The Great One in the Babylonian zodiac
probably corresponded to Aquarius, and the design of Gb2-16
(where 216 = 3 * 72 = 8 * 27) was basically the same:
|
DECEMBER 18 |
19 (*273) |
20 (354) |
SOLSTICE |
|
JANUARY 28 |
29
(*314) |
30 |
31
(396) |
 |
 |
 |
 |
|
Gb2-17 |
Gb2-18 |
Gb2-19 (45) |
Gb2-20 (275) |
|
*336 |
ANCHA = θ
Aquarii |
SADACHBIA =
γ Aquarii |
π Aquarii
CASTOR
(*339) |
|
February 20
(*336) |
21 (52) |
22 (418) |
Terminalia |
|
°February 16
(*332) |
17 (413 = 7
* 59) |
18 |
19 (50) |
|
'January 24 |
25 (*310) |
26 |
27 (392) |
|
"January 10
(*295) |
11 |
12 |
13 (378) |
When once upon a time Al-Nair
(α Gruis) was the Bright One in the
tail of the Southern Fish - under the water falling
down from the Urn
of Aquarius - the star could have been contrasted with the great upright
pillar of Sirius (Te Pou), always standing high at the end of June, the dry (maro)
winter month Maro.
| Maro
Maro: A sort of small banner or
pennant of bird feathers tied to a stick. Maroa:
1. To stand up, to stand. 2. Fathom (measure). See
kumi. Vanaga.
Maro: 1. June. 2. Dish-cloth T
P Mgv.: maro, a small girdle or breech clout.
Ta.: maro, girdle. Maroa: 1. A fathom;
maroa hahaga, to measure. Mq.: maó, a fathom.
2. Upright, stand up, get up, stop, halt. Mq.: maó,
to get up, to stand up. Churchill. Pau.: Maro, hard, rough,
stubborn. Mgv.: maro, hard, obdurate, tough. Ta.:
mârô, obstinate, headstrong. Sa.: mālō,
strong. Ma.: maro,
hard, stubborn. Churchill.
Ta.:
Maro,
dry, desiccated. Mq.: mao,
thirst, desiccated. Fu.: malo,
dry. Ha.: malo,
maloo,
id. Churchill.
Mgv.:
Maroro,
the flying fish. (Ta.: marara,
id.) Mq.: maoo,
id. Sa.: malolo,
id. Ma.: maroro,
id. Churchill. |
Alnair was definitely not standing
stubbornly still on terra firma like Sirius because the flow of the precession moved Alnair, like the rest of
the 'fixed' stars, forward in the Sun year.
 |
 |
130 |
 |
50 |
 |
|
Gb2-15 (41) |
Gb2-16 |
Gb6-20 (173) |
Ga4-5 (88) |
|
SADALMELIK |
ALNAIR
(*335) |
SIRIUS
(*101) |
REGULUS
(*152) |
|
REGULUS (*152) |
183 |
At the time of rongorongo the distance from
Alnair to Sirius
was 131 days. Earlier it had been greater. But we should rather
look at the distance to Regulus, which had increased instead of
decreased.
It would have been nice when once upon a time
Regulus had risen with the Sun 52 precessional days earlier, rising
heliacally in the day before Sirius. At that ancient time Sirius would still be at the last day of June, but Alnair would have
been with the Sun
next to the last
day of December - all in good cosmic order:
|
|
|
180 |
|
|
|
|
REGULUS
(*100) |
SIRIUS
(*101) |
SADALMELIK
(*282) |
ALNAIR
(*283) |
*284 |
|
365 |
However, with Terminalia (February 23) as
the final day of the regular year the key number should rather be
31 + 23 = 54
(= 2 * 27), i.e. with Regulus once upon a time having risen 3 days earlier than
Sirius. This had occurred 13 precessional days earlier than at the
time of Bharani:
|
|
 |
 |
|
175 |
|
REGULUS |
*99 |
180 (= 193 -
13) |
SIRIUS
(181) |
|
"July 10 |
11 |
12 (193) |
13 |
 |
 |
 |
|
Gb2-12 |
Gb2-13 (268) |
Gb2-14 (40) |
|
5
(370 = 740 / 2) |
"January 6 |
7 (372) |
|
*277 |
358 (= 371 -
13) |
*279 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
SADALMELIK
(α) |
ALNAIR
(361) |
*282 (= *295
- 13) |
ANCHA (θ) |
SADACHBIA
(364) |
π Aquarii
CASTOR
|
|
"January 8 |
9 |
10 (*295) |
11 |
12 |
13 (378) |
|
*280 |
*281 |
*282 |
*283 |
*284 |
365 |
In other words, this was practically the
same time as when the Pleiades rose with the Sun at the
beginning of a new year:
|
DECEMBER 22 |
23
(*277) |
CHRISTMAS EVE |
25 |
26
(360) |
|
FEBRUARY 1 |
2 (*318) |
3 |
4 (35) |
5 (401) |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
|
Gb2-21 |
Gb2-22 |
Gb2-23 |
Gb2-24 (50) |
Gb2-25 (280) |
|
δ
Tucanae (340.1), ρ Cephei (340.2), ν Gruis
(340.3),
ζ
Aquarii,
δ Gruis (340.4), 5/1100 Lac. (340.7), σ Aquarii,
6/650 Lac. (340.9)
PROCYON (α Canis
Minoris)
|
υ
Oct. (341.0), α/91 Lac. (341.1),
HOMAN (Hero)
= ζ
Pegasi,
β Piscis Austrini (341.2), ν Tucanae (341.5), υ
Aquarii (341.9) |
η
Aquarii
(342.1), σ Gruis (340.4),
SITULA
= κ Aquarii
(342.7) |
ε
Piscis Austrini (343.5), ο Pegasi, β Gruis
(343.8) |
ρ Gruis (344.0),
MATAR
= η Pegasi
(344.2), η Gruis (344.6), β Oct. (344.7) |
|
February 24 |
25 (*341) |
26 |
27
(58) |
28
(424) |
|
°February 18 |
19
(*337) |
20 |
21
(54) |
22
(420) |
|
'January 28 (393) |
29
(*314) |
30 |
31 |
'February 1 |
|
"January 14 |
15
(*300) |
16 |
17 |
18 (383) |
|
366 |
*287
(= *300 - 13) |
*288 |
*289 |
370 |
|