FOR anyone entering the field of Greek mythology, the two volumes by Robert Graves entitledThe Greek Myths (Penguin) are a masterful synthesis, with copious references. Another useful summary, with many notes and references, isA Handbook of Greek Mythology by H. J. Rose (Methuen). For other background information I consulted theOxford Classical Dictionary (Oxford University Press) and theDictionary of Classical Mythology by Pierre Grimal (Blackwell); the latter, in particular, contains a fund of references.
The starting point for all studies of Greek star lore is a poem called thePhaenomena (Appearances), written c. 275BC by Aratus of Soli. ThePhaenomena of Aratus is based on a book of the same name written the previous century by the Greek scientist Eudoxus of Cnidus. No copies of the book by Eudoxus have been preserved; we have only Aratus’s poem. An English translation by G. R. Mair is available in the Loeb Classical Library series (Harvard University Press and Heinemann). A more recent translation and extensive commentary on the poem isAratus: Phaenomena by Douglas Kidd (CUP, 1997).
The Latin adaptation of Aratus that was reputedly written by Germanicus Caesar in the early part of the first century has been translated by D. B. Gain; seeThe Aratus Ascribed to Germanicus Caesar (Athlone Press, 1976). A Latin work with many echoes of Aratus isAstronomica by the Roman poet Marcus Manilius, written early in the first centuryAD. It has been translated into English by G. P. Goold in the Loeb Classical Library.
Another early Greek source is theCatasterisms ascribed to Eratosthenes in the second centuryBC – although not, according to modern authority, actually written by him. When writing the original edition ofStar Tales I could find no English translation of it so I referred to the French version published in 1821 by Abbé Halma. Since then, English translations have appeared in the booksStar Myths by Theony Condos (Phanes Press, Grand Rapids, 1997) andConstellation Myths by Robin Hard (OUP, 2015).
The Myths of Hyginus by Mary Grant (University of Kansas Publications, 1960) contains an invaluable English translation of Hyginus’sFabulae andPoetica Astronomica, among the most influential works on constellation mythology but scarcely read today. Other translations of thePoetica Astronomica are included in the more recentStar Myths by Theony Condos andConstellation Myths by Robin Hard, mentioned above.
Apollodorus was a Greek writer who produced an encyclopedic summary of Greek myths called theLibrary; I referred to the Loeb translation by Sir J. G. Frazer. Many popular myths received their definitive retelling in the works of the Roman writer Ovid; for hisMetamorphoses I used the Penguin translation by Mary Innes and the Loeb edition of hisFasti by Sir J. G. Frazer. My source for Apollonius Rhodius was the Penguin translation by E. V. Rieu.
For Ptolemy’sAlmagest I consulted G. J. Toomer’s thoughtful translation (Duckworth, 1984). Seehere for scans of the Peters and Knobel edition of theAlmagest.
A Greek writer called Geminus (probably first centuryBC) gives us a glimpse of the Greek sky between the eras of Hipparchus and Ptolemy in hisIntroduction to the Phenomena (commonly known as theIsagoge, from the first word in its Greek titleEisagoge eis ta phainomena). The first English translation of this book was published in 2006 by James Evans and J. Lennart Berggren.
For the origin of star names, I have relied on the bookletA Dictionary of Modern Star Names (originallyShort Guide to Modern Star Names and Their Derivations) by Paul Kunitzsch and Tim Smart (Sky Publishing, 2006). Useful background on star names can also be found in an article by Dr Kunitzsch in the January 1983 issue ofSky & Telescope. A collection of Dr Kunitzsch’s scientific papers has been reprinted asThe Arabs and the Stars (Variorum, 1989). An illuminating paper by Gwyneth Heuter on the origin of star names is to be found inVistas in Astronomy, vol. 29, 1986, p.237.
My sources for Chinese constellations have been the books by Ho Peng Yoke (1966), Sun and Kistemaker (1997), and Chan Ki-hung (2007). Ho translated an important Chinese astronomical survey from the mid 7th centuryAD, contemporary with theDunhuang star chart. Sun and Kistemaker have attempted to reconstruct the sky from an even earlier time, in the first centuryBC. Chan’s book presents reconstructed star charts from two eras: one from the 18th century, by when the Chinese sky had reached its final form, after which it was supplanted by western constellations; and an older tradition, from the 11th centuryAD. Many people will know of R. H. Allen’s classicStar Names, Their Lore and Meaning (1899); his prime source for Chinese constellations was John Williams’sObservations of Comets, which includes a Chinese celestial atlas, but this is out of date and I have not used it here.
The Sky Explored by Deborah Jean Warner (Alan R. Liss, New York, and Theatrum Orbis Terrarum, Amsterdam, 1979) is an invaluable survey of the history and development of celestial cartography, and contains much incidental material on constellation history. Morton Wagman’sLost Stars is a painstaking survey of changes in star designations between catalogues and in response to changing constellation boundaries, as well as being a good survey of constellation history.A notable work on the modern constellations,Filling the Sky published in 2003 by Jim Fuchs, provides useful additional information and references.
