These pages had their origins in my skywatching guides for amateur astronomers.
As I came to describe each constellation, I found myself wondering about its
origin and the way in which ancient people had personified it in mythology.
Astronomy books did not contain satisfactory answers. They either gave no
mythology at all, or they recounted stories that, I later discovered, were not
true to the Greek and Roman originals. I decided to write my own book on the
mythology of the constellations. The result,
Star Tales, appeared in 1988. In this revised and expanded web version it has grown into a
comprehensive biography of the constellations from Ptolemaic times to the
present: not just the 88 officially recognized figures but also two dozen
others that fell by the wayside. One enhancement not found in the original book
is notes on how Chinese astronomers visualized the stars, a subject still
poorly understood in the west. Further updates and improvements are made from
time to time.
Contents
Chapter One: Stars and storytellers
Chapter Two: Star maps
Chapter Three: The celestial eighty-eight
Origins, mythology and illustrations of all 88 present-day constellations
Chapter Four: Obsolete constellations
The true stories (and a tiny bit of scandal) behind two dozen now-defunct
constellations
Additional reading (links):
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