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== History of the early constellations == === Lascaux Caves, southern France === It has been suggested that the 17,000-year-old [[cave painting]]s in [[Lascaux]], southern France, depict star constellations such as Taurus, Orion's Belt, and the Pleiades. However, this view is not generally accepted among scientists.<ref>{{cite journal |bibcode=1997ascu.conf..217R |title=The Pleiades in the "Salle des Taureaux", grotte de Lascaux. Does a rock picture in the cave of Lascaux show the open star cluster of the Pleiades at the Magdalénien era (ca 15.300 BC?" |journal=Astronomy and Culture |page=217 |last1=Rappenglück |first1=M. |year=1997 }}</ref><ref>{{cite journal|last1=Cunningham|first1=D.|title=The Oldest Maps of the World: Deciphering the Hand Paintings of Cueva de El Castillo Cave in Spain and Lascaux in France|date=2011|journal=Midnight Science|volume=4|page=3}}</ref> === Mesopotamia === Inscribed stones and [[Clay tablet|clay writing tablets]] from [[Mesopotamia]] (in modern [[Iraq]]) dating to 3000 BC provide the earliest generally accepted evidence for humankind's identification of constellations.<ref name= Rogers>{{cite journal|bibcode=1998JBAA..108....9R|title=Origins of the ancient constellations: I. The Mesopotamian traditions|journal=Journal of the British Astronomical Association|volume=108|page=9|last1=Rogers|first1=J. H|year=1998}}</ref> It seems that the bulk of the Mesopotamian constellations were created within a relatively short interval from around 1300 to 1000 BC. Mesopotamian constellations appeared later in many of the classical Greek constellations.<ref name="Greek Constellations 2007">{{cite journal|last1=Schaefer|first1=Bradley E.|author-link=Bradley E. Schaefer|title=The Origin of the Greek Constellations|journal=Scientific American|date=2006|volume=295|issue=5|pages=96–101|doi=10.1038/scientificamerican1106-96|pmid=17076089|bibcode = 2006SciAm.295e..96S }}</ref> === Ancient Near East === {{See also|Old Babylonian astronomy}} [[File:Babylonian tablet recording Halley's comet.jpg|thumb|upright| Babylonian tablet recording [[Halley's Comet]] in 164 BC]] The oldest [[Babylonian star catalogues|Babylonian catalogues]] of stars and constellations date back to the beginning of the [[Middle Bronze Age]], most notably the ''Three Stars Each'' texts and the ''[[MUL.APIN]]'', an expanded and revised version based on more accurate observation from around 1000 BC. However, the numerous [[Sumerian language|Sumerian names]] in these catalogues suggest that they built on older, but otherwise unattested, [[Sumer]]ian traditions of the [[Early Bronze Age]].<ref>{{cite web |url=http://members.westnet.com.au/Gary-David-Thompson/page11-4.html |title=History of the Constellations and Star Names – D.4: Sumerian constellations and star names? |work=Gary D. Thompson |date=21 April 2015 |access-date=30 August 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150907050519/http://members.westnet.com.au/Gary-David-Thompson/page11-4.html |archive-date=7 September 2015 |url-status=dead }}</ref> The classical Zodiac is a revision of [[Neo-Babylonian]] constellations from the 6th century BC. The Greeks adopted the Babylonian constellations in the 4th century BC. Twenty Ptolemaic constellations are from the Ancient Near East. Another ten have the same stars but different names.<ref name="Greek Constellations 2007" /> Biblical scholar [[E. W. Bullinger]] interpreted some of the creatures mentioned in the books of [[Book of Ezekiel|Ezekiel]] and [[Book of Revelation|Revelation]] as the middle signs of the four-quarters of the Zodiac,<ref>{{cite book|author=E. William Bullinger|title=The Witness of the Stars|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Zxb1CQAAQBAJ|year=2015|publisher=eKitap Projesi|isbn=978-963-527-403-1}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|author=Dennis James Kennedy|title=The Real Meaning of the Zodiac|date=June 1989|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=pLy-IAAACAAJ|publisher=Coral Ridge Ministries Media, Inc.