Perseus - Revision history

Sushoff at 12:37, 27 February 2026

2026-02-27T12:37:26Z

← Older revision		Revision as of 12:37, 27 February 2026
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	==Etymology and History==		==Etymology and History==
	===Origin of Constellation===		===Origin of Constellation===
	Eratosthenes adds that it is possible, however, to recognise Perseus' weapon, a metallic sickle, in a nebulous cluster. He holds the sickle with his hand raised near his head. By this nebulous mass, he means the double star clusters h and χ Persei in the Milky Way.		<ref>Hoffmann, Susanne M. Wie der Löwe an den Himmel kam. Franckh Kosmos Verlag, Stuttgart 2021</ref>Eratosthenes adds that it is possible, however, to recognise Perseus' weapon, a metallic sickle, in a nebulous cluster. He holds the sickle with his hand raised near his head. By this nebulous mass, he means the double star clusters h and χ Persei in the Milky Way.

	In Ptolemy's Almagest, on the other hand, the star τ Per is identified with the hero's head. This is an excellent example of how ‘Greek’ constellations were never canonical, i.e. Eratosthenes draws the figures differently from Ptolemy, and Ptolemy differently from Hipparchus.		In Ptolemy's Almagest, on the other hand, the star τ Per is identified with the hero's head. This is an excellent example of how ‘Greek’ constellations were never canonical, i.e. Eratosthenes draws the figures differently from Ptolemy, and Ptolemy differently from Hipparchus.

Sushoff at 19:50, 26 February 2026

2026-02-26T19:50:41Z

← Older revision		Revision as of 19:50, 26 February 2026
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	----		----
	[[File:Perseus IAU.svg\|alt=star chart\|thumb\|Per star chart (IAU and Sky & Telescope magazine, Roger Sinnott & Rick Fienberg).]]		[[File:Perseus IAU.svg\|alt=star chart\|thumb\|Per star chart (IAU and Sky & Telescope magazine, Roger Sinnott & Rick Fienberg).]]
	One of the [[:Category:88_IAU-Constellations\|88 IAU constellations]].		One of the [[:Category:88_IAU-Constellations\|88 IAU constellations]]. Perseus is a handsome hero – not an overly muscular colossus like Heracles, nor of outstanding beauty like Orion, but a strong and armed young man. Eratosthenes describes the stars in this figure on his stomach, knees, feet, hands and – because he carries Medusa's head with him – some around the Gorgon's head. In a postscript to one of the text versions, which may have been added later, it is explicitly stated that Perseus' own head is not marked by a bright star.

	==Etymology and History==		==Etymology and History==
	~~The Greek constellation~~ ...		===Origin of Constellation===
			Eratosthenes adds that it is possible, however, to recognise Perseus' weapon, a metallic sickle, in a nebulous cluster. He holds the sickle with his hand raised near his head. By this nebulous mass, he means the double star clusters h and χ Persei in the Milky Way.

			In Ptolemy's Almagest, on the other hand, the star τ Per is identified with the hero's head. This is an excellent example of how ‘Greek’ constellations were never canonical, i.e. Eratosthenes draws the figures differently from Ptolemy, and Ptolemy differently from Hipparchus.

	~~===Origin~~ of ~~Constellation===~~		The Babylonian constellation in this region of the sky was also a male figure, but the constellation was called ‘Old Man’ ([[ŠU.GI]]). It is associated with Enmescharra, a god of primeval times and the last primeval ancestor of the chief god Enlil. This association suggests that the constellation of a man is relatively old – perhaps older than written culture – but underwent significant changes in interpretation over the course of the 3rd and 2nd millennia BCE: When Enlil was made the chief god and earlier gods were abolished, the constellation ‘God Enmescharra’ was simply called ‘Old Man’. This allowed it to live on when Marduk was elevated to chief god in the 13th century BCE.

			Near the Old Man is the constellation of the Plough ([[APIN]]). The chief god Enlil ([[En-lil2\|<sup>d</sup>''En-lil'']]<sub>2</sub>) was a god of agriculture and thus a bringer of culture. The plough was his attribute. In the 2nd millennium, the seed drill plough was invented, which allowed seeds to be sown directly into the earth as the furrow was drawn. However, the star association in the constellation Old Man (Mel 20, a cluster around α Per, [[Mirfak]]) can easily be interpreted as seeds that he scatters in the field like the sower in van Gogh's painting.

			Ploughing requires enormous physical strength and can only be done by young men. The lighter work of walking behind the plough and scattering the seeds can also be done by an old man. This suggests that the Old Man may originally have been a sower who became obsolete with the invention of the seed plough. Then one of the stars in the plough was renamed the ‘seed funnel’ and the Old Man was able to stand alone. Even in Eratosthenes, α Per is the star on the figure's belly, where the sower once held his cloth with the grains.

