the woods for five years, until Zeus translated the lot of them - the sisters, Orion, and his dogs Sirius and Betelguese -
into the sky. As the Pleiades rise in mid-May, they are, as daughters of Atlas, the bringer of the fertilizing spring rains
which come out of the west; as they set at the end of October, they are, as the pursued of Orion, the forerunners of the
autumn storms. To them, Homer, in his Odyssey (XII. 62) probably alluded as the doves that brought Ambrosia from
the west to Zeus. That one of the doves was lost while pursuing the wandering rocks, the Planetae, is a reference to the
fact that one of the Pleiades, Merope, is always invisible - from hiding her light for shame at having had intercourse
with Sisyphus - a mortal. However, all the Pleïades became ancestresses of heroic or divine families, called by the
Romans: Vergiliae (probably from ver - Spring).
Gemini. The twins. The constellation Gemini contains Castor and Pollux, the Dioscuri, twin sons of Jupiter and Leda,
associated with Romulus and Remus, the founders of Rome. The constellation Lupus represents the wolf by whom the
twins were suckled in infancy. In other references the twins are identified as Hercules and Apollo, and as Triptolemus
and Iasion. With the Arabians -- the twins were a pair of peacocks.
Cancer. The crab. It contains a loose cluster of stars, Praesepe, the beehive, visible to the naked eye as a nebulous patch.
Aratus mentions it in the third century B.C., and Ptolemy catalogued 13 stars within the area, none brighter than the 3d
magnitude. Encyclopaedia Britannica explains the name as possibly due to the fact that at this point the Sun, passing the
point of its greatest elongation, apparently retraces its path in a sidelong manner resembling a crab.
Leo. The Lion. The Nemean lion, slain by Hercules, and raised to the heavens in his honor, by Zeus. Regulus, the Lion's
Heart, also known as Basilicus, is its brightest star, of a magnitude of 1-23. The Leonids are a meteoric swarm which
radiate from the area, appearing in November.
Virgo. The Virgin. According to different fables she was Justitia, daughter of Astraeus and Ancora, who lived before
man sinned, and taught him his duty; and at the end of the golden age she returned to her place in the heavens. Hesiod
identified her as the daughter of Jupiter and Themis. Others variously identify her as Erigone, daughter of Icarius; and
Parthene, daughter of Apollo. The principal star of the constellation is Spica, a star of the first magnitude, with a very
faint companion.
Libra. The Balance. It was mentioned by Manetho in the 3d century, B.C. and by Germinus in the 1st Century B.C. It
was not mentioned by Aratus, but Ptolemy catalogued 17 stars in the area. It contains the important star Algol, a
variable, of a magnitude of from 5 to 6.2, with a period of 2d 7h 51m. Encyclopaedia Britannica finds no explanation for
the name beyond the fact that there the days and nights are of equal duration, which would also apply to Aries.
Scorpio. The Scorpion. According to a Greek myth Orion boasted to Diana and Latona that he would kill every animal
on the Earth. Whereupon the goddesses sent a scorpion which stung him to death. Jupiter then raised the scorpion to the
heavens, but later, at the request of Diana, he also raised Orion. The chief star of the constellation is Antares, a reddish
star of the first magnitude which has a green companion of the seventh magnitude.
Sagittarius. The Archer. The Greeks represented this constellation as a centaur in the act of releasing an arrow; they
identified him as Crotus, son of Eupheme, the nurse of the Muses. The constellation contains no notably large stars.
Capricorn. The Goat. Literally translated it means a goat with horns. Ptolemy and Tycho Brahe catalogued 28 stars in
this area, none of notable size. The ancients sometimes represented it as a goat, at other times only as the forepart of that
animal with the tail of a fish. No record is available as to the origin of the term, but Eudoxus mentions it in the fourth
century B.C..