Aries

Aries star chart (IAU and Sky & Telescope magazine, Roger Sinnott & Rick Fienberg)

One of the 88 IAU constellations.

Etymology and History

The Greek constellation ...

Origin of Constellation

Babylonian

Kugel Globe: Aries and Triangulum, 1st century BCE (drawing by SMH 2024)

Greco-Roman

Aratos

[225] There too are the paths of the Ram, the swiftest because it speeds round the longest circle and yet does not lag behind the Bear Cynosura as it runs. The Ram itself is faint and starless, as if observed by moonlight, but you can still identify it from the girdle of Andromeda: for it is set a little way below her. [231] It traverses the great sky centrally, where the tips of the Claws and Orion’s belt revolve. (Kidd 1997)

Hyginus, Astronomica

This is thought to be the ram which carried Phrixus and Helle thought the Hellespont. Hesiod and Pherecydes say that it had a fleece of gold; about his we shall speak at greater length elsewhere. Many have said that Helle fell into the Hellespont, was embraced by Neptune, and bore Paeon, or, as some say, Edonus. They say, too, that Phrixus, on coming safely to Aeetes, sacrificed the ram to Jove, and hung the fleece up in the temple. The image of the ram itself, put among the constellations by Nubes, marks the time of year when grain is sown, because Ino earlier sowed it parched — the chief reason for the flight. Eratosthenes says that the ram itself removed its Golden Fleece, and gave it Phrixus as a memorial, and then came of its own accord to the stars; for this reason it seems somewhat dim, as we said before.

Phrixus was born, some say, in the town of Orchomenus, which is in Boeotia; others say, in the district of the Salones of Thessaly. Still others make Cretheus and Athamas with many others, sons of Aeolus; some, again, say that Salmoneus, son of Athamas, was a grandson of Aeolus. Cretheus had Demodice as wife; others name her Biadice. Moved by the beauty of Phrixus, son of Athamas, she fell in love with him, and could not obtain from him favour in return; so, driven by necessity, she accused him to Cretheus, saying that he had attacked her, and many similar things that women say. Stirred by this report, Cretheus, as was fitting for one who deeply loved his wife and was a king, persuaded Athamas to put Phrixus to death. However, Nubes intervened, and rescuing Phrixus and Helle his sister, put them on the ram, and bade them flee as far as they could through the Hellespont Helle fell off and paid the debt to nature, and the Hellespont was named from her name. Phrixus came to the Colchians, and, as we have said, hung up the fleece of the slain ram in a temple. He himself was brought back to Athamas by Mercury, who proved to his father that, relying on innocence, he had fled.

Hermippus says that at the time when Liber was attacking Africa he came with his army to the place called Ammodes from the great quantities of sand. He was in great danger, since he saw he had to advance, and an added difficulty was the great scarcity of water. The army were almost at the point of exhaustion, and the men were wondering what to do, when a certain ram, wandering apart, came by chance near the soldiers. When it saw them it took safety in flight. The soldiers, however, who had seen it, though they were advancing with difficulty oppressed by the sand and heat, gave chase, as if seeking booty from the flames, and followed it to that place which was named from the temple of Jove Hammon later founded there. When they had come there, the ram which they had followed was nowhere to be seen, but what was more to be desired, they found an abundant supply of water, and, refreshed in body, reported it at once to Liber. In joy he led his army to that place, and founded a temple to Jove Hammon, fashioning a statue there with the horns of a ram. He put the ram among the constellations in such a way that when the sun should be in that sign, all growing things would be refreshed; this happens in the spring for the reason that the ram's flight refreshed the army of Liber. He wished it, too, to be chief of the twelve signs, because the ram had been the best leader of his army.

