phaethon half-consumed fell from the chariot of Helios into the opening of that deep lake; and even now it belcheth up heavy steam clouds from the smouldering wound. And no bird spreading its light wings can cross that water; but in mid-course it plunges into the flame, fluttering. And all around the maidens, the daughters of Helios, enclosed in tall poplars, wretchedly wail a piteous plaint; and from their eyes they shed on the ground bright drops of amber. These are dried by the sun upon the sand; but whenever the waters of the dark lake flow over the strand before the blast of the wailing wind, then they roll on in a mass into Eridanus with swelling tide. But the Celts have attached this story to them, that these are the tears of Leto's son, Apollo, that are borne along by the eddies, the countless tears that he shed aforetime when he came to the sacred race of the Hyperboreans and left shining heaven at the chiding of his father, being in wrath concerning his son [Asclepius, see Ophiuchus] whom divine Coronis bare in bright Lacereia at the mouth of Amyrus. And such is the story told among these men. But no desire for food or drink seized the heroes nor were their thoughts turned to joy. But they were sorely afflicted all day, heavy and faint at heart, with the noisome stench, hard to endure, which the streams of Eridanus sent forth from Phaethon still burning; and at night they heard the piercing lament of the daughters of Helios, wailing with shrill voice; and, as they lamented, their tears were borne on the water like drops of oil." [Apollonius Rhodius, Argonautica 11, 592-626]

His river receives the body of Phaethon after the destruction of the sun chariot.

"[Description of an ancient Greek painting:] Golden are the tears of the Heliades. The story is that they are shed for Phaethon; for in his passion for driving this son of Helios (the Sun) ventured to mount his father’s chariot, but because he did not keep a firm rein he came to grief and fell into the Eridanos ... Now the youth is [depicted] thrown from the chariot and is falling headlong - for his hair is on fire and his breast smouldering with the heat; his fall will end in the river Eridanos and will furnish this stream with a mythical tale ... As for the women on the bank, not yet completely transformed into trees, men say that the Heliades on account of their brother’s mishap changed their nature and became trees, and that they shed tears [golden-amber] ...The river [Eridanos] also laments, emerging from his eddying stream, and offers his bosom to receive Phaethon - for the attitude is of one ready to receive – and soon he will harvest the tears of the Heliades; for the breezes and the chills which it exhales will turn into stone the tear-drops of the poplar trees, and it will catch them as they fall and conduct them through its bright waters to the barbarians by Okeanos." [Philostratus the Elder, Imagines 1.11 (6)]

[7] "Old illuminated manuscripts added a venerable river-god lying on the surface of the stream, with urn, aquatic plants, and rows of stars; for all of which the Hyginus of 1488 substitutes the figure of a nude woman, with stars lining the lower bank. [Allen, Star Names].

"Nymphs believed to be daughters of Zeus and Themis lived in a cave on the river Eridanus" [Apollod. ii. 5. § 11; Schol. ad Apollon. Rhod. iv. 1396; Hesych. s. v. Themistiades http://www.theoi.com/Titan/TitanisThemis.html ]


Fixed stars in Eridanus


phi 29PIS36 0ARI59 033 40 51 -51 44 35 -58 59 07 3.78 B8

kappa 06ARI33 07ARI56 036 17 16 -47 55 39 -57 00 49 4.44 B5

iota 17ARI23 18ARI46 039 40 24 -40 04 07 -51 42 57 4.06 G7

Acamar theta 21ARI52 23ARI16 044 05 29 -40 30 15 -53 44 38 3.42 A2

e 25ARI45 27ARI08 049 28 59 -43 15 36 -58 06 14 4.30 G7

tau (1) 00TAU43 02TAU06 040 41 31 -18 46 59 -32 45 07 4.61 F5

Angetenar tau (2) 01TAU14 02TAU38 042 11 33 -21 12 33 -35 31 23 4.81 K0

tau (11) 03TAU09 04TAU32 045 02 48 -23 49 10 -33 54 37 4.16 A0

y 03TAU32 04TAU55 053 49 29 -40 26 16 -57 05 22 4.58 K0

Azha eta 07TAU21 08TAU45 043 29 45 -09 05 46 -24 32 53 4.05 K2

h 07TAU32 08TAU55 055 14 42 -37 28 13 -54 50 33 4.64 K5

tau (16) 08TAU43 10TAU06 049 19 22 -21 56 20 -38 30 41 3.95 M3

f 09TAU10 10TAU33 056 41 16 -37 46 20 -55 33 59 4.86 B8

g 10TAU22 11TAU45 056 53 44 -36 21 02 -54 18 50 4.24 G5

Zibal zeta 12TAU26 13TAU50 048 21 02 -09 00 15 -25 55 38 4.90 A3

sigma 12TAU36 13TAU59 057 56 09 -34 52 45 -53 14 58 5.12 B5

tau 12TAU49 14TAU12 052 53 41 -21 47 58 -39 26 40 4.32 B8

tau 6 15TAU59 17TAU22 056 10 26 -23 23 46 -41 53 11 4.33 F3

epsilon 16TAU48 18TAU11 052 38 36 -09 37 35 -27 43 30 3.81 K2

tau 8 17TAU29 18TAU52 057 53 43 -24 45 33 -43 39 09 4.76 B5

Rana delta 19TAU28 20TAU52 055 12 47 -09 55 53 -28 41 32 3.72 K0

pi 19TAU35 20TAU58 055 56 39 -12 15 26 -31 07 28 4.64 M2

tau 9 19TAU35 20TAU58 059 26 52 -24 09 25 -43 28 44 4.69 A0

upsilon 21TAU07 22TAU30 064 00 01 -33 55 09 -53 58 12 3.59 B9

Zaurak gamma 22TAU28 23TAU52 058 55 26 -13 38 58 -33 12 22 3.19 M0

upsilon 23TAU06 24TAU29 065 32 21 -34 07 55 -54 32 38 4.06 M1

Beid omicron 1 28TAU02 29TAU26 062 21 21 -06 58 00 -27 27 38 4.14 F1

upsilon (50 28TAU07 29TAU30 067 53 12 -29 52 00 -50 56 37 4.59 G6

Theemin upsilon (52) 28TAU29 29TAU53 068 24 05 -30 39 49 -51 49 23 3.88 K0

Keid omicron2 (40) 28TAU52 00ARI11 063 14 33 -07 43 46 -28 23 17 4.48 K0

Sceptrum 53 03GEM51 05GEM15 068 58 20 -14 24 02 -36 00 25 3.98 K4

nu 05GEM26 06GEM49 068 27 17 -03 27 11 -25 07 46 4.12 B2

mu 07GEM57 09GEM20 070 45 00 -03 20 41 -25 22 26 4.18 B5

omega (61) 09GEM40 11GEM03 072 36 33 -05 32 05 -27 48 05 4.45 A4

Cursa beta 13GEM53 15GEM17 076 20 51 -05 08 58 -27 52 02 2.92 A3

Achernar alpha 13PIS53 15PIS19 023 57 48 -57 29 25 -59 22 32 0.46 B9

chi 24PIS50 26PIS13 028 30 12 -51 51 26 -57 00 53 3.73 G4

Fixed stars in Eridanus


phi 29PIS36 0ARI59 033 40 51 -51 44 35 -58 59 07 3.78 B8

kappa 06ARI33 07ARI56 036 17 16 -47 55 39 -57 00 49 4.44 B5

iota 17ARI23 18ARI46 039 40 24 -40 04 07 -51 42 57 4.06 G7

Acamar theta 21ARI52 23ARI16 044 05 29 -40 30 15 -53 44 38 3.42 A2

e 25ARI45 27ARI08 049 28 59 -43 15 36 -58 06 14 4.30 G7

tau (1) 00TAU43 02TAU06 040 41 31 -18 46 59 -32 45 07 4.61 F5

Angetenar tau (2) 01TAU14 02TAU38 042 11 33 -21 12 33 -35 31 23 4.81 K0

tau (11) 03TAU09 04TAU32 045 02 48 -23 49 10 -33 54 37 4.16 A0

y 03TAU32 04TAU55 053 49 29 -40 26 16 -57 05 22 4.58 K0

Azha eta 07TAU21 08TAU45 043 29 45 -09 05 46 -24 32 53 4.05 K2

h 07TAU32 08TAU55 055 14 42 -37 28 13 -54 50 33 4.64 K5

tau (16) 08TAU43 10TAU06 049 19 22 -21 56 20 -38 30 41 3.95 M3

f 09TAU10 10TAU33 056 41 16 -37 46 20 -55 33 59 4.86 B8

g 10TAU22 11TAU45 056 53 44 -36 21 02 -54 18 50 4.24 G5

Zibal zeta 12TAU26 13TAU50 048 21 02 -09 00 15 -25 55 38 4.90 A3

sigma 12TAU36 13TAU59 057 56 09 -34 52 45 -53 14 58 5.12 B5

tau 12TAU49 14TAU12 052 53 41 -21 47 58 -39 26 40 4.32 B8

tau 6 15TAU59 17TAU22 056 10 26 -23 23 46 -41 53 11 4.33 F3

epsilon 16TAU48 18TAU11 052 38 36 -09 37 35 -27 43 30 3.81 K2

tau 8 17TAU29 18TAU52 057 53 43 -24 45 33 -43 39 09 4.76 B5

Rana delta 19TAU28 20TAU52 055 12 47 -09 55 53 -28 41 32 3.72 K0

pi 19TAU35 20TAU58 055 56 39 -12 15 26 -31 07 28 4.64 M2

tau 9 19TAU35 20TAU58 059 26 52 -24 09 25 -43 28 44 4.69 A0

upsilon 21TAU07 22TAU30 064 00 01 -33 55 09 -53 58 12 3.59 B9

Zaurak gamma 22TAU28 23TAU52 058 55 26 -13 38 58 -33 12 22 3.19 M0

upsilon 23TAU06 24TAU29 065 32 21 -34 07 55 -54 32 38 4.06 M1

Beid omicron 1 28TAU02 29TAU26 062 21 21 -06 58 00 -27 27 38 4.14 F1

upsilon (50 28TAU07 29TAU30 067 53 12 -29 52 00 -50 56 37 4.59 G6

Theemin upsilon (52) 28TAU29 29TAU53 068 24 05 -30 39 49 -51 49 23 3.88 K0

Keid omicron2 (40) 28TAU52 00ARI11 063 14 33 -07 43 46 -28 23 17 4.48 K0

Sceptrum 53 03GEM51 05GEM15 068 58 20 -14 24 02 -36 00 25 3.98 K4

nu 05GEM26 06GEM49 068 27 17 -03 27 11 -25 07 46 4.12 B2

mu 07GEM57 09GEM20 070 45 00 -03 20 41 -25 22 26 4.18 B5

omega (61) 09GEM40 11GEM03 072 36 33 -05 32 05 -27 48 05 4.45 A4

Cursa beta 13GEM53 15GEM17 076 20 51 -05 08 58 -27 52 02 2.92 A3

Achernar alpha 13PIS53 15PIS19 023 57 48 -57 29 25 -59 22 32 0.46 B9

chi 24PIS50 26PIS13 028 30 12 -51 51 26 -57 00 53 3.73 G4

Johann Bode's Uranographia, 1801


. . . amnis, quod de coelo exoritur sub solio Jovis.

— Plautus' Trinummus.

the starry Stream.

For this a remnant of Eridanos,

That stream of tears, 'neath the gods' feet is borne.

— Brown's Aratos.

Eridanus, the River the French Eridan, the Italian Eridano, and the German Fluss Eridanus, is divided into the Northern and the Southern Stream; the former winding from the star Rigel of Orion to the paws of Cetus; the latter extending thence southwards, southeast, and finally southwest below the horizon of New York City, 2° beyond the lucida Achernar, near the junction of Phoenix, Tucana, Hydrus, and Horologium. Excepting Achernar, however, it has no star larger than a 3rd-magnitude, although it is the longest constellation in the sky, and Gould catalogues in it 293 naked-eye components.

Although the ancients popularly regarded it as of indefinite extent, in classical astronomy the further termination was at the star theta (Acamar) in 40° 47' of south declination; but modern astronomers have carried it to about 60°.

With the Greeks it usually was delta Potamos, the River (or bed of a river), adopted by the Latins as Amnis, Flumen, Fluvius, and specially as Padus and Eridanus; this last, as Eridanos, having appeared for it with Aratos and Eratosthenes. Geographically the word is first found in Hesiod's Theogonia for the Phasis [This is the modern Rion, or Rioni, the Fasch of the Turks; this last title being a general appellation in early Oriental geography for all rivers, perhaps from tile Sanskrit Phas, Water, or Was, still seen in the German Wasser] in Asia, celebrated in classic history and mythology,

That rises deep and stately rowls along into the Euxine Sea near the spot where the Argonauts secured the golden fleece.

Other authors identified our Eridanus with the fabled stream flowing into the ocean from northwestern Europe, — a stream that always has been a matter of discussion and speculation (indeed, Strabo called it "the nowhere existing"), — or with Homer's Ocean Stream flowing around the earth, whence the early titles for these stars, Oceanus and the River of Ocean. They also have been associated with the famous little brook under the Acropolis; with the Ligurian Bodencus — the Padus of ancient, and the Po {Page 216} of modern Italy, — famous in all classical times as the largest of that country's rivers, Vergil's Rex fluviorum; with the Ebro of Spain; with the Granicus of Alexander the Great; with the Rhenus and the Rhodanus, — our Rhine and Rhone; and with the modern Radaune, flowing into the Vistula at Danzig.

Some of these originals of our River, especially the Padus, were seats of the early amber trade, thus recalling the story of the Heliades, whose tears, shed at the death of their brother Phaethon, turned into amber as they fell into "that stream of tears" on which that unfortunate was hurled by Jove after his disastrous attempt to drive the chariot of the sun. This was a favorite theme with poets, from Ovid, in the Metamorphoses, to Dean Milman, in Samor, and the foundation of the story that the river was transferred to the sky to console Apollo for the loss of his son.

But none of these comparatively northern streams suit the stellar position of our Eridanus, for it is a southern constellation, and it would seem that its earthly counterpart ought to be found in a corresponding quarter. In harmony with this, we know that Eratosthenes and the scholiasts on Germanicus and Hyginus said that it represented the Nile, the only noteworthy river that flows from the south to the north, as this is said to do when

rising above the horizon. Thus it was Nilus in the Alfonsine Tables, the edition of 1521 saying, Stellatio fluvii id est Eridanus sive Gyon sire Nilus; Gyon1 coming from the statement in Genesis ii, 13:

the name of the second river is Gihon: the same is it that compasseth the whole land of Cush;

this latter being misunderstood for the Nile country instead of the Asiatic Kush that was unquestionably intended by the sacred writer. La Lande cited Mulda, equivalent to another title for the stellar Eridanus, — Melas, Black, — and so again connected with Egypt, whose native name, Khem, has this same meaning, well describing the color of the fertile deposit that the Nile waters leave on the land. This became the Latin Melo, an early name for the Nile, as it also was for the constellation.

This allusion to the Nile recalls the ancient wide-spread belief that it and the Euphrates were but different portions of the same stream; and Brown, in his monograph The Eridanus, argues that we should identify the

Euphrates with the sky figure. He finds his reasons in the fact that both are frequently alluded to, from very early days to the classical age, as The River, {Page 217} the Euphrates originally being Pura or Purat, the Water, as the Nile was, and even now is, loma or lauma, the Sea; that they resemble each other as long and winding streams with two great branches; that each is connected with a Paradise — Eden and Heaven; that the adjoining constellations seem to be Euphratean in origin; and that each is in some way associated with the Nile, and each with the overthrow of the sun-god.

There is much in the Euphratean records alluding to a stellar stream that may be our Eridanus, — possibly the Milky Way, another sky river; yet it is to the former that the passage translated by Fox Talbot possibly refers:

Like the stars of heaven he shall shine; like the River of Night he shall flow;

and its title has been derived from the Akkadian Aria-dan, the Strong River (-dan means river). George Smith thinks that the heavenly Eridanus may have been the Euphratean Erib-me-gali.

Its hither termination at the star Rigel gave it the title River of Orion, used by Hipparchos, Proclus, and others; and Landseer wrote: the stars now constellated as Erydanus were originally known in different countries by the names of Nile, Nereus, and Ocean, or Neptune.

Riccioli cited for it Vardi, and a Moorish title, according to Bayer, was Guad, — the 1720 edition of the Uranometria has Guagi, — all these from the "Arabic wadi, and reminding us of the Wadi al Kabir, the Great River, the Spaniards' Guadalquivir; but the common designation among the Arabians was Al Nahr, the River, transcribed Nar and Nahar, — Chilmead's Alvahar; this Semitic word, occasionally written Nahal, also having been adduced as a derivation of the word Nile.

Assemani quoted Al Kaff Algeria from the Borgian globe for stars in the bend of the stream; but Ideler claimed these for AI KaffalJidhmah of Cetus.

Caesius thought our Eridanus the sky representative of the Jordan, or of the Red Sea, which the Israelites passed over as on dry land.

Old illuminated manuscripts added a venerable river-god lying on the surface of the stream, with urn, aquatic plants, and rows of stars; for all of which the Hyginus of 1488 substitutes the figure of a nude woman, with stars lining the lower bank. Bayer's illustration is quite artistic, with reeds and sedge on the margins. The monster Cetus often is depicted with his fore paws, or flippers, in the River.

Fornax Chemicathe Chemical Furnace



Clues to the meaning of this celestial featureFirst named the Chemical Furnace, this constellation was formed by Nicolas Louis de Lacaille, 1752, in honor of the accomplishments of his good friend and famous chemist Antoine Laurent Lavoisier who leaves us the Metric System, modern chemistry, and Fornax - his combustion furnace. Lacaille created Fornax out of several faint stars in the constellation Eridanus.

In ancient Rome, Fornax was the goddess of bread and baking, her festival was the Fornacalia. It was held in the Forum by the Curia, or ancient unions of kinsmen, under the superintendence of the Curio Maximus, or president of the masters of the curia. Corn was baked in ovens in the ancient fashion. All who missed the festival were called fools (stulti), as being supposed not to know which was their curia, and had to make an offering at the so-called Feast of Fools (stultorum feria) on the 17th February, the day of the Quirinalia [1].

The word Fornax comes from the Indo-European *gwher- 'To heat, warm'. Derivatives include: burn+, brimstone (Middle English brinnen, 'to burn', and ston, 'stone', hence the word literally means 'burnstone'), brindled (tawny or grayish with streaks or spots of a darker color, brindled cats are tabby cats, from Old Norse brenna, to burn), brand (from Old French brand, sword), firebrand (a burning stick carried as a torch or a weapon, also somebody with a strong or aggressive personality who encourages unrest), brandy, brandish, therm, -therm, thermo-, thermos, -thermy, hypothermia, thermometer, (these words from Greek thermos), forceps (from *formi-caps, from formus, 'hot', and capere, 'to catch'), fornicate (brothels were called fornices, i.e. 'arches', because prostitutes used to gather 'under the arches' of certain buildings of ancient Rome), Fornax, furnace, hornito (an oven-shaped mound in volcanic regions, sometimes emitting smoke or vapor, from Spanish horno, 'oven', from Latin furnus), fornix (a structure or fold in the shape of an arch, especially either of two bands of white fibers that meet at the base of the brain), ghee (Sanskrit ghrtam, ghee, clarified butter). [Pokorny gwher- 493, bh(e)reu- 143. Watkins] California from 'calida fornax', 'hot furnace'.

'Therma' (hot) is from the town in Greece called Therma, known for its hot springs. Therma (Therme) was a town in ancient Mygdonia (which was later incorporated into Macedon), situated at the northeastern extremity of a great gulf of the Aegean Sea, the Thermaic Gulf. Therma was later renamed Thessalonica (alternative name Salonica) by Cassander [2].

Pokorny links the two Indo-European roots; *gwher- (Pokarny 493) and *bhreue- (Pokarny 143). Chambers (Dictionary of Etymology) says the word burn (from *gwher-) is related to brew (from *bhreue-) through an Indo-European present stem *bhre-n-u- to the root *bhreu- of Old English breowan, to brew. Klein (Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary) also gives an explanation of how the words burn, brew, and bread, are related to each other. This gives a link between the two words Fornax and bread. Fornax was the goddess of bread and the furnace. Indo-European root *bhreue- Also bhreu-, bhreeu-. 'To boil, bubble, effervesce, burn, with derivatives referring to cooking and brewing': brew (from Old English breowan, to brew), bread (from Old English bread), blaff, broth (from Old English broth), broil* (a rowdy argument, a brawl), embroil, imbroglio (a difficult or intricate situation, from Vulgar Latin *brodum, broth), brood (keep eggs warm, from Old English brod), breed (to beget or cherish offspring, breed, 'a warming,' hatching), braise (simmer), braze* (to solder two pieces of metal together), brazier* (a metal pan for holding burning coals or charcoal), breeze* (the refuse left when coke or charcoal is made, from Old French brese, burning coal, ember), yeast, barm (the yeasty foam that rises to the surface of fermenting malt liquors), barmy (full of barm, foamy, or eccentric, daft), ferment, fervent, fervid (marked by great passion or zeal), fervor (from Latin febris, fever), defervescence (the abatement of a fever), effervesce (from Latin fervere, to be boiling or fermenting), bourn+ (also bourne, a small stream, a brook), burn* (a small stream, a brook, from Old English burn, burna, spring, stream), phreatic (relating to ground water, from Greek phrear, spring, the Greek word phreatos meaning well or underground water, this term refers to types of plants with extensive root systems that utilize water from the underlying water table). [Pokorny bh(e)reu- 143, 2. bher- 132. Watkins] Perhaps Brazil from Portuguese brassa, or a derivative of Old French breze (whence French braise), 'glowing charcoal' [Klein].

John Ayto explains that the word breath comes ultimately from the Indo-European base *bhreue- 'burn, heat' (source also of braise, breed, brood, and probably brawn), and in its original Indo-European form *bhretos appears to have meant something like the 'steam, vapor, etc given off by something burning or cooking.' ... [John Ayto, Dictionary of Word Origins]

The word broth (from *bhreue-) resembles the word brothel. Brothels were called fornices (hence fornication), i.e. 'arches', because prostitutes used to gather 'under the arches' of certain buildings of ancient Rome [3]. The word brothel comes from another *bhreu- root: *bhreu- Also bhreue-. 'To cut, break up'. Derivatives: brittle, brothel (from Old English breothan, to deteriorate, from Germanic *breuthan, to be broken up), bruise, frustule (the hard, siliceous bivalve shell of a diatom), frustum (the portion of a solid – normally a cone or pyramid – which lies between two parallel planes cutting the solid). [Pokorny 1. bhreu- 169, 2. bhreu-s- 171. Watkins]

The word brand from Old French brand, and Old Norse brandr, also meant a 'sword, or sword-blade.'

"In alchemical terms, 'the Philosopher's Sword' is the fire in the furnace" [Penguin Symbols].

An athanor, or alchemists' furnace, is an Arabic word 'al-tannur', Hebrew tannur, related to Akkadian tinnuru, meaning an furnace or oven, usually shaped like an egg [4]. Built of brick or clay, it was designed to keep an even heat over long periods of time. The alchemists considered it an incubator and sometimes referred to it as the 'House of the Chick.' [5] The making of the Philosopher's Stone (also referred to as the Philosopher's Egg) requires the combination of the purest possible sulfur and the purest possible mercury, to be combined in the athanor [6].

Alchemists regarded the athanor, in which the process of transmutation took place, [as] an egg-shaped matrix, like the world itself, which is a gigantic egg, the Orphic egg which may be found at the base of all initiatory rites both in Egypt and in Greece. And just as Ruah Elohim, the Spirit of the Lord, floats upon the waters, so ought the spirit of the world, the spirit of life, to float above the waters of the athanor. The alchemist needed the skill to make this spirit his own.(GRIM p. 392) [Penguin Symbols]

English translations of the Bible commonly refer to sulfur as brimstone (brim- from *gwher-, means 'burnstone', from the same root as the word fornax). The 'smell of sulfur' usually refers to the odor of hydrogen sulfide, e.g. from rotten eggs. [Alchemically, the eagle (Aquila) was a symbol of purified sulfur and Greek aetos, eagle, is cognate with the words avis and egg]. The words brood, meaning keeping eggs warm, and breed meaning to give birth or hatch (from *bhreue-), suggests something to do with eggs. There is a likeness between the word 'oven' (which the Latins called fornax), and the Latin word for egg; 'ovum'? The furnace is often likened to the womb in alchemy and symbolism; but I suggest the ovary is more appropriate (one in birds, two in mammals; there is a two-headed eagle symbol?). [The shell of the egg (and seashells) might be adjacent Sculptor; the words sculpt- and shell are related.]

The Latin word fornix means an arch, a vaulted ceiling, and a brothel. In ancient Rome prostitutes were restricted to soliciting only under the archways, or fornixes of the outer city gates. The fornix in the brain is an arch-like shape like a vaulted ceiling. A fornix is also found at the superior end of the vagina, described as a 'vaulted ceiling' surrounding the cervix of the uterus. Both fornixes in the body have only architectural purposes [7].

“Fornicator (fornicarius) . . . Prostitute (fornicatrix), a woman whose body is public and common. Such bodies would lie prostrate under arches, places that they call fornices - hence also the term 'female fornicator' (fornicaria). (Vergil Aen. 6.631: And with the archway (fornix) opposite)” [The Etymologies of Isidore of Seville, 7th century AD, 219.]

Latin far is cognate with the word 'barley' (not 'spelt'):

“An oven (furnus) is a term derived from 'spelt' (far), because bread made from spelt is baked there” [The Etymologies of Isidore of Seville, 7th century AD, 311.]

The name California (calida fornax, Latin for hot furnace) is most commonly believed to have derived from a fictional character, Queen Califia, in a 1510 book The Exploits of Esplandian, about a fictional paradise peopled by black Amazons and ruled by Queen Califia [8]. There might be a resemblance in mythology to the capital of the Amazons, Themiscyra, on the river Thermodon (maybe related to therm?), where Hercules encountered the Amazons, his ninth labor was to retrieve the girdle of Hippolyte, queen of the Amazons. The Amazon river runs mostly through Brazil (the word Brazil is possibly from *bhreue-).


Fixed stars in Fornax


nu Fornax 14ARI57 16ARI20 030 33 45 -29 32 10 -38 55 27 4.74 A0

beta Fornax 18TAU33 19TAU56 041 44 57 -32 36 54 ? 4.50 G6


Fornax Chemica, or Fornax Chymiae, the Chemical Furnace was formed by La Caille from stars within the southern bend of the River (Eridanus); but modem astronomers, by whom it is still recognized, have abbreviated the title to Fornax.

The Chinese know it as Tien Yu, Heaven's Temporary Granary.

Bode changed the early name in 1782 to Apparatus chemicus, and translated it as the Chemische Apparat, Chymische Ofen, and l’Apparat Chimique, an alteration in honor of the celebrated chemist Antoine Laurent Lavoisier. These titles, however, have fallen into disuse. Gould assigns to it no stars, from 3.6 to 7th magnitudes. alpha, the lucida, is a double of 4th and 7th magnitudes, 3" apart, with a position angle of 320°, and may be binary. It comes to the meridian on the 19th of December.

Canis Majorthe Greater Dog



Clues to the meaning of this celestial featureThis constellation is said to represent the dog set by Jupiter to guard Europa whom he had stolen and conveyed to Crete. According to other accounts, however, it was either Laelaps, the hound of Actaeon; that of Diana's nymph Procris; that given by Aurora to Cephalus; or finally one of the dogs of Orion. [Fixed Stars and Constellations in Astrology, Vivian E. Robson, 1923, p.34.]

Read the star lore of Sirius by Richard Hinckley Allen (Star Names) here

Read quotes from the ancients on Sirius from the Theoi Project website here

The word Sirius was used interchangeably for both the constellation Canis Major, and the alpha star. Sirius is a Latinized version of Greek seirios, translated 'scorching', and signifying brightness and heat, from seiraino, 'dry up, parch'. Sirius was associated with the hottest part of summer, the Dog Days, and also with causing the Nile floods because the heat causes ice and snow to melt on mountains which flows into rivers. The rising of Sirius marked the commencement of the ancient Egyptian new (sidereal) year, the annus canarius and annus cynicus of the Romans.

Allen in Star Names says the Latins adopted their Canis from the Greeks, sometimes Canicula in the diminutive with the adjectival candens, shining. Varro (p.283) referring to Sirius, says signum candens, ‘scorching sign' properly ‘white-hot'. Isidore sees a link with Latin canis, dog, and Latin candere, shining bright:

"The Dog Star (canicula Stella), which is also called Sirius, is in the center of the sky during the summer months. When the Sun ascends to it, and it is in conjunction with the Sun, the Sun's heat is doubled, and bodies are affected by the heat and weakened. Hence also the 'dog days' are named from this star, when purgings are harmful. It is called the 'Dog' (canis) Star because it afflicts the body with illness, or because of the brightness (candor) of its flame, because it is of a kind that seems to shine more brightly than the others. It is said they named Sirius so that people might recognize the constellation better” [The Etymologies of Isidore of Seville, 7th century AD, p.105.]

Some authors say that a period of about forty days, beginning three weeks before the annual Sun-Sirius conjunction and ending three weeks after, constituted the 'dog days'. "They called the period from July 3 to August 11, ‘caniculares dies’ – ‘the Dog Days’" [1]. Allen in Star Names says that Pliny said the dog days began with the helical rising of of the alpha star of Canis Minor, Procyon (pro-cyon meaning 'before the dog'), on the 19th of July (Procyon seems to rise two or three days before Sirius [2]). Nowadays because of precession the dates would be around June 17th to July 27th. "Homer alluded to it in the Iliad as Oporinos, "the Star of Autumn"; but the season intended was the last days of July, all of August, and part of September — the latter part of summer" [Allen Star Names]. In Homer's time, 8th century BC, the 'dog days' would be from July to late August (I think).

Sirius was connected with Isis, or an aspect of Isis, as Allen in Star Names explains: In the earlier temple service of Denderah it was Isis Sothis, at Philae Isis Sati, or Satit, and, for a long time in Egypt's mythology, the resting-place of the soul of that goddess, and thus a favorable star. Plutarch made distinct reference to this; although it should be noted that the word Isis at times also indicated anything luminous to the eastward heralding sunrise [Allen, Star Names, Sirius]. "In the Lamentations of Isis and Nephthys, from a fourth century BC papyrus, Isis asserts that she is Sothis (Sirius), who will unswervingly follow Osiris in his manifestation as Orion in heaven" [3].

The word siriasis, means sunstroke, from Greek seirian, 'hot, scorching', from Greek seirios. Klein [Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary] relates siriasis to the word seismo-, and explains; "seismo-, Greek seismo, 'earthquake', from Greek seiein, 'to shake, move to and fro', which stands for *tweisein, from Indo-European base *tweis-, 'to shake; move violently', whence also Old Indian tvesati, tvesah, 'vehement, impetuous; shining, brilliant'. Compare siriasis, Sirius, sistrum". Seismo- and sistrum, a rattle used in ancient Egypt in the worship of Isis, comes from the Indo-European root *twei- 'To agitate, shake, toss'. Extended form *tweid-; whittle (from Old English thwitan, to strike, whittle down), doit (from Middle Dutch duit, a small coin < 'piece cut or tossed off' from Germanic *thwit-). Extended form *tweis-; seism (quake, from Gk. seismos 'earthquake' from seiein 'to shake'), seismo-, sistrum. [Pokorny 2. twei- 1099 Watkins]

"The 'barcoo dog,' a sheep herding tool used in Australian bush band music, is a type of sistrum" [4]. "Plutarch says of the sistrum, that the shaking of the four bars within the circular apsis represented the agitation of the four elements within the compass of the world, by which all things are continually destroyed and reproduced" [5]. An earthquake results from the sudden release of stored energy in the Earth's crust that creates seismic waves.

“Sistrums (sistrum, i.e. a kind of metallic rattle) are named after their inventor, for Isis, an Egyptian queen, is thought to have invented this type of instrument. Juvenal says (Satires 13.93): 'May Isis strike my eyes with her angry sistrum. Whence women play these instruments, because the inventor of this type of instrument was a woman. Whence also it is said that among the Amazons, the army of women was summoned to battle by sistrums'” [The Etymologies of Isidore of Seville, 7th century AD, p.98.]

"Homer compares Achilles to the autumnal star, whose brilliant ray shines eminent amid the depth of night, whom men the dog-star of Orion call" [Allen Star Names].

"Meanwhile, old Priam was the first to catch sight of Achilles, as he dashed across the plain, blazing like that star which comes at harvest time— its light shines out more brightly than any of the countless lights in night's dark sky. People call this star by the name Orion's Dog. It is the brightest of the stars, but an unwelcome sign, for it brings wretched mortals many fevers. The bronze on Achilles' chest glittered like that star, as he ran forward". [Homer, Iliad 22.25-31 http://www.mala.bc.ca/~johnstoi/homer/iliad22.htm ]

The bravest of the Greek heroes in the war against the Trojans, Achilles was eventually killed by a poisoned arrow that hit his heel, the only vulnerable part of his body. We get the term 'achilles heel' from his name. Dogs do not have heels but they do have achilles tendons. Dogs follow in the heels of their owners. Sirius, one of Orion's dogs, is positioned under the heel of Orion. "Isis asserts that she is Sothis (Sirius), who will unswervingly follow Osiris in his manifestation as Orion in heaven" [10]. The 'Dog Days' represents the time when the Sun joins Sirius, afterwards the Sun and Sirius part company. Achilles was without his friend Patroclus who was killed in the Trojan war (dogs are man's best friends) and Achilles sought revenge. The theme here is separation which might confirm what some believe the meaning of the Greek prefix a-, 'without', in Achilles name. The Latin suffix -chilles, Greek -khilleus, might have a number of meanings, one suggestion being Greek kheilos, lip. Helios or Elios, is the Greek word for the Sun, Latin Helius, cognate with Breton heol, Welsh haul, Old Cornish heuul. These Celtic cognates of Helios resemble the word 'heel', and resemble the latter part of the name Achilles (ac-hiles) or Akhilleus (ak-hilius)...? The Latin c (of ac-) or Greek

k might be silent, making the word; 'without the Sun'? or 'without the heel'; or the ac- could be a variant of ad- (as in the prefix accede) meaning 'near to' or 'to, near, at' - 'near the Sun'.

The ancient Egyptian sidereal year began when Sirius could be seen in the east at dawn [11]. The usual Latin word for 'star' is 'stella'. There is another Latin word that is translated 'star'; sidus, which also seems to have meant 'Sirius'. [Latin sidereus (sidereal), with the letter d dropped, gives sierius, like Greek seirios, Latinized to seirius, then sirius; Latin Sirius is from Greek Seirios. Sirius might have the actual meaning 'sideral'.]

Sidus, especially Sirius or the Dog's star, whence "sidere percussus" is, blighted or blasted, and sideratus. [An etymological dictionary of the Latin language, Valpy, 1828, p.431]

Latin sidus comes from the Indo-European root *sweid-1 To shine. Possible suffixed form *sweid-es-. 1. sidereal, from Latin sidus, constellation, star. 2. consider ("set alongside the stars"), considerate, desire (Latin desiderare, from de + sidus, the meaning of "await what the stars will bring"), 3. Possible variant form *sweid-. swidden (an area cleared for temporary cultivation by cutting and burning the vegetation), from Old Norse svidha, to be singed. [Pokorny I. sueid- 1042.]

Because Sirius (the main star in Canis Major) and Procyon (the main star in Canis Minor) are seen on opposite sides of the Milky Way, there is an Arab story describing how these two companions became separated by the great Sky River. The Arabs tell of two sisters who tried to follow their brother Suhail (Canopus) across the sky. When they came to the great Sky River they plunged in to swim across. The older and stronger sister (Sirius) managed and today can be seen on the southern bank of that great river. But the younger sister was too weak and remained weeping on the northern bank, where we still see her today as Procyon, or Canis Minor.


It is Orion who leads the constellations as they speed over the full circuit of the heavens. At his heels follows the Dog outstretched in full career: no star comes on mankind more violently or causes more trouble when it departs. Now it rises shivering with cold, now it leaves a radiant world open to the heat of the Sun [translator's note: In ancient times the Dogstar's evening rising occurred in early January, its evening setting in early May]: thus it moves the world to either extreme and brings opposite effects. Those who from Mount Taurus' lofty peak observe it ascending when it returns at its first rising learn of the various outcomes of harvests and seasons, what state of health lies in store, and what measure of harmony. It stirs up war and restores peace, and returning in different guise affects the world with the glance it gives it and governs with its mien. Sure proof that the star has this power are its colour and the quivering of the fire that sparkles in its face. Hardly is it inferior to the Sun, save that its abode is far away and the beams it launches from its sea-blue face are cold. In splendour it surpasses all other constellations, and no brighter star is bathed in ocean or returns to heaven from the waves. [Manilius, Astronomica, 1st century AD, book 1, p.34-37]

"The brilliant constellation of the Dog: it barks forth flame, raves with its fire, and doubles the burning heat of the Sun. When it put its torch to the earth and discharges its rays, the earth foresees its conflagration and tastes its ultimate fate [translator's note: the ecpyrosis of the Stoics, who held that the Universe would ultimately be engulfed in conflagration and all things would return to the condition of primeval fire].

"Neptune lies motionless in the midst of his waters and the green blood is drained from leaves and grass. All living things seek alien climes and the world looks for another world to repair to; beset by temperatures too great to bear, nature is afflicted with a sickness of its own making, alive, but on a funeral-pyre: such is the heat diffused among the constellations, and everything is brought to a halt by a single star. When the Dogstar rises over the rim of the sea, which at its birth not even the flood of Ocean can quench, it will fashion unbridled spirits and impetuous hearts; it will bestow on its sons billows of anger, and draw upon them the hatred and fear of the whole populace.

"Words run ahead of the speakers: the mind is too fast for the mouth [translator's note: the impetuosity of the speaker causes him to utter words before he has time to adapt them to grammar or logic]. Their hearts start throbbing at the slightest cause, and when speech comes their tongues rave and bark, and constant gnashing imparts the sound of teeth to their utterance. Their failings are intensified by wine, for Bacchus [alcohol] gives them strength and fans their savage wrath to flame.

"No fear have they of woods or mountains, or monstrous lions, the tusks of the foaming boar, or the weapons which nature has given wild beasts; they vent their burning fury upon all legitimate prey.

"Lest you wonder at these tendencies under such a constellation, you see how even the constellation itself hunts among the stars, for in its course it seeks to catch the Hare (Lepus) in front." [Manilius, Astronomica, 1st century AD, book 5, p.316-319].


Fixed stars in Canis Major


Mirzam beta 05CAN48 07CAN11 095 07 27 -17 55 47 -41 15 36 1.99 B1

Furud zeta 05CAN59 07CAN23 094 35 54 -30 02 24 -53 22 45 3.10 B5

Sirius alpha 12CAN42 14CAN05 100 44 11 -16 38 46 -39 35 38 -1.40 A1

Muliphein gamma 18CAN13 19CAN36 105 22 27 -15 33 29 -37 59 59 4.10 B8

Adara epsilon 19CAN22 20CAN46 104 09 54 -28 54 10 -51 21 58 1.50 B1

omicron 19CAN37 21CAN00 105 14 03 -23 45 33 -46 08 11 3.12 B3

Wezen delta 22CAN00 23CAN24 106 35 22 -26 18 45 -48 27 32 1.98 G3

Aludra eta 28CAN09 29CAN32 110 31 45 -29 12 16 -50 36 51 2.43 B5



Fierce on her front the blasting Dog-star glowed.

— Samuel Taylor Coleridge's Oft Ike French Revolution.

One blazes through the brief bright summer's length,

Lavishing life-heat from a flaming car.

— Christina G. Rossetti's Later Life.

Canis Major, the Greater Dog of the southern-heavens, and thus Canis Australior, lies immediately to the southeast of Orion, cut through its centre by the Tropic of Capricorn, and with its eastern edge on the Milky Way.

It is Cane Maggiore in Italy; Caes in Portugal; Grand Chien in France; and Grosse Hund in Germany.

In early classical days it was simple Canis, representing Laelaps, the hound of Actaeon, or that of Diana's nymph Procris, or the one given to Cephalus by Aurora and famed for the speed that so gratified Jove (Jupiter, Zeus) as to cause its transfer to the sky. But from the earliest times it also has been the Dog of Orion to which Aratos alluded in the Prognostica, and thus wrote of in the Phainomena in connection with the Hare (Lepus):

The constant Scorcher comes as in pursuit,

. . . and rises with it and its setting spies.

Homer made much of it as Kuon, but his Dog doubtless was limited to the star Sirius, as among the ancients generally till, at some unknown date, the constellation was formed as we have it, — indeed till long afterwards, for we find many allusions to the Dog in which we are uncertain whether the constellation or its lucida (alpha star Sirius) is referred to. Hesiod and Aratos gave this title, both also saying Seirios, and the latter megas (meaning major or big); but by this adjective he designed only to characterize the brilliancy of the star, and not to distinguish it from the Lesser Dog (Canis Minor). The Greeks did not know the two Dogs thus, nor did the comparison appear till the days of the Roman Vitruvius.

{Page 118} Ptolemy and his countrymen knew it [the constellation] by Homer's title, and often as Astrokuon (dogstar), although it seems singular that the former never used the word Seirios.

The Latins adopted their Canis from the Greeks, and it has since always borne this name, sometimes even Canicula in the diminutive (with the adjectival candens, shining), Erigonaeus (from Virgo), and Icarius (from Bootes); the last two being from the fable of the dog Maera, — which itself means Shining, — transported here; her mistress Erigone having been transformed into Virgo, and her master Icarius into Bootes. Ovid alluded to this in his Icarii stella proterva canis; and Statius mentioned the Icarium astrum, although Hyginus had ascribed this to the Lesser Dog (Canis Minor).

Sirion and Syrius occasionally appeared with the best Latin authors; and the Alfonsine Tables of 1521 had Canis Syrius.

Vergil brought it into the 1st Georgic as a calendar sign, —

adverse cedens Canis occidit astro, —

instructing the farmer to sow his beans, lucerne, and millet at its heliacal setting on the 1st of May; the adverse here generally being referred to the well-known reversed position of the figure of Taurus, but may have been intended to indicate the hostility of the Bull to the Giant's Dog that was attacking him.

Custos Europae is in allusion to the story of the Bull who, notwithstanding the Dog's watchfulness, carried off that maiden; and Janitor Lethaeus, the Keeper of Hell, makes him a southern Cerberus, the watch-dog of the lower heavens, which in early mythology were regarded as the abode of demons: a title more appropriate here than for the so-named modern group in the northern, or upper, sky.

Bayer erroneously quoted as proper names Dexter, Magnus, and Secundus, while others had Alter and Sequens; but these originally were designed only to indicate the Dog's position, size, and order of rising with regard to his lesser companion.

The aestifer of Cicero and Vergil referred to its bright Sirius as the cause of the summer's heat, which also induced Horace's invidum agricolis; and Bayer's Udrophobia (hydrophobia, fear of water, a term for rabies), was from the absurd notion, prevalent then as now, of the occurrence of canine madness solely during the heat from the Dog-star: an idea first seen with Asclepiades of the 3rd century before Christ. Or it may have come from being confounded by Bayer, none too careful a compiler, with the Udragogon, which Plutarch applied to Sirius in his De Isidore, signifying the Water-bringer, i.e. the cause of the Nile flood.

{Page 119} Aratos termed the constellation poikilos, as of varying brightness in its different parts; or mottled — the Dog, lying in as well as out of the Milky Way, being thus diversified in light.

In early Arabia, as indeed everywhere, it took titles from its lucida, although strangely corrupted from the original Al Shi’ra al ‘Abur al Yamaniyyah, the Brightly Shining Star of Passage of Yemen, in the direction of which province it set. Among these we see, in the Latin Almagest of 1515, "canis: et est asehere, alahabor aliemenia"; in the edition of 1551, Elscheere; in Bayer's Uranoinetria, Elseiri (which Grotius derived from seirios), Elsere, Sceara, Scera, Scheereliemini; in Chilmead's Treatise, Alsahare aliemalija; and Elchabar, which La Lande, in his I'Astronomic, not unreasonably derived from Al Kabir, the Great.

The Arabian astronomers called it Al Kalb al Akbar, the Greater Dog, so following the Latins, Chilmead writing it Alcheleb Alachbar; and Al Biruni quoted their Al Kalb al Jabbar, the Dog of the Giant, directly from the Greek conception of the figure. Similarly it was the Persians' Kelbo Gavoro.

It was, of course, important in Euphratean astronomy, and is shown on remains from the temples and mounds, variously pictured, but often just as Aratos described it and as drawn on maps of the present day, — standing on the hind feet, watching or springing after the Hare (Lepus). Professor Young describes the figure as one "who sits up watching his master Orion, but with an eye out for Lepus."

Bayer and Flamsteed alone among its illustrators showed it as a typical bulldog.

A Dog, presumably this with another adjacent, is represented on an ivory disc found by Schliemann on his supposed site of Troy; and an Etruscan mirror of unknown age bears it with Orion, Lepus, the crescent moon, and correctly located neighboring stars. While both of the Dogs (this constellation Canis Major and Canis Minor), the Dragon (Draco), Fishes (Pisces), Swan (Cygnus), Perseus, the Twins (Gemini), Orion, and the Hare (Lepus) are described as on the Shield of Hercules in the old poem of that title generally attributed to Hesiod. The Hindus knew it as Mrigavyadha, the Deer-slayer, and as Lubdhaka, the Hunter, who shot the arrow, our Belt of Orion, into the infamous Praja-pati (identified with Orion), where it even now is seen sticking in his body; and, much earlier still, with their prehistoric predecessors it was Sarama, one of the Twin Watch-dogs of the Milky Way.

Among northern nations it was Greip, the dog in the myth of Sigurd.

All of these doubtless referred solely to Sirius.

Novidius, who imagined biblical significance in every starry group, said that this was the Dog of Tobias in the Book of Tobit, v, 16, which Moxon {Page120} confirmed "because he hath a tayle," and for that reason only; but Julius Schiller, another of the same school, saw here the royal Saint David. Gould catalogued 178 stars down to the 7th magnitude.

Hail, mighty Sirius, monarch of the suns !

May we in this poor planet speak with thee ?

— Mrs. Sigourney's The Stars.


The history of Sirius the Dog-starfrom p.129 of Star Names, Richard Hinckley Allen, 1889.

[A scanned copy can be viewed on this webpage]

Alpha (") Canis Major, Sirius, is a binary, -1.43 and 8.5, brilliant white and yellow star in the Greater dog. It is the brightest star in the night sky.

Sirius, the Dog-star, often written Syrius even as late as Flamsteed's and Father Hell's day, has generally been derived from Seirios, sparkling or scorching, which first appeared with Hesiod as a title for this star, although also applied to the sun, and by Abychos to all the stars. Various early Greek authors used it for our Sirius, perhaps generally as an adjective, for we read in Eratosthenes:

Such stars astronomers call seirious on account of the tremulous motion of their light;

so that it would seem that the word, in its forms seir, seiros, and seirios, — Suidas used all three for both sun and star, — originally was employed to indicate any bright and sparkling heavenly object, but in the course of time became a proper name for this brightest of all the stars. Lamb, however, thought it of Phoenician origin, signifying the Chief One, and originally in that country a title for the sun; Jacob Bryant, the mythologist, said that it was from the Egyptians' Cahen Sihor; but Brown considers it a transcription from their well-known Hesiri, the Greek Osiris; while Dupuis distinctly asserted that it was from the Celtic Syr.

Plutarch called it Prooptes, the Leader,which well agrees with its character and is an almost exact translation of its Euphratean, Persian, Phoenician, and Vedic titles; kuon, kuon seirios, kuon aster, Seirios aster, Seirios astron, or simply to astron, were its names in early Greek astronomy and poetry. Prokuon, better known for the Lesser Dog (Canis Minor) and its lucida (Procyon), also was applied to Sirius by Galen as preceding the other stars in the constellation.

Homer alluded to it in the Iliad as Oporinos, the Star of Autumn; [The Greeks had no word exactly equivalent to our "autumn" until the 5th century before Christ, when it appeared in writings ascribed to Hippocrates.] but the season intended was the last days of July, all of August, and part of September — the latter part of summer. Lord Derby translated this celebrated passage:

A fiery light

There flash'd, like autumn's star, that brightest shines

When newly risen from his ocean bath;

{Page 121} while later on in the poem Homer compares Achilles, when viewed by Priam, to the autumnal star, whose brilliant ray

Shines eminent amid the depth of night,

Whom men the dog-star of Orion call.

The Roman farmers sacrificed to it a fawn-colored dog at their three festivals when, in May, the sun began to approach Sirius. These, instituted 238 B.C., were the Robigalia, to secure the propitious influence of their

goddess Robigo in averting rust and mildew from their fields; and the Floralia and Vinalia, to ensure the maturity of their blooming flowers, fruits and grapes.

Among the Latins it naturally shared the constellation's titles, probably originated them; and occasionally was even Canicula; indeed, as late as 1420 the Palladium of Husbandry urged certain farm-work to be done "Er the caniculere, the hounde ascende" and, more than a century later, Eden, in the Historic of the Vyage to Moscovie and Cathay, wrote: “Serius is otherwise called Canicula, this is the dogge, of whom the canicular days have their name."

It has been asserted that Ovid and Vergil referred to Sirius in their Latrator Anubis, representing a jackal, or dog-headed Egyptian divinity, guardian of the visible horizon and of the solstices, transferred to Rome as goddess of the chase; but it is very doubtful whether they had in mind either star or constellation.

Its well-known name, Al Shi'ra, or Al Si'ra, extended as al Abur al Yamaniyyah, much resembles the Egyptian, Persian, Phoenician, Greek, and Roman equivalents, and, Ideler thought, may have had common origin with them from some one ancient, source: possibly the Sanskrit Surya, the Shining One, — the Sun. The 'Abur, or Passage, refers to the myth of Canopus' flight, to the South; and the adjective to the same, or perhaps to the southerly position of the star towards Yemen, in distinction from that of Al Ghumaisa' in the Lesser Dog, seen towards Sham, — Syria, — in the North. From these geographical names originated the Arabic adjectives Yamaniyyah and Shamaliyyah, Southern and Northern; although the former literally signifies On the Right-hand Side, i.e. to an observer facing eastward towards Mecca.

In Chrysococca's Tables the title is Siaer Iamane; and Doctor C. Edward Sachau's translation of Al Biruni's Chronology renders it Sirius Jemenicus. Riccioli had Halabor, which the 1515 Almagest applied to the constellation; and English writer on globes John Chilmead (circa 1639), Gabbar, Ecber, and Habor; while Shaari lobur, another {Page 122} queerly corrupted form, is found in Eber's Egyptian Princess. In the Alfonsine Tables the original is changed to Asceher and Aschere Aliemini; while Bayer gives plain Aschere and Elscheere for the star, with others similar for both star and constellation. Scera is cited by Dutch scholar Grotius (1583-1645) for the star, and Sceara for the whole, derived from an old lexicon; and Alsere; but he traced all to Seirios.

In modern Arabia it is Suhail, the general designation for bright stars. The late Finnish poet Zakris Topelius accounted for the exceptional magnitude of Sirius by the fact that the lovers Zulamith the Bold and Salami the Fair, after a thousand years of separation and toil while building their bridge, the Milky Way, upon meeting at its completion,

Straight rushed into each other's arms

And melted into one;

So they became the brightest star

In heaven's high arch that dwelt —

Great Sirius, the mighty Sun

Beneath Orion's belt.

The native Australians knew it as their Eagle, a constellation by itself (Aquila); while the Hervey Islanders, calling it Mere, associated it in their folklore with Aldebaran and the Pleiades.

Sharing the Sanskrit titles for the whole, it was the Deer-slayer and the Hunter, while the Vedas also have for it Tishiya or Tishiga, Tistrija, Tishtrya, the Tistar, or Chieftain's Star. And this we find too in Persia; as also Sira. The later Persian and Pahlavi have Tir, the Arrow. Edkins, however, considers Sirius, or Procyon, to be Vanand, and Arcturus, Tistar.

Hewitt sees in Sirius the Sivanam, or Dog, of the Rig Veda awakening the Ribhus, the gods of mid-air, who "thus calls them to their office of rain sending," a very different office from that assigned to this star in Rome. Yet these gods, philologically, had a Roman connection, for Professor Friedrich Maximilian Mueller, writing the word Arbhu, associates it with the Latin Orpheus. Hewitt also says that in the earliest Hindu mythology Sirius was Sukra, the Rain-god, before Indra was thus known; and that in the Avesta it marked one of the Four Quarters of the Heavens.

Although the identification of Euphratean stellar titles is by no means settled, especially and singularly so as to this great star, yet various authorities have found for it names more or less probable.

Berlin and Brown think it conclusively proved that it was Kak-shisha, the Dog that Leads, and "a Star of the South" while Kak-shidi is Sayce's transliteration of the original signifying the Creator of Prosperity, a character which the Persians also assigned to it; and it may have been the {Page 123} Akkadian Du-shisha, the Director — in Assyrian Mes-ri-e. Epping and Strassmaier have Kak-ban as a late Chaldaean title, which Brown renders Kal-bu, the Dog, "exactly the name for Sirius we should expect to find" German Orientalist Peter Jensen (1861-1936) has Kakkab lik-ku, the Star of the Dog, revived in Homer's kuon; and it perhaps was the Assyrian Kal-bu Sa-mas, the Dog of the Sun; and the Akkadian Mul-lik-ud, the Star Dog of the Sun. Jensen also gives Kakkab kasti, the Bow Star, although this may be doubtful; and Brown has, from the Assyrian, Su-ku-du, the Restless, Impetuous, Blazing, well characterizing the marked scintillation and color changes in its light. Hewitt cites an Akkadian title Tis-khu.

Its risings and settings were regularly tabulated in Chaldaea about 300 B.C., and Oppert is reported to have recently said that the Babylonian astronomers could not have known certain astronomical periods, which as a matter of fact they did know, if they had not observed Sirius from the island of Zylos in the Persian Gulf on Thursday, the 29th of April, 11542 B.C.!

It is the only star known to us with absolute certitude in the Egyptian records — its hieroglyph, a dog, often appearing on the monuments and temple walls throughout the Nile country. Its worship, chiefly in the north, perhaps, did not commence till about 3285 B.C., when its heliacal rising at the summer solstice marked Egypt's New Year and the beginning of the inundation, although precession has now carried this rising to the 10th of August. At that early date, according to Lockyer, Sirius had replaced gamma Draconis as an orientation point, especially at Thebes, and notably in the great temple of Queen Hatshepsu, known to-day as Al Der al Bahari, the Arabs' translation of the modern Copts' (who are now the Christians in Egypt) Convent of the North. Here it was symbolized, under the title of Isis Hathor, by the form of a cow with disc and horns appearing from behind the western hills. With the same title, and styled Her Majesty of Denderah, it is seen in the small temple of Isis, erected 700 B.C., which was oriented toward it; as well as on the walls of the great Memnonium, the Ramesseum, of Al Kurneh at Thebes, probably erected about the same time that this star's worship began. Lockyer thinks that he has found seven temples oriented to the rising of Sirius. It is also represented on the walls of the recently discovered step-temple of Sakkara, dating from about 2700 B.C., and supposed to have been erected in its honor.

Great prominence is given to it on the square zodiac of Denderah, where it is figured as a cow recumbent in a boat with head surmounted by a star; and again, immediately following, as the goddess Sothis, accompanied by the goddess Anget, with two urns from which water is flowing, emblematic {Page 124} of the inundation at the rising of the star. But in the earlier temple service of Denderah it was Isis Sothis, at Philae Isis Sati, or Satit, and, for a long time in Egypt's mythology, the resting-place of the soul of that goddess, and thus a favorable star. Plutarch made distinct reference to this; although it should be noted that the word Isis at times also indicated anything luminous to the eastward heralding sunrise. Later it was Osiris, brother and husband of Isis, but this word also was applied to any celestial body becoming invisible by its setting. Thus its titles noticeably changed in the long period of Egypt's history.

As Thoth, and the most prominent stellar object in the worship of that country, — its heliacal rising was in the month of Thoth, — it was in some way associated with the similarly prominent sacred ibis, also a symbol of Isis and Thoth, for, in various forms, the bird and star appear together on Nile monuments, temple walls, and zodiacs.

Sirius was worshiped, too, as Sihor, the Nile Star, and, even more commonly, as Sothi and Sothis, its popular Graeco-Egyptian name, the Brightly Radiating One, the Fair Star of the Waters; but in the vernacular was

Sept, Sepet, Sopet, and Sopdit; Sed,1 [According to Mueller, this Sed, or Shed, of the hieroglyphic inscriptions appeared in Hebrew as El Shaddar.] and Sot, — the Seph of Vettius Valens.

