Chapter 2

Bibliography.—On Constantinople generally, besides the regular guide-books and works already mentioned, see P. Gyllius,De topographia Constantinopoleos, De Bosporo Thracio(1632); Du Cange,Constantinopolis Christiana(1680); J. von Hammer,Constantinopolis und der Bosporos(1822); Mordtmann,Esquisse topographique de Constantinople(1892); E. A. Grosvenor,Constantinople(1895); van Millingen,Byzantine Constantinople(1899); Paspates,Βυζαντιναἱ Μελέται(1877); Scarlatos Byzantios,Ή Κωνσταντίνου πὁλις(1851); E. Pears,Fall of Constantinople(1885),The Destruction of the Greek Empire(1903); Gibbon,The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire; Salzenberg,Altchristliche Baudenkmale von Konstantinopel; Lethaby and Swainson,The Church of Sancta Sophia; Pulgher,Les Anciennes Églises byzantines de Constantinople; Labarte,Le Palais impérial de Constantinople et ses abords.

(A. van M.)

1For full information on the subject of the ancient water-supply see Count A. F. Andréossy,Constantinople et le Bosphore; Tchikatchev,Le Bosphore et Constantinople(2nd ed., Paris, 1865); Forchheimer and Strzygowski,Die byzantinischen Wasserbehälter; also articleAqueduct.2A Turkish lira = 18 shillings (English).

2A Turkish lira = 18 shillings (English).

CONSTANTINOPLE, COUNCILS OF.Of the numerous ecclesiastical councils held at Constantinople the most important are the following:

1. The second ecumenical council, 381, which was in reality only a synod of bishops from Thrace, Asia and Syria, convened by Theodosius with a view to uniting the church upon the basis of the Orthodox faith. No Western bishop was present, nor any Roman legate; from Egypt came only a few bishops, and these tardily. The first president was Meletius of Antioch, whom Rome regarded as schismatic. Yet, despite its sectional character, the council came in time to be regarded as ecumenical alike in the West and in the East.

The council reaffirmed the Nicene faith and denounced all opposing doctrines. The so-called “Niceno-Constantinopolitan Creed,” which has almost universally been ascribed to this council, is certainly not the Nicene creed nor even a recensionof it, but most likely a Jerusalem baptismal formula revised by the interpolation of a few Nicene test-words. More recently its claim to be called “Constantinopolitan” has been challenged. It is not found in the earliest records of the acts of the council, nor was it referred to by the council of Ephesus (431), nor by the “Robber Synod” (449), although these both confirmed the Nicene faith. It also lacks the definiteness one would expect in a creed composed by an anti-Arian, anti-Pneumatomachian council. Harnack (Herzog-Hauck,Realencyklopädie, 3rd ed., s.v. “Konstantinopolit. Symbol.”) conjectures that it was ascribed to the council of Constantinople just before the council of Chalcedon in order to prove the orthodoxy of the Fathers of the second ecumenical council. At all events, it became the creed of the universal church, and has been retained without change. Save for the addition offilioque.

Of the seven reputed canons of the council only the first four are unquestionably genuine. The fifth and the sixth probably belong to a synod of 382, and the seventh is properly not a canon. The most important enactments of the council were the granting of metropolitan rights to the bishops of Alexandria, Antioch, Thrace, Pontus and Ephesus; and according to Constantinople the place of honour after Rome, against which Rome protested. Not until 150 years later, and then only under compulsion of the emperor Justinian, did Rome acknowledge the ecumenicity of the council, and that merely as regarded its doctrinal decrees.

See Mansi iii. pp. 521-599; Hardouin i. pp. 807-826; Hefele, 2nd ed., ii. pp. 1 sqq. (English translation, ii. pp. 340 sqq.); Hort,Two Dissertations(Cambridge, 1876); and the articleCreeds.

2. The council of 553, the fifth ecumenical, grew out of the controversy of the “Three Chapters,” an adequate account of which, up to the time of the council, may be found in the articlesJustinianandVigilius. The council convened, in response to the imperial summons, on the 4th of May 553. Of the 165 bishops who subscribed the acts all but the five or six from Egypt were Oriental; the pope, Vigilius, refused to attend (he had made his escape from Constantinople, and from his retreat in Chalcedon sent forth a vain protest against the council). The synod was utterly subservient to the emperor. The “Three Chapters” were condemned, and their authors, long dead, anathematized, without, however, derogating from the authority of the council of Chalcedon, which had given them a clean bill of orthodoxy. Vigilius was excommunicated, and his name erased from the diptychs. The Orthodox faith was set forth in fourteen anathemas. Opinion is divided as to whether Origen was condemned. His name occurs in the eleventh anathema, but some consider it an interpolation; Hefele defends the genuineness of the text, but finds no evidence for a special session against Origen, as some have conjectured.

The council was confirmed by the emperor, and was generally received in the East. Vigilius was soon coerced into submission, but the West repudiated his pusillanimous surrender, and rejected the council. A schism ensued which lasted half a century and was not fully healed until the synod of Aquileia, about 700. But the ecumenicity of the council was generally acknowledged by 680.

See Mansi ix. pp. 24-106, 149-658, 712-730; Hardouin iii. pp. 1-328, 331, 414, 524; Hefele, 2nd ed., ii. pp. 798-924 (English translation, iv. pp. 229-365).

3. The sixth ecumenical council, 680-681, which was convened by the emperor Constantine Pogonatus to terminate the Monothelitic controversy (seeMonothelites). All the patriarchates were represented, Constantinople and Antioch by their bishops in person, the others by legates. The number of bishops present varied from 150 to 300. The council approved the first five ecumenical councils and reaffirmed the Nicene and “Niceno-Constantinopolitan” creeds. Monothelitism was unequivocally condemned; Christ was declared to have had “two natural wills and two natural operations, without division, conversion, separation or confusion.” Prominent Monothelites, living or dead, were anathematized, in particular Sergius and his successors in the see of Constantinople, the former pope, Honorius, and Macarius, the patriarch of Antioch. An imperial decree confirmed the council, and commanded the acceptance of its doctrines under pain of severe punishment. The Monothelites took fright and fled to Syria, where they gradually formed the sect of theMaronites(q.v.).

The anathematizing of Honorius as heterodox has occasioned no slight embarrassment to the supporters of the doctrine of papal infallibility. It is not within the scope of this article to pass judgment upon the various proposed solutions of the difficulty, e.g. that Honorius was not really a Monothelite; that in acknowledging one will he was not speakingex cathedra; that, at the time of condemning him, the council was no longer ecumenical; &c. One thing is certain, however, he was anathematized; and the notion of interpolation in the acts of the council (Baronius) may be dismissed as groundless.

See Mansi xi. pp. 190-922; Hardouin iii. pp. 1043-1644; Hefele, 2nd ed. iii. pp. 121-313.

4. The “Quinisext Synod” (692), so-called because it was regarded by the Greeks as supplementing the fifth and sixth ecumenical councils, was held in the dome of the Imperial Palace (“In Trullo,” whence the synod is called also “Trullan”). Its work was purely legislative and its decisions were set forth in 102 canons. The sole authoritative standards of discipline were declared to be the “eighty-five apostolic canons,” the canons of the first four ecumenical councils and of the synods of Ancyra, Neo-Caesarea, Antioch, Changra, Laodicea, Sardica and Carthage, and the canonical writings of some twelve Fathers,—all canons, synods and Fathers, Eastern with one exception, viz. Cyprian and the synod of Carthage; the bishops of Rome and the occidental synods were utterly ignored.

The canons of the second and fourth ecumenical councils respecting the rank of Constantinople were confirmed; the rank of a see was declared to follow the civil rank of its city; unenthroned bishops were guaranteed against diminution of their rights; metropolitans were forbidden to alienate the property of vacant suffragan sees.

