This book had its origins in my skywatching guides for amateur

astronomers. As I came to describe each constellation, I found myself

wondering about its origin and the way in which ancient people had
personified it in mythology. Astronomy books did not contain satisfactory
answers. They either gave no mythology at all, or they recounted stories
that, I later discovered, were not true to the Greek originals. I decided to
write my own book on the mythology of the constellations. The result, Star
Tales, appeared in 19 and remains a favourite of mine although it is now
difficult to obtain. To make it more widely available, I have now transferred
it to the web with amendments and enhancements. !urther updates and
improvements can be e"pected.
1
Contents
Preface
Chapter One: #tars and storytellers
Chapter Two: #tar maps
Chapter Three: The celestial eighty$eight
Chapter Four: %bsolete constellations
Sources, references and acknowledgements
Storytelling is one of the most engaging of human arts, and what greater inspiration to a
storyteller&s imagination than the stars of night. This book of star tales has its roots in a series
of skywatching guides that I produced in con'unction with the great (utch celestial
cartographer )il Tirion. As I came to describe each constellation, I found myself wondering
abut its origin and the way in which ancient people had personified it in mythology. Astronomy
books did not contain satisfactory answers* they either gave no mythology at all, or they
recounted stories that, I later discovered, were not true to the Greek originals. In addition,
many authors seemed unaware of the true originators of several of the constellations
introduced since ancient Greek times. I decided, therefore, to write my own book on the
history and mythology of the constellations, and a fascinating undertaking it proved to be.
+y theme has been how Greek and ,oman literature has shaped our perception of the
constellations as we know them today - for, surprisingly enough, the constellations recogni.ed
by /1st century science are primarily those of the ancient Greeks, interspersed with modern
additions. To this end, I have gone back to original Greek and 0atin sources wherever possible*
click here for a list of sources and references. )hile I have attempted to recount the main
variants of each myth, and to identify the writer concerned where appropriate, it should be
reali.ed that there is no such thing as a 1correct& myth* for some stories, there are almost as
many different versions as there are mythologists.
I should also make it clear what this book is not about2 I have not tried to compare the Greek
and ,oman constellations with the constellations that were imagined by other cultures such as
the 3gyptian, 4indu or 5hinese. !ascinating though the differences are, such a diversion
would, I think, have taken me too far from my intended task. 6either have I delved too far
into the confusing morass of speculation about the origin of the constellations* that is a 'ob for
the historian, and indeed we may never be able to provide convincing answers from the
fragmentary information available.
#ince ancient astronomers regarded each constellation as embodying a picture of a
mythological character or an animal, rather than as simply an area of sky as defined by
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today&s surveyor$astronomers, it seemed natural to illustrate each constellation with a picture
from an old star map. These star maps are works of art in themselves, and are among the
most elegant treasures be7ueathed to us by astronomers of the past. The constellations give
us a very real link with the most ancient civili.ations. It is a heritage that we can share
whenever we look at the night sky.
Glossary
The Greeks and ,omans had similar gods and mythological characters, but used different
names for them. 4ence what may sound at first to be two different characters, such as 8eus
and 9upiter, are really one and the same. This table lists the 0atin e7uivalents
:italicized names; of the ma'or Greek characters mentioned in this book.
Greek name Latin name

Greek name Latin name
Aphrodite Venus

Ares Mars
Artemis Diana

Asclepius Aesculapius
Athene Minerva

5ronos Saturn
(emeter Ceres

(ionysus Bacchus
3ros Cupid

4ades Pluto
4ephaestus Vulcan

4era Juno
4eracles Hercules

4ermes Mercury
<ersephone Proserpina

<olydeuces Pollux
<oseidon Neptune

8eus Jupiter
very night, a pageant of Greek mythology circles overhead. <erseus flies to the rescue of
Andromeda, %rion faces the charge of the snorting bull, =o>tes herds the bears around the
pole, and the ship of the Argonauts sails in search of the golden fleece. These legends, along
with many others, are depicted in the star patterns that astronomers term constellations.
5onstellations are the invention of human imagination, not of nature. They are an e"pression
of the human desire to impress its own order upon the apparent chaos of the night sky. !or
navigators beyond sight of land or for travellers in the trackless desert who wanted signposts,
for farmers who wanted a calendar and for shepherds who wanted a nightly clock, the division
of the sky into recogni.able star groupings had practical purposes. =ut perhaps the earliest
motivation was to humani.e the forbidding blackness of night.
6ewcomers to astronomy are soon disappointed to find that the great ma'ority of
constellations bear little, if any, resemblance to the figures whose names they carry* but to
e"pect such a resemblance is to misunderstand their true meaning. The constellation figures
are not intended to be taken literally. ,ather, they are symbolic, a celestial allegory. The night
sky was a screen on which human imagination could pro'ect the deeds and personifications of
deities, sacred animals and moral tales. It was a picture book in the days before writing.
3
3ach evening the stars emerge like magic spirits as the #un descends to its nocturnal lair.
Twentieth$century science has told us that those twinkling points scattered across the sky in
their thousands are actually glowing balls of gas similar to our own #un, immensely far away.
A star&s brightness in the night sky is a combination of its own power output and its distance
from us. #o far apart are the stars that light from even the nearest of them takes many years
to reach us. The human eye, detecting the faint spark from star fires, is seeing across
unimaginable gulfs of both space and time.
#uch facts were unknown to the ancient Greeks and their predecessors, to whom we owe the
constellation patterns that we recogni.e today. They were not aware that, with a few
e"ceptions, the stars of a constellation have no connection with each other, but lie at widely
differing distances. 5hance alone has given us such familiar shapes as the 1)& of 5assiopeia,
the s7uare of <egasus, the sickle of 0eo or the #outhern 5ross.
The constellation system that we use today has grown from a list of ? constellations
published around A( 1@A by the Greek scientist <tolemy in an influential book called the
Ala!est. #ince then, various astronomers have added another ?A constellations, filling the
gaps between <tolemy&s figures and populating the region around the south celestial pole that
was below the hori.on of the Greeks. The result is a total of constellations that all
astronomers accept by international agreement. The tales of these constellations are told in
this book - along with nearly two do.en others that fell by the wayside.
4
5
The "# constellations o$ the %ree& astronoer Ptoley' illustrated on a pair o$ (oodcuts ade
)y Al)recht D*rer in +,+,' one sho(in! the northern s&y -top. and the lo(er one the southern
s&y/ The $i!ures are depicted $ro the rear' as on a celestial !lo)e/ Note the lar!e )lan& area
o$ the southern s&y that (as )elo( the horizon to the people (ho invented the constellations/
The size o$ this )lan& zone is a clue to the latitude at (hich the constellation inventors lived/
-0 The National Maritie Museu' 1ondon.
<tolemy did not invent the constellations that he listed. They are much older than his era,
although e"actly when and where they were invented is lost in the mists of time. The early
Greek writers 4omer and 4esiod :c.BAA =5; mentioned only a few star groups, such as the
Great =ear, %rion, and the <leiades star cluster :the <leiades was then regarded as a separate
constellation rather than being incorporated in Taurus as it is today;.
The ma'or developments evidently took place farther east, around the Tigris and 3uphrates
rivers in what is now Ira7. There lived the =abylonians, who at the time of 4omer and 4esiod
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had a well$established system of constellations of the .odiac, the strip of sky traversed by the
#un, +oon and planets. )e know this from a star list written in cuneiform on a clay tablet
dated to CB =5. #cholars call this list the
+D0.A<I6 series, from the first name recorded on the tablet. The =abylonian constellations had
many similarities with those we know today, but they are not all identical. !rom other te"ts,
historians have established that the constellations known to the =abylonians actually
originated much earlier, with their ancestors the #umerians before /AAA =5.
If the Greeks of 4omer and 4esiod&s day knew of the =abylonian .odiac they did not write
about it. The first clear evidence we have for an e"tensive set of Greek constellations comes
from the astronomer 3udo"us :c.E9A-c.E?A =5;. 3udo"us reputedly learned the constellations
from priests in 3gypt and introduced them to Greece, which makes his contribution to
astronomy highly significant. 4e published descriptions of the constellations in two works
called 2noptron :+irror; and Phaenoena :Appearances;. =oth these works are lost, but the
Phaenoena lives on in a poem of the same name by another Greek, Aratus :c.E1@-c./?@
=5;. Aratus&s Phaenoena gives us a complete guide to the constellations known to the
ancient Greeks* hence he is a ma'or figure in our study of constellation lore.
Aratus was born at #oli in 5ilicia, on the southern coast of what is now Turkey. 4e studied in
Athens before going to the court of Fing Antigonus of +acedonia in northern Greece. There, at
the king&s re7uest, he produced his poetic version of the Phaenoena of 3udo"us around /B@
=5. In the Phaenoena Aratus identified ?B constellations, including the )ater :now regarded
as part of A7uarius; and the <leiades. Aratus also named si" individual stars2 Arcturus, 5apella
:which he called Ai";, #irius, <rocyon :which formed a constellation on its own;, #pica :which
he called #tachys; and Gindemiatri" :which he called <rotrygeter;. This last star is a surprise,
since it is so much fainter than the others, but the Greeks used it as a calendar star because
its rising at dawn in August marked the start of the grape harvest.
6either the Greeks nor the 3gyptians actually invented the constellations that are described in
the Phaenoena. The evidence for that statement lies not 'ust in written records, but in the
sky itself.
It is not too difficult to work out roughly where the constellations known to 3udo"us and
Aratus were invented. The clue is that Aratus described no constellations around the south
celestial pole, for the reason that this area of sky was permanently below the hori.on of the
constellation makers. !rom the e"tent of the constellation$free .one, we can conclude that the
constellation makers must have lived at a latitude of about EC degrees north - that is, south of
Greece but north of 3gypt.
A second clue comes from the fact that the constellation$free .one is centred not on the south
celestial pole at the time of Aratus but on its position many centuries earlier. The position of
the celestial pole changes slowly with time because of a wobble of the 3arth on its a"is, an
effect known as precession, and in principle this effect can be used to estimate the date of any
set of star positions.
=ecause of the uncertainties involved, however, attempts to date the constellations as
described by Aratus have produced a wide range of results. (erived values e"tend back to
nearly EAAA =5, with a ma'ority preference for somewhere around /AAA =5. A newer and
more comprehensive analysis by =radley #chaefer of 0ouisiana #tate Dniversity has concluded
that Aratus&s descriptions correspond to the sky as it appeared close to 11EA =5. At present,
the best we can say is that the constellations known to 3udo"us and Aratus were probably
invented in the second millennium =5 by people who lived close to latitude EC degrees north.
This date is too early for the Greeks and the latitude is too far south* 3gyptian civili.ation is
sufficiently old, but the re7uired latitude is well north of them. The time and the place, though,
ideally match the =abylonians and their #umerian ancestors who, as we have already seen,
had a well$developed knowledge of astronomy by /AAA =5. 4ence two independent lines of
evidence point to the =abylonians and #umerians as the originators of our constellation
system.
7
=ut why had the constellation system introduced by 3udo"us not been updated by its makers
to take account of the changing position of the celestial poleH As we have seen, the
constellations introduced by 3udo"us and described by Aratus in the Phaenoena refer to the
position of the celestial pole around 1AAA years earlier. =y the time of Aratus, the shift in
position of the celestial pole meant that certain stars mentioned in the Phaenoena were now
permanently below the hori.on from latitude EC degrees north, while others not mentioned by
Aratus had by then come into view. %ddly, 3udo"us himself seems not to have been bothered
by these anomalies, if he even noticed them* but the great Greek astronomer 4ipparchus
:fl.1?C-1/B =5; recogni.ed the differences and was understandably critical.
<rofessor Archie ,oy of Glasgow Dniversity has argued that the =abylonian constellations
reached 3gypt :and hence 3udo"us; via some other civili.ation* he proposes that they were
the +inoans who lived on 5rete and the surrounding islands off the coast of Greece, including
Thera :also known as #antorini;. 5rete lies between E@ and EC degrees north, which is the
right latitude, and the +inoan empire was e"panding between EAAA and /AAA =5, which is the
right date.
)hat&s more, the +inoans were in contact with the =abylonians through #yria from an early
stage. 4ence they must have been familiar with the old =abylonian constellations, and they
could well have adapted the =abylonian star groups into a practical system for navigation.
=ut the +inoan civili.ation was wiped out around 1BAA =5 by the e"plosive eruption of a
volcano on the island of Thera about 1/A km north of 5rete. It was one of the greatest natural
catastrophes in the history of civili.ation, the probable origin of the legend of Atlantis.
<rofessor ,oy supposes that +inoan refugees brought their knowledge of the stars to 3gypt
after the eruption, where it was eventually encountered by 3udo"us in unchanged form over a
thousand years later.
<rofessor ,oy&s thesis is an attractive one, for it is easy to imagine the +inoans utili.ing the
=abylonian constellation system in the way that he describes. In addition, many star myths
are centred on 5rete. 4owever, it must be admitted that there is no direct evidence, such as
wall paintings or star lists like those of the =abylonians, to demonstrate any +inoan interest in
astronomy. #o, for now, the theory that the +inoans were middlemen to our constellation
system remains nothing more than an appealing speculation.
The Phaenoena of Aratus was an immensely popular poem and was later translated several
times into 0atin. !or our purposes the most useful version is a 0atin adaptation of Aratus
attributed to Germanicus 5aesar :1@ =5-A( 19;, which has more information about the
identification of certain constellations than Aratus&s original. According to the scholar (. =.
Gain, this 0atin version of the Phaenoena could have been written either by Germanicus
himself or by his uncle :and adoptive father; Tiberius 5aesar, but in this book I refer to the
author simply as Germanicus.
After Aratus, the ne"t landmark in our study of Greek constellation lore is 3ratosthenes
:c./BC-c.19? =5;, to whom an essay called the Catasteriss is attributed. 3ratosthenes was a
Greek scientist and writer who worked in Ale"andria at the mouth of the 6ile. The
Catasteriss gives the mythology of ?/ separate constellations :the <leiades cluster is treated
individually;, with a listing of the main stars in each figure. The version of the Catasteriss
that survives is only a summary of the original, made at some unknown date, and it is not
even certain that the original was written by the real 3ratosthenes* hence the author of the
Catasteriss is usually referred to as pseudo$3ratosthenes. The anti7uity of his sources is
certain, though, because he 7uotes in places from a long$lost work on astronomy by 4esiod
:c.BAA =5;.
Another influential source of constellation mythology is a book called Poetic Astronoy by a
,oman author named 4yginus, apparently written in the second century A(. )e do not know
8
who 4yginus was, not even his full name - he was evidently not 5. 9ulius 4yginus, a ,oman
writer of the first century =5. Poetic Astronoy is based on the constellations listed by
3ratosthenes :4yginus differs only by including the <leiades under Taurus;, but it contains
many additional stories. 4yginus also wrote a compendium of general mythology called the
3a)ulae. In medieval and ,enaissance times many illustrated versions of 4yginus&s writings on
astronomy were produced.
+arcus +anilius, a ,oman author of whom virtually nothing is known, wrote a book called
Astronoica around the year A( 1@, clearly influenced by the Phaenoena of Aratus.
+anilius&s book deals mostly with astrology rather than astronomy, but it contains numerous
insights into constellation lore and I have 7uoted him a number of times.
The names of three other mythologists appear fre7uently on the following pages, and although
they are not astronomers they must be introduced before we return to the history of the
constellations. !oremost among them is the ,oman poet %vid :?E =5-A( 1B;, who recounts
many famous myths in his books the Metaorphoses, which deals with transformations of all
kinds, and the 3asti, a treatise on the ,oman calendar. Apollodorus was a Greek who compiled
an almost encyclopedic summary of myths known as the 1i)rary some time in the late first
century =5 or in the first century A(. !inally there is the Greek writer Apollonius ,hodius
:Apollonius of ,hodes; whose Ar!onautica, an epic poem on the voyage of 9ason and the
Argonauts composed in the third century =5, includes much mythological information. These
are the main sources for the stories in this book.
Greek astronomy reached its pinnacle with <tolemy :c.A( 1AA-c.1B; who worked in
Ale"andria, 3gypt. Around A( 1@A, <tolemy produced a summary of Greek astronomical
knowledge usually known by its later Arabic title of the Ala!est. At its heart was a catalogue
of 1A// stars arranged into ? constellations :see Table 1;, with estimates of their brightness,
based largely on the observations of the Greek astronomer 4ipparchus three centuries earlier.
Ta!le ": The #$ constellations listed !y the Greek astronomer Ptolemy in the
Almagest, second century %&'
9
Andromeda A7uarius A7uila
Ara
Argo 6avis :no( su)divided into
Carina' Puppis' and Vela;
Aries
Auriga =o>tes 5ancer
5anis +a'or 5anis +inor 5apricornus
5assiopeia 5entaurus 5epheus
5etus 5orona Australis 5orona =orealis
5orvus 5rater 5ygnus
(elphinus (raco 37uuleus
3ridanus Gemini 4ercules
4ydra 0eo 0epus
0ibra 0upus 0yra
%phiuchus %rion <egasus
<erseus <isces <iscis Austrinus
#agitta #agittarius #corpius
#erpens Taurus Triangulum
Drsa +a'or Drsa +inor Girgo
<tolemy did not identify the stars in his catalogue by means of Greek letters, as astronomers
do today, but described their position within each constellation figure. !or instance, the star in
Taurus which <tolemy referred to as Ithe reddish one on the southern eyeJ is known today as
Aldebaran. At times, this system became cumbersome2 IThe northernmost of the two stars
close together over the little shield in the poopJ is how <tolemy struggled to identify a star
:now called Ki <uppis; in the obsolete constellation of Argo.
The tradition of describing stars by their positions within a constellation had already been
established by 3ratosthenes and 4ipparchus. 5learly, the Greeks regarded the constellations
not merely as assemblages of stars but as true pictures in the sky. Identification would have
been easier if they had given the stars individual names, but <tolemy added only four stars to
those named by Aratus four centuries earlier2 Altair :which <tolemy called Aetus, meaning
eagle;* Antares* ,egulus :which he called =asiliscus;* and Gega :which he called 0yra, the
same name as its constellation;.
It would be difficult to overemphasi.e the influence of <tolemy on astronomy* the constellation
system we use today is essentially <tolemy&s, modified and e"tended. +apmakers in 3urope
and Arabia used his constellation figures for over 1@AA years, witness this passage from the
preface to the Atlas Coelestis by the first Astronomer ,oyal, 9ohn !lamsteed, published in
1B/92
I!rom <tolemy&s time to ours the names that he made use of have been continued by the
ingenious and learned men of all nations* the Arabians always used his forms and names of
the constellations* the old 0atin catalogues of the fi"ed stars use the same* 5opernicus&s
10
catalogue and Tycho =rahe&s use the same* so do the catalogues published in the German,
Italian, #panish, <ortuguese, !rench and 3nglish languages. All the observations of the
ancients and moderns make use of <tolemy&s forms of the constellations and names of the
stars so that there is a necessity of adhering to them, that we may not render the old
observations unintelligible by altering or departing from them.J
After <tolemy, Greek astronomy went into permanent eclipse. =y the eighth century A( the
centre of astronomy had moved east from Ale"andria to =aghdad where <tolemy&s work was
translated into Arabic and received the name Ala!est by which we still know it. Al$#ufi :A(
9AE-C;, one of the greatest Arabic astronomers :also known by the 0atini.ed name of
A.ophi;, produced his own version of the Ala!est called the Boo& o$ the 3ixed Stars in which
he introduced many star names.
%ll modern constellations, plus the +ilky )ay, are described on these pages. 5lick on a
link in the table below for an entry and illustration, or select from the pop$up menu above. !or
obsolete constellations, see 5hapter !our.
11
Andromeda Antlia Apus A7uarius
A7uila Ara Aries Auriga
=o>tes 5aelum 5amelopardalis 5ancer
5anes Genatici 5anis +a'or 5anis +inor 5apricornus
5arina 5assiopeia 5entaurus 5epheus
5etus 5hamaeleon 5ircinus 5olumba
5oma =erenices 5orona Australis 5orona =orealis 5orvus
5rater 5ru" 5ygnus (elphinus
(orado (raco 37uuleus 3ridanus
!orna" Gemini Grus 4ercules
4orologium 4ydra 4ydrus Indus
0acerta 0eo 0eo +inor 0epus
0ibra 0upus 0yn" 0yra
+ensa +icroscopium +onoceros +usca
6orma %ctans %phiuchus %rion
<avo <egasus <erseus <hoeni"
<ictor <isces <iscis Austrinus <uppis
<y"is ,eticulum #agitta #agittarius
#corpius #culptor #cutum #erpens
#e"tans Taurus Telescopium Triangulum
Triangulum Australe Tucana Drsa +a'or Drsa +inor
Gela Girgo Golans Gulpecula
The +ilky )ay
ANDROMEDA
<erhaps the most enduring of all Greek myths is the story of <erseus and Andromeda, the
original version of George and the dragon. Its heroine is beautiful Andromeda, the daughter of
the weak Fing 5epheus of 3thiopia and the vain Lueen 5assiopeia, whose boastfulness knew
no bounds.
Andromeda&s misfortunes began one day when her mother claimed that she was more
beautiful even than the 6ereids, a particularly alluring group of sea nymphs. The affronted
12
6ereids decided that 5assiopeia&s vanity had finally gone too far and they asked <oseidon, the
sea god, to teach her a lesson. In retribution, <oseidon sent a terrible monster :some say also
a flood; to ravage the cost of Fing 5epheus&s territory. (ismayed at the destruction, and with
his sub'ects clamouring for action, the beleaguered 5epheus appealed to the %racle of Ammon
for a solution. 4e was told that he must sacrifice his virgin daughter to appease the monster.
