Sagitta - Revision history

Sushoff at 12:41, 27 February 2026

2026-02-27T12:41:57Z

← Older revision		Revision as of 12:41, 27 February 2026
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	==Etymology and History==		==Etymology and History==
	The Arrow is a small constellation that is documented throughout Greek mathematical astronomy: it already appears in Eudoxus's writings in the 4th century BCE. Aratus and Eratosthenes claim that it belongs to a bow, but there is no such bow to be seen anywhere. The constellation of the Archer is located south of the Arrow, so that the Arrow appears to fly over it and was certainly not shot from it. Eratosthenes therefore reports that the Arrow is a projectile of Apollo, the god of light.		<ref name=":0" />The Arrow is a small constellation that is documented throughout Greek mathematical astronomy: it already appears in Eudoxus's writings in the 4th century BCE. Aratus and Eratosthenes claim that it belongs to a bow, but there is no such bow to be seen anywhere. The constellation of the Archer is located south of the Arrow, so that the Arrow appears to fly over it and was certainly not shot from it. Eratosthenes therefore reports that the Arrow is a projectile of Apollo, the god of light.

	It is noteworthy that the myth surrounding the Arrow begins with Asclepius, who is represented in the constellation Ophiuchus. The constellation was called Zababa ([[ZA.BA4.BA4\|ZA.BA<sub>4</sub>.BA<sub>4</sub>]]) in Babylonian and was a god of war who has been documented since the 3rd millennium BCE. Seen from his perspective, the arrow flies in the right direction, as if it had been shot by him. However, there is no evidence of a constellation called Arrow in Babylonian, so there is no connection either.[[File:Cyg kugel.jpg\|thumb\|Earliest preserved depiction of Sagitta on the Kugel Globe (1st century BCE), next to Cygnus.]]		It is noteworthy that the myth surrounding the Arrow begins with Asclepius, who is represented in the constellation Ophiuchus. The constellation was called Zababa ([[ZA.BA4.BA4\|ZA.BA<sub>4</sub>.BA<sub>4</sub>]]) in Babylonian and was a god of war who has been documented since the 3rd millennium BCE. Seen from his perspective, the arrow flies in the right direction, as if it had been shot by him. However, there is no evidence of a constellation called Arrow in Babylonian, so there is no connection either.[[File:Cyg kugel.jpg\|thumb\|Earliest preserved depiction of Sagitta on the Kugel Globe (1st century BCE), next to Cygnus.]]
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	==Mythology==		==Mythology==
	'''Greek'''<ref>Hoffmann, Susanne M. Wie der Löwe an den Himmel kam. Franckh Kosmos Verlag, Stuttgart 2021</ref>		'''Greek'''<ref name=":0">Hoffmann, Susanne M. Wie der Löwe an den Himmel kam. Franckh Kosmos Verlag, Stuttgart 2021</ref>

	After Zeus killed the demigod Asclepius ([[Ophiuchus]]) with a thunderbolt because he had brought a dead man back to life, Asclepius' father Apollo was seriously upset. He killed the Cyclopes, who forged the thunderbolts for Zeus. Then he felt compelled to go into exile until his brother Zeus had calmed down and forgiven him for his deed.		After Zeus killed the demigod Asclepius ([[Ophiuchus]]) with a thunderbolt because he had brought a dead man back to life, Asclepius' father Apollo was seriously upset. He killed the Cyclopes, who forged the thunderbolts for Zeus. Then he felt compelled to go into exile until his brother Zeus had calmed down and forgiven him for his deed.

