The Knot of the Heavens Author(s): Godefroid de Callata Source: Journal of the Warburg and Courtauld Institutes, Vol.

59 (1996), pp. 1-13 Published by: The Warburg Institute Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/751394 . Accessed: 31/01/2014 01:15
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THE KNOT OF THE HEAVENS*

Godefroidde Callatay
n his Phaenomnena the poet-astronomerAratus of Soli (c. 315-240 the zodiacal sign of Pisces in the following way:
Bc)

describes

Even further in front of [the Triangle],but still in the entrance of the South are The Fish. One of them, which alwaysprecedes the other, Hears Boreas louder when it startsto come down. Fromboth are stretched, as it were, the chains By which their tails, on each side, arejoined together in one point. A single star holds them, a beautiful and great star Which is called the 'Knot of the Heavens'.' ent, the iconographic representation of this part of the sky has not changed in any

From the distant time when Aratus composed his authoritativework until the pres-

significant respect, so that in all modern atlases the constellation of Pisces still has the same, rather strange appearance (Fig. 1):the two Fish, Piscis Borealis and Piscis Australis, are squeezed along the ecliptic between the zodiacal signs of Aries and Aquarius; their tails are connected to one another by a sort of chain (the Linum Piscium), or rather two bonds by which both Fish appear to be fixed to one particular place on the heavenly vault by a single star,a Piscium. Although it was the brightest star of the constellation, a was only of the third magnitude (on a scale of 1 to 6) according to Ptolemy in Book viii of the Almagest.2
Aratus's description of this star as beautiful (Kchk6g)and great (gCycyg) may seem, therefore, a slight exaggeration to any reader acquainted with the basic elements of observational astronomy. This is perhaps why, of the three extant Latin translations of the Phaenomena, only the verbose paraphrase of Avienus seems to have followed the Greek model on this point.3 More puzzling-and more interestingis that Aratus chose to point out that the same star was also named the 'Knot of the Heavens', a remarkable privilege for a light much fainter than dozens of other beacons in the night sky. What follows is an attempt to fathom the reason why this apparently unimpressive star received such an impressive designation.

* I should like to thank all those who have made valu- name, a Piscium is known as al-Rish ('the Cord'); on able comments on this paper. I am particularly indebted this see P. Kunitzsch and T. Smart, ShortGuide to Modern to Christopher Ligota and Jill Kraye. StarNamesand theirDerivations,Wiesbaden 1986, p. 50. I Aratus, Phaenoiena, 11.239-45: O1 6' 3 Cf. Cicero, Aratea (around 90 B(), xxxiii.14-16: TpoTCple, T"T 'Atque c9p horum e caudis duplices velut esse catenas /dices, quae poepog iT 6' iv pOtoXfSiot v6oto1, /'IX0OCg. 'MAY' acici r ItcXXOv[opiCao vCOVKacT1OVTOg diu diversae per lumina serpunt /atque una tamen in (ppcrrEpog "XXov,/Kai & G(C OT i flO)T 6C(c stella communiter haerent'; Germanicus, Phaenomena QKO)CE./'Ajpotpv oTWUEy InoVEatC T gci Ev 16vuyv. cTh (between 14 and 19 AD), 246-6: 'Non illis liber cursus, ?KcTEPOEv ptT1XXCpO v /ocpaciw ./Kai TEC yat TE,/ov p6 TE Eig OT(fiP sed vincula cauda, /singula utrumque tenent uno coeLWtL(C Kca6Lg Kat ZbCi&ountia nodo. /Nodum stella premit'; Avienus, Aratea (4th Iov iTovup6vtov KCl0OUVOGV. 2 Cf. Ptolemy, Syntaxis, ed. J. L. Heiberg, i, Leipzig century AD), 552-5: 'Sed tamen hi late stellis ex ordine 1903, pp. 126-7. In modern times the brightness of ac fusis /nectuntur caudas, et lenta trahuntur utraque Piscium has decreased to the fourth magnitude. For /vincula, per coelum coeunt quae singula rursum, /et rutilo confixa quasi super igne tenentur.' For other comprehensive tables listing the variation of stellar magnitudes from -127 to + 1880, see C. Flammarion, Les Greek and Latin designations of a Piscium see A. Le Etoiles et les curiositesdu ciel, Paris 1892; for a and the Paris Boeuffle, Les Noms latins d'astreset de constellations, other stars of Pisces see p. 267. According to its Arabic 1977, pp. 182-3.

