Of Stars and Gods E-Book

Frank Fojtik

• Herausgeber: Books on Demand
• Kategorie: Wissenschaft und neue Technologien
• Sprache: Englisch

Seitenzahl: 79

Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2022

Beschreibung

This book, aimed in particular at beginners, tries to familiarize the reader with the (especially northern) starry sky as quickly as possible. The latter shall not be achieved in a sterile way by using coordinates or scientific techniques, but rather by means of the Greek myths that underlie most of the constellations. However, in contrast to other publications in this field, only those stories are presented that can be integrated into the predefined 12 myths. This and the brief description of the underlying myths make it easy to acquire the new knowledge. Following "Highway to God", "Of Stars and Gods" is Frank Fojtik's second popular scientific book, which shows, like the first one, points of contact between visible reality and metaphysical thinking. On the one hand, it represents a practicable astronomical orientation tool. On the other hand, it may be also a kind of key for the reader to touch something greater that goes beyond the purely scientific.

Leseprobe

The Book

This book, aimed in particular at beginners, tries to familiarize the reader with the (especially northern) starry sky as quickly as possible. The latter shall not be achieved in a sterile way by using coordinates or scientific techniques, but rather by means of the Greek myths that underlie most of the constellations. However, in contrast to other publications in this field, only those stories are presented that can be integrated into the predefined 12 myths. This and the brief description of the underlying myths make it easy to acquire the new knowledge. Following “Highway to God”, “Of Stars and Gods” is Frank Fojtik's second popular scientific book, which shows, like the first one, points of contact between visible reality and metaphysical thinking. On the one hand, it represents a practicable astronomical orientation tool. On the other hand, it may be also a kind of key for the reader to touch something greater that goes beyond the purely scientific.

The Author

Frank Fojtik, born in 1977 in Weiden i.d.OPf. (Germany), studied environmental technology and worked as an engineer in energy and power plant technology for several years. He later went through training as a disability support worker and has since worked professionally in the disability sector. Frank Fojtik is a member of the astronomy club “Sternfreunde Amberg-Ursensollen e.V.”, which regularly offers planetarium performances and open-air star walks to the public.

Table of contents

Table of star objects

Introduction

Callisto

Perseus

Orion

Theseus

Heracles

Leda

Astraea

Apollo

Ganymede

Typhon

Argonauts

Chiron

Sources

Appendix

A.1 Overview of myths and associated star objects

A.2 Zeus and his clan in our planetary system

A.3 Memory aid for signs of the zodiac

A.4 Alternative stories worth reading

Table of star objects

Andromeda (Chained Maiden)

Aquarius (Water Bearer)

Aquila (Eagle)

Ara (Altar)

Aries (Ram)

Auriga (Charioteer)

Boötes (Herdsman)

Cancer (Crab

)

Canes Venatici (Hunting Dogs)

Canis Major (Great Dog)

Canis Minor (Lesser Dog)

Capricornus (Sea Goat)

Carina (Keel)

Cassiopeia (Seated Queen)

Centaurus (Centaur)

Cepheus (King)

Cetus (Sea Monster)

Columba (Dove)

Coma Berenices (Berenice's Hair)

Corona Australis (Southern Crown)

Corona Borealis (Northern Crown)

Corvus (Crow)

Crater (Cup)

Cygnus (Swan)

Delphinus (Dolphin)

Draco (Dragon)

Equuleus (Little Horse)

Eridanus (River)

Gemini (Twins)

Hercules (Hercules)

Hyades (Hyades)

Hydra (Water Snake)

Leo (Lion)

Lepus (Hare)

Libra (Scales)

Lupus (Wolf)

Lyra (Lyre)

Milky Way

Ophiuchus (Serpent Bearer)

Orion (Hunter)

Pegasus (Winged Horse)

Perseus (Hero)

Pisces (Fishes)

Piscis Austrinus (Southern Fish)

Pleiades (The Seven Sisters)

Puppis (Stern)

Pyxis (Compass)

Sagitta (Arrow)

Sagittarius (Archer)

Scorpius (Scorpion)

