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Ancient Skies: Constellation Mythology of the Greeks
Look to the sky and see the stories in the stars The stars and constellations are among the few remaining objects that appear to us just as they appeared to our distant ancestors. From anywhere on Earth, a person may view the celestial panorama simply by stepping outside at night and gazing upward. This non- fiction narrative presents the tales of the forty- eight classical constellations, compiled from literature spanning a thousand years from Homer (c. 800 BC) to Claudius Ptolemy (c. 150 AD). These age- old tales have captured the human imagination from ancient times to the present, and through them we can examine the early practical astronomy, philosophical speculation on the cosmos, and fundamental moral beliefs of much of Western civilization. Illustrations and star charts carefully reconstructed from ancient sources lend a visual element and immerse the reader in the world of ancient cosmology and constellation mapping. Through Marshall’s research and storytelling, Ancient Skies brings the belief systems of the classical world to shining life. 75 b&w illustrations
272 pages, Hardcover
Published August 7, 2018
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409 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 29 of 29 reviews
May 13, 2025
A fascinating delve into the skies of Ancient Greece, and stories and philosophies that abounded down from them. My favourite is the stories of the Big and Little Bear - which are slightly different than the myths I’d heard about them before 😁⭐️
May 22, 2019
This book starts out with a solid retelling of Greek myths and how they relate to the ancient constellations, which I enjoyed even though I've read most of the source material. But it really starts to drag once it moves on to how Greek farmers and sailors used the stars, which involves descriptions of farming and sailing practices that I skipped in the source material (I'm looking at you, Works and Days). This would make a fun quick read for fellow Ancient Greece nerds if you skip the last couple of chapters.
April 21, 2023
SO FUN TO LEARN THIS STUFF
June 22, 2023
A walk through Greek mythology with the stars as guide; the concept is interesting enough but the narrative is rather one-damn-fact-after-another; could use some spicing up; educational value is alright though.
December 28, 2020
3.5 stars
I'm glad I read this. The first two parts were excellent for fleshing out the Ancient Greek stories of the constellations and how the representations changed with the modern world. The fact that I came out of this having learnt something is a good sign.
I'm only disappointed how the last chapters on agriculture and sailing deviated from the stories of the stars themselves: there were tidbits, which were refreshing. But I was not interested in learning about the tools used to plant seeds in ancient times, nor how wind patterns determined latitudes for sailors.
I wish the author would have used more cohesiveness in the third part to bring together all the stories that were told.
That being said, I'd be interested to see how other stories paint the stories of the constellations - from a different culture perhaps.
I'm glad I read this. The first two parts were excellent for fleshing out the Ancient Greek stories of the constellations and how the representations changed with the modern world. The fact that I came out of this having learnt something is a good sign.
I'm only disappointed how the last chapters on agriculture and sailing deviated from the stories of the stars themselves: there were tidbits, which were refreshing. But I was not interested in learning about the tools used to plant seeds in ancient times, nor how wind patterns determined latitudes for sailors.
I wish the author would have used more cohesiveness in the third part to bring together all the stories that were told.
That being said, I'd be interested to see how other stories paint the stories of the constellations - from a different culture perhaps.
April 10, 2023
(4.5 stars)
This book is very informative about the Greek Constellations. I've already read about most of these myths connected to the stories of the constellation's names... I did learn something new though. I did not know that scientists changed the way the modern constellations are viewed. Nowadays they don't look anything like what they're supposed to represent, like they used to when the Greeks put them together. I wish everyone could see the original layout of the constellations...
Towards the end of the book it's very interesting... Talks about how the constellations & stars were used by farmers, seamen, shepherds, and astrologers... Very useful the stars are...
This book is very informative about the Greek Constellations. I've already read about most of these myths connected to the stories of the constellation's names... I did learn something new though. I did not know that scientists changed the way the modern constellations are viewed. Nowadays they don't look anything like what they're supposed to represent, like they used to when the Greeks put them together. I wish everyone could see the original layout of the constellations...
Towards the end of the book it's very interesting... Talks about how the constellations & stars were used by farmers, seamen, shepherds, and astrologers... Very useful the stars are...
