Editing Ursa Minor (section)

== History and mythology ==
{{anchor|History}}
[[File:Sidney Hall - Urania's Mirror - Draco and Ursa Minor.jpg|thumb|300px|Ursa Minor, with Draco looping around it, as depicted in ''[[Urania's Mirror]]'',<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.ianridpath.com/atlases/urania.html |title=Urania's Mirror c.1825 – Ian Ridpath's Antique Star Atlases |author=Ridpath, Ian |author-link=Ian Ridpath |publisher=Self-published |access-date=13 February 2012}}</ref> a set of constellation maps published in London c. 1825]]
In the [[Babylonian star catalogues]], Ursa Minor was known as the "Wagon of [[An (deity)|Heaven]]" ({{lang|akk|<sup>MUL</sup>MAR.GÍD.DA.AN.NA}}, also associated with the goddess [[Damkina]]). It is listed in the [[MUL.APIN]] catalogue, compiled around 1000&nbsp;BC, among the "Stars of [[Enlil]]"—that is, the northern sky.<ref>{{cite journal |author=Rogers, John H. |title= Origins of the Ancient Constellations: I. The Mesopotamian Traditions  |journal=[[Journal of the British Astronomical Association]] |volume=108 |date=1998 |pages= 9–28 |bibcode= 1998JBAA..108....9R }}</ref>

According to [[Diogenes Laërtius]], citing [[Callimachus]], [[Thales of Miletus]] "measured the stars of the Wagon by which the [[Phoenicia]]ns sail". Diogenes identifies these as the constellation of Ursa Minor, which for its reported use by the Phoenicians for navigation at sea were also named ''Phoinikē''.<ref>Hermann Hunger, David Edwin Pingree, ''Astral Sciences in Mesopotamia'' (1999), [https://books.google.com/books?id=7hnTZ8tdOS0C&pg=PA68 p. 68].</ref><ref name="Albright 1972">{{cite journal|last=Albright|first=William F. |date=1972|title=Neglected Factors in the Greek Intellectual Revolution|journal=[[Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society]] |volume=116|issue=3|pages= 225–42|jstor=986117}}</ref>
The tradition of naming the northern constellations "bears" appears to be genuinely Greek, although [[Homer]] refers to just a single "bear".<ref name=ridpathUMi>{{cite web| url=http://www.ianridpath.com/startales/ursaminor.html | title=Ursa Minor |last1=Ridpath|first1=Ian|publisher=Self-published  |work=Star Tales | access-date= 7 March 2015}}
{{cite book|last=Blomberg|first=Peter E.|title=Archaeoastronomy in Archaeology and Ethnography: Papers from the Annual Meeting of SEAC (European Society for Astronomy in Culture), held in Kecskemét in Hungary in 2004|editor=Pásztor, Emília |publisher=Archaeopress|location=Oxford, UK|date=2007|pages=129–32|chapter=How Did the Constellation of the Bear Receive its Name?|isbn=978-1-4073-0081-8|chapter-url=http://minoanastronomy.mikrob.com/pdf/2007b%20Peter%20Kecs.pdf}}</ref>
The original "bear" is thus [[Ursa Major]], and Ursa Minor was admitted as the second, or "Phoenician Bear" (Ursa Phoenicia, hence Φοινίκη, Phoenice)
only later, according to [[Strabo]] (I.1.6, C3) due to a suggestion by [[Thales]], who suggested it as a navigation aid to the Greeks, who had been navigating by Ursa Major. In [[classical antiquity]], the [[celestial pole]] was somewhat closer to [[Beta Ursae Minoris]] than to [[Alpha Ursae Minoris]], and the entire constellation was taken to indicate the northern direction. Since the medieval period, it has become convenient to use Alpha Ursae Minoris (or "Polaris") as the [[North Star]]. (Even though, in the medieval period, Polaris was still several degrees away from the celestial pole.<ref name="Lang2013">{{cite book|author=Kenneth R. Lang|title=Essential Astrophysics|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=PVJEAAAAQBAJ&pg=PA10|year= 2013|publisher=Springer Science & Business Media|isbn=978-3-642-35963-7|pages=10–15}}</ref>{{efn| The position of the north celestial pole moves in accordance with the Earth's [[axial precession]] such that in 12,000 years' time, [[Vega]] will be the Pole Star.<ref name="Lang2013" />}} ) Now, Polaris is within 1° of the north celestial pole and remains the current [[Pole star]]. Its [[Neo-Latin]] name of ''stella polaris'' was coined only in the early modern period.<ref name=startales/>