The provisions respecting clerical marriage were avowedly more lenient than the Roman practice. Ordination was denied to any one who after baptism had contracted a second marriage, kept a concubine, or married a widow or a woman of ill-repute. Lectors and cantors might marry after ordination; presbyters, deacons and sub-deacons, if already married, should retain their wives; a bishop, however, while not dissolving his marriage, should keep his wife at a distance, making suitable provision for her. An illegally married cleric could not perform sacerdotal functions. Monks and nuns were to be carefully separated, and were not to leave their houses without permission.

It was forbidden to celebrate baptism or the eucharist in private oratories; neither might laymen give the elements to themselves, nor approach the altar, nor teach. Offerings for the dead were authorized, and the mixed chalice made obligatory. Contrary to the occidental custom, fasting on Saturday was forbidden. The mutilation of the Scriptures and the desecration of sacred places were severely condemned; likewise the use of the lamb as the symbol for Christ (a favourite symbol in the West).

The synod legislated also concerning marriage, bigamy, adultery, rape, abortion, seductive arts and obscenity. The theatre, the circus and gambling were unsparingly denounced, and soothsayers and jugglers, pagan festivals and customs, and pagan oaths were placed under the ban.

The council was confirmed by the emperor and accepted in the East; but the pope protested against various canons, chiefly those respecting the rank of Constantinople, clerical marriage, the Saturday fast, and the use of the symbol of lamb; and refused, despite express imperial command and threat, to accept the “Pseudo-Sexta.” So that while the synod adopted a body of legislation that has continued to be authoritative for the Eastern Church, it did so at the cost of aggravating the irritation of the West, and by so much hastening the inevitable rupture of the church.

See Mansi xi. pp. 921-1024; Hardouin iii. pp. 1645-1716; Hefele, 2nd ed., iii. pp. 328-348.

5. The iconoclastic synods of 754 and 815, both of whichpromulgated harsh decrees against images and neither of which is recognized by the Latin Church, and the synod of 842, which repudiated the synod of 815, approved the second council of Nicaea, and restored the images, are all adequately treated in the articleIconoclasts.

See Mansi xii. pp. 575 sqq., xiii. pp. 210 sqq., xiv. pp. 111 sqq., 787 sqq.; Hardouin iv. pp. 330 sqq., 1045 sqq., 1457 sqq.; Hefele, 2nd ed. iv. pp. 1 sqq., 104 sqq.

6. The synods of 869 and 879, of which the former, regarded by the Latin Church as the eighth ecumenical council, condemned Photius as an usurper and restored Ignatius to the see of Constantinople; the latter, which the Greeks consider to have been the true eighth ecumenical council, held after the death of Ignatius and the reconciliation of Photius with the emperor, repudiated the synod of 869, restored Photius, and condemned all who would not recognize him. (For further details of these two synods seePhotius.)

See Mansi xv. pp. 143-476 et passim, xvi. pp. 1-550, xvii. pp. 66-186, 365-530; Hardouin v. pp. 119-390, 749-1210, et passim, vi. pp. 19-87, 209-334; Hefele, 2nd ed., iv. pp. 228 sqq., 333 sqq., 435 sqq.; Hergenröther,Photius(Regensburg, 1867-1869).

(T. F. C.)

CONSTANTINUS,pope from 708 to 715, was a Syrian by birth and was consecrated pope in March 708. He was eager to assert the supremacy of the papal see; at the command of the emperor Justinian II. he visited Constantinople; and he died on the 9th of April 715.

CONSTANTIUS, FLAVIUS VALERIUS,commonly calledChlorus(the Pale), an epithet due to the Byzantine historians, Roman emperor and father of Constantine the Great, was born about A.D. 250. He was of Illyrian origin; a fictitious connexion with the family of Claudius Gothicus was attributed to him by Constantine. Having distinguished himself by his military ability and his able and gentle rule of Dalmatia, he was, on the 1st of March 293, adopted and appointed Caesar by Maximian, whose step-daughter, Flavia Maximiana Theodora, he had married in 289 after renouncing his wife Helena (the mother of Constantine). In the distribution of the provinces Gaul and Britain were allotted to Constantius. In Britain Carausius and subsequently Allectus had declared themselves independent, and it was not till 296 that, by the defeat of Allectus, it was re-united with the empire. In 298 Constantius overthrew the Alamanni in the territory of the Lingones (Langres) and strengthened the Rhine frontier. During the persecution of the Christians in 303 he behaved with great humanity. He obtained the title of Augustus on the 1st of May 305, and died the following year shortly before the 25th of July at Eboracum (York) during an expedition against the Picts and Scots.

See Aurelius Victor,De Caesaribus, 39; Eutropius ix. 14-23; Zosimus ii. 7.

CONSTANTZA(Constanta), formerly known as Kustendji or Kustendje, a seaport on the Black Sea, and capital of the department of Constantza, Rumania; 140 m. E. by S. from Bucharest by rail. Pop. (1900) 12,725. When the Dobrudja was ceded to Rumania in 1878, Constantza was partly rebuilt. In its clean and broad streets there are many synagogues, mosques and churches, for half the inhabitants are Roman Catholics, Moslems, Armenians or Jews; the remainder being Orthodox Rumans and Greeks. In the vicinity there are mineral springs, and the sea-bathing also attracts many visitors in summer. The chief local industries are tanning and the manufacture of petroleum drums. The opening, in 1895, of the railway to Bucharest, which crosses the Danube by a bridge at Cerna Voda, brought Constantza a considerable transit trade in grain and petroleum, which are largely exported; coal and coke head the list of imports, followed by machinery, iron goods, and cotton and woollen fabrics. The harbour, protected by breakwaters, with a lighthouse at the entrance, is well defended from the north winds, but those from the south, south-east, and south-west prove sometimes highly dangerous. In 1902 it afforded 10 alongside berths for shipping. It had a depth of 22 ft. in the old or inner basin, and of 26 ft. in the new or outer basin, beside the quays. The railway runs along the quays. A weekly service between Constantza and Constantinople is conducted by state-owned steamers, including the fast mail and passenger boats in connexion with the Ostend and Orient expresses. In 1902, 576 vessels entered at Constantza, with a net registered tonnage of 641,737. The Black Sea squadron of the Rumanian fleet is stationed here.

Constantza is the Constantiana which was founded in honour of Constantia, sister of Constantine the Great (A.D. 274-337). It lies at the seaward end of the Great Wall of Trajan, and has evidently been surrounded by fortifications of its own. In spite of damage done by railway contractors (see Henry C. Barkley,Between the Danube and the Black Sea, 1876) there are considerable remains of ancient masonry—walls, pillars, &c. A number of inscriptions found in the town and its vicinity show that close by was Tomi, where the Roman poet Ovid (43 B.C.-A.D. 17) spent his last eight years in exile. A statue of Ovid stands in the main square of Constantza.

In regard to the Constantza inscriptions in general, see Allard,La Bulgarie orientale(Paris, 1866); Desjardins inAnn. dell’ istit. di corr. arch.(1868); and a paper on Weickum’s collection inSitzungsberichtof the Munich Academy (1875).

