Acrab Info Scorpion

4/8/2021 LacusCurtius • Allen's Star Names — Scorpio
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This webpage reproduces a section of

Star Names
Their Lore and Meaning
by
Richard Hinckley Allen
as reprinted
in the Dover edition, 1963
The text is in the public domain.
This page has been carefully proofread

and I believe it to be free of errors.
If you find a mistake though,
please let me know!
. . . that p360
cold animal
Which with its tail doth smite among
the nations.
Longfellow's translation of Dante's Purgatorio.
Scorpio, or Scorpius, the Scorpion,
was the reputed slayer of the Giant (Orion), exalted to the skies and
now rising from the horizon as Orion, still in fear of the Scorpion,
sinks below it; although the la er itself was in danger, — Sackville p361
writing in his Inductionº to the Mirror of Magistrates, about 1565:
Whiles Scorpio, dreading Sagittarius' dart

Whose bow prest bent in flight the string had slipped,
Down slid into the ocean flood apart.
Classical authors saw in it the monster that caused the disastrous

runaway of the steeds of Phoebus Apollo when in the inexperienced
https://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Gazetteer/Topics/astronomy/_Texts/secondary/ALLSTA/Scorpio*.html 1/18
hands of Phaethon.
For some centuries before the Christian era it was the largest of the
zodiac figures, forming with the Χηλαὶ, its Claws, — the prosectae
chelae of Cicero, now our Libra, — a double constellation, as Ovid
wrote [Met. II.197]:
Porrigit in spatium signorum membra duorum;
and this figuring has been adduced as the strongest proof of Scor-
pio's great antiquity, from the belief that only six constellations
made up the earliest zodiac, of which this extended sign was one.
With the Greeks it universally was Σκορπίος; Aratos, singularly

making but slight allusion to it, added Μεγαθηρίον, the Great
Beast, changed in the 1720 edition of Bayer to Μελαθυρίον; while
another very appropriate term with Aratos was Τέρας μέγα, the
Great Sign. This reputed magnitude perhaps was due to the mytho-
logical necessity of greater size for the slayer of great Orion, in ref-
erence to which that author characterized it as πλειότερος προφα-
νείς, "appearing huger still."
The Latins occasionally wrote the word Scorpios, but usually

Scorpius, or Scorpio; while Cicero, Ennius, Manilius, and perhaps
Columella gave the kindred African title Nepa, or Nepas, the first
of which the Alfonsine Tables copy, as did Manilius the Greek adjec-
tive Ὀπισθο-βάμων, Walking Backward. Astronomical writers and
commentators, down to comparatively modern times, occasionally
mentioned its two divisions under the combined title Scorpius cum
Chelis; while some representations even showed the Scales in the
creature's Claws.
Grotius said that the Arabians called the Claws Graffias, and the
Latins, according to Pliny, Forficulae. a
In early China it was an important part of the figure of the mighty

but genial Azure Dragon of the East and of spring, in later days the
residence of the heavenly Blue Emperor; but in the time of Confu-
cius it was Ta Who, the Great Fire, a primeval name for its star
Antares; and Shing Kung, a Divine Temple, was applied to the
stars of the tail. As a member of the early zodiac it was the Hare, for p362
which, in the 16th century, was substituted, from Jesuit teaching,

Tien He, the Celestial Scorpion.
Sir William Drummond asserted that in the zodiac which the patri-
arch Abraham knew it was an Eagle; and some commentators have
located here the biblical Chambers of the South, Scorpio being di-
rectly opposite the Pleiades on the sphere, both thought to be men-
tioned in the same passage of the Book of Job with two other op-
posed constellations, the Bear and Orion; but the original usually is
considered a reference to the southern heavens in general. Aben
Ezra identified Scorpio, or Antares, with the Kᵋsīl of the Hebrews;
although that people generally considered these stars as a Scorpion,
their ʽAḳrabh, and, it is claimed, inscribed it on the banners of Dan
as the emblem of the tribe whose founder was "a serpent by the
way." When thus shown it was as a crowned Snake or Basilisk.
A similar figure appeared for it at one period of Egyptian astrono-
my; indeed it is thus met with in modern times, for Cha erton, that
precocious poet of the last century, plainly wrote of the Scorpion in
his line,
The slimy Serpent swelters in his course;
and long before him Spenser had, in the Faerie Queen:
and now in Ocean deepe

Orion flying fast from hissing snake,
His flaming head did hasten for to steepe.
But the Denderah zodiac shows the typical form.
Kircher called the whole constellation Ἰσιας,º Statio Isidis, the

bright Antares having been at one time a symbol of Isis.
The Arabians knew it as Al ʽAḳrab, the Scorpion, from which have

degenerated Alacrab, Alatrab, Alatrap, Hacrab, — Riccioli's
Aakrab and Hacerab; and similarly it was the Syrians' Akrevā. Ric-
cioli gave us Acrobo Chaldaeis, which may be true, but in this Latin
word he probably had reference to the astrologers.
The Persians had a Scorpion in their Ghezhdūm or Kazhdūm, and

the Turks, in their Koirūghi, Tailed, and Uzun Koirūghi, Long-
tailed.
The Akkadians called it Girtab, the Seizer, or Stinger, and the Place
where One Bows Down, titles indicative of the creature's danger-
ous character; although some early translators of the cuneiform text
rendered it the Double Sword. With later dwellers on the Eu-
phrates it was the symbol of darkness, showing the decline of the
sun's power after the autumnal equinox, then located in it. Always
prominent in that astronomy, Jensen thinks that it was formed there
5000 B.C., and pictured much as it now is; perhaps also in the semi- p363
human form of two Scorpion-men, the early circular Altar, or Lamp,

sometimes being shown grasped in the Claws, as the Scales were in
illustrations of the 15th century. In Babylonia this calendar sign was
identified with the eighth month, Arakh Savna, our October-
November.
Early India knew it as Āli, Viçrika, or Vrouchicam, — in Tamil, Vr-

ishaman; but later on Varāha Mihira said Kaurpya, and Al Bīrūnī,
Kaurba, both from the Greek Scorpios. On the Cingalese zodiac it
was Ussika.
Dante designated it b as Un Secchione,
Formed like a bucket that is all ablaze;
and in the Purgatorio [Purg. IX.5-6] as Il Friddoº Animal of our mo o,

not a mistaken reference to the creature's nature, but to its rising in
the cold hours of the dawn when he was gazing upon it. Dante's
translator Longfellow has something similar in his own Poets' Cal-
endar for October:
On the frigid Scorpion I ride.
Chaucer wrote of it, in the Hous of Fame, as the Scorpioun; his An-
glo-Norman predecessors, Escorpiun; and the Anglo-Saxons,
Throwend.
Caesius mistakenly considered it one of the Scorpions of Re-

hoboam; but Novidius said that it was
the scorpion or serpent whereby Pharaoh, King of Egypt, was enforced

to let the children of Israel depart out of his country;
of which Hood said "there is no such thing in history." Other Chris-

tians of their day changed its figure to that of the Apostle
Bartholomew; and Weigel, to a Cardinal's Hat.
In some popular books of the present day it is the Kite, which it as

much resembles as it does a Scorpion.
Its symbol is now given as ♏, but in earlier times the sting of the
creature was added, perhaps so showing the feet, tail, and dart; but
the similarity in their symbols may indicate that there has been
some intimate connection, now forgo en, between Scorpio and the
formerly adjacent Virgo (♍).
Ampelius [Lib. Mem. 4] assigned to it the care of Africus, the South-

west Wind, a duty which, he said, Aries and Sagi arius shared; and
the weather-wise of antiquity thought that its se ing exerted a ma-
lignant influence, and was accompanied by storms; but the al-
chemists held it in high regard, for only when the sun was in this
sign could the transmutation of iron into gold be performed. As-
trologers, on the other hand, although they considered it a fruitful
sign, "active and eminent," knew it as the accursed constellation, the p364
baleful source of war and discord, the birthplace of the planet Mars,
and so the House of Mars, the Martis Sidus of Manilius. But this
was located in the sting and tail; the claws, as Ζυγός, Jugum, or the
Yoke of the Balance (Libra), being devoted to Venus, because this
goddess united persons under the yoke of matrimony. It was sup-
posed to govern the region of the groin in the human body, and to
reign over Judaea, Mauritania, Catalonia, Norway, West Silesia, Up-
per Batavia, Barbary, Morocco, Valencia, and Messina; the earlier
Manilius claiming it as the tutelary sign of Carthage, Libya, Egypt,
Sardinia, and other islands of the Italian coast. Brown was its as-
signed color, and Pliny asserted that the appearance of a comet here
portended a plague of reptiles and insects, especially of locusts.
Although nominally in the zodiac, the sun actually occupies but

