THE MEANING OF PICTURED SPHERES. 689 



upon some of the Ta-Shan Mountains, which compose the nucleus 

 of that island, the forms of men and figures of gods. But this is 

 an isolated case. 



When we pass to uranography, the figurative system be- 

 comes generally applied. It is well understood that the Greeks 

 borrowed from the Chaldeans the general idea if not the details 

 of their astronomy ; and we accept their pictured sphere. Other 

 peoples of antiquity likewise had their figured spheres, formed on 

 the same principle only the stars were differently grouped by 

 each people according to its fancy, and the symbols chosen were 

 different. Nothing better proves the independence of these con- 

 structions than this, but nothing also is more suited to exhibit 

 what there is remarkable in this community of systems. 



The Egyptians had a pictured sphere in very ancient times. 

 Signs of it may be seen in the tomb of Seti I, at Biban-el-Moluk, 

 and considerable developments of it in the calendar sculptured on 

 the ceiling of the tomb of Ramses IV, at Medinet Abou. There are 

 on this monument, which is of the thirteenth century B. c, a series 

 of constellations designated by imaginary figures. Among them 

 are a river, an arrow, and a lion which differs from that of our 

 classical sphere. There are a hippopotamus and a lute-bearer ; 

 with a great asterism extending over nearly a quarter of the 

 circumference of the sky, called the god Nacht, or the Con- 

 queror, carrying a set of arms and ascending a stepping-stone. 

 Another personage, Mena, is surrounded by servants. Egypt, 

 therefore, in its uranography most distinctly followed the sys- 

 tem of a pictured nomenclature. 



The Aryans of India did the same thing in another independ- 

 ent manner. We find, among other things on their sphere, which 

 was completed in the ninth century before the Christian era, a 

 stork, two swine, a large tree with a dog in it, an Ethiopian with a 

 giant's features, and a woman covered with a cloak. The Chinese 

 adopted the system of small groups, and consequently consider- 

 ably multiplied the number of denominations, so that their 

 sphere bears more than three hundred names names of person- 

 ages and objects forming in fact a figurative system. Here are 

 the celestial pivot, precious stones, a bushel-measure, a woman 

 embroidering, the sovereigns of the sky, and a number of the 

 dignitaries of the Celestial Empire. The Arabs, previous to the 

 time of Mohammed, also had a figured nomenclature, with a camel, 

 a jackal, a sheep, an ostrich, and a dog ; among inanimate objects, 

 a tent, a crib, a pot, a plate, a cubit, and a well-bucket. The Great 

 Bear was a coffin, followed by the three stars in the tail as three 

 mourners. While the groups were independent and the figures 

 unlike, the system of figuration still prevailed. 



These peoples all had complete uranographies, covering every 



vol. xxxvi. 44 