Upon this star was laid the foundation of the Canicular, Sothic, or Sothiac Period named after it, which has excited the attention and puzzled the minds of historians, antiquarians, and chronologists. Lockyer has an admirable discussion of this in his Dawn of Astronomy.

Sir Edwin Arnold writes of it in his Egyptian Princess:

And even when the Star of Kneph has brought the summer round,

And the Nile rises fast and full along the thirsty ground;

for the Egyptians always attributed to the Dog-star the beneficial influence of the inundation that began at the summer solstice; indeed, some have said that the Aethiopian Nile took from Sirius its name Siris, although others consider the reverse to be the case. Minsheu, who dwells much on this, ends thus:

"Some thinke that the Dog-starre is called Sirius, because at the time the Dogge-starre reigneth, Nilus also overfloweth as though the water were led by that Starre."

Indeed, it has been fancifully asserted that its canine title originated in Egypt, "because of its supposed watchful care over the interests of the husbandman; its rising giving him notice of the approaching overflow of the Nile."

Caesius cited for it Solechin as from that country, signifying the Starry Dog, and derived from the Egypto-Greek word Soleken.

{} Perhaps it is the ancient importance of this Dog on the Nile that has given the popular name, the Egyptian X, to the figure formed by the stars Procyon and Betelgeuze, Naos and Phaet, with Sirius at the vertices of the; two triangles and the centre of the letter. On our maps Sirius marks the nose of the Dog.

The Phoenicians are said to have known it as Hannabeah, the Barker.

The astronomers of China do not seem to have made as much of Sirius as did those of other countries, but it is occasionally mentioned, with other stars in Canis Major, as Lang Hoo; and Reeves quoted for it Tseen Lang, the Heavenly Wolf. Their astrologers said that when unusually bright it portended attacks from thieves.

Some have called it the Mazzaroth of the Book of Job; others the H-asil of the Hebrews; but this people also knew it as Sihor, its Egyptian name, and Ideler thinks that the adoration of the Seerim (Sirim), or "Devils" of the Authorized Version of our Bible, the "He Goats" of the Revision, which, as we see in Leviticus xvii, 7, was specially prohibited to the Jews, may have had reference to Sirius and Procyon, the Two Sirii or Shi'rayan, that must have been well known to them in the land of their long bondage as worshiped by their taskmasters.

The culmination of this star at midnight was celebrated in the great temple of Ceres at Eleusis, probably at the initiation of the Eleusinian mysteries; and the Ceans of the Cyclades predicted from its appearance at its heliacal rising whether the ensuing year would be healthy or the reverse. In Arabia, too, it was an object of veneration, especially by the tribe of Kais, and probably by that of Kodha'a, although Muhammad expressly forbade this star-worship on the part of his followers. Yet he himself gave much honor to some "star" in the heavens that may have been this.

In early astrology and poetry there is no end to the evil influences that were attributed to Sirius. Homer wrote, in Lord Derby's translation,

The brightest he, but sign to mortal man

Of evil augury.

Pope's very liberal version of the same lines, —

Terrific glory ! for his burning breath

Taints the red air with fevers, plagues and death, —

seems to have been taken from the Shepheard's Kalendar for July:

The rampant Lyon hunts he fast with dogge of noysome breath

Whose baleful barking brings in hast pyne, plagues and dreerye death.

Spenser, however, was equally a borrower, for we find in the Aeneid:

{} The dogstar, that burning constellation, when he brings drought and diseases on sickly mortals, rises and saddens the sky with inauspicious light;

and in the 4th Georgic:

Jam rapidus torrens sitientes Sirius Indos Ardebat coelo,

rendered by Owen Meredith in his Paraphrase on Vergil's Bees of Aristaeus:

Swift Sirius, scorching thirsty Ind,

Was hot in heaven.

Hesiod advised his country neighbors,

"When Sirius parches head and knees, and the body is dried up by reason of heat, then sit in the shade and drink,"

— advice universally followed, even till now, although with but little thought of Sirius. Hippocrates made much, in his Epidemics and Aphorisms, of this star's power over the weather, and the consequent physical effect upon mankind, some of his theories being current in Italy even during the last century; while the result of all physic depended upon the sign of the zodiac in which the sun chanced to be. Manilius wrote of Sirius:

From his nature flow

The most afflicting powers that rule below.

But these expressions as to the hateful character of the Dog-star may have been induced in part from the evil reputation of the dog in the East.

Its heliacal rising, 400 years before our era, corresponded with the sun's entrance into the constellation Leo, that marked the hottest time of the year, and this observation, originally from Egypt, taken on trust by the Romans, who were not proficient observers, and without consideration as to its correctness for their age and country, gave rise to their dies caniculariae, the dog days, and the association of the celestial Dog and Lion with the heat of midsummer. The time and duration of these days, although not generally agreed upon in ancient times, any more than in modern, were commonly considered as beginning on the 3d of July and ending on the 11th of August, for such were the time and period of the unhealthy season of Italy, and all attributed to Sirius. The Greeks, however, generally assigned fifty days to the influence of the Dog-star. Yet even then some took a more correct view of the matter, for Geminos wrote:

It is generally believed that Sirius produces the heat of the dog days; but this is an error, for the star merely marks a season of the year when the sun's heat is the greatest.

But he was an astronomer. {Page 127} The idea prevailed, however, even with the sensible Dante in his "great scourge of days canicular" while Milton, in Lycidas, designated it as "the swart star." And the notion holds good with many even to the present time. This character doubtless is indicated on the Farnese globe, where the Dog's head is surrounded with sun-rays.

But Pliny took a kinder view of this star, as in the "xii. chapyture of the xi. booke of his naturall hystorie," on the origin of honey:

This coometh from the ayer at the rysynge of certeyne starres, and especially at the rysynge of Sirius, and not before the rysynge of Vergiliae (which are the seven starres cauled Pleiades) in the sprynge of the day;

although he seems to be in doubt whether "this bee the swette of heaven, or as it were a certeyne spettyl of the starres." This idea is first .seen in Aristotle's History of Animals. So, too, in late astrology wealth and renown were the happy lot of all born under this and its companion Dog. Our modern Willis wrote in his Scholar of Thebet ben Khorat:

Mild Sirius tinct with dewy violet,

Set like a flower upon the breast of Eve.

When in opposition Sirius was supposed to produce the cold of winter.

It has been in all history the brightest star in the heavens, thought worthy by Pliny of a place by itself among the constellations, and even seen in broad sunshine with the naked eye by Bond at Cambridge, Massachusetts, and by others at midday with very slight optical aid; but its color is believed by many to have changed from red to its present white. This question recently has been discussed, by See in the affirmative and Schiaparelli in the negative, at a length not allowing repetition here, the weight of argument, however, seeming to be against the admission of any change of color in historic times.

Aratos' term poikilos, applied to the Dog (constellaton), is equally appropriate to Sirius now in the sense of many-colored or changeful, and is an admirable characterization, as one realizes when watching this magnificent object coming up from the horizon on a winter evening. Tennyson, who is always correct as well as poetical in his astronomical allusions, says in The Princess:

The fiery Sirius alters hue

And bickers into red and emerald;

this, of course, being largely due to its marked scintillation; and Arago gave Barakish as an Arabic designation for Sirius, meaning Of a Thousand {Page 128} Colors; and said that as many as thirty changes of hue in a second had been observed in it. [Montigny's scintillometer has marked as many as seventy-eight changes in a second in various white stars standing 30° above the horizon, though a somewhat less number in those of other colors.]

Sirius, notwithstanding its brilliancy, is by no means the nearest star to our system, although it is among the nearest; only two or three others having, so far as is yet known, a smaller distance. Investigations up to the present time show a parallax of 0".39, indicating a distance of 8.3 light years, nearly twice that of alpha Centauri.

Some are of the opinion that the apparent magnitude of Sirius is partly due to the whiteness of its tint and its greater intrinsic brilliancy; and that the red stars, Aldebaran, Betelgeuze, and others, would appear much brighter than now if of the same color as Sirius; rays of red light affecting the retina of the eye more slowly than those of other colors. The modern scale of magnitudes that makes this star — 1.43, — about 9. times as bright as the standard 1st-magnitude star Altair (alpha Aquilae), — would make the sun — 25.4, or 7000 million times as bright as Sirius; but, taking distance into account, we find that Sirius is really forty times brighter than the sun.

Its spectrum, as type of the Sirian in distinction from the Solar, gives name to one of the four general divisions of stellar spectra instituted by Secchi from his observations in 1863-67; these two divisions including nearly (eleven twelfths) of the observed stars. Of these about one half are Sirian of a brilliantly white colour, sometimes inclining towards a steely blue. The sign manual of hydrogen is stamped upon them with extraordinary intensity by broad, dark shaded lines which form a regular series.

It is found by Vogel to be approaching our system at the rate of nearly ten miles a second, and, since Rome was built, has changed its position by somewhat more than the angular diameter of the moon. It culminates on the 11th of February.

The celebrated Kant thought that Sirius was the central sun of the Milky Way; and, eighteen centuries before him, the poet Manilius said that it was "a distant sun to illuminate remote bodies," showing that even at that early day some had knowledge of the true character and office of the stars.

Certain peculiarities in the motion of Sirius led Bessel in 1844, after ten years of observation, to the belief that it had an obscure companion with which it was in revolution; and computations by Peters and Auwers led Safford to locating the position of the satellite, where it was found as {Page 129} predicted on the 31st of January, 1862, by the late Alvan Clark, at Cambridgeport, Mass., while testing the I8.-inch glass now at the Dearborn Observatory. It proved to be a yellowish star, estimated as of the 8. magnitude, but difficult to be seen because of the brilliancy of Sirius, and then 10" away; this diminishing to 5" in 1889; and last seen and measured by Burnham at the Lick Observatory before its final disappearance in April, 1890. Its reappearance was observed from the same place in the autumn of 1896 at a distance of 3".7, with a position angle of 195°. It has a period of 51. years, and an orbit whose diameter is between those of Uranus and Neptune; its mass being one third that of Sirius and equal to that of our sun, although its light is but one 10, 000 nth its principal. So that it may be supposed to be approaching non-luminous solidity, — one of Bessel's "dark stars."

It is remarkable that Voltaire in his Micromegas of 1752, an imitation of Gulliver's Travels, followed Dean Swift's so-called prophetic discovery of the two moons of Mars by a similar discovery of an immense satellite of Sirius, the home of his hero. Swift, however, owed his inspiration to Kepler, who more than a century previously wrote to Galileo:

I am so far from disbelieving ill the existence of the four circumjovial planets, that I long for a telescope to anticipate you, if possible, in discovering two round Mars (as the proportion seems to me to require), six or eight round Saturn, and perhaps one each round Mercury and Venus.

Other stars are shown by the largest glasses in the immediate vicinity of Sirius, two additional having very recently been discovered by Barnard at the Yerkes Observatory.

Puppisthe Stern of the Ship Argo Navis



Clues to the meaning of this celestial featurePuppis is the Stern or the poop deck of the Ship Argo Navis. Puppis is from Latin puppis, 'stern, poop', French poupe, from Old Provencal poppa. The word puppis was also used in Latin as a standard word for 'ship', but technically it refers to the rear deck of the ship which is the poop deck, the afterpart of a ship.

The word stern derives from Indo-European *sta-, the base of a long list of derivative words. In sailing ships the steerage was always located at the stern. The words stern, steer and starboard (steerboard) comes from Germanic *steuro, 'a steering' (from Indo-European *sta-).

“The stern (puppis) is the rear part of a ship, as if the term were post (literally 'after').” [The Etymologies of Isidore of Seville, 7th century AD, p.374.].

The word post2, 'after', derives from *apo-. [The word post1, a post used in steering, is from the same root as stern; Indo-European *sta-]

Naos is the name of the zeta (4) star in Argo Navis, now located in the constellation Puppis. Greek naos means "ship". NationMaster gives another meaning; "Naos, from Greek naos, is also a term used in classical architecture to refer to the inner chamber of a temple which houses an idol. In the Ptolemaic period in Ancient Egypt, the Naos referred to that which is hidden and unknown inside the inner sanctum of a temple, existing in complete darkness, meant to symbolize the state of the universe before the act of creation."

"The name Puppis came from the Middle English poupe, from the Latin puppim, meaning the rear section of a ship. The word derived from the Latin Puppis, meaning a doll or small image, the Romans and other ancient seafaring peoples had a small sacred idol or image affixed to the stern, where the deity it represented could watch over the vessel" [A Glossary of Nautical Terminology].

Latin has pupus, boy, and pupa meaning both girl and doll, the diminutives of these words were pupillus, children or male children, and pupilla, female children. The word pupil, a child in school, Latin pupillus, or Old English pupille, did not emerge until the 16th century; it originally meant 'orphan, ward', literally 'little boy', diminutive of pupus. According to Klein; pupil is related to pupa, puerile, puppet, and puppy. [Puppis, is adjacent to Canis Major, the Greater Dog].

While the word pupil, a child in school, an orphan, had more of a male connotation, there is an almost universal idea of associating the pupil of the human eye with a little girl or doll. In its anatomical sense, pupilla is a loan translation of Greek kore 'girl; pupil of the eye' [1]. The pupil of the eye was so called from the little images ('puppets'), which appear in it. If you look into someone's eyes you can see a tiny doll-like image of yourself in the black pupil.

Latin pupa means girl, doll, and also pupa or pupate, the chrysalis stage, or nympha, in butterfly metamorphosis, the resting stage between caterpillar and butterfly (pupa is applied only to butterflies, not to other insect's cocoons). In some representations of ancient ships a kind of roof is formed over the head of the steersman, and the upper part of the stern frequently has an elegant ornament called an aplustre (probably from the above I.E. root *apo-, + lustrare; luster, illustrate), which constituted the highest part of the poop. A lantern was suspended from the aplustre so as to hang over the deck before the helmsman [2], and to serve as a signal at night. Pupae or pupa, is lantern shaped and is suspended from a twig like a hanging lantern, they have been referred to as lantern-like pupa, or larval lanterns.

The words stern, steer and starboard (steerboard) are related. There might be some ultimate relationship between the English words stern (of a ship), and star (a celestial body) from German stern, Latin stella. Puppis is the stern of Argo Navis, built by Argus; Argus' many eyes represent stars [2], and whose eyes after he was killed were placed on the tail of the peacock Pavo, representing the whole starry sky. Puppis is the back part of the ship from where the helmsman steered by viewing the course of the stars. Manilius explains the connection between stars and pupils of the eyes from the ancient's point of view:

"... triumphantly directing to the stars his [man's] star-like eyes, looks ever more closely at Olympus and inquires into the nature of Jove [God] himself; .... and in his quest of a being akin to his own, seeks himself among the stars. ... thus the tiny pupil of the eye takes in the whole of the heaven and their eyes owes their vision to that which is very small whilst what they behold is very large". [Astronomica, Manilius, 1st century AD. p.295 and 297.]

Puppets carry a mystic meaning relevant to this celestial feature; that we may be controlled by the stars like puppets on a string. Penguin Dictionary of Symbols explains what was believed about puppets:

"The Mahabharata has the words: 'Human behavior is controlled from the outside like that of a wooden doll on the end of a string.' And in the Upanishads there is: 'Do you know the thread by which is attached this world and the other and all the beings in them, and the hidden Master who controls them from within?' When the craving for the One is satisfied, the human will be absorbed in Plato's golden thread which governs us, puppets that we are. Plato said that, by virtue of all that is best in it, mankind is the plaything of God, while Jacob Boehme wrote: 'You will achieve nothing until you abdicate your own will, that is, what you call 'I' or 'myself'.' Ananda Coomaraswamy conjures up the ecstatic rapture of the puppet 'acting without action' in the sense taught by the Bhagavad Gita and the Taoist doctrine of wi wu wi. Freedom is not to be gained by uncoordinated movement, but by becoming aware that in joining in 'the dance of phenomena' we may identify with the puppet-master who controls us." [The Penguin Dictionary of Symbols, p.774.]


Fixed stars in Puppis the Stern


nu 15CAN46 17CAN09 099 03 27 -43 09 04 -66 04 49 3.18 B8

tau 26CAN21 27CAN44 102 10 26 -50 33 16 -72 51 29 2.83 G8

pi 28CAN56 00GEM19 108 50 39 -37 00 24 -58 31 49 2.74 K5

L 02LEO03 03LEO26 108 00 11 -44 33 27 -65 58 08 var M5

02LEO05 03LEO28 114 11 35 -26 41 13 -47 25 04 4.50 B8

Azmidiske xi 04LEO39 06LEO02 116 47 51 -24 43 59 -44 56 40 3.47 G6

sigma 07LEO19 08LEO42 111 54 39 -43 11 58 -63 46 54 3.27 M0

rho 10LEO01 11LEO24 121 21 12 -24 09 32 -43 16 29 2.88 F5

Naos zeta 17LEO10 18LEO33 120 27 24 -39 51 41 -58 21 06 2.27 O5



nu 15CAN46 17CAN09 099 03 27 -43 09 04 -66 04 49 3.18 B8

tau 26CAN21 27CAN44 102 10 26 -50 33 16 -72 51 29 2.83 G8

pi 28CAN56 00GEM19 108 50 39 -37 00 24 -58 31 49 2.74 K5

L 02LEO03 03LEO26 108 00 11 -44 33 27 -65 58 08 var M5

02LEO05 03LEO28 114 11 35 -26 41 13 -47 25 04 4.50 B8


sigma 07LEO19 08LEO42 111 54 39 -43 11 58 -63 46 54 3.27 M0

rho 10LEO01 11LEO24 121 21 12 -24 09 32 -43 16 29 2.88 F5


Hevelius, Firmamentum, 1690. The Ship is said to be moving stern-forward


Puppis, the stern, or poop, and forms part of the old constellation of Argo Navis

High on the stern the Thracian rais'd his strain

--Pope's Ode on St. Cecilia's Day.

Aratos wrote:

"Sternforward Argo by the Great Dog's tail (Canis Major)

Is drawn; for hers is not a usual course,

But backward turned she comes, as vessels do

When sailors have transposed the crooked stern

On entering harbour; all the ship reverse,

And gliding backward on the beach it grounds.

Sternforward thus is Jason's Argo drawn.

Grotius mentioned Cautel as a title for Puppis, "from the Tables," but he added Hoc quid sit nescio.

Argo Navis is a great ship that lies in the southern hemisphere, east of Canis Major, south of Monoceros and Hydra, largely in the Milky Way. Argo Navis covers a great extent of the sky, consequently, astronomers have divided Argo Navis into three smaller constellations; - Puppis, the Stern; Carina, the Keel; and Vela, Sail. Malus, the Mast, was a fourth constellation created of Argo Navis, but the name has changed to Pyxis. Despite these divisions the Argo Navis constellation is still recognized by many astronomers.Puppis is the poop deck, or the high stern of the Argo, the after part of a ship.Ian Ridpath in Star Tales wrote Lacaille wrote that “the poop is separated from the body of the vessel [Carina] by the rudder”, and it is on the rudder that the bright star Canopus is placed.

Monocerosthe Unicorn, the "One Horned"




The mono- of Monoceros derives from Greek monos, 'alone, single', from the Indo-European root *men-4. Derivatives: monad, monastery, monk, mono-, minnow. [Pokorny 4. men- 728, meni- 731. Watkins]

The uni- of unicorn derives from Latin and from the Indo-European root *oi-no- 'One, unique'. Derivatives: a+, an+, once, one; alone ('all one'), anon, atone, lone, lonely, none, uni-, union, unite, unit, unity, unanimous, unicorn, universe, onion, ace, any, unique, inch+, ounce+. [Pokorny 3. D. e- 281. Watkins]

Amalthea was the she-goat which nourished Jupiter, hence its horn became proverbially used for nourishment and abundance. This modern constellation, Monoceros, is a likely a representation of the 'horn of plenty', the Cornucopia (cornu-copiae), that Zeus broke off his goat-nanny nurse, Amalthea, while playing with her as a baby; Amalthea, herself, was placed amongst the stars as Capra, the star Capella on the arm of the Constellation Auriga, the Charioteer. The position of the horn is not known. The writer of this webpage suggests that it might relate to this constellation, he says "... the sacred goat having broken off one of her horns, Amaltheia filled it with flowers and fruits and presented it to Zeus, who placed it together with the goat amongst the stars, although the one-horned goat was not identified with the Unicorn by the Greeks. ...". Ovid relates; "When he controlled the sky and sat on his father’s throne ... Jove (Jupiter, Zeus), he made stars of the nurse and the nurse’s fruitful horn, which bears even now its mistress’ name." [Ovid, Fasti 5.111 1]

The unicorn (Latin unus 'one' and cornus 'horn') is a mythical beast depicted with the body of a horse and a spiral horn on its forehead. The unicorn's horn was said to have the property of being able to neutralize

poisons (it reminds me of our modern antioxidants, particularly the carotenes; 'carrot' and 'horn' come from the same Indo-European root *ker-1 'Horn, head'). The picture of a Unicorn was the apothecaries' symbol. The powdered root of the 'unicorn horn' was believed to be a panacea for just about all illnesses.

The only likely earthly representation of this mythical beast is believed to be the rhinoceros (the narwhal is the sea representation, see below). The rhinoceros is the only known land animal to possess a single horn and this horn is also credited with great healing properties. Powdered rhinoceros horns are regarded as a panacea in Eastern Asia, "effective against anything from nosebleeds and headaches to diphtheria and food poisoning" etc. The Asian rhino is Rhinoceros unicornis. In legend the unicorn is depicted with the body of a horse and a spiral horn on its forehead; the closest living relative to rhinoceros is the horse. Rhinoceros means literally 'nose-horn.' This feature is emphasized in the animal where the nasal passages is actually larger than the brain. Unlike the horns of other horned mammals which are bony, the rhino's horn consists of

keratin; densely compacted hair (the words 'keratin' and 'horn' come from I.E. *ker-1 'Horn, head').

Confirming the widely held belief that the unicorn was thought to be the same as the rhinoceros, Isidore says:

“The rhinoceros (rhinoceron) is named with a Greek word; in Latin it means 'horn on the nose'. This is also the monoceron, that is, the unicorn (unicornus), because it has a single four-foot horn in the middle of its forehead, so sharp and strong that it tosses in the air or impales whatever it attacks. It often fights with the elephant and throws it to the ground after wounding it in the belly. It has such strength that it can be captured

by no hunter's ability, but, as those who have written about the natures of animals claim, if a virgin girl is set before a unicorn, as the beast approaches, she may open her lap and it will lay its head there with all ferocity put aside, and thus lulled and disarmed it may be captured.” [The Etymologies of Isidore of Seville, 6th century A.D., p.252.].

This webpage gives an opinion on the original nature of the virgin-capture story.

There is a Christian story associated with the neutralizing of poisons that parallels the unicorn's and rhinoceros' horn's detoxifying attributes: St. Benedict, 547 A.D., is called 'father of Western Monasticism' (from

mono-, root *men-4 above). A group of monks asked him to join them. Later, resisting his strict rules, they tried to poison him. St. Benedict is represented by a cup (sometimes cracked) because it is said "he blessed the cup of poison and rendered it harmless" [2].

Monad, according to the Pythagoreans, was a term for God or the first being, or the totality of all beings. Monad being the source or the One meaning without division. Monotheism is the belief in the existence of one deity or God, or in the oneness of God.

"The concept of a unicorn is very real, even if the unicorn itself does not exist". The concept of the unicorn is likened to the concept of God on this webpage.

Monodon monoceros [9]

The narwhal's three meter (9 foot) long tooth was passed off as the horn of a unicorn, or alicorn. The depiction of the constellation by Hevelius in 1690 (below, under the tables) shows a unicorn with a spiral narwhal's horn. The narwhal's (Monodon monoceros meaning 'one-tooth, one-horn') long 'spiral horn' is actually a long tooth or tusk. Narwhal, from Old Norse nar, corpse (from its whitish grey color) + hvalr, whale, was believed to be able to cure many illnesses and neutralize poison. Unicorn's horn was sold in druggist's shops in powdered form, and whole horns were kept in the vaults of royalty, worth many times its weight in gold [7]. The fact that narwhals are seldom seen south of Greenland explains the success of Scandinavian fishermen in keeping their lucrative secret for at least five centuries [8].

In British slang the word 'rhino' means 'money' and may have something to do with the origin of the expression “paying through the nose.”


Fixed stars in Monoceros


gamma 02CAN52 04CAN15 093 06 15 -06 15 29 -29 39 56 4.09 K2

beta 06CAN54 08CAN17 096 35 53 -06 59 58 -30 16 18 4.73 B3

delta 18CAN09 19CAB32 107 19 39 -00 24 30 -22 43 40 4.09 A0

alpha 27CAN41 29CAN04 114 31 23 -09 26 00 -30 29 42 4.07 K0

zeta 03LEO30 04LEO53 121 16 14 -02 50 13 -22 38 53 4.41 G6



Monoceros, the Unicorn, is das Einhorn in Germany, la Licorne in France, and il Unicorno or Liocorno in Italy, lies in the large but comparatively vacant field between the two Dogs (Canis Minor and Canis Major), Orion, and the Hydra, the celestial equator passing through it {p.290} lengthwise from the Belt of Orion to the tail of the animal, just below the head of Hydra. Proctor assigned to it the alternative title Cervus.

Its 4.6-magnitude S, or Fl. 15, marks the head of the figure, facing towards the west.

This is a modern constellation, generally supposed to have been first charted by Bartschius as Unicornu; but Olbers and Ideler say that it was of much earlier formation, the latter quoting allusions to it, in the work of 1564, as "the other Horse south of the Twins (Gemini) and the Crab (Cancer)"; and Scaliger found it on a Persian sphere.

Flammarion's identification of it with the still earlier Neper has already been mentioned under Microscopium.

Monoceros seems to have no star individually named, but the Chinese asterisms Sze Fuh, the Four Great Canals; Kwan Kew; and Wae Choo, the Outer Kitchen, all lay within its boundaries.

It contains 66 naked-eye stars according to Argelander, — Heis says 112, — and is interesting chiefly from its many telescopic clusters, and as being located in the Milky Way.

It comes to the meridian in February, due south from Procyon.

alpha, the lucida, is Fl. 30, of 3.6 magnitude.

Taurusthe Bull



Clues to the meaning of this celestial featureThe word Taurus is of Semitic origin, from Hebrew shor, Arabic thor.

The word 'bull' is from the Indo-European root *bhel-2 'To blow, swell'. Derivatives: bowl+, bulk, boulder, bull+, phallus (a representation of the penis and testes as an embodiment of generative power), ball+ (and balls, the synonym for testicles), balloon, bold, bawd, bald, follicle (a hair follicle), fool and folly. [Pokorny 3. bhel- 120. Watkins]

Bullshit is "foolish, deceitful, or boastful language." [AHD}

The Taurus constellation is composed of two main groups of stars; the Pleiades and Hyades. Both groups have connections to rain; pluvial, a word related to Pleiades, is a Latin term for rain; and hyein, a Greek term meaning 'to rain', is related to the word Hyades.

Pleiades: The Pleiades are the daughters of Pleione from where it is said they got their name. It might be that Pleione herself belongs to another constellation, maybe Columba, the dove, in the singular sense, and it might be that doves in the plural sense are the Pleiades.

There are three suggested derivations for the word Pleiades:

1. from Greek plein, 'to sail', pleusis, 'sailing', from Indo-European *pleu- 'To flow' (Greek pneuma comes from this root). Pleione is said to mean `sailing one' and her daughters `sailing ones', because the helical rising of the group in May marked the opening of navigation to the Greeks because sailing was safe after they had risen; the setting in the late autumn marked the close of navigation.

2. from peleiades, flock of doves, from Indo-European *pel-2 'Pale, dark-colored, gray', 'the gray bird'. Some of the classic poets made them a flock of pigeons flying from the celestial hunter Orion. Some versions made them the Seven Doves that carried ambrosia to the infant Zeus [Star Names]. In Hinduism the Pleiades were the Krittikas, the six nurses of Skanda, the infant god of war, who took to himself six heads for his better nourishment.

3. from pleos, 'full or many' from Indo-European *pele-+ 'To fill'.

Doves, peleiades (*pel-2), have associations with the 'holy Spirit' or 'holy Ghost' which is a translation of Greek pneuma (*pleu-). Greek pneuma is a loose term used in translation from Greek for spirit, holy ghost, breath, air, and wind.

"The Pleiades are said to have made away with themselves from grief at the death of their sisters, the Hyades, or at the fate of their father, Atlas, and were afterwards placed as stars on the back of Taurus, where they form a cluster resembling 'a bunch of grapes', whence they were sometimes called botrus (botrys, or Butrum)" [1].

Hyades: The other cluster of stars in Taurus form the face or forehead of the bull, are called the Hyades, and were put there to commemorate the sister's mourning of their brother Hyas who was the first-born of the Hyades. The Hyades lived on Mount Nysa and nurtured the infant Bacchus/Dionysus (God of wine; wine is from grapes. Bacchus might be the constellation Crater). The word comes from Greek Huades, probably from Hys meaning 'pig'. In ancient Greek the Hyades cluster of stars were 'the rain-bringers' from hyein, 'to rain'; so called because the wet weather begins when they set. Aldebaran, the alpha star marking the left eye of the bull was sometimes included with the Hyades, and was called a 'Sow'; the colloquial title among the Roman country-people for the Hyades was Suculae, 'the Little Pigs', from Sus, 'Sow'. It was said that the title might come from the resemblance of this group of stars to a pig's jaws; or because Aldebaran and its companion stars were like a sow with her litter. Pliny accounting for it by the fact that the continual rains of the season of their setting made the roads so miry that these stars seemed to delight in dirt, like swine [Allen, Star Names, p.388.]. Hyades comes from the Indo-European root *su- 'Pig'. Derivatives: swine, hog, Hogan, Hogg, Kellogg, socket, sow*, soil*, Hyades, hyena. [Pokorny su-s 1038. Watkins]

Hyades was Suculae, 'the Little Pigs'. Pokorny says *su- is probably a derivative of *seue-2 Derivatives: suck, soak, suction. [Pokorny 1. seu- 912. Watkins]

"Callistratus claims the Jews honored the pig because it is from this animal that the Jews learned how to plow the land, witnessing a hog dig his snout into the earth. He further states this explains the relation between the words hynis (”ploughshare”) and swine." http://framingbusiness.net/2006/why-do-the-jews-abstain-from-pork/

Taurus is the most earthy of the signs of the zodiac. Isidore sees a link between the words Taurus and Latin terra, earth:

“A territory (territorium) is so called as if it were tauritorium, that is, 'broken by a plow' (tritum aratro) and by a team of oxen (compare taurus, 'bull') - for the ancients used to designate the boundaries of their possessions and territories by cutting a furrow.” [The Etymologies of Isidore of Seville, 7th century AD, p.293.]

The word territory derives from the Indo-European root *ters- 'To dry'. Derivatives: thirst (from Old English thurst, dryness), terra, terrace, terrain, Terran, terrene, terrestrial, terrier, territory, tureen, inter, Mediterranean, turmeric, toast+, torrent, torrid, (these words from Latin torrere, to dry, parch, burn). Torrid Zone (the equatorial region of the Earth that lies between the Tropics of Cancer and Capricorn), tarsus. [Pokorny ters- 1078. Watkins]

Varro (On The Latin Language, p.65) says: "Terra ‘Earth,' the same as Tellus ‘Earth'". Terra Mater or Tellus was a goddess personifying the Earth in Roman mythology [3]. This Wikipedia webpage says that these words tersa tellus, meaning "dry land":

"Some linguists studying the Indo-European languages believe that the two words Terra and Tellus derive from the formulaic phrase tersa tellus, meaning 'dry land'. If this is true, Tellus might be the more ancient version of the name. According to the Oxford Classical Dictionary, Terra refers to the element earth (one of the four basic elements of earth, air, water, and fire) and Tellus refers to the guardian deity of Earth and by extension the sphere upon which we live, the globe itself. Actual classical Latin usage does not necessarily appear to respect this distinction" [4].

The word terra is understood to mean the land on the planet earth and Latin terra is often translated 'dry land' (perhaps not including seas and oceans). Dry land, like the suckling pigs of the Hyades, sucks up or soaks up the rain.

Latin tellus comes from the Indo-European root *tel- 'Ground, floor, boat.' Derivatives: deal2 (fir or pine wood), tellurian (terrestrial), telluric, tellurion (also spelled tellurian, is an instrument that depicts how day, night and the seasons are caused by the movement of the Earth on its axis and around the sun), tellurium, telluro-, (from Latin tellus, earth, the earth). Possibly reduplicated form *ti-tel-; title, from Latin titulus, placard, label, superscription. [Pokorny 2. tel- 1061. Watkins]

Could there be a possible relationship between Latin titulus, title, from *tel-; and tit, teat, the nipple? The alpha star of this constellation, Aldebaran, represents the sow and the Hyades were Suculae, the little sucking pigs. A sow as a symbol is always portrayed with numerous teats, pigs have 16, more than any other animal, and a sow is sometimes shown with her large litter of piglets sucking them (breasts might relate to Cancer and nipple to Taurus?).

"The back (tergum) is so called because when we lie on the ground (terra) we are stretched out on our backs, something that only a human being can do, for dumb animals all lie down either on their bellies or on their sides. This is also why we speak incorrectly of the tergum in animals” [The Etymologies of Isidore of Seville, 7th century AD, p.237.]

“A whirlwind (turbo) is a whirling of winds, and it is named from 'soil' (terra), whenever the wind surges and sends the soil into a spiral” [The Etymologies of Isidore of Seville, 7th century AD, p.275.]

Terra's Greek counterpart is Gaia.

"The Hyades are named from the Greek uein (i.e. the verb 'rain', latinized to hyein), that is, from moisture (sucus) and rains, for 'rain' in Greek is uetos (hyetos), and the Hyades make rain when they rise. Whence also Latin speakers have named them Suculae, because when they arise, signs of rain are evident. Concerning them Vergil says (Aen. 1.744): Arcturus and the rainy Hyades. They are seven stars, in the forehead of Taurus, and they rise in the spring season. The Pleiades (Pliades) are named from their plural number (pluralitas) [*pele-+], because the Greeks name plural number from pleistos (i.e. 'most'). They are seven stars, in front of the knees of Taurus; six of them are visible and the seventh is hidden. Latin speakers call them Vergiliae, as an indication of the season when they arise, which is spring (ver). By their setting they show the winter, by their rising the summer, and they are the first to show the season for sailing [*pleu-]” [The Etymologies of Isidore of Seville, 7th century AD, p.105.]

It has been suggested that the "tors" which are names given to British hill-tops, may be connected with the "high places" of the worship of the Pleiades, but of this we have no proof. [John F. Blake, Astronomical Myths, 1877, p.134]

The word 'taurine' means bull-like. According to Wikipedia taurine is also an organic acid, named after the Latin taurus, as it was first isolated from ox bile in 1827. It is a major constituent of bile and can be found in the lower intestine and in small amounts in the tissues of many animals and in humans as well. It is also naturally produced in testicles of many mammals. Urban legends surrounding the source of taurine have included bull urine extract and bull semen. Taurine is one of the few known naturally occurring sulfonic acids. And while taurine is sometimes extracted from the intestines of cattle, many food industry sources, including the popular energy drink Red Bull, make efforts to use synthesized sources that are vegetarian friendly. Taurine is also used in some contact lens solutions. The absence of taurine causes a cat's retina to slowly degenerate, causing eye problems. This might have a similar effect on humans as well; one of the two groups of stars in Taurus, the Pleiades were believed by astrologers as portending blindness and also have been associated with tears and mourning. The alpha star of this constellation, Aldebaran, is the 'Bull's Eye', the eyeball.

The astrological influences given by Manilius for the constellation Taurus:

"The Bull will dower the countryside with honest farmers and will come as a source of toil into their peaceful lives; it will bestow, not gifts of glory, but the fruits of the earth. It bows its neck amid the stars and of itself demands a yoke for its shoulders. When it carries the sun's orb on its horns, it bids battle with the soil begin and rouses the fallow land to its former cultivation, itself leading the work, for it neither pauses in the furrows nor relaxes its breast in the dust. The sign of the Bull has produced a Serranus and a Curius, has carried the rods of office through the fields, and has left its plough to become a dictator [eque suo dictator venit aratro]. Its sons have the love of unsung excellence; their hearts and bodies derive strength from a massiveness that is slow to move, whilst in their faces dwells the boy-god Love (Cupido)." [Astronomica, Manilius, 1st century AD, book 4, p.233].

The astrological influences given by Manilius for the Pleiades:

"The Pleiades, sisters who vie with each other's radiance. Beneath their influence devotees of Bacchus (god of wine and ecstasy) and Venus (goddess of love) are born into the kindly light, and people whose insouciance runs free at feasts and banquets and who strive to provoke sweet mirth with biting wit. They will always take pains over personal adornment and an elegant appearance they will set their locks in waves of curls or confine their tresses with bands, building them into a thick topknot, and they will transform the appearance of the head by adding hair to it; they will smooth their hairy limbs with the porous pumice, loathing their manhood and craving for sleekness of arm. They adopt feminine dress, footwear donned not for wear but for show, and an affected effeminate gait. They are ashamed of their sex; in their hearts dwells a senseless passion for display, and they boast of their malady, which they call a virtue. To give their love is never enough, they will also want their love to be seen". [Astronomica, Manilius, 1st century AD, book 5, p.310-313].

The astrological influences given by Manilius for the Hyades:

"The Hyades are a stormy star group and was regarded as a separate constellation. Those born at this time take no pleasure in tranquillity and set no store by a life of inaction; rather they yearn for crowds and mobs and civil disorders. Sedition and uproar delight them; they long for the Gracchi to harangue from the platform, for a secession to the Sacred Mount, leaving but a handful of citizens at Rome; they welcome fights which break the peace and provide sustenance for fears. They herd their foul droves over untilled countryside, for this constellation also begot Ulysses' trusty swineherd (Eumaeus, or Eumaios, was Odysseus' swineherd ). Such are the qualities engendered by the Hyades at the rising of their stars". [Astronomica, Manilius, 1st century AD, book 5, p.308-311].


Fixed stars in in the Pleiades (on the shoulder of the Bull)

Fixed Star Long 1900 Long 2000 Decl 2000 Lat 2000 RA Sp. Cl

Electra 17 28TAU01 29TAU25 +24.06 +04.11 03h44m B5

Celaeno 16 28TAU02 29TAU26 +24.17 +04.21 03h44m B7

Taygeta 19 28TAU10 29TAU34 +24.27 +04.31 03h45m B7

Maia 20 28TAU17 29TAU41 +24.21 +04.23 03h45m B9

Merope 23 28TAU18 29TAU42 +23.56 +03.57 03h46m B5

Asterope 21 28TAU21 29TAU44 +24.33 +04.34 03h45m B9

Alcyone Eta 28TAU36 00GEM00 +24.06 +04.03 03h47m B7

Parents of the Pleiades

Atlas 27 28TAU58 00GEM21 +24.03 +03.55 03h49m B9

Pleione 28 28TAU59 00GEM23 +24.07 +03.59 03h49m B8

The stars in the Hyades (on the face and the eyes of the Bull. Aldebaran is on the left, southern eye. Ain on the right, northern eye)

Prima Hyadum Gamma 04GEM24 05GEM48 +15.37 -05.43 04h19m G9

Hyadum II Delta 05GEM28 06GEM52 +17.32 -03.58 04h22m G8

theta 06GEM34 07GEM57 +15 51 10 -05 45 03 (066 25 44) G8

Ain Epsilon. 07GEM19 08GEM28 +19.11 -02.34 04h28m G8

Aldebaran Alpha 08GEM23 09GEM47 +16.31 -05.28 04h35m KM

The two Horns of the Bull, Al Hecka is on the tip of south horn, iota is on the south horn El Nath on the north tip

Al Hecka Zeta 23GEM23 24GEM47 +21.09 -02.11 05h37m B2

iota 15GEM24 16GEM47 +21 31 13 -01 12 18 (075 01 33) A5

El Nath Beta 21GEM11 22GEM35 +28.36 +05.23 05h26m B7

On the underbelly of the Bull

omicron (1) 19TAU47 21TAU10 +08 51 15 -09 20 20 (050 31 47) 3.80

xi 20TAU32 21TAU55 +09 33 35 -08 48 12 (051 06 50) 3.75

On the right foot

lambda 29TAU15 00GEM38 +12 21 02 -07 57 56 (059 28 36) B3



Ere the heels of flying Capricorn

Have touched the western mountain's darkening rim,

I mark, stern Taurus, through the twilight gray,

The glinting of thy horn,

And sullen front, uprising large and dim,

Bent to the starry Hunter's sword at bay.

— Bayard Taylor's Hymn te Taurus.

Taurus, the Bull, le Taureau of France, il Toro of Italy, and der Stier of Germany, everywhere was one of the earliest and most noted constellations, perhaps the first established, because it marked the vernal equinox from about 4000 to 1700 B.C., in the golden age of archaic astronomy; in all ancient zodiacs preserved to us it began the year. It is to this that Vergil alluded in the much quoted lines from the 1st Georgic, which May rendered:

When with his golden homes bright Taurus opes,

The yeare; and downward the crosse Dog-starre stoopes;

and the poet's description well agrees with mythology's idea of Europa's bull, for he always was thus described, and snowy white in color. This descended to Chaucer's Whyte Bole, in Troilus and Criseyde, from the candidus Taurus of the original. The averse, "crosse," in the second line of this passage:

. . . averso cedens Canis occidit astro, —

adversus with Ovid, and aversaque Tauri sidera with Manilius, — generally has, however, been translated "backward," as a supposed allusion to the constellation rising in reversed position; but quite as probably it is from the mutual hostility of the earthly animals.

Tauros, its universal title in Greek literature, was more specifically given as Tome and Protome, the Bust, the Bull generally being drawn with only his forward parts, Cicero following this in his prosecto corpore Taurus, and Ovid in his

Pars prior apparet Posteriora latent,

{Page 379} which the mythologists accounted for by saying that, as Taurus personified the animal that swam away with Europa, his flanks were immersed in the waves. This association with Europa led to the constellation titles Portitor, or Proditor, Europae; Agenoreus, used by Ovid, referring to her father; and Tyrius, by Martial, to her country. This incomplete figuring of Taurus induced the frequent designation, in early catalogues, Sectio Tauri, which the Arabians adopted, dividing the figure at the star omicron, but retaining the hind quarters as a sub-constellation, Al Hatt, recognized by Ulug Beg, and, in its translation, as Sectio, by Tycho, the line being marked by omicron, xi, s, and f. Ancient drawings generally showed the figure as we do, although some gave the entire shape, Pliny and Vitruvius writing of the Pleiades as cauda Tauri, so implying a complete animal.

Aratos qualified his Tauros by pepteos, "crouching"; Cicero, by inflexoque genu, "on bended knee "; Manilius, by nixus, "striving"; and further, in Creech's translation:

The mighty Bull is lame; His leg turns under;

And

Taurus bends as wearied by the Plough;

this crouching position also being shown in almost all Euphratean figuring, as are the horns in immense proportions. The last descended to Aratos, who styled the constellation Keraon, and is seen in the Cornus of Ovid. The latter author wrote again of the sky figure:

Vacca sit an taurus non est cognoscere promptum,

from the conflicting legends of Io and Europa; for some of the poets, changing the sex, had called these stars Io, the Wanderer, another object of Jupiter's attentions, whom Juno's jealousy had changed to a cow. They also varied the title by the equivalent Juvenca Inachia and Inachis, from her father Inachus. She afterwards became the ancestress of our Cepheus and Andromeda. Still another version, from the myth of early spring, made Taurus Amasius Pasiphaes, the Lover of Pasiphae; but La Lande's Chironis Filia seems unintelligible.

The story that the Bull was one of the two with brazen feet tamed by the Argonaut Jason, perhaps, has deeper astronomical meaning, for Thompson writes:

The sign Taurus may have been the Cretan Bull; and a transit through that sign may have been the celestial Bosphorus of the Argonautic voyage.

{Page 380} It bore synonymous titles in various languages: in Arabia, Al Thaur, which degenerated to El Taur, Altor, Ataur, Altauro, by Schickard; Tur, by Riccioli; and even now Taur, in our Standard Dictionary. In

Syria it was Taura; in Persia, Tora, Ghav, or Gau; in Turkey, Ughuz; and in Judaea, Shor, although also known there as Re’em, a word that zoologically appears in the Authorized Version of our Bible as the "unicorn," but better in the Revised as the "wild ox."

Latin writers mentioned it under its present name, to which Germanicus added Bos from the country people, although it also was Princeps armenti, the Leader of the herd, and Bubulcus, the peasant Driver of the Oxen, a title more usual and more correct, however, for Bootes; La Lande quoting it as Bubulum Caput.

Manilius characterized Taurus as dives puellis, "rich in maidens," referring to its seven Hyades and seven Pleiades, all daughters of Atlas, and the chief attraction in a constellation not otherwise specially noticeable. An early Grecian gem shows three nude figures, hand in hand, standing on the head of the Bull, one pointing to seven stars in line over the back, which Landseer referred to the Hyades; but as six of the stars are strongly cut, and one but faintly so, and the letter P is superscribed, Doctor Charles Anthon is undoubtedly correct in claiming them for the Pleiades, and the three figures for the Graces, or Charites. These were originally the Vedic Harits, associated with the sun, stars, and seasons; and this astronomical character adhered to the Charites, for their symbols in their ancient temple in Boeotia were stones reputed to have fallen from the sky.

A coin, struck 43 B.C. by P. Clodius Turrinus, bore the Pleiades in evident allusion to the consular surname; while earlier still — 312-64 B.C. — the Seleucidae of Syria placed the humped bull in a position of attack on their coins as symbol of this constellation. The gold muhrs, or mohurs, and the zodiacal rupees, attributed to Jehangir Shah, of 1618, show Taurus as a complete, although spiritless, creature, with the gibbous hump peculiar to Indian cattle. This is always drawn in the Euphratean stellar figure, and was described as Kurtos (curved) by an early commentator on the Syntaxis. But the silver rupees of the same monarch have the customary half animal in bold, butting attitude exactly as it is now, and as it was described by Manilius in his flexus and nisus, and by Lucan in his curvatus. A very ancient coin of Samos, perhaps of the 6th century before Christ, bears a half-kneeling, sectional figure of a bull, with a lion's head on the obverse; and one of Thuru, in Lucania, of the 4th century B.C., has the complete animal in position to charge. Another of this same city bears the Bull with a bird on its back, perhaps symbolizing the Peleiad Doves.

{Page 381} Plutarch wrote, in his De Facie Orbe Lunae, that when the planet Saturn was in Taurus, i, e. every thirty years, there took place the legendary migration from the external continent beyond the Cronian, or Saturnian, Sea to the Homeric Orgyia, or to one of its sister islands.

South American tribes held ideas similar to our own about Taurus, for La Condamine, the celebrated French scientist of the last century, said that the Amazon Indians saw in the > of the Hyades the head of a bull; while Goguet more definitely stated that, at the time of the discovery of that river, by Yanez Pinzon in 1500, the natives along its banks called the group Tapura Rayoaba, the Jaw of an Ox; and even in civilized countries it has been fancifully thought that its shape, with the horns extending to beta and zeta, gave title to the constellation.

In China it formed part of the White Tiger, and also was known as Ta Leang, the Great Bridge, from a very early designation of the Hyades and Pleiades; but as a zodiac constellation it was the Cock, or Hen, recalling the modern Hen and Chickens of the Pleiades. When the Jesuits introduced their Western nomenclature it became Kin Neu, the Golden Ox.

After Egyptian worship of the bull-god Osiris had spread to other Mediterranean countries, our Taurus naturally became his sky representative, as also of his wife and sister Isis, and even assumed her name; but the starry Bull of the Nile country was not ours, at least till late in that astronomy. Still this constellation is said to have begun the zodiacal series on the walls of a sepulchral chamber in the Ramesseum; and, whatever may have been its title, its stars certainly were made much of throughout all Egyptian history and religion, not only from its then containing the vernal equinox, but from the belief that the human race was created when the sun was here. In Coptic Egypt it, or the Pleiades, was Orias, the Good Season, Kircher's Static Hori, although it was better known as Apis, the modern form of the ancient Hapi, whose worship as god of the Nile may have preceded even the building of the pyramids.

As first in the early Hebrew zodiac it was designated by A or Aleph, the first letter of that alphabet, coincidentally a crude figure of the Bull's face and horns; some of the Targums assigning it to the tribes of Manasseh and Ephraim, from Moses' allusion to their father Joseph in the 33d chapter of Deuteronomy, — "his horns are the horns of the wild ox"; but others said that it appeared only on the banners of Ephraim; or referred it to Simeon and Levi jointly, from Jacob's death-bed description of their character, — "they houghed an ox"; or to Issachar, the "strong ass" which shared with the ox the burdens of toil and carriage.

It has been associated with the animal that Adam first offered in sacrifice, {Page 382} or with the later victims in the Jewish temple; and the Christian school of which Novidius was spokesman recognized in Taurus the Ox that stood with the ass by the manger at the blessed Nativity. Hood said of this: "But whether there were any ox there or no, I know not how he will prove it." In the "apostolic zodiac" it became Saint Andrew; but Caesius said that long before him it was Joseph the Patriarch.

Representations of the Mithraic Bull on gems of four or five centuries before Christ, reproduced in Lajarde's Culte de Mithra, prove that Taurus was at that time still prominent in Persico-Babylonian astronomy as well as in its religion. One of these representations, showing the front of the Bull's head, may very well be the origin of our present symbol of this sign, gamma, although it also has been considered a combination of the full and crescent moon, associated with this constellation as a nocturnal sign; and some assert that Taurus was drawn as a demi-bull from his representing the crescent moon. This appears on a Babylonian cylinder seal of about 2150 B.C. Still earlier in Akkadia it seems to have been known as the Bull of Light, its double title, Te Te, referring to its two groups, the Hyades and Pleiades, which in every age have been of so much interest to mankind; and a cylinder has Gut-an-na, the Heavenly Bull, mentioned in connection with rain, so recalling the rainy Hyades. Epping says that it was the Babylonians' Shur, and that four of their ecliptic constellations were marked by its stars; while Jensen mentions it as symbolic of Marduk, the Spring Sun, son of Ia, whose worship seems to have been general 2200 B.C., — probably long before, — and that it was originally complete and extended as far as the Fish of Ia, the northern of the two Fishes. This high authority carries the formation of Taurus still farther back, to about 5000 B.C., even before the equinox lay here. The name of the second of the antediluvian Babylonian kings, the mythical Alaparos, seems connected with this constellation or with the lucida, Aldebaran; and its stars certainly were associated with the second month of the Assyrian year, A-aru, the Directing Bull, our April-May, as they were in the Epic of Creation with the conquest of the Centaur.

Taurus was the Cingalese Urusaba, the early Hindu Vrisha, Vrishan, or Vrouchabam, — in the Tamil tongue, Rishabam; but subsequently Varaha Mihira gave it as Taouri, his rendering of Taurus, and Al Biruni, in his India, as Tambiru.

With the Druids it was an important object of worship, their great religious festival, the Tauric, being held when the sun entered its boundaries; and it has, perhaps fancifully, been claimed that the tors of England were the old sites of their Taurine cult, as our cross-buns are the present representatives of the early bull cakes with the same stellar association, tracing {Page 383} back through the ages to Egypt and Phoenicia. And the Scotch have a story that on New Year's eve the Candlemas Bull is seen rising in the twilight and sailing across the sky, — a matter-of-fact statement, after all.

The Anglo-Saxon Manual of Astronomy four centuries ago gave it as Fearr.

Astrologers made this sign the lord of man's neck, throat, and shoulders; Shakespeare having an amusing passage in Twelfth Night, in the dialogue between Sirs Toby Belch and Andrew Aguecheek, when both blunder as to this character of Taurus. And it was considered under the guardianship of Venus, sharing this distinction with the body of Scorpio, — some said with Libra, — whence it was known as Veneris Sidus, Domus Veneris nocturna, and Gaudium Veneris: an idea also perhaps influenced by its containing the Peleiades, the Doves, the favorite birds of that goddess. It ruled over Ireland, Greater Poland, part of Russia, Holland, Persia, Asia Minor, the Archipelago, Mantua, and Leipzig in modern astrology, as it did over Arabia, Asia, and Scythia in ancient; Ampelius assigned to it the care of the much dreaded west-northwest wind, Pliny's Argestes. White and lemon were the colors allotted to it. On the whole, it was an unfortunate constellation, although a manuscript almanac of 1386 had "whoso is born in yat syne schal have grace in bestis"; and thunder, when the sun was here, "brought a plentiful supply of victuals."


The Hyades

The Hyades marked by the sailor.

— Potter's translation of Euripides' ...

As when the seaman sees the Hyades

Gather an army of Cimmerian clouds,

Auster and Aquilon with winged steeds.

— Christopher Marlowe's History of Doctor Faustus.

alpha, theta1, theta2, gamma, delta, and epsilon Tauri, 10° southeast of the Pleiades, Whitening all the Bull's broad forehead, form one of the most beautiful objects in the sky, and have been famous for ages, especially with the classical authors.

{Page 387} Mythologically they were daughters of Atlas and Aethra, and hence half-sisters of the Pleiades, with whom they made up the fourteen Atlantides; or the Dodonides, the nymphs of Dodona, to whom Jupiter entrusted the nurture of the infant Bacchus, and raised them to the sky when driven into the sea by Lycurgus. Similarly they were said to be the Nysiades, the nymphs of Nysa, and teachers of Bacchus in India.

Anciently supposed to be seven in number, we moderns count but six, and Hesiod named only five, — Kleea, Eudora, Koronis, Phaeo, and Phaesula; but Pherecydes gave a complete list of them, although one of his names has been lost, and the rest, preserved by Hyginus, vary from those given by Hesiod, and doubtless are somewhat corrupted in form. These were Aesula or Pedile, Ambrosia, Dione, Thyene or Thyone, Eudora, Koronis, and Polyxo or Phyto. Pherecydes probably took in beta and zeta, at the tips of the horns, omitting some of the fainter stars now included in the group; Thales, however, is said to have acknowledged but two, — alpha and epsilon in the eyes, — "one in the Northern Hemisphere, and the other in the South"; Hipparchos and Ptolemy named only alpha and gamma as Uadon; Euripides, in the Phaethon, counted three; and Achaeus, four. Ovid used Thyone for the whole, but none of the sisters' names have been applied to the individual stars as in the case of the Pleiades.

They are among the few stellar objects mentioned by Homer, — and by him, Hesiod, Manilius, Pliny, and doubtless others, given separately from Taurus. Pliny called them Parilicium, from their lucida, Aldebaran.

The Greeks knew them as Uades, which became "Hyades" with the cultured Latins, supposed by some to be from uein, "to rain," referring to the, wet period attending their morning and evening setting in the latter parts of May and November; and this is their universal character in the literature of all ages. Thus we have Hyades Graiis ab imbre vocat of Ovid's Fasti; pluviasque Hyadas of the Aeneid and of Ovid again; and pluviae generally, which Manilius expressed in his

Sad Companions of the turning Year.

While far back of all these, in the She King:

The Moon wades through Hyads bright,

Foretelling heavier rain.

Pliny wrote of them as being "a violent and troublesome star causing stormes and tempests raging both on land and sea"; in later times Edmund Spenser called them the Moist Daughters; Tennyson, in his Ulysses, said:

Thro' scudding drifts the rainy Hyades vext the dim sea;

{Page 388} and Owen Meredith has "the watery Hyades" in The Earl's Return. The queer old Guide into Tongues of John Minsheu, calling them the Seven Stars, — the only instance of this title that I have met for this

group, — makes still more intimate their connection with the showers; for at its word Hyades the reader is referred to the word Raine, where we see:

Hyades, uades, dictae stellae quaedam in cornibus Tauri; quae ortu occasuq, sus pluvias largosque imbres concitant.

And in Doctor Johnson's Dictionary the word is defined as "a watery constellation." Thus they have always been considered most noteworthy by husbandmen, mariners, and all who were dependent upon the weather, even to the last two or three centuries.

Ovid called them Sidus Hyantis, after their earthly brother, Hyas, whose name, after all, would seem to be the most natural derivation of the title; and it was their grief at his death which gave additional point to Horace's tristes Hyadas, and, in one version of their story, induced Jove to put them in the sky.

