Explore the etymology and symbolism of the constellations

Cassiopeia

the Ethiopian Queen, the Seated Woman

Urania's Mirror 1825

Contents:
1. Speculation on the meaning of this celestial feature
2. History_of_the_constellation

Speculation on the meaning of this celestial feature

Cassiopeia (Greek Kassiope, Kassiepeia) is queen of the celestial royal family, her husband Cepheus is king of Ethiopeia, they are parents of Andromeda. Cassiopeia was proud of her daughter's beauty and boasted that her daughter was more beautiful than the Sea Nymphs, the Nereids, who were daughters of Poseidon (Neptune). The Nereids complained to Poseidon who sent a sea monster, Cetus, to ravage the coast. With his kingdom in grave danger, Cepheus consulted the oracle of Ammon in Libya for advice. He learned that the only way to save his kingdom was to sacrifice his daughter, Andromeda, to the sea monster. Andromeda was chained to a rock and left to the mercy of the sea monster. The hero, Perseus, arrives at the scene and falls in love with Andromeda, he has a quick consultation with Cepheus and Cassiopeia, it is agreed that if he rescues their daughter, he could marry her. The sea monster arrives and Perseus kills it. Perseus breaks the chains that binds Andromeda to the rock. The wedding follows.

The constellation is in a circumpolar position, i.e. it revolves around the pole star, Polaris, and being so close to the pole, its position appears to change dramatically throughout the night. The five brightest stars trace the shape of an M known as the Celestial M when above the pole, and a W known as Celestial W when below the pole, when Cassiopeia is in an upside-down position.

Cassiopeia, the Enthroned Queen, is a sitting figure, at times suspended upside down in the sky in a very undignified position, she is depicted firmly bound to her throne and refrained from falling out of it, in going around the pole head downward (rather like being on a Ferris wheel I imagine). Greeks knowing it as Kassiepeia E tou thronou, 'Cassiopeia, She of the Throne'; and Hyde gave it the title Inthronata. The constellation is often referred to as Cassiopeia's throne because the stars clearly outline the chair upon which the queen sits. The word 'throne' comes from the Indo-European root *dher-² 'To hold firmly, support'. Derivatives: farm, fermata (in music the prolongation of a tone, chord), firm¹, firm², firmament, affirm, confirm, furl, infirm, infirmary, (these words from Latin firmus, firm, strong), throne (from Greek thronos, seat, throne < 'support'), dharma (from Sanskrit dharma, statute, law < 'that which is established firmly'), dharna (the practice of protesting against an injustice by sitting and fasting outside the door of the offender, from Prakrit dharana, a holding firm), Darius (from old Persian darayava(h)us, 'holding firm the good', from daraya- to hold firm, uphold). [Pokorny 2. dher- 252. Watkins] Klein supplies further cognates: frenum, refrain, and maybe therapeutics and therapy from Greek theraps, which he says is "of uncertain origin. It possibly derives from Indo-European base *dher(e)-", and thorax, from Greek thorax, 'breastplate, breast, chest', of uncertain origin. It is perhaps cognate with Old Indian dharayati, 'holds', from Indo-European base *dher- (*dher-²), *dhere-, 'to hold'".

The Egyptian word for 'throne' or 'seat' is 'KXA' ('kazhaa') [1] which looks like it could be pronounced 'cassa', resembling Cassiopeia's name.

The thorax (from *dher-²), is the 'breastplate, breast, chest', and contains the heart and lungs; the chest, like a case (from Norman casse, resembling cassiopeia?) that encases the organs in the chest, or the chest that houses (Latin casa) these organs?

