Catasterismi

A Katasterismos (Greek καταστερισμός to ἀστήρ aster " star") is a variety of literary texts in which it is declared or speculated about how a constellation has arisen causally and got its name. Katasterismen are typical for the classical and Alexandrian Hellenism, but also occur in other cultures.

Significance and literary tradition of Greek Katasterismen

The legends about the constellations were not part of religious structures; the role of the gods is usually limited to the Verstirnung of the target. For the purposes of Katasterismos a constellation is usually understood as picture of a mythical figure or a mythical object, not as a result of a magical transformation or metamorphosis.

A catalog of Katasterismen to 44 constellations (including planets and the Milky Way ) is of Eratosthenes ago. As a precursor of eratosthenischen Katasterismen Homer, Hesiod, Pherecydes of Athens, Aratus of Soli and Callimachus of Cyrene can be viewed. The Katasterismos of Callisto for Ursa Major is also found in the second book of Ovid's Metamorphoses.