The importance of the star Alpha Draconis to the ancients is evidenced by the many titles bestowed on it, a few of which are here given: "Judge of Heaven," "High Horned One," "Proclaimer of Light," "High One of the Enclosure of Life," "The Favourable Judge," "Life of Heaven," "the Prosperous Judge, " "Crown of Heaven." Seamen regarded it as the Dragon's tail, and Al-Tizini called it "the Male Hyena."
The Great Pyramid was oriented to Thuban, the light from which shone down its central passage in the year 2170 b.c.
According to Maunder, Thuban marked the Pole at the time the constellations were mapped out, a prominence it must have held for over two thousand years. At that time this star must have seemed to all ordinary observation an absolutely fixed centre round which all the other stars revolved, just as Polaris appears to us now. It was however much closer to the true Pole of the heavens than Polaris is at the present time.
Thuban is a 3.6 magnitude star, pale yellow in colour. Herschel claimed that it was formerly a much brighter star than now. With Bayer it was a second magnitude star, and he assigned to it the first letter of the Greek alphabet. It culminates at 9 p.m., June 7th.
γ Draconis, called by the Arabs "Eltanin," the "Dragon's head," vies with Thuban in interest, and has been a notable and much observed star in all ages. It was an object of temple worship in early Egypt, where it was called "Isis." The central passages of the temples of Hathor at Denderah, and that of Thut at Thebes, were oriented to it, the former about 3500 b.c. Long afterwards it served for the orientation of the great temple at Karnak. According to Lockyer, seven other temples were oriented to it, and he considers that the Egyptian goddesses Apet, Mut, Taurt, and Sekhet were the same goddesses under different names, and symbolised the star γ Draconis.[1]
- ↑ Referring to the matter of orientation Serviss writes: "There is
