Compiled by Gary D. Thompson
Copyright © 2001-2012 by Gary D. Thompson
The possibility of Sumerian constellations and star names.
Thureau-Dangin, François. (1919). "Un Acte de Donation de Marduk-Zâkir-Sumi." (Revue d'Assyriologie et d'Archéologie Orientale, Volume XVI, Number 3, Pages 117-156). [Note: See especially page 147. The author (1872-1944) was a leading Assyriologist and Chief Conservateur of Oriental Antiquities at the Louvre Museum in Paris. See the (German-language) obituary by Ernst Weidner in Archiv für Orientforschung, Fünfzehnter Band, 1945-1951, Pages 174-175.]
Perel, Yu. (1963). "Plenum of the Commission on the History of Astronomy: Problems in the History of Astronomy in the East." (Soviet Astronomy - AJ, Volume 6, Number 5, March-April, Pages 735-736). [Note: Translated into English-language from Astronomichesskii Zhurnal, Volume 39, Number 5, Pages 951-952, September-October, 1962. Contains paragraph mention of report on "Calendar inscriptions in Sumerian pictographic texts of the early third millennium B.C." by A. Vaiman (The Hermitage, Leningrad). The paragraph summary reads in part: "The most ancient astronomical inscriptions are contained in memorial records. The pictographic texts discovered on monuments of the Sumerian city-states Uruk and Jemdet Nasr refer to the 29th century B.C., and consist of calendar inscriptions, testifying to the well developed level of astronomical knowledge that had already been acquired through observations (there are records of the rising and setting of Venus, and delineations of several constellations)." A. Vaiman is a Russian Sumerologist/cuneiform philologist and expert on Babylonian mathematics. The still existing problem with the earliest Mesopotamian scripts is properly understanding their meaning.]
van Dijk, J[?]. (1964-1965). "Le Motif Cosmique dans la Pensée Sumérienne." (Acta Orientalia Ediderunt Societates Orientales Danica Norvegica Svecica, Volume XXVIII, Pages 1-59). [Note: Interesting for its examination of Sumerian cosmological beliefs in religion and myth. The author was a Sumerologist. I do not think that Part 2 of the article appeared.]
Hartner, Willy. and Ettinghausen, Richard. (1964). "The Conquering Lion: The Life Cycle of a Symbol." (Oriens, Volume 17, (Number 11?), Pages 161-171 (plus 8 plates). [Note: Willy Hartner's discussion in this article is a prelude to his 1965 paper "The Earliest History of the Constellations in the Near East and the Motif of the Lion-Bull Combat."]
Hartner, Willy. (1965). "The Earliest History of the Constellations in the Near East and the Motif of the Lion-Bull Combat." (Journal of Near Eastern Studies, Volume XXIV, 1965, Numbers 1 and 2, Pages 1-16, and Plates 1-XVI). [The article is unreliable. Willy Hartner was a distinguished historian of astronomy and science. Life dates: 1905-1981. See the (English-language) obituary by Michael Hoskin in Quarterly Journal of the Royal Astronomical Society, Volume 25, 1984, Page 373.]
Alster, Bendt. (1974). "On the Interpretation of the Sumerian Myth "Inanna and Enki."" (Zeitschrift für Assyriologie und Vorderasiatische Archäologie, Volume 64, I Halband, March, Pages 20-34). [Note: The Danish author, a leading Assyriologist (now retired), gives an astronomical interpretation of the subject matter. He seems to have been influenced by "Hamlet's Mill," by Giorgio de Santillana and Hertha von Dechend (1969). The author later doubted some of his ideas and did not proceed with his proposed book "The Eternal Cycle" giving an astronomical interpretation of Sumerian mythology. (He literally tore up the manuscript.) His manuscript argued that the cyclical return of the planets, (and the sun and moon) played an important role in Mesopotamian religion.]
Alster, Bendt. (1974). "The Paradigmatic Character of Mesopotamian Heroes." (Revue d'Assyriologie et d'Archéologie Orientale, Volume LXVIII, Number 1, Pages 49-60). [Note: The author favours an astronomical interpretation of the subject matter.]
Alster, Bendt. (1976). "Early Patterns in Mesopotamian Literature." In: Eichler, Barry. (Editor). Kramer Anniversary Volume, Pages 13-24). [Note: The Danish author, a leading Assyriologist, gives an astronomical interpretation of the subject matter. Bendt Alster believed (at least at time of publication) astronomical observations could be discerned in Sumerian compositions that date as early as the middle of the 3rd-millennium BCE which refer to the movement of the heavenly bodies and the constellations.]
Hostetter, Homer. (1979). "A Planetary Visit to Hades." (Archaeoastronomy: The Bulletin of The Center for Archaeoastronomy, Volume II, Number 4, Fall, Pages 7-10). [Note: An astronomical interpretation of the Sumerian story of Inanna's descent into the underworld. (The author was unaware of Alster Bendt's 1974 article.) The Sumerian myth, Inanna's Descent to the Nether World, is an allegorical account of celestial events that probably occurred beginning in April, 2502 B.C. and concluded approximately 584 days later at the end of one Venus synodic period. Alternative years would be at eight-year intervals for perhaps 24 years before or after that date. The author does not identify that The Descent of Inanna was first written down circa 2000 BCE. [H.] Clyde Hostetter taught journalism at California Polytechnic State University from 1958 to 1983. He was awarded the status of Professor Emeritus of Journalism for his academic services. He was recently - for a number of years until circa 2008 - cruise lecturer for Royal Caribbean and Holland America. He has a photo-journalism degree from the University of Missouri. Hostetter became interested in archaeoastronomy in 1976 whilst working in Saudi Arabia for the U.S.-Saudi Arabian Commission on Joint Economic Cooperation. He is a proponent of the origins of complex astronomy in Sumeria circa 3000 BCE, and a diffusionist.]
Perera, Sylvia. (1981). Descent to the Goddess. [Note: The author, a Jungian analyst, holds that the journey of Inanna through the seven gates of the Underworld represents various planetary positions of Venus.]
Thompson, William. (1981). The Time Falling Bodies Take to Light: Mythology, Sexuality and the Origin of Culture. [Note: Written from the perspective of Jungian psychology. The author gives an astral interpretation of the myth of Inanna based on the movements of Venus (= Inanna) and Mercury (= Enki). William Thompson, a poet and cultural historian, has taught in various fields of the humanities and social sciences at Cornell, MIT, York, Syracuse, and the Universities of Toronto and Hawaii. He was nominated for the National Book Award in the US in 1972 and received the Oslo Poetry Festival Award in 1986. Since 1973 his major effort has been in the founding and directing of the Lindisfarne Association as an educational alternative for the humanities in a technological society. Over the years, Lindisfarne has been a moveable feast, with activities in Manhattan, New York; Southampton, Long Island; San Francisco, California; and Crestone, Colorado.]
Hostetter, Homer. (1982). "Inanna Visits the Land of the Dead: An Astronomical Interpretation." (Griffith Observer, February, Pages 9-15). [Note: The author's astronomical interpretation holds that the myth describes a 584-day synodic period of Venus that began with inferior conjunction shortly before the spring equinox. One of 3 articles in the Griffith Observer using material that would later form his book "Star Trek to Hawa-i'i" (1991). The other 2 articles were "The Bowl of Ishtar" (July, 1979); and "The Eclipse That Failed" (March, 1983). For a contrary view see: "The Descent of Inanna as a Ritual Journey to Kutha?" by Giorgio Buccellati (Syro-Mesopotamian Studies, Volume 4, Issues 3, December, 1982, Pages 3-7). See also a brief critique of Hostetter's article in: "A Catalog of Near Eastern Venus Deities." by Wolfgang Heimpel (Syro-Mesopotamian Studies, Volume 4, Issues 3, December, 1982, Pages 9-22).]
Heimpel, Wolfgang. (1982). "A Catalog of Near Eastern Venus Deities." (Syro-Mesopotamian Studies, Volume 4, Issues 3, December, 1982, Pages 9-22). [Note: Holds that the Sumerians identified Inanna with the planet Venus.]
van der Waerden, Bartel. (1984). "Greek Astronomical Calendars I. The Parapega of Euctemon." (Archive for the History of the Exact Sciences, Volume 29, Pages 101-114). [Note: Contains a section redating the Mul.Apin series to circa 2300 BCE. This change was influenced by Werner Papke's 1978 doctoral thesis. Bartel van der Waerden believed that astronomy of the Babylonians and Greeks attained a high level at an early date and so was drawn towards speculative arguments for such.]
Bruschweiler, Françoise. (1987). Inanna: la déesse triomphante et vaincue dans la cosmologie sumérienne: recherche lexicographique.
Szarzynska, Krystyna. (1987). "The Sumerian Goddess INANA-KUR." (Orientalia Varsoviensia, Volume 1).
Papke, Werner. (1989; reprinted 1996). Die Sterne von Babylon. [Note: Unreliable. See pages 237-276 for his argument dating the Mul.Apin series to Babylon circa 2300 BCE. Life dates: 1944-.]
Horowitz, Wayne. (1991). "Further Notes on Birmingham Cuneiform Tablets volume I." (Acta Sumerologica, Volume 13, Pages 406-417). [Note: The article includes a brief discussion of possible evidence pointing to an Ur III origin of at least some constellation and star names.]
Szarzynska, Krystyna. (1993). "Offerings for the Goddess Inana in Archaic Uruk." (Revue d'Assyriologie et d'Archéologie Orientale, Volume 87, Number 1, Pages 7-28). [Note: Argues that Uruk cuneiform tablets circa 3000 BCE show the Sumerians identified the goddess Inanna as morning Venus-star and evening Venus-star.]
Cohen, Mark. (1993). The Cultic Calendars of the Ancient Near East. [Note: See pages 178-180.]
Horowitz, Wayne. (1998). Mesopotamian Cosmic Geography. [Note: On pages 166-168 the author discusses evidence indicating the possibility of Sumerian star charts.]
Soltysiak, Arkadiusz. (1999). "The Tree of Life and the Serpent of Truth: Celestial location and astronomical significance of the Paradise." (In: Lebeuf, Arnold. and Ziolkowski, M[?]. (Editors). Actes de la Vème Conférence Annuelle de la SEAC. Gdańsk 1997. Pages 41-67).
Casaburi, Maria (1999). "Sumerian Astral Nomenclature and Alternations in Writing: The Case of Astrolabe B." (Annali dell'Instituto Universitario Orientale di Napoli, Volume 59, Number 1-4, Pages 405-408). [Note: A note discussing a specimen of Sumerian astral nomenclature found in Astrolabe B. The journal is published by: Dipartimento di studi del mondo classico e mediterraneo antico.]
Soltysiak, Arkadiusz. (2000). "Adapa, Etana and Gilgameš: Three Sumerian Rulers among the Constellations." In: Esteban, César. and Belmonte, Juan. (Editors). Oxford VI and SEAC 99. Astronomy and Cultural Diversity. (Pages 289-293 (294)). [Note: This publication is the proceedings of the 6th "Oxford" international symposium on archaeoastronomy, jointly with the SEAC99 (European archaeoastronomy) meeting, held in La Laguna, Tenerife, in 1999. Copies of the book are exceedingly rare due to water damage to stock during a devastating Madrid flood. A PDF file has now (February, 2010) been kindly made available by Michael Rappenglück and is freely downloadable from the publications page of the SEAC web site.]
Szarzynska, Kristina. (2000). "The Cult of the Goddess Inanna in Archaic Uruk." (Nin – Journal of Gender Studies in Antiquity, Volume 1, Pages 63-74). [Note: Thematic Issue on the Goddess Inanna/Ishtar, published by Styx Publications, The Netherlands, for the Women's Association of Ancient Near Eastern Studies (WANES).]
Brown, David. (2000). Mesopotamian Planetary Astronomy-Astrology. [Note: See especially pages 67, and 245-248.]
Soltysiak, Arkadiusz. (2001). "The Bull of Heaven in Mesopotamian sources." (Culture and Cosmos, Volume 5, Number 2, Pages 3-21).
Soltysiak, Arkadiusz. (2003). "Betrayed lovers of Ishtar: A possible trace of the 8-Year Venus cycle in Gilgames VI: i-iii." (In: Calendars, Symbols and Orientations: Legacies of Astronomy in Culture, Proceedings of the 9th Annual Meeting of the European Society for Astronomy in Culture (SEAC), 2001, Uppsala Astronomical Observatory Report Number 59, Pages 101-106). [Note: The author is in the Department of Historical Anthropology, Institute of Archaeology, Warsaw, Poland. The paper was written within the project "Constellations in the mythologies of ancient Mesopotamia," financed by the Polish Committee for Scientific Research. The author discusses the possibility that the list of lovers of the goddess Ištar are related to the constellations of the heliacal settings of Venus in the 8-year cycle. See the (English-language) book review by I[?]. Pustylnik in Astronomical and Astrophysical Transactions, Volume 21, Numbers 1-3, 2002, Pages 155-158.]
Horowitz, Wayne. (2005). "Some Thoughts on Sumerian Star-Names and Sumerian Astronomy." In: Sefati, Yitzhak. et. al. (Editors). An Experienced Scribe Who Neglects Nothing: Ancient Near Eastern Studies in Honor of Jacob Klein. (Pages 163-178). [Note: Kindly brought to my attention by John Halloran. Wayne Horowitz discusses a tablet (The Nippur Forerunner to Tablet 22 of Urra = hubullu) listing 2 star names in Sumerian (line 396 having: mul gisz apin; and line 410 having: mul lu2.hun.ga2) which he believes were in use in Sumer and Akkad in the 3rd millennium BCE.]
Cooley, Jeffrey. (2008). "Early Mesopotamian Astral Science and Divination in the Myth of Inana And Šukaletuda." (Journal of Ancient Near Eastern Religions, Volume 8, Number 1, Pages 75-98). [Note: The author holds the myth is related to the synodic activity of the planet Venus. Unfortunately the author seems unaware of the early articles of Bendt Alster and also (importantly) the 1982 article by Homer Hostetter which deals with Inanna as the planet Venus. Abstract: "The Sumerian tale of Inana and Shukaletuda recounts how the goddess Inana is raped by a homely gardener upon whom she seeks and ultimately finds revenge. Though this general plot has long been understood, certain elements of the story have remained largely unexplored. Previous scholarship has often suggested that within Inana and Shukaletuda, the goddess Inana is often described in her astral manifestation (e.g. S. Kramer 1961, 117; K. Volk 1995, 177-179 and 182-183; B. Alster 1999, 687; J. Cooper 2001, 142-144). Nevertheless, to date there has been no systematic treatment of this assumption and this study seeks to fill this gap. It is my thesis that certain events of the story (i.e. Inana's movements) can be related to a series of observable celestial phenomena, specifically the synodic activity of the planet Venus. This also explains the heretofore enigmatic climax of the story, in which Inana crosses the entire sky in order to finally locate her attacker, as a celestial miracle required by the planet Venus' peculiar celestial limitations. Furthermore, since in ancient Iraq the observation of astronomical phenomena was often done for the purpose of celestial divination, I suggest that certain events within the story may be illuminated if situated within that undertaking."]
The astronomical origins of the alphabet.
Seyffarth, Gustav[us]. (1855). Berichtigungen der roemischen, griechischen, persischen, aegyptischen, hebraeischen Geschichte und Zeitrechnung, Mythologie und alten Religionsgeschichte: auf Grund neuer historischer und astronomischer Huelfsmittel. [Note: Gustav[us] Seyffarth was a Lutheran Clergyman and acclaimed Achaeologist and Egyptologist. He was born in Ubigau, Saxony (Germany) and died in New York City (USA). He studied at the Gymnasium in Leipsic, then at the University of Leipsic, and in 1820 in Paris under the direction of Champollion, the celebrated French Egyptologist. He became well-known as Archaeologist, and as a decipherer of Egyptian hieroglyphics. Seyffarth was a rival of Champollion on the decipherment of Egyptian hieroglyphics. He claimed to have been the first person to decipher the hieroglyphics on the Rosetta Stone. From 1825 to 1855 he was Professor of Oriental Archeology at the University of Leipsic. In 1855 he emigrated to the United States, and was elected Professor of Archeology and Exegesis in Concordia Lutheran Theological Seminary, St. Louis, Missouri, where he remained until his retirement in 1871. From 1871 until his death he resided in New York. In 1878 he celebrated the 50th anniversary of his doctorate, and received from the University of Leipsic an annual pension, in recognition of original investigations in archaeology. During his retirement he translated numerous Egyptian manuscripts in the collection of the New York Historical Society. He held the belief in the zodiacal origins of the alphabet. Seyffarth believed that the alphabet was a reproduction of the zodiac with the constellation of the planets at a point in time of 3446 BCE. See also: The Literary life of Gustavus Seyffarth: An Autobiographical Sketch, edited by K[arl?]. Knortz (1886). Gustav[us] Seyffarth also knew the Lutheran minister Joseph Seiss who supported the "gospel in the stars" theory. Life dates: 1796-1885.]
Broome, John. (1881). The Astral Origins of the Emblems, the Zodiacal Signs, and the Astral Hebrew Alphabet. [Note: A very small book (20-page essay) based on an earlier 8-page essay by the author. Speculative and unreliable. See the critical (English-language) book review by Archibald Sayce in Nature, Volume XXV, Thursday April 6, 1882, Pages 525-526. See also the (English-language) book review by ? in Historic Magazine and Notes and Queries, Volume 24, 1906, Page 28. At the time of publication Reverend John Broome was the Vicar of Houghton, Norfolk, England. (The author was an amateur antiquarian.) The essay was originally published as "The Astral Hebrew Alphabet," in 1870[1871?] as Appendix of Volume 8[9?] of the Astronomical Register. It was also published as a separate (8-page) pamphlet in 1870[?] and 1871. The full title of the publication the essay originally appeared in was Astronomical Register: A Medium of Communication for Amateur Observers and All Others Interested in the Science of Astronomy.]
Winckler, Hugo. (1902). Die Babylonische Kultur in ihren Beziehungen zur Unsrigen. [Note: The author of this pamphlet was a key Panbabylonist. See the (French-language) book review by M[?]. I[?]. in Revue de l'Histoire des Religions, Vingt-Troisième Année, Tome Quarante-Sixième, 1902, Pages 403-404. Hugo Winckler (1863-1913) was a German Cuneiform Philologist.]
Hommel, Fritz. (1904). "Die Planeten- und Tierkreisgötter der Elamiter und die Planetenzeichen im west-semitischen Alphabet." (Pages 262-266). (Verhandlungen des XIII. Internationalen Orientalisten - Kongresses, 1902.) [Note: Paper presented at the (Thirteenth) International Congress of Orientalists, 1902, Leiden. Published 1904. The Jewish Quarterly Review, Volume 20, 1908, discusses that both Hugo Winckler and Fritz Hommel had independently argued that the alphabet has an astral origin. The eminent Polish/German epigraphist Mark Lidzbarski (1868-1928) capably criticised their arguments. In 1929 the Chinese scholar and writer Guo Moruo (1892-1978), wrote a lengthy article (nearly 200 pages in Chinese) in the 1930s following the views of Panbabylonism (specifically those of Alfred Jeremias?) on the astral origins of the alphabet. This paper has never been translated into English and is now almost forgotten.]
Hirschfeld, Hartwig. (1911). "Recent Theories on the Origin of the Alphabet." (The Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain and Ireland, October, Pages 963-977). [Note: Includes a short critique of Fritz Hommel's astral theory.]
Stucken, Eduard. (1913). Der Ursprung des Alphabets und die Mondstationen. [Note: The author was an amateur philologist and principal Panbabylonist who was criticized for knowing no restraint. See the extensive (German-language) review by Anon in Orientalistische Literaturzeitung, Volume XVII, 1914, Number 5, Columns 210-215. Eduard Stucken (1865-1936) was a German Writer/Amateur Philologist.]
Bates, William. (1916). The Origin of the Greek Alphabet. [Note: Discusses the idea of the astral origin of the alphabet.]
Hommel, Fritz. (1920). Zur astralen Anordnung des phönikisch-griechischen Alphabets. [Note: Fritz Hommel (1854-1936) was a distinguished German Semiticist/Assyriologist.]
Hommel, Fritz. (1926). Ethnologie und Geographie des Alten Orients. (Pages 96-104).
Bauer, Hans. (1937). Der Ursprung des Alphabets. [Note: The author was an Orientalist. The British Egyptologist Alan Gardiner published a pamphlet (Palestine Exploration Fund) "Review of H. Bauer, Der Ursprung des Alphabets" the same year.]
Wadler, Arnold. (1948; Reprinted 2006). One Language - Source of All Tongues. [Note: The authors only book in English. Full of silly ideas. Based on the occult foundations of linguistics expoused by Rudolph Steiner. Stated to fall within the (supposed) class of spiritual scientific literature. Wadler held that pre-Columbian America held the key to understanding the origin of human language and culture. Chapters include: The Tower of Babel; The Origin of Writing in Picture Consciousness; The Spirit of Words; The Lost Continent of Atlantis; American Tongues and Universal Human Speech; Language in the Past and Future. Wadler searched for the common mother language which he believed to have been in use before the Babylonian language and confusion (described in the Bible). From Publisher 2006 reprint: "From ancient times, we are told in the story of the Tower of Babel, human beings have been separated by different languages and, consequently, different cultures. Over the centuries, this division has increased and the distance between nations and peoples has prevented true communication and understanding. Gradually, mutations of meaning within single languages have further isolated individuals from one another. Toward the end of the twentieth century, however, a newly intensified consciousness arose-one that sought the basis of a new unity. This has resulted in, among other things, the budding globalization of world societies, economically, politically, and culturally. Linguists and language historians have long searched for the source of our original unity-the one language from which we were separated. Inspired by a pamphlet on the origin of language by Hermann Beckh, and encouraged by his study of Rudolf Steiner's works, Dr. Arnold D. Wadler began 30 years of research into the tongues of various human families. In One Language, he lifts the veil from pre-Columbian America and reveals its place in the developing life of earthly human beings. Based on language and custom, ancient America can be seen as the key to the question of the common primeval tongue of the origin of humanity and modern civilization. His comprehensive grasp of the subject and his broad understanding of history, religion, art, and the science of language places this book among the classics of spiritual scientific literature." Dr. Arnold Wadler (1882-circa1960?) began his lifelong study of ancient and modern languages at an early age. His purpose was to discover the common origin of all languages. His goal was to learn a language representing every linguistic family, including Germanic, Romance, Slavic, Semitic, Chinese, African, and pre-Columbian American vernaculars. Wadler was influenced early on by Herman Beckh of Berlin University, a student of Rudolf Steiner. With the beginning of World War II, he left Germany and moved to Switzerland, where he published The Tower of Babel; Germanic Prehistory; and The Aryan Riddle. Both these books and his work in general was controversial (eccentric), and largely ignored by mainstream scholars of the time. However, his books sold well in Germany to the reading public. Wadler moved to France and then to Spain and Portugal before leaving Europe for New York in 1940. In 1942, Wadler was invited by the United States Bureau of Indian Affairs to visit "Indian Country." This took him to New Mexico and Arizona where he studied Native American culture, speech, and religion. Wadler continued to write and lecture throughout his life.]
Rosch-Pinnah, Eliyahu. (1952). Astrologie im hebraeischen Alphabet. [Note: A 39-page study of astrology in the Hebrew alphabet, with emphasis on a particular Hebrew word and its astrological meaning. Eliyahu Rosch-Pinnah is Ernst Ettisch.]
Moran, Hugh. and Kelley, David. (1953; Second revised edition 1969). The Alphabet and Ancient Calendar Signs. [Note: The book is comprised of separate essays by both authors - the longer one by Hugh Moran is unreliable. Our alphabet uses a visual mark (letter) to represent a sound of spoken language, rather than a complete idea (i.e., pictograph or ideogram). Hugh Moran claimed to have established a definite link between the shapes of the Semitic letters of our phonetic alphabet and those of the Chinese lunar zodiac. According to Moran the letters of the Hebrew, Greek and Arabic alphabets are based on/derived from the signs of the Chinese lunar zodiac. According to Moran the underlying unifying force was religion. It is sometimes claimed that Moran was a Sinologist. He was not. His academic studies focused on religion/theology. See the (German-language) book review by Johannes Schubert in Orientalistische Literaturzeitung, Volume 69, 1974, Number 7/8, Columns 338-340; and the critical (English-language) article book review "The Evolution and Diffusion of writing. Review of The Alphabet and the Ancient Calendar Signs." by Marshall Durbin in American Anthropologist, Volume 73, Number 2, April, 1971, Pages 299-304 (accessible online at: http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1525/aa.1971.73.2.02a00010/pdf). See also the 65 page monograph "Correspondences Between the Chinese Calendar Signs and the Phoenician Alphabet" by Julie Wei (1999). The monograph was issued as part of Sino-Platonic Papers edited by Victor Mair, University of Pennsylvania. Sino-Platonic Papers is Mair’s own private (non-peer-reviewed) publication that has a very small circulation. Victor Mair, Professor of Asian and Middle Eastern Studies, University of Pennsylvania, has also investigated the possible connection between the lunar calendar and the origin of the alphabet. (On the astronomical origins of the alphabet see the corrective article "Origine de L'Alphabet" by Émile Puech [est directeur de Recherche au CNRS, directeur de la Revue de Qumrân] (Revue Biblique, Tome XCIII, 1986, Pages 161-213).) Hugh Moran (1881-1977) was a Presbyterian Minister/Clergyman and missionary, Rhodes Scholar and author. His books were all religious in nature. (His publications included: The Story of Santa Claus (1952, 32 Pages).) He graduated from Stanford University, Palo Alto, California, in 1905 (A.B.). He attended Wadham College, Oxford, 1905-1908 and received a B.A. in Theology. He was ordained in 1909. In 1911 he married Irene Hornby. At University of Oxford (Wadham College?), Oxford, England, in 1920, he received a master's degree and honours in theology (he specialized in ancient languages and the history of religion). During the Oriental phase of his career he worked in the YMCA (Secretary of the International Committee) in China from 1909 to 1913 (in 1912 he founded the YMCA at Hangkow, China). From 1913 to 1915 he was in New York City (Boy and Student Department, YMCA, 1914-1915). From 1916-1917 he was appointed Director to oversee POW relief (War Prisoners Aid) in Siberia. In 1917 he was also Special Aide, Root Diplomatic Mission to Russia. In 1918 he was with the YMCA in Russia. On his permanent return to the USA, he became a member of the board of chaplains at Cornell University and remained there for over 20 years. (He was Presbyterian Student Pastor of Cornell University from 1919 to 1942, and Director of Religion at Cornell University.) While at Cornell University he received a Kent Fellowship and combined doctoral degree from Teachers College, Union Theological Seminary, and Columbia University. (Kent Fellowship from from Teachers College, Union Theological Seminary; and PhD from Columbia University.) He retired in 1942 to Los Altos (Palo Alto?), California. (For biographical/academic information see: Register of Rhodes Scholars, 1903-1945 (2007).) Dr. David Kelley (1924-?) born in Albany, New York, is a Canadian archaeologist and epigrapher, noted for his work on the phonetic analysis - and major contributions toward the decipherment - of the writing system used by the Maya civilization of pre-Columbian Mesoamerica, the Maya script. He has a PhD in archaeology from Harvard University. He has taught at the University of Nebraska but much of his academic career has been with the University of Calgary (Professor of Archaeology). Points in his essay in the book that Kelley considered to be wrong were corrected in his 1970 paper "Indo-Greek cosmology and science in ancient Meso-America." presented at the New World Writing conference, New York: American Museum of Natural History.]