4ence the blameless Andromeda came to be chained to a rock to atone for the sins of her
mother, who watched from the shore with bitter remorse. The site of this event is said to have
been on the +editerranean coast at 9oppa :9affa;, the modern Tel$Aviv. As Andromeda stood
on the wave$lashed cliffs, pale with terror and weeping pitifully at her impending fate, the hero
<erseus happened by, fresh from his e"ploit of beheading +edusa the Gorgon. 4is heart was
captivated by the sight of the frail beauty in distress below.
Androeda chained to a roc&' depicted in the 4rano!raphia o$ Johann Bode -+#5+./
The ,oman poet %vid tells us in his book the Metaorphoses that <erseus at first almost
mistook her for a marble statue. %nly the wind ruffling her hair and the warm tears on her
cheeks showed that she was human. <erseus asked her name and why she was chained there.
#hy Andromeda, totally different in character from her vainglorious mother, did not at first
reply* even though awaiting a horrible death in the monster&s slavering 'aws, she would have
hidden her face modestly in her hands, had they not been bound to the rock.
13
<erseus persisted in his 7uestioning. 3ventually, afraid that her silence might be
misinterpreted as guilt, she told <erseus her story, but broke off with a scream as she saw the
monster breasting through the waves towards her. <ausing politely to ask the permission of
her parents for Andromeda&s hand in marriage, <erseus swooped down, killed the monster
with his sword, released the swooning girl to the enthusiastic applause of the onlookers and
claimed her for his bride. Andromeda later bore <erseus si" children including <erses, ancestor
of the <ersians, and Gorgophonte, father of Tyndareus, king of #parta.
It is said that the Greek goddess Athene placed Andromeda&s image among the stars, where
she lies between <erseus and her mother 5assiopeia. %nly the constellation <isces, the !ishes,
separates her from the #ea +onster, 5etus. #tar maps picture Andromeda with her hands in
chains. 4er head is marked by the second$magnitude star Alpha Andromedae, originally
shared with neighbouring <egasus where it marked the horse&s navel. This star is known by
the two alternative names of Alpherat. or #irrah which come respectively from the Arabic al6
$aras, meaning 1the horse&, and surrat, meaning 1navel&. The star is now assigned e"clusively to
Andromeda.
The girl&s waist is marked by the star =eta Andromedae, also called +irach, a name corrupted
from the Arabic al6i7zar meaning 1the girdle& or 1loin cloth&. 4er foot is marked by Gamma
Andromedae, whose name is variously spelled Almaak, Almach, or Alamak, from the Arabic
al67ana8, referring to the desert lyn" or caracal which the old Arabs visuali.ed here. Through
small telescopes this is a beautiful twin star of contrasting yellow and blue colours.
The most celebrated ob'ect in the constellation is the great spiral gala"y +E1, positioned on
Andromeda&s right hip, where it is visible as an elongated blur to the naked eye on clear
nights. +E1 is a whirlpool of stars similar to our own +ilky )ay. At a distance of around /.@
million light years, the Andromeda Gala"y is the farthest ob'ect visible to the naked eye.
AQUILA
A7uila represents an eagle, the thunderbird of the Greeks. There are several e"planations for
the presence of this eagle in the sky. In Greek and ,oman mythology, the eagle was the bird
of 8eus, carrying :and retrieving; the thunderbolts which the wrathful god hurled at his
enemies. =ut the eagle was involved in love as well as war.
According to one story, A7uila is the eagle that snatched up the beautiful Tro'an boy
Ganymede, son of Fing Tros, to become the cup$bearer of the gods on %lympus. Authorities
such as the ,oman poet %vid say that 8eus turned himself into an eagle, whereas others say
that the eagle was simply sent by 8eus. Ganymede himself is represented by the neighbouring
constellation of A7uarius, and star charts show A7uila swooping down towards A7uarius.
Germanicus 5aesar says that the eagle is guarding the arrow of 3ros :neighbouring #agitta;
which made 8eus love$struck.
The constellations of the eagle and the swan are linked in an account by 4yginus. 8eus fell in
love with the goddess 6emesis but, when she resisted his advances, he turned himself into a
swan and had Aphrodite pretend to pursue him in the form of an eagle. 6emesis gave refuge
to the escaping swan, only to find herself in the embrace of 8eus. To commemorate this
successful trick, 8eus placed the images of swan and eagle in the sky.
14
A8uila s(oopin! across the pa!es o$ 3lasteed7s Atlas Coelestis/ 9ts )ri!htest star' Altair'
lies in its nec& and is la)elled Alpha/
The name of the constellation&s brightest star, Altair, comes from the Arabic al6nasr al6ta7ir,
meaning 1flying eagle& or 1vulture&. <tolemy called this star Aetus, the eagle, the same as the
constellation. The German scholar <aul Funit.sch notes that the =abylonians and #umerians
referred to Altair as the eagle star, testimony to an even more ancient origin of the name.
Altair&s neighbouring stars =eta and Gamma A7uilae form the eagle&s outstretched wings.
These two stars have their own names, Alshain and Tara.ed, which come from a <ersian
translation of an old Arabic word meaning 1the balance&.
Altair forms one corner of the so$called #ummer Triangle with the stars Gega and (eneb,
found in the constellations 0yra and 5ygnus respectively. A charming eastern myth visuali.es
the stars of A7uila and those of 0yra as two lovers separated by the river of the +ilky )ay,
able to meet on 'ust one day each year when magpies collect to form a bridge across the
celestial river.
The southern part of A7uila was subdivided by <tolemy into a now$obsolete constellation called
Antinous, visuali.ed on some maps as being held in the eagle&s claws.
BOOTES THE HERDSMAN
15
This constellation :pronounced =oh$oh$tease; is closely linked in legend with the Great =ear,
Drsa +a'or, because of its position behind the bear&s tail. The origin of the name =o>tes is not
certain, but it probably comes from a Greek word meaning 1noisy& or 1clamorous&, referring to
the herdsman&s shouts to his animals. An alternative e"planation is that the name comes from
the ancient Greek meaning 1o"$driver&, from the fact that Drsa +a'or was sometimes visuali.ed
as a cart pulled by o"en. The Greeks also knew this constellation as Arctophyla", variously
translated as =ear )atcher, =ear Feeper or =ear Guard.
Bo:tes sho(n
standin! on
Mons
Maenalus' an
o)solete su)6
constellation'
in
the
4rano!raphia
o$ Johann
Bode -+#5+./
A)ove his
head is
another
o)solete
constellation'
;uadrans
Muralis/
According to a
story that
goes back to
3ratosthenes,
the
constellation
represents
Arcas, son of
the god 8eus
and 5allisto,
daughter of
Fing 0ycaon
of Arcadia.
%ne day 8eus
came to dine
with his
mistress&s
father 0ycaon,
an unusual thing for a god to do. To test whether his guest really was the great 8eus, 0ycaon
cut up Arcas and served him as part of a mi"ed grill :some say that this deed was done not by
0ycaon but by his sons;. 8eus easily recogni.ed the flesh of his own son. In a burning rage, he
tipped over the table, scattering the feast, killed the sons of 0ycaon with a thunderbolt, and
turned 0ycaon into a wolf. Then 8eus collected the parts of Arcas, made them whole again and
gave his reconstituted son to +aia the <leiad to bring up.
+eanwhile, 5allisto had been turned into a bear, some say by 8eus&s wife 4era out of 'ealousy,
or by 8eus himself to disguise his paramour from 4era&s revenge, or even by Artemis to punish
5allisto for losing her virginity. )hatever the case, when Arcas had grown into a strapping
teenager he came across this bear while hunting in the woods. 5allisto recogni.ed her son, but
though she tried to greet him warmly she could only growl. 6ot surprisingly, Arcas failed to
interpret this e"pression of motherly love and began to chase the bear. )ith Arcas in hot
16
pursuit, 5allisto fled into the temple of 8eus, a forbidden place where trespassers were
punished by death. 8eus snatched up Arcas and his mother and placed them in the sky as the
constellations of the bear and the bear$keeper. The Greek poet Aratus visuali.ed =o>tes as a
man driving the bear around the pole. 0ater astronomers have given =o>tes two dogs, in the
form of the neighbouring constellation 5anes Genatici.
A second legend identifies =o>tes with Icarius :not to be confused with Icarus, son of
(aedalus;. According to this tale, recounted at length by 4yginus in Poetic Astronoy :II.?;,
the god (ionysus taught Icarius how to cultivate vines and make wine. )hen he offered some
of his new vintage to shepherds, they became so into"icated that their friends thought they
had been poisoned, and in revenge they killed Icarius.
4is dog +aera fled home howling and led Icarius&s daughter 3rigone to where his body lay
beneath a tree. In despair, 3rigone hanged herself from the tree* even the dog died, either of
grief or by drowning itself. 8eus put Icarius into the sky as =o>tes, his daughter 3rigone
became the constellation Girgo and the dog became 5anis +inor or 5anis +a'or :according to
different authorities;.
=o>tes contains the fourth$brightest star in the entire sky, Arcturus, mentioned by 4omer,
4esiod and <tolemy. Its name means 1bear guard& in Greek. Germanicus 5aesar said that
Arcturus Ilies where his garment is fastened by a knotJ, but <tolemy placed it between the
thighs, which is where mapmakers have traditionally depicted it. Astronomers have found that
Arcturus is a red giant star about /@ times larger than the #un, lying EB light years away.
CANES VENATICI THE HUNTING
DOGS
The <olish astronomer 9ohannes 4evelius formed this constellation in 1CB from stars that had
previously been considered part of Drsa +a'or. 5anes Genatici represents two dogs held on a
lead by =o>tes, snapping at the heels of the Great =ear. The southern dog contains the two
brightest stars in the constellation, Alpha and =eta 5anum Genaticorum.
The idea of dogs being held by =o>tes was not original to 4evelius. %n a star chart published
in 1@EE the German astronomer <eter Apian showed =o>tes with two dogs at his heels and
holding their leash in his right hand. %n another chart published by Apian three years later the
number of dogs had grown to three and the leash had moved to the left hand, but the dogs
were still following =o>tes and not the bear. In neither case was any attempt made to connect
the dogs with charted stars, nor were they named, so the credit for showing the dogs in their
current position and for making them a separate constellation remains with 4evelius.
17
Canes
Venatici' t(o
huntin! do!s
held on a
leash )y
Bo:tes' seen
in the Atlas
Coelestis o$
John
3lasteed/ 3or
the ori!inal
depiction )y
Hevelius' clic&
here/
The star Alpha
is known as
5or 5aroli,
meaning
5harles&s
4eart, in
honour of Fing
5harles I of
3ngland. It
was given this
title by #ir
5harles #carborough, physician to Fing 5harles II. #carborough said that the star shone
particularly brightly on the night of 1CCA +ay /9, when Fing 5harles II returned to 0ondon at
the ,estoration of the +onarchy. =ecause of this there has been much confusion over which
Fing 5harles the star is supposed to commemorate, but it definitely refers to the first Fing
5harles. It was originally shown in 1CBE on a star map by the 3nglish cartographer !rancis
0amb under the name 5or 5aroli ,egis +artyris, a reference to the fact that Fing 5harles I was
beheaded. 0amb and others, such as the 3nglishman 3dward #herburne in 1CB@, drew a heart
around the star surmounted by a crown, turning it into a mini$constellation.
The star =eta is called 5hara, from the Greek for 1'oy&, the name given by 4evelius to the
southern dog. The northern dog, called Asterion :1starry&;, is marked only by a scattering of
faint stars. 9ohann =ode drew the dogs with their names engraved on their collars in his
4rano!raphia atlas.
5anes Genatici contains a globular cluster of stars, +E, and a beautiful spiral gala"y, +@1,
called the )hirlpool. +@1 was the first gala"y in which spiral form was noticed, by the Irish
astronomer 0ord ,osse in 1?@. It consists of a large gala"y in near$collision with a smaller
one.
CARINA THE KEEL
This is one of the parts into which the ancient Greek constellation of Argo 6avis, the ship of
the Argonauts, was divided by the !rench astronomer 6icolas 0ouis de 0acaille in his catalogue
of the southern stars, Coelu australe stelli$eru, published in 1BCE. Although usually
described as the keel, 5arina represents the main body of the ship. It contains the second$
brightest star in the entire sky, 5anopus, a creamy white supergiant 'ust over EAA light years
away, that marks one of the ship&s two steering oars.
18
5anopus is not mentioned by Aratus, because the star was below the hori.on from Greece in
his day* the name first appears with 3ratosthenes who worked farther south, at Ale"andria in
northern 3gypt, and hence would have seen it. Greek writers such as #trabo and 5onon tell us
that 5anopus is named after the helmsman of the Greek Fing +enelaus. %n +enelaus&s return
from Troy with 4elen his fleet was driven off$course by a storm and landed in 3gypt. There
5anopus died of a snake bite* 4elen killed the snake, and she and +enelaus buried 5anopus
with full honours. %n that site grew the city of 5anopus :the modern Abu Lir; at the mouth of
the 6ile. !ittingly, modern space probes now use 5anopus as a navigation star. 3ratosthenes
also knew this star by the name <erigee, in reference to the fact that it remained close to the
hori.on.
The constellation contains a uni7ue star, 3ta 5arinae, that flared up to become brighter than
5anopus in 1?E, but has since faded to the limit of naked$eye visibility. Astronomers think
that it is a young, massive star that will one day e"plode as a supernova.
ARGO NAVIS THE SHIP ARGO
Argo is a constellation that is not so much disused as dismantled. It was one of the ?
constellations known to Greek astronomers, as listed by <tolemy in the Ala!est, but
astronomers in the 1th century found it large and unwieldy and so divided it into three parts2
5arina, the Feel or body, <uppis, the <oop :i.e. stern;, and Gela, the #ails.
Argo 6avis represents the @A$oared galley in which 9ason and the Argonauts sailed to fetch
the golden fleece from 5olchis in the =lack #ea. 9ason entrusted the building of the ship to
Argus, after whom it was named. Argus built the ship under the orders of the goddess Athene
at the port of <agasae, using timber from nearby +ount <elion. Into the prow Athene fitted an
oak beam from the oracle of 8eus at (odona in north$western Greece. This area, like the
island of 5orfu nearby, was once noted for its forests of oak, before later shipbuilders stripped
them bare. =eing part of an oracle, this oak beam could speak and it was crying out for action
by the time the Argo left harbour.
19
Ar!o Navis doinates this cro(ded scene in the southern celestial heisphere in the
4rano!raphia o$ Johann Bode -+#5+./ <n the )lade o$ one o$ the steerin! oars lies the )ri!ht
star Canopus' no( part o$ the constellation Carina/
The pro( o$ the ship (as usually ia!ined as disappearin! )et(een the Clashin! =oc&s or
vanishin! into the ists o$ the Mil&y >ay' )ut here the roc&s are replaced )y Charles7s
<a& -=o)ur Caroli 99.' a no(6o)solete constellation invented )y 2dond Halley/ 4nli&e other
depictions o$ Ar!o' this version has no ain ast risin! $ro the )ody o$ the ship/ The spar
around (hich the sail is (rapped appears to eer!e $ro the stern' )ut this ay )e an
artistic error/
Because o$ Ar!o7s considera)le size' carto!raphers stru!!led to depict it success$ully on a
sin!le chart/ The attept )y Bode a)ove is perhaps the )est' )ut $or soe alternative vie(s
clic& here/
9ason took with him @A of the greatest Greek heroes, including the twins 5astor and
<olydeuces, the musician %rpheus, as well as Argus, the ship&s builder. 3ven 4eracles
interrupted his labours to 'oin the crew.
Apollonius of ,hodes, who wrote the epic story of the ship&s voyage to 5olchis and back,
described Argo as the finest ship that ever braved the sea with oars. 3ven in the roughest of
seas the bolts of Argo held her planks together safely, and she ran as sweetly when the crew
were pulling at the oars as she did before the wind. Isaac 6ewton thought the voyage of the
Argo was commemorated in the 1/ signs of the .odiac, although the connections are hard to
see.
20
Among the greatest dangers the Argonauts faced en route were the 5lashing rocks, or
#ymplegades, which guarded the entrance to the =lack #ea like a pair of sliding doors,
crushing ships between them. As the Argonauts rowed along the =osporus, they could hear
the terrifying clash of the ,ocks and the thunder of surf. The Argonauts released a dove and
watched it fly ahead of them. The ,ocks converged on the dove, nipping off its tail feathers,
but the bird got through. Then, as the ,ocks separated, the Argonauts rowed with all their
might. A well$timed push from the divine hand of Athene helped the ship through the ,ocks
'ust as they slammed together again, shearing off the mascot from Argo&s stern. Argo had
become the first ship to run the gauntlet of the ,ocks and survive. Thereafter the 5lashing
,ocks remained rooted apart.
%nce safely into the =lack #ea, 9ason and the Argonauts headed for 5olchis. There they stole
the golden fleece from Fing AeMtes, and made off with it back to Greece by a roundabout
route. After their return, 9ason left the Argo beached at 5orinth, where he dedicated it to
<oseidon, the sea god.
3ratosthenes said that the constellation represents the first ocean$going ship ever built, and
the ,oman writer +anilius concurred. 4owever, this attribution must be wrong because the
first ship was actually built by (anaus, father of the @A (anaids, again with the help of
Athene, and he sailed it with his daughters from 0ibya to Argos.
%nly the stern of Argo is shown in the sky. +ap makers attempted to account for this either by
depicting its prow vanishing into a bank of mist, as Aratus described it, or by passing between
the 5lashing ,ocks. ,obert Graves recounts the e"planation that 9ason in his old age returned
to 5orinth where he sat beneath the rotting hulk of Argo, contemplating past events. 9ust at
that moment the rotten beams of the prow fell off and killed him. <oseidon then placed the
rest of the ship among the stars. 4yginus, though, says that Athene placed Argo among the
stars from steering oars to sail when the ship was first launched, but says nothing about what
happened to the prow.
Argo was first divided into three parts by the !rench astronomer 6icolas 0ouis de 0acaille in his
catalogue of the southern stars published in 1BCE and it now lies permanently dismembered.
CETUS THE SEA MONSTER
)hen 5assiopeia, wife of Fing 5epheus of 3thiopia, boasted that she was more beautiful than
the sea nymphs called the 6ereids she set in motion one of the most celebrated stories in
mythology, whose characters are commemorated in the sky. In retribution for the insult to the
6ereids, the sea god <oseidon sent a monster to ravage the coast of 5epheus&s territory. That
monster is represented by the constellation 5etus.
To rid himself of the monster, 5epheus was instructed by the %racle of Ammon to offer up his
daughter Andromeda as a sacrifice to the monster. Andromeda was chained to the cliffs at
9oppa :the modern Tel$Aviv; to await her terrible fate.
5etus was visuali.ed by the Greeks as a hybrid creature, with enormous gaping 'aws and the
forefeet of a land animal, attached to a scaly body with huge coils like a sea serpent. 4ence
5etus is drawn on star maps as a most unlikely looking creature, more comical than
frightening, nothing like a whale although it is sometimes identified as one.
21
The )izarre6
loo&in! sea
onster Cetus'
illustrated in
the Atlas
Coelestis o$
John
3lasteed/
Andromeda
trembled as
the =$movie
monster made
towards her,
cleaving
through the
waves like a
huge ship.
!ortunately, at
this moment
the hero
<erseus
happened by
and si.ed up
the situation.
#wooping
down like an eagle onto the monster&s back, <erseus plunged his sword into the creature&s
right shoulder. The monster reared up on its coils and twisted around, its cruel 'aws snapping
at its attacker. Again and again <erseus plunged his sword into the beast - through its ribs, its
barnacle$encrusted back and at the root of its tail. #pouting blood, the monster finally
collapsed into the sea and lay there like a waterlogged hulk. Its corpse was hauled on shore by
the appreciative locals who skinned it and put its bones on display.
5etus is the fourth$largest constellation, as befits such a monster, but none of its stars is
particularly bright. Alpha 5eti is called +enkar from the Arabic meaning 1nostrils&, a misnomer
since this star lies on the beast&s 'aw. The most celebrated star in the constellation is +ira, a
0atin name meaning 1the ama.ing one&, given on account of its variability in brightness. At
times it can easily be seen with the naked eye, but for most of the time it is so faint that it
cannot be seen without binoculars or a telescope. +ira is a red giant star whose brightness
variations are caused by changes in si.e. The star was first recorded in 1@9C by the (utch
astronomer (avid !abricius, but the cyclic nature of the changes was not recogni.ed until
1CE. The name +ira was given to the star by the <olish astronomer 9ohannes 4evelius in
1CC/, when it was the only variable star known.
22
=etween =o>tes and 0eo lies an attractive little swarm of stars that was known to the Greeks
but was not classed by them as a separate constellation, being considered part of 0eo.
3ratosthenes referred to it as the hair of Ariadne under his entry on the 6orthern 5rown
:5orona =orealis;, but under 0eo he said it was the hair of Lueen =erenice of 3gypt, which is
as we know it today. <tolemy referred to these stars as 1a nebulous mass, called the lock& :i.e.
of hair; in his Ala!est of c. A( 1@A, and it was occasionally illustrated as such thereafter, but
the group was officially made into a separate constellation in 1@@1 by the (utch cartographer
Gerardus +ercator. In 1CA/ Tycho =rahe included it in his influential star catalogue.
Coa
Berenices' the
$lo(in! tresses
o$ an 2!yptian
8ueen' $ro
the
4rano!raphia
o$ Johann
Bode/
=erenice was a
real person
who, in the
third century
=5, married
her brother,
<tolemy III
3uergetes, as
was the
tradition of the
3gyptian royal
family.