But their colloquial title among the Roman country-people was Suculae, the Little Pigs, as if from Sus, Sow, the Greek Us, Homer's Sus, which indeed might as well be the derivation of Uades; as uein. This name constantly occurs in astronomical literature from the time of Columella and Pliny to Kepler, Hevelius, and Flamsteed; Pliny accounting for it by the fact that the continual rains of the season of their setting made the roads so miry that these stars seemed to delight in dirt, like swine. And this idea, trivial though it seems, was sufficiently prevalent for Cicero, a century before Pliny, to think worthy of contradiction in his De Natura Deorum. Smyth said that the title might come from the resemblance of the group to a pig's jaws; or because Aldebaran and its companion stars were like a sow with her litter. Peck suggests, in his Dictionary of Classical Literature and Antiquities, that Suculae was the oldest Roman name, given before the Greek appellation was known, and to be compared with our popular stellar titles such as the Dipper, Charles' Wain, etc. Isidorus traced it to sucus, "moisture," a pleasanter derivation, and possibly more correct, than that held in ancient Italy. This will account for Bayer's Succidae.

Bassus and others knew the group as u-psilon, the symbol with Pythagoras for human life; and the Roman V, as it resembles those letters, — alpha and epsilon being the extremes, gamma at the vertex. But Ulug Beg's translator wrote:

"Quinque stellae quae sunt in facie, in forma lambdae Graecorum et forma rov Dal."

In the Alfonsine Tables we find Lampadas, the accusative plural of Lampada, a Torch.

{Page 389} Occasional Arabic titles were Al Mijdah, a Triangular Spoon, and Al Kilas, the Little She Camels, referring to the smaller stars in distinction from Aldebaran, the Large Camel; Al Ferghani wrote the word Kala’is. These Little Camels appeared in one Arabic story as driven before the personified Aldebaran, in evidence of his riches, when he went again to woo Al Thurayya, the Pleiades, who previously had spurned him on account of his poverty. Another author made the word Al Kallas, the Boiling Sea, so continuing in Arabia the Greek and Roman ideas of its stormy and watery character. Generally, however, in that country, the Hyades were Al Dabaran, which was adopted in the 1515 Almagest, as well as in the Alfonsine Tables of 1521, where we read sunt stellae aldebaran, specially referring to the star gamma "of those in the face." The Arabic title, therefore, was identical with that of the 2nd manzil (Arabic Moon Mansion), which these stars constituted, as they also did the 2nd nakshatra (Hindu Moon Mansion), Rohini, Aldebaran marking the junction with the adjacent Mrigacirsha.

The Hindus figured this asterism as a Temple, or Wagon; and there are many astrological allusions to it in the Siddhantas, the collective term for the various standard astronomical books of that people.

The Chinese utilized it for their 2nd sieu (Chinese Moon Mansion), Pi, or Peih, anciently Pal, a Hand-net, or a Rabbit-net, but included lambda and sigma; although some limited this station to epsilon, the farthest to the north. The She King thus described it:

Long and curved is the Rabbit Net of the sky;

but with that people generally it was the Star of the Hunter, and, with the astrologers, the Drought Car. This title, however, was inappropriate, for the Hyades seem to have been as closely identified with rain in China as in Greece or Rome, — indeed were worshiped as Yu Shi, the General, or Ruler, of Rain, from at least 1100 B.C. Still this character was not native, but must have been derived from western Asia, where the early rains coincided with the heliacal rising of these stars, which was not the case in China by nearly two months. The adjacent small stars, with xi, were Tien Lin, the Celestial Public Granary; and the whole group was known as the Announcer of Invasion on the Border.

The Hyades have been identified with the scriptural Mazzaroth, but there is little foundation for this; even less than for their identification, by Saint Jerome and by Riccioli, with the Kimah of the Book of Job, ix, 9.

Anglo-Saxon titles are Raedgastran, Raedgasnan, and Redgaesrum, whatever these may mean; and the Boar-Throng which that people saw in the sky may have been this group rather than Orion as generally is supposed.

It is thought that the Hyades have a united proper motion towards the {Page 390} west. They are rich in doubles and full of interest to the owners of even small glasses.


The Pleiades Atlas - The father of the Hyades and Pleiades, who was condemned to support the weight of the heavens on his head and hands. Titan bearing up the Heavens. The Endurer. Believed by some mythologists to be the originator of the constellations. Others believe it was Chiron (Centaurus).

Plein - (Pleione, the mother), means `to sail', making Pleione `sailing queen' and her daughters `sailing ones.'

Alcyone - Seduced by Poseidon. The Central One. The Hen.

Asterope (Sterope) - Raped by Aries and gave birth to Oenomaus, king of Pisa.

Celæno - Seduced by Poseidon. Was said to be struck by lightning.

Electra - Seduced by Zeus and gave birth to Dardanus, founder of Troy.

Maia - Eldest and most beautiful of the sisters. Seduced by Zeus and gave birth to Hermes. Later became foster-mother to Arcas, son of Zeus and Callisto, during the period while Callisto was a bear, she and Arcas were placed in the heavens by Zeus (she as Ursa Major, Arcas Ursa Minor).

Merope - The missing one or Lost Pleiades. This is the seventh of the sisters. She alone, married a mortal man; Sisyphus, and she repents of it, she hid her face in shame at being the only one not married to a god and from shame at the deed, she alone of the sisters hides herself in the sky (there is some dispute over whether it is Merope or Electra that hides herself, i.e. the star does not shine). Her husband, Sisyphus, son of Æolus, grandson of Deucalion (the Greek Noah), and great-grandson of Prometheus. Sisyphus - Merope's husband - founded the city of Ephyre (Corinth) and later revealed Zeus's rape of Ægina to her father Asopus (a river), for which Zeus condemned him to roll a huge stone up a hill in Hades, only to have it roll back down each time the task was nearly done.

Taygete/a - This is the sister who consecrated to Artemis the Cerynitian Hind with the golden horns that Heracles (3rd labor) had to fetch. Seduced by Zeus and gave birth to Lacedæmon, founder of Sparta.

The seven sweet Pleiades above.

— Owen Meredith's The Wanderer.

The group of sister stars, which mothers love

To show their wondering babes, the gentle Seven.

— Bryant's The Constellations.

the Narrow Cloudy Train of Female Stars of Manilius, and the Starry Seven, Old Atlas’ Children, of Keats' Endymion, have everywhere been {Page 392} among the most noted objects in the history, poetry, and mythology of the heavens; though, as Aratos wrote,

not a mighty space

Holds all, and they themselves are dim to see.

All literature contains frequent allusions to them, and in late years they probably have been more attentively and scientifically studied than any other group.

They generally have been located on the shoulder of the Bull as we have them, but Hyginus, considering the animal figure complete, placed them on the hind quarter; Nicander, Columella, Vitruvius, and Pliny, on the tail,

In cauda Tauri septem quas appellavere Vergilias; —

although Pliny also is supposed to have made a distinct constellation of them. Proclus and Geminos said that they were on the back; and others, on the neck, which Bayard Taylor followed in his Hymn to Taurus, where they

Cluster like golden bees upon thy mane.

Eratosthenes, describing them as over the animal, imitated Homer and Hesiod in his Pleias; while Aratos, calling them, in the Attic dialect, Pleiades, placed them near the knees of Perseus; thus, as in most of his poem, following Eudoxos, whose sphere, it is said, clearly showed them in that spot. Hipparchos in the main coincided with this, giving them as Pleias and Pleiades; but Ptolemy used the word in the singular for four of the stars, and did not separate them from Taurus. The Arabians and Jews put them on the rump of Aries; and the Hindu astronomers, on the head of the Bull, where we now see the Hyades.

The Pleiades seem to be among the first stars mentioned in astronomical literature, appearing in Chinese annals of 2357 B.C., Alcyone, the lucida, then being near the vernal equinox, although now 24° north of the celestial equator; and in the Hindu lunar zodiac as the 1st nakshatra, Krittika [Allen notes: The Krittikas were the six nurses of Skanda, the infant god of war, represented by the planet Mars, literally motherless, who

took to himself six heads for his better nourishment, and his nurses' name in Karttikeya, Son of the Krittikas.] Karteek, or Kartiguey, the General of the Celestial Armies, probably long before 1730 B.C., when precession carried the equinoctial point into Aries. Al Biruni, referring to this early position of the equinox in the Pleiades, which he found noticed "in some books of Hermes," wrote: {Page 393} This statement must have been made about 3000 years and more before Alexander.

And their beginning the astronomical year gave rise to the title "the Great Year of the Pleiades" for the cycle of precession of about 25,900 years.

The Hindus pictured these stars as a Flame typical of Agni, the god of fire and regent of the asterism, and it may have been in allusion to this figuring that the western Hindus held in the Pleiad month Kartik (October-November) their great star-festival Dibali, the Feast of Lamps, which gave origin to the present Feast of Lanterns of Japan. But they also drew them, and not incorrectly, as a Razor with a short handle, the radical word in their title, kart, signifying "to cut."

The Santals of Bengal called them Sar en; and the Turks, Ulgher.

As a Persian lunar station they were Perv, Perven, Pervis, Parvig, or Parviz, although a popular title was Peren, and a poetical one, Parur. In the Rubais, or Rubdiyat, of the poet-astronomer Omar Khayyam, the tent-maker of Naishapur in 1123, "who stitched the tents of science," they were Parwin, the Parven of that country to-day; and, similarly, with the Khorasmians and Sogdians, Parvi and Parur; — all these from Peru, the Begetters, as beginning all things, probably with reference to their beginning the year.

In China they were worshiped by girls and young women as the Seven Sisters of Industry, while as the 1st sieu (Moon Mansion) they were Mao, Mau, or Maou, anciently Mol, The Constellation, and Gang, of unknown signification, Alcyone being the determinant.

On the Euphrates, with the Hyades, they seem to have been Mas-tab-ba-gal-gal-la, the Great Twins of the ecliptic, Castor and Pollux (Gemini) being the same in the zodiac.

In the 5th century before Christ Euripides mentioned them with Aetos, our Altair, as nocturnal timekeepers; and Sappho, a century previously, marked the middle of the night by their setting. Centuries still earlier Hesiod and Homer brought them into their most beautiful verse; the former calling them Atlagenes, Atlas-born. The patriarch Job is thought to refer to them twice in his word Kimah, a Cluster, or Heap, which the Hebrew herdsman-prophet Amos, probably contemporary with Hesiod, also used; the prophet's term being translated "the seven stars" in our Authorized Version, but "Pleiades" in the Revised. The similar Babylonian-Assyrian Kimtu, or Kimmatu, signifies a "Family Group," for which the Syrians had Kima, quoted in Humboldt's Cosmos as Gemat; this most natural simile is repeated in Seneca's Medea as densos Pleiadum greges. Manilius had Glomerabile Sidus, the Rounded Asterism, equivalent to the {Page 394} Globus Pleiadum of Valerius Flaccus; while Brown translates the Pleiades; of Aratos as the Flock of Clusterers.

In Milton's description of the Creation it is said of the sun that

the gray Dawn and the Pleiades before him danced,

Shedding sweet influence, —

the original of these last words being taken by the poet from the Book of Job, xxxviii, 31, in the Authorized Version, that some have thought an astrological reference to the Pleiades as influencing the fortunes of mankind, or to their presumed influential position as the early leaders of the Lunar Mansions. The Revised Version, however, renders them "cluster," and the Septuagint by the Greek word for "band," as if uniting the members of the group into a fillet; others translate it as "girdle," a conception of their figure seen in Amr al Kais' contribution to the Muallakat, translated by Sir William Jones:

It was the hour when the Pleiades appeared in the firmament like the folds of a silken sash variously decked with gems.

Von Herder gave Job's verse as:

Canst thou bind together the brilliant Pleiades ?

Beigel as:

Canst thou not arrange together the rosette of diamonds of the Pleiades ?

and Hafiz wrote to a friend:

To thy poems Heaven affixes the Pearl Rosette of the Pleiades as a seal of immortality.

An opening rose also was a frequent Eastern simile; while in Sadi's Gulistan, the Rose-garden, we read:

The ground was as if strewn with pieces of enamel, and rows of Pleiades seemed to hang on the branches of the trees;

or, in Graf's translation:

as though the tops of the trees were encircled by the necklace of the Pleiades.

William Roscoe Thayer repeated the Persian thought in his Halid:

slowly the Pleiades

Dropt like dew from bough to bough of the cinnamon trees.

{Page 395} That all these wrote better than they knew is graphically shown by Miss Clerke where, alluding to recent photographs of the cluster by the Messrs. Henry of Paris, she says:

The most curious of these was the threading together of stars by filmy processes. In one case seven aligned stars appeared strung on a nebulous filament "like beads on a rosary." The "rows of stars," so often noticed in the sky, may therefore be concluded to have more than an imaginary existence.

The title, written also Pliades and, in the singular, Plias, has commonly been derived from plein "to sail," for the heliacal rising of the group in May marked the opening of navigation to the Greeks, as its setting in the late autumn did the close. But this probably was an afterthought, and a better derivation is from pleios, the Epic form of pleos, "full," or, in the plural, "many," a very early astronomical treatise by an unknown Christian writer having Plyades a pluralitate. This coincides with the biblical Kimah and the Arabic word for them — Al Thurayya. But as Pleione was the mother of the seven sisters, it would seem still more probable that from her name our title originated.

Some of the poets, among them Athenaeus, Hesiod, Pindar, and Simonides, likening the stars to Rock-pigeons flying from the Hunter Orion, wrote the word Peleiades, which, although perhaps done partly for metrical reasons, again shows the intimate connection in early legend of this group with a flock of birds. When these had left the earth they were turned into the Pleiad stars. Aeschylus assigned the daughters' pious grief at their father's (Atlas) labor in bearing the world as the cause of their transformation and subsequent transfer to the heavens; but he thought these Peleiades apteroi, "wingless." Other versions made them the Seven Doves that carried ambrosia to the infant Zeus, one of the flock being crushed when passing between the Symplegades, although the god filled up the number again. This probably originated in that of the dove which helped Argo through; Homer telling us in the Odyssey that

No bird of air, no dove of swiftest wing,

That bears ambrosia to the ethereal king,

Shuns the dire rocks; in vain she cuts the skies,

The dire rocks meet and crush her as she flies;

and the doves on Nestor's cup described in the Iliad have been supposed to refer to the Pleiades. Yet some have prosaically asserted that this columbine title is merely from the loosing of pigeons in the auspices customary {Page 396} at the opening of navigation. These stories may have given rise to the Sicilians' Seven Dovelets, the Sette Palommielle of the Pentameron.

Another title analogous to the foregoing is Butrum from Isidorus, — Caesius wrongly writing it Brutum, — in the mediaeval Latin for Botrus, a Bunch of Grapes, to which the younger Theon likened them. It is a happy simile, although Thompson [Allen notes: He traces the word back as equivalent to oinas, a Dove, probably Columba oenas of Old World ornithology, and so named from its purple-red breast like wine, — oinos, — and naturally referred to a bunch of grapes; or perhaps because the bird appeared in migration at the time of the vintage. This is strikingly confirmed by the fact that coins of Mallos in Cilicia bore doves with bodies formed by bunches of grapes; these coins being succeeded by others bearing grapes alone; and we often see the bird and fruit still associated in early Christian symbolism.] considers it merely another avian association like that seen in the poetical Peleiades and the Alcyone of the lucida.

Vergiliae and Sidus Vergiliarum have always been common for the cluster as rising after Ver, the Spring, — the Breeches Bible having this marginal note at its word "Pleiades" in the Book of Job, xxxviii, 31:

which starres arise when the sunne is in Taurus which is the spring time and bring flowers.

And these names obtained from the times of the Latin poets to the 18th century, but often erroneously written Virgiliae. Pliny, describing the glow-worms, designated them as stellae and likened them to the Pleiades:

Behold here before your very feet are your Vergiliae; of that constellation are they the offspring.

And the much quoted lines in Locksley Hall are similar:

Many a night I saw the Pleiads, rising through the mellow shade, Glitter like a swarm of fire-flies tangled in a silver braid.

Bayer cited Signatricia Lumina.

Hesiod called them the Seven Virgins and the Virgin Stars; Vergil, the Eoae Atlantides; Milton, the Seven Atlantic Sisters; and Hesperides, the title for another batch of Atlas' daughters from Hesperis, has been applied to them. Chaucer, in the Hous of Fame, had Atlantes doughtres sevene; but his "Sterres sevene" refer to the planets. As the Seven Sisters they are familiar to all; and as the Seven Stars they occur in various early Bible versions; in the Sifunsterri of the Anglo-Saxons, though they also wrote Pliade; in the Septistellium vestis institoris, cited by Bayer; and in the modern German Siebengestirn. This numerical title also frequently has been applied to the brightest stars of the Greater Bear (Ursa Major), as in early days it was to the "seven planets," — the Sun, Moon, Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter, and Saturn. Minsheu had the words" Seven Starres "indiscriminately for {Page 397} the Pleiades, Hyades, and Ursa Major, saying, as to the first," that appear in a cluster about midheaven."

As the group outline is not unlike that of the Dipper in Ursa Major, many think that they much more deserve the name Little Dipper than do the seven stars in Ursa Minor; indeed that name is not uncommon for them. And even in our 6th century, with Hesychios, they were Satilla, a Chariot, or Wagon, another well-known figure for Ursa Major.

Ideler mentioned a popular designation by his countrymen, — Schiffahrts Gestirn, the Sailors' Stars, — peculiarly appropriate from the generally supposed derivation of their Greek title and meteorological character of 2000 years ago; but the Tables of some Obscure Word is of King James I anticipated this in “Seamens Starres — the seaven starres."

The Teutons had Seulainer; the Gaels, Griglean, Grioglachan, and Meanmnach; the Hungarians, who, Grimm says, have originated 280 native names for stars, called the Pleiades Fiastik and Heteveny, — this last in Finland Het’e wa’ne; the Lapps of Norway knew them as Niedgierreg; while the same people in Sweden had the strange Suttjenes Rauko, Fur in Frost, these seven stars covering a servant turned out into the cold by his master. The Finns and Lithuanians likened them to a Sieve with holes in it; and some of the French peasantry to a Mosquito Net, Cousiniere, — in the Languedoc tongue Cousigneiros. The Russians called them Baba, the Old Wife; and the Poles, Baby, the Old Wives.

As we have seen the Hyades likened to a Boar Throng, so we find with Hans Egede, the first Norse missionary to Greenland, 1721-34, that this sister group was the Killukturset of that country, Dogs baiting a bear; and similarly in Wales, Y twr tewdws, the Close Pack.

Weigel included them among his heraldic constellations as the Multiplication Table, a coat of arms for the merchants.

Sancho Panza visited them, in his aerial voyage on Clavileno Aligero, as las Siete Cabrillas, the Seven Little Nanny Goats; and la Racchetta, the Battledore, is a familiar and happy simile in Italy; but the astronomers of that country now know them as Plejadi, and those of Germany as Plejaden.

The Rabbis are said to have called them Sukkoth Renoth, usually translated "the Booths of the Maidens" or "the Tents of the Daughters," and the Standard Dictionary still cites this supposed Hebrew title; but Riccioli reversed it as Filiae Tabernaculi. All this, however, seems to be erroneous, as is well explained in the Speaker's Commentary on the 2d Book of the Kings xvii, 30, where the words are shown to be intended for the Babylonian goddess Zarbanit, Zirat-banit, or Zir-pa-nit, the wife of Bel Marduk. The Alfonsine Tables say that the "Babylonians," by whom were probably {Page 398} meant the astrologers, knew them as Atorage, evidently their word for the manzil Al Thurayya, the Many Little Ones, a diminutive form of Tharwan, Abundance, which Al Biruni assumed to be either from their appearance, or from the plenty produced in the pastures and crops by the attendant rains. We see this title in Bayer's Athoraie; in Chilmead's Atauria quasi Taurinae; and otherwise distorted in every late mediaeval work on astronomy. Riccioli, commenting on these in his Almagestum Novum, wrote Arabice non Athoraiae vel Atarage sed Altorieh sen Benat Elnasch, hoc est filiae congregationis; the first half of which may be correct enough, but the Benat, etc., singularly confounded the Pleiad stars with those of Ursa Major. In his Astronomia Reformata he cited Athorace and Altorich from Aben Ragel. Turanya is another form, which Hewitt says is from southern Arabia, where they were likened to a Herd of Camels with the star Capella as the driver.

A special Arabic name for them was Al Najm, the Constellation par excellence, and they may be the Star, or the Star of piercing brightness, referred to by Muhammad in the 53d and 86th Suras of the Kuran, and versified from the latter by Sir Edwin Arnold in his At Hafiz, the Preserver:

By the sky and the night star'

By Al Tarik the white star!

To proclaim dawn near;

Shining clear —

When darkness covers man and beast —

the planet Venus being intended by Al Tarik. Grimm cited the similar Syryan Voykodzyun, the Night Star.

They shared the watery character always ascribed to the Hyades, as is shown in Statius' Pliadum nivosum sidus; and Valerius Flaccus distinctly used the word "Pliada" for the showers, as perhaps did Statius in his Pliada movere; while Josephus states, among his very few stellar allusions, that during the investment of Jerusalem by Antiochus Epiphanes, 170 B.C., the besieged suffered from want of water, but were finally relieved "by a large shower of rain which fell at the setting of the Pleiades." In the same way they are intimately connected with traditions of the Flood found among so many and widely separated nations, and especially in the Deluge-myth of Chaldaea. Yet with all this well established reputation, we read in the Works and Days:

When with their domes the slow-paced snails retreat,

Beneath some foliage, from the burning heat

Of the Pleiades, your tools prepare.

{Page 399} They were a marked object on the Nile, at one time probably called Chu or Chow, and supposed to represent the goddess Nit or Neith, the Shuttle, one of the principal divinities of Lower Egypt, identified by the Greeks with Athene, the Roman Minerva. Hewitt gives another title from that country, Athurai, the Stars of Athyr (Hathor), very similar to the Arabic word for them; and Professor Charles Piazzi Smyth suggests that the seven chambers of the Great Pyramid commemorate these seven stars.

Grecian temples were oriented to them, or to their lucida; those of Athene on the Acropolis; of different dates, to their correspondingly different positions when rising. These were the temple of 1530 B.C.; the Hecatompedon of 1150 B.C.; and the great Parthenon, finished on the same site 438 B.C. The temple of Bacchus at Athens, 1030 B.C., looked toward their setting, as did the Asclepieion at Epidaurus, 1275 B.C., and the temple at Sunium of 845 B.C. While at some unknown date, perhaps contemporaneous with these Grecian structures, they were pictured in the New World on the walls of a Palenque temple upon a blue background; and certainly were a well-known object in other parts of Mexico, for Cortez heard there, in 1519, a very ancient tradition of the destruction of the world in some past age at their midnight culmination.

A common figure for these stars, everywhere popular for many centuries, is that of a Hen with her Chickens, — another instance of the constant association of the Pleiades with flocking birds, and here especially appropriate from their compact grouping. Aben Ragel and other Hebrew writers thus mentioned them, sometimes with the Coop that held them, — the Massa Gallinae of the Middle Ages; these also appearing in Arabic folk-lore, and still current among the English peasantry. In modern Greece, as the Hencoop, they are Poulia or Pouleia, not unlike the word of ancient Greece. Miles Coverdale, the translator in 1535 of the first complete English Bible, had as a marginal note to the passage in the Book of Job:

these vii starres, the clock henne with her chickens;

and Riccioli, in his Almagestum Novum:

Germanice Bruthean: Anglice Butrio id est gallina fovens pullos.

We see in the foregoing the Butrum of Isidorus, Riccioli's great predecessor in the Church. The German farm laborers call them Gluck Henne; the Russian, Nasedha, the Sitting Hen; the Danes, Aften Hoehne, the Eve Hen; while in Wallachia they are the Golden Cluck Hen and her five Chicks. In Serbia a Girl is added in charge of the brood, probably the star Alcyone, Maia appropriately taking her place as the Mother. The French and {Page 400} Italians designate them, in somewhat the same way, as Pulsiniere, Poussiniere, and Gallinelle, the Pullets, Riccioli's Gallinella. Aborigines of Africa and Borneo had similar ideas about them. Pliny's translator Holland called them the Brood-hen star Vergiliae.

Savage tribes knew the Pleiades familiarly, as well as did the people of ancient and modern civilization; and Ellis wrote of the natives of the Society and Tonga Islands, who called these stars Matarii, the Little Eyes:

The two seasons of the year were divided by the Pleiades; the first, Matarii i nia, the Pleiades Above, commenced when, in the evening, those stars appeared on the horizon, and continued while, after sunset, they were above. The other season, Matarii i raro, the Pleides Below, began when, at sunset, they ceased to be visible, and continued till, in the evening, they appeared again above the horizon.

Gill gives a similar story from the Hervey group, where the Little Eyes are Matariki, and at one time but a single star, so bright that their god Tane in envy got hold of Aumea, our Aldebaran, and, accompanied by Mere, our Sirius, chased the offender, who took refuge in a stream. Mere, however, drained off the water, and Tane hurled Aumea at the fugitive, breaking him into the six pieces that we now see, whence the native name for the fragments, Tauono, the Six, quoted by Flammarion as Tau, both titles singularly like the Latin Taurus. They were the favorite one of the various avelas, or guides at sea in night voyages from one island to another; and, as opening the year, objects of worship down to 1857, when Christianity prevailed throughout these islands. The Australians thought of them as Young Girls playing to Young Men dancing, — the Belt stars of Orion; some of our Indians, as Dancers; and the Solomon Islanders as Togo ni samu, a Company of Maidens. The Abipones of the Paraguay River country consider them their great Spirit Groaperikie, or Grandfather; and in the month of May, on the reappearance of the constellation, they welcome their Grandfather back with joyful shouts, as if he had recovered from sickness, with the hymn, "What thanks do we owe thee ! And art thou returned at last ? Ah ! thou hast happily recovered!" and then proceed with their festivities in honor of the Pleiades' reappearance.

Among other South American tribes they were Cajupal, the Six Stars.

The pagan Arabs, according to Hafiz, fixed here the seat of immortality; as did the Berbers, or Kabyles, of northern Africa, and, widely separated from them, the Dyaks of Borneo; all thinking them the central point of the universe, and long anticipating Wright in 1750 and Madler in 1846, and, perhaps, Lucretius in the century before Christ.

Miss Clerke, in a charming and instructive chapter in her System of the Stars which should be read by every star-lover, tells us that: {Page 401} With November, the "Pleiad-month," many primitive people began their year; and on the day of the midnight culmination of the Pleiades, November 17, no petition was presented in vain to the ancient Kings of Persia; the same event gave the signal at Busiris for the commencement of the feast of Isis, and regulated less immediately the celebration connected with the fifty-two-year cycle of the Mexicans. Australian tribes to this day dance in honor of the "Seven Stars," because "they are very good to the black fellows." The Abipones of Brazil regard them with pride as their ancestors. Elsewhere, the origin of fire and the knowledge of rice-culture are traced to them. They are the "hoeing-stars" of South Africa, take the place of a farming-calendar to the Solomon Islanders, and their last visible rising after sunset is, or has been, celebrated with rejoicings all over the southern hemisphere as betokening the "waking-up time" to agricultural activity.

They also were a sign to ancient husbandmen as to the seeding-time; Vergil alluding to this in his 1st Georgic, thus rendered by May:

Some that before the fall 'oth' Pleiades

Began to sowe, deceaved in the increase,

Have reapt wilde oates for wheate.

And, many centuries before him, Hesiod said that their appearance from the sun indicated the approach of harvest, and their setting in autumn the time for the new sowing; while Aristotle wrote that honey was never gathered before their rising. Nearly all classical poets and prose writers made like reference to them.

Mommsen found in their rising, from the 21st to the 25th of the Attic month Thargelion, May-June, the occasion for the prehistoric festival Plunteria, Athene's Clothes-washing, at the beginning of the corn harvest, and the date for the annual election of the Achaeans; while Drach surmised that their midnight culmination in the time of Moses, ten days after the autumnal equinox, may have fixed the day of atonement on the 10th of Tishri. Their rising in November marked the time for worship of deceased friends by many of the original races of the South, — a custom also seen with more civilized peoples, notably among the Parsis and Sabaeans, as also in the Druids' midnight rites of the 1st of November; while a recollection of it is found in the three holy days of our time, All Hallow Eve, All Saints' Day, and All Souls' Day.

Hippocrates made much of the Pleiades, dividing the year into four seasons, all connected with their positions in relation to the sun; his winter beginning with their setting and ending with the spring equinox; spring lasting till their rising.; the summer, from their appearing to the rising of Arcturus; and the autumn, till their setting again. And Caesar made their heliacal rising begin the Julian summer, and their cosmical setting the commencement of winter. In classic lore the Pleiades were the heavenly group {Page 402} chosen with the sun by Jove to manifest his power in favor of Atreus by causing them to move from east to west.

Notwithstanding, however, all that we read so favorable to the high regard in which these stars were held, they were considered by the astrologers as portending blindness and accidents to sight, a reputation shared with all other clusters. The Arabs, especially, thought their forty days' disappearance in the sun's rays was the occasion of great harm to mankind, and Muhammad wrote that "when the star rises all harm rises from the earth." But Hippocrates had differently written in his Epidemics, a thousand years before, of the connection of the Pleiades with the weather, and of their influence on diseases of autumn:

until the season of the Pleiades, and at the approach of winter, many ardent fevers set in;

and:

in autumn, and under the Pleiades, again there died great numbers.

Although the many legends of their origin are chiefly from Mediterranean countries, yet the Teutonic nations have a very singular one associated with our Saviour. It says that once, when passing by a baker's shop,

and attracted by the odor of newly baked bread, He asked for a loaf; but being refused by the baker, was secretly supplied by the wife and six daughters standing by. In reward they were placed in the sky as the Seven Stars, while the baker became a cuckoo; and so long as he sings in the spring, from Saint Tiburtius' Day, April 14th, to Saint John's Day, June 24th, his wife and daughters are visible. Following this story, the Pleiades are the Gaelic Crannarain, the Baker's Peel, or Shovel, a title shared with Ursa Major.

Another, still homelier, but appropriately feminine, name is hinted at in Holland's translation from the Historia Naturalis, where Pliny treats of "the star Vergiliae":

So evident in the heaven, and easiest to be known of all others, it is called by the name of a garment hanging out at a Broker's shop.

Those who have traced out the origin of the title Petticoat Lane for the well-known London street will recognize what Pliny had in mind.

In various ages their title has been taken for noteworthy groups of seven in philosophy or literature. This we see first in the Philosophical Pleiad of 620 to 550 B.C., otherwise known as the Seven Wise Men of Greece, or the Seven Sages, generally given as Bias, Chilo, Cleobulus, Epimenides or {Page 403} Periander, Pittacus, Solon, and the astronomer Thales; again in the Alexandrian Literary Pleiad, or the Tragic Pleiades, instituted in the 3rd century B.C. by Ptolemy Philadelphus, and composed of the seven contemporary poets, variously given, but often as Apollonius of Rhodes, Callimachus or Philiscus, Homer the Younger of Hierapolis in Caria, Lycophron, Nicander, Theocritus, and our Aratos; in the Literary Pleiad of Charlemagne, himself one of the Seven; in the Great Pleiade of France, of the 16th century, brought together in the reign of Henri III, some say by Ronsard, the "Prince of Poets," others by d'Aurat, or Dorat, the "Modern Pindar," called "Auratus," either in punning allusion to his name or from the brilliancy of his genius, and the "Dark Star," from his silence among his companions; and in the Lesser Pleiade, of inferior lights, in the subsequent reign of Louis XIII. Lastly appear the Pleiades of Connecticut, the popular, perhaps ironical, designation for the seven patriotic poets after our Revolutionary War: Richard Alsop, Joel Barlow, Theodore Dwight, Timothy Dwight, Lemuel Hopkins, David Humphreys, and John Trumbull, — all good men of Yale.

I have not been able to learn when, and by whom, the titles of the seven sisters were applied to the individual stars as we have them; but now they are catalogued nine in all, the parents being included. These last, however, seem to be a comparatively modern addition, the first mention of them that I find — in Riccioli's Almagestum Novium of 1651 — reading:

Michael Florentius Langrenius illarum exactam figuram observavit, & ad me misit, in qua additae sunt duae Stellae alus innominatae, quas ipse vocal Atlantem, & Pleionem; nescio an sint illae, quas Vendelinus ait observari tanquam novas, quia modo apparent, modo latent.

Aurigathe Charioteer



Clues to the meaning of this celestial feature"Next, bearing his footsteps near the crouching Bull [Taurus] comes the Charioteer whose calling won him heaven and a name: first of men to speed in a high chariot behind a team of four, he was seen by Jupiter and hallowed in the skies. Him follow the Kids [Haedi, the Kids; Hoedus 1, and Hoedus 11, and Capella, the she-goat, are not properly constellations but simply individual stars in Auriga] that with their constellation close the seas [tranlators's note: "referring to the matutinal setting of the Kids in mid-November, from when until early March navigation was for the most part suspended"] and the goat famed for having suckled the king of heaven [Zeus]; nourished from her udders he seized the throne of Olympus, drawing strength from that wild milk to wield the lightning and the power of thunder. Therefore Jupiter hallowed it, as was its due, with a place among the eternal stars, repaying heaven gained with the gift of heaven." [Manilius, Astronomica, 1st century A.D, p.33].

According to Olcott the origin of this ancient constellation is lost. It has been represented for ages as a mighty man seated on the Milky Way, and like a shepherd carrying a goat on his shoulder, and a pair of little kids in his hand. The first magnitude star Capella shines in the heart of the imaginary goat.

"To the Greeks Auriga represented Erichthonius, son of Vulcan and King of Athens who was the first to devise a chariot drawn by four horses which he used in order to conceal his greatly deformed feet. The goat and kids depicted in the constellation figure commemorate the goat upon whose milk Jupiter was reared, together with her offspring." [Robson, Fixed Stars and Constellations in Astrology, p.31.]

It is uncertain if a chariot should be part of this constellation. Auriga was the Latin word for a charioteer, or driver of a chariot, and in most classical writings the constellation was meant to represent a charioteer, with or without goats, and the Greeks had the name Eniochos, 'the holder of the reins'. But on Assyrian tablets Auriga was the 'Chariot,' and in accordance with this in Grecco-Babylonian times the constellation 'Rukubi,' the Chariot, lay here nearly coincident with our Charioteer. A chariot was imagined in the Big Dipper asterism of Ursa Major. One writer of Astronomical myths (John F. Blake, Astronomical Myths, 1877) thought that the proximity of the chariot in Ursa Major accounts for the name of the Charioteer applied to this constellation.

Auriga is the Latin word for a charioteer or driver, from Latin *or-ig-, 'he who manages the (horse's) bit' [1], compounded of aureae (plural), 'bridle of a horse', and -iga, 'driver'. Aureae stands for oreae (plural), a derivative of os, genitive oris, 'mouth'. The suffix -iga derives from agere, 'to set in motion, drive, lead' [Klein].

In Ancient Rome, the Auriga was a slave or a chauffeur whose duty was to drive a biga, the light vehicle powered by two horses.

This constellation, Auriga, is identified with Erichthonius, the son of the goddess Athena (Roman Minerva) and Hephaestus (Roman Vulcan) who, being deformed and unable to walk, invented the chariot. Erichthonius is a name that suggests wool (eri), or fight (eris), and the suffix -chthonius means earth or ground (chthon) [2]. He is the child produced by Hephaestus' aborted attempt to have sex with Athena. In the fight (eris) that ensued between the two, some of Hephaestus' semen fell on Athena's leg. The goddess wiped it off in disgust with a woolen cloth (eri) and threw it to the ground. Gaia (Earth) gave birth to the child. Erichthonius, in his childhood, enjoyed the protection of Athena, who hid him in a basket or chest woven from Actaean osiers (willows), as she did not want the other gods to know that she was taking care of the child. She gave the basket to the daughters of Cecrops, king of Athens, to guard, instructing them not to open it. They disobeyed, and terrified by what they saw, leaped from the Acropolis to their deaths. Erichthonius was said to have a snake or dragon form for his lower body instead of feet. He is represented in the statue of Athena in the Parthenon as the snake hidden behind her shield, because it was said that when the basket was opened he jumped out and hid behind the shield of Athena, the Aegis. A snake was kept in a basket at the foot of Athena's statue in the Parthenon, representing him [the snake might be the hamadryad, or king cobra, from I.E. *sem-+, described more fully below]. Early histories did not distinguish between Erichthonius and Erectheus, his grandson, but by the fourth century BCE they are entirely distinct figures [3].

"As they struggled [Athena and Hephaestus], some of his seed fell to earth, and from it a boy was born, the lower part of whose body was snake-formed. They named him Erichthonius, because eris in Greek means “strife”, and khthon means 'earth'”. [Hyginus Fabulae 166 4].

Erichthonius became, by all accounts, a benevolent king of Athens, inheriting the throne from Cecrops, the first king of Athens (who some think was his father). "Having inherited his father's (Hephaestus') lameness, found necessary some means of easy locomotion. This was secured by his invention of the four-horse chariot" (Allen, Star Names). According to the Parian marble (the Parian Chronicle) he taught his people to yoke horses and use them to pull chariots, smelt silver (which had been discovered by Indus) and till the earth with a plough (which was invented by Bootes). It was said that Erichthonius invented the quadriga, or four-horse chariot [5].

Erichthonius represents a charioteer who invented and drove the four-horse chariot. Helios, the ancient Greek's sun-god, was usually depicted riding a chariot which was drawn by four horses, but without a charioteer. Indian mythology has a charioteer, Aruna, or Arun, that resembles Erichthonius in some ways. In the Hindu Pantheon Surya, the sun, is shown drawn by seven horses (though in earlier depictions it was four) with his charioteer, the lame Aruna, seated in front of him. "According to Hindu mythology, Aruna or Arun refers to the Charioteer of the Sun, including the rising Sun. Aruna refers to the redness of the rising Sun. He is believed to be a cripple (without thighs). This figure of the Hindu mythology has the literal meaning, in Sanskrit, of the reddish one. Aruna is also the name of the Hittite god of the sea" [6], the Vedic Varuna.

"The charioteer for Sun God is Aruna. 'Arunodayam' (Rise of Aruna) ..., the charioteer rises first as he is in the driving seat, and then comes Surya (the sun). This Aruna is a result of a half developed embryo" [7]

A Greek title for Auriga was "Eniochos, the Rein-holder, transcribed as Heniochus by Latin authors" (Allen, Star Names). [The suffix -chus means holder from IE *segh-, and is also the suffix of Ophiuchus' name]. The

Charioteer of Delphi, also known as Heniokhos (Iniohos, the rein-holder), is one of the best-known statues surviving from Ancient Greece, erected 474 BC, to commemorate the victory of a chariot team in the Pythian Games. The butterfly-fishes are of the genus Heniochus. The enio- or Latinized henio- of Heniochus comes from Greek, enioi, 'some', related to the prefix heno- in henotheism, 'the worship of one God without denying the existence of other Gods', and henotic, 'unifying; harmonizing', from Greek enotikos, 'serving to unite', from enoun, 'to make one, unite' [Klein].

Erichthonius was according to some legends autochthonous, 'born of the earth', Erichthonios, referred to as the 'beneficent autochthon' [8]. Automedon was the charioteer of Achilles. The automobile is the modern counterpart of the chariot, 'auto-mobile', 'self-propelling', from Greek autos, 'self'. Socrates (Phaedrus 246a - 254e), uses the Chariot allegory to explain his view of the human soul. One horse being well-behaved and the other troublesome, and some souls have difficulty controlling the black horse, even with the help of the white horse [9]. "Aristotle spoke of autarkia - having your origin in yourself. Capacity for self-movement implied divinity and immortality. The divine or immortal element in us is 'auto-kinetic' or, as we say today, 'automobile'" [10] From Greek autos, 'self, same, spontaneous; directed from within', we get the words auto-, autism, automatic, autopsy ('a seeing for oneself'), authentic.

Philosophers called prudence the chariot of the virtues, in Latin auriga virtutum. This metaphor relates to a charioteer knowing how to guide the horses with skill.

The word Auriga, a Latin word for a charioteer, is generally believed to be a compound of aureae (plural), 'bridles of a horse', and -iga, 'driver'. The word Auriga might also be broken down into au-riga. The suffix -riga might relate to rig (from Old Norse rigga), a vehicle with one or more horses harnessed to it. The au- part of Auriga might just mean 'self', from Greek autos, au-tos, (Greek -tos, Latin -tus, means 'the'); 'the self'; and the -riga; might also relate to regere, meaning ruler; 'ruler of the self'? The name Eric, resembles Erichthonius, and comes from Old Norse Eiríkr, derived from ei, 'ever' and ríkr, 'ruler'.

Auriga is associated with Erichthonius, and the alpha star of this constellation, Capella, is associated with Amaltheia (Amalthea) the nanny-goat, who suckled the infant Zeus. The stars zeta, Hoedus 1, and eta, Hoedus 11 are her Kids which she put aside in order to suckle the baby Zeus, as a wet-nurse would do. The Kids, two stars in Auriga, were treated as a separate constellation by Manilius. A nanny is a person who rears children other than her own, as Amalthea raised Zeus, and Erichthonius was raised by Athena. When Zeus became an adult, he made a shield from the hide of this goat after she died. This was Zeus 'aegis' which protected him and frightened his enemies [11], it had the goulish star Algol (beta Perseus) in the center. The skin of Amalthea, the aegis, from Indo-European *aig- 'goat', is the goatskin shield or breastplate of Zeus. Athena was so favored by her father that she was the only god-child of Zeus allowed to wear the Aegis [12]. In Greek the word aigis bore a dual meaning, both 'stormy' and 'goatish,' hence the close connection between goats and storms in myth [13]. A title given to Auriga was 'The Good Shepherd'; the Good Shepherd expresses a similar meaning to 'aegis'; under the protection, guidance or patronage.

The name, Amalthea, the she-goat that nourished the infant Jupiter, "from Greek Amaltheia, which is probably related to Greek malthakos, 'soft, light, weak', malakos, 'soft'" [Klein] [from I.E. root *mel-1 'soft']. Greek malakos, 'soft' is related to the word amalgamate to join or unite; amal-gamate; as though joining the two gametes. (Erichthonius is credited with introducing marriage (Greek gamos) among the Athenians.) Valpy sees the word resolved into Am-althea, the prefix Am-, from ama, to unite, related to amal-gamate [Greek..., p.18, 19], and the suffix -althea of Amalthea [Greek..., p.16] as related to Greek althaia, from althainein, to heal

[from I.E. root *al-3 'To grow, nourish'].

The snake, Erichthonius, might be the hamadryad, or king cobra, from *sem-+ which is also the root of the Greek word for charioteer, or coach driver, Heniochus. The Cobra is the most feared of all poisonous snakes and its name comes from the Portuguese cobra de capello (hooded snake). A rearing cobra with a dilated hood (uraeus) was also a potent symbol of royalty in ancient Egypt [14]. Capella is the alpha star of this constellation, Latin capella is a diminutive of capa, from Late Latin cappa, hooded cloak. Coaches are carriages with hoods; French Cocher, the Italian Cocchiere were titles for Auriga - related to the word coach. [Perhaps a relationship between Hoedus, the Latin traditional name for haedi, kid goats, and hood?]

Pliny and Manilius treated the alpha star, Capella as a constellation by itself, also calling it Capra, Caper, Hircus, and by other hircine titles. Charles Earle Funk (Thereby Hangs a Tale) says that because goats were perceived as enjoying the freedom to change their minds, we use the word caprice to mean a whim. The suffix -rice in 'caprice' is related to the words hirsute (from Latin hircus, 'he-goat'), and horror, from riccio 'curl, frizzled,' literally 'hedgehog,' in which the hair is said to stand erect like spines, as though in horror, from Latin ericius. This word, caprice, might belong to Capricorn but because of the horror stories associated with Auriga I imagine that the suffix '-rice' in caprice must have something to do with this constellation also. Auriga contains and the capricious Kid Goats, and the Nanny Goat, whose skin after she died became the aegis of Zeus, adorned with the petrifying Medusa's head in its center. One story tells us that the goat, Amalthea, was so ugly that it could frighten even the Titans. Latin ericius resembles the prefix of Erichthonius' name, Eri-chthonius, which is thought to be from eri, or eris, strife or fight. It was said that the daughters of Cecrops took one look at Erichthonius as a baby and were so horrified by what they saw that they leaped from the Acropolis to their deaths.

"The windblown clouds, supposedly, are skittish goats. But language is itself capricious: the supposed goat in 'caprice' was originally a hedgehog. The word is from the Italian capo, head, and riccio, hedgehog, and originally meant 'horror', in which the hair is said to stand erect like spines. ... capricious could translate as 'curly-headed'. Clouds, although not capricious in the hedgehog sense, are often metaphorically perceived as hair, just as the sea is [Charles Earle Funk, Thereby Hangs a Tale].

There is a similarity between the name of the Greek title, Eniochos, for this constellation, Latin Heniochus, and the name Enoch (Hebrew hanokh, translated to the Greek Henoch). The city on the Euphrates, Uruk (Biblical Erech, Eresh, now Warka) "was recognized at once by Sayce, and many others, as identical with the Biblical word, Enoch" [15]. "The theory that the modern name of Iraq could be possibly derived from the name Uruk is not proven" [16]. Erech resembles Erichthonius. There are some parallels between these characters: Both Erichthonius and Enoch inherited cities already built. Cain built Enoch and named it after his son Enoch (Genesis 4:17), which is identified with Uruk or Erech. Uruk has sanctuaries of the goddess Inanna, who is also called Nana or Eanna; this constellation has a nanny-goat Amalthea, Capella. "Enoch walked with God" and lived 365 years; the Charioteer, Aruna, travels with the sun 365 days a year.

Greek eniautos (eni-autos, "in a year" [Valpy, p.89]), means annual, or yearly; the suffix -autos, 'year', has the same spelling as autos, 'self', except that the u in Greek autos, 'self' has a diphthong, and is of "unknown origin". Both autos might belong to this constellation: A surviving fragment of the fourth book of the History of Alexandria describes a procession in honour of Dionysos:

“After the Satyrs come two Sileni, the one with petasos and caduceus as herald, the other with trumpet to make proclamation. And between them walked a man great of stature, four cubits tall in the dress and mask of a tragic actor and carrying the gold horn of Amaltheia. His name was Eniautos. http://phoenixandturtle.net/excerptmill/harrison.htm

Greek eniautos (eni-autos), means annual, or yearly. The nanny-goat of this constellation performed the same function for Zeus as we understand a children's nurse, or nanny to do. This word, nanny, is thought to be related to Greek nanna, 'aunt', and the names: Anne, Anna, Nancy, etc [17]. The word annual is derived from Latin annus, and comes from the name Anna Porenna, the Roman goddess of the year [18].


"The Charioteer lifts his team from ocean and wrests his wheels up from the downward slope of the horizon where icy Boreas lashes us with his bitter blasts. He will impart his own enthusiasms and the skills, still retained in heaven, which as driver of a chariot he once took pleasure in on earth (that is, the constellation is identified with Erichthonius). The Charioteer will enable his son to stand in a light chariot and hold in check the four mouths curbed with foam-flecked bits (Erichthonius invented the quadriga, or four-horse chariot), guide their powerful strength, and keep close to the curve round which they wheel. Again, when the bolts have been drawn and the horses have escaped from the starting-pens, he will urge on the spirited steeds and, leaning forward, he will seem to precede them in their swift career; hardly touching the surface of the track with his light wheels, he will outstrip the winds with his coursers' feet. Holding first place in the contest he will drive to the side in a balking course and, his obstruction delaying his rivals, deny them the whole breadth of the circus-track; or if he is placed mid-way in the press, he will now swing to a course on the outside, trusting in the open, now keep close to the pointed turning-post, and will leave the result in doubt to the very last moment. As a trick-rider too he will be able to settle himself now on one, now on a second horse, and plant his feet firmly upon them: flying from horse to horse he will perform tricks on the backs of animals in flight themselves; or mounted on a single horse he will now engage in exercise of arms, now whilst still riding pick up gifts scattered along the length of the circus. He will possess virtuosity in all that is connected with such pursuits.

Of this constellation, I think, Salmoneus may be held to have been born imitating heaven on earth, he imagined that by setting his team of four on a bridge of bronze and driving it across he had expressed the crash of the heavens (referring to Phaeton's disastrous attempt to drive the sun-chariot one day) and had brought to earth Jove's very self; however, while counterfeiting thunderbolts he was struck by real ones and, falling after the fires he had flung himself, discovered in death that Jove existed. You may well believe that under this constellation was born Bellerophon, who flew amid the stars and laid a road on heaven (The Milky Way): the sky was the field over which he sped, whilst land and sea lay far beneath his feet, and his path was unmarked by footprints. By examples such as these are you to mark the rising figure of the Charioteer". [Manilius, Astronomica, book 5, 1st century A.D., p. 305-309].

Manilius referring to Capella, Alpha Auriga:

"The Olenian goat [Capella, Olenian either as being on the left arm of the Charioteer, or as the daughter of Oleniss], keeping watch over the Kids which stray ahead, enstarred on the right in the cold north sky for her services as foster-mother of mighty Jove (Jupiter). She gave the Thunderer (Jupiter) sound nourishment, satisfying with her own milk the infant's hungry body and giving him therewith sufficient strength to wield his bolts. Of the Goat are born anxious minds and trembling hearts, which start at every noise and are apt to flutter at the slightest cause. Inborn in them, too, is a longing to explore the unknown, even as goats seek fresh shrubs on mountain slopes and rejoice, as they browse, to move ever further afield". [Manilius, book 5 of Astronomica, 1st century A.D., p. 305-309]

Manilius referring to the Hyades rising: Hoedus 1, Hoedus 1 (zeta Auriga) and Hoedus 11, Hoedus 11 (eta Auriga) when rising (on the Ascendant):

"The Kids display their quivering chins, promise to mankind of their shaggy backs at a later hour, on the right horizon where the north wind blows. Think not that hence is fashioned a product of severe mien, that hence are born stern-faced Catos (Cato the Censor), an inflexible Torquatus (who killed his son) and men to repeat the deed of Horatius (who killed his sister). Such a charge would be too much for the sign, nor does such greatness befit the frisking Kids, who rejoice in frivolity and stamp their young with a wanton breast. These abandon themselves to playful sport and nimble activity, and spend their youth in fickle loves. Though honor never inspires them to shed their blood, lust often drives them to do so, and their base desires cost even their lives; to perish thus is their least disgrace, since their triumph is a triumph of vice. The Kids also give to those born under them the custody of flocks, and beget a shepherd of their own kind, one to hang a pipe round his neck and draw from its different stops melodious strains". [Manilius, book 5 of Astronomica, 1st century A.D., p. 305-309]

Manilius referring to the Hyades setting; Haedi 1 (zeta Auriga) and Haedi 11 (eta Auriga) when setting (on the descendant):

"But when the heedless Kid, like one astray in secluded dells, looks for his brethren's tracks and rises at a distance far behind the flock, he fashions an adroit mind and a spirit which occupies itself with business of every kind, which falters not under cares, and which is never satisfied with home. Such men are the servants of the state, passing through the magistracies and judicial offices. When he is there, the auctioneer's spear (a spear was fixed in the ground at public auctions) will not look in vain for a lifted finger or confiscated goods lack a bidder; when he is there, no criminal will go scot-free or any debtor to the treasury defraud the state. He is the city's attorney. In addition, he indulges in a host of love affairs, and at the Wine-god's (Dionysus/Bacchus) behest drops public business, when he reveals himself as agile at dancing and more supple than performers on the stage". [Manilius, book 5 of Astronomica, 1st century A.D., p. 305-309].


Fixed stars in Auriga


Hasseleh iota 15GEM15 16GEM38 073 26 00 +33 05 20 +10 26 54 2.90 K3

Hoedus 1 zeta 17GEM14 18GEM38 074 44 40 +41 00 18 +18 11 46 3.08 var K4

epsilon 17GEM28 18GEM51 074 35 39 +43 45 05 +20 56 16 var F0

Hoedus 11 eta 18GEM03 19GEM27 075 45 03 +41 10 08 +18 16 42 3.28 B3

Capella alpha 20GEM28 21GEM51 078 14 53 +45 56 58 +22 51 50 0.08 G5

upsilon 26GEM47 28GEM10 086 54 27 +37 17 36 +13 52 29 4.99 M1

Menkalinan beta 28GEM31 29GEM55 088 57 54 +44 56 41 +21 30 06 1.90 var A2

delta 28GEM32 29GEM55 088 51 09 +54 17 00 +30 50 26 3.88 G6

theta 28GEM34 29GEM57 089 04 41 +37 12 40 +13 46 04 2.71 A0



Thou hast loosened the necks of thine horses, and goaded their flanks with affright,

To the race of a course that we know not on ways that are hid from our sight.

As a wind through the darkness the wheels of their chariot are whirled,

And the light of its passage is night on the face of the world.

— Algernon Charles Swinburne's Erechtheus.

Auriga, the Charioteer or Wagoner in early days the Wainman, is the French Cocher, the Italian Cocchiere, and the German Fuhrmann.

It is a large constellation stretching northward across the Milky Way from its star gamma, which also marks one of the Bull's horns, to the feet of Camelopardalis, about 30° in extent north and south and 40° east and west; and is shown as a young man with whip in the right hand, but without a chariot, the Goat being supported against the left shoulder and the Kids on the wrist. This, with some variations, has been the drawing from the earliest days, when, as now, it was important, chiefly from the beauty of Capella and its attendant stars so prominent in the northwest in the spring twilight, and in the northeast in early autumn. But the Hyginus of 1488 has a most absurd Driver in a ridiculously inadequate four-wheeled car, with the Goat and Kids in their usual position, the reins being held over four animals abreast — a yoke of oxen, a horse, and a zebra (!); while the Hyginus of Micyllus, in 1535, has the Driver in a two-wheeled cart with a pair of horses and a yoke of oxen all abreast. A Turkish planisphere shows {Page 84} these stars depicted as a Mule, and they were so regarded by the early Arabs, who did not know — at all events did not picture — the Driver, Goat, or Kids. In this form Bayer Latinized it as the Mulus clitellatus, the Mule with Panniers.

Ideler thinks that the original figure was made up of the five stars alpha (Capella), beta (Menkalinan), epsilon, zeta (Haedi1), and eta (Haedi11); the Driver, represented by alpha (Capella), standing on an antique sloping Chariot marked by beta (Menkalinan); the other stars showing the reins. But later on the Chariot was abandoned and the reins transferred to their present position, the Goat being added by a misunderstanding, the word Aix, analogous to Aigis, simply meaning a Storm Wind that, apparently, in all former times the stars alpha (Capella), eta (Haedi11, and zeta (Haedi1) have portended at their heliacal rising, or by their disappearance in the mists. Still later to alpha as the Goat were added the near-by eta and zeta as her Kids, the Eriphoi, — an addition that Hyginus said was made by Cleostratos.

But the results of modem research now give us reason to think that the constellation originated on the Euphrates in much the same form as we have it, and that it certainly was a well-established sky figure there millenniums ago. A sculpture from Nimroud is an almost exact representation of Auriga with the Goat carried on the left arm; while in Graeco-Babylonian times the constellation Rukubi, the Chariot, lay here nearly coincident with our Charioteer, perhaps running over into Taurus.

Eniochos, the Rein-holder, was transcribed Heniochus by Latin authors, and personified by Germanicus and others as Erechtheus (Erechtheus), or more properly Erichthonius (Erichthonius), son of Vulcan and Minerva, who, having inherited his father's lameness, found necessary some means of easy locomotion. This was secured by his invention of the four-horse chariot which not only well became his regal position as the 4th of the early kings of Athens, but secured for him a place in the sky. Manilius thus told the story:

Near the bent Bull a Seat the Driver claims,

Whose skill conferr'd his Honour and his Names.

His Art great Jove admir'd, when first he drove

His rattling Carr, and fix't the Youth above.

Vergil had something similar in his 3rd Georgic.

These names appear as late as the 17th century with Bullialdus and Longomontanus, Riccioli writing Erichtonius.

Others saw here Myrtilus, the charioteer of Oenomaus, who betrayed his master to Pelops; or Cillas, the latter's driver; Pelethronius, a Thessalian; and Trethon; while Euripides and Pausanias identified him with the unfortunate Hippolytus, the Hebrew Joseph of classical literature. {Page 85} Additional titles in Greece were Armelates, Diphrelates, Ippelates, and Elasippos, all signifying a Charioteer; while La Lande's Bellerophon and Phaethon are appropriate enough, and his Trochilus may be, if the word be degenerated from trochalos, running; but his Absyrthe, correctly Apsurtos, the young brother of Medea (Absyrtis, or Apsyrtus), is unintelligible.

