Telescope Reviews: Classical Star Myths

Syed Raza was asking about sources for star myths and star names. Most people rely on secondary sources for this information, notably Burnham's Celestial Handbook and Richard Hinckley Allen's Star Names, which is clearly the underlying source for much of Burnham's information.

Unlike his commentary on non-Western star myths, where Allen was a dabbler and unreliable, his information on classical myths is pretty reliable. Men of Allen's generation had good classical educations; he probably read many of the original sources in the original languages.

Nonetheless, there's no substitute for primary sources, and almost all of these are readily available.

The single handiest source is Star Myths of the Greeks and Romans, by Theony Condos. She collated the relevant passages from the two most systematic classical works on the constellations: The Constellations (Catasterismi) by Pseudo-Eratosthenes and Poetic Astronomy by Hyginus. Hyginus is also available online in its original form.

The other truly essential source is Phaenomena by Aratus, the oldest surviving systematic classical text on astronomy, available from Loeb Classical Library.

Brief but critically important because it dates back to the dawn of classical civilization as we know it is the section on astronomy from Hesiod's Works and Days, readily available on the internet.

Many well-known literary classics have astronomical references, notably the Iliad and the Odyssey. The story of Perseus, which is intimately linked both to astronomy and mythology, was told by many authors with endless variations. Edit Hamilton has a nice discussion of their relative merits. Likewise the tale of the Golden Fleece and the great ship Argo.

Most of what we know about classical astronomy comes from Ptolemy. This is science and astrology, not folklore, but it's important for innumerable reasons, not least being that Ptolemy's Almagest is the underlying source for about half our star names. I own the translation by Toomer, which is highly regarded. Be warned -- this is a very difficult book. A textbook employing some very challenging (though obsolete) mathematics, not an easy read.

Even more influential than the Almagest was the Tetrabiblos, Ptolemy's work on astrology. Again, this is not for the faint of heart. It is sobering to see such a brilliant mind being applied with such force and subtlety to a topic that is quite devoid of value.

Rounding out the collection, Ptolemy's Geography has little direct relationship to astronomy but is nonetheless of huge importance. It was a misreading of this book that lead Columbus to think he could sail west to the Indies -- something that his more erudite contemporaries realized (correctly) was impossible with the technology of the day.

There are several other essential sources for people interested in Greek astronomical science, notably Aristotle, Archimedes, and Eratosthenes.

The History and Practice of Ancient Astronomy, by James Evans, is a very useful summary of classical astronomy. It includes much of Ptolemy's material, but is far more approachable.

There are also several minor Latin and late-Latin sources for people interested in esoterica, such as Manilius and Macrobius.