3-057-449 - Heritage Art/Heritage Images

Illustration of the constellation Sirius, with text, c820-840 AD. Sirius is the brightest star in the sky, after the Sun. The ancient Egyptians called Sirius the dog star, after their god Osiris, whose head in pictograms resembled that of a dog. From Cicero's Latin translation of Aratus's "Phaenomena", which is an ancient literary source of constellations. Aratus of Soli was a poet of the early third century BC. From the Harley Aratus.