Categories: Anthologies (non-poetry) Ancient Religions & Mythologies Folklore, Myths & Legends Cosmology & The Universe Galaxies & Stars


Constellation Myths : with Aratuss Phaenomena
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Paperback Oxford Worlds Classics English
By (author) Eratosthenes , By (author) Hyginus , By (author) Aratus , Translated by Robin Hard


Athena seized the writhing serpent and hurled it into the sky, and fixed it to the very pole of the heavens.

The constellations we recognize today were first mapped by the ancient Greeks, who arranged the stars into patterns for that purpose. In the third century BC Eratosthenes compiled a handbook of astral mythology in which the constellations were associated with figures from legend, and myths were provided to explain how each person, creature, or object came to be placed in the sky. Thus we can see Heracles killing the Dragon, and Perseus slaying the sea-monster to save Andromeda; Orion chases
the seven maidens transformed by Zeus into the Pleiades, and Aries, the golden ram, is identified flying up to the heavens.

This translation brings together the later summaries from Eratosthenes lost handbook with a guide to astronomy compiled by Hyginus, librarian to Augustus. Together with Aratuss astronomical poem the Phaenomena, these texts provide a complete collection of Greek astral myths; imaginative and picturesque, they also offer an intriguing insight into ancient science and culture.


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Product details

Format Paperback | 256 pages
Dimensions 128 x 199 x 15mm | 192g
Publication date 01 Aug 2015
Publisher Oxford University Press
Publication City/Country Oxford, United Kingdom
Language English
Illustrations note 2 maps of the constellations, 1 diagram
ISBN10 0198716982
ISBN13 9780198716983
Bestsellers rank 17,131