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Comparing the circles of the zone Or
on drawing
3 with a star chart observed locating Sirius in the centre of the image.
Looking from the South towards the big stars, we can
see Sirius-Betelgeuse-Aldebaran towards the right of
the alignment, and towards the left that of Sirius-the
Great Twins. This proposal has been maintained for reasons
which will be explained at a later stage. The first
one was perhaps the fact that the biggest circle in
the group —stone circle O—,
identifying Arcturus with the circle U,
can only be compared with Sirius, the brightest star
on the firmament.
This is a supposition permitting an initial approach to the solution of
the subgroup Or,
despite the occasional astronomical inconsistency for
which we will have to find an explanation with the help
of other disciplines. We can therefore say by way of
an initial astronomical approximation that:
« Circle O: a Canis Major, Sirius, with a magnitude
of 1.46.
« Circle o18: a Orion, Betelgeuse, with a magnitude
of 0.4.
« Circle o6: a Taurus, Aldebaran, with a magnitude
of 0.9.
« Circle o1: a Gemini, Castor, with a magnitude of
2.
« Circle o2: b Gemini, Pollux, with a magnitude of
1.1.
Having said this, before going on to identify the other circles, it would
make sense to give a number of explanations. We can
therefore observe the following dysfunctions:
• In the first place, on arriving at Betelgeuse when searching for the Sirius,
Betelgeuse, Taurus alignment we run into two secant
circles, a circumstance already noted, with respect
to which I would like to recall —note 1— my words on page 431 of Del crónlech pirenaico regarding group
0100-03-22 Izurrizti II.
When sequentially breaking down a group of stone circles, the process follows
a cyclic trend, meaning that the identification of adjacent
circles is principally deciphered according to neighbouring
representations in the sky. We have therefore seen that,
beneath the extreme west of Andromeda we find Aries,
as is the case in the sky. Likewise, continuing the
alignment marked by the circles, we have uncovered Perseus
and Taurus, ending with a line of circles under the
presence of Ku.
The Fish is hidden, and, under the domination of Or,
the sequence is expected to continue: Taurus, Orion,
Lepus, east of Gemini, Canis Major, west of Gemini,
etc. The circles beneath the discontinuous line of
drawing
3, immediately convey stellar meaning, taking account of
‘star
chart ’ number 4 and table 3. Likewise, in the references appearing on more than one Babylonian
tablet, as seen in the astrolabe appearing on tablet
KAV 218, the month of Tammuz is defined by Mul Kaksisa,
Mul Mastaba and Mul Sulpae, while the following month,
Ab, is indicated by Mul Pan, Mul Mastabbagal and Mul
Margidda; on the other hand, tablet BM 78161 mentions
others: Gu III, formed by the star behind The
Great Gemini Twins, b Gem —in turn ziqpu XIX, on tablet AO 6478—, l Gem The Little Twins and Sagitta-Lance Kaksisà,
a CMa, according to information obtained
from Hunger, Pingree, Horowitz etc., who give full historical-astronomical
support to the Psc. Thus, concentrating on the map looking
towards the south, as in the interpretation under Ku, below and in the centre we find an obvious Sirius on the basis
of which we can make the most florid references to the
firmament, linked, paradigmatically in GU-ZIQPU, on
the S-N axis to Sirius, the Great Twins and Kochab.
From among the great stars, to the left of the line
joining Sirius —O— to Castor and Pollux —o1-o2—, on a level with Betelgeuse —o17-o18— we miss Procyon which, with its
reference, studying the celestial geometry and order,
should be found at the height and to the left of these
circles, according to representatives of Cancer, Leo
and Hydra.
When carefully studied, the alignment of Sirius with the stars and circles,
located to its north on chart
4 and drawing
3, should serve to give us an approximate idea of the date on which the group
was built. I didn’t however tackle the task on this
occasion due to my understanding that, to carry out
a task of this kind, I would have to draw the group
using more sophisticated and precise aids than those
which I had been using to date. This said, the date
of 540 BC, which I have generally been using to calculate
the tablets since group 0200-02-03, Oianleku
norte, seems to be fairly correct for the simple
reason that using this date gives consistent, coherent
results.