Serpens (Snake)

Taurus (Bull)

Ursa Major (Great Bear)

Ursa Minor (Little Bear)

Vela (Sails)

Virgo (Maiden)

Introduction

Even if constellations are man-made groupings and the stars within the individual constellations usually have nothing to do with each other (above all spatially), they still represent an excellent tool for orienting oneself in the starry sky. This book, aimed in particular at beginners, tries to familiarize the reader with the (especially northern) starry sky as quickly as possible. The latter shall not be achieved in a sterile way by using coordinates or scientific techniques, but rather by means of the Greek myths that underlie most of the constellations. Firstly, this makes it easier to remember the constellations and their position in relation to each other, especially if one also takes into account the relationships between the mythological stories. Secondly, one dives into the fascinating world of Greek antiquity and is often amazed at how creative, refined and by no means naive the people of that time tried to explain the night sky and the great connections of the world.

Previous mythological star atlases

Of course, there are already books that deal in detail with the connection between myths and constellations (see chapter Sources). However, for a compact celestial guide, which was certainly not the concern of the cited authors, they have the following shortcomings:

1. Numerous, different myths are told about each constellation and with the large number of constellations one often ends up in front of a mountain of fascinating mosaic stones, but which lack any overarching structure. Let's compare it to someone who visits a different country every day on a trip to Europe and gets to know a lot of side shows in addition to the main attractions. In retrospect, the person is enthusiastic about everything, but due to the mass of impressions, one may not remember whether the Eiffel Tower was in Paris or in Berlin.

2. The myths are often presented in great detail. This undoubtedly has its appeal and makes the legends appear more vividly. However, this is unsuitable for a quick orientation in the sky based on large mythological contexts. In connection with item 1, the confusion is multiplied.

3. In terms of structure, either the individual constellations are presented one after the other with the associated legends. (Based on the 48 constellations of ancient Greece, these would be 48 unconnected chapters!) Or only those constellations are linked that are associated with just one mythological narrative. While this is a step in the right direction, it doesn't significantly reduce the number of chapters and thereby also obscures the view of the whole.

New basic approach: advantages and disadvantages

The idea for this book was to pick out only those mythological stories about the individual constellations that can be easily linked. This reduced the number of chapters to 12. So with “only” 12 myths, the reader obtains a celestial navigation system by means of which he can identify 53 constellations1 and 3 star clusters associated with myths. Another important aspect was to find a structure suitable for practice, i.e. for a star walk. It was therefore necessary to create the greatest possible continuity, on the one hand in terms of the mythological stories and on the other hand in terms of the position of the constellations. Jumping back and forth in the night sky was minimized, but could not be avoided entirely, especially as the “opposition” of individual constellations was sometimes deliberately conceived that way by the ancient Greeks.

However, one disadvantage of the method used here should not be concealed. It is obvious that some beautiful legends had to be dropped when they did not fit into the big “myth connections” or disrupted the continuity mentioned above. However, a chapter in the appendix is dedicated to these legends, where they are named briefly together with their related constellations. The interested reader is cordially invited to delve further into these myths, which can be looked up on the internet or in the books specified in the Sources chapter.

Scientific preliminary remarks

The typesetting in this book is as follows: Passages relating to the myth are always printed in italics. If the explanations relate to the purely scientific side, i.e. the locating of celestial objects, this is done in normal type.

Officially the Latin name is used in astronomy to designate celestial objects. The reader should therefore not be surprised if, for example, the constellation is named “Hercules” and the hero described in the Greek myth is called “Heracles”. In this context, the appendix also contains a transfer of Greek antiquity to our planetary system. At that time, the planets were given the names of gods because their movement did not fit into the rest of the starry sky and so it seemed that they ruled independently in a “divine freedom”. If one assigns the Greek names to the Roman gods and keeps the individual family relationships in mind, further connections to the shown star myths can be seen. Unlike to many other languages, in the English speaking world Latin names are used for the constellations. Therefore the respective English meanings/names are put in parentheses when a constellation is presented for the first time, so that the reader can visualize the underlying image in his mind.