Ursa Minor
Authors: Susanne M Hoffmann, Doris Vickers
.jpg)
One of the 88 IAU constellations. Ursa Minor, The Little Bear. The tail tip of Ursa Minor is the brightest star in the figure, but six of the seven stars in the Big Dipper are brighter – the star is only famous today because it is now almost exactly at the north celestial pole (Polaris). This was not the case for Greek and Phoenician navigation, nor for Babylonian astronomers, nor for the time of pyramid construction in Egypt. The greatest astronomer of antiquity, Hipparchus of Nicaea, even writes explicitly in the only surviving text he wrote that there is no North Star (Polaris). He writes to a student that there are people who speak of a star at the pole. Yet one should not be misled, he says, because the pole is ‘empty’ and only at some distance can one find four moderately bright stars.
Etymology and History
Origin of Constellation
Homer, who mentions the Great Bear as early as 700 BC, does not mention a Little Bear. Either the constellation did not yet exist at that time or it was insignificant. Nevertheless, the Little Bear – like the Great Bear – is a Greek constellation. The Babylonian sky in the circumpolar region is very difficult to reconstruct because there are no rise and set dates for the constellations from which calculations could be made. German researchers like to assume that the German ‘Little Dipper’ is also the Babylonian ‘Chariot of Heaven’, but since the figure is neither particularly impressive to look at nor had any special function for navigation, this can be doubted. To be honest, we must say that, given the current state of the data, we cannot know exactly where the Babylonian ‘Wagon of Heaven’ was located.
Aratos calls this figure ‘Helike’ (curl), which fits the curved shape formed by the brighter stars. The arc of stars runs close to the north celestial pole.
However, the absence of a pole star may not have been of great significance: at that time, most shipping was coastal, sailing at best across the Mediterranean or Black Sea. Navigation consisted largely of sighting land from time to time. This is not comparable to the weeks-long voyages across the Atlantic or the voyages of discovery in the Pacific during the Renaissance and early modern period. In this respect, ancient navigators did not need an exact North Star (Polaris), but only an approximate direction – and that is what the Ursa Major constellation provides. If you wanted to know more precisely, e.g. when planning architecture, you measured the position of the sun during the day and not the stars at night. When building houses, it is sufficient if the sun terrace is not facing north, i.e. only very rough directions are needed here. If you wanted to build temples or pyramids more precisely in a north-south direction, the shadow stick or sundial indicated the direction perfectly. All you had to do was record the shadow cast from sunrise to sunset. The midpoint then indicates the south direction – much more accurately than the stars, as long as there is no North Star. Measured over the course of a year, the midpoint between all sunrise points indicates east and the midpoint between all sunset points indicates west. So you can determine the cardinal directions very accurately with a sundial or a simple shadow stick (or an obelisk).
Babylonian
see
- Babylonian ‘Wagon of Heaven’ mulMAR.GID2.DA AN.NA
Greco-Roman
Aratos
Two poles terminate it at the two ends; [25] but one is not visible, while the opposite one in the north is high above the horizon. On either side of it two Bears wheel in unison, and so they are called the Wagons. They keep their heads for ever pointing to each other’s loins, and for ever they move with shoulders leading, [30] aligned towards the shoulders, but in opposite directions. If the tale is true, these Bears ascended to the sky from Crete by the will of great Zeus, because when he was a child then in fragrant Lyctus near Mount Ida, they deposited him in a cave and tended him for the year, [35] while the Curetes of Dicte kept Cronus deceived. Now one of the Bears men call Cynosura by name, the other Helice. Helice is the one by which Greek men at sea judge the course to steer their ships, while Phoenicians cross the sea relying on the other. [40] Now the one is clear and easy to identify, Helice, being visible in all its grandeur as soon as night begins; the other is slight, yet a better guide to sailors, for it revolves entirely in a smaller circle: so by it the Sidonians sail the straightest course. (Kidd 1997)
Eratosthenes
Var. 1 This is the one known as ‘the Little Bear’, and commonly known as ‘Phoinikè’ (the Phoenician). Artemis had esteemed her, but as she did not know that it was Zeus who had raped her, she made her wild. It is said that later Artemis, once the young girl was out of danger, increased her glory by placing a second figure among the constellations so that she was doubly honoured. Aglaosthenes , in his Naxica, says that this was Kynosoura, who nursed Zeus and was one of the nymphs of Ida. Her name is also found in the city called Histoi, founded by Nicostratus and his companions: the name Kynosoura refers to the port of this city and to a locality overlooking the town. Aratos, for his part, calls it ‘Hélikè’ (Spiral), and says that she was from Crete; she nursed Zeus, and for this she obtained the privilege of being honoured in heaven. The Little Dipper has a shining star on each corner of the quadrilateral and three bright ones on the tail. In all, there are seven. Below the second of those which lead the movement the movement towards the west, there is another star placed called the Pole, and we get the impression that the whole universe revolves around it.
Var. 2: The Little Dipper is commonly known as ‘Phoinikè’ (the Phoenician). Artemis held her in high esteem, due to the adventures we recounted earlier but as she didn't know that it was Zeus who had raped her, she turned her into a wild beast. It is said later Artemis, having understood what had happened, placed a second figure among the constellations to highlight her constellations, so that she would be doubly honoured. Aglaosthenes, in his Naxica, says that the figure in question was Kynosoura, who nursed Zeus and was one of the nymphs of Ida. And we find her name in the city called Histoi, founded by Nicostratus and his companions: the name of Kynosoura is that of the port of this city and of a place overlooking the city. The nymph came with the Telchines, who were the servants of Rhea, like the Couretes and the Dactyls of Ida. Aratos, for his part, calls her ‘Hélikè’ (Spiral), and says that she was from Crete; she nursed Zeus, and to which she owes its honour in the heavens. The Little Dipper has a shining star on each corner of the quadrilateral and three bright stars on its tail.
The equation of the Bear with a Wagon is a reminiscence of the unification of various astronomy cultures: the wagons are Mesopotamian names while the bears have a Mediterranean origin.
Hyginus, Astronomica
Aglaosthenes, who wrote the Naxica, says that she is Cynosura, one of the nurses of Jove from the number of the Idaean nymphs. He says, too, that in the city called Histoe, founded by Nicostratus and his friends, both the harbour and the greater part of the land are called Cynosura from her name. She, too, was among the Curetes who were attendants of Jove. Some say that the nymphs Helice and Cynosura were nurses of Jove, and so for gratitude were placed in the sky, both being called Bears. We call them Septentriones.
But many have said that the Great Bear is like a wagon, and the Greeks do call it amaza. This reason has been handed down: Those who, at the beginning, observed the stars and supposed the number of stars into the several constellations, called this group no “Bear” but “Wain,” because two of the seven stars which seemed of equal size and closest together were considered oxen, and the other five were like the figure of a wagon. And so the sign which is nearest to this they wished to be called Boötes. We shall speak of him later on. Aratus, indeed, says that neither Boötes nor the Wain has these names for the reason above, but because the Bear seems, wagon-like, to wheel around the pole which is called North, and Boötes, is said to drive her. In this he seems to be considerably in error, for later, in connection with the seven stars, as Parmeniscus says, twenty-five were grouped by certain astronomers to complete the form of the Bear, not seven. And so the one that followed the wagon and was formerly called Boötes, was now called Arctophylax [Bear Watchter], and she, at the same time that Homer lived, was called Bear. About the Septentriones Homer says that she was called both Bear and Wain; nowhere does he mention that Boötes was called Arctophylax.
There is a great diversity of opinion, too, as to why the Lesser Bear is called Phoenice, and why those who observe her are said to navigate more exactly and carefully; why, also, if she is more reliable than the Great Bear, al do not watch her. These people do not seem to realize the reason for her being called Phoenice. Thales of Miletus, who searched into these matters carefully, and first called her Bear, was by birth a Phoenician, as Herodotus says. Therefore all those in the Peloponnesus use the first Arctos; the Phoenicians, however, observe the one they received from her discoverer, and by watching her carefully, are thought to navigate more exactly, and suitably call her Phoenice from the race of her discoverer. (Mary Ward 1960)
Hipparchus
Geminos
Almagest άρκτος μεκρά
| id | Greek
(Heiberg 1898) |
English
(Toomer 1984) |
ident. |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ἄρκτου μικρᾶς ἀστερισμός. | |||
| 1 | ὁ ἐπ’ ἄκρας τῆς οὐρᾶς. | The star on the end of the tail | alf UMi |
| 2 | ὁ μετ’ αὐτὸν ἐπὶ τῆς οὐρᾶς. | The one next to it on the tail | del UMi |
| 3 | ὁ μετ’ αὐτὸν πρὸ τῆς ἐκφύσεως τῆς οὐρᾶς. | The one next to that, before the place where the tail joins [the body] | eps UMi |
| 4 | τῆς προηγουμένης τοῦ πλιυθύου πλευρᾶς ὁ φότιος | The southernmost of the stars in the advance side of the rectangle | zet UMi |
| 5 | τῆς αὐτῆς πλευρᾶς ὁ βόρειος | The northernmost of [those in] the same side | eta UMi |
| 6 | τῶν ἐν τῇ ἐπομένῃ πλευρᾷ ὁ νότιος | The southern star in the rear side | beta UMi |
| τῆς αὐτῆς πλευρᾶς ὁ βόρειος | The northern one in the same side | gam UMi | |
| ἀστέρερ ξ, ὥν β’ μεγέθους β, γα, δ’ ὅ. | 7 stars, 2 of the second magnitude, 1 of the third, 4 of the fourth | ||
| ὁ περὶ αὐτὴν ἀμόρφωτος | Nearby star outside the constellation: | ||
| ὁ τοῖς ἐν τῇ ἐπομένῃ πλευρᾷ ἐπ’ εὐθεύας καὶ νοτιώτερος | The star lying on a straight line with the stars in the rear side [of the rectangle] and south of them | 5 UMi | |
| ἀστὴρ ἂ μεγέδους δ’ | 1 star of the fourth magnitude |
