WORKS CITED

Ancient Greek constellation mythology and lore spans nine hundred years of literature, from Homer to Claudius Ptolemy. Many ancient sources, including the works of Eudoxus and Hipparchus, are tragically lost. But some are preserved in paraphrase or fragmentary form in later works. For example, we can trace Aratus’ Phenomena and Eratosthenes’ Catasterismi back to Eudoxus. And we know that Eudoxus, in the fourth century BC, described almost all the forty-eight constellations later recorded by Ptolemy in the second century AD.

Aratus based his astronomical poem on the work of Eudoxus, but offered little more than fleeting information for each constellation. Eratosthenes followed Eudoxus more closely. He compiled the earliest comprehensive collection of constellation stories that exists in basic form today. While Eratosthenes’ original work—Catasterismi—vanished in antiquity, a later compilation of his work remains. It is called by the same name and written by an unknown author often labeled Pseudo-Eratosthenes.

Hyginus was the only other ancient author to preserve the constellation stories in substantial form. His Poetic Astronomy reflects Eratosthenes in form and content. Thus, the works of Hyginus and Pseudo-Eratosthenes represent a continuity of thought dating back to Eratosthenes and Eudoxus. Together, the four span the period from Classical Greece to the Roman Empire.

The most important ancient sources on constellation mythology are:

Homer, engraved on a bronze coin of Smyrna, second century BC. Marshall Collection, Loma Paloma, Texas. Photo by author.

Homer (c. 750 BC)

Hesiod (c. 700 BC)

Eudoxus (c. 410–355 BC), who influenced Aratus and Eratosthenes

Aratus (c. 315–240 BC)

Apollonius Rhodius (c. 310–246 BC)

Eratosthenes (c. 276–195 BC), who influenced Hyginus and Pseudo-Eratosthenes

Hipparchus (c. 190–120 BC), who influenced Claudius Ptolemy and the Farnese Atlas sculptor

Apollodorus (c. 180–120 BC)

Hyginus (c. 64 BC–17 AD)

Pseudo-Eratosthenes (c. 50 BC) Claudius Ptolemy (c. 90–168 AD)

The Farnese Atlas sculptor (c. 150 AD)

Claudius Ptolemy, engraved on a silver plate, sixth century AD. Courtesy of the John Paul Getty Museum, Getty Villa, Malibu, California. Photo by author.

PRIMARY SOURCES

Aelian. On the Characteristics of Animals. Translated by A. F. Scholfield. Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1958.

Aesop. Fables. In Babrius and Phaedrus. Compiled by Babrius. Translated by Ben Edwin Perry. Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1965.

Alcaeus. Fragments. In Greek Lyric: Sappho; Alcaeus. Translated by David Campbell. Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1982.

Anaximander. Fragments. In Early Greek Philosophy. Quoted by Theophrastus and Simplicius. Translated by John Burnet. London: Adam and Charles Black, 1930.

Apollodorus. The Library. Translated by James George Frazer. Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1939.

Apollonius Rhodius. The Argonautica. Translated by William H. Race. Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 2008.

Aratus. Phaenomena. In Callimachus; Lycophron; Aratus. Translated by G. R. Mair. Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1955.

Aristophanes. Acharnians. In Acharnians; Knights. Translated by Jeffrey Henderson. Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1998.

——. Birds. In Birds; Lysistrata; Women at the Thesmophoria. Translated by Jeffrey Henderson. Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 2000.

Aristotle. History of Animals. Translated by D. M. Balme. Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1991.

——. Metaphysics. Translated by Hugh Tredennick. Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1947.

Callimachus. Hymns and Epigrams. In Callimachus; Lycophron; Aratus. Translated by A. W. Mair. Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1955.

——. Iambi. In Aetia; Iambi; Lyric Poems. Translated by C. A. Trypanis. Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1958.

Epic of Gilgamesh. Translated by N. K. Sandars. New York: Penguin Books, 1972.

Eratosthenes. Catasterismi. In Star Myths of the Greeks and Romans. Compiled by Pseudo-Eratosthenes. Translated by Theony Condos. Grand Rapids: Phanes Press, 1997.

Euripides. Fragments. In Fragments: Aegeus to Meleager. Translated by Christopher Collard and Martin Cropp. Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 2008.

Heraclitus. Fragments. In Ancilla to the Pre-Socratic Philosophers. Quoted by Hippolytus. Translated by Kathleen Freeman. Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1962.

Herodotus. The Histories. Translated by Robin Waterfield. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1998.

Hesiod. Fragments. In The Shield; Catalogue of Women; Other Fragments. Translated by Glenn W. Most. Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 2007.

——. Testimonia. In Theogony; Works and Days; Testimonia. Translated by Glenn W. Most. Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 2006.

——. Theogony. In Theogony; Works and Days; Testimonia. Translated by Glenn W. Most. Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 2006.

——. Works and Days. In Theogony; Works and Days; Testimonia. Translated by Glenn W. Most. Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 2006.