=erenice was
reputedly a
great
horsewoman
who had
already distinguished herself in battle. 4yginus, who deals with the star group under 0eo in his
Poetic Astronoy, tells the following story. It seems that a few days after their marriage
<tolemy set out to attack Asia. =erenice vowed that if he returned victorious she would cut off
her hair in gratitude to the gods. %n <tolemy&s safe return, the relieved =erenice carried out
her promise and placed her hair in the temple dedicated to her mother ArsinoM :identified after
her death with Aphrodite; at 8ephyrium near the modern Aswan. =ut the following day the
tresses were missing. )hat really happened to them is not recorded, but 5onon of #amos, a
mathematician and astronomer who worked at Ale"andria, pointed out the group of stars near
the tail of the lion, telling the king that the hair of =erenice had gone to 'oin the constellation.
and
23
These two ad'acent constellations are linked in a moral tale that goes back at least to the time
of 3ratosthenes. As told by %vid in his 3asti, Apollo was about to make a sacrifice to 8eus and
sent the crow to fetch water from a running spring. The crow flew off with a bowl in its claws
until it came to a fig tree laden with unripe fruit. Ignoring its orders, the crew waited several
days for the fruit to ripen, by which time Apollo had been forced to find a source of water for
himself.
Corvus and
Crater' t(o
ad?acent
constellations
on the )ac& o$
Hydra' sho(n
in the
4rano!raphia
o$ Johann
Bode/
After eating its
fill of the
delicious fruit,
the crow
looked around
for an alibi. 4e
picked up a
water$snake in
his claws and
returned with
it to Apollo,
blaming the
serpent for
blocking the
spring. =ut
Apollo, one of whose skills was the art of prophecy, saw through the lie and condemned the
crow to a life of thirst - which is perhaps one e"planation for the rasping call of the crow. In
memorial of this incident, Apollo put the crow, the cup and the water$snake together in the
sky.
The crow is depicted pecking at the water snake&s coils, as though attempting to move it so
that the crow may reach the cup to drink. The cup, usually represented as a magnificent
double$handed chalice, is shown tilted towards the crow but tantalisingly 'ust out of the thirsty
bird&s reach. The water$snake is the constellation 4ydra which, in another legend, doubles as
the creature slain by 4eracles.
The crow was the sacred bird of Apollo, who changed himself into one to flee from the monster
Typhon when that immense creature threatened the gods. In another story, related by %vid in
his Metaorphoses, the crow was once snow$white like a dove, but the bird brought news to
Apollo that his love, 5oronis, had been unfaithful. Apollo in his anger cursed the crow, turning
it for ever black
24
This inconspicuous constellation, sandwiched between 5ygnus and Andromeda like a li.ard
between rocks, was introduced by the <olish astronomer 9ohannes 4evelius on his star atlas
3iraentu So)iescianu published in 1C9A. 4evelius gave it the alternative title of #tellio,
a type of li.ard also known as a starred agama, but this name soon fell into disuse. 0acerta&s
stars are of fourth magnitude and fainter and none have names, nor are there any legends
associated with the constellation.
1acerta
slithers
)et(een
Cy!nus' top
ri!ht' and the
o)solete
constellation o$
Honores
3riderici -no(
part o$
Androeda.'
)otto' as
seen on the
4rano!raphia
o$ Johann
Bode/ 3or
Hevelius7s
ori!inal
depiction' see
here/
%riginally, the area of sky we know as 0ibra was occupied by the claws of the #corpion,
#corpius. The Greeks called this area 5helae, literally meaning 1claws&, an identification that
lives on in the names of the individual stars of 0ibra :see below;. As things have worked out,
0ibra is now a slightly larger constellation than #corpius, but is much less conspicuous.
The identification of this area with a balance became established in the first century =5 among
the ,omans, although e"actly when it was introduced and by whom has been lost in the mists
of history. To the ,omans, 0ibra was a favoured constellation. The +oon was said to have been
in 0ibra when ,ome was founded. 1Italy belongs to the =alance, her rightful sign. =eneath it
,ome and her sovereignty of the world were founded&, said the ,oman writer +anilius. 4e
described 0ibra as 1the sign in which the seasons are balanced, and the hours of night and day
match each other&. This is a hint that the ,omans visuali.ed the constellation as a balance
because the #un lay there at the autumn e7uino", when day and night are e7ual. =ut the idea
of a balance in this area did not originate with the ,omans. According to historian Gwyneth
4euter the #umerians knew this area as 8I=$=A A6$6A, the balance of heaven, /AAA years
=5. 4ence it seems that the ,omans revived a constellation that e"isted before Greek times.
25
The )alance pans o$ 1i)ra' depicted in the Atlas Coelestis o$ John 3lasteed/
0ibra is the only constellation of the .odiac to represent an inanimate ob'ect* the other 11
.odiacal constellations represent animals or mythological characters. %nce the identification of
0ibra with a pair of scales became established it was natural to divorce it entirely from
#corpius and to associate it instead with the other flanking .odiacal figure, Girgo, who was
identified with (ike or Astraeia, goddess of 'ustice. 0ibra thus became the scales of 'ustice
held aloft by the goddess.
0ibra&s brightest star, second$magnitude Alpha 0ibrae, is called 8ubenelgenubi from the Arabic
meaning 1the southern claw&, a reminder of the Greek identification of this constellation with
the claws of the scorpion. =eta 0ibrae is 8ubeneschamali, 1the northern claw&.
26
IThere is a certain place where the scorpion with his tail and curving claws sprawls across two
signs of the .odiacJ, wrote %vid in his Metaorphoses. 4e was referring to the ancient Greek
version of #corpius, which was much larger than the constellation we know today. The Greek
scorpion was in two halves2 one half contained its body and sting, while the front half
comprised the claws. The Greeks called this front half 5helae, which means 1claws&. In the first
century =5 the ,omans made the claws into a separate constellation, 0ibra, the =alance.
In mythology, this is the scorpion that stung %rion the hunter to death, although accounts
differ as to the e"act circumstances. 3ratosthenes offers two versions. Dnder his description of
#corpius he says that %rion tried to ravish Artemis, the hunting goddess, and that she sent the
scorpion to sting him, an account that is supported by Aratus. =ut in his entry on %rion,
3ratosthenes says that the 3arth sent the scorpion to sting %rion after he had boasted that he
could kill any wild beast. 4yginus also gives both stories. Aratus says that the death of %rion
happened on the island of 5hios, but 3ratosthenes and 4yginus place it in 5rete.
In either case, the moral is that %rion suffers retribution for his hubris. This seems to be one
of the oldest of Greek myths and the origin may lie in the sky itself, since the two
constellations are placed opposite each other so that %rion sets as his con7ueror the scorpion
rises. =ut the constellation is much older than the Greeks, for the #umerians knew it as GI,$
TA=, the scorpion, over @AAA years ago.
Scorpius
$ro the
4rano!raphia o$ Johann Bode/ Part o$ the scorpion7s )ody is overlapped )y the $oot o$
<phiuchus/ 9n the iddle o$ the scorpion7s )ody lies the red star Antares/ <n this chart' Bode
also !ives Antares the alternative nae Cal)alacra)' $ro the Ara)ic eanin! @scorpion7s
heart7/
27
#corpius clearly resembles a scorpion, particularly the curving line of stars that form its tail
with its sting raised to strike. %ld star maps show one foot of %phiuchus, to the north,
awkwardly overlapping the scorpion&s body. Incidentally, #corpius is the modern astronomical
name for the constellation* #corpio is the old name, used by astrologers.
The brightest star in #corpius is brilliant Antares, a name that comes from the Greek meaning
1like +ars& :often translated as 1rival of +ars&; on account of its strong reddish$orange colour,
similar to that of the planet +ars. Antares is a remarkable supergiant star, several hundred
times the diameter of our #un. =eta #corpii is called Graffias, 0atin for 1claws&. This star is
sometimes also known as Acrab, from the Arabic for 1scorpion&. (elta #corpii is called
(schubba, a strange$sounding name that is a corruption of the Arabic word meaning
1forehead&, in reference to its position in the middle of the scorpion&s head. At the end of the
scorpion&s tail lies 0ambda #corpii, called #haula from the Arabic meaning 1the sting&.
5anis +a'or is dominated by the star #irius,
popularly called the (og #tar, the most brilliant
star in the entire sky* almost certainly the
constellation originated with this star alone.
Aratus referred to 5anis +a'or as the guard$dog of
%rion, following on the heels of its master and standing on its hind legs with #irius carried in
its 'aws. +anilius called it Ithe dog with the bla.ing faceJ. 5anis +a'or seems to cross the sky
in pursuit of the hare, represented by the constellation 0epus under %rion&s feet.
Canis Ma?or'
(ith
Sirius ar&in!
its snout' sho(n
in the
4rano!raphia o$
Johann Bode
-+#5+./
+ythologists
such as
3ratosthenes
and 4yginus
said that the
constellation
represented
0aelaps, a dog
so swift that no
prey could
outrun it. This
dog had a long
list of owners,
one of them
being <rocris,
daughter of
Fing 3rechtheus
of Athens and
wife of
5ephalus, but accounts differ about how she came by it. In one version the dog was given to
her by Artemis, goddess of hunting* but a more likely account says that it is the dog given by
8eus to 3uropa, whose son +inos, Fing of 5rete, passed it on to <rocris. The dog was
presented to her along with a 'avelin that could never miss* this turned out to be an unlucky
gift, for her husband 5ephalus accidentally killed her with it while out hunting.
28
5ephalus inherited the dog, and took it with him to Thebes :not Thebes in 3gypt but a town in
=oeotia, north of Athens; where a vicious fo" was ravaging the countryside. The fo" was so
swift of foot that it was destined never to be caught - yet 0aelaps the hound was destined to
catch whatever it pursued. %ff they went, almost faster than the eye could follow, the
inescapable dog in pursuit of the uncatchable fo". At one moment the dog would seem to have
its prey within grasp, but could only close its 'aws on thin air as the fo" raced ahead of it
again. There could be no resolution of such a parado", so 8eus turned them both to stone, and
the dog he placed in the sky as 5anis +a'or, without the fo".
The name of the star #irius comes from the Greek word seirius meaning 1searing& or
1scorching&, highly appropriate for something so brilliant. In Greek times its rising at dawn 'ust
before the #un marked the start of the hottest part of the summer, a time that hence became
known as the (og (ays. 1It barks forth flame and doubles the burning heat of the #un&, said
+anilius, e"pressing a belief held by the Greeks and ,omans that the star had a heating
effect. The ancient Greek writer 4esiod wrote of 1heads and limbs drained dry by #irius&, and
Girgil in the %eor!ics said that 1the torrid (og #tar cracks the fields&.
Germanicus 5aesar outlined clearly the effects that the rising of #irius with the #un was
supposed to have. 4ealthy crops it strengthens, but those with shrivelled leaves or feeble
roots it kills. 1There is no star the farmer likes more or hates more&, according to Germanicus.
14ardly is it inferior to the #un, save that its abode is far away&, wrote +anilius, anticipating
the modern view that stars are bodies like the #un only vastly more distant. Net, in
contradiction of the supposed heating effects of #irius, +anilius continued2 1The beams it
launches from its sky$blue face are cold&. That description of the colour of #irius is in contrast
to <tolemy&s surprising reference to it as reddish, which has caused all manner of arguments.
In fact, +anilius was nearly correct, for #irius is a blue$white star, even larger and brighter
than the #un. It lies .C light years away, making it one of the #un&s closest neighbours. It has
a white dwarf companion star, visible only through telescopes, that orbits it every @A years.
5assiopeia was the vain and boastful wife of Fing 5epheus of 3thiopia, who lies ne"t to her in
the sky. They are the only husband$and$wife couple among the constellations. 5lassical
authors spell her name 5assiepeia, but 5assiopeia is the form used by astronomers.
)hile combing her long locks one day, 5assiopeia dared to claim that she was more beautiful
than the sea nymphs called the 6ereids. There were @A 6ereids, daughters of 6ereus, the so$
called %ld +an of the #ea. %ne of the 6ereids, Amphitrite, was married to <oseidon, the sea
god. The 6ereids appealed to <oseidon to punish 5assiopeia for her vanity, and the sea god
sent a monster to ravage the coast of Fing 5epheus&s country. This monster is commemorated
in the constellation 5etus. To appease the monster, 5epheus and 5assiopeia chained their
daughter Andromeda to a rock as a sacrifice, but Andromeda was saved from the monster&s
'aws by the hero <erseus in one of the most famous rescue stories in history.
As an added punishment, 5assiopeia was condemned to circle the celestial pole for ever,
sometimes hanging upside down in undignified posture. In the sky 5assiopeia is depicted
sitting on her throne, still fussing with her hair.
29
Cassiopeia'
the vain
8ueen seated
on her
throne'
depicted in
the
Atlas
Coelestis o$
John
3lasteed
-+ABC./
The
constellation
of 5assiopeia
has a
distinctive )$
shape made
up of its five
brightest
stars, which
writers such
as Aratus
likened to a
key or a
folding door.
Alpha
5assiopeiae is
called #hedir
or #chedar,
from the
Arabic
meaning 1the
breast&, which
position it
marks. =eta
5assiopeiae is
known as 5aph from the Arabic meaning 1stained hand&, as it was thought by them to
represent a hand stained with henna. (elta 5assiopeiae is named ,uchbah, from the Arabic for
1knee&. The central star of the ), called Gamma 5assiopeiae, is an erratic variable star, given
to occasional outbursts in brightness.
5oiled around the sky&s north pole is the celestial dragon, (raco. 0egend has it that this is the
dragon slain by 4eracles during one of his labours, and in the sky the dragon is depicted with
one foot of 4eracles :in the form of the neighbouring constellation 4ercules; planted firmly
upon its head. This dragon, named 0adon, guarded the precious tree on which grew the
golden apples.
30
4era had been given the golden apple tree as a wedding present when she married 8eus. #he
was so delighted with it that she planted it in her garden on the slopes of +ount Atlas and set
the 4esperides, daughters of Atlas, to guard it. +ost authorities say there were three
4esperides, but Apollodorus names four. They proved untrustworthy guards, for they kept
picking the apples. #terner measures were re7uired, so 4era placed the dragon 0adon around
the tree to ward off pilferers.
Draco (indin!
around the
north celestial
pole in the
4rano!raphia
o$ Johann
Bode/ The
dra!on7s lon!
tail is la)elled
Cauda
Draconis/
According to
Apollodorus,
0adon was the
offspring of the
monster
Typhon and
3chidna, a
creature half
woman and
half serpent.
0adon had one
hundred
heads, says
Apollodorus,
and could talk
in different
voices. 4esiod,
though, says
that the
dragon was the
offspring of the sea deities <horcys and 5eto, and he does not mention the number of heads.
In the sky, the dragon is single$headed.
The great hero 4eracles was re7uired to steal some apples from the tree as one of his labours.
4e did so by killing the dragon with his poisoned arrows. Apollonius ,hodius recounts that the
Argonauts came across the body of 0adon the day after 4eracles had shot him. The dragon lay
by the trunk of the apple tree, its tail still twitching but the rest of its coiled body bereft of life.
!lies died in the poison of its festering wounds while nearby the 4esperides bewailed the
dragon&s death, covering their golden heads with their white arms. 4era placed the image of
the dragon in the sky as the constellation (raco.
(espite its considerable si.e, the eighth$largest constellation, (raco is not particularly
prominent. Its brightest star is second$magnitude Gamma (raconis, called 3tamin or 3ltanin,
from the Arabic al6tinnin meaning 1the serpent&. Alpha (raconis is called Thuban, from a highly
corrupted form of the Arabic ra7s al6tinnin, 1the serpent&s head&. =eta (raconis is called
,astaban, another corrupted form of the same Arabic name. The stars =eta, Gamma, 6u, and
8eta (raconis form a shape which we regard as the dragon&s head, but which bedouin Arabs
31
visuali.ed as four mother camels with a baby camel at the centre, the baby being represented
by an unnamed Cth$magnitude star.
Gemini represents the twins 5astor and <olydeuces :<ollu" is the 0atin form of his name;* they
were known to the Greeks as the (ioscuri, literally meaning 1sons of 8eus&. 4owever,
mythologists disputed whether both really were sons of 8eus, because of the unusual
circumstances of their birth. Their mother was 0eda, Lueen of #parta, whom 8eus visited one
day in the form of a swan :now represented by the constellation 5ygnus;. That same night she
also slept with her husband, Fing Tyndareus. =oth unions were fruitful, for 0eda subse7uently
gave birth to four children. In the most commonly accepted version, <olydeuces and 4elen
:later to become famous as 4elen of Troy; were children of 8eus, and hence immortal, while
5astor and 5lytemnestra were fathered by Tyndareus, and hence were mortal.
5astor and <olydeuces grew up the closest of friends, never 7uarrelling or acting without
consulting each other. They were said to look alike and even to dress alike, as identical twins
often do. 5astor was a famed horseman and warrior who taught 4eracles to fence, while
<olydeuces was a champion bo"er.
32
The insepara)le t(ins Castor and Polydeuces are coeorated in the constellation %eini'
depicted here in the Atlas Coelestis o$ John 3lasteed/ Castor carries a lyre and an arro('
Polydeuces a clu)/ The stars Castor and Pollux ar& the heads o$ the t(ins/
The inseparable twins 'oined the e"pedition of 9ason and the Argonauts in search of the golden
fleece. The bo"ing skills of <olydeuces came in use when the Argonauts landed in a region of
Asia +inor ruled by Amycus, a son of <oseidon. Amycus, the world&s greatest bully, would not
allow visitors to leave until they had fought him in a bo"ing match, which he invariably won.
4e stamped down to the shore where the Argo lay and challenged the crew to put up a man
against him. <olydeuces, stirred by the man&s arrogance, accepted at once and the two pulled
on leather gloves. <olydeuces easily avoided the rushes of his opponent, like a matador side$
stepping a charging bull, and felled Amycus with a blow to the head that splintered his skull.
%n the Argonauts& homeward trip with the golden fleece 5astor and <olydeuces were of further
value to the crew. Apollonius ,hodius tells us briefly that during the voyage from the mouth of
the ,hone to the #toechades Islands :the present$day Iles d&4yOres off Toulon; the Argonauts
owed their safety to 5astor and <olydeuces. <resumably a storm was involved, but he does not
elaborate on the circumstances. 3ver since this episode, says Apollonius - and he assures us
there were other voyages on which they were saviours - the twins have been the patron saints
33
of sailors. 4yginus said that the twins were given the power to save shipwrecked sailors by
<oseidon, the sea god, who also presented them with the white horses that they often rode.
+ariners believed that during storms at sea the twins appeared in a ship&s rigging in the form
of the electrical phenomenon known as #t 3lmo&s fire, as described by <liny, the ,oman writer
of the first century A(, in his book Natural History2
%n a voyage stars alight on the yards and other parts of the ship. If there are two of them,
they denote safety and portend a successful voyage. !or this reason they are called 5astor and
<ollu", and people pray to them as gods for aid at sea.
A single glow was called 4elen and was considered a sign of disaster.
5astor and <olydeuces clashed with another pair of twins, Idas and 0ynceus, over two
beautiful women. Idas and 0ynceus :who were also members of the Argo&s crew; were
engaged to <hoebe and 4ilaira, but 5astor and <olydeuces carried them off. Idas and 0ynceus
gave pursuit and the two sets of twins fought it out. 5astor was run through by a sword thrust
from 0ynceus, whereupon <olydeuces killed him. Idas attacked <olydeuces but was repulsed by
a thunderbolt from 8eus.
Another story says that the two pairs of twins made up their 7uarrel over the women, but
came to blows over the division of some cattle they had 'ointly rustled. )hatever the case,
<olydeuces grieved for his fallen brother and asked 8eus that the two should share
immortality. 8eus placed them both in the sky as the constellation Gemini, where they are
seen in close embrace, inseparable to the last.
Aratus referred to the constellation only as the twins, without identifying who they were, but a
century later 3ratosthenes named them as 5astor and <olydeuces. An alternative view,
reported by 4yginus, says that the constellation represents Apollo and 4eracles, both sons of
8eus but not twins. <tolemy supported this interpretation* the stars that we know as 5astor
and <ollu" he called 1the star of Apollo& and 1the star of 4eracles&. This identification is found
not in <tolemy&s famous Ala!est but in a more obscure treatise called Tetra)i)los, about
astrology. #everal star maps personify the twins as Apollo and 4eracles* on the illustration
shown here, for e"ample, one twin is depicted holding a lyre and arrow, attributes of Apollo,
while the other carries a club, as did 4eracles.
The two brightest stars in the constellation, marking the heads of the twins, are named 5astor
and <ollu". Astronomers have found that 5astor is actually a comple" system of si" stars
linked by gravity, although to the eye they appear as one. <ollu" is an orange giant star. Dnlike
the twins that they represent, the stars 5astor and <ollu" are not related since they lie at
different distances from us. 3ta Geminorum is called <ropus, meaning 1forward foot& in Greek,
a name that first appears with 3ratosthenes.
4ydra is the largest of the constellations, winding a 7uarter of the way around the sky. Its
head is south of the constellation 5ancer, the 5rab, while the tip of its tail lies between 0ibra,
the #cales, and 5entaurus, the 5entaur. Net for all its si.e there is nothing prominent about
4ydra. Its only star of note is second$magnitude Alphard, a name that comes from the Arabic
al6$ard appropriately meaning 1the solitary one&.
34
The water$snake features in two legends. !irst, and most familiar, the 4ydra was the creature
that 4eracles fought and killed as the second of his famous labours. The 4ydra was a multi$
headed creature, the offspring of the monster Typhon and the half$woman, half$serpent called
3chidna. 4ydra was thus the brother of the dragon that guarded the golden apples,
commemorated in the constellation (raco. 4ydra reputedly had nine heads, the middle one of
which was immortal. :In the sky, though, it is shown with one head only - perhaps this is the
immortal one.;
4ydra lived in a swamp near the town of 0erna, from where it sallied forth over the
surrounding plain, eating cattle and ravaging the countryside. Its breath and even the smell of
its tracks were said to be so poisonous that anyone who breathed them died in agony.
4eracles rode up to the 4ydra&s lair in his chariot and fired flaming arrows into the swamp to
force the creature into the open, where he grappled with it. The 4ydra wrapped itself around
one of his legs* 4eracles smashed at its heads with his club but no sooner had one head been
destroyed than two grew in its place. To add to 4eracles&s worries, a huge crab scuttled out of
the swamp and attacked his other foot, but 4eracles stamped on the crab and crushed it. The
crab is commemorated in the constellation 5ancer.
