Pisces - Revision history

Sushoff: /* Eratosthenes */

2026-08-26T15:12:34Z

Eratosthenes

← Older revision		Revision as of 15:12, 26 August 2026
Line 89:		Line 89:

	=====Eratosthenes=====		=====Eratosthenes=====
	Pamias and Zucker (2013,<ref>Pamìas, Jordi und Zucker, Arnaud (2013). Ératosthènes de Cyrène: Catastérrismes, Belles Lettres, Paris</ref> 66-67)<blockquote>'''Var. 1 (Περὶ τῶν''' '''Ἱχθύων)''': These are the descendants of the Great Fish ([[Piscis Austrinus\|PsA]]), whose story we shall recount in greater detail when we come to him. The two Fish are separated from one another and are each situated in one of the two halves of the sky. One is called the “Northern Fish” and the other the “Southern Fish”. Between them lies a Node, adjacent to the foreleg of Aries.</blockquote><blockquote>The Northern Fish has twelve stars, and the Southern Fish fifteen. The line connecting them has three stars on the Northern Fish’s side, three on the Southern Fish’s side, three to the east, and three on the Node. Thirty-nine in all.</blockquote><blockquote>'''Var. 2 (Ἱχθύων):''' These are the descendants of the Great Fish ([[Piscis Austrinus\|PsA]]), whose story we shall recount in greater detail when we come to him. The two Fish are separated from one another and are each situated in one of the two parts of the sky. One is called the “Northern Fish”, and the other the “Southern Fish”. They have a Node which adjoins the foreleg of Aries.</blockquote><blockquote>The Northern Fish has twelve stars, and the Southern Fish fifteen. The thread connecting them has three stars on the Northern Fish’s side, three on the Southern Fish’s side, three to the east, and three on the Node. In total, the two Fish and the Node have thirty-nine stars. </blockquote>		Pamias and Zucker (2013,<ref>Pamìas, Jordi und Zucker, Arnaud (2013). Ératosthènes de Cyrène: Catastérrismes, Belles Lettres, Paris</ref> 66-67)<blockquote>'''Var. 1 (Περὶ τῶν''' '''Ἱχθύων)''': These are the descendants of the Great Fish ([[Piscis Austrinus\|PsA]]), whose story we shall recount in greater detail when we come to him. The two Fish are separated from one another and are each situated in one of the two halves of the sky. One is called the “Northern Fish” and the other the “Southern Fish”. Between them lies a Node, adjacent to the foreleg of Aries.</blockquote><blockquote>The Northern Fish has twelve stars, and the Southern Fish fifteen. The line connecting them has three stars on the Northern Fish’s side, three on the Southern Fish’s side, three to the east, and three on the Node. Thirty-nine in all.</blockquote><blockquote>'''Var. 2 (Ἱχθύων):''' These are the descendants of the Great Fish ([[Piscis Austrinus\|PsA]]), whose story we shall recount in greater detail when we come to him. The two Fish are separated from one another and are each situated in one of the two parts of the sky. One is called the “Northern Fish”, and the other the “Southern Fish”. They have a Node which adjoins the foreleg of Aries.</blockquote><blockquote>The Northern Fish has twelve stars, and the Southern Fish fifteen. The thread connecting them has three stars on the Northern Fish’s side, three on the Southern Fish’s side, three to the east, and three on the Node. In total, the two Fish and the Node have thirty-nine stars. </blockquote>'''Eratosthenes's star catalogue''' can be reconstructed from the list of stars he mentions in the last section of each of the constelllation descriptions. Hoffmann (2017)<ref name=":0">Hoffmann, S. M., <nowiki><i>Hipparchs Himmelsglobus</i></nowiki>. Springer Wiesbaden/ New York, 2017. doi:10.1007/978-3-658-18683-8.</ref> made such a catalogue and used it for computational comparison with Hipparchus's, Ptolemy's and Babylonian data; it is based on the edition and translation by Pamias and Geus (2007)<ref>Eratosthenes: Sternsagen, übersetzt von Pamìas, Jordi und Geus, Klaus, Verlag Utopica, Oberhaid 2007</ref> and presented here in English translation.

