the Phenicians, would receive and adopt the latter; and the necessary result would be, that the Egyptian astronomers would form one sphere from the two, adopting from each those constellations which according to their judgment rendered the celestial map most clear and complete. And this accounts for so many constellations bearing two distinct names, and for the union of totally dissimilar objects in one sign. On the Phenician sphere the two nothern constellations were “Arctoi,” “Bears[1]:” on the Babylonian, “Amaxai,” “Chariots.” On the Babylonian the human figure now called Auriga corresponded with one on the Phenician called “the Goat and her kids,” and hence Auriga is represented as bearing a Goat and her kids.
Had we now the Babylonian sphere unmutilated, it would be a picture history from Adam to the time of its invention. Commencing at the north: The two chariots revolving round the pole, turning each way, one to the east and one to the west, and never setting, with Draco the great serpent between them, were emblems of המתהפכת החרב להט ואת הכרכיםאת־, τα χερουβὶμ καὶ τὴν φλογίνην ῥομφαίαν τὴν στρεφομένην, “the cherubim and flaming sword turning every way.” The first figure, of which Aratus and the early astronomers give a description from the tradition they
- ↑ Dubhe, the name of the bright star in this constellation, gives us the Phenician name of the constellation itself: רוב, Dub, a Bear, Hyginus states that Thales, a Phenician, discovered the Little Bear, and gave it the name; and that also it was called Phenice.
