Leo

Leo

Leo is one of the constellations of the zodiac, lying between Cancer to the west and Virgo to the east. Its name is Latin for lion, and to the ancient Greeks represented the Nemean Lion killed by the mythical Greek hero Heracles (known to the ancient Romans as Hercules) as one of his twelve labors. Its symbol is (♌). One of the 48 constellations described by the 2nd century astronomer Ptolemy.
Leo was one of the earliest recognized constellations, with archaeological evidence that the Mesopotamians had a similar constellation as early as 4000 BCE.[9] The Persians called Leo Ser or Shir; the Turks, Artan; the Syrians, Aryo; the Jews, Arye; the Indians, Simha, all meaning “lion”.
Some mythologists believe that in Sumeria, Leo represented the monster Humbaba, who was killed by Gilgamesh.[10]
In Babylonian astronomy, the constellation was called UR.GU.LA, the “Great Lion”; the bright star Regulus was known as “the star that stands at the Lion’s breast.” Regulus also had distinctly regal associations, as it was known as the King Star.[11]
In Greek mythology, Leo was identified as the Nemean Lion which was killed by Heracles (Hercules to the Romans) during the first of his twelve labours.[9][7] The Nemean Lion would take women as hostages to its lair in a cave, luring warriors from nearby towns to save the damsel in distress, to their misfortune.[12] The Lion was impervious to any weaponry; thus, the warriors’ clubs, swords, and spears were rendered useless against it. Realizing that he must defeat the Lion with his bare hands, Hercules slipped into the Lion’s cave and engaged it at close quarters.[12] When the Lion pounced, Hercules caught it in midair, one hand grasping the Lion’s forelegs and the other its hind legs, and bent it backwards, breaking its back and freeing the trapped maidens.[12] Zeus commemorated this labor by placing the Lion in the sky.[12]
The Roman poet Ovid called it Herculeus Leo and Violentus Leo. Bacchi Sidus (star of Bacchus) was another of its titles, the god Bacchus always being identified with this animal. However, Manilius called it Jovis et Junonis Sidus (Star of Jupiter and Juno).

Les signes célestes

Les «signes célestes» passaient, chez les Anciens, pour être les demeures des dieux. Cf. Servius, commentaire sur les Géorgiques, I, v. 33: «Sciendum deinde est in his signis esse deorum domicilia».

Les constellations

Rabelais compare les constellations aux enseignes des auberges; cf. Rimbaud:

«…Mon auberge était à la Grande-Ourse. » (Ma Bohème)

Silver Lion

La lecteur alchimique explicitée ici pour le pantagruélion appelé asbeston autorise peut-être certains rapprochements dans les chapitres précédents. Les adeptes ont-ils pu être tentés, derrière la pantagruélion vert, de distinguer le lion vert, matière employée pour le magistère des sages?

Lyra

Lacerta, Cygnus, Lyra, Vulpecula and Anser

Lyra

Lyra (from Greek λύρα) is a small constellation. It is one of 48 listed by the 2nd century astronomer Ptolemy, and is one of the 88 constellations recognized by the International Astronomical Union. Lyra was often represented on star maps as a vulture or an eagle carrying a lyre, and hence sometimes referred to as Aquila Cadens or Vultur Cadens. Beginning at the north, Lyra is bordered by Draco, Hercules, Vulpecula, and Cygnus. Lyra is visible from the northern hemisphere from spring through autumn, and nearly overhead, in temperate latitudes, during the summer months. From the southern hemisphere, it is visible low in the northern sky during the winter months.
Vega, Lyra’s brightest star is one of the brightest stars in the night sky, and forms a corner of the famed Summer Triangle asterism.
In Greek mythology, Lyra represents the lyre of Orpheus. Made by Apollo from a tortoise shell, it was said to be the first lyre ever produced. Orpheus’s music was said to be so great that even inanimate objects such as trees, streams, and rocks could be charmed. Joining Jason and the Argonauts, his music was able to quell the voices of the dangerous Sirens, who sang tempting songs to the Argonauts.[3]
At one point, Orpheus married Eurydice, a nymph. While fleeing from an attack by Aristaeus, she stepped on a snake that bit her, killing her. To reclaim her, Orpheus entered the Underworld, where the music from his lyre charmed Hades. Hades relented and let Orpheus bring Eurydice back, on the condition that he never once look back until outside. Unfortunately, near the very end, Orpheus faltered and looked back, causing Eurydice to be left in the Underworld forever. Orpheus spent the rest of his life strumming his lyre while wandering aimlessly through the land, rejecting all marriage offers from women.[3]
There are two competing myths relating to the death of Orpheus. According to Eratosthenes, Orpheus failed to make a necessary sacrifice to Dionysus due to his regard for Apollo as the supreme deity instead. Dionysus then sent his followers to rip Orpheus apart. Ovid tells a rather different story, saying that women, in retribution for Orpheus’s rejection of marriage offers, ganged up and threw stones and spears. At first, his music charmed them as well, but eventually their numbers and clamor overwhelmed his music and he was hit by the spears. Both myths then state that his lyre was placed in the sky by the muses.[3]