CONSTELLATION(from the Lat.constellatus, studded with stars;con, with, andstella, a star), in astronomy, the name given to certain groupings of stars. The partition of the stellar expanse into areas characterized by specified stars can be traced back to a very remote antiquity. It is believed that the ultimate origin of the constellation figures and names is to be found in the corresponding systems in vogue among the primitive civilizations of the Euphrates valley—the Sumerians, Accadians and Babylonians; that these were carried westward into ancient Greece by the Phoenicians, and to the lands of Asia Minor by the Hittites, and that Hellenic culture in its turn introduced them into Arabia, Persia and India. From the earliest times the star-groups known as constellations, the smaller groups (parts of constellations) known as asterisms, and also individual stars, have received names connoting some meteorological phenomena, or symbolizing religious or mythological beliefs. At one time it was held that the constellation names and myths were of Greek origin; this view has now been disproved, and an examination of the Hellenic myths associated with the stars and star-groups in the light of the records revealed by the decipherment of Euphratean cuneiforms leads to the conclusion that in many, if not all, cases the Greek myth has a Euphratean parallel, and so renders it probable that the Greek constellation system and the cognate legends are primarily of Semitic or even pre-Semitic origin.

The origin and development of the grouping of the stars into constellations is more a matter of archaeological than of astronomical interest. It demands a careful study of the myths and religious thought of primitive peoples; and the tracing of the names from one language to another belongs to comparative philology.

The Sumerians and Accadians, the non-Semitic inhabitants of the Euphrates valley prior to the Babylonians, described the stars collectively as a “heavenly flock”; the sun was the “old sheep”; the seven planets were the “old-sheep stars”; the whole of the stars had certain “shepherds,” andSibzianna(which, according to Sayce and Bosanquet, is the modern Arcturus, the brightest star in the northern sky) was the “star of the shepherds of the heavenly herds.” The Accadians bequeathed their system to the Babylonians, and cuneiform tablets and cylinders, boundary stones, and Euphratean art generally, point to the existence of a well-defined system of star names in their early history. From a detailed study of such records, in their nature of rather speculative value, R. Brown, junr. (Primitive Constellations, 1899) has compiled a Euphratean planisphere, which he regards as the mother of all others. The tablets examined range in date from 3000-500 B.C., and hence the system must be anterior to the earlier date. Of great importance is theCreation Legend, a cuneiform compiled from older records during the reign of Assur-bani-pal, c. 650 B.C., in which there occurs a passage interpretable as pointing to the acceptance of 36 constellations: 12 northern, 12 zodiacal and 12 southern. These constellations were arranged in threeconcentric annuli, the northern ones in an inner annulus subdivided into 60 degrees, the zodiacal ones into a medial annulus of 120 degrees, and the southern ones into an outer annulus of 240 degrees. Brown has suggested a correlation of the Euphratean names with those of the Greeks and moderns. His results may be exhibited in the following form:—the central line gives the modern equivalents of the names in the Euphratean zodiac; the upper line the modern equivalents of the northern paranatellons; and the lower line those of the southern paranatellons. The zodiacal constellations have an interest peculiarly their own; placed in or about the plane of the ecliptic, their rising and setting with the sun was observed with relation to weather changes and the more general subject of chronology, the twelve subdivisions of the year being correlated with the twelve divisions of the ecliptic (seeZodiac).

The Phoenicians—a race dominated by the spirit of commercial enterprise—appear to have studied the stars more especially with respect to their service to navigators; according to Homer “the stars were sent by Zeus as portents for mariners.” But all their truly astronomical writings are lost, and only by a somewhat speculative piecing together of scattered evidences can an estimate of their knowledge be formed. The inter-relations of the Phoenicians with the early Hellenes were frequent and far-reaching, and in the Greek presentation of the legends concerning constellations a distinct Phoenician, and in turn Euphratean, element appears. One of the earliest examples of Greek literature extant, theTheogoniaof Hesiod (c. 800 B.C.), appears to be a curious blending of Hellenic and Phoenician thought. Although not an astronomical work, several constellation subjects are introduced. In the same author’sWorks and Days, a treatise which is a sort of shepherd’s calendar, there are distinct references to the Pleiades, Hyades, Orion, Sirius and Arcturus. It cannot be argued, however, that these were the only stars and constellations named in his time; the omission proves nothing. The same is true of the Homeric epics wherein the Pleiades, Hyades, Ursa major, Orion and Boötes are mentioned, and also of the stars and constellations mentioned in Job. Further support is given to the view that, in the main, the constellations were transmitted to the Greeks by the Phoenicians from Euphratean sources in the fact that Thales, the earliest Greek astronomer of any note, was of Phoenician descent. According to Callimachus he taught the Greeks to steer by Ursa minor instead of Ursa major; and other astronomical observations are assigned to him. But his writings are lost, as is also the case with those of Phocus the Samian, and the history of astronomy by Eudemus, the pupil of Aristotle; hence the paucity of our knowledge of Thales’s astronomical learning.

