VMs: RE: Regulus

["GC" <glenclaston@xxxxxxxxx>]

Rafal wrote:

> Just found this on the Web (not in a very scholarly
> context, though):
>
> > It was named Regulus by Copernicus after the earlier 'Rex',
> > equivalent to the 'Basileos' of Ptolemeus. In ancient
> > Akkadia known as 'Amil-gal-ur' King-of-the-celestial-sphere.
> > In Babylonia as 'Sharu' the King. In ancient Persia
> > as 'Miyan' the Centre, leader of the four royal stars.
>
> Looking at the "Regulus nymph" again, the label below her
> starts with an "o" then a space and what might be a "beta"
> (sorry for not speaking EVA but I don't have the EVA mappings
> handy). So - pushing one's imagination to the limits - the
> label might actually be "Basileos", perhaps preceded by
> an article (are there articles in Greek?).
>

Very good connection you all have made with Regulus.  I had always
thought this was a valid connection, and a strong indication that
western thought is behind the VMS.  Names for stars and
constellations unfortunately tended to vary from author to author,
and as Askham's writings attest, translation from one language to
the other also brought the translation variation into play.

Askham refers to Regulus only as "Crowne", to Pisces as "Fysshes",
etc.  He also makes note that along with the 120 conjunctions of
the planets, there are enough constellations to cover every
portion of the sky, so that no part of the earth is ever without
direct celestial influence.  This would back up the idea that an
astrologer would draw charts using the stars and constellations
that brought the greatest influence to his region, which would
make the identification of the zodiac labels of utmost importance
in identifying region.

This thinking is why maps were common in astrological works,
focusing primarily on prominent regions in Europe, Asia and the
Holy Land.  The location of these cities and nations allowed the
astrologer to draw up general sets of predictions for these areas,
similar to the last section of the VMS.  Askham's "State and
Disposition of the Worlde" is an example of this type of
astrological prognostication, (as is unfortunately, Nostradamus'
quatraines).  It appears that people contemplating peregrination,
especially those with medical conditions, would need to know
something about the celestial influences on their destinations and
all places in between.  Early almanacs tried to predict what
regions would be subject to pestilence at what times of the year,
and there's always the pesky problem that a person's travelling
medication would need to be altered to conform with the influences
in play at their destination.  Any good physician would work this
all out in advance for his patients - for a price of course.

I also find it interesting that during the 15th and 16th centuries
at least, translations of astrological works, along with
predictions and charts, were carried out by physicians almost
exclusively.  John Dee might be the notable exception, since he
went the way of the polymath.  Even Nostradamus was a physician -
how would you like to have been one of his patients?  :-)



Just for the general language files, here's a collection of early
English constellations and stars.

1. the grete bere
2. the lesse bere
3. the serpent or dragon
4. the arctophilax or bootes
5. crowne
6. hercules
7. lyra
8. swane
9. cepheus
10. cassiopea
11. andromeda
12. perseus
13. auriga or the carta
14. Ophiulcus or serpentarius
15. dart or shafte
16. Egle
17. delphyn
18. pegasse the horse
19. deltoton or the triangle
20. Rame
21. bull
22. geminj
23. crabe
24. lyon
25. virgen
26. scorpius and libra
27. sagyttary
28. capricorne
29. aquary
30. fysshes
31. gret whalle or monster off the see
32. flude eridanus
33. hare
34. orion
35. the gret dogge
36. the lesse dogge
37. shype
38. centaury
39. ara
40. hydra

And here's a list of some place names in early English taken from
an astrological map.

Spayne or iberia
gallia or france
germania
ytalia
Cicilia
Sarmatia
Tracia
Macedonia
Epirus
Achara
lese asia
Syria
Palestina or Judea
Assyria
Carmonia
India
Europe
Aphrica
Asia

GC