Sagitta
One of the 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.
Etymology and History
The Greek constellation ...
Origin of Constellation
Babylonian
It is unknown whether this region was considered part of the asterism of The Pig (ŠAḪ) or any other image (UD.KA.DU8.A or TE8mušen, The Eagle).
Greco-Roman
Aratos
Eratosthenes
Var. 1: This line is the arrow of a bow which belonged, it is said, to Apollo, and with which, to avenge Asclepius, he killed the Cyclops who had forged the thunderbolt for Zeus. He then hid it in the land of the Hyperboreans, in the place where the sanctuary made of feathers. It is said that first thing he did was to get it back, when Zeus forgave him for his murder and put an end to his servitude with Admetus, mentioned by Euripides in Alcestis440. The arrow is said to have returned through the
the air with Demeter Fructiferous441. It was of
extraordinary size, according to Heraclides of Pontus in his
Pont in his book On Justice442. Apollo also placed
this feature among the stars443, and made it a constellation to fix the memory
to fix the memory of the battle he had fought444.
The Arrow has a star at the tip, one in the middle
in the middle445 , and two in the notch. One of them is particularly
visible. In all, four
Hipparchus
Geminos
Almagest Ὀιστὸς
| id | Greek
(Heiberg 1898) |
English
(Toomer 1984) |
ident. |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ὀιστοῦ ἀστερισμός | |||
| 1 | ὁ ἐπὶ τῆς ἀκίδος μουαχός | The lone star on the arrow-head | gam Sge |
| 2 | τῶν ἐν τῷ καλάμῳ τριῶν ὁ ἐπόμενος | Thc rearmost of thc three stars in the shaft | zet Sge |
| 3 | ὁ μέσος αὐτῶν | The middle onc | del Dge |
| 4 | ὁ προγρούμενος τῶν τριῶν | The most advanced of the three | alf Sge |
| 5 | ὁ ἐπ’ ἄκρας τῆς γλυφύδος. | The star on the end of the notch | bet Sge |
| ἀστέρες ἐ, ὧν δ’ μεγέθους ἄ, ε 7, ς’ ἄ. | 5 stars, l of the fourth magnitude, 3 of the fifth, l of the sixth |