The diameters of secant circles o1-o2,
obtained by applying modern astronomy measuring techniques,
do not correspond to the brilliance of the stars to
which they are matched. They seem to have changed place
with one another, an observation which could be due
to the fact that when the Psc was built the brilliance
of the stars didn’t correspond to that existing today,
a supposition backed by a historical reference, hence
Richard H. Allen, on the subject of the brilliancy of
Castor and Pollux, tells us on page 232 of Star
Names: « … astronomers, generally are agreed that
there has been inversion of their brilliancy during
the last three centuries.» In other words, astronomers
agree that, as reflected by The
Crowns, the brilliancies of Castor and Pollux have
swapped places in the last three centuries.
On the other hand, I should point out that, apart from another assumed
and repeated a Cet for circle o14, the sequence for subgroup Ku ending in k7 —Aldebaran—continues in subgroup Or with the same star, which can also be matched to circle o6. The stars surrounding Aldebaran, from
o11 to o13 and o20, o21 and o22, can be assimilated using the same
criteria as those used to unravel subgroup Ku
to the stars surrounding a Tau to the south, a theory of flimsy foundation
as clearly indicated by the diameters of the circles
but which, having rejected other solutions, are of consistent
help and point to the solution:
« Circle o11: l Orion, Meissa, with a magnitude of
3.66.
« Circle o19: f 2 Orion, with a magnitude of 4.09.
« Circle o20: f 1 Orion, with a magnitude of 4.41.
« Circle o12: p 3 Orion, Lulal, with a magnitude of 3.19.
« Circle o13: Taurus.
« Circle o21: p 4 Orion, Latarak with a magnitude of
3.69 v.
« Circle o14: a Cetus, with a magnitude of 2.5.
« ircle o22:? Eridanus.
Our study group, and in fact Pyrenean stone circles in general, are a model
of empirical astronomy. The subgroup named Or looks like a fixed photograph of the stars accompanying Sirius
at the time of its culmination, with few exceptions
and anomalies: we seem to be able to see the occasional
star of the North, and g Gem, or rather the Twins, which, although as yet
without knowing the reason why, materially encrust themselves
in a Ori. The simultaneous reference to
the North, at a specific position of the star marking
the ephemeris of the group, is constant for all three
subgroups of The Crowns and the entire Psc, a factor which has also been widely
observed and commented on in the Pyrenean stone circle
as a whole. On the other hand, the circles of The
Crowns were built taking account of what we would
today call meridians, but which were then, perhaps,
and as far as concept is concerned, Gu-ziqpu or something similar; due to my understanding that, having
few aids, measurement of the culmination to the South
was a reliable way of knowing the order of passage through
the skies of stars located at different meridians. No
matter what the case, the entire Crown is built scrupulously following this criterion of locating and
situating the stars in sequential meridians, according
to the rigorous celestial order of passage through the
culmination, which is the way the stars were traced
on earth from East to West looking towards the South.
They moreover faithfully respected the celestial position
with respect to their height, placing them within their
respective subgroups respecting their N-S position,
with few exceptions, as in the already mentioned a PsA, Ku,
and the stars mentioned to the North in the groups Ku and Or.
—What made them represent stars with brilliancy as modest as those indicated?
—I believe that the choice in question was made for historical reasons of
which we are unaware.
The reading of Richard H. Allen’s Star
Names, together with others quoted, is enormously
helpful when interpreting the Psc due to the fact that
it contributes a tremendous amount of information which
can be immediately applied to the research at hand;
thus, on the section on Meissa, l of Orion, we
could say: «The original Arabian name, Al
Hak’ah, a white twinkle, comes from the additional
weak background light of the smaller f1 and f2, and has come to us in the shape of
Heka and
Hika. These three stars formed another trio of the Arabian Athafiyy;
and everywhere, in primitive astrology, as with other
similar groups, they were taken as a sign of misfortune
in human subjects.
These stars constituted the Babylonian lunar season Mas-tab-ba-tur-tur, the Little Twins, a title also found in the g and h Gemini; individually, these were important stars
among the Babylonians, given that, for them, they rose
with the sun of the summer solstice, and, with the a and g of Orion, were
known as Kakkab
Sar, the King’s constellation.» Further on in the
text:
« It is very strange that the builders of the system chose this pale group
to indicate the third lunar season, ignoring the brilliant
and conspicuous b and z Tauri, the points of Taurus’ horns.
It would be difficult to find another case giving us
greater reason to argue its choice» And, later on:
« l and the two phi
stars give clear proof of the popular error regarding
the apparent magnitude of the lunar disk, according
to Colas on the subject in the 1892 Celestial Handbook: Looking at this triangle, we could think
that the moon could never fit in there; but the distance
of l to f1 and f2 is 27’, and the distance between f1 and f2 , 33’. This is a proven fact, given that the average apparent diameter
of the moon is 31’ 7’’. This illusion, generally accepted
at all times, has attracted the attention of many great
men: Ptolemy, Roger Bacon, Kepler, and…», and here I
end by indicating that in the following section Allen
continues to say that one of the p is located just to the north of Rigel and that the Chinese called it the
Golden Wall. On the other hand, I have subsequently
noted that the l at f1 and f2 Orion constitute the fifth Nakshatra, Mrigashira of the Vedic lunar zodiac,
given that the sixth is Ardra, which entirely resides
within the two Gemini but is presided over by Betelgeuse
and associated with Sirius. Could this be the reason
for the graphic anomaly observed in Betelgeuse?
— So?
— It’s history, albeit forgotten, but history all the same, which can be
recovered.
After Orion, it is the turn of Gemini to parade, headed by h Gem, Tejat Prior, a double variable
which on the celestial charts is represented by two
concentric circles likewise appearing on the ground
of the Oza Forest. This kind of representation, already
noted in other places, is not normally easy to perceive.
However, circle o10 representing Tejat Prior, due to naive
excavation, has been laid bare down to the original
structure of two concentric circles.
Gemini seems to be represented by the following circles:
« Circle o1: a Gemini, Castor, with a magnitude of
2.
« Circle o2: b Gemini, Pollux, with a magnitude of
1.1.
« Circle ‘on2’: k Gemini, with a magnitude of 3.6.
« Circle o4: d Gemini, Wasat, with a magnitude of
3.5.
« Circle o5: e Gemini, Mebsuta, with a magnitude
of 3.0.
« Circle o7: l Gemini, with a magnitude of 3.5.
« Circle o8: z Gemini, Mekbuda, with a magnitude
of 3.7.
« Circle o9: m Gemini, Tejat Posterior, with a magnitude
of 2.8.
« Circle o10: h Gemini, Tejat Prior, with a magnitude
of 3.1.
« Circle o15: x Gemini, with a magnitude of 3.36.
« Circle o17: g Gemini, Alhena, with a magnitude of
1.9.
Moreover, the Gemini are accompanied in their area by circles o3, ‘on3’ and o16 which find a neat coherent incrustation in:
« Circle o3: b Cancer, with a magnitude of 3.5.
« Circle ‘on3’: Yale # 2864, with a magnitude
of 4.54 v.
« Circle o16: d Monoceros, with a magnitude of 4.15.
The hypothetical circle ‘on1’, of which the only visible remains
today is the southern arch, has no place in the estimated
Gemini and, if it does represent a star, it could be
Kochab or some of those in Draco’s head which, in the
culmination of Or,
are all slightly to the north, in a synchronism which
they perhaps intended to represent, similar to that
which, in the subgroup Ku, incrusted stars of the north in Perseus. While circles o3, ‘on2’ and o16 are entered
with a discontinuous line, they are not today well defined,
although the latter was built with stones of a considerable
size and making similar to circle o15. This said, I understand that the
most important point in circles as small and poorly
defined as this is not to discover their exact match,
but to corroborate the spirit of the work in general,
which in this case seems to be no other than that of
following the passing of time with the help of the stars.