nine days in passing through the two portions that project upwards
into Ophiuchus, so far south of the ecliptic is it; indeed, except for
these projections, it could not be claimed as a member of the zodiac.
Scorpio is famous as the region of the sky where have appeared

many of the brilliant temporary stars, chief among them, perhaps,
that of 134 B.C., the first in astronomical annals, and the occasion,
Pliny said [II.XXIV.95], of the catalogue of Hipparchos, about 125 B.C.
The Chinese She Ke confirmed this appearance by its record of "the
strange star" in June of that year, in the sieu Fang, marked by

β, δ, π, ρ, and others in Scorpio. Serviss thinks it conceivable that
the strange outbursts of these novae in and near Scorpio may have
had some effect in causing this constellation to be regarded by the
ancients as malign in its influence. But this character may, with at
least equal probability, have come from the fiery color of its lucida,
as well as from the history of the constellation in connection with
Orion, and the poisonous a ributes of its earthly namesake.
In southern latitudes Scorpio is magnificently seen in its entirety, —

nearly 45°, — Gould cataloguing in it 184 naked-eye stars.
Along its northern border, perhaps in Ophiuchus, there was, in very

early days, a constellation, the Fox, taken from the Egyptian sphere
of Petosiris, but we know nothing as to its details.
. . . capricious
Antares
Flushing and paling in the Southern
arch.
Willis' The Scholar of Thebet Ben Khorat.
α, Binary, 0.7 and 7, fiery red and emerald green.
Antares, the well-nigh universal title for this splendid star, is tran-
scribed from Ptolemy's ἀντάρης in the Syntaxis, and generally
thought to be from ἀντί Ἄρης, "similar to," or the "rival of," Mars, in p365
reference to its color, — the Latin Tetrabiblos [cf. Tetr. I.9] had Marti
comparatur; or, in the Homeric signification of the words, the
"equivalent of Mars," either from the color-resemblance of the star
to the la er, or because the astrologers considered the Scorpion the
House of that planet and that god its guardian. Thus it naturally
followed the character of its constellation, — perhaps originated it,
— and was always associated with eminence and activity in
mankind.
Grotius, however, said that the word signifies a Bat, which, as

Vespertilio, Sophocles perhaps called it; c but Bayer erroneously
quoted from Hesychios Ἄνταρτης, a Rebel, and Tyrannus. Caesius

appropriately styled the constellation Insidiata, the Lurking One. d
Others say that it was Antar's Star, — but they forget Ptolemy, —
the celebrated Antar or Antarah who, just previous to the time of
Muḥammād, was the mula o warrior-hero of one of the Golden
Muʽallaḳāt. 1
Our word, however, is sometimes wri en Antar, which Beigel said

is the Arabic equivalent of "Shone"; but the Latin translator of the
1515 Almagest connected it with Natar, Rapine, and so possibly ex-
plaining the generally unintelligible expression tendit ad rapinam
applied to Antares in that work and in the Alfonsine Tables of 1521;
or the expression here may refer to the character of Ἄρης, the god of
war. e The Rudolphine Tables designated it as rutilans, Pliny's word
for "glowing redly."
The Arabians' Ḳalb al ʽAḳrab, the Scorpion's Heart, which probably

preceded the Καρδία Σκορπίου and Cor Scorpii of Greece and
Rome respectively, became, in early English and Continental lists,
Kelbalacrab, Calbalacrab, Calbolacrabi, Calbalatrab, and Cabala-
trab; Riccioli having the unique Alcantub, although he generally
wrote Kalb Aakrab. Antares alone constituted the 16th manzil,
Al Ḳalb, the Heart, one of the fortunate stations; but the Chinese in-
cluded σ and τ, on either side, for their sieu, the synonymous Sin,
anciently Sam, σ being the determinant; although Brown says that
this Heart refers to that of Tsing Lung, the Azure Dragon, one of
the four great divisions of their zodiac. They also have a record of a
comet 531 B.C., "to the left of Ta Shin," which last Williams identi-
fied with Antares; while, as the Fire Star, Who Sing, it seems to
have been invoked in worship centuries before our era for protec-
tion against fire. With some adjacent it was one of the Ming t'ang,
or Emperor's Council-hall; his sons and courtiers, other stars, stand-
ing close by, to whom Antares, as Ta Who, announced the princi-
ples of his government.
The Hindus used α, σ, and τ for their nakshatra Jyesthā, Oldest, also p366
known as Rohinī, Ruddy, from the color of Antares, — Indra, the