1
and Courtauld Institutes, Volume 59, 1996 Journal of the W'aibu>g

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des derGestirne nachderPariser J. E. Bode, Vorstellung auf XXXIV Kupfertafeln Ausgabe Berlin and Stralsund 1782, pl. XXII Flamsteadschen Himmelsatlas, Very few stars were individually named by the Greeks. In addition to our 'Knot of the Heavens', the only stars Aratus identifies by name are 'ApxTozopog (Arcturus, line 95), Ir:TXVg (Spica, line 97), Al'L(Capella, line 164) and Eilptog (Sirius, 'QXkvyl line 332), all of the first magnitude, to which we must add the seven Pleiades (lines Aratus names none of the stars 262-3).4 belonging to such prominent constellations as Orion or the Greater Bear. It should be noted, moreover, that the poet does not merely provide his readers with a precise identification of the star a Piscium, but also uses this designation to make an etymological pun.5 The Greek terms for 'Knot of the Heavens' (IXv6soo~pakwv, lines 242-3) of Lgog noVpdaLog, line 245) and 'the chained tails' (&aopyg the Fish are very similar in sound. This similarity has even produced a textual
4 The name of HpoTrpvyr'i p (Vindemiatrix) occurs in the only dubious line of the poem (1. 138). 5 Aratus's skill in making puns and other literary jokes needs no demonstration. Suffice it to point out here the remarkable acrostic AEFITH in 11.51-6 of the Atooralueat (= 11.783-7 of the 'extended' Phaenomena;on this see also n. 22 below), first noticed and discussed by J.-M. Jacques, 'Sur un acrostiche d'Aratos', Revue des &tudes anciennes, lxii, 1960, pp. 48-60. On a significant pun

Fig. 1-The traditionalrepresentationof Pisces.

from the astronomical point of view see also G. de Callatay, 'La Grande Ourse et le Taureau Apis', in Amosiad&s. Mlanges offerts au Professeur Claude Vandersleyen, ed. C. Obsomer and A.-L. Oosthoek, Louvainla-Neuve 1992, pp. 71-83, where it is pointed out that to lay hands the word tnaqb6pevoq (from t paqt(pdoat, on something) of 1. 93 of the Phaenomenais a subtle allusion to the mythological figure of Epaphos, i.e. the Greek name for the bull Apis.

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KNOT OF THE HEAVENS

'Knot of the Tails'.6 In his edition of the variant of line 245: IVv6Eotpovirnotpaov, Phaenomena,Jean Martin underlines how weak the grounds are for this reading.7 At any rate, it appears clearly from the Latin adaptations by Cicero and Avienus that

'...which ancient people used to call the "Knot of the Heavens"' ('quem veteres soliti Caelestem dicere Nodum');8 Avienus has 'which the witty Greeks call the "Knot of the Heavens"' ('coelestem memorat quem sollers Graecia Nodum').9 Germanicus did not translate line 245. This omission is, however, more than compensated for by what we read about Pisces in Hyginus's De astronomia(first century BC). After having recorded that there are seventeen stars in the Southern Fish, twelve in the Northern Fish, and twelve in the Bond between them-which the author calls the 'coniunctio'-Hyginus explains: Their bond, which one observes from the fore-limb of Aries, Aratus calls in Greek oivSWoCicero calls it the 'Knot of the Heavens'. Both writers want to make clear gog 0UtoUpdvtog; that it is the knot not only of the Fish, but also of the entire sphere. For in this place where one speaks of the meridian circle starting from the limb of Aries marking the middle of the day, in this place where this meridian circle meets and cuts the equinoctial circle, there, in this very crossing of the circles, the knot of the Fish is marked.Therefore, they were right to call it not only the knot of the Fish, but also the 'Knot of the Heavens'.'0 The explanation leaves no room for ambiguity. The star considered is said to correspond to the 'Knot of the Heavens' because it marks on the sphere the point of intersection between three basic circles: the equator (or equinoctial circle), the ecliptic, and the equinoctial colure (or meridian circle). The ecliptic is not mentioned explicitly, but its relevance is obvious. For if we follow the logic of this explanation, we must assume that the two equinoctial points, that is, the vernal and the autumnal, are primarily to be regarded as the two points of intersection between the equator and the ecliptic. Only when the equinoctial points are known and defined in that way is it possible to fix the equinoctial colure and take it as the point of reference for the whole system. In any case, the indisputable conclusion to be drawn from Hyginus is that the 'Knot of the Heavens' is the indicator of the vernal point itself." We can now see why a star which was not conspicuous for its brightness was given such an important name. To establish the position of the vernal point in Aratus's time-or rather in the time of his model, Eudoxus of Cnidus (c. 390-37Bc)-we must take into account
6 See e.g. E. in Aratum ReliMaass, Commentariorum qui utrique volunt significare eum nodum non solum Piscium, sed etiam totius sphaerae esse. Quo enim loco quiae, Berlin 1892, p. 383; Aratus, Phaenomena, ed. G. R. Mair, London and Cambridge, Mass. 1955, repr. circulus ab Arietis pede mesembrinos dicitur, qui me1977, p. 226; W. Gundel, 'Pisces', in Paulys Real-Encyc- ridiem significet, et quo loco is circulus mesembrinos, ed. G. Wisconiungitur et transit aequinoctialem circulum, in ipsa lopdidieder classischenAltertumswissenschaft, sowa, W. Kroll et al., Stuttgart [n.d.], xx.2, col. 1776; coniunctione circulorum nodus Piscium significatur. Vitruvius, De architectura, ix, ed. J. Soubiran, Paris 1969, Quare eum non modo Piscium, sed etiam caelestium nodum verum appellaverunt.' p. 194. 7 11See also Hyginus, De astronomia,ed. A. Le Bceuffle, Cf. Aratus, Phaenomena, ed. J. Martin, Florence Paris 1983, p. 197 n. 15: 'Une ligne perpendiculaire 'a 1956, pp. 43-4 (on 1. 245): 'Maass invoque le v. 362 en faveur de la legon Vtwro0paCtov. On y lit, pour designer l'ecliptique, passant par l'etoile a Piscium, aboutissait la meme chose qu'ici, l'expression c?tooi a l'intersection de l'ecliptique et de l'equateur celeste Mais o9tpaLot. le prefixe irTn-est donc inutile? En realite OTno0pctogo (point vernal) a l'epoque d'Hipparque (en raison de la precession des equinoxes, ce point se deplace sur n'est atteste nulle part, tandis que xTovpdvtog, employe deja par Aratos au vers 134, est homerique; et le v. 362 l'ecliptique et en fait le tour complet en 25.765 ans). Le nous explique precisement comment rtoop&dvtov a pu meridien passant par ce point a ete choisi comme medevenir ridien d'origine des ascensions droites (dans le systeme par la volonte d'un correcteur trop rTno'pcatov des coordonnees equatoriales) ou des longitudes zodiingenieux.' 8 Cicero, Aratea, xxxiii. 17. acales (dans celui des coordonnees ecliptiques). C'est le 9 Avienus, Aratea, 556. premier de ces deux syste'mes qu'avait d'abord adopte 10 Hyginus, De astronomia, iii.29: 'Horum coniunctiHipparque pour dresser un catalogue d'etoiles, et c'est celui qui devait triompher par la suite jusqu'a nos onem, quae a pede Arietis primo notatur, Aratus Graece Cicero nodum caelestem dicit; jours. Mais dans l'intervalle, le systame des longitudes oUv&&o?aovrJnoupdvtov,

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reading in antiquity: Cicero renders line 245 as

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de Printemps'). as 'Equinoxe (indicated Fig.2-The placeof the vernalpointin antiquity A. Le Boeuffle, d'astres etdeconstellations, Paris1977(LesBellesLettres), LesNoms latins pl. VI the precession of the equinoxes, a slow movement of the sphere along the ecliptic which affects the equatorial coordinates of all stars.'2A retrospective computation, by means of which the effects of the precessional movement are taken into account, enables us to fix with sufficient accuracy the place on the ecliptic in which the vernal point was located around 300 BC. The vernal point shifts to the West along the ecliptic at a rate of 50" per year. Since the period of time between then and now is around 2300 or 2400 years, which makes a shift of around 32', and
zodiacalesavait eu plus de succes, car la precessiondes equinoxes ne modifie pas les latitudes, tandis que les declinaisonsvarientavec le temps.' 12 This phenomenon, the effects of which are believed to have been first noted by Hipparchus in the second Almagest century BC,is describedat length in Ptolemy's vii.2).The realityis that the axis of the earth (cf.Syntaxis, is not absolutelyfixed in space, but rotates slowlylike a spinning top around the pole of eclipticat a rate of 36" a year,accordingto Ptolemy's value, which gives 3600 or one completerevolutionin 36,000 years (modernvalues give 25,765 years, which correspondsto a shift of about the vernalpoint, i.e. the point of 50"per year).Similarly, intersectionbetween the celestialequatorand the ecliptic, moves at the same speed along the ecliptic with a retrogrademotion.This movement,which has immense
implications since it affects the coordinates of all stars, was called equinoctial precession, because it brings an advancing of the vernal equinox from East to West through the stars of the zodiacal signs every year. For a comprehensive account of equinoctial precession see P. Duhem, Le Systimedu monde,ii, Paris 1914, pp. 180-266; more recently O. Neugebauer, 'The Alleged Babylonian Discovery of the Precession of the Equinoxes',Journal of the American Oriental Society,lii, 1950, pp. 1-8; idem, A i, Berlin, HeiHistory of Ancient MathematicalAstronomy, delberg and New York 1975, pp. 292-8; and R. Mercier, 'Studies in the Medieval Conception of Precession', Archives internationalesd'histoiredes sciences,xxvi, 1976, pp. 197-220 (part I), and xxvii, 1977, pp. 33-71 (part II).

