next page previous page table of contents home
 

At the time of rongorongo the distance from Sirius to Spica was half that from 0h to right ascension day 202. In March 21 the Sun was at Sirrah, 101 days later the Sun was at Sirius, and another 101 days later the Sun was at Spica:

100 100
Gb6-26 Ga2-7 (37) Ga5-28 (138)
0h 101 101

At the time of Haedus II, however, when our current star pictures may have been defined, the distance from Sirius to Spica would have been 75 days less (due to the proper motion of Sirius) and with only 26 days from Sirius to Spica:

●JUNE 29 SIRIUS (181) ●JULY 1 (¤1) 2 3 (*104) 16
Ga5-1 (111) 7 * 16 = 8 * 14 Ga5-3 Ga5-4 Ga5-5
θ Crateris (175.0), υ Leonis (175.2), ω Virginis (175.3), ι Crateris (175.5) ο Hydrae (176.1) ζ Crateris, ξ Virginis  (177.0), λ Muscae (177.1), ν Virginis (177.2), μ Muscae (177.8) Al Sarfah-10 / Uttara Phalguni-12 / Zibbat A.-16 / Shēpu-arkū sha-A-17 Phekda, β Hydrae  (179.3), η Crateris (179.9)

Deneb Cygni

93 Leonis (178.0), DENEBOLA (178.3), ALARAPH (178.6)
September 12 (255) 16 * 16 14 (*177) 15 16 (ф240)
NAKSHATRA DATES:
●DECEMBER 29 30 (*284) 31 ●JANUARY 1 2
λ Piscium (358.0), MANUS CATENATA (358.1), Alrai, θ Phoenicis (358.4), κ Andromedae (358.7) ω Aquarii (359.2) ψ Andromedae (360.1), σ Phoenicis (360.4) φ Pegasi (361.7) Dzaneb (362.4)
3-14 March 15 16 (75) 17 18
●JULY 20 (*121) 21 7-22 (ф184) 23 (204) 24 25 26 (¤26)
Ga5-22 Ga5-23 Ga5-24 Ga5-25 Ga5-26 (136) Ga5-27 Ga5-28
JULY 31 (ф193) AUGUST 1 2 3 (*135) 4 (216) 5 6
δ Muscae (196.5), Vindemiatrix (196.8) 13h (197.8) APAMI-ATSA, ψ Hydrae (198.5) Al Dafīrah (199.4) σ Virginis (200.4) γ Hydrae (201.0), ι Centauri (201.4) Al Simāk-12 / Chitra-14 / Horn-1 / Sa-Sha-Shirū-19

ANA-ROTO

ξ¹ Centauri (197.1), ξ² Centauri (197.9) Mizar (202.4), SPICA, Alcor (202.7)

Sadalmelik

October 3 4 5 6 (ф260) 7 (280) 8 9
'September 6 7 8 9 10 11 (254) 12 (*175)
NAKSHATRA DATES:
●JAN 19 (ф0) 20 (386 = 2 * 193) 22 23 24 25
JANUARY 30 31 FEBRUARY 1 2 3 4 (400) 5 (36)
no star listed (14) 1h (15.2) Al Batn Al Hūt-26 / Revati-28 / 1-iku ν Phoenicis (17.4), κ Tucanae (17.6) no star listed (18) Adhil (19.3), θ Ceti (19.7) Ksora (20.1), ω Andromedae (20.6), γ Phoenicis (20.8)
β Phoenicis (15.1), υ Phoenicis, ι Tucanae (15.6), ζ Phoenicis, η Ceti (15.7) MIRACH, Keun Nan Mun (16.0), ANUNITUM (16.5), REVATI (16.9)

Regulus

April 4 5 6 (ф77) 7 8 (463) 9 10 (100)
'March 8 9 10 (ф50) 11 12 (436) 13 (72) π

Surely Bayer did not assign Greek letters to his significant stars without much thought. First I found ω in the nakshatra sky of both ο Hydrae and Spica, and then I guessed he had used η in the nakshatra sky of both Sirrah and Sirius:

100 74 25
Gb6-26 Ga2-7 (37) Ga5-2 (112) Ga5-28 (138)
SIRRAH SIRIUS ο HYDRAE SPICA
ο Virginis (182.1), η Crucis (182.5) Φ SAGITTARII (284.0), μ Cor. Austr. (284.6), η Cor. Austr., θ Pavonis (284.8) ω Aquarii Ksora (20.1), ω Andromedae (20.6), γ Phoenicis (20.8)
0h 101 101

