CLASSICAL MYTHOLOGY OF THE CONSTELLATIONS

A thoroughly researched, beautifully packaged work that illuminates the classical myths of the gods and goddesses, heroes, heroines, and mythological creatures that makeup the 48 classical constellations in the night sky. Plus, brief tales of the birth of the remaining 40 named constellations.

A guide for star gazers who want to know the constellations' timeless, wondrous stories. Whether you're outside and looking up on a clear, starry night or indoors sitting in your favorite chair, this book can guide you through the heavens, revealing what gods, heroes, and monsters people long ago believed resided there. Among them are Hercules, the greatest of all Greek heroes, and Perseus, slayer of snake-haired Medusa. Their number includes the winged horse Pegasus and Cetus, the sea monster sent to kill the princess Andromeda, too. These star myths have had such great staying power that the constellations named after them by the ancient Greeks are still known by the same names today. The constellations and myths featured here are based on a list of forty-eight groups of stars listed in a book written almost two thousand years ago. The author of that book, entitled the Almagest, was a mathematician and astronomer known as Ptolemy, who wrote in Greek and lived in Alexandria, the most important city at that time in Egypt. Although written in the second century AD, the Almagest remained a highly valued textbook on astronomy until the Renaissance, and its catalogue of stars is still used, although Ptolemy's original constellation list, based on observation with the naked eye, has now almost doubled. Classical Mythology of the Constellations invites you to lie back, look up, and search the night skies for the serpents, dragons, bears, giants, strongmen, queens, kings, and princesses circling there. Annette Giesecke, PhD, is former Professor of Classics and Chair of Ancient Greek and Roman Studies at the University of Delaware. She has written on a variety of subjects ranging from Epicurean philosophy and the poetry of Homer and Virgil to ancient attitudes towards the natural environment. She is the author of Classical Mythology A to Z and The Mythology of Plants: Botanical Lore from Ancient Greece and Rome. She lives in New Zealand.