4eracles called for help to his charioteer Iolaus who burned the stump of each head as soon as
it was struck off to prevent others growing in its place. !inally 4eracles cut off the immortal
head of the 4ydra and buried it under a heavy rock by the roadside. 4e slit open the body of
the 4ydra and dipped his arrows in its poisonous gall.
Hydra (inds across the pa!es o$ John 3lasteed7s Atlas Coelestis/ <n its )ac& are Corvus and
Crater' associated (ith it in le!end/
A second legend associates the water$snake with the constellations of the 5row :5orvus; and
the 5up :5rater; that lie on its back. In this story, the crow was sent by Apollo to fetch water
in the bowl, but loitered to eat figs from a tree. )hen the crow eventually returned to Apollo it
35
blamed the water$snake for blocking the spring. =ut Apollo knew that the crow was lying, and
punished him by placing him in the sky, where the water$snake eternally prevents him from
drinking out of the bowl.
3ratosthenes and 4yginus both affirm that the lion was placed in the sky because it is the king
of beasts. +ythologically speaking, this is reputed to be the lion of 6emea, slain by 4eracles
as the first of his 1/ labours. 6emea is a town some way south$west of 5orinth. There the lion
lived in a cave with two mouths, emerging to carry off the local inhabitants, who were
becoming scarce. The lion was an invulnerable beast of uncertain parentage* it was variously
said to have been sired by the dog %rthrus, the monster Typhon or even to be the offspring of
#elene, the +oon goddess. Its skin was proof against all weapons, as 4eracles found when he
shot an arrow at the lion and saw that it simply bounced off.
Dndeterred, 4eracles heaved up his mighty club and made after the animal, which retreated
into its cave. 4eracles blocked up one of the entrances and went in through the other. 4e
grappled with the lion, locking his huge arm around its throat and choking the beast to death.
4eracles carried the lion&s corpse away in triumph on his shoulders. 0ater he used the
creature&s own ra.or$sharp claws to cut off its pelt, which he wore as a cloak. The lion&s gaping
mouth bobbing above his own head made 4eracles look more fearsome than ever.
1eo sho(n
ready to
pounce in
the Atlas
Coelestis
o$ John
3lasteed
-+ABC./
9n his
chest can
)e $ound
the )ri!ht
star
=e!ulus'
la)elled
Alpha/ 1eo
lies
on the
Sun7s path
around the
s&y' the
ecliptic'
here
ar&ed )y
a
dashed
line/
36
It is easy to make out the shape of a crouching lion in the stars of 0eo, its head being outlined
by a sickle$shape of stars. +arking the lion&s heart :where <tolemy located it; is the
constellation&s brightest star, Alpha 0eonis, called ,egulus, 0atin for 1little king&* its Greek
name, =asiliscos, had the same meaning. The tail is marked by the star =eta 0eonis, called
(enebola from the Arabic for 1the lion&s tail&. Gamma 0eonis is called Algieba, from the Arabic
meaning 1the forehead&* this seems pu..ling, since according to <tolemy it lies in the lion&s
neck, but the Arabs saw here a very much larger lion than the one visuali.ed by the Greeks.
Gamma 0eonis is a celebrated double star, consisting of a pair of yellow giant stars divisible in
small telescopes. (elta 0eonis is called 8osma from a Greek word meaning 1girdle& or 1loin
cloth&, mistakenly applied to this star in ,enaissance times.
The ancient Greeks called this constellation Therium, representing an unspecified wild animal,
while the ,omans called it =estia, the =east. It was visuali.ed as impaled on a long pole called
a thyrsus, held by the ad'oining constellation of 5entaurus, the 5entaur. 5onse7uently, the
constellations of the 5entaur and the animal were usually regarded as a combined figure.
1upus is
visualized as
)ein! ipaled
on a pole held
)y Centaurus
(ho is holdin!
it out to(ards
Ara' the altar'
as thou!h
a)out to
sacri$ice it/ This
illustration is
$ro the
4rano!raphia
o$ Johann
Bode/
According to
the historian
George
+ichanowsky in
his book The
<nce and
3uture Star,
the =abylonians
knew this
constellation as
D,$I(I+,
meaning 1wild
dog&.
3ratosthenes
said that the
5entaur was
holding the
37
animal towards the altar :the constellation Ara; as though about to sacrifice it. 4yginus
referred to the animal as simply 1a victim&, while Germanicus 5aesar said that the 5entaur was
either carrying game from the woods, or was bringing gifts to the altar. The identification of
this constellation with a wolf seems to have started in ,enaissance times.
%ne is tempted to recall the story of 0ycaon, king of the Arcadians, who served 8eus with the
flesh of the god&s own son and was punished by being turned into a wolf :see =o>tes;. =ut that
story has no connection with this constellation, which seems to have been overlooked by the
mythologists. The fact that it is an imported constellation probably e"plains why the Greeks
had no myths for it. 6one of the stars of 0upus have names.
<egasus was the winged horse best known for his association with the Greek hero =ellerophon.
The manner of the horse&s birth was unusual, to say the least. Its mother was +edusa, the
Gorgon, who in her youth was famed for her beauty, particularly her flowing hair. +any suitors
approached her, but the one who took her virginity was <oseidon, who is both god of the sea
and god of horses. Dnfortunately, the seduction happened in the temple of Athene. %utraged
by having her temple defiled, the goddess Athene changed +edusa into a snake$haired
monster whose ga.e could turn men to stone.
)hen <erseus decapitated +edusa, <egasus and the warrior 5hrysaor sprang from her body.
The name <egasus comes from the Greek word pe!ai, meaning 1springs& or 1waters&. 5hrysaor&s
name means 1golden sword&, in description of the blade he carried when he was born. 5hrysaor
played no further part in the story of <egasus* he later became father of Geryon, the three$
bodied monster whom 4eracles slew.
<egasus stretched his wings and flew away from the body of his mother, eventually arriving at
+ount 4elicon in =oeotia, home of the +uses. There, he struck the ground with his hoof and,
to the delight of the +uses, from the rock gushed a spring of water which was named
4ippocrene, 1horse&s fountain&. The goddess Athene later came to see it.
38
<nly the
$ront hal$
o$ the
horse is
depicted in
the s&y'
)ut enou!h
to include
his (in!s/
His )ody is
outlined )y
$our stars
that $or
the S8uare
o$ Pe!asus
-althou!h
one o$
these is
no(
assi!ned to
Androeda./ 9n $ront o$ Pe!asus is 28uuleus' the $oal' (hose head alone is sho(n/ 9llustration
$ro the 4rano!raphia o$ Johann Bode/
<egasus is sometimes depicted as the steed of <erseus, but this is wrong. 4e was, in fact,
ridden by another hero, =ellerophon, son of Glaucus. Fing Iobates of 0ycia sent =ellerophon on
a mission to kill the 5himaera, a fire$breathing monster that was devastating 0ycia. According
to 4esiod the 5himaera was the offspring of Typhon and 3chidne, and had three heads, one
like a lion, another like a goat and the third like a dragon. =ut 4omer said in the 9liad that it
had the front of a lion, the tail of a snake and a middle like a goat, the description that most
other authors have followed.
=ellerophon found <egasus drinking at the spring of <eirene in 5orinth and tamed him with a
golden bridle given by Athene. Ascending into the sky on the divine horse, =ellerophon
swooped down on the 5himaera, killing it with arrows and a lance. After undertaking other
tasks for Fing Iobates, =ellerophon seems to have got over$inflated ideas, for he attempted to
fly up on <egasus to 'oin the gods on %lympus. =efore he got there he fell back to 3arth* but
<egasus completed the trip and 8eus used him for a while to carry his thunder and lightning,
according to 4esiod. 8eus later put <egasus among the constellations.
3ratosthenes doubted this story because, he said, the horse in the sky has no wings. It is true
that Aratus does not mention wings on the celestial horse, but he identifies the constellation
as <egasus, and <tolemy in his Ala!est definitely mentions wings, so 3ratosthenes must be
mistaken. Germanicus 5aesar is in no doubt. <egasus, he writes, 1beats his swift wings in the
topmost circle of the sky and re'oices in his stellification&. 3ratosthenes repeats the claim of
the playwright 3uripides that this constellation represents +elanippe, daughter of 5hiron the
centaur :see 37uuleus;.
In the sky, only the top half of the horse is shown - even so, it is still the seventh$largest
constellation. Its body is represented by the famous #7uare of <egasus whose corners are
marked by four stars. In Greek times, one star was considered common with Andromeda,
39
marking both the horse&s navel and the top of Andromeda&s head. 6ow, it is allocated
e"clusively to Andromeda, and is known as Alpha Andromedae. The remaining three stars of
the #7uare are are Alpha <egasi, also known as +arkab from the Arabic for 1shoulder&* =eta
<egasi, called #cheat from the Arabic meaning 1the shin&* and Gamma <egasi, or Algenib,
meaning 1the side& in Arabic. A star on the horse&s mu..le, 3psilon <egasi, is called 3nif from
the Arabic meaning 1nose&. Germanicus 5aesar said it lies 1where the animal chews the bit, his
mouth foaming&.
The mythological events concerning this constellation are said to have taken place around the
3uphrates river, a strong indication that the Greeks inherited this constellation from the
=abylonians. The story follows an early episode in Greek mythology, in which the gods of
%lympus had defeated the Titans and the Giants in a power struggle. +other 3arth, also
known as Gaia, had another nasty surprise in store for the gods. #he coupled with Tartarus,
the lowest region of the Dnderworld where 8eus had imprisoned the Titans, and from this
unlikely union came Typhon, the most awful monster the world had ever seen.
According to 4esiod, Typhon had a hundred dragon&s heads from which black tongues flicked
out. !ire bla.ed from the eyes in each of these heads, and from them came a cacophony of
sound2 sometimes ethereal voices which gods could understand, while at other times Typhon
bellowed like a bull, roared like a lion, yelped like puppies or hissed like a nest of snakes.
Gaia sent this fearsome monster to attack the gods. <an saw him coming and alerted the
others with a shout. <an himself 'umped into the river and changed his form into a goat$fish,
represented by the constellation 5apricornus, also inherited from the =abylonians.
40
A cord ?oins the tails o$ Pisces' the t(o $ishes/ 3ro the Atlas Coelestis o$ John 3lasteed/
Aphrodite and her son 3ros took cover among the reeds on the banks of the 3uphrates, but
when the wind rustled the undergrowth Aphrodite became fearful. 4olding 3ros in her lap she
called for help to the water nymphs and leapt into the river. In one version of the story, two
fishes swam up and carried Aphrodite and 3ros to safety on their backs, although in another
version the two refugees were themselves changed into fish. The mythologists said that
because of this story the #yrians would not eat fish. An alternative story, given by 4yginus in
the 3a)ulae, is that an egg fell into the 3uphrates and was rolled to the shore by some fish.
(oves sat on the egg and from it hatched Aphrodite who, in gratitude, put the fish in the sky.
3ratosthenes wrote that the two fishes represented by <isces were offspring of the fish that is
represented by the constellation <iscis Austrinus.
In the sky, the two fish of <isces are represented swimming in opposite directions, their tails
'oined by a cord. The Greeks offered no good e"planation for this cord, but according to the
historian <aul Funit.sch the =abylonians visuali.ed a pair of fish 'oined by a cord in this area,
so evidently the Greeks borrowed this idea although the significance of the cord was lost.
<isces is a disappointingly faint constellation, its brightest stars being of only fourth
magnitude. Alpha <iscium is called Alrescha, from the Arabic name meaning 1the cord&. It lies
where the cords 'oining the two fish are knotted together. <isces is notable because it contains
the point at which the #un crosses the celestial e7uator into the northern hemisphere each
41
year. This point, called the vernal e7uino", originally lay in Aries but it has now moved into
<isces because of a slow wobble of the 3arth on its a"is called precession.
Taurus is a distinctive constellation, with star$tipped horns and a head defined by a G$shaped
group of stars. Two Greek bull$myths were associated with Taurus. Dsually it was said to
represent 8eus in the disguise he adopted for another of his e"tramarital affairs, this time as
the bull that carried away 3uropa, daughter of Fing Agenor of <hoenicia.
3uropa liked to play on the beach with the other girls of Tyre. 8eus instructed his son 4ermes
to drive the king&s cattle from their pastures on the mountain slopes towards the shore where
the girls were playing. Adopting the shape of a bull, 8eus surreptitiously mingled with the
lowing herd, awaiting his chance to abduct 3uropa. There was no mistaking who was the most
handsome bull. 4is hide was white as fresh snow and his horns shone like polished metal.
3uropa was entranced by this beautiful yet placid creature. #he adorned his horns with flowers
and stroked his flanks, admiring the muscles on his neck and the folds of skin on his flanks.
The bull kissed her hands, while inwardly 8eus could hardly contain himself in anticipation of
the final con7uest. The bull lay on the golden sands and 3uropa ventured to sit on his back. At
first, she feared nothing when the bull rose and began to paddle in the surf. =ut she became
alarmed when it began to swim strongly out to sea. 3uropa looked around in dismay at the
receding shoreline and clung tightly to the bull&s horns as waves washed over the bull&s back.
5raftily, 8eus the bull dipped more deeply into the water to make her hold him more tightly
still.
=y now, 3uropa had reali.ed that this was no ordinary bull. 3ventually, the bull waded ashore
at 5rete, where 8eus revealed his true identity and seduced 3uropa. 4e gave her presents that
included a dog that later became the constellation 5anis +a'or. The offspring of 8eus and
3uropa included +inos, king of 5rete, who established the famous palace at Fnossos where
bull games were held.
An alternative story says that Taurus may represent Io, another illicit love of 8eus, whom the
god turned into a heifer to disguise her from his wife 4era. =ut 4era was suspicious and set
the hundred$eyed watchman Argus to guard the heifer. 4era, furious at this, sent a gadfly to
chase the heifer, who threw herself into the sea and swam away.
42
Taurus char!es (ith head do(n to(ards <rion' as depicted in the Atlas Coelestis o$ John
3lasteed -+ABC./ <nly the $ront part o$ the )ull is sho(n in the s&y/ The )ull7s eye is ar&ed
)y the reddish star Alde)aran' (hile on his )ac& is the Pleiades star cluster/ <ne horn ends at
the $oot o$ Auri!a/
In the sky, only the front half of the bull is shown. This can be e"plained mythologically by
assuming that the hind 7uarters are submerged. In reality, there is no space in the sky to
show the complete bull, for the constellations 5etus and Aries lie where the bull&s hind
7uarters should be. Taurus shares with <egasus this uncomfortable fate of having been sliced
in half in the sky.
Taurus is depicted on star maps as sinking on one leg, perhaps to entice 3uropa onto its back.
+anilius described the bull as lame and drew a moral from it2 1The sky teaches us to undergo
loss with fortitude, since even constellations are fashioned with limbs deformed&, he wrote.
The face of Taurus is marked by the V6shaped !roup o$ stars called the (yades. %vid in his
3asti asserts that the name comes from the old Greek word hyein, meaning 1to rain&, so that
Hyades means 1rainy ones&, because their rising at certain times of year was said to be a
sign of rain. In mythology the 4yades were the daughters of Atlas and Aethra the %ceanid.
43
Their eldest brother was 4yas, a bold hunter who one day was killed by a lioness. 4is sisters
wept inconsolably - 4yginus says they died of grief - and for this they were placed in the sky.
4ence it seems e7ually likely that their name comes from their brother 4yas. In another story,
the 4yades were nymphs who nursed the infant (ionysus in their cave on +ount 6ysa, feeding
him on milk and honey. The ,omans had a different name* they called the 4yades
suculae meaning 1piglets&.
The mythographers were massively confused about the names and even the number of the
4yades. They are variously described as being five or seven in number. The Greek astronomer
<tolemy listed five 4yades in his star catalogue. 4yginus alone gives four different lists of their
names, none of which agrees completely with the list of five originally given by 4esiod, vi.2
<haesyle, 5oronis, 5leia, <haeo and 3udore. Astronomers have avoided the problem by not
naming any of the stars of the 4yades.
=inoculars and small telescopes show many more members of the 4yades than are visible to
the naked eye. In all, astronoers no( estiate that several hundred stars )elon! to the
cluster' (hich lies +,5 li!ht years a(ay.
3ven more famous than the 4yades is another star cluster in Taurus2 the <leiades, commonly
known as the #even #isters. To a casual glance, the <leiades cluster appears as a fu..y patch
like a swarm of flies over the back of the bull. According to 4yginus, some ancient
astronomers called them the bull&s tail. #o distinctive are the <leiades that the ancient Greeks
regarded them as a separate mini$constellation and used them as a calendar marker. 4esiod,
in his agricultural poem >or&s and Days, instructs farmers to begin harvesting when the
<leiades rise at dawn, which in Greek times would have been in +ay, and to plough when they
set at dawn, which would have been in 6ovember. <tolemy did not list individual members of
the <leiades in his Almagest, giving only an indication of the cluster&s si.e.
In mythology the <leiades were the seven daughters of Atlas and the oceanid <leione, after
whom they are named. %ne popular derivation is that the name comes from the Greek word
plein, meaning 1to sail& - so <leione means 1sailing 7ueen& and the <leiades are the 1sailing
ones&, because in Greek times they were visible all night during the summer sailing season.
)hen the <leiades vanished from the night sky, it was considered prudent to remain ashore.
1Gales of all winds rage when the <leiades, pursued by violent %rion, plunge into the clouded
sea&, wrote 4esiod.
Alternatively, and possibly more likely, the name may come from the old Greek word pleos,
1full&, which in the plural meant 1many&, a suitable reference to the cluster. According to other
authorities, the name comes from the Greek word peleiades, meaning 1flock of doves&.
Dnlike their half$sisters the 4yades, the names of all seven <leiades are assigned to stars in
the cluster2 Alcyone, Asterope :also known as #terope;, 5elaeno, 3lectra, +aia, +erope and
Taygete. Two more stars are named after their parents, Atlas and <leione. Alcyone is the
brightest star in the cluster. According to mythology, Alcyone and 5elaeno were both seduced
by <oseidon. +aia, the eldest and most beautiful of the sisters, was seduced by 8eus and gave
birth to 4ermes* she later became foster$mother to Arcas, son of 8eus and 5allisto. 8eus also
seduced two others of the <leiades2 3lectra, who gave birth to (ardanus, the founder of Troy*
and Taygete, who gave birth to 0acedaemon, founder of #parta. Asterope was ravished by
Ares and became mother of %enomaus, king of <isa, near %lympia, who features in the legend
of Auriga. 4ence si" <leiades became paramours of the gods. %nly +erope married a mortal,
#isyphus, a notorious trickster who was subse7uently condemned to roll a stone eternally up a
hill.
Although the <leiades are popularly termed the #even #isters, only si" stars are easily visible
to the naked eye, and a considerable mythology has grown up to account for the 1missing&
<leiad. 3ratosthenes says that +erope was the faint <leiad because she was the only one who
married a mortal. 4yginus and %vid also recount this story, giving her shame as the reason for
her faintness, but both add another candidate2 3lectra, who could not bear to see the fall of
Troy, which had been founded by her son (ardanus. 4yginus says that, moved by grief, she
44
left the <leiades altogether, but %vid says that she merely covered her eyes with her hand.
Astronomers, however, have not followed either legend in their naming of the stars, for the
faintest named <leiad is actually Asterope.
=inoculars show do.ens of stars in the <leiades, and in all the cluster contains a hundred or so
members. The <leiades lie EA light years away, two and a half times the distance of the
4yades. They are relatively youthful by stellar standards, the youngest being no more than a
few million years old.
A famous myth links the <leiades with %rion. As 4yginus tells it, <leione and her daughters
were one day walking through =oeotia when %rion tried to ravish her. <leione and the girls
escaped, but %rion pursued them for seven years. 8eus immortali.ed the chase by placing the
<leiades in the heavens where %rion follows them endlessly.
The bull&s glinting red eye is marked by the brightest star in Taurus, %lde!aran, a name that
comes from the Arabic meaning 1the $ollo(er7, referring to the fact that it follows the <leiades
across the sky. #urprisingly for such a prominent star, Greek astronomers had no name for it
:although <tolemy called it Torch in his Tetra)i)los, a book about astrology;. Aldebaran
appears to be a member of the 4yades but in fact is a foreground ob'ect at less than half the
distance, and so is superimposed on the 4yades by chance. Aldebaran is a red giant star about
?A times the diameter of the #un.
+arking the left horn of the bull is the star %lnath :also spelled lnath;, a name that comes
from the Arabic meaning 1the )uttin! one7. <tolemy described this star as being common with
the right foot of Auriga, the 5harioteer, but now it is the e"clusive property of Taurus.
6ear the tip of the bull&s right horn, the star )eta Tauri, lies the remarkable Cra! *e!ula,
the result of one of the most celebrated events in the history of astronomy - a stellar
e"plosion, seen from 3arth in A( 1A@?, that was bright enough to be visible in daylight for
three weeks. )e now know this event was a supernova, the violent death of a massive star,
and the 5rab 6ebula is the shattered remnant of the star that blew up. The Irish astronomer
0ord ,osse gave the nebula its name in 1?? because he thought its shape resembled a crab
when seen through his telescope. The 5rab 6ebula lies CAAA light years away, and appears as
a misty patch through moderate$si.ed telescopes.
Girgo is the second$largest constellation in the sky, e"ceeded only by the much fainter 4ydra.
The Greeks called the constellation <arthenos. #he is usually identified as (ike, goddess of
'ustice, who was daughter of 8eus and Themis* but she is also known as Astraeia, daughter of
Astraeus :father of the stars; and 3os :goddess of the dawn;. Girgo is depicted with wings,
reminiscent of an angel, holding an ear of wheat.
(ike features as the impartial observer in a moral tale depicting mankind&s declining
standards. It was a favourite tale of Greek and ,oman mythologists, and its themes still sound
familiar today.
45
Vir!o depicted in the Atlas Coelestis o$ John 3lasteed/ 9n her ri!ht hand she
carries a pal $rond' (hile in her le$t hand she holds an ear o$ (heat ar&ed
)y the )ri!ht star Spica/
(ike was supposed to have lived on 3arth in the Golden Age of mankind, when 5ronus ruled
%lympus. It was a time of peace and happiness, a season of perennial spring when food grew
without cultivation and humans never grew old. +en lived like the gods, not knowing work,
sorrow, crime or war. (ike moved among them, dispensing wisdom and 'ustice.
Then, when 8eus overthrew his father 5ronus on %lympus, the #ilver Age began, inferior to
the age that had 'ust passed. In the #ilver Age, 8eus shortened springtime and introduced the
yearly cycle of seasons. 4umans in this age became 7uarrelsome and ceased to honour the
gods. (ike longed for the idyllic days gone by. #he assembled the human race and spoke
sternly to them for forsaking the ideals of their ancestors. 1)orse is to come&, she warned
them. Then she spread her wings and took refuge in the mountains, turning her back on
mankind. !inally came the Ages of =ron.e and Iron, when humans descended into violence,
46
theft and war. Dnable to endure the sins of humanity any longer, (ike abandoned the 3arth
and flew up to heaven, where she sits to this day ne"t to the constellation of 0ibra, which
some see as the scales of 'ustice.
There are other goddesses who can claim identity with Girgo. %ne is (emeter, the corn
goddess, who was daughter of 5ronus and ,hea. =y her brother 8eus she had a daughter,
<ersephone :also called Fore, meaning 1maiden&;. <ersephone might have remained a virgin
for ever had not her uncle, 4ades, god of the Dnderworld, kidnapped her while she was out
picking flowers one day at 4enna in #icily. 4ades swept her aboard his chariot drawn by four
black horses and galloped with her into his underground kingdom, where she became his
reluctant 7ueen.
(emeter, having scoured the 3arth for her missing daughter without success, cursed the fields
of #icily so that the crops failed. In desperation she asked the Great =ear what he had seen,
since he never sets, but since the abduction had taken place during the day he referred her to
the #un, who finally told her the truth.
(emeter angrily confronted 8eus, father of <ersephone, and demanded that he order his
brother 4ades to return the girl. 8eus agreed to try* but already it was too late, because
<ersephone had eaten some pomegranate seeds while in the Dnderworld and, once having
done that, she could never return permanently to the land of the living. A compromise was
reached in which <ersephone would spend half :some say one$third; of the year in the
Dnderworld with her husband, and the rest of the year above ground with her mother. 5learly,
this is an allegory on the changing seasons.
3ratosthenes offers the additional suggestion that Girgo might be Atargatis, the #yrian fertility
goddess, who was sometimes depicted holding an ear of corn. =ut Atargatis is identified with
the constellation <iscis Austrinus. 4yginus e7uates Girgo with 3rigone, the daughter of Icarius,
who hanged herself after the death of her father. In this story, Icarius became the
constellation =o>tes, which ad'oins Girgo to the north, and Icarius&s dog +aera became the
star <rocyon :see =o>tes and 5anis +inor;.
3ratosthenes and 4yginus both name Tyche, the goddess of fortune, as another identification
of Girgo* but Tyche was usually represented holding the horn of plenty :cornucopia; rather
than an ear of grain. In the sky, the ear of corn is represented by the first$magnitude star
#pica, 0atin for 1ear of grain& :the name in Greek, #tachys, has the same meaning;.
=eta Girginis is called 8avi'ava, from an Arabic name meaning 1the angle&. Gamma Girginis is
called <orrima, after a ,oman goddess. According to %vid in his 3asti, <orrima and her sister
<ostverta were the sisters or companions of the prophetess 5armenta. <orrima sang of events
in the past, while <ostverta sang of what was to come.
3psilon Girginis is named Gindemiatri", from the 0atin meaning 1grape$gatherer& or 1vintager&,
because its first visible rising before the #un in August marked the beginning of each year&s
vintage. %vid in his 3asti tells us that this star commemorates a boy named Ampelus :the
Greek word for 1vine&; who was loved by (ionysus, god of wine. )hile picking grapes from a
vine that trailed up an elm tree, Ampelus fell from a branch and was killed* (ionysus placed
him among the stars. This star&s Greek name, <rotrygeter, also means 1grape gatherer&. Its
importance as a calendar star is demonstrated by the fact that it was one of the few stars
named by Aratus and, at third magnitude, was far fainter than the others. Gindemiatri" marks
the top of Girgo&s right wing.
47
It is not surprising to find a ram in the sky, for rams were fre7uently sacrificed to the gods,
and 8eus was at times identified with a ram. =ut the mythographers agree that Aries is a
special ram, the one whose golden fleece was the ob'ect of the voyage of 9ason and the
Argonauts. This ram made its appearance on 3arth 'ust as Fing Athamas of =oeotia was about
to sacrifice his son <hri"us to ward off an impending famine.
Fing Athamas and his wife 6ephele had an unhappy marriage, so Athamas turned instead to
Ino, daughter of Fing 5admus from neighbouring Thebes. Ino resented her step$children,
<hri"us and 4elle, and she arranged a plot to have them killed. #he began by parching the
wheat so that the crops would fail. )hen Athamas appealed for help to the (elphic %racle, Ino
bribed messengers to bring back a false reply that <hri"us must be sacrificed to save the
harvest.
Aries' the ra (ith the !olden $leece' $ro the Atlas Coelestis o$ John 3lasteed/
48
,eluctantly, Athamas, took his son to the top of +ount 0aphystium, overlooking his palace at
%rchomenus. 4e was about to sacrifice <hri"us to 8eus when 6ephele intervened to save her
son, sending down from the sky a winged ram with a golden fleece. <hri"us climbed on the
ram&s back and was 'oined by his sister 4elle, who feared for her own life. They flew off
eastwards to 5olchis, which lay on the eastern shore of the =lack #ea, under the 5aucasus
+ountains :the modern Georgia;. %n the way 4elle&s grip failed and she fell into the channel
between 3urope and Asia, the (ardanelles, which the Greeks named the 4ellespont in her
memory. %n reaching 5olchis, <hri"us sacrificed the ram in gratitude to 8eus. 4e presented its
golden fleece to the fearsome Fing AeMtes of 5olchis who, in return, gave <hri"us the hand of
his daughter 5halciope.
After <hri"us died his ghost returned to Greece to haunt his cousin <elias, who had sei.ed the
throne of Iolcus in Thessaly. The true successor to the throne was 9ason. <elias promised to
give up the throne to 9ason if he brought home the golden fleece from 5olchis. This was the
challenge that led to the epic voyage of 9ason and the Argonauts.
)hen he reached 5olchis, 9ason first asked Fing AeMtes politely for the fleece, which hung on
an oak in a sacred wood, guarded by a huge unsleeping serpent. Fing AeMtes re'ected 9ason&s
re7uest. !ortunately for the e"pedition, the king&s daughter, +edea, fell in love with 9ason and
offered to help him steal the fleece. At night to two crept into the wood where the golden
fleece hung, shining like a cloud lit by the rising #un. +edea bewitched the serpent so that it
slept while 9ason snatched the fleece. According to Apollonius ,hodius, the fleece was as large
as the hide of a young cow, and when 9ason slung it over his shoulder it reached his feet. The
ground shone from its glittering golden wool as 9ason and +edea escaped with it. %nce free of
the pursuing forces of Fing AeMtes, 9ason and +edea used the fleece to cover their wedding
bed. The final resting place of the fleece was in the temple of 8eus at %rchomenus, where
9ason hung it on his return to Greece.
%n old star maps the ram is shown in a crouching position, but without wings, its head turned
towards Taurus. In the sky it is not at all prominent. Its most noticeable feature is a crooked
line of three stars, which marks its head. %f these three stars, Alpha Arietis is called 4amal,
from the Arabic for lamb* =eta Arietis is #heratan, from the Arabic meaning 1two& of something
:possibly two signs or two horns, for it was originally applied to both this star and to its
neighbour, Gamma Arietis;* and Gamma Arietis is +esartim, a curiously corrupted form of al6
sharatan' the title which it originally shared with =eta Arietis.
In astronomy, Aries assumes a far greater importance than its brightness would suggest, for in
Greek times it contained the cardinal point known as the vernal e7uino". This is the point at
which the #un crosses the celestial e7uator from north to south. =ut the vernal e7uino" is not
stationary, because of the slow wobble of the 3arth&s a"is known as precession.
)hen the Greek astronomer 4ipparchus defined the position of the vernal e7uino" around 1EA
=5 this point lay south of the star +esartim :Gamma Arietis;. The .odiac was then taken to
start from here, and so the vernal e7uino" was commonly known as the first point of Aries.
=ecause of precession, the vernal e7uino" has moved some EA degrees since the time of
4ipparchus and currently lies in the neighbouring constellation <isces. (espite this, the vernal
e7uino" is still sometimes called the first point of Aries.
%ne of the most unlikely animals to be found in the sky is a giraffe. The constellation
5amelopardalis was invented in 1C1/ by the (utch theologian and astronomer <etrus <lancius,
49
who first showed it on a celestial globe in that year. It lies in an area between the head of the
Great =ear and 5assiopeia, a region that was left blank by the Greeks because it contains no
stars brighter than fourth magnitude.
The e"act significance of the constellation is unclear. The German astronomer 9acob =artsch
included 5amelopardalis on his map of 1C/? and wrote that it represented the camel on which
,ebecca rode into 5anaan for her marriage to Isaac. =ut 5amelopardalis is a giraffe not a
camel, so =artsch&s e"planation is unsatisfactory. =artsch seems not to have known much
about this constellation, for he wrongly attributed its invention to Isaac 4abrecht of
#trasbourg, who had shown it on his star globe of 1C/1.
%n old maps the constellation&s name is also spelled 5amelopardalus or 5amelopardus. !or a
discussion of the correct spelling, see 4arvard 5ollege %bservatory 5ircular 1?C :19A;.
A)oveD The
top hal$ o$
Caelopardalis' sho(n in the 4rano!raphia o$ Johann Bode -+#5+./ Also included is the no(6
o)solete constellation o$ =an!i$er' the reindeer/
Belo(D Caelopardalis depicted on Plate B o$ 4rania7s Mirror' a set o$ constellation cards
pu)lished in 2n!land in c/+#B,/ Also sho(n are Tarandus' the reindeer )y another nae' and
Custos Messiu/ -9a!e 0 9an =idpath/.
50
This constellation originally consisted of 'ust its brightest star <rocyon, whose name in Greek
means 1before the dog& from the fact that it rises earlier than the other celestial dog, 5anis
+a'or. It is a small constellation and contains little of interest other than <rocyon itself, the
eighth$brightest star in the heavens.
5anis +inor is usually identified as one of the dogs of %rion. =ut in a famous legend from
Attica :the area around Athens;, recounted by the mythographer 4yginus, the constellation
represents +aera, dog of Icarius, the man whom the god (ionysus first taught to make wine.
)hen Icarius gave his wine to some shepherds for tasting, they rapidly became drunk.
#uspecting that Icarius had poisoned them, they killed him. +aera the dog ran howling to
Icarius&s daughter 3rigone, caught hold of her dress with his teeth and led her to her father&s
body. =oth 3rigone and the dog took their own lives where Icarius lay. 8eus placed their
images among the stars as a reminder of the unfortunate affair. To atone for their tragic
mistake, the people of Athens instituted a yearly celebration in honour of Icarius and 3rigone.
In this story, Icarius is identified with the constellation =o>tes, 3rigone is Girgo and +aera is
5anis +inor.
51
Canis Minor
$ro the
4rano!raphia
o$ Johann
Bode/ 9n its
)ody lies the
)ri!ht star
Procyon/
According to
4yginus, the
murderers of
Icarius fled to
the island of
5eos off the
coast of
Attica, but
their
wrongdoing
followed them.
The island was
plagued with
famine and
sickness,
attributed in
the legend to
the scorching effect of the (og #tar :here, <rocyon seems to become confused with the
greater dog star, #irius in 5anis +a'or;. Fing Aristaeus of 5eos, son of the god Apollo, asked
his father for advice and was told to pray to 8eus for relief. 8eus sent the 3tesian winds, which
every year blow for ?A days from the rising of the (og #tar to cool all of Greece and its islands
in the summer heat. After this, the priests of 5eos instituted the practice of making yearly
sacrifices before the rising of the (og #tar.
<rocyon is of particular interest to to astronomers because it has a small, hot companion star
called a white dwarf that orbits it every ?1 years. 5oincidentally the other dog star, #irius, also
has one of these small, highly dense white dwarfs as a companion.
5entaurs were mythical beasts, half$man, half$horse. They were a wild and ill$behaved race,
particularly when the wine bottle was opened. =ut one centaur, 5hiron, stood out from the rest
as being wise and scholarly, and he is the one who is represented by the constellation
5entaurus.
5hiron was born of different parents from the other centaurs, which accounts for his difference
in character. 4is father was 5ronus, king of the Titans, who one day caught and seduced the
sea nymph <hilyra. #urprised in the act by his wife ,hea, 5ronus turned himself into a horse
and galloped away, leaving <hilyra to bear a hybrid son.
52
5hiron grew up to be a skilled teacher of hunting, medicine and music* his cave on +ount
<elion became a veritable academy for young princes in search of a good education. 5hiron
was so trusted by the gods and heroes of ancient Greece that he was made foster$father to
9ason and Achilles* but perhaps his most successful pupil was Asclepius, son of Apollo, who
became the greatest of all healers and is commemorated in the constellation %phiuchus.
Centaurus
$ro the
4rano!raphia
o$ Johann
Bode/ The
centaur holds
a lon! pole
called a
thyrsus on
(hich is
ipaled
1upus' the
(ol$/ Alpha
Centauri' the
closest star to
the Sun'
ar&s the
centaur7s
$ore$oot (hile
Crux' the
Southern
Cross' is $ound
under his hind
8uarters/
!or a creature who did so much good during his lifetime, 5hiron suffered a tragic death. It
arose from a visit paid by 4eracles to the centaur <holus, who entertained him to dinner and
offered him wine from the centaurs& communal 'ar. )hen the other centaurs reali.ed their
wine was being drunk they burst angrily into the cave, armed with rocks and trees. 4eracles
repulsed them with a volley of arrows. #ome of the centaurs took refuge with 5hiron, who had
been innocent of the attack, and an arrow of 4eracles accidentally struck 5hiron in the knee.
4eracles, concerned for the good centaur, pulled out the arrow, apologi.ing profusely, but he
already knew that 5hiron was doomed. 3ven 5hiron&s best medicine was no match for the
poison of the 4ydra&s blood in which 4eracles had dipped his arrows.
Aching with pain, but unable to die because he was the immortal son of 5ronus, 5hiron
retreated to his cave. ,ather than let him suffer endlessly, 8eus agreed that 5hiron should
transfer his immortality to <rometheus. Thus released, 5hiron died and was placed among the
stars. Another version of the story simply says that 4eracles visited 5hiron and that while the
two were e"amining his arrows one accidentally dropped on the centaur&s foot. In the sky, the
centaur is depicted as about to sacrifice an animal :the constellation 0upus; on the altar :Ara;.
3ratosthenes says that this is a sign of 5hiron&s virtue.
5entaurus contains the closest star to the #un, Alpha 5entauri, ?.? light years away. Alpha
5entauri is also known as ,igil Fentaurus, from the Arabic meaning 1centaur&s foot&. To the
naked eye it appears as the third$brightest star in the sky, but a small telescope reveals it to
be double, consisting of two yellow stars like the #un. A third, much fainter companion star is
called <ro"ima 5entauri because it is slightly closer to us than the other two. =eta 5entauri is
called 4adar, from an Arabic name signifying one member of a pair of stars. Alpha and =eta
5entauri mark the front legs of the centaur, and they act as pointers to 5ru", the #outhern
5ross, which lies under the centaur&s rear 7uarters. 5entaurus also contains the largest and
brightest globular star cluster visible from 3arth, %mega 5entauri.
53
A lion cub accompanying 0eo, introduced by the <olish astronomer 9ohannes 4evelius in 1CB.
4e formed it from faint stars between Drsa +a'or and 0eo that were not previously part of any
constellation. The brightest stars of 0eo +inor are of only fourth magnitude and there are no
legends associated with it.
1eo Minor' the
lion cu)' lies
iediately
a)ove the
head o$ 1eo
itsel$/ 3ro
the
4rano!raphia
o$ Johann
Bode/ 3or
Hevelius7s
ori!inal
depiction' see
here/
5uriously, 0eo
+inor has no
star labelled
Alpha,
although
there is a =eta
0eonis
+inoris. This
seems to have
resulted from
an oversight on the part of the 19th$century 3nglish astronomer !rancis =aily. 4evelius did not
label the stars in any of his newly formed constellations, so 1@A years later =aily did it for him.
In his British Association Catalo!ue of 1?@, =aily assigned the letter =eta to the second$
brightest star in 0eo +inor, but left the brightest star :?C 0eonis +inoris; unlettered by
mistake.
There is further confusion, too. In his book Star Naes' Their 1ore and Meanin!, ,. 4. Allen
says that 4evelius described the brightest star in 0eo +inor as <raecipua, meaning 1chief&,
which was later used as a star name by <ia..i in his Palero Catalo!ue. 4owever, I am unable
to find any such mention of I<raecipuaJ in 4evelius&s catalogue. )hat&s more, the American
historian +orton )agman has pointed out to me that the star which <ia..i named <raecipua
was not, in fact, the brightest. In his Palero Catalo!ue of 11?, <ia..i gave the name to EB
0+i, having wrongly assessed it as brighter than ?C 0+i. Allen says that <ia..i gave the name
<raecipua to ?C 0+i, but he is wrong.
54
9ohannes 4evelius, the <olish astronomer who introduced this constellation in 1CB, continued
to measure star positions with the naked eye long after other astronomers had adopted
telescopic sights. The !rench astronomer <ierre Gassendi wrote that 4evelius had the 1eyes of
a lyn"& and this constellation can be seen as an attempt to demonstrate that. 4evelius wrote in
his Prodrous Astronoiae that anyone who wanted to observe it would need the eyesight of
a lyn". 0yn" fills a blank area of sky between Drsa +a'or and Auriga that is surprisingly large -
greater in area than Gemini, for e"ampleP- but apart from one third$magnitude star it
contains no stars brighter than fourth magnitude.
1ynx as
sho(n on the
4rano!raphia
o$ Johann
Bode/ To see
Hevelius7s
version o$
1ynx' clic&
here.
%n his star
atlas
3iraentu
So)iescianu
4evelius
called the
constellation
0yn", but in
the
accompanying
star catalogue
it is listed as
I0yn", sive
TigrisJ :0yn"
or Tiger;. 4owever, the illustration he presented does not look much like either animal.
It is not known whether 4evelius had in mind the mythological character 0ynceus who en'oyed
the keenest eyesight in the world - he was even credited with the ability to see things
underground. 0ynceus and his twin brother Idas sailed with the Argonauts. The pair came to
grief when they fell out with those other mythical twins, 5astor and <olydeuces :see Gemini;.
<erseus is one of the most famous Greek heroes. The characters in the story of <erseus are
represented by si" constellations that occupy a substantial part of the sky. The constellation
55
depicting <erseus lies in a prominent part of the +ilky )ay, which is perhaps why Aratus
termed him 1dust$stained&.
In Greek myth, <erseus was the son of (anaM, daughter of Fing Acrisius of Argos. Acrisius had
locked (anaM away in a heavily guarded dungeon when an oracle foretold that he would be
killed by his grandson. =ut 8eus visited (anaM in the form of a shower of golden rain that fell
through the skylight of the dungeon into her lap and impregnated her. )hen Acrisius found
out, he locked (anaM and the infant <erseus into a wooden chest and cast them out to sea.
Inside the bobbing chest (anaM clutched her child and prayed to 8eus for deliverance from the
sea. A few days later, the chest washed ashore on the island of #eriphos, its cargo still alive
but starved and thirsty. A fisherman, (ictys, broke the chest open and found the mother and
child. (ictys brought up <erseus as his own son.
The brother of (ictys was Fing <olydectes, who coveted (anaM as a wife. =ut (anaM was
reluctant and <erseus, now grown to manhood, defended her from the king&s advances.
Instead, Fing <olydectes hatched a plan to get rid of <erseus. The king pretended he had
turned his attentions to 4ippodameia, daughter of Fing %enomaus of 3lis. Fing <olydectes
asked his sub'ects, including <erseus, to provide horses for a wedding present. <erseus had no
horse to give, nor money to buy one, so <olydectes sent him to bring the head of +edusa the
Gorgon.
The Gorgons were three hideously ugly sisters called 3uryale, #theno and +edusa. They were
the daughters of <horcys, a god of the sea, and his sister 5eto. The Gorgons had faces
covered with dragon scales, tusks like boars, hands of brass and wings of gold. Their evil ga.e
turned to stone anyone who set eyes on them. 3uryale and #theno were immortal, but +edusa
was mortal. #he was distinguishable from the others because she had snakes for hair. In her
youth +edusa had been famed for her beauty, particularly that of her hair, but she was
condemned to a life of ugliness by Athene in whose temple she had been ravished by
<oseidon.
A Gorgon&s head would be a powerful weapon for a tyrannical king to enforce his rule, but Fing
<olydectes probably thought that <erseus would die in his attempt to obtain it. 4owever, the
king had reckoned without <erseus&s family connections among the gods. Athene gave him a
bron.e shield which he carried on his left arm, while in his right hand he wielded a sword of
diamond made by 4ephaestus. 4ermes gave him winged sandals, and on his head he wore a
helmet of darkness from 4ades that made him invisible.