Notes

Corona Borealias

Corona Borealis

Corona Borealis is a small constellation in the Northern Celestial Hemisphere. It is one of the 48 constellations listed by the 2nd-century astronomer Ptolemy, and remains one of the 88 modern constellations. Its brightest stars form a semicircular arc. Its Latin name, inspired by its shape, means “northern crown”. In classical mythology Corona Borealis generally represented the crown given by the god Dionysus to the Cretan princess Ariadne and set by him in the heavens. Other cultures likened the pattern to a circle of elders, an eagle’s nest, a bear’s den, or even a smokehole. Ptolemy also listed a southern counterpart, Corona Australis, with a similar pattern.
In Greek mythology, Corona Borealis was linked to the legend of Theseus and the minotaur. It was generally considered to represent a crown given by Dionysus to Ariadne, the daughter of Minos of Crete, after she had been abandoned by the Athenian prince Theseus. When she wore the crown at her marriage to Dionysus, he placed it in the heavens to commemorate their wedding. An alternate version has the besotted Dionysus give the crown to Ariadne, who in turn gives it to Theseus after he arrives in Crete to kill the minotaur that the Cretans have demanded tribute from Athens to feed. The hero uses the crown’s light to escape the labyrinth after disposing of the creature, and Dionysus later sets it in the heavens. The Latin author Hyginus linked it to a crown or wreath worn by Bacchus (Dionysus) to disguise his appearance when first approaching Mount Olympus and revealing himself to the gods, having been previously hidden as yet another child of Jupiter’s trysts with a mortal, in this case Semele. Corona Borealis was one of the 48 constellations mentioned in the Almagest of classical astronomer Ptolemy.

Aries

Aquila

Aquila, with the now-obsolete figure of Antinous.

Aquila

Aquila is a constellation in the northern sky. Its name is Latin for ‘eagle’ and it represents the bird who carried Zeus/Jupiter’s thunderbolts in Greco-Roman mythology. Aquila lies just a few degrees North of the celestial equator. The alpha star, Altair, is a vertex of the Summer Triangle asterism. The constellation is best seen in the summer as it is located along the Milky Way.

the constellations

Les constellations passent pour les résidences des dieux. Aquila, Aries, Corona, Lyra et Leo, traduits par Rabelais, deviennent des noms d’auberges ou de tavernes.

signes celestes

Pour les Anciens, les signes célestes étaient les demeuers des dieux. Rabelais fait ici un nom des constellations des noms d’auberge.

Invade the regions of the moon

Uncle Lubin

les explorations du cosmos

Rabelais dans son enthousiasme anticipe sur les romans de Jules Verne et les explorations du cosmos.

Notes

Visit the sources of the hail

bonde

A bung, or stopple; also, a sluce, or floudgate; and hence, also, the yate-stang, or beame thats pulled up, when a mill is to be set agate.

Lascher la bonde à. To give liberty, or free pillage, unto a violent thing.

officine

A workhouse, or shop.