Page:Star Lore Of All Ages, 1911.pdf/69



astronomers of all nations, with the exception of the Arabians, have adopted the figure of a man pouring water from a jar or pitcher to express this constellation. The Arabs, being forbidden by law to draw the human figure, have represented this sign by a saddled mule carrying on his back two barrels of water, and sometimes by only a water bucket. They called the constellation "Al-Dawl," the "Well Bucket," and not the "Water Bearer."

For some reason, all the ancients imagined that the part of the sky occupied by the Water Bearer and neighbouring constellations contained a great celestial sea. Here we find the Whale, the Fishes, the Dolphin, the Southern Fish, the Sea Goat, the Crane, (a wading bird), and even Eridanus, the River Po, is sometimes shown as having its source in the Waterman's Bucket. It also seems appropriate that Pegasus is situated in this region of the sky, for the winged horse was the Phœnician emblem of navigation, and the star Markab, as Alpha Pegasi was called by the Arabs, signifies a ship or vehicle.

According to Ideler, the reason for this designation of "the Sea" for this region of the heavens is because the sun passes through this part of the sky during the rainy season of the year.

An Egyptian legend averred that the floods of the Nile were caused by the Water Bearer sinking his huge urn into