According to Diodorus Siculus, travellers in the sandy plains of Arabia were accustomed to direct their course by the Bears.
The Greeks made the Great Bear their guide in navigation, whereas the Phœnicians steered by the Lesser Bear.
The Greeks called the Great Bear καλλίστη from the Phœnician "kalitsah," meaning safety, as the observation of these stars helped to a safe voyage.
Aratos wrote:
Achaians gather where to sail their ships.
In the Odyssey, the sailing directions to Ulysses bid him keep the Bear always on the left, that is, to steer due east.
Aratos says that the Sidonians steer by the Little Bear, and that it is preferable to the Great Bear as it is situated nearer the Pole.
In this connection Apollonius mentions Ursa Major, which was often called "Helice" by the Greeks:
The watchful sailor to Orion's star
And Helice turned heedful.
Among the Chinese, the Great Bear was known as a bushel or measure of corn, the tail being the handle of the measure. Here, as in the case of the titles "Wain," "Plough," and "Bier," we have a plain case of imitative name giving.
The ancients associated the idea of dancing with Ursa Major and the other circumpolar constellations, and they not infrequently mention "the dances of the stars." The two Bears were imagined as reeling around the Pole like a pair of waltzers.
Dance 'round the pole, pursuing and pursued.
This comparison is drawn from the circular dances of