Dnder the guidance of Athene, <erseus flew to the slopes of +ount Atlas where the sisters of
the Gorgons, called the Graeae, acted as lookouts. The Graeae were poorly 7ualified for the
task, since they had only one eye between the three of them, which they passed to each other
in turn. <erseus snatched the eye from them and threw it into 0ake Tritonis.
4e then followed a trail of statues of men and animals who had been turned to stone by the
ga.e of the Gorgons. Dnseen in his helmet of invisibility, <erseus crept up on the Gorgons and
waited until night when +edusa and her snakes were asleep. 0ooking only at her reflection in
his brightly polished shield, <erseus swung his sword and decapitated +edusa with one blow.
As +edusa&s head rolled to the ground, <erseus was startled to see the winged horse <egasus
and the armed warrior 5hrysaor spring fully grown from her body, the legacy of her youthful
affair with <oseidon. :<egasus is commemorated in a constellation of its own.; <erseus rapidly
collected up +edusa&s head, put it in a pouch and flew away before the other Gorgons awoke.
(rops of blood fell from the head and turned into serpents as they struck the sands of 0ibya
below. #trong winds blew <erseus across the sky like a raincloud, so he stopped to rest in the
kingdom of Atlas. )hen Atlas refused him hospitality, <erseus took out the Gorgon&s head and
turned him into the range of mountains that now bear his name.
56
The following morning <erseus resumed his flight with new vigour, coming to the land of Fing
5epheus whose daughter Andromeda was being sacrificed to a sea monster. <erseus&s rescue
of the girl, one of the most famous themes of mythology, is told in detail under the entry for
Andromeda. <erseus returned with Andromeda to the island of #eriphos, where he found his
mother and (ictys sheltering in a temple from the tyranny of Fing <olydectes. <erseus
stormed into the king&s palace to a hostile reception. ,eaching into his pouch, <erseus brought
out the head of +edusa, turning <olydectes and his followers to stone. <erseus appointed
(ictys king of #eriphos. Athene took the head of +edusa and set it in the middle of her shield.
Incidentally, the prophecy that had started all these adventures - namely, that Acrisius would
be killed by his grandson - eventually came to pass during an athletics contest when a discus
thrown by <erseus accidentally hit Acrisius, one of the spectators, and killed him. <erseus and
Andromeda had many children, including <erses, whom they gave to 5epheus to bring up.
!rom <erses, the kings of <ersia were said to have been descended.
Perseus
holdin!
the
decapitated head o$ Medusa the %or!on' sho(n in the 4rano!raphia o$ Johann Bode -+#5+./
<n the $orehead o$ the %or!on lies the star Al!ol' $aous $or its variations in li!ht/
In the sky, <erseus lies ne"t to his beloved Andromeda. 6earby are her parents 5epheus and
5assiopeia, as well as the monster, 5etus, to which she was sacrificed. <egasus the winged
horse completes the tableau. <erseus himself is shown holding the Gorgon&s head. The star
that <tolemy called 1the bright one in the Gorgon head& is =eta <ersei, named Algol from the
Arabic ra7s al6!hul meaning 1the demon&s head&. Algol is the type of star known as an eclipsing
binary, consisting of two close stars that orbit each other, in this case every /.9 days. Algol
varies in brightness as the two stars eclipse each other. Its variability was discovered in 1CC9
by the Italian astronomer Geminiano +ontanari.
The brightest star in the constellation, second$magnitude Alpha <ersei, has two alternative
names. %ne is +irphak :or +irfak;, from the Arabic for 1elbow&. The other name is Algenib from
the Arabic meaning 1the side&, which is where <tolemy described it as lying. <erseus is depicted
holding aloft his sword in his right hand. This hand is marked by what <tolemy termed a
1nebulous mass& - in fact, a twin cluster of stars now called the (ouble 5luster.
57
58
The fifth$smallest constellation in the sky, introduced in 1C? by the <olish
astronomer 9ohannes 4evelius under the title #cutum #obiescianum,
#obieski&s #hield, in honour of Fing 9ohn III #obieski of <oland who helped
4evelius rebuild his observatory after a disastrous fire in 1CB9. 4evelius&s
description and chart of the constellation first appeared in 1C? in Acta
2ruditoru, a leading scientific 'ournal of the day. #cutum is the only
constellation introduced for political reasons that is still in use.
Scutu sho(n under the nae Scutu So)iesii in the 4rano!raphia o$ Johann
Bode/ 3or Hevelius7s ori!inal depiction o$ it' see here/
#cutum lies in a bright area of the +ilky )ay and is distinctive despite its small
si.e. Its brightest stars are of only fourth magnitude, and none are named, but
the constellation contains a celebrated cluster of stars popularly known as the
)ild (uck cluster because its fan$shape resembles a flight of ducks.
59
Dndoubtedly the most familiar star pattern in the entire sky is the seven stars that make up
the shape popularly termed the <lough or =ig (ipper, part of the constellation Drsa +a'or, the
Great =ear. The seven stars form the rump and tail of the bear, while the rest of the animal is
comprised of fainter stars. It is the third$largest constellation.
In mythology, the Great =ear is identified with two separate characters2 5allisto, a paramour
of 8eus* and Adrasteia, one of the ash$tree nymphs who nursed the infant 8eus. To complicate
matters, there are several different versions of each story, particularly the one involving
5allisto.
5allisto is usually said to have been the daughter of 0ycaon, king of Arcadia in the central
<eloponnese. :An alternative story says that she is not 0ycaon&s daughter but the daughter of
0ycaon&s son 5eteus. In this version, 5eteus is identified with the constellation 4ercules,
kneeling and holding up his hands in supplication to the gods at his daughter&s transformation
into a bear.;
5allisto 'oined the retinue of Artemis, goddess of hunting. #he dressed in the same way as
Artemis, tying her hair with a white ribbon and pinning together her tunic with a brooch, and
she soon became the favourite hunting partner of Artemis, to whom she swore a vow of
chastity. %ne afternoon, as 5allisto laid down her bow and rested in a shady forest grove, 8eus
caught sight of her and was entranced. )hat happened ne"t is described fully by %vid in =ook
II of his Metaorphoses. 5unningly assuming the appearance of Artemis, 8eus entered the
grove to be greeted warmly by the unsuspecting 5allisto. 4e lay beside her and embraced her.
=efore the startled girl could react, 8eus revealed his true self and, despite 5allisto&s struggles,
had his way with her. 8eus returned to %lympus, leaving the shame$filled 5allisto scarcely able
to face Artemis and the other nymphs.
%n a hot afternoon some months later, the hunting party came to a cool river and decided to
bathe. Artemis stripped off and led them in, but 5allisto hung back. As she reluctantly
undressed, her advancing pregnancy was finally revealed. Artemis, scandali.ed, banished
5allisto from her sight.
)orse was to come when 5allisto gave birth to a son, Arcas. 4era, the wife of 8eus, had not
been slow to reali.e her husband&s infidelity and was now determined to take revenge on her
rival. 4urling insults, 4era grabbed 5allisto by her hair and pulled her to the ground. As
5allisto lay spreadeagled, dark hairs began to sprout from her arms and legs, her hands and
feet turned into claws and her beautiful mouth which 8eus had kissed turned into gaping 'aws
that uttered growls.
!or 1@ years 5allisto roamed the woods in the shape of a bear, but still with a human mind.
%nce a huntress herself, she was now pursued by hunters. %ne day she came face to face with
her son Arcas. 5allisto recogni.ed Arcas and tried to approach him, but he backed off in fear.
4e would have speared the bear, not knowing it was really his mother, had not 8eus
intervened by sending a whirlwind that carried them up into heaven, where 8eus transformed
5allisto into the constellation Drsa +a'or and Arcas into =o>tes.
4era was now even more enraged to find her rival glorified among the stars, so she consulted
her foster parents Tethys and %ceanus, gods of the sea, and persuaded them never to let the
60
bear bathe in the northern waters. 4ence, as seen from mid$northern latitudes, the bear never
sets below the hori.on.
That this is the most familiar version of the myth is due to %vid&s pre$eminence as a
storyteller, but there are other versions, some older than %vid. 3ratosthenes, for instance,
says that 5allisto was changed into a bear not by 4era but by Artemis as a punishment for
breaking her vow of chastity. 0ater, 5allisto the bear and her son Arcas were captured in the
woods by shepherds who took them as a gift to Fing 0ycaon. 5allisto and Arcas sought refuge
in the temple of 8eus, unaware that Arcadian law laid down the death penalty for trespassers.
:Net another variant says that Arcas chased the bear into the temple while hunting - see
=o>tes.; To save them, 8eus snatched them up and placed them in the sky.
The Greek mythographer Apollodorus says that 5allisto was turned into a bear by 8eus to
disguise her from his wife 4era. =ut 4era saw through the ruse and pointed out the bear to
Artemis who shot her down, thinking that she was a wild animal. 8eus sorrowfully placed the
image of the bear in the sky.
Aratus makes a completely different identification of Drsa +a'or. 4e says that the bear
represents one of the nymphs who raised 8eus in the cave of (icte on 5rete. That cave,
incidentally, is a real place where local people still proudly point out the supposed place of
8eus&s birth. ,hea, his mother, had smuggled 8eus to 5rete to escape 5ronus, his father.
5ronus had swallowed all his previous children at birth for fear that one day they would
overthrow him - as 8eus eventually did. Apollodorus names the nurses of 8eus as Adrasteia
and Ida, although other sources give different names. Ida is represented by the neighbouring
constellation of Drsa +inor, the 0ittle =ear.
These nymphs looked after 8eus for a year, while armed 5retan warriors called the 5uretes
guarded the cave, clashing their spears against their shields to drown the baby&s cries from
the ears of 5ronus. Adrasteia laid the infant 8eus in a cradle of gold and made for him a
golden ball that left a fiery trail like a meteor when thrown into the air. 8eus drank the milk of
the she$goat Amaltheia with his foster$brother <an. 8eus later placed Amaltheia in the sky as
the star 5apella, while Adrasteia became the Great =ear - although why 8eus turned her into
a bear is not e"plained.
Aratus named the constellation 4elice, meaning 1twister&, apparently from its circling of the
pole, and said that the ancient Greeks steered their ships by reference to it, whereas the
<hoenicians used the 0ittle =ear :Drsa +inor;. Aratus said that the bears were also called
wagons or wains, from the fact that they wheel around the pole. The ad'acent constellation
=o>tes is visuali.ed as either the herdsman of the bear or the wagon driver. =ut Germanicus
5aesar said that he bears were also called ploughs because, as he wrote, 1the shape of a
plough is the closest to the real shape formed by their stars&. According to 4yginus the
,omans referred to the Great =ear as #eptentrio, meaning 1seven plough o"en&, although he
added the information that in ancient times only two of the stars were considered o"en, the
other five forming a wagon. %n a star map of 1@/? the German astronomer <eter Apian
showed Drsa +a'or as a team of three horses pulling a four$wheeled cart, which he called
<laustrum.
%ne pu..le, never e"plained by any mythologist, is why the celestial bears have long tails,
which real bears do not. Thomas 4ood, an 3nglish astronomical writer of the late 1Cth century,
offered the tongue$in$cheek suggestion that the tails had become stretched when 8eus pulled
the bears up into heaven. 1%ther reason know I none&, he added apologetically.
61
4rsa Ma?or
as
depicted
on the
4rano!raphia o$ Johann Bode -+#5+./ The $ailiar shape popularly &no(n as the Plou!h or Bi!
Dipper is ade up o$ seven stars in the rup and tail o$ the )ear/
Two stars in Drsa +a'or called (ubhe and +erak are popularly termed the <ointers because a
line drawn through them points to the north celestial pole. (ubhe&s name comes from the
Arabic al6du)), 1the bear&, while +erak comes from the Arabic word al6ara88 meaning 1the
flank& or 1groin&. At the tip of the bear&s tail lies 3ta Drsae +a'oris, known both as Alkaid, from
the Arabic al68a7id meaning 1the leader&, or as =enetnasch, from the Arabic )anat
na7sh meaning 1daughters of the bier& - for the Arabs regarded this figure not as a bear but as
a bier or coffin. They saw the tail of the bear as a line of mourners :the 1daughters&; leading
the coffin.
#econd in line along the tail is the wide double star 8eta Drsae +a'oris. The two members of
the double, visible separately with keen eyesight, are called +i.ar and Alcor. They were
depicted as a horse and its rider on the 1@/? star chart of <eter Apian, apparently following a
popular German tradition. The name +i.ar is a corruption of the Arabic al6ara88, the same
origin as the name +erak. Its companion, Alcor, gets its name from a corruption of the Arabic
al6?aun, meaning 1the black horse or bull&. This is the same origin as the name Alioth which is
applied to the ne"t star along the tail, 3psilon Drsae +a'oris. The name the Arabs used for
Alcor was al6suha, which <aul Funit.sch translates as meaning either the 1forgotten& or
1neglected& one.
(elta Drsae +a'oris is named +egre., from the Arabic meaning 1root of the tail&. Gamma Drsae
+a'oris is called <had or <hecda, from the Arabic word meaning 1the thigh&.
In addition to the famous seven stars of Drsa +a'or there are three pairs of stars that mark
the feet of the bear. The Arabs imagined these as forming the tracks of a leaping ga.elle. The
pair 6u and Ki Drsae +a'oris are called Alula =orealis and Alula Australis. The word Alula
comes from an Arabic phrase meaning 1first leap&* the distinctions 1northern& :=orealis; and
1southern& :Australis; are added in 0atin. The second leap is represented by 0ambda and +u
Drsae +a'oris, known as Tania =orealis and Tania Australis, while the third leap is represented
62
by Iota and Fappa Drsae +a'oris, although Iota alone bears the name Talitha, from the Arabic
meaning 1third&.
#tar maps show A7uarius as a young man pouring water from a 'ar, although %vid, in his
3asti, says it is a mi"ture of water and nectar, the drink of the gods. The stream ends in the
mouth of the #outhern !ish, <iscis Austrinus. =ut who is A7uariusH The most popular
identification is that he is Ganymede or Ganymedes, said to have been the most beautiful boy
alive. 4e was the son of Fing Tros, who gave Troy its name. %ne day, while Ganymede was
watching over his father&s sheep, 8eus became infatuated with the shepherd boy and swooped
down on the Tro'an plain in the form of an eagle, carrying Ganymede up to %lympus :or,
according to an alternative version, sent an eagle to do it for him;. The eagle is
commemorated in the neighbouring constellation of A7uila.
In another version of the myth, Ganymede was first carried off by 3os, goddess of the dawn,
who had a passion for young men, and 8eus then stole Ganymede from her. Ganymede
became wine$waiter to the gods, dispensing nectar from his bowl, to the annoyance of 8eus&s
wife 4era. ,obert Graves tells us that this myth became highly popular in ancient Greece and
,ome where it was regarded as signifying divine endorsement for homose"uality. The 0atin
translation of the name Ganymede gave rise to the word catamite.
63
A8uarius and his (ater ?ar' $ro the Atlas Coelestis o$ John 3lasteed/
If this myth seems insubstantial to us, it is perhaps a result of the Greeks imposing their own
story on a constellation adopted from elsewhere. The constellation of the water pourer
originally seems to have represented the 3gyptian god of the 6ile - but, as ,obert Graves
notes, the Greeks were not much interested in the 6ile.
Germanicus 5aesar identifies the constellation with (eucalion, son of <rometheus, one of the
few men to escape the great flood. 1(eucalion pours forth water, that hostile element he once
fled, and in so doing draws attention to his small pitcher&, wrote Germanicus. 4yginus offers
the additional identification of the constellation with 5ecrops, an early king of Athens, seen
making sacrifices to the gods using water, for he ruled in the days before wine was made.
#everal stars in A7uarius have names beginning with 1#ad&. In Arabic, sa7d means 1luck&. Alpha
A7uarii is called #adalmelik, from sa7d al6ali&, usually translated as 1the lucky stars of the
king&. =eta A7uarii is called #adalsuud, from sa7d al6su7ud, possibly meaning 1luckiest of the
lucky&. Gamma A7uarii is #adachbia, from sa7d al6a&h)iya, possibly meaning 1lucky stars of the
tents&. The e"act significance of these names has been lost even by the Arabs, according to the
German e"pert on star names, <aul Funit.sch.
64
This prominent constellation has several identifications in mythology. The most popular
interpretation is that he is 3richthonius, a legendary king of Athens. 4e was the son of
4ephaestus the god of fire, better known by his ,oman name of Gulcan, but was raised by the
goddess Athene, after whom Athens is named. In her honour 3richthonius instituted a festival
called the <anathenaea.
Auri!a
carryin! the
!oat and &ids'
$ro the
4rano!raphia
o$ Johann
Bode -+#5+./
The )ri!ht
star
Capella lies in
the )ody o$
the !oat/
Athene taught
3richthonius
many skills,
including how
to tame
horses. 4e
became the
first person to
harness four
horses to a
chariot, in
imitation of
the four$horse
chariot of the
#un, a bold
move which
earned him
the
admiration of
8eus and
assured him a
place among
the stars.
There,
3richthonius is depicted at the reins, perhaps participating in the <anathenaic games in which
he fre7uently drove his chariot to victory.
Another identification is that Auriga is really +yrtilus, the charioteer of Fing %enomaus of <isa
and son of 4ermes. The king had a beautiful daughter, 4ippodamia, whom he was determined
not to let go. 4e challenged each of her suitors to a death$or$glory chariot race. They were to
speed away with 4ippodamia on their chariots, but if %enomaus caught up with them before
65
they reached 5orinth he would kill them. #ince he had the swiftest chariot in Greece, skilfully
driven by +yrtilus, no man had yet survived the test.
A do.en suitors had been beheaded by the time that <elops, the handsome son of Tantalus,
came to claim 4ippodamia&s hand. 4ippodamia, falling in love with him on sight, begged
+yrtilus to betray the king so that <elops might win the race. +yrtilus, who was himself
secretly in love with 4ippodamia, tampered with the pins holding the wheels on %enomaus&s
chariot. (uring the pursuit of <elops, the wheels of the king&s chariot fell off and %enomaus
was thrown to his death.
4ippodamia was now left in the company of both <elops and +yrtilus. <elops solved the
awkward situation by unceremoniously casting +yrtilus into the sea, from where he cursed the
house of <elops as he drowned. 4ermes put the image of his son +yrtilus into the sky as the
constellation Auriga. Germanicus 5aesar supports this identification because, he says, Iyou will
observe that he has no chariot, and, his reins broken, is sorrowful, grieving that 4ippodamia
has been taken away by the treachery of <elopsJ.
A third identification of Auriga is 4ippolytus, son of Theseus, whose stepmother <haedra fell in
love with him. )hen 4ippolytus re'ected her, she hanged herself in despair. Theseus banished
4ippolytus from Athens. As he drove away his chariot was wrecked, killing him. Asclepius the
healer brought the blameless 4ippolytus back to life again, a deed for which 8eus struck
Asclepius down with a thunderbolt at the demand of 4ades, who was annoyed at losing a
valuable soul.
Auriga contains the si"th$brightest star in the sky, 5apella, a ,oman name meaning 1she$goat&
:its Greek name was Ai";. <tolemy described this star as being on the charioteer&s left
shoulder. According to Aratus it represented the goat Amaltheia, who suckled the infant 8eus
on the island of 5rete and was placed in the sky as a mark of gratitude, along with the two
kids she bore at the same time. The kids, fre7uently known by their 0atin name of 4aedi
:3riphi in Greek;, are represented by the neighbouring stars 3ta and 8eta Aurigae.
An alternative story is that Amaltheia was the nymph who owned the goat. 3ratosthenes says
that the goat was so ugly that it terrified the Titans who ruled the 3arth at that time. )hen
8eus grew up and challenged the Titans for supremacy, he made a cloak from the goat&s hide,
the back of which looked like the head of the Gorgon. This horrible$looking goatskin formed
the so$called aegis of 8eus :the word aegis actually means 1goatskin&;. The aegis protected
8eus and scared his enemies, a particular advantage in his fight against the Titans.
#ome early writers spoke of the Goat and Fids as a separate constellation, but since the time
of <tolemy they have been awkwardly combined with the 5harioteer, the goat resting on the
charioteer&s shoulder, with the kids supported on his wrist. There is no legend to e"plain why
the charioteer is so encumbered with livestock.
Greek astronomers regarded one star as being shared by Auriga and Taurus, representing the
right foot of the charioteer and also the tip of the bull&s left horn, as old star maps show it.
+odern astronomers now assign this star e"clusively to Taurus.
The crab is a minor character in one of the labours of 4eracles :the Greek name for 4ercules;.
)hile 4eracles was fighting the multi$headed monster called the 4ydra in the swamp near
0erna, the crab emerged from the swamp and added its own attack by biting 4eracles on the
foot. 4eracles angrily stamped on the crab, crushing it. !or this modest contribution to history,
66
we are told that the goddess 4era, the enemy of 4eracles, put the crab among the stars of the
.odiac. !ittingly enough for such a minor character, it is the faintest of the .odiacal
constellations, with no star brighter than fourth magnitude. The star Alpha 5ancri is named
Acubens, from the Arabic meaning 1claw&.
Cancer' $ro the 4rano!raphia o$ Johann Bode/ At its centre lies the star cluster Praesepe'
$lan&ed on the north and south )y the stars Asellus Borealis and Asellus Australis/
Two stars in the constellation are named Asellus =orealis and Asellus Australis, 0atin names
meaning the 1northern ass& and 1southern ass&, and they have their own legend. According to
3ratosthenes, during the battle between the gods and the Giants that followed the overthrow
of the Titans, the gods (ionysus, 4ephaestus and some companions came riding on donkeys
to 'oin the fray. The Giants had never heard the braying of donkeys before and took flight at
the noise, thinking that some dreadful monster was about to be unleashed upon them.
(ionysus put the asses in the sky, either side of the cluster of stars which the Greeks called
<hatne, the +anger, from which the asses seem to be feeding. <tolemy described <hatne as
1the nebulous mass in the chest&. Astronomers now know this star cluster by its 0atin name
<raesepe, but it is popularly termed the =eehive :praesepe can mean both 1manger& and
1hive&;.
