Good morning, Lester,
Perhaps the answer is a simple one whose roots go back to prehistoric
times and the days of the first cognizant humans. From centuries of
scientific study, we now know what stars are, but imagine the awe and
wonder of the first cavemen who looked up at the night sky. All those
little, glittering bits of light were impossible to touch and didn't
appear to 'do' anything, but there they were, night after night.
Mythologies were built around them. Man provided supernatural
interpretations of this commonly viewed phenomenon. We can see how
these mythologies became quite elaborate and complicated as time
progressed.
Greek Mythology Constellations
http://library.thinkquest.org/18650/data/stars/stars.html
"In Bible prophecy, when a star or stars are said to fall or lose
their light, it means that a power or an authority, such as a person
or a nation or city, has fallen (as was the case in Isaiah 14:12)."
Exposition of Revelation 8:10, 11 - David Green
http://www.preterist.org/articles-old/exposition_of_revelation_8.htm
Conversely, I found a website which ignores the stars in the Bible and
maintains that the Bible is in the stars, and pyramids, and henges.
The Zodiac-Bible In The Stars
http://asis.com/~stag/zodiac.html
The star-shape we use today has its roots in hieroglyphics. For
example: "Charles Muses, in 1955, saw on the Edfu temple walls some
Egyptian numerical symbols for the number 240 mentioned together with
Thoth (who was associated with learning and the ogdoad number 8).
Muses says the 5-pointed star was an Egyptian numerical notation for
5..." You can view an image of such usage.
(Now this is a guess on my part, but I imagine when engraving and
carved symbols came it to being it was a tad difficult to cut out an *
so it was fleshed out a bit to make the job simpler. The result is the
shape which we see gummed to a child's school work.)
Hieroglyphics: Egyptian, Mayan, and Chinese Characters
http://www.innerx.net/personal/tsmith/eghier.html
Peoples' fascination with the stars is as intense as ever it was. We
still sit out at night, relaxing, looking up and pondering the stars.
Amateur and professional astronomers scour the heavens looking for
answers. Planetariums have existed for millenia. "The Chinese were
also one of the earliest people to make star maps:Shi Shen, an
astronomer, catalgied an eight-volume series of his observations of
the heavens in the 4th century BCE. The earliest known western star
maps were made by the Greek astronomer Hiparchus in 2 BCE."
Ancient Technology
http://www.csupomona.edu/~plin/ls201/confucian5.html
Very interesting, you might say, but WHY do we use stars as ratings?!
I doubt it's possible to find the exact moment in time when someone
saw or read something and thought that s/he'd apply a star or two to
indicate its excellence.
This thought comes to mine. You've heard the word 'stargazer' applied
to people who are day-dreaming, lost in thought, off in their own
little worlds?
Herein lies the answer, I think. For time immemorial stars have
represented our dreams, titillated our imaginations, remained close in
our vision but so far from our reach.
So a star designation, whether it applies to a great basketball player
or an actor who can elicit strong emotion from his audience or a
perfectly answered Grade Five history test indicates that a goal has
been reached that few can achieve, but all dream of doing.
As to why FIVE seems to be the ultimate reward... I attribute that to
a mix of common sense and human nature. It allows for easy distinction
between poor, fair, good, very good and excellent. If a rating of 0 -
100 was used, imagine the nightmares as recipients nit-pick over a
grade of 85 vs. 88.
Anyway, that's my take on the whole thing. Thanks for the five star
question.
Regards,
revbrenda1st
e stars have always represented our dreams. These distant lights in
the night sky were things of beauty that seem far. Nevertheless, their
light shines on, giving everyone the hope of reaching them.
" stars in mythology "
://www.google.ca/search?q=stars+in+mythology&btnG=Google+Search&hl=en&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8
" "falling star" + Bible "
://www.google.ca/search?hl=en&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&q=%22falling+star%22++%2B+Bible&btnG=Google+Search&meta=
" hieroglyphics + stars "
://www.google.ca/search?q=hieroglyphics+%2B+stars&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&hl=en&btnG=Google+Search&meta= |
