306 LIGHT SCIENCE FOR LEISURE HOURS. 



My theory, then, respecting the shield of Achilles is 

 this 



I conceive that Homer, in his eastern travels, visited 

 imposing temples devoted to astronomical observation 

 and star-worship ; and that nearly every line in both 

 ' shields ' is borrowed from a poem in which he described 

 a temple of this sort, its domed zodiac, and those illus- 

 trations of the labours of different seasons and of 

 military or judicial procedures which the astrological 

 proclivities of star-worshippers led them to associate 

 with the different constellations. 



I think there are arguments of some force to be 

 urged in support of this theory, fanciful as it may seem 

 at a first view. 



In the first place, it is necessary that the constella- 

 tions recognised in Homer's time (not necessarily, or 

 probably, by Homer) should be distinguished from later 

 inventions. 



Aratus, writing long after Homer's date, mentions 

 forty-five constellations. These were probably derived, 

 without exception, from the globe of Eudoxus. 

 Remembering the tendency which astronomers have 

 shown, in all ages, to add to the list of constellations, 

 we may assume that in Homer's time the number 

 was smaller. Probably there were some fifteen 

 northern and ten southern constellations, besides the 

 twelve zodiacal signs. The smaller constellations 

 mentioned by Aratus doubtless formed parts of larger 

 figures. Anyone who studies the heavens will recog- 

 nise the fact that the larger constellations have been 



