Astronomical Myths. Camille Flammarion

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СКАЧАТЬ the eighth century Bede and certain other theologians and astronomers wished to depose the Olympian gods. They proposed, therefore, to change the names and arrangements of the constellations; they put S. Peter in the place of the Ram; S. Andrew instead of the Bull; and so on. In more recent calendars David, Solomon, the Magi, and other New and Old Testament characters were placed in the heavens instead of the former constellations; but these changes of name were not generally adopted.

      As an example of these celestial spheres we figure a portion of one named Cœli stellati Christiani hemisphericum prius. We here see the Great Bear replaced by the Barque of S. Peter, the Little Bear by S. Michael, the Dragon by the Innocents, the Coachman by S. Jerome, Perseus by S. Paul, Cassiopeia by the Magdalene, Andromache by S. Sepulchre, and the Triangle by S. Peter's mitre; while for the zodiac were substituted the Twelve Apostles.

       Fig. 3.

      In the seventeenth century a proposal was made by Weigel, a professor in the University of Jena, to form a series of heraldic constellations, and to use for the zodiac the arms of the twelve most illustrious families in Europe; but these attempts at change have been in vain, the old names are still kept.

      Having now explained the origin in modern times of 69 out of the 117 constellations, there remain the 48 which were acknowledged by the Greeks, whose origin is involved in more obscurity.

      One of the first to be noticed and named, as it is now the most easily recognized and most widely known, is the Great Bear, which attracts all the more attention that it is one of those that never sets, being at a less distance from the pole than the latter is from the horizon.

      Every one knows the seven brilliant stars that form this constellation. The four in the rectangle and the three in a curved line at once call to mind the form of a chariot, especially one of antique build. It is this resemblance, no doubt, that has obtained for the constellation the name of "the Chariot" that it bears among many people. Among the ancient Gauls it was "Arthur's Chariot." In France it is "David's Chariot," and in England it goes by the name of "King Charles' Wain," and by that of the "Plough." The latter name was in vogue, too, among the Latins (Plaustrum), and the three stars were three oxen, from whence it would appear that they extended the idea to all the seven stars, and at last called them the seven oxen, septem-triones, from whence the name sometimes used for the north—septentrional. The Greeks also called it the Chariot (Ἅμαξα), and the same word seems to have stood sometimes for a plough. It certainly has some resemblance to this instrument.

      If we take the seven stars as representing the characteristic points of a chariot, the four stars of the quadrilateral will represent the four wheels, and the three others will represent the three horses. Above the centre of the three horses any one with clear sight may perceive a small star of the fifth or sixth magnitude, called the Cavalier. Each of these several stars is indicated, as is usual with all the constellations, by a Greek letter, the largest being denoted by the first letter. Thus the 4 stars in the quadrilateral are α, β, γ, δ, and the 3 tail stars ε, ξ, η. The Arabs give to each star its special name, which in this case are as follows:—Dubhé and Mérak are the stars at the back; Phegda and Megrez those of the front; Alioth, Mizat, and Ackïar the other three, while the little one over Mizat is Alcor. Another name for it is Saidak, or the Tester, the being able to see it being a mark of clear vision.

      There is some little interest in the Great Bear on account of the possibility of its being used as a kind of celestial time-keeper, and its easy recognition makes it all the more available. The line through α and β passes almost exactly through the pole. Now this line revolves of course with the constellation round the pole in 24 hours; in every such interval being once, vertical above the pole, and once vertical below, taking the intermediate positions to right and left between these times. The instant at which this line is vertical over the pole is not the same on any two consecutive nights, since the stars advance each day 4 minutes on the sun. On the 21st of March the superior passage takes place at 5 minutes to 11 at night; on the following night four minutes earlier, or at 9 minutes to 11. In three months the culmination takes place 6 hours earlier, or at 5 minutes to 5. In six months, i.e. on Sept. 22, it culminates at 10.55 in the morning, being vertically below the pole at the same hour in the evening. The following woodcut exhibits the positions of the Great Bear at the various hours of September 4th. It is plain from this that, knowing the day of the month, the hour of the night may be told by observing what angle the line joining α and β of this constellation makes with the vertical.

      We have used the name Great Bear, by which the constellation is best known. It is one of the oldest names also, being derived from the Greeks, who called it Arctos megale (Ἄρκτος μεγάλη), whence the name Arctic; and singularly enough the Iroquois, when America was discovered, called it Okouari, their name for a bear. The explanation of this name is certainly not to be found in

       Fig. 4.

      the resemblance of the constellation to the animal. The three stars are indeed in the tail, but the four are in the middle of the back; and even if we take in the smaller stars that stand in the feet and head, no ingenuity can make it in this or any other way resemble a bear. It would appear, as Aristotle observes, that the name is derived from the fact, that of all known animals the bear was thought to be the only one that dared to venture into the frozen regions of the north and tempt the solitude and cold.

       Fig. 5.

      Other origins of the name, and other names, have been suggested, of which we may mention a few. For example, "Ursa" is said to be derived from versus, because the constellation is seen to turn about the pole. It has been called the Screw (Ἔλικη), or Helix, which has plainly reference to its turning. Another name is Callisto, in reference to its beauty; and lastly, among the Arabs the Great and Little Bears were known as the Great and Little Coffins in reference to their slow and solemn motion. These names referred to the four stars of each constellation, the other three being the mourners following the bearers. The Christian Arabs made it into the grave of Lazarus and the three weepers, Mary, Martha, and their maid.

      Next as to the Little Bear. This constellation has evidently received its name from the similarity of its form to that of the Great Bear. In fact, it is composed of seven stars arranged in the same way, only in an inverse order. If we follow the line from β to α of the Great Bear to a distance of five times as great as that between these stars we reach the brightest star of the Little Bear, called the Pole Star. All the names of the one constellation have been applied to the other, only at a later date.

      The new constellations were added one by one to the celestial sphere by the Greeks before they arranged certain of them as parts of the zodiac. The successive introduction of the constellations is proved completely by a long passage of Strabo, which has been often misunderstood. "It is wrong," he says, "to accuse Homer of ignorance because he speaks only of one of the two Celestial Bears. The second was probably not formed at that time. The Phenicians were the first to form them and to use them for navigation. They came later to the Greeks."

      All the commentators on Homer, Hygin and Diogenes Laertes, attribute to Thales the introduction of this constellation. Pseudo-Eratosthenes called the Little Bear Φοινίκη, to indicate that it was a guide to the Phenicians. A century later, about the seventeenth Olympiad, Cleostrates of Tenedos enriched the sphere with the Archer (Τοξότης, Sagittarius) and the Ram (Κριός, Aries), and about the same time the zodiac was introduced into the Grecian sphere.

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