Kelly, David. (1960). “Calendar Animals and Deities.” (Southwestern Journal of Anthropology, Volume 16, Number 3, Pages 317-337). [Note: Gordon Ekholm (archaeologist, PhD Harvard, 1909-1987) writing 1960 states: "A study of exceptional interest. The lists of calendar names and deities (day names, lunar houses or constellations, and the deities connected with them) in India, China, Southeast Asia Greece and Polynesia are compared with the Aztec and Maya lists. It is shown that they have degrees of similarity that can only be explained by historical contact. It is also shown that the letters of the Hebrew-Greek alphabet may be derived from the sequences of lunar mansions, and that they also show some similarity with the list of Maya day names. The author postulates trans-Pacific contact in the period between the seventh and fourth centuries B.C. to account for the transfer of these ideas to the New World."]
Gordon, Cyrus. (1970). "The Accidental Invention of the Phonemic Alphabet." (Journal of Near Eastern Studies, Volume 29, Number 3, Pages 193-197). [Note: Gordon earned his PhD from the University of Pennsylvania when he was 22. He became a leading Semitic languages scholar and had over 600 publications to his credit. Gordon, an authority on Ugarit and Ugaritic (a Semitic language used by Late Bronze Age Canaanites at Ugarit, Syria, circa 1550-1175 BCE; and written with a unique cuneiform alphabet), was a proponent of numerous eccentric causes. He believed he had identified a lunar zodiac in the order of the letters of the Ugarit cuneiform alphabet. Gordon's identification of a lunar zodiac in the letters of the Ugarit cuneiform alphabet has not met with general acceptance. Life dates 1908-2001.]
Bausani, Alessandro. (1978). "L'alfabeto come calendario arcaico." (Oriens Antiquus, Volume XVII, Pages 131-146). [Note: The title in English is: "The alphabet as an archaic calendar." Bausani suggested the Ugaritic cuneiform alphabet was connected with a lunar-based calendar. "I would like to end this brief discussion of problems connected with the alphabet by touching on a question that has long remained unexplained, although recently an unexpected and interesting solution may have been found: the order of succession of the signs. The order followed by our own letters (a, b, c, d, e...) is extremely ancient: it is directly documented in the 14th century B.C. in a primer found in Ugarit. Why are the signs in this order and not another? The reasons are certainly not phonetic (phonetically similar sounds such as t and d, s and z are placed for apart) or graphic (graphically similar signs such as `ayn and tet, gimel and lamed, or gimel and pe are not close together); on the other hand, it is difficult to believe in a casual grouping, totally devoid of guiding criteria, knowing the mentality of ancient Near East civilizations. In 1978 Alessandro Bausani, the brilliant orientalist who went on to specialize in History of Oriental Astronomy, suggested a new solution : on the basis of a study of lunar stations in Arab, Indian, and Iranian astronomy, which have sometimes ben related to the signs of the Arab alphabet according to its ancient order (corresponding to the Phoenician one), Bausani came to the conclusion that the Phoenician alphabetical order depicts a sort of calendar where the signs 'aleph, tet, `ayn and taw represent, in that order, the autumn equinox, the winter solstice, the spring equinox and the summer solstice. All this in an astronomical situation where the full moon of the autumn equinox occurred near the Pleiades, that is, around 2000 or 1600 B.C. The latter date corresponds exactly to what we have said about the beginnings of the alphabet. In its traditional order, the alphabet would then amount to a sort of primitive calendar, however approximate, which was worked out in a region like the Near East where summer, with its attendant drought, was felt to be especially inimical. The hypothesis of the calendar-like nature of the alphabet as a whole, and in particular the order of the signs which, as Bausani says, 'probably symbolized the days of a complete lunation felt to be more benevolent than others', has been significantly confirmed by Syro-Palestinian epigraphic documentation dating from the 1st millennium B.C. Numerous vases and seals, as well as various stands, present more or less complete alphabetical series, which are sometimes preceded by the preposition l, 'for'. Since these objects are always connected with religious ritual (votive or funerary), the religious character taken on by the alphabet in this context is evident. The presence of the above-mentioned preposition makes it probable that the expression 'for 'bgdh...' (this is the beginning of the Phoenician alphabet) corresponds to the expression l`lm 'for always' - a well-wishing formula addressed to both the living and the dead. When in the Apocalypse Goo introduces Himself with the words: 'I am the Alpha and Omega', using the first and last letters of the Greek alphabet to signify His eternity, we again meet the ancient Phoenician concept of the alphabet as symbolic of cyclic time, and we understand perhaps why the inventor of the alphabet wished to keep that relationship between sound and graphic sign which to us seems entirely superfluous." (Garbini, Giovanni; “The Question of the Alphabet,” Pages. 86-103, In: Moscati, Sabatino; The Phoenicians, 1988. [Mentions Alessandro Bausani, 1978 hypothesis on alphabet order, Page 102.].)]
Ettisch, Ernst. (1987). The Hebrew Vowels and Consonants as Symbols of Ancient Astronomic Concepts. [Note: Translated from an unpublished German-language manuscript by Harry Zohn. Ernst Ettisch (Eliyahu Rosch-Pinnah) was born in Berlin, Germany. He received doctorate in political science from the University of Berlin in 1922, and a doctorate of laws from the University of Freiburg in 1924. He emigrated to Palestine in 1934. For a time he was employed by the Canadian Assurance Company. He returned to Berlin in 1958, and was employed as a legal counselor. He taught Hebrew and Biblical Aramaic on a voluntary basis at the Free University of Berlin. In 1961 he delivered a lecture on the significance of astronomy for the languages and scripts of ancient civilisations at the Universityof Frankfort. He died of heart failure in 1964. Ernst Ettisch has been categorized as a Revisionist Zionist. Also, see his article "Die Säge als Sonnensymbol im Alten Orient und ihre Darstellung in der jüdischen Mystik." (Paideuma: Mitteilungen zur Kulturkunde, Volume 7, Number 7?, 1961, Pages 345-351). Anonymously reviewed in Anthropos, Volume 57, 1962, Page 208. The (English-language) book review in The World, Volume 1, Issue 11, 1988, states it is an interesting and highly researched book. Life dates: 1901-1964.]
Mair, Victor. (1992). "West Eurasian and North African Influences on the Origins of Chinese Writing." In: Luk, Bernard. (Editor). Contacts Between Cultures: Eastern Asia: Literature and Humanities, Volume 3 (Pages 335-338). [Note: At the 1990 ICANAS (= ICO) in Toronto, three scholars - Cyrus Gordon, Edwin Pulleyblank (Canadian Sinologist (now, (2010) Professor Emeritius), and Victor Mair - gave presentations asserting that the lunar calendar signs used in China are borrowed from the Ugaritic (type) "alphabet." ICANAS = International Congress of Asian and North African Studies. ICO - International Congress of Orientalists.]
Teames, Sally. (1997). "The Astronomical Origin of the Alphabet." (Paper presented at: Third Biennial History of Astronomy Workshop, University of Notre Dame, June 19-22; and The Astronomical Society of the Pacific, 109th Annual Meeting, June 29-30). [Note: The author is a school teacher. Paper abstract: "The Proto-Semitic alphabet is the ancestor of Greek, Etruscan, Roman, and all existing true alphabets in use today. It was the immediate predecessor of the early Semitic alphabets of the Hebrews, Phoenicians, Moabites, Edomites, Ammonites, Aramean, and South Arabians. Each of the twenty-two letters in the Proto-Semitic alphabet matches a constellation or asterism in or along the ecliptic. Not only do they match in shape and pattern, they also fall in the same general order, with only two constellations (Pisces and Aries) being out of sequence in the alphabetical order. The matching of certain letters is strengthened by the association of certain aspects of Mesopotamian skylore and by the fact that most of the corresponding letters in the Ugaritic cuneiform alphabet (15001200 BC) also match the same constellations. The implications of the findings of this research are threefold. First, the Proto-Semitic alphabet did not derive from the primitive Proto-Sinaitic alphabet at the turquoise mines at Serabit Al-Khadem and did not develop piecemeal, but was instead created as an organized unit of symbols designed after star patterns along the ecliptic. Second, the Proto-Semitic alphabet and the Ugaritic cuneiform alphabet may have originally been calendrical numbering systems (perhaps based on lunar stations). Third, similarities existing between the Proto-Semitic and the Ugaritic letter shapes, both being patterned after the same constellations and following the same general sequence, imply that the origin of the two may have been geographically close."]
Pellar, Brian. (2009). On the Origins of the Alphabet. (Sino-Platonic Papers, Number 196, December). [Note: Approximately 50 pages. Part 1 of a 2-part paper. Sino-Platonic Papers is an occasional series whose chief focus is on the intercultural relations of China with other peoples. Thesis (Page 3): "In 2003, completely unaware of Moran and the others' work, I discovered that if you rotate the Phoenician alphabet ninety degrees counter-clockwise, and join the twenty-two letters into sequential couplets, a pattern appears that resembles the eleven constellations of the Egyptian solar zodiac. The alphabet doesn't follow a simple circular pattern, but instead follows a more complex pattern that incorporates letter reversals at the solstices. It also forms two loops that meet at the constellation Gemini. Furthermore, this astro-alphabetic pattern is not only found in Modern Hebrew, the Chinese Lunar Zodiac, Phoenician, Proto-Sinaitic, Egyptian Hieratic and Hieroglyphs, but, in accord with Petrie's assertion, proto-astro-alphabetic glyphs also appear on a European stag bone from 3800 BC, and on a Karanovo Culture zodiac from 4800 BC. All of these manifestations will be discussed in the course of this study." The author is a Sculptor. Academic qualifications as of 2010: B.A. Art, University of California, Irvine, 1987; B.A. Psychology, University of California, Irvine, 1988; M.F.A. English, University of California. Irvine, 1996. Literally unbelievable - and unreliable. The author is unable to find his way through the maze of claims about early astronomy. The author argues that the Phoenician Alphabet was based on the Egyptian Zodiac. Peter Daniels writes (ANE-2, 29 August, 2010): "... the author claims that the shapes of a broad miscellany of signs from throughout the Near East are imitations of constellations. But he doesn't seem to provide any evidence that the people who created the signs (over a wide expanse of space and time) connected the stars with lines the same as or similar to the lines he drew. (Nor do I find the shapes he comes up with particularly like the shapes of the letters.)" Pellar also assumes that the authors of Hamlet's Mill (1969) are reliable in their assertions about early astronomy. However, Pellar is prepared to arbitrarily change their interpretations. Facing page 300 of Hamlet's Mill are several drawings of cylinder seals taken from La Glyptique Mesopotamienne Archaïque by Pierre Amiet (1961). Regarding Figure 1427 on Plate 107 Santillana-Dechend (Hamlet's Mill) have the caption: "The Mesopotamian cylinder seal shows in the upper part the "God Boat"; in the lower part people are building a ziggurat, the proposition being that the boat is bringing the me from Eridu-Canopus, the measure of creation." Pellar (Page 9) reproduces the upper register scene only with his own caption: "Aquarius as the God boat on right. Then moving left, Pisces, Aries, and finally Taurus with a vessel on its back indicating the vernal equinox (Santillana 1969: 301)." Pellar also writes (Page 9): "The sequence from the older Mesopotamian Cylinder Seal in Figure 4, row A, is from right to left and starts with the sun being carried as a small bull in what Santillana calls a "God boat" (Santillana and Von Dechend 1998: 301). This God boat is actually Aquarius, the winter solstice at the time (the winter solstice symbolized the birth of light, thus the birth of the young god/bull as the sun/seed/logos on the ecliptic)." (Page 301 is irrelevant; the proper reference is "facing page 300.") There is no discussion by Pellar of Pierre Amiet's ideas regarding the cylinder seal. One again we have uninformed interpretations based on mistaken beliefs in an early zodiac. No case is ever established for a multitude of controversial statements/claims. Also, Pellar is not acknowledged as an authority on cylinder seals. The subjective nature of Pellar's reasoning - and dubious nature of his claims - lies with his claim (Page 35) that the so-called Kananovo disc depicts a 12-constellation zodiac. (The rudimentary forms of the 12 modern Western zodiacal constellations no less.) Richard Flavin's speculative/subjective claims for a supposed Karanovo zodiac dating to circa 4800 BCE appear without critical comment. Incredibly, Pellar accepts a single amateur source that has not been subject to a peer-review process. (My understanding - personal communication - is that Richard Flavin does not currently support these claims.) The Karanovo Seal (www.prehistory.it/fase2/karonovo.htm): "This stamp seal was found in Karanovo tell (a settlement mound), in the Maritsa Valley, near the modern city of Nova Zagora (central Bulgaria). Karanovo is the best known of these settlement mounds. The excavation, made by Bulgarian archaeologist Georgi I. Georgiev, has revealed artefacts and house plans of three millennia. In fact tell at Karanovo has accumulated 12 meters of cultural deposits from the Neolithic to the Bronze age. This tell was formed in layers over the centuries as wattle-and-mud houses were levelled and rebuilt about once each generation. The disk measures six centimetres in diameter, is two centimetres thick and with a handle 2 cm long. It is inscribed with the ancient European script and for this reason it was probably an object of prestige, placed in a prominent position and possibly used in religious ceremonies. The Karanovo seal was discovered in the remains of a house destroyed by fire; an incident which slightly scorched the seal, but ultimately has contributed to its fine state of conservation. The signs inscribed on the Karanovo seal are divided into four groups by the arms of a cross. The signs are straight, abstract and it is impossible to connect them to any forms belonging to the "real" world. This inscription is 6,800 years old. Richard Flavin proposes that the incised characters from Karanovo bear a remarkable resemblance to the constellations which make up the western zodiac, in a somewhat sequential order." (Primary references are: Mikov, V., Georgiev, G. I., and Georgiev, V. I., in "L' inscription du sceau circulaire de Karanovo - la plus ancienne ecriture d' Europe," Arheologia, Volume 11, Sofia, 1969, Pages 4-13 (in Bulgarian); Makkay, János., "A chalcolithic stamp seal from Karanovo, Bulgaria," Kadmos, Volume 10, Issue 1, 1971, Pages1-9.) Needless to say, the so-called Karanovo Seal has various interpretations. (From his analysis of the Karanovo Seal the mathematician Vassil (Vasko) Georgiev (Institute of Mathematics, Bulgarim Academy of Sciences, Bulgaria) found that 8 characters show similarity with 8 characters of the Cretan hieroglyphic script. This is ignored by (unknown to?) Pellar.) See the discussion "Balkan Neolithic Scripts." by Gareth Evans in Kadmos, Volume 38, Numbers 1-2, January, 1999, Pages 114-120. Incredibly, Pellar also accepts that iconography dating variously to the 3rd-millennium and 5th-millennium BCE indicates star groupings that match the shape of modern Western star groups. Pellar believes that the classical zodiac - our modern equally divided 12-constellation zodiac (including Aries) - existed in its established form at least by the 3rd-millennium BCE (Page 18), and likely by the 5th-millennium BCE (Page 35). He states (Page 18): "When Aries became the Ram or Lamb by the process of precession of the equinoxes about 2300 BC, the Chinese instead of replacing the Bull by the Ram, as the Semites did ...." Pellar later (Page 28) states: "This link between Gemini and the Horizon/bull/Goddess/temple is also seen in a cylinder seal from around 2200 BC (Age of Taurus)." Pellar further states - mimicking New Age beliefs (Page 39): "The Age of Aries was a period of time when the vernal equinox resided in the house of Aries, which was one of the twelve houses of the zodiac. This period lasted until around the time of Christ, and was approximately 2160 yeas in length. We are currently residing near the end of the Age of Pisces, with the Age of Aquarius not far away." Pellar also states (Page 39): " ... it appears that the idea of precession pre-dated Hipparchus by at the very least, a thousand years." Brian Pellar (personal communication, 22/10/2010" states: "The Theban Ram-headed God Amun was the chief god during the age of Aries, and this god replaced the dominant bull gods and bull symbolism of the Pharaoh that took place during the earlier age of Taurus." The dominant bull god was the Apis bull. The Apis bull was believed to be the incarnation of the Egyptian god Ptah. It has not been demonstrated that the Apis bull (or similar) has anything to do with astronomy. The identification of native Egyptian constellations is mostly uncertain. The Apis bull has never been linked with a native Egyptian bull constellation (at any time - let alone during a supposed "Age of Taurus"). Chronologically the cult was more popular during the supposed "Age of Aries" than it was during the supposed "Age of Taurus." The Egyptian god Amun was originally frequently depicted as the Nile goose and later more frequently depicted as a ram, or as a ram-headed man. However, from the cult's beginning's Amun could be depicted as either a Nile goose or as a ram, or as a ram-headed man. Chronologically the cult originated in the supposed "Age of Taurus." The zodiac we have inherited is from the Greeks. There is no solid evidence that the Greeks possessed a complete zodiac until the 5th-century BCE. (We know the Greek zodiac was formalised by the latter half of the 5th-century BCE because the two Greek astronomers Meton and Euctemon both used it in their parapegmata (i.e., star calendars based on a division of the year into zodiacal signs). Its purpose lay with the establishment of the solar calendar.) The evidence is clear that the Greek introduction of such was that of a scheme borrowed from the Babylonians - excepting Aries and Libra. The Ram was an important cult figure in both ancient Egyptian and Babylonian civilizations - but perhaps not a constellation. Pellar writes (personal communication 22/10/2010): "The south wall of Senemut clearly shows a ram as a constellation in Egypt in 1470 BC." The ceiling of Senmut's tomb depicts decans, constellations, and planets. According to the astronomer Juan Belmonte the southern constellation (decan) sit or srt (seret) on the ceiling of Senmut's tomb could be a sheep (woolly usually horned ruminant mammal related to the goat), ram (male sheep), or goat (hollow-horned bearded ruminant mammal related to the sheep) = Capricornus or perhaps the stars in the area of Grus and Piscis Austrinus. (See: Belmonte, Juan. and Shaltout, Mosalam. (2009, Reprinted 2010). (Editors). In Search of Cosmic Order: Selected Essays on Egyptian Archaeoastronomy.) This constellation/decan was not connected with the stars of Aries. The zodiacal Ram is a Greek constellation. When the Greeks borrowed the zodiacal system from Babylonian uranography the Babylonian constellation of the "Hired Man" was replaced by the Ram. The Greeks changed the Babylonian zodiacal constellation "Hired Man" into Aries and the Romans later reintroduced the Babylonian zodiacal constellation Libra. (The constellation Libra was included in the Babylonian zodiac but was later described by Hellenistic astronomers, such as Ptolemy, as "'the claws' of the great Scorpio.") "The first sign of the zodiac, represented since Roman times as a ram, was originally referred to by the Babylonians as MUL.LU.HUN.GA (Akk. mul.lu.agru) "the hireling." Two orthographic variants encountered include the transparent abbreviations (MUL.)HUN and and HUN.GA. A third variant (MUL.)LU, common to Seleucid astronomical texts, is generally taken to be a homophonic substitution for the otherwise unattested abbreviation *LU. The LU-sign, however, may also be read UDU, the usual Sumerogram for Akk. immeru "a ram." Since the HUN and LU signs are paleographically quite similar in the late Babylonian ductus and the celestial hireling was equated with Dumuzi, the shepherd par excellence of Sumerian literature, some form of punning may have led to the metamorphosis of this sign from the hireling to the ram in Hellenistic Babylonia rather than later and elsewhere. Seals depicting rams en passant, with heads forward or reversed, are known from throughout the Hellenistic period in Uruk." ("Zodiacal Signs among the Seal Impressions from Hellenistic Uruk" by Ronald Wallenfels (Pages 282-283). In: The Tablet and the Scroll, edited by Mark Cohen, et. al. (1993).) The concept of precession-based zodiacal "world ages" is largely a 19th-century Theosophical concept invented by the occultist Helena Blavatsky. Nick Campion identifies that the concept draws "partly on Hesiod's sequence of ages outlined in the Works and Days, the Hindu Yugas, some 19th century studies of comparative religion and Madame Blavatsky's own theory of racial and spiritual evolution (Hastro-L, 13 April, 2000)." (However, the concept of precessional "world ages" can also be traced back to Origine des tous les cultes: ou, Religion universelle by Charles Dupuis (1794).) Additionally, the constellations are all of uneven size and we have no knowledge of the boundaries of any early constellations. We have no knowledge of even the boundaries of the Greek constellation scheme of Aratus of Soli circa 275 BCE. There is nothing in any early astronomical texts to prove a Twins-, Bull-, and Ram-period of precession. The concept of precession-based zodiacal "world ages" is largely a 19th-century Theosophical concept invented by the occultist Helena Blavatsky. Nick Campion identifies that the concept draws "partly on Hesiod's sequence of ages outlined in the Works and Days, the Hindu Yugas, some 19th century studies of comparative religion and Madame Blavatsky's own theory of racial and spiritual evolution (Hastro-L, 13 April, 2000)." (However, the concept of precessional "world ages" can also be traced back to Origine des tous les cultes: ou, Religion universelle by Charles Dupuis (1794).) Additionally, the constellations are all of uneven size and we have no knowledge of the boundaries of any early constellations. We have no knowledge of even the boundaries of the Greek constellation scheme of Aratus of Soli circa 275 BCE. To return to the Karanovo Seal momentarily. According to Sann Winn (Pre-writing in Southeastern Europe: The Sign System of the Vinca Culture ca 4000 BC, by Sann Winn (1981, Page 215)) there are 18 symbols depicted on the Karanovo Seal. These are divided into 4 groups by the arms of a cross, comprising 6 in one sector, 5 in another sector, 3 in another sector, and 4 in the remaining sector. See the sympathetic but confused astral-interpretation discussion by Marco Merlini PhD ("The Gradešnica script revisited," Pages 25-77) in Acta Terrae Septemcastrensis, V, 2006. On another issue, Pellar (Page 28) states: "Figure 13. Cylinder Seal that shows the Gemini gate between Leo and Aries. Note the water god Enki (Aquarius) with a stream of water meeting the Gemini/Taurus gate where Utu cuts open the horizon/gate to release the sun (ca 2200 BC. British Museum; Kramer 1971)." Also on the page Pellar states: "In Figure 13, note how the Gemini gate is situated between Leo (lion) on the far left and Aries (ram lying prone next to the gate) on the right. Also note that the tree standing next to the goddess on the Gemini gate appears to be the Axis Mundi, the world tree or axis (with its four branches/circles indicating the four directions/pillars), and appears to symbolize the vernal equinox at the Gate in 4320 BC (which cut the upper and lower celestial spheres). On the right of the gate is Enki, the water god, who is Aquarius." The constellation identifications are unfounded. Pellar does not acknowledge (and seems unaware) that the interpretation of scenes in ancient Mesopotamian art is immensely difficult. The Mesopotamian cylinder seal being referred to is the cylinder seal of Adda the scribe, one of the most famous cylinder seals known from the Ancient Near East. The identification is made from an inscription ('Adda, scribe' is written in cuneiform above a lion, identifying the owner as a high official), and the seal is dated by Dominique Collon (Assistant Keeper in the Department of Western Asiatic Antiquities in the British Museum) to circa 2300-2200 BCE. The Akkadian greenstone seal is 3.9 cm high. Depicted on it are the 5 major deities of the Mesopotamian pantheon. From left to right (when looking at the rolled-out seal image) there is Nergal? (this god armed with a bow and quiver has not been identified with absolute certainty - he may perhaps represent a hunting god such as Nusku (= Ninurtu)), the goddess Ishtar (the goddess of fertility and war), the sun-god Shamash (Utu) busy cutting his way through the 2 peaks of Mount Mashu in order to rise at dawn, and the wisdom-god Enki (Ea) with streams of water coming out of his shoulders. Enki (Ea) is often depicted with a vase from which the water flows (or the waters of the Apsu (the Abyss) is depicted flowing from his shoulders), reminiscent of Aquarius, the Water Bearer. Enki (Ea), the god of subterranean waters and of wisdom and the Mesopotamian equivalent of Hermes, is accompanied by his attendant the 2-faced god Usimu (or Isimud), who was the gatekeeper of the Underworld. There are, however, a number of additional figures on the seal. A number of animal/bird figures are also depicted. On the ground at the left is a lion, an eagle is perched on the right hand of Enki (Ea), and on the ground under Enki (Ea) is a bull (not a ram = Aries as Pellar mistakenly asserts). A correct description of the seal iconography necessarily collapses his "Gemini gate and 4320 BCE date" argument. Also, the late Edith Porada, a major authority on ancient Near East imagery, and well aware of the water association with the syncretic god Enki-Ea, proposed that Aquarius originated from GU.LA, a naked hero depicted with streams of water flowing from his shoulders. GU.LA is described in a line in the Mesopotamian astronomical text Twelve Times Three (The star catalogue/astrolabe BM 82923) as "The Giant is the Lord of the Springs, EA." (The god Ea ("House of Water") became syncretised with the god Enki by the Sargonic period. The hero figure GU.LA first appears in the 3rd-millennium BCE- without streams. That the seal conveys astronomical knowledge/astronomical mythology from a period some 2000 years before its manufacture is speculation knowing no restraint. (The concept of retro calculation also falls into the category of speculation knowing no restraint.) The date given for the astronomical/mythological concept takes us back some 1200 years before the early proto-cuneiform period (the invention of writing) beginning circa 3100 BCE. On the left peak of Mount Mashu a plant is depicted. This plant is not identified with certainty. It is thought to be either the Kishkanu (Mes [Knowledge/Culture]) Tree planted by Enki (Ea) in the Abyss, or the Halub tree, planted by Inanna and sought in the Abyss by Gilgamesh, or (perhaps) more likely the Tree of Rebirth sought in the Heavens by Etana (the eagle). These possible interpretations made by professional assyriologists do not include, and are a long way from, Pellar's world tree or axis mundi (with its four branches/circles indicating the four directions/pillars). The concept of axis mundi (popularised by Mircea Eliade) is also in need of critical assessment. According to Edith Porada, the late eminent authority on ancient Near East imagery, mythological, ritual, or other scenes remain unintelligible due to our inability to identify most of the principal figures and their actions. Some of the major gods/goddesses can be identified on the basis of textual descriptions. These include the goddess Ishtar and the syncretic god Enki-Ea. As part of his Conclusion Pellar (Pages 36-37) writes: "In addition, Petrie’s pre-Egypt theory of the early development of the alphabet needs to be taken more seriously. Based on the discovery that the small alphabet loop is also seen in Mesopotamia, and on the proto-writing glyphs being found in Tartaria, Karanovo, and China (such as found in Dawenkou, Shandong Province, and in Jiahu, Henan Province), it appears that there might have already existed a culture/tradition of proto-alphabetic signs based on theo-astronomical observations/rituals that not only pre-dated Egypt, Sumeria, and China, but that also had its roots in Northern Europe." All work by mainstream scholars supports the conclusion that all European alphabets did not originate in Europe. All alphabets in use in Northern Europe can be traced back to the ancient Greek alphabet - which has a Phoenician origin. For the type of evidence discussed Pellar's remarks concerning the possible origin (and loss) of early developments of the alphabet occurring in ancient Northern Europe are wildly speculative. Pellar is only able to give 2 very dubious examples: (1) glyphs appearing on a European stag bone from 3800 BCE (Spain), and (2) glyphs appearing on a Karanovo stamp from circa 4800 BCE (Bulgaria). Neither is from Northern Europe (unless we introduce additional speculation) and neither is convincing evidence for his conclusion. Pellar is very strong-minded (passionate) in defending the content of his publication and is currently (2010) preparing to publish a second part. He also appears to believe that inaccuracies such as those discussed above have no consequences for the credibility of his central thesis. According to Brian Pellar this paper "will go from the caves at Chavet in France to Catalhoyuk to Sumeria to Egypt to Crete to Rome." As a minor corrective point it is correctly Sumer, not Sumeria. Brian Pellar states: "From what I've been able to discover, the figures of the Egyptian/Phoenician zodiac are merely an extension of astro-theological processes that were perceived to have taken place in the circumpolar region of the sky. Thus the division between the Northern sky and the Southern." At his website Pellar claims that Sino-Platonic Papers is an academic journal. In proper perspective, Sino-Platonic Papers is actually Victor Mair’s (Professor of Asian and Middle Eastern Studies, University of Pennsylvania) own private (usually non-peer-reviewed) publication that has a very small circulation. The editor seeks and encourages speculative contributions (hence the absence of the peer review process). (As of August, 2010 - the time the main body of this review was posted - Victor Mair now appears to state the Sino-platonic Papers are all peer-reviewed.) From Wikipedia (2010): "An academic journal is a peer-reviewed periodical in which scholarship relating to a particular academic discipline is published. Academic journals serve as forums for the introduction and presentation for scrutiny of new research, and the critique of existing research. Content typically takes the form of articles presenting original research, review articles, and book reviews. Academic or professional publications that are not peer-reviewed are usually called professional magazines. … The peer-review process is considered critical to establishing a reliable body of research and knowledge. Scholars can be expert only in a limited area of their fields; they rely upon peer-reviewed journals to provide reliable, credible research upon which they can build subsequent, related research." Part of Victor Mair's explanation of Sino-Platonic Papers: "SINO-PLATONIC PAPERS is an occasional series edited by Victor H. Mair. The purpose of the series is to make available to specialists and the interested public the results of research that, because of its unconventional or controversial nature, might otherwise go unpublished. The editor actively encourages younger, not yet well established, scholars and independent authors to submit manuscripts for consideration. … This series is not the place for safe, sober, and stodgy presentations. Sino-Platonic Papers prefers lively work that, while taking reasonable risks to advance the field, capitalizes on brilliant new insights into the development of civilization."]
