Euphrates

Authors: Susanne M Hoffmann

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Tigris and Euphrates on Plancius' globe gores (1612).

Euphrates Fluvius or River Euphrates is an obsolete constellation. It was invented twice in different times and places: First in Southern Mesopotamia in the first millennium BCE and second, (independently) in Europe in the early 17th century.

Concordance, Etymology, History

Spelling Variants

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Origin of Constellation

Ancient Mesopotamia

^{Psc-And-area with two rivers overlay to Anunitu + Swallow (SMH 2025)}

^{mul íd}IDIGNA (𒀯𒀀𒇉𒈦𒄘𒃼), the Tigris-river asterism, is a constellation that is mentioned in late cuneiform texts in the area of northeastern Pisces and western Andromeda. Together with the Euphrates' asterism (BURANUN) it formed a super-constellation that corresponds to the ribbons of classical Pisces and ZIB^me in cuneiform, a late form of KUN^{me(š) mul}SIM.MAḪ, the Tails of the Swallow, in MUL.APIN I iv 36.

Some star lists from the first millennium BCE equate the constellations Anunitu and Swallow with the two river constellations Euphrates and Tigris. The uranology MLC 1866 explicitly mentions that they meet at the "tip of The Tails (ZIB^me)"ː

• [MU]L.MEŠ ^ídIDIGNA u ^ídBURANUN^ki ina ṣip-ri ^mulZIB^<me>,
• "The stars of the Tigris and the Euphrates at the tip of the Tails" (D i 8)

Beaulieu et al. (2018, 35, 39, Section A).

Early Modern Constellation

Plancius (1590) Biblical Maps, displaying Euphrates and "Tigris fl. hebraice Hidekel" passing "Heden" (Eden with the Tree of Life).

Ian Ridpath only mentions Euphrates briefly in his entry on the Tigris constellation:

(...) river Tigris, a real river of Mesopotamia which joins with the Euphrates in the modern Iraq. The constellation was introduced in 1612 by the Dutchman Petrus Plancius (...)

As Plancius did not write any documentation on his newly introduced constellations, we can only speculate about some likely biblical reference. Hints are given in his personal life as a clergyman, frequently persecuted because of his belief, and his biblical (geographical) maps (Plancius 1590), where the Jordan River is featured very similarly to the celestial illustration on his globe gores, and Tigris is depicted next to the Tree of Life in Eden.

The first written explanation on the river constellations Tigris and Jordanus is preserved from Bartsch (1624), where Euphrates is not featured. Bartsch likely copies the idea from his mentor I. Habrecht (1621) and not directly from Plancius, so the reasons (for Habrecht?) to drop Euphrates are unknown.

Source

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  Tigris and Euprates on Plancius (1612) and van den Keere's globe gores.
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  Plancius (1590): Biblical Maps, with modern highlighting of Jor-Dan, Euphrates, Tigris and the Paradise south of Babylon.
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  Jordanus on Globe gores by van den Keere & Plancius (1612)
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  Plancius (1590): Biblical Maps, with modern highlighting of Jor-Dan.

Identifications

• (a) Mesopotamia: western Pisces
• (b) Plancius (1612): southern Cygnus
• (c) other authors in the 17th century copied Tigris from Plancius but left out Euphrates

Transfer and Transformation of the Constellation

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  Tigris and Euphrates on Plancius' globe gores (1612).
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  Tigris on globe gores by Habrecht (1621)
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  Tigris in Jakob Barsch (1661) Planisphaerium Stellatum

Mythology

Ian Ridpath writes in the mythology of Pisces:

The goddess Aphrodite and her son Eros took cover among the reeds on the banks of the Euphrates, but when the wind rustled the undergrowth Aphrodite became fearful. Holding Eros in her lap she called for help to the water nymphs and leapt into the river. In one version of the story, two fish swam up and carried Aphrodite and Eros to safety on their backs, although in another version the two refugees were themselves changed into fish. The mythologists said that because of this story the Syrians would not eat fish, regarding them as gods or the protectors of gods.

An alternative story, given by Hyginus in the Fabulae, is that an egg fell into the Euphrates and was rolled to the shore by two fish. Doves sat on the egg and from it hatched Aphrodite who, in gratitude, put the fish in the sky.

References

• References (general)