Aquila

Aquila, The Eagle, is one of the official IAU-constellations. Its history goes back to a Sumerian constellations (TI₈, The Eagle or The Vulture) in the same area of the sky.

Etymology and History

"Aquila" is the Latin translation of the Ancient Greek term which is the translation of an Akkadian term which is the translation of a Sumerian term. It is unknown whether the Sumerians distinguished betwen eagles and vultures. The Greek term and mythology clearly refer to an eagle as a symbol of divine power. Still, the original Sumerian constellation might have had a different context: as it was placed next to the Sumerian constellation of The Corpse, the bird might have been considered a vulture.

The confusion of the Eagle and the Vulture can be traced throughout all epochs. In medieval manuscripts Aquilae was also commonly known as "vultur volans", see Saxl-Project while similarly, the (originally Arabian) eagle in Lyra also got the Latin name "vultur cadens". These names are preserved in late-medieval European astrolabes, star catalogues and from the sixteenth-century onwards on celestial globes. See for example the celestial globe (1551) of Gerard Mercator. The term "lucida vulturis" for Altair remained popular until far into the 17th century, and Bode's celestial atlas uses the German rhyme "der Geyer mit der Leyer" (the vulture with the lyre) for Lyra.

Origin of constellation

The constellation is listed in the Mesopotamian creation myth "Enuma Anu Enlil", in Astrolab P and Astrolab B, and in MUL.APIN's first list, all dating to the 2nd millennium BCE.

Graeco-Roman constellation

Hygin, Astronomica, III, 15

XV. AQUILA ala dextra non multum extra circulum aequinoctialem prodire, sinistra autem non longe a capite Ophiuchi figurata videtur. Praeterea rostrum eius a reliquo corpore dividit circulus, quem supra diximus a Cancro ad Capricornum pervenire. Media autem finitur ab eo, quem supra lacteum orbem demonstravimus esse. Haec occidit exorto Leone; exoritur autem cum Capricorno, habens in capite stellam I, in utraque penna I, in cauda I.

The right wing does not extend much beyond the equinoctial circle, but the left appears to be outlined not far from the head of Ophiuchus. Furthermore, its beak is separated from the rest of the body by the circle which, as we said above, reaches from Cancer to Capricorn. Its middle part is bounded by the one which, as we noted above, marks the Milky Way. It sets as Leo rises; it rises, however, with Capricorn, having one star in its head, one in each wing, and one in the tail.

Ovid, Fasti, III, 793ff.

stella Lycaoniam vergit declinis ad Arcton

     Miluus: haec illa nocte videnda venit.

quid dederit volucri, si vis cognoscere, caelum,               795

    Saturnus regnis a Iove pulsus erat;

concitat iratus validos Titanas in arma,

    quaeque fuit fatis debita temptat opem.

matre satus Terra, monstrum mirabile, taurus

    parte sui serpens posteriore fuit:               800

hunc triplici muro lucis incluserat atris

    Parcarum monitu Styx violenta trium.

viscera qui tauri flammis adolenda dedisset,

    sors erat aeternos vincere posse deos.

immolat hunc Briareus facta ex adamante securi,               805

    et iamiam flammis exta daturus erat:

Iuppiter alitibus rapere imperat: attulit illi

    miluus, et meritis venit in astra suis.

The star of the Kite slopes downwards towards the Lycaonian Bear: on that night it becomes visible. If you would know what raised the bird to heaven. Saturn had been dethroned by Jupiter. In his wrath he stirred up the strong Titans to take arms and sought the help the Fates allowed him. There was a bull born of its mother Earth, a wondrous monster, the hinder part whereof was a serpent: him, at the warning of the three Fates, grim Styx had shut up in gloomy woods enclosed by a triple wall. There was an oracle that he who should burn the inwards of the bull in the flames would be able to conquer the eternal gods. Briareus sacrificed him with an axe made of adamant, and was just about to put the entrails on the fire: Jupiter commanded the birds to snatch them away; the kite brought them to him and was promoted to the stars for his services.

Transfer and Transformation of the constellation

• 

  Aquila with Sagitta, Leiden Aratea, Fol. 54v and 55r, between circa 830 and circa 840

• 

  Aquila et Antinous (Bayer 1603)

• 

  "Aquila et Antinous" in Hevelius (1690) in "Firmamentum Sobiescianum, sive uranographia" in volume "Prodromus Astronomia"

• 

  "Delphinus, Sagitta, Aquila, and Antinous", plate 13 in Urania's Mirror, a set of celestial cards accompanied by A familiar treatise on astronomy ... by Jehoshaphat Aspin (1825). London. Astronomical chart, 1 print on layered paper board : etching, hand-colored.

• 

  Aquila et Antinous, 1776 - Jean Fortin/ John Flamsteed - L'Aigle, Antinous, La Fleche, Le Renard, Le Dauphin (Aquila, Sagitta, Vulpecula & Anser Delphinus, source)

• 

  The constellation of Aquila (Eagle) and the constellation of Antinous, portrayed as Zeus and Ganymede, from the Uranographia, by Johann Elert Bode (1782).

• 

  Aquila et Antinous at Planisferio celeste (Carlos Simón 1894)

Weblinks

• Ridpath, Ian, “Star Tales: online edition”.

All HIP Stars within this constellation

HIP 93429,HIP 93244,HIP 97278,HIP 97649,HIP 99473,HIP 93551,HIP 93526,HIP 93716,HIP 93717,HIP 93805,HIP 95236,HIP 95937,HIP 93743,HIP 93836,HIP 94149,HIP 94053,HIP 95055,HIP 95073,HIP 95126,HIP 95222,HIP 95886,HIP 96007,HIP 96807,HIP 96468,HIP 96392,HIP 96851,HIP 97207,HIP 98844,HIP 99171,HIP 93417,HIP 93589,HIP 93385,HIP 93580,HIP 93557,HIP 93892,HIP 93990,HIP 94331,HIP 94833,HIP 94883,HIP 94885,HIP 94477,HIP 94913,HIP 95697,HIP 95793,HIP 95585,HIP 95812,HIP 95987,HIP 96603,HIP 96403,HIP 97804,HIP 98336,HIP 98385,HIP 98191,HIP 97980,HIP 98945,HIP 93647,HIP 94250,HIP 94247,HIP 94727,HIP 94873,HIP 95045,HIP 95121,HIP 95680,HIP 95501,HIP 95732,HIP 95898,HIP 95929,HIP 96159,HIP 96630,HIP 96351,HIP 96196,HIP 97255,HIP 97709,HIP 97877,HIP 98474,HIP 93833,HIP 93920,HIP 93937,HIP 94068,HIP 94512,HIP 94733,HIP 94478,HIP 94564,HIP 96071,HIP 96047,HIP 96229,HIP 96745,HIP 96423,HIP 96204,HIP 96665,HIP 97398,HIP 98036,HIP 93732,HIP 93488,HIP 93820,HIP 94103,HIP 94220,HIP 94612,HIP 94486,HIP 94916,HIP 95253,HIP 95325,HIP 96092,HIP 96241,HIP 96979,HIP 97101,HIP 97144,HIP 97607,HIP 97229,HIP 97779,HIP 93438,HIP 93867,HIP 93273,HIP 94009,HIP 94064,HIP 94098,HIP 94120,HIP 94452,HIP 94524,HIP 94834,HIP 94982,HIP 95002,HIP 95406,HIP 95586,HIP 95620,HIP 96024,HIP 96282,HIP 96416,HIP 96481,HIP 93747

References

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