The controversial issue of precessional re-alignment of Babylonian temples.
Martiny, Günter. (1932). Die Kultrichtung in
Mesopotamien. [Note: Basically the publication of the authors
doctoral thesis.
In his doctoral thesis/this
monograph he claimed to have determined some of the stars used by the ancient
Mesopotamians to orient their temples. (Martiny, who had a PhD, only rarely used the title
"Doctor.") The author offers (flimsy) evidence that
Neo-Babylonian temples were oriented with reference to the
constellations appropriate to their tutelary deities. (The
astronomical orientation, but not precessional re-alignment, of
Mesopotamian temples was considered by some 19th-century
excavators and briefly considered in Stonehenge and Other British
Stone Monuments Astronomically Considered by Norman Lockyer
(1906, Chapter XXIX A Short History of Astronomy).) See the
extensive (German-language) reviews by Anon in Orientalistische
Literaturzeitung, 1934, Number 4, Columns 218-232; by Paul
Neugebauer and Albert Schott in Zeitschrift für Assyriologie und
Verwandte Gebiete, Volume 42, 1934, Pages 198-217; and the entry
in Astronomischer Jahresbericht, Volume 34, 1932, Page 12.
(Martiny (Architectura, 1. Jahrgang, Heft 6, Page 236) mentions a
review by Viktor Christian in Architectura, 1. Jahrgang, Heft 1
(Number 311 in the Bibliography)) but I cannot presently access
this journal. Both Paul Neugabauer (an astronomer) and Albert
Schott (an Assyriologist) supported the temple-orientation theory
of Günter Martiny. Martiny's ideas on temple orientation are
briefly noted by the assyriologist William Hallo in his book
Origins: The Ancient Near Eastern Background of Some modern
Western Institutions (1996, Page 84). Günter Martiny believed that temple orientation to
celestial phenomena began in Mesopotamia in the 3rd-millennium BCE and that by
the 2nd-millennium BCE temples were oriented to specific stars, and the cult
statue faced the direction of the rising star. According to Martiny the
particular star would have heliacally risen on the Assyrian New Year. Günter Martiny believed he had
found evidence that the orientation of a succession of Assyrian
temples (of which the oldest date of foundation known is 1800
BCE) varies as a function of the angle of precession. (Martiny charted the
changes of orientation of temples at Assur from 3000-500 BCE and believed he had
identified a "steady" eastward movement in their orientations. His published
chart indicates he examined the perceived "steady" eastward movement with
changes in azimuths for β Andromedae.)
According to Günter Martiny, Assyrian temples oriented to the
southeast and Babylonian temples oriented to the northeast. In
attempting to interpret Martiny's archaeological data Neugebauer
and Schott initially proposed that Neo-Babylonian (i.e.,
Assyrian) temples were purposely directed towards the azimuth of
the hour angle circle passing through the star alpha Virginis
(Spica) and intersecting the horizon when the spring equinox is
on the horizon.(As
a result of his review of Dr. Gunter-Martiny's work on the survey of Assyrian
sancturies, Professor P. V. Neugebauer, (Observatory at the Rechen-Institut in
Berlin-Dahlem), believed he had discovered that all Assyrian Temples, from 2930
BCE to 603 BCE, whose foundation dates were recorded, were oriented at dawn on 1st
Nisan to the point of intersection with the horizon of a great circle of the
sphere, passing through the stars
Eta Ursae Majoris (η Ursae Majoris (Ursa Major)) (Eta Ursae Majoris has the
traditional names Alkaid (or Elkeid) and Benetnash (Benetnasch
Martiny, Günter. (1932). "Astronomisches zum Babylonischen Turm, 11 bis." (Mitteilungen der Deutschen Orient Gesellschaft (MDOG), Number 71).]
Martiny, Günter. (1933). "Zur Astronomischen Orientation Altmesopotamischer Tempel." (Architectura I, Pages 41-45). [Note: The author offers evidence - soundly criticized since - for the "precessional orientation" of Babylonian temples.]
Martiny, Günter. (1933). "Die astronomische Orientation der altmesopotamischen Tempel." (Forschungen und Fortschritte: Nach richtenblatt der deutschen Wissenschaft und Technik, Jahrgang 9, Heft 9, Pages 122-123). [Note: Another discussion of the astronomical alignment of Babylonian temples.]
Martiny, Günter. (1936). Die Gegensätze im Babylonischen und Assyrischen Tempelbau. (Abhandlungen für die Kunde des Morgenlandes, Band 21, Number 3, Pages ?-?). [Note: A 37 page article which was reprinted as a pamphlet in 1966. See the Italian-language review in Rivista degli studi orientali (1940).]
Dombart, Theodore. (1936/37). "Die untere Babelturm-Freitreppe und ihr Steigungsverhältnis." (Archiv für Orientforschung, Elfter Band, Pages 66-71). [Note: The article comprises a discussion of Günter Martiny's ideas.]
Martiny, Günter. (1938). "Etemènanki, der Turm zu Babel." (Zeitschrift der Deutschen Morgenländischen Gesellschaft, Volume 92, Pages 572-578). [Note: In this same year he also had an article published in Orientalistische Literaturzeitung (Band 41, 1938, Pages 667-?, but I have yet to identify the title. It may have been "Der umstrittene Sin-Samas-Tempel in Assur."]
Martiny, Günter. (1940). "The Orientation of the Gimilsin Temple and the Palace Chapel." In: Frankfort, Henri. et al. The Gimilsin Temple and the Palace of the Rulers at Tell Asmar. (Pages 92-96). [Note: Chapter III of the book, which is Volume 43 of The University of Chicago Oriental Institute Publications.]
Martiny, Günter. (1966). Die Gegensätze im Babylonischen und Assyrischen Tempelbau. [Note: This 37 page pamphlet is a reprint of an earlier journal article in Abhandlungen für die Kunde des Morgenlandes, Band 21, Number 3, 1936.]
Lanfranchi, Giovanni. (1995) "Astronomia e politica in età neo-assira." In: Bertola, F[?]. (Editor). Archeologia e astronomia: esperienze e prospettive future. (Pages 131-152). [Note: Atti dei convegni dei Lincei 121, Roma. Accademia nazionale dei Lincei. Argued that written evidence supports the importance of temple orientation to southeast and its role in the politics of the Neo-Assyrian Period. 2001 details for Giovanni Lanfranchi were: Prof. Giovanni Lanfranchi, Dipartimento di Scienze dell'antichità, University of Padova, Italy.]
The controversial "void zone" theory of constellation origins.
C. G. S. [Swartz, Carl.] (1809). Le Zodiaque Expliqué ou Recherches sur L'Origine et la Signification des Constellations de la Sphere Greque. [Note: The premier edition of the authors 1807 publication that originated this form of argument. The author, Carl Gottlieb Swartz [Schwartz] (1757-1824), was a Swede who lived the latter part of his life in France. For critical (English-language) book reviews see "Origin and Antiquity of the Zodiac," by Anon [William Roberts ?] in The British Review and London Critical Journal, Volume 9, Number 17, February 1817, Pages 136-150; and by Anon in The Literary Panorama, and National Register, New Series, Volume 1, November, 1814, Columns 257-259. The reviewers do not mention the "void zone" argument. The "void zone" arguments have now been critically demolished by two recent articles by the astronomer and historian Bradley Schaefer. See: (1) Schaefer, Bradley. (2002). "The Latitude and Epoch for the formation of the Southern Greek Constellations." (Journal for the History of Astronomy, Volume 33, Number 4, Pages 313-350); and (2) Schaefer, Bradley. (2004). "The Latitude and Epoch for the Origin of the Astronomical Lore of Eudoxus." (Journal for the History of Astronomy, Volume 35, Number 2, Pages 161-223). The former paper establishes that the southern Greek constellations originated in the first millennium BCE. The latter paper establishes that the astronomical lore of Eudoxus was of Babylonian origin circa 1130 BCE.]
Proctor, Richard. (1878). "The Origin of the Constellation-Figures." In: Proctor, Richard. Myths and Marvels of Astronomy. (Pages 331-363). [Note: Chapter XIII of his book (of collected essays). For a discussion of the wide appeal of Richard Proctor see "The Visual Theology of Victorian Popularizers of Science" by Bernard Lightman, in Isis, Volume 91, Number 4, December 2000, Pages 651-680.]
Peck, William. (1884). The constellations and how to find them. [Note: In this publication the author believed that the constellations dated back to "Chaldea" circa 2000 BCE. See the (English-language) obituary by H. M. in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, Volume LXXXIX, 1929, Pages 186-187. Life dates: 1862-1925.]
Peck, William. (1890). "The Constellation Figures - Their Probable Origin." In: Peck, William. A Popular Handbook and Atlas of Astronomy. (Pages 1-11). [Note: The article is Chapter 1 of his book. He uses several of the arguments and conclusions employed by the "void zone" proponents (i.e., Richard Proctor?). In this publication the author believed that the very earliest constellations were established by the Egyptians circa 15,000 BCE and were further developed by the "Chaldeans" circa 2000 BCE.].
Maunder, Edward. (1898). "The Zodiac Explained." (The Observatory, Volume XXI, Pages 438-444).
Maunder, Edward. (1897/1898). "The Oldest Astronomy." (Journal of the British Astronomical Association, Volume VIII, Number 9, Pages 373-376).
Maunder, Edward. (1898/1899). "The Oldest Astronomy. II." (Journal of the British Astronomical Association, Volume IX, Number 7, Pages 317-321).
Maunder, Edward. (1900). "The Oldest Picture-Book of All." (The Nineteenth Century: A Monthly Review, Volume 48, September, Pages 451-464). [Note: The article was also reprinted in The Living Age [Littell's Living Age], Seventh Series, Volume IX, October, November, December, 1900, Pages 614-624.]
Maunder, Edward. (1902). "Constellation Studies." In: Maunder, Edward. Astronomy Without a Telescope. (Pages 2-11). [Note: Chapter 1 of his book.]
Maunder, Edward. and Maunder, Annie. (1903/1904). "The Oldest Astronomy. III." (Journal of the British Astronomical Association, Volume XIV, Number 6, Pages 241-246).
Maunder, Edward. (1904). "Snake Forms in the Constellations and on Babylonian Boundary Stones." (Knowledge & Scientific News, Volume 1 New Series, Number 9, October, Pages 227-230).
Orr, Mary. (1913, new and revised edition 1956 by Barbara Reynolds). Dante and the Early Astronomers. [Note: See pages 35-38. Follows the ideas of Edward Maunder. See also; "M. A. Orr (Mrs John Evershed), astronomer and Dantist." by Mary Brück in Astronomy & Geophysics, Volume 38, June/July, 1997, Page 9.]
Crommelin, Andrew. (1923). "The Ancient Constellation Figures." In: Hutchinson's Splendour of the Heavens. (Pages 640-669). (2 Volumes, also later published in one volume but no date.) [Note: Chapter XVII in Volume 2. See the (English-language) obituaries by P. J. M. in The Observatory, Volume 63, January, 1940, Number 788, Pages 11-13; and by C. Davidson in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical society, Volume 100, February, 1940, Pages 234-236. Also see the (English-language) biographical entry in Who Was Who, 1929-1940, (published 1941), Page 309. Life dates: 1865-1939.]
Davis, George. (1959). "The Origin of the Ancient Constellations." (Sky and Telescope, June, Pages 424-427). [Note: The author uncritically accepted the views expressed in the highly unreliable book "Primitive Constellations," by Robert Brown Junior (2 Volumes, 1899-1900). (See the authors remarks at the end of the article references.)]
Ovenden, Michael. (1966). The Origin of the Constellations." (The Philosophical Journal, Volume 3, Number 1, Pages 1-18). [Note: The Philosophical Journal = Transactions of the Royal Philosophical Society of Glasgow. Michael Ovenden was an astronomer. The authors ideas appeared earlier, for example in a talk on "The Origin of the Constellations" given in 1961 at an ordinary general meeting of the British Astronomical Association, and appeared in the Journal of the British Astronomical Association, Volume 71, 1960-1961, Pages 91-95. The article is unreliable and contains significant errors (and the same applies to the talk). See: "The Latitude and Epoch for the Formation of the Southern Greek Constellations." by Bradley Schaefer (Journal for the History of Astronomy, Volume 33, Part 4, 2002 Pages 313-350); and "The Latitude and Epoch for the Origin of the Astronomical Lore of Eudoxus." by Bradley Schaefer (Journal for the History of Astronomy, Volume 35, Number 2, 2004, Pages 161-223). For his initial talk/article in the Journal of the British Astronomical Association, published 1960-1961 (and at least by 1959) Michael Ovenden had sought the advice and collaboration of Dr Abraham Wasserstein, Department of Greek, University of Glasgow, when developing his ideas on the origin of the constellations. (The University of Glasgow was the same university where Ovenden was teaching at the time. Wasserstein (1921-1995) was Assistant in Greek at Glasgow University from 1951 to 1952 and then Lecturer in Greek at Glasgow University from 1952 to 1960. Wasserstein then then, circa 1960, moved to Leicester University as Professor of Classics.) The core of Wasserstein's advice was the information which the works of Aratus and Hipparchus could give about the origin of the constellation figures. Wasserstein had an interest in Greek astronomy (see: "Thales' Determination of the Diameters of the Sun and Moon." The Journal of Hellenic Studies, Volume LXXV, 1955, Pages 114-116)). In addition to astronomy Abraham Wasserstein also had a deep interest in Greek mathematics and was a Fellow of the Royal Astronomical Society. Life dates for Michael Ovenden: 1926-1987. See the (English-language) obituaries for Michael Ovenden by Archibald Roy in The Observatory, Volume 108, Number 1082, February, 1988, Pages 31; and the Quarterly Journal of the Royal Astronomical Society, Volume 29, March, 1988, Pages 90-91. Life dates for Abraham Wasserstein (if correctly identified): 1921-1995.]
Ovenden, Michael. (1967). "Origine des constellations." (L'Astronomie, Janvier, Pages 1-18). [Note: A French-language version of the author's 1966 English-language article.]
Brown, Peter. (1971). "Origin of the constellations." In: Brown, Peter. What star is that? (Pages 9-25). [Note: Chapter 1 of his book. Life dates for Peter Lancaster Brown: 1927-?]
Pomerance, Leon. (1976). The Phaistos Disc: An Interpretation of Astronomical Symbols. [Note: Uncritically uses Michael Ovenden's constellation ideas to support his own theories. See the sympathetic, but skeptical, (English-language) book review by David Kelley in Archaeoastronomy: The Bulletin of The Center for Archaeoastronomy, Volume II, Number 3, Summer, 1979, Pages 20-21). See also the sympathetic, but critical, (English-language) book review by Sharon Gibbs in Archaeology, Volume 30, Number 4, July, 1977, Pages 283-285; and the subsequent exchange between author and reviewer in "Letters to the Editor," in Archaeology, Volume 31, Number 1, January/February, 1978, Page 60. For a calendrical interpretation see the (English-language) book review article "Mediterranean Civilisation and the Phaestos Riddle" by John Griffith (Nature, Volume 86, Number 2168, May 18, 1911, Pages 385-387). Worth reading is the (English-language) book review article "How Not to Decipher the Phaistos Disc: A Review" by Yves Duhoux (American Journal of Archaeology, Volume 104, 2000, Pages 597-600).]
Clube, Victor. and Napier, Bill. (1982). The Cosmic Serpent: A catastrophist view of Earth History. [Note: See pages 268-269.]
Roy, Archibald. (1984). "The Origin of the Constellations." (Vistas in Astronomy, Volume 27, Pages 171-197). [Note: Archibald [Archie] Roy was an astronomer (now retired). The article originated out of an earlier series of articles published in the magazine "The Unexplained: Mysteries of Mind, Space & Time," Volumes 61-64, Circa 1981. The magazine was reprinted as a multi-volume book "Mysteries of Mind, Space & Time: The Unexplained," and the constellation articles appeared in Volume 5, Pages 560-574. The article is uncritical, speculative, and unreliable.]
Gingerich, Owen. and Welther, Barbara. (1984). "Some Puzzles of Ptolemy's Star Catalogue." (Sky and Telescope, May, Pages 421-423).
Hughes, David. (1984). "Draughtsmen of the constellations." (Nature, Volume 312, 20/27 December, Page 697). [Note: See the correction in Nature, Volume 313, 17 January, 1985, Page 182 (News and Reviews).]
Roy, Archibald. (1986). "The lamps of Atlantis: An astronomical detective story ((constellations))." In: Hunt, J[?]. (Editor). Cosmos: An Educational Challenge. (ESA Proceedings of the GIREP Conference 1986. (Pages 47-49). [Note: ESA = European Space Agency; GIREP = Groupe International de Recherche sur l'Ensignement de la Physique.]
Ridpath, Ian. (1988). "Stars and storytellers." In: Ridpath, Ian. Star Tales. (Pages 1-12). [Note: Chapter 1 of his book.]
Thurston, Hugh. (1994). "A Possible Origin for the Constellations." In: Thurston, Hugh. Early Astronomy. (Pages135-138). [Note: The section is part of Chapter 6: The Greeks.]
Rice, Michael. (1994). The Archaeology of the Arabian Gulf. [Note: The uninformed nonsense contained in a section of this book is a classic example of the influence of Michael Ovenden's ideas in misguiding even academic discussions on the origin of the constellations.]
Barrow, John. (1995, revised 2005). "Long day's journey into night: the origin of the constellations." In: Barrow, John. The Artful Universe. (Pages 161-174). [Note: The section is part of Chapter 4: The heavens and the Earth.]
Rogers, John. (1998). "Origins of the ancient constellations: I. The Mesopotamian traditions." (Journal of the British Astronomical Association, Volume 108, Number 1, February, Pages 9-28). [Note: Both parts of this article need to be used with caution. They comprise a speculative and misleading synthesis compiled in part from dated and/or unreliable sources. These include: Richard Allen, Robert Brown, Andrew Crommelin, Alex Gurshtein, Willy Hartner, Edward Maunder, Michael Ovenden, Werner Papke, Archibald Roy, Richard Proctor, Giuseppe Sesti, and David Ulansey. These authors have had a major influence on the ideas expressed in the article. Unfortunately the article tends to be highly regarded instead of highly disregarded.]
Rogers, John. (1998). "Origins of the ancient constellations: II. The Mediterranean traditions." (Journal of the British Astronomical Association, Volume 108, Number 2, April, Pages 79-89). [Note: Both parts of the article comprise a total of 31 pages.]
Bormanis, Andre. (1999). "From Sumer to Star Trek: The History of Star Names." (SkyWatch '99, Annual publication by Sky Publishing Corporation, Pages 28-31). [Note: Unreliable.]
Gurshtein's gradualist concept of constellation origins and zodiacal development.
