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| Roman copy of original Hellenistic bust of Homer |
From various passages in Homer and especially from the description of Achilles’ shield in the Iliad (18.478‒608) we can gather a rough impression of the cosmos as then conceived. The Earth (γαῖα) is likely envisaged as broadly flat and approximately circular or oval (an inference from the typical shape of a Greek shield). Above this, Heaven (οὐρανός) lies perhaps like an inverted bowl, which is described as being like bronze or iron (Iliad 5.504, 17.425; Odyssey 3.2, 15.329, 17.565), meaning that it is hard and shiny, and which is supported on pillars (Odyssey 1.53). The space between the Earth and Heaven is filled with moist aer at the lower level and above that the fiery aither (Iliad 14.288). Around the Earth flow the waters of Okeanos, a perpetual river which flows back on itself and which is the source of all rivers and seas (Iliad 18.607, 22.195). The Sun rises from it (Iliad 7.421‒3, Odyssey 22.197), reaches the ‘middle of the sky’ —i.e. culminates— (Iliad 16.777; Odyssey 4.400), and sets into it (Iliad 8.485; 18.239‒241). Below the Earth is Hades and below that is Tartaros, both apparently metallic in character and filled with air, and roughly symmetrical to Heaven in extent (Iliad 8.13‒16).
These poetical notions of the structure of the world were not completely fixed and there are topographical complications like Mount Olympos, the home of the gods, which get introduced from time to time. Generally, this conception was repeated at times by later writers and so they seem to have been widely held all over Greece.2 Ultimately, it derives from informal notions about the cosmos that have their origins in the Middle East, especially the idea of the encircling river.3
As well as these rather vague notions there are some specific references to the night sky. In the aforementioned passage where the god Hephaistos makes new armour for the warrior Achilles, the bronze shield is cast and then decorated with an astronomical design (Iliad 18.483‒489.):4
On it he made the Earth, the sky and the sea,Since they are so bright we should not be surprised to find the Pleiades and the Hyades mentioned together with Orion and the Bear, but the dual name given to the latter (Ursa Major) is of particular interest. The description of it as the Wagon shows Mesopotamian influence, but the observation that it never sets probably comes from the navigation tradition of the early Aegean seafarers (effectively, Minoans) since a star that never rises or sets is of little use to farmers.5 Furthermore, its designation as the Bear reveals an even older starlore, one which might stretch back into Proto-Indo-European6 and even paleolithic times.7 The Greek for 'bear' is arktos and it is from this word of course that we derive our word 'arctic', the land of the bear.
Untiring Helios and also full bodied Selene,
And all the constellations that adorn the sky:
The Pleiades and Hyades, mighty Orion
And the Bear, which they also nickname the Wagon,
That both circles in place and watches Orion,
And which alone is deprived of the waters of Okeanos.
We find also that Ursa Major is used for navigation at night. The journey of Odysseus away from the fictional island of Ogygia is described with some repeated lines from the Iliad in this way (Odyssey 5.270‒77):8
So he sat and steered skilfully with the steering-oar,One ancient tradition identifies Ogygia with modern Gozo and thus Odysseus would be sailing east towards Greece. This makes sense of the astronomy, since Ursa Major was about 20° away from the north celestial pole during this era. Regardless of the supposed geographical identifications in the Odyssey, however, we can assume that the Odyssey reflects the knowledge of sailors in the Ionian and Aegean Seas between latitudes 35° and 40°.
And sleep did not fall upon his eyelids,
As he watched the Pleiades, and evening-setting Boötes,
And the Bear, which they also nickname the Wagon,
That both circles in place and watches Orion,
And which alone is deprived of the waters of Okeanos.
For Kalypso, the beautiful goddess, had told him
To keep it on the left as he sailed over the sea
This being so, we can look at the visibility of the Pleiades and Boötes (effectively, the star Arcturus, α Boö) around 750 BCE. We are told that Arcturus is setting in the evening and that the Pleiades, which are almost opposite in the sky, are visible. This tells us that the time of year was the middle of October. This is an example of the kind of navigational astronomy that may have persisted through the Greek dark ages or may have been relearned from the Phoenicians.
There is also recognition in Homer of the planet Venus, which is described as the morning star (Iliad 23.226; Odyssey 13.93) and the evening star (Iliad 22.317). However, it is probably not the case at this early period that the Greeks understood the concept of a planet as opposed to a star. Indeed, it is unlikely that they realised that the morning star and the evening star designated the same object. Contrast this with the relatively sophisticated observations of Venus carried out by the Old Babylonians around a thousand years earlier.9
NOTES
1. See Rogers (1998: parts 1 & 2) for a survey of the origins of Mesopotamian and Mediterranean constellations.
2. See, for example, a fragment of the C7th BCE poet Mimnermos quoted by Strabo (1.2.40) and the belief discussed by Herodotos (4.8).
3. PP: 9‒17. A Babylonian map of the world from the C6th BCE and now in the British Museum shows such an encircling river (BM 92687).
4. ἐν μὲν γαῖαν ἔτευξ᾽, ἐν δ᾽ οὐρανόν, ἐν δὲ θάλασσαν, / ἠέλιόν τ᾽ ἀκάμαντα σελήνην τε πλήθουσαν, / ἐν δὲ τὰ τείρεα πάντα, τά τ᾽ οὐρανὸς ἐστεφάνωται, / Πληϊάδας θ᾽ Ὑάδας τε τό τε σθένος Ὠρίωνος / Ἄρκτόν θ᾽, ἣν καὶ Ἄμαξαν ἐπίκλησιν καλέουσιν, / ἥ τ᾽ αὐτοῦ στρέφεται καί τ᾽ Ὠρίωνα δοκεύει, / οἴη δ᾽ ἄμμορός ἐστι λοετρῶν Ὠκεανοῖο.
5. If we restrict the constellation to the seven bright stars that make up the traditional 'wagon' or 'plough' part, and specifically look at the southernmost star, η UMa, then this had a declination of about +64° during the middle of the C8th BCE and was thus technically circumpolar down to a latitude of 26°. However, south of the Aegean Sea (latitude 35°) it would have appeared increasingly faint.
6. Mallory, J.P. & Adams, D.Q. (2006, 131).
7. Schaefer (2006).
8. αὐτὰρ ὁ πηδαλίῳ ἰθύνετο τεχνηέντως / ἥμενος, οὐδέ οἱ ὕπνος ἐπὶ βλεφάροισιν ἔπιπτεν /
Πληιάδας τ᾽ ἐσορῶντι καὶ ὀψὲ δύοντα Βοώτην / Ἄρκτον θ᾽, ἣν καὶ ἄμαξαν ἐπίκλησιν καλέουσιν, / ἥ τ᾽ αὐτοῦ στρέφεται καί τ᾽ Ὠρίωνα δοκεύει, / οἴη δ᾽ ἄμμορός ἐστι λοετρῶν Ὠκεανοῖο. / τὴν γὰρ δή μιν ἄνωγε Καλυψώ, δῖα θεάων, / ποντοπορευέμεναι ἐπ᾽ ἀριστερὰ χειρὸς ἔχοντα.
9. Reiner (1975), Gurzadyan (2003).
[Last updated 05/05/20]
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