Compiled by Gary D. Thompson
Copyright © 2001-2008 by Gary D. Thompson
Introduction to the bibliography.
The compilation of the bibliography arose from requests for such by some HASTRO-L (History of Astronomy List) members early during 2001. The requests arose from discussions on HASTRO-L that have focused on the origin and history of the constellations (i.e., flat patterns of stars). This resulting bibliographic list is not intended to be definitive and is limited mostly to material I possess or have accessed through libraries. (This is largely to avoid mistakes. For example, the article "Constellations in Pindar" (Classica et mediaevalia, Volume 37, 1986) is unrelated to astronomical constellations. The frequently referenced articles "Jeremias and astral-mythology in the Old Testament" (London Quarterly Review, Volume 118, 1912); and "Babylon and astral mythology" (London Quarterly Review, Volume 119, 1913) cannot be located in the journal cited.) There are only some 100 items listed that I have not seen. I have, however, read detailed discussions of these items. If I were to simply list references that I came across then I could easily add another 300 items. However, this technique is known to introduce referencing mistakes regarding title, volume number, year published, and page numbers. (The greater sophistication of web resources now (since 2006) enables details of (many) articles to be easily discovered. A large number of articles listed in the bibliography were identified by the time consuming method of systematically "scanning" through material on the shelves of various university libraries in Melbourne, Canberra, and Sydney.)
I have also included journal articles that a number of persons have kindly brought to my attention. However, twice now I have been supplied with incorrect page information by persons doing such..
The bibliographic list has no particular target audience in mind and simply reflects my own core interests regarding the history of astronomy. Both professional and popular material is included. Books and articles available in electronic form on the internet are not included in the list. Also, the references listed are mostly limited to English, French, and German. A few items that contain wide-ranging material are listed twice, under different headings.
References dealing with both early (i.e., pre-Islamic) and late (i.e., medieval) Arabic constellation and star names have been included. This is to sensibly deal with the fact that whilst our inherited constellation names are basically Greek our inherited star names are largely due to the influence of medieval (Arabic) Islamic astronomy. It was rare for the Babylonians, Greeks, and Romans to give names to individual stars. They only did so for the few brightest stars. Less than 300 stars have individual names and these names have historical and mythological importance. The names of these several hundred brighter stars have originated from various cultures but mostly from traditional Arabic names. For example Sirius is derived from the ancient Greek name "the scorching one, or brilliant one" and was reapplied during the Renaissance period. Betelgeuse was applied in the Medieval period and is a corrupted Latin transliteration from the Arabic name. Achernar is also a Latin transliteration of the Arabic name and was applied during the Renaissance period. The influence of Arabic names on Western star names dates from around the 10th-century AD when Arab astronomy flourished. After the demise of the Roman Empire most Greek scientific works were translated into Arabic (including Ptolemy's Almagest). Eventually these texts were re-introduced back into Europe (and into Latin and Greek) through Arab Spain. With the Arabs the influence of the Greek language was not very strong in the names of stars and constellations.
As of October 2006 the bibliography contains some 1350 books and journal articles (book reviews, etc. excluded).) This is far larger than I originally projected. Due to time constraints and health issues my original concept was a static project containing some 500 references. Additional entries, reviews, and annotations will continue to occur in a random manner. The book reviews and the annotations will be the common additions to the bibliographic list. Beginning August 2005 I also began adding some references to non-Western constellations and star names. As of October 2006 this list contains approximately 300 references. This particular list will continue to be added to but will likely be limited to approximately 350 references.
The listing of references is set out in two ways: (1) bibliographic lists relevant to occidental constellations and star names to the classical period, and (2) bibliographic lists of specifically related topics (or closely associated topics). For (1) the listing is set out under broad geographical headings - and then in alphabetical order by author, and for (2) the listing is (usually) in chronological sequence by author. (Note: There is little duplication between the two types of lists.) The information in the listings will basically consist of : (1) last name and first name of author(s), (2) year(s) of publication, (3) (usually) short title of book or article, (4) whether multiple volumes, and (5) annotations variously comprising biographical details of author(s) or simply life dates, explanation of contents, critical comments on the content, book reviews, journal correspondence on topic, obituary references, and alternative references. Further information on any book (and possibly journals also) can be obtained using internet searches of library catalogues.
