The Greater Dog
Fam'd for pre-eminence in envied song,
Theme of Homeric and Virgilian lays.
Eudosia.
Canis Major has been considered from earliest times one of the dogs the giant Orion took with him when he went hunting. Some, however, claim the constellation received its name in honour of the dog given by Aurora to Cephalus, which was the swiftest of his species. The legend relates that Cephalus raced the hound against a fox, which was considered the fleetest of all animals. After they had raced for some time without either obtaining the lead, Jupiter was so much gratified with the fleetness displayed by the dog that he immortalised him by giving him a place among the stars. Another story claims that this was the dog of Icarius.
Among the Scandinavians Canis Major was regarded as the dog of Sigurd, and in ancient India it was called "the Deerslayer." Although mythology connects this star group with the dog of Orion, Sirius, the brightest star in the constellation, seems to have been associated with the idea of a dog even among nations unacquainted with the myth of Orion. In the famous zodiac of Denderah, Canis Major appears in the form of a cow in a boat. It also figures on an ivory disk found on the site of Troy, and on an ancient Etruscan mirror.
According to Burritt, the name and form of the constellation was derived from the Egyptians, who carefully
95
