next page previous page table of contents home

5-8. In the day after the Sun had reached the right ascension line ('navel string') leading down from Polaris to the Belly of the Fish was the First Point of Aries, which anciently had indicated the northern spring equinox, before the precession had pushed this equinox into the domain of the Fishes (Pisces):

Cfr e.g. Gb4-8.

→ 41.4 Tauri (Bharani) 4-15 → 4 * 15 = 60 April 16 (471 → 1½ * 314)
Ea5-16 (152) → 5 * 16 = 80 Ea5-17 → 9 * 17 = 516 + 401 Ea5-18
tui ika te hau tea

Tui. 1. To sew mats, to make strings. E-tahi tuitui reipá i Te Pei, ekó rava'a e-varu kaukau; i-garo ai i Hiva, i te kaiga, a necklace of mother-of-pearl is on te Pei, few will find it (lit: eight groups of people); it has remained in Hiva, in our homeland. 2. The three stars of Orion's Belt. Vanaga.

ALSEIPH (Scimitar) = φ Persei (24.5), τ Ceti (24.7) No star listed (25)

ANA-NIA-10 (Pillar-to-fish by)

χ Ceti (26.1), POLARIS = α Ursae Minoris, BATEN KAITOS (Belly of the Fish) = ζ Ceti (26.6), METALLAH = α Trianguli (26.9)

In the G text the first glyph (on side a of the tablet) was positioned at *65 → 64 + 1 → 364 + 1 = 365, where the Sun had risen together with the Eye (Ain, ε Tauri) in MARCH 22.

In the era of Bharani this would have happened in "April 14 (104, *24), which was 3 days earlier than day 107 (April 17, *27). Yet, the idea of 3 days with only cold food served could have originated much earlier, because there were 3 days from the front of the Head of Ku to the back of his head. Presumably these 3 days of cold food might have originated e.g. from the difference between the measure 180 (= 360 / 2) and the measure 177 (= 210 - 33 = 354 / 2).

April 17 (107) 18 19 20 21
Ea5-19 Ea5-20 Ea5-21 (157 → 314 / 2) Ea5-22 Ea5-23
te henua kua moe inoino koia ra kua moe ki te inoino

Al Sharatain-1 / Ashvini-1 / Bond-16 (Dog) / Mahrū-sha-rishu-ku-1 (Front of the Head of Ku)

SEGIN = ε Cassiopeia, MESARTHIM = γ Arietis, ψ Phoenicis (27.2), SHERATAN (Pair of Signs) = β Arietis, φ Phoenicis (27.4)

*351.0 = *27.4 - *41.4
ι Arietis (28.0), λ Arietis (28.2), υ Ceti (28.8)

ALRISHA (The Knot) = α Piscium, χ Phoenicis (29.2), ε Trianguli (29.4), ALAMAK (Caracal) = γ Andromedae (29.7)

*353.0 = *29.4 - *41.4

Arku-sha-rishu-ku-2 (Back of the Head of Ku)

2h (*30.4 = *354.0 + *41.4)

κ Arietis (30.3), HAMAL (Sheep) = α Arietis (30.5)

ALKES (α Crateris)
DELTOTUM = β Trianguli (31.2), ι Trianguli (31.7), η Arietis (31.9)

Instead of a Fox (Heart-5) high up in autumn there was a high-jumping Desert Lynx (Caracal) in spring - capable of catching unsuspecting birds in flight (manu rere) from a standstill - and instead of a dangerous Wolf standing on the ecliptic plain

there was now on a peaceful domesticated Dog; 16 days later (Bond-16), corresponding to the change from the ancient method of observing the return of the stars after their close encounters with the Sun to their theoretically deduced dates for conjunction.

Previously it had been Hamal (at the front of the head of Aries) who had stood at the beginning of the year (who had been at the first point in Aries), from where he had been leading his flock of followers:

... Strassmeier and Epping, in their Astronomishes aus Babylon, say that there its stars formed the third of the twenty-eight ecliptic constellations, - Arku-sha-rishu-ku, literally the Back of the Head of Ku, - which had been established along that great circle milleniums before our era; and Lenormant quotes, as an individual title from cuneiform inscriptions, Dil-kar, the Proclaimer of Dawn, that Jensen reads As-kar, and others Dil-gan, the Messenger of Light. George Smith inferred from the tablets that it might be the Star of the Flocks; while other Euphratean names have been Lu-lim, or Lu-nit, the Ram's Eye; and Si-mal or Si-mul, the Horn star, which came down even to late astrology as the Ram's Horn. It also was Anuv, and had its constellation's titles I-ku and I-ku-u, - by abbreviation Ku, - the Prince, or the Leading One, the Ram that led the heavenly flock, some of íts titles at a different date being applied to Capella of Auriga. Brown associates it with Aloros, the first of the ten mythical kings of Akkad anterior to the Deluge, the duration of whose reigns proportionately coincided with the distances apart of the ten chief ecliptic stars beginning with Hamal, and he deduces from this kingly title the Assyrian Ailuv, and hence the Hebrew Ayil; the other stars corresponding to the other mythical kings being Alcyone, Aldebaran, Pollux, Regulus, Spica, Antares, Algenib, Deneb Algedi, and Scheat ...

And possibly before that the leader had been Bharani (at Musca Borealis), viz. in May 1 (121 → 11 * 11), rising with the Sun 11 days after Hamal. This was 3 days (perhaps with only cold food served) after day 118 (4 * 29½), and it was Beltane:

April 22 23 24
Ea5-24 Ea5-25 Ea5-26
tagata - te maitaki kua tupu ia ki te maitaki

Maitaki. Clean, neat, pure, pretty, nice, beautiful, handsome; tagata rima maitaki, clean-handed man, correct man. Vanaga. 1. Good. Henua maitaki = the good earth. 2. Shine. Marama maitaki = the shining moon. Barthel. Ce qui est bon. Jaussen according to Barthel. Meitaki, good, agreeable, efficacious, excellent, elegant, pious, valid, brilliant, security, to please, to approve (maitaki); ariga meitaki, handsome, of pleasant mien; mea meitaki ka rava, to deserve; meitaki ke, marvelous, better. Hakameitaki, to make good, to amend, to do good, to bless, to establish. Meitakihaga, goodness. PS Pau.: maitaki, good. Mgv.: meitetaki, beautiful, good. Mq.: meitai, good, agreeable, fit, wise, virtuous. Ta.: maitaiki, good, well. Niuē: mitaki, good. Maitakia, clean. Churchill.

Tupu. 1. Shoot, sprout, bud; to sprout, to bud. 2. Pregnant: vî'e tupu (o te poki); to be conceived (of fetus in its mother's womb): he-tupu te poki i roto i te kopú o toona matu'a. Vanaga. To grow, to sprout, to germinate, to come forth, to conceive, pregnant, germ; mea tupu, plant; tupu ke avai, of rapid growth; tupu horahorau, precocious; hakatupu, to produce, to stimulate growth, to excite. P Pau.: fakatupu, to raise up, to create. Mgv.: tupu, to grow, to conceive, to be pregnant. Mq.: tupu, to grow, to sprout, to conceive. Ta.: tupu, to grow, to sprout. Churchill. Mgv.: Tupu, the best or worst, used of men or of bad qualities. Sa.: tupu, king. Ma.: tupu, social position, dignity. Churchill.

April 25 (115) 26 27 28 (4 * 29½)   29 30 May 1 (121)
Ea5-27 Ea5-28 Ea5-29 Ea5-30 18 * 29½ Ea5-32 Ea5-33
tagata - te hokohuki tagata rima oho henua kua tupu i te tupuga Te mauga te hokohuki - te kiore huki - kiore

... Beltane is mentioned in some of the earliest Irish literature and it is associated with important events in Irish mythology. It marked the beginning of summer and was when cattle were driven out to the summer pastures. Rituals were performed to protect the cattle, crops and people, and to encourage growth. Special bonfires were kindled, and their flames, smoke and ashes were deemed to have protective powers. The people and their cattle would walk around the bonfire, or between two bonfires, and sometimes leap over flames or embers. All household fires would be doused and then re-lit from the Beltane bonfire. Doors, windows, byres and the cattle themselves would be decorated with yellow May flowers, perhaps because they evoked fire. In parts of Ireland, people would make a May Bush; a thorn bush decorated with flowers, ribbons and bright shells. Holy wells were also visited, while Beltane dew was thought to bring beauty and maintain youthfulness ...

... Since the early 20th century it has been commonly accepted that Old Irish Beltaine is derived from a Common Celtic *belo-te(p)niâ, meaning 'bright fire'. The element *belo- might be cognate with the English word bale (as in bale-fire) meaning 'white' or 'shining'; compare Old English bael, and Lithuanian/Latvian baltas/balts, found in the name of the Baltic; in Slavic languages byelo or beloye also means 'white', as in Беларусь (White Russia or Belarus) or Бе́лое мо́ре (White Sea). A more recent etymology by Xavier Delamarre would derive it from a Common Celtic *Beltinijā, cognate with the name of the Lithuanian goddess of death Giltinė, the root of both being Proto-Indo-European *gelH- ('suffering, death') ...