Equuleus

Definition

A small northern constellation between Pegasus and Delphinus, conventionally identified as 'the Little Horse' or 'the Foal' in Greek and Latin reception. Equuleus is one of the 21 northern Ptolemaic 48-constellation catalog members enumerated by Abu Ma'shar in the Great Introduction, where it is distinguished from Pegasus as 'the First Horse' beside Pegasus 'the Second Horse.'

In Tradition

Equuleus is preserved in the Arabic-Persian transmission of the Ptolemaic 48-constellation catalog (Abu Ma'shar) as a canonical northern constellation distinguished by name from Pegasus. The constellation has no canonical zodiacal placement and does not surface in the substantive Hellenistic-Hermetic per-degree paranatellonta tradition of Liber Hermetis through the parents available in the lean corpus on disk.

In Practice

Astrologers using fixed-star or paranatellonta technique encounter Equuleus through its membership in the Ptolemaic 48-constellation catalog rather than through substantive per-degree doctrine. Abu Ma'shar's Great Introduction explicitly distinguishes 'Equuleus (First Horse), Pegasus (Second Horse)' among the 21 northern Ptolemaic constellations with the Arabic-Latin technical distinction preserved. Modern Western practitioners encounter Equuleus mainly as a faint constellation lacking bright named stars; the Greek-mythological Celeris-brother-of-Pegasus reception is Western mythological framing not directly attested in the lean corpus parents on disk.

Historical Origin

Equuleus's place in the canonical Ptolemaic 48-constellation catalog is preserved across the Arabic-Persian transmission via Abu Ma'shar's Great Introduction (9th c.). Abu Ma'shar §1.10 explicitly defers per-constellation interpretive content with the methodological caveat 'these constellations are formed only in imagination and thought,' deferring per-constellation indications to a later work. The Greek-mythological Celeris-brother-of-Pegasus framing is Western-Greek mythological reception not surfaced in lean-corpus parents.

Etymology

Origin: Latin. Meaning: Equuleus = 'the little horse' or 'the foal,' from Latin equus ('horse'). Abu Ma'shar's Arabic-Latin transmission preserves the distinction between Equuleus 'First Horse' and Pegasus 'Second Horse' as the two horse-constellations..

Further Reading

• Abu Ma'shar, The Great Introduction to Astrology