Herodotus, histories book 7 page 61 perseus, the son of danae wanting to establish for himself his. In his hand he holds the head of medusa, which is represented by the star algol. Perseus saw the beautiful maiden in distress, like a true champion he went to. As a young man perseus undertook a mission to kill the medusa. The constellation perseus is located next to andromeda, the constellation that represents his wife. The constellation really is important in mythology but there is no scientific thing special about it.
Perseus is near several constellations whose names derive from the adventures of the greek hero, known as the perseus group. Perseus contains a number of stars brighter than magnitude 4. Perseus and andromeda married and had six children. With the help of hermes wings and athenas shield, perseus killed medusa without looking at her.
In the 19th century, the constellation was known as perseus et caput medusae perseus and the head of medusa. Perseus is not to difficult to find if you know where cassiopeia is. The mythology of the constellation guide andromeda, page 1. The constellation s brightest star, alpha persei, is a bit brighter.
In the winter sky of the northern hemisphere, perseus can be seen flanked by taurus, aries, andromeda and cassiopeia. The gorgons were three sisters, only one of whom, medusa, was mortal. This unaided eye constellation sky map has the following limits. It was one of 48 listed by the 2ndcentury astronomer ptolemy, 1 and among the 88 modern constellations defined by the international astronomical union iau. The constellation s brightest star, alpha gruis, is also known as alnair and appears as a 1. Perseus he was the son of jupiter and danae, and is best known for his killing of the gorgon medusa. Constellation perseus astrology perseus constellation. The origin for this constellation is ancient, ptolemy named her for our western hemisphere over 2000 years ago. Folios from the kitab suwar alkawakib althabita book of the. Constellation perseusconstellation perseus named after. See more ideas about constellations, astronomy and stargazing. But much more than that, the book of enoch states that the angel uriel revealed them to the prophet enoch, long before the great flood. A couple of interesting deep sky objectscan be seen in perseus.
Perseus the hero perseus celestial atlas by alexander jamieson 1822. Back to constellations home page chris dolans home page. Perseus, angered by the king, took out medusas head and turned him into a stone. It was one of 48 listed by the 2ndcentury astronomer ptolemy and among the 88 modern constellations defined by the international astronomical union iau. Persei is a constellation, one of 88 constellations that the night sky is divided into. Cassiopeia is circumpolar, and is visible all year round in the northern hemisphere. In the sky, perseus lies near the constellations andromeda, cepheus, cassiopeia andromedas mother. This was a rather complex task, as anyone who saw her hideous face would be turned immediately to stonethe gorgons, according to bulfinch, were monstrous females with huge teeth like those of swine, brazen claws, and snaky hair bulfinchs. An xml version of this text is available for download, with the additional restriction that you offer perseus any modifications you make. Home collectionstexts perseus catalog research grants open source about help. The constellations grus, pavo, phoenix and tucana are collectively known as the southern birds.
The constellations we recognize today were first mapped by the ancient greeks, who arranged the stars into patterns for that purpose. Its the center from which the annual perseid meteor shower, a midsummer spectacle in the northern hemisphere, radiates. The constellation of perseus, the hero son of zeus, is best viewed in winter during the month of december. Perseus constellation facts, mythology and how to find. Download free version pdf format my safe download promise. It is home to the perseid meteor shower which peaks around august 9 and can produce up to 60100 meteors per hour. Perseus, wanderings and exodus comparisons published september 11, 20 by amaic. Perseus himself is also a constellation but presumably, only in regards to this episode of his story, outlining his exploits at the city of joppa. Other constellations in the perseus group include andromeda, cassiopeia and pegasus. Hgs sessions clearing lyra and perseus constellations 3222015. If anyone looked at medusas face they would turn to stone.
Herodotus, the histories, book 1, chapter 1, section 3. The sky is not divided up equally between the constellations. Perseus is a constellation located in the northern hemisphere that is visible during december. The quarrel over succession by two of darius sons, artabazanes and xerxes 2.
Beta gruis is a red giant variable star with a minimum magnitude of 2. Perseus perseus in the greek mythology, perseus was the hero who rescued andromeda, the beautiful daughter of cepheus and cassiopeia, from whale, the sea monster. Stars shown for brighter than 6 limiting magnitude, star names labels shown for stars brighter than 4 limiting magnitude, bayerflamsteed code labels shown for stars brighter than. The star figures in the sky form a very precise map of the heavens and display many allegories which have been preserved as greek myths. As a small side note, it is interesting that cepheus shows up again in greek mythology when he and 17 of his sons were killed by hercules. Luckily, perseus came on the scene just in the nick of time and killed the sea monster and saved the princess. In classical greek mythology, perseus beheaded the snakeheaded medusa to save the princess andromeda from a nasty sea monster. In 2006, perseus became the location of the largest supernova on record when a star 100200 times more massive than the sun exploded. Greek and roman arabic germanic 19thcentury american renaissance richmond times italian poetry. A few drops of medusas blood fell into the sea, mixed with the foam, and gave birth to pegasus, the flying horse, who later played a part in the story of another hero, bellerophon. The story of perseus take a look at the story of how perseus slew medusa, the mother of pegasus, and rescued andromeda, the daughter of cepheus and cassiopeia, from the sea monster cetus. Greek mythology is full of heroes, but the greatest of them all was perseus. In the western tradition, most of the northern constellations stem from ptolemys list in the almagest which in turn has roots that go back to mesopotamian astronomy, and most of the.
