History
The Greek constellation may be an adaptation of the Babylonian constellation known as the Old Man (MUL.SHU.GI) which is associated with East (as a cardinal direction) in the MUL.APIN, an astronomical compilation dating to around 1000 BCE.
In Greek mythology, Perseus was the son of Danae, who became the hero who slew Medusa. He later used the Gorgon's head to rescue the princess Andromeda from the monster Cetus.
Read more about this topic: Perseus (constellation)
Famous quotes containing the word history:
“No matter how vital experience might be while you lived it, no sooner was it ended and dead than it became as lifeless as the piles of dry dust in a school history book.”
—Ellen Glasgow (1874–1945)
“We don’t know when our name came into being or how some distant ancestor acquired it. We don’t understand our name at all, we don’t know its history and yet we bear it with exalted fidelity, we merge with it, we like it, we are ridiculously proud of it as if we had thought it up ourselves in a moment of brilliant inspiration.”
—Milan Kundera (b. 1929)
“Let us not underrate the value of a fact; it will one day flower in a truth. It is astonishing how few facts of importance are added in a century to the natural history of any animal. The natural history of man himself is still being gradually written.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)