Christianized (All Terms)

Central Europe (c. 1648). The culture of Christianization of the sky was an early modern attempt to unite European thinkers across the boundaries of a multitude of Christian confessions.

In this lexicon, we describe the names of a specific historical movement in Early modern history. During the Thirty Years' War in Central Europe (1618-1648) and in the decades before it that led to this war, even the work of scholars was affected by religious conflicts and the depreciation of specific Christian subgroups (traditional Catholics versus Lutherian Protestants versus Calvinists etc.). Astronomers and cartographers in that time had the same idea of one humanity "under one sky" as the IAU has been doing in the 20th and 21st centuries, but there were also attempts to project the figures that were common in all of the Christian churches into the sky and consciously reinterpret the sky with characters known to everybody in Europe.

Note that the authors of this lexicon refrain from promoting any religion; we just document a historical movement.

Name Lists

Solar System Names

Original term	English	Commentary
	Sun
	Moon
	Mercury
	Venus
	Mars
	Jupiter
	Saturn

Here is an overview on all Christianized constellation names

native letters	English	Identification	Author	Our notes
S. Michaelis Archangeli	Archangel Michael
Camelus Rebeccae	Camel of Rebecca			see Camelopardalis
Columba Noachi	The dove of Noah			see Columba
Crux
Jordanus	The River Jordan
Monoceros
Naviculae S. Petri	Ship of Saint Peter	Ursa Major	Julius Schiller
S. Innocentum	Innocent Children	Draco	Julius Schiller
4	Saint Stephanus	Cepheus	Julius Schiller
5	Pope Sylvester I	Bootes	Julius Schiller
6	The flagellum of Christ	Coma Berenices	Julius Schiller
7	The crown of thorns	Corona Borealis	Julius Schiller
8	The three Wise Men	Hercules	Julius Schiller
9	The Christmas crib	Lyra	Julius Schiller
10	Saint Helena	Cygnus	Julius Schiller
11	Mary Magdalene	Cassiopeia	Julius Schiller
12	Saint Paul	Perseus	Julius Schiller
13	Saint Jerome	Auriga	Julius Schiller
14	Saint Benedict	Ophiuchus	Julius Schiller
15	The burning bush	Serpens	Julius Schiller
16	Saint Catherine	Aquila	Julius Schiller
17	The Holy Lance	Sagitta	Julius Schiller
18	Watercup of the wedding at Cana	Delphinus	Julius Schiller
19	Rosa mystica	Equuleus	Julius Schiller
20	Archangel Gabriel	Pegasus	Julius Schiller
21	The Holy Grave	Andromeda	Julius Schiller
22	The Tiara Petri	Triangulum	Julius Schiller
23	Saint Anna and Saint Joachim	Cetus	Julius Schiller
24	Saint Joseph	Orion	Julius Schiller
25	Simon Petrus	Aries	Julius Schiller
26	Andrew the Apostle	Taurus	Julius Schiller
27	James the Apostle	Gemini	Julius Schiller
28	John the Apostle	Cancer	Julius Schiller
29	Thomas the Apostle	Leo	Julius Schiller
30	James, son of Alphaus	Virgo	Julius Schiller
31	Philip	Libra	Julius Schiller
32	Bartholomew	Scorpio	Julius Schiller
33	Matthew	Sagittarius	Julius Schiller
34	Simon the Zealot	Capricorn	Julius Schiller
35	Judas Thaddaeus	Aquarius	Julius Schiller
36	Matthias	Pisces	Julius Schiller
37	The Red Sea	Eridanus	Julius Schiller
38	Gideon	Lepus	Julius Schiller
40	King David	Canis Major	Julius Schiller
41	The Lamb of God	Canis Minor	Julius Schiller
42	Noah's Ark	Argo	Julius Schiller
44	The Ark of the Covenant	Crater and Corvus	Julius Schiller
45	Abraham and Isaac	Centaurus	Julius Schiller
46	Jacob	Lupus	Julius Schiller
47	Showbread table	Ara	Julius Schiller
48	The crown of Salomo	Corona Australis	Julius Schiller
49		Piscis Austrinus	Julius Schiller
50	Highpriest Aaron	Grus and Phoenix	Julius Schiller
51	Job	Pavo and Indus	Julius Schiller
52	Eve	Musca	Julius Schiller
53	The tau cross	Triangulum Australe	Julius Schiller
54	Abel	Piscis Volans and Dorado	Julius Schiller
55	Archangel Raphael	Tucan and Hydrus	Julius Schiller
			Jakob Bartsch

Authors

Julius Schiller († 1627 in Augsburg) was a German astronomer and Augustinian monk, as well as a contemporary of Johann Bayer, who also lived in Augsburg.

With Bayer’s assistance, Schiller published the star atlas Coelum Stellatum Christianum in 1627, the year of his death. The work was an attempt to create a "Christian" star catalogue, in which the common constellations were renamed and depicted with figures from Christian tradition. In general, figures and symbols from the New Testament appear north of the ecliptic, and those from the Old Testament to the south, while the zodiac constellations of the twelve signs were replaced with the twelve apostles.

The star catalogue is considered a curiosity and, unlike Bayer’s Uranometria, never achieved great significance. Unlike Bayer, Schiller depicted the starry sky reversed, that is, from God’s perspective of the firmament looking down toward the Earth. This representation followed the tradition of celestial globes, whereas for individual celestial sections in historical maps and atlases the "correct" orientation was more common. Schiller’s constellations were taken up in only one later work: the artistic atlas Harmonia Macrocosmica by Andreas Cellarius in 1661. The lunar crater Schiller is named after him.

References

• Julius Schiller, Coelum Stellatum Christianum. Aperger, Augsburg 1627
• Julius Schiller, Coelum Stellatum Christianum Convexum. Aperger, Augsburg 1627