Fevayidü'l Kiber celestial bodies, planetes and zodiac

For thousands of years, humanity has looked up at the sky with curiosity and sought to understand it, desiring knowledge about the seemingly unreachable heavens. Civilizations' interest in celestial bodies has not been limited to scientific discoveries alone; it has also become a part of religious, mythological, and cultural beliefs. Ancient civilizations regarded celestial bodies as tools that could help predict the future or monitor agricultural activities, viewing them as movements of the gods. In Mesopotamia, records of celestial events were developed as a consequence of considering the sky as the abode of gods. The pyramids of Egypt were constructed to observe the movements of stars and symbolize the ascent of kings' souls to the sky after death. Celestial bodies also played a central role in the myths of Greek and Roman civilizations, while for the Turks, who believed in the Sky God before Islam, the sky was always considered a sacred place. Civilizations have both attributed sacredness to the sky and frequently depicted it in art and literature. From the earliest written texts of the Turks, planets and celestial bodies have been expressed through literary devices such as metaphor, simile, and allusion in literary works. Ali Şir Nevāyî, who lived in the 15th century, is one of the prominent scholars of his era and is considered a pioneer of Chagatai Turkic. In fact, Chagatai Turkic is sometimes referred to as Nevāyî's language, as he authored nearly thirty works on various subjects. "Fevāyîdü'l Kiber" is Nevāyî's final divan, where he collected his mature period poems. It is possible to find the most accomplished verses of his art in this divan. In this study, celestial bodies, planets, and zodiac signs in Nevāyî's divan "Fevāyîdü'l Kiber" have been examined. The vocabulary identified sheds light on both the poet's knowledge of cosmology and the cultural perspective of celestial bodies during that period. The poet sometimes uses celestial bodies as conventional motifs, while at other times he presents their manifestation in his original imaginative world to the reader. The study utilized the edition of "Fevāyîdü'l Kiber" prepared by Onal Kaya and published by the Turkish Language Institution. Keywords: Ali Şir Nevāyî, Zodiac Signs, Chagatai Turkic, Fevāyîdü'l Kiber, Planets, Celestial Bodies