Astronomical Myths: Based on Flammarions's "History of the Heavens"
John Stuart Mill · en
We have used the name _Great Bear_, by which the constellation is best
known. It is one of the oldest names also, being derived from the
Greeks, who called it Arctos megale ([Greek: Arktos megale]), whence the
name Arctic; and singularly enough the Iroquois, when America was
discovered, called it Okouari, their name for a bear. The explanation of
this name is certainly not to be found in the resemblance of the
constellation to the animal. The three stars are indeed in the tail, but
the four are in the middle of the back; and even if we take in the
smaller stars that stand in the feet and head, no ingenuity can make it
in this or any other way resemble a bear. It would appear, as Aristotle
observes, that the name is derived from the fact, that of all known
animals the bear was thought to be the only one that dared to venture
into the frozen regions of the north and tempt the solitude and cold.
[Illustration: FIG. 5.]
Other origins of the name, and other names, have been suggested, of
which we may mention a few. For example, "Ursa" is said to be derived
from _versus_, because the constellation is seen to _turn_ about the
pole. It has been called the Screw ([Greek: Elike]), or Helix, which has
plainly reference to its turning. Another name is Callisto, in reference
to its beauty; and lastly, among the Arabs the Great and Little Bears
were known as the Great and Little Coffins in reference to their slow
and solemn motion. These names referred to the four stars of each
constellation, the other three being the mourners following the bearers.
The Christian Arabs made it into the grave of Lazarus and the three
weepers, Mary, Martha, and their maid.
Next as to the Little Bear. This constellation has evidently received
its name from the similarity of its form to that of the Great Bear. In
fact, it is composed of seven stars arranged in the same way, only in an
inverse order. If we follow the line from [Greek: b] to [Greek: a] of
the Great Bear to a distance of five times as great as that between
these stars we reach the brightest star of the Little Bear, called the
Pole Star. All the names of the one constellation have been applied to
the other, only at a later date.
The new constellations were added one by one to the celestial sphere by
the Greeks before they arranged certain of them as parts of the zodiac.
The successive introduction of the constellations is proved completely
by a long passage of Strabo, which has been often misunderstood. "It is
wrong," he says, "to accuse Homer of ignorance because he speaks only of
one of the two Celestial Bears. The second was probably not formed at
that time. The Phenicians were the first to form them and to use them
for navigation. They came later to the Greeks."
[Illustration: THE CONSTELLATIONS FROM THE SEA-SHORE.
The Swan--The Lyre--Hercules--The Crown--The Herdsman--The Eagle--The
Serpent--The Balance--The Scorpion--Sagittarius.]