Catasterismi
The Catasterismi or Catasterisms (
Summary
The Epitome records the mature and definitive development of a long process: the Hellenes' assimilation of a Mesopotamian zodiac, transmitted through Persian interpreters and translated and harmonized with the known terms of Greek mythology. A fundamental effort in this translation was the application of Greek mythic nomenclature to designate individual stars, both asterisms like the Pleiades and Hyades, and the constellations. In Classical Greece, the "wandering stars" and the gods who directed them were separate entities, as for Plato; in Hellenistic culture, the association became an inseparable identification, so that Apollo, no longer the regent of the Sun, actually was Helios (Seznec 1981, pp 37–40).
Chapters 1–42 of the Epitome treat forty-three of the forty-eight constellations (including the Pleiades) known to Ptolemy (2nd century CE); chapters 43–44 treat the five planets and the Milky Way.
- Ursa Major
- Ursa Minor
- Draco
- "The Kneeler" (Hercules)
- "The Crown" (Corona Borealis)
- Ophiuchus
- Scorpius
- Boötes
- Virgo
- Gemini
- Cancer
- Leo
- Auriga
- Taurus
- Cepheus
- Cassiopeia
- Andromeda
- "The Horse" (Pegasus)
- Aries
- "The Delta-Shape" (Triangulum)
- Pisces
- Perseus
- The Pleiades†
- Lyra
- "The Bird" or "The Swan" (Cygnus)
- Aquarius
- Capricornus
- Sagittarius
- Sagitta
- Aquila
- Delphinus
- Orion
- "The Dog" (Canis Major)
- Lepus
- Argo Navis†
- Cetus
- "The River" (Eridanus)
- "The Fish" (Piscis Austrinus)
- Ara
- Centaurus
- Hydra, Crater, and Corvus
- "The One Preceding the Dog"/"Canis Minor)
- "The Planets"†
- "The Galaxy" (Milky Way)†
† Not one of the modern constellations.
Of the 48
The work cites in some places the lost Astronomia attributed to
During the
After the old Teubner edition of A. Olivieri, Pseudo-Eratosthenis Catasterismi (Leipzig 1897), the text has a new complete edition including the recensio Fragmenta Vaticana.[4]
Notes
- ^ 'Καταστερισμός' etymology
- ^ Hard, pp. i, xviii–xx, xxiii, xxiv, xxxvii; Decker, pp. 2–3; Kanas, p. 109.
- ^ Johann Konrad Schaubach (1764-1849), a historian of ancient astronomy and educator in Meiningen, was also the author of Geschichte der griechischen Astronomie bis auf Eratosthenes (1802).
- ^ Eratòstenes de Cirene, Catasterismes, Introducció, edició crítica, traducció i notes de J. PÀMIAS I MASSANA, Barcelona 2004 and ERATOSTHENES, Catasterismi, Text, Übers., Komm. von J. PÀMIAS u. K. GEUS, Oberhaid 2007.
References
- Condos, Theony, Star Myths of the Greeks and Romans: A Sourcebook, Containing The Constellations of Pseudo-Eratosthenes and the Poetic Astronomy of Hyginus (Grand Rapids [MI]: Phanes Press, 1997) ISBN 1-890482-93-5 (pb). Reviewed by Roger Ceragioli in: Journal for the History of Astronomy, 30.1 (1999), pp. 313–315; by John McMahon in: Archaeoastronomy: The Journal of Astronomy in Culture, XVI (2001), pp. 98–99 and by John T. Ramsey, as "Bryn Mawr Classical Review 98.6.28".
- Decker, Elly, Illustrating the Phaenomena: Celestial Cartography in Antiquity and the Middle Ages, ISBN 978-0-19-960969-7.
- Hard, Robin, (trans.) Eratosthenes and Hyginus: Constellation Myths, With Aratus's Phaenomena, ISBN 978-0-19-871698-3.
- Kanas, Nick, Star Maps: History, Artistry, and Cartography, Springer, 2009. ISBN 978-0-387-71668-8.
- Seznec, Jean, The Survival of the Pagan Gods (Princeton [NJ]: Princeton University Press, 1981).
External links
- The Katasterismoi: Part 1 and Part 2 in ADSABS
- Mythographoi. Scriptores poetiace historiae graeci, Antonius Westermann (ed.), Brunsvigae sumptum fecit Georgius Westermann, 1843, pagg. 239-67.
- Mythographi Graeci, Alexander Olivieri (ed.), vol. III, fasc. I, Lipsiae in aedibus B. G. Teubneri, 1897.
- Eratosthenis catasterismorum fragmenta vaticana, Albert Rehm (ed.), Ansbach, Druck von C. Bruegel & Sohn, 1899.
- Italica: Rinascimento: Ilaria Miarelli Mariani, "Astrologia" (in Italian)
- Bradley E. Schaefer, "The epoch of the constellations on the Farnese Atlas and their origins in Hipparchus's lost catalogue"
- Daniel Marin, "The History of Constellations" (in Spanish)
- Ian Ridpath, Star Tales – The mythographers