Images in the Heavens
A Cultural Landscape
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.1558/jsrnc.v7i4.461Keywords:
Cosmology, culture, constellational imagery, sky, history of astronomy, cultural astronomy, celestial cartographyAbstract
The constellation images with their historically persistent nature and adaptability fulfil many contemporary definitions of culture. From the earliest Elamite seals of the fourth millennium to the list-maps in the first century C.E. through Ptolemy’s Almagest, the constellation images became established in western cultures. With the invention of printing and the age of the great star atlases from the sixteenth to the nineteenth centuries the constellation images continued to display cultural resistance by cartographers to Gothicize, Christianize, politicise or simply remove them. This resilience has shown that the constellation images are in fact a living gallery of human history with images ranging from the Palaeolithic to the modern world. Furthermore with their acceptance across a diversity of people and nations, the constellation images today represents a form of world culture, in that it constitutes a culture of humanity which is not linked by a culture of tribes, clans, nations, religions or languages.
References
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Crommellin, A.C.D. 1923. ‘The Ancient Constellations Figures’, Splendor of the Heavens 2 (London: Hitchinson & Co.): 640-69.
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Flamsteed, J. 1729. Atlas Coelestis (London: No Publisher).
Franklin Institute. 2013. Celestial Globe. Online: http://www._.edu/learn/scitech/celestial-globe/celestial-globe.php?cts=space.
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Hagar, S. 1900. ‘The Celestial Bear’, Journal of American Folklore 13: 92-103. Doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.2307/533799.
Hamel, J. 2010. ‘The Heraldic Astronomical Silver Globe by Erhard Weigel in the Astronomical-Physical Cabinet in Kassel (German Title: Der heraldische Silberglobus von Erhard Weigel im Astronomisch-Physikalischen Kabinett Kassel)’, Acta Historica Astronomiae 41: 34-64.
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Heath, S.T.L. 1920. Euclid in Greek (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press).
Heninger, S.K.J. 1977. The Cosmographical Glass, Renaissance Diagrams of the Universe (San Marino, CA: The Huntington Library).
Hesiod. 1914. ‘Shield of Heracles’, in H.G. Evelyn-White (ed.), The Homeric Hymns and Homerica (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press).
Hevelius, J. 1690. Prodromus Astronomiae (Danzig: No Publisher).
Hockey, T. (ed.). 2007. Biographical Encyclopedia of Astronomers (New York: Springer). Doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/978-0-387-30400-7.
Holden, E.S. 1890. ‘Contributions of Raphael and of Albrecht Dürer to Astronomy’, Publications of the Astronomical Society of the Paci_c 2: 19-21. Doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.1086/120071.
Homer. 1986. The Odyssey (New York: Penguin Books).
Hunger, H., and D.E. Pingree. 1999. Astral sciences in Mesopotamia (Leiden: Brill).
Jacob, C. 1996. ‘Towards a Cultural History of Cartography’, Imago Mundi 48: 191-98. Doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/03085699608592842.
Jobes, G., and J. Jobes. 1964. Outer Space: Myths, Name Meanings, Calendars (New York: Scarecrow).
Kanas, N. 2007. Star Maps, History, Artistry, and Cartography. (New York: Springer).
Lorimer, H.L. 1951. ‘Stars and Constellations in Homer and Hesiod’, The Annual of the British School at Athens 46: 86-101. Doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/S0068245400018359.
North, J. 2008. Cosmos: An Illustrated History of Astronomy and Cosmology (Chicago: The University of Chicago Press).
Parker, R.A. 1974. ‘Ancient Egyptian Astronomy’, Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London. Series A, Mathematical and Physical Sciences 276: 51-65. Doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.1098/rsta.1974.0009.
Piccolomini, A. 1552. Della Sfera del Mondo e Delle Stelle Fisse (Venice, Italy: Al Segno del Pozzo).
Ptolemy, C. 1541. Ptolemy: Cl. Ptolemaeus, Omnia, quae extant opera, Geographia excepta (Basel: Henri Petri).
