Jupiter in culture

Jupiter statue in the park of Versailles .

Brihaspati, personification of the planet Jupiter in Hinduism.

The planet got its name from the name of the supreme god in the Roman pantheon . The ancient Greeks called the planet after Zeus - also the supreme god of thunder. One of the symbols of Zeus-Jupiter was an eagle - a royal bird. In Hinduism, the planet corresponds to the god Brihaspati ^[6] . In ancient German mythology, the god Thor corresponds to Jupiter. In general, this goes back to the concept of the supreme god of thunder, which existed in the mythology of the Indo-Europeans . Among a number of Indo-European peoples, the name of the supreme deity is associated with Thursday. In Latin, Thursday is Jovis dies (Jupiter's day, hence Fr. jeudi , Italian giovedi , Spanish jueves , Cat. Dijous , etc.), in German - Donnerstag, in English - Thursday (on behalf of Thor or Donner).

The ancient African people, Dogon , are believed to have, along with the old-fashioned way of life and archaic representations of the world around them, a highly developed understanding of astronomy. In particular, the Dogon know that Jupiter has four satellites ^[7] , although the latter are not observed with the naked eye .

In Chinese mythology, Jupiter is called Sui-sin; the planet is patronized by the god Tai-sui . In Japan, the planet Jupiter is called Mokusei ( Jap. 木星 ) ^[8] , which means “wooden”, “made of wood” ^[9] . Similarly in Korea - box. 목성 ( Moksung ) - "wooden star or planet."

In Babylon, Jupiter (there he was called noise. Mul-sag-me-gar ) was associated with the supreme deity Marduk .

The Uzbek poet Alisher Navoi calls Jupiter ( Mushtari , Mushtari ) a planet of generosity ( Hamsa , I: XLII).

In Kabbalah, Jupiter is sometimes associated with the Sefira Hesed, an element of the Tree of Life ^[10] .

In astrology of Babylon, the planets control the hours of the day and the days of the week: the second hour of the day and Thursday correspond to Jupiter. This system exists in the Christian , Jewish , Muslim , Buddhist and other calendars ^{[11] [12]} .

In Indian mythology, the planet Jupiter symbolizes happiness and wisdom ^[13] . She patronizes the brahmanas ; the colors are yellow or gold.

Jupiter often acts as the scene of a number of works related to the genre of science fiction . So, even in Voltaire’s Mikromegas (1752), the main characters on their way to Earth visit Jupiter, where “they learned a lot of curious secrets that would have been published with us long ago, if the gentlemen inquisitors didn’t take some dubious positions” ^{[14] [15] [16]} . In " Travels to Other Worlds » John Jacob Astor IV (1894) - the novel describes telephone networks, obtaining solar energy, air and space travel, including to Saturn and Jupiter ^[17] . The planet is also mentioned in other works of the authors of the 19th century, for example, in the World of Miracles by Joel Pibadi (1838).

In connection with the active development of the science fiction genre in the 20th century, the frequency of mentioning Jupiter, as well as other planets in literature, has increased. In 1908, the work “On Jupiter through Hell” was published (the real author is unknown). In 1922, Ella Skrimsur's book, The Perfect World, was published, which became one of the last works in the genre of utopia , exploiting the Jovian theme. The Conquest of Two Worlds by Edmond Hamilton (1932) and The Skeletal People of Jupiter by Edgar Rice Burroughs (1943) are devoted to the conquest of Jupiter and the war against the local intelligent population.

Jupiter's radiation belts were foreseen and described in the novel by Boris Krasnogorsky and Daniil Svyatsky's “Islands of the Etheric Ocean” back in 1914. When approaching the planet, the heroes of the novel met two zones with powerful electromagnetic disturbances. In this case, the zone closest to the planet had a greater field voltage ^[18] . Despite the fact that the nature of these zones is not disclosed by the authors, this is probably the first description of the Jupiter radiation belts in the literature.

Edgar Rice Burroughs, John Carter, Martian (1943), in the second story of the book (The Skeletal People of Jupiter) ^[4] describes the Morgors, the aborigines of Jupiter, about to conquer Mars. Jupiter is described as a giant earth-like planet, on which, however, gravity is less than on Mars, due to centrifugal force. A dense atmosphere prevents the penetration of sunlight onto the surface, and the planet is illuminated by giant volcanoes ^[19] . In the novel The City by Clifford Saimak (1952), part of the novel’s action in the distant future takes place on Jupiter, where there is a kind of intelligent life ^{[4] [20]} . In 1942, a humorous work in the genre of science fiction “ Unintended Victory Isaac Asimov , in which earthly colonists from Ganymede try to establish contact with the Jupiterians ^[21] .

