The Pleiades

Timeline

1. Homer, Iliad 18.485 / Job 9:9

   1. 940 BCE

      Homer, Iliad 18.485

      Classical

      480 threefold and glittering, and from it made fast a silver baldric. Five were the layers of the shield itself; and on it he wrought many intricate designs with cunning skill. On it he wrought the earth, on it the heavens, on it the sea, and the unwearied sun, and the moon at the full, 485 and on it all the constellations with which heaven is crowned—the Pleiades, and the Hyades and the mighty Orion, and the Bear, that men also call the Wain, that circles ever in her place, and watches Orion, and alone has no part in the baths of Ocean.

   2. 500–401 BCE

      Job 9:9

      Hebrew Bible

      6 he who shakes the earth out of its place so that its pillars tremble, 7 he who commands the sun, and it does not shine and seals up the stars, 8 he alone spreads out the heavens and treads on the waves of the sea. 9 He makes the Bear, Orion, and the Pleiades, and the constellations of the southern sky; 10 he does great and unsearchable things, and wonderful things without number.

2. Genesis 7:11 / Rosh Hashanah 11b

   1. 750–400 BCE

      Genesis 7:11

      Hebrew Bible

      10 And after seven days the floodwaters engulfed the earth. 11 In the six hundredth year of Noah’s life, in the second month, on the seventeenth day of the month—on that day all the fountains of the great deep burst open and the floodgates of the heavens were opened. 12 And the rain fell on the earth 40 days and 40 nights.

   2. 450–550 CE

      Rosh Hashanah 11b

      Rabbinic

      And Rabbi Eliezer and Rabbi Yehoshua follow their lines of reasoning, as they disagreed about this same issue in another context as well. As it is taught in a baraita: “In the six hundredth year of Noah’s life, in the second month, on the seventeenth day of the month, on that day were all the fountains of the great deep broken open, and the windows of heaven were opened” (Genesis 7:11). Rabbi Yehoshua says: That day was the seventeenth of Iyyar, the second month of the year counting from Nisan, which is the day that the constellation of Kima sets during the day and the season that the springs diminish with the increased heat. But because the people of the generation of the flood changed their actions for the worse, the Holy One, Blessed be He, changed for them the acts of Creation, and instead of Kima setting, He caused the constellation of Kima to rise during the day and He removed two stars from Kima, and in this way He brought a flood to the world.

3. Hesiod, Works and Days 609 / LXX Job 38:31

   1. 700 BCE

      Hesiod, Works and Days 609

      Classical

      [609] But when Orion and Sirius are come into mid-heaven, and rosy-fingered Dawn sees Arcturus [in September], then cut off all the grape-clusters, Perses, and bring them home. Show them to the sun ten days and ten nights: then cover them over for five, and on the sixth day draw off into vessels the gifts of joyful Dionysus. But when the Pleiades and Hyades and strong Orion begin to set [the end of October], then remember to plough in season: and so the completed year [constellation cycle] will fitly pass beneath the earth.

   2. 100–1 BCE

      LXX Job 38:31

      Septuagint

      29 And out of whose womb comes the ice? and who has produced the frost in the sky, 30 which descends like flowing water? who has congealed the face of the deep? 31 And do you understand the band of the Pleiades, and have you opened the barrier of Orion? 32 Or will you reveal Mazzaroth in his season, and the evening star with his rays? Will you guide them? 33 And do you know the changes of heaven, or the events which take place together under heaven?

4. Amos 5:8 / Job 9:9

   1. 600–501 BCE

      Amos 5:8

      Hebrew Bible

      6 Seek the Lord so you can live! Otherwise he will break out like fire against Joseph’s family; the fire will consume, and no one will be able to quench it and save Bethel. 7 The Israelites turn justice into bitterness; they throw what is fair and right to the ground. 8 But there is one who made the constellations Pleiades and Orion; he can turn the darkness into morning and daylight into night. He summons the water of the seas and pours it out on the earth’s surface. The Lord is his name! 9 He flashes destruction down upon the strong so that destruction overwhelms the fortified places. 10 The Israelites hate anyone who arbitrates at the city gate; they despise anyone who speaks honestly.

   2. 500–401 BCE

      Job 9:9

      Hebrew Bible

      7 he who commands the sun, and it does not shine and seals up the stars, 8 he alone spreads out the heavens and treads on the waves of the sea. 9 He makes the Bear, Orion, and the Pleiades, and the constellations of the southern sky; 10 he does great and unsearchable things, and wonderful things without number. 11 If he passes by me, I cannot see him; if he goes by, I cannot perceive him.