From the appearance of the lists, etc., up till early December 2005 I made some 150 minor corrections regarding authors names and dates of publications, (and grammatical errors) etc. During late December 2005 and early January 2006 I further corrected approximately 200 spelling oversights, and also corrected some author names and grammatical errors. This was aided by the decision to switch to use of FrontPage 2003 which incorporates an automatic spellchecker. During October 2006 I further corrected some 20 spelling oversights and grammatical errors. Minor errors are bound to occur and will be corrected as soon as noticed. Also, due to the protracted nature of the project some slight variation in bibliographic style is inevitable but should not present a problem.
In addition to the bibliographic lists I have also included other material (i.e., essays, journal articles, illustrations, and links) relating to the history of Western constellation and star names. Hopefully I will be contributing to the elimination of popular misplaced beliefs concerning the great antiquity of the constellations (especially the zodiacal constellations). Two persistent myths are: (1) the existence of Sumerian constellations, and (2) the zodiac originating with the Sumerians. There is scant evidence for the former belief and the extant cuneiform evidence clearly establishes the falsehood of the latter belief. (Current web sites persist in erroneously claiming that either the constellations or the zodiac were part of the historical record of Mesopotamia circa 4000 BCE.)
The posted essays are draft form only and will be subject to revision as time permits. Several comprise little more than a rough draft and the "roughest" are flagged as being "under construction." (Revisions or additions to essays are incorporated without extensive rewriting.) Shorter essays appear in the topics cover in Section 11: Illustrations. At times they express slightly differing points of view from each other. This is an inevitable result of their being written and revised over an extended period of time. The posting of scanned articles posed a problem in the past when available web space was 5 megabytes. However, as the available web space is now 10 megabytes several articles will be posted at a time. Generally only short articles will be posted (and perhaps changed approximately half yearly).
Section 11 containing 42 entries of uneven length dealing with the history of the development of constellations and star names (mostly occidental) is now (January, 2008) more or less complete. Hopefully it serves as an accurate chronological guide for people wanting to obtain an overview of the topic. It covers a number of issues not usually found in I now intend to use available time to focus on Essay Thirteen (13): An Outline Sketch of the Origin and History of Constellations and Star-Names. It is not my intention to use material that already appears in Section 11.
I was very happy that this web site was selected to receive the prestigious Griffith Observatory Star Award for the week of September 4-10, 2005, for excellence in promoting astronomy to the public through the World Wide Web. I am grateful to Griffith Observatory (a major Los Angeles landmark having almost 2 million visitors each year) for the honour.
Unauthorised use of text from this website.
All text at this website is copyright © 2001-2008 to Gary D. Thompson. Reproduction of parts of the bibliography or articles by others, without acknowledgement, can be interesting. (I appreciate the courtesy of those persons who have either genuinely requested or made proper acknowledgement of their use of materials. A person making an inquiry in 2008 for permission to use some material verbatim in a book for some reason seems reluctant to give any proper acknowledgement that it was sourced from one of my website essays and the person also intends to apply their own copyright to the material taken.)
During 2005 the following was noticed: In his May 29, 2004, article "The Lion with the Crocodile Tail and LEO", posted at his Website and Bulletin Board, Robert Bauval's listing of Alex Gurshtein's English-language articles exactly reproduces, minus my annotations, my list of references. The effect is to (1) suggest Bauval's familiarity with the references, and (2) suggest they all support Bauval's particular "Leo antiquity" ideas. Such is not the case. What I find particularly interesting is that Bauval makes no reference to my website article effectively critiquing Gurshtein's speculative arguments. Bauval's determination to continue with his disproven ideas, by continuing to selectively use dubious material, is a demonstration of the hollowness of his approach. Interestingly, Bauval has also placed his own copyright notice on the material he has used.
