Page:Star Lore Of All Ages, 1911.pdf/111

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According to Lemprière, Erichthonius became the constellation Boötes instead of Auriga.

Brown identifies Erichthonius with Poseidon, the lord of the abyss below the surface of the earth, the stormy earth-shaking divinity, and thus accounts for the stormy influence that the Greeks attributed to Capella, the Goat-star.

The Greek name for Auriga was, "the holder of the reins," a name preserved for us in the Arab name for Beta Aurigæ, "Menkalinan," meaning "the shoulder of the rein-holder."

Blake thinks that the proximity of the chariot (Ursa Major) accounts for the name of the Charioteer applied to the constellation.

On a French chart of 1650 Auriga figures as Adam with his knees on the Milky Way, and the she-goat climbing over his neck.

Dr. Seiss claims that Auriga represented to the Greeks the Good Shepherd, a symbol foretelling the coming of Christ.

Cassius likened it to Jacob deceiving his father with the flesh of his kids.

Auriga has also been identified with Myrtilus, the charioteer of Œnomaus, with Cillas, Pelethronius, Hippolytus, Bellerophon, and St. Jerome, while Jamieson is of the opinion that Auriga is a mere type or scientific symbol of the beautiful fable of Phaëton, because he was the attendant of Phœbus at the remote period when Taurus opened the year.

Auriga in its glorious lucida Capella contains a star famous in the history of all ages. To the early Arabs Capella was known as the " Driver," because it appears in the evening twilight earlier than the other stars, and so apparently 5