In this respect, the list of the culmination times of
each of the stars which may have represented the group
is extremely illustrative. Matching all of these circles
in subgroup Or once again called for the help of the
transit table for all of the stars belonging to the
subgroup, which, in rising order, and applying the MacStronomy
2.0.3. program on the date of 21 December 540 BC, is
as follows:
a Cetus: 19 hours 12 m 32 s
d Eridanus: 20 hours 02 m 28 s
a Taurus: 20 hours 35 m 15 s
p 3 Orion: 20 hours 53 m 14 s
p 4 Orion: 20 hours 58 m 40 s
g Orion: 21 hours 30 m 55 s
l Orion: 21 hours 37 m 21 s
f1Orion: 21 hours 37 m 27 s
f2 Orion: 21 hours 39 m 38 s
i Orion: 21 hours 57 m 01 s
a Orion: 21 hours 58 m 56 s
b Lepus 21 hours 59 m 42 s
a Lepus 22 hours 01 m 02 s
h Gemini: 22 hours 02 m 55 s
k Orion: 22 hours 07 m 42 s
m Gemini: 22 hours 10 m 53 s
e Gemini: 22 hours 27 m 31 s
g Gemini: 22 hours 31 m 00 s
x Gemini: 22 hours 41 m 49 s
b the Canis Major: 22 hours 50 m 25 s
z Gemini: 22h 51 m 54 s
d Gemini: 23 hours 05 m 45 s
l Gemini: 23 hours 09 m 43 s
a Gemini: 23 hours 07 m 35 s
a Canis Major, Sirius, Or: 23 hours 10 m 53 s
q Canis Major: 23 hours 14m 48s
b Gemini: 23 hours 23 m 02 s
6 Canis Minor: 23 hours 25 m 44 s
k Gemini: 23 hours 26 m 36 s
b Canis Minor: 23 hours 26 m 53 s
e Canis Major: 23 hours 37 m 46 s
a Canis Minor: 23 hours 41 m 41 s
d Canis Major: 23 hours 43 m 56 s
h Canis Major: 0 hours 02 m 14 s
b Cancer: 0 hours 14 m 14 s
d Cancer: 0 hours 33 m 19 s
a Hydra: 1 hours 39 m 15 s
a Leo: 2 hours 04 m 24 s
b Leo: 3 hours 49 m 56 s
a Virgo: 3 hours 49 m 56 s
a Boötes: 6 hours 32 m 23 s
This is a list in which Sirius and
its transit time appear in bold characters, the stars
belonging to the subgroup being studied in normal characters
and some which may as yet be missing plus others which
may serve as a reference in italics. The list corresponding
to the ground is represented by all of the circles in
subgroup Or, which to the north, from right to left, range from circle o14 to o3 and to the South from o?2
to 0?4, sandwiching
circle O. This list justifies the choice of E-W
just as one of the straight ascents of the same
stars would and does, while the N-S choice would be
accredited by one of declinations or another of heights
above the horizon. The latter, accompanied with their
corresponding azimuths on a specific point on the horizon,
are the real Pyreneans, hence all of the tables are
presented with these coordinates. On studying these
tables we can see the number of matches made, remembering
that they reflect the celestial position of certain
stars at a moment in time, although the pretension would
seem, in this case at least, to be to narrate a stellar
sequence. Representation on the field of subgroup Ku
is easier to understand at the moment of the setting
of Fomalhaut. The stars falling within the sector limited
by the culminations of Ku and Or are completely
reflected on the land: some in the central group Ku, those which went/go from a PsA to b Tau, and the others, those which continue to
a Gem in the subgroup Or. The stars they chose, largely belonging
to the Milky Way, served in antiquity to limit the Path
of the Moon and make repeated references, probably indicating
positions at a specific moment, to the stars which were
simultaneously located to the North.