Although Auriga was the usual name with the Latins, their poets called it Aurigator; Agitator currus retinens habenas; Habenifer and Tenens habenas, the Charioteer and the Rein-holder; some of these titles descending to the Tables and Almagests down to the 16th century. Arator, the Ploughman, appeared with Nigidius and Varro for this, or for Bootes; in fact the same idea still holds with some of the Teutonic peasantry, among whom Capella and the Kids (zeta (Haedi1), and eta (Haedi11)) are known as the Ploughman with his Oxen. Grimm mentions for the group Voluyara, as stars that ploughmen know. The Acator occasionally seen may be an erroneous printing of Arator.

From the Goat and Kids came Gustos caprarum, Habens capellas, Habens haedos, and Habens hircum. Habens oleniam capram and Oleniae sidus pluviale Capellae of Ovid's Metamorphoses are from the Oleninen of Aratos, thought to be derived from olene, the wrist, on which the Kids are resting. Some, however, with more probability have referred the word to Olenus, the father and birthplace of the nymph Amalthea in ancient Aetolia.

Isidorus of Hispalis [This early Hispalis, the modern Seville, was the site of the first European observatory of our era, erected by the Moor Geber in 1196.] — Saint Isidore — called it Mavors, the poetical term for Mars, the father of Romulus and so the god of the shepherds; Nonius, the Portuguese Pedro Nunez of the 16th century, similarly said that it was Mafurthis; and Bayer found for it Maforte: but his Ophiultus, probably a Low Latin word also applied to alpha (Capella), seems to be without explanation.

Some have thought that Auriga was Horus with the Egyptians; but Scaliger said that the Hora of the translation of Ptolemy's Tetrabiblos should be Roha, Bayer's Roh, a Wagoner; Beigel, however, considered it a misprint for Lora, the Reins.

The barbarous Alhaior, Alhaiot, Althaiot, Alhaiset, Alhatod, Alhajot, Alhajoth, Alhojet, Alanac, Alanat, and Alioc, — even these perhaps do not exhaust the list, — used for both constellation and lucida (alpha star Capella), are probably degenerate forms of the Arabs' Al ‘Anz and Al ‘Ayyuk, specially applied to Capella as the Goat, which they figured as the desert Ibex, their Badan; and Ideler thinks that this may have been the earliest Arabic designation for the star.

The 1515 Almagest says, "et nominatur latine antarii . . . id est collarium," — this Collarium perhaps referring to the collar in the Charioteer's harness; {Page 86} but the Antarii has puzzled all, unless it be Professor Young, who suggests that it may be the reins diverging from the Driver's hand like guy-ropes, which the original means as used by Vitruvius in his description of a builder's derrick.

The Arabians translated the classic titles for the Rein-holder into Al Dhu al ‘Inan, Al Masik al ‘Inan, and Al Mumsik al ‘Inan, — Chilmead's Mumassich Alhanam; but the Rabbi Aben Ezra [This celebrated man, often cited in bygone days as Abenare, Avenore, Evenare, was Abraham ben Meir ben Ezra of Toledo, the great Hebrew commentator of the l2th century, an astronomer, mathematician, philologist, poet, and scholar, and the first noted biblical critic.] mixed things up by calling the figure Pastor in cujus manu est frenum.

Some have illustrated it as Saint Jerome, but Caesius likened it to Jacob deceiving his father with the flesh of his kids; and Seiss says that it represents the Good Shepherd who laid down his life for the sheep. A Chariot and Goat are shown on coins of consular Rome, and a Goat alone on those of Paros, that may have referred to this constellation.

Capella's course admiring landsmen trace,

But sailors hate her inauspicious face.

— Lamb's Aratos.

Canis Minorthe Lesser Dog



Clues to the meaning of this celestial featureCanis Minor used to have the title Procyon which is also the name of its alpha star, Procyon. Procyon is a combination of two Greek words; pro-, 'before' + Greek kuon, 'dog'. Canis Minor is situated by the Great Celestial River, the Milky Way. Procyon is the genus name for the raccoons, animals that live by water. Robson in The Fixed Stars and Constellations in Astrology says "it is noteworthy that the ideas of water and drowning seem to be universally associated with this constellation". A raccoon will drown its opponent if attacked in water. "Dogs are thought to have descended, in an evolutionary sense, from an ancient ancestor of the raccoon family. The raccoons were thought to have evolved first, so raccoons are 'before dogs'" [1].

The poodle is a type of water-dog; a puddle dog?

Arab astronomers had a number of titles for Canis Minor meaning the sycamine tree, still seen in the name of the beta star of this constellation, Gomeisa, meaning a sycamine tree, from Arabic Al Jummaiza, with much varied spelling. The German astronomer Johan Bayer gave Canis Minor the Greek titles Sukaminos (sycaminos), and Morus. "The sycamore is etymologically either the 'fig-mulberry' or the 'mulberry-mulberry'" [Ayto]. The Greeks knew the sycamine as sycamenea which is the black mulberry (Morus nigra), grown for its fruit. The white mulberry (Morus alba) is called sycamore, and grown for food for silk-making caterpillars. The name sycamore has been used for a variety of plants. Two other trees referred to 'sycamore trees'; (Platanus) of eastern North America, and the Eurasian deciduous maple tree (Acer pseudoplatanus) are different trees and not related to the mulberries, but because of the name might belong to this constellation.

Easton's Bible says "the Sycamine is a tree mentioned in the New Testament, thought to be a species of mulberry which is from the genus Morus, from sykon, fig, plus moron, black mulberry. The mulberry tree is in the same family as the fig-tree". "Some contend that the name sycamine denotes the sycamore fig of Luke 19:4" [2], Ficus sycomorus, so called due to the leaves' resemblance to those of the Mulberry.

The fig, Greek sykon, is related to the mulberry:

Our word fig is from Latin ficus, Greek sukon, sykon, from an adaptation of Hebrew shiqmah 'mulberry'. It is related to feague, an obsolete verb which primarily refers to 'whipping' or 'beating' which Ayto says is in turn was very likely borrowed from German fegen, 'polish', from Germanic base, *feg-, as produced English fake. We get the word sycophant from the Greek variation, meaning a servile self-seeker who attempts to win favor by flattering, literally 'fig shower'. People who grassed on criminals were said to 'show them the fig', 'show them two fingers,' as it might be expressed in modern English. And so the term sukophantes came to be used for an 'informer,' and eventually, via 'one who ingratiates himself by informing,' for a 'flatterer' or 'toady'. Fig was used metaphorically for 'cunt,' and hence for an 'indecent gesture made by putting the thumb into the mouth or between two fingers' [Ayto].

Myth of the Mulberry: In Ovid's Metamorphoses Pyramus and Thisbe were two young Babylonians who loved each other but could not marry because of parental opposition. They saw each other secretly through a chink in the wall which separated their two houses. One night they arranged a rendezvous at the tomb of Minus (the name resembles the suffix in Sukaminos, sycaminos; minus, from Latin minor, as in Canis Minor). A mulberry tree grew there. Thisbe was the first to arrive but saw a lioness after a kill. She fled, but lost her scarf, which the lioness seized in her bloody mouth and tore into pieces. When Pyramus arrived and saw the scarf, he assumed that Thisbe had been eaten by a wild animal, and ran himself through with his sword. When Thisbe returned, she found him dead, and killed herself with the same sword. The fruit of the mulberry, which had until then been white, turned red with all this spilt blood [Grimal] [Morus alba, sycamore, turned to Morus nigra, sycamine?]. They asked to be buried in the same tomb under the mulberry bush and their wish was granted.

"Alison Keith shows how Ovid shapes the Pyramus and Thisbe narrative around anagrammatic and paronomastic puns on mora ('mulberries') - amor - mors - mora ('delay') and the Greek etymology of mora ('flowing blood')" [3].

The name of the biblical prophet Amos resembles Latin amor. Amos is described as 'a dresser of sycamore trees'.

Along with meaning a sycamine tree, Al Jummaiza, some Arabian astronomers thought that this could be Al Ghumaisa, the Dim, Watery-eyed, or Weeping One. Because Al Shi'ra, Sirius (the main star in Canis Major), and Procyon (the main star in Canis Minor), are seen on opposite sides of the Milky Way, there is an Arab story describing how these two companions became separated by the great Sky River. They tell of two sisters (Sirius and Procyon) of Suhail (Canopus) and his marriage to Al Jauzah (Orion) who tried to follow their brother Suhail (Canopus) across the sky. When they came to the great Sky River they plunged in to swim across. The older and stronger sister (Sirius) managed and today can be seen on the southern bank of that great river. But the younger sister was too weak and remained weeping on the northern bank, where we still see her today as Procyon. [Allen, Star Names].

"It [Canis Minor] bestows not hunting, but its weapons" [Manilius, Astronomica, 1st century AD).

The words weep and weapon both had the same spelling in Middle English; wepen.

“If ye had faith as a grain of mustard seed, ye might say unto this sycamine tree, ‘Be thou plucked up by the root, and be thou planted in the sea’; and it should obey you.” — Luke 17:6 [4]

The New York Stock Exchange was founded under a sycamore tree.

Manilius giving the astrological influences for Canis Minor:

"To rear keen scented whelps and to tell their class by their pedigree, their qualities by their place of origin" [Manilius, Astronomica, 1st century AD]. "catulos (puppy) nutrire (rear) sagacis (know) et genus (genetics, birth) a proavis (ancestor)".

Manilius tells us that this constellation is interested in origins, he used the words genus and proavis meaning ancestor; perhaps the word 'root', meaning primary source or origin, might belong here? The biblical "say unto this sycamine tree 'Be thou plucked up by the roots'". A fig tree displays its roots.

This constellation had the Roman titles Catellus and Catulus, Catulos (of Manilius), these words are related to our word cat. It was rather late in history, around the 5th century, that the domesticated cat, with the corresponding Latin word cattus, makes its apparition. Some etymologists think that the word cat, from Latin cattus, probably derives from a Nubian source, kadis and Berber kaddiska cat. Others believe that Latin cattus, cat, is a very ancient European word and was in fact borrowed from the Celts. "The Celtic word evidently began with the sense of 'baby animal', then specialized as 'kitten', and eventually came to mean the animal at any age" [5]. "It is based on *khath- 'cat', from which are derived verbs meaning 'give birth' (to small animals) and names for the young of small animals" [Trends in Linguistics p.514] which is what Latin catulus also means. Felis was another title given to this constellation meaning feline.

What creature could express the characteristics of a sycophant better than a cat? "A self-serving self-seeker who attempts to win favor by flattering". The term sycophant also relates to 'one who ingratiates himself by informing'. The verb 'to cat' is slang for 'to let a secret be known' [AHD]. Chat is the French word for cat, and a homonym for chat, and to chatter. If you listen carefully to a cat chatting you will notice the contents are interspersed with a lot of whining observations, a catalogue of catty remarks, and general plaintive chit chat. Cats only chat with people, they never chat amongst themselves.

A fig, itself is symbolic of a cunt (sykon also meant 'vulva') [6]. "The resemblance seems to be in the way a ripe fig looks when it is split open; in Italian the word for 'fig' also was used for 'cunt'" [7]. Cat and pussy are slang terms used in English with a similar meaning.

Egyptian Bast, Bastet, or Pasht, was the goddess of cats, and of the city of Bubastis. In Julius Schiller star atlas Coelum Stellatum Christianum where the constellations were replaced with Christian figures; Canis Minor was the Paschal Lamb, from ecclesiastical Latin pascha (resembling Pasht the alternative name for Bastet, the cat goddess?) 'Utchats' [ut-chat?] was another name for her. She was goddess of birth, pleasure (Latin felis, the generic word for cat, is derived from Latin felix, meaning 'happy'; cats purr when happy), and the protector against contagious diseases and evil spirits (perhaps plague, cats kill vermin). Bubastis was said to be the home of belly-dancing. Belly dancing is essentially muscle flexing (f-lex, felix, cat - though not recognized cognates); it has the effect of giving a large belly, similar to that of a pregnant woman. Belly dancing is said to have been invented to promote an easy labor. In the process the dance would have helped achieve the popular body image of the graceful cat. The Celtic meaning of *khath-, 'cat', along with the meaning of a small animal also had the meaning 'give birth'. Bast, goddess of birth, is seen with a passel of kittens about her feet. Her name Bast, I suggest, might be related to bastard; as cat mating is a secret affair, no one ever knows who is the father and there are usually several males involved [Pyramus and Thisbe rendezvous under the mulberry tree was a secret affair].

There is another myth that might be relevant:

One day, Glaucus, son of King Minos and Queen Pasiphaë of Crete, was playing with a ball or mouse [as cats do] and suddenly disappeared. His parents went to the Oracle at Delphi who told them; "A marvelous

creature has been born amongst you: whoever finds the true likeness for this creature will also find the child." They interpreted this to refer to a newborn calf in Minos' herd of cattle. Three times a day, the calf changed color from white to red to black. Polyeidos observed the similarity to the ripening of the fruit of the mulberry plant, and Minos sent him to find Glaucus [8].

Owl-eyed Glaucus, the sea-god was a name for Homer's glauk-opis, Greek glaucoma originally meant a cataract (cata-, down, + arassein, to strike) of the eye, where the pupil turned white.

The site Tel Shiqmona (in Arabic Tell al-Samak), ancient Shikimonah, in the suburbs of Haifa, was referred to by many different names over the ages that are derivatives of the name Sycaminos, sycamine, Hebrew shikmah.

The astrological influences of the constellation by Manilius:

"Procyon rises at the moment when Cancer's twenty-seventh degree ascends from the waves to the stars. He bestows upon those born under him not hunting, but its weapons. To rear keen scented whelps [catulos nutrire sagacis] and to tell their class by their pedigree [et genus proavis], their qualities by their place of origin [mores numerare per urbes]; to produce nets and hunting-spears tipped with strong points, and pliant shafts with knots smoothed out and to manufacture and sell at a profit whatever the art of hunting is likely to require: these are the gifts Procyon will bestow" [Manilius, Astronomica, 1st century AD, book 5, 317.]


Fixed stars in Canis Minor

Fixed Star Long 1900 Long 2000 Decl 2000 Lat 2000 RA Sp. Cl. Mag

Gomeisa Beta 20CAN48 22CAN12 +08.17 -13.29 07h27m B8 3.1

Procyon Alpha 24CAN24 25CAN47 +05.13 -16.01 07h39m F5 0.5



The Dog's-precursor, too, shines bright beneath the Twins.

— Brown's Aratos.

Canis Minor, the Lesser Dog, is der Kleine Hund of the Germans; le Petit Chien of the French; and il Cane Minore of the Italians; Proctor, ignoring La Lande, strangely altered it to Felis.

It was not known to the Greeks by any comparative title, but was always Prokuon (pro, before + -kuon, dog), as rising before his companion Dog (Sirius, Canis Major), which Latin classic writers transliterated Procyon, and those of late Middle Ages as Prochion and Procion. Cicero and others translated this into Antecanis, — sometimes Anticanis, — Antecedens Canis, Antecursor, Praecanis, Procanis, and Procynis; or changed to plain Canis. To this last from the time of Vitruvius, perhaps before him, the Romans added various adjectives; septentrionalis, from its more northerly position than that of Canis Major; minor, minusculus, and parvus, in reference to its inferior brightness; primus, as rising {Page 132} first; and sinister, as on the left hand, in distinction from the Canis dexter on the right (referring to Canis Major). Lucan described both of the Dogs as semi deosque Canes (the Latin plural for dogs).

It was also Catellus and Catulus, the Puppy. Horace wrote of it,

Jam Procyon furit,

which Mr. Gladstone rendered,

The heavens are hot with Procyon's ray,

as though it were the Canicula (Canis Major), and he was followed by others in this; indeed, Pliny began the dog days with its heliacal rising on the 19th of July, and strangely said that the Romans had no other name for it.

With mythologists it was Actaeon's dog, or one of Diana's, or the Egyptian Anubis; but popularly Orion’s 2nd Hound, often called Canis Orients, and thus confounded as in other ways with the Sirian asterism. Hyginus had Icarium Astrum, referring to the dog Maera; Caesius, Erigonius and Canis virgineus of the same story, but identified by Ovid with Canis Major; and Firmicus, Argion, that perhaps was for Ulixes' dog Argos (Argus). It also was considered as representing Helen's favorite, lost in the Euripus, that she prayed Jove might live again in the sky.

It shared its companion's much mixed, degenerate nomenclature, as in the 1515 Almagest's "Antecedens Canis et est Alsehere Ascemie Algameisa“; while the industrious Bayer as usual had some strange names for it. Among these are Fovea, a Pit, that Caesius commented much upon, but little to our enlightenment; and Sukaminos (sycaminos), or Morus, the Sycamine tree [a tree mentioned in the New Testament, thought to be a species of mulberry which is from the genus Morus], the equivalent of one of its Arabic titles. His Aschemie and Aschere, as well as Chilmead's Alsahare alsemalija, and mongrel words from the foregoing Almagest, etc., can all be detected in their original Al Shira al Shamiyyah, the Bright Star of Syria, thus named because it disappeared from the Arabs' view at its setting beyond that country.

We also find Al Jummaiza, their Sycamine, although some say that this should be Al Ghumaisa, the Dim, Watery-eyed, or Weeping One; either from the fact that her light was dimmer than that of her sister Al Shi'ra (Sirius), or from the fable connected with Suhail (Canopus) and his marriage to Al Jauzah (Orion) and subsequent flight, followed by Al Shi'ra below the Milky Way, where she remained, the other sister, Al Ghumaisa, being left in tears in her accustomed place, or it may be from a recollection of the Euphratean title for Procyon, — the Water-dog. Bayer wrote the word Algomeiza; Riccioli, Algomisa and Algomiza; and others; Algomeysa, Algomyso, Alchamizo, etc. Thus the Two Dog-stars were the Arabs' Al Aliawat al Suhail, the Sisters {Page 133} of Canopus. Still another derivation of the name is from Al Ghamus, the Puppy; but this probably was a later idea from the Romans.

Also borrowing from them, the Arabians called it Al Kalb al Asghar, the Lesser Dog, — Chilmead's Alcheleb Alasgar, Riccioli's Kelbelazguar, — and Al Kalb al Mutakaddim, the Preceding Dog.

In Canis Minor lay a part of Al Dhira’ al Asad al Makbudah, the Contracted Fore Arm, or Paw, of the early Lion; the other, the Extended Paw, running up into the heads of Gemini.

Like its greater neighbor, Procyon foretold wealth and renown, and in all astrology has been much regarded. Leonard Digges wrote in his Prognostication Everlasting of Right Good Effect, an almanac for 1553, —

Who learned in matters astronomical, noteth not the great effects at the rising of the starre called the Litel Dogge.

Caesius made it the Dog of Tobias, in the Apocrypha, that Novidius had claimed for Canis Major; but Julius Schiller imagined it the Paschal Lamb.

Who traced out the original outlines of Canis Minor, and what these outlines were, is uncertain, for the constellation with Ptolemy contained but two recorded stars, and no amorphotoi; and even now Argelander's map shows only 15, although Heis has 37, and Gould 51.

Canis Minor lies to the southeast from the feet of Gemini, its western border over the edge of the Milky Way, and is separated by Monoceros from Canis Major and Argo.

alpha, Binary, 0.4, and 13, yellowish white and yellow.

Procyon, varied by Procion and Prochion, — Prokuon, in the original, — has been the name for this from the earliest Greek records, distinctly mentioned by Aratos and Ptolemy, and so known by all the Latins, with the equivalent Antecanis.

Ulug Beg designated it as Al Shi’ra al Shamiyyah, shortened to Al Shamiyyah; Chrysococca transcribing this into his Low Greek Siaer Siame, and Riccioli into Siair Siami; all of these agreeing with its occasional English title the Northern Sirius. The Alfonsine Tables of 1521 quote it as Aschere, Aschemie and Algomeysa; those of 1545, as prochion & Algomeyla.

It thus has many of its constellation's names; in fact, being the magna pars of it, probably itself bore them before the constellation was formed.

{Page 134} Jacob Bryant insisted that its title came to Greece from the Egyptian Pur Cahen.

Euphratean scholars identify it with the Kakkab Paldara, Pallika, or Palura of the cylinders, the Star of the Crossing of the Water-dog, a title evidently given with some reference to the River of Heaven, the adjacent Milky Way; and Hommel says that it was the Kak-shisha which the majority of scholars apply to Sirius.

Dupuis said that in Hindu fables it was Singe Hanuant; and Edkins that it, or Sirius, was the Persian Vanand.

Reeves' Chinese list gives it as Nan Ho, the Southern River, in which beta (Gomeisa) and eta were included.

With the natives of the Hervey Islands it was their goddess Vena.

In astrology, like its constellation, it portended wealth, fame, and good fortune. Procyon culminates on the 24th of February.

Geminithe Twins



Clues to the meaning of this celestial featureCastor and Pollux, the twins, were the sons of Leda and were fathered by Zeus in the form of a swan, and born from eggs.

In mythology the Twins were involved in cattle theft, it was during a dispute over the division of spoils of a cattle raid with their cousins that Castor met his death. Pollux was granted immortality by Zeus, but he persuaded Zeus to allow him to share the gift with Castor. As a result, the two spend alternate days on Olympus (as gods) and in Hades (as deceased mortals) [6]. The stars Castor and Pollux are never above the horizon at the same time.

The Gemini twins, Castor and Polydeukes (Pollux), are the Greek Dioscuri (Dioskouroi, from dios, god, + kouroi, boys, the sons of Dios, God, or the 'sons of Zeus', from Greek -kouros, a growing boy). For the mythology of the Dioskouroi see http://www.theoi.com/Ouranios/Dioskouroi.html.

The word 'Gemini' has few known relatives and comes from the Indo-European root *yem- 'To pair'. Derivatives: geminate (in pairs), Gemini, gimmal (gimmal or gimbal, double ring, French gemeau, jumeau), bigeminal. [Pokorny iem- 505. Watkins] In Greek didumos, means twin, or double.

Klein sees the word Gemini as a likely relative of Indic Yama and his sister Yami who are opposite-sex twins:

"Gemini, Latin, 'twins', specifically 'the constellation Castor and Pollux'; probably cognate with Old Indian yamah, Avestic yemo, 'twin', Middle Irish emon (masculine), emuin (feminine), 'pair of twins'. These words possibly derive from Indo-European base *gem- [*yem-], 'to press', whence also Greek gemein, 'to be pregnant, to be full of, Middle Irish gemel, Welsh gefyn, 'fetter'" [Klein, Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary].

"Yama and his twin sister Yami, later his wife, were the first couple to inhabit the earth (a sort of Hindu parallel of Adam and Eve)" [1]?

"Yama, in Hindu mythology, was the first of men that died, the judge of the dead from Old Indian Yamah, of uncertain origin. It means perhaps literally 'the restrainer', from Old Indian yamah, 'rein, bridle' [the twins, Castor and Pollux were horsemen], and is related to yamati, yacchati, 'holds together, reins in, curbs' and possibly cognate with Latin red-imio, + -ire, 'to wreathe round', redimiculum, 'band, fillet, frontlet'" [Klein]. Yima, is the Avestic equivalent of Yama (Persian mythology) — Avestic Yima-, related to Old Indian Yamah. "In Vedic tradition Yama was considered to have been the first mortal who died and espied the way to the celestial abodes, and in virtue of precedence he became the ruler of the departed. Yama's name can be interpreted to mean 'twin', and in some myths he is paired with a twin sister Yami" [2]. "In Hindu myth, there are many hells, and Yama, Lord of Justice, sends human beings after death for appropriate punishment. In Vedic beliefs, Yami is the first woman, along with her twin brother, Yama. In Tibetan beliefs, Yami is a goddess of death and rules the female spirits of the underworld (Naraka). She is the consort of Yama, lord of the underworld" [3].

The vegetable yam, of the genus Dioscorea, is the sweet potato, from Senegal nyami, 'to eat'. From Susaraqy a contributor to the Discussion List:

"Dioscorea species contain diosgenin, which is estrogenic and is used as a commercial precursor for various steroids. In Panama (and I believe elsewhere) some preparations are used to treat arthritis http://www.ars-grin.gov/duke/dictionary/tico/d.html A quick google shows there is a rich ethnobotany for these plants, which may be relevant to your etymology exploration for Gemini."

Gemini are the twin sons of Leda, born in an egg after Jupiter made love to her disguised as a swan (Cygnus). The creation of twins happens at a very early stage after conception. The zygote stage is a one celled entity (see the adjoining constellation Orion whose appellation is 'Jugula', a word related to 'zygote'). The ovum or egg first divides into two identical twin cells. At this stage the two cells can break apart to form two embryos. This phase relates to gemination (doubling) of the cells, the division and multiplying of cells; whether or not the cells break apart or form twins or remain together to form one embryo.

The cells of the body are likened to bricks as indicated in such instructive commentary as; "the human body is built out of billions of bricks; the cells", or "the cells are the building bricks of life" etc. A symbol for Gemini was a 'Pile of Bricks', referring to the building of the first city and the fratricidal brothers, and the Sumerian name for the month May-June, when the sun was in Gemini, signified 'Bricks' [Allen, Star Names]. Masonry is the craft of piling one stone or brick upon another. Mason is related to the word make, mate, and match, from Old English gemaca, related to gemæcca, 'one of a pair, mate, consort', gemaecc, 'well-matched, suitable'. [These words correspond phonetically and semantically to gemini, although they are not recognized cognates].

Castor (alpha Gemini) is also the Greek name for the beaver, and beavers are of the genus Castor. Beavers are described as master builder [4], they build lodges, and Freemasons have lodges. Freemasonry is a fraternal organization, and was called free owing to a confusion with French frere, 'brother' (in the term frere macon, 'brother mason'). Mason, make, mate, and match, are from the Indo-European root *mag- Also *mak-. 'To knead, fashion, fit'. Derivatives: make, mason, maquillage (make-up), match+ (from Old English gemæcca, mate, spouse, 'one who is fitted with another'), mingle, among, mongrel (from old English gemang, mixture, to knead together), magma (from Greek magma, unguent, from massein, to knead), mass, amass, macerate (to make soft by soaking or steeping in a liquid) [Pokorny mag- 696, 2. mak- 698, men(e)k- 730. Watkins]

Pollux: According to Wikipedia Castor means 'beaver' in both Greek and Latin, and polydeukes (Polydeuces, Poludeukes, Polydeukous, Latinized as Pollux) means "much sweet wine". Greek polus, 'much, many', + deukes 'sweet'; "very sweet".

Polydeuces might also relate to "many twos", -deuces, from Greek duo (duce, deuce etc);

"Polydeukes chose for both this twofold life" [- Pindar, Odes Nemean 10 ep3-ep5]

to share half their days in Heaven and half in Hades.

Another explanation comes from The Lost Language of Symbolism; "In Greece the Twins were known as Polydeuces, a word which as it stands means many dukes or many leaders. The word deuce, used to-day [early 20th contury] as an ejaculation, may be equated with the first syllable of disheal !--an exclamation which is made in the Highlands on any sudden peril or emergency."

Jana Thompson of the American Philological Association examines the name Poludeukes and gives some interesting suggestions.

According to traditional astrology where all things have their own specific rulerships in the zodiac, the sign Gemini rules birds. In myth the twins Castor and Pollux emerged from eggs. Many birds employ the same masonry techniques in their nest-building as humans use to make bricks and build, they too use mud mixed with fibrous material like chaff and straw.

[5] Gemini is seen in the context of two entities paired together; it might relate to the Sun (Apollo) and the planet Mercury together as they are close together and travel together, or Gemini might represent the two aspects of Mercury; in its apparition as morning or evening star. Mercury can only be seen in morning or evening twilight and it is said that before the 5th century BC, Greek astronomers believed the planet to be two separate objects. In astrology the zodiacal sign Gemini is ruled by the planet Mercury (Roman god Mercury is the Greek Hermes). The ancient Greeks gave the planet Mercury two names: Apollo when it was visible in the morning sky and Hermes when visible in the evening. Castor has the appellation Apollo, and Greek Apollon. Manilius called the Gemini Twins Phoebi Sidus as being under Apollo's protection [Star Names]. Myth tells how the one-day old Hermes stole Apollo's cattle and then invented the lyre (Lyra) and offered it to Apollo, Apollo was so delighted with it that in exchange for it he let Hermes keep his cattle. In other references the twins are identified as Hercules and Apollo.

Gemini had a title 'the pile of bricks', and also the Sumerian name for the month when the sun was in Gemini, signified 'Bricks': The name Hermes comes from herma the Greek word for a cairn or heap of stones.

Bricks and the building of cities are an aspect of Gemini symbolism: It may be that the word Castor is related to Anglo-Saxon -ceaster, meaning city or town as in the suffix of names of English cities Winchester,

Dorchester, Chichester, Manchester, etc. These -ceasters were originally towns built around fortified Roman army camps. The suffix -ceaster comes from the Indo-European root *kes-2 'To cut'. Derivatives: castrate (from Latin castrare), alcazar (Spanish castle), castellated, castle (from Latin castrum), -chester, Cheshire, caste (social rank, not related to 'cast' to throw), chaste, chasten, chastize, Cathars, catharsis, chastity, castigate, incest (Latin for 'not pure', from Latin castus, < 'cut off from or free of faults'), caret (a proofreading symbol used to indicate where something is to be inserted), cash, cashier, quash+, cassation. [Pokorny kes- 586. Watkins]

Castor (alpha Gemini) is also the Greek name for the beaver, and beavers are of the genus Castor. It was believed that beavers or castors in flight castrated themselves to avoid capture. Beaver's keep the entrances of their home/lodge under water making it more difficult for an invading predator, like castles surrounded by moats. Isidore's translators says "these places were 'cut off (castrare) lest the populace wandering here and there should expose the fort to the enemy." Mercury is the root of the word 'merchant' and 'commerce', and much of the symbolism of the twins and Hermes/Mercury and Apollo is about exchanging, and stealing cattle (pecus) which also has the meaning movable property (pecuniary) or money. Cash is now the medium used in the exchanging of property.

“The ancients called a town sited on a very high place a fort (castrum), as if it were a high 'cottage' (casa). The plural of this is 'camp' (castra), and its diminutive is 'fortress' (castellum), [translator's note "or because within it the freedom of the inhabitants would be 'cut off (castrare) lest the populace wandering here and there should expose the fort to the enemy"] [The Etymologies of Isidore of Seville, 7th century AD, p.306.]

“Beavers (castor) are so called from 'castrating' (castrare). Their testicles are useful for medicines [castor oil?], on account of which, when they anticipate a hunter, they castrate themselves and amputate their own genitals with their teeth. Concerning them Cicero said in his Scaurian oration (2.7): "They ransom themselves with that part of their body for which they are most sought after." And Juvenal (Satires 12.34): (The beaver) who makes himself a eunuch, wishing to escape with the loss of his testicles. They are also called fibri, and also 'Pontic dogs.' [The Etymologies of Isidore of Seville, 7th century AD, p.252.]

“Latin speakers name the chestnut (castanea) from a Greek term, for the Greeks call it ..., because its paired fruits are hidden in a small sack like testicles, and when they are ejected from it, it is as if they were castrated (castrare). As soon as this tree is cut down, it commonly sprouts again like a forest.” [The Etymologies of Isidore of Seville, 7th century AD, p.344.]

The name Pollux might relate to the Greek word for city, polis, and citizen, polites, from Indo-European *pele-3?

The Dioskouroi, Castor and Pollox, appeared to sailors in distress during storms in the form of two lights, St. Elmo's fire, the electrical discharge which creates a glow about the mast-head (Pyxis) and rigging of ships. In astrology Gemini rules the lungs, and human lungs used to be called "the lights". The English word "light" (meaning "not heavy") is completely unrelated to light (not dark), but it comes from the same source as the word "lung" (from IE *legwh-).


"The arms to shoulders joined are accounted to the Twins" - Manilius p.119

"From the Twins come less laborious callings and a more agreeable way of life, provided by varied song and voices of harmonious tone, slender pipes, the melodies inborn in strings and the words fitted thereto: those so endowed find even work a pleasure. They would banish the arms of war, the trumpet's call, and the gloom of old age: theirs is a life of ease and unfading youth spent in the arms of love. They also discover paths to the skies, complete a survey of the heavens with numbers and measurements, and outstrip the flight of the stars: nature yields to their genius, which it serves in all things. So many are the accomplishments of which the Twins are fruitful." [Manilius, Astronomica, 1st century AD. p.235.]


Fixed stars in Gemini


Propus eta 02CAN02 03CAN26 092 57 53 +22 31 23 -00 53 40 3.30 var M3

Tejat Posterior mu 03CAN54 05CAN18 094 59 02 +22 32 28 -00 49 30 3.19 M3

nu 05CAN25 06CAN48 096 29 56 +20 14 44 -03 03 45 4.06 B5

Alhena gamma 07CAN42 09CAN06 098 42 21 +16 26 37 -06 44 54 1.93 A1

Mebsuta epsilon 08CAN33 09CAN56 100 12 51 +25 10 57 +02 03 50 3.18 G8

theta 09CAN44 11CAN07 102 22 26 +34 01 25 +11 01 29 3.64 A2

Alzirr xi 09CAN50 11CAN13 100 37 15 +12 57 04 -10 06 28 3.40 F5

Mekbuda zeta 13CAN36 14CAN59 105 17 11 +20 38 43 -02 02 42 3.08 var G0

Wasat delta 17CAN07 18CAN31 109 17 04 +22 04 34 -00 11 03 3.51 A8

lambda 17CAN24 18CAN47 108 48 18 +16 37 56 -05 38 26 3.65 A2

iota 17CAN37 19CAN01 110 39 29 +27 53 57 +05 45 14 3.89 G7

rho 17CAN42 19CAN05 111 28 28 +31 53 08 +09 48 03 4.18 A8

Castor alpha 18CAN51 20CAN14 112 51 11 +31 59 58 +10 05 30 1.58 A2

upsilon 19CAN58 21CAN21 113 12 39 +27 00 31 +05 12 42 4.22 MO

sigma 21CAN15 22CAN38 115 02 51 +29 00 22 +07 26 51 4.26 K1

Pollux beta 21CAN50 23CAN13 115 33 54 +28 08 55 +06 40 50 1.21 K0

kappa 22CAN17 23CAN40 115 21 29 +24 31 11 +03 04 26 3.68 G7



Then both were cleansed from blood and dust

To make a heavenly sign;

The lads were, like their armour, scoured,

And then hung up to shine;

Such were the heavenly double-Dicks,

The sons of Jove and Tyndar.

— John Grubb, in Percy's Reliques of Ancient English Poetry.

The conception of a sky couple for these stars has been universal from remote antiquity, but our Latin title dates only from classical times, varied by Gemelli, which still is the Italian name. The Anglo-Saxons knew them as ge Twisan, and the Anglo-Normans as Frere; the modern French as Gemeaux, and the Germans as Zwillinge, Bayer's Zwilling.

While on earth these Twins were sons of Leda, becoming, after their transfer to the sky, Geminum Astrum, Ledaei Fratres, Ledaei Juvenes, and Ledaeum Sidus; Dante calling their location Nido di Leda, the Nest of Leda. Cowley, the contemporary of Milton, wrote of them as the Ledaean Stars, and Owen Meredith of our day as

The lone Ledaean lights from yon enchanted air.

They also were Gemini Lacones, — Milton's Spartan Twins and William Morris' Twin Laconian Stars; Spartana Suboles from their mother's home, and Cycno generati from her story; Pueri Tyndarii, Tyndarides, Tyndaridae, and Horace's clarum Tyndaridae Sidus, from Tyndarus, their supposed father; while the Oebalii and Oebalidae of Ovid, Statius, and Valerius Flaccus are from their grandfather, Oebalus, king of Sparta. Manilius called them Phoebi Sidus as being under Apollo's protection.

{Page 223} Individually they were Castor and Pollux, — Dante's and the Italians' Castore e Polluce; Apollo and Hercules, Triptolemus and lasion, Theseus and Pirithous. Horace wrote Castor fraterque magni Castoris; Pliny, Castores; and Statius had alter Castor from their alternate life and death that the modern James Thomson repeated in the Summer of his Seasons:

Th' alternate Twins are fix'd.

But Welcke gave an astronomical turn to these titles by seeing in the first Astor, the Starry One, and in Pollux Polyleukes, the Lightful.

With the Greeks they were Didumoi, the Twins, — Riccioli's Didymi, — originally representing two of the Pelasgian Kabeiroi (Cabeiri), but subsequently the Boeotian Ephestioi (Greek ephestioi is translated 'hearth'), — Dioscuri in Rome, — the Sons of Zeus; as also Amphion and Zethus, Antiope's sons, who, as Homer wrote, were

Founders of Thebes, and men of mighty name,

strikingly shown on the walls of the Spada Palace in Rome, and with the Farnese Bull now in the Naples Museum. Plutarch called them Anakes, Lords, — Cicero's Anaces, — and Sio, the Two Gods of Sparta; Theodoretus, Ephestioi, the Familiar Gods; others, Dii Samothraces, from the ancient seat of worship of the Cabeiri; and Dii Germani, the Brother Gods.

In India they always were prominent as Acvini, the Ashwins, or Horsemen, a name also found in other parts of the sky for other Hindu twin deities; but, popularly, they were Mithuna, the Boy and Girl, the Tamil Midhunam, afterwards changed to Jituma, or Tituma, from the Greek title.

A Buddhist zodiac had in their place a Woman holding a golden cord.

Some of the Jews ascribed them to the tribe of Benjamin, although others more fitly claimed them for Simeon and Levi jointly, the Brethren. They called them Teomim; the Tyrians, Tome; and the Arabian astronomers, Al Tau’aman, the Twins; but in early Desert astronomy their two bright stars formed one of the fore paws of the great ancient Lion; although they also were Al Burj al Jauza’, the Constellation of the Twins. From this came Bayer's Algeuze, which, however, he said was unrecht, thus making Riccioli's Elgeuzi and Gieuz equally wrong. Hyde adopted another form of the word, — Jauzah, the Centre, — as designating these stars' position in medio coeli, or in a region long viewed as the centre of the heavens; either because they were a zenith constellation, or from the brilliancy of this portion of the sky. Julius Pollux, the Egypto-Greek writer of our second century, derived the title from Jauz, a Walnut, as mentioned in his Onomasticon. But there is much uncertainty as to the {Page 224} stellar signification and history of this name, as will be further noticed under Orion.

The 1515 Almagest has the inexplicable Alioure, said to be from some early edition of the Alfonsine Tables.

The Persians called the Twins Du Paikar, or Do Patkar, the Two Figures; the Khorasmians, Adhupakarik, of similar meaning; and Riccioli wrote that they were the "Chaldaean" Tammech.

Kircher said that they were the Klusus, or Claustrum Hori, of the Egyptians; and others, that they represented the two intimately associated gods, Horus the Elder, and Horus the Younger, or Harpechruti, — the Harpocrates of Greece.

The Twins were placed in the sky by Jove, in reward for their brotherly love so strongly manifested while on earth, as in the verses of Manilius:

Tender Gemini in strict embrace

Stand clos'd and smiling in each other's Face;

and were figured as Two Boys, or Young Men, drawn exactly alike:

So like they were, no mortal

Might one from other know;

or as Two Infants, Duo Corpuscula. But Paulus Venetus and other illustrators of Hyginus showed Two Angels, and the Venetian edition of Albumasar of 1489 has two nude seated figures, a Boy and a Girl, with arms outstretched upon each other's shoulders.

The Leyden Manuscript shows two unclad boys with Phrygian caps, each surmounted by a star and Maltese cross; one with club and spear, the other with a stringed instrument. Bayer had something similar, Pollux, however, bearing a peaceful sickle.

Caesius saw here the Twin Sons of Rebecca, or David and Jonathan; while other Christians said that the stars together represented Saint James the Greater; or, to go back to the beginning of things, Adam and Eve, who probably were intended by the nude male and female figures walking hand in hand in the original illustration in the Alfonsine Tables. A similar showing appears, however, on the Denderah planisphere of 1300 years previous.

The Arabians drew them as Peacocks, from which came a mediaeval title, Duo Pavones; some of the Chaldaeans and Phoenicians, as a Pair of Kids following Auriga and the Goat, or as Two Gazelles; the Egyptians, as Two Sprouting Plants; and Brown reproduces a Euphratean representation of a couple of {Page 225} small, naked, male child-figures, one standing upon its head and the other standing upon the former, feet to feet; the original Twins being the sun and moon, when the one is up the other is generally down; a variant representation showing the positions reversed and the figures clothed.

Another symbol was a Pile of Bricks, referring to the building of the first city and the fratricidal brothers — the Romulus and Remus of Roman legend; although thus with a very different character from that generally assigned to our Heavenly Twins. Similarly Sayce says that the Sumerian name for the month May-June, when the sun was in Gemini, signified "Bricks"(?).

In classical days the constellation was often symbolized by two stars over a ship; and having been appointed by Jove as guardians of Rome, they naturally appeared on all the early silver coinage of the republic from about 269 B.C., generally figured as two young men on horseback, with oval caps, surmounted by stars, showing the halves of the egg-shell from which they issued at birth. On the denarii, the "pence" of the good Samaritan, they are in full speed as if charging in the battle of Lake Regillus, and the sestertii and quinarii have the same; but even before this, about 300 B.C., coins were struck by the Bruttii of Magna Graecia, in Lower Italy, that bore the heads of the Twins on one side with their mounted figures on the other. The coins of Rhegium had similar designs, as had those of Bactria.

For their efficient aid in protecting their fellow Argonauts in the storm that had nearly overwhelmed the Argo, the Gemini were considered by the Greeks, and even more by the Romans, as propitious to mariners, Ovid writing in the Fasti:

Utile sollicitare sidus utrumque rati,

which moral John Gower, the friend of Chaucer, rendered:

A welcome couple to a vexed barge;

and Horace, in his Odes, as translated by Mr. Gladstone:

So Leda's twins, bright-shining, at their beck

Oft have delivered stricken barks from wreck.

In The Acts of the Apostles, xxviii, 11, we read that the Twin Brothers were the "sign," or figurehead, of the ship in which Saint Paul and his companions embarked after the eventful voyage that had ended in shipwreck on Malta; or, as Tindale rendered it in 1526:

a ship of Alexandry, which had wyntred in the Vie, whose badge was Castor and Pollux, —

{Page 226} the Greek Alexandria, and Ostia, the harbor of Rome, specially being under the tutelage of the Twins, who were often represented on either side of the bows of vessels owned in those ports.

The incident of the storm in the history of the Twins seems to have associated them with the electrical phenomenon common in heavy weather at sea, and well known in ancient times, as it is now. Pliny described it at length in the Historia Naturalis, and allusions to it are frequent in all literature; the idea being that a double light, called Castor and Pollux, was favorable to the mariner. Horace designated this as Fratres Helenae, lucida sidera, rendered by Mr. Gladstone "Helen's Brethren, Starry Lights"; Rabelais wrote:

He had seen Castor at the main yard arm;

and our Bryant:

resplendent cressets which the Twins

Uplifted in their ever-youthful hands.

A single light was "that dreadful, cursed, and threatening meteor called Helena," — the sister of the Twins that brought such ill luck to Troy.

In modern times these lights are known as Composant, Corposant, and Corpusant, from the Italian Corpo Santo; Pigafetta ending one of his descriptions of a dangerous storm at sea with "God and the Corpi Santi came to our aid"; and as the Fire of Saint Helen, Saint Helmes, or Telmes — San Telmo of Spain; or of San Anseimo, Ermo, Hermo, and Eremo, from Anselmus, or Erasmus, bishop of Naples, martyred in Diocletian's reign. Ariosto wrote of it, la disiata luce di Santo Ermo; and in Longfellow's Golden Legend the Padrone exclaims:

Last night I saw Saint Elmo's stars,

With their glittering lanterns all at play

On the tops of the masts and the tips of the spars,

And I knew we should have foul weather to-day.

The phenomenon also has been called Saint Anne's Light; and some one has dubbed it Saint Electricity. In recent centuries, with seamen of the Latin races, it has been Saint Peter and Saint Nicholas; the former from his walking on the water, and the latter from the miracles attributed to him of stilling the storm on his voyage to the Holy Land when he restored to life the drowned sailor, and again on the Aegean Sea. These miracles have made Nicholas the patron saint of all Christian maritime nations of the south of Europe, and famous everywhere. In England alone 376 churches are dedicated to him, — more than to that country's Saint George.

{Page 227} In Eden's translation from Pigafetta's account of his voyage with Magellan, 1519-1522, we read that when off the coast of Patagonia the navigators

were in great danger by tempest. But as soon as the three fires called saint Helen, saint Nicholas, and saint Clare, appeared upon the cables of the ships, suddenly the tempest and fury of the winds ceased ... the which was of such comfort to us that we wept for joy.

This Saint Clare is from Clara d'Assisi, the foundress of the order of Poor Clares in the 13th century, by whose rebuke the infidel Saracens were put to flight when ravaging the shores of the Adriatic. Von Humboldt mentioned in Cosmos another title, San Pedro Gonzalez, probably Saint Peter of Alcantara, another patron saint of sailors, "walking on the water through trust in God."

A few words as to Pigafetta may be not uninteresting. His work is described in Eden's Decades as

A brief declaration of the voyage or navigation made about the world. Gathered out of a large book written hereof by Master Antonie Pygafetta Vincentine [i. e. from Vincenza], Knight of the Rhodes and one of the company of that voyage in the which, Ferdinando Magalianes a Portugale (whom sum call Magellanus) was general Captain of the navy.

Pigafetta was knighted after his return to Seville in the ship Victoria that Transilvanus wrote was "more worthy to bee placed among the stars then that old Argo." And it was from Eden's translation of this "large book" that Shakespeare is supposed to have taken his Caliban of the Tempest, whose "dam's god, Setebos," was worshiped by the Patagonians. Indeed Caliban himself seems to have been somewhat of an astronomer, for he alludes to Prospero as having taught him how

To name the bigger light, and how the less,

That burn by day and night.'

The Gemini were invoked by the Greeks and Romans in war as well as in storm. Lord Macauley's well-known lines on the battle of Lake Regillus, 498 B.C., one of his Lays of Ancient Rome, have stirred many a schoolboy's heart, as Homer's Hymn to Castor and Pollux did those of the seamen of earliest classical days. Shelley has translated this last:

Ye wild-eyed muses! sing the Twins of Jove,

….mild Pollux, void of blame,

And steed-subduing Castor, heirs of fame.

These are the Powers who earth-born mortals save{Page 228)

And ships, whose flight is swift along the wave.

When wintry tempests o'er the savage sea Are raging, and the sailors tremblingly

Call on the Twins of Jove with prayer and vow,

Gathered in fear upon the lofty prow,

And sacrifice with snow-white lambs, the wind

And the huge billow bursting close behind,

Even then beneath the weltering waters bear

The staggering ship — they suddenly appear,

On yellow wings rushing athwart the sky,

And lull the blasts in mute tranquillity,

And strew the waves on the white ocean's bed,

Fair omen of the voyage; from toil and dread,

The sailors rest rejoicing in the sight,

And plough the quiet sea in safe delight.

They seem to have been a common object of adjuration among the Romans, and, indeed, as such have descended to the present time in the boys' "By Jiminy!" while the caricature of 1665, Homer A la Mode, had, as a common expression of that day, "O Gemony !" And theatre-goers will recall the "O Gemini!" of Lucy in Sheridan's Rivals.

Astrologers assigned to this constellation guardianship over human hands, arms, and shoulders; while Albumasar held that it portended intense devotion, genius, largeness of mind, goodness, and liberality. With Virgo it was considered the House of Mercury, and thus the Cylenius tour of Chaucer; and a fortunate sign, ruling over America, Flanders, Lombardy, Sardinia, Armenia, Lower Egypt, Brabant, and Marseilles; and, in ancient days, over the Euxine Sea and the river Ganges. High regard, too, was paid to it in the 17th century as being peculiarly connected with the fortunes of the south of England and the city of London; for the Great Plague and Fire of 1665 and 1666 occurred when this sign was in the ascendant, while the building of London Bridge and other events of importance to the city were begun when special planets were here. But two centuries previously it was thought that whoever happened to be born under the Twins would be "ryght pore and wayke and lyfin mykul tribulacion." Chinese astrologers asserted that if this constellation were invaded by Mars, war and a poor harvest would ensue.

Ampelius assigned to it the care of Aquilo, the North Wind, the Greek Boreas that came from the north one third east.

Its colors were white and red like those of Aries, and it was the natal sign of Dante, who was born on the 14th of May, 1265, when the sun entered it for the first time in that year. He made grateful acknowledgment of this in the Paradiso:

{Page 229} O glorious stars,

O light impregnated

With mighty virtue, from which I acknowledge

All of my genius, whatsoever it be;

and called them gli Eterni Gemelli. How like this is to Hesiod's reference to the Muses!

To them I owe, to them alone I owe,

What of the seas, or of the stars, I know.

The sign's symbol, , has generally been considered the Etrusco-Roman numeral, but Seyffert thinks it a copy of the Spartans' emblem of their Twin Gods carried with them into battle. Brown derives it from the cuneiform …, the ideograph of the Akkad month Kas, the Twins, the Assyrian Simanu, corresponding to parts of our May and June when the sun passed through it. The constellation was certainly prominent on the Euphrates, for five of its stars marked as many of the ecliptic divisions of that astronomy.

The Gemini were the Ape of the early Chinese solar zodiac, and were known as Shih Chin; Edkins, calling it Shi Ch’en, says that this title was transferred to it from Orion. Later on the constellation was known as Yin Yang, the Two Principles; and as Jidim, an important object of worship.

The Reverend Mr. William Ellis wrote, in his Polynesian Researches, that the natives of those islands knew the two stars as Twins, Castor being Pipiri and Pollux Rehua; and the whole figure Na Ainanu, the Two Ainanus, one Above, the other Below, with a lengthy legend attached; but the Reverend Mr. W. W. Gill tells the same story, in his Myths and Songs of the South Pacific, as belonging to stars in Scorpio. The Australian aborigines gave them a name signifying Young Men, while the Pleiades were Young Girls; the former also being Turree and Wanjil, pursuing Purra, whom they annually kill at the beginning of the intense heat, roasting him by the fire the smoke of which is marked by Coonar Turung, the Great Mirage. The Bushmen of South Africa know them as Young Women, the wives of the eland, their great antelope.

Aristotle has left an interesting record of the occultation, at two different times, of some one of the stars of Gemini by the planet Jupiter, the earliest observation of this nature of which we have knowledge, and made probably about the middle of the 4th century B.C.

The southern half of the constellation lies within the Milky Way, alpha (Castor) and beta (Pollux), on the north, marking the heads of the Twins between Cancer and Auriga, and noticeably conspicuous over setting Orion in the April sky.

Argelander enumerates 53 naked-eye stars, and Heis 106.

{Page 230} Starry Gemini hang like glorious crowns

Over Orion's grave low down in the west.

— Tennyson's Maud.

Lepusthe Hare

Uranias Mirror 1825


Clues to the meaning of this celestial featureLatin lepus, hare, refers to the leporids, the genus Leporidae consisting of rabbits, hares, and pikas. The scientific Latin term Leporidae is used for the genus or family, and the Greek term Lagomorpha is used for the order. The word leveret, a young hare, is from Latin lepus.

This constellation was Lagos among the Greeks. Greek lagos or Latin lagus, means hare, from where we get the word lagomorph, the order Lagomorpha, that includes rabbits, hares, pikas, and their fossil relatives, having fully furred feet and two pairs of upper incisors. Hares make shallow scrapes in the ground called 'forms'; the suffix '-morph' in lagomorph is cognate with the English word 'form'.

"Greek lago-, lag-, from lagos, 'hare', which stands for Greek lag(o)-o(us)-os, and literally means 'the animal with the flapping ears'. The first element of this compound is related to Greek lagaros, 'slack, hollow', and cognate with Latin languere, 'to faint, weary'. The second element is related to Greek ous, genitive otos, 'ear'" [Klein].

Greek lagos is from the Indo-European root *slég- 'To be slack, be languid'. Derivatives: slack+ (loose, indolent, careless), slake (to satisfy a craving, quench thirst, to moderate), lax, lease, lessor, relax, release, relish, (these words from Latin laxus, loose, slack, laxare, 'loosen,' from laxus, 'loose'), laches (negligence or undue delay in asserting a legal right or privilege), languid, languish, languor, lush+ (abundant, plentiful, 'soft and watery', these words from Latin languere, to be languid, 'with drooping ears'), lagomorph (from Greek lagos, hare), algolagnia (from Greek algos + lagnos, lustful, pain, masochism, sexual gratification derived from inflicting or experiencing pain), catalectic (the lack of one syllable in the final foot of a line of verse, from Greek legein, to leave off, stop (the e of leg- is eta, not epsilon). [Pokorny (s)leg- 959. Watkins]

The four bright stars of Lepus were in Arabic astronomy Al Nihal, "the Thirst-slaking Camels", in reference to the near-by celestial river (Eridanus) [Allen, Star Names].

The legends of hares and rabbits, and the titles given to this constellation, implies this is the 'Man in the Moon', or the landscape figure on the face of the full Moon. The full Moon might, with a bit of imagination, contain the outline of a long-eared hare. The constellation Lepus has been associated with "the Hebrew sinner gathering sticks on the Sabbath" (referring to Numbers xv. 32-36). The sticks that the Hebrew sinner was gathering on the Sabbath is presumed to be for firewood. In European legends the man in the moon is usually seen as an old man carrying a bundle of sticks upon his back [1].

The constellation Lepus was also seen as "Cain driven from the face of the earth to the face of the Moon":

A medieval legend used to say that at the end, Cain arrived at the Moon where he eternally settled with a bundle of twigs. An example of this belief can be found in Dante Alighieri's Inferno (XX, 126) where the expression "Cain and the twigs" is used as a synonym of "moon" [2].

A variation of this legend as given by many writers is something like this:

A man travelling on Sunday with a bundle on his back was met by a fairy, who asked him why he worked on the Sabbath. He replied : "Sunday on earth or Monday in heaven, it is all one to me." "Then carry your bundle forever," she answered. "As you have no regard for Sunday on earth, take your perpetual Monday (Moon-day) in heaven and travel with the moon." So there he still remains [3].

"Isaac with the wood for the sacrifice" was another idea of what Lepus suggested to those who saw biblical figures in the constellations. Wood for sacrifice would be firewood. Latin lignum, is translated as 'firewood', 'that which is gathered', and lignum is related to the word logos. Latin logos resembles the Greek word for hare, lagos (these are not recognized cognates). In the Greek language the word legein, 'to be languid', is related to lagos, hare, in this case the e of *leg- is spelled with an eta. The word logos is also from Greek legein, but in this case the e of *leg- is spelled with an epsilon.

"And while the children of Israel were in the wilderness, they found a man that gathered sticks upon the Sabbath day. And they that found him gathering sticks brought him unto Moses and Aaron, and unto all the congregation. And they put him in ward, because it was not declared what should be done to him. And the Lord said unto Moses: The man shall be surely put to death: all the congregation shall stone him with stones without the camp. And all the congregation brought him without the camp, and stoned him with stones, and he died; as the Lord commanded Moses" http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sabbath_Breaking

It seems that the Hebrews were permitted to have a fire in their homes on the Sabbath, but had a rule prohibiting them from collecting firewood, or starting a fire from scratch on that day. The Hebrew sinner gathering firewood on the Sabbath was found breaking this rule. Presumably because it was such a trivial infringement they relegated him to the ward (watch-house) until they figured out what to do with him. While he languished in the dock (accused place in court, 'dock' is identical with the Flemish dok, a rabbit-hutch, or cage [4]), he would have listened to Moses, Aaron, and the congregation, having long legal discussions on his fate. And (from above) "all the congregation shall stone him with stones"; lepids are at the bottom of the food chain and "fair game" for animals and birds of prey; so too, the 'sinner' holds the lowest rank in society's chain, the victim of "all the congregation" who are given license to attack him, and to stone him to death. This biblical story might have been meant to represent the precedent for their legal system, that all started over gathering firewood (lignum)... (Libra is 'justice')

The words logos (Latin logus) and logic are from Greek legein, which means both 'speak' and 'gather', and cognate with Latin legere, 'to gather, collect', also cognate with Latin lignum, wood, firewood, 'that which is gathered' ("fire lurks within wood; there is ignis, to ignite, in lignis" [5]). The meaning of logic might be compared to the simple task of gathering firewood. In gathering firewood the most appropriate sticks are chosen to fit the fireplace and to fit in into the bundle being carried. One might picture the sinning wood-gatherer chewing away thoughtfully like a lagomorph as he asks himself "should I pick this piece or not?", or "will this fit"?

In Africa and the Americas the hare was believed to be a trickster using its superior intellect as its defense [3]. Lepids are the favourite prey for many predators.