			The Old Man in MUL.APIN walks bent over, so his head is not pointing upwards like the Greek hero, but diagonally forwards, where there are indeed a few stars to imagine him.

			The constellation of the Old Man became the image of a young hero named Perseus, as people imagined a pair of lovers in this region of the sky. This has always been the case, but the exact location of the lovers in the stars has changed over the course of the history of constellations: in MUL.APIN, the neighbouring constellation ‘Wage Labourer’ (where Aries is today) is associated with the god Dumuzi. Dumuzi is the lover of the goddess of love, Ishtar, who became the princess [[Andromeda]] in Greek mythology. When a Babylonian pun turned the labourer into a ram (and thus deprived it of any visual clarity), the goddess of love was left without her lover. So it made sense to reinterpret the Old Man as a young man.

			The upright man (wage labourer in Ari+Tri) next to the upright goddess (northern fish ellipse in Psc plus western part of And) became a ram ([[Aries]]), a fish ([[Pisces]]) and a reclining princess ([[Andromeda\|Androemda]]), whose lover now stands a little further to the northeast: in the figure of Perseus.

	==== Babylonian ====		==== Babylonian ====
			see

			* [[ŠU.GI]]

	[[File:Kugel family.JPG\|thumb\|Kugel Globe (1st c.BCE): Andromeda, Cassiopeia, Perseus, Cepheus, drawing by SMH 2024.]]		[[File:Kugel family.JPG\|thumb\|Kugel Globe (1st c.BCE): Andromeda, Cassiopeia, Perseus, Cepheus, drawing by SMH 2024.]]

Sushoff: /* Setting (Lib II Cap VI §10) */

2026-02-24T08:16:26Z

Setting (Lib II Cap VI §10)

← Older revision		Revision as of 08:16, 24 February 2026
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	\|-		\|-
	\|		\|
	\|		\|Tau 2
	\|		\|Tau 29
	\|		\|Leo 5 1/2
	\|		\|Vir 9 1/2
	\|-		\|-
	\|		\|
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	\|-		\|-
	\|star		\|star
	\|		\|of those in the head of Gorgo the northern and front one (pi)
	\|		\|the one in the right knee (b)
	\|		\|
	\|		\|
	\|-		\|-
	\|duration		\|duration
	\| colspan="4" \|2 2/3 hours = ~~160~~ min = ~~40°~~		\| colspan="4" \|2 1/3 hours = 140 min = 35°
	\|}		\|}

Sushoff at 16:30, 23 February 2026

2026-02-23T16:30:10Z

← Older revision		Revision as of 16:30, 23 February 2026
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	\|-		\|-
	\|		\|
	\|		\|Cap 25
	\|		\|Ari 13 1/2
	\|		\|Sco 15 1/2
	\|		\|Cap 7 1/2
	\|-		\|-
	\|		\|
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	\|-		\|-
	\|star		\|star
	\|		\|the nebulous of those in the sword
	\|		\|those above the Pleiades in the left foot
	\|		\|
	\|		\|
	\|-		\|-
	\|duration		\|duration
	\| colspan="4" \|~~2 1~~/8 hours = ~~127.5~~ min = ~~31 7~~/8 degree		\| colspan="4" \|3 5/6 hours = 230 min = 57 1/2 degree
	\|}		\|}

Sushoff: /* Hipparchus */

2026-02-22T17:53:53Z

Hipparchus

← Older revision		Revision as of 17:53, 22 February 2026
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	===== Hipparchus =====		===== Hipparchus =====

			====== Rising (Lib II Cap V §10) ======
			<blockquote>The Rising of ...</blockquote>
			{\| class="wikitable"
			\|+
			!
			! colspan="2" \|east
			! colspan="2" \|south
			\|-
			!
			!lam1
			!lam2
			!lam1
			!lam2
			\|-
			\|
			\|
			\|
			\|
			\|
			\|-
			\|
			\|
			\|
			\|
			\|
			\|-
			\|star
			\|
			\|
			\|
			\|
			\|-
			\|duration
			\| colspan="4" \|2 1/8 hours = 127.5 min = 31 7/8 degree
			\|}

			====== Setting (Lib II Cap VI §10) ======
			{\| class="wikitable"
			!
			! colspan="2" \|west
			! colspan="2" \|south
			\|-
			!
			!lam1
			!lam2
			!lam1
			!lam2
			\|-
			\|
			\|
			\|
			\|
			\|
			\|-
			\|
			\|
			\|
			\|
			\|
			\|-
			\|star
			\|
			\|
			\|
			\|
			\|-
			\|duration
			\| colspan="4" \|2 2/3 hours = 160 min = 40°
			\|}