From the 6th century B.C. onwards, legends concerning the constellation subjects were frequently treated by the historians and poets. Aglaosthenes or Agaosthenes, an early writer, knew Ursa minor asΚυνόσουρα, Cynosura, and recorded the translation of Aquila; Epimenides the Cretan (c. 600 B.C.) recorded the translation of Capricornus and the star Capella; Pherecydes of Athens (c. 500-450 B.C.) recorded the legend of Orion, and stated the astronomical fact that when Orion sets Scorpio rises; Aeschylus (525-456 B.C.) and Hellanicus of Mytilene (c. 496-411 B.C.) narrate the legend of the seven Pleiades—the daughters of Atlas; and the latter states that the Hyades are named either from their orientation, which resembles υ (upsilon), “or because at their rising or setting Zeus rains”; and Hecataeus of Miletus (c. 470 B.C.) treated the legend of the Hydra.

In the 5th century B.C. the Athenian astronomer Euctemon, according to Geminus of Rhodes, compiled a weather calendar in which Aquarius, Aquila, Canis major, Corona, Cygnus, Delphinus, Lyra, Orion, Pegasus, Sagitta and the asterisms Hyades and Pleiades are mentioned, always, however, in relation to weather changes. The earliest Greek work which purported to treat the constellationsquaconstellations, of which we have certain knowledge, is theΦαινόμεναof Eudoxus of Cnidus (c. 403-350 B.C.). The original is lost, but a versification by Aratus (c. 270 B.C.), a poet at the court of Antigonus Gonatas, king of Macedonia, and anΈξήγησιςor commentary by Hipparchus, are extant. In theΦαινόμεναof Aratus 44 constellations are enumerated, viz. 19 northern:—Ursa major, Ursa minor, Boötes, Draco, Cepheus, Cassiopeia, Andromeda, Perseus, Triangulum, Pegasus, Delphinus, Auriga, Hercules, Lyra, Cygnus, Aquila, Sagitta, Corona and Serpentarius; 13 central or zodiacal:—Aries, Taurus, Gemini, Cancer, Leo, Virgo, Libra, Scorpio, Sagittarius, Capricornus, Aquarius, Pisces and the Pleiades; and 12 southern:—Orion, Canis, Lepus, Argo, Cetus, Eridanus, Piscis australis, Ara, Centaurus, Hydra, Crater and Corvus. In this enumeration Serpens is included in Serpentarius and Lupus in Centaurus; these two constellations were separated by Hipparchus and, later, by Ptolemy. On the other hand, Aratus kept the Pleiades distinct from Taurus, but Hipparchus reduced these stars to an asterism. Aratus was no astronomer, while Hipparchus was; and from the fact that the latter adopted, with but trifling exceptions, the constellation system portrayed by Aratus, it may be concluded that the system was already familiar in Greek thought. And three hundred years after Hipparchus, the Alexandrian astronomer Ptolemy adopted a very similar scheme in his uranometria, which appears in the seventh and eighth books of hisAlmagest, the catalogue being styled theΕκθεσις κανονικήor “accepted version.”

