Abstract
Jordanis was among the constellations formed by Petrus Plancius and published on his celestial globe of 1612. Prior to this, extending as far back as the time of Ptolemy, these stars were left “unformed”; as late as the time of Bayer (1603; Fig. 13.2) they were shown beyond the depicted extent of Ursa Major without any associated figure.
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Notes
- 1.
“Flows between the Bear and the Lion” (Bartsch, 1624); “Its course was from Cor Caroli, under the Bears and above Leo, Cancer, and Gemini” (Allen, 1899); “To the east, south, and west of Ursa Major.” (Bakich, 1995); “Jordan had its source near the tail of the Great Bear in what is now the constellation of Canes Venatici. … From there it flowed between the Bear and Leo ( an area now occupied by Leo Minor and Lynx) and ended near the head of the Bear next to Camelopardalis.” (Ridpath, 1989)
- 2.
“Subjacet informis caudae, quae IORDANIS est nunc Principium, quique Ursam inter fluit atque Leonum.”
- 3.
“JORDANIS vel Jordanis fluvius Judae, oriens at Libani radices duobus fontibus, uno Jor, altero Dan vocato, in sacris celebratissimus, nuper ex informibus Helices, & Leonis adjectus. Vel quia profusioni aquae in Zodiaco idem tribuetur, sit secundus Paradisi fluvius Euphrates, Gen. cap. 2. v. 15.”
- 4.
Bartsch evidently quoted the wrong verse number, which should instead be 14. Verses 10–14 of Genesis 2 describe the rivers issuing forth from the Biblical Eden: “A river watering the garden flowed from Eden; from there it was separated into four headwaters. The name of the first is the Pishon; it winds through the entire land of Havilah, where there is gold. (The gold of that land is good; aromatic resin and onyx are also there.) The name of the second river is the Gihon; it winds through the entire land of Cush. The name of the third river is the Tigris; it runs along the east side of Ashur. And the fourth river is the Euphrates.” (New International Version)
- 5.
“Fluvius Palestinae notissimus, cujus utì alveus, ita & nomenclatio ex fluviorum Jor & Dan in unum confluxu, enascitur. Ursam inter majorem & Leonem is incurvato tractu effusus stellas, antiquis uniformes seu sporades ripis suis coercet. Non ignoramus equidem in alias quoque ab aliis imagines hunc coeli tractum conformari, sed nobis, qui Jordanem reponunt, Gallorum nomenclaturam sequi placuit.” (p. 175)
- 6.
Genesis 13:10 (New International Version).
- 7.
Numbers 34:13–15; Joshua 13.
- 8.
Joshua 13:6–7.
- 9.
Numbers 34:15; 35:1.
- 10.
Judges 12:5–6: “The Gileadites captured the fords of the Jordan leading to Ephraim, and whenever a survivor of Ephraim said, ‘Let me cross over,’ the men of Gilead asked him, ‘Are you an Ephraimite?’ If he replied, ‘No,’ they said, ‘All right, say ‘Shibboleth.’ If he said, ‘Sibboleth,’ because he could not pronounce the word correctly, they seized him and killed him at the fords of the Jordan. Forty-two thousand Ephraimites were killed at that time.” (NIV).
- 11.
Judges 7:24: “Gideon sent messengers throughout the hill country of Ephraim, saying, ‘Come down against the Midianites and seize the waters of the Jordan ahead of them as far as Beth Barah.”’ (NIV)
- 12.
Joshua 3:14–17 (NIV).
- 13.
Exodus 13–14.
- 14.
New International Version.
- 15.
2 Kings 5:13–14: “ Naaman’s servants went to him and said, ‘My father, if the prophet had told you to do some great thing, would you not have done it? How much more, then, when he tells you, ‘Wash and be cleansed!’ So he went down and dipped himself in the Jordan seven times, as the man of God had told him, and his flesh was restored and became clean like that of a young boy.” (NIV)
- 16.
2 Kings 6:1–7: “The company of the prophets said to Elisha, ‘Look, the place where we meet with you is too small for us. Let us go to the Jordan, where each of us can get a pole; and let us build a place there for us to meet.’ And he said, ‘Go.’ Then one of them said, ‘Won’t you please come with your servants?’ ‘I will,’ Elisha replied. And he went with them. They went to the Jordan and began to cut down trees. As one of them was cutting down a tree, the iron axhead fell into the water. ‘Oh no, my lord!’ he cried out. ‘It was borrowed!’ The man of God asked, ‘Where did it fall?’ When he showed him the place, Elisha cut a stick and threw it there, and made the iron float. ‘Lift it out,’ he said. Then the man reached out his hand and took it.” (NIV)
- 17.
Matthew 3:1–6; Mark1:1–8; Luke 3:1–3; John 1:24–28.
- 18.
Matthew 3:13–17 (NIV). A similar version appears in Mark 1:9–10 and Luke 3:21–22, but is absent from the narrative in the Gospel of John.
- 19.
Matthew 4:13–15 (NIV).
- 20.
Isaiah 9:1–2.
- 21.
Matthew 4:25; Mark 3:7–12.
- 22.
Matthew 19:1–2; Mark 10:1.
- 23.
John 10:39–41.
- 24.
“And Tethys bore to Ocean eddying rivers, Nilus, and Alpheus, and deep-swirling Eridanus…” Hesiod, Theogony line 338, trans. H.G. Evelyn-White.
- 25.
“ Butes, son of Teleon and Zeuxippe, daughter of the river Eridanus, from Athens.” Hyginus, Fabulae 14, trans. M. Grant.
- 26.
Book 1, line 382, trans. A.S. Kline.
- 27.
Dionysiaca 23.380 ff, trans. W.H.D. Rouse.
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Barentine, J.C. (2016). Jordanis. In: The Lost Constellations. Springer Praxis Books(). Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-22795-5_13
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