Edward Brooke-Hitching - The Sky Atlas: The Greatest Maps, Myths and Discoveries of the Universe

Robert Fludds image of infinity from his Utriusque cosmi , 1617.

To my mind, this is the most overlooked genre of mapmaking. In the history of cartography, reference works on the celestial map are vastly outnumbered by works focused on terrestrial cartography, despite the fact that the two genres were, traditionally, equally respected. Presumably this betrays an assumption that, while terrestrial maps portray the explorations and political machinations of monarchies and empires, maps of the world above reflect little of the world below. Indeed there can be a modern tendency to reduce star maps to the category of mere decorative material, with a perceived paucity of historical substance. (Certainly, this is not helped by their historical association with the pseudoscience of astrology.) Paradoxically they also suffer from a perception as lifeless technical diagrams of interest only to the student scientist. As we shall see, in response to both charges, nothing could be farther from the truth. Celestial maps are as vibrant with story as any other while often being peerless in their artistry.

Of course, the mapping traditions of celestial and terrestrial cartography are as different as the manner of discovery they represent. Terrestrial mapping is rooted in the gradual process of active exploration. From our initial forays into the unknown world, blank on the page, we recorded and measured our geographic expansion step-by-step and ship-by-ship across the terrestrial plain. The grand pageantry of the heavens, on the other hand, was always on full glorious display from the very beginning. Against the countless visible stars, the Sun, Moon and wandering planets carried out their actions and phases openly, yet in total mystery.

To celestial cartographers, faced with such overwhelming vastness, the sky was itself a canvas for the projection of every myth, fear and religious fantasy in the mind of its observer, as the human brain searched restlessly for recognizable patterns in the chaos. With no vessels of exploration to probe this greatest of oceans, the astronomerartists could only draw on what they knew their gods, myths and animals and apply them to the constellations prominent in their order of brightness. Hence the twelve signs of the zodiac are older than written record, used by the ancient Romans, who inherited the concept from the Greeks. They, in turn, drew the idea from the Babylonians, and so on, back into the murk of prehistory.