———. 1915. Ptolemy’s Catalogue of Stars: A Revision of the Almagest (ed. C.H.F. Peters and E.B. Knobel; Washington: Carnegie Institute).
———. 1998. Ptolemy’s Almagest (Princeton: Princeton University Press).
Ratdolt, E. 1482. Hyginus, Poeticon Astronomicon (Venice, Italy: Erhard Ratdolt).
Redgrave, G.R. 1894. Erhard Ratdolt and his Work at Venice (London: Bibliographical Society).
Reiner, E. 1999. ‘Babylonian Celestial Divination’, in N.M. Swerdlow (ed.), Ancient Astronomy and Celestial Divination (London: MIT Press): 21-37.
Rochberg, F. 2004. The Heavenly Writing, Divination, Horoscopy, and Astronomy in Mesopotamian Culture (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press). Doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511617409.
Rogers, J.H. 1998. ‘Origins of the Ancient Constellations II: The Mediterranean Traditions’, Journal of British Astronomical Association 108: 79-89.
Roy, A. 1984. ‘The Origins of the Constellations’, Vistas in Astronomy 27: 176-85. Doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/0083-6656(84)90008-4.
Schaefer, B. 2002. ‘The Latitude and Epoch for the Formation of the Southern Greek Constellations’, Journal for the History of Astronomy 23: 313-50.
Schiller, J. 1627. Coelum Stellatum Christianum (No Place: Augusta).
Waerden, V.D.B.L. 1949. ‘Babylonian Astronomy II: The Thirty-Six Stars’, Journal of Near Eastern Studies 8: 6-26. Doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.1086/370901.
Warner, D.J. 1979. The Sky Explored: Celestial Cartography, 1500–1800 (New York: A.R. Liss).
Whitehead, D. 2000. Ice Age Star Map Discovered. BBC News. Online: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/871930.stm.
Whit_eld, P. 1995. The Mapping of the Heavens (San Francisco: Pomegranate).
Williams, R. 1958. ‘Culture is Ordinary’. Online: http://www.wsu.edu/gened/learnmodules/top_culture/culture-de_nitions/raymond-williams.html.
Zhitomirsky, S. 1999. ‘Aratus’ “Phaenomena”: Dating and Analysing its Primary Source’, Astronomical & Astrophysical Transactions 17: 483-500. Doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/10556799908244111.
Allen, R.H. 1963. Star Names: Their Lore and Meaning (New York: Dover).
Aratus. 1989. ‘Phaenomena’, in Callimachus, Hymns and Epigrams Lycohpron, Aratus (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press): 206-303.
———. 2010. Phaenomena (Baltimore, MD: Johns Hopkins University Press).
Ashworth, W.B. Jr. 1981. ‘John Bevis and his “Uranographia” (ca. 1750)’, Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society 125: 52-73.
Bayer, J. 1603. Uranometria: Omnium Asterismorum Continens Schemata, Nova Methodo Delineata, Aereis Laminis Expressa (Augsburg, Germany: Christophorus Mangus).
Beer, A. 1967. ‘Astronomical Dating of Works of Art’, Vistas in Astronomy 9: 177-223. Doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/0083-6656(67)90028-1.
Bode, J. 1801. Uranographie (Berlin: Frideric de Hahn).
Bodley, J.H. 1999. Cultural Anthropology: Tribes, States, and the Global System (Pullman: Washington State University).
Brady, B. 2013. ‘Star-Paths, Stones and Horizon Astronomy’, in F.Pimenta, N. Ribeiro, F. Silva, N. Campion, A. Joaquinito and L. Tirapicos (eds.), Stars and Stones (Lawrence, KS: SEAC, forthcoming).
Buckstaff, R.N. 1927. ‘Stars and Constellations of a Pawnee Sky Map’, American Anthropologist 29: 279-85. Doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.1525/aa.1927.29.2.02a00110.