sky-goddess, being regent of the asterism that was figured as a pen-
dent Ear Jewel.
It was one of the four Royal Stars of Persia, 3000 B.C., and probably
the Guardian of the Heavens that Dupuis mentioned as Satevis;
but, as their lunar asterism, it was Gel, the Red; the Sogdians
changing this to Maghan sadwis, the Great One saffron-colored.
The Khorasmians called it Dharind, the Seizer; and the Copts,
Kharthian, the Heart.
It pointed out to the Babylonians their 24th ecliptic constellation,

Hurru, of uncertain meaning, itself being Urbat according to an as-
trolabe discovered in the palace of Sennacherib and interpreted by
the late George Smith; Brown, however, assigns this title to stars in
Lupus. Other Euphratean names were Bilu-sha-ziri, the Lord of the
Seed; Kak-shisa, the Creator of Prosperity, according to Jensen, al-
though this is generally ascribed to Sirius; and, in the lunar zodiac,
Dar Lugal, the King, identified with the god of lightning, Lugal
Tudda, the Lusty King. Naturally the inscriptions make much of it
in connection with the planet Mars, their Ul Suru, showing that its
Arean association evidently had very early origin; and from them
we read Masu (?) Sar, the Hero and the King, and Kakkab Bir, the
Vermilion Star. Brown identifies it with the seventh antediluvian
king, Ἐυεδώρανχος, or Udda-an-χu, the Day-heaven-bird.
From his Assyrian researches Cheyne translates the 36th verse from
the 38th chapter of the Book of Job:
Who hath put wisdom into the Lance-star?

Or given understanding to the Bow-star?
Jensen referring this Lance-star to Antares. Hommel, however,

identifies it with Procyon of Canis Minor.
In Egyptian astronomy it represented the goddess Selkit, Selk-t, or

Serk-t, heralding the sunrise through her temples at the autumnal
equinox about 3700-3500 B.C., and was the symbol of Isis in the
pyramid ceremonials. Renouf included it with Arcturus in the im-
mense figure Menat.
Penrose mentions the following early Grecian temples as oriented

towards the rising or se ing of Antares at the vernal equinox: the
Heraeum at Argos, in the year 1760, perhaps the oldest temple in
cradle of Greek civilization; the first Erechtheum at Athens, 1070;
one at Corinth, 770; an early temple to Apollo at Delphi, rebuilt
with this orientation in 630; and one of the same date to Zeus at
Aegina; — all of these before our era.
It rises at sunset on the 1st of June, culminating on the 11th of July,

and is one of the so-called lunar stars; and some have asserted that
it was the first star observed through the telescope in the daytime, p367
although Smyth made this claim for Arcturus. Ptolemy le ered it as

of the 2d magnitude, so that in his day it may have been inferior in
brilliancy to the now very much fainter β Librae.
Antares belongs to Secchi's third type of suns, which Lockyer says

are "in the last visible stage of cooling," and nearly extinct as self-
luminous bodies; although this is a theory by no means universally
accepted.
The companion is 3".5 away, and suspected of revolution around its

principal; their present position angle is 270°.
A photograph by Barnard in 1895 first showed the vast and intricate

Cloud Nebula stretching to a great distance around Antares and
the star σ. It was here, two or three degrees north of Antares, that
was discovered, on the 9th of June, Coddington's comet, c of 1898,
the third comet made known by the camera.
β, Triple, 2, 10, and 4, pale white, —, and lilac.
Graffias generally is said to be of unknown derivation; but since