But Leon, who wrote about Egyptian affairs, speaks of the statue of Hammon as follows. When Liber was ruling over Egypt and the other lands, and was said to have introduced all arts to mankind, a certain Hammon came from Africa and brought to him a great flock of sheep, in order more readily to enjoy his favour and be called the first inventor of something. And so, for his kindness, Liber is thought to have given him the land opposite Egyptian Thebes. Accordingly, those who make statues of Hammon, make them with horned heads, so that men may remember that he first showed the use of flocks. Those, however, who have wished to assign the gift to Liber, as not asked for from Hammon, but brought to him voluntarily, make those horned images for Liber, and say that in commemoration the ram was placed among the constellations. (Mary Ward 1960)

Almagest Κριός

id	Greek (Heiberg 1898)	English (Toomer 1984)	ident.
	Κριοῦ ἀστερισμός
1	τῶν ἐπὶ τοῦ κέρως β ὁ προηγούμενος	The more advanced of the 2 stars on the horn	gam Ari
2	ὁ ἐπόμεσος αὐτῶν	The rearmost of them	bet Ari
3	ὁ τῶν ἐπὶ τοῦ ῥύγχους β ὁ βορειότερος	The northernmost of the 2 stars on the muzzle	eta Ari
4	ὁ φοτιώτερος αὐτῶν	The southernmost of them	tet Ari
5	ὁ ἐπὶ τοῦ τραχήλου	The star on the neck	iot Ari
6	ὁ ἐπὶ τῆς ὀσφύος	The star on the rump	nu Ari
	ὁ ἐπὶ τῆς ἐκφύσεως τῆς οὐρᾶς	The star on the place where the tail joins [ the body]	eps Ari
	τῶν ἐν τῇ οὐρᾷ 7 ὁ προηγούμενος	The most advanced of the 3 stars in the tail	del Ari
	ὁ μέσος τῶν τριῶν.	The middle one of the three	zet Ari
	ὁ ἐπόμενος αὐτῶν.	The rearmost of them	tau Ari
	ὁ ἐν τῷ ὀπισθομήρῳ!	The star in the back of the thigh	rho Ari
	ὁ ὑπὸ τὴν ἀγκύληη	The star under the knee-bend	sig Ari
	ὁ ἐπὶ τοῦ ὀπισθίου ἀκρόποδος	The star an the hind hoof	mu Ari
	ἀστέρες ιχ, ὧν γ’ μεγέθους β, δ’ δ,ἐς,ςα	13 stars, 2 of the third magnitude, 4 of the fourth, 6 of the fifth., 1 of the sixth
	Οἱ περὶ τὸν Κριὸν ἀμόρφωτοι	Stars araund Aries outside the constellation
	ὁ ὑπὲρ τὴν κεφαλήν, ὃυ Ἴππαρχος ἐπὶ τοῦ ῥύγχους	The star over the head, which Hipparchus [calls] 'the one on the muzzle'	alf Ari
	τῶν ὑπὲρ τὴν ὀσφὺν δ ὁ ἐπόμενος καὶ λαμπρότερος.	The 4 stars over the rump: the rearmost,_ which is brighter [than the others]	41 Ari
	τῶν λοιπῶν γ’ καὶ ἀμαυροτέρων ὁ βόρειος.	The 4 stars over the rump: the northernmost of the other 3, fainter stars	39 Ari
	μέσος τῶν τριῶν	The 4 stars over the rump: the middle one of these three	35 Ari
	ὁ νότιος αὐτῶν.	The 4 stars over the rump: the southernmost of them	33 Ari
	ἀστέρες ἓ, ὥν γ’ μεγέθους ἄ, δ’ ἂ, γ.	5 stars, I of the third magnitude, 1 of the fourth, 3 of the fifth

Transfer and Transformation of the Constellation

• 

  Late Babylonian Aries (Perdok 2016)

• 

  Aries in Leiden Aratea (c. 830)

• 

  Aries in Bayer's Uranometria (1603)

• 

  Aries and French "Lily" Ignace Gaston Pardies (1674)

• 

  Aries in Hevelius (1690) with Fly

• 

  Aries in Flamsteed/ Fortin (1776) with a Fly

• 

  Aries in Hall (1825) with a Fly

References

• References (general)
• References (Babylonian)
• References (ancient Greco-Roman)
• References (medieval)