Alexander Gurshtein
Gurshtein, Alexander. (1993). "On the Origin of the Zodiacal Constellations." (Vistas in Astronomy, Volume 36, Pages 171-190). [Note: This paper is a detailed explanation of his ideas on constellation origins. At some time in the early 1990s (or earlier) Alex Gurshtein (then Institute for History of Science and Technology, Russian Academy of Sciences, Moscow) initiated a large-scale project in the field of archaeoastronomical analyses of the origin and development of archaic constellations. Unfortunately the key influence for this project was the book Hamlet's Mill by Giorgio de Santillana and Hertha von Dechend (1969). His new hypothesis of the origin of the zodiacal constellations reached back to the Paleolithic period and was based on precession. Under the heading "The ancient world in the light of interdisciplinary studies," the (Russian-language) Journal of Ancient History, Number 1, 1995, published a selection of articles of a round-table discussion Gurshtein's ideas on the origin of the zodiacal constellations. Besides being published in Russian his conclusions were also published in a number of English-language journals. With the involvement of a number of like-minded Russian colleagues (comprising, if you like, a 'Russian School' of constellation investigators) the group performed a broad circle of new archaeoastronomical investigations. (The 'Russian School' includes A. Gurshtein, E. Kaurov [Kaunov], G. Kurtik, A. Kuzmin, N. Nikolov, S. Yershova, and S. Zhitomirsky. It's early history is described by E. Kaurov in his "The development [of] palaeoastronomy in Russia before the conference 'Palaeoastronomy: Sky and Mankind' (1992-1997)." (Astronomical and Astrophysical Transactions, Volume 20, Issue 6, Pages 1039-1044).) The early results of the 'Russian School' were published in two thematically orientated issues of the English-language Russian journal "Astronomical and Astrophysical Transactions (Volumes 17 (1998) and 19 (1999)). It is generally regarded that the most noticeable early achievement of the 'Russian school' of constellation investigators was the publication of the "Transactions" of the international conference held in the Shternberg State Astronomical Institute (Moscow State University) [Sternberg Institute of Astronomy, Moscow State University], November 19-24, 1997, The project the conference project was Dr E[?]. Kaunov [Kaurov]. The 'Russian school' of constellation investigators is basically distinguished by their somewhat speculative high-end dates for the origin of constellations. Its members assert the subdividing of the stars of the northern celestial hemisphere into constellations has archaic sources and reasons, and began most probably in the Paleolithic period. There is a heavy emphasis also on astronomy attributed to the Neolithic-Bronze age (5th- to 2nd-millennium BCE). (See: Gurshtein, A. et al. 1998). "On the Status of Archaeoastronomy in Russia." (Astronomical and Astrophysical Transactions, Volume 15, Issue 1-4, April, Pages 343-348).) Alexander Gurshtein (1937- ) is an eminent Russian astronomer and historian of science. Gurshtein has a Candidate of Science (1966) from Sternberg State Astronomical Institute in Moscow. He also has a Doctor of Science degree in Physics and Mathematics (1980) from Pulkovo Astronomical Observatory in St. Petersburg. As an astronomer Gurshtein was active in the Soviet Union's Lunar Space Program. (In 1974 Gurshtein was a deputy head of a laboratory in the USSR Institute of Space Research. He specialised in planetology.) He has been Head of Council for Astronomical Education, Russian Ministry of Education; and also Vice Director of the Institute for History of Science and Technology, Russian Ministry of Education. Gurshtein was also Editor-in-Chief of the Annual on History of Science published by the Russian Academy of Sciences; and Deputy Editor-in-Chief for the monthly Nature. He has authored several books, numerous articles, holds 5 patents, and has presented at many international forums. Since 1995 Gurshtein has been teaching at Mesa State College in the USA and he now resides permanently in the USA. In his old age Gurshtein has decided to aggressively promote his ideas, including aggressively attacking and maligning his critics. Life dates: 1937- . See the biographical entry in: The Encyclopedia of Russian Jewry edited by Herman Branover, Isaiah Berlin, and Zeev Wagner (Volume 1, Biographies A-I, 1998).]
Gurshtein, Alexander. (1994). "Dating the Origin of the Constellations by Precession." (Physics-Doklady, Volume 39, Number 8, Pages 575-578). [Note: A succinct explanation of his ideas of the origins of the constellations.]
Gurshtein, Alexander. (1995). "Prehistory of Zodiac Dating: Three Strata of Upper Paleolithic Constellations. (Vistas in Astronomy, Volume 39, Pages 347-362).
Gurshtein, Alexander. (1995). "When the Zodiac Climbed Into the Sky." (Sky and Telescope, October, Pages 28-33).
Gurshtein, Alexander. (1996). "The Great Pyramids of Egypt as Sanctuaries Commemorating the Origin of the Zodiac: An Analysis of Astronomical Evidence." (Physics-Doklady, Volume 41, Number 5, Pages 228-232).
Gurshtein, Alexander. (1997). "In Search of the First Constellations." (Sky and Telescope, June, Pages 46-50).
Gurshtein, Alexander. (1997). "The Origins of the Constellations." (American Scientist, Volume 85, Number 3, May-June, Pages 264-273). [Note: For an example of the ability of Gurshtein to evade issues when dealing with his errors see: Wolbarsht, Myron. Letters to the Editor: "Contesting constellations." American scientist, Volume 85, November/December, 1997, Pages 500-501. Letter commenting on some of the statements in Gurshtein's article, "The Origin of the Constellations," published in the May/June, 1997 issue, with Gurshtein's response.]
Gurshtein, Alexander. (1998). "The Evolution of the Zodiac in the Context of Ancient Oriental History." (Vistas in Astronomy, Volume 41, Number 4, Pages 507-525). [Note: This paper is the 3rd part of a single investigation started with publications in Vistas in Astronomy in 1993 and 1995.]
Gurshtein, Alexander. (2004) “Relevant queries in respect to [of] the archaic Chinese sky.” In: Orchiston, W., Stephenson, R., Debarbat, S., and Njha, I.-S. (Editors). Astronomical Instruments and Archives from the Asia-Pacific Region. [Note: Paper presented at the International Conference on Astronomical Instruments and Archives from the Asia-Pacific Region in Commemoration of the Inauguration of the Nha Il-Seong Museum of Astronomy Cheongju, Korea, 2-5 July, 2002. Once again, Gurshtein suggests the gradual development of the Zodiac from the mythology of the 6th-millennium BCE.]
Gurshtein, Alexander. (2005). "Did the Pre-Indo-Europeans Influence the Formation of the Western Zodiac?" (Journal of Indo-European Studies, Volume 33, Number 1 & 2, Spring/Summer, Pages 103-150). [Note: This article, his longest to date, is published in a peer-reviewed journal. In the conclusion to the article he makes the incredibly uninformed and misleading statement: "The writers making this claim [that the Western Zodiac originated during the 1st millennium BCE in Mesopotamia] propose no explanations as to why the Zodiac would have been instituted at this certain time in this certain place." This demonstrates that Gurshtein continues to remain completely unfamiliar with the Mesopotamian cuneiform evidence. It attempts to create a puzzle that does not exist. The explanations which he claims are lacking are actually given in a number of the references he cites. From my essay on the origin of the zodiac: "The zodiac was a development from the Babylonian scheme of 17/18 constellations/stars marking the path of the moon. The Babylonian system of 17/18 constellations/stars zodiac marking the path of the Moon belongs to the Assyrian Period (and perhaps originated circa 1000 BCE) and was still in use in the 7th-century BCE and contained the constellations that were to form the 12-constellation solar zodiac. At least 5 of these 17/18 constellations/stars are not previously listed but are additional constellations/named stars in the Mul.Apin series. Post Mul.Apin (i.e., toward the Neo-Babylonian Period) the number of constellations/stars in the Path(s) of Sin/Shamash was limited from 17/18 to 12. Circa 700 BCE a "zodiac" comprising of 12 irregular sized constellations had been developed. Only those 12 constellations/stars nearest to the path of the ecliptic were used. The other 5/6 were discarded as ecliptic markers. A Babylonian text from circa the 5th-century BCE which lists 12 months (and ignores the intercalary month) and their associated constellations, also assigns both the Pleiades and Taurus to month 2, both Orion and Gemini to month 3, and both Pegasus and Pisces to month 12. This provides an indication of another of the progressive steps towards an eventual zodiac of 12 equal 30 degree divisions and signs. The issue of reducing from 17/18 constellations/stars as marker's along the Moon's path was connected with the establishment of 12 (ideal) solar months of 30 days each. (The fact that certain stars had become connected with the schematic year of 12 months x 30 days each greatly assisted the development of the reduction of the zodiac to 12 divisions. The calendar was schematic because of the fact that the year does not consist of exactly 360 days. This made it necessary to add an extra 13th month now and then. The periodic intercalation of a 13th lunar month was done to keep the lunar calendar in line with the seasons. It was not based on solar observations.) (This theoretical division of the year into 12 months of 30 days each is indicated as dating back to the Old Babylonian Period circa 1800 BCE.) Hence the system of 12 zodiacal constellations was invented mostly from existing constellations/named stars that originated largely during the 2nd millennium BCE for marking a different i.e., (roughly approximating an) "equatorially-centred", sky system. (The Babylonians had no actual recognition of a celestial equator.) The 12-constellation zodiac replaced the earlier 17/18 constellation/star scheme that it developed from. Whilst there is relatively clear evidence that perhaps 8 of our 12 present zodiacal constellations existed in the 2nd millennium BCE there were at least 4 constellations - that were to form part of the zodiacal scheme - that most probably did not exist until the 1st millennium BCE. There is no unambiguous evidence that all of our present 12 constellations comprising the zodiac existed prior to the Late Assyrian Period. Circa the 5th-century BCE the Babylonian skywatchers needed a suitable frame of reference to indicate the positions of the Moon and the planets between the stars along the path of the ecliptic. With the demands of their developing astronomy it was no longer sufficient to continue with a scheme that simply noted that the Moon or a planet was close to this or that star. Circa 420 BCE the Babylonians substituted the original 12 constellations forming the zodiacal scheme with a sidereal scheme of twelve equal divisions of the ecliptic comprising 30º segments. This followed the Babylonian invention of degrees, which was introduced into mathematical astronomy to enable the measuring of celestial "longitude" from a given point (which was the vernal equinox). (A schematic month was comprised of 30 days and therefore each zodiacal segment or "sign" numbered 30°.) The zodiac of 12 equal signs was never used by the Babylonians as a coordinate system. It was only used as a mathematical abstraction for computing lunar and planetary motion. (The Normal Stars, a set of approximately 30 stars positioned around the ecliptic, continued to be used by the Babylonians for locating the positions of the moon and planets. About the middle of the 3rd-century BCE the zodiacal reference system seems to have finally become established as the norm for such.) Also, the Babylonians always simply defined the starting points of the scheme of zodiacal signs by their positions relative to the fixed stars. Hamal, the brightest star of the Ram (= Babylonian MUL.LU.HUN.GA ("Hired Man") was probably used to mark the vernal equinox. However, the completed zodiacal system of the Babylonians, for reasons still incompletely known, did not start at 0º ecliptic longitude but at about 355º, and this difference extends through the whole zodiac. ... In summary: The 12-constellation zodiac arose during the Late Assyrian Period (the Assyrian Period began circa 1100 BCE) from a deliberate scheme which circa 1000 BCE placed 17/18 constellations/named stars (comprising of 12 existing constellations/stars previously used in marking the equatorially-centred system of the "three stars each," and 6 "new" constellations) for use as reference points along the path of the Moon. The development of the 12-constellation zodiac into 12 equal divisions (i.e., 30 degree signs) occurred later during the 5th-century BCE (for mathematical reasons). In its final form the use of the zodiac also included marking the movements of the planets."]
The ideas of Panbabylonism regarding constellations and star names.
Winckler, Hugo. (1899). "Himmel, kalender und mythos." (Altorientalische Forschungen, Zweite Reihe, Band II, Pages 354-395). [Note: Hugo Winckler was a German philologist, historian, and archaeologist. He was one of the founders of the Panbabylonism school and in this was influenced by the ideas of Eduard Stucken on astral mythology. Life dates: 1863-1913. See the (German-language) obituary by Anon [Felix Peiser?] in Orientalistische Literaturzeitung, 16 Jahrgang, Number 5, May, 1913, Columns 193-200.]
Winckler, Hugo. (1901, revised 1903). Himmels- und Weltenbild der Babylonier. [Note: See the (French-language) book review by Charles Fossey in L'Année Sociologique, Sixiéme Année [Tome VI] 1901-1902, 1903, Page 266. Also, see the (German-language) review by Felix Peiser of Peter Jensen's pamphlet "Kritik von Winckler's Himmels- und Weltenbild der Babylonier," in Orientalistische Literatur-Zeitung, Siebenter Jahrgang, Number 4, April, 1904, Columns 142-145.]
Winckler, Hugo. (1905). "Astronomisch-mythologisches. 1. Der weg Anus, Bels und Eas." (Altorientalische Forschungen, Dritte Reihe, Band II, Pages 179-184).
Winckler, Hugo. (1905). "Astronomisch-mythologisches. 2-4. Die erîtu-sterne - Die bahre und der fisch." (Altorientalische Forschungen, Dritte Reihe, Band II, Pages 185-211).
Winckler, Hugo. (1905). "Astronomisch-mythologisches. 5-18. Die formel - Marduk-Nebo - Welteinteilung - Ninib der nordplanet - Die zwillinge = mond und sonne - Des menschen sohn = erlöser." (Altorientalische Forschungen, Dritte Reihe, Band II, Pages 274-314).
Jeremias, Alfred. (1908, Second edition 1909). Das Alter der babylonischen Astronomie. [Note: The 1909 edition has approximately 30 additional pages - mostly dealing with the criticisms of the Jesuit astronomer and Assyriologist Franz Kugler against Panbabylonism. See the (German-language) book review by Wilhelm Erbt in Orientalistische Literaturzeitung, Dreizehnter Jahrgang, Number 12, 1910, Columns 545-546; and the (French-language) book review by Charles Fossey in Revue critique d'histoire et de littérature, Volume 44, Number 2, 1910, Pages 78-80. A (German-language) review by J[?]. Hehn of some key Panbabylonian publications by Hugo Winckler and Alfred Jeremias appears in Theologische Revue, 8. Jahrgang, 1909, 7 April, Number 5, Columns 142-145. Alfred Jeremias was a Lutheran minister in Leipzig and an archaeologist. He was a pupil of Franz and Friedrich Delitzch. Life dates: 1864-1935. See the (German-language) obituaries by Ernst Weidner in Archiv für Orientforschung, Zehnter Band, 1935-1936, Pages 195-196; and W[?]. Baumgartner in Zeitschrift für Assyriologie und Verwandte Gebiete, Neue Folge, Band 9, (Band 43), 1936, Pages 299-301. See: Ilgauds, Hans-Joachim. (2008). "Der Leipziger Theologe Alfred Jeremias (1864-1935) und die Geschichte der frühen Astronomie." In: Dick, Wolfgang. et al. (Editors). Beiträge zur Astronomiegeschichte, Band 9, Pages 185-204).]
Kugler, Franz. (1910). Im Bannkries Babels [In Babylons Binding Spell: Panbabylonian Constructions and Facts of Historical Religions]. [Note: A trenchant book against Panbabylonism (especially of the tenets of Winckler and Jeremias). The book is an expansion of Kugler's 1909 article in the journal Anthropos. In this book Kugler solidly rejected his previous astral interpretation of the Gilgamesh epic undertaken in his 1904 article. See the (German-language) book review by J[?]. Hehn in Theologische Revue, 12. Jahrgang, 1913, Number 6, Columns 166-168.]
Röck, Friedrich. (1912). "Palaeozodiacus und Dodekaoros." (Orientalistische Literaturzeitung, 15. Jahrgang, Number 9, September, Columns 385-391).
Röck, Friedrich. (1913). "Der Palaeozodiacus, die prähistorische Urform unseres Tierkreises." (Memnon, Band VI, Pages 147-176). [Note: Circa 1920 at least an associate professor at Museum für Völkerkunde, Austria.]
Jeremias, Alfred. (1913, Second edition 1929). Handbuch der altorientalischen Geisteskultur. [Note: Unreliable. See the (German-language) book reviews by Ernst Zinner in Vierteljahrsschrift der Astronomischen Gesellschaft, 65 Jahrgang, 1930, Pages 25-26; Bruno Meissner in Zeitschrift der Deutschen Morgenländischen Gesellschaft, Neue Folge, Band 9, (Band 84), 1930, Pages 94-100; and A[?]. Wiedmann in Theologische Literaturzeitung, Volume 55, Number 5, March, 1930, Columns 101-102; the (English-language) book review by Jacob Hoschander in The Jewish Quarterly Review, New Series Volume 5, 1914-1915, Pages 634-637; and the (French-language) book review by Albert Condamin in Recherches de Science Religieuse, Volume 5, 1915, Pages 178-180. See also the short uncritical (English-language) book review of the second edition in The Jewish Quarterly Review, New Series, Volume XXII, 1931-1932, Page 431.]
Weidner, Ernst. (1914). Alter und Bedeutung der babylonischen Astronomie und Astrallehre. [Note: Dated and unreliable. A collection of essays in defense of standard Panbabylonism ideas including Babylonian knowledge of precession and the phases of Venus. One chapter discusses the Babylonian scheme of constellations. As a young Assyriologist Ernst Weidner would appear to have been influenced by the Assyriologist and Panbabylonist Felix Peiser (who was editor of the journal Orientalistische Literaturzeitung). See the (German-language) book review by Bruno Meissner in Theologische Literaturzeitung, Vierzigster Jahrgang, Number 12, 1915, Columns 270-271.]
Jeremias, Alfred. (1915). "Sterne (bei den Babyloniern)." In: Roscher, Wilhelm. Ausführliches Lexikon der Griechischen und Römischen Mythologie. (Vierter Band, Columns 1427-1500).
De Santillana, Giorgio. and Von Dechend, Hertha. (1969; Fourth (English-language) reprint 1998. However, excepting for the 1993 German-language edition by Hertha von Dechend, and 1999 Italian-language edition edited by Alessandro Passi, without changes or corrections.) Hamlet's Mill: An Essay on Myth and the Frame of Time. [Note: This book has received, and continues to receive, an enormous amount of uncritical support. However, it is a poorly organized book regarding its material and it presents an obscure and confusingly argued case. While the book contains an immense amount of loosely related information there is no persuasive evidence presented for the connections being made. Its purpose is basically an attempt to revive some of the key ideas of Panbabylonism i.e., Mesopotamian establishment of an equally divided, 12-constellation zodiac and knowledge of the effects (at least) of precession (and the incorporation of such into ancient mythological themes) by circa 4000 BCE. The book was basically written by Giorgio De Santillana - from von Dechend's chaotically organised seminar notes - when he was seriously ill (which helps to explain its lack of unity and coherence) and the numerous appendices were basically contributed by Hertha von Dechend. The book clearly shows the influence of Hertha von Dechend's teacher Leo Frobenius (who had written several books mirroring some Panbabylonian ideas, and the correspondence between mythological themes and celestial phenomena). The errata list that was enclosed with the 1993 German-language edition was left out of the 1994 reprint of such. See the critical (English-language) book reviews by Edmund Leach in The New York Review (of Books), February 12, 1970, Page 36, (Giorgio's De Santillana's protest letter regarding this review appeared in "Letters," The New York Review, May 7, 1970); by Jaan Puhvel in The American Historical Review, Volume LXXV, Number 6, October, 1970, Pages 2009-2010; by Lynn White Junior in Isis, Volume 61, 1970, Pages 540-541; by Gerald Gresseth in Journal of American Folklore, Volume 84, Number 332, April/June, 1971, Pages 246-247; by Cecilia Payne-Gaposchkin in Journal for the History of Astronomy, Volume 3, 1972, Pages 206-211; by Albert Friedman in Journal of the History of Philosophy, Volume X, 1972, Page 479; by Hilda Davidson in Folklore, Volume CXXXV, 1974, Pages 282-283; by David Leeming in Parabola, Volume III, Issue 1, 1978, Pages 113-115; and the (German-language) book review by Thomas Barthel in Zeitschrift für Ethnologie, Band 99, Heft 1 und 2, 1974, Pages 284-287). See also the sympathetic (English-language) book reviews by Philip Morrison in Scientific American, Volume 221, Number 5, November, 1969, Page 159; and by Harald Reiche in The Classical Journal, Volume 69, Number 1, October/November, 1973, Pages 81-83. See also the sympathetic (Estonian-language) book review by Heino Eelsalu in Akadeemia [an Estonian journal], Number 6, 1995 Pages (Columns?) 1300-1301. For a review of the 1993 German-language edition see the (German-language) book review by P[?]. Richter in Sterne und Weltraum, Band 34, 1995, Pages 4-10. See the sympathetic (English-language) obituary of Giorgio de Santillana (1902-1974) by Nathan Sivin, Professor of Chinese Culture and the History of Science, University of Pennsylvania, in Isis, Volume 67, 1976, Pages 439-493; and the (English-language) obituary of Hertha von Dechend (1915-2001) by Uta Lindgren, Professor of the History of Science, University of Bayreuth in Isis, Volume 94, 2003, Pages 112-113. Professor Uta Lindgren mistakenly credits Hertha von Dechend with being was the first person to analyze myths for their astronomical content. Also, unfortunately, the nature of von Dechend's MIT seminars, though mentioned, are not clearly explained. (It appears there were 6 seminars per term of approximately 2 hours each. The seminars (or at least the latter 2) would seem to be presented as part of the Independent Activities Period (IAP) which is a special 4-week term held each year that runs from the first week of January until the end of January. The IAP provides members of the MIT community (students, faculty, staff, and alumni) with the opportunity to organise, sponsor, and participate in a wide variety of activities, including forums and lecture series that are not possible during the semester. All of these short courses of one term duration, were, and still are, open to the MIT university community. Judging by recent examples a seminar series conducted during this short term would, and still do, usually consist of a weekly evening lecture of 2-3 hours (by one of more presenters), some expected core reading, and some minor essays/projects. It also appears that Giorgio de Santillana (and other staff members at MIT) actually gave most of the presentations.) It is mentioned that Giorgio de Santillana first met Hertha von Dechend when he participated in a symposium in Frankfurt in 1958.]
Amory, Frederick [Frederic]. (1977). "The Medieval Hamlet: A Lesson in the Use and Abuse of a Myth." (Deutsche Vierteljahresschrift für Literaturwissenschaft und Geistesgeschichte, Volume 51, Number 3, Pages 357-395). [Note: Neglected/forgotten critique of Hamlet’s Mill by Giorgio de Santillana and Hertha von Dechend (1969). Includes 123 references. The essay comprises some 20,000 words. The article contains numerous misprints. Abstract: I. Réfutation de l'interprétation cosmologique donnée par G. deSantillana et H. von Dechend (Hamlet's Mill, 1969) de l'histoire d'H. Le moulin magique dans les mythologies nordiques et scandinaves, dans le folklore, la religion germanique, et les épopées nordiques. II. L'A. considère Hamlet comme le personnage du fourbe décrit par Lévi-Strauss dont la fourberie résoud dans un mythe un cas d'inceste. L'Hamlet de Saxo Grammaticus: sources irlandaises et islandaises, diverses formes de la légende. Son achèvement chez Shakespeare. The article is in English. See also: "The Conundrums in Saxo's Hamlet Episode." by Hans Sperber (PMLA, Volume 64, Number 4, September, 1949, Pages 864-870). PMLA is the journal of the Modern Language Association of America.]
The controversial use of Phainomena authored by Aratus of Soli.
Brown, Junior., Robert. (1885). The Phainomena or 'Heavenly Display' of Aratos: Done into English Verse. [Note: Said to be a literal translation into English but radically different to the English translation rendered in "The Skies and Weather-forecasts of Aratus," by E[?]. Poste (1880). See the (English-language) review by J[ohn?]. Watson in The Academy, August 29, 1885, Number 695, Pages 137-138.]
Brown, Junior., Robert. (1892). "The Celestial Equator of Aratos." In: Morgan, E. (Editor). Transactions of the Ninth International Congress of Orientalists. 2 Volumes. (Pages 445-485). [Note: The paper is in Volume 2. This is the publication in which Robert Brown dates the origin of the Babylonian zodiac to 2084 BCE.]
Schott, Albert. and Böker, Robert. (1958). Aratos: Sternbilder und Wetterzeichen. [Note: See the sympathetic (German-language) book review by Manfred Erren in Gnomon, Band 31, 1959, Pages 728-732.]
Erren, Manfred. (1967). Die Phainomena des Aratos von Soloi. [Note: A detailed study. The author argues that the Aratean constellations can be dated to Babylonia circa 2000 BCE. Regardless of some of its radical conclusions it is considered to be the standard study in the German-language. See the critical (German/English-language) book review by Walther Ludwig and David Pingree in Gnomon, Band 43, 1971, Pages 346-354.]
Astronomical-astrological interpretations of Mithraism.
Dupuis, Charles François. (1794/1795). Origine des tous les cultes: ou, Religion universelle. (7 Volumes (in octavo) (appeared 1794) plus 1 Volume of plates (i.e., atlas) (appeared 1795)). [Note: An early identification of Mithraic imagery in the tauroctony with constellations.]
Zoega, Georg. (1817). (Edited by F. Welcker). Abhandlungen.
Creuzer, Georg. (1836). Symbolik und Mythologie der alten Völker. (4 volumes, 3rd revised edition, 1836-1842). [Note: See Volume 1, Pages 267-290. The first astronomical identification of the Mithraic tauroctony. German classical scholar, philologist, and archaeologist. Life dates: 1771-1858.]
Lajard, Félix. (1867). Recherches sur le Culte Public et les Mystères de Mithra.
Stark, Karl. (1869). "Die Mithrasstein von Dormagen." (Jahrbücherdes Vereins von Altertumsfreunden im Rheinlande, Band 46, Pages 1-25). [Note: Karl Stark was a classical philologist. Life dates: 1824-1879.]
Drews, Arthur. (1923). Der Sternhimmel in der Dichtung und Religion der Alten Völker und des Christentums. []Note: Arthur Drews had an astronomical interpretation for just about everything.]
Levi, Doro. (1944). "AION." (Hesperia, Volume 13, Pages 269-314).
Vermaseren, Maarten. (1963). Mithras, the Secret God. [Note: An authoritative book by a recognised scholar of Mithraism.]
Vermaseren, Maarten. (1974). The Mithraeum at Ponza. [Note: 38 pages. Includes discussion of the so-called zodiac Daressy and the so-called planisphaerium or Tabula Bianchini.]
Beck, Roger. (1977). "Cautes and Cautopates: some astronomical considerations." (Journal of Mithraic Studies, Volume 2, Number 1, Pages 1-17). [Note: This now defunct journal was a semiannual (twice a year) publication. It has been replaced by the Electronic Journal of Mithraic Studies.]
Insler, Stanley. (1978, 3 Volumes). "A New Interpretation of the Bull-Slaying Motif." In: de Boer, Margaret. and Edridge, T[?]. (Editors). Hommages a Maarteen J. Vermaseren. (Volume 2, Pages 519-538).
