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Antinoüs

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The Lost Constellations

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Abstract

This constellation (Figs. 4.1 and 4.2) finds its beginnings in antiquity. It was first identified by the Greeks as Ganymede, brought to his lover, Zeus, by the eagle Aquila. The Romans repurposed the stars, borrowing heavily from the Greek legend in a brilliant piece of propaganda attributed to the emperor Hadrian. Publius Aelius Traianus Hadrianus Augustus (24 January ad 76–10 July ad 138) was born to an Italian family, probably in Italica, a city in the far-flung Roman province of Hispania. He was elevated to the purple on 10 August 117 at the death of Trajan, who according to Trajan’s wife, Pompeia Plotina, named Hadrian his successor on his deathbed.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    “Between the Eagle and Sagittary.” (Sherburne, 1675); “Immediately south of Aquila … bounded by Aquila, Scutum Sobiesci, Sagittarius, Capricornus, Aquarius, and Delphinus.” (Green, 1824); “Under the Eagle” (Kendall, 1845); “East of Taurus Poniatowski and Scutum Sobieski, on the equinoctial” (Bouvier, 1858); “[L]ies in the Milky Way, directly south from the star Altair; the head of the figure at η and \(\sigma\) , the rest of the outline being marked by \(\theta\) , ι, κ, \(\lambda\) , ν and δ, all now in Aquila.” (Allen, 1899); “According to Ptolemy, Antinous consisted of six stars, which we now know as Eta, Theta, Delta, Iota, Kappa and Lambda Aquilae” (Ridpath, 1989).

  2. 2.

    Epitome, Book LXIX, published on page 447 of Vol. VIII of the Loeb Classical Library edition, translated by Earnest Cary (1925).

  3. 3.

    This object’s remnant is catalogued as RCW 86; see D.H. Clark and F.R. Stephenson, “The remnants of the supernovae of ad 185 and ad 393,” The Observatory Vol. 95, pp. 190–195 (1975) and R. Stothers, “Is the supernova of ad 185 recorded in ancient Roman literature?” Isis Vol. 68, pp. 443–447 (1977). Y.N. Chin and Y.L. Huang (Nature, Vol. 371, Issue 6496, pp. 398–399, 1994) argue that the supernova identification for this event is erroneous and support a translation from Chinese sources indicating the “guest star” was rather a comet. B. Schaefer (Astronomical Journal, Vol. 110, p. 1793, 1995) suggests that neither explanation is sufficient, advocating that the Chinese observations of 185 are best explained as “a concatenation of two events in the same region of the sky”—both a nova and a comet.

  4. 4.

    There is some chance that the ancient authors confused the story of the Antinoüs star with a “temporary star,” probably a nova, that appeared in nearby . Ophiuchus in ad 123 according to Allen (1899) and Olcott (1911).

  5. 5.

    “ANTINOVS puer Aquilae subiicitur, cuius stellae olim informes ad Aquilam numeratae a Ptolemaeus post iussu Adriani imperatoris formatae, cuius is fuit amasius. Aliis Ganymedes dicitur, de unguibus aquilae suspensus, quem Iupiter in coelum rapuit.”

  6. 6.

    Johann Bayer (1572–1625), author of Uranometria (1603).

  7. 7.

    “Nach verschiedenen Dichtern der Vorzeit war dies der Adler, welcher den schönen Knaben Ganymedes, einem Sohn des Phrygischen Königs Tros, am Berge Ida für den Jupiter raubte. Antinous war gleichfalls ein schöner Knabe aus Bithynien, den der Kayser Hadrian an seinem Hofe hatte; nach andern ist hier gleichfalls Ganymedes verstirnt. Uebrigens hat erst Tycho den Antinous unter die Gestirne gebracht. Der Adler fliegt mitten in der Milchstrasse unterhalb den Schwan, nach Often. Er hat einen Stern erster Grösse, Altair gennant, am Halse, mitten zwischen zwey andern dritter und vierter Gröse. Ostwärts stehen zwey der dritten Gröse am Schwanz. Im Antinous sind Sterne dritter und vierter Gröse ostwärts bey der Milchstrasse sehr kenntlich. Sie bilden zum Theil ein verschobenes Viereck.”

  8. 8.

    Iliad, 20. 232ff (trans. Lattimore).

  9. 9.

    Ibid., 5. 265ff.

  10. 10.

    Homeric Hymn 5 to Aphrodite, 203 ff (trans. Evelyn-White).

  11. 11.

    Olympian Ode 1. 40ff (trans. Conway).

  12. 12.

    Metamorphoses 10. 152ff (trans. Melville).

  13. 13.

    The Golden Ass 6. 15ff (trans. Walsh).

  14. 14.

    Bibliotheca, 3.141 (trans. Aldrich).

  15. 15.

    Fabulae, 224 (trans. Grant).

  16. 16.

    Dionysiaca, 47.98 ff (trans. Rouse).

  17. 17.

    Astronomica, 2.16.

  18. 18.

    Astronomica, 2.29.

  19. 19.

    “Nobis Aquila esse potest vel Romani imperij, vel Iohannis Evangelistae signum: Puer subiectus vel recens natus puer Christus, Luc. 2 vel alterius Evangelistae Matthaei signum.”

  20. 20.

    Luke 2 is concerned with the birth of Jesus, his presentation in the Temple, and his early life up to the age of twelve.

  21. 21.

    Phaedrus 255 (trans. Fowler).

  22. 22.

    Allen probably means Philipp von Zesen (aka Philippus Caesius; 1619–1689), among those in the seventeenth century who attempted to introduce new, Biblically-themed constellations in place of the ancient pagan originals.

  23. 23.

    2 Kings 4:8–37.

  24. 24.

    The Latinized form of Odysseus of Ithaca, son of Laertes. Antinous, son of Eupeithes, was killed by Odysseus in Book XXII of the Odyssey. Allen’s source for Lalande’s reference is unclear.

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    John C. Barentine

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Barentine, J.C. (2016). Antinoüs. In: The Lost Constellations. Springer Praxis Books(). Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-22795-5_4

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