sciencetech-blog

comments

An ancient Greek wine cup may be one of the earliest depictions of constellations in the night sky.

That's according to a researcher who says the markings of animals on the cup actually correspond to patterns of stars.

And he says that other ancient hunting scenes depicted in drawings might also be drawings of constellations.

John Barnes from the University of Missouri says this ancient Greek cup depicts constellations. From left to right are seen here a bull (Taurus), snake (Hydra), rabbit or small dog (Lepus) and a larger dog (Canis Major or Canis Minor). If confirmed it would be one of the earliest records of Greek astronomy

The two-handled cup known as a skyphos is about 2,600 years old and is on display at the Lamia Archaeological Museum in Greece.

It was studied by John Barnes, a classical archaeology doctoral candidate at the University of Missouri.

He says this particular artefact dates back to about 600 to 625 BC.

It was originally found in a pit in the 7th Century acropolis of Halai, 25 miles (40km) north of Thebes, Greece.

But until now no one had considered the animals drawn on the cup could be constellations.

On the cup in the image can be seen a bull, a hare or small dog and a large dog.

On the other side is a scorpion, dolphin and the front half of a panther or a lion.

The cup has been partially damaged though, which suggests some animals depicting constellation may still be missing. 

'My dad raised me on astronomy, and to me, the snake, rabbit and dog together looked like constellations,' Mr Barnes told Live Science. 'That group jumped out at me.'

While such drawings of hunting scenes are common in ancient Greece, Mr Barnes says this depiction including a dolphin with a land animal is odd.

This led him to believe the drawings were showing constellations.

According to Live Science, most of what we know about Greek astronomy comes from various literary texts, but they only go back to the 5th Century.

This, therefore, would be one of the earliest records of Greek astronomy. 

In addition, Mr Barnes told MailOnline the crosses on the cup represent stars, 'which ties in quite nicely with my idea.'

The two-handled cup known as a skyphos is about 2,600 years old and is on display at the Lamia Archaeological Museum in Greece. It was originally found in a pit in the 7th Century acropolis of Halai, 25 miles (40km) north of Thebes, Greece (shown in map)

Mr Barnes says the findings may mean that other drawings of hunting scenes may actually be sketches of constellations. He also says the crosses on the cup are stars. From left to right here is a scorpion (Scorpius), dolphin (Delphinus) and part of a lion (Leo)

While such drawings of hunting scenes are common in Ancient Greece, Mr Barnes says this depiction including a dolphin with a land animal is odd.This led him to believe the drawings were showing constellations, some of which are shown in this image

He says that aside from this and one other fragment from a similar time, 'the earliest depictions of constellations that can be reliably traced is not until 100 or 200 years after this.'

The significance apart from its age means that there might be more to be found.

'Animals and figures might have been overlooked and viewed as hunting scenes or random assortments of animals,' he says.

Animals are commonly attributed to certain seasons. Here Canis Major is depicted by a dog on the left, and on the right the constellation Lepus is depicted by a rabbit

'If my proposal is correct, not just constellations but seasonal groupings, then that might suggest that they did in fact demarcate [set the boundaries] of the seasons of the year by associations with cosntellations.

'That's something we know they did later and had pretty good reason to suspect they also did in this more archaic period, but we hadn't been able to show it yet.'

Most of the constellations are also not arranged in the order they appear in the sky.

This suggests they may have been arranged for another purpose - possibly to define the seasons to show time throughout the year, as opposed to a calendar.

The constellations in this case are separated into the four seasons in line with when they appear in the night sky.

Mr Barnes' findings were detailed in the journal Hesperia.