5. Amos 5:8 / Job 38:31

   1. 600–501 BCE

      Amos 5:8

      Hebrew Bible

      6 Seek the Lord so you can live! Otherwise he will break out like fire against Joseph’s family; the fire will consume, and no one will be able to quench it and save Bethel. 7 The Israelites turn justice into bitterness; they throw what is fair and right to the ground. 8 But there is one who made the constellations Pleiades and Orion; he can turn the darkness into morning and daylight into night. He summons the water of the seas and pours it out on the earth’s surface. The Lord is his name! 9 He flashes destruction down upon the strong so that destruction overwhelms the fortified places. 10 The Israelites hate anyone who arbitrates at the city gate; they despise anyone who speaks honestly.

   2. 500–401 BCE

      Job 38:31

      Hebrew Bible

      29 From whose womb does the ice emerge, and the frost from the sky, who gives birth to it, 30 when the waters become hard like stone, when the surface of the deep is frozen solid? 31 Can you tie the bands of the Pleiades or release the cords of Orion? 32 Can you lead out the constellations in their seasons or guide the Bear with its cubs? 33 Do you know the laws of the heavens, or can you set up their rule over the earth?

6. Amos 5:8 / LXX Amos 5:8

   1. 600–501 BCE

      Amos 5:8

      Hebrew Bible

      6 Seek the Lord so you can live! Otherwise he will break out like fire against Joseph’s family; the fire will consume, and no one will be able to quench it and save Bethel. 7 The Israelites turn justice into bitterness; they throw what is fair and right to the ground. 8 But there is one who made the constellations Pleiades and Orion; he can turn the darkness into morning and daylight into night. He summons the water of the seas and pours it out on the earth’s surface. The Lord is his name! 9 He flashes destruction down upon the strong so that destruction overwhelms the fortified places. 10 The Israelites hate anyone who arbitrates at the city gate; they despise anyone who speaks honestly.

   2. 100–1 BCE

      LXX Amos 5:8

      Septuagint

      6 Seek the Lord, and you shall live; so that the house of Joseph does not blaze like fire and devour him, and there shall be none to quench it for the house of Israel. 7 It is the Lord that executes judgment in the height above, and he has established justice on the earth: 8 who makes all things, and changes them, and turns the shadow of death into the morning, and darkens the day into night: who calls for the water of the sea, and pours it out on the face of the earth: the Lord God Almighty is his name: 9 who dispenses ruin to strength, and brings distress upon the fortress. 10 They hated him that reproved in the gates, and abhorred holy speech.

7. Amos 5:8 / Job 9:9 / Berakhot 58b

   1. 600–501 BCE

      Amos 5:8

      Hebrew Bible

      8 But there is one who made the constellations Pleiades and Orion; he can turn the darkness into morning and daylight into night. He summons the water of the seas and pours it out on the earth’s surface. The Lord is his name! 9 He flashes destruction down upon the strong so that destruction overwhelms the fortified places.

   2. 500–401 BCE

      Job 9:9

      Hebrew Bible

      7 he who commands the sun, and it does not shine and seals up the stars, 8 he alone spreads out the heavens and treads on the waves of the sea. 9 He makes the Bear, Orion, and the Pleiades, and the constellations of the southern sky; 10 he does great and unsearchable things, and wonderful things without number.

   3. 450–550 CE

      Berakhot 58b

      Rabbinic

      On the subject of stars, the Gemara notes that Shmuel raised a contradiction between the implications of two verses with regard to constellations. On the one hand it is written: “Who makes Ursa Major, Orion, and Pleiades, and the chambers of the south” (Job 9:9); Orion precedes Pleiades. And on the other hand it is written: “He Who makes Pleiades and Orion” (Amos 5:8); Pleiades precedes Orion. So how is this reconciled? The Gemara replies: Were it not for Orion’s heat, the universe could not exist because of the cold of Pleiades; and conversely, were it not for the cold of Pleiades, the universe could not exist because of the heat of Orion.

8. Job 9:9 / LXX Job 9:9

   1. 500–401 BCE

      Job 9:9

      Hebrew Bible

      7 he who commands the sun, and it does not shine and seals up the stars, 8 he alone spreads out the heavens and treads on the waves of the sea. 9 He makes the Bear, Orion, and the Pleiades, and the constellations of the southern sky; 10 he does great and unsearchable things, and wonderful things without number.