	{\|class="wikitable"		{\|class="wikitable"
	\|+		\|+

Sushoff: /* Stars Mentioned */

2026-08-26T14:11:26Z

Stars Mentioned

← Older revision		Revision as of 14:11, 26 August 2026
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	\|}		\|}

	====== ~~Stars Mentioned~~ ======		====== Hipparchus's "lost" star Catalogue ======
	{\| class="wikitable"
	\|+		The star catalogue of Hipparchus is not preserved. Yet, several scholars have reconstructed it in the past century: Vogt (1925)<ref>Vogt, H., “Versuch einer Wiederherstellung von Hipparchs Fixsternver zeichnis”, <nowiki><i>Astronomische Nachrichten</i></nowiki>, vol. 224, no. 2, Wiley, p. 17, 1925. doi:10.1002/asna.19252240202.</ref>, Grasshoff (1990)<ref>Graßhoff, G., <nowiki><i>The History of Ptolemy's Star Catalogue</i></nowiki>, Springer, New York, 1990 </ref>, Hoffmann (2017)<ref>Hoffmann, S. M., <nowiki><i>Hipparchs Himmelsglobus</i></nowiki>. Springer Wiesbaden/ New York, 2017. doi:10.1007/978-3-658-18683-8.</ref> and Glover (2026)<ref>Glover, E. (2026). ''The Astronomy of Hipparchus'', Cambridge University Press</ref>. Grasshoff's catalogue and computations are not published digitally, Hoffmann published three versions of the Manitius+Hoffmann<ref>Hipparchus's Lost Star Catalogue (1/2 reconstructed) (Hoffmann, 2017) in VizieR</ref> star lists in the CDS [https://vizier.unistra.fr/ VizieR] "catalog of catalogs", and Glover printed the star lists constellationwise in his book.
	!		{\|class="wikitable"
	!~~Greek~~		\|+ Hipparchus's star in Aquarius (Glover 2026)
	!~~German~~
	!~~English~~		!hipp.Cat.ID
	!ident.		!constStarID
	!~~src~~		!starName
	!		!ident.Bayer
	!~~lam_culm~~		!ident.HIP
			!concordance
	\|-		\|-
	\|		\|467
	\|		\|1
	\|		\|
	\|		\|α Psc
	\|		\|9487
	\|~~Lib II Cap V §10~~		\|CPAE
	~~\|rising, east, first~~
	\|
	\|-		\|-
	\|		\|468
	\|		\|2
	\|		\|
	\|		\|β Psc
	\|		\|113889
	\|~~Lib II Cap V §10~~		\|CPAE
	~~\|rising, east, last~~
	\|
	\|-		\|-
	\|		\|469
	\|		\|3
	\|		\|
	\|		\|η Psc (Ari)
	\|		\|7097
	\|~~Lib II Cap VI §2~~		\|CPAE
	~~\|setting CrB, south, last~~
	~~\|Psc 13.5~~
	\|-		\|-
	\|		\|470
	\|		\|4
	\|		\|
	\|		\|τ Psc
	\|		\|5586
	\|~~Lib II Cap VI §13~~		\|CPAE
	~~\|setting Aql, south, first~~
	~~\|Ari 2~~
	\|-		\|-
	\|		\|471
	\|		\|5
	\|		\|
	\|		\|φ Psc
	\|		\|5742
	\|~~Lib III Cap I §9~~		\|CPAE
	\|~~rising Ori, south, last~~		\|-
	\|Psc 13		\|472
			\|6
			\|
			\|χ Psc
			\|5571
			\|CPAE
			\|-
			\|473
			\|7
			\|
			\|ψ1 Psc
			\|5131
			\|CPAE
			\|-
			\|474
			\|8
			\|
			\|ω Psc
			\|118268
			\|CPAE
			\|-
			\|475
			\|9
			\|
			\|c Psc
			\|194
			\|CPAE
			\|-
			\|476
			\|10
			\|
			\|g Psc
			\|5544
			\|CPAE
			\|-
			\|477
			\|11
			\|
			\|27 Psc
			\|118209
			\|CPAE
			\|-
			\|478
			\|12
			\|
			\|29 Psc
			\|145
			\|CPAE
			\|-
			\|479
			\|13
			\|
			\|30 Psc
			\|154
			\|CPAE
			\|-
			\|480
			\|14
			\|
			\|33 Psc
			\|443
			\|CPAE
	\|}		\|}

