Astronomical Myths Part 2

The coins have for their ordinary field the heavens.

On the right side they present almost universally the ideal heads of G.o.ds or G.o.ddesses, or in default of these, the symbols that are representative of them.

On the reverse for the most part, they reproduce, either by direct types or by emblems artfully combined, the princ.i.p.al celestial bodies, the divers aspects of the constellations, and probably the laws, which, according to their ancient science, presided over their course; in a smaller proportion they denote the religious myths which form the base of the national belief of the Gauls. As we have seen above, for them the present life was but a transitory state of the soul, only a prodrome of the future life, which should develop itself in heaven and the astronomical worlds with which it is filled.

Borrowed from an elevated spiritualism, incessantly tending towards the celestial worlds, these ideas were singularly appropriate to a nation at once warlike and commercial. These circ.u.mstances explain the existence of these strange types, founded at the same time on those of other nations, and on the symbolism which was the soul of the Druidical religion. To this religious caste, indeed, we must give the merit of this ingenious and original conception, of turning the reverses of the coins into regular charts of the heavens. Nothing indeed could be better calculated to inspire the people with respect and confidence than these mysterious and learned symbols, representing the phenomena of the heavens.

Not making use of writing to teach their dogmas, which they wished to maintain as part of the mysteries of their caste, the Druids availed themselves of this method of placing on the money that celestial symbolism of which they alone possessed the key.

The religious ideas founded on astronomical observations were not peculiar to, or originated by, the Druids, any more than their zodiac.

There seems reason to believe that they had come down from a remote antiquity, and been widely spread over many nations, as we shall see in the chapter on the Pleiades; but we can certainly trace them to the East, where they first prevailed in Persia and Egypt, and were afterwards brought to Greece, where they disappeared before the new creations of anthropomorphism, though they were not forgotten in the days of the poet Anacreon, who says, "Do not represent for me, around this vase" (a vase he had ordered of the worker in silver), "either the heavenly bodies, or the chariot, or the melancholy Orion; I have nothing to do with the Pleiades or the Herdsman." He only wanted mythological subjects which were more to his taste.

The characters which are made use of in these astronomical moneys of the Druids would appear to have a more ancient origin than we are able to trace directly, since they are most of them found on the arms and implements of the bronze age. Some of them, such as the concentric pointed circles, the crescent with a globule or a star, the line in zigzag, were used in Egypt; where they served to mark the sun, the month, the year, the fluid element; and they appear to have had among the Druids the same signification. The other signs, such as the [symbol: wave], and its multiple combinations, the centred circles, grouped in one or two, the little rings, the alphabetical characters recalling the form of a constellation, the wheel with rays, the radiating discs, &c. are all represented on the bronze arms found in the Celtic, Germanic, Breton, and Scandinavian lands. From this remote period, which was strongly impressed with the Oriental genius, we must date the origin of the Celtic symbolism. It has been supposed, and not without reason, that this epoch, besides being contemporaneous with the Phenician establishments on the borders of the ocean, was an age of civilization and progress in Gaul, and that the ideas of the Druids became modified at the same time that they acquired just notions in astronomy and in the art of casting metals. At a far later period, the Druidic theocracy having, with religious care, preserved the symbols of its ancient traditions, had them stamped on the coins which they caused to be struck.

This remarkable fact is shown in an incontestable manner in the rougher attempts in Gaulish money, and this same state of things was perpetuated even into the epoch of the high arts, since we find on the imitation statues of Macedonia the old Celtic symbols a.s.sociated with emblems of a Grecian origin.

In Italy a different result was arrived at, because the warlike element of the n.o.bles soon predominated over the religious. Nevertheless the most ancient Roman coins, those which are known to us under the name of Consular, have not escaped the common law which seems to have presided, among all nations, over the origin of money. The two commonest types, one in bronze of _Ja.n.u.s Bifrons_ with the _palus_; the other in silver, the _Dioscures_ with their stars, have an eminently astronomical aspect.

The comparison between the Gaulish and Roman coins may be followed in a series of a.n.a.logies which are very remarkable from an astronomical point of view. To cite only a few examples, we may observe on a large number of pennies of different families, the impression of Auriga "the Coachman" conducting a quadriga; or the sun under another form (with his head radiated and drawn in profile); or Diana with her lunar attributes; or the five planets well characterised; for example, Venus by a double star, as that of the morning or of the evening; or the constellations of the Dog, Hercules, the Kid, the Lyre, and almost all those of the zodiac and of the circ.u.mpolar region and the seven-kine (septemtriones).

In later times, under the Caesars, in the villa of Borghese, is found a calendar whose arrangements very much recall the ancient Gaulish coin.

The head of the twelve great G.o.ds and the twelve signs of the zodiac are represented, and the drawing of the constellations establishes a correspondence between their rising and the position of the sun in the zodiac. It may therefore be affirmed that in the coinage and works of art in Italy and Greece, the characteristic influence of astronomical wors.h.i.+p is found as strongly as among the Druids. Nor have the Western nations alone had the curious habit of impressing their astronomical ideas upon their coinage, for in China and j.a.pan coins of a similar description have been met with, containing on their reverse all the signs of the zodiac admitted by them.