Sushoff: /* Mythology */

2026-02-26T18:58:22Z

Mythology

← Older revision		Revision as of 18:58, 26 February 2026
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	==Mythology==		==Mythology==
	'''Greek'''		'''Greek'''<ref>Hoffmann, Susanne M. Wie der Löwe an den Himmel kam. Franckh Kosmos Verlag, Stuttgart 2021</ref>

	After Zeus killed the demigod Asclepius ([[Ophiuchus]]) with a thunderbolt because he had brought a dead man back to life, Asclepius' father Apollo was seriously upset. He killed the Cyclopes, who forged the thunderbolts for Zeus. Then he felt compelled to go into exile until his brother Zeus had calmed down and forgiven him for his deed.		After Zeus killed the demigod Asclepius ([[Ophiuchus]]) with a thunderbolt because he had brought a dead man back to life, Asclepius' father Apollo was seriously upset. He killed the Cyclopes, who forged the thunderbolts for Zeus. Then he felt compelled to go into exile until his brother Zeus had calmed down and forgiven him for his deed.
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	Eratosthenes reports two versions of what the arrow has to do with this story: on the one hand, the arrow could be the one that Apollo shot at the Cyclopes and which was then hidden. When Apollo returned, he is said to have rushed through the air together with Demeter, the goddess of fertility. This could be interpreted as riding on the arrow. The background to this story is that Apollo left his sanctuary in Delphi in winter and returned in spring – fitting for a god of light – and thus also brought fertility with him. He hid himself, or in the myth, the arrow, with the Hyperboreans. According to the world view of Herodotus (-5th century), their land lies in the far north-east of the world, in Central Asia.		Eratosthenes reports two versions of what the arrow has to do with this story: on the one hand, the arrow could be the one that Apollo shot at the Cyclopes and which was then hidden. When Apollo returned, he is said to have rushed through the air together with Demeter, the goddess of fertility. This could be interpreted as riding on the arrow. The background to this story is that Apollo left his sanctuary in Delphi in winter and returned in spring – fitting for a god of light – and thus also brought fertility with him. He hid himself, or in the myth, the arrow, with the Hyperboreans. According to the world view of Herodotus (-5th century), their land lies in the far north-east of the world, in Central Asia.

	'''Roman'''		'''Roman'''<ref>Ian Ridpath (1988). Star Tales - Sagitta, [http://www.ianridpath.com/startales/sagitta.html online edition].</ref>

			Hyginus, on the other hand, said that Sagitta was one of the arrows with which Heracles killed the eagle that ate the liver of Prometheus. It was Prometheus who moulded men out of clay in the likeness of the gods, and gave them fire that he had stolen from Zeus. Prometheus carried the fire triumphantly in a vegetable stalk like a runner bearing the Olympic torch. Zeus cruelly punished him for this theft by chaining him to Mount Caucasus, where a long-winged eagle ate his liver during the day. But at night the liver grew again for the eagle to resume his feast in the morning. Heracles freed Prometheus from this eternal torture by shooting the eagle with an arrow.

			Germanicus Caesar identified Sagitta as the arrow of Eros which kindled in Zeus his passion for the shepherd boy Ganymede, who is commemorated by the constellation Aquarius. Now, according to Germanicus, the arrow is guarded in the sky by the eagle of Zeus – and Sagitta does indeed lie next to the constellation of the eagle, Aquila.

			Alpha Sagittae, magnitude 4.4, has the strange-sounding name Sham, which comes from the Arabic name for the constellation, ''al-sahm'', meaning ‘the arrow’. The constellation’s brightest star is actually Gamma Sagittae, magnitude 3.5, which Ptolemy described as lying on the arrow-head; however, Bayer in his Uranometria extended the shaft to the stars he labelled Eta and Theta, which Ptolemy did not list. Flamsteed and Bode changed the angle of the arrow slightly so that Eta Sagittae lay at its tip and Alpha and Beta on the southern feather, as in the illustration above, whereas according to Ptolemy they should have been at the end of the shaft.

	==Weblinks==		==Weblinks==

Sushoff: /* Mythology */

2026-02-26T18:55:52Z

Mythology

← Older revision		Revision as of 18:55, 26 February 2026
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	==Mythology==		==Mythology==
			'''Greek'''

			After Zeus killed the demigod Asclepius ([[Ophiuchus]]) with a thunderbolt because he had brought a dead man back to life, Asclepius' father Apollo was seriously upset. He killed the Cyclopes, who forged the thunderbolts for Zeus. Then he felt compelled to go into exile until his brother Zeus had calmed down and forgiven him for his deed.

			Eratosthenes reports two versions of what the arrow has to do with this story: on the one hand, the arrow could be the one that Apollo shot at the Cyclopes and which was then hidden. When Apollo returned, he is said to have rushed through the air together with Demeter, the goddess of fertility. This could be interpreted as riding on the arrow. The background to this story is that Apollo left his sanctuary in Delphi in winter and returned in spring – fitting for a god of light – and thus also brought fertility with him. He hid himself, or in the myth, the arrow, with the Hyperboreans. According to the world view of Herodotus (-5th century), their land lies in the far north-east of the world, in Central Asia.

			'''Roman'''

	==Weblinks==		==Weblinks==

Sushoff at 18:53, 26 February 2026

2026-02-26T18:53:51Z

← Older revision		Revision as of 18:53, 26 February 2026
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	----		----
	[[File:Sagitta IAU.svg\|alt=star chart\|thumb\|Sgr star chart (IAU and Sky & Telescope magazine, Roger Sinnott & Rick Fienberg).]]		[[File:Sagitta IAU.svg\|alt=star chart\|thumb\|Sgr star chart (IAU and Sky & Telescope magazine, Roger Sinnott & Rick Fienberg).]]
	One of the [[:Category:88_IAU-Constellations\|88 IAU constellations]]. Sagitta, The Arrow, is one the classical Greek constellations. In antiquity, it was considered a harbinger of the light and fertility as it is the carriage of the gods Apollo (light god) and his sister Demeter (goddess of fertility) when they arrive from the distant country of Hyperborea after winter.		One of the [[:Category:88_IAU-Constellations\|88 IAU constellations]]. Sagitta, The Arrow, is one the classical Greek constellations. The Greek constellation of Sagitta first occurs in Eudoxus. In antiquity, it was considered a harbinger of the light and fertility as it is the carriage of the gods Apollo (light god) and his sister Demeter (goddess of fertility) when they arrive from the distant country of Hyperborea after winter.

	==Etymology and History==		==Etymology and History==
	The Greek constellation of ~~Sagitta first occurs~~ in ~~Eudoxus~~.		The Arrow is a small constellation that is documented throughout Greek mathematical astronomy: it already appears in Eudoxus's writings in the 4th century BCE. Aratus and Eratosthenes claim that it belongs to a bow, but there is no such bow to be seen anywhere. The constellation of the Archer is located south of the Arrow, so that the Arrow appears to fly over it and was certainly not shot from it. Eratosthenes therefore reports that the Arrow is a projectile of Apollo, the god of light.
	[[File:Cyg kugel.jpg\|thumb\|Earliest preserved depiction of Sagitta on the Kugel Globe (1st century BCE), next to Cygnus.]]
			It is noteworthy that the myth surrounding the Arrow begins with Asclepius, who is represented in the constellation Ophiuchus. The constellation was called Zababa ([[ZA.BA4.BA4\|ZA.BA<sub>4</sub>.BA<sub>4</sub>]]) in Babylonian and was a god of war who has been documented since the 3rd millennium BCE. Seen from his perspective, the arrow flies in the right direction, as if it had been shot by him. However, there is no evidence of a constellation called Arrow in Babylonian, so there is no connection either.[[File:Cyg kugel.jpg\|thumb\|Earliest preserved depiction of Sagitta on the Kugel Globe (1st century BCE), next to Cygnus.]]
	[[File:KugelGlobe Sge.JPG\|thumb\|Sge, Aql, Cyg, Lyr, Del on the Kugel Globe (1st century BCE), SMH 2024.]]		[[File:KugelGlobe Sge.JPG\|thumb\|Sge, Aql, Cyg, Lyr, Del on the Kugel Globe (1st century BCE), SMH 2024.]]

