G10 MAKOY WENTWORTH THOMPSON ON THE 



It is opposed to the Tunny on certain coins of Cyzicus, as is the Crab on others : on 

 certain coins of Monde it comes in relation with the lunar Crescent and with the Dog. 

 It is also figured with an Altar and Cup on coins of Timaea, and with the Crow on those 

 of Mende. The Crow and Cup lie near by, on the folds of Hydra, 



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(Arat., 448); and the Altar, which rises with Capricorn (Hyg., iii. 38), is therefore 

 rising as Cancer sets. On the coins of Mende the Ass is often in relation to the Vine, 

 recalling the legends of Bacchus that have been related above. It is important to note 

 that the coinage of Mende, in which the Ass is especially conspicuous, was very ancient, 

 circa B.C. 500, and that at this early period the Aselli were very important stars, being 

 still very near indeed, and much nearer than any other conspicuous stars, to the precise 

 point of the tropic. 



In the Calendar of the Fasti, the 8th June (vi Id. Jun.) is marked " Asinus coron- 

 atur, Ara Priapi" (cf. Ovid, F., vi. 345). This was, as near as may be, in the time of 

 Ovid, the precise date of the cosmical rising of the Aselli, the date, that is to say, when 

 the Sun crossed them on the ecliptic. . 



Praasepe is mentioned by Cicero (Prognost. ap. Priscian.), " Ast autcm tenui qua 1 

 candent lumina Phatuse." It tells us for the present no mythological story, but the 

 identification of it with the Indian ' Pushy a,' i.e., 'foam,' and with the Pers. ' Avra-k ' 

 ( .' a(pp6g), by Mr R. Brown (Euphrat. Stellar Researches, v. p. 22) may open a new 

 field of conjecture. The same writer quotes from the Bundahis (vii. 1), "The star 



Tistar [Sirius] was in Cancer in the subdivision they call Avrak " ; that is to 



say, wc have here in the Persian a relation noted between the Dog-star and the Crab, 

 as paranatcllons of one another, just as we have found it already in the verses of 

 Manilius. 



We may abbreviate and summarise, as follows, the chief coincidences that have been 

 related above :— 



1. Cancer was domus Lunw, and the Crab is associated with the Moon on coins of 



Consentia, Terina, etc., with the lunar Diana of the Ephesians, and with 

 various other images of the lunar goddess. 



2. Cancer was exaltatio Jovis, and the Crab is peculiarly associated with the Bird 



of Jove in the coinage of Agrigentum, while the Aselli, individual stars of the 

 same constellation, are mythologically associated with the same god. 



3. Cancer was sedes Mercurii, and the Crab is figured with the head of Hermefl on 



coins of Aenus. 

 I. Cancer rose with Sirius, and there are dog-headed representations of both Mercury 

 Anubis and Luna-Hecate. 



