Seeking the Original Constellations

by John P. Pratt 24 Dec 2015 (11 Storm)

©2015 by John P. Pratt. All rights Reserved.

Index, Home

Contents

1. Ancient Constellations

1.1 Aratus

1.2 Ptolemy

1.3 Persia

2. Proposed List of 48

2.1 The Infant Prince

2.2 The Southern Cross

2.3 The Wreath

3. Arrangement into Decans

4. Conclusion

Notes

A new list of 48 original constellations is proposed along with a table showing how they are associated with each other.

Fig. 1. The empty circle implies the constellations originated about 2900 BC.

Fig. 2. My former constellation table

One interesting aspect of the ancient constellations is that nearly every ancient list had exactly 48 figures listed. But when one compares their lists, no two of them agree. That suggests that it was well known that there were 48 originally, and each culture did their best to preserve them. But if they had less than 48 on their list, it would be a dead give-away that some had been lost. In an earlier article, I attempted to list the original 48 constellations (summarized in Figure 2).^[1] The purpose of this article is to correct what now appears to be a mistake in one of those constellations and to provide an updated list and arrangement of 48 constellations proposed to be the originals.

1.1 Aratus

Our modern list of constellations derives almost entirely from the ancient Greeks. There is a tradition that Pythagoras (570-495 BC), the famous Greek mathematician and philosopher for whom the Pythagorean Theorem is named, spent several years in Egypt. He is said to have even been a temple priest and learned much of his math and science there. There is also a tradition that he brought back to Greece a sphere on which were shown the constellation figures. Such spherical sky maps are readily available today. Any work that Pythagoras might have done regarding the constellations has not survived.

Over a century later, that same spherical map of the heavens came into the possession of another Greek mathematician and astronomer Eudoxus (408-355 BC) who wrote a commentary on the constellations. He was Plato's student. Unfortunately all of the work of Eudoxus has also been lost.

Aratus

The Greek poet Aratus (310-245 BC) is the earliest of the Greeks whose work on the constellations The Phaenomena is still extant. He wrote a description of that globe either from having seen it himself or from having read that of Eudoxus. It clearly contains references to a map or sphere because it even includes the colors of several constellations. For example, the Sea Monster is deep blue in color and the Hare is grey.

Aratus tells us something about each constellation. He does not number them and the total number is not clear because two parts of a constellation could be counted as separate. For example there is a Serpent Bearer who is holding a Serpent. He describes both. There is also an Archer holding a Bow. Because all other lists count the Serpent and Serpent Bearer as two constellations and the Archer and his Bow as one, the same is done in this article.

His list matches all the other lists in this article with the exception that he lists (1) the Triangle and (2) the little circle of stars at the forefeet of the Archer known to us as the Southern Crown. A brief summary of his descriptions of all of the constellations can be downloaded here as a Constellation Spreadsheet file.

1.2 Ptolemy

While Aratus described the figures he saw, he did not attempt to explain just where these figures were in the sky. Aratus was a poet, not an astronomer. He poetically described what many people were already familiar with. Thus, the record is only partially useful in identifying just what stars were considered to be in which figures.

Table 1. Column Titles in Constellation Spreadsheet

Col.	Contents
A	Ptolemy Number
B	3-Letter Abbreviation
C	Latin Name
D	English Name
E	Pratt Number
F	Persian?
G	Ancient Description

Hipparchus (190-120 BC) was a famous Greek astronomer and mathematician. He is known to have been a working astronomer at least from 162 to 127 BC. He is considered the greatest ancient astronomical observer and, by some, the greatest overall astronomer of antiquity. He made a detailed star catalog, which included both the star figures and the actual positions of the stars forming the figures. Those positions were measured in celestial latitude and longitude which are very similar to the latitude and longitude used to identify locations on the earth. It contained statements like "The star at the right shoulder of Andromeda (the Princess) is at 27° latitude and 203° longitude." Thus, the figure was tied to actual star locations which made it easy to identify the precise figures.

Claudius Ptolemy

Unfortunately, the work of Hipparchus has also been lost. But fortunately we do have the work of another Greek astronomer who built on his observations. Three centuries after Hipparchus the Greek astronomer and mathematician Ptolemy (AD 100-170) wrote a book which is now known by the name of its Arabic translation, The Almagest. This work became the foundation of astronomy for well over a thousand years. It contains an updated version of the star catalog of Hipparchus. The update includes both updated star location measurements and also slight adjustments to the star figures to better fit the stars. An English version of Ptolemy's star catalog of 1,025 stars is now availble on this website.^[2] Those tables are the source of all of the medieval star maps with those amazing pictures of heroes and villains in the sky.

The list of Ptolemy contains exactly 48 constellations. His list is identical to that of Aratus with the exception that it has one more constellation: the Foal or Little Horse (Equuleus). That constellation is composed of 4 barely visible stars which seems totally out of place with all of the others. It appears to have been invented solely to complete the list of 48 and is usually ascribed to having been added by Ptolemy.

In modern times another 40 constellations have also been added to the original set. A complete list of all 88 modern constellations along with the descriptions of the first 48 by Aratus and numbering of Ptolemy can be downloaded here as a Constellation Spreadsheet file. A description of the spreadsheet columns is given in Table 1.