The tropic of 5ancer is the latitude on 3arth at which the #un appears overhead at noon on
the summer solstice, 9une /1. In the time of the ancient Greeks the #un lay among the stars
67
of 5ancer on this date, but the wobble of the 3arth on its a"is called precession has since
moved the summer solstice from 5ancer through neighbouring Gemini and into Taurus.
5apricornus is an unlikely looking creature, with the head and forelegs of a goat and the tail of
a fish. The constellation evidently originated with the #umerians and =abylonians, who had a
fondness for amphibious creatures* the ancient #umerians called it #D4D,$+A#4$4A, the
goat$fish. =ut to the Greeks, who named it Aegoceros :goat$horned;, the constellation was
identified with <an, god of the countryside, who had the horns and legs of a goat.
<an, a playful creature of uncertain parentage, spent much of his time chasing females or
sleeping it off with a siesta. 4e could frighten people with his loud shout, which is the origin of
the word 1panic&. %ne of his offspring was 5rotus, identified with the constellation #agittarius.
<an&s attempted seduction of the nymph #yrin" failed when she turned herself into a handful
of reeds. As he clutched the reeds the wind blew through them, creating an enchanting sound.
<an selected reeds of different lengths and stuck them together with wa" to form the famous
pipes of <an, also called the syrinx.
68
Capricornus as sho(n in the 4rano!raphia o$ Johann Bode/ South o$ it lies the no(6o)solete
constellation o$ %lo)us Aerostaticus' the )alloon/
<an came to the rescue of the gods on two separate occasions. (uring the battle of the gods
and the Titans, <an blew a conch shell to help put the enemy to flight. According to
3ratosthenes his connection with the conch shell accounts for his fishy nature in the sky,
although 4yginus says somewhat absurdly that it is because he hurled shellfish at the enemy.
%n a later occasion, <an shouted a warning to the gods that the monster Typhon was
approaching, sent by +other 3arth :Gaia; against the gods. At <an&s suggestion the gods
disguised themselves as animals to elude the monster. <an himself took refuge in a river,
turning the lower part of his body into a fish.
8eus grappled with Typhon, but the monster pulled out the sinews from 8eus&s hands and feet,
leaving the god crippled. 4ermes and <an replaced the sinews, allowing 8eus to resume his
pursuit of Typhon. 8eus cut down the monster with thunderbolts and finally buried him under
+ount 3tna in #icily, which still belches fire from the monster&s breath. In gratitude for these
services, 8eus placed the image of <an in the sky as the constellation 5apricornus.
The star Alpha 5apricorni is variously called Algedi or Giedi, from the Arabic al6?ady meaning
1the kid&, the Arabic name for the constellation. (elta 5apricorni is called (eneb Algedi, from
69
the Arabic for 1the kid&s tail&. The tropic of 5apricorn is the latitude on 3arth at which the #un
appears overhead at noon on the winter solstice, around (ecember //. In Greek times the
#un was in 5apricornus on this date, but the effect of precession means that the #un is now in
#agittarius at the winter solstice.
5epheus was the mythological king of 3thiopia. 4e was deemed worthy of a place in the sky
because he was fourth in descent from the nymph Io, one of the loves of 8eus - and having
8eus as a relative was always an advantage when it came to being commemorated among the
constellations. The kingdom of 5epheus was not the 3thiopia we know today, but stretched
from the south$eastern shore of the +editerranean southwards to the ,ed #ea, an area that
contains parts of the modern Israel, 9ordan and 3gypt. <tolemy described him as wearing the
tiara$like head$dress of a <ersian king.
Cepheus in
the ro)es o$ a
Persian &in!'
depicted in
the Atlas
Coelestis
o$ John
3lasteed
-+ABC./
5epheus was
married to
5assiopeia, an
unbearably
vain woman
whose
boastfulness
caused
<oseidon to
send a sea
monster,
5etus, to
ravage the
shores of
5epheus&s
kingdom.
5epheus was
instructed by
the %racle of
Ammon to
chain his
daughter
Andromeda to
a rock in
sacrifice to
the monster.
#he was
saved by the hero <erseus, who killed the monster and claimed Andromeda for his bride.
70
Fing 5epheus laid on a sumptuous ban7uet at his palace to celebrate the wedding. =ut
Andromeda had already been promised to <hineus, brother of 5epheus. )hile the celebrations
were in progress, <hineus and his followers burst in, demanding that Andromeda be handed
over, which 5epheus refused to do. The dreadful battle that ensued is described in gory detail
by %vid in =ook G of his Metaorphoses. 5epheus retired from the scene, muttering that he
had done his best, and left <erseus to defend himself. <erseus cut down many of his attackers,
turning the remainder to stone by showing them the Gorgon&s head.
The constellation of 5epheus lies near the north celestial pole. Its most celebrated star is (elta
5ephei, a pulsating supergiant star that varies in brightness every @.? days. It is the prototype
of the 5epheid variable stars that astronomers use for estimating distances in space.
(olphins were a familiar sight to Greek sailors, so it is not surprising to find one of these
friendly and intelligent creatures depicted in the sky. Two stories account for the presence of
the celestial dolphin. According to 3ratosthenes, this dolphin represents the messenger of the
sea god <oseidon.
A play$ul6
loo&in!
Delphinus
depicted in
the Atlas
Coelestis
o$ John
3lasteed
-+ABC./
After 8eus,
<oseidon, and
4ades had
overthrown
their father
5ronus, they
divided up
the sky, the
sea and the
underworld
between
them, with
<oseidon
inheriting the
sea. 4e built
himself a
magnificent
underwater
palace off the island of 3uboea. !or all its opulence, the palace felt empty without a wife, so
<oseidon set out in search of one. 4e courted Amphitrite, one of the group of sea nymphs
called 6ereids, but she fled from his rough advances and took refuge among the other
6ereids. <oseidon sent messengers after her, including a dolphin, which found her and with
71
soothing gestures brought her back to the sea god, whom she subse7uently married. In
gratitude, <oseidon placed the image of the dolphin among the stars.
Another story, given by 4yginus and %vid, says that this is the dolphin that saved the life of
Arion, a real$life poet and musician of the seventh century =5. Arion was born on the island of
0esbos, but his reputation spread throughout Greece for he was said to be une7ualled in his
skill with the lyre. )hile Arion was returning to Greece by ship from a concert tour of #icily,
the sailors plotted to kill him and steal the small fortune that he had earned. )hen the sailors
surrounded him with swords drawn, Arion asked to be allowed to sing one last song. 4is music
attracted a school of dolphins which swam alongside the ship, leaping playfully. <lacing his
faith in the gods, Arion leaped overboard - and one of the dolphins carried him on its back to
Greece, where Arion later confronted his attackers and had them sentenced to death. Apollo,
god of music and poetry, placed the dolphin among the constellations, along with the lyre of
Arion which is represented by the constellation 0yra.
Two stars in (elphinus bear the peculiar names of #ualocin and ,otanev, given to them in
11? by the Italian astronomer 6iccolQ 5acciatore, assistant and successor to the great
Giuseppe <ia..i at <alermo %bservatory. ,ead backwards, the names spell out 6icolaus
Genator, the 0atini.ed form of 6iccolQ 5acciatore. 4e is the only person to have named a star
after himself and got away with it.
The constellation was once popularly called 9ob&s 5offin, presumably from its elongated bo"$
like shape, although sometimes this name is restricted to the diamond formed by the four
stars Alpha, =eta, Gamma, and (elta (elphini. )ho originated the name 9ob&s 5offin, or when,
is not known.
3arly writers seem to have regarded the 3ridanus as a mythical river, flowing into the great
%cean that surrounded the lands of the known world. The first$century =5 ,oman poet Girgil
called it 1the king of rivers&. 3ratosthenes identified it as the 6ile, 1the only river which runs
from south to north&. 4yginus agreed with this identification, pointing out that the star
5anopus :which marks a steering oar of the ship Argo; lay at the end of the celestial river, as
the island 5anopus lies at the mouth of the 6ile. =ut 4esiod in his Theo!ony listed the 6ile and
3ridanus separately, showing that he regarded them as different rivers. 0ater Greek writers
identified the 3ridanus with the river <o in Italy.
In mythology, the 3ridanus features in the story of <haethon, son of the #un$god 4elios, who
begged to be allowed to drive his father&s chariot across the sky. ,eluctantly 4elios agreed to
the re7uest, but warned <haethon of the dangers he was facing. 1!ollow the track across the
heavens where you will see my wheel marks&, 4elios advised.
72
2ridanus
eanders
across this
chart $ro
Johann
Bode7s
4rano!raphia/ At upper ri!ht are the $lippers o$ Cetus' and )elo( the lies Apparatus
Cheicus' the nae !iven )y Bode to the constellation (e no( &no( as 3ornax/
As (awn threw open her doors in the east, <haethon enthusiastically mounted the #un$god&s
golden chariot studded with glittering 'ewels, little knowing what he was letting himself in for.
The four horses immediately sensed the lightness of the chariot with its different driver and
they bolted upwards into the sky, off the beaten track, with the chariot bobbing around like a
poorly ballasted ship behind them. 3ven had <haethon known where the true path lay, he
lacked the skill and the strength to control the reins.
The team galloped northwards, so that for the first time the stars of the <lough grew hot and
(raco, the dragon, which until then had been sluggish with the cold, sweltered in the heat and
snarled furiously. 0ooking down on 3arth from the di..ying heights, the panic$stricken
<haethon grew pale and his knees trembled in fear. !inally, he saw the constellation of the
#corpion with its huge claws outstretched and its poisonous tail raised to strike. Noung
<haethon let the reins slip from his grasp and the horses galloped out of control.
%vid graphically describes <haethon&s cra.y ride in =ook II of his Metaorphoses. The chariot
plunged so low that the 3arth caught fire. 3nveloped in hot smoke, <haethon was swept along
by the horses, not knowing where he was. It was then, the mythologists say, that 0ibya
became a desert, the 3thiopians ac7uired their dark skins and the seas dried up. To bring the
73
catastrophic events to an end, 8eus struck <haethon down with a thunderbolt. )ith his hair
streaming fire, the youth plunged like a shooting star into the 3ridanus. #ome time later, when
the Argonauts sailed up the river, they found his body still smouldering, sending up clouds of
foul$smelling steam in which birds choked and died.
3ridanus is a long constellation, the si"th$largest in the sky, meandering from the foot of %rion
far into the southern hemisphere, ending near Tucana, the Toucan. The constellation&s
brightest star, first$magnitude Alpha 3ridani, is called Achernar, from the Arabic meaning 1the
river&s end&* it does indeed mark the southern end of 3ridanus. =edouin Arabs visuali.ed
Achernar and !omalhaut :in <iscis Austrinus; as a pair of ostriches.
The origin of this constellation is so ancient that its true identity was lost even to the Greeks,
who knew the figure simply as 3ngonasin, literally meaning 1the kneeling one&. The Greek poet
Aratus described him as being worn out with toil, his hands upraised, with one knee bent and
a foot on the head of (raco, the dragon. 16o one knows his name, nor what he labours at&,
said Aratus. =ut 3ratosthenes, a century after Aratus, identified the figure as 4eracles :the
Greek name for 4ercules; triumphing over the dragon that guarded the golden apples of the
4esperides. The Greek playwright Aeschylus, 7uoted by 4yginus, offered a different
e"planation. 4e said that 4eracles was kneeling, wounded and e"hausted, during his battle
with the 0igurians.
74
Hercules'
the
&neelin!
an' $ro
the Atlas
Coelestis
o$ John
3lasteed
-+ABC./ 9n
the s&y he
is depicted
(ith his
$eet
to(ards
the north
celestial
pole' his
le$t $oot
on the
head o$
the
dra!on'
Draco/
Hercules
(ears a
lion7s
s&in and in
his ri!ht
hand
)randishes
a clu)' his
$avourite
(eapon/
Here his
le$t hand
is epty'
)ut other
illustrations sho( it !raspin!
either the three6headed Cer)erus or an apple )ranch/
4eracles is the greatest of Greek and ,oman heroes, the e7uivalent of the #umerian hero
Gilgamesh. #o it is surprising that the Greeks allotted him a constellation only as an
afterthought. %ne reason may be that he was already sometimes personified as one of the
heavenly twins represented by the constellation Gemini, the other twin being Apollo.
The full saga of 4eracles is long and comple", as befits a legend that has grown in the telling.
4eracles was the illicit son of the god 8eus and Alcmene, most beautiful and wise of mortal
women, whom 8eus visited in the form of her husband, Amphitryon. The infant was christened
Alcides, Alcaeus or even <alaemon, according to different accounts* the name 4eracles came
later. 8eus&s real wife, 4era, was furious at her husband&s infidelity. )orse still, 8eus laid the
infant 4eracles at 4era&s breast while she slept, so that he suckled her milk. And having drunk
the milk of a goddess, 4eracles became immortal.
75
As 4eracles grew up he surpassed all other men in si.e, strength and skills with weapons, but
he was for ever dogged by the 'ealousy of 4era. #he could not kill him, since he was immortal,
so instead she vowed to make his life as unpleasant as possible. Dnder 4era&s evil spell he
killed his children in a fit of madness. )hen sanity returned, he went remorsefully to the
%racle at (elphi to ask how he might atone for his dreadful deed. The %racle ordered him to
serve 3urystheus, king of +ycenae, for 1/ years. It was then that the %racle gave him the
name 4eracles, meaning 1glory of 4era&.
3urystheus set him a series of ten tasks that are called the 0abours of 4eracles. The first was
to kill a lion that was terrori.ing the land around the city of 6emea. This lion had a hide that
was impervious to any weapon - so 4eracles strangled it to death. 4e used its own claws to
cut off the skin. Thereafter he wore the pelt of the lion as a cloak, with its gaping mouth as a
helmet, which made him look even more formidable. The 6emean lion is identified with the
constellation 0eo.
The second labour was to destroy the multi$headed monster called the 4ydra which lurked in
the swamp near the town of 0erna, devouring incautious passers$by. 4eracles grappled with
the monster, but as soon as he cut off one of its heads, two grew to replace it. To make
matters worse, a large crab came scuttling out of the swamp and nipped at the feet of
4eracles. Angrily he stamped on the crab and called for help to Iolaus, his charioteer, who
burned the stumps as each head was lopped to prevent more heads growing. 4eracles gutted
the 4ydra and dipped his arrows in its poisonous blood - an action that would eventually be
his undoing. =oth the crab :5ancer; and the 4ydra are commemorated as constellations.
!or his ne"t two labours, 4eracles was ordered to catch elusive animals2 a deer with golden
horns, and a ferocious boar. <erhaps the most famous labour is his fifth, the cleaning of the
dung$filled stables of Fing Augeias of 3lis. 4eracles struck a bargain with the king that he
would clean out the stables in a single day in return for one$tenth of the king&s cattle. 4eracles
accomplished the task by diverting two rivers. =ut Augeias, claiming he had been tricked,
renounced the bargain and banished 4eracles from 3lis.
The ne"t task took him to the town of #tymphalus where he dispersed a flock of marauding
birds with arrow$like feathers. The survivors flew to the =lack #ea, where they subse7uently
attacked 9ason and the Argonauts. 6e"t, 4eracles sailed to 5rete to capture a fire$breathing
bull that was ravaging the land. #ome e7uate this bull with the constellation Taurus. !or his
eighth and ninth labours, 4eracles brought to 3urystheus the flesh$eating horses of Fing
(iomedes of Thrace and the belt of 4ippolyte, 7ueen of the Ama.ons.
!inally, 4eracles was sent to steal the cattle of Geryon, a triple$bodied monster who ruled the
island of 3rytheia, far to the west. )hile sailing there, 4eracles set up the columns at the
straits of Gibraltar called the <illars of 4eracles. 4e killed Geryon with a single arrow that
pierced all three bodies from the side, then drove the cattle back to Greece. %n route through
0iguria, in southern !rance, he was set upon by local forces who so outnumbered him that he
ran out of arrows. #inking to his knees, he prayed to his father, 8eus, who rained down rocks
on the plain. 4eracles hurled these rocks at his attackers and routed them. According to
Aeschylus, this is the incident that is recorded by the constellation 3ngonasin, the kneeler.
)hen 4eracles returned from the last of these e"ploits, the cowardly and deceitful 3urystheus
refused to release him from his service because 4eracles had received help in slaying the
4ydra and had attempted to profit from the stable$cleaning. 4ence 3urystheus set two
additional tasks, more difficult than those before. The first was to steal the golden apples from
the garden of 4era on the slopes of +ount Atlas. The tree with the golden fruit had been a
wedding present from +other 3arth :Gaia; when 4era married 8eus. 4era set the 4esperides,
daughters of Atlas, to guard the tree, but they stole some of the precious produce. #o now the
dragon 0adon lay coiled around the tree to prevent any further pilfering.
After a heroic 'ourney, during which he released <rometheus from his bonds, 4eracles came to
the garden where the golden apples grew. 6earby stood Atlas, supporting the heavens on his
shoulders. 4eracles dispatched 0adon with a well$aimed arrow, and 4era set the dragon in the
76
sky as the constellation (raco. 4eracles had been advised :by <rometheus, says Apollodorus;
not to pick the apples himself, so he invited Atlas to fetch them for him while he temporarily
supported the skies. 4eracles hastily returned the burden of the skies to the shoulders of Atlas
before making off with the golden treasure.
The twelfth labour, the most daunting of all, took him down to the gates of the Dnderworld to
fetch 5erberus, the three$headed watchdog. 5erberus had the tail of a dragon and his back
was covered with snakes. A more loathsome creature would be difficult to imagine but
4eracles, protected from the tail and the snakes by the skin of the 6emean lion, wrestled
5erberus with his bare hands and dragged the slavering dog to 3urystheus. The startled king
had never e"pected to see 4eracles alive again. 6ow, with all the labours completed,
3urystheus had no option but to make 4eracles a free man again.
The death of 4eracles is a piece of true Greek tragedy. After his labours, 4eracles married
(eianeira, the young and beautiful daughter of Fing %eneus. )hile travelling together,
4eracles and (eianeira came to the swollen river 3venus where the centaur 6essus ferried
passengers across. 4eracles swam across himself, leaving (eianeira to be carried by 6essus.
The centaur, aroused by her beauty, tried to ravish her, and 4eracles shot him with one of his
arrows tipped with the 4ydra&s poison.
The dying centaur offered (eianeira some of his blood, deceitfully claiming that it would act as
a love charm. Innocently, (eianeira accepted the poisoned blood and kept it safely until, much
later, she began to suspect that 4eracles had his eye on another woman. In the hope of
rekindling his affection, (eianeira gave 4eracles a shirt on which she had smeared the blood of
the dying 6essus. 4eracles put it on - and as the blood warmed up, the 4ydra&s poison began
to burn his flesh to the bone.
In agony, 4eracles raged over the countryside, tearing up trees. ,eali.ing there was no
release from the pain, he built himself a funeral pyre on +ount %eta, spread out his lion&s skin
and lay down on it, peaceful at last. The flames burned up the mortal part of him, while the
immortal part ascended to 'oin the gods on +ount %lympus. 4is father, 8eus, turned him into
a constellation, which we know by the ,oman name 4ercules.
4eracles is depicted in the sky holding a club, his favourite weapon. #ome people think that
his 1/ labours are represented by the 1/ signs of the .odiac, but it is difficult to see the
connection in some cases.
4ercules is the fifth$largest constellation but is not particularly prominent. Alpha 4erculis, a
red giant star that varies from third to fourth magnitude, is called ,asalgethi, from the Arabic
meaning 1the kneeler&s head&. The most celebrated ob'ect in the constellation is a globular
cluster of stars, +1E, the best e"ample of such a cluster in northern skies.
A compact but prominent constellation, marked by the fifth$brightest star in the sky, Gega.
+ythologically, 0yra was the lyre of the great musician %rpheus, whose venture into the
Dnderworld is one of the most famous of Greek stories. It was the first lyre ever made, having
been invented by 4ermes, the son of 8eus and +aia :one of the <leiades;. 4ermes fashioned
the lyre from the shell of a tortoise that he found browsing outside his cave on +ount 5yllene
in Arcadia. 4ermes cleaned out the shell, pierced its rim and tied across it seven strings of cow
gut, the same as the number of the <leiades. 4e also invented the plectrum with which to play
the instrument.
77
1yra (as
$re8uently
visualized
as an
ea!le or
vulture as
(ell as a
lyreE )oth
are sho(n
on this
en!ravin!
$ro the
4rano!raphia o$ Johann Bode -+#5+./ Near the tip o$ the vulture7s )ea& is the )ri!ht star
Ve!a' here spelt >e!aE Bode also !ave it the alternative nae Testa in re$erence to the
tortoise shell $ro (hich the lyre (as supposedly ade )y Heres/
The lyre got 4ermes out of trouble after a youthful e"ploit in which he stole some of Apollo&s
cattle. Apollo angrily came to demand their return, but when he heard the beautiful music of
the lyre he let 4ermes keep the cattle and took the lyre in e"change. 3ratosthenes says that
Apollo later gave the lyre to %rpheus to accompany his songs.
%rpheus was the greatest musician of his age, able to charm rocks and streams with the
magic of his songs. 4e was even reputed to have attracted rows of oak trees down to the
coast of Thrace with the music of his lyre. %rpheus 'oined the e"pedition of 9ason and the
Argonauts in search of the golden fleece. )hen the Argonauts heard the tempting song of the
#irens, sea nymphs who had lured generations of sailors to destruction, %rpheus sang a
counter melody that drowned the #irens& voices.