TheAlmagesthas a dual interest: first, being the work of one primarily a commentator, it presents a crystallized epitome of all earlier knowledge; and secondly, it has served as a basis of subsequent star-catalogues.1The Ptolemaic catalogue embraces only those stars which were visible at Rhodes in the time of Hipparchus (c. 150 B.C.), the results being corrected for precession “by increasing the longitudes by 2° 40’, and leaving the latitudes undisturbed” (Francis Baily,Mem. R.A.S., 1843). The names and orientation of the constellations therein adopted are, with but few exceptions, identical with those used at the present day; and as it cannot be doubted that Ptolemy made only very few modifications in the system of Hipparchus, the names were adopted at least three centuries before theAlmagestwas compiled. The names in which Ptolemy differs from modern usage are:—Hercules (ἐν γόνασιν), Cygnus (Όρνις), Eridanus (Πόταμος), Lupus (Θηρίον), Pegasus (Ίππος), Equuleus (Ίππου προτομή), Canis minor (Προκύων), and Libra (Χηλαί), althoughξυγόςis used for the same constellation in other parts of theAlmagest). The following table gives the names of the constellations as they occur in (1) modern catalogues; (2) Ptolemy (A.D. 150); (3) Ulugh Beg (1437); (4) Tycho Brahe (1628); the last column gives the English equivalent of the modern name.

The reverence and authority which was accorded the famous compilation of the Alexandrian astronomer is well evidenced by the catalogue of the Tatar Ulugh Beg, the Arabian names there adopted being equivalent to the Ptolemaic names in nearly every case; this is also shown in the Latin translations given below. Tycho Brahe, when compiling his catalogue of stars, was unable to observe Lupus, Ara, Corona australis and Piscis australis, on account of the latitude of Uranienburg; and hence these constellations are omitted from his catalogue. He diverged from Ptolemy when he placed the asterisms Coma Berenices and Antinous upon the level of formal constellations, Ptolemy havingregarded these asterisms as unformed stars (ἀμόρφωτοι). The next innovator of moment was Johann Bayer, a German astronomer, who published aUranometriain 1603, in which twelve constellations, all in the southern hemisphere, were added to Ptolemy’s forty-eight, viz. Apis (or Musca) (Bee), Avis Indica (Bird of Paradise), Chameleon, Dorado (Sword-fish), Grus (Crane), Hydrus (Water-snake), Indus (Indian), Pavo (Peacock), Phoenix, Piscis volans (Flying fish), Toucan, Triangulum australe. According to W. Lynn (Observatory, 1886, p. 255), Bayer adapted this part of his catalogue from the observations of the Dutch navigator Petrus Theodori (or Pieter Dirchsz Keyser), who died in 1596 off Java. TheCoelum stellatum Christianumof Julius Schiller (1627) is noteworthy for the attempt made to replace the names connoting mythological and pagan ideas by the names of apostles, saints, popes, bishops, and other dignitaries of the church, &c. Aries became St Peter; Taurus, St Andrew; Andromeda, the Holy Sepulchre; Lyra, the Manger; Canis major, David; and so on. This innovation (with which the introduction of the twelve apostles into the solar zodiac by the Venerable Bede may be compared) was shortlived. According to Charles Hutton [Math. Dict.i. 328 (1795)] the editions published in 1654 and 1661 had reverted to the Greek names; on the other hand, Camille Flammarion (Popular Astronomy, p. 375) quotes an illuminated folio of 1661, which represents “the sky delivered from pagans and peopled with Christians.” A similar confusion was attempted by E. Weigelius, who sought to introduce aCoelum heraldicum, in which the constellations were figured as the arms or insignia of European dynasties, and by symbols of commerce.

Plate I.CONSTELLATIONS OF THE NORTHERN HEMISPHERE.

Plate I.

CONSTELLATIONS OF THE NORTHERN HEMISPHERE.

Plate II.CONSTELLATIONS OF THE SOUTHERN HEMISPHERE.

Plate II.

CONSTELLATIONS OF THE SOUTHERN HEMISPHERE.