Continuing to apply these criteria,
with the help of the list of transits given above, on
table 3, the sketch of the subgroup —drawing
3— and a star chart, we can venture matches
with the other circles of the group:
« Circle ‘o?2’: g Monoceros, with a magnitude of 3.98.
« Circle ‘on4’: i Orion, with a magnitude of 2.77.
« Circle o23: q Canis Major, with a magnitude of 4.07.
« Circle o24: b Canis Major, Mirzam, v. with a magnitude
of 1.98.
« Circle o25: b Lepus, with a magnitude of 2.8.
« Circle ‘o?4’: ‘10’ Lepus.
A match bringing the number of circles
identified in subgroup Or,
with varying degrees of reservation, to 31.
The Path of the Moon is briefly described in tablet no. 86378, today housed
in the British Museum and forming part of the astronomical
Mul Apin tablets which describe a fixed sky in 2340
BC, constituting the most important source of Mesopotamic
astronomical knowledge available. In this tablet, column
IV, lines 31-39, we find mention in sequence of 16 constellations,
of which we can find or imagine 33 in The
Crowns: Pleiades, the Celestial Bull, the True Shepherd
of Anu Sipazianna —Orion—, The Old Man Shugi —Perseus—;
line 34: The Sickle Gam —part of Auriga, and of Taurus,
in this case b Tau—, the Great
Twins, Allul Cancer, Urgula Leo; line 35: the Sowing
Furrow, Absin Spica, all present in one way or another
in The Crowns;
line 39 refers to Luhunga, the Hired Man, our Aries,
which in reality links the sequence of line 31; while
the rest of the constellations mentioned in line 35
and those in 36 do not, until now, appear on The Crowns. The latter belong, if anything,
to the constellations located on the Path of Un-Ku, i.e. in the sector falling between the culminations of a Boo and a PsA. Stars which at the location of The Crowns in the Oza Forest were only
technically to be found to the east of the northern
subgroup captained by Arcturus or to the right and north
of Fomalhaut, a location found in both sites for a realization
of this kind in addition to stones; however, it would
be a good idea to revise the group.
If no stars are to be found and on presuming that there never were any
in the An-Ku sector,
what would be the cause? The constellations belonging
to this sector are precisely those corresponding to winter,
a period in which we can be almost certain that the landscape
was uninhabited waiting for the time of new pastures.
And, being in a place with no livestock or people to take
care of it, what reason would there be to place indicators
marking the passing of time at this time of the year?
Sirius, Arcturus and Fomalhaut have been detected individually represented
in culmination on numerous occasions, as stated in Del crónlech pirenaico and in other instalments of www.cromlechpyrene.com.
The indication of seasons by means of these three stars
is therefore no novelty, the only really new part is the
observation that in The Crowns all three are represented at
the same time, on what seems to be a calendar dividing
the year into three seasons.
The circles not yet defined, located to the SW of circle O, would have their place in the stars
located to the SW of Sirius, i.e., in the area of the
Sumerian Ban or Pan, among others: d, e, s, w Canis
Major.
The empirical rather than mathematical astronomy demonstrated by Pyrenean
stone circles, faithful reflection of most Mesapotamic
astronomy, requires, in order to solve all of the problems
they raise, the aids which served and helped to construct
them. In the case of The
Crowns of the Moon, it seems necessary, or at least
highly convenient, to observe the landscape surrounding
the group, principally in the area of Lenito, towards
which a good number of the singular subgroup witnesses
would seem to be directed. It is moreover necessary to
rigorously complete the topographical notation of the
circles in order to exactly present the drawings of the
group, given that those presently existing need a third
revision using more aids and people than employed until
now, an examination which should first of all exactly
define the alignments of circles in the N-S direction
given, due to the fact that, as we have seen, they are
the ones which in definitive indicate the passing of time,
and could even throw light on the date on which the group
was built. This said, I understand that the drawings made,
while not completely exact, are more than acceptable in
order to learn the essential meaning of the group.