The ancient name of the constellation is ''Cynosura'' ([[Ancient Greek|Greek]] [[wikt:Κυνοσούρα|Κυνοσούρα]] "dog's tail").
The origin of this name is unclear (Ursa Minor being a "dog's tail" would imply that another constellation nearby is "the dog", but no such constellation is known).<ref name=Allen447>{{cite book|title=Star Names: Their Lore and Meaning|url=https://archive.org/details/StarNamesAndTheirMeanings|author=Allen, Richard Hinckley|date=1899}} [https://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/e/gazetteer/topics/astronomy/_texts/secondary/allsta/home.html 447f.]
"The origin of this word is uncertain, for the star group does not answer to its name unless the dog himself be attached; still some, recalling a variant legend of Kallisto and her Dog instead of Arcas, have thought that here lay the explanation. Others have drawn this title from that of the Attican promontory east of Marathon, because sailors, on their approach to it from the sea, saw these stars shining above it and beyond; but if there be any connection at all here, the reversed derivation is more probable; while Bournouf asserted that it is in no way associated with the Greek word for "dog."</ref>
Instead, the mythographic tradition of ''[[Catasterismi]]'' makes ''[[Cynosura (nymph)|Cynosura]]'' the name of an [[Oread]] [[nymph]] described as a nurse of [[Zeus]], honoured by the god with a place in the sky.<ref>[http://articles.adsabs.harvard.edu/full/1970ASPL...10..361C Condos, T., The Katasterismoi (Part 1), 1967]. Also mentioned by [[Maurus Servius Honoratus|Servius]]  ''On [[Virgilius]]' [[Georgics]]'' 1. 246, c. AD 400; a mention of doubtful authenticity is [[Gaius Julius Hyginus|Hyginus]], ''[[De astronomia]]'' 2.2.</ref>
There are various proposed explanations for the name ''Cynosura''. One suggestion connects it to the myth of [[Callisto (mythology)|Callisto]], with her son [[Arcas]] replaced by her dog being placed in the sky by Zeus.<ref name=Allen447 />
Others have suggested that an archaic interpretation of Ursa Major was that of a cow, forming a group with [[Bootes|Boötes]] as herdsman, and Ursa Minor as a dog.<ref>[https://archive.org/stream/researchesintoo01browgoog#page/n284/mode/2up/search/Syoronos 265f. Robert Brown, ''Researches into the origin of the primitive constellations of the Greeks, Phoenicians and Babylonians'' (1899)],
"M. Syoronos (''Types Mon. des anciens'' p. 116) is of opinion that in the case of some Kretan coin-types, ''Ursa Maj.'' is represented as a Cow, hence ''Boôtês'' as 'the Herdsman', and ''Ursa Min. as a Dog'' ('Chienne'  cf. ''Kynosoura'', ''Kynoupês''), a Zeus-suckler."
A supposed Latin tradition of naming Ursa Minor ''Catuli'' "whelps" or ''Canes Laconicae'' "Spartan dogs", recorded in [[Johann Heinrich Alsted]] (1649, [https://books.google.com/books?id=KGkp6GNTCOQC&pg=PA408 408]), is probably an early modern innovation. <!--Allen: "Caesius", probably meaning [[Philipp von Zesen]]--></ref> [[George William Cox]] explained it as a variant of [[Lycosura|Λυκόσουρα]], understood as "wolf's tail" but by him etymologized as "trail, or train, of light" (i.e. [[:wikt:λύκος#Ancient Greek|λύκος]] "wolf" vs. [[:wikt:Reconstruction:Proto-Indo-European/lewk-|λύκ-]] "light"). Allen points to the [[Old Irish]] name of the constellation, ''drag-blod'' "fire trail", for comparison.
Brown (1899) suggested a non-Greek origin of the name (a loan from an [[Akkadian language|Assyrian]] ''An‑nas-sur‑ra'' "high-rising").<ref>"Very recently, however, Brown [Robert Brown, ''Researches into the origin of the primitive constellations of the Greeks, Phoenicians and Babylonians''] has suggested that the word is not Hellenic in origin, but Euphratean; and, in confirmation of this, mentions a constellation title from that valley, transcribed by Sayce as An‑ta-sur‑ra, the Upper Sphere. Brown reads this An‑nas-sur‑ra, High in Rising, certainly very appropriate to Ursa Minor; and he compares it with Κ‑υν‑όσ‑ου‑ρα, or, the initial consonant being omitted, Unosoura." (Allen, Richard Hinckley. "Star Names: Their Lore and Meaning." New York, Dover Editions, 1963, p.&nbsp;448.)
Brown points out that Aratus fittingly describes "Cynosura" as "high-running" ("at the close of night Cynosura's head runs very high",  κεφαλὴ Κυνοσουρίδος ἀκρόθι νυκτὸς
ὕψι μάλα τροχάει v. 308f).</ref>

