Page:Aratus The Phenomena and Diosemeia.pdf/35



1. . Orion was a giant figure in the attitude of ascending. He wore a belt and sword. In one hand he bore a club, in the other probably a hunter's bag. His head was bent backward between his shoulders, so as to exhibit his face. It may here be remarked, that all the human figures on the ancient sphere were pourtrayed with their backs to the spectator, and their faces turned more or less to view. The most northern star on the belt of Orion lies on the equator. This constellation has two stars of the first magnitude: RIGEL on the left foot, and on the right shoulder; and three of second magnitude. Three small stars on the head of Orion are called, and hence the constellation itself sometimes bears the name of. These stars were of great importance with the astronomers of Babylon, rising in their latitude with the Sun on the summer solstice.

2. . In this constellation is the star. The ancients imagined that the heat of the Sun when in Cancer and Leo was greatly augmented by the additional influence of and other large stars that lie in or near these constellations: