<p>Ptolemy was Greek.  He wrote an important book called <em>the Almagest</em>. In it, he lists and describes the constellations as used in Greece in the 4th century BC. Naturally, the Greeks used elements from Greek Mythology in their sky culture, just as Chinese sky culture uses elements from Chinese legend and myth.</p>

<p>Ptolemy's Almagest and Greek sky culture influenced the Hellenistic world, and through Rome, it influenced the whole of Western Europe.  Then through European expansion, it came to influence the whole world.</p>

<p>There are several additions to Ptolemy's system: The Southern Sky was divided into constellations by Europeans in the 15th century, and there are several additions to the Northern sky, such as Coma Berencies (Hair of Berenice II of Egypt) and Camelopardalis, the giraffe, (added in the 15th century)</p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2019-01-22T04:28:28.533Z
The answer you gave me added so much to my knowledge and thank you for that, further if you could provide me with some links or books to refer I would be delighted.
Paba
CC BY-SA 4.0
2019-01-20T14:14:01.570Z
2019-01-20T14:14:01.570Z
James K
<p>Why do most of the <a href="https://www.windows2universe.org/mythology/const_nav.html" rel="nofollow noreferrer">myths regarding constellations</a> happen to have begun from Greek civilization? Why not other civilizations? </p>

<p>Most people who lived in the past era probably observed star patterns in the sky and created their own constellation myths. </p>

<hr>

<p>Also, I would like to know more about some of the <a href="http://www.tcoe.org/scicon/instructionalguide/constellations.pdf" rel="nofollow noreferrer">stories regarding the myths of those constellations</a>. </p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2019-01-18T10:34:07.453Z
It's the western world which adopted their own historically used constellations. From a modern view this is neither fair nor biased, but when western astronomy formed into organised bodies there was no reason to do it differently. There are scattered websites talking about conestllation mythology from other cultures, and one can see some of them in the free software "Stellarium".
AtmosphericPrisonEscape
CC BY-SA 4.0
2019-01-18T15:45:10.847Z
They don't.  You just haven't learned about astrological lore from other cultures -- especially ones which are extinct or nearly so.  You might want to read "1491" , for example.
Carl Witthoft
CC BY-SA 4.0
2019-01-18T15:45:35.007Z
I'm voting to close this question as off-topic because it's neither true nor related to astronomy.
Carl Witthoft
CC BY-SA 4.0
2019-01-19T10:27:03.017Z
Most of my knowledge of these myths stems from old Norse stories. I'm 100% with Carl on this. Your premise just isn't true.
Rory Alsop
CC BY-SA 4.0
2019-01-19T13:49:20.350Z
For an excellent survey of stories about constellations from many different cultures, I would recommend Edwin Krupp's *Beyond the Blue Horizon*.
Peter Erwin
CC BY-SA 4.0
2019-01-22T04:22:12.780Z
I will go through the contents provided by you all. I am interested in star patterns and constellations and just wanted to know more about that and related areas. That is why I asked this question. Anyway, thanks all for the comments.
Paba
<star><fundamental-astronomy><constellations>
Why do most of the myths behind constellations originate from Greek?
Paba
# Why do most of the myths behind constellations originate from Greek?

(Asked by: username_0 on 2019-01-18)

Why do most of the [myths regarding constellations](https://www.windows2universe.org/mythology/const_nav.html) happen to have begun from Greek civilization? Why not other civilizations?

Most people who lived in the past era probably observed star patterns in the sky and created their own constellation myths.

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Also, I would like to know more about some of the [stories regarding the myths of those constellations](http://www.tcoe.org/scicon/instructionalguide/constellations.pdf).

**Tags:** star, fundamental-astronomy, constellations

> **Comments:**
> **username_1**: It's the western world which adopted their own historically used constellations. From a modern view this is neither fair nor biased, but when western astronomy formed into organised bodies there was no reason to do it differently. There are scattered websites talking about conestllation mythology from other cultures, and one can see some of them in the free software "Stellarium".  
> **username_2**: They don't.  You just haven't learned about astrological lore from other cultures -- especially ones which are extinct or nearly so.  You might want to read "1491" , for example.  
> **username_2**: I'm voting to close this question as off-topic because it's neither true nor related to astronomy.  
> **username_3**: Most of my knowledge of these myths stems from old Norse stories. I'm 100% with username_2 on this. Your premise just isn't true.  
> **username_4**: For an excellent survey of stories about constellations from many different cultures, I would recommend Edwin Krupp's *Beyond the Blue Horizon*.  
> **username_0**: I will go through the contents provided by you all. I am interested in star patterns and constellations and just wanted to know more about that and related areas. That is why I asked this question. Anyway, thanks all for the comments.  

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## 1 answers

### Answer by username_5 on 2019-01-20. Score: 0

Ptolemy was Greek. He wrote an important book called *the Almagest*. In it, he lists and describes the constellations as used in Greece in the 4th century BC. Naturally, the Greeks used elements from Greek Mythology in their sky culture, just as Chinese sky culture uses elements from Chinese legend and myth.

Ptolemy's Almagest and Greek sky culture influenced the Hellenistic world, and through Rome, it influenced the whole of Western Europe. Then through European expansion, it came to influence the whole world.

There are several additions to Ptolemy's system: The Southern Sky was divided into constellations by Europeans in the 15th century, and there are several additions to the Northern sky, such as Coma Berencies (Hair of Berenice II of Egypt) and Camelopardalis, the giraffe, (added in the 15th century)

> **Comments:**
> **username_0**: The answer you gave me added so much to my knowledge and thank you for that, further if you could provide me with some links or books to refer I would be delighted.  

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