Star Catalogue - CLAUDIUS PTOLEMY
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Definition: [Source Texts of Astrology] The Star Catalogue of Claudius Ptolemy [c 130 - 170 AD]. Taken from books vii and viii of Ptolemy's Mathematical Syntaxis, or Al Magest, the work is the earliest known surviving star catalogue. It describes the positions of 1028 stars in 48 constellations. For more than fifteen hundred years, until the Renaissance, it was the definitive catalogue of the heavens. The number of the star in the Ptolemy's Star Catalogue is now called the Baily Number. Ptolemy did not normally name the stars, rather the description of each star in Latin, recorded in the Star Catalogue shown below, is a description of the star's location within a particular Constellation. In this he followed earlier Greek astrologers. For example, the star with Baily Number 1011 in Piscis Australis, the Southern Fish, is described as "Quae est in ore..." to be found in the mouth... [of the fish]. Later authors often used Ptolemy's descriptions to name the stars, for example some of the Arabic star names we still use today are translations of Ptolemy's star locations. Fomalhaut, in Piscis Australis, for example, is Arabic for Mouth of the [Southern] Fish. It is Ptolemy's star 1011. Similarly, the later Arabic name for the brightest star in Taurus, the Bull, - Aldebaran, the Follower - comes from Ptolemy's description of the star 393 as, "Fulgens de Hyades...", the follower of the Hyades. |
Star Catalogue from Al Magest. From Almagestu[m], Claudius Ptolemy, Venice, 1515. This was one of the first printings of Ptolemy's work. The example shown is an excerpt from Orion, the Hunter. Towards the bottom of the page there is the entry, "Lucida ques est in pede sinistro," the bright star in the left foot. This is the bright star which the Arabs would later call Rigel, the Foot. |
Ptolemy does name nine stars in eight different Constellations [three of which are Zodiac Constellations]:
[star 110] Arcturus, the
Bear-Guard, in Boötes, the Herdsman,
[star 222] Capella, the
She-Goat, in Auriga, the Charioteer,
[star 469] Regulus, the
Little King, in Leo, the Lion,
[star 509] Previndemiatrix,
the Grape Gatherer, in Virgo, the Maiden,
[star 510] Spica, the Spike
or Ear of Wheat, in Virgo, the Maiden,
[star 553] Antares the Rival
to Ares, in Scorpius, the Scorpion,
[star 818] Sirius, the
Scorcher, in Canis Major, the Greater Dog,
[star 848] Procyon, Before
the Dog, in Canis Minor, the Lesser Dog,
[star 892] Canopus,
Menelaus' Helmsman, in Argo Navis, the Swift One.
With the exception of Previndemiatrix, each of these is amongst the 21 brightest stars in the heavens. Previndemiatrix, though not a bright star, was an important calendar star for the Ancient Greeks, marking the start of the grape harvest.
Coma Berenices, Berenices Hair, [star 494 and star 495] is named as part of Leo, and is not considered a constellation in its own right, although it was an asterism in Eratosthenes view of the heavens some four hundred years earlier. Two stars, one in Lyra, the Lyre, [star 149] and one in Aquila, the Eagle, [star 288] appear to have taken the name of their Constellation as the name of the star.
Also included in the Star Catalogue shown below are all the stars from the Informata, additional information that Ptolemy produced separate to the original version of his star catalogue.
The Constellations are presented in the Star Catalogue shown below in the same order as Ptolemy's catalogue. They are not ordered alphabetically. Instead, Ptolemy split the sky into three areas: northern Constellations [Ursa Minor to Triangulum], Zodiac Constellations [Aries to Pisces, not including Ophiuchus, which Ptolemy includes in the northern constellations], and southern Constellations [Cetus to Pisces Austrinus].
A version of the star catalogue, which should be printable on landscape-orientated pages, can be found by following this link.
© Dr Shepherd Simpson, Galactic Astrologer
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