History

Astronomy

Mythology

Art

Index

Bibliography

Star Lore around the World

In the beginning, there was a book: Ian Ridpath's brilliantly written Star Tales. All my life, I have been fascinated with stars and constellations. For a third of my life (the 21 years I spent as a merchant marine sailor) this relationship was a professional one, especially after 1984, when I graduated Marine Academy with a captain's license, which - even in modern times - still required hundreds of hours of training in astronomical navigation. Although I forgot his name, I am eternally grateful to one astronomy professor (a retired captain) who made navigating the night sky educational and entertaining at the same time, by telling us stories how Boötes, the herdsman pulled the tail of the big bear, Ursa Major, or how Orion, the hunter engaged Taurus, the bull, while his dogs, Canis Major and Canis Minor chased Lepus, the rabbit. Almost everything I learned about the constellations of the northern hemisphere started with an ancient Greek myth. Half a lifetime later, I tried to pass these stories on to my grandchildren.

Ian Ridpath: Star Tales

So, to refresh my memory, I got Ian Ridpath's "Star Tales" and my love for all these myth was renewed instantly. However, for my Californian grandsons, I had to find something more appealing than a 3000 year-old story from the other side of the world. The search started with a classic, first published in 1899: Richard Hinckley Allen: Star Names — Their Lore and Meaning. I soon found out that this was the book, everybody else quoted.

Richard H. Allen: Star Names: Their Lore and Meaning

In his introduction, Allen writes about how his work took on a life of its own, quoting British lexicographer Samuel Johnson: "...that one inquiry only gave occasion to another, that book referred to book, that to search was not always to find, and to find was not always to be informed." Precisely the same happened to my work. About a hundred books and websites later, I have put together a rather large and growing collection of star lore from around the world, and yet, it barely scratches the surface. But - however fractional this collection may be - I hope you enjoy these tales as much as I do. On this site, you will find the California Native story of a little coyote that became the eight's star of the Pleiades, the myth of an Australian opossum that becomes the Southern Cross and the tale of two Chinese lovers who were separated by the Milky Way - and much, much more. By no means did I try to compete with any of the great books written on the subject. In fact, I wrote very little myself. My goal was not to write a new book, but to collect as many sources as possible and build a kind of database of star lore.

The source of every story and every illustration is properly quoted, I honestly believe that I have only used material from public domains. If you hold a copyright to any of the material used and want it to be removed from this site, please contact me at judy-volker@judy-volker.com.

How to navigate this site

While the main goal of this project is a collection of star lore, I expanded a little bit on the subject to gain a deeper understanding of it. As a result, the project was split into five sections and an annex (the bibliography):

History An illustrated collection of some of the highlights in the history of astronomy.

Astronomy A brief description of each constellation as it appears in the night sky.

Mythology The main part of the project. All the myths and legends I could find about each of the constellations.

Art Throughout the centuries, artists have given us their interpretation of the constellations and the lore behind it.

Index A listing of all names of stars and other objects from different cultures covered in this study.

Bibliography A detailed listing of all sources used in this project.

You can start your journey at any of the four sections. The links above take you to each section's start page, which will lead to a number of specific sites. Or you can use the matrix below and select any constellation. This whole project is still a work in progress. So far, only the constellations with icons underneath are covered extensively. (To provide at least some information for the time being, the names of the constellations are linked to their respective Wikipedia sites).

Clicking a constellation's name will take you to that constellation's Wikipedia site.

Clicking the astronomy icon under a constellation's name will take you to that constellation's astronomy site.

Clicking the mythology icon under a constellation's name will take you to that constellation's mythology site.

Clicking the index icon under a constellation's name will take you to a listing of names of stars and other objects.

88 IAU Constellations

Andromeda Andromeda	Antlia Air Pump	Apus Bird-of-Paradise	Aquarius Water-Carrier	Aquila Eagle	Ara Altar
Aries Ram	Auriga Charioteer	Boötes Herdsman	Caelum Chisel	Camelopardalis Giraffe	Cancer Crab
Canes Venatici Hunting Dogs	Canis Major Greater Dog	Canis Minor Lesser Dog	Capricornus Sea Goat	Carina Ship's Keel	Cassiopeia Cassiopeia
Centaurus Centaur	Cepheus Cepheus	Cetus Whale	Chamaeleon Chamaeleon	Circinus Drafting Compass	Columba Dove
Coma Berenices Berenice's Hair	Corona Australis Southern Crown	Corona Borealis Norhern Crown	Corvus Raven	Crater Goblet	Crux Southern Cross
Cygnus Swan	Delphinus Dolphin	Dorado Swordfish	Draco Dragon	Equuleus Foal	Eridanus River Eridanus
Fornax Furnace	Gemini Twins	Grus Crane	Hercules Hercules	Horologium Pendulum Clock	Hydra Sea Serpent
Hydrus Water Snake	Indus The Indian	Lacerta Lizard	Leo Lion	Leo Minor Smaller Lion	Lepus Hare
Libra Scales	Lupus Wolf	Lynx Lynx	Lyra Lyre	Mensa Table Mountain	Microscopium Microscope
Monoceros Unicorn	Musca Fly	Norma Carpenter's Level	Octans Octant	Ophiuchus Serpent Bearer	Orion Orion
Pavo Peacock	Pegasus Pegasus	Perseus Perseus	Phoenix Phoenix	Pictor Easel	Pisces Fishes
Piscis Austrinus Southern Fish	Puppis Poop Deck	Pyxis Mariner's Compass	Reticulum Eyepiece Graticule	Sagitta Arrow	Sagittarius Archer
Scorpius Scorpion	Sculptor Sculptor	Scutum Shield	Serpens Snake	Sextans Sextant	Taurus Bull
Telescopium Telescope	Triangulum Triangle	Triangulum Australe Southern Triangle	Tucana Toucan	Ursa Major Great Bear	Ursa Minor Little Bear
Vela Sails	Virgo Virgin	Volans Flying Fish	Vulpecula Fox

Galaxies, Nebulae and Star Clusters

Milky Way

Magellanic Clouds

Coalsack_Nebula

Pleiades

Asterisms

Great Diamond

Spring Triangle

Summer Triangle

Winter Hexagon

Winter Triangle

As mentioned above, this is still a work in progress, but I hope you enjoy browsing my little collection of Star Lore around the World

History

Astronomy

Mythology

Art

Bibliography

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