Corona Australis

The stars of this constellation, Corona Australis, represent the wreath "thrown off as by one at play" at the feet of Crotos who is identified with the constellation Sagittarius:

"The constellation, Sagittarius is identified with Crotus, he had his home on Mount Helicon and took his pleasure in the company of the Musae (Muses), sometimes even following the pursuit of hunting... Before his feet are a few stars arranged in a circle, which some said were a wreath, thrown off as by one at play." - Hyginus, Astronomica 2.27 http://www.theoi.com/Georgikos/SatyrosKrotos.html

The Arabs had the title Al Kubbah, the Tortoise, for Corona Australis. The Chinese knew it as Pee, the Tortoise. Tortoise from Latin tartaruca, is related to the word Tartarus. Corona Australis also had the titles Trokhos Ixionos, and Rota Ixionis, the Wheel of Ixion. Ixion was chained eternally to a revolving, fiery wheel in Tartarus. A picture of Ixion on his wheel can be seen on this Greek mythology link. Ixion is compared with the wryneck bird, genus Jynx, iunx in Greek:

"There are two clues to the special nature of Ixion's wheel. Pindar says that it is 'winged' and that it has four spokes. A four-spoked wheel with wings upon it would have called to mind a word Pindar does not actually use in Pythian 2, the word 'iunx'. The wings referred to are those of a bird, the 'iunx' or wryneck, whose habits in mating apparently intrigued the ancient Greeks enough to result in their use of it for magical rites designed to procure sexual satisfaction from a reluctant partner. The bird was pinned to a four-spoked wheel and the wheel was spun with appropriate incantations uttered over it, to draw the desired partner into the spell..." [Paul A. Iversen, The Ohio State University Dept. of Greek and Latin Center for Epigraphical Studies]

The wrynecks (genus Jynx) are a small but distinctive group of small Old World woodpeckers. These birds get their English name from their ability to turn their heads almost 180 degrees. When disturbed at the nest, they use this snake-like head twisting and hissing as a threat display. This odd behavior led to their use in witchcraft, hence to put a 'jinx' on someone [1].

"Iynx used her enchantments to charm Zeus, or make him, by magic means, fall in love with Io; in consequence of which Hera metamorphosed her into the bird called lynx (iynx torquilla)" [2].

According to another story, Iynx was a daughter of Pierus, and as she and her sisters had presumed to enter into a musical contest with the Muses, she was changed into the bird Iynx. [3]

The wryneck bird is iynx or iunx, the words wryneck and wreath are related. Corona Australis is depicted as a typical wreath [Allen, Star Names]. The vertex of the head is another name for the crown of the head where a crown is placed. The vertex is formed by four bones of the skull which might relate to the four spokes on the Wheel of Ixion. These bones are connected by the sagittal suture (the word sagittal is related to the word Sagittarius which is the adjacent constellation). These words come from the indo-European root *wer-³ 'to turn, bend'. The Wheel of Ixion might relate to Greek rhombos, a magic wheel. Derivatives: -ward, 'turned toward' as in inwards, outwards), worth¹, worth² (to befall; 'to turn into'), worship, weird (from Old English wyrd, Wyrd - The primary Norn who governs the flow of the present into the past. The laws of causality by which the outcome of a deed is determined by what has happened in the past - karma), Weird Sisters (the Fates, the Norns three goddesses having the power to control fates) versatile, verse¹, version, versus, Vertebrate (spinal cord is inside of the vertebral column), vertebra, vertex, vertigo (dizziness), vortex (A place or situation regarded as drawing into its center all that surrounds it), adverse, anniversary, avert, averse, controversy, converse¹, convert, divert, diverse, diversion, divorce, evert, extrorse, extroversion, extrovert, introrse, introversion, introvert, invert, peevish (Latin perversus), perversion, pervert, prose, retrorse (directed or turned backward or downward), revert, reverse, subvert, tergiversate, transverse, universe, wreath, writhe, (these words from Old English writhan, to twist, torture), wrath, wroth (angry < 'tormented, twisted'), worry, wring, wrong ('wrong' is the perfect participle of 'to wring', that which one has 'wrung' or wrested), wrangle, wrench, wrinkle, verge² (verb, to slope or incline), converge, diverge, verg-, -vergent, -vergence, wry (wryneck bird is iynx or iunx), wriggle, wrist (wrist is named for its twisting motion), gaiter (cloth or leather covering for the leg), wrest, wrestle, ineluctable (unavoidable), briar¹, ribald, warp (the set of lengthwise threads attached to a loom. Encarta links wharf with warp, Antwerp), reverberate (from Latin verber, whip, rod), rhabdomancy (Hermes rod or wand called a rhabdos), rhombus (an equilateral parallelogram, from Greek rhombos, magic wheel), wrap, raphe (ridge between two similar parts as of the scrotum from rhaptein, to sew, to stitch together, rhaphis, needle), rhaphide, rhapsody, worm, vermeil (bright red in color), vermi- (worm), vermicelli, vermicular (having the shape or motion of a worm), vermin, from Latin vermis, worm, Vertumnus (the Roman god of gardens) [Pokorny 3 wer- 1152. Watkins]

The word universe is, etymologically, 'turned into one' or 'one whole thing' related to verse 'line of poetry'. A verse of poetry is called thus because one must 'turn' to begin a new line [4]. This constellation, Corona Australis was believed to be placed in the sky to commemorate the fivefold victory of Corinna over Pindar in their poetical contest [Allen, Star Names]. And in response to these defeats, Pindar called her a sow. A verse is a single metrical line in a poetic composition; one line of poetry.

God spoke to the serpent, who is the devil or some say Satan: "You will crawl on your belly and you will eat dust all the days of your life" (Genesis 3:14). The serpent was then cast out of the Garden of Eden. As has been suggested this serpent may have been turned into a worm because serpents do not eat dust. Teutonic and old Norse legends refer to dragons as worms, Old English: wyrm, Old High German: wurm, Old Norse: ormr, meaning snake or serpent. The Lindworm was a dragon. The Hebrew word satan is translated 'adversary'. 

Corona Australis is also said to represent the Crown that Bacchus placed in the sky in honor of his mother Semele. Roman Bacchus who is Greek Dionysus also placed the other crown Corona Borealis, in the sky in honor of Ariadne. Eventually Dionysus retrieved his mother, Semele, from the underworld, named her Thyone, and placed her crown in the sky. The sea cucumber is Thyone briareus, and the briareus should relate to briar (of *wer-³). One variety of sea cucumber is known to contain a cell growth factor which has the ability to accelerate the regeneration of biological cells, bone, collagen and rejuvenates skin [5].

© Anne Wright 2008.