Alcyone

greek: Ἀλκυόνη (Alkyonē) · latin: Alcyone · arabic: al-Thurayyā (الثريا) — for the cluster; Alcyone as the brightest member · egyptian: sbA n xAw ('Star of the Myriad') — Belmonte-Lull 2018 identification

Definition

Alcyone is the brightest star of the Pleiades cluster in the constellation Taurus, designated Eta Tauri (also written 25 Tauri). The cluster as a whole carries Greek Πλειάδες, Arabic al-Thurayyā (الثريا, 'the many little ones'), Hebrew Kīmāh, and Egyptian sbA n xAw ('Star of the Myriad'); Alcyone serves as the brightest-member reference-star for the cluster across these traditions. In the Hermes 15-Behenian fixed-star scheme the Pleiades occupy the 2nd position; in the Egyptian Ramesside corpus sbA n xAw is identified with Alcyone; in the Arabic Manazil al-Qamar tradition the cluster is the indicator for Mansion 3 Al-Thurayyā.

In Tradition

Across the Egyptian, Babylonian, Greek, Hebrew, and Arabic-Persian transmission lineages the Pleiades-cluster is one of the most stable named celestial objects, and Alcyone functions as the cluster's brightest-member reference-star. Belmonte and Lull identify the Egyptian sbA n xAw directly with Alcyone; the Hermes 15-Fixed-Stars tradition assigns the Pleiades the Moon-Mars planetary nature with rock-crystal and fennel as its talismanic correspondences; the Arabic mansion-tradition fixes the cluster as the indicator for Mansion 3 Al-Thurayyā.

In Practice

Practitioners use Alcyone in three distinct reading-frames. As an indicator star, the precessed longitude of Alcyone marks the leading boundary of Lunar Mansion 3 Al-Thurayyā; Warnock fixes the 2019 position at 0° Gemini 15'. As a Behenian fixed star, the Pleiades occupy the 2nd of the 15 Hermes Behenian stars with assigned talismanic correspondences (rock crystal + fennel + frankincense + quicksilver) for medieval magical-astrological practice; the BM Bodleian MS. 52 fixes the position at 0° Gemini 14' (accurate as of November 2017 per Greer). As a constellational anchor, the Egyptian Ramesside identification sbA n xAw = Alcyone makes the star a continuity-marker for the Pleiades-cluster reception from the New Kingdom into the Hellenistic, Arabic, and modern Western traditions. The star's near-ecliptic latitude makes longitudinal conjunction-aspect the practical reading rather than parallel-of-declination work.

Historical Origin

Alcyone is identified with the Egyptian asterism sbA n xAw in Belmonte and Lull's 2018 Astronomy of Ancient Egypt (Senenmut tomb-ceiling attestation c. 1470 BCE), with the 2nd Behenian Fixed Star in the Hermes on the 15 Fixed Stars BM Bodleian MS. 52 (Greer 2017 trans.), and with the indicator star for Lunar Mansion 3 Al-Thurayyā in Warnock's 2019 Mansions of the Moon. The cluster-name al-Thurayyā is medieval Islamic-astronomical; the Greek Πλειάδες is classical.

Etymology

Origin: Greek. Meaning: From Greek Ἀλκυόνη (Alkyonē), name of one of the seven daughters of Atlas and Pleione in the Pleiades cluster mythology; transferred to the brightest star of the cluster (Eta Tauri)..

Definition

In Tradition

In Practice

Historical Origin

Etymology

Further Reading