
An excerpt: In my "Introduction to a Scientific System of Mythology," I gave a sketch of my views on the Astronomical Mythi of Grecian antiquity, in which I especially insisted on a strict separation of those legends to which the aspect of the stars had given rise, from the catasterisms of the Alexandrian school, which consisted merely in seeking out for some figure already traced on the sky, some fable or other story, by which an interesting interpretation and mythological reference was assigned to it. With regard to this process - the operation of which is clearly seen from the description given by Aratus of the sphere of Eudoxus, which contained, however, but little that was mythological - similar views have been expressed by Buttmann in his excellent treatise " On the Origin of the Constellations on the Grecian Sphere," which he read before the Academy of Sciences at Berlin, on the 8th of June, 1826. The principles which I then laid down have been confirmed by continued attention to the subject, only, at the same time, the circle of really ancient astronomical mythi has, in some regions, widened around me; in others, the original conception stands more distinctly before my view. I will begin by unfolding, in the legends regarding Orion, all that belongs to the Constellation; and I intend to treat also in the same way the mythi of Sirius, the Pleiades, and the Hyades. Almost all the constellations which have furnished materials of any amount to the mythic poesy of Greece, are to be found in that division of the heavens which lies to the south of the Sun's path, not in the much larger space extending from the Ecliptic to the Pole. There Sirius, Orion, the Hyades, and the Pleiades, have their position nearly in a line: of these the Pleiades only are a few degrees distant from the Ecliptic to the North. Among the Northern Stars, indeed, the Bear or Wain, together with Bootes, appear early under those names, having chiefly served as guides to the Gr
Page Count:
370
Publication Date:
2013-11-07
ISBN-10:
1493702483
ISBN-13:
9781493702480
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