Archie Roy’s speculations about the origin of the constellations are contained in his paper inVistas in Astronomy, vol. 27, 1984, p.171. Arguments by Bradley E. Schaefer for a later date of origin are to be found inJournal for the History of Astronomy, vol. 35, 2004, p.161. E. B. Knobel’s analysis of the star catalogue of Frederick de Houtman is in theMonthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, vol. 77, 1917, p.414. (See also Knobel’s subsequentnote.)
R. H. Allen’sStar Names, Their Lore and Meaning (Dover) and W. T. Olcott’sStar Lore of All Ages (Putnam’s) are fun to dip into, but I have not used them as prime sources for mythology.
A rich source of antiquarian constellation illustrations from many eras can be found at theWarburg Institute Iconographic Database.
Ian Ridpath
References
Adams, Danielle,Rain Stars Set, Lunar Stations Rise: Multivalent Textures of Pre-Islamic Arabian Astronomy and the Hegemonic Discourse of Order, PhD Dissertation, University of Arizona, 2018.
Baily, Francis,The Catalogues of Ptolemy, Ulugh Beigh, Tycho Brahe, Halley, Hevelius...,Memoirs of the Royal Astronomical Society, vol. 13, 1843.
Chan, Ki-hung,Chinese Ancient Star Map, (Hong Kong Space Museum), 2007.
Condos, Theony,Star Myths, (Phanes Press, Grand Rapids), 1997.
Dekker, Elly,Der Globusfreund, nos. 35–37, pp. 211–230, 1987.
Dekker, Elly,Annals of Science, vol. 44, pp. 439–470, 1987.
Dekker, Elly,Annals of Science, vol. 47, pp. 529–560, 1990.
Evans, David S.,Lacaille: Astronomer, Traveler, (Pachart, Tucson), 1992.
Evans, James, and Berggren, J. Lennart,Geminos’s Introduction to the Phenomena (Princeton University Press), 2006.
Frazer, J. G.,Apollodorus (2 vols), (Loeb Classical Library), 1921.
Frazer, J. G.,Ovid’s Fasti, (Loeb Classical Library), 1931.
Fuchs, Jim,Filling the Sky, (privately published), 2003.
Gain, D. B.,The Aratus Ascribed to Germanicus Caesar, (Athlone Press, London), 1976.
Goold, G. P.,Manilius Astronomica, (Loeb Classical Library), 1977.
Grant, Mary,The Myths of Hyginus, (University of Kansas Publications, Lawrence), 1960.
Graves, Robert,The Greek Myths (2 vols), (Penguin), 1960.
Grimal, Pierre,The Dictionary of Classical Mythology, (Blackwell, Oxford), 1985.
Hard, Robin,Constellation Myths (Oxford University Press), 2015.
Ho, Peng Yoke,The Astronomical Chapters of the Chin Shu, (Mouton, Paris), 1966.
Heuter, Gwyneth,Vistas in Astronomy, vol. 29, p. 237, 1986.
Innes, Mary M.,Ovid Metamorphoses, (Penguin), 1955.
Kidd, Douglas,Aratus: Phaenomena, (Cambridge University Press), 1997.
Knobel, E. B.,Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, vol. 77, p. 414, 1917.
Kunitzsch, Paul,Sky & Telescope, vol. 65, p. 20, 1983.
Kunitzsch, Paul,The Arabs and the Stars, (Variorum, Northampton), 1989.
Kunitzsch, Paul, and Smart, Tim,A Dictionary of Modern Star Names, (Sky Publishing), 2006.
Mair, G. R.,Aratus, (Loeb Classical Library), 1955.
Oxford Classical Dictionary (second and third editions), (Oxford University Press), 1970, 1999.
Rieu, G. V.,Apollonius of Rhodes The Voyage of Argo, (Penguin, London), 1971.
Rose, H. J.,A Handbook of Greek Mythology, (Methuen, London), 1958.
Roy, Archie,Vistas in Astronomy, vol. 27, p. 171, 1984.
Schaefer, Bradley E.,Journal for the History of Astronomy, vol. 35, p.161, 2004.
Sun, Xiaochun, and Kistemaker, Jacob,The Chinese Sky During the Han, (Brill, Leiden), 1997.
Toomer, G. J.,Ptolemy’s Almagest, (Duckworth, London), 1984.
Volkoff, Ivan, et al.,Johannes Hevelius and his Catalog of Stars, (Brigham Young University Press, Provo), 1971.
Wagman, Morton,Lost Stars, (McDonald & Woodward, Blacksburg), 2003.
Warner, Deborah Jean,The Sky Explored, (Alan R. Liss, New York, and Theatrum Orbis Terrarum, Amsterdam), 1979.
Wender, Dorothea S.,Hesiod and Theognis, (Penguin), 1973.
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