July 28, 2019
2.5 Stars
Although I enjoyed this collection of Greek myths and appreciated the way Marshall organized his chapters, I found his treatment of women and goddesses disappointingly in line with the attitude of the Ancient Greeks. An outstandingly bad example was his conclusion to the chapter about mortal women who fell prey to Zeus. He attempted to justify the many stories of rape by praising the accomplishments of the (mostly male) children who were born as a result of this trauma. For a book published in 2018, I expected a much more sensitive and nuanced treatment of this topic.
Although I enjoyed this collection of Greek myths and appreciated the way Marshall organized his chapters, I found his treatment of women and goddesses disappointingly in line with the attitude of the Ancient Greeks. An outstandingly bad example was his conclusion to the chapter about mortal women who fell prey to Zeus. He attempted to justify the many stories of rape by praising the accomplishments of the (mostly male) children who were born as a result of this trauma. For a book published in 2018, I expected a much more sensitive and nuanced treatment of this topic.
January 21, 2019
That wasn't an easy book! Even though it's short and is very interesting, it talks about star constellations, why were they called that, and they are very interesting and entertaining stories, but the problem is that this book reference to a lot of Greek mythology, and it gets hard to follow sometimes because I'm not very familiar with it, but if you're are (or you're welling to Google stuff every now and then) then I think you'll enjoy this book .
February 22, 2020
I thought this book was very educational. I’ve been wanting to learn more about constellations and never knew where to start. It gives a lot of comprehensive diagrams (which I appreciate endlessly). I will say towards the end of the book there were a few parts where I lost interest and felt lost. However, the book is beautifully done and while I had to reread a few stories I definitely didn’t mind.
December 20, 2018
*3.5 stars.
January 12, 2020
This was an informative and interesting read, especially for my first read of 2020. The narration was also very well done, and I learned so many new points of Greek mythology.
June 20, 2025
This just wasn’t what I was expecting at all. It’s like Marshall either didn’t know what he wanted this book to be, or there were too many things he wanted to achieve, but the end result was that every topic here was painfully superficial.
The first part is all on some of the prominent Ancient Greek myths that are associated with the constellations. If you have any familiarity with these then you won’t learn anything new, which is disappointing. I was hoping for more of an analysis on why the stars affected these myths, or vice-versa.
His conclusions in these myths are also classically, and disappointedly, pretty typical in how the Ancient Greeks treated women - as in, as an afterthought. Marshall chooses to ignore nuance. Most glaringly, Marshall justifies the many stories of rape (mostly by Zeus) by praising the accomplishments of the children (see - male children) born from it. In a time where academics are making real strides to include women in the narrative, and reflect on the role (or lack thereof) they often played in these stories, I expected a lot better from this.
The second part goes into the more practical aspects of how the stars affected the behaviours in Ancient Greece, particularly in farming and sailing. However, saying second “part” is very rich, since it’s really only the last fifth of the book. In this, I don’t understand where Marshall gets his information from, and it’s difficult to discern if he’s still referencing stories or Ancient Greek practise. He references Homer and Ptolemy in the same breath, but doesn’t distinguish why he is drawing conclusions with these two vastly different sources.
He goes into obtuse detail on the work required in farming practises, disregarding the relationship with the stars, but then doesn’t reference any sources outside ancient written word. Marshall, the philosophers and poets weren’t farming. They’re excellent sources yes, but not when used on their own. Where is your archeology? What has actually been found?
So his conclusions are superficial. He doesn’t put in any work in shaping a cultural understanding on how the stars affected the Ancient Greeks, nor does he give a reason as to why he structured the book the way he has.
This part also feels incredibly disconnected from the rest of the book, which is a shame because this had the potential to be fascinating. The behaviour of the everyday people in the Ancient world is completely up my alley, and should have therefore, been something in this book that I should have really enjoyed.
So what is this? Does Marshall want this to be an exploration of culture, or myth? While the two are definitely connected, he doesn’t put much time in drawing these connections.
This is a very introductory book, but I don’t think it’s a strong introductory book. The myths aren’t nearly as engaging as other introductory texts, and the last section on farming and sailing is so out of left field, that many people who would pick this up simply wouldn’t be interested. Much more work that wasn’t done, needed to be done, to change this.
As an aside, there’s some pretty sweeping generalised statements in here that I always find incredibly frustrating when not approached with any nuance, which of course, Marshall didn’t.
The Ancient Greeks were the first philosophers, for example? I think China would have something to say about that.