The second half of the 20th century is marked by a number of new science fiction works in which Jupiter appears in one role or another. For example, “ We buy Jupiter Isaac Asimov (1958) - according to the plot, aliens buy Jupiter to turn it into a giant billboard advertising their products to astronauts flying by ^[22] ; " Meeting with a jellyfish » Arthur Clark (1972) - unusual life forms develop in the depths of the Jupiterian atmosphere ^[23] . In the book “The Theft of Jupiter Donald Moffit (1977) - a joint US-Chinese mission to Jupiter collides with alien spacecraft moving to the Earth from the Swan X-1 star system ^[24] . "Journey to Jupiter" Hugh Walters (1965) - the action takes place during the first astronaut expedition to Jupiter.

Between 1983 and 2001 the whole series was seen under the name Biography of the Space Tyrant "(Author - Pierce Anthony ), the action which takes place on Jupiter ^[25] . In the novel “The Cassini Division” by Ken Macleod (1998) ^{[26] [27]} , a work from the series “Fall Revolution”, Jupiter, as well as some other planets, are transformed by followers of transhumanism into habitats of post-humans ^[28] . According to the plot of the novel “ Jupiter ” Ben Bova (2000), an expedition sets out in the depths of the atmosphere of Jupiter in search of intelligent life ^[29] .

In the story “ The Way to the Amalthea ” by Arkady and Boris Strugatsky (1959), as a result of an accident near a spacecraft near Jupiter, the engine turns off and it “falls” inside the planet, but before the pressure crushes the ship, the crew manages to restore the engine and break out from the depths of Jupiter. The planet is a real “cemetery of worlds”, which has absorbed many celestial bodies ^{[4] [30]} . Jupiter also appears in the novel “ 2001: A Space Odyssey ” by Arthur Clark , written in 1968 based on the script of the film of the same name by Stanley Kubrick , as well as in the story “Call Me Joe” by Paul Anderson (1957). In yet another work of the latter, “The Centaurs of Jupiter,” the planet appears to be inhabited by intelligent, although at a low stage of development, tribes, as well as many animals ^[4] .

In the 21st century, new literary works were published, the action of which mainly or partially unfolds on the largest planet in the solar system. So, in the trilogy “The Golden Age " John Wright (2002-2003) ^{[31] [32] [33] [34]} Jupiter turned into a second, miniature, Sun ^[35] . Ganymede and other moons of Jupiter are captured by an industrialist named Gannis, who populated them with his clones. In the first book from the trilogy of the same name, “Larklight” (author - Philip Reeve , 2006), the moons of Jupiter are populated and turned into remote possessions of the Earth Empire ^[36] . Another book - The Gift of Jupiter by Timothy Zahn (2002) - on Jupiter, in its atmosphere, intelligent creatures live. An expedition sets off to Jupiter to find a spaceship on which these creatures once flew to a giant planet from another star system. The ship is needed in order to open the way to other stars and thus save humanity from overpopulation ^[37] . In the story “ Spy in Europe ” ( English A Spy in Europa ) by Alastair Reynolds, the action takes place in the oceans of Europe .

Jupiter is also not ignored by such genres as comics and manga . In particular, in the Battle Angel manga, Yukito Kishiro among other things, the Dyson sphere built around Jupiter is described ^[38] . In the comic "2000 AD" the main character, Dan Dar , together with its allies, fights against the insidious civilization of aliens who placed their base on Jupiter. In the manga and anime animated series " Sailor Moon ", the planet Jupiter is represented by the warrior girl Sailor Jupiter , aka Makoto Kino. Her attack consists in the power of plants (in the manga), as well as thunder and lightning (in the anime) ^[39] . An expedition to Jupiter is organized in the Planet manga ^[40] .

The planet plays an important role in the plots of some television and movies. Among them, the television series "Space Patrol" (1962) - in two series, the action takes place on Jupiter. In a 1965 Japanese - American film " Godzilla vs. Monster Zero ", in the story, a planetoid was discovered near Jupiter, on which an earthly expedition meets an alien intelligent race.

In the 2001 Space Odyssey, directed by Stanley Kubrick (1968), the orbit of Jupiter was the location of one of the "monoliths." In the continuation, the film “ 2010: the year of coming into contact ” (“Space Odyssey of 2010”) directed by Peter Hyams (1984), the contact that began in the previous film continues in Jupiter’s orbit, and Jupiter turns into a star.

In the Japanese science fiction film based on the novel by Sake Komatsu “Farewell to Jupiter” (1984), at first they wanted to turn Jupiter into the “second Sun” (for further terraforming other planets), but then, having learned that a black hole was approaching the solar system, they decided to donate Jupiter, sending it into this hole as a “plug”.

In the Australian - Japanese TV series " Escape from Jupiter " (1994), after the destruction of the colony on Io, survivors try to reach Earth on a spaceship created from a space base ^[41] .

At the end of the film “ Jupiter 's Ascent ”, the action takes place at a station hidden in the dense layers of the atmosphere of Jupiter.

• Brian Stableford Jupiter // Science Fact and Science Fiction. An Encyclopedia. - Routledge, Taylor & Francis Group, 2006 .-- P. 254-255. - 758 p. - ISBN 0-415‐97460-7.
• Pavel Gremlev. Big boss of the solar system. Jupiter . - World of fiction , 2010. - No. 85 .
• Jupiter - article from The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction