Heroes in the stars
Heroes in the stars
Patterns in the night sky
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As you explore the different cultures and peoples from around the world you will find that they all see different objects, gods and creatures in the same night sky.
The first star-gazers
Farmers around the world would use the stars to help them plant and harvest their crops. They observed the positions of the Sun, Moon and the stars throughout the year. It was from these observations that the calendar was formed.
At first, farmers would only look for a few bright stars. They would look for them overhead or rising and setting at particular times of the year. They used this information to fill the sky with imaginary patterns. Different groups of farmers and tribes often used their heroes for their images in the sky.
Unfortunately, the origins of some of the constellations have now been completely forgotten. In fact there are some that are not recognised today, such as the ship Argo.
Cultural origins
In the western world the stories of the skies began in different countries and cultures. Many of them come from the Greeks, Romans and the ancient Middle East.
The Greeks and Romans got most of the ideas for their stories from earlier peoples such as the Egyptians, Babylonians and Chaldeans. When the Roman Empire collapsed more than 1500 years ago a lot of information was lost. Luckily Arab and Jewish astronomers from North Africa and Spain were able to save some of it. This explains why many of the star names come from the Arabic language, for example deneb (the tail) and altair (the eagle).
Now find out about the badly behaved gods and the planets that are named after them…
Names of the Planets
In the western world the planets are named after the Roman gods. They are named according to the characteristics they show when we look at them in the night sky – brightness, colour or speed in orbit.
Mercury – the wisest of the gods and their speedy messenger is hard to spot in the sky.
Venus – the goddess of beauty. The brightest of all the planets, and can be seen at either morning or evening.
Mars – its reddish colour suggested the colour of blood so this is the planet of the bloodstained god of war.
Jupiter – the chief of all the gods. Jupiter is almost as bright as Venus, and moves slowly and regally across the sky (it takes 12 years to orbit the Sun).
Saturn – dim and slow with a 29-year orbit, Saturn was also Chronos the father of Zeus (Jupiter) and god of old age.
A long time ago when the ancient peoples were looking at the night sky they did not know of the planets Uranus or Neptune or of the dwarf planet Pluto. These were discovered in modern times and given names from other Greek and Roman gods.
The behaviour and characteristics of these gods worried the thinkers of the ancient world because some were quarrelsome and cruel. They were not good role models for the humans they ruled. In fact the behaviour of the gods really hides how people struggled against each other and against the elements such as storms, in order to grow crops and herd animals.