Here, for true SG-1 anoraks like myself (!), is the definitive list of symbols on the SGC Stargate. I say ‘definitive’ – this is taken from Showtime’s SG-1 site which is not always known for total accuracy, for example spelling characters’ names two different ways on the same page!

Symbols are listed clockwise starting from the very top:

The Earth Symbol
Crater
Virgo
Bootes
Centaurus
Libra
Serpens Caput
Norma
Scorpio
Cra
Scutum
Sagittarius
Aquila
Mic
Capricorn
Pisces Austrinus
Equulum
Aquarius
Pegasus
Sculptor
Pisces
Andromeda
Triangulum
Aries
Perseus
Cetus
Taurus
Auriga
Eridanus
Orion
Canis Minor
Monoceros
Gemini
Hydra
Lynx
Cancer
Sextans
Leo Minor
Leo

Astrological symbols are in italics because they immediately raised a question in my mind: if (according to the episode Children of the Gods) the Stargate system was built 50,000 years ago, had “star signs” been invented then? Or were the constellations ‘invented’ first, and then made into astrological symbols later?

My astronomical knowledge is very rusty so perhaps someone can help me out here. Are these 38 constellations in this order for a specific reason? For example, do they follow in sequence round the night sky? The astrological signs seem to be in order, so I’m guessing that the other constellations are too.

I’d be interested in any theories on why there’s a gap in the spacing of the astrological signs between Taurus and Gemini. Admittedly with 39 symbols on the Gate and 12 astrological symbols to spread out, there had to be a gap somewhere – any ideas on why there in particular?


Of course, the major problem with having any recognisable symbols on the Stargate is that, if the Gate system was built 50,000 years ago, there shouldn’t be any recognisable symbols because all the stars will have moved a lot (cosmically speaking) between then and now. Consequently the stars that today make up the constellation of Orion, for example, would have been in very different positions 50,000 years ago and the shape they made back then wouldn’t have looked anything like today’s Orion.

So either the Gate builders were so clever that they could work out where all the stars would be in the far future and built the Gate system with future constellations on them (which wouldn’t make much sense, IMO), or the Gate builders have been updating the Gate system every several thousand years, perhaps changing the symbols on each Gate and Dial Home Device to more accurately represent ‘current’ constellations.

Which immediately leads to another question: if the Gate builders did upgrade the Gates every now and then, how often would they have to do so? And does this cause a nit with SGC’s Gate which was buried for at least ten thousand years, according to the movie?

Personally, I can’t see how the builders could have upgraded the Gates, especially once the Goa’uld started to use the system, though it does conjure up a lovely image of some all-powerful being sloping onto various Goa’uld worlds in white overalls with a cigarette dangling from its lips and clutching a metal toolbox, saying, “Mornin’, guv, Gate maintenance. Come to upgrade yer Gate – gotta put new symbols on it. Any chance of a cuppa while I’m at it?”

Cra is actually CrA, which is the abbreviation for Corona Australis.

Mic is the abbrevition for Microscopium.

Astrological signs, or Zodiacal signs, or signs of the Zodiac, were probably the first constellations. The Zodiac belt is where the planets are seen to travel through the year. Also the different constellations had seasonal significance. Later astronomers started creating constellations in the rest of the sky.

I'm working on a more in-depth study & cross-referencing different astronomy texts for some more info on the symbols. So I'll post more later.

Why did you choose Orion as an example, Callie. It's one of the oldest known. The belt stars were known in Egypt as the balance beam and probably related to the balance that the god of the dead would put your heart on to see if it was heavier or lighter than a feather. The 3 great pyramids in Egypt are also built to represent these three stars.

Why did you choose Orion as an example, Callie
Cos, like I said, my astronomy is dead rusty, and I just picked a constellation at random. It was just my luck to pick the wrong one!

Interesting to know that Cra and Mic are abbreviations. Showtime's website is quite shocking in its 'inaccuracies' - I have no idea why it didn't give these names in full.

Part of the problem with researching constellations is that different peoples may refer to the same group of stars by different names, or they group stars together differently. The constellation Cetus the whale was considered by the Arabs to be 3 different constellations. I'll use the current names for convenience sake.

Crater - The Cup. Once considered part of the constellation Hydra until around 300 years ago. Although ancient peoples did apparently refer to it as some form of cup, urn or basin. However, there is no evidence that the Egyptians ever considered these stars as a constellation by themselves.

Virgo - The Virgin. Ancient.

Boötes - The Herdsman. Emmaline Plunket in Calendars And Constellations Of The Ancient World believes that Boötes became a constellation in 6000 BC.

Centaurus - The Centaur. Ms. Plunket thinks that this constellation may have come into being in 3500 BC, although 6000 BC is a possibility.

Pisces - The Fishes. While various ancient civilizations associated fish or water themes to this region of the sky, Egyptians, apparently, did not devote much art or writing to these stars.

Andromeda - The Chained Maiden. Possibly 6000 BC.

Triangulum - The Triangle. Ancient.

Aries - The Ram. Ancient, may have been known in Egypt as Amen/Amon/Amun.

Perseus - The Champion. Ms. Plunket thinks that 1433 BC is the most likely date for this constellation.

Libra - The Scales. May have been an Egyption constellation, probably the seasonal marker for Autumn.

Serpens Caput - The Serpent's Head. Possibly ancient. With Serpens Cauda (The Serpent's Tail) it is called Serpens and at various times in history has been combined with Ophiuchus (The Serpent Handler) as one constellation. Ms. Plunket estimates 3500 BC for Ophiuchus as a constellation.
Trivia: Oddly enough, in the last year or so an astrologer has stated that because of precession all the Zodiac signs are off by a month and that Ophiuchus should be added as a 13th sign.

