Sirius (mythology)
In Greek and Roman mythology and [Ancient Greek mythology|Greek religion|religion], Sirius is the god and personification of the star Sirius, also known as the Dog Star, the brightest star in the night sky and the most prominent star in the constellation of Canis Major. In ancient Greek and Roman texts, Sirius is portrayed as the scorching bringer of the summer heatwaves, the bright star who intensifies the Sun's own heat.
Etymology
The ancient Greek word and proper noun Σείριος has been connected to the verb σείω, meaning to 'sparkle, to gleam' and has thus an Indo-European etymology; Furnée on the other hand compared it to the word τίριος, the Cretan word for summer, which, if correct, would mean that the word is pre-Greek instead. From this name an ancient phrase was derived, σείριον πάθος.Description
Sirius's divine parentage is not made entirely clear in ancient texts; in the Theogony the poet Hesiod names Eos and her husband Astraeus as the parents of all stars, although this usually referred to the 'wandering stars', that is the five planets.Sirius is first mentioned by name in Hesiod's Works and Days, although he is also strongly alluded to in Homer's Iliad, with his brilliance used as a metaphor for the shiny bronze armors of the soldiers, and in another point he is presented as an ominous death star foreshadowing the fate of the doomed Hector in his fight against Achilles. Apollonius of Rhodes calls him "brilliant and beautiful but full of menace for the flocks," and both Aratus and Quintus of Smyrna speak of his rise in conjunction to that of the Sun. The Roman poet Statius says:
In addition to that, "Sirius" was sometimes used as an epithet of Helios himself due to the Sun's great heat and warmth.
Sirius and his appearance in the sky in July and August was associated with heat, fire and fever by the ancient Greeks from early on, as was his association with dogs; as the chief star in the constellation Canis Major, he was referred to as 'the Dog', which also referred to the entire constellation. The arrival of Sirius in the sky was seen as the cause behind the hot, dry days of summer; dogs were thought to be the most affected by Sirius's heat, causing them rapid panting and aggressive behaviour towards humans, who were in danger of contacting rabies from their bites.
Sirius, a luminous star brighter than the Sun, is very often described as red in some ancient Greek and Roman texts, put in the same category as the red-shining Mars and Antares, although in reality it is a white-blue star.
Mythology
Romance with Opora
In a lesser known narrative, back when the stars walked the earth, Sirius was sent on a mission on land. There he met and fell madly in love with Opora, the goddess of fruit as well as the transition between summer and autumn. He was however unable to be with her, so in anger he began to burn even hotter. The mortals started to suffer due to the immense heat, and pleaded to the gods. Then the god of the north wind, Boreas, ordered his sons to bring Opora to Sirius, while he himself cooled off the earth with blasts of cold, freezing wind. Sirius then went on to glow and burn hot every summer thereafter during harvest time in commemoration of this event and his great love, explaining the heat of the so-called dog days of summer, which was attributed to this star in antiquity.The story is generally believed to have originated from a lost play entitled Opora, by the Athenian playwright of Middle Comedy Amphis, and a work of the same name by Amphis's contemporary Alexis. It also parallels the tale of young Phaethon, the son of the sun-god Helios who drove his father's sun chariot for a day and ended up burning the earth with it, prompting the entire nature to beg Zeus for salvation. In Euripides's version of the story, Helios accompanies Phaethon in his journey riding on a steed named Sirius.