Greek Greek may refer to: Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor of all kno ...

and

Roman mythology Roman mythology is the body of myths of ancient Rome as represented in the literature and visual arts of the Romans, and is a form of Roman folklore. "Roman mythology" may also refer to the modern study of these representations, and to th ...

and

religion Religion is a range of social system, social-cultural systems, including designated religious behaviour, behaviors and practices, morals, beliefs, worldviews, religious text, texts, sanctified places, prophecies, ethics in religion, ethics, or ...

, Sirius (, ; ) is the god and personification of the star

Sirius Sirius is the brightest star in the night sky. Its name is derived from the Greek word (Latin script: ), meaning 'glowing' or 'scorching'. The star is designated Canis Majoris, Latinized to Alpha Canis Majoris, and abbr ...

, also known as the Dog Star, the brightest star in the night sky and the most prominent star in the constellation of

Canis Major Canis Major is a constellation in the southern celestial hemisphere. In the second century, it was included in Ptolemy's 48 constellations, and is counted among the 88 modern constellations. Its name is Latin for "greater dog" in contrast to C ...

(or the Greater Dog). In ancient Greek and Roman texts, Sirius is portrayed as the scorching bringer of the summer heatwaves, the bright star who intensifies the

Sun The Sun is the star at the centre of the Solar System. It is a massive, nearly perfect sphere of hot plasma, heated to incandescence by nuclear fusion reactions in its core, radiating the energy from its surface mainly as visible light a ...

's own heat.

Etymology

The ancient Greek word and proper noun has been connected to the verb (''seíō''), meaning to 'sparkle, to gleam' and has thus an

Indo-European The Indo-European languages are a language family native to the northern Indian subcontinent, most of Europe, and the Iranian plateau with additional native branches found in regions such as Sri Lanka, the Maldives, parts of Central Asia (e. ...

etymology; Furnée on the other hand compared it to the word (''tírios''), the Cretan word for summer, which, if correct, would mean that the word is pre-Greek instead. From this name an ancient phrase was derived, ' (literally "sirian passion", meaning burning passion).

Description

Sirius's divine parentage is not made entirely clear in ancient texts; in the ''

Theogony The ''Theogony'' () is a poem by Hesiod (8th–7th century BC) describing the origins and genealogy, genealogies of the Greek gods, composed . It is written in the Homeric Greek, epic dialect of Ancient Greek and contains 1,022 lines. It is one ...

'' the poet

Hesiod Hesiod ( or ; ''Hēsíodos''; ) was an ancient Greece, Greek poet generally thought to have been active between 750 and 650 BC, around the same time as Homer.M. L. West, ''Hesiod: Theogony'', Oxford University Press (1966), p. 40.Jasper Gr ...

names

Eos In ancient Greek mythology and Ancient Greek religion, religion, Eos (; Ionic Greek, Ionic and Homeric Greek ''Ēṓs'', Attic Greek, Attic ''Héōs'', "dawn", or ; Aeolic Greek, Aeolic ''Aúōs'', Doric Greek, Doric ''Āṓs'') is the go ...

(the dawn goddess) and her husband

Astraeus In Greek mythology, Astraeus () or Astraios () is the son of Crius and Eurybia, and the consort of Eos. He is said to be the father of the winds. Etymology His name "Astraeus" (Ancient Greek , translit. ''Astraîos'') is derived from the G ...

(a star god) as the parents of all stars, although this usually referred to the 'wandering stars', that is the five

planets A planet is a large, rounded astronomical body that is generally required to be in orbit around a star, stellar remnant, or brown dwarf, and is not one itself. The Solar System has eight planets by the most restrictive definition of the te ...

. Sirius is first mentioned by name in

's ''

Works and Days ''Works and Days'' ()The ''Works and Days'' is sometimes called by the Latin translation of the title, ''Opera et Dies''. Common abbreviations are ''WD'' and ''Op'' for ''Opera''. is a didactic poem written by ancient Greek poet Hesiod around ...

'', although he is also strongly alluded to in

Homer Homer (; , ; possibly born ) was an Ancient Greece, Ancient Greek poet who is credited as the author of the ''Iliad'' and the ''Odyssey'', two epic poems that are foundational works of ancient Greek literature. Despite doubts about his autho ...

's ''

Iliad The ''Iliad'' (; , ; ) is one of two major Ancient Greek epic poems attributed to Homer. It is one of the oldest extant works of literature still widely read by modern audiences. As with the ''Odyssey'', the poem is divided into 24 books and ...