			====== Stars Mentioned ======
			{\| class="wikitable"
			\|+
			!
			!Greek
			!German
			!English
			!ident.
			!src
			!
			!lam_culm
			\|-
			\|
			\|
			\|
			\|
			\|
			\|Lib II Cap V §10
			\|rising, east, first
			\|
			\|-
			\|
			\|
			\|
			\|
			\|
			\|Lib II Cap V §10
			\|rising, east, last
			\|
			\|-
			\|
			\|
			\|
			\|
			\|
			\|Lib II Cap VI §2
			\|setting CrB, south, last
			\|Psc 13.5
			\|-
			\|
			\|
			\|
			\|
			\|
			\|Lib II Cap VI §13
			\|setting Aql, south, first
			\|Ari 2
			\|-
			\|
			\|
			\|
			\|
			\|
			\|Lib III Cap I §9
			\|rising Ori, south, last
			\|Psc 13
			\|}

	===== Hyginus, Astronomica =====		===== Hyginus, Astronomica =====

YoulaAzkarrula: /* Almagest Περσεύς */

2026-02-06T10:48:55Z

Almagest Περσεύς

Show changes

Sushoff at 13:31, 20 January 2026

2026-01-20T13:31:02Z

← Older revision		Revision as of 13:31, 20 January 2026
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			Authors: {{PAGEAUTHORS}}
			----
	[[File:Perseus IAU.svg\|alt=star chart\|thumb\|Per star chart (IAU and Sky & Telescope magazine, Roger Sinnott & Rick Fienberg).]]		[[File:Perseus IAU.svg\|alt=star chart\|thumb\|Per star chart (IAU and Sky & Telescope magazine, Roger Sinnott & Rick Fienberg).]]
	One of the [[:Category:88_IAU-Constellations\|88 IAU constellations]].		One of the [[:Category:88_IAU-Constellations\|88 IAU constellations]].

Dorvic at 15:15, 2 May 2025

2025-05-02T15:15:44Z

← Older revision		Revision as of 15:15, 2 May 2025
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	===== Hipparchus =====		===== Hipparchus =====

			===== Hyginus, Astronomica =====
			<blockquote>He is said to have come to the stars because of his nobility and the unusual nature of his conception. When sent by Polydectes, son of Magnes, to the Gorgons, he received from Mercury, who is thought to have loved him, talaria and petasus, and, in addition, a helmet which kept its wearer from being seen by an enemy. So the Greeks have called it the helmet of Haides [the Unseen One], though Perseus did not, as some ignorant people interpret it, wear the helmet of Orcus himself, for no educated person could believe that. He is said, too, to have received from Vulcan a knife made of adamant, with which he killed Medusa the Gorgon. The deed itself no one has described. But as Aeschylus, the writer of tragedies, says in his Phorcides, the Graeae were guardians of the Gorgons. We wrote about them in the first book of the Genealogiae. They are thought to have had but one eye among them, and thus to have kept guard, watch one taking it in her turn. This eye Perseus snatches, as one was passing it to another, and threw is in Lake Tritonis. So, when the guards were blinded, he easily killed the Gorgon when she was overcome with sleep. Minerva is said to have the head on her breastplate. Euhemerus says the Gorgon was killed by Minerva. We shall speak more of this later on. (Mary Ward 1960)</blockquote>

	===== Geminos =====		===== Geminos =====

Dorvic: /* Aratos */

2025-05-02T06:13:17Z

Aratos

← Older revision		Revision as of 06:13, 2 May 2025
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	==== Greco-Roman ====		==== Greco-Roman ====

	===== ~~Aratos~~ =====		===== Aratus =====
			<blockquote>The two feet of Andromeda will be pointers to her suitor Perseus, as they move for ever above his shoulders. [250] He runs taller than other figures in the north. His right hand is stretched out towards his bride’s mother’s chairseat, and as if on some immediate pursuit he takes long strides as he runs in the realm of his father Zeus.

			(Kidd 1997)</blockquote>

	===== Eratosthenes =====		===== Eratosthenes =====

Sushoff: /* Almagest Περαεύς */

2025-04-26T14:24:17Z

Almagest Περαεύς

← Older revision		Revision as of 14:24, 26 April 2025
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	===== Geminos =====		===== Geminos =====

	==== Almagest ~~Περαεύς~~ ====		==== Almagest Περσεύς ====
	{\| class="wikitable"		{\| class="wikitable"
	!id		!id