In conclusion, we may say, that it was cosmography, that constructed the dogmas of the Druidical religion, which was, in its essential elements, the same as that of the old Oriental theocracies. The outward ceremonies were addressed to the sun, the moon, the stars, and other visible phenomena; but, above nature, there was the great generating and moving principle, which the Celts placed, at a later period perhaps, among the attributes of their supreme deities.

[Ill.u.s.tration: THE NORTHERN CONSTELLATIONS.

The Lyre--Ca.s.siopeia--The Little Bear--The Dragon--Andromeda--The Great Bear--Capella--Algol, or Medusa's Head.]

CHAPTER III.

ORIGIN OF THE CONSTELLATIONS.

When we look upon the mult.i.tude of heavenly bodies with which the celestial vault is strewed, our attention is naturally arrested by certain groupings of brilliant stars, apparently a.s.sociated together on account of their great proximity; and also by certain remarkable single stars which have excessive brilliancy or are completely isolated from the rest. These natural groups seem to have some obscure connection with or dependence on each other. They have always been noticed, even by the most savage races. The languages of several such races contain different names for the same identical groups, and these names, mostly borrowed from terrestrial beings, give an imaginary life to the solitude and silence of the skies. A celestial globe, as we know, presents us with a singular menagerie, rich in curious monsters placed in inconceivable positions. How these constellations, as they are called, were first invented, and by whom, is an interesting question which by the aid of comparative philology we must endeavour now to answer.

Among these constellations there are twelve which have a more than ordinary importance, and to which more attention has always been paid.

They are those through which the sun appears to pa.s.s in his annual journey round the ecliptic, entering one region each month. At least, this is what they were when first invented. They were called the zodiacal constellations or signs of the zodiac--the name being derived from their being mostly named after living beasts. In our own days the zodiacal constellations are no longer the signs of the zodiac. When they were arranged the sun entered each one on a certain date. He now is no longer at the same point in the heavens at that date, nevertheless he is still said to enter the same sign of the zodiac--which therefore no longer coincides with the zodiacal constellation it was named from--but merely stands for a certain twelfth part of the ecliptic, which varies from time to time. It will be of course of great interest to discover the origin of these particular constellations, the date of their invention, &c.; and we shall hope to do so after having discussed the origin of those seen in the Northern hemisphere which may be more familiar even than those.

We have represented in the frontispiece the two halves of the Grecian celestial sphere--the Northern and the Southern, with the various constellations they contain. This sphere was not invented by the Greeks, but was received by them from more ancient peoples, and corrected and augmented. It was used by Hipparchus two thousand years ago; and Ptolemy has given us a description of it. It contained 48 constellations, of which 21 belonged to the Northern, 15 to the Southern hemisphere, and the remaining twelve were those of the zodiac, situated along the ecliptic.

The constellations reckoned by Ptolemy contained altogether 1,026 stars, whose relative positions were determined by Hipparchus; with reference to which accomplishment Pliny says, "Hipparchus, with a height of audacity too great even for a G.o.d, has ventured to transmit to posterity the number of the stars!"

Ptolemy's catalogue contains:--

For the northern constellations 361 stars For the zodiacal 350 "

For the southern 318 "

or ----- For all the 48 constellations 1,029 "

or, since 3 of these are named twice 1,026 "

Of course this number is not to be supposed to represent the whole of the stars visible even to the naked eye; there are twice as many in the Northern hemisphere alone, while there are about 5,000 in the whole sky.

The number visible in a telescope completely dwarfs this, so that more than 300,000 are now catalogued; while the number visible in a large telescope may be reckoned at not less than 77 millions. The princ.i.p.al northern constellations named by Ptolemy are contained in the following list, with the stars of the first magnitude that occur in each:--

The Great Bear, or David's Chariot, near the centre.

The Little Bear, with the Pole Star at the end of the tail.

The Dragon.

Cepheus, situated to the right of the Pole.

The Herdsman, or the Keeper of the Bear, with the star Arcturus.

The Northern Crown to the right.

Hercules, or the Man who Kneels.

The Lyre, or Falling Vulture, with the beautiful star Vega.

The Swan, or Bird, or Cross.

Ca.s.siopeia, or the Chair, or the Throne.

Perseus.

The Carter, or the Charioteer, with Capella Ophiuchus, or Serpentarius, or Esculapius.

The Serpent.

The Bow and Arrow, or the Dart.

The Eagle, or the Flying Vulture, with Altar.

The Dolphin.

The Little Horse, or the Bust of the Horse.

Pegasus, or the Winged Horse, or the Great Cross.

Andromeda, or the Woman with the Girdle.

The Northern Triangle, or the Delta.

The fifteen constellations on the south of the ecliptic were:--

The Whale.