From The Alpha and the Omega - Volume III
by Jim A. Cornwell, Copyright © July 20, 2002, all rights reserved
"Volume III - The Ninth Month - Constellation Names for Lyra"
In the Ninth Month of Sagittarius
Lyra, the Lyre or Harp (or Vulture).
The constellation name for Lyra:
- Lyra, The Harp, or lyre, by one source means "Praise for the Conqueror."
- Lyra is shown as a harp combined with an eagle or an eagle rising with a harp.
- Some say it is connected to Castor and Pollux in Gemini (opposite of Sagittarius) since one of them has in one hand a harp and also Aquila (which is opposite of Castor and Pollux), which is portrayed as an eagle.
- In the Middle East some of the first civilizations saw these stars as a vulture.
- Vega, the brightest star, was called the Vulture Star.
- It was also called the Pharaoh's chicken.
- In Sumer/Akkad, the stars were Raditartakhu, a Lammergeier (bearded vulture), a large bird of prey that is both scavenger and hunter, in the high mountains of Europe and Asia.
- Lyra is one of the three demon birds opposed to Herakles, as the others were:
- A kite, now Cygnus, the Swan.
- An Eagle, now Aquila.
- One sources claims that the Phoenicians called the stars of Lyra by Xelus, "Tortoise," as a musical instrument made from the shell of a tortoise.
- Sumerian ÙZ, Akkadian Enzu, "The She-Goat," associated with Lyra, but also see a Capella (Latin "little she-goat") in Auriga.
- Sumerian ùz, ud5, ut5: she-goat.
- In "Hamlet's Mill" by Giorgio de Santillana and Hertha von Dechend, Gambit Inc. 1969 it states on page 261, "Thus, a Babylonian cuneiform tablet states: 'The Goat-Star' is also called the witch-star; the divine function of Tiamat it holds in its hands. The Goat-Star (mulUZA= enzu), apart from representing Venus, 'rises together with Scorpius' and has been identified with Vega."
- Assyrian-Babylonian myth has the creature called Anzu, connected with Sharur under Scorpio (also see the Canaanite Heyan aka Kothar-u-Khasis and the Hittite Ayas).
- Sumerian anzud(2), anzu(2)-(d)[dIM.MI/DUGUDmušen]: a mythical giant bird; vulture, eagle.
- Sumerian dIM.MI/DUGUD, breaks down as this
(dim, Divine clay, wind, storm + mi, night, dark, black + dugud, heavy),
and as a guess may read, "A Heavy Divine Storm Made Everything Dark."
- Sumerian imi, im, em: wind; direction; weather; storm; cloud; rain (cf., tumu).
- Sumerian im, em: (cf., imi).
- Sumerian imi, im, em: clay, mud; tablet.
- Sumerian imi/im: 'clay, mud' (cf., gim4).
- Sumerian immindu, 'roasting, baking oven' = imi/ im, 'clay' + ninda, 'bread'.
- Sumerian im-babbar(2): gypsum ('clay' + 'white').
- Sumerian im-gíd-da: small, one column tablet ('clay tablet' + 'long' + 'side').
- Sumerian im-gíri: lightning storm ('storm' + 'lightning flash').
- Sumerian im-hul: evil wind ('wind' + 'evil').
- Sumerian im-nun: edge of the civilized world ('writing tablet' + 'great').
- Sumerian im-šu: paragraph, extract (on a tablet) ('clay tablet' + 'portion').
- Sumerian im-šu-gub: list tablet ('clay tablet' + 'portion' + 'to write down').
- Sumerian tu15: (cf., tumu).
- Sumerian tumu, tum9, tu15: wind; cardinal point, direction (ta, 'from', + mú, 'to blow').
- Sumerian tumu2,3, tum2,3, tu2,3: to bring; to carry away; to obtain; to be suitable; to prepare (marû singular; cf., de6, lah4) (in marû plural, tùm-tùm[-mu] or túm-túm-mu).
- Sumerian gíg, gíg, gi6, ge6, gi6, ge6, mi, mé, ku10: n., night. v., to be black or dark (ku10: reduplication class); adj., black, dark (cf., kúkku).
- Sumerian mi: (cf., gíg).
- Sumerian mí: n., woman; female (cf. also, munus); adj., feminine.
- Sumerian dugud: n., weight. adj., massive; heavy; difficult, hard (du7, 'complete', + gud, 'bull').
- Sumerian nam-dugud: heaviness; importance (abstract prefix + 'heavy').
- Egyptian/Coptic:
- On the Denderah Zodiac, Lyra is the eagle or hawk to the left of the head of Hercules, which is the man figure with a spear or arrow.
