Dictionary of Greek and Roman antiquities. Ed. by William Smith. Illustrated by numerous engravings on wood.

922 PLA\NETAE. PLANETAE.
PLANE'TAE, s. STELLAE ERRANTES (rXa'a- mentioned specifically as five in number (i~Aios Acd'ra s. 7rXAavwyEvol &rEpers as opposed to a' &7rAeav' oeA2fvr Kca 7rre'e 6AXXa 6cTpa 7riKcAv eXor'a
TCr& &r-Tpwv). The popular astronomy of the early wxav4rait), and in the same passage, we for the
Greeks was chiefly confined, as is pointed out else- first time meet with the name Hermes as connected
where [ASTRoONoMIA], to a knowledge of the with one of these (E~oocppoov Be KaIl Tlby lepb'Epmorning and evening risings and settings of the uoO XNEyoy'Me'ov). It is not, however, until we come
brightest stars and most remarkable constellations, down to the Epinomis, the work of some disciple'
since upon these observations the formation and of Plato, that the whole five are enumerated, each
regulation of the primitive kalendars in a great with a distinguishing appellation derived from a
measure depended. No single star was more likely god: Tro -ro Kpo'Yov, r'bY -roi A6S, 7bs ToO'Apeos,
to attract attention under such circumstances than r'17' -rgs'AcppoTI7rS,'byV roO'Epgaoi;. In the tract,
the planet Venus, and accordingly Thie Ml1orning Hepl tclofuov, found among the writings of Aristotle,
Star ('Ewco'pdpos) is placed first among the stellar although probably not from his pen, we are furprogeny: of Erigeneia in the T/leogony (381) - nished with a second set of names - aalvv for the
roms Be [UeT' (SC. ~&v/ouS) a&-erpXa i'EWe- Tstar of Kronus; 4aeOwv, for that of Zeus; Hlvpldts,
(pOpov'Hprys'semea for that of Ares; (cwcpldpos, for that of Aphrodite;
etrpxa smeXe Aslawe7riera -d 7 Oi~PCuS iEcps- eIa:2TLhAGwv, for that of Hermes; and these seem to
va-Ta sre |au,7r~r6WV~ Ta' T ov'phave been the ordinary designations employed by
VWwai,., men of science. It is here stated also, that IIvpoEs%while both the Morning Star ('Eaodppos), and the was by some termed the star of Herakles, and
Evening Star (~'Ea7repos), are named in the Ho- that 2riXowvr was by some termed the star of Apollo.
meric poems (II. xxii. 317, xxiii. 226, comp. Od. Pliny gives additional variations, for in his list
xiii. 93), where they are evidently regarded as they are catalogued as SIDus SATIURNI, JOVIS,
distinct from one another. According to Apollo- MARTIS S. HERCULIS, VENERIS s. JUNONIS S.
dorus, in the second book of his work rIepL bevP, IsIDIS s. MATRIS DEUM (Lucifer, Vesper), MEnt
Pythagoras was the first who surmised that,wo- cuva s. APOLIINIS; and these may be still farther
pdpos and'E-7repos were one and the same, but by increased from Achilles Tatius, the grammarians
P'havorinus the honour of this discovery is ascribed, and the lexicographers.
to Parmenides. The latter certainly looked upon The Earth being generally regarded as the centre
this body, which he called both'E&o and'"Eo7rpos, of the Universe, the Moon was believed to be
ns altogether different in its nature from the fixed nearest to it, then the Sun, Venus, and Mercury;
stars, for he placed it in his highest region or aether; beyond these was Mars, beyond Mars was Jupiter,
below it, but also in the aether, was the sun, and beyond Jupiter was Saturnus, the fixed stars being
below the sun, in the fiery region (ey -~ svrupca8i), the most remote of all. But while astronomers
which he calls obmpavbs, were the fixed stars. The for the most part agreed in placing the Sun, Venus,
term 7rXaavy7Ta seems, if we can trust Plutarch and and Mercury between the Moon and Mars, the
Stobaeus, to have been recognised as early as the greatest diversity of opinion obtained with regard
epoch of Anaximander, according to whom the sun to their relative position. According to some, the.stood highest in the universe, next below was the Sun was the nearest of the three to the Earth, acmoon, and then the fixed stars and the planets (6rbi cording to others the most distant, while a third
ie aeruobs & &arAeu Tm &0-Trpwv mcal Toi S -ImrXeaa- set of philosophers assigned to it the middle place
-ras). Empedocles supposed the fixed stars to be between Venus and Mercury. In like manner,
imbedded in the crystalline sphere, which, accord- some supposed that Mercury was nearer to the
ing to his system, enveloped all things, but the Earth than Venus, others the reverse, and every
planets to be detached from it, thus implying the possible combination of the three bodies was exnecessity felt for some theory, which should account hauLsted.
for their erratic course. Democritus wrote a trea- Saturnus was believed to perform a complete
tise Ilepl m' 7rXaVYrTcVY, among which he reckoned revolution in thirty solar years, Jupiter in twelve,
the Sun, the Moon, and oWo'qri0poY, but, as yet, calculations approaching very nearly to the truth.
their number had not been determined. This is The period of Mars was fixed at two years, a deexpressly affirmed by Seneca (Quaest. Nat. vii. termination less accurate than the two former,
3), " Democritus subtilissimus antiquorum omnium but not very wide of the truth. As to Venus and
suspicari ait se plures stellas esse quae currant; Mercury, not even an approximation was made, for
sed nec numerum illarum posuit, nec nomina, non- they were both believed to perform their revolution
dum comprehensis quinque siderum cursibus. Eu- in exactly, or very nearly the same time as the Sun:
doxus ab ]Egypto hos motus in Graeciam transtu- Pliny, who affects great precision in this matter,
lit." But although Eudoxus may have been the fixes 348 days for Venus, and 339 days for Mercury.
first to communicate scientific details with respect Saturnus being thus removed to a great distance
to the orbits and movements of the planets, Philo- from the source of heat was naturally viewed as
laus, a Pythagorean, who flourished more than a possessing a cold and icy character (gelidae ac
century earlier, was certainly acquainted with the rigentis noatlr'e - f-igida stella Saturni), IIars, on
whole five, for he maintained that there was a the other hand, as of a hot and fiery nature,
central fire around which the ten heavenly bodies while Jupiter which lay between them enjoyed a
(8eKa o'-ueara ecua) revolved. Of these, the most temperature made up by the combination of the
remote from the centre was obpavbs, that is, the extremes. The astrologers caught up these notions,
sphere containing the fixed stars, next in order and uniting them with the legends of mythology,
were the planets, then the sun, then the moon, then adapted them to their own purpose, uniformly
the earth, and, below the earth, the Anticthon representing the influence of Saturnus as malign,
(a&mr[iXO0v, see Arist. de Coelo, ii. 13), thus com- and that of Jupiter as propitious.
pleting the number ten if we reckon the planets as Haec tamen'ignorat, quid sidus triste minetur
five. In the Timaeus of Plato, the planets are. Saturni. Juv. vi. 569.