Following the links you gave in one of your earlier posts, and Googling (is that even a word?) the name "ud-ka-gab-a" (with and without the final "-a"), it appears that some [meaning few] Akkadian texts refer to a constellation by this name in the region of the two bears and the nearby delta shaped constellation, but the word means "gaping mouth monster" or something like that, and the Jackal or Hyena (basically, a form of dog) as well as the Leopard have been suggested as the animal so indicated.
There is a constellation among the miscellaneous Southern Figures outside the Zodiac that is called the Sea Monster (Cetus, Ketas) that is sometimes connected to the chaos monster Tiamat, and which Greek lore associates various animals with:
Perhaps we should be checking for a star named Therion (Greek) or Lupis (Latin)? Therion means "wild beast" and I believe Lupus is usually translated "Wolf." The only constellation (17-19 stars) so identified in Ptolemy's star chart is in the southern sky below the celestial equator.She [Tiamat = Leviathan] is further reduplicated in Hydra, and the seven Evil Spirits appear to be reduplicated, to some extent, in certain southern constellations (Vide Smith and Sayce, Chal. Ac. Gen. p. 99). They habitually live 'in the lower part of heaven' (= the nocturnal southern sky) and devise evil 'at sunset.' One is like a Sea-monster (= Cetus), another a Scorpion (= Scorpio), a third a Leopard (= Therion, Lupus), a fourth a Serpent (= Hydra), a fifth a raging Dog (= Canis Maj.), an animal disliked by the Semite, a sixth ' the evil Wind,' the Storm-bird (= Gorvus). [Brown vol 1]
Brown, in vol 2, speaks of an ancient "Lunar Zodiac" in which the 2nd asterism is
I have to wonder whether this constellation of the Lunar Zodiac, erroneously thought to have been located at or near the pole, is what some have said was the asterism "ud-ka-gab-a." Brown seems to use Acadian and Sumerian terms interchangeably, so I do not know for sure whether "ud-ka-gab-a" is synonymous with "Lik-bar-ra" or "Urbarra".2. Kakkab Lik-bar-ra. | Ilu A-nu.
'The Asterism of the Hyena, | The-god Anu. |
The Lik-, Lig-, or Urbarra (' Striped-dog '), Sem. Akhu, Heb. Oakh, is rendered by that eminent naturalist the late Rev. Wm. Houghton 'hyena,' but more commonly 'jackal.'...
In W. A. I. II. xlix. No. 4, 1. 1 the asterism Likbarra appears in a list with the stars of the Lion, Dog, etc. The Urbarra, if only by play on words (to which the scribes evidently much inclined), is the animal appropriate to the Horizon - and Foundation - god Ur, and hence is suitably placed next to 'the Foundation.' As noticed (Sup. p. 35) the Likbarra appears in Euphratean uranographic art. Jensen (Kosmol. p. 147) makes the curious mistake of supposing that the line is to be read as an equation, i.e., Urbarra=Anu. This and his peculiar view about Anu, 'Anu ein Pol des Himmels ' (lb. p. 19), have misled Sir Norman Lockyer, who writes:
'Do we get the jackal in Babylonian astronomy? . . . Jensen refers to the various readings "jackal" and "leopard," and states that it is only doubtful whether by this figure the god ANU or the pole of the Ecliptic ANU is meant' (The Dawn of Astronomy, p. 362). As I have said elsewhere, 'the theory which makes "Anu Nordpol d. Ekliptik" and "Bil Nordpol d. Aequators" is not really borne out by the Inscriptions' (Academy, March 31, 1894, p. 272); and the Jackal or Hyena (not 'Leopard') is neither Anu nor a planet.
This is all very confusing and I have to get up early tomorrow, so I'll have to sign out ...
DCH
Robert Tulip wrote:That comment is insulting toward Professer Binsbergen and the sources he lists. You are saying these sources, such as Jensen, are not included in what you call "all the evidence". since they flatly contradict your assertion that the Babylonian Leopard has nothing to do with Ursa Minor. Do you just think Professor Binsbergen and his sources are incompetent liars?Ulan wrote:So from all the evidence I have looked at, the Babylonian Leopard (or Panther) has nothing to do with Ursa Minor.
Why do you think reputable scholars such as Binsbergen and Jensen would have made such an assertion if you can just airily dismiss it with no conflicting citations?
The point of this leopard debate is that the Ursa Minor link supports the observation that symbols in the Apocalypse are an accurate allegory for observation of the movement of the sky as it was possible for ancient astronomers. This debate about whether in fact Binsbergen and Jensen are correct in associating the Leopard with Ursa Minor looks like just another indicator of the broad willingness to ignore evidence about Babylonian astronomy.
To help illustrate the absurdities that attend this sort of topic, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Camelopardalis explains that the polar constellation of the camel-leopard adjacent to Ursa Minor was only named in 1612. That would mean that the ancients could see this big area of the circumpolar sky, permanently above the horizon, but they never gave it a name, just because its stars are faint. This is even though the ancients venerated that region of the sky as the abode of God.