- One source claims its name is Fent-Kar, which means, "the serpent ruled."
- In the "Gospel of the Stars," by Joseph Seiss, page 127 it is claimed that Lyra is "Fent-Har, the Serpent-Bruiser or horrifier in Denderah, a great female with the head of a swine, the enemy of the earth and holding in her hand a great ploughshare, symbol of tearing up, bruising, turning under."
- My Comments: Of course that image is not seen in the Denderah Zodiac for Lyra as specified above. Usually Bootes is seen with a sickle or a ploughshare.
- In "The Witness of the Stars," by E.W. Bullinger, page 67 "In the Denderah Zodiac this constellation (Lyra) is figured as a hawk or an eagle (the enemy of the serpent) in triumph. Its (Lyra) name is Fent-kar, which means the serpent ruled."
- Other names for Lyra: Albega'la, Albega'lo, Alcho'ro, Allo're, Allou're, Aloho're, Alaho're, Alio're, Al Ha'zaf (Arab. Fig.), Alra'ka (Chilmead), Nasr al Sa'ket or Waki', Al Sanj'a, Asang'e, Al Sa'libak, Al Sanj, Sangue, Schia'liaf, Ar'nig, Azula'fe, Azzangla, Bri'nek, al Nasr Chir'ka, Al wazz'Al Lura, Va'gien, Mesang'uo, Nessrusa'kat, Nessrusa'kito, Nab'Ion, Rabes'co, Sanj Rumi (Persian).
- According to Richard H. Allen: Acosta mentioned them as Urcuchillay, the parti-colored Ram in charge of the heavenly flocks of the ancient Peruvians; Albegala and Albegalo occur with Bayer and Riccioli, like the Arabic Al Baghl, a Mule, although their appropriateness is not obvious; and Nasr al Din wrote of alpha, epsilon, and zeta collectively as Dik Paye among the common people of Persia; this was the Khutro-pous, or Greek tripod, and the Uthfiyyah of the nomad Arabs.
- Again from Richard H. Allen: The Persian Hafiz called it the Lyre of Zurah, and his countrymen translated Kithara, by Sanj Rumi; the Arabians turning this into Al Sanj, from which Hyde and others derived Asange, Asenger, Asanges, Asangue, Sangue, and Mesanguo, all titles for Lyra in Europe centuries ago. But Assemani thought that these were from Schickard's Azzango, a Cymbal. The reproduced Alfonsine Tables of 1863-67 give Alsanja; while Sanj was again turned into Arnig and Aznig in the translation of Reduan's Commentary, and into the still more unlikely Brinek, as has been explained by Ideler.
- Again from Richard H. Allen: The association of Lyra's stars with a bird perhaps originated from a conception of the figure current for millenniums in ancient India, — that of an Eagle or Vulture; and, in Akkadia, of the great storm-bird Urakhga before this was there identified with Corvus. But the Arabs' title, Al Nasr al Waki’ — Chilmead's Alvaka, — referring to the swooping Stone Eagle of the Desert, generally has been attributed to the configuration of the group alpha, epsilon, zeta, which shows the bird with half-closed wings, in contrast to Al Nasr al Ta'ir, the Flying Eagle, our Aquila, whose smaller stars, beta and gamma, on either side of alpha, indicate the outspread wings. Scaliger cited the synonymous Al Nasr al Sakit, from which came the Nessrusakat of Bayer and Nessrusakito of Assemani.
- Again from Richard H. Allen: Al Sufi, alone of extant Arabian authors, called it Al Iwazz, the Goose.
When the influence of Greek astronomy made itself felt in Arabia, many of the foregoing designations, or adaptations thereof, became current; among them Nablon, from Nabla, or Nablium, the Phoenician Harp; Al Lura, which degenerated into Allore, Alloure, Alohore, Alchoro, etc., found in the Alfonsine Tables and other bygone lists; Shalyak and Sulahfat, words for the Tortoise, Ulug Beg's translator having the former as Shelyak, which Piazzi repeated in his catalogue; Salibak, which heads Kazwini's chapter on the Lyre; — Ideler tracing these Arabic words to Khelus. They were turned into Azulafe and Zuliaca in the original Alfonsine Tables, and Schaliaf in Chilmead's Treatise. The Almagest of 1515 combines all these figures for Lyra's stars in its Allore- et est Vultur cadens: et est Testudo; while that of 1551 says Lyrae Testudo.
See Star Names of Lyra.
This page updated on March 14, 2005, anad July 15, 2008.
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