KDouiledge & Selentltie flems 



A MONTHLY JOURNAL OF SCIENCL. 



Conducted by MAJOR B. BADEN-POWELL and E. S. GREW, M.A. 



Vol. I. No. 9. 



[new series.] 



OCTOBER, 1904. 



r Entered at "| 

 LStationers' Hall.J 



sixricNCic. 



CO^T^^^'TS.~See Page VU. 



Sna^ke Forms in the 

 ConstellaLtions 



And on Babylonia.n Boundary 

 Stones. 



By E. Wai.tf.k Maunder, F.R.A.S. 



Amongst the spoil brout;;ht by various explorers from 

 Babylonia are a number of small sculptured stones, 

 commonly known as boundary stones or landmarks. 

 These are inscribed with texts in archaic Babylonian 

 and Assyrian characters, and record the transfer of 

 lands and estates, or grants and renewal of grants. But 

 besides the inscriptions, most of them carry a number 

 of figures sculptured in low relief. Some of these are 

 certainl)' astronomical; others are probably so. There 

 can be no mistake about such a figure as is seen in the 

 middle of the second row of the stone shown in the 

 accompanying photograph (see !• ig. 1). I he slab in 

 question was one found at Susa, whither it had been 

 taken from Babylonia, and contains the record of a 

 land grant by Mclishikhu, King of Babylon, n.c. 1200. 

 The stone itself is in the Museum of the Louvre. The 

 figure shows a " Capricorn " — that is, a goat with the 

 tail of a fish. On another stone, a representation of 

 Sagittarius has been found, in which not only is the 

 composite figure shown of the archer — half-man, half- 

 horse, drawing his bow to the head of the arrow — l^ut 

 the archer has a wing, stretched back exactly like the 

 flying cloak seen in the designs of our star atlases 

 to-day. .About composite figures of this definiteness 

 there can be no mistake ; they are obviously constella- 

 tional in origin. 



The case is a little different with such forms ;is the 

 .scorpion, the bull, the dog, or the eagle, since these 

 forms are not specialised in the constellations ; but 

 their occurrence in such close connection with symbols 

 manifestly stellar, renders it probable that they are of 

 the same character. The argument with respect to the 

 scorpion — a form continually seen — is stronger. N'ot 

 only is the attitude of the scorpion always precisely 

 that of the /lodiacal animal, but a very fine boundary 

 stone of the reign of Xebuchadnezzar I., King cf 

 Babylon, date about n.c. 1120, shows, as well as a 

 .scorpion, a vigorous composite figure which appears 

 to have been formed by combining the symbols of the 

 three neighbouring constellations, Aquila, Sagittarius, 

 and Scorpio. 



It is not surprising that the .serpent should be con- 

 spicuous amongst these sculptured forms ; it figures so 



largely in pagan mythology that its absence would be 

 more surprising I ban lis presence. \'et here the posi- 

 lions assigned to (lir \arious serpent lornis are 

 pi'culiar, and seem to ine to bcir a niaiiilesl rclaliim to 

 the positions occupied by tlie \arioiis snakes .iiid 

 dragons of the celestial sphere. 



.So far as 1 know, although it has ollen hmi noted 

 that Drat^o is coiled symmetrically alxjut the pole 



Fig. 1. — Boundary'.stone in the l.ouvre. 

 * Approximate date, B.C. 1200. 



{Front n I'hotO'jraph hij Mfx/TS. W. A. Mit'ueU.) 



of the ecliptic, no astronomer has ever called attention 

 to the very remarkable po^itions occupied by two great 

 cnnstellatiens, Mydra .iiul Ser|)ens in the primitive 

 sphere. The reason of the oversight has been simply 

 that astronomers have been led astray as to the date of 

 the origin of the constellations by preconceived notions, 

 and have entirely neglected the evidence which the 

 stellar figiu'es themsehes supplied of their antiquity 

 and place of origin. .\s I ha\e had occasion to point 

 out in this magazine before, the area in the southern 

 heavens left untouched by any of the constellations 

 handed down to us by Aratus, is clear proof that the 