The Ancient Greeks pioneered using the stars to develop farming calendars? Indigenous peoples are lining up to say otherwise, I think Indigenous Australians are first in line.
I just truly don’t understand what Marshall was trying to achieve here, but whatever it was, I didn’t enjoy it.
One star for Big and Little Bear. I appreciated that one.
The first part is all on some of the prominent Ancient Greek myths that are associated with the constellations. If you have any familiarity with these then you won’t learn anything new, which is disappointing. I was hoping for more of an analysis on why the stars affected these myths, or vice-versa.
His conclusions in these myths are also classically, and disappointedly, pretty typical in how the Ancient Greeks treated women - as in, as an afterthought. Marshall chooses to ignore nuance. Most glaringly, Marshall justifies the many stories of rape (mostly by Zeus) by praising the accomplishments of the children (see - male children) born from it. In a time where academics are making real strides to include women in the narrative, and reflect on the role (or lack thereof) they often played in these stories, I expected a lot better from this.
The second part goes into the more practical aspects of how the stars affected the behaviours in Ancient Greece, particularly in farming and sailing. However, saying second “part” is very rich, since it’s really only the last fifth of the book. In this, I don’t understand where Marshall gets his information from, and it’s difficult to discern if he’s still referencing stories or Ancient Greek practise. He references Homer and Ptolemy in the same breath, but doesn’t distinguish why he is drawing conclusions with these two vastly different sources.
He goes into obtuse detail on the work required in farming practises, disregarding the relationship with the stars, but then doesn’t reference any sources outside ancient written word. Marshall, the philosophers and poets weren’t farming. They’re excellent sources yes, but not when used on their own. Where is your archeology? What has actually been found?
So his conclusions are superficial. He doesn’t put in any work in shaping a cultural understanding on how the stars affected the Ancient Greeks, nor does he give a reason as to why he structured the book the way he has.
This part also feels incredibly disconnected from the rest of the book, which is a shame because this had the potential to be fascinating. The behaviour of the everyday people in the Ancient world is completely up my alley, and should have therefore, been something in this book that I should have really enjoyed.
So what is this? Does Marshall want this to be an exploration of culture, or myth? While the two are definitely connected, he doesn’t put much time in drawing these connections.
This is a very introductory book, but I don’t think it’s a strong introductory book. The myths aren’t nearly as engaging as other introductory texts, and the last section on farming and sailing is so out of left field, that many people who would pick this up simply wouldn’t be interested. Much more work that wasn’t done, needed to be done, to change this.
As an aside, there’s some pretty sweeping generalised statements in here that I always find incredibly frustrating when not approached with any nuance, which of course, Marshall didn’t.
The Ancient Greeks were the first philosophers, for example? I think China would have something to say about that.
The Ancient Greeks pioneered using the stars to develop farming calendars? Indigenous peoples are lining up to say otherwise, I think Indigenous Australians are first in line.
I just truly don’t understand what Marshall was trying to achieve here, but whatever it was, I didn’t enjoy it.
One star for Big and Little Bear. I appreciated that one.
January 3, 2020
I chose this book to fit a prompt for a reading challenge I am participating in this year. I needed a book that talked about constellations, and this seemed interesting and fit the bill. Overall, I quite enjoyed the first two-thirds of this book. The narrator was easy and pleasing to listen to, and the information given was interesting. The first two-thirds of the book described the Greek mythology and how the constellations came to be. How the constellations got their names and who they represented from Greek mythology. Very interesting stuff. However, the last third of the book was a waste. It discussed how farmers and sailers used the stars to navigate and when to harvest. It was a wide swing from the premise of the book and could have been left out. All of the information was superfluous and did not help the book in any way.
May 10, 2024
The book can be split into two parts: the first half details the Greek myths now immortalized in the stars. The tales are told in the flowery language of the 19th-century folktale collectors, such as Andrew Lang, who emphasize beautiful women and downplay the rampant rape other potentially problematic bits.
At any rate, I'm able to look up at the constellations now and see characters and stories. It's helped me remember the location of certain stars--it makes sense now that Arcturus, "Guardian of the Bear" and Callisto's son, follows his mum, Ursa Major, around the sky.
The second half of the book describes how constellations helped ancient Greek farmers and sailors figure out when to plant, when to sail, and when to head inside to avoid storms. I got a bit lost in the terminology, but otherwise found it interesting.