Speidel, Michael. (1980). Mithras-Orion: Greek Hero and Roman Army God. [Note: Seeks a Hellenistic origin for Mithraism i.e., the myth of Mithras is largely the myth of the Greek hero Orion. Mithraism, together with the cult of Iuppiter Dolichenus, was the most successful in the Roman army. Ostensibly an Iranian cult, it actually was, according to Michael Speidel, a Greek cosmic religion, based on the Greek view of the heavens and the myth of Orion. See the (English-language) book reviews by Robert Ogilvie in The Classical Review, New Series Volume XXXI, 1981, Page 305; and by Roger Beck in Phoenix, Volume 36, 1982, Pages 196-198. The (French-language) book review by Michel Malaise in Latomus Revue D'Études Latines, Tome XL, 1981, Pages 461; and the (German-language) book reviews by Peter Herz in Gnomon, Band 54, 1982, Pages 88-90; by Gerhard Radke in Anzeiger für die Altertumswissenschaft, XXXV Band, 3/4 Heft, Juli/Oktober 1982, Column 276; and by Kurt Rudolph in Orientalistische Literaturzeitung, Band 78, Nummer 3, 1983, Columns 279-280.]
Tuman, Vladimir. (1983). "The Cerberus Slab of Hatra may represent Important Astronomical Events." (Quarterly Journal of the Royal Astronomical Society, Volume 24, Pages 14-23).
Merkelbach, Reinhold. (1984). Mithras. [Note: Excellent lengthy study. Special unnumbered issue of Beiträge zur Klassischen Philologie. Life dates: 1918-?]
Beck, Roger. (1988). Planetary Gods and Planetary Orders in the Mysteries of Mithras. [Note: See the (English-language) book review by J[?]. Liebeschuetz in The Classical Review, New Series, Volume XL[40], Number 2, 1990, Pages 328-330).]
Ulansey, David. (1989; reprinted 1991). The Origins of the Mithraic Mysteries: Cosmology and Salvation in the Ancient World. [Note: Published in Turkish in 1998; and published in Italian in 2001. Wildly speculative precessional interpretation of the Mithraic religion. (In his web discussions Ulansey continues to adhere to a loose method of defending/arguing his ideas.) The author holds that Cilician pirates (residing in Asia Minor (= Turkey) and numbering some 20,000 persons) developed the Mithraic mysteries using Hipparchus' discovery of precession. Based on his 1984 Princeton University doctoral thesis titled: Mithras and Perseus: Mithraic Astronomy and the Anatolian Perseus-Cult. Highly speculative, selective, and controversial. (Ulansey received his PhD in (1984) in Religion from Princeton University.) The author (basically a "New-Ager") holds to a Jungian viewpoint for the interpretation of mythology. (Ulansey is a frequent lecturer at the C. G. Jung Institute of San Francisco.) The book sets out a theory of the astronomical origin of Mithraism only. It does not contain any examination of the history of Mithraism nor does it contain any exposition of Mithraic cultic practices. As far as I am aware Ulansey has never engaged in any archaeological work concerning Mithraism and his few published articles on Mithraism, with one or two exceptions i.e., "Mithras and the Hypercosmic Sun" in Studies in Mithraism edited by John Hinnells (1994), basically repeat his book. (Ulansey's 1994 paper reappears as "Mithras, the Hypercosmic Sun, and the Rockbirth." in Alexandria 5: The Journal of Western Cosmological Traditions edited by David Fideler (April, 2000).) The author's astronomical ideas concerning Mithraism originated during a 1977 brain-storming session, on a picture of the Mithraic myth of the bull slaying, conducted in a graduate class on the Mystery Religions by Professor John Gager. (Ulansey is an amateur astronomer.) This immediate conclusion of Ulansey's has been kept by him and forms the basis for his continuing rejection of the theories of recognized Mithraic scholars. (From Ulansey's ongoing involvement in web discussions it is clear that he does not admit any requirement to modify his original position set out in his 1989 book.) It is tempting to see a connection with the visionary techniques of Carl Jung. On at least one occasion Jung's own visionary experiences involved himself mimicing the Mithraic Leontocephalus. Also, Jung was very much interested in the Mystery Religions and was especially fascinated with the Mithraic iconography of Mithras slaying a bull. See especially his repeated explorations of the Mithraic tauroctony in his book Wandlungen und Symbole der Libido (1912). Ulansey openly admits that he is not comfortable with mainstream scholarship in general. He is currently (since the early 1990s) a professor in the Philosophy, Cosmology and Consciousness Program at the California Institute of Integral Studies. This is a private graduate school with approximately 1000 (mostly part-time) students that is accredited by the Western Association of Schools and Colleges (a regional accrediting agency recognised by the United States Department of Education). Ulansey usually identifies himself as a historian of religion(s), with a focus on the ancient Mystery Religions, Gnosticism, and early Christianity. The Philosophy, Cosmology and Consciousness Program which he helped to start was conceived of as a combination of Western esotericism and selected scientific themes. The California Institute of Integral Studies, has undergone several transformations since originating in the early 1950s under the influence of the teachings of eastern gurus and similar. Mithraic experts who are opponents of Ulansey's ideas on the origin of Mithraism include Roger Beck, Manfred Clauss and Helmut Waldmann. Most book reviewers at the time of the book's publication shared an absence of critical ability to deal with the material. (However, Ulansey continually refers to supportive extracts from these reviews as though they were timelessly relevant.) That people devising a cult circa 50 CE would decide to represent in stone the arrangement of the constellations in 2000 BCE - not what people could actually see in the sky - lacks credibility. The fact that the precession of the equinoxes had been discovered is not relevant. See the (English-language) book reviews by Bartel van der Waerden in Journal for the History of Astronomy, Volume 21, 1990, Pages 365-366; by Anon in Scientific American, September, 1991, Volume 265, Number 3, Pages 136; by John Griffiths in The Classical Review, New Series, Volume 41, Number 1, 1991, Pages 122-124 (a critical review); by Alan Bown in Isis, Volume 82, Number 2, June, 1991, Pages 359-360 (a critical review); and by Curtis Wilson in Ancient Philosophy, Spring, 1992, Volume XII, Number 1, Pages 242-244; and the (French-language) book review by (the French Egyptologist) Michel Malaise in Latomus, Tome 55, 1996, Pages 496-498. Also see "Gnostic Liberation from Astrological Determinism: Hipparchan "Trepidation" and the Breaking of Fate." by Horace Hodges (Vigiliae Christianae, Volume 51, Number 4, November, 1997, Pages 359-373) for the claim that at least some Gnostic sects used Hipparchus' discovery of the precession of the equinoxes as evidence of a benevolent force (a soteriological god) intervening in the world to successfully shift the zodiacal sphere to break the bonds of astrological fate and release the Gnostic elect from the power of the cosmos and its creator. On a personal note: In my experience David Ulansey is not always reliable with his explanation of issues; especially those relating to his critics. As example: on The Mithras List, March 6, 2005, Ulansey posted “It's also interesting that Gary Thompson says … [on his website], "Most book reviewers [of Ulansey's book] share an absence of critical ability to deal with the material." What he really means by that, as became clear in the Sebshesen discussions, is simply that they do not agree with him!” This is simply fictional. On the Sebshesen list I was continually amazed by how evasive Ulansey could be and the manner in which he dealt with facts. This sort of evasion and distortion seems to be a typical Ulansey tactic to deal with critics. Ulansey does not like critics! What became clear in the Sebshesen discussion was the distortive and evasive tactics of Ulansey when (1) dealing with the evidence presented by critics, and (2) attempting to marshal evidence to support his particular views.]
Ulansey, David. (1989). "The Mithraic Mysteries." (Scientific American, December, Volume 261, Number 6, Pages 80-85). [Note: The article is a summary of his book.]
North, John. (1990). "Astronomical Symbolism in the Mithraic Mysteries." (Centaurus, Volume 33, Pages 115-148). [Note: Critical of many of David Ulansey's ideas. See also the article review by Pamela Long in Avista Forum. Association Villard de Honnecourt for the Interdisciplinary Study of Medieval Technology, Science, and Art, Volume 7, Number 1, Spring / Summer, 1993, Pages 7-8. It is supportive of North's position.]
Swerdlow, Noel. (1991). "On the Cosmical Mysteries of Mithras." (Classical Philology, Volume 86, January-October, Pages 48-63). [Note: A critical review of David Ulansey's book on Mithraism.]
Beck, Roger. (1994). "In the place of the Lion: Mithras in the tauroctony." In: Hinnells, John. (Editor). Studies in Mithraism. (Pages 29-50). [Note: Perceptively critical of David Ulansey's book on Mithraism.]
Waldman, Helmut. (1994). "Mithras tauroctonus." In: Hinnells, John. (Editor). Studies in Mithraism. (Pages 265-277). [Note: Critical of David Ulansey's book on Mithraism.]
Kocher, Kurt. (1995). Mithras: Kultbilder am Sternenhimmel.
Chapman-Rietschi, P[?]. (1997). "Astronomical Concepts in Mithraic Iconography." (Journal of the Royal Society of Canada, Volume 91, June, Pages 133-134). [Note: Informed historical summary of the development of astronomical interpretations of Mithraism.]
Beck, Roger. (1998). "The Mysteries of Mithras: A New Account of Their Genesis." (The Journal of Roman Studies, Volume LXXXVIII, Pages 115-128).
Clauss, Manfred. (2000). The Roman Cult of Mithras: The God and his Mysteries. [Note: Excellent. See the (German-language) book review by Rainer Vollkommer (of the 1992 German edition) in Klio, Band 77, 1995, Pages 523-524. The author is a recognised Mithraic scholar and an authority on the Greek-Roman period. He holds the academic position of Professor of Ancient History at the Johann Wolfgang Goethe-University in Frankfort and Main. Life dates: 1945-.]
Breyer, Ralph. (2001). "Mithras - der Nachthimmel? Auseinandersetzung mit Maria Weiß." (Klio Beiträge zur Alten Geschichte, Band 83, Heft 1, Pages 213-218). [Note: Basically a criticism of the thesis of Maria Weiß that Mithras may be equated with the star-lit night sky.]
Clauss, Manfred. (2001). "Mithras und die Präzession." (Klio Beiträge zur Alten Geschichte, Band 83, Heft 1, Pages 219-225). [Note: A devasting critique of David Ulansey's speculation that Cilician pirates developed the Mithraic mysteries using Hipparchus' discovery of precession. Part of the English-language "Summary" states: "This hypothetical construction reveals a degree of incapacity hitherto seldom to be seen in the studies of ancient history. Without understanding the source material one speculation has been put upon the other to built (sic) this theory."]
Griffith, Alison (2001). "Mithras, Death, and Redemption in Statius, Thebaid I, 719-720." (Latomus Revue D'Études Latines, Tome 60, Pages 108-123).
Beck, Roger. (Editor). (2004). Beck on Mithraism: Collected Works with New Essays. [Note: Excellent collection of essays and updated comments.]
Beck, Roger. (2006). The Religion of the Mithras Cult in the Roman Empire. [Note: In some parts of the book the discussion is quite dense and not always easy to follow. In Chapters 8 and 9 the author specifically deals with astronomical/astrological issues.]
Fotheringham, John. (1919). "Cleostratus." (The Journal of Hellenic Studies, Volume XXXIX, Pages 164-184).
Fotheringham, John. (1920). "Cleostratus: A Postscript." (The Journal of Hellenic Studies, Volume XL, Pages 208-209).
Webb, Edmund. (1921). "Cleostratus Redivivus." (The Journal of Hellenic Studies, Volume XLI, Pages 70-85).
Fotheringham, John. (1925). "Cleostratus (III)." (The Journal of Hellenic Studies, Volume XLV, Pages 78-83).
Webb, Edmund. (1928). "Cleostratus and his Work." (The Journal of Hellenic Studies, Volume XLVIII, Pages 54-63).
The identification of kakkab mesri.
Jensen, Peter. (1886). "Der Kakkab misri der Antares." (Zeitschrift für Assyriologie und Verwandte Gebiete, Erster Band, Pages 244-267).
Halévy, Joseph. (1886). "L'Etoile Nommée Kakkab Mesri en Assyrien." (Journal Asiatique, Huitiéme Série, Tome VIII, Pages 369-380).
Oppert, Jules [Julius]. (1886). "Le Kakkab Mesri, Étoile de la Direction." (Journal Asiatique, Huitiéme Série, Tome VIII, Pages 558-562).
Oppert, Jules [Julius]. (1886). "Mul Kaksidi, l'etoile de direction et non Antarès." (Zeitschrift für Assyriologie und Verwandte Gebiete, Erster Band, Pages 435-439).
Mahler, Eduard. (1887). "Der Kakkab misri." (Zeitschrift für Assyriologie und Verwandte Gebiete, Zweiter Band, Pages 219-223).
Halévy, Joseph. (1887). "Un dernier mot sur kakkab mesri." (Zeitschrift für Assyriologie und Verwandte Gebiete, Zweiter Band, Pages 431-438).
Archenhold, Simon. (1887). "Ueber die Identificierungsversuche des Kakkab misri der Assyrer." (Zeitschrift für Assyriologie und Verwandte Gebiete, Zweiter Band, Pages 439-444).
Bezold, Carl. (1887). "Eine Bemerkung zur Antares-Literatur." (Zeitschrift für Assyriologie und Verwandte Gebiete, Zweiter Band, Pages 445-447).
Kugler, Franz. (1907). Sternkunde und Sterndienst in Babel. I. Buch: Babylonische Planetenkunde. (Pages 236-245).
Weidner, Ernst. (1912). "Zur Identifikation des kakkab KAK-SI-DI." (Babyloniaca: Études de philologie assyro-babylonienne, Tome 6, Pages 29-40). [Note: Forms part IV of a larger article: "Zur babylonischen Astronomie." See also erratum on page 234 of same journal.]
Some articles by Joseph Lockyer in the journal Nature.
Lockyer, Joseph. (1891). "On some points in the early history of astronomy. I." (Nature, Volume 43, Number 1120, April 16, Pages 559-563).
Lockyer, Joseph. (1891). "On some points in the early history of astronomy. II." (Nature, Volume 44, Number 1123, May 7, Pages 8-11).
Lockyer, Joseph. (1891). "On some points in the early history of astronomy. III." (Nature, Volume 44, Number 1125, May 21, Pages 57-60).
Lockyer, Joseph. (1891). "On some points in the early history of astronomy. IV." (Nature, Volume 44, Number 1127, June 4, Pages 107-110).
Lockyer, Joseph. (1891). "On some points in the early history of astronomy. V." (Nature, Volume 44, Number 1131, July 2, Pages 199-202).
Lockyer, Joseph. (1892). "The origin of the year. I." (Nature, Volume 45, Number 1169, March 24, Pages 487-490).
Lockyer, Joseph. (1892). "The origin of the year. II." (Nature, Volume 46, Number 1179, June 2, Pages 104-107).
Lockyer, Joseph. (1892). "The origin of the year. III." (Nature, Volume 47, Number 1202, November 10, Pages 32-35).
Lockyer, Joseph. (1893). "The origin of the year. IV." (Nature, Volume 47, Number 1210, January 5, Pages 228-230).
Lockyer, Joseph. (1893). "The early asterisms. I." (Nature, Volume 48, Number 1245, September 7, Pages 438-440).
Lockyer, Joseph. (1893). "[The] Early asterisms. II." (Nature, Volume 48, Number 1248, September 28, Pages 518-520).
Lockyer, Joseph. (1893). "[The] Early asterisms. III." (Nature, Volume 49, Number 1261, December 28, Pages 199-203).
Lockyer, Joseph. (1901). "An attempt to ascertain the date of the original construction of Stonehenge from its orientation." (Nature, Volume 65, Number 1673, November 21, Pages 55-57).
Lockyer, Joseph. (1902). "The farmer's years. I." (Nature, Volume 65, Number 1681, January 16, Pages 248-250).
Lockyer, Joseph. (1902). "The farmer's years. II." (Nature, Volume 66, Number 1700, May 29, Pages 104-107).
The colour of Sirius in antiquity.
See, Thomas. (1892). "History of the Color of Sirius." (Astronomy and Astro-Physics, Volume XI, April, Part 1, Pages 269-274; May, Part 2, Pages 372-385). [Note: See also the comments on this paper "Color of Sirius in Ancient Times" by William Lynn in Astronomy and Astro-Physics, Volume XI, New Series Number 7, August, Pages 634-635; and "The Color of Sirius in Ancient Times" by William Lynn in The Astrophysical Journal, Volume 1, January-May, 1895, Page 351.]
See, Thomas. (1892). "Note on the History of the Color of Sirius." (Astronomy and Astro-Physics, Volume XI, New Series Number 7, August, Pages 550-552).
See, Thomas. (1927). "Historical Researches Indicating a Change in the Color of Sirius, Between the Epochs of Ptolemy, 138, and Al Sûfi, 980, A. D." (Astronomische Nachrichten, Band 229, Columns 245-272).
Osthoff, H[?]. (1927). "Zur Farbe des Sirius im Altertum." (Astronomische Nachrichten, Band 229, Number 5495, Columns 443-444).
Dittrich, E[?]. (1928). "Woher das Epitheton >>rot<< für Sirius stammt." (Astronomische Nachrichten, Band 231, Number 5542, Columns ?-?).
Stentzel, A[?]. (1928). "Ägyptische Zeugnisse für die Farbe des Sirius im Altertum." (Astronomische Nachrichten, Band 231, Number 5542, Columns 387-392).
Meißner, O[?]. (1928). "Über die antiken Sternfarbenschätzungen." (Astronomische Nachrichten, Band 231, Number 5542, Columns 391-396).
Schossser, Wolfhard. and Bergmann, Werner. (1985). "An early-medieval account on the red colour of Sirius and its astrophysical implications." (Nature, Volume 318, 7th November, Pages 45-46).
Tang, Tong. (1986). "Star colours." (Nature, Volume 319, 13 February, Page 532). [Note: Points out that according to the Chinese evidence Sirius has always been white.]
McCluskey, Stephen. (1987). "The color of Sirius in the sixth century." (Nature, Volume 325, 1st January, Page 87 "Matters Arising.").
van Gent, Robert. (1987). "The color of Sirius in the sixth century." (Nature, Volume 325, 1st January, Pages 87-88 "Matters Arising."). [Note: See also the brief letter ""Red" Sirius" by Ian Ridpath in The Observatory, Volume 108, August, 1988, Page 130.]
Schossser, Wolfhard. and Bergmann, Werner. (1987). "The color of Sirius in the sixth century." (Nature, Volume 325, 1st January, Page 89 "Matters Arising.").
Warner, Brian. and Sneden, Christopher. (1988). "HD 38451: J. R. Hind's star that changed colour." (Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, Volume 234, September 15, Pages 269-279).
Dyke, Norman. (1988). "Sirius: its historical appearance." (Australian Journal of Astronomy, Volume 2, Number 3, April, Pages 102-104).
Bicknell, Peter. (1989). "Sirius and Manilius." (The Observatory, Volume 109, April, Pages 58-59).
Ceragioli, Roger. (1993). "The Riddle of Red Sirius: An Anthropological Perspective." In: Ruggles, Clive. and Saunders, Nicholas. (Editors). Astronomies and Cultures. (Pages 67-99).
Holberg, Jay. (2007). Sirius: Brightest Diamond in the Sky. [Note: An expert history of the lore and science of the star Sirius throughout the ages. Includes a detailed discussion of the colour of Sirius in antiquity. The author is a noted astrophysicist and expert on the star Sirius.]
The existence of constellations in the Paleolithic Period?
Breuil, Henri. (1909). "Le Bison et le Taureau céleste chaldéen." (Revue Archéologique, Quatrième Série, Tome XIII, Janvier-Juin, Pages 250-254). [Note: Henri Breuil (1877-1961), was a French cleric and archeologist, and a pioneer in the field of prehistoric archeology. He is still well-known today for his analysis of prehistoric cave paintings. Early researchers who investigated the possibility of Paleolithic constellations, and who are now mostly little known, include Marcel Boudouin (France), Henri Breuil (France, early work at Lascaux), Amandus Weiss (Switzerland), Heino Eelsalu (Estonia), and Marie König (Germany).]
Baudouin, Marcel. (1916). "La préhistoire des étoiles." (1: "Les Pléiades au néolithique."; 2: "La préhistoire des étoiles au paléolithique. Les Pléiades a l'poque Aurignacienne et le Culte Stello-Solaire Typique au Solutrien." (Bulletins et Mémoires de la Société d'Anthropologie de Paris, série VI, Tome VII, mars & déc, Part 1: Pages 25-103 and Part 2: 274-317). [Note: Comprehensive but somewhat speculative article on the Pleiades asterism in the Paleolithic Period and Neolithic Period. The author was a eminent pre-historian (and pioneer of archaeoastronomy). He argued for the existence of a Paleolithic stellar-solar cult.]
Baudouin, Marcel, (1917). "Démonstration de l'existence, au Néolithique, de Pierre à Cupules représentant les Pléïades au naturel et de l'Urne des Pléïades de la Période grecque." (Bulletin de la Société préhistorique française, Tome 14, Number 5, Pages 237-244).
Baudouin, Marcel. (1921). "La Grande Ourse et le Phallus du Ciel. [Spongiaire phalliforme à gravures]." (Bulletin de la Société préhistorique française, Tome 18, Number 11, Pages 301-308). [Note: Article in which Baudouin describes what he believes is a representation of stars in Ursa Major and Boötes incised on a fossilised and silicified sea-urchin (Echinus), on an amulet from stone-age northern Europe.]
Baudouin, Marcel. (1923). "Démonstration que les Poissons gravés du Paléolithique représentent la constellation des Pléïades." (Bulletin de la Société préhistorique française, Tome 20, Number 10, Pages 311-312).
Huffer, C[?]., Trinklein, F[?]. and Bunge, M[?]. (1967). An Introduction to Astronomy. [Note: The authors claim that certain Paleolithic paintings represent asterisms. See page 95.]
Köenig, Marie. (1970). "Etude des incisions repestres comme manifestation d'un stade d'evolution de esprit humaine." In: Anati, Emmanuel. (Editor). Symposium international d'art préhistorique: Valcamonica, 23-28 Septembre 1968, (Pages 515-530). [Note: German prehistorian. Interpreted the horse in Paleolithic art as a symbol of the sun, and the bull as a symbol of the moon. Life dates: 1899-1988.]
Gingerich, Owen. (1984). "The origin of the zodiac." (Sky and Telescope, Volume 67, Pages 218-220). [Note: Speculates that the "Great Bear" constellation may date back to the ice-ages. The essay is also included in the author's The Great Copernicus Chase (1992) pages 7-12.]
Antequera Congregado, Luz. (1992). Arte y astronomia: evolución de los dibujos de las constelaciones. [Note: A doctoral thesis comprising 708 pages.]
Antequera Congregado, Luz. (1994, 2nd edition 2000). "Altamira: Astronomia y religión en el Paleolitica." In: Belmonte, Juan. (Editor). Arqueoastronomía Hispana. [Note: The book title also appears as: Arqueoastronomía hispánica.]
Edge, Frank[lin]. (1995). Aurochs in the Sky: A Celestial Interpretation of the Hall of Bulls in the Cave of Lascaux. [Note: A booklet comprising 35 pages. The author is often identified as an American astronomer who began his research into the topic in 1991. He is more correctly identified as a high school teacher. He holds that the Great Bull represents the constellation Taurus, dots in the bull's head represent the Hyades, and dots over its shoulder represent the Pleiades; and at that epoch the full moon and the summer solstice rested in the bull's horns.]
Edge, Frank[lin]. (1997). "Taurus in Lascaux." (Griffith Observer, Volume 61, September, Pages 13-17).
Christensen, Jesper. (1996). "Heaven and Earth in Ice Age Art: Topography and Iconography at Lascaux. (Mankind Quarterly, Spring/Summer, Volume 36, Numbers 3-4, Pages 247-259). [Note: Another earnest proponent - apparently with an art background - of constellations being depicted in Palaeolithic cave art (especially at Lascaux).]
Rappenglück [Rappenglueck], Michael. (1997). "The Pleiades in the "Salle des Tareaux", Grotte de Lascaux." In: Jaschek, Carlos. and Barandela, Fernando. (Editors). Actas del IV Congreso de la SEAC "Astronomía en la Cultura" / Procedings of the IVth SEAC Meeting "Astronomy and Culture", Pages 217-225).
Rappenglück [Rappenglueck], Michael. (1998). Eine Himmelskarte aus der Eiszeit? [Note: A doctoral thesis. The author's interest in the topic began in 1984.]
Rappenglück [Rappenglueck], Michael. (1999). Eine Himmelskarte aus der Eiszeit? [Note: Immensely interesting. The book is based on the author's 1998 doctoral thesis of the same title. (The book has 531 pages.)]
Rappenglück [Rappenglueck], Michael. (1999). "Palaeolithic Timekeepers Looking at the Golden Gate of the Ecliptic; the Lunar Cycles and the Pleiades in the Cave of La-TETe-Du-Lion (Ardéche, France) - 21,000 BP." (Earth, Moon, and Planets, Volume 85-86, Pages 391-404). [Note: The full journal title is: Earth, Moon, and Planets: An International Journal of Solar System Science. The author argues that a rock panel in the cave (dating to the Solutrean era circa 21,000-22,000 BCE) shows the combination of a star pattern - Aldebaran in the Bull and the Pleiades - with a drawing of the moons cycle above.]
Kaurov, E[?]. (1999). "Sky Luminaries in the Space Orienting Activity of Homo Sapiens in the Middle Palaeolithic." (Astronomical and Astrophysical Transactions, Volume 17, Pages 459-473). [Note: Speculative.]
Jègues-Wolkiewiez, Chantal. (2000). "Lascaux, View of the Magadalenian Sky." (Val Camonica 2000 Symposium of Cave Art, Italy). [Note: Paper presented at the (annual) international symposium on prehistoric art at Val Camonica in November, 2000. The title also appears as: "Lascaux, the Magdalenian's View of the Sky."]
Lima, Pedro. (2000). "L'incroyable découverte d'une paléo-astronome. Lascaux planétarium préhistorique?" (Science et Vie, No 999, décembre, Pages 76-83). [Note: Science et Vie = Science and Life, a monthly science magazine issued in France since 1913 when its name was La Science et la Vie. The article is a summary of the work and ideas of Chantal Jègues-Wolkiewiez regarding the Lascaux cave. Jègues-Wolkiewiez has published numerous articles on her claim for 'zodiacal astronomy' at Lascaux. She believes the Lascaux cave paintings provide evidence for a Paleolithic 12-constellation zodiac similar to the Babylonian/Greek zodiac. French-language summary: "… sur le travail de Chantal Jègues-Wolkiewiez posant l’hypothèse d’une ceinture zodiacale représentée sur les murs de la grotte préhistorique de Lascaux. On s’étonnera à propos de ce travail que contrairement à tout ce que montrent les travaux en Histoire des sciences concernant la naissance du Zodiaque Mésopotamien (il n’est pas le seul possible et ses constellations ont évolué au fil de siècles) il y a à peine 3.000 ans en Mésopotamie, les hommes aient pu définir «une ceinture zodiacale» sans aucun outil mathématique ni le moindre système d’écriture… N’oublions pas que les peintures remontent à quelques 17.000 ans!"]
Benigni, Helen. (2003). The Myth of the Year: Returning to the Origin of the Druid Calendar. [Note: Helen Benigni is Professor of English at Davis and Elkins College (Elkins, USA). Her Ph.D. work was in American Literature with an emphasis on Appalachian Literature. Since circa 2000 her research is focused on comparative mythology with an emphasis on Celtic and Greek cultures. She is interested in tracing the (Jungian) archetypes of the goddesses and gods of Neolithic culture in Europe and the Mediterranean to their Iron Age representations. In this book she claims to trace the constellations and their gods/goddesses from the Neolithic Period to the end of the Iron Age. She claims the (Druidic) Sequani Calendar has allowed her to place those archetypes on to the year using the stars, the moon and the sun as her guide. The contents of the book are unreliable and largely mystical. Posted by John at Celtic Calendar Reform (25 November, 2007): "A couple of years ago I had a great conversation with Helen and Barbara and they kindly sent a copy of their book. Their contention is a winter solstice start to the calendar, based partially on the solsticial event at Bruig na Bóinde New Grange. "The Myth of the Year reveals the astronomy underlying Celtic and Greek mythology using the calender (sic) of the Druids". They write, "A spectacular cycle of myths in the sky are the stories of creation at the Winter Solstice. They begin with the advent of cantlos, the eleventh [month] and move through Samonios with the Solstice...culminating with Dumanios and...Imbolc." Their first chapter is entiltled 'The Sequani Calendar and the Sacred Calendar of Eleusis'. The authors draw upon "a copy of the Coligny Calendar as it was printed for the Royal Irish Academy in 1926 [which was an important study] by a linguist named Eoin MacNiell. MacNeill reworked a reconstruction by [Sir John] Rhys...". Rhys in his Hibbert Lectures of 1886 also connected festivals of the Greeks and Celts, and the SCG book is quite parallel to his work. The SCG thus present a third start date for Samon, coincident with the nativity festival of the Unconquered Sun (later Christmas). Their challenge is to link the name Samon with the depth of winter, and Giammon with the height of summer; there are no considerations of the month names in the copy I have, which is disappointing and I feel their entire contention unconvincing. Helen is a writer and mythographer, Barbara is an astrologer and Éadhmonn is a Celticist and sculptor [Mark is a naturalist and artist, and Tim is a printmaker]."]
Rappenglück [Rappenglueck], Michael. (2003). "The anthropoid in the sky: Does a 32,000-year old ivory plate show the constellation Orion combined with a pregnancy calendar?" In: Blomberg, Mary., Blomberg, Peter., and Henriksson, Göran. (Editors). Calendars, Symbols, and Orientations: Legacies of Astronomy in Culture. (Pages 51-55). [Note: Proceedings of the 9th annual meeting of the European Society for Astronomy in Culture (SEAC), Stockholm, 27-30 August 2001.]
Rappenglück, Michael. (2004). "A Palaeolithic Planetarium Underground - The Cave of Lascaux (Part 2)." (Migration and Diffusion, Volume 5, Issue Number 19, Pages 6-47).
Jègues-Wolkiewiez, Chantal. (2007). "Chronology of the orientation of painted caves and shelters in the French Palaeolithic." (Val Camonica 2007 Symposium of Cave Art, Italy). (Pages 225-239). [Note: Paper presented at the (annual) international symposium on prehistoric art at Val Camonica in May, 2000.]
Jègues-Wolkiewiez, Chantal. (2007). "The roots of astronomy, or the hidden order of a Palaeolithic work." (Les Antiquités Nationales, Tome 37, February, Pages 43-52).
Aczel, Amir. (2009). The Cave and the Cathedral. [Note: Contains a short critique of the ideas of Michael Rappenglück (and others) regarding star and constellation identification in prehistoric European cave art. The author is a lecturer in mathematics and the history of science, and a distinguished science writer. Life dates: 1950- .]
Pásztor, Emília and Priskin, Anna. (2010). "Celestial symbols revisited. Palaeolithic sky lore: fiction or fact?" (Congrès de l’IFRAO, septembre 2010 – Symposium : Signes, symboles, mythes et idéologie. (Pré-Actes) / IFRAO Congress, September 2010 – Symposium: Signs, symbols, myth, ideology. Pleistocene art: the archaeological material and its anthropological meanings. (Pre-Acts)). [Note: Abstract: There are elements of Palaeolithic art which are assumed to be celestial symbols. The most famous is the so-called star map in Lascaux cave in central France and thought to date back 16,500 years. It shows three bright stars known today as the Summer Triangle. The Pleiades star cluster has also been supposed to be found among the Lascaux frescoes. The presentation re-investigates the celestial symbols by comparative studies and Paleolithic people’s interest in the sky. Keywords: Europe, Palaeolithic, celestial symbols, constellation, sky lore. No published paper is available yet. Unoriginal and uninformed. The authors demonstrate no real understanding of the material they discuss.]
Claims for an early knowledge of precession
independent of Hipparchus. Dupuis, Charles François. (1794/1795). Origine des tous les
cultes: ou, Religion universelle. (7 Volumes (in octavo)
(appeared 1794) plus 1 Volume of plates (i.e., atlas) (appeared
1795)). [Note: Numerous editions of the multi-volume edition
appeared (usually issued over a number of years), and the number
of volumes per multi-volume edition varied. (A celestial globe
was also produced.) A 4-volume edition (3 volumes in quarto plus
1 volume of plates (i.e., atlas)) appeared 1796. Numerous
one-volume abridged editions also appeared - the first being in
1797. The best abridged one-volume edition is the modified 1822
edition. A reprint of the French one-volume abridgement appeared
as late as 1978. (A 3-volume abridged reprint also appeared
1897-1900.) An English translation of the abridged 1798 edition
was published as "The Origin of all Religious Worship"
in 1872 (the printing date is sometimes stated to be 1845 and
also 1875), and reprinted 1984. Life dates: 1742-1809. A German
translation of the abridged one-volume edition was published as
"Ursprung der Gottesverehrung" in 1910.
From Weiser Antiquarian Books Catalog # 55: "The author of "Origine de Tous les
Cultes ou Religion Universelle" ("The Origin of all the Faiths, or Universal
Religion") Charles-François Dupuis (1742-1809), was a French Freemason,
scientist, and scholar who held professorships at both the college of Lisieux
(Paris), and the Collège de France, and was effectively the last great
mythographer of the Englightenment. In this book he proposed that all mythology
and religion, and attendant festivals, legends and sagas, had as their common
source an ancient universal religion that drew its beliefs from the observation
of natural phenomena, particularly the heavens. Thus god names were taken from
those of the stars, and their stories as told in religion and myth were an
allegory of astronomical phenomena. Dupuis traced this belief back to Egypt, and
then followed the development of these ancient beliefs into the new religions
such as Christianity, and noted their abandonment of many of the traditional
elements. His arguments appealed greatly to the rationalists of the first French
Republic, who at the time of the book's publication had recently instituted a
program of de-Christianisation in France. Not surprisingly they also caused
great offence to the Church, which probably explains why the work was placed on
the notorious Index Librorum Prohibitorum. The work therefore is
effectively a huge compendium of astrological / astronomical / beliefs and myths
which are drawn from classical works such as those of Vergil, Pausanius, and
Ovid, through to those of "the last Renaissance man,"Athanasius Kircher. Not
surprisingly there was much occult content in the book, including a table of "Système
des cabalistes dans la distribution des Anges, Intellegences et Esprits.
Planétaires" and much on astrology. Occultists found it an immensely useful
collection in much the same way as later generations would use Frazer's "Golden
Bough," and Frederick Hockley is known to have made use of the Dupuis' lengthy
quotations from the works of Kircher when compiling his "Occult Spells." The
book itself is a masterpiece of Revolutionary-period book production. In keeping
with the egalitarian ideology of the times the author is described on the title
page simply as "Citoyen Dupuis" (Citizen Dupuis) and the date is given as "L'an
III. de la République, une et indivisible. Liberté, Égalité, Fraternité" (Year
III of the French Republic: that is 1795). The first three volumes comprise text
and tables, the fourth volume is a plates volume, comprising a frontispiece and
title page, and twenty-one magnificent double page engraved plates of historical
planispheres, astrological symbols, mythological scenes, etc."] Martin, Thomas Henri. (1869). "Mémoire sur cette
question: la précession des équinoxes a-t-elle été connue des
Égyptiens ou de quelque autre peuple avant Hipparque?"
(Mémoires présentés par divers savants a l'Académie des
inscriptions et belles-lettres de l'Institut Impérial de France,
Première Série, Tome VIII, Pages 303-522). [Note: A serious but
dated study of possible evidence for knowledge of precession in
the ancient world before Hipparchus. Life dates: 1813-1884. See the
(French-language) book review by
Anon in
Comptes-rendus des séances de l'Académie des Inscriptions et Belles-Lettres, 8e
année, 1864, Pages 278-283. The
essay "Sulla relazione del calendario degli antichi Egiziani
col fenomeno della precessionare" ["On the Relationship
of the Calendar of the Ancient Egyptians with the Phenomenon of
the Precession"] by the astronomer Giovanni Schiaparelli
(see: Scritti Sulla Storia della Astronomia Antica, Tome III,
Pages 109-119) was penned as comment on Thomas Martin's essay.] Schiaparelli, Giovanni. ((Originally published)1874).
"Sulla relazione del calendario degli antichi Egiziani col
fenomeno della precessionare." In: Schiaparelli, Giovanni.
(3 Volumes, 1925-1927; Reprinted 1997-1998). Scritti Sulla Storia
della Astronomia Antica. [Note: Tome III, Pages 109-119.] Massey, Gerald. (1883). The Natural Genesis. (2 Volumes).
[Note: Completely unreliable. Life dates: 1828-1907. See the
short obituary notice in The Athenæum, Number 4175, November 2,
1907, Page 553. See also an article on Gerald Massey by John
Collins in the Contemporary Review, May, 1904. See the
(English-language) book review by Anon in Athenaeum, 29 December,
1883, Pages 864. For an evaluation of Massey as a poet see
"The Nestor of Living Poets." by the literary critic
John Collins in The Contemporary Review, Volume LXXXV,
January-June, 1904, Pages 727-738). For a fascinating biography
of Gerald Massey see the book Gerald Massey: Chartist, Poet,
Radical and Freethinker by David Shaw (1995).] Tilak, Bál. (1893). The Orion or Researches into
The Antiquity of the Vedas. [Note: Unreliable. The author was an
Indian lawyer and prominent political activist. Contains an
argument for precessional mythology and "world ages."] Tilak, Bál. (1893). Ä Summary of the Principal
Facts and Arguments in the Orion; or Researches in the Antiquity
of the Vedas." In: Morgan, E[?]. (Editor). Transactions of
the Ninth International Congress of Orientalists. (2 Volumes).
[Note: The Congress was held in 1892. The essay is in Volume 1,
Pages 376-383.] St. Clair, George. (1898). Creation Records Discovered in
Egypt. [Note: The author believed that precessional knowledge was
the basis for all Egyptian mythology. Life dates: 1836-1909.] St. Clair, George. (1898). "The Atlas legend: precession of
the equinoxes before Hipparchus. (The Westminster Review, Volume 150,
December, Pages 647-654). St. Clair, George. (1902). "Tartaros not Hades."
(The Expositor, Sixth Series, Volume 6, Pages 70-72). [Note: A short speculative
argument for precessional mythology in the Book of Enoch. The journal's list of
contributors identifies George St. Clair as the Rev. George St. Clair.] Hewitt, James. (1901). History and Chronology of
the Myth-making Age. [Note: Unreliable. The author was a career civil servant.
The book sets out an argument for precessional knowledge behind mythology. See the English-language)
book review by Anon in The Journal of the British Astronomical
Association, Volume XII, Number 3, 1901-2, Page 140.] Ginzel, Friedrich. (1901). Die astronomischen Kenntnisse der
Babylonier und ihre kulturhistorische Bedeutung. Parts I, II,
& III. (Klio Beiträge zur alten Geschichte, Volume I, 1901,
Pages 1-25, 189-211, 349-380). [Note: See page 205. Republished
as a pamphlet in 1908.] Jeremias, Alfred. (1908, 2nd edition 1909). Das Alter der
babylonischen Astronomie. [Note: See the chapter
"Präzession und Weltzeitalter." Life dates 1864-1935.] Jeremias, Alfred. (1913, 2nd edition 1929). Handbuch der
altorientalischen Geisteskultur. [Note: The book is generally
unreliable. The author was unrelenting in the promotion of
Panbabylonist ideas regardless of the absence of the quality of
evidence used.] Weidner, Ernst. (1913) “Die Entdeckung der Präzession,
eine Geistestat babylonischen Astronomen.” (Babyloniaca:
Études de philologie assyro-babylonienne, Tome 7, Pages 1-19). Weidner, Ernst. (1914). Alter und Bedeutung der babylonischen
Astronomie und Astrallehre. [Note: Contains an essay "Die
Kenntnis der Präzession bei den Babyloniern" arguing for
early Babylonian knowledge of precession. (Essentially the same
as his 1913 article in Babyloniaca.) The essays contained in this
book were all written by a very young Ernst Weidner and all are
very much in the Winckler-Jeremias framework of Panbabylonism.] Schnabel, Paul. (1923, Reprinted 1968). Berossos und die
Babylonisch-Hellenistische Literatur. [Note: In chapter 10, § 5
the author argues for the discovery of precession by Kidenas. The
book is full of errors and unreliable. Life dates: 1887-?] Schnabel, Paul. (1927). "Kidenas, Hipparch und die
Entdeckung der Präzession." (Zeitschrift für Assyriologie
und Verwandte Gebiete, Neue Folge, Band 3 (Band 37), Pages 1-60).
[Note: The argument for the late Babylonian discovery of
precession has been thoroughly demolished by Otto Neugebauer in
"The Alleged Babylonian Discovery of the Precession of the
Equinoxes." (Journal of the American Oriental Society,
Volume 70, Number 1, 1950, Pages 1-8). See also an early
demolition by Franz Kugler of the precession argument in
“Erwiderung auf E. Dittrichs “Platons
Zahlenrätsel und die Präzession” (OLZ XIII,
Sp. 103 ff.).” (Orientalistische Literaturzeitung,
Band 13, 1910, Columns 277-279).] Martiny, Günter. (1933). "Zur Astronomischen Orientation
Altmesopotamischer Tempel." (Architectura I, Pages 41-45).
[Note: The author offers evidence - soundly criticized since -
for the "precessional orientation" of Babylonian
temples. Life dates: 1903-1980.] Langdon, Stephen (1935). Babylonian Menologies and the Semitic
Calendars. [Note: Several persons claim that in this book the
Assyriologist Stephen Langdon expresses his opinion that the
Babylonians knew of precession. (For example: The Observatory,
Volume 71, Number 862, 1951, Page 120 , "Notes on Babylonian
Astronomy" references Langdon for this assertion.) I am not
aware of any explicit statement by Stephen Langdon regarding
such. However, such may be inferred from some statements in
Lecture 1 and also some other parts of the book. Langdon's
acceptance of Sumerian constellations, and an early zodiac, are
mistaken. This negates the book's use for claims of precessional
knowledge by the Babylonians.] Balcer, Witold. (1948?). The Mystery of the Zodiac. [Note: See the
(English-language) book review by Michael Kamienski
in Atlantis, March, Volume 1, Number 6, 1949, Pages ?-?; and
Atlantis April/May, Volume 2, Number 1, Pages ?-? Kamienski believed that the
zodiacal figures have a concealed symbolic meaning. Michael Kamienski [Michal
Kamieński] (1879-1973) was an eccentric Russian-born astronomer
(and mathematician) and comet orbit specialist who spent most of his academic life in
Poland (at the University of Krakow). He was a leading world expert on cometary
orbits. He was Director of the Warsaw University Astronomical Observatory from
1923 to 1945. Michael Kamienski was connected with The Atlantis
Research Centre established by the English eccentric (and pre World War II
diplomat to Poland) Egerton Sykes. In 1956 Michael Kamienski, then Professor of
Astronomy at the University of Krakow, gave an on-campus lecture titled "The
Tragedy of Atlantis-Poseidia" and dated Halley’s Comet back to 9542 BCE, the
time of the supposed submersion of Atlantis, and he further engaged in the wild
speculation that a part of the tail or part of the head of Halley’s Comet had
broken off and fallen into the western Atlantic Ocean. He retired in 1963. An (English-language) obituary for Michael Kamienski
by J[an?] Witkowski appeared in The Quarterly Journal of the Royal Astronomical Society,
Volume 15, 1944, Pages 48-50. The Atlantis Research Centre appears in the
obituary as the British Society of Atlantological Research, and it is stated
that Kamenski was a member. The name of the organisation in the obituary is
fictional and The Atlantis Research Centre was not really a membership society. Witold Balcer (historian?/archaeologist?) was Polish
(and prior to World War II had accumulated a large private library and
collection of artifacts) and The Mystery of the Zodiac was published in Poland. His book is mentioned in
an article published in Africana Bulletin (Number 37-40, 1991-1992, Page 110).
(Africana Bulletin is a Polish academic publication published by the University of Warsaw.) I have yet to check my
copies of Atlantis to determine whether the The Mystery of the Zodiac was in
Polish or English. It is now a very rare book and does not appear in any
catalogues.] Frost, Stanley. (1952). "Eschatology and Myth."
(Vetus Testamentum, Volume 2, Fascicle 1, January, Pages 70-80).
[Note: The author discusses and rejects Panbabylonism but
believes precession was discovered circa 380 BCE.] Žába, Zbynek. (1953). L'Orientation astronomique dans L'Ancienne
Égypte, et la Précession de L'Axe du Monde." [Note:
74-page pamphlet issued as Supplement 2 to Archiv Orientální. Zbynek Žába
was a Czech Egyptologist. Life dates: 1917-1971.] Lauer, Jean-Phillipe. (1960). "Zbynek Žába: L'Orientation astronomique
dans l'ancienne égypte, et la précession de l'axe du
monde." (Bulletin de L'Institut Français
d'Archéologie Orientale du Caire, numéro 60, Pages 171-183[4]). Pichon, Jean-Charles. (1963). Les Cycles du retour éternel.
(2 Volumes). [Note: The author was a prolific French occultist.
The book covers similar ground to that of Hamlet's Mill. Life
dates: 1920-2006.] de Santillana, Giorgio. and von Dechend, Hertha. (1969, and
reprinted several times since (in English (1970, 1977, 1983), and
Italian (1983, reprinted 1984, and 1998; then an expanded edition
published 1999, reprinted 2000, and 2003); and a German edition
(1993, reprinted 1994) with some changes and 17 extra pages)).
Hamlet's Mill: An essay on myth and the frame of time. [Note: The
book which re-introduced some of the basic ideas of
Panbabylonism. Life dates for Giorgio de Santillana 1902-1974.
Life dates for Hertha von Dechend 1915-2001. The book's contents
are poorly organised and the evidence cited is poorly presented
and confusing. While the book contains an immense amount of
loosely related information there is no persuasive evidence
presented for the connections being made. An expert knowledge of
the history of Babylonian astronomy is lacking. (Some persons
hold that a German-language edition was also published in 1969
but this is erroneous.) The authors did not revise their book
(but Hertha von Dechend did later publish a German-language
edition with some changes/additions) or publish any other on the
theme. Unfortunately the errata list that was enclosed with the
1993 German-language edition was left out of the 1994 reprint of
such. During 1961, 1966, and 1979 Hertha von Dechend (when a
research associate at MIT) delivered seminars on ancient
cosmology at MIT and her lecture notes were available for a time.
They were full of errors regarding both spelling and sense. It
would appear the intention of Harald Reiche to edit them was
never fulfilled. It is also easy to discern that the greater
contents of the book Hamlet's Mill is her work and owes much to
her early MIT seminars. The basic role of Giorgio de Santillana
as "co-author" was evidently that of editing her
material. (The problem of the book being poorly organised
probably largely originates from von Dechend's MIT lecture notes
being poorly organised.) Her extensive German-language lecture
notes from lectures and seminars at Frankfurt University
beginning 1970 have, to my knowledge, never been translated or
made generally available. After the retirement of Giorgio de
Santillana in 1967 his history of science classes at MIT were
continued by Harald Reiche, a Professor of Classics and
Philosophy at MIT, who was an avid supporter of Hamlet's Mill.
(In fact the only real support (at least initially) for the book
came from certain faculty members of MIT.) Most latter-day
commentators on Hamlet's Mill incorrectly believe that Giorgio de
Santillana was still Professor of the History and Philosophy of
Science at the time of publication of Hamlet's Mill in 1969. That
he was not should have been clear from the dust jacket. After his
retirement it appears he continued to lecture at MIT until he
became seriously ill. A biographical entry for Giorgio de
Santillana appears in Who Was Who in America (1985).] Hartner, Willy. (1979). "The young Avestan and Babylonian
Calendars and the antecedents of precession." (Journal for
the History of Astronomy, Volume 10, Pages 1-22). [Note: The
author suggests that the tropical and sidereal year were
distinguished in Babylonian astronomy by 503 BCE and that it
implies knowledge of precession.] Severin, Gregory. (1981). The Paris Codex: Decoding the
Astronomical Ephemeris. (Transactions of the American
Philosophical Society, Volume 71, Part 5). [Note: In his study of
the Paris zodiac table the author maintains that the ancient Maya
were aware of the precession of the equinoxes. See the critical
(English-language) book reviews by Michael Closs in
Archaeoastronomy: The Journal of the Centre for Archaeoastronomy,
Volume VI, Numbers 1-4, January-December, 1983, Pages 164-171;
and by David Kelley in Archaeoastronomy (Supplement to the
Journal for the History of Astronomy), Number 5 (Supplement to
Volume 14), 1983, Pages S70-S72.] Reiche, Harald. (1985). "The Archaic Heritage: Myths of
Decline and End in Antiquity." In: Friedlander, S[?]. et.
al. (Editors). Visions of Apocalypse: End of Rebirth. (Pages
21-43). [Note: The author argues that the iconography of Iranian
vases dating circa 4000 BCE are to be interpreted in terms of
quasi-precessional phenomena.] Ulansey, David. (1989; reprinted 1991). The Origins of the
Mithraic Mysteries: Cosmology and Salvation in the Ancient World.
[Note: Not exactly pre-Hipparchus but involving some supposed
precessional "back-dating." The book is based on his
1984 Princeton University doctoral thesis titled: Mithras and
Perseus: Mithraic Astronomy and the Anatolian Perseus-Cult.
Highly speculative and controversial. A devastating critique of
David Ulansey's speculation that Cilician pirates developed the
Mithraic mysteries using Hipparchus' discovery of precession is
given in: Clauss, Manfred. (2001). "Mithras und die
Präzession." (Klio Beiträge zur Alten Geschichte, Band 83,
Heft 1, Pages 219-225).] Worthen, Thomas. (1991). The Myth of Replacement: Stars, Gods,
and Order in the Universe. [Note: The author is a Classicist who
retired from his position as Associate Professor, Department of
Classics, The University of Arizona, in 1999. Basically the book
takes an anthropological approach to precessional mythology. See
the (English-language) book review by Raymond Mercier in Journal
for the History of Astronomy, Volume 23, 1992, Pages 303-305).] Sellers, Jane. (1992; revised edition 2003). The Death of Gods
in Egypt. [Note: The author, who is not a professional
Egyptologist, uses Egyptian mythology to test the ideas in
Hamlet's Mill. (For reasons unrelated to the course the author
did not complete her Ph.D. in Egyptology (under Dr. Klaus Baer)
at the Oriental Institute, University of Chicago.) Juan Villar, in his book The
Seventh Wonder (2005), incorrectly/falsely identifies Jane Sellers as an
Egyptologist, and associates her book with the University of Chicago. A revised and
updated 2nd edition of her book was first privately published
(unbound, i.e., loose sheet form) by the author in 1999 and then
published as a bound volume by a minor publisher in 2003 (and
this later 2nd edition is the preferred volume to use). Life
dates: 1926- .] Millar, F[?]. Graham. (1993). "The
Irish David and Goliath." (Journal of the Royal Astronomical Society of Canada,
Volume 87, Number 5, Pages 269-270). [Note: Abstract of paper presented at the
RASC 1993 General Assembly. See also the publication: 1993 General Assembly
Royal Astronomical Society of Canada, July 1-5, 1993, Halifax, Nova Scotia.] Millar, F[?]. Graham. (1995). "The Celestial David and
Goliath." (Journal of the Royal Astronomical Society of
Canada, Volume 89, Number 4, Pages 141-154). [Note: The Canadian
author argues that the ancient fear that "the sky is
falling" was a description that identified knowledge of
precession. He wrote several other articles on stellar mythology
for the Journal of the Royal Astronomical Society of Canada
during 1998/1999. [F?]. Millar was a meteorologist at the Head
Office of the Meteorological Service of Canada for 16 years
before joining the Defence Research Board for 23 years. He viewed
the book "Hamlet's Mill" as "true gospel."
