Stars & constellations · Historical beliefs · Constellations

Constellation stories

Figures, clusters and dark shapes in the sky as different peoples have read them. Each story names its tradition and its source.

We have not researched Ursa Minor for Historical beliefs yet. Everything this lens covers so far is below; the Science & history guide to Ursa Minor is ready.

We have not researched Cygnus for Historical beliefs yet. Everything this lens covers so far is below; the Science & history guide to Cygnus is ready.

GuideHistorical beliefsMUL.APIN, the Babylonian star compendiumMUL.APIN is a Babylonian astronomical compendium on clay. What the British Museum's tablet lists: three divisions…

GuideHistorical beliefsA Babylonian zodiac, with older namesA Late Babylonian tablet pairs the twelve months with zodiac figures: the Bull of Heaven, the Balance, the…

GuideHistorical beliefsCallisto and the Great BearWhy is there a bear in the sky? The Latin handbook known as Hyginus's Astronomica gives several competing Greek…

GuideHistorical beliefsOrion and the ScorpionHow Greek writers explained why Orion and Scorpius are never high in the sky together: the scorpion that killed the…

GuideHistorical beliefsPerseus, Andromeda and CassiopeiaThe queen who boasted, the princess chained to a rock, the hero who saved her, and the sea monster: how Ovid told…

GuideHistorical beliefsAl-Sufi's Book of the Fixed StarsIn the tenth century the Persian astronomer al-Sufi described the 48 classical constellations from his own…

GuideHistorical beliefsThe Chinese sky: Three Enclosures and 28 mansionsChinese astronomy divided the sky its own way: hundreds of small asterisms, three walled enclosures and 28 lunar…

GuideHistorical beliefsMatariki, the Pleiades and the Māori New YearMatariki is the Māori name for the Pleiades, whose midwinter return to the dawn sky marks the Māori New Year for…

GuideHistorical beliefsGawarrgay, the Emu in the SkyGawarrgay, the Emu in the Sky, is made of the dark dust lanes of the Milky Way, not stars. How Gamilaraay and…

Sky cultures do not share one set of pictures. Greek writers drew a hunter where others saw something else entirely, and some of the best-known figures are made of dark dust rather than stars. These pages report what named texts and communities have recorded, with sources, and none of them claims to speak for everyone in a culture. The Moon's traditions, including the lunar mansions many bright stars belong to, are in Historical beliefs.

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