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KNOT OF THE HEAVENS

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Fig. 3-The 'Knotof the Heavens'on the Farneseglobe. 'Orbiscaelestistabulaex marmore antiquo in Aedibus Farnes:Romae', detail, from M. Manilius,Astronomicon, ed. R. Bentley,London 1739 since the vernal point is now situated a few degrees south of the Tail of the zodiacal Southern Fish,'3 it follows that in Aratus's day the vernal point must have been situated not on cc Piscium, which was then (as now) a few degrees south of the ecliptic, but on a meridian circle remarkably close to the meridian of the nodus caelestis.The retrospective computation shows that the difference in right ascension cannot have exceeded one or two degrees (Fig. 2). This distance would mean a difference of only a few minutes in the time of culmination of the 'Knot of the Heavens' and the vernal point, a fact which must have been regarded as essential by Aratus and all astronomers of his time.'4 Significantly enough, in Aratus's time the vernal point must have been very close to the border between the constellations of Aries and Pisces (Fig. 3). This is undoubtedly consistent with a piece of information given by Hipparchus, Ptolemy's model, in his commentary on Aratus's Phaenomena:that the star called qTov hXLvv, the 'Knot of the Bonds', is the last star of Pisces to rise above Vv6xcitog the horizon.'5 Now since in those times Pisces was itself considered to be the last sign of the zodiac,'6 there can be no doubt that the ancients regarded the 'beautiful and great' star of Pisces as the one with which the yearly cycle was brought to an end. To anyone who is willing to consider this from a more symbolic point of view, it becomes clear
13 In fact, the current vernal point is located approximately 70 south of the star 0o Piscium, which corresponds to the Tail of Piscis Australis. 14 Hipparchus, ad Phaenomena,i.11.20, notes that in his own time the 'Knot of the Fish' culminates with Aries 31/4, which would mean that it was a few decades before Aratus that caPiscium and the vernal equinox at Aries 00 actually co-culminated.

15 Cf. Hipparchus, ad Phaenomena, iii.3.9: iai oXcog 6 6&... Co'lf2'p 'v TCO cLvacCT' Zvv6G&t~( ToC) OLvov. Lt... 16 Cf., among countless pieces of evidence, Ovid, Metamorphoses,x.78-9: 'Tertius aequoreis inclusum Piscibus annum /Finierat Titan.'

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GODEFROIDDECALLATAY

how right the Greeks were to call caPiscium not only DJIV&G6oog T@v Xivov, the 'Knot of the Bonds', but also the 'Knot of the Heavens'. Oit0ovpCvtog,
iOviEoWog

Aratus could have stopped at this point, deciding that he had said enough about the famous star; but he did not. Contrary to his usual method, which is to describe all the constellations of the sphere successively, he returns, around 120 lines later, to the 'Knot of the Heavens'. This can be explained, as we shall see, by the fact that caPiscium seems to be at the same time part of another constellation, namely Cetus, the Sea Monster. Still, one cannot help being surprised at the abrupt way in which Aratus inserts this second mention of the 'Knot' into his poem: For in this area the lonely remains of Eridanus, Riverof many tears, are carried away under the feet of the gods. The river stretchesto the left foot of Orion. But the bonds that hold the tails of the Fish by their ends Startfrom these tails and come together. Behind the mane of Cetus, they mingle their course, Being driven to one point: they end on a single star Of Cetus, the one which lies on the first vertebraof the beast."7 Why does the poet move so suddenly from the description of the river Eridanus to what on the face of it is a mere repetition of his previous account of Pisces, and what do we learn from this extract that we did not know already? The Fish, the tails, the bonds that link these tails and the star that marks the junction of these bonds (the expression cig Ev is used here as it was in line 243)-none of this is original. There is, however, one new element. The 'Knot of the Heavens' is no longer named; instead, Aratus notes its position, on the first vertebra (jTp6 b" QKwvQ")of the Sea Monster-an indication faithfully followed in all subsequent descriptions of the starry sphere. But what might well appear as no more than a banal detail in most iconographical representations of the celestial vault acquires, I believe, a very precise relevance in the architectural design of Aratus's poetry. The reference to the single star at which the bonds converge occurs at lines 364-6. Now, it appears from many examples that in antiquity some kind of magical significance was attributed to the number 365. Particularly obvious is the prominence of this number in all sorts of speculations current in Graeco-Roman Egypt. From Heliodorus of Emesa (third century AD) we learn, for example, that some people in Egypt identified the Nile with the solar year and based this on the equivalencethe Greek name NEtlog (numerically: 50 technically called isopsephism-between + 5 + 10 + 30 + 70 + 200) and the number 365.18 The life of the phoenix was also associated in several ways with the number 365, once again a clear reference to the number of days in the Egyptian year.19More interesting for our purposes is the soa short astronomical treatise dating from the second century called EO)6dovrm'Xvy, first BC. The paragraph of this work consists of twelve lines (the twelve months); each line contains thirty letters, except for the final one which contains thirty-five (the 360 days plus the five 'epagomenal' days of the solar year); and the lines form
18 ix.22. Cf. Heliodorus, Aethiopica, Aratus, Phaenomena, 11. 359-66: OIov ycp KCdKEVO 19 See J. Hubaux and M. Leroy, Le Mythedu Phenix dans J oTku-'HptbCvoLo, /ltfravov JTOOo (POPE7LCT1t O6)v tO6 grecqueet latine, Liege 1939, pp. 3-9; R. Van oo. /KcaiTb ouatdv T66&c les littiratures Tv ''pl(Ovog on60 Tnorca KXhaCtrov den Broek, The Myth of the Phoenix accordingto Classical 6' OpacLotL, ToL 'IX0US &Kfpot xoVrwt, /&?coLo TCLVE. and Early ChristianTraditions,Leiden 1972, pp. 261-73. /KrlTcrlg6' Kcart6eVTg. o1Jtpalov o1u'popCOVTrcl /aiqw)o n' See also W. O. Moeller, 'Marks, Names and Numbers', /Ed[gv Xcav6[vot -v i 6' Ctid (popOVrCal 6tOtev Xkoq(prlg ? ii, Leiden 1978, pp. Hommagesd MaartenJ. Vermaseren, LKELTcrc poT'll dcCi-ptntpcavovrat /Ki'r~og, %g KelVOIJv 801-20. xKdv~n.