Campion, N. 2000. ‘Babylonian Astrology: Its Origin and Legacy in Europe’, in H. Selin (ed.), Astronomy across Cultures: The History of Non-Western Astronomy (Dordrecht/Boston/London: Kluwer Academic Publishers): 509-53. Doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/978-94-011-4179-6_18.
———. 2008. The Dawn of Astrology: A Cultural History of Western Astrology: The Ancient and Classical Worlds (London: Continuum Books).
Cellarius, A. 1661. Harmonia Macrocosmica (Amsterdam: Johannes Janssonius).
Condos, T. 1997. Star Myths of the Greeks and Romans: A Sourcebook (Grand Rapids, MI: Phanes Press).
Cooley, J.L. 2013. Poetic Astronomy in the Ancient Near East: The Re_exes of Celestial Science in Ancient Mesopotamian, Ugaritic, and Israelite Narrative (Winona Lake: Eisenbrauns).
Crommellin, A.C.D. 1923. ‘The Ancient Constellations Figures’, Splendor of the Heavens 2 (London: Hitchinson & Co.): 640-69.
Davenhall, A.C., and S.K. Leggett. 1997. Constellation Boundary Data (Davenhall+ 1989), VI 49. Online: http://vizier.cfa.harvard.edu/viz-bin/VizieR?-source=VI/49.
Eagleton, T. 2000. The Idea of Culture (London: Blackwell).
Estey, F.N. 1943. ‘Charlemagne’s Silver Celestial Table’, Speculum18: 112-17. Doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.2307/2853645.
Etz, D.V. 1997. ‘A New Look at the Constellation Figures in the Celestial Diagram’, Journal of the American Research Center in Egypt 34: 143-61. Doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.2307/40000803.
Flamsteed, J. 1729. Atlas Coelestis (London: No Publisher).
Franklin Institute. 2013. Celestial Globe. Online: http://www._.edu/learn/scitech/celestial-globe/celestial-globe.php?cts=space.
Frazier, K. 1979. ‘Stars, Sky and Culture’, Science News 116: 90-93. Doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.2307/3964076.
Gallucci, G.P. 1614. Theatrum Mundi, et temporis (Granada: Por Sebastian Muñoz).
Goebel, T., M. R. Waters, and D. H. O’Rourke. 2008. ‘The Late Pleistocene Dispersal of Modern Humans in the Americas’, Science 319: 1497-1502. Doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.1126/science.1153569.
Hagar, S. 1900. ‘The Celestial Bear’, Journal of American Folklore 13: 92-103. Doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.2307/533799.
Hamel, J. 2010. ‘The Heraldic Astronomical Silver Globe by Erhard Weigel in the Astronomical-Physical Cabinet in Kassel (German Title: Der heraldische Silberglobus von Erhard Weigel im Astronomisch-Physikalischen Kabinett Kassel)’, Acta Historica Astronomiae 41: 34-64.
Hartner, W. 1965. ‘The Earliest History of the Constellations in the near East and the Motif of the Lion–Bull Combat’, Journal of Near Eastern Studies 24: 1-16. Doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.1086/371785.
Heath, S.T.L. 1920. Euclid in Greek (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press).
Heninger, S.K.J. 1977. The Cosmographical Glass, Renaissance Diagrams of the Universe (San Marino, CA: The Huntington Library).
Hesiod. 1914. ‘Shield of Heracles’, in H.G. Evelyn-White (ed.), The Homeric Hymns and Homerica (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press).
Hevelius, J. 1690. Prodromus Astronomiae (Danzig: No Publisher).
Hockey, T. (ed.). 2007. Biographical Encyclopedia of Astronomers (New York: Springer). Doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/978-0-387-30400-7.
Holden, E.S. 1890. ‘Contributions of Raphael and of Albrecht Dürer to Astronomy’, Publications of the Astronomical Society of the Paci_c 2: 19-21. Doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.1086/120071.
Homer. 1986. The Odyssey (New York: Penguin Books).
Hunger, H., and D.E. Pingree. 1999. Astral sciences in Mesopotamia (Leiden: Brill).
Jacob, C. 1996. ‘Towards a Cultural History of Cartography’, Imago Mundi 48: 191-98. Doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/03085699608592842.
Jobes, G., and J. Jobes. 1964. Outer Space: Myths, Name Meanings, Calendars (New York: Scarecrow).
Kanas, N. 2007. Star Maps, History, Artistry, and Cartography. (New York: Springer).
Lorimer, H.L. 1951. ‘Stars and Constellations in Homer and Hesiod’, The Annual of the British School at Athens 46: 86-101. Doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/S0068245400018359.
North, J. 2008. Cosmos: An Illustrated History of Astronomy and Cosmology (Chicago: The University of Chicago Press).
Parker, R.A. 1974. ‘Ancient Egyptian Astronomy’, Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London. Series A, Mathematical and Physical Sciences 276: 51-65. Doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.1098/rsta.1974.0009.
Piccolomini, A. 1552. Della Sfera del Mondo e Delle Stelle Fisse (Venice, Italy: Al Segno del Pozzo).
Ptolemy, C. 1541. Ptolemy: Cl. Ptolemaeus, Omnia, quae extant opera, Geographia excepta (Basel: Henri Petri).
———. 1915. Ptolemy’s Catalogue of Stars: A Revision of the Almagest (ed. C.H.F. Peters and E.B. Knobel; Washington: Carnegie Institute).
———. 1998. Ptolemy’s Almagest (Princeton: Princeton University Press).
Ratdolt, E. 1482. Hyginus, Poeticon Astronomicon (Venice, Italy: Erhard Ratdolt).
Redgrave, G.R. 1894. Erhard Ratdolt and his Work at Venice (London: Bibliographical Society).
Reiner, E. 1999. ‘Babylonian Celestial Divination’, in N.M. Swerdlow (ed.), Ancient Astronomy and Celestial Divination (London: MIT Press): 21-37.
Rochberg, F. 2004. The Heavenly Writing, Divination, Horoscopy, and Astronomy in Mesopotamian Culture (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press). Doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511617409.
Rogers, J.H. 1998. ‘Origins of the Ancient Constellations II: The Mediterranean Traditions’, Journal of British Astronomical Association 108: 79-89.
Roy, A. 1984. ‘The Origins of the Constellations’, Vistas in Astronomy 27: 176-85. Doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/0083-6656(84)90008-4.
Schaefer, B. 2002. ‘The Latitude and Epoch for the Formation of the Southern Greek Constellations’, Journal for the History of Astronomy 23: 313-50.
Schiller, J. 1627. Coelum Stellatum Christianum (No Place: Augusta).
Waerden, V.D.B.L. 1949. ‘Babylonian Astronomy II: The Thirty-Six Stars’, Journal of Near Eastern Studies 8: 6-26. Doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.1086/370901.
Warner, D.J. 1979. The Sky Explored: Celestial Cartography, 1500–1800 (New York: A.R. Liss).
Whitehead, D. 2000. Ice Age Star Map Discovered. BBC News. Online: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/871930.stm.
Whit_eld, P. 1995. The Mapping of the Heavens (San Francisco: Pomegranate).
Williams, R. 1958. ‘Culture is Ordinary’. Online: http://www.wsu.edu/gened/learnmodules/top_culture/culture-de_nitions/raymond-williams.html.
Zhitomirsky, S. 1999. ‘Aratus’ “Phaenomena”: Dating and Analysing its Primary Source’, Astronomical & Astrophysical Transactions 17: 483-500. Doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/10556799908244111.
Published
2014-03-13
Issue
Section
Articles
How to Cite
Brady, B. (2014). Images in the Heavens: A Cultural Landscape. Journal for the Study of Religion, Nature and Culture, 7(4), 461-484. https://doi.org/10.1558/jsrnc.v7i4.461
