Editing Piscis Austrinus (section)

==Origins==
[[File:Sidney Hall - Urania's Mirror - Aquarius, Piscis Australis & Ballon Aerostatique.jpg|left|thumb|350px|Piscis Austrinus can be seen cut off at the bottom of ''[[Urania's Mirror]]''{{'}}s 1825 depiction of [[Aquarius (constellation)|Aquarius]]. Next to it is the obsolete constellation [[Ballon Aerostatique]].]]

Pisces Austrinus originated with the Babylonian constellation simply known as the Fish (MUL.KU).<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://herebedragons.weebly.com/verities-4-meta-genetics.html|title=Verities 4: Meta-Genetics|website=Ancestral Memories|access-date=2017-12-12|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171212140757/https://herebedragons.weebly.com/verities-4-meta-genetics.html|archive-date=2017-12-12|url-status=dead}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|last1=Christoforou|first1=Peter|title=Star Constellation Facts: Piscis Austrinus|url=https://www.astronomytrek.com/star-constellation-facts-piscis-austrinus/|website=Astronomy Trek|date=24 April 2017 |access-date=5 April 2018}}</ref> Professor of astronomy [[Bradley Schaefer]] has proposed that ancient observers must have been able to see as far south as [[Mu Piscis Austrini]] to define a pattern that looked like a fish.<ref>{{cite journal | title=The latitude and epoch for the formation of the southern Greek constellations | author=Schaefer, Bradley E. |journal= Journal for the History of Astronomy| issn= 0021-8286|volume= 33, part 4|issue=113| pages= 313–50 |year=2002| bibcode=2002JHA....33..313S| doi=10.1177/002182860203300401 | s2cid=122459258 }}</ref> Like many of Schaefer's proposals this is nothing new: mu PsA is explicitly mentioned in the Almagest and the constellation is definitely a takeover from ancient Babylon.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Hoffmann |first=Susanne M. |title=Wie der Löwe an den Himmel kam: auf den Spuren der Sternbilder |last2=Elzner |first2=Kay |date=2021 |publisher=Kosmos |isbn=978-3-440-17251-3 |series=Mit Kosmos mehr entdecken |location=Stuttgart}}</ref> Along with the eagle [[Aquila (constellation)|Aquila]] the crow Corvus and water snake Hydra, Piscis Austrinus was introduced to the Ancient Greeks around 500 BCE; the constellations marked the [[summer solstice|summer]] and [[winter solstice]]s, respectively.<ref>{{cite book|last=Frank|first=Roslyn M.|title=Handbook of Archaeoastronomy and Ethnoastronomy|publisher=[[Springer Publishing|Springer]]|location=New York City|date=2015|pages=147–163|chapter=10: Origins of the "Western" Constellations|bibcode=2015hae..book.....R|chapter-url=https://www.academia.edu/15305615}}</ref>

In [[Greek mythology]], this constellation is known as the Great Fish and it is portrayed as swallowing the water being poured out by Aquarius, the water-bearer constellation. The two fish of the constellation Pisces are said to be the offspring of the Great Fish. In [[Egyptian mythology]], this fish saved the life of the Egyptian goddess [[Isis]], so she [[Catasterismi|placed]] this fish and its descendants into the heavens as constellations of stars.<ref>{{cite book |author=Eratosthenes |author2=Hyginus, C. Julius |others=Translated by Condos, Theony |title=Star myths of the Greeks and Romans: a sourcebook containing the Constellations of Pseudo-Eratosthenes and the Poetic astronomy of Hyginus |pages=[https://archive.org/details/starmythsofgreek00theo/page/163 163–164] |publisher=Red Wheel/Weiser |date=1997 |isbn=1-890482-93-5 |author-link=Eratosthenes |url=https://archive.org/details/starmythsofgreek00theo/page/163 }}</ref> In the 5th century BC, Greek historian [[Ctesias]] wrote that the fish was said to have lived in a lake near [[Manbij|Bambyce]] in Syria and had saved [[Atargatis|Derceto]], daughter of [[Aphrodite]], and for this deed was placed in the heavens. For this reason, fish were sacred and not eaten by many Syrians.<ref name=condos97>{{cite book |last1=Condos |first1=Theony |title=Star Myths of the Greeks and Romans: A Sourcebook |date=1997 |publisher=Phanes Press | location=Grand Rapids, Michigan |isbn=9781609256784 |pages=163–65 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=9wPINXB4EAoC&pg=PA163}}</ref>