Homer. Iliad. Translated by A. T. Murray and William F. Wyatt. Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1999.

——. Odyssey. Translated by A. T. Murray and George E. Dimock. Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1995.

Homeric Hymns; Homeric Apocrypha; Lives of Homer. Translated by Martin West. Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 2003.

Hyginus. Poetic Astronomy. In Star Myths of the Greeks and Romans. Translated by Theony Condos. Grand Rapids: Phanes Press, 1997.

Leonidas of Tarentum. Epigrams. In The Greek Anthology. Translated by W. R. Paton. Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1948.

Manilius. Astronomica. Translated by G. P. Goold. Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1977.

Marcus Argentarius. Epigrams. In The Greek Anthology. Translated by W. R. Paton. Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1948.

Ovid. Metamorphoses. Translated by Frank J. Miller. Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1984.

Pausanias. Description of Greece. Translated by W. H. S. Jones. Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1955.

Pherecydes. Fragments. In Pherekydes of Syros. Quoted by Proclus. Translated by Hermann Schibli. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1990.

Pindar. Isthmian Odes. In Nemean Odes; Isthmian Odes; Fragments. Translated by William Race. Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1997.

——. Nemean Odes. In Nemean Odes; Isthmian Odes; Fragments. Translated by William Race. Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1997.

——. Pythian Odes. In Olympian Odes; Pythian Odes. Translated by William Race. Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1997.

Plato. Phaedo. In The Dialogues of Plato. Translated by B. Jowett. New York: Random House, 1937.

——. Protagoras. In The Dialogues of Plato. Translated by B. Jowett. New York: Random House, 1937.

——. The Republic. Translated by Paul Shorey. Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1970.

——. Timaeus. In The Dialogues of Plato. Translated by B. Jowett. New York: Random House, 1937.

Pliny. Natural History. Translated by H. Rackham. Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1949.

Ptolemy. Almagest. In Syntaxis Mathematica. Translated by J. L. Heiberg. Leipzig: B. G. Teubneri, 1898.

——. Almagest. In Ptolemy’s Almagest. Translated by G. J. Toomer. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1998.

Sappho. Fragments. In Greek Lyric: Sappho; Alcaeus. Translated by David Campbell. Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1982.

Sophocles. Oedipus Tyrannus. In Ajax; Electra; Oedipus Tyrannus. Translated by Hugh Lloyd-Jones. Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1994.

Strabo. Geography. In The Geography of Strabo. Translated by Horace L. Jones. Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1949.

Theocritus. Epigrams. In Theocritus; Moschus; Bion. Translated by Neil Hopkinson. Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 2015.

——. Idylls. In Theocritus; Moschus; Bion. Translated by Neil Hopkinson. Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 2015.

Theophrastus. Concerning Weather Signs. In Enquiry into Plants. Translated by Arthur Hort. Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1949.

Xenophanes. Fragments. In Ancilla to the Pre-Socratic Philosophers. Quoted by Clement and Sextus Empiricus. Translated by Kathleen Freeman. Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1962.

Xenophon. Oeconomicus. In Memorabilia and Oeconomicus. Translated by E. C. Marchant. Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 2013.

——. On Hunting. In Scripta Minora. Translated by E. C. Marchant. Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1925.

SECONDARY SOURCES

Allen, Richard. Star Names: Their Lore and Meaning. New York: Dover Publications, 1963.

Diels, Hermann. Die Fragmente der Vorsokratiker. Berlin: Weidmann, 1964.

Evans, James. The History and Practice of Ancient Astronomy. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1998.

Flinders-Petrie, W. M. Tools and Weapons. London: British School of Archaeology in Egypt, 1917.

Freeman, Kathleen. Ancilla to the Pre-Socratic Philosophers. Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1962.

Gibbon, William. “Asiatic Parallels in North American Star Lore: Milky Way, Pleiades, Orion.” Journal of American Folklore. 85 no. 337 (1972): 236–247.

——. “Asiatic Parallels in North American Star Lore: Ursa Major.” Journal of American Folklore. 77 no. 305 (1964): 236–250.

Hannah, Robert. Time in Antiquity. London: Routledge, 2009.

Mair, A. W. Hesiod: The Poems and Fragments. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1908.

Makemson, Maud. “Astronomy in Primitive Religion.” Journal of Bible and Religion. 22 no. 3 (1954): 163–171.

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Morton, Jamie. The Role of the Physical Environment in Ancient Greek Seafaring. Leiden: Brill, 2001.

Rappenglueck, Michael. “The Pleiades in the ‘Salle des Taureaux,’ Grotte de Lascaux,” www.infis.org/research.

Reiche, Harald. “Fail-Safe Stellar Dating: Forgotten Phases,” Transactions of the American Philological Association 119 (1989): 37–53.

Rich, Anthony. The Illustrated Companion to the Latin Dictionary and Greek Lexicon. London: Longman, Brown, Green, and Longmans, 1849.

Schachter, Albert. Cults of Boiotia. London: University of London, Institute of Classical Studies, 1986.