Sushoff: /* Eratosthenes */

2026-08-24T12:34:37Z

Eratosthenes

← Older revision		Revision as of 12:34, 24 August 2026
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	\| e Psc		\| e Psc
	\| 5346		\| 5346
	\| 1		\| 1
	\| -		\|-
	\| 349		\| 349
	\| 26		\| 26

Sushoff: /* Eratosthenes */

2026-08-24T12:33:22Z

Eratosthenes

Show changes

Sushoff: /* Egyptian */

2026-08-04T17:51:07Z

Egyptian

← Older revision		Revision as of 17:51, 4 August 2026
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	In Ptolemaic times (1st century BCE), when Egypt was ruled by the Romans, new Egyptian temples were built in Esna and Dendera (south and north of Thebes/ Luxor). They display a cultural mixture of Babylonian and Egyptian constellations.<gallery>		In Ptolemaic times (1st century BCE), when Egypt was ruled by the Romans, new Egyptian temples were built in Esna and Dendera (south and north of Thebes/ Luxor). They display a cultural mixture of Babylonian and Egyptian constellations.<gallery>
	File:Psc DenderaEckig GZotti.JPG\|Pisces; rectangular zodiac of Dendera		File:Psc DenderaEckig GZotti.JPG\|Pisces; rectangular zodiac of Dendera
			File:Psc DenderaCirc Louvre.JPG\|Psc with [[IKU]], circular zodiac of Dendera (CC BY [https://collections.louvre.fr/en/ark:/53355/cl010028871 Musée du Louvre, Département des Antiquités égyptiennes])
	</gallery>		</gallery>

Sushoff at 16:09, 4 August 2026

2026-08-04T16:09:26Z

← Older revision		Revision as of 16:09, 4 August 2026
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	\| IPA =		\| IPA =
	\| culture = greek_almagest		\| culture = greek_almagest
	\| RA = 5.149425122 ~~to 359.8278759~~		\| RA = 359.8278759 to 5.149425122
	\| dec = 1.255604976 to 31.80426168		\| dec = 1.255604976 to 31.80426168
	\| areatotal = 723.76		\| areatotal = 723.76

Sushoff at 16:09, 4 August 2026

2026-08-04T16:09:04Z

@@ Line 2: / Line 2: @@
 ----
 [[File:Pisces (psc).tiff|thumb|Pisces. IAU and Sky & Telescope]]
 One of the [[:Category:88_IAU-Constellations|88 IAU constellations]]. The constellation Pisces emerged in rather late time in antiquity. Its origin is yet unexplained but it occurs in written Greek sources (Aratus, Eratosthenes, Hipparchus, Ptolemy) and it is depicted in the circular Denderah zodiac dating to Roman time Egypt. Babylonian sources do not have this constellations.