17

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KNOT OF THE HEAVENS

the acrostic E866$ov TFCXVrl (the 'Art of Eudoxus'). The symbolic meaning of this is in the text itself.20 pattern expressed Considering Aratus's obvious sympathy for Alexandrian scholarship, it seems worthwhile to look for something similar in the Phaenomena,a work devoted to the celestial signs by which the seasons of the year are indicated to mankind.2' The Phaenomenaconsist of 731 lines,22that is, almost exactly 2 x 365. Edwin Brown has suggested that this total might have been chosen because it corresponds with the number of days of a double solar year in the Egyptian calendar.23But why a double solar year? It is, I think, inspired by a desire to conceptualise the celestial vault not so much as a sphere, as two opposed hemispheres (or circles, in twodimensional representations) that are connected to one another at only one point. In fact, this depiction, technically known as polar stereographic projection, is exactly what we find on most modern astronomical maps: two contiguous circles with the two celestial poles as their respective centres. Could classical astronomers such as Aratus or Hyginus have already conceived of the heavenly vault as formed from the joining of two hemispheres? Regarding the construction of celestial globes it may be argued, for instance, that the casting and soldering of two hemispheres is only a late, perhaps Islamicate invention.24 Although our information on earlier constructions is scanty, we can certainly trace the problem of polar stereographic projection back to Hipparchus, if not earlieras Otto Neugebauer has argued: It is evident from the writings of Vitruvius...that not only the theory of stereographicprojection existed before Ptolemy but practicalapplicationsas well. We can only conjecture the accurate time of invention. From a purely mathematicalviewpoint all necessary methods are attested for Apollonius and nothing would exclude the same for Euclid (who also wrote on conic sections)or even for the geometers of the fifth century.25 on Cicero's Somnium, According to Macrobius's Commentary said that the was the seam by which the two hemispheres of the Theophrastus MilkyWay were and that, heavenly sphere joined together accordingly,a greater brilliance was to be seen at the place where the two rims met.26 Above all, Aratus himself in his review of the constellations carefully distinguishes 'those which lie between the North and the Sun's wandering path'-including the twelve zodiacal signs themselves-from 'the many others which rise beneath between the South and the Sun's circuit'.27
20 For an edition of this work see J. Letronne and W. Brunet de Presle, Les Papyrusgrecs du Musde du Louvre, Paris 1866, pp. 25-76. For some useful remarks and a French translation of the treatise see P Tannery, Recherches sur i'histoirede l'astronomie, Paris 1893, pp. 23-5, 283-94. 21 Cf. Aratus, Phaenomena,11. 10-13: 'For he [Zeus] was the one who fixed the signs in the heavens by marking out the constellations, the one who devised for the year (cig vtccv'r6v) which stars should preferably indicate to men the order of the seasons, so that all things may grow firmly.' 22 Some editions contain 732 lines of verse, but it seems preferable to regard 1. 138 as spurious; cf. Aratus, Phaenomena, ed. J. Martin, p. 30. The 731 verse lines of the poem are followed by another 422, which are usually grouped in manuscripts under the separate title of a (Weather Signs). These lines, which are mainly AtioOyrll concerned with meteorological predictions to be used by farmers, should not be included in the Phaenomena as such, and most editions of Aratus's works rightly give

