the infinite, a beam, although the watchers knew it not that started on its earthward journey eight and a half years before it greeted their eyes!
The temple priests, versed to some extent in astronomical lore, knew well the psychological moment of the appearance of the light, and doubtless to further increase their prestige, and convey the idea that they were endowed with supernatural powers, so ordered the ritual that the greatest possible superstitious effect would be brought about by the seeming apparition. The awe inspired by the silence of the multitude worked up to a fever pitch of expectancy, and the excitement born of their desire to witness what they must have regarded as a manifestation of divine power, all conduced to make the moment one long to be remembered, and the event one of the greatest possible significance to the race.
It has been determined that the Babylonian star named "Sukudu" or "Kaksidi" was Sirius, for we are told that it was one of the seven most brilliant stars and a star of the south. The same star is also called "directing star" because connected with the beginning of the year.
According to Lockyer, Sirius rose cosmically, or with the sun, in the year 700 b.c. on the Egyptian New Year's Day. In mythological language "she mingled her light with that of her father Ra [the sun] on the great day of the year." This is the first instance of the personification of a star.
"It is possible" says Maunder, "that the two great stars which follow Orion—Sirius and Procyon, known to the ancients generally and to us to-day as 'the Dogs'— were by the Babylonians known as 'the Bow Star' and 'the Lance Star' respectively, the weapons that is to say of Orion or Merodach." Jensen also identifies Sirius with the Bow Star.
Homer compared Sirius to Diomedes' shield, and called it "the Star of Autumn."