At any rate, I'm able to look up at the constellations now and see characters and stories. It's helped me remember the location of certain stars--it makes sense now that Arcturus, "Guardian of the Bear" and Callisto's son, follows his mum, Ursa Major, around the sky.
The second half of the book describes how constellations helped ancient Greek farmers and sailors figure out when to plant, when to sail, and when to head inside to avoid storms. I got a bit lost in the terminology, but otherwise found it interesting.
July 4, 2024
Listened to the audiobook.
The first half was a descriptive telling of the 48 classic constellations, which is exactly what I was after. I probably would have benefitted from looking at a map to accompany the physical descriptions and placements in the sky, but knowing the myths behind the names was my main interest.
Part 2 (Chapters 7-10) turned into a mundane history of sailing and nautical navigation with occasional references to the star groups previously mentioned. The biggest distraction being every time the narrator said the word "sea men" I had to visualize the spelling to stop myself from chuckling aloud.
The first half was a descriptive telling of the 48 classic constellations, which is exactly what I was after. I probably would have benefitted from looking at a map to accompany the physical descriptions and placements in the sky, but knowing the myths behind the names was my main interest.
Part 2 (Chapters 7-10) turned into a mundane history of sailing and nautical navigation with occasional references to the star groups previously mentioned. The biggest distraction being every time the narrator said the word "sea men" I had to visualize the spelling to stop myself from chuckling aloud.
June 21, 2022
An excellent explanation of the constellations and their relationship to Greek mythology. The 48 classical constellations from Ptolemy’s Almagest are discussed. They are broken into subject areas, such as stories related to Ovid’s Metamorphoses, Perseus, Heracles, the Argonauts, etc. Nautical navigational knowledge and lore is also covered, as is agricultural and nature knowledge derived from the constellations perennial positions. A must for those interested in both mythology and astronomy/astrology alike.
January 1, 2020
First, read of 2020. I "earhole" read this. Very interesting book, and loved hearing the stories behind the Greek Myth Constellations.
I'm not a big Non-Fic fan, so hence the "earhole" reading, otherwise I more than likely would have fallen asleep while reading it.
Officially loving Audiobooks, and think that they will be a staple this year so I can reach my GoodReads goal, but I have a much larger personal goal. <3
I'm not a big Non-Fic fan, so hence the "earhole" reading, otherwise I more than likely would have fallen asleep while reading it.
Officially loving Audiobooks, and think that they will be a staple this year so I can reach my GoodReads goal, but I have a much larger personal goal. <3
February 17, 2023
I really enjoyed this book. It told the myths and stories but it also told how these stories impacted regular people. It was also very informative in how the constellations were used by people in measuring time frames. It was a facinating read and requires no knowledge of the stars to understand. I would reccomend this book.
April 19, 2024
Really enjoyed this summation of Greek mythology in the constellations. Hearing how they thought of the sky and how it affected them, how Sirius the dog heralded the hot “dog days” of summer, was really enlightening. My biggest problem with the book is that the myths are really distilled down to their most basic parts. I wish they would have told more of the stories.
February 9, 2025
Attended constellations as the pull of active movement, coursed humanity, muscular dystrophy, capped wisdom of movements gained and grained by the movements of the society; great info! Exploring as much as possible! Destination origins and sights seen, requite, for more.
September 14, 2023
Tickled my childhood curiosity for ancient Greece and mythology . Used reasonable length stories to explain names and significance of constellations
October 21, 2024
3.5
a nice book to read as you’re falling asleep
a nice book to read as you’re falling asleep
November 13, 2024
even if i already knew most of the information from other sources, pretty much what i expected.
August 22, 2025
This was published in 2018, but I thought it was much older based on how the author portrays certain stories, for example victim blaming and glossing over of r@pe.
August 26, 2025
Short summaries of mostly-Greek (some Roman, some later in Southern Hemisphere) myths behind various constellations.
September 16, 2025
Listened to the audiobook. Great audiobook for falling asleep in the most complimentary way.
July 13, 2021
Short, introductory sections on the mythology of the constellations.
June 19, 2020
I loved the first half of the book.. The stories from Greek mythology was very interesting.. The second half was not as interesting .. It is a good book for those interested in Greek mythology
June 12, 2020
A short book telling the Greek stories of the constellations, exactly what I was expecting
Displaying 1 - 29 of 29 reviews