Prismtect › Constellations › Corvus
the Crow
Four stars make a small, lopsided square south of Virgo's bright star Spica. Follow the Big Dipper's handle to Arcturus, then on to Spica, and Corvus is just beyond.
Apollo sent a crow to fetch water. The crow stopped to eat figs, came back late and lied. Apollo set it in the sky beside a cup, Crater, guarded by the water snake Hydra, so it could never drink.
Seen together, Corvus, Crater and Hydra tell one story across a long stretch of the spring sky.
Babylonian star lists from at least 1100 BC already have a Raven here, perched on the tail of the Serpent, just as in the later Greek sky.
A second Greek story explains why crows are black.
The four main stars were Zhen, a chariot, which gave its name to the last of the 28 lunar mansions.
In Indian astronomy the five main stars are a hand or fist: Hasta, the 13th nakshatra, or lunar mansion.
Several Polynesian peoples knew Corvus and used it to steer at sea.
For Torres Strait Islanders, Corvus is the right hand of Tagai, a great figure of a man fishing.
The Bororo of central Brazil saw a land tortoise, Geriguigui.
Babylonian star lists from at least 1100 BC already have a Raven here, perched on the tail of the Serpent, just as in the later Greek sky. It was sacred to Adad, god of rain and storms. In the second millennium BC it rose just before the autumn rains. The scholar John H. Rogers suggests that Raven, Cup and Serpent together marked a gate to the underworld.
A second Greek story explains why crows are black. Apollo's crow, once pure white, brought him news that his lover Coronis had been unfaithful. In his anger Apollo turned its feathers black.
The four main stars were Zhen, a chariot, which gave its name to the last of the 28 lunar mansions. Two stars were the pins that hold the wheels on, and a small star nearby was Changsha, a coffin.
In Indian astronomy the five main stars are a hand or fist: Hasta, the 13th nakshatra, or lunar mansion.
Several Polynesian peoples knew Corvus and used it to steer at sea. It was Mee in the Marquesas, Te Manu ("the bird") on Pukapuka and Metua-ai-papa in the Society Islands.
For Torres Strait Islanders, Corvus is the right hand of Tagai, a great figure of a man fishing. In that hand he holds kupa fruit.
The Bororo of central Brazil saw a land tortoise, Geriguigui. The Tucano of the north-west Amazon saw an egret. The Tupi of São Luís Island may have seen a grill for cooking fish, though that name might belong to the Great Square of Pegasus instead.
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