In Edmund Halley’s southern catalogue (Catalogus stellarum australium), published in 1679 and incorporated in Flamsteed’sHistoria coelestis(1725), the following constellations are named:—Piscis australis, Columba Noachi, Argo navis, Robur Caroli, Ara, Corona australis, Grus, Phoenix, Pavo, Apus or Avis Indica, Musca apis, Chameleon, Triangulum australe, Piscis volans, Dorado or Xiphias, Toucan or Anser Americanus, and Hydrus. Flamsteed’s maps also contained Mons Menelai. This list contains nothing new except Robur Caroli, since Columba Noachi (Noah’s dove) had been raised to the skies by Bartschius in 1624. The constellation Robur Caroli and also the star Cor Caroli (α Canum Venaticorum) were named by Halley in honour of Charles II. of England.

In 1690 two posthumous works of Johann Hevelius (1611-1687), theFirmamentum sobiescianumandProdromus astronomiae, added several new constellations to the list, viz. Canes venatici (the Greyhounds), Lacerta (the Lizard), Leo minor (Little Lion), Lynx, Sextans Uraniae, Scutum or Clypeus Sobieskii (the shield of Sobieski), Vulpecula et Anser (Fox and Goose), Cerberus, Camelopardus (Giraffe), and Monoceros (Unicorn); the last two were originally due to Jacobus Bartschius. In 1679 Augustine Royer introduced the most interesting of the constellations of the southern hemisphere, the Crux australis or Southern Cross. He also suggested Nubes major, Nubes minor, and Lilium, and re-named Canes venatici the riverJordan, and Vulpecula et Anser the river Tigris, but these innovations met with no approval. The Magellanic clouds, a collection of nebulae, stars and star-clusters in the neighbourhood of the south pole, were so named by Hevelius in honour of the navigator Ferdinand Magellan.

Many other star-groupings have been proposed from time to time; in some cases a separate name has been given to a part of an authoritatively accepted constellation, e.g. Ensis Orionis, the sword of Orion, or an ancient constellation may be subdivided, e.g. Argo (ship) into Argo, Malus (mast), Vela (sails), Puppis (stern), Carina (keel); and whereas some of the rearrangements, which have been mostly confined to the southern hemisphere, have been accepted, many, reflecting nothing but idiosyncrasies of the proposers, have deservedly dropped into oblivion. Nicolas Louis de Lacaille, who made extended observations of the southern stars in 1751 and in the following years, and whose results were embodied in his posthumousCoelum australe stelliferum(1763), introduced the following new constellations:—Apparatus sculptoris (Sculptor’s workshop), Fornax chemica (Chemical furnace), Horologium (Clock), Reticulus rhomboidalis (Rhomboidal net), Caela sculptoris (Sculptor’s chisels), Equuleus pictoris (Painter’s easel), Pyxis nautica (Mariner’s compass), Antlia pneumatica (Air pump), Octans (Octant), Circinus (Compasses), NormaaliasQuadra Euclidis (Square), Telescopium (Telescope), Microscopium (Microscope) and Mons Mensae (Table Mountain). Pierre Charles Lemonnier in 1776 introduced Tarandus (Reindeer), and Solitarius; J. J. L. de Lalande introduced Le Messier (after the astronomer Charles Messier) (1776), Quadrans muralis (Mural quadrant) (1795), Globus aerostaticus (Air balloon) (1798), and Felis (the Cat) (1799). Martin Poczobut introduced in 1777 Taurus Poniatovskii; Bode introduced the Honores Frederici (Honours of Frederick) (1786), Telescopium Herschelii (Telescope of Herschel) (1787), Machina electrica (Electrical machine) (1790), Officina typographica (Printing press) (1799), and Lochium funis (Log line); and M. Hell formed the Psalterium Georgianum (George’s lute).

The following list gives the names of the constellations now usually employed: they are divided into three groups:—north of the zodiac, in the zodiac, south of the zodiac. Those marked with an asterisk have separate articles.

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