One title given to this constellation was 'the patriarch Jacob'. The Jews have a Talmudic tradition that Jacob is in the moon [9]. Male hares in Europe are traditionally known as 'jacks', Jack is from Jacob, jackrabbit is a hare and so called for its long ears (according to AHD). In Scandinavia, there are two children on the moon, Hjuki and Bil, carrying a pole and a bucket. A theory suggests that they are the origin of the nursery rhyme about Jack and Jill. "Hjuki is derived from the verb jakka, to heap or pile together, to assemble and increase; and Bil, from bila, to break up or dissolve. Hjuki and Bil, therefore, signify the waxing and waning of the moon" [10].

Lagomorphs display the characteristics of grinding their teeth, a reminder of Bugs Bunny's in his relaxed (relax from *slég-) nonchalant carrot-chewing stance. Their teeth grinding producing different types of whirring sounds; for when they are in pain, as an alarm call for warning, and as a sign of contentment. "The habit of this animal is to grind its teeth and move its jaw as if it actually chewed the cud" [11]. The grinding characteristics of the lagomorphs might be the basis of the association of hares or rabbits grinding in a mortar and pestle: In China, the Moon Hare holds a pestle and mortar and is grinding the elixir of immortality. In Japan, people who gaze up at the moon on a clear night see a rabbit or hare pounding mochi [12], i.e. glutinous rice pounded into paste.


To those born under this constellation nature all but gives wings and flight through the air, such will be the vigor of limbs which reflect the swiftness of the winds. One man will come off winner in the footrace before even receiving the signal to start; another by his quick movement can evade the hard boxing-glove and now lightly avoid, now land a blow; another can with a deft kick keep in the air a flying ball, exchanging hands for feet and employing in play the body's support, and execute with nimble arms a volley of rapid strokes; yet another can shower his limbs with a host of balls and create hands to spring up all over his body with the result that, without dropping any of the number, he plays against himself and causes the balls to fly about his person as though in answer to his command. Such a man devotes wakeful nights to his concerns, for his energy banishes sleepiness [translator's note: according to Aelian, the hare sleeps with its eyes open] whilst he spends happy workfree hours in games of divers kinds. [Manilius, Astronomica, 1st century AD, book 5, p.313, 315.]


Fixed stars in Lepus


epsilon 10GEM40 12GEM03 075 50 09 -22 26 13 -44 58 12 3.29 K5

mu 14GEM01 15GEM24 077 40 15 -16 15 48 -39 03 22 3.30 A0

Nihal beta 18GEM17 19GEM40 081 31 32 -20 47 53 -43 55 12 2.96 G2

Arneb alpha 19GEM59 21GEM23 082 37 51 -17 51 24 -41 03 52 2.69 F0

gamma 23GEM28 24GEM51 085 35 41 -22 27 48 -45 49 11 3.80 F6

zeta 24GEM36 25GEM59 086 10 19 -14 50 21 -38 13 20 3.67 A2

delta 25GEM47 27GEM10 087 17 33 -20 52 55 -44 17 40 3.90 G7

eta 27GEM31 28GEM54 088 31 54 -14 10 32 -37 36 44 3.77 F2

Fixed stars in Lepus


epsilon 10GEM40 12GEM03 075 50 09 -22 26 13 -44 58 12 3.29 K5

mu 14GEM01 15GEM24 077 40 15 -16 15 48 -39 03 22 3.30 A0

Nihal beta 18GEM17 19GEM40 081 31 32 -20 47 53 -43 55 12 2.96 G2

Arneb alpha 19GEM59 21GEM23 082 37 51 -17 51 24 -41 03 52 2.69 F0

gamma 23GEM28 24GEM51 085 35 41 -22 27 48 -45 49 11 3.80 F6

zeta 24GEM36 25GEM59 086 10 19 -14 50 21 -38 13 20 3.67 A2

delta 25GEM47 27GEM10 087 17 33 -20 52 55 -44 17 40 3.90 G7

eta 27GEM31 28GEM54 088 31 54 -14 10 32 -37 36 44 3.77 F2



Behind him Sirius ever speeds as in pursuit, and rises after,

And eyes him as he sets.

-- Poste's Aratos.

The German Hase, the Portuguese lebre, the Italian Lepre, and the French Lievre, is located just below Orion and westward from his Hound (Canis Major).

It was Lagos among the Greeks —Lagoos in the Epic dialect, — Aratos characterizing its few and faint stars by the adjective glaukos. With the Greeks of Sicily, the country noted in early days for the great devastations by hares, the constellation was leporis (hare), whence came the fanciful story {Page 265} that our Hare was placed in the heavens to be close to its hunter, Orion. Riccioli enlarged upon this in his Almagestum Novum: "Quia Orion in gratiam Dianae, quae leporine sanguine gaudebat, plurimum venatu leporis gauderet."

Among the Romans it was simply Lepus, often qualified by the descriptive auritus, "eared"; dasypus, ''rough-footed"; levipes, "light-footed"; and velox, "swift."

The Arabians adopted the classical title in their Al Arnab, which degenerated into Alarnebet, Elarneb, and Harneb; and the Hebrews are said to have known it as Arnebeth; but the early Arabs designated the principal stars — alpha, beta, gamma, and delta — as Al Kursiyy al Jabbar and Al ‘Arsh al Jauzah, the Chair of the Giant (Orion) and the Throne of the Jauzah (Orion). Kazwini, repeating this, added, in Ideler's rendering, Gott weiss wie sonst noch, which Smyth assumed to be Ideler's comment thereon; but it was merely his translation of Kazwini's Arabic formula, God is the Omniscient, used when a writer did not wish to come to a decision. Smyth further wrote of it:

'Abdr rahman Sufi designates the throne — one of the many which the Arabs had in their heavens, although a squatting rather than a sitting people — al-muakhkherah, the succeeding, as following that formed by lambda, beta, psi Eridani and tau Orionis.

Al Sufi also cited the occasional Al Nihal, the Thirst-slaking Camels, for the four bright stars, in reference to the near-by celestial river (Eridanus).

It is in the space occupied by Lepus, or perhaps by Monoceros, that Hommel locates the Euphratean Udkagaba, the Smiting Sun Face, although Brown assigns this to Sagittarius, "the original Sagittary being the sun."

Hewitt says that in earliest Egyptian astronomy Lepus was the Boat of Osiris, the great god of that country, identified with Orion. The Chinese knew it as Tsih, a Shed.

Caesius made the constellation represent one of the hares prohibited to the Jews; but Julius Schiller substituted for it Gideon’s Fleece. The Denderah planisphere has in its place a Serpent apparently attacked by some bird of prey; and Persian zodiacs imitated this.

Gould catalogues in Lepus 103 stars down to the 7th magnitude.

Aelian, of our 2d century, in his Pepi Zoon idiotetos, referred to the early belief that the hare detested the voice of the raven, — a belief that has generally been put among the zoological fables of antiquity; but Thompson suggests for it an astronomical explanation, as "the constellation Lepus sets soon after the rising of Corvus"; and something similar may be said of Lepus in connection with Aquila, for the

{Page 266} eagle in combat with the hare is frequent on gems, and on coins of Agrigentum, Messana, Elis, etc. . . . the wide occurrence of this subject . . . indicates a lost mythological significance, in which one is tempted to recognize a Solar or Stellar symbol.

Brown writes of the often discussed comparative location of Lepus and Orion:

The problem which perplexed the ancients, why the Mighty-hunter and his Dog should pursue the most timid of creatures, is solved when we recognize that Orion was originally a solar type, and that the Hare is almost universally a lunar type;

and mentions the very singular connection between, this creature and the moon shown on Euphratean cylinders, Syrian agate seals, Chinese coins, the Moon-cakes of Central Asia, and in the legends of widely separated nations and savage tribes. Astronomical folk-lore has many allusions to this interesting association of animal with satellite, and indirectly with our constellation. The common idea that it is because all are nocturnal does not seem satisfactory; and there are others still less so, some being mentioned by Beaumont and Fletcher in the Faithful Shepherd.

A brief digression to some of these allusions may be allowed here. The Hindus called the moon Cacin, or Sasanka, Marked with the Hare, from the story told of Sakya muni (Buddha). This holy man, in an early stage of his existence, was a hare, and, when in company with an ape and a fox, was applied to by the god Indra, disguised as a beggar, who, wishing to test their hospitality, asked for food. All went in search of it, the hare alone returning unsuccessful; but, that he might not fall short in duty to his guest, had a fire built and cast himself into it for the latter's supper. In return, Indra rewarded him by a place in the moon where we now see him. Other Sanskrit and Cingalese tales mention the palace of the king of the hares on the face of the moon; the Aztecs saw there the rabbit thrown by one of their gods; and the Japanese, the Jeweled Hare pounding omochi, their rice dough, in a mortar. Even the Khoikhoin, the Hottentots of South Africa, and the Bantus associated the hare and moon in their worship, and connected them in story, asserting that the hare, ill treated by the moon, scratched her face and we still see the scratches. Eskimos think the moon a girl fleeing from her brother, the sun, because he had disfigured her face by ashes thrown at her; but in Greenland the sex of these luminaries is interchanged, and the moon pursues his sister, the sun, who daubs her sooty hands over his face. The Khasias of the Himalayas say that every month the moon falls in love with his mother-in-law, who very properly repulses his affection by throwing ashes at him.

Other ideas to account for the lunar marks are current among many {Page 267} nations. One from our North American Indians appears in Longfellow's Hiawatha:

Once a warrior very angry,

Seized his grandmother, and threw her

Up into the sky at midnight;

Right against the moon he threw her;

'Tis her body that you see there.

The Incas knew them as a beautiful maiden who fell in love with the moon and joined herself forever to him; the New Zealanders, as a woman pulling gnatuh; the Hervey Islanders, as the lovely Ina, an earthly maiden carried away to be our satellite's wife, and still visible with her pile of taro leaves and tongs of a split coconut branch; and the Samoans, as a woman with her child and the mallet with which she is pounding out sheets of the native paper cloth. So that all these people long ago anticipated pretty Selene, [This may be seen on the western half of the moon after the ninth day of lunation, the face slightly upturned toward the east. It

seems to have been first described some years ago by Doctor James Thompson; and an opera-glass of low power makes the phenomenon very distinct. ] of whom Serviss tells us.

In southern Sweden a brewing-kettle is imagined on the moon's face; in northern Germany and Iceland, Hjuki and Bil with their mead burden, the originals of our Jack and Jill with their pail of water, the contents scattered or retained according to the lunar phases. In Frisia the marks were a man who had stolen cabbages, and whom, when discovered, his suffering neighbors wished in the moon, and so it turned out; or a sheep-stealer, with his dog, who enticed the animals to him by cabbages, and, when detected, was transported to the moon, where he is now seen, cabbages and all. But others said that he was caught with a bundle of osier willows that did not belong to him, and there he is on the moon's face with his plunder.

Danish folklore makes the moon a cheese formed from the milk that has run together out of the Milky Way; which recalls Rabelais' now familiar remark that some thought the moon made of green cheese.

Those biblically inclined saw here the Magdalen in tears; or Judas Iscariot; and, in the earlier record, the patriarch Jacob; Isaac with the wood for the sacrifice; the Hebrew sinner gathering sticks on the Sabbath; or Cain driven from the face of the earth to the face of the moon. This appeared even with Dante, Chaucer, and Shakespeare, for the first had in the Paradise:

But tell me what the dusky spots may be

Upon this body, which below on earth

Make people tell that fabulous tale of Cain;

{Page 268} and in the Inferno:

Touches the ocean wave Cain and the thorns.

In A Midsummer Night's Dream Quince says:

Or else one must come in with a bush of thorns and a lanthorn and say, he comes to disfigure, or to present the person of moonshine;

and Chaucer described the figure as

Bearing a bush of thorns on his back

Which for his theft might clime so near the heaven;

although Milton, from a higher plane of thought, wrote that the sinful wandered

Not in the neighboring moon as some have dreamed.

The Salish Indians of our northwest coast tell of a toad which, pursued by a wolf, jumped to the moon to escape his unwelcome attentions.

At the present day the handsome face of Selene shows itself in profile to the favored few; while the Old Man in the Moon is seen by all. It would be interesting to know who originated this, or, as in Hudibras,

Who first found out the Man in the Moon,

That to the ancients was unknown.

Yet Shakespeare knew him well, for we find in The Tempest:

The man i' th' moon's too slow.

Ages before all this, however, the Egyptians had similar ideas; the Hindus called the moon Mriga, an Antelope; the Aethiopians saw that creature in it; while the Greeks knew it as the Gorgon's head, and Plutarch thought the phenomenon worthy a special treatise in his De Facie in Orbe Lunae. But perhaps too much attention has been paid to a probably very dead star; — let us return to those certainly alive, our more legitimate subject.

ColumbaNoah's Dove



Clues to the meaning of this celestial featureThe constellation Columba, the Dove, can be viewed as either sitting on the stern (Puppis) of the celestial Ship (Argo Navis) or flying before it [1]. In the Argonauta expedition a white dove was sent out of the Argo Navis by Jason. Aided by Athena/Minerva, it shot between the Clashing Rocks, the Symplegades, with such speed that the rocks crashed against each other without killing the bird, only depriving it of a few tail feathers. The constellation Columba is adjacent to Puppis, the Stern of the Ship Argo Navis. An aplustre is an ornamental appendage of wood at the ship's stern, usually spreading like a fan and curved like a bird's feather. An old coin shows a dove perched on an aplustre [2].

In Christian iconography, a dove symbolizes the Holy Spirit either personally or in his works, or the Holy Ghost. The Holy Spirit appeared as a dove at the baptism of Jesus. A columbethra, or colymbethra, columbeion, in a Greek church, is the room or font for administering baptism.

A dove was released by Noah after the flood in order to find land, it came back carrying an olive branch, telling Noah that somewhere there was land. A dove with an olive branch has since then come to symbolize peace.

The genus Columba, of the family Columbidae, comprises the pigeons and doves. The terms dove and pigeon are used interchangeably.

The word Columba comes from Latin for 'dove, pigeon', cognate with Greek kolumbos, kolumbis, 'diver' (name of a bird), Old Slavonic golobi, 'dove', literally 'the blue bird''. These words derive from Indo-European base *qel-, *qol-, 'of a dark color', whence also Greek kelainos, 'black'. Compare columbine. This base is related to base *qal-, whence Latin caligo, 'darkness'. See caliginous (dark, misty, and gloomy), and compare Celaeno (Klein). A less common English word for dove or pigeon is culver, diminutive of Columba, 'dove'.

A columbarium, is a dovecote, it also means a vault with niches for urns containing ashes of the dead which were placed in small arched holes in Roman villas. These urns were called columbarium, from colomba, a dove, from the fancied resemblance which these arched holes bore to the recesses in a dovecote [2, p.103]. "Greek funerary urns depict a dove 'drinking from a vase which symbolizes the fount of memory'" [3].

Amongst themselves doves or pigeons are far from peaceful despite doves being the symbols of peace (according to Klein the word 'fury' is from the same root as dove). They are constantly squabbling (although not with their mates it seems). The young doves and pigeons are called 'squabs'. Young pigeon meat is sold under the name squab.

Doves are notable for both their devotion to their mates, and also their fidelity in marriage. A pair of white doves is a popular love symbol as can be seen in the expression 'lovey dovey', and their cooing to their mates. In courtship each bird takes the other's beak in its own, much like lovers kissing. Pliny said: "Though most amorous, they have a great sense of modesty and do not know adultery. Fidelity even after death, because once its companion is gone, this bird never unites with another [6]." Eros (the word erotic comes from his name) is usually depicted as a young winged boy, with his bow and arrows at the ready, to either shoot into the hearts of gods or mortals which would rouse them to desire. His arrows came in two types: golden with dove feathers which aroused love, or leaden arrows which had owl feathers that caused indifference.


Fixed stars in Columba


epsilon 17GEM19 18GEM42 082 21 33 -35 30 22 -58 38 02 3.92 K0

Phact alpha 20GEM46 22GEM10 084 27 33 -34 05 59 -57 22 53 2.75 B8

Wazn beta 25GEM01 26GEM25 087 17 56 -35 47 10 -59 11 30 3.22 K1

gamma 27GEM39 29GEM02 088 56 27 -35 17 15 -58 43 38 4.36 B3

eta 28GEM14 29GEM37 089 24 14 -42 49 02 -66 15 39 4.03 K0

delta 07CAN03 08CAN26 095 04 17 -33 24 36 -56 43 11 3.98 G1



Others underneath the hunted Hare,

All very dim and nameless roll along.

— Brown's Aratos.

Columba Noae, Noah's Dove, now known simply as Columba, is the Colombo de Noe of the French, Colomba of the Italians, and Taube of the Germans, lying south of the Hare (Lepus), and on the meridian with Orion's Belt.

Although first formally published by Royer in 1679, and so generally considered one of his constellations, it had appeared seventy-six years before correctly located on Bayer's plate of Canis Major, and in his text as recentioribus Columba; one of these "more recent" being Petrus Plancius, the Dutch cosmographer and map-maker of the 16th century, and instructor of Pieter Theodor. While these are the first allusions to Columba

in modern times, yet the following from Caesius may indicate knowledge of its stars,1 and certainly of the present title, seventeen centuries ago. [Allen notes at the end of the page: But the faintness of this constellation is against the probability of such use, and would imply that some other, and more noticeable, sky-group was known as a Dove, possibly Coma Berenices.] Translating from the Paedagogus of Saint Clement of Alexandria, he wrote:

Signa sive insignia vestra sint Columba, sive Navis coelestis cursu in coelum tendens sive Lyra Musica, in recordationem Apostoli Piscatoris.

Still it was not recognized by Bartschius twenty-one years after Bayer, nor by Tycho, Hevelius, or Flamsteed; but Halley gave it, in the same year as Royer, with ten stars; and our Gould, two centuries later in Argentina, increased the number to seventeen. It was made up from the southwestern {Page 167} outlines of Canis Major, near to the Ship (Argo Navis), — Noah's Ark, — and so was regarded as the attendant Dove.

Smyth wrote of its modern formation, and of its nomenclature in Arab astronomy:

Royer cut away a portion of Canis Major, and constructed Columba Noachi therewith in 1679. The part thus usurped was called Muliphein from al-muhlifein, the two stars sworn by, because they were often mistaken for Soheil, or Canopus, before which they rise: these two stars are now alpha and beta Columbae (Phact and Wazn). Muliphein is recognized as comprehending the two stars called Had'ar, ground, and al-wezn, weight.

Reference already has been made to Al Muhlifain at the stars gamma, zeta, lambda Argo, delta Canis Majoris, and alpha Centauri.

Chilmead's Treatise has this brief description of Columba:

"Starres: of which there are two in the backe of it of the second magnitude, which they call the Good messengers, or bringers of good newes: and {p.168} those in the right wing are consecrated to the Appeased Deity, and those in the left, to the Retiring of the waters in the time of the Deluge".

Heis locates alpha and beta in the back; nu2 in the right wing, and epsilon in the left. theta and kappa were included by Kazwini in the Arabic figure Al Kurud, the Apes.

Caelumthe Graving Tool, the Sculptor's Chisel



Clues to the meaning of this celestial featureLatin caelum means both 'the heavens' (from the same root as 'celestial'), and 'sculptor's chisel', or burin; an engraving tool for metals. It is this instrument that La Caille had in mind when he named this constellation.

The word 'sky', often used to translate Latin caelum, is a cognate of Latin scutum, shield. Scutum is another constellation. Our word 'sky' comes from an Old Norse word, sky, which means 'cloud'. The word Caelum, on the other hand, is related to German heiter, which is translated 'clear, shining, cloudless'. The word celestial derives from Latin caelum; 'celestial' in English seems to refer to objects above the clouds; celestial beings are heavenly beings, meaning a god or angel, planets and stars are celestial bodies. The Roman counterpart for Greek Uranus is Caelus.

Caelum comes from the Indo-European root *kae-id- 'To strike'. Derivatives: caesura (a pause in speech), cement (rough stone chippings, 'to cut, hew, lop', whence also caelum for *caid-(s)lom, 'chisel'), cestus* (ancient Roman boxing gloves with studs), chisel, -cide, scissor (scissors), abscise, circumcise, concise, decide, decision, excise*, incise, incisive, incisors, precise, recision (from Latin caedere, to cut, strike, hit, knock down, murder, smash), Caelum, ceil (to overlay, cover with a ceiling. — French ciel, 'sky, canopy'), ceiling (from Latin caelare, from caelum, chisel), celestial. [Pokorny (s)k(h)ai- 917. Watkins] Also related is cerulean (sky-blue, formed in English from Latin caeruleus dark blue, from caelum sky, heaven). Klein supplies more cognates and says "Compare also cheetah, chintz, chit, chitty, 'a short letter'".

"Lofty (celsus) is named after sky, because one is elevated and high, as if the term were 'celestial' (caelestis).” [p.215.] "The sky and its name (De caelo et eius nomine). The philosophers have said that the sky (caelum, 'sky, heaven, the heavens') is rounded, spinning, and burning; and the sky is called by its name because it has the figures of the constellations impressed into it, just like an engraved (caelare) vessel. God distinguished the sky with bright lights, and he filled it with the sun and the gleaming orb of the moon, and he adorned it with brilliant constellations composed of glittering stars. In Greek the sky is called ouranos, from orasthai, that is, from 'seeing,' from the fact that the air is clear and very pure for seeing through” [p.100]. "The sky (De caelo): The sky (caelum) is so named because, like an engraved (caelatum) vessel, it has the lights of the stars pressed into it, just like engraved figures; for a vessel which glitters with figures that stand out is called caelatus. ... Sometimes the word 'sky' is used for the air, where winds and clouds and storms and whirlwinds arise. Lucretius (cf. On the Nature of Things 4.133): The sky (caelum), which is called air (aer). And the Psalm (78:2; 103:12, Vulgate) refers to 'fowls of the sky (caelum), 'when it is clear that birds fly in the air; out of habit we also call this air, 'sky.' Thus when we ask whether it is fair or overcast we sometimes say, 'How is the air?' and sometimes 'How is the sky?' ” [p.272.]. "The chisel (cilium, i.e. caelum or cilio) is the tool with which silversmiths work, and from this engraved (caelare) vessels are named.” [p.376.] “Chased (caelatus) dishes are silver or gold, modeled inside and out with figures that stand out, so called from an engraver's burin (caelum), which is a kind of iron tool, which commonly is called a chisel (cilio).” [p.399.] [The Etymologies of Isidore of Seville, 7th century AD]

Quintilianus believed that the words celibate and caelum are related:

"Because Saturn cut off the genitalia of Caelus (Uranus), men who have no wives are, therefore, called caelibes (celibate). ... caelibes, 'bachelors' was the same as caelites, 'inhabitants of heaven'" [Quintilianus, ca. 35-ca. 100, p.55].

Isidore also sees celibate as related to caelum:

"A 'celestial one' (caeles) is so called because such a one directs his course to the sky (caelum). Celibate (caelebs), one having no part in marriage, of which kind are the numinous beings in heaven (caelum), who have no spouses - and caelebs is so called as if the term were 'blessed in heaven' (caelo beatus). Heavenly-dweller (caelicola), because they 'dwell in heaven' (caelum colere) - for that is an angel.” [The Etymologies of Isidore of Seville, 7th century AD, p.215.]

Celestial Empire is the old name for China, or to the former Chinese Empire.


Fixed stars in Caelum


delta 18TAU36 19TAU59 067 19 32 -45 03 37 -65 19 52 5.16 B3

alpha 24TAU46 26TAU09 069 44 14 -41 57 30 -62 59 37 4.52 F1

beta 28TAU00 29TAU23 070 04 19 -37 14 28 -58 32 18 5.08 F0

gamma 07GEM01 08GEM24 075 39 06 -35 33 02 -57 53 27 4.62 K5


Caelum or Scalptorium, the Burin or Graving Tool, sometimes incorrectly written Cela sculptoria, is the French Burin, the Italian Bulino, and the German Grabstichel.

It was formed by La Caille from stars between Columba and Eridanus, directly south of the Sceptrum Brandenburgicum; Gould now assigns to it twenty-eight components, of magnitudes from four to seven.

Burritt, in the early editions of his book, arbitrarily changed the name to Praxiteles, perhaps thinking thereby to avoid possible confusion with the constellation Sculptor.

Caelum comes to the meridian with the star Aldebaran on the 10th of January, and is entirely visible from the 40th parallel.

Camelopardalisthe Giraffe



Clues to the meaning of this celestial featureThe giraffe's species name, camelopardalis (camelopard), is derived from its early Roman name where it was thought of as a composite creature, described as having characteristics of both a camel and a leopard. The word Giraffe is from Arabic dialectal zirafa, probably of African origin.

"To the Romans, the giraffe was camelopardalis (camel marked like a leopard). The word giraffe comes from the Arabic zarafa. As a verb it means to jump or to hurry, leading to the noun one who walks swiftly. It has also been traced to an Ethiopian word that denotes graceful one. But its primary derivation, in the opinion of linguistic authority, stems from a source meaning assemblage, as in assemblage of animals. The Greeks were more specific: they contributed its scientific name, camelopardalis (or the more common, camelopard), which literally describes a camel's body wearing a leopard's coat". [Tall Blondes, Lynn Sherr, p.16.]

"The Egyptians used a hieroglyph in the shape of a giraffe to indicate 'to prophecy', 'to foretell', which has been taken as evidence of its keen eyesight. Ancient Arabic words include saraphah, gyrapha, gyraffa, and zirafa. The Persians called it ushturgao ("camel-cow"). To the Chaldeans it was deba, and ana, which may be related to nabun, used by Pliny. The encyclopedist Vincent de Beauvais, in his Speculum Naturale (1225), described it under three different names (anabulla, camelopardo, and orasius), apparently without realizing it. Albertus Magnus repeated the mistake in his thirteenth-century De Animalibus, using anabula, camelopardulus, and oraflus. Anabula probably comes from the Ethiopians, who called it nabin; and orafle was used in Old French. In Afrikaans it is called kameelperd. and in Zulu indlulamethi. But my personal favorite is the Swahili word twiga—which sounds the way a giraffe looks. [Tall Blondes, Lynn Sherr, p.19.]

In 1827 the first giraffe ever seen in France, became an instant celebrity in Paris. Michael Allin in Zarafa chronicles her impact on the French:

"Zarafamania gripped Paris and crowds rioted around her as she was paraded through the city and presented to the king. Women imitated her with their hair styles high, a la Girafe, and the men wore fashionably giraffique hats and ties. In the magazine of the day there were instructions for tying a gentleman's cravat a la Girafe."

In view of this animal's associations with gravity, and the phonetic similarity of the words 'gravity' and 'giraffe', I will assume the word gravity belongs here. If the i is dropped from the word giraffe it becomes graffe, the f can be pronounced v; girafe becomes grief, grieve or grave; words related to gravity. People could not understand how the giraffe, 'nature's skyscraper', could lower its head to drink without the high pressure (bar is a unit of pressure) of the blood gushing to its head and making the animal dizzy or faint when it raised its neck back up again. They thought it defied the law of gravity, until they discovered the rete mirabile, or 'marvelous net', the giraffe's adaptations to gravity; jugular blood vessels in its neck have a series of one-way check valves that hold back the blood from flowing to the brain when it lowers its head. The rete mirabile is common to all animals but is much more robust in giraffes. “Equally marvelous is the fact the blood does not pool in the legs, and a giraffe does not bleed profusely if cut on the leg. The secret lies in an extremely tough skin and an inner fascia that prevents blood pooling. This skin combination has been studied extensively by NASA scientists in their development of gravity-suits for astronauts" [1]. A giraffe has an enormous heart, one of the largest heart in the animal kingdom. The heart must work against gravity to pump blood up to the head when it is erect. Baroreceptors in the atrial walls of the heart trigger reflex mechanisms that dilate or constrict the blood vessels to permit the heart to adjust to changes in blood pressure.

The word gravity comes from the Indo-European root *gwere-1 'Heavy'. Derivatives: grave* (requiring serious thought, from Latin gravis, cognate with Old Indian guruh, 'heavy, weighty', Greek baros, 'weight', barus, 'heavy', related to Greek brithein, 'to be laden with', brithus, 'heavy', briaros, 'strong'), gravid (carrying developing young or eggs), gravimeter (to measure specific gravity), gravitate, gravity, grief, grieve, grievous, aggravate, aggrieve (from Latin gravis, heavy, weighty, 'gravid' also means to be 'pregnant'), barite (mineral, heavy spar), barium (alkaline-earth metal, used to deoxidize copper), baryon, baryta (barium sulfate), baritone, barycenter, barysphere (the central core of the earth), charivari (a noisy mock serenade for newlyweds, from Greek barus, heavy), guru (from Sanskrit guru-, heavy, venerable), bar* (a unit of pressure), baro-, centrobaric, isallobar, isobar, (these words from Greek baros, weight), brut, brute, (these words from Latin brutus, heavy, unwieldy, dull, stupid, brutish), brio (vigor, vivacity, from Spanish brio or Provençal briu, vigor), brig (a two-masted sailing ship, square-rigged on both masts. A jail or prison on board a U.S. Navy or Coast Guard vessel), brigade, brigand, brigantine (from Old Italian briga, strife), blitzkrieg (a swift, sudden military offensive, krieg is German for war), sitzkrieg (warfare marked by a lack of aggression or progress, from Old High German kreg, chreg, krig, stubbornness, millstone), quern (a primitive hand-turned grain mill, from Old English cweorn, quern). [Pokorny 2. gwer- 476. Watkins] Klein supplies more cognates to this root; "Compare also Bridget (she was called Brighde in Ireland, Bride in Scotland, Brigantia in Northern Britain, Brigandu in France, and also known as Brid, Brig and Brighid [2]), Brigit. Also the mythological name Briareus. Birds also have a biological barometer, that they normally use to judge their altitude, and it is also a very good weather predictor, the pressure drops ahead of a storm.

The name of this constellation Camelo-pardalis, from Greek pardos; has been borrowed from Hebrew barodh, 'spotted' (said of an animal). The Hebrew word barodh is similar in appearance to the Greek word baros from which the word gravity derives.

Isidore sees the word Britain as a cognate of Latin brutus, heavy, which is from the root *gwere-1. 'Briton' is derived from Brutus (according to Geoffrey of Monmouth) "Initially expanding a Welsh legend that traces Briton origins to the wanderings of Brutus and his band of Trojans" [3]. A giraffe can kill a lion with a brutal kick.

The word grave, from Latin gravis, Greek baros, 'weight', barus, 'heavy', is also cognate with Greek brithein, 'to be laden with', brithus, 'heavy'. The brit- of Britomartis (brit + mars) resembles brithein. Britomartis invented nets. Giraffes have a rete mirabile, or 'marvellous net', the giraffe's adaptations to gravity. All giraffes have a reticulated or netted pattern on their coats giving the appearance of geometric patches on a cream or white background or of having a cream colored net thrown over them. There is the reticulated (from rete 'net') variety of giraffe with a more pronounced 'net'. Britomartis, Bryte, a daughter of Ares (maybe accounting for the -martis, Mars, in her name), threw herself into the sea where her body was recovered in a fisherman's net. Afterwards she was accorded divine honors under the name of Diana Dictynna (Artemis of the net). (Reticulum is another constellation near the South Pole and means 'the net', this constellation, Camelopardalis, is near the North Pole).

Gravity "holds up the sky". In mythology Atlas holds up the sky.

"Atlas, soon doomed to bow his neck beneath the pole" - Ovid, Book V Metamorphoses [4].

"That great giant, Atlas" [Metamorphoses 6.172]

The nape of the neck of the Giraffe of this constellation, Camelopardalis, is very close to the Pole-star, Polaris, at the North Pole (in the Urania's Mirror picture above the star, Polaris, is named Alruccababh, the Polar Star). Atlas owned the Garden of Hesperides and in this garden he had the responsibility of holding up the heavens, and there the dragon (Draco) named Ladon guards the tree from which the Golden Apples grow (Newton discovered gravity from seeing an apple fall from a tree, it was Atlas who went and picked the apples for Hercules). The tree is also the Pole, Polaris or Ursa Minor which is enclosed on three sides by the coils of Draco. Atlas is said to have reigned in Arcadia. The adjacent constellation, Ursa Minor, is identified with Arcas the eponym of Arcadia.

The Farnese Atlas, sculpted in late Roman times, is the first known depiction of the classical constellations - Sky and Telescope.Atlas (from Indo-European *tele- 'To lift, support, weigh') is a book of maps, atlas is also the name for the top cervical vertebra of the neck, which supports the skull. It is named for the Atlas of mythology, because it supports the globe of the head.

The giraffe has dark distinctive geometric or geographic net patterns, irregular thin white lines separating dark patches. Those who know giraffes can identify the region of Africa a giraffe comes from by these markings. I suggest that the reticulated patterns on the giraffe's resembles a map of Britain with the shires outlined. I suggest that these markings or outlines on the back of the giraffe might also be compared to constellations borders. The globe that the sculpture of Atlas holds is marked with constellations (not countries).

Giraffe and sheriff is basically the same word in Swedish gerefa. The German term 'Graf' entered English as 'Reeve'. Reeve is from from Old English gerefa. The word sheriff, from Old English scirgerefa, is a compound of scir, 'shire', and gerefa, 'a reeve, a chief official of a shire. The term 'Reeve of the Shire', scirgerefa, was later shortened to 'Sheriff', and followed the movement to the New World. Reeve has one known relative: grieve, a noun meaning 'sheriff' from geréfa [5] [the verb 'to grieve', grief, is from *gwere-1 above]. The reeve had authority to raise the 'hue and cry' to warn people that a crime such as robbery, theft, assault, or murder was committed, or that a criminal was in their midst. A giraffe performs a similar function in the Savannas. A giraffe, the tallest animal, 'oversees' a local vicinity on the African plains or Savannah. Home

ranges are about 46 sq. miles [perhaps comparable in size to shires?] "Giraffes can see miles away, communicating with distant friends" [6]. Other animals on the savanna (such as zebras, ostriches, antelopes) stay close to giraffes and use them as watchtowers or observation posts for predators [7]. A giraffe has followers on the savannas; a guru also has followers that gather round him.

“The giraffe (camelopardus) is so called because while it is speckled with white spots like the pard (pardus), it has a neck like a horse, oxlike feet, and a head like a camel (camelus). Ethiopia [meaning Africa] produces this animal.” [The Etymologies of Isidore of Seville, 7th century AD, p.252.]

The neck of the giraffe is the most outstanding feature of the animal. According to Skeat neck originally meant the nape or knop of the neck; from Old English hnecca, 'nape of the neck'. Compare nook, and knacker.

In nature there are two creatures with reticulated patterns on their skin; the giraffe and the python. The python relates to the constellation Delphinus, and Delphi. Zeus released two eagles from opposite ends of the earth, one from the east and one from the west, and the precise spot where they met, was Delphi. Therefore the constellation, Delphinus, should relate to the latitude lines. The giraffe of this long constellation, Camelopardalis, with the long neck extending to the north pole should relate to the longitude line. Reticulum represents the nodes, the connecting lines.


Fixed stars in Camelopardalis


7 17GEM53 19GEM16 073 19 03 +53 40 28 +30 53 19 4.44 A2

alpha 19GEM36 20GEM59 072 15 57 +66 15 39 +43 24 45 4.38 O9

beta 19GEM53 21GEM16 074 44 24 +60 22 19 +37 25 30 4.22 G2

36 00CAN24 01CAN47 091 57 15 +65 43 53 +42 17 35 5.39 K2


Camelopardalis or Camelopardus, the Giraffe, the French Girafe and Italian Giraffa, is long, faint, and straggling like its namesake. It stretches from the pole-star (Polaris in Ursa Minor) to Perseus, Auriga, and the Lynx, the hind quarters within the Milky Way.

It was formed by Bartschius, who published it, in outline only, in 1614, and wrote that it represented to him the Camel that brought Rebecca to Isaac [the Torah says Rebecca sees Isaac and falls off her camel]. Was it from this that Proctor attempted to change its title to Camelus ? — an alteration that seems to have been adopted only by Mr. J. Ellard Gore in his translation, in 1894, of Flammarion's Astronomic Populaire. Weigel used it with Auriga to form his heraldic figure, the French Lilies.

The Chinese located seven asterisms within its boundaries: Hwa Kae, the State Umbrella, extending beyond Camelopardalis; Luh Kea, a term in {Page107} anatomy; Shang Ching, the Higher Minister; Shang Wei, the Higher Guard; Shaou Wei, the Minor Guard; Sze Foo, the Four Official Supporters of the Throne; and Yin Tih, Unostentatious Virtue.

Argelander enumerates 84 naked-eye stars, and Heis 138; these culminating in the middle of January.

Antliathe Air Pump



Clues to the meaning of this celestial featureThe constellation Antlia commemorates the air pump which had been invented by 17th-century British chemist and physicist Robert Boyle. Boyle used his air-compressing pump to lead to the understanding of the laws of gas behavior and laws of thermodynamics. Air pumps were used to either fill something up with air (make high pressure) or to take air away (make a vacuum). Scientists could then study how air acted under different pressures. Using this pump, now known as vacuum pump and at the time also referred to as a 'pneumatic engine' [1], Boyle and Hooke noticed that vessels filled with air become warmer as their internal pressure is increased. In time the ideal gas law was formulated.

Antlia lies north of the great Ship Argo Navis. The word Antlia comes from Latin antlia, pump, from Greek antlos, 'ship's hold, bilge water'. Greek hyperantlos ousa symphorai, is a metaphor taken from a ship which can no longer keep out water [2]. The water that collects in the bilge must be pumped out if it becomes too full and threatens to sink the ship. The bilge is the rounded portion of a ship's hull, forming a transition between the bottom and the sides, 'lowest internal part of a ship', also "the foulness which collects there", variant of bulge 'ship's hull', also 'leather bag', from Late Latin bulga, 'leather sack' [3].

"The antlia usually used in ancient Greece was probably the pole and bucket for drawing water out of a well" [4].

Jesus said:

"Now draw (Greek antlesate) some [water] out, and take it to the chief steward" (v. 8). [5]

‘Draw out now’; ‘Antlesate’: The verb is used of drawing water out of a well or baling out a ship, but can be used more generally to signify drawing out by means of some vessel, thus the noun for ‘bucket’, antlema, is etymologically similar [6]. A bucket in Greek was antlema or antleo.

The word Antlia comes from Latin antlia, pump, from Greek antlos, 'ship's hold, bilge water'. The Latins seemed to have used antlia for the pump, and had another word, sentina, which meant the bilge (lowest part of a ship), bilge water, a sink, it also had the meaning of 'rabble', 'dregs of the population' [8]. A link between the two words; Greek antlos and Latin sentina is suggested:

What then is the etymological connection of antlos? We can hardly hesitate to place it with the Latin sent-ina of the same meaning, s (sigma) having fallen off [as in these examples eteos (Sanskrit satyas), alokos (for salokos)... &c.]; they would thus originally have expressed stationary, as opposed to running, water. Uperantlos is of course formed from antlos and means "overcharged with bilge water" ... [The Hippolytus of Euripides, ed. by J.P. Mahaffy and J.B. Bury, 1881, Note 767]

Wikipedia says Latin sentina 'bilge water', from Ancient Greek amao, 'to gather', ame, 'water bucket', Lithuanian semti 'to scoop', is related to the word 'sand' from the Indo-European root *bhes-1 To rub, 1. Derivatives: sand, from Old English sand, from Germanic *sam(a)dam, *sandam. 2. Suffixed extended zero-grade form *(bh)sa-dhlo-. sabalous, from Latin sabulum, coarse sand. 3, Perhaps suffixed zero-grade form *(bh)s-a-. a. palimpsest, from Greek psen, to rub, scrape (but more likely of uncertain origin); b. psephology (the study of political elections), from Greek psephos, ballot, pebble, (from the ancient Greeks' use of pebbles for voting) but more likely of uncertain origin). 4, Perhaps suffixed zero-grade form *bhs-ilo-, epsilon [5th], upsilon [20th], from Greek psilos, smooth, simple (but more likely of uncertain origin). [Pokorny I. bhes- 145.] Latin sabulum, Ancient Greek aµ"5() (amathos), sand. "Of the same family as amathos, sand; amathuno, 'I make to vanish, like letters written on sand.' Also amalos, plain, level, amauron is, whatever is made level with the ground" [Valpy, Greek..., p.19]. Psamathe was the Nereid goddess of sand beaches.

Latin sentino, "I work at the sentina." Also, "I avoid danger." A naval metaphor, taken from sailors in a storm emptying the sink of the ship to preserve themselves from impending danger. [An etymological dictionary of the Latin language, Valpy, 1828, p.427]

Antlia is the vacuum pump, or air pump, "at the time, the air pump was a major scientific instrument, since one could make a vacuum with one" [7]. Vacuum is from Indo-European root *eue- 'To leave, abandon, give out, whence nominal derivatives meaning abandoned, lacking, empty'. Derivatives: wane, wanton, (these words from Old English wanian), want, vain, vanity, vaunt, evanesce (to dissipate or disappear like vapor), vanish, (these words from Latin vanus, empty), evanescent, vacant, vacate, vacation, vacuity, vacuum, void, avoid, devoid, evacuate, (these words from Latin vacare, variant vocare, to be empty), waste (from Latin vastare, to make empty), devastate (from Latin vastus, empty, waste, from Latin evacuare ‘to empty’, from vacuus ‘empty’). [Pokorny 1. eue- 345. Watkins]

The void is generally seen to be in outer space, and the empty or vacant spaces between the stars:

"Parmenides (5th century B.C.) uses verbal reasoning to postulate that a void, essentially what is now known as a vacuum, in nature could not occur. This theory was disproved by the introduction of the vacuum pump. Yet the earliest conception of Chaos was that almost unthinkable condition of kosmic space or kosmic expanse, which to human minds is infinite and vacant extension of primordial Aether, a stage before the formation of manifested worlds, and out of which everything that later existed was born, including gods and men and all the celestial hosts. We see here a faithful echo of the archaic esoteric philosophy, because among the Greeks Chaos was the kosmic mother of Erebos and Nyx, Darkness and Night -- two aspects of the same primordial kosmic stage." http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_thermodynamics

The word pump is said to be of imitative origin, related to French pompier, 'fireman', from pompe, 'pump', a fireman's scaling ladder, and to the metaphoric extension as in 'to pump' someone for information. These words are not recognized cognates of pomp, pomposity, and pompous, meaning pumped up with self-importance, but if they were related, they would parallel the meanings in the words vain and vanity of the *eue- root. Pomp, from Latin pompa, from Greek pompe 'a sending, solemn procession', related to pempein, 'to send', and pump, 'a kind of shoe', and apopemptic 'pertaining to sending away', 'addressed to one who is departing'; as in 'apopemptic hymns'. Pompholyx (of imitative origin), is a skin disease characterized by an eruption of vesicles — Latin, from Greek pompolux 'bubble', 'blister' (or maybe pimple?), a blister, contains watery fluid pumped into a bubble (Antlia commemorates the air pump invented by Robert Boyle - boil). Pomp, from Greek pempein, 'to send or "to bid a thing to be carried to one". Jesus gave an order when he said: "Now draw (Greek antlesate) some [water] out, and take it to the chief steward" (v. 8).

The city Pompeii vanished by an eruption of Mount Vesuvius in A.D. 79.

There is an obsolete word pumper, meaning to break wind, from German dialectal pumpern, from which we get the word pumpernickel.


Fixed stars in Antlia


epsilon 09VIR38 11VIR01 141 47 42 -35 43 55 -47 21 09 4.64 M0

alpha 21VIR14 22VIR37 156 12 56 -30 48 45 -37 25 38 4.42 M0

iota 01LIB40 03LIB03 163 35 45 -36 52 07 -39 49 02 4.70 G5



Antlia Pneumatica, the Air Pump, is La Caille's Machine Pneumatique, created in 1752, at first Latinized as Machina Pneumatica; but astronomers know it as simple Antlia. In Germany it is the Luft Pumpe.

{Page 43} The constellation lies just south of Crater and Hydra, bordering on Vela, the Sails of Argo Navis along the branches of the Milky Way, and culminates on the 6th of April; Gould assigning to it eighty-five naked-eye stars.

Arathe Altar




Ara as depicted in the 1723 edition of Johann Bayer's Uranometria (Skywatching)

Ara represents the heavenly Altar created by the gods of Mount Olympus to celebrate the defeat of the titans where the gods swore their allegiance to the supreme god Zeus (Jupiter). The smoke from the altar was said to pour out to create the Milky Way. According to another account Ara was the altar on which the Centaur (Centaurus) offered his sacrifice of Lupus. Centaurus is traditionally depicted as carrying Lupus, the Wolf, to sacrifice on Ara, the altar. Ara was also known as the altar that Noah built after the great flood when his ark rested on Mt. Ararat.

"The beginning of the stormy season of late autumn, early winter was marked in Greece by the rise of the constellation Ara (the Altar). This altar was said to have been forged by the Kyklopes [Cyclops, maybe adjacent Telescopium] when the gods forged an alliance with Zeus against the Titanes. The eastern rising of the constellation probably represented the release of the storms from the Tartarean pit whose gates were guarded by the Hekatonkheires (the hundred-handed Storm-Gods) and Kyklopes (Gods of Lightning and Thunder)". [Theoi]

"There is also an ancient sanctuary [at Korinthos] called the altar of the Kyklopes, and they sacrifice to the Kyklopes upon it." [Pausanias, Description of Greece 2. 2. 1 Greek travelogue circa 2nd A.D.) from Theoi]

The word Ara comes from the Indo-European root *as- 'To burn, glow'. Derivatives: ash+ (from Old English æsce, asce), Ara (probably denoting originally 'a parched place', from Latin ara), arid (from Latin aridus, dry,

parched, from arere, to be dry), ardent, ardor (from Latin ardeo, ardere, be on fire, burn), arson (from Latin arsus from ardere, to burn, be on fire, from aridus, parched), zamia (tropical American cycads of the genus Zamia from Greek azein, to dry), azalea (from Greek azaleos, dry). [Pokorny as- 68. Watkins] The word area is cognate with arid.

"...the cut grain-sheaves arescunt, ‘dry out’ for threshing, is an area, ‘threshing-floor.' On account of the likeness to these, clean places in the city are called areae; from which may be also the Gods' ara ‘altar,' because it is clean—unless rather from ardor ‘fire’; for the intention of using it for an ardor makes it an ara; and from this the area itself is not far away, because it is the ardor of the sun which arefacit 'does the drying.'" [Varro: On The Latin Language, 1st century AD, p.37]

The English word altar is not related to Latin ara (and not related to the word 'alter,' meaning to change something). Latin altar, which was borrowed directly into Old English altar, was a derivative of the plural noun altaria, 'burnt offerings,' which probably came from the verb adolere, 'burn up.'

Noah built an altar to God and made an offering:

"And when the Lord smelled the pleasing odour..." [Gen 8:21]

"The ‘aroma’ is a picture of something pleasing to the Lord which runs throughout the Bible. In Gen 8:21, the Lord smelled the pleasing odour of the sacrifice and spoke a blessing upon the earth and mankind. Even in the sacrificial system, the rising smoke is spoken of as being ‘a pleasing odour to the Lord’ (Lev 1:9) that the offerer might find acceptance before Him" http://home.clara.net/arlev/break.htm.

When the waters of the flood receded, and the Ark (Latin arca) came to rest on the mountains of Ararat in Armenia. There Noah built an altar to God, the first altar mentioned in the Bible, and made an offering. The ark is also identified with the Ship Argo Navis. It has been said that Noah might have used timber from the ark to build the altar which might account for the similarity of words; (where else would he have found the wood on that treeless snowy peak?) Isidore believed arca (ark) and ara (altar) are related:

"The Greeks called the front of the torso from the neck to the stomach the thorax; this is what we call the chest (arca), because in that place is a hidden (arcanus), that is, a secret thing, from which other people are shut out (arcere). From this also a strong box (arca) and an altar (ara) derive their names, as if the words meant 'secret things'” [The Etymologies of Isidore of Seville, 7th century AD, p.236.]

The word ark (might belong to Argo Navis) comes from the Indo-European root *ark- 'To hold, contain, guard'. Derivatives: arcane (mysteriously obscure, arcane language), ark, coerce (from Latin coercere, 'to constrain.' From Latin co-, 'together,' + arcere, 'to shut up, ward off, to box in, to enclose'), coercivity, exercise (ex- + arcere, the exercise of a duty. Exercise burns up calories), autarky (self-sufficiency, from Greek arkein, to ward off suffice), arcanum (a secret known only to the members of a small select group). [Pokorny areq- 65. Watkins] The Ark of the Covenant or Ark of the Testimony is the chest containing the Ten Commandments. Major Arcana are the trumph cards.

Titles for Ara were Focus, Lar, and Ignitabulum, all meaning a Hearth; and Greek Estia (Hestia), or Roman Vesta, the goddess of the hearth (see History of the Constellation below. Manilius says Vesta is associated with Capricorn). [The smoke from the hearth of Roman homes flowed into what was called an atrium - see adjacent Triangulum Australe]

"As the hearth of a house is at the same time the altar on which sacrifices are offered to the domestic gods (hestiouchoi or ephestioi), Hestia was looked upon as presiding at all sacrifices, and, as the goddess of the sacred fire of the altar, she had a share in the sacrifices in all the temples of the gods. (Hom. Hymn. in Ven. 31.) ...

As the goddess of the family hearth she also presided over the cooking of bread and the preparation of the family meal. Hestia was also the goddess of the sacrificial flame and received a share of every sacrifice to the gods. ... Hestia was the goddess of hearth, home and feast. By extension she also presided over the public hearths, namely the altars of the gods, and the state hearth. [Theoi]

"The goddess whom they call Hestia. Her power extends over altars and hearths, and therefore all prayers and all sacrifices end with this goddess, because she is the guardian of the innermost things." - [Cicero, De Natura Deorum 2.27 - Theoi]

"The word Vesta is of uncertain origin; possibly cognate with Greek estia or hestia, 'the hearth of the house' (whence estian, 'to receive at one's hearth')" [Klein], from Indo-European root *wes-3 'To live, dwell, pass the night, with derivatives meaning 'to be''. Derivatives: was, were, wassail (to drink to the health of; toast), astute (from Latin astutus, skill, craft - practiced in a town, - from Greek astu, town < 'place where one dwells'), divan (from Old Persian vahanam, house). [Pokorny 1. wes- 1170. Watkins]

In Cratylus by Plato, Socrates asks Hermogenes "What did he mean who gave the name Hestia?" and Socrates answers:

For example, that which we term ousia is by some called esia, and by others again osia. Now that the essence of things should be called estia, which is akin to the first of these (esia = estia, and Hestia), is rational enough. And there is reason in the Athenians calling that estia which participates in ousia. For in ancient times we too seem to have said esia for ousia, and this you may note to have been the idea of those who appointed that sacrifices should be first offered to estia (the name of Hestia), which was natural enough if they meant that estia was the essence of things. Those again who read osia seem to have inclined to the opinion of Heracleitus, that all things flow and nothing stands; with them the pushing principle (othoun) is the cause and ruling power of all things, and is therefore rightly called osia. [Cratylus, by Plato, Part 08]

Greek ousia 'being, essence' is the Ancient Greek noun formed on the feminine present participle for the Greek verb 'to be', einai, from the Indo-European root *es- 'To be'. Derivatives: prude (a characteristic of Vesta and the Vestal Virgins), prosit (a drinking toast, to wish good health or good fortune), am+, is, yes, sooth, soothe, sin+ (a transgression of a religious or moral law), suttee (the old practice of a Hindu widow's cremating herself on her husband's funeral pyre), entity, essence, essential, abessive, absent, adessive, essive, improve (Middle English improwen, to enclose land for cultivation, from Anglo-Norman emprouwer, to turn to profit: Old French en-, + Old French prou, profit, from Late Latin prode, advantageous), inessive, interest, present+ (present time, pre- + esse, to be), present* (gift, pre- + esse), proud (pro- + esse, to be; pride), quintessence, represent, representation, stover (the dried stalks and leaves of a cereal crop, from Latin esse, to be). Basic form *es-: -ont, onto- (the present participle stem of einai ‘to be’.'In the beginning' meant also 'in the ontological principle' [1], ontogeny), -biont (bi(o)- + -ont, living organism; as in symbiont), Parousia (the Second Coming, Para-ousia, feminine present participle of pareinai, from para-, beside + einai, to be). Suffixed from es-ti-; swastika (from Sanskrit svasti, well-being; su- good; and -asti, 'is') [Pokorny es- 340. Watkins]

Transgendered (eunuch) priests were called essenes, 'king bees', or drones. Essential oils contain volatile aroma, or odor.

The word sin (from *es-) might relate to Sinai? The Ark of the Covenant or Ark of the Testimony is the chest containing the Ten Commandments; the ten injunctions given by God to Moses on Mount Sinai, against sinning.

"In his account of the Fasti of the Roman year, Ovid twice recounted an anecdote of Priapus' foiled attempt on a sleeping nymph: once he told it of the nymph Lotis and then again, calling it a 'very playful little tale', he retold it of Vesta, the Roman equivalent of Hestia. In the anecdote, after a great feast, when the immortals were all either passed out drunk or asleep, Priapus — who had grotesquely large genitalia — spied Lotis/Vesta and was filled with lust for her. He quietly approached the nymph, but the braying of an ass awoke her just in time. She screamed at the sight [as a prude would] and Priapus immediately ran away" [2]. The story is told here - Ovid, Fasti 6.319. Lotis was a nymph of Greek mythology, the daughter of Poseidon or Nereus. Priapus tried to rape her and she was changed into a lotus tree to escape him [3].

“Vesta, because she is clothed (vestire) with plants and various things, or from 'enduring by her own power' (vi sua stare). ... They call this same one both Vesta and fire, because there is no doubt that the earth possesses fire, as can be seen from Etna and Vulcanus. And they thought she was a virgin because fire is an inviolable element, and nothing can be born from it; indeed it consumes all that it seizes...Ovid in the Fasti (6.291): Understand Vesta as no other than living flame - you see no bodies born from flame. Furthermore, virgins are said to wait on her, because just as nothing is born from a virgin, so nothing is born from fire.” [The Etymologies of Isidore of Seville, 7th century AD, p.187.]

Isidore says “Vesta, because she is clothed (vestire)...". Greek Hestia or Roman Vesta, presided at all sacrifices, she had a vested interest; her Vestial Virgins received a share of every sacrifice to the gods. Latin

vestire is from the Indo-European root *wes-4 'To clothe' Extension of *eu-. Derivatives: wear, vest, devest, invest, revet, travesty, (these words from Latin vestis, garment). Suffixed form *wes-nu-; himation (woolen or linen cloak worn in ancient Greece, from Greek hennunai, to clothe). [Pokorny 5. wes- 1172. Watkins].

If the above associations are correct Ara would relate to these three words: Astute investments yield interest.

Indo-European root *wes-4 'To clothe' is an extension of *eu- 'To dress'. Latin exuere (exuuiae) is a cognate of vesta (uestis) and indutus is armor stripped from an enemy, but can also refer to a garment or animal skin. Derivatives: endue, indument (from induere, to put a garment on. Also a covering of fine hairs or scales), exuviae (the cast-off skins or coverings of various organisms, such as the shells of crabs or the external coverings of the larvae and nymphs of insects), reduviid (‘things cast off’, formed from exuere ‘to divest oneself of’. The assassin bug is called reduviid, of the family Reduviidae), indusium (the amnion of the fetus, from Latin indusium, a tunic, from induere to put on). [Pokorny 2. eu- 346. Watkins]

"Philolaus (fl. 470 BC) a pupil of Pythagoras, taught the earth floated in space and revolved in a circle once each day around a central fire, called 'the hearth of Zeus,' or the hearth of the universe" [4].

"[Constellation] Altar. On this altar the gods are thought to have first made offerings and formed an alliance when they were about to oppose the Titanes. The Cyclopes [see adjacent Telescopium] made it. From this observance men established the custom that when they plan to do something, they make sacrifices before beginning the undertaking. [Pseudo-Hyginus, Astronomica 2. 39 (trans. Grant) (Roman mythographer C2nd A.D, from Theoi]

The Altar was a place where oaths were sworn: The Greek word for oath was horkos from where we get the word exorcise 'to drive out evil spirits', from Greek exorkizein, from ex- out + horkos.

