Catasterismi

{{short description|Prose retelling of the mythic origins of stars and constellations}} {{italic title}}  thumb|Mythological star groups in the northern hemisphere according to Eratosthenes The '''''Catasterismi''''' or '''''Catasterisms''''' (Greek Καταστερισμοί ''Katasterismoi'', "Constellations" or "Placings Among the Stars"<ref>'Καταστερισμός' [https://lsj.gr/wiki/%CE%BA%CE%B1%CF%84%CE%B1%CF%83%CF%84%CE%B5%CF%81%CE%B9%CF%83%CE%BC%CF%8C%CF%82 etymology]</ref>) is a lost work by Eratosthenes of Cyrene. It was a comprehensive compendium of astral mythology including origin myths of the stars and constellations. Only a summary of the original work survives, called the '''''Epitome Catasterismorum''''', by an unknown author sometimes referred to as '''Pseudo-Eratosthenes'''.<ref>Hard, pp. i, xviii–xx, xxiii, xxiv, xxxvii; Decker, [https://books.google.com/books?id=UICNnYPYv8kC&pg=PA2 pp. 2–3]; Kanas, [https://books.google.com/books?id=xepttjhzaH8C&pg=PA109 p. 109].</ref> This summary dates to the 1st century BCE or CE.<ref>Smith and Trzaskoma, p. xxiv.</ref>

==Summary== The ''Epitome'' records the mature and definitive development of a long process: the Hellenes' assimilation of a Mesopotamian zodiac, transmitted through Persian interpreters and translated and harmonized with the known terms of Greek mythology. A fundamental effort in this translation was the application of Greek mythic nomenclature to designate individual stars, both asterisms like the Pleiades and Hyades, and the constellations. In Classical Greece, the "wandering stars" and the gods who directed them were separate entities, as for Plato; in Hellenistic culture, the association became an inseparable identification.<ref>Seznec 1981, pp. 37–40.</ref>

Chapters 1–42 of the ''Epitome'' treat forty-three of the forty-eight constellations (including the Pleiades) known to Ptolemy (2nd century CE); chapters 43–44 treat the five planets and the Milky Way.

{{columns-list| # Ursa Major # Ursa Minor # Draco # "The Kneeler" (Hercules) # "The Crown" (Corona Borealis) # Ophiuchus # Scorpius # Boötes # Virgo # Gemini # Cancer # Leo # Auriga # Taurus # Cepheus # Cassiopeia # Andromeda # "The Horse" (Pegasus) # Aries # "The Delta-Shape" (Triangulum) # Pisces # Perseus # The Pleiades† # Lyra # "The Bird" or "The Swan" (Cygnus) # Aquarius # Capricornus # Sagittarius # Sagitta # Aquila # Delphinus # Orion # "The Dog" (Canis Major) # Lepus # Argo Navis† # Cetus # "The River" (Eridanus) # "The Fish" (Piscis Austrinus) # Ara # Centaurus # Hydra, Crater, and Corvus # "The One Preceding the Dog"/"Procyon" (Canis Minor) # "The Planets"† # "The Galaxy" (Milky Way)† }} † Not one of the modern constellations.

Of the 48 Ptolemaic constellations, the ones not included are Corona Australis, Equuleus, Libra, Lupus, and Serpens. In modern times, Argo Navis (the ship ''Argo'') has been divided into three constellations: Carina (the keel), Puppis (the stern), and Vela (the sails); and the Pleiades are recognized as a star cluster within the constellation Taurus.

The work cites in some places the lost ''Astronomia'' attributed to Hesiod. A similar later account is the ''Poeticon Astronomicon'', or ''De Astronomica'' (tellingly also titled ''De Astrologia'' in some manuscripts that follow Hyginus' usage in his text) attributed to Gaius Julius Hyginus.

During the Renaissance, printing of the ''Epitome'' under the title ''Catasterismi'', began early, but the work was always overshadowed by Hyginus, the only other ancient repertory of catasterisms. The ''Catasterismi'' was illustrated by woodcuts in the first illustrated edition by Erhard Ratdolt, (Venice 1482). Johann Schaubach's<ref>Johann Konrad Schaubach (1764-1849), a historian of ancient astronomy and educator in Meiningen, was also the author of ''Geschichte der griechischen Astronomie bis auf Eratosthenes'' (1802).</ref> edition of the ''Catasterismi'' (Meiningen 1791) was also illustrated with celestial maps drawn from another work, Johann Buhle's Aratus (Leipzig, 2 volumes, 1793–1801).