Γραψαῖος signifies "Crab," it may be that here lies the origin of the
title, for it is well known that the ideas and words for crab and scor-
pion were almost interchangeable in early days, from the belief that
the la er creature was generated from the former. 2 It was thought
by Grotius to be a "Barbarian" designation for the Claws of the dou-
ble constellation; and Bayer said the same, although he used the
word for ξ Scorpii in the modern northern claw. In Burri 's Atlas
of 1835 it appears for ξ of the northern Scale, the ancient northern
Claw; but in the edition of 1856 he applied it to our β Scorpii, and in
both editions he has a second β at the base of the tail, west of ε. The
Century Dictionary prints it Grassias, probably from erroneously
reading the early type for the le er f. β is near the junction of the
left claw with the body, or in the arch of the Kite bow,
8° or 9° northwest of Antares. In some modern lists it is Acrab, —
Riccioli's Aakrab schemali.
It was included in the 15th manzil, Iklīl al Jabhah, the Crown of the
Forehead, just north of which feature it lies, taking in with this,
however, the other stars to δ and π; some authorities occasionally
adding ν and ρ. This was one of the fortunate stations, and from
this manzil title comes the occasional Iclil. The Hindus knew the
group as their 15th nakshatra, Anurādhā, Propitious or Successful,
— Mitra, the Friend, one of the Adityas, being the presiding divini-
ty; and they figured it as a Row or Ridge, which the line of compo- p368
nent stars well indicates. The corresponding sieu, Fang, a Room or

House, anciently Fong, consisted of β with δ, π, and ρ, although
Professor Whitney thought it limited to the determinant π, the
faintest of the group and farthest to the south. It shared with
Antares the title Ta Who, and was the central one of the seven lu-
nar asterisms making up the Azure Dragon, Tsing Lung. But indi-
vidually β seems to have been known as Tien Sze, the Four-horse
Chariot of Heaven, and was worshiped by all horsemen. It probably
also was Fu Kwang, the Basket with Handles, and highly regarded
as presiding over the rearing of silkworms, and as indicating the
commencement of the season of that great industry of China.
Timochares saw β occulted by the moon in the year 295 B.C.; and
Hind repeats a statement by Ptolemy, from Chaldaean records, that
the planet Mars almost occulted it on the 17th of January, 272 B.C.;
Smyth, however, substituted β Librae in this phenomenon and
271 B.C. as the date.
The two largest components are 14" apart, at a position angle of 25°;
the third being 0".9 from the first, with a position angle of 89°.
Half-way from β to Antares lies the fine cluster NGC 6093, 80 M.,
on the western edge of a starless opening 4° broad. It was this that
called forth Sir William Herschel's exclamation:
Hier ist wahrhaftig ein Loch im Himmel!
although powerful telescopes reveal in it many minute stars. His

son afterwards described forty-nine such spots in various parts of
the sky. This cluster, that Sir William thought might perhaps have
been formed by stars drawn from that vacancy, "was lit up in 1860
for a short time by the outburst of a temporary star."
γ, 3.25, red,
lies, in Bayer's map, on the tip of the southern claw, and is the same
star as Flamsteed's 20 Librae; but Smyth strangely alluded to it as
being at the end of the sting and nebulous; and Burri placed Bay-
er's le er at the object mentioned by Smyth. Indeed for at least three
hundred years there has been disagreement among astronomers as
to this star; for although Argelander and Heis follow Bayer, Gould
writes:
Since it appears out of the question that it should ever again be regard‐
ed as belonging to Scorpius, I have ventured to designate it by the let‐
ter σ [Librae].
Bayer cited for it Brachium, the Arm, as from Vergil, but this was
erroneous in so far as being a title for this star, the original
brachia in the Georgics [I.34] simply signifying the "claws" that it p369
marks; Bayer added Cornu, the Horn, as from some anonymous

writer.
In Arabia it was Zubān al ʽAḳrab, the Scorpion's Claw, which has

become Zuban al Kravi, Zuben Acrabi; and Bayer said Zuben
Hakrabi and Zuben el Genubi, contracted from Al Zubān
al Janūbiyyah, the Southern Claw. Similar titles also appear for
stars in Libra, the early Claws.
In China it was Chin Chay, the Camp Carriage.
Brown included it, with others near by in Hydra's tail, in the Akka-
dian Entena-mas-luv, or Ente-mas-mur, the Assyrian Etsen-tsiri,
the Tail-tip.
δ, 2.5.
Dschubba is found in the Whitall Planisphere, probably from Al Jab-

hah, the Front, or Forehead, where it lies.
In the Palermo Catalogue the title Iclarkrav is applied to a star whose

assigned position for the year 1800 would indicate our δ. If this be
the case, it may have been a specially coined word from the Arabs'
Iklīl al ʽAḳrab, the Crown of the Scorpion; and this conjecture
would seem justified by our previous experience of that catalogue's
star nomenclature as seen in its remarkable efforts with α and β Del-
phini. Riccioli had Aakràb genubi.
δ was of importance in early times, for with β and π, on either side