Norma - The Square. Recent, made out of unclaimed stars. (Constellations were originally just the bright stars that some group of people saw as belonging together. Fainter stars tended to be just stars, until some astronomer decided they could be a constellation.)

Scorpio - The Scorpion. Ancient, perhaps one of the 6 original Zodiac signs.

Corona Australis - The Southern Crown. Plunkett suggests 4600 BC.

Cetus - The Whale. Possibly 3500 BC.

Taurus - The Bull. Some believe it to be the first constellation.

Auriga - The Charioteer. Maybe 3000 BC.

Eridanus - The River Eridanus. Ancient, perhaps considered to be the stellar equivalent of the Nile.

Orion - The Hunter. Ancient.

Scutum - The Shield. 1690 AD.

Sagittarius - The Archer. Ancient.

Aquila - The Eagle. Ancient, many civilizations have a bird constellation here.

Microscopium - The Microscope. 1700's, although another figure known as the Auger was named in a 1564 manuscript.

Capricorn - The Sea Goat. Ancient. Apparently represented in Egyption art as a pair of horns. The sea goat figure is Babylonian. According to Star Names: Their Lore And Meaning a cunieform inscription calls it the Father Of Light which could refer to when the summer solstice occured in it around 13,000 BC.

Canis Minor - The Small Dog. Ancient.

Monoceros - The Unicorn. Modern, although it may have been a horse to the Persians. The Chinese listed 3 constellations here.

Gemini - The Twins. Ancient.

Hydra - The Water Monster. Ms. Plunket believes that Hydra only became a constellation around 4000 BC, when these relatively unimportant stars covered half of the sky along the line of the heavenly equater and was bisected by the colure of the summer solstice.

Lynx - The Lynx. 1600's.

Piscis Austrinus - The Southern Fish. (Should be spelled Piscis, not Pisces. The website is wrong.) Ancient.

Equuleus - The Small Horse. Possibly created in the 2nd century BC from stars belonging to the constellation Delphinus, the Dolphin.

Aquarius - The Water Bearer. When the moon is in the seventh house, and Jupitor collides with Mars, and peace reigns throughout the cosmos, this is the dawning of the age of Aquarius. :-p Ancient. It may have been the Akkadian Lord Of Canals around 13,000 BC.

Pegasus - The Winged Horse. Ancient. Plunket estimates 4000 BC.

Sculptor - The Sculptor. 1700's.

Cancer - The Crab. Ancient. Scarab in Egypt.

Sextans - The Sextant. Created in 1690.

Leo Minor - The Small Lion. 1700's.

Leo - The Lion. Ancient.

Whoever designed the glyphs took a star chart and chose Zodiacal & off-Zodiacal constellations. However, I don't think he, or she, ever considered that anyone would actually nitpick them.
(What kind of obsessive los... uhhhhh, intelligent people with a fine attention to detail, would ever do that? ;-)

Logically the Stargate glyphs should go around the DHD in the order of the constellations.

Still, it doesn't make much sense that the Ancient Builders would choose Earth constellations, unless they came from Earth.

Trivia: Oddly enough, in the last year or so an astrologer has stated that
because of precession all the Zodiac signs are off by a month and that
Ophiuchus should be added as a 13th sign.

I bought the book which made that claim 25 years ago. Either Daniel carried it back in 1969, or your estimate is a little off.

Well, I heard about it in the last year or so. Don't know if it was the same person who wrote your book or someone else. I think it was some filler stuff, on TV or Radio, and thought it was a recent thing.

I hope I didn't ruffle your feathers. But this is a nitpicker forum, and I couldn't resist picking the nit. Actually I really enjoyed your analysis.

First, I'm a mammal, not a bird, so I don't have any feathers to ruffle. ;-)

Second, I'm somewhat thick-skinned, (& some would say thick-headed), so it takes more than that to bother me.

Just glad to see someone beside Callie & myself in the discussion.

Not that he's bored with me or anything .... ;)

I do check in on this board whenever there are new posts, but like Mr. Ed, I "... never speak[s], unless [I have] something to say." I have only posted when I thought that I had something to contribute.

This one one of the rare exceptions where I felt compelled to break that rule.

The whole theory about upgrading the gate system is something that I just posted in the 2001 episode regarding a statment Sam made about the DHDs

According to the original novel, Daniel had to go look up the ancient Egyptian constellations in (horrors!) Budge. He broke into O'Neill's office late one night and spotted a star chart on the wall. After wondering why they would have that in a nuclear missile silo, Daniel stole it and figured out the symbols.

In the latest page for Crossoverlord there appears to be some Stargate symbols in the background.

And this sad old nerd had to stop herself from running off to check whether it was a recognisable address!

And part of me was hoping you would know. ;-)

Were those Atlantis symbols next to the SG-1 ones? They'd looked like they might be, but I wasn't sure.

If it is, it must be an odd one. It has either eight or nine symbols in it. Also, those do appear to be Atlantis symbols next to it. Incidentally, the resource I use for gate addresses is http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Planets_in_Stargate

Eight means a different galaxy; and wasn't there talk some time ago of the ninth symbol being involved in the new Universe series?

Perhaps it's a clue planted by TPTB!

BTW, that's awesome artwork.

Note: Limited spoilers about basic plot of Stargate: Universe!

Yup, from what I understand, the ninth chevron links to various ships planting Stargates in other galaxies. This would be important since the ships are constantly in motion, traveling from system-to-system. Because of this, their gate address would be forever changing.