See the (English-Language) obituary by Mary Whitehorne in Nova
Notes, Volume 32, Number 4, August, 2001, Page 6. Life dates:
1910-2001. For a critique of Millar's article (the identification of a number of
errors of fact) see: Correspondence/Correspondance - Comments on the Celestial
David and Goliath by Steven Biggs (Journal of the Royal Society of Canada,
Volume 90, April, 1996, Pages 95-96). Millar generously acknowledged his
mistakes.] Eelsalu, Heino. (1995). "Mida jahvatab Hamleti
veski." [= "What does Hamlet's mill grind?"]
(Akadeemia, Number 6, Pages (Columns?) 1300-1301). [Note:
Akadeemia is an Estonian journal. Basically a book review (in
Estonian) of the 1993 German-language edition of Hamlet's Mill by
Giorgio de Santillana and Hertha von Dechend. Supportive of
precessional mythology. The author was an astronomer and
historian of astronomy. Life dates: 1930-1998. See the
(English-language) obituary by Mihkel Jöeveer and Tönu Viik in Acta Historica
Astronomiae, Volume 10, Pages 224-226. Eelsalu interpreted
many Estonian (Finno-Ugric) myths as having an astronomical
meaning. He argues that the myth of the chopping down of the
(celestial) world tree was due to the precessional shifting of
the north pole (and subsequent tilting effect) from the Swan
constellation.] Sullivan, William. (1996). The Secret of the Incas. [Note: The
author, who holds a doctorate from the Center of American Indian
Studies at the University of St. Andrew's, applies the
precessional mythology theme of Hamlet's Mill to the mythology of
the Incas. His PhD was awarded in 1987 for research on which the
book is based. The author also holds a MLitt degree from the
Centre for Latin American Linguistic Studies at the University of
St. Andrews, Scotland. The thesis topic for this was
"Quechua Star Names", and was based on fieldwork into
star names currently known to the Indians of Peru and Bolivia.
See the (English-language) book review by Gerardo Aldana in
Archaeoastronomy, Supplement to: Journal for the History of
Astronomy, Volume 28, Number 22, 1997, Pages S88-S89.] Porter, Deborah. (1996). From Deluge to
Discourse: Myth, History, and the Generation of Chinese Tradition. [Note: A
fascinating astronomical interpretation of aspects of early Chinese mythology
based on a 'Hamlet's Mill approach' and greatly influenced by the ideas of the
sinologist David Pankenier who also believes in a 'Hamlet's Mill approach' to
Chinese and other mythology. The author is one of a number of sinologists and
others who believe the Chinese were well aware of the effects of precession
prior to its actual discovery in China. This conclusion is evident from some
surviving records from the Han period and also the content of some particular
mythology from this period. The earliest tentative awareness of precession in
China took hold in the Hou Han (= later Han) period. (The later Han period is
also now referred to as the Eastern Han Dynasty and spanned from 25 to 220 CE.)
During this period it was quite widely recognised that the calendar altered
(i.e., became unreliable) every 300 years. That is, every 300 years there was a
requirement to use a new calendar. Multiple mentions of the fact that the
calendar was only good for 300 years appears in the multiple volumes of the
Hou Hanshu (= Book of the Later Han) by the historian Fan Ye (flourished
398-445 CE). The discovery of the precession of the equinoxes in China can be
attributed to the scholar Yü Hsi (flourished circa 307-338 CE) circa 320 CE who
discussed it in his book, the An Thien Lun written 336 CE. (The book
discussed whether the motions of the heavens were stable.) Yü Hsi obtained a
value of about 1 degree in 50 tropic years for the precessional movement. The
brilliant scholar Zu Chongzi (420-500 CE) created the Daming Calendar (some
sources say promoted his father's calendar ) which took precession into account
for the first time. The most thorough and comprehensive calendar in the history
of China was the Dayan Calendar compiled in the Tang Dynasty (616-907 CE) by the
monk Yi Xing.
Deborah Porter has a PhD (Princeton University, 1989); her doctoral dissertation
was titled: The Style of Shui-hu chuan. She was Assistant Professor, Department
of Foreign Languages and Literature, University of Utah, 1989-1996; Associate
Professor, 1996-2002. See the favourable
(English-langauge) book review by William Nienhauser, Junior in The Journal of
Asian Studies , Volume 56, Number 3, August, 1997, Pages 776-779.] Sarma, K[?]. (1997). "Precession of the Equinoxes."
In: Selin, Helaine. (Editor). Encyclopaedia of the History of
Science, Technology, and Medicine in Non-Western Cultures. [Note:
See page 827. The article argues for knowledge of precession in
India during Vedic times. The evidence offered is that Vedic
priests changed (several times) the beginning of their year
backwards from one constellation to the next previous
constellation. It is not claimed that any measurement of
precession was made. The author is with the Adyar Library and
Research Centre, Adyar, Madras, India.] Thomas, Jesse. (1982). "Rock Art and the
Religion of the Sky." In: Bock, Frank. (Editor). American Indian Rock Art
Volumes VII & VIII. [Note: A paper supporting Hamlet's Mill presented at
the Seventh & Eighth American A.R.A.R.A. Symposium, 1980 & 1981. A previous
paper by Jesse Thomas was "Rock Art and the Religion of the Sun." A.R.A.R.A. =
American Rock Art Research Association.] Hodges, Horace. (1997). "Gnostic Liberation from
Astrological Determinism: Hipparchan "Trepidation" and
the Breaking of Fate." (Vigiliae Christianae: A Review of
Early Christian Life and Language, Volume LI [Volume 51], Number
4, November, Pages 359-373). [Note: Not a claim for an early
knowledge of precession independent of Hipparchus. The author
argues that at least some Gnostic sects used Hipparchus's
discovery of the precession of the equinoxes as evidence of a
benevolent force (a soteriological god) intervening in the world
to successfully shift the zodiacal sphere to break the bonds of
astrological fate and release the Gnostic elect from the power of
the cosmos and its creator.] Wood, Florence. and Wood, Kenneth. (1999). Homer's Secret Iliad: The Epic of
the Night Skies Decoded. [Note: An astronomical interpretation of the Iliad that
attempts to push its content back to circa 8000 BCE. Argues for an early equally
divided 12-constellation zodiac, and Greek mythology embodying knowledge of
precession. Inaccurate on basic issues and quite speculative.
Its claim that the
Iliad is the world's oldest astronomy book, incorporating knowledge of
precession, founders on its ideas of constellation antiquity i.e., the claim
that our inherited Greek constellations originated in Greece and Asia Minor
circa eighth millennium BCE.
The Woods maintain that the astronomical content of the Iliad was forgotten with
the rise of Greek scientific astronomy. "Chapter 1: Astronomy and the Ancients"
comprises a variety of ideas concerning the antiquity of the constellations and
lacks an underlying unity. This chapter also supports the flawed "void space"
argument for the antiquity of the constellations. The "void space" argument is a
simplistic substitution for the more rigorous application of historical evidence
(i.e., extent cuneiform and classical texts, philological analysis of
constellation names, and constellation iconography and mythology). The 200
year-old "void space" originated at a time when philology and archaeology were
both under-developed and unable to be applied in any meaningful way.
That the Iliad is allegory and was
set in the sky is not a new idea.
Publications
propounding an astronomical interpretation of Homer's epics have existed for
over 200 years. Charles Dupuis ("L'origine de tous les cultes" (1795)) held that
the Iliad, Odyssey and the Voyage of Argo most likely described the voyage of
the sun (or its representative planet) through the zodiacal constellations.
Astronomical interpretations of mythology (often incorporating
precession as the "key") have been extensively promoted in numerous books
published between circa 1880 and 1930.
William Warren's
"Paradise Found" (1898) was meant as a new contribution to Homeric
astronomy/cosmology. Interestingly Anton Krichenbauer in his "Theogonie und
Astronomie" (1881) interpreted the Iliad as an allegorical history of a calendar
reform needed circa 2110 BCE because of the precessional movement of the
equinoxes. Perhaps the first book solely discussing the "astro-mythic"
interpretation of the Iliad is "The Judgment of Paris" by Emmeline Plunket
(1908). In this she was possibly influenced by the nature myth interpretation of
Homer incorporated by William Gladstone in his "Landmarks of Homeric Study"
(1890). Perhaps the heftiest proponent of astral mythology furnishing the key to
Homer was the Panbabylonist Carl Fries in his "Studien zur Odyssee (2 volumes,
1910-1911), and "Die griechischen Gotter und Heroen" (1911). The Panbabylonist
Peter Jensen held some similar astral ideas in his "Mythen und Epen" (1900), and
"Das Gilamesch-Epos in der Weltliteratur" (2 volumes, 1906-1929). Even Arthur
Drews in his "Der Sternhimmel" (1923) makes passing reference to an astronomical
interpretation of Homer. It
was also discussed by proponents of the 19th-century "sun myth" school. The
minister and author Abraham Palmer (1847-1922) was probably the last real
exponent of the "sun myth" school. At least his book "The Sampson-Saga and its
Place in Comparative Religion" (1913) was probably the last substantial effort.
(Interestingly,
Metrodorus of Lampsacus (circa 5th-century BCE) identified Hector as the moon,
Achilles as the sun, Agamemnon as the earth, and Helena
as the air.)
Historically, proponents of a scheme of astronomical mythology (nearly always
based on an equally divided 12-constellation zodiac) have ceaselessly
demonstrated that it is possible to incorporate a diverse and differing range of
astronomical data into their interpretations. Almost all the authors interpret
the same mythology or epics with different astronomical data i.e., identify
different astronomical phenomenon. Simply, an "astro-mythic" scheme can bear
several several interpretations. (It is interesting to see the apparently
Jungian "astro-mythic" slant given to Hebrew mythology by Tom Chetwynd in his
"The Age of Myth" (1991).) Such multitude of divergence indicates that the
methodology is flawed or that the interpretations are forced. In a nutshell: The
problem is no "astronomical key" has been identified - as is evidenced by the
diverse astronomical methods of interpretation. This facilitates the criticism
that often the method(s) of "astro-mythic" interpretation is perhaps not a
method after all. A reasonable analogy would perhaps be the elaborate "Bacon is
Shakespeare" ciphers that have been "discovered". What stands out is the fact
that the coding systems and underlying identification messages are never the
same. The 2 volumes by Ignatius Donnelly titled "The Great Cryptogram" (1888)
are a prime example. John Nicolson's book "No Ciphers in Shakespeare" (1888)
showed that the cipher scheme "discovered" by Ignatius Donnelly can be used to
produce any required result. Likewise, elements within a single scheme of
astronomical mythology can produce several variant interpretations. Two "recent"
publications using the same tale in the context of "Hamlet's Mill" (1969) are
"Heavens Unearthed in Nursery Rhymes and Fairy Tales" by Matt Kane (1999) and "Imaginery
Landscapes: Making Worlds of Myth and Science" by William Thompson (1989). Both
authors refer to "Hamlet's Mill: An Essay on Myth and the Frame of Time". In
"Chapter 5: Rumpelstiltskin" of Kane's book he interprets the tale as a lunar
myth. In "Chapter 1: Rapunzel: Cosmology Lost" of Thompson's book he interprets
the tale as involving the sun and moon and the planetary motion of Mercury,
Venus and Mars.
The importance of the ecliptic and the development of the equally divided
12-constellation zodiac does not appear until after the start of the Persian
Period in Mesopotamia (circa 500 BCE). The evidence indicates that it was the
astronomy of the Babylonian Mul.Apin scheme (circa 1000 BCE) that established
the preconditions for the importance of the ecliptic and the establishment of
the Babylonian zodiacal scheme which was later adopted by the Greeks. The
Babylonian scheme of 12 zodiacal constellations was derived from a system of 18
constellations (established during the Assyrian Period, starting circa 1100 BCE)
along the ecliptic to mark the path of the moon. The question remains how can a
late Babylonian zodiac (developed circa 450 BCE) comprised of 12 constellations
(and 12 equal divisions) have been in use by Homer some 300 years earlier? (And
also have had an even earlier origin circa 8000 BCE - which is well prior to the
existence of both the Sumerian and Babylonian civilizations.) For a whole
different line of speculation see: "The Iliad as Politics" by Dean Hammer
(2002). An outstanding recent study, that clarifies its indebtedness to West
Semitic myth, is "The Iliad: Structure, Myth, and Meaning" by Bruce Louden
(2006).] Anon. (1999). "Continued Fraction Decipherment: the
Aristarchan Ancestry of Hipparchos' Yearlength &
Precession." (DIO, Volume 9, Number 1, June, Pages 30-38).
[Note: The article was written by DIO's editor Dennis Rawlins.
Argues for knowledge of precession by Aristarchos 150 years
before Hipparchus' discovery. Some references give Pages 30-42.] Kollerstrom, Nicholas. (2001). "On the Measurement of
Celestial Longitude in Antiquity." In: Simon, Gérard. and Débarbat, Suzanne. (Editors).
Optics and Astronomy. (Pages 145-159). [Note: Proceedings of the
XXth International Congress of History of Science (Liège, 20-26
July 1997). Volume XII. Includes an assessment of early
precessional knowledge.] Aveni, Anthony. (2001). Skywatchers: A Revised and Updated
Version of Skywatchers of Ancient Mexico. [Note: Includes an
assessment of whether the Mesoamericans had an understanding of
precession. The author is an astronomer and expert on native
American astronomy.] Barber, Elizabeth. and Barber, Paul. (2004). When They Severed
the Earth From the Sky: How the Human Mind Shapes Myth. [Note:
The authors maintain that myth originated in prehistoric
non-literate societies as a vehicle to preserve and transmit
information about real events and observations. The authors state
that the original inspiration for much of their book were the
essays in Before Philosophy by Henri and Henriette Frankfort,
John Wilson, and Thorkild Jacobsen (1949). Chapter 16: Of Sky
and Time is sufficient demonstration of the uninformed and
wildly speculative nature of the authors arguments. They
uncritically follow the central theme of Hamlet's Mill by Giorgio
de Santillana and Hertha von Dechend. Elizabeth Wayland is
Professor of Linguistics and Archaeology at Occidental College,
Los Angeles. Paul Barber is a research associate with the Fowler
Museum of Cultural History at the University of California, Los
Angeles.] Hansen, Chad. (2002). The five-fifths of myth. [Note:
Unpublished doctoral dissertation, The University of Texas at
Dallas. Abstract: The main argument of the dissertation is that
mythoi from around the world, as well as epics and legends that
derive from these mythoi, embody an awareness of astronomical
entities and events. In particular, the five planets visible to
the naked eye can be divided into two groups according to their
motion. The three planets Saturn, Jupiter, and Mars form one
group, called here the Big Three, and the two planets Venus and
Mercury form another group, called here the Divine Twins. These
two sets of planets were personified by various groups of people
from around the world, and woven into myth as the main characters
of many stories. From the very outset, these five planets were
thought to be involved in a celestial scenario of divine kingship
of the sky and the gods, as well as the divine origin of human
beings. The Big Three also contributed to the structure of
society through clan division. The astronomical event known
scientifically as the precession of the equinoxes was interpreted
by the mythopoets as a succession of World Ages, each of which
was ruled by a different king of the gods. This idea of world
time led directly to the advent of the calendar as the expression
of this succession. The grand myth of the World Ages was
eventually transformed into epic and legend, in which traces of
the myth can be discovered, using the techniques of critical
hermeneutics in general and comparative mythology in particular.
The dissertation discusses these astronomical underpinnings as
they are expressed, in particular, in Egyptian mythos, in the
Hindu epic The Mahabharata, in the Celtic legends compiled
in the Mabinogi, and in the Mesoamerican mythos of the
Mayan people as this is recorded in the Popol Vuh.
Although some argument to this effect was proposed in the text Hamlet's
Mill, no one to date has proposed the global distribution of
this motif, nor offered so comprehensive an analysis of these
archaeoastronomical influences in world narrative. Hence, this
dissertation advances theories and evidence that are not only
original in their orientation, but groundbreaking in their
content.] Maeyama, Yasukatsu. (2002). "The Two Supreme Stars, Thien-i and Thai-i, and
the Foundation of the Purple Palace." In: Ansari, S[?]. (Editor). History of
Oriental Astronomy. (Pages 3-18). [Note: Article on Chinese astronomy advocating
the precessional origin of the Purple Palace. The author, an expert on ancient
astronomy, was a colleague of and is influenced by Hertha von Dechend.] Lundwall, John (2006). "Taurus Oedipus and the Riddling
Sphinx: A New Interpretation." [Note: Wildly speculative and
uses several dated and unreliable sources. Published on the
internet at Cosmos and Logos.] Grofe, Michael. (2007). The Serpent Series:
Precession in the Mayan Dresden Codex. [Note: Kindly brought to my attention by
Laurence Crossen. Unpublished Ph.D. dissertation
for the Department of Native American Studies, University of California at
Davis. The author is currently (2010)
Adjunct Lecturer, Department of Anthropology, American River College.
Academic degrees: Ph.D., Native American Studies, University of
California, Davis; M.A., Social and Cultural Anthropology, California Institute
of Integral Studies; B.S., Marine Biology, University of Miami.] Durman, Aleksandar. (2009). "Celestial symbolism in the Vučedol
culture." (Documenta Praehistorica XXVIII, Pages 215-226.) [Note: A journal
of archaeological interdisciplinary scientific research
published yearly by the Department of Archaeology, Faculty of Arts, University of
Ljubljana.] Some
articles by Robert Brown Junior. Brown, Junior., Robert. (1885). "The
Zodiacal Crab." (The Academy, February 21, Number 668, Pages
135-136). [Note: No material by Robert Brown is reliable.
However, his mistaken ideas still continue to influence some
people who write on the origin of the constellations.] Brown, Junior., Robert. (1886). "The Names
of the Great Syrian Goddess." (The Academy, April 10, Number
727, Page 257). Brown, Junior., Robert. (November, 1886 - June,
1887). "On Euphratean Names of the Constellation Ursa
Major." (Proceedings of the Society of Biblical
Archaeology, Volume 9, Pages 127-130). [Note: This is a
communication to the Society.] Brown, Junior., Robert. (1887). "Babylonian
Astronomy in the West - The Aries of Aratos." (The
Babylonian and Oriental Record [The Babylonian & Oriental Record], Volume 1, Number 3, January,
Pages 33-35). [Note: See also: "Note on Babylonian Astronomy." by William Lynn.
(The Babylonian and Oriental Record, Volume 1, Number 5, 1887, March, Pages
78-79).] Brown, Junior., Robert. (1887). "The
Babylonian Zodiac." (The Academy, January 29, Number 769,
Page 73). [This is a letter which appears in the Correspondence
section.] Brown, Junior., Robert. (1887).
"Remarks on some Euphratean Astronomical Names in the Lexicon of Hêsychios."
(The Babylonian and Oriental
Record, Volume 1, Number 9, July, Pages 140-143; and Volume 1, Number 10,
August, Pages 148-150). Brown, Junior., Robert. (1887). "Etruscan
Divinity-Names." (The Academy, November 12, Number 810,
Pages 323-324). Brown, Junior., Robert.
(1888). "The Euphratean Kosmological Theogony Preserved by Damaskios." (The
Platonist [Magazine], An Exponent of Philosophic Truth, Volume 4, Number 3,
March, Pages 113-118). Brown, Junior., Robert. (November, 1888 - June,
1889). "Names of Stars in Babylonian." (Proceedings of
the Society of Biblical Archaeology, Volume 11, Pages 145-151).
[Note: This is a communication to the Society.] Brown, Junior., Robert. (November, 1889 - June,
1890). "Remarks on the Tablet of the Thirty Stars. Part
I." (Proceedings of the Society of Biblical Archaeology,
Volume 12, Pages 137-152). Brown, Junior., Robert. (November, 1889 - June,
1890). "Remarks on the Tablet of the Thirty Stars. Part
II." (Proceedings of the Society of Biblical Archaeology,
Volume 12, Pages 180-206). Brown, Junior., Robert. (November, 1890 - June,
1891). "Remarks on the Euphratean Astronomical Names of the
Signs of the Zodiac." (Proceedings of the Society of
Biblical Archaeology, Volume 13, Pages 246-271). Brown, Junior., Robert. (1890). "The
Zodiacal Crab." (The Academy, December 6, Number 970, Pages
532-533). Brown, Junior., Robert. (November, 1891 - June
1892). "Euphratean Stellar Researches [Part I]."
(Proceedings of the Society of Biblical Archaeology, Volume 14,
Pages 280-304). Brown, Junior., Robert. (1892). "The Milky
Way in Euphratean Stellar Mythology." (The Academy, January
9, Number 1027, Page 43). Brown, Junior., Robert. (November, 1892 - June,
1893). "Euphratean Stellar Researches [Part II]."
(Proceedings of the Society of Biblical Archaeology, Volume 15,
Pages 317-342). Brown, Junior., Robert. (November, 1892 - June,
1893). "Euphratean Stellar Researches. Part III."
(Proceedings of the Society of Biblical Archaeology, Volume 15,
Pages 456-470). Brown, Junior., Robert. (1892). "The
Celestial Equator of Aratos." In: Morgan, E[?]. (Editor).
Transactions of the Ninth International Congress of Orientalists.
2 Volumes. (Pages 445-485). [Note: The paper is in Volume 2.] Brown, Junior., Robert. (1894). "The Dawn of
Astronomy." (The Academy, March 31, Number 1143, Pages
271-272). [Note: An article book-review of The Dawn of Astronomy
by J. Norman Lockyer.] Brown, Junior., Robert. (1894). "The Connexion between Babylonian and Greek Astronomy." (The
Academy, November 10, Number 1175, Pages 379-380). Brown, Junior., Robert. (January - December,
1895). "Euphratean Stellar Researches. Part IV."
(Proceedings of the Society of Biblical Archaeology, Volume 17,
Pages 16-36). Brown, Junior., Robert. (January - December,
1895). "Euphratean Stellar Researches. Part V."
(Proceedings of the Society of Biblical Archaeology, Volume 17,
Pages 284-303). Brown, Junior., Robert. (January - December,
1895). "Euphratean Stellar Researches. [Part VI]."
(Proceedings of the Society of Biblical Archaeology, Volume 18,
Pages 25-44). Brown, Junior., Robert.
(1897). "On the Origin of the Ancient Northern Constellation-figures." (The
Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain and Ireland, April, Pages
205-226). Brown, Junior., Robert.
(1901). "A Greek circle of late times showing Euphratean influence."
(Proceedings of the Society of Biblical Archaeology, Volume XXIII, Pages
255-257). Brown, Junior., Robert. (January - December,
1902). "Note on the Heavenly Body MUL . MUL."
(Proceedings of the Society of Biblical Archaeology, Volume 24,
Pages 126-129). [Note: This is a communication to the Society.] Bouché-Leclercq,
Auguste. (1899; Reprinted 1979). L'Astrologie grecque. Halevy, Joseph.
(1906). "Nouvelles considérations sur le cycle turc des
animaux." (T'oung Pao, Séries II, Volume 7, Pages 270-295). Cumont, Franz.
(1909). "La plus ancienne géographic astrologique." (Klio
Beiträge zur Alten Geschichte,
Neunter Band [Band 9], Heft 3, Pages 263-273). [Note: Whilst the
article certainly appears in the original volume of Klio I could
not locate this article in a reprint volume of Klio.] Boll, Franz. (1903; Reprinted 1967). Sphaera:
Neue griechische Texte und Untersuchungen zur Geschichte der
Sternbilder. [Note: Astrological geography is discussed from page
296 onwards. See the (English-language) book review by Anon in
Nature, Volume LXVII, November 1902 to April 1903, (Thursday,
March 26, 1903), Page 481; the (French-language) book review by
Édouard Chavannes in T'oung Pao, Series II, Volume V, 1904,
Pages 208-212; and the (German-language) book review by Hugo
Winckler in Orientalistische Litteratur-zeitung, Siebenter
Jahrgang, Number 2, February, 1904, Columns 55-65; and Siebenter
Jahrgang, Number 3, March, 1904, Columns 93-104. See also the
(German-language) biography in Neue Deutsche Biographie, Zweiter
Band, 1953, Page 432. Life dates: 1867-1924.] Boll, Franz. (1914; Reprinted 1967). Aus der
Offenbarung Johannis: hellenistische Studien zum Weltbild der
Apokalypse. [Note: See Classical Philology, Volume 11, Number
3, July, 1916, Pages 343-344 for a (English-language) book
review by Shirley Case. See The Classical Review, Volume XXX,
1916, Page 22, for a (English-language) book review by W. K.
Lowther-Clarke; and see Orientalistische Literaturzeitung, 19
Jahrgang, Juni 1916, Number 6, Columns 187-188 for a
(German-language) book review by Ferdinand Bork; and see
Theologische Literaturzeitung, Vierzigster Jahrgang, Number 12,
1915, Columns 273-276 (for a (German-language) book review by [?]
