Of Pan we sing, the best of leaders Pan,
That leads the Naiads and the Dryads forth.
Ben Jonson.
Very
few constellations have come down to us unchanged in form through all
the ages. An exception to this is found in the figure of Capricornus,
which is generally depicted with the head and body of a goat and the
tail of a fish. Allen says that although we do not know when Capri- cornus came into the zodiac, we may be confident that it was millenniums ago, perhaps in prehistoric days.
After Cancer
it is the most inconspicuous constellation in the zodiac, and it seems
strange on this account that these signs should have held such a place
of importance in the minds of the ancients, and that they should have
survived without change of figure the assaults of the ages that these
stars have gazed upon. The Capricorn which appears on the Babylonian
boundary stones, the most ancient of all records extant, is to all
intents and purposes identical in form with the Capricorn of a modern
almanac. According to Macrobius, the Chaldeans named the constellation
"the Wild Goat," because that animal in feeding always ascends the
hills, and is naturally a climbing animal. The sun in like manner when
it arrives at Capri cornus begins to
mount the sky, and hence the goat was adopted as a symbol of the
apparent climbing motion of the sun, while the fish-tail was significant
of the rains and floods of the winter season.
This
is the explanation of this figure given by most authorities on
constellational history to account for the amphibious character of
Capricornus. It also explains the ancient oriental legend that Jupiter
was suckled by the goat Amalthea, the meaning of which appears to be
that the sun, emerging from the stars of Capricornus at the winter
solstice, begins to grow in light and heat as he mounts toward the
vernal equinox. He is thus figuratively said to be nourished by a goat.
Maunder takes exception to this explanation, and holds that as the
constellations were mapped out many centuries before the winter solstice
fell in Capricornus, this view of the matter, though ingenious, is
illogical and erroneous. Capricornus was called by the ancient Oriental
nations "the Southern Gate of the Sun." In Grecian mythology,. it was
considered "the Gate of the Gods," and through its stars the souls of
men released at death were supposed to pass to the hereafter. Allen
tells us that Aratos called this constellation "Aigokeros" the "Horned Goat," to distinguish it from the "Aix" of Auriga.
The
Latinised form, " AEgoceros," was in frequent use with all classical
authors who wrote on astronomy. "The Yoke" was another title borne by
the constellation, a name suggested by the configuration of the three
principal stars, Alpha, Beta and Delta. According to Brown, the Akkadai,
the most ancient nation known to us, called the tenth month "the cave
of the rising" (of the sun), and its nocturnal sign Capricornus, the
solar goat, a reduplication of the solar ram, represented the sun rising
from the great deep of the under world, as Shakespeare puts it: "from
the blind cave of eternal night," and hence a demi-fish.
The
Romans considered that Capricornus was under the special protection of
Vesta, and they regarded the con- stellation with great veneration as
having shed its influence on the birth of Augustus. We find the figure
of a goat on coins of his period, and Smyth tells us that it was "the
very pet of all the constellations with astrologers." The Arabians also
considered Capricornus with great favour, and called it "Al- Jady,"
meaning "the goat." Burritt states that Capricornus is identical with
Pan or Bacchus, who with some other deities were one day feasting near
the bank of the river Nile , when
suddenly the dreadful giant Typhon came upon them, and compelled them
all to assume a different shape in order to escape his fury. Pan took
the lead and plunged into the river, and the part of his body which was
under the water assumed the form of a fish, and that above water the
form of a goat. To preserve the memory of the fable, Jupiter made Pan
into a constellation, in his metamorphosed shape. The Greeks sometimes
called the constellation simply "Pan." From this word we get our word
"panic," which is the sort of fear that is born of the imagination, and
Pan was said to terrorise people by the mere thought of his presence. In
spite of Pan's evil nature of inciting panics, he was regarded as the
god of rural scenery: Shepherds, and huntsmen, and also as the god of
plenty. The emblem of plenty, the cornucopia or "horn of plenty," is
connected with the mythological history of Capricornus. The legend
relates that the father of the gods gave one of the goat's horns to the
nymphs who had nursed Jupiter in his infancy as a reward for their kind
services, and that this horn was endowed with a wonderful virtue. It
provided whatever the holder desired, and hence was known as "the horn
of plenty." The real sense of this fable,- divested of poetical
embellishment, appears to be this: "There was in Crete, some say Lybia, a
small territory shaped very much like a bullock's horn, and exceedingly
fertile, which the king presented to his daughter Amalthea, whom the
poets claim was the nurse of the infant Jupiter" (Burritt). The
emblem of the cornucopia is a masonic emblem, and corroborates the fact
that the major part of masonic symbolism has an astronomical
significance. Capricornus is connected in Egyptian astronomy with "the
god of waters" and is associated, as the star Sirius is, with the
inundation of the Nile . It was also
known as the goat-god "Mendes," in the Egyptian zodiac. Dr. Seiss claims
that the Sea Goat represents a symbol of sacrifice and atonement.