'', with his brilliance used as a metaphor for the shiny bronze armors of the soldiers, and in another point he is presented as an ominous death star foreshadowing the fate of the doomed

Hector In Greek mythology, Hector (; , ) was a Trojan prince, a hero and the greatest warrior for Troy during the Trojan War. He is a major character in Homer's ''Iliad'', where he leads the Trojans and their allies in the defense of Troy, killing c ...

in his fight against

Achilles In Greek mythology, Achilles ( ) or Achilleus () was a hero of the Trojan War who was known as being the greatest of all the Greek warriors. The central character in Homer's ''Iliad'', he was the son of the Nereids, Nereid Thetis and Peleus, ...

Apollonius of Rhodes Apollonius of Rhodes ( ''Apollṓnios Rhódios''; ; fl. first half of 3rd century BC) was an ancient Greek literature, ancient Greek author, best known for the ''Argonautica'', an epic poem about Jason and the Argonauts and their quest for the Go ...

calls him "brilliant and beautiful but full of menace for the flocks," and both

Aratus Aratus (; ; c. 315/310 240 BC) was a Greek didactic poet. His major extant work is his hexameter poem ''Phenomena'' (, ''Phainómena'', "Appearances"; ), the first half of which is a verse setting of a lost work of the same name by Eudoxus of Cn ...

and

Quintus of Smyrna Quintus Smyrnaeus (also Quintus of Smyrna; , ''Kointos Smyrnaios'') was a Greek epic poet whose ''Posthomerica'', following "after Homer", continues the narration of the Trojan War. The dates of Quintus Smyrnaeus' life and poetry are disputed: by ...

speak of his rise in conjunction to that of the

(the god

Helios In ancient Greek religion and Greek mythology, mythology, Helios (; ; Homeric Greek: ) is the god who personification, personifies the Sun. His name is also Latinized as Helius, and he is often given the epithets Hyperion ("the one above") an ...

). The Roman poet

Statius Publius Papinius Statius (Greek language, Greek: Πόπλιος Παπίνιος Στάτιος; , ; ) was a Latin poetry, Latin poet of the 1st century CE. His surviving poetry includes an epic in twelve books, the ''Thebaid (Latin poem), Theb ...

says: In addition to that, "Sirius" was sometimes used as an epithet of Helios himself due to the Sun's great heat and warmth. Sirius and his appearance in the sky in July and August was associated with heat, fire and fever by the ancient Greeks from early on, as was his association with dogs; as the chief star in the constellation

, he was referred to as 'the Dog', which also referred to the entire constellation. The arrival of Sirius in the sky was seen as the cause behind the hot, dry days of summer; dogs were thought to be the most affected by Sirius's heat, causing them rapid panting and aggressive behaviour towards humans, who were in danger of contacting rabies from their bites. Sirius, a luminous star brighter than the Sun, is very often described as red in some ancient Greek and Roman texts, put in the same category as the red-shining

Mars Mars is the fourth planet from the Sun. It is also known as the "Red Planet", because of its orange-red appearance. Mars is a desert-like rocky planet with a tenuous carbon dioxide () atmosphere. At the average surface level the atmosph ...

and

Antares Antares is the brightest star in the constellation of Scorpius. It has the Bayer designation α Scorpii, which is Latinisation of names, Latinised to Alpha Scorpii. Often referred to as "the heart of the scorpion", Antares is flanked by ...

, although in reality it is a white-blue star.

Mythology

Romance with Opora

Magical_sphere_helios_from_theater_of_dionysus_acropolis_museum_athens_greece

In a lesser known narrative, back when the stars walked the earth, Sirius was sent on a mission on land. There he met and fell madly in love with Opora, the goddess of fruit as well as the transition between summer and autumn. He was however unable to be with her, so in anger he began to burn even hotter. The mortals started to suffer due to the immense heat, and pleaded to the gods. Then the god of the north wind, Boreas, ordered his sons to bring Opora to Sirius, while he himself cooled off the earth with blasts of cold, freezing wind. Sirius then went on to glow and burn hot every summer thereafter during harvest time in commemoration of this event and his great love, explaining the heat of the so-called dog days of summer, which was attributed to this star in antiquity. The story is generally believed to have originated from a lost play entitled ''Opora'', by the

Athenian Athens ( ) is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Greece, largest city of Greece. A significant coastal urban area in the Mediterranean, Athens is also the capital of the Attica (region), Attica region and is the southe ...

playwright of Middle Comedy

Amphis Amphis (Greek: Ἄμφις) was an Athenian comic poet of uncertain origin from approximately the 4th century BC. Pollux seems to refer to Amphis as a Middle Comedy poet, and Amphis' own repeated references to the philosopher PlatoAmphis (frr. 6; ...