Sushoff: /* Stars within the Constellation Area */

2026-08-04T16:08:12Z

Stars within the Constellation Area

Show changes

Sushoff: /* Etymology and History */

2026-08-04T11:30:17Z

Etymology and History

← Older revision		Revision as of 11:30, 4 August 2026
Line 9:		Line 9:
	<ref>Hoffmann, Susanne M. Wie der Löwe an den Himmel kam. Franckh Kosmos Verlag, Stuttgart 2021</ref>Two fish tied together with a ribbon: this image is incomprehensible, and it was already so in ancient times. It originated in Mesopotamia as a zodiac constellation, and in the second half of the first millennium, there were strange new interpretations of it that probably not everyone understood even then. Seal depictions from Uruk show a fish and a bird connected by a pointed ribbon. The image is called the swallowfish and could be a visualisation of a word – swallow and fish, linked by a ribbon. In fact, there is a certain species of flying fish in the Mediterranean today that is called this, but whether this is what is meant here is lost in the mists of time.		<ref>Hoffmann, Susanne M. Wie der Löwe an den Himmel kam. Franckh Kosmos Verlag, Stuttgart 2021</ref>Two fish tied together with a ribbon: this image is incomprehensible, and it was already so in ancient times. It originated in Mesopotamia as a zodiac constellation, and in the second half of the first millennium, there were strange new interpretations of it that probably not everyone understood even then. Seal depictions from Uruk show a fish and a bird connected by a pointed ribbon. The image is called the swallowfish and could be a visualisation of a word – swallow and fish, linked by a ribbon. In fact, there is a certain species of flying fish in the Mediterranean today that is called this, but whether this is what is meant here is lost in the mists of time.

	In Uruk, the constellation may have been called swallow fish in the Seleucid period, but in Babylon it never had this name (as far as we know). In the diaries of mathematical astronomy, the names are always abbreviated and there it says ‘tails’. If we go back a millennium and look in MUL.APIN, we find the full name ‘Tails of the Giant Swallow’ ([[ZIB\|~~ZIBme~~]]). The V-shaped band is actually a swallowtail. It is the part of the ancient constellation Giant Swallow ([[SIM.MAḪ]]) through which the Sun, Moon and planets travel.		In Uruk, the constellation may have been called swallow fish in the Seleucid period, but in Babylon it never had this name (as far as we know). In the diaries of mathematical astronomy, the names are always abbreviated and there it says ‘tails’. If we go back a millennium and look in MUL.APIN, we find the full name ‘Tails of the Giant Swallow’ ([[ZIB\|ZIB<sup>me</sup>]]). The V-shaped band is actually a swallowtail. It is the part of the ancient constellation Giant Swallow ([[SIM.MAḪ]]) through which the Sun, Moon and planets travel.

	Here we can see a gradual reinterpretation of the figure over the centuries. In the 2nd millennium, the constellation was called Giant Swallow and was a calendar sign because the month was determined by the heliacal risings. In autumn, when the swallows fly south, the constellation is visible in the sky almost all night long – however, there is no evidence that any symbolism was derived from this.		Here we can see a gradual reinterpretation of the figure over the centuries. In the 2nd millennium, the constellation was called Giant Swallow and was a calendar sign because the month was determined by the heliacal risings. In autumn, when the swallows fly south, the constellation is visible in the sky almost all night long – however, there is no evidence that any symbolism was derived from this.

Sushoff: /* Egyptian */

2026-08-04T11:27:41Z

Egyptian

← Older revision		Revision as of 11:27, 4 August 2026
Line 51:		Line 51:

	===== Egyptian =====		===== Egyptian =====
	In Ptolemaic times (1st century CE), when Egypt was ruled by the Romans, new Egyptian temples were built in Esna and Dendera (south and north of Thebes/ Luxor). They display a cultural mixture of Babylonian and Egyptian constellations.<gallery>		In Ptolemaic times (1st century BCE), when Egypt was ruled by the Romans, new Egyptian temples were built in Esna and Dendera (south and north of Thebes/ Luxor). They display a cultural mixture of Babylonian and Egyptian constellations.<gallery>
	File:Psc DenderaEckig GZotti.JPG\|Pisces; rectangular zodiac of Dendera		File:Psc DenderaEckig GZotti.JPG\|Pisces; rectangular zodiac of Dendera
	</gallery>		</gallery>