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| type = Greek
| name = Sirius
| image = CephalusSidney Hall -orion withUrania's Mirror dog-sirius croppedCanis detailMajor, blacasLepus, kraterColumba inNoachi british& museumCela pugliaSculptoris.jpg
| caption = Canis Major and Lepus with Sirius as the dog's snout, as depicted in ''[[Urania's Mirror]]'', a set of constellation cards c. 1825.
| caption = [[Cephalus (son of Deione/Deioneus)|Cephalus]] as Orion with dog as Sirius
| mother = [[Eos]] {{small|(possibly)}}
| father = [[Astraeus]] {{small|(possibly)}}
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}}
 
In [[Greek mythology|Greek]] and [[Roman mythology]], '''Sirius''' ({{langIPAc-en|ˈ|s|ɪ|r|ɪ|ə|s}}, {{respell|SEE|ree|əss}}; {{langx|grc|Σείριος|Seírios|scorching}} {{IPA-grc|sěːrios|pron}}) is the god and personification of the star [[Sirius]], also known as the Dog Star, the brightest star in the night sky, alsoand knownthe asmost prominent star in the constellation of [[Canis Major]] (or the Greater Dog).<ref>{{cite book | first = Richard Allen | last = Hinckley | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=5xQuAAAAIAAJ | title = Star-names and Their Meanings | publisher = G. E. Stechert | location = New York | date = 1899 | pages = 117–129}}</ref> 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 ==
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Sirius's divine parentage is not made entirely clear in ancient texts; in the ''[[Theogony]]'' the poet [[Hesiod]] names [[Eos]] (the dawn goddess) and her husband [[Astraeus]] (a star god) as the parents of all stars, although this usually referred to the 'wandering stars', that is the five [[Planetae|planets]].<ref>[[Hesiod]], ''[[Theogony]]'' [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0130%3Acard%3D371 378]</ref>
 
Sirius is first mentioned by name in [[Hesiod]]'s ''[[Works and Days]]'',<ref>[[Hesiod]], ''[[Works and Days]]'' [http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0132%3Acard%3D405 417]</ref>{{sfn|Holberg|2007|page=[https://books.google.com/books?id=CEk6SZQK0C0C&pg=PA15 15]}} 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]].{{sfn|Holberg|2007|pages=[https://books.google.com/books?id=CEk6SZQK0C0C&pg=PA17 17-18]}} [[Apollonius of Rhodes]] calls him "brilliant and beautiful but full of menace for the flocks,"<ref>[[Apollonius Rhodius]], ''[[Argonautica]]'' 3.958 ff</ref> and both [[Aratus]] and [[Quintus of Smyrna]] speak of his rise in conjunction to that of the [[Sun]] (the god [[Helios]]).<ref>[[Aratus]], ''Phaenomena'' [https://topostext.org/work/551#319 328]; [[Quintus of Smyrna]], ''[[Posthomerica|Fall of Troy]]'' [https://archive.org/details/falloftroy00quin/page/350/mode/2up?view=theater 8.30]</ref> The Roman poet [[Statius]] says:
 
[[File:Sidney Hall - Urania's Mirror - Canis Major, Lepus, Columba Noachi & Cela Sculptoris.jpg|thumb|Canis Major and Lepus, with Sirius as the dog's snout, engraving.]]
 
{{Verse translation|lang=lat|italicsoff=y|
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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,{{sfn|Holberg|2007|page=[https://books.google.com/books?id=CEk6SZQK0C0C&pg=PA16 16]}} 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.{{sfn|Holberg|2007|page=[https://books.google.com/books?id=CEk6SZQK0C0C&pg=PA18 18]}} 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.{{sfn|Holberg|2007|page=[https://books.google.com/books?id=CEk6SZQK0C0C&pg=PA20 20]}}
 
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.<ref>{{cite book | title = Exploring Ancient Skies: A Survey of Ancient and Cultural Astronomy | first1 = David H. | last1 = Kelley | first2 = Eugene F. | last2 = Milone | pages = [https://books.google.com/books?id=ILBuYcGASxcC&pg=PA143 143]–[https://books.google.com/books?id=ILBuYcGASxcC&pg=PA144 144] | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=ILBuYcGASxcC | publisher = Springer Science & Business Media | date = 16 February 2011 | isbn = 978-1-4419-7623-9 | location = New York}}</ref>
 
== Mythology ==
=== Romance with Opora ===
[[File:Magical_sphere_helios_from_theater_of_dionysus_acropolis_museum_athens_greece.jpg|thumb|Magical sphere with Helios; the dogs seem to symbolize Sirius and Procyon, [[Acropolis Museum]], [[Athens]].]]
 