in a bending line, it is claimed for the Euphratean Gis-gan-gu-sur,
the Light of the Hero, or the Tree of the Garden of Light, "placed in
the midst of the abyss," and so reminding us of that other tree, the
Tree of Life, in the midst of the Garden of Eden. It was selected by
the Babylonian astronomers, with β, to point out their 23d ecliptic
constellation, which Epping calls Qablu (und qābu) sha rīshu aqra-
bi, the Middle of the Head of the Scorpion. The earliest record that
we have of the planet Mercury is in connection with these same two
stars seen from that country 265 B.C. In the lunar zodiac δ, β, and π
were the Persian Nūr, Bright; the Sogdian and Khorasmian Bighan-
wand, Clawless; and the Coptic Stephani, the Crown.
In China the 2d-magnitude ε, with μ, ζ, η, θ, ι, κ, υ, and λ, formed

the 17th sieu, Wei, the Tail, anciently known as Mi and as Vi, μ be-
ing the determinant; but, although this Tail coincided with that part
of our Scorpion, Brown thinks that reference is rather made to the
tail of the Azure Dragon, one of the quadripartite divisions of the
Chinese zodiac which lay here.
θ, a 2d-magnitude red star, was the Euphratean Sargas, lying in the

Milky Way just south of λ and υ, with which it formed one of the
seven pairs of twin Stars; as such it was Ma-a-su. And it may have
been, with ι, κ, λ, and υ, the Girtab of the lunar zodiac of that valley,
the Vanant of Persia and Vanand of Sogdiana, all meaning the p370
"Seizer," "Smiter," or "Stinger"; but the Persian and Sogdian words

generally are used for our Regulus. In Khorasmia these stars were
Khachman, the Curved. θ has a 14th-magnitude greenish compan-
ion that may be in revolution around it, 6".77 away in 1897, at a po-
sition angle of 316°.9. See writes of this:
a magnificent system of surpassing interest; one of the most difficult of

known double stars.
λ, 1.7.
Shaula probably is from Al Shaulah, the Sting, where it lies; but,

according to Al Bīrūnī, from Mushālah, Raised, referring to the po-
sition of the sting ready to strike. These words have been confused
with the names for the adjoining υ, and in the course of time cor-
rupted to Shauka, Alascha, Mosclek, and Shomlek; Chilmead
writing of these last:
It is also called Schomlek, which Scaliger thinkes is read by transposi‐

tion of the letters for Mosclek, which signifieth the bending of the taile.
Naturally it was an unlucky star with astrologers.
λ and υ were the 17th manzil, Al Shaulah, and the nakshatra Vi-
critāu, the Two Releasers, perhaps from the Vedic opinion that they
brought relief from lingering disease.
Some Hindu authorities, taking in all the stars from ε to υ, called

the whole Mūlā, the Root, with the divine Nirrity, Calamity, as re-
gent of the asterism, which was represented as a Lion's Tail; this ti-
tle appearing also for stars of Sagi arius. In Coptic Egypt λ and υ
were Minamref, the Sting; and, on the Euphrates, Sarur.
An imaginary line extended from υ through Shaula serves to point

out the near-by clusters 6 M. and NGC 6475, 7 M., visible together
in the field of an opera-glass. These probably were the ancient ter-
mination of the sting to which Smyth alluded in his comments
on λ and υ, although he is not quite clear about the ma er; they cer-
tainly were the νεφελοειδής of Ptolemy, among his ἀμόρφωτοι of
Σκορπίος; and Girus ille nebulosus in the Latin Almagest of 1551.
Ulug Beg's translator had Stella nebulosa quae sequitur aculeum
Scorpionis, — Tāliʽ al Shaulah, That which follows the Sting.
In the legends of the Polynesian Islanders, notably those of the Her-

vey group, the stars in the Scorpion, from the two le ered μ to λ
and υ, were the Fish-hook of Maui, with which that god drew up
from the depths the great island Tongareva; and the names and leg-
end that Ellis, in his Polynesian Researches, applied to Castor and

Pollux in Gemini, the Reverend Mr. W. W. Gill asserts, in his Myths p371
and Songs of the South Pacific, belong here, and are the favorites
1
among the story-tellers of the Hervey Islands. They make the star μ
2
a li le girl, Piri-ere-ua, the Inseparable, with her smaller brother, μ ,
fleeing from home to the sky when ill treated by their parents, the
stars λ and υ, who followed them and are still in pursuit.
1
This μ has recently been discovered to be a spectroscopic binary,
with a period of about 35 hours. It is a 3.3-magnitude, and of Sec-
chi's 1st class.
2
μ is of 3.7 magnitude.
ν, Quadruple, 4, 5, 72, and 8.3,
is Jabbah in the Century Cyclopedia, perhaps from its being one of

the manzil Iklīl al Jabhah.
It lies 2° east of β, and is another Double Double like ε Lyrae, al-

though less readily resolved, the larger pair being only 0".89 apart,
and smaller about 1".9. Espin-Webb says: "Probably a quadruple
system." Burnham finds it surrounded by a remarkable winglike
nebula some 2° in diameter.
ξ, Triple, 5, 5.2, and 7.5, bright white, pale yellow, and gray.
Bayer wrote that the "Barbarians" called this Graffias, a title that
Burri assigned in 1835 to ξ of Libra; but he transferred this in his
Atlas of 1856 to β Scorpii, 8½° to the north, leaving this star name-
less. On the Heis map ξ is near the tip of the northern claw, so close
to the northern scale that Flamsteed made it the 51 Librae of his
catalogue.
The components are 1".4 and 7".3 apart, and may form a triple sys-
tem with a possible period of about 105 years.
σ, Double, 3 and 9, creamy white, and τ, 2.9,
were Al Niyāṭ, the Praecordia, or Outworks of the Heart, on either

side of, and, as it were, protecting, Antares, the Heart of the Scorpi-
on. Knobel, in his translation of Al Achsasi's work, explains the
word as "the vein which suspends the heart"!
υ, 2.8.
Lesath, or Lesuth, is from Al Lasʽah, the Sting, which, with λ, it

marks; yet Smyth, who treats of these two stars at considerable
length, says that the word is
formed by Scaliger's conjecture from Alascha, which is a corruption of p372

al‑shaúlah. Lesath, therefore, is not a term used by the Arabs, who
designate all these bumps, which form the tail, Al‑fiḳrah, vertebrated
twirls; they are formed by ε, μ, ζ, η, θ, ι, κ, λ, and υ, and it is supposed
that the sting, punctura scorpionis, was formerly carried to the following
star, γ, marked nebulous by Ptolemy.
But this γ is surely wrong; that le er really applying to a star in the

right claw very far to the west of the sting, — as far as the make-up
of the creature will allow. Still Burri located it as Smyth did.
Al Bīrūnī wrote that λ and υ were in the Ḣarazāh, the Joints of the
Vertebrae. Riccioli mentioned υ as Lesath vel potius Lessaa Elaakrab
Morsum Scorp. vel Denneb Elaakrab; and Bayer, Leschat recté
Lesath, Moschleck, Alascha, which we have seen for λ; but the
proximity of these stars renders this duplication not unnatural.
The Chinese knew them as Keen Pi, the Two Parts of a Lock.
Ideler thought υ the γ of Telescopium, but this does not agree with
Bode's drawing of the la er.
ω , 4.1, and ω , 4.6, red.

1 2
The Arabians called these Jabhat al ʽAḳrab, the Forehead, or Front,

of the Scorpion; and the Chinese, Kow Kin, a Hook and Latch.
They are an interesting naked-eye pair, 14½′ apart, lying just south
of β; but Bayer mentions and shows only a single star.
The Author's Notes:
1
These were the famous seven selected poems of Arabia, said to
have been inscribed in le ers of gold on silk, or Egyptian linen, and
suspended, as their title signifies, in the Kaʽbah at Mecca.
★
2
This was held even by the learned Saints Augustine and Basil of
the 4th century, and confidently expressed by Saint Isidore in his
Origines et Etymologiae [XI.4.3].
Thayer's Notes:
a
If Pliny the Elder's Natural History is meant, which is pre y cer-
tain, forficula appears only once — not in connexion with stars or
astronomy: XXV.58.
b
Dante says nothing of the sort, and the error seems incomprehen-
sible; I suspect an unchecked and garbled secondary source. In the
passage, Purg. XVIII.78, q.v., it is quite clear the poet is referring to
the moon: La luna . . . fa a com' un secchion che tu or arda; no star

is singled out, and the Scorpion is not mentioned.
★
c
Vespertilio is Latin; Sophocles wrote in Greek, of course. Someone
was reading him in a Latin translation, or ge ing the information
second-hand from a scholar writing in Latin, as was the custom un-
til the 19c. I haven't found the passage.
d
Insidiatus is Latin not for lurker, but for lurkee; in good English,
"besieged". Caesius may have said, or meant, Insidiator.
★
e
See Allen's alternate explanation, in connection with Betelgeuze,
s.v. Orion.
Images with borders lead to more information.

The thicker the border, the more information. (Details here.)
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4/8/2021 LacusCurtius • Allen's Star Names — Scorpio

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Scorpio, or Scorpius, the Scorpion,

writing in his Inductionº to the Mirror of Magistrates, about 1565:

Whiles Scorpio, dreading Sagittarius' dart

Classical authors saw in it the monster that caused the disastrous

Porrigit in spatium signorum membra duorum;

With the Greeks it universally was Σκορπίος; Aratos, singularly

The Latins occasionally wrote the word Scorpios, but usually

In early China it was an important part of the ﬁgure of the mighty

which, in the 16th century, was substituted, from Jesuit teaching,

The slimy Serpent swelters in his course;

and long before him Spenser had, in the Faerie Queen:

and now in Ocean deepe

But the Denderah zodiac shows the typical form.

Kircher called the whole constellation Ἰσιας,º Statio Isidis, the

The Arabians knew it as Al ʽAḳrab, the Scorpion, from which have

The Persians had a Scorpion in their Ghezhdūm or Kazhdūm, and

human form of two Scorpion-men, the early circular Altar, or Lamp,

Early India knew it as Āli, Viçrika, or Vrouchicam, — in Tamil, Vr-

Dante designated it b as Un Secchione,

Formed like a bucket that is all ablaze;

and in the Purgatorio [Purg. IX.5-6] as Il Friddoº Animal of our mo o,

On the frigid Scorpion I ride.

Caesius mistakenly considered it one of the Scorpions of Re-

the scorpion or serpent whereby Pharaoh, King of Egypt, was enforced

of which Hood said "there is no such thing in history." Other Chris-

Bartholomew; and Weigel, to a Cardinal's Hat.

In some popular books of the present day it is the Kite, which it as

Ampelius [Lib. Mem. 4] assigned to it the care of Africus, the South-

Although nominally in the zodiac, the sun actually occupies but

Scorpio is famous as the region of the sky where have appeared

strange star" in June of that year, in the sieu Fang, marked by

In southern latitudes Scorpio is magniﬁcently seen in its entirety, —

Along its northern border, perhaps in Ophiuchus, there was, in very

α, Binary, 0.7 and 7, ﬁery red and emerald green.

Grotius, however, said that the word signiﬁes a Bat, which, as

quoted from Hesychios Ἄνταρτης, a Rebel, and Tyrannus. Caesius

Our word, however, is sometimes wri en Antar, which Beigel said

The Arabians' Ḳalb al ʽAḳrab, the Scorpion's Heart, which probably

known as Rohinī, Ruddy, from the color of Antares, — Indra, the

It pointed out to the Babylonians their 24th ecliptic constellation,

Who hath put wisdom into the Lance-star?

Jensen referring this Lance-star to Antares. Hommel, however,

In Egyptian astronomy it represented the goddess Selkit, Selk-t, or

Penrose mentions the following early Grecian temples as oriented

It rises at sunset on the 1st of June, culminating on the 11th of July,

although Smyth made this claim for Arcturus. Ptolemy le ered it as

Antares belongs to Secchi's third type of suns, which Lockyer says

The companion is 3".5 away, and suspected of revolution around its

A photograph by Barnard in 1895 ﬁrst showed the vast and intricate

β, Triple, 2, 10, and 4, pale white, —, and lilac.

Graﬃas generally is said to be of unknown derivation; but since

nent stars well indicates. The corresponding sieu, Fang, a Room or

Hier ist wahrhaftig ein Loch im Himmel!

although powerful telescopes reveal in it many minute stars. His

marks; Bayer added Cornu, the Horn, as from some anonymous

In Arabia it was Zubān al ʽAḳrab, the Scorpion's Claw, which has

In China it was Chin Chay, the Camp Carriage.

Dschubba is found in the Whitall Planisphere, probably from Al Jab-

In the Palermo Catalogue the title Iclarkrav is applied to a star whose