Friday, January 20, 2012

When was the Andromeda constellation named?

The closest answer I've found so far is "Andromeda was one of the earliest constellations to be named, probably dating back to the ancient civilizations of the Tigris-Euphrates region.". I have no idea when that was.When was the Andromeda constellation named?About 5500 BC for the whole Mesopotamia thing in that area.
But.. I don;t get how they would have come up with the Greek word for the constellation. That word is given to us by Greek poet Aratus in his poem called Phaenomena, but it is obvious that he himself was referencing information that was already around.

Certainly the Mesopotamians had a name for that group of stars, but it was not "Andromeda" or rather 螘位位畏谓喂魏维 as the Greeks called it. And if you are going to go that route... I'm sure Thogg and his nomadic society of hunter-gatherers had names for the groups of stars they used to figure out where and when the antelope where going be.When was the Andromeda constellation named?Andromeda and Perseus and Pegasus are nearby to each other and they likely were named at the same time since they are all derived from the Perseus/Medusa/Andromeda/Pegasus Ancient Greek myth. The Tigris-Euphrates civilization may date back as far as 8,000BC but 5,500BC is the earliest record we have of that civilization. I think you can be sure that the Andromeda Constellation goes way back to the dawn of civilization and leave it at that.When was the Andromeda constellation named?Well, Andromeda is a constellation... So, your wrong. It's between pegases and persues... As for your original question I have absolutely no idea, but I would hazard a guess as to around about the same time the milky way itself was named... As it is all linked to mythology of that era. :)When was the Andromeda constellation named?
Well Andromeda is not a constellation, its galaxy.

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