Bouffet. For a critical book-length rebuttal of Boll's ideas in
his book see Die Apokalypse des Apostels Johannes und die
hellenistische Kosmologie und Astrologie, by (the Catholic
theologian/(later) bishop) Joseph Freundorfer (1929).] Weinstock, Stefan. (1948). The Geographical
Catalogue in Acts II, 9-11." (The Journal of Roman Studies,
Volume XXXVIII, Pages 43-46). [Note: Excellent article.] Metzger, Bruce. (1970). "Ancient
Astrological Geography and Acts 2:9-11." In: Gasque, W[?].
and Martin, Ralph. (Editors). Apostolic History and the Gospel.
Biblical and Historical Essays Presented to F. F. Bruce. (Pages
123-133). Goold, George. (Editor and translator). (1977;
2nd printing with revision of text and translation, 1992).
Manilius Astronomica. Quispel, Gilles. (1979). "Astrology."
In: Quispel, Gilles. The Secret Book of Revelation. (Pages
21-24). [Note: The section "Astrology," is contained in
the chapter "New Light on the Secret Revelation" of his
book. The author was a Catholic scholar. He was Professor of the
History of the Early Church, University of Utrecht, Holland; and
Professor of the Hellenistic Background of the New Testament,
Catholic University of Louvain, Belgium.] Boll, Franz. and Gundel, Wilhelm. (1937).
"Sternbilder, Sternglaube und Sternsymbolik bei Griechen und
Römern." In: Roscher, Wilhelm. (Editor). Aüsführliches
Lexicon der Griechischen und Römischen Mythologie. (Volume VI,
Columns 867-1071). [Note: A book-length article that remains a
standard study of Greek and Roman constellations and star names.
Both the authors were classical philologists who specialized in
ancient astronomy. See: Columns 1038-1046 for the Sphaera
Barbarica.] Boll, Franz. (1903; Reprinted 1967). Sphaera:
Neue griechische Texte und Untersuchungen zur Geschichte der
Sternbilder. [Note: The book includes a detailed discussion of
the Sphaera Barbarica. See the (English-language) book review by
Anon in Nature, Volume LXVII, November 1902 to April 1903,
(Thursday, March 26, 1903), Page 481; the (French-language) book
review by Édouard Chavannes in T'oung Pao, Series II, Volume V,
1904, Pages 208-212; and the (German-language) book review by
Hugo Winckler in Orientalistische Litteratur-zeitung, Siebenter
Jahrgang, Number 2, February, 1904, Columns 55-65; and Siebenter
Jahrgang, Number 3, March, 1904, Columns 93-104. See also the
(German-language) biography in Neue Deutsche Biographie, Zweiter
Band, 1953, Page 432. Life dates: 1867-1924.] Le Boeuffle, André. (1970). Le vocabulaire latin
de l'Astronomie. [Note: Doctoral thesis. Published in 3 volumes
in 1973. Includes a detailed discussion of the Sphaera Barbarica
in Tome II, Pages 629-642.] Le Boeuffle, André. (1977). Les noms latins
d'astres et de constellations. [Note: An abridged version of the
authors 1970 doctorate thesis "Le vocabulaire latin de
l'Astronomie." It includes a detailed discussion of the
Sphaera Barbarica. See the (English-language) book review by Paul
Kunitzsch in Archives Internationales d'Histoire des Sciences,
Volume 27, 1977, [should, I think, be Volume 28, 1978], Pages
334-335; and the (French-language) book reviews by Michel Rambaud
in Revue des Études Latines, Volume 58, 1980, Pages 461-463; and
by Pierre Hamblenne in Latomus Revue D'Études Latines, Tome XL,
1981, Pages 426-427.] Hübner, Wolfgang. (1975). "Die
Paranatellonten im Liber Hermetis." (Sudhoffs Archiv, Band 59, Heft 4, Pages
387-414). Saxl, Fritz. and Meier, Hans. (1953). Bober,
Harry. (Editor). Catalogue of astrological and mythological
illuminated manuscripts of the Latin Middle Ages. Volume 3:
Manuscripts in English libraries. (2 Volumes/Parts). [Note: The
Introduction in Part 1 (of Volume 3) contains a brilliant short
essay on the Sphaera Barbarica. See the (English -language) book
reviews by William Stahlman in Isis, Volume 45, Number 3,
September, 1954, Pages 309-311; by T[?]. Reese in The English
Historical Review, Volume 70, Number 274, January, 1955, Pages
98-99; and by Lilian Randall in American Journal of Archaeology,
Volume 59, Number 4, October, 1955, Pages 356-357. Life dates
Fritz Saxl: 1890-1948. Life dates Hans Meier: 1900-1941. (Hans
Meier was killed in the London blitz.)
The primary source – though far from inclusive – for art history information on
surviving illustrated manuscripts of the
Aratea
is the 4-volume work (1915-1966),
Verzeichnis
astrologischer und mythologischer illustrierter Handschriften des lateinischen
Mittelalters,
variously edited by Fritz Saxl, Hans Meier, and Patrick McGurk.] Scherer, Anton. (1953). Gestirnnamen bei den
indogermanischen Völken. [Note: Invaluable. See the
(English-language) book review by Ernest Pulgram in Language,
Volume 30, 1954, Pages 284-285; and the (German-language) book
review by Ernst Zinner in Theologische Literaturzeitung, Volume
82, Number 9, September, 1957, Columns 674-675.]
Astronomical
depictions on ancient coins. Abramzon, M[?]. (2002). "Astral symbols in
Roman coinage: Origin and development of coin types."
(Vestnik drevnej istorii, Number 1, Pages 122-142). [Note:
Vestnik drevnej istorii = Journal of Ancient History.] Anson, Leo. (1910-1916; Parts I-VI). Numismata
Graeca. Chambliss, Carlson. (1994). "Additional
Astronomical Themes on Ancient Coins." (Bulletin of the
American Astronomical Society, Volume 26, December, Page 1359). Chambliss, Carlson. (1995). "Bullion and
Billion: Astronomical Images on Old Coins." (Mercury, Volume
24, Number 1, January/February, Page 23). Curtis, James. (1956). "Coinage of Roman
Egypt: A Survey; Chapter IV: Mythology and the Zodiac." (The
Numismatist, Volume 69, Pages 402-408). Gariboldi, Andrea. (2004). "Astral
Symbology and Iranian Coinage." (East and West, Volume 54, Number 1/4, December,
Pages 31-53). [Note: The author deals with Sasanian coins.] Molnar, Michael. (1992). "The Coins of
Antioch." (Sky and Telescope, Volume 83, January, Page 37). Molnar, Michael. (1998). "Symbolism of the
Sphere." (The Celator, Volume 12, Number 6, June, Pages
6-7). Ramsey, John. (1999). "Mithridates, the
Banner of Ch'ih-Yu, and the Comet Coin." (Harvard Studies in
Classical Philology, Volume 99, Pages 197-253). Saslaw, W[?]. and Murdin, P[?]. (2005). "The
Double Heads of Istrus: the Oldest Eclipse on a Coin."
(Bulletin of the American Astronomical Society, Volume 37,
August, Page 629). Zimmermann, Linda. (1994). "Precious
records: Gold and silver coins of the ancient world chronicle
celestial events." (The Celator, Volume 8, Number 7, July,
Pages 36-?). Zimmermann, Linda. (1995). "Heads and Tails
of Celestial Coins." (Sky and Telescope, Volume 89, Number
3, March, Pages 28-29). [Note: On astronomical events depicted on Roman coins.] de Meis, Salvo. (2004). "Astronomical reflexes in Ancient
Coins." In: Rollinger, Robert. and Ulf, Christoph. (Editors). Commerce and
Monetary Systems in the Ancient World: Means of Transmission and Cultural
Interaction. (Pages 470-498).
The
origin and development of zodiacal and planetary symbols. Maunder, Annie. (1934). "The Origin of the Symbols of the
Planets." (The Observatory, Volume 57, Pages 238-247).
[Note: Annie Dill, the second wife of Edward Maunder, was not
always reliable when she ventured into historical subjects.] Partington, R[?]. (1937). "The Origins of the Planetary
Symbols for the Metals." (Ambix, Volume 1, Pages 61-64). Neugebauer, Otto. (1942). "Egyptian Planetary
Texts." (Transactions of the American Philosophical Society,
New Series - Volume XXXII, Part II, January, Pages 209-250 + (16
Pages) Plates). [Note: Probably the best and most detailed
discussion on the topic by Otto Neugebauer.] Neugebauer, Otto. (1943). "Demotic Horoscopes."
(Journal of the American Oriental Society, Volume 63, Pages
115-126 + Plates). [Note: Otto Neugebauer states that the signs
used in the late (Roman) Demotic documents are undoubtedly the
earliest known symbols. He also gives good references on the
topic of the further development of the zodiacal and planetary
symbols in Western Europe.] Neugebauer, Otto. and van Hoesen, Henry. (1959). Greek
Horoscopes. [Note: See pages 1 and 156.] Neugebauer, Otto. (1959). "On the Solar Symbol
in Greek Manuscripts." (Byzantine Zeitschrift, Volume 52, Pages 22). Anon. (1982). The Origin of the Signs of the Zodiac."
(Nature, Volume 296, Number 5857, April 8, Page 494). [Note:
"100 years ago" section makes mention of the early work
of Jesuit Fathers Joseph Epping and Johann Strassmaier on
Babylonian mathematical astronomy. There is no mention of
zodiacal and planetary symbols.] Jones, Alexander. (1999). Astronomical Papyri from
Oxyrhynchus. (2 Volumes). [Note: See Volume 1, Pages 61-63.]
Schaefer, Bradley [Brad]. (2002). "The Latitude and Epoch for the Formation
of the Southern Greek Constellations." (Journal for the History of Astronomy,
Volume 33, Part 4, Number 113, November, Pages 313-350). [Note: An important paper by an astronomer
comprising a critical quantitative analysis of the "void zone" arguments for the
origins of the Greek constellations in the third Millennium BCE.. A suitable
discussion of numerous problems with the basic methodologies of Maunder-Crommelin-Ovenden-Roy
has been undertaken Schaefer in this paper. His conclusions are that the
southern Greek constellations originated in the first millennium BCE, and are
basically derived from Babylonia. Several opponents/critics claim "they can't
understand his statistical argument" and "only Schaefer believes his
conclusions." None have offered a detailed rebuttal. Bradley Schaefer is currently (2011) professor
of astronomy and astrophysics at Louisiana State University. He received his PhD
from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1983. His research interests
include the use of photometry of exploding objects to get results of interest
for physical cosmology. He has also researched the dwarf planet Pluto with the
aim of understanding the atmospheric variability of the system.] Schaefer, Bradley. (2004). "The Latitude and Epoch for the Origin of the
Astronomical Lore of Eudoxus." (Journal for the History of Astronomy, Volume 35,
Part 2, Number 119, May, Pages 161-223). [Note: A critical quantitative analysis of the date
for the origin of the astronomical lore of Eudoxus. Establishes that the lore
was of Babylonian origin circa 1130 BCE, and based on the information in the
Mul.Apin series. In at least 1 reference page number 161 has been mistakenly
transposed to 116.] Schaefer, Bradley. (2005). " The Epoch of the Constellations on the Farnese
Atlas and their Origin in Hipparchus's Lost Catalogue." (Journal for the History of Astronomy,
Volume 36, Part 2, Number 123, May, Pages 167-196]). [Note: A controversial paper due to
critics (principally the astronomer/historian Dennis Rawlins (1937- ), editor of DIO, the International Journal of Scientific History) ridiculing a number of errors and oversights by the author.
The key oversight was lack of knowledge of the earlier (rather obscure) 1987
paper by Vladimiro Valerio (an Italian expert on ancient cartography/maps), on
the history of astronomical investigations of the Farnese globe. See also the
scholarly critique: "Analysis of the Farnese Globe." by (astronomer) Dennis Duke
in Journal for the History of Astronomy, Volume 37, Part 1, Number 126, Pages
87-100. It comprises a critique of Bradley
Schaefer's paper that Hipparchus' star catalogue is the basis for constellation
depiction on the Farnese globe.] Schaefer, Bradley. (2006). "The Origin of the Greek
Constellations." (Scientific American, Volume 295, Number 5, November, Pages
70-75). [Note: A reliable account - written for a popular audience - of the origin of the Greek
constellations consolidated in Ptolemy's star catalogue and included in his book
Almagest. Slightly dogmatic regarding the existence of a Paleolithic bear
constellation. Written at the request of the editors of Scientific American, it
marks the last paper by Schaefer on the origin of the Western constellations.]
MacLeod, William. (1929). "On
the Diffusion of Central American Culture to Coastal British Columbia and
Alaska." (Anthropos, Band 24, Heft 3-4, May-August, Pages 417-439).
Barker, Ernest. (1935). "Some Foreign Influences in Greek Thought." (Greece &
Rome, Volume 5, Number 13, October, Pages 2-11). [Note:
No specific discussion of the transmission of constellations and star names, but
relevant to the topic.]
Yabuuti, K[?]. (1963). "The
Chiuchih Li: An Indian astronomical book in the
T'ang
dynastý." In: Chugoku Chisei Kagaku Gijutsushi no Kenkyu (Tokyo). [= History of
Chinese Science and Technology in the Middle Ages. (?)] (Pages 493–538). [Note:
Presently no other details but see full reference in
"A brief chronological and bibliographic guide to the history of Chinese
mathematics." by Frank Swetz and Ang Tian Se (Historia Mathematica, Volume 11,
Issue 1, February, 1984, Pages 39-56).]
Pingree, David. (1963).
“Astronomy and Astrology in India and Iran.” (Isis, Volume 54, Number 2, June,
Pages 229-246). Gibbon, William. (1964). "Asiatic Parallels
in North American Star Lore: Ursa Major." (Journal of
American Folklore, Volume 77, Number 305, July-September, Pages
236-250). [Note: His name almost invariably appears as William B. Gibbon. Gibbon
was interested in folklore but was not a folklorist - he was a Llinguist. At the time of writing both of his articles on
Asiatic parallels William Gibbon PhD was, circa 1960-1964 (at least), with the
University of Nebraska (and was likely not connected with the Department
of History there). Folklore studies there are (or were) under the
umbrella of the Department of History. Gibbon's focus was languages. However, in
1962, at a meeting of the Rocky Mountain Modern Language Association (held
at Utah State University), Modern Languages I (Linguistics) Section, he gave a
talk on "Foreign Influences on Slavic Star Mythology." (See: The Bulletin of the
Rocky Mountain Modern Language Association, Volume XVI, Numbers 1 and 2, May,
1963.) In 1964, at the 2nd annual meeting of the Nebraska Folklore Society (held
at the Joslyn Art Museum, Omaha) he gave a talk on "Popular Beliefs and
Superstitions." He was likely instrumental in the formation of the Nebraska
Folklore Society circa 1962 (See: Western Folklore, Volume 23, 1964, Page 58.) At some time Gibbon appears to have taught the Russian language. Circa 1967 he was Associate Professor (of
Russian?) (in
the Department of Germanic and Slavic Languages?). His promotion to Associate
Professor occurred circa 1962 (more likely 1967). (In 1964/5 he was described
as being in the Department of Germanic Languages.) From 1974 until his
retirement he was Professor of Russian. By 1983 at least he was
Professor, Department of Modern Languages and Literatures. Circa 1961 he appears to have
been a member of the American Association for the Advancement of Slavic Studies. Circa 1974-1975 he was Professor of
Modern Languages. In the 1970s Gibbon served on the Editorial Board (with others
forming a group from University of Nebraska - Lincoln) for the journal Studies in Twentieth
Century Literature. Gibbon was born in Harvard, a small city in Nebraska. It
appears he served in the United States Navy from 1944 to 1946. (He may also have
served again during the period of the Korean war, from 1951 to 1953.) His BS was obtained in 1949 from Georgetown
University, a private Jesuit university whose main campus is located in
Washington, D.C. In 1950 Gibbon was one of 5 or 6 students in a (post-graduate)
class (at the University of Pennsylvania) studying Slavic languages (initially
Old Prussian) under the Bulgarian-born Antanas Salys. Likely his Master's
degree, which was obtained in 1953. Another member of that
class was William R. Schmalstieg (who had an outstanding career as a
Balticist, Slavicist and Indo-Europeanist.).
(Both students were part of the surge in American studies in Slavic and East
European languages and literatures.) Gibbon's PhD (Slavic languages) was gained in 1960
from the University of Pennsylvania. His unpublished doctoral dissertation was "Popular
Star Names among the Slavic Speaking Peoples."
In 1959 he was appointed to the faculty of the University of Nebraska (more
exactly, University of Nebraska-Lincoln?), as an Instructor in Russian and
German (and remained in this position until 1967). He was Associate Professor of
Russian from 1967-1974. During 1960 Gibbon was at the University of Graz, in Austria.
It appears he was an exchange professor in Budapest, Hungary form 1972-1973. At some
time (summer, 1997?) he was a participant in the teacher exchange program
between the USA and the USSR. He spent his short time at the University of
Moscow. When he
became a retiree and Professor Emeritus (circa 2000?) he was in the Department of Modern Languages and
Literatures, within the College of Arts & Sciences, University of
Nebraska-Lincoln. (On March 28, 2011, at UNL (University of Nebraska-Lincoln)
William Gibbon, Emeritus Professor of Modern Languages and literatures, gave a
lecture ("90 Years of Russian at UNL: Russian and U.S. Relations during
the Cold War") to mark 90 years of Russian
language education at UNL.) Gibbon was a member of the Midwest Modern Language Association (at least in
the 1950s and 1960s) and secretary of the Slavic Section. He was also a member of the Nebraska Folklore Society.
Also, he contributed a book review to The Slavic and East European Journal,
Volume IX, Number 4, Winter, 1965. Gibbon was one of approximately 50 academics
throughout the USA who pledged, apparently in the late 1950s or early 1960s, to
establish and publish a standard collection of state-based folklore beliefs (in
Gibbon's case, Nebraska) as part of the projected multi-volume Dictionary of
American Popular Beliefs and Superstitions. See the discussion in Frank C. Brown
Collection of North Carolina Folklore: Popular Beliefs and Superstitions from
North Carolina (7 volumes, but see 1964, Introduction, Part 2). The project
never achieved completion.
Over the course of his academic career at the University of Minnesota and UCLA
the American folklorist Wayland Hand (1907-1986) collected an Archive of
American Popular Beliefs and Superstitions containing over 2 million items.
Gibbon is a member of the American Folklore Society, and American Association
for the Advancement of Slavic Studies. The
archive forms the basis for UCLA's ongoing project to produce an Encyclopedia of
Popular Beliefs and Superstitions. See the short
biographical entry for William Gibbon in Directory of American Scholars: A Biographical Directory
(Volume 3, 1969/1982, edited by Jaques Cattell), issued by the American Council of Learned Societies.
He presently lives in Malcolm?, Nebraska. For
biographical details see also Box 95, Archives & Special Collections, University
of Nebraska - Lincoln Libraries. Life dates: 1925?/1927?-
.] Gibbon, William. (1972). "Asiatic Parallels
in North American Star Lore Milky Way, Pleiades,
Orion." (Journal of American Folklore, Volume 85,
Number 335, January-March, Pages 236-247).
Pingree, David. (1973). "The Greek Influence on Early Islamic Mathematical
Astronomy." (Journal of the American Oriental Society, Volume 93, Number 1,
January-March, Pages 32-43).
Mundkur, Balaji. (1978). "The
Alleged Diffusion of Hindu Divine Symbols into Pre-Columbian Mesoamerica: A
Critique [and Comments and Reply]." (Current Anthropology, Volume 19, Number 3,
September, Pages 541-583). [Note: Relevant to critical approaches to issues of
parallels/similarities.] Duke, Philip., Ebert, P[?]., Langemann, G[?]., and Buchner, A[?]. (Editors). (1978). Diffusion and Migration: Their Roles
in Cultural Diffusion. [Note: Conference papers, Archaeological Association,
Department of Archaeology, of the University of Calgary (10th annual conference,
1977). Includes discussion of constellations and star names. See: "A Research
Strategy for the Study of Star Lore." by Joe Stewart (Department of
Anthropology, Lakehead University). His (unpublished) Ph.D. thesis (1974,
University of Calgary) was "Mesoamerican and Eurasian Calendars." Philip Duke [P. G.
Duke] is an archaeologist. Life dates: 1953- .] Kunitzsch, Paul. (1986). "Remarks on Possible
Relations Between Ancient Arabia and the Neighbouring
Civilizations, as Found in Some Old Star Names." In:
Pre-Islamic Arabia (Studies in the History of Arabia, Volume II,
Pages 201-205). [Note: Proceedings of the Second International
Symposium on Studies in the History of Arabia ... April, 1979.]
Greenfield, J[?]. and Sokoloff,
M[?]. (1989). "Astrological and Related Omen Texts in Jewish Palestinian
Aramaic." (Journal of Near Eastern studies, Volume 48, Number 3, July, Pages
201-214).
[Note:
No specific discussion of the transmission of constellations and star names, but
relevant to the topic.] Krupp, Ed [Edwin]. (2000). "Night Gallery:
The Function, Origin, and Evolution of Constellations." (Archaeoastronomy:
The Journal of Astronomy in Culture, Volume XV, Pages 43-63). [Note:
The best overall summary study to date. It establishes the benchmark for
discussions of the origin, development, function and transmission of
constellations. (It continues (2011) to be the best
article overall on the subject.) For a relatively short article it
is very comprehensive in scope and insightful. Originally presented by the
author at Oxford VI, June, 1999. Supportive of Willy Hartner's
controversial views on the earliest constellations. The author is
the Director of the Griffith Observatory in Los Angeles and an
expert on the early history of astronomy and astronomical lore.
Edwin Krupp: 1944 - .]
Sarma, Nataraja.
(2000). "Diffusion of astronomy in the ancient world." (Endeavour, Volume 24,
Issue 4, 1 December, Pages 157-164). Abstract:
"Astronomical techniques, calendars and devices were developed independently in
many places around the world. However, there was much cross-cultural exchange of
technology over the centuries. The cultures of Egypt, Greece, India and China
influenced each others' astronomy and each cannot be treated in isolation."
Pankenier, David. (2000). Popular Astrology and Border Affairs in Early China:
An Archaeological Confirmation." (Sino-Platonic Papers, Number 104, July.
Comprises 23 pages). [Note: No mention of constellations. However, illustrates
how military ventures could bring diverse geographic groups together.]
Pingree, David. (2002). "The Sābians of Harrān and the Classical Tradition."
(International Journal of the Classical Tradition, Volume 9, Number 1, Summer,
Pages 8-35).
McEwan, Dorothea. (2006). “Aby Warburg's (1866-1929) Dots
and Lines. Mapping the Diffusion of Astrological Motifs in
Art History.” (German Studies Review, Volume 29, Number 2,
May, Pages 243-268).
Potts, Daniel. (2007).
"Differing Modes of Contact Between India and the West: Some Achaemenid and
Seleucid Examples." In: Ray, Himanshu. and Potts, Daniel. (Editors). Memory as
History: The Legacy of Alexander. (Chapter IX, Pages 122-130).
Ôhashi, Yukio. (2008). "Introduction of Persian
Astronomy into India." (Tārīkh-e 'Elm: Iranian journal for the History of
Science, Volume 6, Pages 49-74). [Note: Abstract:
The Islamic astronomy including the Persian
astronomy was thoroughly introduced into India from the 14th
century AD or so. Firstly, the
astrolabe was introduced at the time of Fīrūz
Shāh
Tughluk, and a Sanskrit work entitled
Yantra-rāja
(1370 AD) was composed by Mahendra
Sūri.
At that time, some Sanskrit astronomical (or astrological) works were also
translated into Persian. The astrolabe became quite popular in India, and Padmanābha
wrote the second Sanskrit work on the astrolabe in 1423 AD. During the Delhi
Sultanate period and the Mughal Empire period, Islamic astronomy and Hindu
Classical astronomy influenced each other. I would like to discuss the
introduction of the astrolabe into India and the development of astronomy in
India in this period.]
Williams, Clemency. (2008).
"Some Details on the Transmission of Astral Omens." In: Ross, Micah. (Editor).
From the Banks of the Euphrates. (Pages 295-318).
López-Ruiz,
Carolina. (2010). When the Gods were Born: Greek cosmologies and the Near East.
[Note: Excellent discussion of cultural 'parallels' and the problems of
identifying cultural transmission. No specific discussion of the transmission of
constellations and star names, but relevant to the topic.] Brown, David. (2011 (Expected publication date.)). The
Interactions of Ancient Astral Science. [Note: = Vergleichende Studien zu Antike
und Orient; X. Bremen: Hempen. Will include discussion of the diffusion of the
Mul.Apin series.] This web page was last updated on:
Tuesday, February 7, 2012,
10.00 pm.
(Approximately 400 references are listed on this page.) This web page was created using Arachnophilia 4.0 and
FrontPage 2003. You can reach me here by email:
Bier, Carol. (2004). “Patterns in Time and Space:
Technologies of Transfer and the Cultural Transmission of
Mathematical Knowledge across the Indian Ocean.” Ars
Orientali, Volume 34, Communities and Commodities:
Western India and the Indian Ocean, Eleventh-Fifteenth
Centuries, Pages 172-194).
[Note:
Abstract: "This article explores the potential role of
textiles in the transfer of mathematical knowledge from the
Indian subcontinent to the central Islamic lands and
west-ward to an emerging modern Europe through an inquiry
into prospective technologies of textile manufacture and
pattern-making. Ikat textiles of the ninth and tenth
centuries, found in Egypt but presumed to be from Yemen,
serve as a means to explore possibilities of numeration and
treatment of the spatial dimension. An initial attempt is
made to separate patterning from the technology of textile
production in an effort to treat the mathematical
possibilities that patterning offers for the application of
mathematical knowledge. This article proposes an ontology of
pattern, distinct from the category of a textile itself,
which raises significant questions pertaining to the
transmission of mathematical knowledge in relation to
expanded trade routes in the eighth through tenth centuries,
coincident with Islamic developments in the understanding of
two-dimensional space."]
