Tan.14] SOCIETYOFBIBLICALAKCIL-EOLOGY. [1890.
Mr. Pincheshas supplied me with the next line, onewhichdoes
not appear in the W.A.I. :—
8a. The constellation of the Yoke = the Goat-fish.
An interesting instanceof the fact thatthe same star,or con
stellation, maybe, and often was, known by various names. In
VV.A.I.Ill,57, No. 4, line 5, it is stated that "theconstellation 01
the Yoke likea flag (As. dagilu, Heb. degel)floated" ; and as the
Yoke= the Goat-fish, we are confirmed in the view thatthe latter
equalledCapricorn in extent. The notionof a 'yoke' placedon
the ecliptic is familiar to ourselves fromthe instance of the Greek
constellationZvybt(=Xj/\«i),wherethe idea, whicharosein Egyptin
comparativelylate times, is apparentlysuggestedby the star-grouping
as well as by the equinox ; and so, here, the ends of the Yoke would
be the head andtail-starsof Caper, which aloneare remarkable,
the constellation, as a whole, being" the dusky Goat."* Thehead
and tail stars wouldformthe ends of the 'Flag.'f
In VV.A.I. Ill,53, No. 1, reverse, line 29, we meet with"the
constellation of the Yoke, the star of Gula, \ the star the
constellationof the Goat-fish." Thesenseis uncertain ; the passage
mightmeanthatsomeof these starsare identical.
- ■*=? m <h ~Hh
Ina arakh Sabadhi ina pan kakkabi
In the-month Sebat injront of-the-constellation
Muna-xa itik
of -the- Goat-fish she (i.e.) Dilbat)crosses.
TheXXIXthStarof the Tablet is :—
Kakkab nabu a - ab ba §
The Star of the Proclamation of - the - Sea.
- Aratos, Phainomena,702.
t The Flag,as a distinct constellation,appearsin a MS. of the XVth century
in my possession. Its stars are taken out of Leo and Virgo(vide Robt.
Brown,Jun.,On the Origin of the Signs of the Zodiac, in Archaeologia XLVI1,
IJt. ii).
X Betelgeux (n Orionis), accordingto Messrs. Sayceand Bosanquet.
§ As. tamti.
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