After the old Teubner edition of A. Olivieri, ''Pseudo-Eratosthenis Catasterismi'' (Leipzig 1897), the text has a new complete edition including the recensio Fragmenta Vaticana.<ref>Eratòstenes de Cirene, Catasterismes, Introducció, edició crítica, traducció i notes de J. PÀMIAS I MASSANA, Barcelona 2004 and ERATOSTHENES, Catasterismi, Text, Übers., Komm. von J. PÀMIAS u. K. GEUS, Oberhaid 2007.</ref> In 1997, an English translation and commentary by Theony Condos was published (including the ''De astronomia''), which the classicist John Ramsey writes "cannot be relied upon to convey accurately the content of the original texts".<ref>John T. Ramsey, as [https://bmcr.brynmawr.condosdu/1998/1998.06.28/ "Bryn Mawr Classical Review 98.6.28"]. Ramsey describes the commentary as "littered with misinformation", though he notes that, of her translations, Condos "fares better with Ps-Eratosthenes than she does with Hyginus". See also the reviews by Roger Ceragioli in: ''Journal for the History of Astronomy,'' 30.1 (1999), pp. 313–315, and by John McMahon in: ''Archaeoastronomy: The Journal of Astronomy in Culture'', XVI (2001), pp. 98–99.</ref> In 2013, a Greek-French scientific translation and commentary by Jordi Pàmias I Massana and Arnaud Zucker was published.<ref>''Ératosthène de Cyrène'', Catastérismes, Paris, CUF, Belles Lettres, 2013.</ref>

==Notes== {{reflist|2}}

==References== * Decker, Elly, ''Illustrating the Phaenomena: Celestial Cartography in Antiquity and the Middle Ages'', Oxford University Press, 2013. {{ISBN|978-0-19-960969-7}}. * Hard, Robin, (trans.) ''Eratosthenes and Hyginus: Constellation Myths, With Aratus's Phaenomena'', Oxford University Press, 2015. {{ISBN|978-0-19-871698-3}}. * Kanas, Nick, ''Star Maps: History, Artistry, and Cartography'', Springer, 2009. {{ISBN|978-0-387-71668-8}}. *Seznec, Jean, ''The Survival of the Pagan Gods'' (Princeton [NJ]: Princeton University Press, 1981). * Smith, R. Scott, and Stephen M. Trzaskoma, ''Apollodorus' ''Library'' and Hyginus' ''Fabulae'': Two Handbooks of Greek Mythology'', Hackett Publishing, Indianapolis/Cambridge, 2007. {{ISBN|978-0-87220-821-6}}.

==External links== * [https://www.astrologicon.org/eratosthenes/eratosthenes-katasterismoi1.html Katasterismoi] ancient greek original text. *The Katasterismoi: [http://adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/1970ASPL...10..361C Part 1] and [http://adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/1970ASPL...10..369C Part 2] in ADSABS * ''Mythographoi. Scriptores poetiace historiae graeci'', Antonius Westermann (ed.), Brunsvigae sumptum fecit Georgius Westermann, 1843, [https://books.google.com/books?id=2UFCAQAAMAAJ pagg. 239-67]. *''Mythographi Graeci'', Alexander Olivieri (ed.), [https://archive.org/details/mythographigrae00olivgoog vol. III, fasc. I], Lipsiae in aedibus B. G. Teubneri, 1897. * ''[https://archive.org/details/eratosthenescata00erat Eratosthenis catasterismorum fragmenta vaticana]'', Albert Rehm (ed.), Ansbach, Druck von C. Bruegel & Sohn, 1899. *[https://web.archive.org/web/20051017094126/http://www.italica.rai.it/rinascimento/parole_chiave/schede/astro.htm Italica: Rinascimento: Ilaria Miarelli Mariani, "Astrologia"] (in Italian) *[http://www.phys.lsu.edu/farnese/JHAFarneseProofs.htm Bradley E. Schaefer, "The epoch of the constellations on the Farnese Atlas and their origins in Hipparchus's lost catalogue"] *[https://web.archive.org/web/20040214205934/http://aagc.dis.ulpgc.es/gt_historia_constelaciones.html Daniel Marin, "The History of Constellations"] (in Spanish) *Ian Ridpath, [http://www.ianridpath.com/startales/startales1b.html#mythographers Star Tales – The mythographers]

Category:Ancient astronomy Category:Astrological texts Category:Ancient Greek pseudepigrapha Category:References on Greek mythology