• @[email protected]English
    1•12 hours ago

    I wonder if they made shit up about what constellations looked like and gaslit the commoners into playing along with it because they didn’t want to seem uncultured. Like the emperor’s new clothes.

    I mean, of all the constellations there are exactly two that look like something with a basic shape that makes sense to be represented with dots, and they’re both spoons. They’re also the only two that people can consistently actually find in the night sky. I have no idea how you’d even identify the other ones without a picture of exactly what you’re supposed to be looking for. If they were seriously trying to come up with accurate names you’d think there’d be more simple and obvious constellations. But you never hear about “the square” or “the triangle” or something.

    • huf [he/him]English
      2•7 hours ago

      you have to remember that there was precious little entertainment to be had. and also no lights after sunset.

      unless there was a party or a play happening, all you could watch was the night sky. no light pollution either, so it was super visible. so probably everyone stared at the sky a lot, and knew their way around the constellations fairly well, and knew all the stories about them.

      it’s like looking for shapes in the clouds except the stars stay pretty much the same, so the game becomes generational

  • Anna
    4•9 days ago

    I need what those Greeks were huffing.