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 (mythology)|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.<ref>[[Scholia|Schol]]. latinus [[Aratus|Arati]] p. [https://books.google.com/books?id=SJQCAAAAQAAJ&pg=PA655 78]</ref> The mortals started to suffer due to the immense heat, and pleaded to the gods.<ref>{{cite encyclopedia | doi = 10.1163/1574-9347_bnp_e832290 | last = Käppel | first = Lutz | location = [[Kiel]] | date = 2006 | url = https://referenceworks.brillonline.com/entries/brill-s-new-pauly/opora-e832290 | title = Opora | encyclopedia = [[Brill's New Pauly]] | publisher = Brill Reference Online | editor-first1 = Hubert | editor-last1 = Cancik | editor-first2 = Helmuth | editor-last2 = Schneider | translator = Christine F. Salazar | access-date = June 20, 2023}}</ref> Then the god of the north wind, [[Boreas (god)|Boreas]], ordered his sons to bring Opora to Sirius, while he himself cooled off the earth with blasts of cold, freezing wind.<ref name="arn">{{cite journal | last = Arnott | first = William Geoffrey | title = A Note on Alexis' Opora | author-link = W. Geoffrey Arnott | journal = Rheinisches Museum für Philologie | volume = 98 | number = 4 | date = 1955 | pages = 312–15 | url = http://www.jstor.org/stable/41243800 | jstor = 41243800 | access-date = 20 June 2023}}</ref> 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.<ref name="rose">{{cite web | first = M. Rosemary | last = Wright | title = A Dictionary of Classical Mythology: III The Constellations of the Southern Sky | website = mythandreligion.upatras.gr | date = September 2012 | url = http://mythandreligion.upatras.gr/english/m-r-wright-a-dictionary-of-classical-mythology/ | access-date = January 3, 2023 | publisher = [[University of Patras]]}}</ref>
 
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=== Maera ===
Sirius is also identified with '''Maera''' ({{lang-langx|grc|Μαῖρα|Maira|sparkler}}), which was another name for the dog star in antiquity.{{sfn|Reitz|Finkmann|2019|page=[https://books.google.com/books?id=K4ZaEAAAQBAJ&pg=PT1893 1893]}} In mythology [[Maera (hound)|Maera]] was the hound of [[Icarius (Athenian)|Icarius]], an old Athenian an who was taught the art of wine-making by [[Dionysus]]. When Icarius shared the wine with the other Athenians he was accused of poisoning them (due to the wine's intoxicating properties which made them pass out) and he was thus killed in vengeance; his daughter [[Erigone (daughter of Icarius)|Erigone]], after being led to his corpse by Maera, took her own life by hanging.{{sfn|Doniger|1999|loc=s.v. [https://books.google.com/books?id=ZP_f9icf2roC&pg=PA333 Erigone]}} Dionysus then transferred all three in the sky, with Maera becoming the star Canicula, which was the Romans' name for Sirius,<ref>{{cite web | url = https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/canicular | title = canicular | access-date = November 30, 2023 | website = www.merriam-webster.com}}</ref>{{sfn|Pavlock|2009|page=[https://books.google.com/books?id=y0zJUnW1w1gC&pg=PA57 57]}} although [[Hyginus]] himself claimed that the Greeks used [[Procyon]] for Canicula.<ref>[[Hyginus]], ''[[De Astronomica]]'' [https://topostext.org/work/207/#2.4.4 2.4.4]</ref>
 
=== Other works ===
In second-century author [[Lucian]]'s satire work ''[[A True Story]]'', the people of Sirius, here presented as an inhabited world, send an army of Cynobalani (dog-faced men mounting gigantic winged acorns) to assist the Sun citizens in their war against the inhabitants of the Moon.<ref>[[Lucian]], ''[[A True Story]]'' [https://archive.org/details/selectedsatireso0000luci/page/20/mode/1up?view=theater 1.15]</ref> Sirius, associated with heat, is an appropriate ally for the kingdom of the Sun.{{sfn|Georgiadou|Larmour|1998|page=[https://books.google.com/books?&id=vVSu4rPaN9oC&pg=PA110 110]}}
 
== Cult ==
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== See also ==
{{portal|Mythology|Ancient Greece|Astronomy}}
 