On the constellation Ara, the altar, which formerly was called a well, according to Eratosthenes, Zeus swore his oath [horkos], before he attacked his father Kronos and threw him off his throne and out of the heavens, thus usurping the rule of Olympia in the first mythical dawn of gods and turn of an era of the ancient Greeks. http://www.rkdn.org/alternative/Santa.asp

Ovid expands on a theme ... that corpses littered the Athenian temples, and produces a clever and unobtrusive bilingual etymological wordplay, exoratis [exorcise] picks up the sense of imploration inherent in ara through its Greek origin. [Andreas Michalopoulos, Ancient Etymologies in Ovid's Metamorphoses]

Klein says that these words (from *ark- above) "stand in gradational relationship to Orcus, name of the god of the infernal regions in Roman mythology". Michael Paschalis in Virgil's Aeneid sees Virgil as also making this connection:

'Orcus', who exercises his power of keeping her [Dido] outside the boundary of the Underworld, because she is still living. Virgil's treatment of 'Orcus' also suggests an etymological association with arceo ('keep off'). ... and 'Orcus' have to do with bonds, boundaries, and barriers: oath (Greek orkos, horkos) 'binds'; Orcus punishes those who transgress the boundaries; 'Orcus' keeps off the living, and receives and keeps the dead within his 'enclosure'. [Virgil's Aeneid, Semantic Relations and Proper Names, p.179]

Isidore gives another likely derivation:

"Some call him Orcus, receiver of the dead, as it were - whence the vessel that receives water is called orca. He is also Charon in Greek.” [The Etymologies of Isidore of Seville, p.186.]

In Roman mythology, Orcus was a god of the underworld, punisher of broken oaths [5]. Greek orkos, horkos, meaning oath or 'to swear', is similar to the name and function of Orcus. Our word exorcise, comes from Greek orkos, horkos, meaning to drive out evil spirits, literally ‘to swear out'. From Greek exorkezein, 'to bind by an oath; to banish an evil spirit', from Greek orkizein 'to make to swear', from orkos, 'an oath', literally 'a limitation, binding, obligation', in gradational relationship to erkhos, (for Greek serkos, 'enclosure, hedge, fence', and probably cognate with Latin sarcire, 'to patch, mend'. See sartorial [Klein]. Sartorial is from the Indo-European root *serk- 'To make whole'. Derivative: sartorius (from Latin sarcire, to mend, repair. [Pokorny serk- 912. Watkins] The sartorius is a flat narrow thigh muscle, the longest of the human anatomy, crossing the front of the thigh from the hip to the inner side of the tibia. Latin for tailor; hence, sartorius which produce the posture in which tailors once worked, squatting on the floor. The legal verb *sark- (infixed sar-ni-k-) 'make restitution', which matches Latin sarcire 'repair'.

A tailor, which the Latins called sarcitector, makes clothes (Latin vestire) to wear. A sarcitector also has another meaning:

“A sarcitector is so called because out of many planks joined together on this side and that he repairs (sarcire) one structure of a building” [The Etymologies of Isidore of Seville, 7th century AD, p.382.]

The ancients saw a link between the word Aries, and the word ara, meaning altar, Isidore says:

“The ram (aries) is either named after the word Ares, that is, after 'Mars' - whence we call the males in a flock 'males' (mas, genitive maris) - or because this animal was the first to be sacrificed on altars (ara, genitive aris) by pagans. So, the 'ram' because it was placed on the altar; whence also this (Sedulius, Paschal Poem 1.115): The ram is offered at the altar.” [The Etymologies of Isidore of Seville, 7th century AD, p.247.]


Fixed stars in Ara


eta 17SAG31 18SAG54 251 21 51 -58 57 17 -36 16 11 3.68 K5

epsilon 18SAG12 19SAG35 253 53 51 -53 05 09 -30 15 36 4.15 M1

zeta 18SAG26 19SAG49 253 37 06 -55 54 49 -33 05 05 3.06 K5

beta 22SAG49 24SAG12 260 17 03 -55 29 06 -32 15 29 2.80 K1

gamma 22SAG55 24SAG18 260 17 40 -56 19 59 -33 06 11 3.51 B1

alpha 23SAG33 24SAG56 261 59 34 -49 50 20 -26 33 12 2.97 B3

delta 24SAG11 25SAG34 261 38 40 -60 38 41 -37 20 53 3.79 B8


And this you note but little time aloft;

For opposite Bear-watcher doth it rise.

And whilst his course is high in air,

It quickly speeds beneath the western sea.

-- Robert Brown, Junior's, translation of the Phainomena of Aratos.

Ara, the Altar, is Altar in Germany, Altare in Italy, Autel and Encensoir in France. It is located as Aratos described it —

'neath the glowing sting of that huge sign

The Scorpion, (Scorpio) near the south, the Altar hangs;

{Page 62} and in classical times was intimately associated with Centaurus and Lupus, which it joined on the west before Norma was formed.

The Latins knew it under our title, often designated as Ara Centauri, Ara Thymiamatis, and as Thymele, the altar of Dionysus; and occasionally in the diminutive Arula. It also was Altare, Apta Altaria, Altarium; Sacrarium and Sacris; Acerra, the small altar on which perfumes were burned before the dead; Batillus, an Incense Pan; Prunarum Conceptaculum, a Brazier; Focus, Lar, and Ignitabulum, all meaning a Hearth; and Estia (Hestia), or Vesta, the goddess of the hearth.

Thuribulum and Turribulum, a Censer, more correctly Turibulum, were customary titles down to the 18th century.

Pharus also appears, altars often being placed upon the summits of temple towers and thus serving the ancients as lighthouses, of which the Alexandrian Pharos was the great example. [Pharus, or Pharos, the Great Lamp, or Lighthouse, of Alexandria]

The Alfonsine Tables added to some of these titles Puteus, a Pit; Sacrarius, and Templum, a Sacred Place; but represented it as a typical altar. The Leyden Manuscript made it a tripod censer with incense burning; the illustrated editions of Hyginus of 1488 and 1535, an altar from which flames ascend, with demons on either side; and an illustrated German manuscript of the 15th century showed the Pit with big demons thrusting little ones into the abyss. This recalls the story of Jove's punishment of the defeated giants after he had, as Manilius wrote,

Rais'd this Altar, and the Form appears

With Incense loaded, and adorn'd with Stars;

the occasion being the war with the Titans, when the gods needed an altar in heaven for their mutual vows. That poet also described it as

ara ferens turris, stellis imitantibus ignem,

which would show that the flame was conceived of as rising northwards through the Milky Way, or that the latter itself was the smoke and flame; and it was so thought of and represented by the ancients, and down to the times of Arabic globes and Middle Age manuscripts. But from Bayer's day to ours it has been shown in an inverted position, which for a southern constellation is appropriate.

Aratos called it Thuterion; others, Thusiasterion both signifying an Altar; Proclus and Ptolemy, Thumiaterion, a Censer; and Bayer cited Ekhara that should be Eskhara, a Brazier; Pnramne, not a lexicon word; and Aibanotris, by which he doubtless intended the Aibanotris, or Censer, where the votive {Page 63} plant was burned. Eratosthenes had Nektar, which Ideler and Schaubach, however, did not understand, and thought a corrupted reading.

Its varied classical names show disagreement as to its form, yet great familiarity with its stars, on the part of early observers, with whom it was of importance as portending changes in the winds and weather; Aratos devoting twenty-eight lines — a large proportionate space — of the Phainomena to this character of Ara.

In Arabia it was Al Mijmarah, a Censer, which, being its only title in that country, implies that it was unformed there before the introduction of Greek astronomy. Derivations from this word are found in the Alme-gramith of Riccioli and the Almugamra of Caesius.

This last author said that Ara represented one of the altars raised by Moses, or the permanent golden one in the Temple at Jerusalem; but others of the biblical school considered it the Altar of Noah erected after the Deluge. Euphratean research seems to show a stellar Altar differently located, which Brown says probably was the lost zodiacal sign subsequently represented by the Claws and afterwards by the Balance (Libra); and identifies it with the 7th Akkadian month and sign Tul-Ku, the Holy Altar, or the Illustrious Mound, perhaps a reference to the mound-altar of the Tower of Babel. When these changes were accomplished this early zodiacal Altar was removed to its present position, and its diversified altar-censer form retained from the Euphratean figuring. This recollection of the first Altar will perhaps account for the otherwise strange prominence given in classical times to our visually unimportant Ara, when Manilius called it Mundi Templum; this last word also having another stellar signification, for Varro used it to indicate a division of the sky.

Other details of this early Euphratean Altar are noted under Libra.

Ara is not wholly visible now north of the 23d degree of latitude; and its brief period above the horizon — only about four hours — explains Aratos' allusion in our motto; his horizon being about the same as that of the city of New York.

Gould catalogues in it eighty-five stars, from 2.8 to the 7th magnitude; but none seem to be named except in China.

There alpha, 2.9 magnitude, was Choo, a Club or Staff; and with beta, gamma, and iota, Low, Trailing.

With theta it marks the top of the Altar's frame, culminating, on the 24th of July, just above the horizon in the latitude of New York, — 40° 42' 43" at the City Hall.

Bayer's map carries the latter star several degrees too far to the south-west; similar errors being found in others of his constellation figures of the southern heavens.

{Page 64} beta, a 2.8-magnitude, gamma, delta, epsilon, and zeta mark the flame rising toward the south. In China delta, 3.7, with zeta, was Tseen Yin, the Dark Sky; epsilon, a 4th-magnitude, was Tso Kang, the Left Watch; and e 602 of Reeves was Tseen O, Heaven's Ridge.

La Lande stated that a constellation was supposed to exist here, containing Ara's stars, that was represented on the Egyptian sphere of Petosiris as a Cynocephalus (baboon).

Argo NavisJason's Ship

Hevelius, Firmamentum, 1690. The Ship is said to be moving stern-forward


Clues to the meaning of this celestial feature"Then famed Argo, raised to the skies from the sea which it was the first to cross, occupies the heaven it earned through grievous perils in a bygone age, made a god for having given safety to gods" [Manilius, Astronomica, book 1, p.37].

Johann Rost, Atlas portatalis coelestis, 1723 1

Argo Navis is no longer an officially recognized constellation, it has been split up into three constellations; Carina the Keel, Vela the Sails, Puppis the Stern, plus a subordinate division of Argo now called Pyxis Nautica, the Nautical Box or Mariner's Compass, and which used to be called Malus, the Mast. In Greek Mythology Argo Navis represents the Ship used by Jason and fifty Argonauts to sail to fetch the Golden Fleece from Colchis (Iolcus) in the Black Sea. The Argo was built by the shipwright Argos or Argus. It was built at the port of Pagasae, using timber from nearby Mount Pelion.

Most of what we know about the Argo comes from the Greek poet Apollonius Rhodius, 3rd century B.C. from his epic poem, The Argonautica, a translation of which can be read online: http://omacl.org/Argonautica/

"Ancient authors were divided about the origin of the name of the ship. Some ascribed it to the name of the person who built it, Argus, son of Phrixus; others to the Greek word argos, 'swift', as being a light sailor; others to the city of Argos, where they suppose it was built; yet others to the Argives, who went on board it, according to the distich quoted from ancient Roman statesman Cicero, in his first Tusculan" [1].

The -naut of argonaut and the Navis of Argo Navis come from the same indo-European root *náu- 'Boat or ship'. Derivatives: naval, nave+ (from Latin navis), navicular bone (also called scaphoid; shaped like a boat), navigate, navy, navy, nausea, nautical, noise, aeronaut, aquanaut, Argonaut, astronaut, cosmonaut, from Greek naus, ship, and nautes, sailor. [Pokorny 1. naus- 755. Watkins] The color navy derived from the navy uniforms worn in the navy. [These words are not related to the word 'navel' meaning umbilicus.]

Argo has been identified with a number of arks (the word 'ark' might also relate to the constellation Ara?):

"Egyptian story said that it was the ark that bore Isis and Osiris over the Deluge; while the Hindus thought that it performed the same office for their equivalent Isi and Iswara. And their prehistoric tradition made it the ship Argha for their wandering sun, steered by Agastya, the alpha star of Carina, Canopus. In this Sanskrit argha we perhaps may see our title" [Star Names].

Canopus is the alpha star of Carina. Plutarch says:

"Moreover, they give to Osiris the title of general, and the title of pilot to Canopus, from whom they say that the star derives its name; also that the vessel which the Greeks call Argo, in form like the ship of Osiris, has been set among the constellations in his honour, and its course lies not far from that of Orion and the Dog-star; of these the Egyptians believe that one is sacred to Horus and the other to Isis." [Plutarch, Moralia]

Christian legend identifies the constellation as Noah's Ark:

"The biblical school of course called it Noah’s Ark, the Arca Noachi, or Archa Noae as Bayer wrote it; Jacob Bryant, the English mythologist of the last century, making its story another form of that of Noah. Indeed in the 17th century the Ark seems to have been its popular title" [Star Names].

Nature gives hints on how to build a ship:

"Learn of the little nautilus to sail, Spread the thin oar, and catch the driving gale. [Line 177, An Essay on Man, a poem by Alexander Pope, 1733.]

The argonauts (genus Argonauta, the only extant genus in the Argonautidae family) are a group of pelagic octopuses, the Nautilus, Argonaut, or sailor-fish, a shell-fish found in the Mediterranean and in the Indian Ocean, and usually at the bottom of the sea, yet is able to rise to the surface, which it is fond of doing in calm weather. The shell is so thin that it is called the paper Nautilus. It lies on its back floating on the water. It employs some of its arms as oars to make progress, but if a gentle breeze arises it raises two of them upright, and extending them, spreads the membrane between them into a sail, which catches the wind ; its other arms hang out as a rudder to steer it the way it wishes [Significant etymology]. Female argonauts produce a laterally-compressed calcareous eggcase in which they reside. This "shell" has a double keel fringed by two rows of alternating tubercles.


"Lord of the flock and conqueror of the sea, to which, a horn lost and robbed even of its fleece, it gave its burden [Helle] and a name, the Ram [Aries], which bade the magic arts of Colchian Medea (who married Jason) journey to Iolcos (Colchis) and spread her poisons throughout the world, even now draws Argo by the poop to its side, as though still on the seas, through the stars on its right [translator's note: An error: Argo is a southern constellation and rises to the left of the zodiac, but never contemporaneously with Aries]. But the foremost part of the poop emerges to show its fires only when the Ram has brought four degrees of his countenance above the horizon.

"Whoever is born on earth at the rising of Argo will be the captain of a ship; holding fast to his helm, he will forsake dry land for the sea and pursue his fortune with the winds; he will crave to traverse the entire ocean with his fleet, visit foreign climes and the deep Phasis, and better the speed of Tiphys towards the rocks (the Symplegades). Take away the births of men situated beneath this constellation, and you will take away the Trojan war and the fleet which both set sail and made land fall with bloodshed (of Iphigenia and Erotenlaus); then will no Xerxes launch Persia on the main or open up a new sea (by cutting a canal through Athos) and cover over the old (by the vastness of his fleet, some interpreters see an allusion to the bridging of the Hellespont, but Housman considers this unlikely); no reversal of Salamis at Syracuse will overwhelm Athens, nor will Punic prows ride every sea, the world within Actium's bays hang in the balance between opposing forces, and heaven's destiny float at the mercy of the waves. Men born under Argo are the guides who guide our ships over the trackless deep; it is through them that land meets land and the whole world's wares are summoned with the winds to supply men's divers needs". [Manilius, Astronomica, book 5, p.303].


In 1763 the French cartographer De Lacaille divided the larger constellation of Argo Navis into its constituent sections, Carina, Puppis, Pyxis, and Vela.

Fixed stars in Carina the Keel


Canopus alpha 13CAN35 14CAN58 095 42 37 -52 40 04 -75 49 50 -0.70 F0

chi 29LEO22 00VIR45 118 52 36 -52 50 51 -70 19 46 3.60 B3

Avior epsilon 21VIR47 23VIR08 125 22 21 -59 20 53 -72 40 48 1.74 K0

Tureis iota 03LIB58 05LIB20 138 56 17 -59 50 24 -67 36 02 2.25 F0

Foramen eta 20LIB47 22LIB09 160 48 00 -59 24 57 -58 55 09 1.90 var P

upsilon 21LIB31 22LIB54 146 27 48 -64 50 22 -67 29 43 3.15 F0

Miaplacidus beta 00SCO37 01SCO58 138 09 56 -69 30 40 -72 13 48 1.80 A0

omega 06SCO04 07SCO27 153 08 16 -69 47 21 -67 22 39 3.56 B8

In 1763 the French cartographer De Lacaille divided the larger constellation of Argo Navis into its constituent sections, Carina, Puppis, Pyxis, and Vela.

Fixed stars in Carina the Keel


Canopus alpha 13CAN35 14CAN58 095 42 37 -52 40 04 -75 49 50 -0.70 F0

chi 29LEO22 00VIR45 118 52 36 -52 50 51 -70 19 46 3.60 B3

Avior epsilon 21VIR47 23VIR08 125 22 21 -59 20 53 -72 40 48 1.74 K0

Tureis iota 03LIB58 05LIB20 138 56 17 -59 50 24 -67 36 02 2.25 F0

Foramen eta 20LIB47 22LIB09 160 48 00 -59 24 57 -58 55 09 1.90 var P

upsilon 21LIB31 22LIB54 146 27 48 -64 50 22 -67 29 43 3.15 F0

Miaplacidus beta 00SCO37 01SCO58 138 09 56 -69 30 40 -72 13 48 1.80 A0

omega 06SCO04 07SCO27 153 08 16 -69 47 21 -67 22 39 3.56 B8



nu 15CAN46 17CAN09 099 03 27 -43 09 04 -66 04 49 3.18 B8

tau 26CAN21 27CAN44 102 10 26 -50 33 16 -72 51 29 2.83 G8

pi 28CAN56 00GEM19 108 50 39 -37 00 24 -58 31 49 2.74 K5

L 02LEO03 03LEO26 108 00 11 -44 33 27 -65 58 08 var M5

K 02LEO05 03LEO28 114 11 35 -26 41 13 -47 25 04 4.50 B8


sigma 07LEO19 08LEO42 111 54 39 -43 11 58 -63 46 54 3.27 M0

rho 10LEO01 11LEO24 121 21 12 -24 09 32 -43 16 29 2.88 F5


Fixed stars in Pyxis the Mariner's Compass


gamma 24LEO06 25LEO29 132 06 09 -27 31 25 -43 17 42 4.19 K4

alpha 25LEO08 26LEO31 130 23 44 -33 00 19 -48 55 34 3.70 B1

beta 25LEO26 26LEO49 129 32 11 -35 07 47 -51 09 30 4.04 G5

Fixed stars in Vela the sail


gamma 25LEO59 27LEO22 121 59 12 -47 11 51 -64 28 44 1.70 var B3

Alsuhail lambda 09VIR49 11VIR11 136 32 20 -43 13 48 -55 52 21 2.22 K4

psi 13VIR22 14VIR45 142 10 55 -40 14 50 -51 09 53 3.64 A7

delta 17VIR35 18VIR58 130 49 51 -54 31 29 -67 11 51 2.01 A0

q 25VIR37 27VIR00 153 09 30 -41 52 26 -48 15 31 4.09 A2

Markeb kappa 27VIR31 28VIR54 140 08 29 -54 47 48 -63 43 16 2.63 B3

phi 04LIB35 05LIB58 148 46 35 -54 19 45 -59 56 56 3.70 B7

mu 09LIB08 10LIB31 161 09 12 -49 09 20 -51 05 10 2.84 G5



Argo Navis, the Ship Argo, generally plain Argo, — erroneously Argus, from confusion with its genitive case (Argus Panoptes, Argus "all eyes"), — and Navis, is the German Schiff, the French Navire Argo, and the Italian Nave Argo.

It lies entirely in the southern hemisphere, east of Canis Major, south of Monoceros and Hydra, largely in the Milky Way, showing above the horizon of New York city only a few of its unimportant stars; but it covers a great extent of sky, nearly seventy-five degrees in length, — Manilius calling it nobilis Argo, — and contains 829 naked-eye components. The centre culminates on the 1st of March.

La Caille used for it nearly 180 letters, many of them of course duplicated, so that although this notation was adopted in the British Association Catalogue, recent astronomers have subdivided the figure for convenience in reference, and now know its three divisions as Carina, the Keel, with 268 stars, Puppis, the Stern, with 313, and Vela, the Sail, with 248. This last is the German Segel.

La Caille, moreover, formed from stars in the early subordinate division Malus, the Mast, Pyxis Nautica, the Nautical Box or Mariner's Compass, the German See Compass, the French Boussole or Compas de Mer, and the Italian Bussola; and this is still recognized by some good astronomers as Pyxis.{Page 65} From other stars Bode formed Lochium Funis, his Logleine, our Log and Line, now entirely fallen into disuse.

The Ship appears to have no bow, thus presenting the same sectional character noticeable in Equuleus, Pegasus, and Taurus, and generally is so shown on the maps. It was in reference to this that Aratos wrote:

"Sternforward Argo by the Great Dog's tail

Is drawn; for hers is not a usual course,

But backward turned she comes, as vessels do

When sailors have transposed the crooked stern

On entering harbour; all the ship reverse,

And gliding backward on the beach it grounds.

Sternforward thus is Jason's Argo drawn.

This loss of its bow is said to have occurred when Argo

"pass'd Through Bosporus betwixt the justling rocks — "

the Symplegades, the Cyanean (azure), or the Planctae Rocks at the mouth of the Euxine Sea. Yet Aratos may have thought it complete, for he wrote: "All Argo stands aloft in sky," and

"Part moves dim and starless from the prow

Up to the mast, but all the rest is bright;"

and it has often been so illustrated and described by artists and authors. The Alfonsine Tables show it as a complete double-masted vessel with oars, and Lubienitzki, in the Theatrum Cometicum of 1667, as a three-masted argosy with a tier of ports and all sails set full to the wind.

Mythology insisted that it was built by Glaucus, or by Argos, for Jason, leader of the fifty Argonauts, whose number equaled that of the oars of the ship, aided by Pallas Athene, who herself set in the prow a piece from the speaking oak of Dodona; the Argo being "thus endowed with the power of warning and guiding the chieftains who form its crew." She carried the famous expedition from Colchis in Thessaly to Aea in Colchis, (Colchis was the district along the eastern shore of the Euxine Sea, now Mingrelia.] in search of the golden fleece, and when the voyage was over Athene placed the boat in the sky.

Another Greek tradition, according to Eratosthenes, asserted that our constellation represented the first ship to sail the ocean, which long before {Page 66} Jason's time carried Danaos with his fifty daughters from Egypt to Rhodes and Argos, and, as Dante wrote, "Startled Neptune with the aid of Argo."

Egyptian story said that it was the ark that bore Isis and Osiris over the Deluge; while the Hindus thought that it performed the same office for their equivalent Isi and Iswara. And their prehistoric tradition made it the ship Argha for their wandering sun, steered by Agastya, the star Canopus. In this Sanskrit argha we perhaps may see our title; but Lindsay derives Argo from arek, a Semitic word, used by the Phoenicians, signifying "long," this vessel having been the first large one launched.

Sir Isaac Newton devoted much attention to the famous craft, fixing the date of its building about 936 B.C., forty-two years after King Solomon.

With the Romans it always was Argo and Navis, Vitruvius writing Navis quae nominatur Argo: but Cicero called it Argolica Navis and Argolica Puppis; Germanicus, Argoa Puppis; Propertius, the elegiac poet of the 1st century before our era, Iasonia Carina; Ovid, Pagasaea Carina and Pagasaea Puppis, from the Thessalian seaport where it was built; Manilius, Ratis Heroum, the Heroes' Raft, "which now midst Stars doth sail"; and others, Navis Jasonis, or Osiridis, Celox Jasonis, Carina Argoa, Argo Ratis, and Navigium Praedatorium, the Pirate Ship. While somewhat similar are Currus Maris, the Sea Chariot, the Currus Volitans of Catullus, who said that in Egypt it had been the Vehiculum Lunae.

It also was Equus Neptunias; indeed Ptolemy asserted that it was known as a Horse by the inhabitants of Azania, the modern Ajan, on the northeastern coast of Africa, south of Cape Gardafui.

The Arabians called it Al Safinah, a Ship, and Markab, something to ride upon, that two or three centuries ago in Europe were transcribed Alsephina and Merkeb.

Grotius mentioned Cautel as a title for Puppis, "from the Tables," but he added Hoc quid sit nescio.

The biblical school of course called it Noah’s Ark, the Arca Noachi, or Archa Noae as Bayer wrote it; Jacob Bryant, the English mythologist of the last century, making its story another form of that of Noah. Indeed in the 17th century the Ark seems to have been its popular title.

In Hewitt's Essays we find a reference to "the four stars which marked the four quarters of the heavens in the Zendavesta, the four Loka-palas, or "nourishers of the world," of the Hindus; and that author claims these for {Page 67} Sirius in the east, the seven stars of the Greater Bear in the north, Corvus in the west, and Argo in the south. He gives the latter's title as Sata Vaesa, the One Hundred Creators; all these imagined as forming a great cross in the sky. The differing Persian conception of this appears in the remarks on Regulus, — alpha Leonis.

The Chinese asterism Tien Meaou probably was formed from some components of Argo.

The constellation is noticeable in lower latitudes not only from its great extent and the splendor of Canopus, but also from possessing the remarkable variable eta (eta Carina, Foramen) and its inclosing nebula.

Near the star s' Carinae appeared, between March 5 and April 8, 1895, a nova with a spectrum similar to those of the recent novae in Auriga and Norma.

. . . like a meadow which no scythe has shaven,

Which rain could never bend or whirl-blast shake,

With the Antarctic constellations paven,

Canopus and his crew, lay the Austral lake.

--Percy Bysshe Shelley's The Witch of Atlas.

Circinusa compass for drawing circles




Circinus is from Latin circinus, pair of compasses, from circus, circle (not to be confused with the Mariner's Compass of the constellation Pyxis). A compass, also called a pair of compasses, or a drafting compass, is a technical drawing instrument that can be used for inscribing circles or arcs. It can also be used as a tool to measure distances, in particular on maps, for mathematics, drafting, navigation, building, carpentry, and other purposes.

Two of the principal symbols always found in a Masonic Lodge are the square and compasses. An adjacent constellation, Norma, is the Square.

The word Circinus comes from the reduplicated form *ki-kr-o- of the Indo-European root *sker-3 'To turn, bend'. Derivatives: circa, circadian (a pattern repeated approximately every 24 hours), circinate (ring-shaped. Rolled up in the form of a coil with the tip in the center, as an unexpanded fern frond), Circinus (compass, a constellation in the Southern Hemisphere), circle, circum-, circus, cirque, search (from Latin circare, to go around in circles), cricoid (pertaining to the cartilage of the larynx), research, recherché (uncommon, rare), (these words from Greek kirkos, krikos, a ring), Circus (from Greek krikos), circuit, circulate. [Pokorny 3. (s)ker- 935. Watkins] The harrier hawk is from the genus circus and flies in circles.“The circus was chiefly dedicated by the pagans to the sun god, whose shrine was in the middle of the racetrack and whose effigy shone out from the gable of the shrine, because they did not think that he, whom they believed was in the open, ought to be worshipped under a roof. A circus is the whole space that horses would race around. The Romans think that it was called circus from the 'circuit' (circuitus) of horses, because there the horses race around (circum) the turning-posts. But the Greeks say it was named after Circe, daughter of the sun god, who founded this kind of competition in honor of her father, and from her name they argue that the term circus derived. Moreover, she was a sorceress and a witch and a priestess of demons; in her conduct we may recognize both the working of the magical arts and the cult of idolatry.” [The Etymologies of Isidore of Seville, 7th century AD, p.367.]In Greek mythology Perdix was the inventor of the circinus (along with the saw made from the spine of a fish), "And he was first to make two arms of iron, smooth hinged upon the center, so that one would make a pivot while the other, turned, described a circle." [Ovid]In Greek mythology, Circe or Kirke, daughter of Helios the Sun, and Hecate (perhaps the dark phase of the Moon [1]), was a enchantress living on the island of Aeaea. She was renowned for her knowledge of drugs and herbs, and was skilled in the use of all charms, potions, and spells and chants. Around the island prowled fawning lions and wolves and other wild animal which were tame like circus animals. She invited Odysseus' crew to a feast, the food laced with one of her magical potions, and she turned them all into pigs with her wand. For one year Odysseus and Circe were lovers on her island.Circe, also had the titles Pharmakeia, polypharmake [Homer]. Circe was buried on one of the islands of the Pharmacusii, or Pharmakoussai [Strabo], group in the Aegean Sea. Pharmacos means sorcerer related to our word pharmacy, but it also has another meaning, a type of scapegoat or outcast often for being a non-conformist (outside the circle perhaps). Socrates "is often portrayed as a pharmakeus. But Socrates also becomes Athens most famous 'other' pharmakos, the scapegoat" [2]. And Circe herself was an outcast for poisoning her husband, seizing his throne, and becoming a cruel ruler, she was deposed and fled. "Two men, the Pharmakoi, were led out as if to be sacrificed as an expiation. Each man took with him his own pharmakos, a young pig in the rites of purification in Eleusis in ancient Greece. The term 'pharmakos' later became the term 'pharmacos' which refers to a poisoner, a magician, or a sorcerer. A variation of this term is 'pharmacon' meaning either a magical substance or drug" [3].© Anne Wright 2008.

Fixed stars in Circinus


alpha 00SAG59 02SAG22 219 36 36 -64 45 33 -46 11 33 3.41 F0

beta 02SAG56 04SAG19 228 23 44 -58 36 59 -38 55 24 4.16 A3

gamma 04SAG04 05SAG27 229 50 39 -59 08 33 -39 10 05 4.54 B5


Circinus, the Pair of Compasses, was formed by La Caille, lies close to the front feet of the Centaur (Centaurus), south from Lupus and Norma, its inventor appropriately associating it with the latter. It is the German Zirkel, the French Compas, and the Italian Compasso. Gould catalogues in it 48 stars down to the 7th magnitude; alpha, its lucida, being of only 3.5.

The constellation culminates about the middle of June.

Cruxthe Cross



Clues to the meaning of this celestial featureThe word cross comes from Old Norse kross, from Latin crux, 'cross', which is of uncertain, perhaps Punic, origin. Compare across, crucial, Crucianella (crosswort), crucible (a vessel used for melting and calcining materials at high temperatures), crucify, cruise ( to traverse the sea, to traverse backwards and forwards), cruiser, crusade, crux, cruzeiro, excruciate. [Klein, Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary]

Francis Bacon used the phrase instantia crucis, 'crucial instance,' to refer to something in an experiment that proves one of two hypotheses and disproves the other. Bacon's phrase was based on a sense of the Latin word crux, 'cross,' which had come to mean “a guidepost that gives directions at a place where one road becomes two” [AHD].

"If the feet are placed together and the arms outspread, man then symbolizes the cross" [1]. "The cross represents fourfold systems: the four directions: north, south, east, and west; the four seasons; the four elements; the four winds..." [2].

“The cross is not only a Christian symbol, it was also a Mexican symbol. It was one of the emblems of Quetzalcoatl, as lord of the four cardinal points, and the four winds that blow therefrom.” —Fiske: Discovery of America, vol. ii. chap. viii. p. 250.)

To the four brightest stars of this Southern Cross, Dante (1265-1321) in Purgatorio, attributed the Cardinal Virtues of Justice, Prudence, Temperance and Fortitude, before the discovery and naming of this constellation (in 1679). The world itself is constructed in the shape of a cross, whose four points correspond to the four cardinal points or intersections of the horizon with the meridian. Cardinal is a vivid red, which gets its name from the cassocks worn by Catholic cardinals. The family of birds (Cardinalis cardinalis) takes its name from the color [3]. Cardinal from Latin cardinalis, 'principal, chief, from cardo, genitive cardinis, 'hinge of a door, pivot; that on which something turns'. In Latin, cardo means hinge or axis, 'something on which all else depends', as does the general meaning of the word crucial.

“A hinge (cardo) is the place on which a door swings and is always moved. It is so called after the term Greek kardia ('heart'), because as the heart (cor) governs and moves the whole person, so this pivot governs and moves a door. Whence the proverbial expression, for a matter to be 'at a turning point' (in cardine).” [The Etymologies of Isidore of Seville, p.311.]

The human heart has four chambers or closed spaces, two atria and two ventricles. A cross has four points. Latin cardium means heart, -cardium is from the Greek word for heart 'kardia', and comes from the Indo-European root *kerd-1 'Heart'. Derivatives: heart (from Old English heorte), cordate, cordial, courage, quarry+, accord, accordion ('concord of sounds'), concord, cordiform (heart-shaped), discord, misericord, record ('keeping records', from Latin cor, stem cord-). Suffixed form *krd-ya-; cardia, cardiac, cardio-, endocardium, epicardium, megalocardia, myocardium, pericardium, from Greek kardia. [Pokorny (kered-) 579. Watkins] [The 'creed' words included with this root (*kerd-1) are under dispute. Klein says "Latin credere, 'to believe', is not related to Latin cor, 'heart'"].

Crux was part of Centaurus, and is now positioned between the legs of the Centaur horse. Centaurus may be related the word 'center' from Greek kenteo. The heart is said to be in the center of the body. Chiron is identified with Centaurus and was the healer.

In animals the term knee is used widely to refer to any ginglymus joint.

The ginglymus or hinge joint (such as the elbow or knee) took its name as early as the Hippocratics from the hinge in a door or window, and is illustrated as such in the Fabrica. It is what you would see, he remarks, "if you compared this species of joint with the hinges of doors in which the iron driven into the wall receives that which is attached to the door, and the iron from the wall enters up into that of the door. The present species of articulation got its name from this model." [Metaphor and analogy in Vesalian anatomy]

The cruciate ligaments of the knee are crossed and an integral part of the knee's hinge mechanism, they hold the two main knee bones (femur & tibia) together, somewhat similar to a door hinge [4], if cruciate ligaments are torn the pain is 'excruciating'.

Vespucci was the first of Europeans to see the Four Stars, but did not use the title of the Cross, and called them Mandorla. Allen in Star Names notes: "This, literally 'an Almond,' is the word used in Italian art for the vesica piscis, the oblong glory, surrounding the bodies of saints ascending to heaven". The word almond, from Latin amygdala, from Greek amugdale, 'almond', is borrowed from Hebrew meghedh El, 'divine fruit'. Related to amygdalate, mandorla [Klein]. The amygdala is an almond-shaped mass of gray matter in the anterior portion of the temporal lobe of the brain. "The concept of the amygdala as an important contributor to pain and its emotional component is still emerging". Excruciating, crucify and crucifixion all share the same root meaning referring to a cross and to the associated pain and suffering.

The Mandorla is an ancient symbol of two circles coming together, overlapping one another to form an almond shape in the middle. Mandorla is the Italian word for almond. The Mandorla is also known as the 'Vesica Piscis', symbolizing the interactions and interdependence of opposing worlds and forces. Although the symbol has its origins before the Christian era, the early Christians used the symbol as a method to describe the coming together of heaven and earth, between the divine and human. http://www.kyrie.com/symbols/mandorla.htm

Speculation

The Ram of Aries has an alternative title Crius. Jason and the Argonauts sailed in the Argo Navis in search of the Golden Fleece, the Fleece of the Aries Ram. Chiron (Centaurus) placed a picture of himself in the sky to guide the Argonauts on their quest [5]; implying that Colchis, where the Fleece was kept, would be somewhere in the vicinity of Centaurus. Crux used to be part of Centaurus and is now between the legs of the horse of Centaurus. The Argonaut's destination was Colchis where the Fleece was nailed to a tree [6], a reminder of Jesus Christ nailed to a cross, and many see that cross as a tree. Colchis was an ancient region on the Black Sea south of the Caucasus Mountains. Prometheus was chained to a rock on the Caucasus Mountains. Prometheus was immortal and so could not die. So it was left to Heracles to arrange a bargain with Zeus to exchange Chiron's (Centaurus) immortality for the life of Prometheus. Chiron had been poisoned with an arrow in the foot, and suffering excruciating pain.

There are a number of cases of letting something go, or forgiving, involved with the Cross; as the Chiron (Centaurus) did in giving up his immortality to Prometheus, as Christ did on the cross when he said "into thy hands (hands are adjacent Centaurus) I commend my spirit" or forgiving as Christ forgave his persecutors while on the cross.

This constellation might relate to Krios

Krios was one of the four Titan brothers who conspired with Kronos to depose their father Ouranos. He and his siblings laid an ambush, each taking his place at one of the four corners of the cosmos and seizing hold of father Sky as he descended to lie upon the Earth. In this role, the four probably represented the pillars which were once believed to hold heaven and earth asunder, or else the entire cosmos aloft. Krios, in connection with the southern constellation of the Ram, and as the husband of a sea-goddess was probably the Titan god of the great Pillar of the South. http://www.theoi.com/Titan/TitanKrios.html

The Southern Cross has been romanticized in music with the song Under the Southern Cross ("No other love have I"). As a result, this constellation has gained a reputation for conjuring up thoughts of romantic tropical nights in balmy southern climes. [p.247, The New Patterns in the Sky, Staal]


Fixed stars in Crux


delta 04SCO17 05SCO40 183 07 09 -58 28 15 -50 24 53 3.08 B3

Gacrux gamma 05SCO21 06SCO44 187 05 40 -56 50 01 -47 49 28 1.61 M4

Mimosa beta 10SCO16 11SCO39 191 11 47 -59 24 57 -48 38 00 1.25 var B1

Acrux alpha 10SCO29 11SCO52 185 57 00 -62 49 20 -52 52 25 0.76 B1


The four that glorify the night!

Ah ! how forget when to my ravished sight

The Cross shone forth in everlasting light!

— Samuel Rogers' The Voyage of Columbus. [Allen notes: In this poem Rogers makes the great discoverer bring the telescope into use a century before its invention!]

Crux, the Cross is the German Kreuz, the Italian Croce, the French Croix and, in the 1776 edition of Flamsteed's Atlas, Croisade. With us it is the Southern Cross. It was unknown to the ancients by its present title, its four chief stars being noted by Ptolemy as a part of the Centaur (Centaurus), which now surrounds it on three sides. As such Bayer outlined it over the hind feet, lettering it epsilon, zeta, nu, {185} and xi Centauri; but these now are alpha, beta, gamma, and delta Crucis, — the 1.3-magnitude lucida (alpha star Acrux) at the foot, the 2nd-magnitude gamma at the top, with beta and gamma, the early xi and nu, as the transverse: these last, respectively, of 1.7 and 3.4 magnitudes. A fifth star, epsilon, of the 4th magnitude, between alpha and delta, somewhat interferes with the regularity of the figure; and there are forty-nine others visible to the naked eye within the constellation boundaries.

The statement that it was mentioned by Hipparchos probably is erroneous, although he distinctly alluded to its beta as of the Centaur; but Pliny may have known it as Thronos Caesaris in honor of the emperor Augustus; yet it was then invisible from Italy, though plainly visible from Alexandria, where it may have been thus named by some courtly astronomer. And Al Biruni wrote that a star could be seen from Multan in India, in 30° 12' of north latitude, "which they call Sula," the Beam of Crucifixion. This, if a reference to the Cross, is a striking anticipation of the modern figure. Hewitt, repeating this title as Shula, claimed it for the south pole of Hindu astronomers.

Whittier said, in his Cry of a Lost Soul:

The Cross of pardon lights the tropic skies;

which is correct for our day, as it is not now entirely visible above 27° 30' of north latitude. It was last seen on the horizon of Jerusalem — 31° 46' 45" — about the time that Christ was crucified. But 3000 years previously all its stars were 7° above the horizon of the savages along the shores of the Baltic Sea, in latitude 52° 30'.

Its invention as a constellation is often attributed to Royer as of 1679, but it had been the theme of much description for nearly two centuries before him, and we know that it was illustrated by Mollineux of England, in 1592, on his celestial globe, with others of the new southern figures; and Bayer drew it over the hind legs of the Centaur, giving it in his text as modernis crux, Ptolemaeo pedes Centauri. Bartschius had it separately in 1624, and Caesius catalogued it in 1662 as though well known; hence it seems remarkable that it was only outlined over the Centaur in the Flamsteed Atlas.

Crux lies in the Milky Way, — here a brilliant but narrow stream three or four degrees wide, — and is noticeable from its compression as well as its form, being only 6° in extent from north to south, and less in width, the upper star a clear orange in color, and the rest white; the general effect being that of a badly made kite rather than of a cross. So that, notwithstanding all the poetry and romance associated with it, — perhaps owing to these, — it usually disappoints those from northern latitudes who see it for the first time.

{Page 186} For twelve centuries, from Pliny to Dante, we find no allusion to its stars till that great poet, turning from his contemplation, in the Purgatorio, of Venus "veiling the Fishes,"

posi mente

Al altro polo e vidi quatro stelle

Non viste mai fuor che alia prima gente,

in which Baron Alexander von Humboldt, in his Examen Criticum, insists that he refers to the Cross; while Longfellow, translating the passage

and fixed my mind

Upon the other pole and saw four stars

Ne'er seen before save by the primal people,

calls it an acknowledged reference to the same, figuring, as it were, the cardinal virtues, Justice, Prudence, Fortitude, and Temperance, attributes of Cato as the Guardian of Purgatory, claiming that

We here are Nymphs and in the Heaven are Stars.

Later on in the same canto we read again of Cato:

The rays of the four consecrated stars

Did so adorn his countenance with light.

But this reference to the "primal people" is not, Barlow says in his Study of Dante, to our first parents, as Gary's translation has it, but to the early races of mankind, who 5000 years ago could see the Cross from latitudes very much higher even than that of Italy. In the same passage Dante alludes to its local invisibility in his apostrophe to the northern heavens:

O! thou septentrional and widowed site

Because thou art deprived of seeing these!

and in the 8th canto calls them Le quatro chiare stelle.

Whence Dante learned all this we do not know, for it was not till 200 years later that we have any published account of the constellation; but that he paid great attention to the heavens is evident from his frequent and intelligent allusions to them throughout the Divine Comedy. He was, too, a man of erudition as well as of imagination and poetical genius, — Carlyle called him the spokesman of ten silent centuries, — and may have seen some of the Arabic celestial globes, on at least one of which — probably the Borgian of 1225 — we know that the stars of the Centaur (Centaurus) were represented; and he doubtless had frequent opportunities of intercourse with learned {Page 187} travelers, [Marco Polo was his contemporary] or some of the many returned voyagers among his own adventurous countrymen, worthy successors to their ancient neighbors the Phoenicians. This should be sufficient to account for these allusions without attributing them to prophetic inspiration. And here, although in no way connected with the Cross, I would call attention to a fact pleasing to star-lovers — viz., "the beautiful and endless aspiration, so artistically and silently suggested by Dante, in closing each part of his poem with the word stelle"

The Inferno ends with:

Thence we came forth to rebehold the stars;

the Purgatorio;

Pure and disposed to mount unto the stars;

and the Paradiso:

The love which moves the sun and the other stars.

Note, too, the poet's perhaps unconscious advance in astronomical knowledge beyond his contemporaries in associating the sun with the stars.

Vespucci, on his third voyage in 1501, called to mind the passages from Dante, insisting that he himself was the first of Europeans to see the Four Stars, but did not use the title of the Cross, and called them Mandorla [Allen notes: This, literally "an Almond," is the word used in Italian art for the vesica piscis, the oblong glory, surrounding the bodies of saints ascending to heaven.] Vasco da Gama said of it in the Lusiadas:

A group quite new in the new hemisphere,

Not seen by others yet;

while nearly four centuries after him, in our day, Lord Lytton (Owen Meredith) has something similar in his Queen Guenevere:

Then did I feel as one who, much perplexed,

Led by strange legends and the light of stars

Over long regions of the midnight sand

Beyond the red tract of the Pyramids,

Is suddenly drawn to look upon the sky,

From sense of unfamiliar light, and sees,

Revealed against the constellated cope,

The great cross of the South.

Writers of the 16th century made frequent mention of it in their accounts of southern navigation; Corsali saying in 1517, as translated by Eden:

{Page 188} "Above these [the Magellanic Clouds] appeareth a marvelous cross in the midst of five notable stars which compasse it about (as doth Charles Wayne the north pole) with other stars which move with them abowt xxx (30) degrees distant from the pole, and make their course in xxiiii (24) houres. This cross is so fair and beautiful, that none other heavenly sign may be compared to it as may appear by this figure".

Subsequently, in 1520, Pigafetta, the companion of Magellan, mentioned it as El Crucero, and una croce maravigliosa used for the determination of altitudes, saying that Dante first described it; Pedro Sarmiento de Gamboa called it the Star Crucero and the Stars of Crucero; Blundevill, in 1574, {Page 189} Crosier and, very differently, the South Triangle, but this was twenty-nine years before Bayer gave this title to other stars. Eden also cited the Crossiers and Crosse Stars; Chilmead, Crusero and Crusiers; Sir John Narborough, Crosers; and Halley, in 1679, Crosiers.

A century before Halley, the Portuguese naturalist Cristoval d'Acosta, writing the title Cruzero, — the old Spanish Cruciero, — termed the Cross the Southern Celestial Clock; and as such it has served a useful purpose for nearly 400 years. Von Humboldt, in his Voyage to the Equinoctial Regions of the New Continent, alluding to the Portuguese and Spaniards, wrote:

"A religious sentiment attaches them to a constellation the form of which recalls the sign of the faith planted by their ancestors in the deserts of the New World; — "

a thought which Mrs. Hemans beautifully expressed in her Cross of the South where the Spanish traveler says:

But to thee, as thy lode-stars resplendently burn

In their clear depths of blue, with devotion I turn,

Bright Cross of the South' and beholding thee shine,

Scarce regret the loved land of the olive and vine.

Thou recallest the ages when first o'er the main

My fathers unfolded the ensign of Spain,

And planted their faith in the regions that see

Its imperishing symbol ever blazoned in thee.

Von Humboldt adds:

The two great stars, which mark the summit and the foot of the Cross, having nearly the same right ascension, it follows that the constellation is almost perpendicular at the moment when it passes the meridian. This circumstance is known to the people of every nation situated beyond the Tropics or in the southern hemisphere.

It has been observed at what hour of the night, in different seasons, the Cross is erect or inclined.

It is a time piece, which advances very regularly nearly four minutes a day, and no other group of stars affords to the naked eye an observation of time so easily made.

How often have we heard our guides exclaim in the savannahs of Venezuela and in the desert extending from Lima to Truxillo, "Midnight is past, the Cross begins to bend." How often these words reminded us of that affecting scene when Paul and Virginia, seated near the source of the river of Lataniers, conversed together for the last time, and when the old man, at the sight of the Cross, warns them that it is time to separate, saying, "la Croix du Sud est droite sur I'horizon."

Von Humboldt thought it remarkable that these so striking and well-defined stars should not have been earlier separated from the large ancient constellation of the Centaur, especially since Kazwini and other Muhammadan astronomers took pains to discover crosses elsewhere in the sky; and he {Page 190} said that the ancient Persians, who knew the Cross well, celebrated a feast by its name, their descendants, to whom it was lost by precession, finding its successor in the Dolphin.

The Pareni Indians of his day made much of the stars of the Cross, calling them Bahumehi, after one of their principal fishes.

Lockyer alludes to it as the Pole-star of the South, which it may be when on the meridian, as the most prominent constellation in the vicinity of the pole, although its base star is nearly 28° from that point, about four and one half times the length of the Cross. But this idea is an old one; Minsheu's Guide having, at the word "Cruzero," Quatuor stella poli, Foure starres crossing; and Sarmiento, even earlier, had much the same, but asserted that, "with God's help," he was enabled to select another pole-star nearer the true point.

In modern China it has been Shih Tsze Kea, the equivalent of our word.

The five stars are shown on postage stamps of Brazil, — Camoes' Realms of the Holy Cross, — surrounded by twenty-one stars symbolizing the twenty-one states, and some of the coins bear the same. But this name for that country was not new with the poet, for it was given by the discoverer Cabral, on the 1st of May, 1500; and the fine Ptolemaeus printed at Rome in 1508, with the first engraved map of the new continent, carries as its title for South America, Terra sancte crucis.

Partly within the constellation's boundaries, and at the point of the nearest approach of the Milky Way to the south pole, is the pear-shaped Coal-sack, or Soot-bag, 8° in length by 5° in breadth, containing only one star visible to the naked eye, and that very small, although it has many that are telescopic, and a photograph taken at Sydney in 1890 shows about as many in proportion as in the surrounding region. This singular vacancy was first formally described by Peter Martyr, although observed in 1499 by Vicente Yanez Pinzon, and designated by Vespucci as il Canopo fosco, and perhaps alluded to by Camoes. Narborough wrote of it in 1671 as "a small black cloud which the foot of the Cross is in"; but before him it was Macula Magellani, Magellan's Spot, and fifty years ago Smyth mentioned it as the Black Magellanic Cloud. Froude described it in his Oceana as "the inky spot — an opening into the awful solitude of unoccupied space." A native Australian legend, which "reads almost like a Christian parable," says that it was "the embodiment of evil in the shape of an Emu, who lies in wait at the foot of a tree, represented by the stars of the Cross, for an opossum driven by his persecutions to take refuge among its branches."

The Peruvians imagined it a heavenly Doe suckling its fawn. Although this is the most remarkable of those "curious vacancies through {Page 191} which we seem to gaze out into an uninterrupted infinity," there are many other such in the heavens; an extended list of forty-nine being given by Sir John Herschel in his Observations at the Cape of Good Hope, and an abbreviated one by Espin in Webb’s Celestial Objects.

Dorado

Xiphias, the Swordfish [1]

Coryphaena hippurus, the Dorado [2]


Clues to the meaning of this celestial featureDorado, from Spanish dorado, a fish of the genus Coryphaena, is the name of the mahi-mahi or dolphin-fish. The constellation was created in 1597 and has also been depicted as a swordfish and was renamed Xiphias, the swordfish (referring to Xiphias Gladius), the name Dorado ultimately become dominant. Dorado is notable for containing most of the Large Magellanic Cloud, the remainder being in the constellation Mensa [1]. The constellation Dorado is also referred to as the Goldfish.

The word dorado is past participle of dorar, from Latin deaurare, 'to gild', from de- + aurare, 'to gild', from aurum, 'gold'. Latin aurare comes from the Indo-European root *aus-2. 'Gold'. Derivatives: aureate (golden

color), aureole (a circle of light or radiance surrounding the head or body of a representation of a deity or holy person; a halo), auriferous (gold-bearing), dariole (a small cooking mold), dory2 (John Dory seafish), or3 (gold, represented in heraldic engraving by a white field sprinkled with small dots), ore (mined mineral), oriflamme (the red or orange-red flag of the Abbey of Saint Denis in France, used as a standard by the early kings of France), oriole (a bird), ormolu (alloys resembling gold in appearance), oroide (an alloy of copper, zinc, and tin, used in imitation gold jewelry), orphrey (elaborate embroidery, especially when made of gold), orpiment (arsenic trisulfide, a yellow mineral used as a pigment. from Latin orum, gold). [Pokorny ayes- 86. Watkins]

The English word gold has the symbol Au, from Latin aurum.

The Mahi-mahi, Coryphaena hippurus, also known as dolphin-fish, dorado, or lampuki (in Maltese), are surface-dwelling ray-finned fish found in off-shore tropical and subtropical waters worldwide. The name 'mahi-mahi' ('strong-strong' in Hawaiian). When they are removed from the water, the fish often change between several colors, this being the reason for their name in Spanish Dorado Maverikos, finally fading to a muted yellow-grey upon death. [2] Dorado fish are also commonly known as maverikos; related to the English word maverick. The word maverick is an eponym, deriving from the name Samuel Augustus Maverick (1803-1870), an American cattleman who left the calves in his herd unbranded. In common usage a maverick is a rebellious person, especially a loner who opposes established rules.

“'Treasury' (thesaurus) is named after the Greek term thesis, 'positing,' that is, 'deposit.' Thus thesis means 'positing,' and the term has combined a Greek with a Latin word, for the element thes means 'deposit' in Greek, and Latin supplies aurum ('gold'), so that the word thesaurus sounds like the combination 'gold deposit.' An auraria (i.e. a kind of tax; also a gold mine) takes its name from gold (aurum).” [The Etymologies of Isidore of Seville, 7th century AD, p.329.]

El Dorado or Eldorado (Spanish for 'the gilded one') is a metaphor applied to any place of fabulous wealth or inordinately great opportunity. El Dorado is a legendary city or historical region of the New World, somewhere in South America. El Dorado is a legend that began with the story of a South American tribal chief who covered himself with gold dust and would dive into a lake of pure mountain water. As the story was told and re-told, El Dorado came to be viewed as a city containing immense wealth, a legend that inspired many explorers from the 1500s on. According to Freyle, the king or chief priest of the Muisca was said to be ritually covered with gold dust at a religious festival held in Lake Guatavita, near present-day Bogotá... [2]. The story of El Dorado was embellished with accounts of his golden city, the mythical Manoa where even the cooking utensils were made of gold. Explorers and adventurers took off on the hunch that the city was located somewhere in the unexplored forests of the Amazon valley, and vanished into the jungle, scores never returning [3].

Read more about the city of El Dorado here


Fixed stars in Dorado


delta 24ARI53 26ARI16 086 10 13 -65 45 15 -88 15 28 4.52 A5

gamma 05TAU09 06TAU32 063 40 44 -51 36 43 -70 08 51 4.36 F5

alpha 06TAU26 07TAU49 068 13 42 -55 08 52 -74 35 09 3.47 AO

zeta 17TAU17 18TAU40 076 09 45 -57 32 26 -78 56 53 4.76 F4

beta 20TAU42 22TAU05 083 17 50 -62 31 20 -85 02 59 var F5

epsilon 08PIS16 09PIS39 087 29 09 -66 54 49 -88 56 38 5.15 B5


Dorado, the Goldfish, was first published by Bayer among his new southern figures, is still thus known in Germany and Italy, but the French say Dorade; and Flammarion has Doradus, perhaps from confusion with its supposed genitive case. The word is from the Spanish, and refers not to our little exotic cyprinid, but to the large coryphaena (Mahi-mahi, common dolphinfish is the dorado, Coryphaena hippurus) of the tropical seas, of changing colors at death. On the planisphere in Gore's translation of l'Astronomic Populaire it is strangely {Page 202} rendered Gold Field; and Craver, in the Colas' list of the Celestial Handbook of 1892, is equally

erroneous. Chilmead mentions it as the Gilthead fish, but this, in ichthyology, was a very different fish, the Crenilabrus melops of British coasts.

Caesius combined its stars with the Greater Cloud and the Flying Fish to form his Old Testament figure of Abel the Just.

The alternative title Xiphias, the Swordfish, I first find in the Rudolphine Tables of 1627; Halley used it, in addition to Dorado, in his catalogue of 1679; Flamsteed gave both names in his edition of Sharp's catalogue; and the modern Stieler's planisphere still has Schwerdtfisch. Xiphias, however, had appeared in astronomy in the first century of our era, for Pliny applied it to sword-shaped comets, as Josephus did to that "which for a year (!) had hung over Jerusalem in the form of a sword," — possibly Halley's comet of A.D. 66.

The Rudolphine Tables and Riccioli catalogued here 6 stars of 4th and 5th magnitudes, but Gould 42 from 3.1 to 7.

The head of Dorado marks the south pole of the ecliptic, so that, according to Caesius, the constellation gave its name to that point as the Polus Doradinalis. Within 3° of this pole is the very remarkable nebula 30 Doradus, that Smyth called the True Lover's Knot, although now known as the Great Looped Nebula, N. G. C. 2070, described by Sir John Herschel as an assemblage of loops and one of the most extraordinary objects in the heavens, — "the centre of a great spiral."

epsilon appears in Reeves' list as Kin Yu, but this star being only a 5th-magnitude, and these words signifying a Goldfish, they doubtless were designed for the whole figure introduced into China by the Jesuits.

zeta, a 5th-magnitude, bears the Chinese title Kaou Pih.

Horologium Oscillatoriumthe Pendulum Clock



Clues to the meaning of this celestial featureThis constellation, Horologium Oscillatorium, was added by La Caille in 1752 to honor Christiaan Huygens who invented the first pendulum clock in 1656, based on the pendulum introduced by Galileo Galilei. The time-pieces previously in use had been balance-clocks, Chris Huygens' pendulum clock was regulated by a mechanism with a 'natural' period of oscillation and had an error of less than 1 minute a day, the first time such accuracy had been achieved [1]. Huygens is also famous for discovering Saturn's rings. Horologium was also the term used for a sun-dial in ancient Roman times. And in ancient Greece orologion was a name given to various instruments by means of which the ancients measured the time of the day and night.