The word 'dharma' (from *dher-²) is related to the word throne. According to the American Heritage Dictionary; "dharma in Hinduism and Buddhism is the principle or law that orders the universe, also the body of teachings expounded by the Buddha". Hindus called this constellation Casyapi (Kasyapi, similar to Cassiopeia or Kassiopeia), and this might relate to the monk Kasyapa (Kashyapa, Kasiapa) whom Zen Buddhists consider their First Patriarch and the founder of their lineage [2], of whom the Buddha remarked that he alone of all his students had received his teaching (dharma) for that day, and should thereafter be known as Mahakasyapa, the Buddha said “I have true dharma, and I transmit my dharma to Mahakasyapa” [3].

Cassiopeia is depicted bound to her throne and refrained from falling out of it. The words frenum and refrain (which Klein sees as cognates of dher-²) come from the Indo-European root *ghrendh- 'To grind'. Derivatives: grind (from Old English grindan, to grind), grist (from Old English grist, the action of grinding), fraise (a defensive barrier of pointed inclined stakes or barbed wire), frenulum, frenum (band of tissue that connects the underside of the tongue to the floor of the mouth), refrain¹ (from Latin refrenare ‘to hold back, curb’, from frenum ‘bridle’, cognate with Latin frendere, 'to gnash the teeth'). Sometimes but improbably regarded as from this root in variant form *ghrend- is Greek khondros, granule, groats, hence cartilage: chondro- (cartilage, sharks are from the class of chondrichthyes), chondrite, hypochondria, mitochondrion (Greek mitos, thread + khondrion, granule. Mitochondrial DNA is inherited and transmitted exclusively by our mothers. Mitochondrial Eve. The enzymes in mitochondria specialize in energy production). [Pokorny ghren- 459. Watkins]

"Cassiope will produce goldsmiths who can turn their work into a thousand different shapes, endow the precious substance with yet greater value, and add thereto the vivid hue of Jewels ... she bids men look for gold..." [Manilius, Astronomica, 1st century AD. See under "The Astrological influences of the constellation" below for the full excerpts].

According to Allen (Star Names) some imagined Cassiopeia as Cushiopeia, the Queen of Cush, or Kush. Kush was a civilization centered in the North African region of Nubia, from nub, the Egyptian word for gold.

It might be that Cassiopeia is Isis. As explained on this webpage: "The most common hieroglyphic spelling of Isis’ name is throne... Egyptian artists commonly identified Isis by painting the throne hieroglyph on her head or crown. Thus the shortest version of Isis’ name is simply 'Throne'”.

"Isis got her name form the Greek translation of the Coptic Esi...In a sense, it is the throne that makes the king; the king receives his authority by taking his place on the throne. In this way, Isis is seen to be the mother of the king, and she appears as such throughout the iconography of Egypt." [An Encyclopedia of Archetypal Symbolism]

Cassiopea, is the name of the genus of the "upside-down" jellyfish.

The astrological influences of the constellation given by Manilius:

"Cassiope will produce goldsmiths who can turn their work into a thousand different shapes, endow the precious substance with yet greater value, and add thereto the vivid hue of Jewels. From Cassiope come the gifts of Augustus which gleam in the temples he consecrated, where the blaze of gold rivals the sun's brightness and the fires of gems flash forth light out of shadow. From Cassiope come the memorials of Pompey's triumph of old and the trophies which bear the features of Mithridates: they remain to this very day, spoils undimmed by the passage of time, their sparkle as fresh as ever.

"From Cassiope come the enhancement of beauty and devices for adorning the body: from gold has been sought the means to give grace to the appearance; precious stones have been spread over head, neck, and hands and golden chains have shone on snow-white feet. What products would a grand lady like Cassiope prefer her sons to handle rather than those she could turn to her own employments? And that material for such employment should not be lacking, she bids men look for gold beneath the ground, uproot all which nature stealthily conceals, and turn earth upside down in search of gain; she bids them detect the treasure in lumps of ore and finally, for all its reluctance, expose it to a sky it has never seen. The son of Cassiope will also count greedily the yellow sands, and drench a dripping beach with a new flood; he will make small weights to measure the tiny grains, or else will collect the wealth of gold-foaming Pactolus; or he will smelt lumps of silver, separating the hidden metal and causing the mineral to flow forth in a running stream; otherwise he will become a trader of the metals produced by these two craftsmen, ever ready to change coinage of the one metal into wares of the other. Such are the inclinations which Cassiope will fashion in those born under her" [Manilius, Astronomica, book 5, 1st century AD, p.343.]

