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Star Lore Pleiades Part 2 - Europe and Middle East

Nebra Sky Disk

Named after the seven daughters of Atlas and Pleione in Greek mythology, the Pleiades are arguably the star formation with the most recorded star lore. The star cluster is a prominent sight in winter in the Northern Hemisphere. The Pleiades have been observed by humans at least since the Bronze Age.

Prehistoric Europe Dating back to 1600 BC and to the Unetice culture of the European Bronze Age, the Nebra sky disk is the oldest concrete depiction of the cosmos yet known from anywhere in the world. The bronze disk is inlaid with gold symbols that are interpreted as the Sun (or a full moon), a lunar crescent, and stars, including a cluster of seven stars interpreted as the Pleiades. At the time the disk was manufactured, the Heliacal rising of the Pleiades occurred around the halfway point between the autumn equinox and the winter solstice, a date that became later known as Halloween in Celtic culture. Source: Wikipedia

Nebra sky disk Source: Wikipedia

In 1996, German researcher Dr Michael Rappenglueck of the University of Munich suggested, that the famous Stone Age cave paintings in Lascaux, France actually contain a star map. The theory is controversial, but the International Astronomical Union accepts it as a possibility and writes: "Archaeological studies have identified possible astronomical markings painted on the walls in the cave system at Lascaux in southern France. Our ancestors may have recorded their view of the night sky on the walls of their cave some 17 300 years ago. It is thought that the Pleiades star cluster is represented alongside the nearby cluster of the Hyades. Was the first ever depiction of a star pattern made over seventeen millennia ago?" Source: International Astronomical Union A similar cave painting, dated to be about 20,000 years old was discovered in 1963 in another cave in France, the Grottes de Saint-Marcel. Source: Wikipedia

Cave painting, Lascaux Source: International Astronomical Union Cave painting, Saint-Marcel Source: Wikipedia

Viking The Vikings called the Pleiades Freyja's hens. Many other European cultures, such as Hungarian similarly compared them to a hen with chicks. Source: Wikipedia

Grimms' Fairy Tales The number Seven, being a magic number in German folklore plays a prominent role in German fairy tales. Some of them, like The Seven Ravens are associated with the "Seven Planets" (Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Sun and Moon). At least two popular tales have a connection to the seven brightest stars of the Pleiades and to the Moon, passing through the formation.

Moon passing the Pleiades; deutschlandfunk.de

The Wolf and the Seven Young Goats In several German fairy tales, evil characters are associated with the Moon. In The Wolf and the Seven Young Goats, the villain is the wolf who waits until mother goat left the house and then tricks the young goats into opening the door after which he devours all but one of them. Seen from Earth, the diameter of the Pleiades is slightly wider than that of the full moon, thus, at any path across the Pleiades, the Moon can cover only a maximum of six of the seven brightest stars. The seventh star symbolizes the youngest goat which got away by finding a perfect hiding spot (inside a grandfather clock). The tale has been part of oral German folklore for centuries. Its roots can be traced back to a Middle-Eastern tale of the first century AD. The most popular form of the story was recorded by the Brothers Grimm in 1812. Source: Carl-Fuhlrott-Gymnasium

The Wolf and the Seven Young Goats by Oskar Herrfurth Source: goethezeitportal.de

Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs In the fairy tale of Snow White, an evil Queen envies her stepdaughter's beauties and wants to kill her. Snow White hides in the forest in the house of the Seven Dwarfs. In disguise, her stepmother visits here three times and tries to kill her. All three attempts eventually fail and in the end, Snow White marries a charming price. Shortly after the Spring Equinox, the Pleiades disappear from the night sky and throughout the Summer, Snow White (the Sun) is save as the Seven Dwarfs (the Pleiades) are close to the Sun. In Fall, the Pleiades re-appear in the night sky. After the Winter Solstice, the the Moon crosses the Pleiades three times, symbolizing the three visits of the Evil Queen to the house of the Seven Dwarfs. After the third visit, Snow White chokes on a poisoned apple and is laid to rest in a glass coffin. German folklore puts Snow White's Coffin in the night sky as a rectangle within the constellation Gemini, consisting of α (Castor), β (Pollux), γ and μ Geminorum.

Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs by Carl Offterdinger; Wikipedia

Some scholars trace the origin of the Snow White tale to the fate of two German pricesses in the 16th and 18th century, respectively. Others go back way further and see similarities to the Greek legend of Chione, whose beauty caused a jealous Artemis to kill her. Source: deutschlandfunk.de

Baltic Mythology In Lithuanian and in Latvian, the cluster is called Sietynas and Sietiņš, respectively, The word is derived from sietas, which means "sieve". in Lithuanian and Latvian folk tales, the Pleiades are usually depicted as a sieve which gets stolen by the devil from the thunder god or is used to conjure light rain by thunder's wife and children. There are also Lithuanian folk songs in which this star cluster is personified as a benevolent brother who helps orphan girls to marry or walks soldiers along the fields. Source: Wikipedia

Ukrainian Folklore In Ukrainian folklore, the Pleiades are known as Стожари (Stozhary), Волосожари (Volosozhary), or Баби-Звізди (Baby-Zvizdy). Stozhary could be derived from stozharnya meaning "storehouse for hay and crops", relating to the Heliacal rising of the stars at harvest time. It could also be reduced to the root sto-zhar, meaning "hundredfold glowing" or "a hundred embers". Volosozhary (the ones whose hair is glowing), and Baby-Zvizdy (female-stars) both refer to female tribal deities. According to legend, seven maids lived long ago. They used to dance the traditional round dances and sing the glorious songs to honor the gods. After their death the gods turned them into water nymphs, and, having taken them to the Heavens, settled them upon the seven stars, where they dance their round dances (symbolic for moving the time) to this day. Source: Wikipedia

Jewish Folklore From Wikipedia: In Jewish folklore, when two fallen angels named Azazel and Shemhazai made it to the earth, they fell strongly in love with the women of humankind. Shemhazai found a maiden named Istehar who swore she would give herself to him if he told her the sacred name which granted him the power to fly to Heaven. When he revealed it to her, she flew up to Heaven, never to fulfill her promise, thus she was placed in the constellation Pleiades. Source: Wikipedia

Azazel Source: Collin de Plancy, Dictionnaire infernal

Medieval Islamic Astronomy In Arab astronomy, the Pleiades were the center of the third Arabic Lunar Mansion, called al-Thurayyā. Source: Ihsan Hafez: Abd al-Rahman al-Sufi and his book of the fixed stars: a journey of re-discovery

Turkey From Wikipedia: In Turkish, the Pleiades are known as Ülker. According to 11th century Turkic lexicographer Kaşgarlı Mahmud, ülker çerig refers to an army made up of a group of detachments, which forms an apt similar to a star cluster. Source: Wikipedia

Turkish tactics Source: Mehmetçik TV

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