An alternative myth tells of two bears that saved Zeus from his murderous father [[Cronus]] by hiding him on [[Mount Ida (Crete)|Mount Ida]]. Later Zeus set them in the sky, but their tails grew long from their being swung up into the sky by the god.<ref name=RogersII>{{cite journal| author=Rogers, John H. |title= Origins of the Ancient Constellations: II. The Mediterranean traditions |journal=Journal of the British Astronomical Association |volume=108 |date=1998|pages= 79–89|bibcode = 1998JBAA..108...79R}}</ref>

Because Ursa Minor consists of seven stars, the [[Latin]] word for "north" (''i.e.'', where Polaris points) is ''septentrio'', from ''septem'' (seven) and ''[[:wikt:trio#Latin|triones]]'' ([[oxen]]), from seven oxen driving a plough, which the seven stars also resemble. This name has also been attached to the main stars of Ursa Major.<ref name=wagman>{{cite book | last = Wagman | first = Morton | date = 2003 | title = Lost Stars: Lost, Missing and Troublesome Stars from the Catalogues of Johannes Bayer, Nicholas Louis de Lacaille, John Flamsteed, and Sundry Others | publisher = The McDonald & Woodward Publishing Company | location = Blacksburg, Virginia | isbn = 978-0-939923-78-6 |pages=312, 518}}</ref><!-- cites 2 previous sentences -->

In [[Inuit astronomy]], the three brightest stars — Polaris, Kochab, and Pherkad — were known as ''Nuutuittut'' ("never moving"), though the term is more frequently used in the singular to refer to Polaris alone. The Pole Star is too high in the sky at far northern latitudes to be of use in navigation.<ref>{{cite book | last = MacDonald | first = John | date = 1998 | title = The Arctic Sky: Inuit Astronomy, Star Lore, and Legend | url = https://archive.org/details/arcticskyinuitas0000macd | url-access = registration | publisher = Royal Ontario Museum/Nunavut Research Institute |location=Toronto, Ontario | isbn = 978-0-88854-427-8 |page=[https://archive.org/details/arcticskyinuitas0000macd/page/61 61]}}</ref> In [[Ursa Minor (Chinese astronomy)|Chinese astronomy]], the main stars of Ursa Minor are divided between two [[Chinese constellations|asterisms]]:
[[Curved Array|勾陳 ''Gòuchén'']] (Curved Array) (including α UMi, [[Delta Ursae Minoris|δ UMi]], [[Epsilon Ursae Minoris|ε UMi]], [[Zeta Ursae Minoris|ζ UMi]], [[Eta Ursae Minoris|η UMi]], [[Theta Ursae Minoris|θ UMi]], [[Lambda Ursae Minoris|λ UMi]]) and
[[Northern Pole|北極 ''Běijí'' (Northern Pole)]] (including β UMi and [[Gamma Ursae Minoris|γ UMi]]).<!--The boundaries of the modern IAU constellation are also touched upon by the asterisms [[Celestial Bed|天床 ''Tiānchuáng'']] (Celestial Bed, mostly in [[Draco (constellation)|Draco]]) and [[Four Advisors|四輔 ''Sìfǔ'']] (Four Advisors, mostly in [[Camelopardalis]]).--><ref>{{Cite web|title=Ursa Minor – Chinese associations|website=Star Tales|url=http://www.ianridpath.com/startales/ursaminor.html#chinese|access-date=2023-01-13}}</ref>