Dog Star Many cultures have historically attached special significance to Sirius, particularly in relation to
dogs. It is often colloquially called the "Dog Star" as the brightest star of
Canis Major, the "Great Dog" constellation. Canis Major was classically depicted as
Orion's dog. The Ancient Greeks thought that Sirius's emanations could affect dogs adversely, making them behave abnormally during the "dog days", the hottest days of the summer. The Romans knew these days as , and the star Sirius was called Canicula, "little dog". The excessive panting of dogs in hot weather was thought to place them at risk of desiccation and disease. In extreme cases, a foaming dog might have rabies, which could infect and kill humans they had bitten.
Iranian mythology and Zoroastrianism In Iranian mythology, especially in
Persian mythology and in
Zoroastrianism, the ancient religion of
Persia, Sirius appears as
Tishtrya and is revered as the rain-maker divinity (Tishtar of
New Persian poetry). Beside passages in one of the
hymns of the
Avesta, the
Avestan language
Tishtrya followed by the version
Tir in
Middle and New Persian is also depicted in the
Persian epic
Shahnameh of
Ferdowsi. Because of the concept of the
yazatas, powers which are "worthy of worship", Tishtrya is a divinity of rain and fertility and an antagonist of
apaosha, the demon of drought. In this struggle, Tishtrya is depicted as a white horse. Several cultures also associated the star with a bow and arrows. The ancient Chinese visualized a large bow and arrow across the southern sky, formed by the constellations of
Puppis and Canis Major. In this, the arrow tip is pointed at the wolf Sirius. A similar association is depicted at the
Temple of Hathor in
Dendera, where the goddess
Satet has drawn her arrow at
Hathor (Sirius). Known as "Tir", the star was portrayed as the arrow itself in later Persian culture. The alternative Western name
Aschere, once used by
Johann Bayer, is derived from this Arabic reference. during the decades around the year 2000. Over the years, its midnight culmination moves slowly, owing to the combination of the star's
proper motion and the
precession of the equinoxes. At the time of the introduction of the Gregorian calendar in the year 1582, its culmination occurred 17 minutes before midnight into the new year under the assumption of a constant motion. According to
Richard Hinckley Allen its midnight culmination was celebrated at the
Temple of Demeter at Eleusis.
Dogon The
Dogon people are an
ethnic group in
Mali, West Africa, reported by some researchers to have traditional astronomical knowledge about Sirius that would normally be considered impossible without the use of telescopes. According to
Marcel Griaule, they knew about the fifty-year orbital period of Sirius and its companion prior to western astronomers. Doubts have been raised about the validity of Griaule and Dieterlein's work. In 1991, anthropologist Walter van Beek concluded about the Dogon, "Though they do speak about
sigu tolo [which is what Griaule claimed the Dogon called Sirius] they disagree completely with each other as to which star is meant; for some it is an invisible star that should rise to announce the
sigu [festival], for another it is Venus that, through a different position, appears as
sigu tolo. All agree, however, that they learned about the star from Griaule." According to
Noah Brosch cultural transfer of relatively modern astronomical information could have taken place in 1893, when a French expedition arrived in Central West Africa to observe the total eclipse on 16 April.
Serer religion In the
religion of the
Serer people of
Senegal,
the Gambia and
Mauritania, Sirius is called
Yoonir from the
Serer language (and some of the
Cangin language speakers, who are all ethnically Serers). The star Sirius is one of the most important and sacred stars in
Serer religious cosmology and symbolism. The Serer high priests and priestesses (
Saltigues, the hereditary "rain priests") chart
Yoonir to forecast rainfall and enable Serer farmers to start planting seeds. In Serer religious cosmology, it is the symbol of the universe. Seven ships of the
Royal Navy have been called since the 18th century, with
the first being the
flagship of the
First Fleet to
Australia in 1788. The
Royal Australian Navy subsequently named a vessel in honor of the flagship. American vessels include the as well as a monoplane model—the
Lockheed Sirius, the first of which was flown by
Charles Lindbergh. The name was also adopted by
Mitsubishi Motors as the
Mitsubishi Sirius engine in 1980. The name of the
North American
satellite radio company CD Radio was changed to
Sirius Satellite Radio in November 1999, being named after "the brightest star in the night sky". Sirius is one of the 27 stars on the
flag of Brazil, where it represents the state of
Mato Grosso. Sirius has been the subject of poetry.
Dante and
John Milton reference the star, and it is the "powerful western fallen star" of
Walt Whitman's "
When Lilacs Last in the Dooryard Bloom'd", while
Tennyson's poem
The Princess describes the star's
scintillation: Sirius is also the name of the titular character of
Olaf Stapledon's 1944 novel "
Sirius" which examines what it would be like to be the only intelligent dog in the world. Stars in Orion are used on the original cover to form the body of a dog with his nose sniffing Alpha Canis Majoris. Throughout the 1990s, several members of the occult group the
Order of the Solar Temple committed mass murder-suicide with the goal of leaving their bodies and spiritually "transiting" to Sirius. In total, 74 people died in all of the suicides and murders. == See also ==