0ater, %rpheus married the nymph 3urydice. %ne day, 3urydice was spied by Aristaeus, a son
of Apollo, who attacked her in a fit of passion. !leeing from him, she stepped on a snake and
died from its poisonous bite. %rpheus was heartbroken* unable to live without his young wife,
78
%rpheus descended into the Dnderworld to plead for her release. #uch a re7uest was
unprecedented. =ut the sound of his music charmed even the cold heart of 4ades, god of the
Dnderworld, who finally agreed to let 3urydice accompany %rpheus back to the land of the
living on one solemn condition2 %rpheus must not at any stage look behind him until the
couple were safely back in daylight.
%rpheus readily accepted, and led 3urydice through the dark passage that led to the upper
world, strumming his lyre to guide her. It was an unnerving feeling to be followed by a ghost.
4e could never be 7uite sure that his beloved was following, but he dared not look back.
3ventually, as they approached the surface, his nerve gave out. 4e turned around to confirm
that 3urydice was still there - and at that moment she slipped back into the depths of the
Dnderworld, out of his grasp for ever.
%rpheus was inconsolable. 4e wandered the countryside, plaintively playing his lyre. +any
women offered themselves to the great musician in marriage, but he preferred the company of
young boys.
There are two accounts of the death of %rpheus. %ne version, told by %vid in his
Metaorphoses, says that the local women, offended at being re'ected by %rpheus, ganged up
on him as he sat singing one day. They began to throw rocks and spears at him. At first his
music charmed the weapons so that they fell harmlessly at his feet, but the women raised
such a din that they eventually drowned the magic music and the missiles found their mark.
3ratosthenes, on the other hand, says that %rpheus incurred the wrath of the god (ionysus by
not making sacrifices to him. %rpheus regarded Apollo, the #un god, as the supreme deity and
would often sit on the summit of +ount <angaeum awaiting dawn so that he could be the first
to salute the #un with his melodies. In retribution for this snub, (ionysus sent his manic
followers to tear %rpheus limb from limb. 3ither way, %rpheus finally 'oined his beloved
3urydice in the Dnderworld, while the muses put the lyre among the stars with the approval of
8eus, their father.
<tolemy knew the constellation&s brightest star simply as 0yra. The name we use for this star
today, Gega, comes from the Arabic words al6nasr al6(a8i7 that can mean either 1the swooping
eagle& or 1vulture&, for the Arabs saw an eagle or vulture here. The constellation was often
depicted on star maps as a bird positioned behind a lyre, as on the illustration here. It seems
that the Arabs visuali.ed Gega and its two nearby stars 3psilon and 8eta 0yrae as an eagle
with folded wings, swooping down in its prey, whereas in the constellation A7uila the star
Altair and its two attendant stars gave the impression of a flying eagle with wings
outstretched.
=eta 0yrae is called #heliak, a name that comes from the Arabic for 1harp&, in reference to the
constellation as a whole. =eta 0yrae is a celebrated variable star. Gamma 0yrae is called
#ulafat, from the Arabic meaning 1the tortoise&, after the animal from whose shell 4ermes
made the lyre. =etween =eta and Gamma 0yrae lies the ,ing 6ebula, often pictured in
astronomy books* it is a shell of gas thrown off by a dying star.
%rion is the most splendid of constellations, befitting a character who was in legend the tallest
and most handsome of men. 4is right arm and left foot are marked by the brilliant stars
=etelgeuse and ,igel, with a distinctive line of three stars forming his belt. 16o other
constellation more accurately represents the figure of a man&, says Germanicus 5aesar.
79
+anilius calls it 1golden %rion& and 1the mightiest of constellations&, and e"aggerates its
brilliance by saying that, when %rion rises, 1night feigns the brightness of day and folds its
dusky wings&. +anilius describes %rion as 1stretching his arms over a vast e"panse of sky and
rising to the stars with no less huge a stride&. In fact, %rion is not an e"ceptionally large
constellation, ranking only /Cth in si.e :smaller, for instance, than <erseus according to the
modern constellation boundaries;, but the brilliance of its stars gives it the illusion of being
much larger.
%rion is also one of the most ancient constellations, being among the few star groups known
to the earliest Greek writers such as 4omer and 4esiod. 3ven in the space age, %rion remains
one of the few star patterns that non$astronomers can recogni.e.
<rion
raises his
clu) and
shield
a!ainst
the
char!in!
Taurus in
this
illustration
$ro the
4rano!raphia o$ Johann Bode -+#5+./ <rion7s ri!ht shoulder is ar&ed )y the )ri!ht star
Betel!euse' and his le$t $oot )y =i!el/ A line o$ three stars $ors his )elt/
In the sky, %rion is depicted facing the snorting charge of neighbouring Taurus the =ull, yet
the myth of %rion makes no reference to such a combat. 4owever, the constellation originated
with the #umerians, who saw in it their great hero Gilgamesh fighting the =ull of 4eaven. The
#umerian name for %rion was D,D A6$6A, meaning light of heaven. Taurus was GD( A6$6A,
bull of heaven.
80
Gilgamesh was the #umerian e7uivalent of 4eracles, which brings us to another pu..le. =eing
the greatest hero of Greek mythology, 4eracles deserves a magnificent constellation such as
this one, but in fact is consigned to a much more obscure area of sky. #o is %rion really
4eracles in another guiseH It might seem so, for one of the labours of 4eracles was to catch
the 5retan bull, which would fit the %rion-Taurus conflict in the sky. <tolemy described him
with club and lion&s pelt, both familiar attributes of 4eracles, and he is shown this way on old
star maps. (espite these facts, no mythologist hints at a connection between this constellation
and 4eracles.
According to myth, %rion was the son of <oseidon the sea god and 3uryale, daughter of Fing
+inos of 5rete. <oseidon gave %rion the power to walk on water. 4omer in the
<dyssey describes %rion as a giant hunter, armed with an unbreakable club of solid bron.e. In
the sky, the hunter&s dogs :the constellations 5anis +a'or and 5anis +inor; follow at his heels,
in pursuit of the hare :the constellation 0epus;.
%n the island of 5hios, %rion wooed +erope, daughter of Fing %enopion, apparently without
much success, for one night while fortified with wine he tried to ravish her. In punishment,
%enopion put out %rion&s eyes and banished him from the island. %rion headed north to the
island of 0emnos where 4ephaestus had his forge. 4ephaestus took pity on the blind %rion
and offered one of his assistants, 5edalion, to act as his eyes. 4oisting the youth on his
shoulders, %rion headed east towards the sunrise, which an oracle had told him would restore
his sight. As the sun&s healing rays fell on his sightless eyes at dawn, %rion&s vision was
miraculously restored.
%rion is linked in a stellar myth with the <leiades star cluster in Taurus. The <leiades were
seven sisters, daughters of Atlas and <leione. As the story is usually told, %rion fell in love
with the <leiades and pursued them with amorous intent. =ut according to 4yginus, it was
actually their mother <leione he was after. 8eus snatched the group up and placed them
among the stars, where %rion still pursues them across the sky each night.
#tories of the death of %rion are numerous and conflicting. Astronomical mythographers such
as Aratus, 3ratosthenes and 4yginus were agreed that a scorpion was involved. In one
version, told by 3ratosthenes and 4yginus, %rion boasted that he was the greatest of hunters.
4e declared to Artemis, the goddess of hunting, and 0eto, her mother, that he could kill any
beast on 3arth. The 3arth shuddered indignantly and from a crack in the ground emerged a
scorpion which stung the presumptuous giant to death.
Aratus, though, says that %rion attempted to ravish the virgin Artemis, and it was she who
caused the 3arth to open, bringing forth the scorpion. %vid has still another account* he says
that %rion was killed trying to save 0eto from the scorpion. 3ven the location varies.
3ratosthenes and 4yginus say that %rion&s death happened in 5rete, but Aratus places it in
5hios.
In both versions, the outcome was that %rion and the scorpion :the constellation #corpius;
were placed on opposite sides of the sky, so that as #corpius rises in the east, %rion flees
below the western hori.on. 1)retched %rion still fears being wounded by the poisonous sting
of the scorpion&, noted Germanicus 5aesar.
A very different story, also recounted by 4yginus, is that Artemis loved %rion and was
seriously considering giving up her vows of chastity to marry him. As the greatest male and
female hunters they would have made a formidable couple. =ut Apollo, twin brother of
Artemis, was against the match. %ne day, while %rion was swimming, Apollo challenged
Artemis to demonstrate her skill at archery by hitting a small black ob'ect that he pointed out
bobbing among the waves. Artemis pierced it with one shot - and was horrified to find that
she had killed %rion. Grieving, she placed him among the constellations.
81
There is a strange and persistent story about the birth of %rion, designed to account for the
early version of his name, Drion :even closer to the #umerian original D,D A6$6A;. According
to this story, there lived in Thebes an old farmer named 4yrieus. %ne day he offered
hospitality to three passing strangers, who happened to be the gods 8eus, 6eptune and
4ermes. After they had eaten, the visitors asked 4yrieus if he had any wishes. The old man
confessed that he would have liked a son, and the three gods promised to fulfil his wish.
#tanding together around the hide of the o" they had 'ust consumed, the gods urinated on it
and told 4yrieus to bury the hide. !rom it in due course was born a boy whom 4yrieus named
Drion after the mode of his conception.
%rion is one of several constellations in which the star labelled Alpha is not the brightest. The
brightest star in %rion is actually +eta Orionis, called ,igel from the Arabic ri?l meaning 1foot&
since <tolemy described it as marking the left foot of %rion. ,igel is a brilliant blue$white
supergiant.
%lpha Orionis is called =etelgeuse :pronounced =3T$ell$'uice;, one of the most famous yet
misunderstood star names. It comes from the Arabic yad al6?auza, often wrongly translated as
1armpit of the central one&. In fact, it means 1hand of al6?auza&. )ho :or what; was al6?auzaH It
was the name given by the Arabs to the constellation figure that they saw in this area,
seemingly a female figure encompassing the stars of both %rion and Gemini. The word al6
?auza apparently comes from the Arabic ?(z meaning 1middle&, so the best translation that
modern commentators can offer is that al6?auza means something like 1the female one of the
middle&. The reference to the 1middle& may be to do with the fact that the constellation lies
astride the celestial e7uator. As <tolemy described it in the Ala!est, =etelgeuse represents
the right shoulder of %rion. The Greeks did not give a name to either =etelgeuse or ,igel,
surprisingly for such prominent stars, which is why we know them by their Arabic titles.
=etelgeuse is a red supergiant star hundreds of times the diameter of the #un. It e"pands and
contracts over periods of months and years, changing brightness noticeably in the process.
The left shoulder of %rion is marked by Gamma Orionis, known as +ellatri,, a 0atin name
meaning 1the female warrior&. The star at the hunter&s right knee, -appa Orionis, is called
Saiph. This name comes from the Arabic for 1s(ord&, and is clearly misplaced. The three stars
of the belt - )eta, psilon and &elta Orionis - are called %lnitak, %lnilam and .intaka.
The names Alnitak and +intaka both come from the Arabic word meaning 1the belt& or 1girdle&.
Alnilam comes from the Arabic meaning 1the strin! o$ pearls&, another reference to the belt of
%rion.
=elow the belt lies a ha.y patch marking the giant&s sword. This is the location of the %rion
6ebula, one of the most$photographed ob'ects in the sky, a mass of gas from which a cluster
of stars is being born. The gas of the 6ebula shines by the light of the hottest stars that have
already formed within* it is visible to the naked eye on clear nights.
#agittarius is depicted in the sky as a centaur, with the body and four legs of a horse but the
upper torso of a man. 4e is shown wearing a cloak and drawing a bow, aimed in the direction
of the neighbouring #corpion. Aratus spoke of the =ow and the Archer as though they were
separate constellations. #agittarius is sometimes misidentified as 5hiron. =ut 5hiron is in fact
represented by the other celestial centaur, the constellation 5entaurus.
82
Sa!ittarius' the centaur6li&e archer' sho(n dra(in! his )o( in the
4rano!raphia o$ Johann Bode -+#5+./
#agittarius is a constellation of #umerian origin, subse7uently adopted by the Greeks, and this
helps e"plain the confusion over its identity. 3ratosthenes doubted that this constellation was a
centaur, giving as one of his reasons the fact that centaurs did not use bows. Instead,
3ratosthenes described #agittarius as a two$footed creature with the tail of a satyr. 4e said
that this figure was 5rotus, son of 3upheme, the nurse to the +uses, who were nine daughters
of 8eus. According to the ,oman mythographer 4yginus, the father of 5rotus was <an, which
confirms the view of 3ratosthenes that he should be depicted as a satyr rather than a centaur.
5rotus invented archery and often went hunting on horseback. 4e lived on +ount 4elicon
among the +uses, who en'oyed his company. They sang for him, and he applauded them
loudly. The +uses re7uested that 8eus place him in the sky, where he is seen demonstrating
the art of archery. =y his forefeet is a circle of stars that 4yginus said was a wreath thrown off
by someone at play. This circlet of stars is the constellation 5orona Australis.
Alpha #agittarii is alternatively called ,ukbat or Alrami, both from the Arabic ru&)at al6rai,
1knee of the archer&. =eta #agittarii is called Arkab, from the Arabic name meaning 1the
archer&s Achilles tendon&. Gamma #agittarii is Alnasl, from the Arabic meaning 1the point&,
referring to the tip of the archer&s arrow.
(elta, 3psilon and 0ambda #agittarii are respectively called Faus +edia, Faus Australis and
Faus =orealis. The word Faus comes from the Arabic al68uas, 1the bow&, while the suffi"es are
0atin words signifying the middle, southern and northern parts of the bow. 8eta #agittarii is
Ascella, a 0atin word meaning 1armpit&. All these names closely follow the descriptions of the
stars& positions given by <tolemy in his Ala!est.
0ast, but not least, is #igma #agittarii, called 6unki. This name was applied relatively recently
by navigators, but it was borrowed from a list of =abylonian star names. The =abylonian name
83
6D6$FI was given to a group of stars representing their sacred city of 3ridu on the 3uphrates.
The name has now been applied e"clusively to #igma #agittarii, and is reputed to be the
oldest star name in use.
#agittarius contains a rich part of the +ilky )ay, lying towards the centre of our Gala"y. The
e"act centre of the Gala"y is believed to be marked by a radio$emitting source that
astronomers call #agittarius A. There are many notable ob'ects in #agittarius, including the
0agoon 6ebula and the Trifid 6ebula, two clouds of gas lit up by stars inside them.
TRIANGULUM
#ince any three points make up the corners of a triangle it is unsurprising, if somewhat
unimaginative, to find a triangle among the constellations. Triangulum was known to the
Greeks who called it (eltoton, for its shape resembled a capital delta. Aratus described it as an
isosceles triangle, having two e7ual sides and a shorter third side. 3ratosthenes said that it
represented the 6ile river delta. According to 4yginus, some people also saw it as the island of
#icily, which was originally known as Trinacria on account of its three promontories. Trinacria
was the home of 5eres, goddess of agriculture. Triangulum contains +EE, a gala"y in our 0ocal
Group, visible with binoculars.
Trian!ulu
$ro the Atlas
Coelestis o$
John
3lasteed/
South o$ it lies
a saller
trian!le' once
&no(n as
Trian!ulu
Minus )ut no(
o)solete/
A smaller
triangle,
Triangulum
+inus, was
introduced in
1CB by the
<olish
astronomer
9ohannes
4evelius from
three stars
ne"t to
Triangulum. Triangulum +inus was shown on some maps, such as the one reproduced here,
but has since fallen into disuse.
84
The 0ittle =ear was said by the Greeks to have been first named by the astronomer Thales of
+iletus, who lived from about C/@ =5 to @?@ =5. The earliest reference to it seems to have
been made by the poet 5allimachus of the third century =5, who reported that Thales
1measured out the little stars of the )ain by which the <hoenicians sail&. 5ertainly 4omer, two
centuries before Thales, wrote only of the Great =ear, never mentioning its smaller
counterpart. 4owever, it is not clear whether Thales actually invented the constellation or
merely introduced it to the Greeks, for Thales was reputedly descended from a <hoenician
family and, as 5allimachus said, the <hoenicians navigated by reference to Drsa +inor rather
than Drsa +a'or. Aratus points out that although the 0ittle =ear is smaller and fainter than the
Great =ear, it lies closer to the pole and hence provides a better guide to true north. )e have
the word of 3ratosthenes that the Greeks also knew Drsa +inor as the <hoenician.
4rsa Minor
$ro the
Atlas
Coelestis o$
John
3lasteed/
Polaris' the
north pole
star' lies at
the tip o$ its
unnaturally
lon! tail/
Aratus called
the
constellation
5ynosura,
Greek for
1dog&s tail&.
This is the
origin of the
3nglish word
cynosure,
meaning
1guiding
star&.
According to
Aratus the 0ittle =ear represents one of the two nymphs who nursed the infant 8eus in the
cave of (icte on 5rete. Apollodorus tells us that the nurses& names were Adrasteia and Ida.
Drsa +inor commemorates Ida while Adrasteia, the senior of the two, is Drsa +a'or.
Drsa +inor has a similar ladle shape to Drsa +a'or, and so it is popularly termed the 0ittle
(ipper. At the end of the 0ittle =ear&s tail :or the dipper&s handle; is the star Alpha Drsae
+inoris, commonly known by the 0atin name <olaris because it is the nearest bright star to the
north celestial pole. 5ontrary to common belief, the north pole star is not particularly bright.
<olaris is a second$magnitude star, currently lying less than a degree away from the e"act
north celestial pole, close enough to make it an e"cellent guide star for navigators.
The second star in the 0ittle =ear&s tail, (elta Drsae +inoris, is called Nildun, a mis$spelling of
the Turkish word yildiz meaning 1star&. According to the German star$name authority <aul
Funit.sch this was wrongly thought to be a Turkish name for the pole star in ,enaissance
times, and it has since been arbitrarily applied to the star nearest to the true pole star.
According to Funit.sch, an Arab tradition saw the arc of stars forming the handle of the 0ittle
(ipper as representing one side of the body of a fish, the other side consisting of much fainter
stars including ? and @ Drsae +inoris and E/ 5amelopardalis.
85
Two stars in the bowl of the 0ittle (ipper, =eta and Gamma Drsae +inoris, are sometimes
referred to as the Guardians of the <ole. Their names are Fochab and <herkad. <aul Funit.sch
has been unable to trace the origin of Fochab, but thinks that it may come from the Arabic
word &au&a) meaning 1star&. <herkad is from an Arabic word meaning 1the two calves&,
referring to both =eta and Gamma Drsae +inoris.
A constellation introduced in 1CB by the <olish astronomer 9ohannes 4evelius, who depicted
it as a double figure of a fo", Gulpecula, carrying in its 'aws a goose, spelt both as Anser and
Ansere. #ince then the goose has flown :or been eaten;, leaving 'ust the fo". 4evelius placed
the fo" near two other hunting animals, the eagle :the constellation A7uila; and the vulture
:which was an alternative identification for 0yra;. 4e e"plained that the fo" was taking the
goose to neighbouring 5erberus, another of his inventions - although this part of the tableau
has been spoilt, as 5erberus is now obsolete. 4evelius himself was somewhat inconsistent in
his naming of this constellation. In his star catalogue he named the pair IGulpecula cum
AnsereJ, the fo" with goose, but showed them separately as IAnserJ and IGulpeculaJ on his
3iraentu So)iescianu star atlas. %thers preferred the slightly amended title fo" and
goose.
The $ox and
the !oose
sho(n as
FVulpec/ G
AnserH on the
Atlas
Coelestis o$
John
3lasteed
-+ABC./ The
3ox and
%oose is a
traditional
pu) nae in
Britain/ 3or
the ori!inal
depiction )y
Hevelius' see
here/
Gulpecula
contains no named stars and has no legends. Although its brightest stars are of only fourth
magnitude it is notable for the (umbbell 6ebula, reputedly the most conspicuous of the class
of so$called planetary nebulae. The (umbbell 6ebula consists of gas thrown off from a dying
star* it takes its name from the double$lobed structure, like a bar$bell, as seen on long$
e"posure photographs.
86
The +ilky )ay is not, of course, a constellation, but a band of faint light crossing the sky. The
,oman writer +anilius compared it to the luminous wake of a ship. %vid in his
Metaorphoses described it as a road lined on either side by the houses of distinguished gods
- 1the <alatine district of high heaven&, he termed it. Along this road the gods supposedly
travelled to the palace of 8eus.
3ratosthenes tells us that the +ilky )ay was the result of a trick played by 8eus on his wife
4era so that she would suckle his illegitimate son 4eracles and hence make him immortal.
4ermes laid the infant 4eracles at 4era&s breast while she was asleep, but when she woke and
reali.ed who the baby was - perhaps by the strength with which he sucked - she pushed him
away and her milk s7uirted across the sky to form the +ilky )ay.
Tintoretto7s
paintin!
titled The
<ri!in o$ the
Mil&y >ay
illustrates the
yth
recounted )y
2ratosthenes/
-Photo 0 The
National
%allery'
1ondon/.
+anilius
listed various
e"planations
for the +ilky
)ay that
were current
in his day,
both scientific
and
mythological.
%ne
suggestion
was that it is the seam where the two halves of the heavens are 'oined - or, conversely, where
the two halves are coming apart like a split in the ceiling, letting in light from beyond.
Alternatively, said +anilius, it might be a former path of the #un, now covered in ash where
the sky was scorched. #ome thought that it could mark the route taken by <haethon when he
careered across the sky in the chariot of the #un god, 4elios, setting the sky on fire :see
3ridanus;. Net again, noted +anilius, it could be a mass of faint stars, an idea attributed to the
Greek philosopher (emocritus of the fifth century =5, which we now know to be correct.
!inally, on a 7uasi$religious note, +anilius suggested that the +ilky )ay could be the abode of
the souls of heroes who had ascended to heaven.
It was known to the Arabs of the +iddle Ages as al6ad?arra, from a word meaning a place
where something is pulled or drawn along, such as a cart track. It seems that the Arabs such
as al$=iruni :c.A( 1AEA; understood the +ilky )ay&s true nature as a distant mass of stars.
87
88