What is the history behind the Man in the Moon?

Humans, it seems, have always reported seeing faces or some such things among the dark and light spots on the Moon's face. In the 19th century, it was common to hear of 1) The Man in the Moon; 2) The Crab; 3) The Girl Reading; 4) The Donkey; 5) The Lady and 6) who knows what else. I don't know how far back this goes, but I wouldn't be surprised to learn that the ancient romans, greeks etc commented on this too. Perhaps someone on the Internet is a history buff and can tell me more about this.


Copyright 1997 Dr. Sten Odenwald
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