Marshall David Weston. Ancient Skies: Constellation Mythology of the Greeks

New York, NY : The Countryman Press, A division of W.W Norton & Company, 2018. — 268 pages : illustrations, maps.The stars and constellations are among the few remaining objects that appear to us just as they appeared to our distant ancestors. From anywhere on Earth, a person may view the celestial panorama simply by stepping outside at night and gazing upward.The first part of the book contains tales of the 48 classical constellations have captured the human imagination from ancient times to the present. Compiled from literature spanning from Homer to Claudius Ptolemy, with illustrations and star charts reconstructed from ancient sources, Ancient Skies immerses the reader in the world of ancient cosmology and constellation mapping.The second part briefly describes how the renewing interest, global exploration and technical development helped to expanding the knowledge about the celestial sphere, seeing the southern sky, creating new celestial atlas and the author shows us how these constellations looked at the time of ancient Greeks, and how they are looking now in our times.In the third part we learn about the ancient celestial calendar through the star knowledge and star lore of the Greek pheasants, shepherds, and what they tought about the celestial phenomens. It's follows by a chapter about the navigation of the Greek seafarers.The Appendixes are helpful tables, ranging from the Greek names and writings of the stars, the modern constellation names, the annual celestial events noted by Hesiod with additions by Eudoxus. The last appendix closes the ancient sky with the holistic theory of the cosmos, advanced by Thales of Miletus and Anaximenes of Miletus to the three great Athenian philiosophers - Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle.Illustrations and star charts carefully reconstructed from ancient sources lend a visual element and immerse the reader in the world of ancient cosmology and constellation mapping. Through Marshall’s research and storytelling, Ancient Skies brings the belief systems of the classical world to shining life.David W. Marshall, PhD, is a historian and archivist on the faculty of Texas Tech University, with 34 years of experience as a researcher, instructor, professor and archivist. He is the author of Mountain Man: John Colter, the Lewis and Clark Expedition, and the Call of the American West (Countryman Press, 2017).