Gilded since time has been, while time shall be.
And Longfellow thus alludes to this beautiful constellation:
Stood the great giant Algebar
Orion, hunter of the beast,
His sword hung gleaming by his side.
Hesiod wrote:
Tennyson refers to the constellation in his Locksley Hall, Maud, and The Princess, and Spenser describes the setting of Orion in these words:
Orion flying fast from hissing snake
His flaming head did hasten for to steep.
Much doubt and mystery surround the title of the constellation. Brown, one of the most reliable authorities, is of the opinion that it is from "Uru-anna," meaning the "light of heaven," and that the title originated in the Euphratean Valley.
It seems reasonably certain that a star group of such prominence should have attracted attention from the earliest times, and that this constellation therefore is of great antiquity.
Maunder tells us that the word from which Orion was derived was "Kĕsil," a word which occurs in an astronomical sense four times in the Bible. The Hebrew word " Kĕsil" signifies "a fool," meaning a godless and impious person. In the Scriptures this word is associated with a word which, translated, refers to the Pleiades, sometimes likened to a flock of doves.
We have, therefore, in the figure of Orion, a mighty giant represented as trampling on a timid hare, and pursuing
