For anyone
entering the field of Greek mythology, the two volumes by
Robert Graves entitled The Greek
Myths (Penguin) are a masterful
synthesis, with copious references. Another useful summary,
with many notes and references, is A
Handbook of Greek Mythology by H. J.
Rose (Methuen). For other background information I consulted
the Oxford Classical Dictionary (Oxford University Press) and the Dictionary 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 the Phaenomena (Appearances), written c.275
BC by Aratus of Soli. The Phaenomena 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 commentary on the poem is Aratus: 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; see The Aratus Ascribed to Germanicus Caesar (Athlone Press, 1976). A Latin work with many
echoes of Aratus is Astronomica by the Roman poet Marcus Manilius, written
early in the first century AD. It has been translated into
English by G. P. Goold in the Loeb Classical Library.
Another early Greek source is the Catasterisms ascribed
to Eratosthenes in the second century BC – although not,
according to modern authority, actually written by him. This is
a highly obscure essay and when writing this book I could find
no record of an English translation. I referred to the French
version of the Catasterisms published in 1821 by Abbé Halma. Since
then, an English translation has appeared in the book Star Myths by
Theony Condos (Phanes Press, Grand Rapids, 1997).
The Myths of Hyginus by Mary Grant (University of Kansas Publications,
1960) contains an invaluable English translation of
Hyginus’s Fabulae and Poetica Astronomica, among the most
influential works on constellation mythology but scarcely read
today. Another translation of the Poetica
Astronomica is also included in the
more recent Star Myths by Theony Condos, mentioned above.
Apollodorus was a Greek writer who produced
an encyclopedic summary of Greek myths called the Library; 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 his Metamorphoses I used the Penguin translation by Mary Innes and
the Loeb edition of his Fasti by Sir J. G. Frazer. My source for Apollonius
Rhodius was the Penguin translation by E. V. Rieu. For
Ptolemy’s Almagest I consulted G. J. Toomer’s thoughtful
translation (Duckworth, 1984). For an online version of
Ptolemy’s catalogue, see
or see here for scans of the Peters and
Knobel edition:
My sources for Chinese constellations have
been the books by Ho Peng Yoke (1966) and Sun and Kistemaker
(1997), although there are questionable identifications in
both.
For the origin of star names, I have relied
on the booklet A Dictionary of
Modern Star Names (originally Short 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 of Sky &
Telescope. A collection of Dr
Kunitzsch’s scientific papers has been reprinted as The Arabs and the Stars (Variorum, 1989). An illuminating paper by Gwyneth
Heuter on the origin of star names is to be found in Vistas in Astronomy,
vol. 29, 1986, p.237.
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. A notable
work on the modern constellations, Filling
the Sky published in 2003 by Jim
Fuchs, provided useful additional information and references
when I came to revise the text for this web edition. Morton
Wagman’s Lost 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.
Archie Roy’s speculations about the
origin of the constellations are contained in his paper in Vistas in Astronomy,
vol. 27, 1984, p.171. Arguments by Bradley E. Schaefer for a
later date of origin are to be found in Journal for the History of Astronomy, vol. 35, 2004, p.161. E. R. Knobel’s analysis
of the star catalogue of Frederick de Houtman is in the Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical
Society, vol. 77, 1917, p.414. (See also Knobel’s subsequent note.)
R. H. Allen’s Star Names, Their Lore
and Meaning (Dover) and W. T. Olcott’s Star Lore of All Ages (Putnam’s)
are fun to dip into, but I have not used them as prime sources
for mythology.
666
I am indebted to many people for their
assistance while preparing the original manuscript for the
printed edition of this book. The expertise of Dr David
Dewhirst at the University of Cambridge proved invaluable in
tracking down some obscure references. My research was further
aided by the help and interest of Janet Dudley and John
Hutchins at the library of the former Royal Greenwich
Observatory at Herstmonceux in Sussex, and of Peter Hingley at
the Royal Astronomical Society library. I owe a particular debt
of gratitude to David Calvert at the Royal Greenwich
Observatory for supplying the constellation illustrations,
photographed from the star atlases of Bode and Flamsteed in the
Observatory’s library. (Following the closure of the RGO,
their rare books are now held at the University of Cambridge.)
For this web edition, I have in some places used additional
scans from the Tartu University Virtual
Museum, Estonia. George and Lena
Bekerman assisted with translation from the French of
Abbé Halma’s version of the Catasterisms. Wil Tirion
provided help with information on the Dutch
constellation-makers Keyser and de Houtman. The late John
Ebdon, director of the London Planetarium, as ardent a
Graecophile as he was an astronomer, read my manuscript before
publication and suggested some improvements.
Ian Ridpath
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