* [[Orithyia of Athens]]
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* [[Aratus|Aratus Solensis]], ''Phaenomena'' translated by G. R. Mair. Loeb Classical Library Volume 129. London: William Heinemann, 1921. [https://topostext.org/work/551 Online version at the Topos Text Project.]
* {{cite book | url = https://archive.org/details/etymological-dictionary-of-greek/mode/ | author-link = Robert S. P. Beekes | last = Beekes | first = Robert S. P. | title = Etymological Dictionary of Greek | location = Leiden, the Netherlands | publisher = [[Brill Publications]] | date = 2010 | volume = ΙΙ | isbn = 978-90-04-17419-1 | series = Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series | editor = Lucien van Beek}}
* {{cite book | author-link = James Diggle | last = Diggle | first = James | title = Euripides: Phaethon | publisher = [[Cambridge University Press]] | url = https://archive.org/details/euripidesphaetho0000digg/ | series = Cambridge Classical Texts and Commentaries, Number 12 | date = 1970 | ISBNisbn = 978-0521604246}}
* {{cite encyclopedia | year = 1999 | title = Erigone | encyclopedia = Merriam-Webster's encyclopedia of world religions | editor-first = Wendy | editor-last = Doniger | publisher = Merriam-Webster | isbn = 0-87779-044-2 | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=ZP_f9icf2roC}}
* [[Gaius Julius Hyginus]], ''[[De Astronomica]] from The Myths of Hyginus'' translated and edited by Mary Grant. University of Kansas Publications in Humanistic Studies. [https://topostext.org/work/207 Online version at the Topos Text Project.]
* {{Citation | last1 = Georgiadou |first1 = Aristoula | last2 = Larmour | first2 = David H. J. | date = 1998 | title = Lucian's Science Fiction Novel ''True Histories'': Interpretation and Commentary |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=vVSu4rPaN9oC | series = Supplements to Mnemosyne | place = [[Leiden]], The Netherlands | publisher = Brill | doi = 10.1163/9789004351509 | isbn = 90-04-10667-7}}
* {{cite book | last = Hard | first = Robin | title = The Routledge Handbook of Greek Mythology: Based on H.J. Rose's "Handbook of Greek Mythology" | publisher = Psychology Press | date = 2004 | ISBNisbn = 9780415186360 | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=r1Y3xZWVlnIC}}
* [[Hesiod]], ''[[Theogony]]'', in ''The Homeric Hymns and Homerica with an English Translation by Hugh G. Evelyn-White'', Cambridge, MA., Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann Ltd. 1914. [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0130%3Acard%3D1 Online version at the Perseus Digital Library].
* [[Hesiod]], ''[[Works and Days]]'', in ''The Homeric Hymns and Homerica with an English Translation by Hugh G. Evelyn-White'', Cambridge, MA., Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann Ltd. 1914. [http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0132%3Acard%3D1 Online version at the Perseus Digital Library].
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* [[Homer]], ''The [[Iliad]]'' with an English Translation by A.T. Murray, Ph.D. in two volumes. Cambridge, MA., Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann, Ltd. 1924. [http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text.jsp?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0134%3Abook%3D1%3Acard%3D1 Online version at perseus.tufts Library.]
* {{cite book | first1 = Henry George | last1 = Liddell | first2 = Robert | last2 = Scott | title = [[A Greek-English Lexicon]], revised and augmented throughout by Sir Henry Stuart Jones with the assistance of Roderick McKenzie | location = Oxford | publisher = [[Clarendon Press]] | date = 1940 | author1-link = Henry Liddell | author2-link = Robert Scott (philologist)}} [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.04.0057 Online version at Perseus.tufts project.]
* {{Citation | editor-last = Casson | editor-first = Lionel |date = 1962 | chapter = A True Story | chapter-url = https://archive.org/details/selectedsatireso0000luci/page/13/mode/1up?view=theater |chapter-url-access=registration | title = Selected Satires of Lucian | place = New York | publisher = W. W. Norton & Co. | author = Lucian | pages = 13–57 | author-link = Lucian | isbn = 0-393-00443-0 | doi = 10.4324/9781315129105-4 <!--Reprinted. New York: Routledge. 2017-->}}
* {{cite book | date = May 21, 2009 | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=y0zJUnW1w1gC | publisher = [[University of Wisconsin Press]] | isbn = 978-0-299-23140-8 | title = The Image of the Poet in Ovid’sOvid's Metamorphoses | first = Barbara | last = Pavlock}}
* [[Quintus Smyrnaeus]], ''Quintus Smyrnaeus: The Fall of Troy'', translated by Arthur S. Way, Cambridge, Massachusetts, [[Harvard University Press]], 1913. [https://archive.org/stream/falloftroy00quin#page/n5/mode/2up Internet Archive].
* {{cite book | first1 = Christiane | last1 = Reitz | first2 = Simone | last2 = Finkmann | title = Structures of Epic Poetry | volume = I: Foundations; II: Classification and Genre | isbn = 978-3-11-049200-2 | publisher = de Gruyter | date = December 16, 2019 | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=K4ZaEAAAQBAJ}}
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{{Authority control}}
 
{{DEFAULTSORT:Sirius}}
[[Category:Stellar gods]]
[[Category:Greek gods]]
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[[Category:Fire gods]]
[[Category:Light gods]]
[[Category:Dog deitiesgods]]
[[Category:Kea (island)]]
[[Category:Epithets of Helios]]
[[Category:Astronomical myths]]
[[Category:Canis Major]]
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