, and a work of the same name by Amphis's contemporary

Alexis Alexis may refer to: People Mononym * Alexis (poet) ( – ), a Greek comic poet * Alexis (sculptor), an ancient Greek artist who lived around the 3rd or 4th century BC * Alexis (singer) (born 1968), German pop singer * Alexis (comics) (1946– ...

. It also parallels the tale of young

Phaethon Phaethon (; , ), also spelled Phaëthon, is the son of the Oceanids, Oceanid Clymene (mother of Phaethon), Clymene and the solar deity, sun god Helios in Greek mythology. According to most authors, Phaethon is the son of Helios who, out of a de ...

, the son of the sun-god Helios who drove his father's sun chariot for a day and ended up burning the earth with it, prompting the entire nature to beg

Zeus Zeus (, ) is the chief deity of the List of Greek deities, Greek pantheon. He is a sky father, sky and thunder god in ancient Greek religion and Greek mythology, mythology, who rules as king of the gods on Mount Olympus. Zeus is the child ...

for salvation. In

Euripides Euripides () was a Greek tragedy, tragedian of classical Athens. Along with Aeschylus and Sophocles, he is one of the three ancient Greek tragedians for whom any plays have survived in full. Some ancient scholars attributed ninety-five plays to ...

's version of the story, Helios accompanies Phaethon in his journey riding on a steed named Sirius.

Orion

After the mortal hunter

Orion Orion may refer to: Common meanings * Orion (constellation), named after the mythical hunter * Orion (mythology), a hunter in Greek mythology Arts and media Fictional entities Characters and species * Orion (character), a DC Comics c ...

was killed by the scorpion the earth-goddess

Gaia In Greek mythology, Gaia (; , a poetic form of ('), meaning 'land' or 'earth'),, , . also spelled Gaea (), is the personification of Earth. Gaia is the ancestral mother—sometimes parthenogenic—of all life. She is the mother of Uranus (S ...

sent to punish him, he was transported by the gods (usually either

Artemis In ancient Greek religion and Greek mythology, mythology, Artemis (; ) is the goddess of the hunting, hunt, the wilderness, wild animals, transitions, nature, vegetation, childbirth, Kourotrophos, care of children, and chastity. In later tim ...

or Zeus) in the stars as the homonymous constellation, where he was ever accompanied by his faithful dog, who was represented by Sirius (and Canis Major) in their new celestial lives. This belief seems to originate from the fact that the Dog forms a sky-picture with Orion, as the two hunt

Lepus Hares and jackrabbits are mammals belonging to the genus ''Lepus''. They are herbivores and live solitarily or in pairs. They nest in slight depressions called forms, and their young are able to fend for themselves shortly after birth. The genu ...

(the Hare) or the

Teumessian fox In Greek mythology, the Teumessian fox, sometimes called the Teumessian vixen, was an enormous fox that was destined never to be caught. Mythology It was said that the Teumessian fox had been sent by the gods (perhaps Dionysus) to prey upon the ...

through the sky.

Maera

Sirius is also identified with Maera (), which was another name for the dog star in antiquity. In mythology Maera was the hound of

Icarius In Greek mythology, there were two people named Icarius (; ''Ikários''). * Icarius, a Spartan prince, son of Perieres. * Icarius, an Athenian who received Dionysus.Apollodorus, 3.14.7 See also *Icarus, whose wings failed in flight Notes Ref ...

, an old Athenian an who was taught the art of wine-making by

Dionysus In ancient Greek religion and Greek mythology, myth, Dionysus (; ) is the god of wine-making, orchards and fruit, vegetation, fertility, festivity, insanity, ritual madness, religious ecstasy, and theatre. He was also known as Bacchus ( or ; ...

. When Icarius shared the wine with the other Athenians he was accused of poisoning them (due to the wine's intoxicating properties which made them pass out) and he was thus killed in vengeance; his daughter Erigone, after being led to his corpse by Maera, took her own life by hanging. Dionysus then transferred all three in the sky, with Maera becoming the star Canicula, which was the Romans' name for Sirius, although

Hyginus Hyginus may refer to: People *Hyginus, the author of the '' Fabulae'', an important ancient Latin source for Greek mythology. *Hyginus, the author of the ''Astronomia'', a popular ancient Latin guide on astronomy, probably the same as the author ...

himself claimed that the Greeks used

Procyon Procyon () is the brightest star in the constellation of Canis Minor and usually the list of brightest stars, eighth-brightest star in the night sky, with an apparent visual magnitude of 0.34. It has the Bayer designation α Canis Min ...

for Canicula.

Other works

In second-century author

Lucian Lucian of Samosata (Λουκιανὸς ὁ Σαμοσατεύς, 125 – after 180) was a Hellenized Syrian satirist, rhetorician and pamphleteer who is best known for his characteristic tongue-in-cheek style, with which he frequently ridi ...