|isbn=978-1-929626-14-4}}</ref> with the Lion as [[Leo (astrology)|Leo]], the Bull as [[Taurus (astrology)|Taurus]], the Man representing [[Aquarius (astrology)|Aquarius]], and the Eagle standing in for [[Scorpio (astrology)|Scorpio]].<ref name="Allen1899">{{cite book|author=Richard H. Allen|title=Star Names: Their Lore and Meaning|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=vWDsybJzz7IC|date=2013|publisher=Courier Corp.|isbn=((978-0-486-13766-7))}}</ref> The biblical [[Book of Job]] also makes reference to a number of constellations, including {{lang|he|עיש |rtl=yes}} {{lang|he-Latn|‘Ayish}} "bier", {{lang|he| כסיל |rtl=yes}} {{lang|he-Latn|chesil}} "fool" and {{lang|he| כימה |rtl=yes}} {{lang|he-Latn|chimah}} "heap" (Job 9:9, 38:31–32), rendered as "Arcturus, Orion and Pleiades" by the [[KJV]], but ''‘Ayish'' "the bier" actually corresponding to Ursa Major.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.blueletterbible.org/kjv/gen/1/1/s_1001|title=H5906 - ʿayiš - Strong's Hebrew Lexicon (KJV)|website=Blue Letter Bible}}</ref> The term ''[[Mazzaroth]]'' {{lang|he|מַזָּרוֹת|rtl=yes}}, translated as ''a garland of crowns'', is a ''[[hapax legomenon]]'' in Job 38:32, and it might refer to the zodiacal constellations. === Classical antiquity === {{See also||Egyptian astronomy|Ancient Greek astronomy}} [[File:Astronomical Ceiling, Tomb of Senenmut MET DT207429.jpg|upright|thumb|Egyptian star chart and decanal clock, from the ceiling of [[Astronomical ceiling of Senenmut's Tomb|Senenmut's tomb]], {{Circa|1473 BC}}]] There is only limited information on ancient Greek constellations, with some fragmentary evidence being found in the ''[[Works and Days]]'' of the Greek poet [[Hesiod]], who mentioned the "heavenly bodies".<ref>{{cite journal |title=Stars and Constellations in Homer and Hesiod |journal=The Annual of the British School at Athens |volume=46 |pages=86–101 |date=1951|doi=10.1017/S0068245400018359 |last1=Lorimer |first1=H. L. |s2cid=192976174 }}</ref> Greek astronomy essentially adopted the older Babylonian system in the [[Hellenistic era]],{{citation needed|date=April 2020}} first introduced to Greece by [[Eudoxus of Cnidus]] in the 4th century BC. The original work of Eudoxus is lost, but it survives as a versification by [[Aratus]], dating to the 3rd century BC. The most complete existing works dealing with the mythical origins of the constellations are by the Hellenistic writer termed [[pseudo-Eratosthenes]] and an early Roman writer styled pseudo-[[De astronomia|Hyginus]]. The basis of Western astronomy as taught during [[Late Antiquity]] and until the [[Early Modern period]] is the ''[[Almagest]]'' by [[Ptolemy]], written in the 2nd century. In the [[Ptolemaic Kingdom]], [[Egyptian astronomy|native Egyptian]] tradition of anthropomorphic figures represented the planets, stars, and various constellations.<ref name="Marshall Clagett 1995, p. 111">{{cite book|author=Marshall Clagett|title=Ancient Egyptian Science: Calendars, clocks, and astronomy|url=https://archive.org/details/bub_gb_8c10QYoGa4UC|year=1989|publisher=American Philosophical Society|isbn=978-0-87169-214-6}}</ref> Some of these were combined with Greek and Babylonian astronomical systems culminating in the [[Dendera zodiac|Zodiac of Dendera]], the oldest known depiction of the zodiac showing all the now familiar constellations, along with some original Egyptian constellations, [[decans]], and [[planets]].<ref name="Rogers" /><ref>{{cite book|author=Denderah|title=Zodiac of Dendera, epitome. (Exhib., Leic. square)|url= https://books.google.com/books?id=xznqw5EkOCMC |year=1825}}</ref> It remains unclear when this occurred, but most were placed during the Roman period between 2nd to 4th centuries AD. Ptolemy's ''Almagest'' remained the standard definition of constellations in the medieval period both in Europe and in [[Astronomy in the medieval Islamic world|Islamic astronomy]]. === Ancient China === {{further|Chinese constellations|Chinese astronomy}} [[File:Su Song Star Map 1.JPG|thumb|right|[[Chinese star map]] with a cylindrical projection ([[Su Song]])]] [[History of China#Ancient China|Ancient China]] had a long tradition of observing celestial phenomena.