them an independent numbering. At any rate, one should bear in mind that the lines commented on by Hipparchus or translated by Cicero or Germanicus all pertain to the properly so-called Phaenomena. Studiesin 'Eclogues' 23 See E. L. Brown, Numeri Vergiliani. and 'Georgics', Brussels 1963, p. 98. 24 See E. Savage-Smith, IslamicateCelestialGlobes:Their and Use, Washington, D.C. 1985, pp. History,Construction, 81-3, 90-5. As25 0. Neugebauer, A History of Ancient Mathematical tronomy,ii, Berlin, Heidelberg and New York 1975, p. 868. See also idem, 'The Early History of the Astrolabe', Isis, xl, 1949, pp. 240-56. 26 Macrobius, in Somnium Scipionis,i.15.4: 'Theophrastus lacteum dixit esse compagem qua de duobus hemisphaeriis caeli sphaera solidata est, et ideo ubi orae utrimque convenerant notabilem claritatem videri.' p'v ov 27 Aratus, Phaenomena,11.319-21: KcLT& T 6t vet6Ot[30op0w KCXJTCzra Kci d?Jlotog jEXckoto /jC(Joofly0g TLXLCc ccpCr Velxoto KWa alUX/ roXz TLat v6TotLo KCOXeiOOJ.

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GODEFROIDDECALLATAY

According to the polar stereographic projection (Fig. 4), the three fundamental circles I referred to in connection with Hyginus's explanation appear in the following way: the celestial equator forms the borders of both circles; the ecliptic becomes a sine curve that gently spirals between these borders and the two tropical circles (the summer and winter tropics); and the equinoctial colure becomes a straight line that passes through the two poles (northern and southern). The three lines meet at only two points, which mark the autumnal and the vernal equinoxes. Since it indicates the transition between two yearly cycles, the vernal point is traditionally chosen as the only point of the figure in which the junction of all these lines is made visible. A closer look at the stereographic projection reveals, moreover, that the general motif of two different Fish (Piscis Borealis and Piscis Australis)28in this area of the heavens was remarkably appropriate for this purpose. With one Fish on each side of the celestial equator, the constellation could be regarded as the point of intersection between the northern and the southern hemispheres. It is with this in mind, I think, that we must interpret the numerous illustrations of Pisces where the two Fish are drawn, symbolically, in perfect symmetry in relation to the Bond that links them, and not at all as they appear on the celestial vault (Fig. 5). It does not make much sense to assign a beginning or an end to a circle unless one considers it in a relative way. As may be gathered from the previous discussion, the uniqueness of the vernal point only appears when one contemplates the transition between two successive cycles. It may have been this consideration which prompted Aratus to construct his poem in terms of a double yearly cycle. Edwin Brown was certainly right to stress that the poet ran through the whole vault not once, but twice: having systematically described all the constellations of both hemispheres in lines 1-558, Aratus chose to deal with the 'simultaneous risings' (ouvavain lines 559-732,29 which led him to go through all the constellations for a TOXCi) second time.30 But the clearest indication of the literary design which I believe underlies the structure of the poem is the 'Knot of the Heavens' itself, which Aratus managed to place exactly at the centre of his poem. Let us look once more at lines 364-6: Behind the mane of Cetus, they [the Bonds of the Tails]mingle their course, Being driven to one point: they end on a single star Of Cetus, the one which lies on the first vertebraof the beast.31 The 'Knot', we now learn, is located 'on the first vertebra [&K6v6n]'of the monster. The word &KCv6a,phoneticallyacantha,originally means anything sharp, stinging

or thorny.32 The acanthus, of course, is a thorny plant from the same family as the ignating the spine or the backbone of certain animals as well.
28 On the risk of this latter designation being confused with that of the extra-zodiacal Piscis Australis, see Le Boeuffle (as in n. 3), p. 182. 29 This is a sort of calendar showing which stars or constellations rise together with a given zodiacal sign. On see Aratus, Phaenomena,ed. Mair (as in n. vvccavaccroXca 6), pp. 202-4. 3o G. le Grelle, in his article 'Nombres Virgiliens. Antecedents litteraires et presupposes mathematiques. A propos d'un ouvrage recent', Les Etudes classiques,xxxiii, 1965, p. 54, makes the following remark on this confirmation of Brown's interpretation: 'Or la premiere partie ' des Phinomines, celle qui est consacree I'astronomie, compte 731 vers. E. Brown observe que ce nombre est le double de 3651/,. Donc deux fois le cycle annuel: on

ended up desthistle,33but the etymology explains why in Greek the word &KCv6O

notera la convenance particulibre de ce chiffre, puisque, dans ces vers, le po te parcourt a deux reprisesla vouite etoilee.' 31 See above, n. 17. 32 From the Indo-European root *ak- (idea of sharpness) we may derive, among other words, Greek cKpog, and acies, English acid and 66SI, Latin acer, acetumn c&Kafi and edge, and French aiguille. 13 For classical references on the acanthus and its different varieties see E. Guillaume in Dictionnairedes antiquites, ed. C. Daremberg and E. Saglio, i.1, Paris 1877, pp. 12-14, s.v. 'Acanthus'; P. Wagler in Paulys Real-En(as in n. 6), i.1, cols 1148-50, s.v. "'AKcavog, cyclopdidie , tptdKcvOct, acanthus'. For the iconography see &KcvOe a la L'Acanthedans la sculpturemonumentalede l'Antiquitei