The first of his Greek lettered stars in the Southern Cross was the good sign θ and the next star in the following day was given the letter η, both located in the quadrant below Pálida (δ). The same order was used in the Southern Crown, with θ rising before the twin stars η:

100 74 25
Gb6-25 Gb6-26 Ga2-7 (37) Ga5-2 (112) Ga5-28 (138)
θ Octantis SIRRAH SIRIUS ο HYDRAE SPICA
π Virginis (181.0), θ Crucis (181.5) ο Virginis (182.1), η Crucis (182.5) Φ SAGITTARII (284.0), μ Cor. Austr. (284.6), η Cor. Austr., θ Pavonis (284.8) ω Aquarii Ksora (20.1), ω Andromedae (20.6), γ Phoenicis (20.8)
364 0h 101 101
Ga1-30 Ga2-1 Ga2-2 Ga2-3 (33) Ga2-4
 Furud (94.9) Well-22 no star listed (96) β Monocerotis, ν Gemini (97.0) no star listed (98)
δ Columbae (95.2), TEJAT POSTERIOR, Mirzam (95.4), CANOPUS (95.6), ε Monocerotis (95.7), ψ1 Aurigae (95.9)
June 23 ST JOHN'S EVE 25 26 (177) 27
Purva Ashadha-20 Kaus Borealis (279.3) ν Pavonis (280.4), κ Cor. Austr. (280.9) Abhijit-22
KAUS MEDIUS, κ Lyrae (277.5), Tung Hae (277.7) KAUS AUSTRALIS (278.3), ξ Pavonis (278.4), Al Athfar (278.6) θ Cor. Austr. (281.0), VEGA (281.8)
December 23 (357) X-MAS EVE 25 26 (360) 27
Egyptian courtyard Phoenician heth Greek eta Η (η)

... The letter shape ultimately goes back to a hieroglyph for 'courtyard' ... possibly named hasir in the Middle Bronze Age alphabets, while the name goes rather back to hayt, the name reconstructed for a letter derived from a hieroglyph for 'thread'

Perhaps the courtyard was a symbol for 'inside' and for time zero. The Mayans used a sea shell for zero, for the time before the first unit was fully completed:

... A very detailed myth comes from the island of Nauru. In the beginning there was nothing but the sea, and above soared the Old-Spider. One day the Old-Spider found a giant clam, took it up, and tried to find if this object had any opening, but could find none. She tapped on it, and as it sounded hollow, she decided it was empty. 

By repeating a charm, she opened the two shells and slipped inside. She could see nothing, because the sun and the moon did not then exist; and then, she could not stand up because there was not enough room in the shellfish. Constantly hunting about she at last found a snail. To endow it with power she placed it under her arm, lay down and slept for three days. Then she let it free, and still hunting about she found another snail bigger than the first one, and treated it in the same way. Then she said to the first snail: 'Can you open this room a little, so that we can sit down?' The snail said it could, and opened the shell a little. 

Old-Spider then took the snail, placed it in the west of the shell, and made it into the moon. Then there was a little light, which allowed Old-Spider to see a big worm. At her request he opened the shell a little wider, and from the body of the worm flowed a salted sweat which collected in the lower half-shell and became the sea. Then he raised the upper half-shell very high, and it became the sky. Rigi, the worm, exhausted by this great effort, then died. Old-Spider then made the sun from the second snail, and placed it beside the lower half-shell, which became the earth ...

In the idiom of rongorongo the corresponding sign was probably the mama type of glyph, e.g. as where the front of Leo ended, at the line between δ (Zosma) and θ (Coxa):

 
●JUNE 23 ST JOHN'S EVE (175) 25 26
Ga4-22 Ga4-23 Ga4-24 Ga4-25 (108)
JULY 4 (185) 5 6 7
Al Zubrah-9 / Purva Phalguni-11 Alula (170.5), Labrum (170.6) λ Crateris (171.6), ε Crateris (171.9) γ Crateris, π Centauri (172.0), κ Crateris (172.5)

Gredi

ZOSMA (169.2), COXA (169.4)
NAKSHATRA DATES:
●DECEMBER 23 X-MAS EVE 25 26 (360)
JANUARY 3 (368) 4 5 6
φ Aquarii (352.0), ψ Aquarii (352.4), χ Aquarii (352.6), γ Tucanae, φ Gruis (352.8) ο Cephei (353.3), Kerb (353.6) κ Piscium (354.2), θ Piscium (354.4), υ Pegasi (354.9) ο Gruis, Snowball Nebula (355.0)