Subsequently, with the help of drawing
3 and the celestial chart, we can guess that the circles which could well
be missing in view of the subgroup can be reasonably
imagined to exist as follows (although this doesn’t
mean that they really are there):
• Procyon, a Canis Minor.
The place corresponding to Procyon in the area of Or could lie to the south and a little to the left of secant circles
o1-o2 —Castor
and Pollux— at the height and to the left of circle
o18 —Betelgeuse—
as they appear on any celestial chart.
• One of the stars corresponding to Cancer ± to the north of the missing
Procyon.
• Another star corresponding to Orion, to the right of o18 and O, in a celestial replica.
• Regulus, a Leo, in its celestial
location on The Crowns to the left of o1-o2 and of the supposed Procyon. And, given the repeated presence
of Aldebaran in k7
and o6, it is totally reasonable to presume
the repeated presence of Regulus, the first of which
has already been mentioned and the second of which is
to be found in the northern subgroup, to the NE of u8 —for the time being Deneb, b Leo. We would therefore find the celestial
sequence in the manner shown in Ku-Or, in Ku
the sequence ended in k7
and Aldebaran to continue in Or
in o6 and Aldebaran once again, in a kind
of snakes and ladders; hence, by analogy, a sequence
ending in Or with Regulus should start at Un with the same star, unless the pattern
of the sequence was made with another star, earlier
or later, in which case the star in question would be
doubly present.
These suppositions, with the occasional insinuation of Mesopotamic mythology,
while advanced in February, have not been confirmed.
I have been unable to find Procyon, which doesn’t seem
to be there, although I do have doubts as to whether
or not there may have been a tumular stone circle straddling
the today poorly defined circles o3 and ‘on2’. This said,
I have finally decided not to specifically define them,
given that this subject gives me a bad enough headache
on noting the circles that definitely do exist without
venturing into those which are nothing but supposition.
Nor does Regulus appear in the southern subgroup, although
it may have been present in the northern subgroup, of
which there are remains in the area potentially corresponding
to an astronomical replica of the star. One of the points
giving me most pleasure in this second review is the
slight and blurred but consistent appearance of circle
‘on4’, which
I consider to be eminently Pyrenean. While interpreting
this circle, as on other occasions, I was doubting between
the k and i of Orion, finally
opting for the i, or even better, for this extremely beautiful visual jumble formed by the
i, the q and the Grand nebulous of Orion, repeating by
analogy with other groups the presence of i which I have repeatedly seen associated to the
Three Kings of Orion, among which I recall Lepako Estua,
Ezio, the nearby group of ‘the Guarrinza twelve’ accompanying
the full Canis Major in Okabe. It doesn’t seem to be
a bad idea to symbolize the said ensemble in a manner
other than simply representing the periphery of a circle,
a fact which is obvious in this group of The
Crowns with respect to circles considered conspicuous.
Thus, in the northern subgroup Un we can see that the today difficult
to define circle u5
seems to be formed by two secant circles which are in
fact an excellent representation of Alcor and Mizar,
as is the case of the representation of a and b Aries —circles k11 and k12— by two tangent circles; Castor and
Pollux —circles o1
and o2— by two secant circles; and of Tejat
Prior, h Gemini —circle
o10— by two
concentric circles paying tribute to their condition
of double variable and recalling currently existing
notations. And, to end these, in our ignorance let’s
say unusual notes, what is the meaning on circle o19
of this thick “floor” of stones not to be found in any
of the other almost 70 other circles I have been interpreting?
Although I’m not at all certain, I have said that o19
represents the f2 Orion, and that with f1 and l Orion, circles o20 and o11 respectively,
formed one of the Athafiyy,
let’s say trios, of the Arabs, which in primitive astrology
was reputed to have a bad influence on human subjects
—Richard H. Allen on page 318 of Star names, their lore and meaning; on
the other hand, the said trio was one of the mansions
of the moon and, .... let’s say that o19
has a strange “floor”, the reason for which I can’t
understand, but....
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