Horologium is from Latin horologium, from Greek orologion, literally 'that which tells the hour', from ora, 'hour', and -logion, that which tells, from legein to tell. Greek ora, hour, comes from the Indo-European root *yér- 'Year, season'. Derivatives: year, Yahrzeit (the anniversary of the death of a relative, observed with mourning and the recitation of religious texts), horary, hour, horologe (a device, such as a clock or sundial, or watch, used in telling time), horology (the science of measuring time, the art of making timepieces), horoscope, (these words from Greek hora, season). [Pokorny 1. ei- 293. Watkins]

“A clock (horologia) is so called because there 'we read the hours' (horas legere), that is, we deduce them. It is set up in sunny places, where the shadow from the gnomon runs across the incised lines to show what hour of the day it is” [p.404]. “'Drawers of horoscopes' (horoscopus) are so called because they examine (speculari) the times (hora) of people's nativities with regard to their dissimilar and varied destiny.” [p.183.] [The Etymologies of Isidore of Seville, 7th century AD]

In Greek mythology, the Horae ('the Hours'), were goddesses of time, variously the year, seasons and the hours of the day; "Horae, those embodiments of the right moment— the rightness of Order unfolding in Time" [2]. The course of the seasons (or hours) is symbolically described by the dancing Horae, following each other in measured steps, they are an emblem of fleeting time. They stand around the throne of Zeus, and their regular occupation is to open and shut the gates of Olympus (Heaven), and yoke the steeds to the chariot of the Sun. In works of art the Horae were represented as blooming maidens, carrying the different products of the seasons. The number of the Horae is different in the different writers, though the most ancient number seems to have been two, as at Athens; but afterwards their common number is three, and another group of twelve Horai (or Horae) were goddesses of the hours of the day. [3]. Janus says "I sit at Heaven’s Gate with the gentle Hours". (Janus might be adjacent Dorado and Horologium is also adjacent to Caelum, the celestial realm].

"The twelve Horai (or Horae) were goddesses of the hours of the day and perhaps also of the twelve months of the year. They oversaw the path of the sun-god Helios as he traveled across the sky, dividing the day into its portions. The ancient Greeks did not have hours of fixed length like we do today. Instead they divided the hours of daylight into twelve portions, identified by the position of the sun in the sky. Thus the length of the hour varied between the longer days of summer and shorter ones of winter. The twelve Horai were not always clearly distinguishable from the Horai of the seasons, who were also described as overseeing the path of the sun" http://www.theoi.com/Titan/Horai.html

The constellation Horologium Oscillatorium is on the banks of the river Eridanus and also in a position to be at the mouth of that river, and if Hydrus (also adjacent) is the ocean (Oceanus), Horologium could also be on the shore of that ocean:

“It is the extreme limit of brevity of the hour's segments, when one instant stops and another starts. Hour (hora) is a Greek term (compare ora), but it is pronounced in the same way in Latin. The hour is the boundary of time, just as the word ora means a boundary like the shore of the sea, or the bank of a river, or the border of a garment.” [The Etymologies of Isidore of Seville, 7th century AD, p.125.]

Latin ora, is plural of os+, margin, border, a mouth, or an opening, it is related to the word oral, meaning mouth, from the Indo-European root *ós- 'Mouth'. Derivatives: oral, os+, oscillate, osculate (to kiss, come together, contact), osculum (the mouthlike opening in a sponge), ostiary (a church doorkeeper), ostium (a small opening or orifice), usher (from ostium, door, a doorkeeper), inosculate (to make continuous; blend), orifice, orotund (orotund talk, full in sound; sonorous: orotund tones), oscitancy (yawning), peroral (through the mouth). [Pokorny 1. ous- 784. Watkins]

Oscillate literally refers to a steady back-and-forth motion, as that of a pendulum. The pendulum clock was originally called Horologium Oscillatorium, as was the name of this constellation before it was shortened to Horologium.

In a passage in the Georgics, Virgil applies the word oscillum to a small mask of Bacchus hung from trees to move back and forth in the breeze. From this word oscillum may have come another word oscillum, meaning 'something, such as a swing, that moves up and down or back and forth.' And this oscillum was the source of the verb oscillare, 'to ride in a swing,' and the noun (from the verb) oscillatio, 'the action of swinging or oscillating.' The next time one sees something oscillating, one might think of that small mask of Bacchus swinging from a pine tree in the Roman countryside. [American Heritage Dictionary]

“Haruspices are so named as if the expression were 'observers (inspector) of the hours (hora)’; they watch over the days and hours for doing business and other works, and they attend to what a person ought to watch out for at any particular time. They also examine the entrails of animals and predict the future from them.” [The Etymologies of Isidore of Seville, 7th century AD, p.182.]

Latin Haruspices comes from the Indo-European root *ghere- 'Gut, entrails'. Derivatives: yarn, hernia (a rupture), chord* (the string of a musical instrument), cord (also spinal cord), cordon, harpsichord, hexachord, tetrachord, (from Greek khord, gut, string), chorion (the outer membrane enclosing the embryo, from Greek khorion), haruspex (a priest in ancient Rome who practiced divination by the inspection of the entrails of animals, from Latin haruspex, 'he who inspects entrails'). [Pokorny 5. gher- 443. Watkins]

The horae were daughters of Zeus and Themis, goddesses of the seasons. These may have been the:

Nymphs believed to be daughters of Zeus and Themis lived in a cave on the river Eridanus [Apollod. ii. 5. § 11; Schol. ad Apollon. Rhod. iv. 1396; Hesych. s. v. Themistiades http://www.theoi.com/Titan/TitanisThemis.html ] This constellation Horologium Oscillatorium is on the banks of the river Eridanus.


Fixed stars in Horologium


zeta 01ARI05 02ARI28 039 46 33 -54 45 48 -63 39 51 5.26 F2

eta 03ARI14 04ARI37 038 56 20 -52 45 32 -61 50 53 5.26 A9

iota 06ARI50 08ARI13 040 12 50 -51 00 55 -61 00 55 5.42 G0

alpha 14TAU26 15TAU49 063 05 09 -42 25 00 -61 43 59 3.83 K1


Pendulum Clock lies to the eastward of Achernar, — alpha star of Eridanus, — and north of Hydrus. In France it is Orloge; in Italy, Orologio; and in Germany, Pendeluhr. Although shown on the maps, it is rarely mentioned; and the only object in it known to be of special interest is a variable star, detected by Harvard observers in Peru, changing in light from 9.7 to 12.7 in a period of about three hundred days. Gould catalogues 68 stars down to the 7th magnitude; alpha, the lucida, being 3.8. Whitall had on his planisphere a figure, which he entitled Horoscope, between "Chemica Fornax" and "Caela Sculptoris," (Caelum) but no Horologium.

His title is undoubtedly for our constellation, as it occupies Horologium's place.

Hydrusthe Male Water Snake



Clues to the meaning of this celestial featureThis constellation, the Hydrus, is positioned near the South Pole, at the southern end of the river Eridanus. It represents the male Hydrus, from Greek hudros, a water-snake. There is another constellation representing the female Hydra, the Hydra of Lerna. The etymology for these two constellations are intertwined. Hydra and Hydrus come from the Indo-European root *wed-+ 'Water, wet'. Derivatives: water, wet, wash (a body of water), winter (the 'wet season'), hydrant, hydro-, hydrous, utricle (a membranous sac contained within the labyrinth of the inner ear - involved in balance; also a small vestigial blind pouch of the prostate gland), dropsy, hydathode (water-excreting), hydatid, (these words from Greek hudor, water), undine (a being having water as its element), undulate (wave), abound, abundant, inundate, redound, redundant ('overflows' because there is too much of it), surround (from Latin unda, wave), otter (water animal), nutria (from Latin lutra, otter), Hydrus (from Greek hudros, a water snake), Hydra, hydrilla (diminutive of Latin hydra, a submersed plant; Hydrilla verticillata), hydrate (from Greek hudor, a water serpent), hydrocortisone (a steroid hormone to treat inflammatory conditions and adrenal failure), hydrogen (the lightest of all gases and the most abundant element in the universe), hydrochloric acid (HCl, used in petroleum production, it is found in the stomach in dilute form), hydrocephalus (abnormal accumulation of fluid in the cerebral ventricles), hydrops (old-fashioned name for heart failure, caused by a surfeit of water), hydrology, usquebaugh, whiskey, vodka. [Pokorny 9. aw(e)- 78. Watkins]

This masculine Hydrus and the feminine Hydra are separate constellations. The etymology for these two constellations are intertwined. The word hydrogen could relate to either or both. Hydrogen is the most abundant element in the universe. Most of the Earth's hydrogen is in the form of chemical compounds such as hydrocarbons and water. Hydrogen gas is produced by some bacteria and algae and is a natural component of flatus or flatulence.

Hydrus might be the ocean, Oceanus, at the mouth of the Eridanus? This mythological webpage says Hydrus and Oceanus are the same: and says that Homer portrays Okeanos and Tethys as the primordial gods of creation. The Orphics developed this idea in the figures of Hydros and Thesis (the primordial equivalent of Tethys [1]). The identification of Hydros and Okeanos seems likely because the ocean surrounds the land or the earth, and Latin unda means waves from the same root as hydrus; *wed-+ 'water, wet': Hydrus is positioned right at the mouth of the long celestial river, Eridanus, and rivers flow into seas or oceans.

"Hydros (or Hydrus) was the protogenos of the primordial waters. In the Orphic Theogonies Water was the first being to emerge at creation alongside Creation (Thesis) and Mud. The primordial mud solidified into Gaia (Earth) and with Hydros produced Khronos (Time) and Ananke (Compulsion). These two in turn caught the early cosmos in the coils, and split it apart to form the god Phanes (creator of life), and the four ordered elements of Heaven (Fire), Earth, Air and Sea (Water). The Orphic Rhapsodies later discarded the figures the Khronos and Ananke, and have Phanes instead born directly from Hydros and Gaia. The figure of Hydros was ultimately derived by the Orphics from Okeanos, the earth-encircling fresh-water river which Homer described as the source of the gods. His early consort Thesis was likewise the primordial equivalent of Tethys" [http://www.theoi.com/Protogenos/Hydros.html]

"The ends of the generous earth on a visit to Okeanos, whence the gods have risen, and Tethys our mother." [http://www.theoi.com/Protogenos/Hydros.html]

“The enhydris is a serpent living in the water, for the Greeks call water hudor [hudros]. The hydros is an aquatic snake; people struck by it become swollen. Some people call the ill effects of this boa, because it is remedied with cow (bos) dung.” [The Etymologies of Isidore of Seville, 7th century AD, p.256.]

"There is an animal in the River Nile which is called Hydrus, and it lives in the water. The Greeks call water 'hydros'. That is why it is known as an aquatic snake. People swell up with the dropsy [from *wed-+ above] from its venom, and some call their illness 'the boa' (cow-pox) because it can be remedied by the excrement of cows." [The Book of Beasts: Being a Translation from a Latin Bestiary of the Twelfth Century, p.178]

The immediate followers of Pliny appear to have identified the ichneumon with the Otter (Gr. enudris). The Gr. enudris was not only the otter, but also a water-snake = hydrus [2]; 'ichneumon' was the name used for the 'pharaoh's rat' or mongoose (Herpestes ichneumon), which attacks snakes; it can also mean 'otter' [3].

In the Bestiaries "the hydrus is almost always illustrated with its tail sticking out the crocodile's mount and its head emerging from the crocodile's side."

“Enhydros is named from water (compare hudor, 'water'), for it exudes so much water that you might think there is a gushing fountain closed up in it". [p.326.] “The enhydros is a small beast so named because it dwells in water (compare hudor, 'water'), particularly in the Nile. If these beasts discover a sleeping crocodile, first they roll themselves in the mud and then enter the crocodile's stomach through its mouth, and eat everything inside it, so that the crocodile dies.” [p.253] [The Etymologies of Isidore of Seville, 7th century AD]

Enhydrous means having water within; containing fluid drops. Enhydros are commonly known as 'water agate'. These are agates that have a sealed bubble of water inside. The enhydros have a thin 'rind' of agate and must be tumbled to see the bubbles clearly [4].

In a discussion on 'soc.history.ancient' there is an interpretation of the name of the Bronze Age Greeks, the Achaeans, that says "Achaeanous = Ocheanous = Sea Peoples". Ocheanous would be Oceanus.

Oceanus (Okeanos) is the god of the great earth-encircling river Ocean. He had the tail of a serpentine fish and a bull's horn on his head [See Theoi Project Oceanus]. Wikipedia has a picture of him here.

“The Ocean (De oceano) Greek and Latin speakers so name the 'Ocean' (oceanus) because it goes around the globe (orbis) in the manner of a circle (circulus), [or from its speed, because it runs quickly (ocius)]. Again, because it gleams with a deep blue color like the sky: Oceanus as if the word were kuaneos ('blue', cyan is a greenish-blue). This is what encircles the edges of the land, advancing and receding with alternate tides, for when the winds blow over the deep, the Ocean either disgorges the seas or swallows them back.” [The Etymologies of Isidore of Seville, 7th century AD, p.277.]

Latin ocius, ocior, is cognate with Greek okus, 'swift'. Greek okeanus, is believed to come from okus, rapid, and nacin, to flow [5]. Greek okus is at the root of the prefix oxy- in oxytocic (hastening childbirth, okus- + tokos, birth), and accipiter (a genus of hawks, the Gos-hawks and Sparrow-hawks, from *aku-petro-, 'swift-flying' from akus + petro-, flying). Some see a plausible connection between Greek okus and Latin equine and Greek hippo, horse, from Indo-European root *ekwo- [6]. An Indian legend states that the first horse emerged from the depth of the ocean during the churning of the oceans [7]. [There are connections in mythology with horses and seas or oceans; Homer called Poseidon the god of the oceans and of horses 'the illustrious shaker of the earth' [8], whose mother was said to have fooled Cronus into swallowing a foal instead of her son (8). Poseidon was father of the winged horse Pegasus. Latin mare, meaning 'the sea', is a homophone of English mare, a female horse...]


Fixed stars in Hydrus


beta 29CAP33 00AQU56 005 47 18 -77 32 09 -64 45 09 2.90 G0

gamma 09AQU04 10AQU27 056 59 53 -74 23 34 -76 45 05 3.17 M3

delta 27AQU47 29AQU10 035 12 48 -68 53 12 -69 47 59 4.26 A2

epsilon 00PIS31 01PIS54 039 42 12 -68 28 51 -71 12 45 4.26 B8

alpha 10PIS43 12PIS06 029 17 56 -61 48 45 -64 14 17 3.02 A7



Hydrus was first published by Bayer, must not be confounded with the ancient Hydra. It lies between Horologium and Tucana; the head adjoining the polar Octans, the tail almost reaching the magnificent star Achernar of Eridanus.

The French know the figure as 1'Hydre Male; and the Germans as der Kleine Wasserschlange.

Out of this, with Tucana and the Lesser Cloud, Julius Schiller made his biblical constellation Raphael.

The Chinese formed from the stars of Hydrus, with others surrounding it, four of their later asterisms: Shay Show, the Serpent's Head, marked by epsilon and zeta; Shay Fuh, the Serpent's Belly, towards Tucana; Shay We, the Serpent's Tail, entirely within the boundaries of Hydrus; and Foo Pih, of unknown signification, marked by gamma, a red 3.2-magnitude, specially mentioned by Corsali in his account of the Magellanic Clouds.

In it Gould catalogues 64 stars from 2.7 to 7th magnitudes.

The 2.7-magnitude lucida theta, in the tail, is of a remarkably clear yellow hue, and the nearest conspicuous star to the south pole, although 12° distant.

Industhe Indian

[Indus and Pavo in Corbinianus Thomas, Firmamentum firmianum, 1730 1]



Indus and Pavo, Hevelius, Firmamentum, 1690

Indus was created between 1595 and 1597 and depicting an indigenous American Indian, nude, and with arrows in both hands, but no bow. Created at the time when Portuguese explorers of the 16th century were exploring North America, the constellation is generally believed to commemorate a typical American Indian that Columbus encountered when he reached the Americas. He was intending to reach India by sailing west and assumed it was ocean all the way around, and when he encountered land he thought for a short time that it was India and called the people he saw Indians. Despite the mistake, the name Indian stuck, and for centuries the native people of the Americas were collectively called Indians [2]. The peoples of India are, of course, also known as Indians, and the name of the country Indonesia means 'Indian Island'. Nowadays American Indians are known as Indigenous Americans.

The word Indus comes from the name of India. It originally derived from the river Indus that originates in Tibet and flows through Pakistan into the Arabian Sea. The ancient Greeks called this river Indos. Related words are: Hindu, indigo (Greek indikon, Latin indicum, 'from India', a blue dye from India, derived from the plant Indigofera), indium (the element is named after indigo, which is the color of the brightest line in its spectrum), sandia (a watermelon), sendal (a fabric, from Greek sindon, fine linen), sindon (fine linen fabric; thing made of it; altar frontal, winding-sheet, etc). Surnames: Syndall, Sindle.

Though not a recognized cognate, the name Indus resembles the Latin suffix indu-, meaning 'in' (From I.E. *en), and cognate with Greek endos, 'within', formed from Greek en- 'in', + -dos which is the base of domos, literally meaning 'domain', or '-dom', hence Greek endos, can mean 'living within'. Nowadays American Indians are collectively known as Indigenous Americans. Indigenous comes from the Latin indu-gena, (from Old Latin indu, from earlier endo), and -gen, 'beget'. Indigenous in the strict sense means typically found, living, or originating in a specific place [4]. Greek endos 'within' is the first element in indagate (to search out, investigate), indigent, industry [Klein]. The term indigenous can be used about any ethnic group that have the earliest historical connections to a place, but is generally used of Indigenous Americans in particular as that is the name they choose to call themselves, and this name might have earlier connotations: "Many tribes and nations call themselves, in their own languages, 'the first people', the 'original people', or the 'real people'" [The Earth Shall Weep, James Wilson].

"Indus, king in Scythia, first discovered silver which Erichthonius (Auriga) was first to bring to Athens" Hyginus Fabulae (ca. 64 BC – AD 17)

The Latin word for silver is argentum, where its chemical symbol Ag derives, and comes from the Indo-European root *arg- 'To shine; white; the shining or white metal, silver'. Derivatives: argent (silver or something resembling it), Argentine (from Latin argentum, silver), argosy (a large merchant ship), argot (street talk), argil (potter's clay, from Greek argillos, white clay), argue (from Latin denominative arguere, to make clear, demonstrate), agrimony (possibly from Greek argos, white < *argros). [Pokorny ar(e)-g- 64. Watkins]

Indus and Pavo, the Indian and the Peacock, are two constellations usually depicted together. Indus, king of Scythia, first discovered silver, Latin argentum, the word is cognate with the word Argus, and the argus pheasant (according to Klein) and Argus Panoptes the hundred-eyed giant of Argos in the Peloponnese, employed by Hera to spy on Io, her husband's lover. Argus' name is said to be cognate with the Argo of Argo Navis whom Jason entrusted the building of the ship to Argus, after whom it was named. Argus' many eyes represent the starry heavens. After he was killed by Hermes, Hera rewarded Argos for his service of watching Io by placing his hundred eyes on the tail of the peacock, adjacent Pavo, representing the starry heavens. The argus pheasant, Argusianus argus (a relative of the peacock), is named after Argos, having long tail feathers marked with brilliantly colored, eyelike spots. 'Argus-eyed' is used to describe an alert or watchful person; a guardian.

According to John Ayto the English word silver probably originated in Asia Minor. Its unidentified source word was borrowed into prehistoric Germanic as *silubr-. The English word silver resembles the Latin word silva, translated 'wood', sylvan (with y for i) is due to the influence of Greek ule, 'forest', from which silva was supposed to derive. Related words are: savage, Silas, Silvester, Silvia [Klein]. Silvanus or Sylvanus - Sylvester, from a Roman name meaning 'of the forest' from Latin silva 'wood, forest'. Silvanus was the Roman god of forests, groves and wild fields.

The association of India with indigo is reflected in the Greek word for the "dye", which was indikon ($63$'76). The Romans used the term indicum, which passed into Italian dialect and eventually into English as the word indigo [5]. Indigo is a blue dye from India, derived from the plant Indigofera, and was a rare commodity in Europe throughout the Middle Ages; woad (or glastum), a dye derived from a related plant species, was used instead. Blue jeans are dyed blue with indigo. The blue pigment in woad leaves is the same as in indigo dye, although the Indigofera species yield more dye.

The color electric indigo is used to symbolically represent the sixth chakra (called Ajna), which is said to include the third eye. This chakra is believed to be related to intuition and gnosis (spiritual knowledge) [5].

"Liberal American Indian leaders now believe the name 'Indian' was not used by Columbus because he thought he had reached India, but because he called the native people 'en dios,' instead of indios as the records show. Thus the word 'Indian,' according to the spiritual malfeasance of Liberal linguists, is believed to have derived from 'en dios,' or, ‘in God.’" [David Yeagley, FrontPageMagazine]

The name Indus and its cognates is not completely understood. Even though the understanding of the meaning of Indios as Columbus intended as 'una gente en dios' (a people in God) is believed to be incorrect, it still may have some relevance in describing the people. David Yeagley goes on to say of Columbas who first encountered the nude people on sub-tropical island in the Bahamas: "The spirituality of these indigenous folk was not something Columbus initially noted, but rather the lack of it. (Of course, to him, spirituality comprised ritualistic Catholicism, so he certainly didn’t associate nakedness with spirituality)".

Unlike other races these people had no temples or obvious religious ritualism, their type of religion was a more inner thing; they had an intimate relationship with nature, and used intuition and inner visions in their ceremonies. Perhaps the 'en dios,' or, ‘in God’ would be more appropriately translated than 'God within'. The saying of Jesus "... because the kingdom of God is within you." (17:21b) might also describe the meaning of the name of this constellation.

Indo-gene might be resolved into 'kingdom inside'. The suffix '-gene' is related to the word 'king'. Latin prefix indu-, meaning 'in', and cognate with Greek Greek endos, 'within', formed from Greek en- 'in', and -dos which is the base of domos, literally meaning 'domain', or '-dom'. Or it might be resolved into 'en dios,' or, ‘God within’.

"Critically, as opposed to those of us who grew up in the Western Christian tradition, the Native American experienced earth as home. ... First of all, the 'Kingdom of Heaven' is actually happening here and now, not in some mythical place in the future. ... According to Native American spirituality, everything is imbued with spirit. Perhaps John Mohawk most eloquently expresses the indigenous relationship to creation when he writes: The natural world is our bible. We don’t have chapters and verses; we have trees and fish and animals. Native American cultures are full of stories about the particular significance of certain rocks or hills, and these are often used in key rituals and rites of passage. These places, especially mountaintops or isolated areas of wilderness, are where, in indigenous cultures, initiation ceremonies take place, people go to fast and pray, and visionary dreams are revealed" Native American Spirituality]

According to the Roman historian Livy, Jupiter Indiges is the name given to the deified hero Aeneas [6]. Wikipedia elaborates: In Latin calendars of the Augustan age, there is recorded, under the date of August the ninth, a public sacrifice to the Sun (Sol Indiges) on the Quirinal Hill. The meaning of the epithet 'Indiges' here applied to the Sun is ambiguous and has been variously interpreted by modern scholars. If it implies that the Sun was reckoned among the ancient native gods known as Di indigetes, which we may render as Indigenous Gods, it proves that among the Romans the worship of the Sun was of immemorial antiquity, for the Di indigetes belong to the oldest stratum of Roman religion. On this interpretation, which is the most obvious and natural one, the Indigenous Sun (Sol Indiges) is analogous to the Indigenous Jupiter (Jupiter Indiges), who had a sacred grove in Latium near the river Numicius, and whom Roman mythologists afterwards identified with the deified Aeneas [7].

From the word Aeneas we get enigma and enigmatic, from Greek ainos 'tale, story, saying; praise; proverb; riddle'; - "American Indians always have been enigmatic in the minds of Euroamerican scholars" [8]. The names Eneas, a variant of Aeneas (Greek) 'he who is praised', derived from Greek aine meaning 'praise'. Eneas has 3 variant forms: Enneas, Ennes and Ennis. Aeneas fathered the twins Romulus and Remus with Rhea Silva.

Indus is depicted as an indigenous American Indian with arrows in both hands, but no bow. Arrows are also used as a directional symbol to indicate (from Latin index, indicator, forefinger).


Fixed stars in Indus


beta 26CAP24 27CAP47 312 43 46 -58 38 40 -39 09 04 3.72 K2

alpha 27CAP43 29CAP06 308 30 52 -47 28 03 -27 44 56 3.21 G2

theta 02AQU49 04AQU12 319 04 42 -53 39 38 -35 46 23 4.60 A5

delta 08AQU25 09AQU48 328 37 56 -55 13 53 -39 27 34 4.56 F0


Indus, the Indian is the German Indianer, the Italian Indiano, and the French Indien; La Lande giving the alternative Triangle Indien, probably from the general outline of its chief stars.

It is one of Bayer's new constellations, south of the Microscope, between Grus and Pavo, and, although generally supposed to represent a typical American Indian, its publisher drew it as a far more civilized character, yet nude, with arrows in both hands, but no bow. Flamsteed's Atlas has {Page 251} a similar figuring. Julius Schiller, however, went much further back in point of time and joined it with Pavo as the patriarch Job.

Indus, or its lucida alpha, was Pe Sze in China, where it also was known as the Persian, a title from the Jesuit missionaries.

Gould assigned to it 84 naked-eye stars, from 3.1 to 7th magnitudes; but none of these are specially noticeable except the 6.3 gamma, which may be a variable, and epsilon, with the unusually large proper motion of 4".6 annually, a rate of speed that will carry it to the south pole in 50,000 years.

MensaMons Mensa, the Table Mountain

http://www.cape-town.net/html/tablemou.htm

Contents:1. Clues to the meaning of this celestial feature2. History_of_the_constellation

Clues to the meaning of this celestial featureThe constellation Mensa is close to the South Pole (in Octans), and named by La Caille who originally called it Mons Mensae after Table Mountain, the name of the mountain near his observatory in Cape Town, South Africa. A mensa land formation has steep walls and a relatively flat top. Table Mountain is a flat-topped mountain forming a prominent landmark overlooking the city of Cape Town, and is the only terrestrial feature to give its name to a constellation. In summer dense white clouds spills over the flat top of the mountain, forming what is imagined to be the 'table cloth', this cloud is identified with the Large Magellanic Cloud galaxy straddling the border between the constellations of Dorado and Mensa.

There are three legends directly linked to this mountain constellation, Mensa, and its table-cloth the Large Magellanic Cloud galaxy

1. Van Hunks and the Devil: There is a story about how this tablecloth was formed. Devil's Peak (on the side of this table-mountain) was originally known as Windberg, and supposedly gets its current name from the folk-tale about a Dutch man called Jan van Hunks, a prodigious pipe smoker who lived at the foot of the mountain circa 1700. He was forced by his wife to leave the house whenever he smoked his pipe. One day, while smoking on the slopes of the peak, he met a mysterious stranger who also smoked. They each bragged of how much they smoked and so they fell into a pipe-smoking contest. The stranger turned out to be the Devil and Van Hunks eventually won the contest, but not before the smoke that they had made had covered the mountain, forming the table cloth cloud (Large Magellanic Cloud galaxy). http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Devil's_Peak_(Cape_Town)

2. The African legend of Umlindi Wemingizimu (Watcher of the South): In Xhosa legend, Djobela - the Earth Goddess turned mighty giants, placed in the four corners of the earth, into mountains to guard the world. The greatest giant of them all – Umlindi Welingizunu was Table Mountain, the Watcher of the South. http://www.south-african-hotels.com/table-mountain-text.php

3. The Portuguese myth of Adamastor: The story of the mythical monster Adamastor, the grisly spirit of the Cape of Storms, is told by the Portuguese poet Camoens in the 1500s. Camoens tells it like this: As Vasco da Gama and his fleet approached the Cape a dark, ominous cloud (the Large Magellanic Cloud galaxy) appeared overhead taking the shape of a monstrous human figure who reproached the voyagers for venturing into the seas and prophesized that disaster would befall anyone who dared round the Cape of Storms. The monster tells the frightened mariners that he is Adamastor who, in classical myth, sought to overthrow the gods. However, Adamastor was punished by the gods who metamorphosed the monster into a mountain and set it at Cape Point to guard over the southern seas. http://cybercapetown.com/CapeTown/myth.php

Mensa comes from the Indo-European root *mems- 'Flesh, meat'. Derivatives: member, membrane, meninx (the meninges, singular meninx, is the system of membranes that envelop the central nervous system),

mensal, commensal, mensal2 (pertaining to, or used at, the table, relating to meals etc.) [Pokorny memso- 725. Watkins]

Klein says of the word mensal, "from Late Latin mensalis, from Latin mensa, 'table', which is probably identical with mensa, feminine past participle of metiri, 'to measure', and short for tabula mensa, 'a measured

board'". Latin meteri, to measure, is derived from the Indo-European root *me-2 'To measure'. Derivatives: meal* (food served on a table), measure, commensurate, dimension, immense (in + mensus), (these words from Latin metiri, to measure), Metis (Zeus' first wife whom he swallowed, from Greek metis, wisdom, skill), meter+, meter*, meter,, -meter, metrical, -metry, diameter, geometry, isometric, metrology (measurement), mahout (the keeper and driver of an elephant), moon, Monday, month, meno- (menstruation), meniscus (a crescent-shaped body), menses. [Pokorny 3. me- 703, menot 731. Watkins]

The Mensa club, the high-IQ organization of select membership, was originally to be named mens in the sense of 'mind', but took instead the name Mensa, Latin for 'table', to avoid ambiguity with 'men's in English and 'mens' in other languages [1]. Mensa means table in Latin as is symbolized in the organization's logo. The organization says the word mensa has a triple meaning in Latin: mind, table and month, suggesting a monthly meeting of minds around a table [2]. "The name chosen, according to the organization, to suggest a 'round table' type group" [3].

In Spanish the original Latin term mensa survived as mesa [Ayto]:

"... Afterwards it [the table] was made round, and the fact that it was media ‘central’ with us and mesa, 'central’ with the Greeks, is the probable reason for its being called a mensa, ‘table’; unless indeed they used to put on, amongst the victuals, many that were mensa 'measured out.'" [Varro: On The Latin Language, p.113 ]

The constellation Mensa, is translated by the French as Montague de la Table; by the Italians, as Monte Tavola; and by the Germans, as Tafelberg. Our word table comes from Latin tabula, is synonymous with 'board', 'cuisine', 'food', 'list', 'slab', 'tablet'. It originally denoted a 'board' or 'plank,' and hence a 'slab for writing on' and a 'list or similar arrangement of words or figures written on such a slab' (as in a 'table of contents'). Derivatives in English include tableau, tablet, tabloid, and tabular.

Isidore relates tabula, table, to tabernacle:

“A tabernaculum is a soldier's tent, with which they avoid the heat of the sun, the onslaughts of rainstorms, and the injury of cold while on the march. They are called tabernacula because their sides are stretched out and suspended by ropes from the boards (tabula) standing between them which hold up the tents” [p.313]. “'Living together' (contubernium) is an agreement to sleep together for a time; whence the term 'tent' (tabernaculum), which is pitched now here, now there [p.211]. [The Etymologies of Isidore of Seville, 7th century AD]

The word tabernacle, from Late Latin tabernculum, from Latin, tent, diminutive of taberna, hut, and related to tavern. Taverna refers to a small restaurant serving Greek cuisine, originally derived from the Latin word

taberna ('shed' or 'hut', from tabula 'board', table, possibly by dissimulation from traberna, from trabs: beam, timber) [4]. A tavern, or a Greek taverna, like a Mensa club, is a meeting place.

“The word 'table' (mensa) was made from 'eating' (esus) and 'consuming' (comesus), for a table has no other use.” [p.395.] “Tableware (messorium) is so called from 'table' (mensa), as if it were mensorium.” [p.399.] [The Etymologies of Isidore of Seville, 7th century AD].


History of the constellationfrom Star Names 1889, Richard H. Allen

Mons Mensae, the Table Mountain, now abbreviated by astronomers to Mensa, is translated by the French as Montague de la Table; by the Italians, as Monte Tavola; and by the Germans, as Tafelberg.

La Caille (18th-century French astronomer Nicolas Lacaille), who did so much for our knowledge of the southern heavens, formed the figure from stars under the Greater Cloud (in 1752) (Large Magellanic Cloud galaxy), between the poles of the equator and the ecliptic, just north of the polar Octans; the title being suggested by the fact that the Table Mountain, back of Cape Town, "which had witnessed his nightly vigils and daily toils," also was frequently capped by a cloud.

Gould found in the constellation 44 naked-eye stars, the brightest being of 5.3 magnitude; but within its borders is a portion of the Nubecula Major (Large Magellanic Cloud).

Norma et Regulathe Level and Square




Norma was drawn by Johann Bode in Uranographia as either a ruler, or a level, overlaying a carpenter's square. Norma is the Latin word for a carpenter's square, Norma et Regula, literally means the carpenter's square and ruler, but it seems that the ruler could be a level as Norma et Regula is often translated 'The Level and the Square'. "In English the constellation is variously known as The Rule, The Carpenter's Square, The Set Square and The Level. An L-shaped instrument for drawing right angles is called a 'carpenter's square'" [1]. In carpentry, a square, or set square is a guide for establishing right angles or ninety-degree angles.

This constellation, Norma, 'the Carpenter's Square', and its adjoining constellation Circinus, 'Pair Of Compasses for drawing circles', might be taken as a pair. The two together are the emblems of masonry, and is the symbol of Freemasonry.

The word Norma comes from Latin norma, with the meaning 'carpenter's square, rule, pattern, precept', from the Indo-European root *gno- 'To know'. Derivatives: know, knowledge, acknowledge, (from Old English cnawan), can+, con*, cunning, (from Old English cunnan), ken, kenning, (from Old English cennan, to declare, to make known), couth, uncouth, (from Old English cuth), kith and kin, (from Old English cyth(the), cyththu), notice, notify, notion, notorious, acquaint, cognition, cognizance, connoisseur, incognito, quaint, recognize, reconnaissance, reconnoiter, (from Latin (g)noscere, cognoscere), ignorant, ignore (from Latin ignorare, not to know, to disregard), noble (from Latin nobilis), noble (the noble gases are inert gases, including gold, that resist oxidation in air at high temperatures), nobility, ignoble, gnome* ( an aphorism, a maxim), gnomon (the style of a sundial, that projects a shadow used as an indicator), gnosis (gnosis is an intuitive apprehension of spiritual truths, an esoteric form of knowledge sought by the Gnostics 1), Gnostic, agnosia (loss of the ability to interpret sensory stimuli), agnostic, diagnosis, prognosis, (from Greek gignoskein, to know), narrate (from Latin narrare < *gnararre), Zend-Avesta (the body of writings of the Zoroastrian religion), note, annotate, connote, (from Latin nota, a mark, note, sign, cipher, shorthand character), notion, norm, Norma, normal, abnormal, enormous (out of all just rule and proportion), enormity, (from Latin norma, carpenter's square, rule, pattern, precept, possibly from an Etruscan borrowing of Greek gnomon, carpenter's square, rule). [Pokorny 2. gen- 376. Watkins] The word snob is sometimes supposed to stand for abbreviated 'sine nobilitate' or 'sans noblesse', 'without nobility'.

[2] The words Norma and gnomon are from the same root *gno- 'To know'. The Greek word gnomon refers to two different objects; the pointer on a sundial, and also a carpenter's square or L-shaped bar. The stylus or gnomon of a sundial casts a shadow by which the time is indicated on the dial. The shape of an upright pointer and shadow together have a 90 degree-angle; as has carpenter's square. Pillars, columns, standing stones, or a stick stuck upright in the ground, serve the same shadow-making purpose as the gnomon or stylus.

Gnomon is the style of a sundial. Gnome1 is a word coined by the Swiss physician and alchemist Paracelsus (born 1493) for the elementals. Gnomes are a fabled race of dwarflike creatures who live underground and guard treasure hoards. Science tells us that all earth's elements come from the stars as they die and explode their material out into space, some of which lands on earth. The Romans used the word, elementa, 'elements', for letters of the alphabet. Latin elementa is a word derived from LMN, the first three letters of the Etruscan alphabet. This constellation, Norma, was sometimes referred to as Quadra Euclidis, Euclid's Square, Euclid (323–283 BC) is famous for his book titled 'Elements', a presentation in thirteen books of geometry and other mathematics. In Greek they had a different word for the same meaning, stoichos; an English translation of the German book DESIGN UND ZEIT explains:

"The semantic field of stoichea is: stoicheoma means element, fundamental building block, denotes the idea of a first principle of the cosmos; stoicheoo: to teach the basics; stoicheomata: the 12 signs of the zodiac, stoicheon: letter of the alphabet; stoichos: the rod or stylus of a sundial that casts the shadow by which the time is indicated on the dial. ...Why and how might the word stoichea have acquired the meaning of letter-of-alphabet which is usually denoted by the word grammata? Let us create a mental image of a sundial: We see a rod, or stylus, the sun shines, and the stylus casts a shadow. Then we call into memory another memorable fable of Platon (Plato), the cave parable. There, Platon talks about a big cave where miserable humans are chained fast to their seats so they cannot move and only watch the shadows dancing on the cave walls, forever entertaining themselves guessing what these shadows mean and what they stand for. The connection to the stoichea becomes immediately clear. The symbols of the alphabet are viewed as the shaped holes through which the pure light of the divine logos shines. The shadows that are cast on the dial of the sundial or the cave walls are the meanings of those symbols as we perceive them from our lowly perspective. Platon talks in Phaidros, 276a of the grammata as the shadow pictures of the living, animated logos. ..." [An English translation of the German book DESIGN UND ZEIT, A Morphology of Cultural Patterns]

Stoichiometry, is the art of determining the atomic and molecular weights of the elements, from Greek stoikeion, meaning both 'shadow line' and 'element', a derivative of stoikos, stikos, 'row, line, rank, verse', steikein, 'to go, to march in order', from the Indo-European root *steigh- 'To stride, step, rise'. Derivatives include: sty* (swelling on the eyelid), stirrup (to go up, rise), stile+ (a set or series of steps for crossing a fence or wall),

stickle (to argue or contend stubbornly), stickler, stich (a line of verse), acrostic (a poem or series of lines in which certain letters, usually the first in each line, form a name, motto, or message when read in sequence), cadastre (cadaster from kata stikhon, a comprehensive register of the real property of a country), distich (a unit of verse consisting of two lines), hemistich (a half line of verse), pentastich (a poem or stanza having five lines), stichometry (a term applied to the measurement of ancient texts by rows or verses), stichomythia (an ancient Greek arrangement of dialogue in drama, poetry, from Greek stikhos, row, line, line of verse), stair, stoichiometry, stapes (the innermost of the three small bones of the middle ear, shaped somewhat like a stirrup, also the upper part of the hyoid arch. The bony jaw brace in early fishes, became the stapes, located in a new part of the ear, the middle ear) [Pokorny steigh- 1017. Watkins]

The four classical elements are; earth, fire, air, and water.

A gnomon is the style of a sundial, from Greek stulos, pillar, related to stile2, a vertical frame, as in a door or window sash. A stylus (Greek stulos) is also a sharp, pointed instrument used for writing, marking, or engraving, also the word for a phonograph needle. It usually refers to a narrow, elongated staff, similar to a modern ballpoint pen [3].

Elephant and ivory? In his book Metaformations Frederick Ahl says "The practice of using ivory letters has led some scholars to suggest that the Latin word elementum derives from the Greek elephas, 'ivory,' through an intermediate (unattested) Latin form elepantum." Klein says the change of *elepantum to elementum is probably due to Etruscan influence.

Self-repeating shapes are referred to as gnomons. - Sunflowers and seashells. Fractals, Fibonacci sequences... [6]


Fixed stars in Norma


delta 07SAG08 08SAG31 240 44 13 -45 02 22 -23 49 20 4.84 A3

eta 07SAG29 08SAG52 239 52 55 -49 05 32 -27 54 15 4.74 G4

1 gamma 10SAG10 11SAG33 243 18 56 -49 56 43 -28 15 33 5.00 G4

2 gamma 10SAG41 12SAG04 244 01 19 -50 02 06 -28 15 22 4.14 G8

epsilon 11SAG29 12SAG52 245 52 38 -47 26 35 -25 28 47 4.80 B5


Norma et Regula, The Level and the Square, originally was composed of some unformed stars of Ara and Lupus, within the branches of the Milky Way, just north of Apus; but later it became the Southern Triangle of Theodor and Bayer. According to Ideler, it was altered by La Caille to its present form, and associated with a Pair of Compasses, the constellation Circinus, next to it on the north, adjoining the fore feet of the Centaur (Centaurus). Modern astronomers, however, call it simply Norma, and locate it as an entirely distinct constellation to the north of and adjoining the Triangle (Triangulum Australe).

It is sometimes given as Quadra Euclidis, Euclid's Square, not Quadrant as it often is incorrectly translated.

The French edition of Flamsteed's Atlas of 1776 has it as Niveau, the Level; and Houzeau cites Libella of the same meaning; but in France it now is L’Equerre et la Regle; in Italy, Riga e Squadra; and in Germany, Lineal or Winkelmass.

Norma contains 64 naked-eye stars, from 4.6 to 7th magnitudes, but none seem to be named. They culminate about the 4th of July, their northern limit 15° south from the star Antares, and so are visible only in low latitudes.

La Caille's alpha Normae lies within the present limits of our Scorpio.

Octans HadleianusHadley's Octan

http://www.cs.cornell.edu/~bwong/octant/


Clues to the meaning of this celestial feature"Pluto, the ravisher of Kore, has a helmet as a symbol of the unseen pole" [Porphyry, On Images, (c. 232 AD - c. 304) Fragment 7.]

The octant, from Latin octans, is an instrument based on the principle of the sextant (another constellation Sextans) but employing only a 45° angle, and used as an aid in navigation.

The word octant comes from the fact that the instrument's arc covers 1/8th of a circle (=45º). Octans is from the Indo-European root *okto(u)- 'Eight'. Derivatives: eight, octave, octavo, octet, octo-, octad, octopus. [Pokorny okto(u) 775. Watkins]

The South Pole is in the constellation Octans. Right at the Poles, the Sun only rises once and sets once each year; the Sun shines for half the year and it is dark for the other half of the year. This makes a year like one long day; six months of light and six months of darkness. The Sun reaches the point farthest south of the celestial equator about December 22nd, when the Sun is highest in the sky at the south pole.

The earth rotates once a day on its axis, an imaginary line that passes through Earth from its north pole to its south pole. To avoid confusion between geographic and magnetic north and south poles, the terms positive and negative are sometimes used for the poles of a magnet. The positive pole is that which seeks geographical north, the negative seeks the bottom or nadir.

The imaginary line through the north and south poles does not stand upright with respect to the plane of the earth's orbit around the Sun. This imaginary line or pole tilts by 23.27 degrees producing the ecliptic; the path along which the Sun appears to move as viewed from the earth. If this line or axis was standing upright, or vertical, the Sun's path would be the equator and there would be no ecliptic. The Sun's path would then have the shape of a zero - O. But because of this orbital tilt the invisible path of the Sun has the shape of the figure 8. The noontime position of the Sun in the sky, plotted over a year, produces a figure eight-shaped curve called an analemma. Its lowest and highest points are, respectively, the winter and summer solstices. See here for pictures and explanation of the analemma.

The slow wobble of the spinning earth's axis produces the phenomenon of the precession of the equinoxes that runs in approximately 25,920 year cycles, called eons in astrology (or 'Platonic' Years). Latin eon or aeon is from Greek aion, from the Indo-European root *aiw- Also ayu-. 'Vital force, life, long life, eternity; also 'endowed with the acme of vital force, young.'' Derivatives: age (Latin aetas), no+, ever, never, eternal [Latin aeternus], eternity, eon (Greek aion), aeon, and Aeolus, the god of the winds. [Pokorny aiw- 17. Watkins]

The figure eight, 8, is said to be the symbol of eternity. No means negative, the terms positive and negative are used for the poles of a magnet. The positive pole is that which seeks geographical north, the negative seeks the south pole or nadir.

Aeolus or Aeolos, a Latinized form of Aiolos, from Greek aion meaning eon or age. A 'Tower of the Winds' with eight corners was build at the Acropolis in Athens, on Aeolus Street. Traditionally wind direction is given as one of the 8 octants (N, NE, E, SE, S, SW, W, NW.)

Aeolus, the god of winds, Greek aetai, 'wind', from aether, 'ether'. Plato has Socrates explain that the poets call the winds 'air-blasts', aetai [1] (the usual Greek term for wind was anemos).

“He is eternal because he is without time, for he has neither beginning nor end. And hence he is 'forever' (sempiternus), because he is 'always eternal' (semper aeternus). Some think that 'eternal' (aeternus) is so called from 'ether' (aether), for heaven is held to be his abode. Whence the phrase (Psalm 113:16 Vulgate), "The heaven of heaven is the Lord's." And these four terms signify one thing, for one and the same thing is meant, whether God is called eternal or immortal or incorruptible or immutable.” [The Etymologies of Isidore of Seville, 7th century AD, p.154.]

In Egyptian mythology, the Ogdoad are the eight deities worshipped in Hermopolis, represented as four couples, four male and four female, that existed before the creation of the Sun-God. The Ogdoad created a mound that rose from the primeval waters, and on this they formed an egg from which the young Sun-God emerged. From this egg, the Sun-God Atum was born, and he began the process of creating the world.

Pythagoras stated that the octave gave our planet its shape, and he said that certain experiments have shown that when an octave is sounded the sand on a plate of glass arranges itself in the form of a circle [2].

The adjoining constellation Mensa is the table mountain on the Cape of Good Hope, the next land area south is Antarctica. Ant-Arctica, where the South Pole is, means opposite the Bears - arktos, bear. (The Little Bear, Ursa Minor, contains the star Polaris which marks the North Pole).

The symbol hash # or earlier octalthorpe, or octothorn; so called because there are eight points, or thorns, sticking out of it.

The cosmo flower has eight petals. The lemon has eight segments. Noah's Ark contained eight humans.


Fixed stars in Octans


delta 17SAG39 19SAG02 214 39 50 -83 26 30 -62 19 26 4.14 K2

beta 16CAP38 18SAG01 340 16 09 -81 38 41 -62 38 44 4.34 F1

nu 18CAP18 19SCAP41 323 39 57 -77 36 50 -57 46 13 3.74 K0



Octans Hadleianus, Hadley's Octant (an instrument to determine stellar positions), now known simply as Octans, is a faint constellation of the southern hemisphere that contains the south celestial pole. Formed by La Caille in 1752 in recognition of the octant invented in 1730 by John Hadley. The octant, a forerunner of the sextant (constellation Sextans) is a navigational tool used to determine the altitude of a star, and thus one's latitude on the Earth.

It is the French Octant, the German Oktant, and the Italian Ottante. The French edition of Flamsteed's Atlas has it as L’Octans Reflexion.

The constellation is noteworthy as marking the south pole, its 5.8-magnitude alpha being about 8 of a degree away. The star, Sigma Octans (not listed here), is the Pole Star of the South, lying approximately 1 degree from the pole itself. Unlike Ursa Minor's Polaris, there is no bright star near the South Pole. The northern pole star, Polaris, is 20 times brighter.

Ancient references to a south pole are of course infrequent; Ovid, however, makes Phoebus allude to it in his instructions to Phaethon; Vergil mentions it as in our motto; Creech thus renders from Manilius:

the lower pole resemblance bears

To this above and shines with equal Stars;

and Pliny tells us that the Hindus had given it a name, Dramasa ['Diamasa' is also quoted as an Indian name for the south pole.]

The Arabs, too, seem to have had some knowledge of it, for they imagined that, like its northern counterpart, it exercised a healing power on all afflicted persons who would attentively observe it.

The early navigators commented more or less correctly on the blankness of the heavens in this region, and Peter Martyr wrote:

They knew no starre there like unto this pole, that might be discerned about the point;

Pigafetta, in his description of the Magellanic Clouds:

Between these, are two stars not very big, nor much shinning, which move a little: and these two are the pole Antartike, —

probably the colored stars beta and gamma Hydri of about the 3d magnitude; and Camoes:

Vimos a parte menos rutilante, E por falta d'estrellas menos bella Do polo fixo,

{Page 297} which probably refers to the same thing, but which his translator. Aubertin claims as an allusion to the Coal-sack, or Soot-bag. Vespucci, on the other hand, strangely stated, in his Lettera of 1505, that "the stars of the pole of the south . . . are numerous, and much larger and more brilliant than those of our pole"; and that he saw in the southern sky about twenty stars as bright as Venus and Jupiter. Ideler's comment on Vespucci, in this connection, is "the greater part of his news is of this reliable character !" Even now it is the popular opinion that the South is richer in stars than is the North; Tennyson expressing this in Locksley Hall:

Larger constellations burning.


Allen writes under the constellation Ursa MajorBefore the observations of the navigators of the 15th and 16th centuries the singular belief prevailed that the southern heavens contained a constellation near the pole similar to our Bear or Wain; indeed, it is said to have been represented on an early map or globe. Manilius Wrote:

The lower Pole resemblance bears

To this Above, and shines with equal stars;

With Bears averse, round which the Draco twines;

and Al Biruni repeated the Sanskrit legend that at one time in the history of the Creation an attempt was made by Visvamitra to form a southern heavenly home for the body of the dead king, the pious Somadatta; and this work was not abandoned till a southern pole and another Bear had been located in positions corresponding to the northern, this pole passing through the island Lunka, or Vadavamukha (Ceylon). The Anglo-Saxon Manual made distinct mention of this duplicate constellation "which we can never see." Towards our day Eden, describing the "pole Antartike," said: "Aloysius Cadamustus [Venetian navigator in the service of Portugal] written in this effect: We saw also six clear bright and great stars very low above the sea. And considering their stations with our compass, we found them to stand right south, figured in this manner… We judged them to be the charlotte or wain of the south: But we saw not the principal starre, as we could not by good reason, except we should first lose the sight of the north pole".

And, quoting from Francisco Lopes of 1552: "About the point of the South or pole Antarctica, they saw a little white cloud and four stars like unto a cross (Crux) with three other joining thereunto, which resemble our Septentrion (Ursa Major), and are judged to bee the signs or tokens of the south exeltree of heaven."

What is referred to here is not known, for, although the figure represented is that of the Southern Cross (Crux), this constellation always is upright when on the meridian, and, as the observation was made in latitude 14° or 15°, [Page 437} its base star was plainly visible. Still it would seem that some early knowledge of the Cross was the foundation of this idea of a southern Wain.

Pavothe Peacock

Cornelius, Starlore Handbook



Webster's Online Dictionary

Pavo represents the male peacock (pavo cristatus; crested pavo), a male peafowl of the pheasant family. The feathers of its spectacular long tail, or train, are marked with iridescent eyelike spots and that can be spread in a fanlike form. The tail consists of some 250 long feathers, about 150 of which are decorated with a purplish black-centred coppery eye-spot [2]. The peacock was endowed with the power to kill snakes, and apparently they are known to eat small poisonous snakes [3]. Because of its ability to swallow snakes and assimilate their venom, it was seen as a symbol of transmutation, and the venom gave its flesh an immunity to decay. It also accounted for its colorful plumage: "The shimmering colors of his tail feathers were explained by his supposed ability to transform snake venom into solar iridescence" [4].

Indus and Pavo in Corbinianus Thomas, Firmamentum firmianum, 1730 4

Juno (Hera) placed the eyes of Argus Panoptes 'who sees all', or 'all eyes', on the peacock's tail. These 'eyes' are said to represent the stars in the night sky, or the whole starry sky. Argus' name is said to be cognate with the Argo of Argo Navis (Jason entrusted the building of the ship to Argus, after whom it was named), and also with Latin argentum, silver, and it was said that Indus, a neighboring constellation was the discoverer of silver. Argus, or Argos, surnamed Panoptes (pan-, 'all', + optes, 'eyes'), was a giant covered in eyes, depending on the version of the myth he had a hundred, a thousand, or ten thousand eyes. Argus never slept, he always had half his eyes open and half closed in sleep at any one time. This might relate to the fact that the Sun is shining on half the earth at any one time while the other half is in darkness under the night stars. Mercury/Hermes, messenger of the gods, (a planet travelling close to the Sun, sometimes appearing before, and with the Sun's rising, at other times with the Sun's setting), cut off Argus' head and thus quenching the lights of the eyes; the lights of the stars. Then Juno put his eyes on the Peacock's tail.

The adjacent constellation Indus might represent Argus himself. The argus pheasant is a relative of the peacock, Pavo cristatus. Indus and Pavo, the Indian and the Peacock, are usually depicted together. Indus, king of Scythia, first discovered silver, Latin argentum, the word is cognate with the word Argus (according to Klein).

The word peacock is related to Pavo, pavan or pavane (peacock dance, a processional dance common in Europe during the 16th century). Taos is the Greek name for the peacock, the French word is paon. Pavonated means peacock blue. Latin paupulo is 'the natural sound of the peacock'.

Ponceau is the 'corn poppy' from Old French poncel, a derivative of paon, 'peacock', from Latin pavanem, accusative of pavo, 'peacock'. French paon was used in some North French dialects in the sense of 'poppy' (Klein, p.576.) "The word poppy, is from Vulgar Latin *papavum (whence also Old French pavo)" [Klein, p.577]. The word poppy also comes from Latin papaver, 'poppy'. Opium is the solidified juice of the opium poppy, from Greek opos (<*hopos), juice. The peacock was put in the heavens by Juno and the eyes of Argus Panoptes 'who sees all' was 'all eyes' (ocelli, eye-spots) were put on its tail. [There is a resemblance between Greek ops, genitive opos, 'eye', opsis, 'sight' (the first o is omega), and Greek opos, opium (the first o is omicron)?]

"The peacock is called pavo, therefore, from pavor, fear, since its cry produces fear in those who hear it" [Aberdeen Bestiary]

Latin pavor is related to Latin pavere, to fear, and the word pavid, 'exhibiting or experiencing fear', from the Indo-European root *pau-* 'To cut, strike, stamp'. Derivatives include: putamen (an outer layer), putative (supposed), account, amputate, compute, computer, count+ (in numbers), depute, dispute, impute, repute, (these words from Latin putare, to prune, clean, settle an account, think over, reflect), computer (from Latin computare which means 'to reckon together', from com- 'together' and putare 'to think, to reckon'), deputy, recount, reputation. b. Possibly Latin puteus, well: pit+ (a hole or cavity in the ground.), pave or pavé (pavement, from Latin pavire, to beat), pavid (timid, from Latin pavire, to fear < 'to be struck'), raconteur ( re- + aconter. One who tells stories and anecdotes with skill and wit). [Pokorny 3. peu- 827. Watkins]

Klein sees the word paean, 'a hymn, a song joy and triumph', from Greek paian, as a likely cognate, a paean is hymn of thanksgiving, often addressed to Apollo, literally 'one who touches', whence used in the sense 'one who heals by a touch', from Greek paio, paiein.

Isidore gives his view on how many of these words are related to each other:

“Pavements (pavimentum) that are worked out with the skill of a picture have a Greek origin; mosaics (lithostratum) are made from little pieces of shell and tiles colored in various hues. They are called pavements because they are 'rammed down' (pavire), that is, beaten. From this also comes the word 'dread' (pavor), which strikes the heart” [p.312.]. "Alarmed (pavidus) is one whom agitation of mind disturbs; such a one has a strong beating of the heart, a moving of the heart - for to quake (pavere) is to beat, whence also the term pavimentum (beaten floor; cf. pavire, 'ram down')" [p.227.]. [The Etymologies of Isidore of Seville, 7th century AD]

Pavements are often made with pebbles and counting was done with pebbles. The word pave can also have the meaning 'pave the way', to prepare a smooth easy path. Hermes amputated the head of Argus, and his eyes were put on the tail of the Peacock by Hera. The peacock represents the starry heavens, the counting of stars is mentioned in the bible:

"Now look toward the heavens, and count the stars, if you are able to count them." And He said to him, "So shall your descendants be." (Genesis 15:5). "I will multiply your descendants as the stars of the heavens" (Exodus 32:13 4)

"The number five is cognate with Old Indian panca, Tocharian A pan, Greek pente, etc. Plutarch says "five is analogous partly to the father and partly to the mother, being made up of a triad and dyad. Panta (all) is cognate with pente (five), and they [the ancient Egyptians] say 'to reckon by fives' for 'to count'." [Plutarch. De Iside et Osiride. Ed. with intro J. Gwyn Griffiths. Cambridge: U of Wales P, 1970]. A star has five points.

The outer dark layer of the lenticular nucleus in the brain is called the putamen. It appears to play a role in reinforcement learning. Putamen is also a botanical term for the stone in a fruit, such as a peach [5].

One of the attributes given to the peacock is compassion [6], from the Indian story of a peacock taking pity on Indra and to hide him from his enemies, raised its tail to form a blind or screen behind which Indra could hide himself. As a reward for this act of compassion, the bird was honored with the jewel-like blue-green plumage that it bears to this day [7].

