IAU-Constellations Origins

In the past decades, a viewgraph of the former Harvard director Donald H. Menzel on "constellation families" has become rather popular (wikipedia), although it's wrong. The origins of the constellations have been traced by various scholars since the 19th century (e.g. Ideler 1809, Brown 1897+99, Boll 1903, Ovenden 1966, Frank 2015).

Map of the ancient Greco-Babylonian constellations

Ancient constellations coloured according to their origin (CC BY Susanne M Hoffmann 2021)

Blue are the so-called Greek constellations (a multi-cultural mix already), brownish the Babylonian ones and yellow the (later) Christian ones.

Remark: Pisces, the two Fish, is coloured blue-and-brownish (striped) because the constellation has Babylonian roots but underwent several transformations. The original Babylonian constellation at this area was named "The Swallow" or (only the zodiac part) “The Tails of the Swallow” and was later transformed into the Uruk constellation of the “Swallow-Fish” and the Greco-Egyptian “two Fish” because for the Egyptians the Autumn Square (that was called “One Field” by the Babylonians) was a rectangular water tank for the Egyptians. Thus, the modern constellation of Pisces is a product of transformations.

All constellations coloured according to their origin (CC BY Susanne M Hoffmann 2021)

Origins of the IAU constellations

• light brownish: Babylonian constellations.

• blue: Greek constellations.

• light green: constellations created by Dutch sailors (first depiction on celestial globe by Plancius and Hondius (1598), in Bayer’s Uranometria (1603), and in the star catalogue published by de Houtman in 1603).

• dark green: English asterism, created in the 1670s – included in a newly invented constellation by Hevelius (1687).

• dark red: Hevelius (Polish), 1687.

• pink: Lacaille (French), 1756 with the pattern of a leopard: Giraffe, probably invented by Plancius, too – first appearance on his 1612 globe but roots unknown.

• yellow: Christian.

Scutum, the shield was invented by Hevelius, Monoceros, the unicorn, and Columba, the dove, were invented by Plancius; the Cross had already served as a navigational asterism for long time (introduced by A. Corsali, the navigator of A. Vespucci after a Christian asterism mentioned in their compatriot Dante’s Divina Commedia) while the stars originally belonged to the constellation of the Centaur.

Mythological groups

Constellations coloured according to their Greek mythology (CC BY Susanne M Hoffmann 2021)

• dark blue: the figures of the legend of Andromeda and Perseus (Andromeda and Perseus themselves, the sea monster called Ketos and Andromeda’s parents Cassiopeia and Cepheus).

• orange: myth of Hercules, (according to Greek mythology, the hero had defeated the monstrous lion of Nemea, the Draco-Snake (the snake who guarded the apples of the Hesperids), and crunched a crab while fighting with a dragon.

• green: the heavenly hunting scene (Orion-group) the hunter Orion is accompanied by two hunting dogs (Canis Maior and Canis Minor), he fights with the Bull but his (big) dog hunts a Hare.

• light blue/ water constellations: The giant ship (Puppis, Carina, Vela) that the Dutch had enlarged with regard to the ancient ship, is accompanied by a Flying Fish (Volans) while fleeing from the huge predator Dorado.

• light gray: Hydra-group As we are defining groups with common mythological background, we could also connect Hydra with the Bowl (Crater) and the Raven (Corvus). According to Greek mythology, the raven carried the water snake to the god Apollo which is not really convincing with regard to their sizes in the sky. However, it is known that Corvus and Hydra were both copied as a group from ancient Babylon to Greek uranography.

• golden yellow: the “holy” Greek constellations: the altar (Ara) with its fire is the place were the gods represented by the natural force of fire witness oaths. The Centaur represents the wild man who becomes civilised by sacrificing an animal at the altar. Virgo and Ursa Major symbolize the ancient Greek rituals of initiation for men and women respectively source?).

References

http://stellarium.org

Zotti, G., Hoffmann, S. M., Wolf, A., Chéreau, F., & Chéreau, G. (2020). "The Simulated Sky: Stellarium for Cultural Astronomy Research". Journal of Skyscape Archaeology, 6(2), 221–258. https://doi.org/10.1558/jsa.17822

Hoffmann, S. M. (2021). Wie der Löwe an den Himmel kam – Auf den Spuren der Sternbilder. Franckh Kosmos Verlag