During 2007 the following was noticed: Parts of my web site (i.e., a number of articles from Section 11) are being mirrored at the Saturnian Cosmology web site. (The Saturnists are adherents of an odd form of solar system catastrophism that is based on the unfounded speculations of Immanuel Velikovsky.) They have not sought my permission to mirror any of my articles and their use of my material is unauthorised by me. Some of the material they are mirroring is outdated though they seem intent on ensuring they are reproducing my updated material at their mirror site. The description of the Denderah zodiac posted at Archaic Gifts on eBay exactly duplicates considerable sections of my description of the Denderah zodiac. The essay "Astronomy at Mesopotamian Region (3000BC-1400AC)" by Hamid Al-Naimiy (no date) that is posted on the web faithfully duplicates the exact wording of considerable parts of my rough draft essay "A Chronological History of Babylonian Astronomy" which has been posted at my web site since 2005.
During 2007 I have also noticed that some web sites, including Wikipedia, are referencing old pages that have been reorganised and expanded and are now referenced differently. A disadvantage of the web is that discarded web pages continue to have existence.
If you wish to contact me.
If you have any serious queries, comments, corrections, suggestions, or additional information you can easily reach me by email (see below).
"The history of the nomenclature for the stars and constellations is complex, involving Babylonian, Greek, Arabic, and medieval Latin translations. In many details, this history is imperfectly known. Devising constellations and naming stars are not, of course, scientific activities. But every culture in which a scientific astronomy developed did devote some effort to organizing the heaven into constellations. Perhaps this was a psychological requisite for scientific astronomy. And, of course, the zodiacal constellations provided a system of reference marks vital for the early investigations of the motions of the Moon and planets. (The History and Practice of Astronomy, by James Evans (1998, Page 39).)
"[T]he stars .... move extremely slowly in comparison with the sun and moon, as the old expression 'fixed stars' implies. They rise night after night at almost exactly the same position on the horizon. ... Looked at over a sufficiently long period of time, a slight motion of the stars does become apparent. The principal reason for this is not the movement of the stars themselves, but a motion of the earth called 'precession'. ... The declinations of the stars may also change as a result of their real motions in space relative to each other. This is normally a smaller effect than precession, but it is still important. Fortunately, the combined effect of these two motions can be calculated even for dates several millennia ago." (Megalithic Science, by Douglas Heggie (1981, Page 105).)
"The identification of ancient star-names with the modern names for fixed stars, planets, and constellations is problematic. The apparent positions of stars in the heavens have changed since antiquity, and many ancient constellations are no longer recognized. Furthermore, names of fixed-stars and constellations may have varied during ancient times, and constellations whose names remained constant, may have been composed of different stars in different periods or as viewed from different cities. Thus it is often best not to attempt precise identifications of ancient star-names with modern names." (Mesopotamian Cosmic Geography, by Wayne Horowitz (1998, Pages 153-154).)
"There is a long tradition of attempts to identify - with inadequate evidence - unknown constellations in other astronomical systems. These attempts are frequently reported at meetings, and occasionally appear in print. Interpreters typically begin with the premise that constellations we know have counterparts in other systems. In some cases this is so. Certain asterisms - the Pleiades, Orion's belt, the Big dipper (Plough), and a few others - are almost always singled out by everybody. After that, the picture is very muddy. Those who have studied constellations with discipline and a desire to discern genuine fact have understood that "tentative identities" based on loosely defined configurational relationships have very little value." (Posting: "Dr Krupp replies to Etz and Bauval," by Ed. Krupp, In the Hall of Ma'at, July 25 2002.)
"Finally, we can test the extent to which some Babylonian constellations taken over by the Greeks retained their original shapes by comparing the data in the GU text with those in Ptolemy's star catalogue (Almagest VII-VIII)." (Astral Sciences in Mesopotamia, by Hermann Hunger and David Pingree (1999, Page 97).)
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