"Patient (patiens) is so called from 'striking' - for pavere (i.e. pavire) is 'strike' - for such a one is beaten and endures it.” [p.225.] [The Etymologies of Isidore of Seville, 7th century AD]

The words patience and compassion come from the Indo-European root *péi- Also pe-, pi-. 'To hurt'. Derivatives: fiend (a diabolically evil or wicked person, from Old English feond, enemy, devil, hating, hostile), passible, passion, passive, patient (Latin patiens), compassion, (these words from Latin pati, to suffer). [Pokorny pe(i)- 792. Watkins]

The Medieval Bestiary said the peacock had the voice of a fiend:

"... he hath the voice of a fiend, head of a serpent, pace of a thief. For he hath an horrible voice. " Bartholomaeus Anglicus [13th century CE] (De proprietatibus rerum, book 12)

Julius Schiller united Pavo with Indus in his biblical figure 'S. Job.' Job is a character in the Book of Job in the Bible. The devil inflicted great suffering on him. "You have heard of the patience of Job, and you have seen the end of the Lord, that the Lord is merciful and compassionate" [James 5:11]

_______

"Then Hermes told this story [of Pan and his pursuit of the Nymph Syrinx] … The tale remained untold; for Cyllenius [Hermes] saw all Argus’ eyelids closed and every eye vanquished in sleep. He stopped and with his wand, his magic wand, soothed the tired resting eyes and sealed their slumber; quick then with his sword he struck off the nodding head and from the rock threw it all bloody, spattering the cliff with gore. Argus lay dead; so many eyes, so bright quenched, and all hundred shrouded in one night. Saturnia [Hera] retrieved those eyes to set in place among the feathers of her bird [the peacock, Pavo] and filled his tail with starry jewels." - Ovid, Metamorphoses 1.624 [8]

Pavo, might relate to the god Pan. Charles de Kay in Bird Gods says; "[the peacock's] name is a variant on that of Pan and generally keeps the initial P, even when, as in Latin pavo, Esthonian pabu, it drops the n. Catalonian has an odd 132 form pago; Burgundian French had paivo; but the Berry dialect retains the n in pante, peahen. [Bird Gods,1898, Charles de Kay, p.132] The French for peacock is paon, Welsh, Serbo-, and Romanian, have paun, for peacock.

According to Ovid (above) Mercury told (recounted) a story to Argus [Argos Panoptes, Argos 'all eyes'] as he was trying to lull him to sleep (just before he cut off his head); about how the amorous god, Pan, chased the chaste nymph, Syrinx, and before he could catch up with her she was transformed into reeds of which Pan made his pan-pipes [9]. This happened before Mercury cut off Argus' head and before Argus' eyes were scattered on the tail of the peacock by Hera/Juno; suggesting that this story had something to do with what was about to happen, perhaps that Argus was about to become Pan. [Aigipan, the goat-fish of Capricorn, is distinct from Pan [10]].

"Originally an attribute of Pan, he yielded it [the peacock] to Hera/Juno as symbolizing the starry firmament; the Argus eyes are scattered over the tail by Hera" [J.C. Cooper, p.127].

Both Pan and the peacock's tail are representatives of the starry heavens:

"They made Pan the symbol of the universe, and gave him his horns as symbols of sun and moon, and the fawn skin as emblem of the stars in heaven, or of the variety of the universe." [Porphyry (c. 232 AD - c. 304) Fragment 8]

Pan, Greek god of the shepherds, is also the prefix in the word pa-on, which means 'shepherd' and shares its prefix with the modern English word 'pasture' [11]. In Mesopotamia and the ancient middle-eastern regions the terms sheep or flocks was a metaphor for stars. "Tammuz, the moon god, was given the title of shepherd, the stars being his flock" (Penguin, p.874). Various groups of stars were referred to as sheepfolds. The 'straying sheep' was a metaphor for the 'wandering planets'. This Jupiter Project website explains that the meaning of the biblical passage Luke 2:8, "shepherds watching their flock by night" says it meant star-gazing.

"The peacock, as Isidore says, gets its name from the sound of its cry. For when it starts, unexpectedly, to give its cry, it produces sudden fear in its hearers. The peacock is called pavo, therefore, from pavor, fear, since its cry produces fear in those who hear it" [from Aberdeen Bestiary webpage].

Latin pavor (which Isidore thinks is related to Pavo) is often translated into English as panic [12], although these two words are not recognized cognates. Pan inspired sudden fear in lonely places; "For causeless terrors are said to come from the god Pan" [Pausanias], which gave us the words panic and pandemonium (the screeching of a harem of peacocks might sound like a pandemonium). Pan sometimes appeared to travellers startling them with a sudden awe or terror. Hunters owed their success to him, and if they were unsuccessful they used to scourge (pavire, to beat?) his statue [13]. The word pan means 'all' and some believe that the whole starry sky influences all things. He is often referred with the title 'god', 'the god Pan', more so than other Greek gods.

In Australia "the Saucepan" is sometimes used as an unofficial name for part of the constellation of Pavo, when finding the south by the stars [14].

"The peacocks erect and fan out their trains, drooping their half-open wings to the sides and strut and prance from one foot to the other, shivering from time to time to produce a spectacular shimmering, psychedelic display" [Raghavendra Gadagkar].


Fixed stars in Pavo


eta 26SAG35 27SAG58 265 12 18 -64 42 10 -41 18 08 3.58 K1

pi 29SAG52 01CAP15 270 56 29 -63 40 24 -40 13 46 4.44 A5

xi 02CAP08 03CAP31 274 39 18 -61 31 10 -38 07 09 4.25 M1

zeta 03CAP44 05CAP07 279 18 03 -71 28 28 -48 10 16 4.10 K0

kappa 06CAP15 07CAP38 282 57 05 -67 17 57 -44 09 52 var G0

lambda 06CAP25 07CAP48 281 53 51 -62 14 52 -39 05 43 4.42 B2

epsilon 12CAP09 13CAP32 298 42 41 -73 02 44 -50 52 40 4.10 A0

delta 16CAP13 17CAP36 300 57 36 -66 18 44 -44 40 25 3.64 G4

beta 21CAP07 22CAP30 310 07 09 -66 23 05 -45 56 57 3.60 A5

Peacock alpha 22CAP25 23CAP49 305 25 33 -56 53 50 -36 15 38 2.12 B3

gamma 27CAP13 28CAP36 320 35 02 -65 35 39 -46 58 34 4.30 F8


Pavo, the Peacock, lying south of Sagittarius and the Southern Crown (Corona Australis), is one of Bayer's twelve constellations, and the Italian Pavone, the French Paon, the German Pfau. {Page 321} The title is an appropriate one for enduring stars, as this bird has long been a symbol of immortality, fancifully said to be from the annual renewing of its feathers; but this is common to all birds, and the symbolism probably is from the fact that its starry tail rendered the peacock sacred to Juno, the immortal queen of the heavens, and thus in classical times, as in the days of chivalry, an object of adjuration.

This bird was still further astronomical in originally having been Argos, the builder of the ship Argo, who was changed by Juno to a peacock when his vessel was transferred to the sky, where he has since rejoined her.

In China the constellation was Joo Tseo, their translation of our word.

Julius Schiller united it with h Indus in his biblical figure "S. Job."

Gould catalogued 129 component stars, from the 2d to the 7th magnitudes, but none seem to be individually named, as is the case among all the new southern figures.

PictorEquuleus Pictoris, the Painter's Easel


Clues to the meaning of this celestial featureEquuleus Pictoris, is the name of this constellation 'The Painter's Easel': Easel is an old Germanic synonym for donkey and is borrowed from Dutch ezel, which means literally 'ass' (donkey). An easel (generally a tripod) is an upright frame for displaying or supporting something, such as an artist's canvas, or a school blackboard. The comparison being of loading a painting on to a stand, much as a burden is loaded on to an ass. The word ass is related to Greek onos, ass, probably ultimately from the same source as Sumerian anse, ass. The word ass is related to: asinine, easel, (these words from Latin asinus, ass), onager (onos, ass + agrios, wild, from Greek onus, ass).

The word Pictor comes from the Indo-European root *peig-1 'To cut, mark (by incision)'. Derivatives: file* (as in nailfile), paint, Pictor, picture, picturesque, pigment, pimento (a spice), pint, pinto (a horse with patchy markings of white and another color, they are also called 'paint'), depict, pictograph, pictogram, (these words from Latin pingere, to embroider, tattoo, paint, picture), pik-, pig-, picro- (from Greek pikros, sharp, bitter), picric acid (used in explosives, dyes, and antiseptics), poikilotherm (an organism, such as a fish or reptile, having a body temperature that varies with the temperature of its surroundings; an ectotherm, 'cold-blooded', from Greek poikilos, spotted, pied, patchy color, and refers to these animals' body temperature which usually are reflecting that of the surroundings). [Pokorny 1. peig- 794. Watkins]

The above Indo-European root is from "Pokorny 1. peig- 794" referred to as "*peig-1" in Watkins dictionary. The following root "Pokorny 2. peig- 795" is "*peig-2", is seen as related to *peig-1 [1]. The meanings of some of the words of this root, like foe and feud, probably relate to the type of enmity where the participants would depict the other in a bad light, and the word fickle having the same meaning of changeableness as Greek poikilos (above). *peig-2 'Evil-minded, hostile, treacherous, hostile'. 1 oldest zero-grade form *pig-olo-m . fickle, from Old English ficol, treacherous, false. 2. Suffixed o-grade form *poik-o-, foe, from Old English gefah.

3. Suffixed zero-grade form *poik-yo-. fey, from Old English faege, fated to die. 4. Suffixed o-grade form *poik-ita-. feud1, from Old French faida, hostility, feud. [Pokorny 2. peig- 795.]

The word for the ancient people of northern Britain, the Picts, also comes from the *peig- root. Their bodies were covered with 'pictures' or tattoos stained into the skin.

“the Picts (Pictus), whose name is taken from their bodies, because an artisan, with the tiny point of a pin and the juice squeezed from a native plant, tricks them out with scars to serve as identifying marks, and their nobility are distinguished by their tattooed (pictus) limbs” [The Etymologies of Isidore of Seville, 7th century AD, p.386.]

Pigments are the basis of paints. Pigments are chemical compounds that were ground to a fine powder using a mortar and pestle. Pilumnus is the inventor of the pounding of grain and he might relate to the adjacent constellation, Lepus, the Japanese Jeweled Hare, pounding his elixir of immortality in a mortar and pestle.

“Mortar (pila) from crushing (pisere, i.e. pinsere) seeds, that is, grinding them up. From this also 'crushed herbs' (pigmentum), because they are made (agere) in a mortar and with a pestle (pilum), as if the word were piligmentum. A mortar is a concave vessel suited to use by physicians, in which, properly, grains are usually ground for tisanes and herbs for drugs are crushed. But Varro reports that there was a certain Pilumn[i]us (Pilumnus) in Italy who was first to grind (pinsere) the crop, whence also the terms 'miller' (pilumnus) and 'baker' (pistor). Therefore both the mortar (pila) and the pestle (pilum), by which grain is crushed, were invented by this man, and are named after his name. The pestle is what crushes whatever is placed in the mortar.” [The Etymologies of Isidore of Seville, 7th century AD, p.114.]

The 'Big Picture' evokes concepts of; the divine plan, a plan, an overview, to be able to see how everything fits into the Big Picture. "Life is a tragedy when seen in close-up, but a comedy in long-shot" [Charlie Chaplin]. The donkey's bray, hee-haw! hee-haw! is like a parody of laughter. The ass is a calm, patient, stubborn animal, with its ridiculous ears, and whose name is associated with the most ridiculous part of our bodies, the ass or buttocks.

“A picture is an image representing the appearance of some object, which, when viewed, leads the mind to remember. It is called 'picture' (pictura) as if the word were fictura, for it is a made-up (fictus) image, and not the truth. Hence also the term 'painted' (fucatus), that is, daubed with some artificial color and possessing no credibility or truth. Thus some pictures go beyond the substance of truth in their attention to color, and in their efforts to increase credibility move into falsehood, just as someone who paints a three-headed Chimera, or a Scylla as human in the upper half and girded with dogs' heads below. The Egyptians first discovered the picture when they outlined a person's shadow with a line. It began like this, and was followed by the use of single colors, and afterwards by assortments of colors, so that gradually this art defined itself, and devised light and shadow and the differences in color. For this reason even now painters (pictor) first draw certain shadows and the outlines of the images to come, and then fill in the colors, following the order in which the art was discovered.” [The Etymologies of Isidore of Seville, 7th century AD, p.380.]

Fictura and fictus come from the Indo-European root *dheigh- 'To form, build'. Derivatives: dairy (from Old English daege, bread kneader), lady (from Old English compound hlaefdige, mistress of a household < 'bread kneader', hlaf, bread, loaf), dough (from Old English dag, dough), teiglach (a confection consisting of bits of dough from Old High German teic, teig), figure, figurine, configure, disfigure, prefigure, transfigure, (these words from Latin figura, form, shape < 'result of kneading'), fainéant (given to doing nothing; idle), faint, feign, feint, fictile, fiction, figment (of the imagination), effigy (a copy), (these words from Latin fingere, to shape), thigmotaxis (also called stereotaxis; movement of an organism in response to contact with a solid body), thixotropy (the property exhibited by certain gels of becoming fluid when stirred or shaken and returning to the semisolid state upon standing, from Greek thinganein, to touch), paradise (pairi-, around, + daezo, wall, from Avestan daza-, wall - originally made of clay or mud bricks). [Pokorny dheigh- 244. Watkins]

Fictores ‘bakers’ were so called from fingere ‘to shape’ [Varro: On The Latin Language, p.309]


Fixed stars in Pictor


gamma 20GEM48 22GEM11 087 13 45 -56 10 43 -79 32 32 4.38 K1

beta 21GEM10 22GEM33 086 31 29 -51 05 02 -74 25 53 3.94 A3

Fixed stars in Pictor


gamma 20GEM48 22GEM11 087 13 45 -56 10 43 -79 32 32 4.38 K1

beta 21GEM10 22GEM33 086 31 29 -51 05 02 -74 25 53 3.94 A3



Equuleus Pictoris, The Painter's Easel, was formed, and thus named, by La Caille, but also has been called Pluteum Pictoris; astronomers know it as Pictor. It is the Chevalet du Peintre, or the Palette, of the French; the Pittore of the Italians; and the Malerstaffelei of the Germans.

The constellation lies just south of Columba, between Canopus and the south pole of the ecliptic in Dorado, La Caille assigning to it 14 stars, of from 3. to 5. magnitudes; but Gould catalogued 67 down to the 7th.

Near its epsilon, and close to Columba, Kapteyn recently has discovered an 8.2-magnitude orange-yellow star having a proper motion of 8".7 annually, thus much exceeding that of Goombridge's 1830 Ursae Majoris, hitherto the Flying Star.

Kapteyn's Star (HD 33793) mag: 8.85 Kapteyn's Star, a nearby red dwarf at the distance of 12.78 light years, is the closest halo star known.

Pyxis Nauticathe Mariner's Compass



Clues to the meaning of this celestial featurePyxis was originally Pyxis Nautica, the Nautical Box, or Mariner's Compass, called la Boussole by the French, Kompass by the Germans. (Not to be confused with the Pair of Compasses of the constellation Circinus).

The ultimate origin is Greek puxos, the box-tree, whence also the word pyx. Fr. boite, box, is cognate, and Fr. boussole, mariners' compass, is from the Italian diminutive bossola, "a boxe that mariners keepe their compasse in. Also taken for the compasse". [The romance of words, Ernest Weekley, 1917, p.127]

It is perhaps supposed to represent the compass of the Ship Argo Navis, though the Argo would not have had a compass, as the ancient Greeks did not use compasses for navigation. Note that Pyxis was not formally a part of Argo Navis; that is, the stars in it have their own independent Bayer designations (unlike Carina, Puppis and Vela which retained and split among themselves the Bayer designations from Argo). http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pyxis

Pyxis, a small box, from Latin pyxis, Greek puxis, Vulgar Latin buxem, a pyx was receptacle for coins, and pyxidium is a capsule, these words are related to the English word box, and box tree. Other related words are: 'buzzard', Buteo, a genus of hawks, from French buse, Latin buteo, related to butire, 'to cry like a bittern' (literally 'to utter the sound bu'), from the Indo-European imitative base *bu-, whence also Latin bubo, 'owl,

horned owl', bittern (from Vulgar Latin *buti + taurus), bush2 (to furnish or line with a bushing, i.e. electrical insulation). The word boisterous comes via Old French boistos ‘clumsy, rough’ from Latin buxus ‘made from box-tree wood’. Latin buxeus, a pale yellow color like that of the buxus.

According to Ovid the place, Cytorus, was famous in mythology as a source of boxwood [1]. Buxine is a steroid alkaloid obtained from the Buxus sempervirens, or common box tree. Buxine is identical to the much more well known 'berberine', present in Berberis vulgaris (common Barberry), also identical with bebeerine. Buxine is renown for its efficiency in easing illnesses with prominent fevers, and recommended as a substitute for quinine for treating malaria. [2]

The word pyx also pix is used to denote the box in which the Sacred Host, the consecrated bread or wafer of the Eucharist, is commonly kept in the Tabernacle [3]. A box office is a place where tickets are sold to the public for admission to a venue.

[4] Western Sailing ships started using the marine compass in the Mediterranean Sea around the thirteenth or fourteenth century. To box the compass was to be able to name all 32 points of the compass in clockwise order, a drill for apprentice seamen. The 32 points are simple bisections of the directions of the four winds. The 32 points rose come from the directions of the eight major winds, the eight half-winds and the sixteen quarter-winds [5].

Boxing Day was a day of giving gifts. The box containing the ship's compass on a ship was called the binnacle, 'the case or lighted housing that contains the ship's compass'. "The word binnacle is a corruption of earlier bittacle, from Portuguese bitacola, which is formed by aphesis from Latin habitaculum, 'little dwelling' (whence also French habitacle), a derivative of habitare, 'to dwell'" [Klein]. Habitare comes from the Indo-European root *ghabh- Also *ghebh-. 'To give or receive'. Derivatives: give, forgive, gift, able, binnacle, habit, habitable, habitant, habitat, cohabit, exhibit, inhabit, inhibit, debt, due, duty, endeavor. [Pokorny ghabh- 407. Watkins] The evolution of the opposable or prehensile thumb is usually associated with Homo habilis, the forerunner of Homo sapiens. Maybe Abel whom it is said 'god favored for his gift', is related to able above?

Pyxis is composed of stars that formed the constellation of Malus, the ship's mast. The constellation, Pyxis, is in the position where the mast of the Ship, Argo Navis, should be. The mast of a sailing ship is a tall vertical pole which supports the sails (Vela).

It was thought that Malus, the mast of a ship, derived from Latin malus, apple or apple tree "This tree might have been sufficiently strong to answer the purpose of a mast in the ancient ships" [Valpy, p.247].

Isidore says “The mast is the pole on a ship that holds up the sail. It is called a mast (malus) because it has the shape of an apple (malum) at the top ...” [The Etymologies of Isidore of Seville, 7th century AD, 374.]

Note the similarity between the word 'able' and the Indo-European root *ab(e)l- Apple, Old Irish aball, 'apple', Danish aeble, Latin Abella (now Avella), is name of a town in Campania, literally 'Apple town'.

Latin malum, means apple. 'Adam's Apple' is the 'voice box' or larynx from Greek larunx, the box containing the vocal cords. The larnax (plural larnakes) may be a related word, it is a type of closed box or coffin often used as a container for human remains in ancient Greece, or ashes of the cremated [6]. Folklore has it that the 'forbidden fruit' offered by Eve got stuck in Adam's throat, hence the prominent voice box in men.

The forbidden fruit was of the tree of knowledge of good and evil. Pyxis is a compass. The expression 'moral compass' is the notion that prompts people to choose and behave in certain ways. The mariner's compass consists of a magnetic needle freely suspended so that in the earth's magnetic field it turns until aligned with the magnetic north and south poles. The terms positive and negative are sometimes used for the poles of a magnet. The positive pole is that which seeks geographical north. The north had positive or good connotations, and the south had negative or bad connotations. Dhruva, in Hindu mythology, was the north Pole Star (in Ursa Minor), his name is related to the words 'true' and 'truth' (from I.E. deru-). The south pole is in the constellation Octans.

St. Elmo is the patron saint of sailors. The meteorological phenomena, St. Elmo's fire, occurs during thunderstorms at sea. It is actually the brush-discharge of electricity seen mostly around mastheads and described as ghostly blue flames that light up the masts like candles [6]. In ancient Greece, the appearance of a single ball of fire was called Helena and two were called Castor and Pollux (the Twins, Gemini). It was a good omen because it was a sign that the storm was starting to abate. There is speculation on the net that what Moses observed in the burning bush on Mount Sinai was actually St Elmo's fire [7]. [The word box is related to

bush2, 'to furnish or line with a bushing' (see above); bush1, 'a shrub' is not a recognized cognate of bush2.] As masts on ships are not consumed by St Elmo's fire; the biblical burning bush was not consumed by the 'fire'. The voice from the burning bush said "I am the Elohim". To me the word Elohim resembles Elmo...


Fixed stars in Pyxis


gamma 24LEO06 25LEO29 132 06 09 -27 31 25 -43 17 42 4.19 K4

alpha 25LEO08 26LEO31 130 23 44 -33 00 19 -48 55 34 3.70 B1

beta 25LEO26 26LEO49 129 32 11 -35 07 47 -51 09 30 4.04 G5


Pyxis used to be called Malus, the Mast. Allen in Star Names says:

"La Caille formed from stars in the early subordinate division Malus, the Mast, Pyxis Nautica, the Nautical Box or Mariner's Compass, the German See Compass, the French Boussole or Compas de Mer, and the Italian Bussola; and this is still recognized by some good astronomers as Pyxis".

Pyxis (Latin for box) is a minor southern constellation, located partly in the Milky Way, and formed by La caille under the name Pyxis Nautica in 1752 from stars in the mast of Argo Navis, the Ship, to honor the invention of the magnetic compass used on ships.

eticulum Rhomboidalisthe Rhomboidal Net



Clues to the meaning of this celestial featureReticulum means a netlike formation or structure; a network. A reticle was a scientific instrument used to measure star positions, a grid of fine lines in the focus of an optical instrument, used for determining the scale or position of what is being looked at. The grid lines of meridians and parallels lines on a map is sometimes referred to as a net.

"A crosshair or reticle is a shape superimposed on an image that is used for precise alignment of a device. Crosshairs are most commonly a "+" shape, though many variations exist, including dots, posts, circles, and chevrons. Most commonly associated with telescopic sights for aiming firearms, crosshairs are also common in optical instruments used for astronomy and surveying, and are also popular in graphical user interfaces as a precision pointer. The crosshair was invented by Robert Hooke, and dates to the 17th century" http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reticle

Reticulum comes from the Indo-European root *era-2 'To separate'. Derivatives: ratite, reseau, rete, retiary, reticle, reticule, hermit (from Greek eremos, empty, desolate, desert), hermitage, retiarius (an ancient Roman gladiator who fought using a net), reticule, retina, retinol. [Pokorny 3 er- 332. Watkins] Ernst Klein (Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary) provides more meanings for this root: rood, 'rod, pole; measure of land; cross', rod, and rare from rarus, and the first element in Ardhanari ('ardha', 'nari' is an androgynous deity composed of Shiva and his consort Shakti, representing the synthesis of masculine and feminine energies).

"In Ancient Rome a class of gladiator, the retiarius, was armed with a net which he used to immobilize his opponent by entangling him in the meshes, thus placing him at his mercy", "Nets may also be compared with the web in which spiders lurk for prey" [Penguin Dictionary of Symbols].

Hephaestus' net: Hephaestus/Vulcan, the fire and smith-god, was married to Aphrodite/Venus, and found out that she was having an affair with Ares/Mars. He forged a net, a mesh of thinnest links of bronze, too fine for eye to see, with which he laid a trap for the lovers [1]. One day he surprised them as they lay together in bed and threw his magic net over them. Hephaestus invited the other gods of Olympus to come and witness the humiliated adulterers, and asked them what would be just retribution for his dishonor. The gods roared with laughter at the sight of the naked lovers trapped in the net. There is some dispute over whether the resulting laughter of the gods was directed at Aphrodite and Ares, or at Hephaestus himself [2]. From their embrace Harmonia was born "thus harmonizing the male (Mars) and female (Venus) energies". Reticulum is related to the first element in Hindu Ardhanari (from the I.E. root *era-2 above). In Hinduism Ardhanari (ardha-nari) is an androgynous deity composed of Shiva and his consort Shakti, representing the synthesis of masculine and feminine energies [3], the horizontal lines of a net have feminine associations and vertical lines has masculine associations.

This constellation was originally named Rhombus. Rhomboid is the name given to the shape we call a parallelogram. In geometry, a rhombus (also known as a rhomb) is a quadrilateral in which all of the sides are of equal length. More colloquially it may be described as a diamond or lozenge shape. Since the definition of rhomboid comes before the definition of parallel lines, Euclid defines the rhomboid as "that which has its opposite sides and angles equal to one another but is neither equilateral nor right-angled." (see rhombus at the MathWords webpage.) A rhombus shape has the reticulated appearance of a mesh in a fishing net. The rhombus 'bullroarer', was a four sided object that was swung on the end of the string. It was an ancient Minoan object that twisted as it twirled and made the roaring sound that was called a rhomb.

Reticulum, a net, represents crossing lines, the nodes, the nexus, the connecting lines. The English word 'net' comes from the Indo-European root *ned-, 'To bind, tie'. Derivatives; net1, nettle, ouch2 (a broach), node, nodule, nodus, noil, noose, denouement, from Latin nodus, a knot. adnexa, annex, connect, from Latin nectere (past participle nexus), to tie, bind, connect. [Pokorny 1. ned- 758. Watkins] Nettles or plants of closely related genera such as hemp were used as a source of fiber.

In science Reticulae is the term used for reptilian scales. The reticulae have been shown to be identical to crocodilian scales both in composition and their location on the DNA strand [4].

In Egyptian mythology, Neith (also known as Nit, Net and Neit, her name might ultimately be related to our word Net) was pictured as a woman nursing a baby crocodile, and she was titled Nurse of Crocodiles. She was also viewed as the mother of Sobek, the crocodile god (sob-; crocodile tears; lizards were the first to evolve tear-ducts). "Neith took up the shuttle, strung the sky on her loom, and wove the world. She then wove nets and from the primordial waters pulled up living creatures, men and women among them" [5].

“A hair-net (reticulum) is what gathers the hair, so named because it 'holds hair' (retinere crines), so that it is not loose. [Translator's note: Isidore may tacitly refer to the word rete, 'net,' as a basis of the etymology.] [The Etymologies of Isidore of Seville, 7th century AD, p.391.]


Fixed stars in Reticulum


delta 05ARI39 07LEO02 059 29 15 -61 32 27 -75 54 39 4.41 M2

alpha 06ARI05 07ARI28 063 26 38 -62 35 55 -78 02 30 3.36 G5

epsilon 18ARI13 19ARI36 063 54 15 -59 25 18 -76 19 09 4.42 K5

beta 19PIS59 21PIS22 055 53 29 -64 57 50 -76 05 03 3.80 G9


Reticulum Rhomboidalis, the Rhomboidal Net is generally supposed to be of La Caille's formation as a memorial of the reticle which he used in making his celebrated southern observations; but {Page 349} it was first drawn by Isaak Habrecht, of Strassburg, as the Rhombus, and so probably only adopted by its reputed inventor. It lies north of Hydrus and the Greater Cloud, containing thirty-four stars from 3.3 to 7th magnitudes.

It is the French Reticule or Rhombe, the German Rhomboidische Hetz, and the Italian Reticolo.

Serpensthe Serpent



Clues to the meaning of this celestial featureThis snake, Serpens, that Ophiuchus holds (the snake-handler, who represents the healer Asclepius), is found on the symbol of medicine worldwide, the caduceus. The staff of Aesculapius was a single snake wrapped around a staff (often confused with the staff of Mercury or Hermes which has two snakes and is said to represent commerce). [See picture of the Rod of Asclepius]. Serpens is the only constellation divided into two separate pieces.


Serpens and serpent comes from Latin serpere, to creep, from the Indo-European root *serp-2 'To crawl, creep'. Derivatives: serpent, serpigo (a spreading skin eruption or disease, such as ringworm, from Latin serpere, to crawl), herpes, herpetology (these words from Greek herpeton, 'crawling animal', from herpein, to crawl, creep). [Pokorny serp- 912. Watkins]

The word serpens is a synonym for snake; Wikipedia explains:

"Serpent is a word of Latin origin (serpens, serpentis) that is normally substituted for 'snake' in a specifically mythic or religious context, in order to distinguish such creatures from the field of biology".

The Bible interchanges the words dragon and serpent liberally. Draco, the dragon, is usually portrayed with feet and believed to be the 'Old Serpent', the tempter of Eve in the Garden.

“The snake (serpens) takes its name because it creeps (serpere) by secret approaches; it crawls not with open steps but by tiny thrusts of its scales. But those animals that support themselves on four feet, like the lizard and the newt, are not snakes, but are called reptiles (reptile). Snakes are also reptiles, because they crawl (repere) on their stomach and breast. Of these animals there are as many poisons as there are kinds, as many varieties of danger as there are of appearance, and as many causes of pain as there are colors.” [The Etymologies of Isidore of Seville, 7th century AD, p.255.]

This snake, Serpens, that Ophiuchus the snake-handler holds, or the snake that Asclepius has wrapped around his rod, is likely to be the kundalini snake; because it is a single snake, and because kundalini represents the life-force; the balanced flow of this energy is critical to health and harmony. The kundalini energy or 'serpent power' resides at the base of the spine and is represented symbolically as a snake coiled up upon itself, in three and a half circles like a true snake or serpent (unlike Draco which is a four-footed dragon). Kundalini is a Sanskrit word meaning either 'coiled up' or 'coiling like a snake'. The cultivation and management of this life-force has been the aim of the physician-priests, witch-doctors, and shamans who used drumming, trance, chanting, hallucinogenics etc. to facilitate intuitive diagnostics and cure illnesses. The adjacent constellation Ophiuchus is identified with Aesculapius, the snake-handler, snake-charmer, or doctor.

"One called Ophiuchus holds apart the serpent which with its mighty spirals [gyris] and twisted body encircles his own, that so he may untie its knots and back that winds in loops. But, bending its supple neck, the serpent looks back and returns; and the other's hands slide over the loosened coils. The struggle will last for ever, since they wage it on level terms with equal powers" [Manilius, Astronomica, 1st century AD. book 1, p.31].

Varro says Proserpina (Greek Persephone, the daughter of Ceres who became the goddess of the underworld when Pluto carried her away and made her his wife) received her name because she, like a serpens ‘creeper', but this derivation has been disputed by etymologists:

"From the fact that the Moon is wont to be under the lands as well as over them, Ennius's Epicharmus calls her Proserpina [Greek Persephone]. Proserpina received her name because she, like a serpens ‘creeper,' moves widely now to the right, now to the left. Serpere ‘to creep’ and proserpere ‘to creep forward’ meant the same thing, as Plautus means in what he writes: Like a forward-creeping beast". [Varro: On The Latin Language, p. 65-66.]

“Proserpina, because from her the fruits 'spread forth' (proserpere).” [The Etymologies of Isidore of Seville, 7th century AD, p.187.]

Snakes were seen as having the properties of different poisons according to their species: Isidore says of Mercury "he holds a staff with which he separates serpents, that is, poisons" [p.186.], and: "Of these animals there are as many poisons as there are kinds, as many varieties of danger as there are of appearance, and as many causes of pain as there are colors” [p.255.]

"The snake's venom is associated with the chemicals of plants and fungi that have the power to either heal, poison, or provide expanded consciousness (and even the elixir of life and immortality) through divine intoxication. Because of its herbal knowledge and entheogenic association the snake was often considered one of the wisest animals, being (close to the) divine". http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Serpent_%28symbolism%29

It was believed that snakes had the ability to discover health-giving medicinal herbs. Herbs have chemical properties and this attribute in snakes of being able to search out herbs might be related to their ability to smell out the chemicals in the herbs. They have what is called a Jacobson's organ in their mouths that functions as a chemical receptor, a snake flicks out its tongue to taste the air and when the tongue is withdrawn into the mouth, the forks of the tongue are placed into the Jacobson's organ where the chemical (molecules) is identified [1].

Ophiuchus is the snake-holder who holds this snake, Serpens, and represents the healer Asclepius. According to Hyginus (Hygin. Poet. Astr. ii. 14.), one day Asclepius killed a snake, but to his surprise a second snake carrying an herb in its mouth crawled into the room. It gave the herb to the first snake, which immediately recovered. This was how Asclepius learned how to raise people from the dead, by making use of this same herb which had the same resuscitating effect upon men [2].

"The serpent was placed in heaven and for this reason certain writers have identified Ophiuchus with Aesculapius. According to other accounts the serpent is one of those that would have slain Hercules in his cradle." [Fixed Stars and Constellations in Astrology, Vivian E. Robson, 1923].

A similar story is told about the seer Polyeidus (or Polyidus) who was locked in a Old Cretan vault with the corpse of Glaucus and ordered to resuscitate it. A snake soon crawled toward the body, but Polyeidus killed the snake. Another snake came into the room bearing an herb and laid this over the dead snake, which at once revived. Polyeidus then placed the same herb over the body of Glaucus, who immediately came to life.

Serpens is from Latin serpere, and Greek herpeton, 'crawling animal', from herpein, to crawl or creep, Sanskrit herpo 'creep'. With all this evidence of snakes association with herbs; is it not likely that Greek herp- might be related to the word herb? Snake venom has different chemical properties according to the species of snake, as have the various species of herbs.

Drugs made of various chemicals and herbs are called medicines. 'Medusa' the Gorgon, represented by the star Algol, whose head Perseus carries, is related to the word 'medicine'. Medusa has serpents for hair that might ultimately represent herbs and chemicals.

Ophiuchus, the snake holder, is the adjoining constellation that holds this serpent, and his name means serpent-holder (ophis, serpent + okhos, holder). The Greeks knew Serpens as Ophis which comes from the Indo-European root *angwhi-, 'Snake, eel'. Derivatives: ophidian, ophiolite, ophite (a green rock), ophicleide ('serpent-keys', a musical instrument of the bugle family), ophiology, Ophiuchus (the adjoining constellation Ophiuchus, the Serpent-Holder), ophiuroid, (these words from Greek ophis, snake, serpent). 2. Taboo deformation or separate root *eghi-; echino-, echinus, from Greek ekhinos, hedgehog (< 'snake-eater'), echidna (from Gk. ekhidna 'snake, viper,' from ekhis 'snake'). [Pokorny angw(h)i- 43. Watkins] The term ophiasis means a winding bald patch on the head, or a form of leprosy in which the patient sheds his skin like a snake.

There might be a connection between the two words sophia and ophis:

"The image of the serpent as the embodiment of the wisdom transmitted by Sophia (from sophos, meaning 'wisdom') was an emblem used by gnosticism, especially those sects that the more orthodox characterized as 'Ophites' ('Serpent People')" http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Serpent_%28symbolism%29

".. sophos, the Greek for wisdom, and Sophia, the Virgin of Light, may be traced to is ophis, the 'light of ophis,' the Serpent" [The Lost Language of Symbolism, Harold Bayley, p.219.]

"the Greeks call the Marsians 'Oscians,' as if it were ophskoi, because they had many serpents, and ophis means 'serpent.' They are also said to be invulnerable to the sorcery of spells. Like the Umbrians they inhabit the region of the Apennine mountains" [The Etymologies of Isidore of Seville, 7th century AD, p.196-197.]

On a fragment from the 3rd century Porphyry, On Images, fragment 8, (c. 232 AD - c. 304):

"Of the sun's healing power Asclepius [Ophiuchus] is the symbol, and to him they have given the staff as a sign of the support and rest of the sick, and the serpent is wound round it, as significant of his preservation of body and soul: for the animal is most full of spirit, and shuffles off the weakness of the body. It seems also to have a great faculty for healing: for it found the remedy for giving clear sight, and is said in a legend to know a certain plant which restores life."

A dragon is sometimes used (in the West) as a national emblem of China, possibly because dragons were featured on flags of China. I have seen where some see this dragon as represented by the constellation Draco, the Dragon. However, it might be that this serpent is a more likely representation. In Allen's book Star Names (p.375 online), he notes that a Christian missionary, Edkins, said "The twenty-two stars in the

Serpent (Serpens) are named after the states into which China was formerly divided."

[Picture from Lana Rings' website] Ophiuchus might be the fetus (foetus) attached to the umbilicus cord (Serpens). Ophiuchus is depicted holding a snake, the snake is represented by the constellation Serpens. Ophiuchus from Greek Ophiukhos, literally 'holding a serpent', from Greek opis, the Greek word for 'serpent', + Greek ekhein, 'to hold, keep, have'. In a discussion on this linguist website there is a suggestion that there might be a relationship between Greek ophis and *omphi-. [Omphi from the Indo-European root *nobh-. Related words 'umbilicus', 'omphallus', 'navel', 'nave', the hub of a wheel]. The constellation Ophiuchus is identified with Asclepius, who was cut from his mother's womb as a foetus. The long tube-like shape of a snake bears a resemblance to an umbilical cord. When the snake is curled up it might appear to be like the nave or hub of a wheel. The womb is represented by Delphinus.


Fixed stars in Serpens


iota 15SCO48 17SCO11 234 49 48 +19 49 48 +38 06 39 4.49 A2

delta 16SCO58 18SCO21 233 06 09 +10 42 12 +28 53 04 5.16 A9

rho 18SCO08 19SCO31 237 16 00 +21 07 37 +40 00 24 4.88 K5

kappa 18SCO24 19SCO47 236 37 18 +18 17 41 +37 07 02 4.28 M1

beta 18SCO34 19SCO57 235 58 11 +15 34 37 +34 19 56 3.74 A0

Unukalhai alpha 20SCO40 22SCO05 235 27 03 +06 34 53 +25 30 44 2.75 K2

gamma 21SCO23 22SCO46 238 32 08 +15 49 24 +35 13 02 3.86 F5

epsilon 22SCO57 24SCO20 237 04 50 +04 37 36 +24 00 39 3.75 A6

mu 24SCO33 25SCO56 236 45 07 -03 16 43 +16 14 40 3.63 A0

xi 23SAG10 24SAG33 263 40 49 -15 22 08 +07 56 31 3.64 A5

omicron 24SAG01 25SAG24 264 39 02 -12 51 01 +10 29 49 4.39 A2

eta 04CAP18 05CAP41 274 40 50 -02 54 48 +20 27 05 3.42 G8

Alya theta 14CAP22 15CAP45 283 26 00 +04 08 13 +26 52 59 4.50 A5

Ophiuchus (Serpentarius) and Serpens from Hevelius' Firmamentum, 1690


The starry Serpent

Southward winding from the Northern Wain (Ursa Major),

Shoots to remoter spheres its glittering train.

— Statius.

Serpens, the Serpent, is le Serpent in France, il Serpente in Italy, and die Schlange in Germany, probably is very ancient, and always has been shown as grasped by the hands of Ophiuchus at its pair of stars delta, epsilon, and at nu, and tau - Ophiuchi. The head is marked by the noticeable group iota, kappa, gamma, phi, nu, rho, and the eight little stars all lettered tau, and consecutively numbered, 10° south from the Crown and 20° due east from Arcturus; the figure line thence winding southwards 15° to Libra, and turning to the southeast and northeast along the western edge of the Milky Way, terminating at its star theta, 8° south of the tail of the Eagle (Aquila) and west of that constellation's delta.

Of the four stellar Snakes this preeminently is the Serpent, its stars originally being combined with those of Ophiuchus, although Manilius wrote

Serpentem Graiis Ophiuchus nomine dictus dividit;

but it now is catalogued separately, and occasionally divided into Caput and Cauda on either side of the Serpent-holder.

The Greeks knew it as Ophis Ophioukhou, or simply as Ophis, and familiarly as Erpeton and Egkhelus (eel), respectively the Serpent and the Eel; the Latins, occasionally as Anguilla, Anguis, and Coluber; but universally as Serpens, often qualified as the Serpent of Aesculapius, Caesius, Glaucus, Laocoon, and of Ophiuchus; and as Serpens Herculeus, Lernaeus, and Sagarinus.

The 1515 Almagest and the Alfonsine Tables of 1521 had Serpens Alangue, thus combining their corrupted Latin with their equally corrupted Arabic, as often is the case with those works. It also was Draco Lesbius and Tiberinus, and, perhaps, Ovid's and Vergil's Lucidus Anguis.

In the astronomy of Arabia it was Al Hayyah, the Snake, — Chilmead's Alhafa; but before that country was influenced by Greece there was a very different constellation here, Al Raudah, the Pasture; the stars beta and gamma,{Page 375} with gamma and beta Herculis, forming the Nasak Shamiyy, the Northern Boundary; while delta, alpha, and epsilon Serpentis, with delta, epsilon, zeta, and eta Ophiuchi, were the Nasak Yamaniyy, the Southern Boundary. The enclosed sheep were shown by the stars now in the Club of Hercules, guarded on the west by the Shepherd and his Dog, the stars alpha in Ophiuchus and Hercules.

To the Hebrews, as to most nations, this was a Serpent from the earliest times, and, Renan said, may have been the one referred to in the Book of Job, xxvi, 13; but Delitzsch, who renders the original words as the "Fugitive Dragon," and others with him, consider our Draco to be the constellation intended, as probably more ancient and widely known from its ever visible circumpolar position.

The biblical school made it the serpent seducer of Eve, while in our day imaginative observers find another heavenly Cross in the stars of the head, one that belongs to Saint Andrew or Saint Patrick.

Serpens shared with Ophiuchus the Euphratean title of Nu-tsir-da, the Image of the Serpent; and is supposed to have been one of the representatives of divinity to the Ophites, the Hivites of Old Testament times.

The comparatively void space between nu and epsilon was the Chinese Tien Shi Yuen, the Enclosure of the Heavenly Market.

Tucanathe Toucan



Clues to the meaning of this celestial featureToucan from Portuguese tucano, Spanish tucán, both from Tupi tucano, 'type of bird'. Allen [Star Names] notes that it was reported that the word toucan or tucana, may be from the Guaranis ti, 'nose', and cang, 'bone', and that it first was mentioned in print by Trevet in 1558 as from that Brazilian Indian tribe, the Tupis. The toucan has a huge beak, and the word beak is also an informal word for a human nose. Or the name might come from the sound it makes; an explorer in his voyage up the Amazon, observed, that when a party of toucans alight on a tree, one usually acts the part of sentinel, uttering the loud cry of "Tucano!" whence they derive their name [Eccentricities of the Animal Creation].

Photo by Cagan Sekercioglu

Toucans are of the family Rhamphastos, from the Greek word for beak, ramphos. The most recognizable feature of the toucan is its enormous serrated beak or bill, sometimes as long as its body, variously described as 'canoe-shaped', and 'banana beak'; and for this reason I will assume the word 'beak' belongs here. Beak, from Vulgar Latin beccus and Italian becco. "Compare Old English becca, 'pickax', compare also becasse, the woodcock", bicker (from Old English becca, pickax, Gaulish beccus, beak) [Klein Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary p.74]. Spanish pico ‘beak, small amount’ from Latin beccus. A pike, is literally 'the fish with a pointed beak'. Old English becca, 'pickax', is "probably related" to Latin beccus, beak.

Pica Indica was a title for this constellation. In early days a toucan was called a Brazilian pye. The toucans (Rhamphastidae) are a family of picarian birds. The word pica derives from the Indo-European root *(speik-

'Bird's name, woodpecker, magpie'. Suffixed form *peik-o-; picaro (a rogue or adventurer, also called picaroon, picar), picket, pike1 (a spear), pique, (these words from Latin picus, woodpecker). Suffixed form *peik-a-;

pica2 (from Latin, ‘magpie’, as a literal translation of Greek kissa, kitta ‘magpie, false appetite’; from the magpie’s indiscriminate feeding habits), pie2 from Latin pica, magpie. [Pokorny (s)piko- 999. Watkins] Klein supplies more cognates to pike 'a sharp point', and says: "Compare also picayune, pickax, picnic, picot, picotee, pinch, pink ('to pierce'), piquet, pitch ('to throw'). Compare also pick". Klein also sees the words pick and peck as related.

A feature peculiar to the toucans is that they throw, or pitch (pician), objects. "Called the jokers of tropical American forest" [1], they play throw and catch games with each other which consists of tossing (?) berries, between them with their beaks. They habitually toss their food into the air and then catch it in their wide-open beaks as it falls. To pitch is to throw with careful aim, as toucans do, and it is said that they never miss their intended target. Pitch, from Middle English pichen, picchen, "probably related to pick, 'to pierce', pike, 'a sharp point'" [Klein]. Pitchfork, from pick, 'a pointed instrument', is influenced in form by an association with pitch, 'to throw'. Beaks are used for picking things out, as in picking out grains from dirt, and for pecking.

The dictionaries say that the word beak is used for the spout of a pitcher, beaker is related to pitcher, from Greek bikos 'earthenware jug'. A pitcher, is also an iron bar for making holes in the ground. "Eric Partridge says the word 'pitcher' derives from the same root as 'peck', there is a historical tradition of making leather drinking/pouring vessels which were coated with tree pitch on the inside" (see a discussion on these words on this webpage).

The word pitch, the highness or lowness of a tone; the frequency of vibration of the vocal folds, might also relate to toucans. Toucans are one of the noisiest jungle birds, with a croak like a frog that can be heard for half a mile. Their repertoire of sounds include loud barks, bugling calls and harsh croaks [2].

Latin picus, is the woodpecker. Toucans and woodpeckers are from the family of picarian birds, and the woodpecker might be like an the Old World counterpart of the toucan in that they live in holes or pockets in tree trunks in the same way. Latin picus, wood-pecker, might have given its name to the words; pike, pickaxe, pick and pitch [3]. Woodpeckers excavate holes in trees with pickaxe-like strokes of the bill. King Picus, son of Saturn (Kronos), ruled the land of Ausonia (Latium). Circe changed him into a woodpecker. Ovid of Picus; "and what had been a golden brooch, pinning his clothes, became plumage". The French word for pike is brocket, 'pike,' a derivative of broche 'spit'; woodpeckers broach into trees, or poke holes into trees with their beaks. Toucans are also said to hew out holes in trees in which to nest, and it is from this habit of chipping trees that the bird is called by the Spaniards Carpentero (carpenter), and by the Brazilians Tacataca, in imitation, apparently, of the sound it thus makes [Eccentricities of the Animal Creation].

Bird's beaks are likened to weapons, they have a sharp point like a pike. The sculptural shape of the serrated 'toucan beak' suggests some form of blade or sword. [Perhaps a 'tuck', an archaic word for a slender sword or rapier]. In early days of discovery, toucan beaks were brought to Europe as curiosities, and the shape was thought to resemble a Turkish sword or scimitar [Eccentricities of the Animal Creation]. Toucans fight with their beaks, "and they will tease one another and use their beaks like dueling swords" [4]. The word bicker (related to beak), had this meaning originally; from Middle Dutch bicken, to slash, stab, attack frequently, again and again, from Old English becca, pickax, Gaulish beccus, beak. The Greek word for woodpecker is druokolaptes from drus, tree and kolapto, to peck at. The Old English term for 'beak' was bile, 'bill'. The word 'bill', bird's beak, is the name used for an ancient weapon; a halberd. The Germanic languages had a related word bil, for a hatchet. The woodpecker's bill is described as hatchet-like in its habit of chopping into trees.

“The woodpecker (picus) took its name from Picus, the son of Saturn, because he would use this bird in augury. People say this bird has a certain supernatural quality because of this sign: a nail, or anything else, pounded into whatever tree the woodpecker has nested in, cannot stay there long, but immediately falls out, where the bird has settled. This is the Martius woodpecker (picus), for the magpie (pica) is another bird.” [The Etymologies of Isidore of Seville, 7th century AD, p.267.]

The woodpeckers are birds of augury. An auger is a tool for boring hole, woodpeckers bore holes into trees. The words augur and augury come from the Indo-European root *aug-1 'To increase'.

There must be some symbolic significance of a bird living in a hole in a tree. Maybe the word 'animism' would fit here: the belief in the existence of individual spirits that inhabit natural objects. Adonis was born from a tree after his mother Myrrha (or Smyrna) was changed into a myrrh tree. Both Picus and Adonis were boar-hunters. Adonis died in the arms of a grief-stricken Aphrodite. The goddess ordained that from his blood a flower, the anemone, should arise [5]. 'Anemone' and 'animism' are from Indo-European ane-.

A bird's nose is on its beak with which it breathes through.

Toucans sleep in tight-fitting holes or pockets in hollow tree-trunks by folding themselves into round balls. In George of the Jungle, the Tookie-Tookie Bird is a wise toucan who gets George out of some tight spots. Toucans tucks (?) themselves in for the night by placing their long beaks on their backs, and folding their long tails forward over their heads, becoming like a ball of feathers. Five or six adults may sleep in a single hole of rotted hollow tree trunks.

"Sacred to the Incas and revered by the Maya, the Toucan was a mystic symbol and a tribal totem; the medicine men considered it an incarnation to fly to the spirit world" [6]. "The bird is re-created on tribal totems to signify the tribe's common ancestry" [7]. In its native region, toucans are associated with evil spirits and are thought to be the incarnation of a demon. In certain religions of South and Central America, the father of a new child must not eat toucan flesh as it might bewitch the newborn and cause it to fade away [8]. The toucan is the symbol of Belize.


Fixed stars in Tucana


alpha 08AQU17 09AQU40 333 46 24 -60 30 35 -45 23 57 2.91 K5

gamma 19AQU03 20AQU26 348 37 51 -58 30 37 -47 50 51 4.10 F0

zeta 20AQU56 22AQU19 004 22 11 -65 10 07 -57 42 33 4.34 F8

beta 25AQU12 26AQU35 007 18 55 -63 14 00 -57 20 47 4.52 B9


Tucana, the Toucan was published by Bayer under our English name, but some one has Latinized it in ornithologists' style as we now see it. Burritt had Toucana and {Page 418} Touchan; the French, Toucan; the Italians, Toucano; and the Germans, Tukan.

The Chinese translated the original word, given to them by the Jesuits, as Neaou Chuy, the Beak Bird, very appropriate to a creature that is almost all beak.

In the 17th century the English called it the Brasilian Pye, but Caesius gave it the geographically incorrect Pica Indica; while Kepler, Riccioli, and even later authors knew it as the Anser Americanus, a title that appears as late as Stieler's planisphere of 1872, in the American Gans.

Tucana lies immediately south of Phoenix, bordering on the south polar Octans, its tail close to the bright Achernar of Eridanus, and marks the crossing of the equinoctial colure and the antarctic circle.

Allen notes: Professor Alfred Newton says that the avian word may be from the Guaranis' Ti, Nose, and Cang, Bone; and that it first was mentioned in print by Trevet in 1558 as from that Brazilian Indian tribe.

It is the Rhamphastos toco of the naturalists.

VolansPiscis Volans, the Flying Fish




Created by Bayer in 1603, this constellation used to be called Piscis Volans, the Flying Fish, before it was shortened to Volans.

Volans, a fish flying, evokes the idea of a thing in a foreign environment; "a fish out of water" is a metaphor for something being out of its element; a stranger, exile, foreign. The Mediterranean flying fish is called Exocoetus exiliens, from Latin exilium, exsilium, 'exile'.

John White, A flying fish, a watercolour, c1585-1593

Flying fish are bony fishes of the family Exocoetidae from tropical waters. They have winglike pectoral fins that can be spread to glide over the water. Flying fish are unique because they are the only fish that can actually get into the air. The term Exocoetidae (exo-koitos, from exo 'outside' + koitos 'bed', 'lying down outside' or 'sleeping under the stars') refers to the common occurrence of stranded flying fish lying in boats. "Flying fish can attain enough height to carry them onto the decks of ships in their waters, where their remains are frequently discovered at dawn" [Encyclopædia Britannica]. The Exocet guided missile is named after these fish [1]. They have a similar shape to an airplane, see picture here.

Volans is the present participle of volare, to fly, and comes from the Indo-European root *gwel- 'To fly; a wing'. Derivatives: volant (having wings), volatile (quickly evaporating; easily changing, fickle), vole2 (taking of all card tricks in card games), volitant (fly about, move swiftly), volley (a flight of missiles). [Not in Pokorny; compare Sanskrit garut- <*gwel-ut-), wing.] [Watkins, American Heritage Dictionary of Indo-European Roots]

Klein says volant, flying, is of uncertain origin. It is possibly cognate with Old Indian garut, 'wing', garudah (Garuda), name of a mythical bird. Klein supplies a few more cognates: volage (fickle, flighty), vol-au-vent (a kind of pie, literally 'flying in the wind'), volitant (flying), volplane, vomerine (pertaining to birds). [Klein, Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary]

In Latin, ales, alitis, winged, was used alone to mean a large bird. Small birds are volucres:

“'Flying ones' (volucres, plural of the adjective volucer, 'flying,' and also of the substantive volucris, 'bird') from flying (volare), for we say 'fly' (volare) and 'walk' (ambulare) from the same root. The term vola means the middle part of the sole of the foot or the palm of the hand, and for birds vola is the middle part of the wings, by whose motion the feathers are put into action, hence volucer.” [The Etymologies of Isidore of Seville, 7th century AD, p.264.]

Another translation of the same text:

"Birds are called volucres, flying creatures, from volandum, flying, For what we call 'walking' and 'flying' stem from the same mechanism. For what we call vola, the hollow, or middle part of the foot or the hand, is in birds the middle part of the wings - at the junction with the shoulders - by whose motion the flight feathers are activated; hence their name, volucres" http://www.abdn.ac.uk/bestiary/translat/25v.hti

The word volar, is from Latin vola, ‘hollow of the hand or foot’.

"Volo ‘I wish’ is said from voluntas ‘free-will’ and from volatus ‘flight,' because the spirit is such that in an instant it pervolat ‘flies through’ to any place whither it volt ‘wishes'" [Varro: On The Latin Language, p.215]

Vallum ‘small winnowing-fan,' from volatus ‘flight,' because when they swing this to and fro the light particles volant ‘fly’ away from there. [Varro: On The Latin Language, p.131.]

The Rudolphine Tables have this constellation, Volans, as Passer, the Sparrow, Passer domesticus, the house sparrow, from the Latin term passer for true sparrows and similar small birds.

The Flying Fish is positioned under Argo Navis, the celestial ship:

"Of the monster called the flying-fish. There is a sea monster called the flying-fish, which has huge wings. When it sees a ship under sail on the sea, it raises its wings over the water and tries to keep pace with the ship for three or four miles; when it fails to keep pace, it lowers its wings and folds them. The waves carry it, exhausted, back to its home in their depths. The flying-fish represents this world. The ship symbolizes the righteous, who sail through its storms and tempests without putting their faith in danger or at risk of shipwreck. But the flying-fish, which could not keep up with the ship, represents those who at the start apply themselves to good works, but do not afterwards persevere with them and yield to all sorts of vice, which carry them, like the restless waves of the sea, down to hell. For the prize goes not to those who begin the race, but to those who stay the course" [The Aberdeen Bestiary]


Fixed stars in Volans


beta 13LIB48 15LIB11 126 18 00 -65 58 11 -75 34 54 3.65 K1

delta 18LIB06 19LIB29 109 12 54 -67 51 57 -82 28 28 4.01 F5

alpha 19LIB14 20LIB37 135 24 57 -66 11 46 -72 11 53 4.18 A5

epsilon 22LIB49 24LIB12 121 56 39 -68 28 13 -77 46 35 4.46 B8

gamma 08SCO31 09SCO54 107 17 03 -70 24 58 -82 36 57 5.81 G0

zeta 14SCO24 15SCO47 115 36 45 -72 29 11 -79 22 57 3.89 K0


Piscis Volans, the Flying Fish, now known by astronomers as Volans, is the Poisson Volant of the French and the Fliegende Fisch of the Germans. The Rudolphine Tables have it Passer, the Sparrow, and, as such, it is translated Fe Yu by the Chinese. This is another of the new southern constellations formally introduced by Bayer (1604), comprising forty-six stars south of Canopus and Miaplacidus, — alpha and beta Argus.

Julius Schiller included it with Dorado and the Nubecula Major (The Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC)) in his biblical figure of Abel the Just.

The lucida is beta, a colored 3.9-magnitude, culminating on the 12th of March.

Compiled by Sevan

www.resistance2010.com

the etymology and story of the constellations

Documents