The glyph sits at the centre of the map, and the branches of Uranus' symbolism are arranged around it. Gods are shown in gold, archetypes in blue, traditions in green and narratives in red. When you tap a branch, its explanation opens below the map.
OuranosThe Greek sky god
Ouranos is the sky itself. According to Hesiod, Gaia bore him alone and then married him. Because Ouranos imprisoned his children inside Gaia, his youngest son Cronus castrated him with a sickle. The Erinyes and the Giants were born from the blood that fell to earth, and Aphrodite from the seed that fell into the sea. This was the first change of throne in the history of the gods. Uranus in the Greek family tree →
AnuThe Mesopotamian sky god
The god the Sumerians called An was Anu to the Akkadians. He is the sky itself and the distant father of the gods, and kingship descends from him. Enlil and Enki are his sons. Babylonian astronomers named the middle band of the sky 'the Path of Anu'. Like Ouranos, Anu watches from a distance and rarely intervenes. Anu in the Mesopotamian family tree →
NutThe feminine sky of Egypt
In Egypt the sky is feminine. Nut arches over the earth god Geb, swallows the sun each evening and gives birth to it again each morning. The air god Shu holds the two apart. This cosmology is the reverse of the Greek one, because here the sky is the mother and the earth is the father. Nut in the Egyptian family tree →
Varuna and DyausSky father and god of law in India
The Vedic Dyaus Pitar means 'sky father', and his name shares a root with Zeus and Iuppiter. Varuna is the god of the vault of heaven, of cosmic law (rita) and of the waters. His name has been proposed as a cognate of Ouranos, though the etymology is disputed. The Rig Veda addresses Varuna as the guardian of both the sky and its order.
CaelusThe Roman sky god
Caelus is the Roman sky god and the Latin counterpart of Ouranos. He is counted as the father of Saturnus, but his cult in Rome remained weak. Cicero and Varro begin their genealogies of the gods with him.
TianThe impersonal Heaven of China
Tian means 'Heaven', but it is less a personified god than a principle of law and authority. The Mandate of Heaven (tianming) gives the ruler legitimacy. When the ruler loses the mandate, rebellion against him becomes legitimate. The ideas of sky, authority and revolution that are tied to Uranus live on in China as a concept.
The sky fatherThe distant father who grants authority
In most pantheons the sky gods are distant and passive. They grant authority but do not interfere. Ouranos does not want to see his children, and Anu sits in his temple. The image of the cold father who rules from afar comes from these gods.
The castrated kingThe old order overthrown
The overthrow of Ouranos with the sickle is the first revolution in the history of the gods. The same pattern is later applied to Cronus, and in Enuma Elish to Apsu. These stories describe the sudden cutting off of an old order, the conflict between generations and the son who takes his father's place.
PrometheusThe one who stole fire from the gods
In Prometheus the Awakener, Richard Tarnas argues that the true mythological counterpart of Uranus is not Ouranos but Prometheus. Prometheus steals fire from the gods, gives it to humans, breaks the rule and is punished for it. Modern astrology ties the meanings of discovery, technology and liberation to this figure. Prometheus in the family tree →
Discovery and the telescopeHerschel's observation of 1781
On 13 March 1781, in Bath, the amateur astronomer William Herschel saw a 'comet' through a telescope he had built himself. Within months it was understood to be a planet. For the first time a new body was added to the seven planets known since antiquity, and the known boundary of the solar system doubled at a stroke.
The namingFrom Georgium Sidus to Uranus
Herschel wanted to name the planet after King George III and called it Georgium Sidus. The French, meanwhile, called it 'Herschel'. The German astronomer Bode proposed Ouranos, the father of Saturn, because Jupiter's father is Saturn and Saturn's father is Ouranos. In this way the mythological line of descent was written into the order of the planets.
The birth of the TitansThe birth Hesiod describes
In the Theogony Hesiod lists the children of Ouranos and Gaia. They are the twelve Titans, the three Cyclopes and the three Hecatoncheires. Ouranos loathes them and pushes them all back inside Gaia. Gaia cannot bear the pain and makes the sickle. The creative sky and the father who fears his own creation are here the same figure. Gaia in the family tree →
The vault and the starsThe boundary of the fixed stars
In Ptolemaic cosmology the sphere of the fixed stars lies beyond Saturn. That sphere is the body of Ouranos, the sky covered with stars. The orbit of Uranus lies beyond this old boundary. The classical order of seven planets ends there.
Two glyphsThe signs ♅ and ⛢
The glyph ♅ is derived from Herschel's letter H, and Lalande proposed it in 1784. The sign ⛢ is a spearhead above the circle of the Sun. Bode proposed it and astronomers adopted it. Both glyphs are historical in origin, not mythological.
UraniumKlaproth's naming of 1789
In 1789 Klaproth gave the new element he had found the name of the planet discovered eight years earlier, and called it uranium. Neptunium and plutonium followed the same tradition. This is a naming tradition, not a metal correspondence. The classical metal pairings end with the seven planets.
In modern astrologyGiven for information, not used in this school
Twentieth-century astrology gave Uranus the meanings of sudden change, revolution, technology and freedom, and assigned it the sign Aquarius. This assignment does not exist in the classical sources, because Ptolemy, the Arabic astrologers and Lilly did not know the planet. This school keeps rulership to the seven planets.