Fixed stars in Cassiopeia
Fixed Star	Long 1900	Long 2000	Decl 2000	Lat 2000	RA	Sp.Cl	Mag
zeta	03TAU41	05TAU04	+53.37	+44.43	(008 32 35)	B2	3.7
CAPH Beta	03TAU43	05TAU07	+59.09	+51.13	00h09m	F2	2.4
SCHEDIR Alpha	06TAU24	07TAU47	+56.31	+46.37	00h40m	K0	2.5
ACHIRD Eta	08TAU50	10TAU15	+57.49	+47.00	00h49m	F9	3.6
CIH Gamma	12TAU33	13TAU56	+60.43	+48.48	00h56m	B0	VAR
RUCHA Delta	16TAU32	17TAU56	+60.13	+46.24	01h25m	A5	2.8
SEGIN Epsilon	23TAU22	24TAU46	+63.39	+47.32	01h54m	B3	3.4

Hevelius, Firmamentum, 1690

History of the constellation

from Star Names, 1889, Richard H. Allen

A place where Cassiopea sits within

Inferior light, for all her daughter's sake.

— Mrs, Browning's Paraphrases on Nonnus.

Cassiopeia, or Cassiope more correctly Cassiepeia, although variously written, is one of the oldest and popularly best known of our constellations, and her throne, "the shinie Casseiopeia's chair" of Spenser's Faerie Queen, is a familiar object to the most youthful observer. It also is known as the Celestial W when below the pole, and the Celestial M when above it.

Hyginus, writing the word Cassiepia, described the figure as bound to her seat, and thus secured from falling out of it in going around the pole head downward, — this particular spot in the sky having been selected by the Cassiopeia (Page 143) queen's enemies, the sea-nymphs, to give her an effectual lesson in humility, for a location nearer the equator would have kept her nearly upright. Aratos said of this:

She head foremost like a tumbler sits.

Her outstretched legs also, for a woman accustomed to the fashions of the East, must have added to her discomfort.

Euripides and Sophocles, of the fifth century before our era, wrote of her, while all the Greeks made much of the constellation, knowing it as Kassiepeia. and E tou thronou, "She of the Throne". But at one time in Greece it was the Laconian Key, from its resemblance to that instrument, the invention of which was attributed in classical times to that people;although Pliny claimed this for Theodorus of Samos in Caria, 730 B.C., whence came another title for our stars, Carion. The learned Huetius (Huet, bishop of Avranches and tutor of the dauphin Louis XV) more definitely said that this stellar key represented that described by Homer as sickle-shaped in the wardrobe door of Penelope:

A brazen key she held, the handle turn'd,

With steel and polish'd elephant adorned;

and Aratos wrote of the constellation:

E'en as a folding door, fitted within

With key, is thrown back when the bolts are drawn.

But even Ideler did not understand this simile, although the outline of the chief stars well shows the form of this early key.

The Romans transliterated the Greek proper name as we still have it, but also knew Cassiopeia as Mulier Sedis, the Woman of the Chair; or simply as Sedes, qualified by regalis or regia; and as Sella and Solium. Bayer's statement that Juvenal called it Cathedra mollis was an error from a misreading of the original text. Hyde's title Inthronata has been repeated by subsequent authors; and Cassiopeia's Chair is the children's name for it now.