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KNOT OF THE HEAVENS

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Fig. 4-The polar stereographic projection of the heavens. in Eratosthenes, Catasterism, from illustrations ed. C. Schaubach, Gottingen 1795 Adapted

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10

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Fig. 5-The symbolicrepresentationof Pisces. London, British LibraryMS Harley 647, folio 3v.Texts inside the Fish: Hyginus, De astronomia, ii.30 and iii.29. Text below: Cicero,Aratea,xxxiii.12-19

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KNOT OF THE HEAVENS

11

It was not, in my view, a casual decision on Aratus's part to evoke the spinal column of the Sea Monster in these lines at the very centre of the Phaenomena,but not in his earlier discussion of a Piscium at lines 244-5. The second passage, precisely because of its position in the poem, has a particular numerological significance that is lacking from the first. The poet's intention, I suggest, was to stress the pivotal role of the 'Knot', in the heavens as in his own work. This hypothesis concerning the structural design underlying Aratus's poem finds an echo in Vergil's third Eclogue. Aratus's influence on Vergil's astronomy is well known. Many comparisons of detail have been made between their writings, and there are borrowings from, or allusions to, passages from the Phaenomena in every part of Vergil's trilogy.34These allusions are thicker on the ground in Eclogue III, and it is now generally accepted that Aratus is the answer to the famous question 'Quis fuit alter?' ('Who was the other one?'), asked in the poem by the herdsman Menalcas. Most of the arguments for this identification have been gathered together by Carl Springer, who notes: Readers of the eclogue have consistently overlooked the best piece of evidence for electing haberet. Aratus. It is the pun on his name in line 42: ... quaecurvusarator Virgil plays on the name of Aratus while creating a special irony by placing the word aratorin the mouth of Menalcas.If he only realised it, Menalcashas answered his own question.35 In favour of this identification one should also point out, along with the commentator Servius, that the 'Ab love principium, Musae, lovis omnia plena', which comes a bit further on in the eclogue (line 60), refers to the opening lines of Aratus's Phaenomena: Let us begin with Zeus, whom we the mortalsnever leave Unnamed. For all the streets and all the market-places Of men are full of Zeus, as are the sea And the harbours.In every place we all have need of Zeus.36
Renaissance. 1990 a' Actesdu colloquetenu du ler au 5 octobre La Sorbonne,Paris 1993, esp. pp. 75-95 (G. Sauron, 'La promotion apollinienne de l'acanthe et la d6finition i d'une esthetique classique l'apoque d'Auguste'). It is interesting to recall here, in passing, the widespread use of the tender acanthus as a motif adorning innumerable architectural columns (Fig. 6).
].I VRE
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Fig. 6-Acanthus leaves on Corinthian capitals. iv. 1.9-12 (edn Paris 1684) Vitruvius, De architectura,
34 For general information on this see G. Aujac in Eni, Rome 1984, pp. 266-8, s.v. 'Arato'. ciclopediaVergiliana, More specifically, see for BucolicsJ. S. Campbell, 'Damoetas's Riddle: a Literary Solution', Classical Journal, lxxviii,

1982, pp. 123-6; and C. Springer, 'Aratus and the Cups of Menalcas: A Note on Eclogue 3.42', ibid., lxxix, 1983, pp. 131-4; for Georgicssee Brown (as in n. 23), pp. 96104; B. Otis, Virgil: A Study on Civilized Poetry, Oxford 1964, pp. 386-7; and L. P. Wilkinson, The Georgicsof Virgil, Cambridge 1969, pp. 60-3; for Aeneid see G. de Callataj, 'Quis fuit alter? Aratos, le Palinure de l'Endide', Bulletin de l'InstitutHistorique Belge de Rome,lxii, 1992, pp. 175-92, where it is argued that Palinurus, the chief pilot of the poem, actually represents Aratus. 35 Springer (as in n. 34), p. 132. The identification with Aratus had already been proposed, among other possibilities (including Ptolemy!), by both Servius and Junius in VergiliicarminacomPhilargyrius; see Servii Grammatici mentarii,ed. G. Thilo and H. Hagen, Leipzig 1887, iii.1, p. 36, and iii.2, p. 56. For other proposed solutions to the 'Quis fuit alter?', see L. Herrmann, 'Notules sur les xvi, 1948, p. Bucoliques virgiliennes', Les Etudesclassiques, 371; P Boyance, 'Le sens cosmique de Virgile', Revue des latines,xxxii, 1954, pp. 220-49; M. Mayer, 'En tor&tudes no a Vergil ecl. 3.40', Durius (Boletin castellanode estudios cldsicos),ii, 1974, pp. 397-411. 36 Aratus, Phaenomena,11. 1-4: 'EK cT At6lgapXC6p(i6a0 V y oG)JOT'r' a'v6~pg Gq wv/a"pplTxov' ocrut&6AL6g aoCt v ayopac, WcOrn /iaoat 6'v'pdav)p6w 6&_ pv Ayutcal, odXaot At6l KEXPlE0CaravrtEg. oa /KaLhl~wpvEg v'r ? iii.36-43: '[Menalcas]:...pocula ponam 37 Vergil, Eclogues, /fagina, caelatum divini opus Alcimedontis; /lenta quibus

