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In astronomy the name given
to certain groupings of stars (from the Lat. Constellatus, studded with
stars; con, with and Stella, star).
From the earliest times
the star-groups known as constellations, the smaller groups (parts of
constellations) known as asterisms, and also individual stars, have revived
names connoting some meteorological phenomena, or symbolizing religious or
mythological beliefs. At one time it was held that the constellation names
and myths were of Greek origin: this view has now been disproved, and an
examination of Hellenic myths associated with the stars and star groups in
light of the records revealed by the decipherment of Euphratean cuneiforms
leads to the conclusion that in many, if not all, cases the Greek myth has
Euphratean parallel, and so renders it probable that the Greek constellation
system and the cognate legends are primarily of Semitic or even pre-Semitic
origin.
The Sumerians and
Acadians, the non Semitic inhabitants of the Euphrates valley prior to the
Babylonian, described the stars collectively as a “heavenly flock”; the sun
was the “old sheep”; the seven planets were the “old sheep stars”; the whole
of the stars had certain “shepherds,” and Sibzianna (which according to
Sayce and Bosanquet, is the modern Arcturus, the brightest star in the
northern sky) was the “star of the shepherds of the
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heavenly herds. The
Acadians bequeathed their system to the Babylonians, and cuneiform tablets
and cylinders, boundary stones, and Euphratean art generally point to the
existence of a well-defined system of star names in their nature of rather
speculative value, R. Brown, junr. (Primitive Constellations, 1899) has
compiled a Euphratean plain sphere, which he regards as the mother of all
others. The tablets examined range in date from 3000- 500 B.C., and hence the
system must be anterior to the earlier date. Of great importance is the
Creation Legend, a cuneiform compiled form older records during the reign of
Assur-bani-pal, c. 650 B.C., in which there occurs a passage interpretable
as pointing to the acceptance of 36 constellations: 12 northern, 12
zodiacal, and 12 southern.
The Phoenicians a race
dominated by the spirit of commercial enterprise appear to have studied the
stars more especially with respect to their service to navigators; according
to Homer “the stars were sent by Zeus as portents for mariners.’’ But all
their truly astronomical writings are lost, and only by somewhat speculative
piecing together of scattered evidence can an estimate of their knowledge
be formed. The inter relations of the Phoenicians with the early Hellenes
were frequent and far reaching, and in the Greek presentation of the
legends concerning constellations a distinct Phoenician, and in turn
Euphratean, element appears. One of the earliest examples of Greek
literature extant, the Theogonia of Hesiod (c. 800 B.C.), appears to be a
curious blending of Hellenic and Phoenician thought. Although not
astronomical work, several constellation subjects are introduced. In the
same author’s works and days, a treatise which is a sort of shepherd’s
calendar, there are distinct references to Pleiades, Hyades, Orion, Sirius,
and, Arcturus. It cannot be argued, however, that these were the only stars
and constellations named in his time; the omission proves nothing.
The same is true of the
Homeric epics wherein the Pleiades, Hyades, Ursa major, Orion, and Bootes
are mentioned, and also of the stars and constellations mentioned in Job.
Further support is given to view that, in the main, the constellations were
transmitted to the Greeks by the Phoenicians from the Euphratean sources in
the fact that Thales, the earliest Greek Astronomer of any note, was of
Phoenician decent. According to Callimachus he thought the Greeks to steer
by Ursa minor instead of Ursa major; and other astronomical observations are
assigned to him. But his writings are lost, as is also the case with those
of Phocus the Samian and the history of astronomy by Eudemus, the pupil of
Aristotle; hence the paucity of our Knowledge of Thales’s astronomical
learning.
From the 6th
century B.C. onwards, legends concerning the constellation subject were
frequently treated by the historians and poets. Aglaosthenes or Agaosthenes,
an early writer, knew Ursa minor, Cynosura, and recorded the translation of
Capricornus and the star Capella; Pherecydes of Athens recorded the legend
of Orion and stated the astronomical fact that when Orion sets Scorpio
rises; Aeschylus and Hellanicus of Mytilene narrated the legend of the seven
Pleiades.
In the 5th
century B.C. the Athenian astronomer Euctemon, according to Geminus of
Rhodes, compiled a weather calendar in which Aquarius, Aquila, Canis major,
Corona, Cygnus, Delphinus, Lyra, Orion, Pegasus, Sagitta, and the asterisms
Hyades and Pleiades are mentioned, always, however, in relation to weather
changes. The earliest Greek work which purported to treat the constellations
Qua Constellations, which we have certain knowledge. The original is lost,
but a versification by Aratus, a poet at the court of Antigonus Gonatas,
king of Macedonia, or commentary by Hipparchs are extant.