The Arabians called it Al Dhat al Kursiyy, the Lady in the Chair, — Chilmead's Dhath Alcursi, — the Greek proper name having no signification to them; but the early Arabs had a very different figure here, in no way connected with the Lady as generally is supposed, — their Kaff al Hadib, {Page 144} the large Hand Stained with Henna, the bright stars marking the fingertips; although in this they included the nebulous group in the left hand of Perseus. Chrysococca gave it thus in the Low Greek Kheir bebamene; and it sometimes was the Hand of, i. e. next to, the Pleiades, while Smyth said that in Arabia it even bore the title of that group, Al Thurayya, from its comparatively condensed figure.

The early Arabs additionally made Two Dogs out of Cassiopeia and Cepheus, from which may have come Bayer's Canis; but his Cerva, a Roe, is not explained, although La Lande asserted that the Egyptian sphere of Petosiris had shown a Deer to the north of the Fishes. Al Tizini imagined a Kneeling Camel from some of its larger stars, whence the constellation's name Shuter found with Al Nasr al Din, and common for that animal in Persia.

The Alfonsine tables and Arabo-Latin Almagest described the figure as habens palmam delibutam, "Holding the Consecrated Palm", from some early drawing that is still continued; but how the palm, the classic symbol of victory and Christian sign of martyrdom, became associated with this heathen queen does not appear. Similarly La Lande cited Siliquastrum (Cercis siliquastrum, commonly known as Judas Tree), the name for a tree of Judaea, referring to the branch in the queen's hand.

Bayer's Hebrew title for it, Aben Ezra, was by a misreading of Scaliger's notes.

La Lande quoted Harnacaff from the Metamorphoses of Vishnu, but the later Hindus said Casyapi, evidently from the classical word.

Grimm gives the Lithuanian Jostandis, from Josta, a Girdle, although without explanation.

As the figure almost wholly lies in the Milky Way, the Celts fixed upon it as their Llys Don, the Home of Don, their king of the fairies and father of the mythical character Gwydyon, who gave name to that great circle.Schiller's Wallenstein, as versified by Coleridge, has

That one White stain of light, that single glimmering yonder,

Is from Cassiopeia, and therein

Is Jupiter —

a blunder on the part of the translator that has puzzled many, as "therein "should be "beyond" or "in that direction," but even then what did the poet have in mind ?

In early Chinese astronomy our constellation was Ko Taou according to Williams, although Reeves limited that title to the smaller nu, xi, omicron, and pi with {Page 145} the definition of a Porch-way; but later on its prominent stars were Wang Liang, a celebrated charioteer of the Tsin Kingdom about 470 B.C.

As a stellar figure in Egypt Renouf identified it with the Leg, thus mentioned in the Book of the Dead, the Bible of Egypt, that most ancient ritual, 4000 years old or more:

Hail, leg of the northern sky in the large visible basin.

And in some constellated form its stars unquestionably were well known on the Euphrates with the rest of the Royal Family, and shown there on seals. The earthly Cassiopeia ought to have been black, and is so described by Milton in his verses of // Penseroso on

That starr'd Ethiop Queen that strove

To set her beauty's praise above

The Sea-nymphs;

while Landseer with the same idea called her Cushiopeia, the Queen of Cush, or Kush, but the Leyden Manuscript makes her of fair complexion, lightly clad, upright and unbound in a very uncomfortable chair; and such is the general representation. But in the 17th-century reconstruction of sky figures in the interests of religion, our Cassiopeia became Mary Magdalene; or Deborah sitting in judgment under her palm tree in Mount Ephraim; - or Bathsheba, the mother of Solomon, worthy to sit on the royal throne. The astrologers said that it partook of the nature of Saturn and Venus. Professor Young gives the word Bagdei as a help to memorizing the order of the chief components from their letters beta (Caph), alpha (Schedir), gamma (Cih), delta (Rucha), epsilon (Segin), iota; the last being the uppermost when the figure is on the horizon, hanging head downwards.

Cassiopeia lies between Cepheus, Andromeda, and Perseus, Argelander cataloguing 68 stars here, but Heis. 126; and the constellation is rich in clusters.

[Star Names: Their Lore and Meaning, Richard H. Allen, 1889.]