Page:The New International Encyclopædia 1st ed. v. 17.djvu/657

* SATURN". 589 SATURNALIA. of Zeus, she trickedhim into swallowing a stone wrapped in swaddling clothes. Zeus, as he grew U]). persuaded his father to disgorge his elder children, and presently began the war against the forceful rule of the Titans that he might estab- lish a reign of law. After a fierce conllict Cronus was cast into Tartarus. Later poets represent him as afterwards released and ruling in hap- piness over the Isles of the Blessed. Cronus seems to owe much of his existence to the desire of explaining the race of Zeus and his po- sition of supreme power. Only at Athens and Olynipia were there special shrines and ofler- ings to him, and a festival in his honor, the Cronia. In representations of Cronus his liead was usually covered with a mantle, and in his hand was the curved scimiter or knife, hurpc, or sickle. case, any temporary disturbance or perturbation would suffice to disrupt it, and the fragments would be precipitated on the planel. Xor can the ring be liquid. The only remaining con- clusion is that it is composed of a very large number of small satellites, analogous to the ring of small planetoids (q.v. ) surrounding our sun, and lying between the orbits of ^lars and Jupiter. This theory of the rings has received strong confirmatory eviilence from spectro.scopie ot)Servations made in 18i)5 by Keeler. 8ee Plankts. Satellites. Saturn has at least eight satel- lites. A ninth was discovered photographically in 1899 at the Arequipa (Peru) station of the Harvard Universitj' observatory; but this dis- covery still lacks confirmation. Their elements are given in the following table: NAME DiBcoverer Date ot diycovery Sidereal revolution Greatest distanee from Saluru tu term of its equatorial radius MaNB. that of Saturn being 1 V. Herechel .Iillv IS. 1T89 Auk. 29. 1789 Mar. 21. 1G84 Mar. 21. 1684 Dec. 23, 1672 Mar. 25. 1655 Sept. 16. 1K48 Out. 25, 1671 d. 22 h. 37 m. Id. 8 1l. 63ni. 1 d. 21 U. 18 m. 2d. 17 h. 41m. 4 d. 12 h. 25 m. 15 d. 22 h. 41 ni. 21 d. 6 h. 39 m. 79 d. 7 b. 56 m. 3.07 3.94 4.87 6.25 8.73 20.22 24.49 68.91 0.00000007 W. Herschel J. 1). Cassini 0.00000025 0.00000110 .1. I). CaSBini 0.000001h7 Xtbea J. D. Cassini 0. 00000400 0.00021277 G P Bond .r n rnaaiiii SATURN. The sixth of the planets in order of distance from the sun and the second in size. Its distance from the sun varies between 801 and 911 millions of miles; period of revolution, about 20 solar years: axial rotation period, abovit 10 hours 14 minutes; the apparent angu- lar diameter of the disk, between 14 seconds and 20 seconds; diameter, 73,000 miles; volume, 760 times that of the earth ; mass, 75 times the earth's. Therefore Saturn's density is only one- eighth that of the earth, or not much more than one-half that of water. The inclination of the axis to Saturn's orbit is about 27°. This planet is in many respects the most interesting of all. ' The first glance at it with a telescope always gives one a feeling of astonishment. The bright ball of the planet is set in the centre of a hniii- nous oval ring, and surrounded by at least eight moons; truly a planetary system of extreme complexity and of surpassing beauty. The ring system was discovered by Galileo in 1610. just after the invention of the telescope, but he did not explain correctly what he saw. He thought the planet's ball had two appendages or uiis(r, and announced that it was triple. Huggins, in 1655, gave the correct explanation of the visible phenomena, and showed that the planet must be surrounded by a ring. The ring system is round, but appears oval as a result of foreshort- ening, since the plane of the ring is not square to our line of vision. Indeed, at times the ring plane may pass through the earth, and then we see the ring edgewise, which makes it appear simply as a thin bright line. At other times the ring disappears altogether, in consequence of its plane passing between the earth and the sun. When this occurs, only the side of the ring to- ward the sun is illuminated. Jlodern observers have found the ring to be in reality triple, consist- ing of concentric parts. Mathematical re- searches have shown that its durability would be impaired if it were solid. If such were the SATURN, Temple ok. A temple in the Roman Forum, consecrated in B.C. 401 by the Consuls Sempronius and Minucius, and restored about B.C. 44 l)y Munatius I'lancus. It stood at the foot of the Clivus Capitolinus, where ciglit of its marble columns on a suUstructure 16 feet in height still form one of the ccmspicuous mon- uments of the Forum. The temple was from very early times not only a place of worship, but also a public treasury. It was the only temple in Rome which might be entered with uncovered head, and the first to use wa.x tapers. SATURNALIA (Lat. nom. pi., relating to Saturn, from Saturtuis, Saturn). An ancient Roman festival celebrated in honor of Saturn (q.v.). The festival began on December 17lh. and the public religious rites were confined to that day. The festivities, however, lasted during the later Repuldic for seven days, and Augustus made the holiday cover three days, which his successors extended to five. That this was orig- inally an agricultural festival, connected with the end of late sowing, and also the turning of the year at the winter .solstice, there can be little doubt; but the whole ritual has been so transformed by the Hellenizing of Saturn and his worship that the original elements can scarce- ly be discerned. The change is connected with the lectisternium at the Temple of Saturn in B.C. 217, when a public bancpiet was held and this new celebration of the Saturnalia enjoined in perpetuity. The sacrifices were olTcred with un- covered head, i.e. in the Greek fashion, and the public feast is certainly Greek. At the sacrifice the senators and knights wore the toga, but this was laid aside for the lianquet. After the ban- quet the populace roamed throtigh the city, shouting lo l<iiturnalia. The next day the usual bath was taken very early, as there was no time later. A family sacrifice, of a young pig, fol- lowed, and the rest of the day and the following days were given up to the exchange of calls, prcs-