In Aratus’s work 44
constellations are enumerated, 19 northern : Ursa minor , Draco, ciphers,
Cassiopeia , andromeda , perseus , Triangulum , Pegasus , Delphinus ,
auriga ,Hercules , Lyra , Cygnus , Aquila, Sagitta, corona and serpentarius
; I3 centeral or zodiacal ; Aries, Taurus, Gemini , cancer , Leo
, Virgo , Libra , Scorpio , Sagittarius , Capricornus , Aquarius , Pisces
and the Pleiades ; and I2 southern: Orion, Canis , lepus , argo
, cetus , eridanus , Piscis australis , ara, centaurus, hydra, crater and
corvus. In this enumeration serpents is included in secretaries and lupus in
centaurs ; these two constellations were separated by Hipparchus and , later
,by Ptolemy. On the other hand , Aratus kept the Pleiades distinct from
Taurus ,but Hipparchus reduced these stars to an asterism . Aratus was no
astronomer , while Hipparchus was ; and from the fact that the latter
adopted , with but trifling exceptions , the constellation system
portrayed by Aratus , it may be concluded that the system was already
familiar in greek thought .
Three hundred years
after Hipparchus , the Alexandrian astronomer Ptolemy ,adopted a very
similar
scheme in his uranometria which appears in the seventh and eight
books of his almagest , the catalogue being styled “ or accepted version
.” the names and orientation of the 48 constellations therein adopted are,
with but few exceptions, identical with those used at the present day; and
as it cannot be doubted that Ptolemy made only very few modifications in the
system of Hipparchus, the names were adopted at last three centuries before
the Almagest was compiled.
A later innovator of the
moment was Johann Bayer, a German astronomer, who published a Uranometria in
1603, in which 12 constellations, all in the southern hemisphere, were
added to Ptolemy’s 48, viz., Apis (or Musca). Avis Indica (Bird of Hydrrus
water snake), Indus (Indian), Pavo ( Peacock), Phoenix, Piscis volans
(flying fish), Toucan, Triangulum australe. According to W . Lynn, Bayer
adapted this part of his catalogue from the observations of the Dutch
navigator Petrus Theodori, who died in 1596 off Java.
The coelum stellatum
Christianum of Julius Schiller (1627) is noteworthy for the attempt made to
replace the names connoting mythological and pagan ideas by the names of
apostles, saints, popes, bishops, and other dignitaries of the Church, etc.
Aries became St. Peter; the Manager; Canis major, David; and so on. This
innovation (with which the introduction of the 12 apostles into the solar
zodiac by the Venerable Bede may be compared) was short-lived. A similar
confusion was attempted by E. Weigelius, who sought to introduce a Coelum
heraldicum, in which the constellations were figured as the arms or
insignia of European dynasties, and by symbols of commerce.
In Edmund Halley’s
southern catalogue, published in 1679 and incorporated in Flamsteed’s
Histiria coelestis (1725), the following constellations are named: Piscis
australis, Columba Noachi, Argo navis, Robur Caroli, Ara, Corona australis,
Grus, Phoenix, Pavo, Apua or Avis Indica, Musca apis, Chameleon, Triangulum
australe, Piscis volans, Dorado, Toucan or Anser Americanus, and Hydrus.
Flamsteed’s maps also contained Mons Menelai. This list contains nothing
new except Rrobur Carpli, since Columba Noachi (Noah’s dove) had been raised
to the skies by Bartschius in 1624.
In 1690 two posthumous
works of Johann Hevelius(1611-87), added several new constellations to the
list. In 1679 Augustine Royer Introduced the most interesting of the
constellations of the southern hemisphere, the Crux Australis or Southern
Cross.
Nicolas Louis de
Lacaille, who made extended observations of the southern stars in 1751 and
in the following years, and whose results were embodied in his posthumous
Coelum australe stelliferum (1763).
Attempts have been made
to introduce new constellations since that date, but none of these is now
accepted. The large Ptolemaic constellations of Argo is, however,
subdivided into Vela (Sails), Puppies (Stern), and Carina (Keel).
The delimitation of
précis boundaries for the constellations was undertaken by a committee of
the International Astronomical union. At the present time it is possible to
assign any star to its proper constellation without ambiguity.
Polar star or The
north star |