1.3 Persia

Albumazar (AD 787-886)

The list which appears to be the most ancient is that of the Persians, as preserved by the leading astronomer of the Muslim world of his day, Albumazar (AD 787-886). It has 48 constellations arranged in 12 groups of 4.^[3] Each group of four consists of one of the 12 zodiac constellations along with three associated constellations called "decans". That is very reminiscent of the Egyptian system which also had 36 constellations called decans. Each of those Egyptian decans (that word deriving from "dec" for "ten") was associated with a ten-day period of their year which had 12 months of 30 days each. The Egyptian year ended with a period of 5 unlucky days for a total of 365 days per year.

Comparing the 48 constellations of the Persian list to that of Ptolemy leads to several notable differences. In her book Mazzaroth, Frances Rolleston (AD 1781-1864) analyzed the lists of several ancient peoples and produced her list of the 48 ancient constellations.^[4]

In my articles so far, I have followed Rolleston's list which was based mostly on fitting Ptolemy's constellations into the Persian arrangement of decans.^[5]

One of the purposes of this article is to now correct what I believe to be a mistake in her conclusions. The Persians separated the Fishes (Pisces) into two separate constellations: The Fishes and the Bands which secure them to the Sea Monster (Cetus). It now appears to me that they were separated only so that they would have the desired total of 48. Everything about the Fishes suggests that it is a single constellation, even as the Archer (Sagittarius) and his Bow.

2.1 The Infant Prince

Fig. 3. Infant Prince

One constellation which has been proposed in my work as included in the original group is the Infant Prince. It was first proposed in modern times by Frances Rolleston in 1862 who found it described in detail by Albumazar. He said the first decan of the Maiden (Virgo) pictured a pure virgin sitting on a throne, nursing an infant with the Hebrew name Ihesu, called in Greek Christ. Rolleston proposed that its location was in the area filled today by the constellation Coma Berenices.

In 1893, E.W. Bullinger noted that the constellation is shown on the Egyptian planisphere at Dendera.^[6] That was a huge find because it both supplied a second witness from another ancient nation to the existence of such a constellation, as well as confirmed the area of its location and provided an illustration of how it looked (See Figure 3).

In the Egyptian version, it is the goddess Isis holding the infant god Horus. Using the figure from the temple at Dendera as a guide, in my work the precise stars included in the Infant Prince have been identified.^[7] The actual stars in the sky match the figure so well that there is little doubt that it has been correctly identified. It is composed of at least one fairly bright star in the midst of a large area of sky where there is an obvious gap in the constellation figures. It is large enough that two modern constellations were invented to fill that space: the Hunting Dogs (Canes Venatici) and Berenice's Hair (Coma Berenices).

2.2 The Southern Cross

Southern Cross

The most prominent constellation of the southern skies is the Southern Cross (Crux). It is formed by four bright stars in the form of a kite or cross. Three of the stars are among the brightest 24 in the entire sky, so it stands out even more than does the Big Dipper in the northern skies.

The Southern Cross used to be visible in the northern skies up until about the time of Christ, at which time they set due to the slow shifting of the heavens known as the precession of the equinoxes. Hipparchus could still see them and listed them as part of the constellation of the Centaur. He also saw only the Claws of the Scorpion in the place of Libra. It is not difficult for constellations to be lost.

Rolleston included the constellation of the Southern Cross on her list of 48. It was justified by her showing that it was included in some ancient lists such as that of Rabbi Aben Ezra (AD 1089-1167) long before it was added to the modern lists.^[8] Richard Allen in his Star Names, the Lore and Meaning reports that some world explorers knew that it had been known to the ancient Persians.^[9] When it disappeared they replaced its symbolism at feasts with the Dolphin.

Thus, it is still proposed that the Southern Cross was one of the original constellations, consistent with all of my earlier work.

2.3 The Wreath

Ancient Greek Victory Wreath

Even with both the Infant Prince and the Southern Cross, the list is still short one constellation if the Fishes and Bands are all one constellation as believed by the Greeks and as looks obvious in the figure.

Two constellations which Ptolemy includes not found on other lists are the Triangle (Triangulum) and the Southern Crown (Corona Australis). Both of those are on the list of Aratus, but the Triangle is given an explicit name whereas the Crown is described only as a little circle of stars. To me that does not discount the Southern Crown from being authentic because Aratus was not looking at the sky, but rather at a map or globe (which had colored illustrations). Remember that whoever made the globe had already lost some of the figures. The Southern Crown could have been in the process of being lost.

Medal with Wreath

The Triangle does not seem to fit the pattern of the other constellations, which have much depth of character, are tied to detailed myths and interaction between figures. It looks a lot like a very simple picture which an astronomer might have thought of to fill the gap. In its favor, however, it should be noted that it does indeed appear as a distinct and fairly bright triangle. Other invented constellations are often composed of very dim stars.

On the other hand, the Southern Crown was described by the Greeks as a wreath, as was given to victors of sporting events such as the Olympics and is still associated with such prowess. It also represented the victories of heroes. Although it does not have explicit myths, it fits into the general themes and motifs of the other constellations.

Poet's Wreath

There were two kinds of wreaths used in ancient Greece: laurel wreaths and olive wreaths. In Greek mythology, Apollo is represented wearing a laurel wreath on his head. Wreaths made from laurel leaves were given to scholars and the winners of poetic meets. The word "laureate" in "poet laureate" refers to being signified by the laurel wreath. Wreaths made from the leaves of the wild olive tree were awarded to winners in the ancient Greek Olympic games. Later in Rome, wreaths were symbols of martial victory, crowning a successful commander after his triumph.

Thus, it is here proposed that the Wreath (Southern Crown) be considered as one of the original constellations, until more information becomes available. This has always been a work in progress.

Notes