's satire work ''

A True Story ''A True Story'' (, ''Alēthē diēgēmata''; or ), also translated as ''True History'', is a long novella or short novel written in the second century AD by the Syrian author Lucian of Samosata. The novel is a satire of outlandish tales that h ...

'', the people of Sirius, here presented as an inhabited world, send an army of Cynobalani (dog-faced men mounting gigantic winged acorns) to assist the Sun citizens in their war against the inhabitants of the Moon.

, ''

'
1.15
/ref> Sirius, associated with heat, is an appropriate ally for the kingdom of the Sun.

Cult

Not much evidence on Sirius' ancient cult is preserved. In antiquity, Sirius might have been venerated on the island of

Kea The kea ( ; ; ''Nestor notabilis'') is a species of large parrot in the Family (biology), family Strigopidae that is endemic to the forested and alpine regions of the South Island of New Zealand. About long, it is mostly olive-green, with br ...

with summer sacrifices to his honour during the Hellenistic period, though certain doubts have been cast on whether such cult did exist indeed; at any point, that cult surely did not predate the third century BC. Keans would observe Sirius's rising from a hilltop; if the star rose clear and brilliant it was a good sign of health, but if it appeared faint or misty it was seen as ominous. Sirius was also represented on coinage from Kea.

Genealogy

References

Bibliography

Apollonius Rhodius Apollonius of Rhodes ( ''Apollṓnios Rhódios''; ; fl. first half of 3rd century BC) was an ancient Greek author, best known for the ''Argonautica'', an epic poem about Jason and the Argonauts and their quest for the Golden Fleece. The poem is ...

, ''The

Argonautica The ''Argonautica'' () is a Greek literature, Greek epic poem written by Apollonius of Rhodes, Apollonius Rhodius in the 3rd century BC. The only entirely surviving Hellenistic civilization, Hellenistic epic (though Aetia (Callimachus), Callim ...

'' translated by E. V. Rieu, Penguin Classics, April 1959. . * Aratus Solensis, ''Phaenomena'' translated by G. R. Mair. Loeb Classical Library Volume 129. London: William Heinemann, 1921
Online version at the Topos Text Project.
* * * *

Gaius Julius Hyginus Gaius Julius Hyginus (; 64 BC – AD 17) was a Latin author, a pupil of the scholar Alexander Polyhistor, and a freedman of Augustus, and reputed author of the '' Fabulae'' and the '' De astronomia'', although this is disputed. Life and works ...

, ''

De astronomia __NOTOC__ ''De astronomia'' (; ''Concerning Astronomy'') is a book of stories written in Latin, probably during the reign of Augustus ( 27 BC AD 14). Attributed to "Hyginus", the book's true author has been long debated. However, the art histor ...

from The Myths of Hyginus'' translated and edited by Mary Grant. University of Kansas Publications in Humanistic Studies
Online version at the Topos Text Project.
* * *

, ''

'', in ''The Homeric Hymns and Homerica with an English Translation by Hugh G. Evelyn-White'', Cambridge, MA., Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann Ltd. 1914
Online version at the Perseus Digital Library
*

, ''

, ''The

'' with an English Translation by A.T. Murray, Ph.D. in two volumes. Cambridge, MA., Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann, Ltd. 1924
Online version at perseus.tufts Library.
*
Online version at Perseus.tufts project.
* * * *

Quintus Smyrnaeus Quintus Smyrnaeus (also Quintus of Smyrna; , ''Kointos Smyrnaios'') was a Greek epic poet whose ''Posthomerica'', following "after Homer", continues the narration of the Trojan War. The dates of Quintus Smyrnaeus' life and poetry are disputed: by ...

, ''Quintus Smyrnaeus: The Fall of Troy'', translated by Arthur S. Way, Cambridge, Massachusetts,

Harvard University Press Harvard University Press (HUP) is an academic publishing house established on January 13, 1913, as a division of Harvard University. It is a member of the Association of University Presses. Its director since 2017 is George Andreou. The pres ...

, 1913
Internet Archive
* *

, ''

Silvae The is a collection of Latin occasional poetry in hexameters, hendecasyllables, and lyric meters by Publius Papinius Statius (c. 45 – c. 96 CE). There are 32 poems in the collection, divided into five books. Each book contains a prose pref ...

'', translated by John Henry Mozley, London, W. Heinemann, Ltd.; New York, G. P. Putnam's Sons, 1928
Available on Internet Archive.

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Sirius Stellar gods Greek gods Personifications in Greek mythology Summer deities Children of Eos Fire gods Light gods Dog gods Kea (island) Epithets of Helios Astronomical myths Sirius