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

2026-02-24T08:04:26Z

Setting (Lib II Cap VI §10)

← Older revision		Revision as of 08:04, 24 February 2026
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	\|-		\|-
	\|		\|
	\|		\|Cap 26 1/2
	\|		\|Aqr 1 1/2
	\|		\|Ari 14
	\|		\|Ari 19 1/2
	\|-		\|-
	\|		\|
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	\|-		\|-
	\|star		\|star
	\|		\|those on the notch (alf,bet)
	\|		\|the one at the tip
	\|		\|
	\|		\|
	\|-		\|-
	\|duration		\|duration
	\| colspan="4" \|~~2 2~~/3 hours = ~~160~~ min = ~~40°~~		\| colspan="4" \|1/3 hours = 20 min = 5°
	\|}		\|}

Sushoff at 16:21, 23 February 2026

2026-02-23T16:21:16Z

← Older revision		Revision as of 16:21, 23 February 2026
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	\|-		\|-
	\|		\|
	\|		\|Sgr 5
	\|		\|Sgr 9 1/2
	\|		\|Vir 19
	\|		\|Vir 25
	\|-		\|-
	\|		\|
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	\|-		\|-
	\|star		\|star
	\|		\|those on the notch
	\|		\|the on one the tip
	\|		\|
	\|		\|
	\|-		\|-
	\|duration		\|duration
	\| colspan="4" \|2 1/8 hours = ~~127.5~~ min = ~~31 7/8~~ degree		\| colspan="4" \|1/3 hours = 20 min = 5 degree
	\|}		\|}

Sushoff: /* Hipparchus */

2026-02-22T17:57:55Z

Hipparchus

@@ Line 37: / Line 37: @@
 Mythology has it that the temple in Delphi was built multiple times from different material (Sourvinou-Inwood 1979): from laurel, from feathers and wax, from bronce, from stone. The first one probably has a historical background in the temple of Apollo Daphniforos (the laurel bearer) in Eretria which is the most important monument this place. The information on the temple made of feathers probably comes from Heralides (and not Euripides) whose work on this topic is lost.
 ===== Hipparchus =====
 ===== Hyginus, Astronomica =====

YoulaAzkarrula: /* Almagest Ὀιστὸς */

2026-02-06T10:44:34Z

Almagest Ὀιστὸς

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+|
 |}
 ===Transfer and Transformation of the Constellation===
 <gallery>

Sushoff at 13:33, 20 January 2026

2026-01-20T13:33:47Z

← Older revision		Revision as of 13:33, 20 January 2026
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			Authors: {{PAGEAUTHORS}}
			----
	[[File:Sagitta IAU.svg\|alt=star chart\|thumb\|Sgr star chart (IAU and Sky & Telescope magazine, Roger Sinnott & Rick Fienberg).]]		[[File:Sagitta IAU.svg\|alt=star chart\|thumb\|Sgr star chart (IAU and Sky & Telescope magazine, Roger Sinnott & Rick Fienberg).]]
	One of the [[:Category:88_IAU-Constellations\|88 IAU constellations]]. Sagitta, The Arrow, is one the classical Greek constellations. In antiquity, it was considered a harbinger of the light and fertility as it is the carriage of the gods Apollo (light god) and his sister Demeter (goddess of fertility) when they arrive from the distant country of Hyperborea after winter.		One of the [[:Category:88_IAU-Constellations\|88 IAU constellations]]. Sagitta, The Arrow, is one the classical Greek constellations. In antiquity, it was considered a harbinger of the light and fertility as it is the carriage of the gods Apollo (light god) and his sister Demeter (goddess of fertility) when they arrive from the distant country of Hyperborea after winter.

Dorvic at 15:19, 2 May 2025

2025-05-02T15:19:49Z

@@ Line 35: / Line 35: @@
 Mythology has it that the temple in Delphi was built multiple times from different material (Sourvinou-Inwood 1979): from laurel, from feathers and wax, from bronce, from stone. The first one probably has a historical background in the temple of Apollo Daphniforos (the laurel bearer) in Eretria which is the most important monument this place. The information on the temple made of feathers probably comes from Heralides (and not Euripides) whose work on this topic is lost.
 ===== Hipparchus =====
 ===== Geminos =====