Cassiopeia (Greek Kassiope, Kassiepeia) is queen of the celestial royal family, her husband Cepheus is king of Ethiopeia, they are parents of Andromeda. Cassiopeia was proud of her daughter's beauty and boasted that her daughter was more beautiful than the Sea Nymphs, the Nereids, who were daughters of Poseidon (Neptune). The Nereids complained to Poseidon who sent a sea monster, Cetus, to ravage the coast. With his kingdom in grave danger, Cepheus consulted the oracle of Ammon in Libya for advice. He learned that the only way to save his kingdom was to sacrifice his daughter Andromeda to the sea monster. Andromeda was chained to a rock and left to the mercy of the sea monster. The hero, Perseus, arrives at the scene and falls in love with her, he has a quick consultation with Cepheus and Cassiopeia, it is agreed that if he rescues their daughter, he could marry her. The sea monster arrives and Perseus kills it. Perseus breaks the chains that binds Andromeda to the rock. The wedding follows.

The constellation is in a circumpolar position, i.e. it revolves around the pole star, Polaris, and being so close to the pole, its position appears to change dramatically throughout the night. The five brightest stars trace the shape of a slightly distorted M, known as the Celestial M, when above the pole, and a W, known as Celestial W, when below the pole, when Cassiopeia is in an upside-down position.

Cassiopea, is the name of the genus of the "upside-down" jellyfish.

Cassiopeia, the Enthroned Queen, is a sitting figure, at times suspended upside-down in the sky in a very undignified position, she is depicted firmly bound to her throne and refrained from falling out of it, in going around the pole head downward (rather like being on a Ferris wheel I imagine). Greeks knowing it as Kassiepeia E tou thronou, 'Cassiopeia, She of the Throne'; and Hyde gave it the title Inthronata. The constellation is often referred to as Cassiopeia's throne because the stars clearly outline the chair, or throne, upon which the queen sits. The word 'throne' comes from the Indo-European root *dher-² 'To hold firmly, support'. Derivatives: farm, fermata (in music the prolongation of a tone, chord), firm¹, firm², firmament, affirm, confirm, furl, infirm, infirmary, (these words from Latin firmus, firm, strong), throne (from Greek thronos, seat, throne < 'support'), dharma (from Sanskrit dharma, statute, law < 'that which is established firmly'), dharna (the practice of protesting against an injustice by sitting and fasting outside the door of the offender, from Prakrit dharana, a holding firm), Darius (from old Persian darayava(h)us, 'holding firm the good', from daraya- to hold firm, uphold). [Pokorny 2. dher- 252. Watkins]

The Egyptian word for 'throne' or 'seat' is 'KXA' ('kazhaa') [1] which looks like it could be pronounced 'cassa', resembling Cassiopeia's name.

According to Wikipedia Cassiopeia's name in Greek is Κassiope, which means "she whose words excel".

The word 'dharma' (from *dher-²) is related to the word throne. According to the American Heritage Dictionary; "dharma in Hinduism and Buddhism is the principle or law that orders the universe, also the body of teachings expounded by the Buddha". Hindus called this constellation Casyapi (Kasyapi, similar to Cassiopeia or Kassiopeia). In Buddhist tradition there is a monk Kasyapa (Kashyapa, Kasiapa) whom Zen Buddhists consider their First Patriarch and the founder of their lineage [2], of whom the Buddha remarked that he alone of all his students had received his teaching (dharma), and should thereafter be known as Mahakasyapa, the Buddha said “I have true dharma, and I transmit my dharma to Mahakasyapa” [3].

An extinct constellation occupied a position in what is now northern Cassiopeia, Custos Messium, the Harvest Keeper. The Phoenicians are said to have imagined a large Wheat Field in this part of the sky. This might explain 'farm' cognate of *dher-²

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The name Ethiopeia, from Greek aitho, 'I burn' from the verb aithein, 'to burn', and ops, 'face', is believed to derive from the Indo-European root *ai-² 'To burn'. Related words: ember, estival, estivate, from Latin aestas, heat, summer; aestus, 'heat', estuary, aedile, edifice, edify, ether, etheric, ethyl, ethane, Mt Etna. [Pokorny, ai-dh- 11, Watkins]. "Akasha (or Akash) is the Sanskrit word meaning "aether" in both its elemental and mythological senses" [4].

Cepheus and Cassiopeia are king and queen of Ethiopeia. The name Ethiopeia is a cognate of Greek aither, Latin aether, shortened to ether. There are masculine and feminine derivatives from the word 'aether'; the Greek word Aither, Latin spelling Aether, is masculine, and may relate to Cepheus; and the feminine Cassiopeia to Aithre, Latin spelling Aithra. Aither was the ancient Greek Protogenos (first-born elemental god) of the bright, glowing upper air of heaven. His female counterpart was Aithre, "Titanis of the Clear Blue Sky, mother of the Sun and Moon."

Aether or ether was understood to be the element itself; and aethra is the glow of the aether; according to Isidore (The Etymologies, p.272.):

"The ether (aether) is the place where the stars are, and signifies that fire which is separated high above from the entire world. Of course, ether is itself an element, but aethra (i.e. another word for ether) is the radiance of ether; it is a Greek word."

The aether (ether) was a general word for the sky, kindle, burn, shine, the regions of space beyond the earth's atmosphere; the heavens (not the same as Ouranos, Uranus, Caelum). Aether was also the element believed in ancient and medieval civilizations to fill all space above the sphere of the moon and to compose the stars and planets [AHD]. The precise nature of the aether is an open question. Scientists in the late 19th century failed to detect the aether because it could not be measured, and concluded that the space was filled with void, or was a vacuum. Some think that what is now called 'quintessence' or 'dark-matter' is what the ancients meant by aether [5].

Cassiopeia may be Aithre, Latin spelling Aithra. Aithre was also apparently a female aspect of the protogenos Aither, the bright upper air, or shining blue sky. Aithra was the Greek word for the sky, usually translated "the bright sky." Firmamentum is the classical Latin term for the sky, the firmament, this word is related to throne. See the etymology of the word 'throne' above.

Aithra was also known as Theia.

Theia was the Titan goddess of sight (thea) and shining light of the clear blue sky (aithre). She was also, by extension, the goddess who endowed gold, silver and gems with their brilliance and intrinsic value. Theia married Hyperion, the Titan-god of light, and bore him three bright children--Helios the Sun, Eos the Dawn, and Selene the Moon. [http://www.theoi.com/Titan/TitanisTheia.html ]

"Theia was the Titan goddess of sight (thea)..."  Greek thea is the root of our word theatre, literally 'a place for seeing', or viewing.

Theia was "the goddess who endowed gold, silver and gems with their brilliance and intrinsic value". See the astrological influences given by Manilius below: "Cassiope will produce goldsmiths who can turn their work into a thousand different shapes, endow the precious substance with yet greater value, and add thereto the vivid hue of Jewels..."

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The astrological influences of the constellation given by Manilius:

 "and Cassiepia, her face upturned to witness the sacrifice she caused" (to her daughter Andromeda) [Manilius, Astronomica, book 1, 1st century AD, p.33.]

"Cassiope will produce goldsmiths who can turn their work into a thousand different shapes, endow the precious substance with yet greater value, and add thereto the vivid hue of Jewels. From Cassiope come the gifts of Augustus which gleam in the temples he consecrated, where the blaze of gold rivals the sun's brightness and the fires of gems flash forth light out of shadow. From Cassiope come the memorials of Pompey's triumph of old and the trophies which bear the features of Mithridates: they remain to this very day, spoils undimmed by the passage of time, their sparkle as fresh as ever.

"From Cassiope come the enhancement of beauty and devices for adorning the body: from gold has been sought the means to give grace to the appearance; precious stones have been spread over head, neck, and hands and golden chains have shone on snow-white feet. What products would a grand lady like Cassiope prefer her sons to handle rather than those she could turn to her own employments? And that material for such employment should not be lacking, she bids men look for gold beneath the ground, uproot all which nature stealthily conceals, and turn earth upside down in search of gain; she bids them detect the treasure in lumps of ore and finally, for all its reluctance, expose it to a sky it has never seen. The son of Cassiope will also count greedily the yellow sands, and drench a dripping beach with a new flood; he will make small weights to measure the tiny grains, or else will collect the wealth of gold-foaming Pactolus [Pactolus]; or he will smelt lumps of silver, separating the hidden metal and causing the mineral to flow forth in a running stream; otherwise he will become a trader of the metals produced by these two craftsmen, ever ready to change coinage of the one metal into wares of the other. Such are the inclinations which Cassiope will fashion in those born under her" [Manilius, Astronomica, book 5, 1st century AD, p.343.]

© Anne Wright 2008.