In the histories, he describes the expansion of the achaemenid empire under its kings cyrus the great, cambyses, and darius i the great, culminating in xerxes expedition to greece 480 bce, which met with disaster in the naval engagement at salamis and the battles at plataea and mycale. The constellation is circumpolar, so it is visible throughout the year, but best in winter and spring. Perseus is a constellation in the northern sky, being named after the greek mythological hero perseus. Perseus gives name to one of the constellation families. Originally a beautiful maiden, medusa was transformed into a hideous monster by the goddess minerva.
Perseus constellation perseus, named after the greek mythological hero perseus, is a constellation in the northern sky. Perseus collection herodotus search for documents in search only in herodotus. The constellations andromeda and perseus, along with pegasus, casseopiea and cepheus, are richly intertwined in mythology, but are vastly divergent in the objects they present to amateur astronomers. It is located near several other constellations named after ancient greek legends surrounding. Perseus, named efter the greek meethological hero perseus, is a constellation in the northren sky. The galactic equator is crossing our field of view, whereas in these fields pointing so far away from the galactic center, the star fields are not very dense. Perseus, wanderings and exodus comparisons parallel. The closest thing i can say to that is that one of the brightest supernovae occured in perseus. From east to west this constellation extends from roughly ra4h 50m to ra1h 30m. In the sky, perseus lies near the constellations andromeda, cepheus, cassiopeia andromedas mother, cetus, and pegasus. Perseus is a northern constellation which appears highest in the evening sky in the months around november. Instructions on using this constellation sky map on the above constellation map click on adjacent contellations to view them.
Positioned north of the ecliptic plane, the constellation of perseus was. In the third century bc eratosthenes compiled a handbook of astral mythology in which the constellations were associated with athena seized the writhing serpent and hurled it into the sky, and fixed it to the. He was furnished with the sword, cap and wings of mercury and the shield of minerva. Jonah, it is worth noticing, embarked from joppa like perseus and also encountered a sea serpent cetus, the astronomical name of the sea serpent of perseus means, whale furthermore jonah, like heracles, was swallowed by the creature for three days. Bible, where it is referred to in the book of job, thus giving it the name jobs star. Stars of alsufi late 15th century iran ink and gold on paper. The second brightest star is algol with a magnitude of 2. Lyra and perseus constellations ascension glossary. All 48 constellation figures from enoch depict the gospel of jesus christ. Perseus is one of the oldest constellations, having been cataloged by the.
Perseus was the son of the greek god zeus and the mortal princess danae. Constellation perseus the constellations on sea and sky. Perseus, named after the greek mythological hero perseus, is a constellation in the northern sky. This printable star map of the perseus constellation is made up of the stars mirphak and algol. Perseus is one of the oldest constellations, having been cataloged by the greek astronomer ptolemy in the second century, and it has more than one attraction for stargazers. One of the larger constellations of the northern hemisphere. Perseus grandfather, acrisius, the king of argos, was warned by an oracle that he would be killed by his grandson. Constellation families are collections of constellations sharing some defining characteristic, such as proximity on the celestial sphere, common historical origin, or common mythological theme. Eta cassiopeiae star above the last letter h of ruchbah is a beautiful double star consisting of yellow and red components of 4th and 7th mags. Constellation perseus the champion, is a northern constellation sitting above constellation taurus and below constellation cassiopeia, and between constellation andromeda and constellation auriga u. Ptolemy described perseus and 47 other constellations in the second century. Wikimedia commons has media related to perseus constellation. Ross exton of the live science team shows you how to find the constellation, along with algol the demon star.
However, only two of these are prominent from lightpolluted locations. Destined to become the great grandfather of the famous hercules, perseus had a rough start in life. Today, its called perseus the hero or simply perseus per. While perseus lies along the milky way, and offers many sparkling open clusters and diffuse nebulae, andromeda lies away from. All search options view abbreviations home collectionstexts perseus catalog research grants open source about help. The boundary of the perseus constellation contains 7 stars that host known exoplanets. Herodotus, the histories, book 1, chapter 1, section 0. Click anywhere in the line to jump to another position. On his way home, perseus came across the monster, cetus, getting ready to eat andromeda.
Hide browse bar your current position in the text is marked in blue. Zeus jupiter came to perseus mother, danae, in the form of a shower of gold, and impregnated her resulting in the birth of perseus, also called perseus eurymedon. The myth of perseus tells how he was sent on a quest to bring back a gorgons head to king polydectes. Perseus has been recognized as a constellation for at least 2,000 years. Perseus was a greek hero most famous for his slaying of medusa. Zodiac constellations zodiac is a greek word meaning pertaining to animals, with the zodiac constellations included in the overall list of 88 constellations. How to find perseus night sky guide we the curious.
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