Origins of the “Western” Constellations

Skyscapes Beyond the Horizon

“…The stars are more than mere dots in the sky: whether in isolation or connected to form asterisms and constellations, they can represent people, animals and other elements of a culture's environment and play out stories, myths and legends in the sky, whether over a single night or through the seasons (Frank 2015). Not all stars touch the horizon: some are visible every night, all night long and rotating around the celestial pole, making them particularly useful for night-time navigation (Pimenta 2015).…”

A complexidade do conceito de constelação astronômica: povos indígenas do noroeste amazônico

“…A constelação de Cerberus, por exemplo, ocupava a região estelar entre as constelações de Hercules e Cisne (BARENTINE, 2016). Estas foram representadas no globo celeste do Cartógrafo e Teólogo Pieter Platevoet ou Petrus Plancius (1552-1622), em 1598 e catalogadas posteriormente por Frederick de Houtman (c. 1571-1627), que auxiliou Keyser em suas observações astronômicas em Madagascar (FRANK, 2015).…”

Collective Social Memory as Manifest in Skyscape Narratives

“…Narratives associated with the classic "Western" constellations and asterisms represent a syncretic blend, a compilation of hybrid narratives composed of fragments drawn from different geographical zones and based on Mesopotamian and Mediterranean traditions transmitted across time and space with the aid of written texts and cultural contacts (Allen 1963(Allen [1899Ridpath 1989;Rogers 1998a;1998b). The result is an amalgam that stiches together different chronological layers including, in some instances, elements emanating from an older animistic belief system rooted, for example, in the hunter-gatherer veneration of and respect for bears as ancestors of humans, upon which the Greek and Roman pantheon of sexually promiscuous male gods and jealous wives is superimposed (Frank 2014).…”