Sirius

Sirius, also known as the Dog Star, is the brightest star system in the night sky.Although the naked eye only sees one star, Sirius actually consists of two stars, Sirius A and Sirius B.
Sirius is in the constellation of ‘Canis Major’, ‘the large dog’, named Laelaps by the Ancient Greeks, which followed Orion, the hunter.

Sirius appeared just before the summer solstice, after a period of absence of 70 days. This is called the Heliacal Rising of the star.

The Romans celebrated the Heliacal setting of Sirius around April 25th, by sacrificing a Dog and a Sheep, to prevent their wheat crops from turning red with rust from the star.

It was known to the Ancient Egyptians as ‘Sopdet’. The Hieroglyph for Sirius depicts a star and a triangle.
The Ancient Egyptians based their calendar on the Heliacal Rising of Sirius. Sirius disappeared for 70 days before reappearing just before the Annual Rise of the Nile and the Summer Solstice.
Ancient Egypt also associated the Sirius Period with the Pestilence.
Sirius was linked by the Ancient Egyptians to the Goddess Isis.

The Ancient Greeks called Sirius ‘Sothis’. The name is derived from the Ancient Greek ‘Seirios’ meaning ‘scorcher’. They also called Sirius ‘The Dog’. Its rays of light were considered potentially harmful.
The Period associated with Sirius was called ‘The Dog Days of Summer’, and was associated with the heat of Summer and the Pestilences that accompanied the heat.
Its appearance in the night sky was the official start of Summer in Ancient Greece.
On the island of Keos in the Cyclades, sacrifices were offered to Sirius when it appeared, in the hope of keeping Pestilence away. Third century BCE coins from Keos show a dog or star with rays.

The Romans celebrated the Heliacal setting of Sirius around April 25th, by sacrificing a Dog and a Sheep, to prevent their wheat crops from turning red with rust from the star.
The Roman Astronomer Ptolemy, used Sirius to mark the Central Meridian on the Globe.
In the star guide Ptolemy's Almagest, he placed Sirius in the constellation of Canis Major. He identified Sirius as a red star and associated it with the other red stars.

The Polynesians navigated the Pacific Ocean by using stars on the horizon as Latitude markers.
Sirius sets over Fiji, and marks Latitude 17 degrees south.
Sirius was known as ‘Ka’ulua’ in Hawaii, which means ‘Queen of Heaven’.

The Dogon People number around 500,000 and live south of the Niger Bend, in a central plateau area of Mali.
The Dogon appear to have had an advanced knowledge of the Binary star Sirius A and Sirius B, which is not fully understood, since they did not have the telescope. Sirius B is not visible to the naked eye, and yet the Dogon knew that the two stars had a 50 year orbital period.
The Dogon also knew of the Moons of Jupiter and the Rings of Saturn.

‘African Worlds: Studies in the Cosmological Ideas and Social Values of the African Peoples’.
- This work consists of nine different case studies, including the study of the Dogon.
- Between 1930 and 1956, a French anthropologist called Marcel Griaule studied the Dogon.
- He and Germaine Dieterlen published their research in 1954, edited by Daryll Forde.