<ref>{{cite book|last =Needham|first = Joseph|volume = 3|page = 171|series=Science and Civilisation in China|title = Mathematics and the Sciences of the Heavens and the Earth|publisher = Cambridge University Press|date = 1959|isbn =978-0521058018|url =https://books.google.com/books?id=jfQ9E0u4pLAC&pg=PA171}}</ref> Nonspecific [[Chinese star names]], later categorized in the [[twenty-eight mansions]], have been found on [[oracle bones]] from [[Anyang]], dating back to the middle [[Shang dynasty]]. These [[Chinese constellations|constellations]] are some of the most important observations of Chinese sky, attested from the 5th century BC. The Chinese system developed independently from the Greco-Roman system, although there may have been earlier mutual influence, suggested by parallels to ancient [[Babylonian astronomy]].<ref name=sun>{{cite book|author1=Xiaochun Sun|author2=Jacob Kistemaker|title=The Chinese Sky During the Han: Constellating Stars and Society|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=87lvBoFi8A0C |year=1997|publisher=Brill|isbn=978-90-04-10737-3}}</ref> Three schools of classical [[Chinese astronomy]] in the [[Han period]] are attributed to astronomers of the earlier [[Warring States period]]. The constellations of the three schools were conflated into a single system by [[Chen Zhuo]], an astronomer of the 3rd century ([[Three Kingdoms period]]). Chen Zhuo's work has been lost, but information on his system of constellations survives in [[Tang period]] records, notably by [[Qutan Xida]]. The oldest extant Chinese star chart dates to that period and was preserved as part of the [[Dunhuang Manuscripts]]. Native Chinese astronomy flourished during the [[Song dynasty]], and during the [[Yuan dynasty]] became increasingly influenced by [[medieval Islamic astronomy]] (see [[Treatise on Astrology of the Kaiyuan Era]]).<ref name=sun/> As maps were prepared during this period on more scientific lines, they were considered as more reliable.<ref name="Selin2008">{{cite book|last=Selin|first=Helaine Elise|title=Encyclopaedia of the History of Science, Technology, and Medicine in Non-Western Cultures|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=kt9DIY1g9HYC&pg=PA2022|date= 2008|publisher=Springer Science & Business Media|isbn=978-1-4020-4559-2|page=2022}}</ref> A well-known map from the Song period is the [[Chinese star maps|Suzhou Astronomical Chart]], which was prepared with carvings of stars on the [[planisphere]] of the Chinese sky on a stone plate; it is done accurately based on observations, and it shows the [[SN 1054|1054 supernova]] in Taurus.<ref name="Selin2008"/> Influenced by European astronomy during the late [[Ming dynasty]], charts depicted more stars but retained the traditional constellations. Newly observed stars were incorporated as supplementary to old constellations in the southern sky, which did not depict the traditional stars recorded by ancient Chinese astronomers. Further improvements were made during the later part of the Ming dynasty by [[Xu Guangqi]] and [[Johann Adam Schall von Bell]], the German Jesuit and was recorded in [[Chongzhen calendar|Chongzhen Lishu]] (Calendrical Treatise of [[Chongzhen Emperor|Chongzhen period]], 1628).{{clarify|date=September 2018}} Traditional Chinese star maps incorporated 23 new constellations with 125 stars of the southern hemisphere of the sky based on the knowledge of Western star charts; with this improvement, the Chinese Sky was integrated with the World astronomy.<ref name="Selin2008"/><ref>{{cite book | last=Sun | first =Xiaochun | editor=Helaine Selin | editor-link=Helaine Selin | title=Encyclopaedia of the History of Science, Technology, and Medicine in Non-Western Cultures | date=1997 | pages=910 | publisher=Kluwer Academic Publishers | isbn=978-0-7923-4066-9}}</ref>
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