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Ancient calendars and constellations

Chapter 1: ANCIENT CALENDARS AND CONSTELLATIONS
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About This Book

The collected essays examine how ancient cultures constructed luni‑solar calendars and assigned the months to zodiacal constellations, focusing on Mesopotamian (Accadian/Babylonian) systems and comparing Median, Indian, and Chinese practices. The author argues that shifting celestial coordinates from precession explain why certain months and constellations were originally aligned, and she reconstructs ancient skies with a precessional globe illustrated by plates. Close readings of myths are offered as potentially astronomical rather than purely solar metaphors, and the work encourages combining textual and astronomical analysis to refine chronological and mythological interpretations.

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Title: Ancient calendars and constellations

Author: Emmeline M. Plunket

Release date: February 16, 2023 [eBook #70052]

Language: English

Original publication: United Kingdom: John Murray, 1903

Credits: MFR, Harry Lamé and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net (This file was produced from images generously made available by The Internet Archive)

*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK ANCIENT CALENDARS AND CONSTELLATIONS ***

Please see the Transcriber’s Notes at the end of this text.


ANCIENT CALENDARS
AND CONSTELLATIONS


ANCIENT CALENDARS
AND CONSTELLATIONS

By the Hon. EMMELINE M. PLUNKET

WITH ILLUSTRATIONS

LONDON
JOHN MURRAY, ALBEMARLE STREET, W.
1903