WHAT DID PEOPLE THINK STARS WERE IN ANCIENT TIMES?

George Harmon

The Egyptians believed that the pharaohs became twinkling stars after they died, while the ancient Babylonians thought that the Earth was a flat disc surrounded by water, with the stars hanging above them. These ‘lights’ were used to predict the future. The ancient Greeks explained their presence through wondrous myths, such as tales of the god Zeus, who transformed the daughters of Atlas the Giant into a star cluster after they committed suicide.

Elaborate stories were created by the ancient Greeks to explain the constellations of stars in the sky