Page:Star Lore Of All Ages, 1911.pdf/265

Rh have evidence of the very earliest attempts of man to engrave a record of history and tradition for all humanity to read, and that in the history of these constellations lies the key to many of the mooted religious questions of the day.

The Arabs knew Draco as "Al-Tinnìn," and "Al-Thubān," and had names for all the brighter stars in the constellation, many of which represented to their imagination goats or camels. The Egyptians, it is said, also called Draco "Tanen" at one time. This name is still retained by the star γ Draconis.

The dragon was the national emblem of China, but, strange to say, the Dragon of the Chinese zodiac was among the stars composing the constellation Libra. According to Edkins, "the Palace of the Heavenly Emperor" is bounded by the oval formed by the fifteen stars in Draco, amongst which is the star "Tai-yi," the ancient Pole Star, twenty two degrees from the present Pole.

Schiller thought Draco represented the Innocents, other early Christians saw here the Dragon Infernal.

There are several stars in this constellation that are noteworthy, α Draconis, called by the Arabs "Thubān" and "Al-Tinnìn," was in the year 2790, or thereabouts, the Pole Star, and the whole constellation then swung around it as on a pivot. Hence it was known in China as "the Right Hand Pivot."

The change in the position of the Pole Star is of such interest, that a slight reference to the reason for it is worth noting. The north celestial Pole is slowly moving in a small circle whose centre is the north Pole of the ecliptic, that great circle which the sun, moon, and planets traverse. This motion causes what is known as "the Precession of the Equinoxes," by which they travel slowly westward, completing an entire revolution in 25,900 years. This motion also causes in time a change in the Pole Star, so that even as ThubanThubān [sic] once was, and Polaris now is, so Vega in 13,000 years will mark the Pole.