Abstract
Polophylax was created out of stars near the south celestial pole by Petrus Plancius on a large wall map of 1592 this is the same map on which his other new creation, Columba, first appeared (Herlihy 2007). Its name was formed from the Greek πόλος, or “pole” (as in the extreme of an axis), and φύλαξ with various possible meanings such as “watcher,” “guard,” “sentinel,” “guardian,” “keeper,” and “protector”. It follows in the model of the alternate designation of Boötes, αρκτοφύλαξ (“ Arctophylax”), or “guardian of the bears”. As Boötes appears to follow the Bears around the north celestial pole, so Polophylax was evidently considered to circle the south celestial pole, where in Plancius’ time the southern explorers had not yet invented a constellation. For more information on guardian/watcher figures among the constellations, see the chapter on Custos Messium in Volume 1.
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Notes
- 1.
Polophylax derives from the constructed ancient Greek word πολοφύλαξ, which takes the third declension ending -κος.
- 2.
“Between Crux and Piscis Austrinus” (Bakich 1995).
- 3.
Bakich (1995) attributed its formation to Plancius “around 1614”; he was likely unaware of its appearance on maps published at least 20 years earlier.
- 4.
The constellation Crux.
- 5.
The constellation Columba.
- 6.
Probably the Small Magellanic Cloud, given the mention near Polophylax.
- 7.
“A dense crowd of stars;” Astronomica 1.755.
- 8.
Jan Huyghen van Linschoten (1563–1611), a Dutch traveler and historian who published navigational routes that helped western Europe establish trade with the East Indies.
- 9.
A state of India located in the western region of the Konkan. At a northern latitude of \(15^{\circ }30^{{\prime}}\), the south celestial pole is forever below the horizon at Goa.
References
Bakich, Michael E. 1995. The Cambridge guide to the constellations. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.
Bayer, Johann. 1603. Uranometria, omnium asterismorum continens schemata, nova methodo delineata, aereis laminis expressa. Augsburg, Germany: Christophorus Mangus.
Herlihy, Anna Friedmann. 2007. Renaissance Star Charts. Chap. Maps and Renaissance Culture, pages 99–122 of: Woodward, David (ed), History of Cartography. The History of Cartography, vol. 3, no. 1. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
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Barentine, J.C. (2016). Polophylax. In: Uncharted Constellations. Springer Praxis Books(). Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-27619-9_12
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