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GODEFROIDDE CALLATAY

The riddle put by Vergil to his readers is part of a singing contest between the two herdsmen Menalcas and Damoetas. Each wagers two drinking cups, designed by the same artist, a certain Alcimedon. Here are the lines in which Menalcas describes the cups: ... I shall wager beech cups, The chiseled work of the divine Alcimedon. His supple drill has crowned their borders with a soft vine, And here and there it has adorned the grapes with clustersof pale ivy. In the centre are two figures: Conon, and... who was the other one, Whose stick has traced for mankind the whole world And marked the seasons for the reaper and for the stooping ploughman? I have not yet put my lips to these [cups],but keep them stored away.37 And Damoetas's rejoinder: The same Alcimedon has also made two cups for me. He has twined a flexible acanthusaround the handles, And in the centre he has set Orpheus and the woods that follow him. I have not yet put my lips to these [cups],but keep them stored away.38 The scene is apparently an imitation of Theocritus's Thyrsis,where a wooden vase which the poet describes in detail serves as the prize for a similar contest, between the herdsman Thyrsis and an anonymous goatherd.39 The vine, the ivy and even line 55) are already present in Vergil's model; the tender acanthus (icyp6g &iKcav0og, but Theocritus's Greek idyll does not contain the astronomical allusions that we find in the Latin eclogue. Conon of Samos was a well-known mathematician and astronomer, roughly contemporary with Aratus. His most celebrated achievement, according to the Romans, was naming the small constellation of Coma Berenices.40 The 'divine' Alcimedon could be a phonetic pun on the name of Archimedes, who is said to have been on friendly terms with Conon. Archimedes was primarily known to the Romans for his skill in designing armillary spheres and planetary mechanisms, and we know from a passage in Cicero's Republic-where Aratus's name also appears-that Archimedes's genius in these matters was considered to be almost superhuman.4 The reference to astronomy in lines 41-2 speaks for itself, and I do not see any better candidate for the solution of the riddle than Aratus, a pun on whose name appears in the text: just as line 41 ('descripsit radio...') clearly refers to his Phaenomena,so we may also assume that line 42 ('tempora quae...') alludes more Signs.42 specifically to his Weather All this might prompt us to think of the drinking cups referred to in the eclogue in a metaphorical way, bringing us back to the spherical appearance of the heavens. In this respect it is highly significant that Damoetas in his rejoinder does not speak of one vase or bowl-as the goatherd in Theocritus's version had done-but of two cups ('duo pocula'), which the artist had presumably designed so as to form a pair. As for the flexible acanthus which surrounds the handles of these cups, it now seems possible that it echoes not only the lines of Theocritus, but also those of his contemporary Aratus. Vergil's skill in literary jokes is worth noting here. Not only
torno facili superaddita vitis /diffusos hedera vestit pallente corymbos. /In medio duo signa, Conon, et... quis fuit alter, /descripsit radio totum qui gentibus orbem, /tempora quae messor, quae curvus arator haberet? /Necdum illis labra admovi, sed condita servo.' 38 Ibid., iii.44-7: '[Damoetas]: ... Et nobis idem Alcimedon duo pocula fecit, /et molli circum est ansas amplexus acantho; /Orpheaque in medio posuit, silvasque sequentis. /Necdum illis labra admovi, sed condita servo. 40 See Le Bceuffle (as in n. 3) p. 119, with references. Among Latin authors, Catullus, lxvi.1-9, and Hyginus, De astronomia, ii.24.1, might be mentioned. 41 Cicero, Republica, i.14.22. On this passage see A. Novara, 'Ciceron et le planetaire d'Archime'de',LesAstres. Actesdu colloqueinternationalde Montpellier(Mar. 1995), i, Montpellier 1996, pp. 227-44. 42 See above, n. 22.
39 See Theocritus, Thyrsis, esp. 26-60.

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KNOT OF THE HEAVENS

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does he appear to have succeeded in making his characters answer their own riddle, but he also seems to be evoking in a few words the structural design of the work he is alluding to: the pair of cups suggest the two celestial hemispheres, and the flexible acanthus hints at the knot which links them. If this interpretation is correct, it could be that Vergil was alluding to the transmission of this secret design when he twice affirmed: 'I have not yet put my lips to these [cups], but keep them stored away.
THE WARBURGINSTITUTE

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