ἰσημερινὸς κύκλος

isēmerinos kuklos

Greek · noun

variant κύκλος ἰσημερινός : kuklos isēmerinos

Edited by: Thomas Peeters
Last edited: 2025-03-25

Meanings

1. celestial equator

Literal translation

equinoctial circle

1. celestial equator

1.a celestial equator astral concept

Ἰσημερία δέ ἐστι φθινοπωρινή, ὅταν ὁ ἥλιος ἀπ’ ἄρκτων πρὸς μεσημβρίαν παροδεύων πάλιν ἐπὶ τοῦ ἰσημερινοῦ γένηται κύκλου καὶ ἴσην τὴν ἡμέραν τῇ νυκτερινῇ ποιήσηται.

‘And it is autumnal equinox, when the sun, in passing from north to south, arrives at the celestial equator again and makes the day equal to the night.’

— Geminus 1.11

Genre: astronomy Date: 1st century BCE

Geminus. 1975. Géminos, Introduction aux Phénomènes, ed. G. Aujac. Paris: Les Belles Lettres. 4

Παράλληλοι μὲν οἱ τοὺς αὐτοὺς πόλους ἔχοντες τῷ κόσμῳ. Εἰσί δὲ παράλληλοι κύκλοι εʹ· ἀρκτικός, θερινὸς τροπικός, ἰσημερινός, χειμερινὸς τροπικός, ἀνταρκτικός.

‘Parallel are those that have the same poles as the cosmos. There are 5 parallel circles: the arctic circle, the summer tropic, the celestial equator, the winter tropic, the antarctic circle.’

— Geminus 5.1

Genre: astronomy Date: 1st century BCE

Geminus. 1975. Géminos, Introduction aux Phénomènes, ed. G. Aujac. Paris: Les Belles Lettres. 21

Cite this entry

APA (7th)

Peeters, T. (2025). ἰσημερινὸς κύκλος (Lemma #1279). The ZODIAC Glossary: A Cross-Cultural Glossary of Ancient Astral Science. https://zodiacglossary.github.io/lemma/1279/

Chicago (Author-Date)

Peeters, T. (2025). ἰσημερινὸς κύκλος (Lemma #1279). The ZODIAC Glossary: A Cross-Cultural Glossary of Ancient Astral Science. https://zodiacglossary.github.io/lemma/1279/

MLA (9th)

Peeters, T. (2025). ἰσημερινὸς κύκλος (Lemma #1279). The ZODIAC Glossary: A Cross-Cultural Glossary of Ancient Astral Science. https://zodiacglossary.github.io/lemma/1279/

Harvard

Peeters, T. (2025) ἰσημερινὸς κύκλος (Lemma #1279), The ZODIAC Glossary: A Cross-Cultural Glossary of Ancient Astral Science. Available at: https://zodiacglossary.github.io/lemma/1279/ (Accessed: July 4, 2026).

BibTeX

@misc{zodiac1279,
	note = {[Online; accessed 2026-07-04]},
	author = {Peeters, Thomas},
	year = {2025},
	title = {ἰσημερινὸς κύκλος ({Lemma} #1279)},
	url = {https://zodiacglossary.github.io/lemma/1279/},
	howpublished = {https://zodiacglossary.github.io/lemma/1279/},
}