Euphrates: Difference between revisions
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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== | ==Concordance, Etymology, History== | ||
Revision as of 09:06, 14 August 2026
Authors: Susanne M Hoffmann
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
- ...
Origin of Constellation
Ancient Mesopotamia
mul ídIDIGNA (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 ZIBme in cuneiform, a late form of KUNme(š) mulSIM.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 (ZIBme)"ː
- [MU]L.MEŠ ídIDIGNA u ídBURANUNki 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)[1].
Early Modern Constellation
Ian Ridpath[2] writes about the 17th century constellation:
Source
Identifications
Transfer and Transformation of the Constellation
Here we give a list of all sources where the name is attested.
Mythology
Ian Ridpath[2] writes in the mythology of Pisces[3]:
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.
Weblinks
References
- References (general)
- ↑ Beaulieu, P.-A., Frahm, E., Horowitz, W. & Steele, J. (2018), The Cuneiform Uranology Texts: Drawing the Constellations, American Philosophical Society Press, Philadelphia, USA.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 Ridpath, Ian, Star Tales (Cambridge: Lutterworth Press, 1988) ISBN 0-7188-2695-7 [Internet Archive link] -- a revised and expanded edition was published in 2018 [ISBN 978-07188-9478-8] -- online version on Ridpath's website.
- ↑ Ian Ridpath, Star Tales online (Pisces)
