Lepus

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

One of the 88 IAU constellations.

Etymology and History

Orion-Group of constellations on the Kugel Globe, drawing and animated GIF by SMH 2025.

Alongside Andromeda and Perseus, the group around Orion forms the second mythological constellation complex. It is said to depict a hunting scene. The hare is pursued by one or two hounds of Orion. This is how it can be seen in the sky: The hare stands to the west of the constellation of the Great Dog, so it rises before it and runs in front of it the whole time during the night.

Origin of Constellation

Rooster in Babylonian uranography, painting by Jessica Gullberg for Stellarium (2022).

Babylonian

The constellation has no Babylonian origin, because in Mesopotamia there was the constellation of the Rooster (DAR.LUGAL) in this position.

MUL.APIN was copied throughout the -1st millennium, so presumably continued to be used in Babylonian astronomy. It is therefore unclear when and where the transformation from the rooster to the hare took place. It is quite possible that the hare was a separate Greek constellation or originated from another conquered civilisation.

Almagest Λαγωός

id	Greek (Heiberg 1898)	English (Toomer 1984)	ident.
	Λαγωοῦ ἀστερισμός	constellation of the Hare
1	τοῦ κατὰ τῶν ὤτων τετραπλεύρου τῆς ἠγουμένης πλευρᾶς ὁ βόρειος.	The quadrilateral just over the ears: the northcrn star an the advance side	iot Lep
2	ὁ νότιος τῆς ἠγουμένης πλευρᾶς	The quadrilateral just over the ears: the southern star on the advance side	kap Lep
3	τῆς ἐπομένης πλευρᾶς ὁ βόρειος	The quadrilateral just over the ears: the northern star on the rear side	nu Lep
4	ὁ φότιος τῆς ἐπομένης πλευρᾶς	The quadrilateral just over the ears: the southern star on the rear side	lam Lep
5	ὁ ἐῃ τῷ γερείῳ.	The star in the cheek	mu Lep
6	ὁ ἐπὶ τοῦ ἐμπροσθίου ἀριστεροῦ ἀκρόποδος	The star on the left front foot	eps Lep
7	ὁ ἐν μέσῳ τῷ σώματι	The star in the middle of the body	alf Lep
8	ὁ ὑπὸ τὴν κοιλίαυ	The star under thc bellv	bet Lep
9	τῶν ἐν τοῦς ὀπισθίοις ποσὶο β ὁ βορειότερος	The northernmost of th~ 2 stars in the hind legs	del Lep
10	ὁ νοτιώτερος αὐτῶν	Thc southcrnmost of them	gam Lep
11	ὁ ἐπὶ τῆς ὀσφύος.	The star on the rump	zet Lep
12	ὁ ἐπ’ ἄκρας τῆς οὐρᾶς	The star on the tip of the tail	eta Lep
all	ἀστέρες ἰβ, ὧν γ μεγέθους β, δ’s, ε' δ	{12 stars, 2 of the third magnitude, 6 of the fourth, 4 of the fifth}

References

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