   2. 100–1 BCE

      LXX Job 9:9

      Septuagint

      7 Who commands the sun, and it does not rise; and he seals up the stars. 8 Who alone has stretched out the heavens, and walks on the sea as on firm ground. 9 Who makes the Pleiades, and Hesperus, and Arcturus, and the chambers of the south. 10 Who does great and unsearchable things; glorious also and excellent things, innumerable.

9. Job 38:32 / Berakhot 59a

   1. 500–401 BCE

      Job 38:32

      Hebrew Bible

      29 From whose womb does the ice emerge, and the frost from the sky, who gives birth to it, 30 when the waters become hard like stone, when the surface of the deep is frozen solid? 31 Can you tie the bands of the Pleiades or release the cords of Orion? 32 Can you lead out the constellations in their seasons or guide the Bear with its cubs? 33 Do you know the laws of the heavens, or can you set up their rule over the earth?

   2. 450–550 CE

      Berakhot 59a

      Rabbinic

      as if it was appended onto it. The Gemara explains: And the fact that Ursa Major follows Pleiades, it is as if Ursa Major is saying to Pleiades: Give me back my children, my two stars. As it is related: When the Holy One, Blessed be He, sought to bring a flood into the world, He took two stars from Pleiades and brought the flood upon the world. And afterward, when He wished to fill the void, He took two stars from Ursa Major and filled the void with them. Consequently, the constellation of Ursa Major attempts to persuade Pleiades, seeking to get its stars back. The Gemara asks: And return it, why did the Holy One, Blessed be He, not restore the original two stars to Pleiades? The Gemara answers: A pit cannot be filled by its own earth; when a pit is excavated, the earth that was excavated from it is insufficient to refill it. Alternatively, one could say that a prosecutor cannot become an advocate; since these stars caused the flood it is not appropriate that they facilitate the end of the flood. The Gemara argues: Then God should have created two other new stars for Pleiades. The Gemara responds: “There is nothing new under the sun” (Ecclesiastes 1:9). Rav Naḥman said: In the future, the Holy One, Blessed be He, will restore those same stars to Ursa Major, as it is stated: “Or can you guide [tanḥem] Ursa Major with her sons?” (Job 38:32), which is interpreted homiletically in the sense of consolation [tanḥumim] apparently due to the restoration of those stars.

10. Job 38:31 / 1 Enoch 18:13

    1. 500–401 BCE

       Job 38:31

       Hebrew Bible

       31 Can you tie the bands of the Pleiades or release the cords of Orion? 32 Can you lead out the constellations in their seasons or guide the Bear with its cubs? 33 Do you know the laws of the heavens, or can you set up their rule over the earth?

    2. 300 BCE – 100 CE

       1 Enoch 18:13

       Pseudepigrapha, Apocalypses

       12 And beyond that abyss I saw a place which had no dome of heaven above, and no firmly founded earth beneath it; there was no water upon it, and no birds, but it was a waste and horrible place. 13 I saw there seven stars like great burning mountains, and to me, when I inquired about them, 14 The angel said: 'This place is the end of heaven and earth; this has become a prison for the stars and the army of heaven. 15 And the stars which roll over the fire are those which have transgressed the command of the Lord at the beginning of their rising, because they did not come forth at their appointed times. 16 And He was angry with them, and bound them until the time when their guilt should be consummated, even for ten thousand years.'

11. Job 38:31 / Revelation 1:16

    1. 500–401 BCE

       Job 38:31

       Hebrew Bible

       31 Can you tie the bands of the Pleiades or release the cords of Orion? 32 Can you lead out the constellations in their seasons or guide the Bear with its cubs? 33 Do you know the laws of the heavens, or can you set up their rule over the earth?

    2. 92–96 CE

       Revelation 1:16

       New Testament

       12 I turned to see whose voice was speaking to me, and when I did so, I saw seven golden lampstands, 13 and in the midst of the lampstands was one like a son of man. He was dressed in a robe extending down to his feet, and he wore a wide golden belt around his chest. 14 His head and hair were as white as wool, even as white as snow, and his eyes were like a fiery flame. 15 His feet were like polished bronze refined in a furnace, and his voice was like the roar of many waters. 16 He held seven stars in his right hand, and a sharp double-edged sword extended out of his mouth. His face shone like the sun shining at full strength.