Csesius called it "Azazel," "the Scapegoat," and "Simon Zelotis," "the
Apostle." Capricornus marked the 12d Hindu lunar station, "Abhikit,"
meaning "conquering," and Flammarion asserts that there is a Chinese
record of 2449 B.C. which locates among the stars of Capricornus a
conjunction of the five planets. There was an early prediction made,
that when all the planets met in this sign the world would be destroyed
by a great conflagration. Capricornus has also borne the strange title
"the Double Ship," a name that bears out its maritime character
appropriately enough, as we find the Sea Goat in that region of the
heavens known to the ancients as "the Sea," and surrounded by other
creatures of the deep. Allen states that the symbol of this
constellation is thought to be tp, the initial letters of the Greek
Tpiyos, meaning "Goat," but Lalande claims that it represents the
twisted tail of the creature.
Capricornus
figures on an ancient Egyptian mirror. The mirror was emblematic of
life, and there may be a connection here between the em- blem of life,
and the new life established by souls passing through these stars to the
life eternal. The Peruvian year, says Hagar, probably began at the
December solstice with the celebration of the most important of their
festivals, known as "the festival of the beard." During this month the
sun is passing through our sign of Capricornus. The corresponding
Peruvian constellation is called "Nuccu," meaning "the Beard' The name
refers directly to the widespread tiyth in which the sun, then at the
height of his power in the southern hemisphere, is figured as Capra,
"the tearded one." The beard seems to be the character emphasised in
connection with the constellation, and participants in the ceremonial
dances during the festival wore masks with long beards. The beard is one
of , chief characteristics of the goat. Thus we find na- jods widely
separated, and at a very remote time, with a common notion respecting an
inconspicuous star group. Such a grotesque figure, recognised in common
by different nations, is too great a coincidence to savour of
individual creation. It has been said that the tribe of Napthali adopted
this sign as their banner emblem, although the sign Virgo has also been
allotted to them. The Latin poets designated it as "Neptune 's
offspring," thus preserving its maritime significance. We also find it
called by a Greek appellation signifying "Swordfish," while in the Aztec
calendar it appeared with a figure like that of a napehaL The Tamil
name for it signified "Antelope."
Astrologically considered Capricornus was the House of Saturn, the mansion of kings;
black russet or a swarthy brown was the colour assigned to it, and
Proctor tells us that this sign gives to its natives a dry constitution,
and slender build, with a long thin visage. It governs the knees and
hams, and reigns over India , Macedonia , Thrace , Greece , Mexico , Saxony , Brandenburg , and Oxford
Aratus thus describes Capricornus:
the Goat
Dim in the midst, but four fair stars surround him,
One pair set close, the other wider parted.
This first
pair, Alpha1 and Alpha 2 Capricorni, respectively called "Prima and
Secunda Giedi," are situated in the head of the Sea Goat. Burritt calls
them "Giedi" and "Dabih" respectively, the former being the most
northern of the two, and a double star. The star name "Dabih" is an
Arabic appellation meaning, curiously enough, "the Lucky One of the
Slaughterers," referring to the sacrifice celebrated by the Arabs at the
heliacal rising of Capricorn. The other wider parted pair of stars
referred to by Aratos are Delta and Gamma Capricorni, named respectively
" Deneb Algiedi," meaning "the Tail of the Goat," and "Nashira" -"the
Fortunate One" or "Bringer of Good Tidings." Delta is an interesting
star because it marks the approximate position of the discovery of the
planet Neptune. The discovery of Neptune
is one of the most interesting episodes in the history of astronomical
discovery, and a brief account of it is worth recording here. Early in
the 19th century it was found that the planet Uranus was straying widely
from its predicted positions. Two astronomers, Adams in England, and Le
Verrier in France, working independently and without each other's
knowledge, endeavoured to ascertain the causes of the perturbations,
basing their calculations on the supposition/ that an undiscovered
planet beyond Uranus was the disturbing factor. Adams began his work in 1843, Le Verrier in 1845. Adams
communicated the results of his labour to the Astronomer Royal of
England, but unfortunately the data were pigeonholed. Le Verrier, who
sent his calculations to Galle Galle turned his telescope toward the position in the sky determined by Le Verrier, and discovered the Capricornus, the planet Neptune . This was on Sept. 23, 1846. Adams at once called attention to his data, which on being referred to were found to coincide with Le Verrier's result. Thus was England robbed of the triumph, but Adams 's name has always been coupled with that of Le Verrier as the discoverer of the planet. It may be of interest that the veteran Galle
Source: ”Star lore of all ages; a collection of myths, legends, and facts concerning the constellations of the Northern Hemisphere”, 1911 by Olcott, William Tyler
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