THE CONSTELLATIONS. 
159 
In Greek myth, Pegasus is represented as spring¬ 
ing from the blood of the terrible Medusa, one of the 
Gorgons killed by Perseus not long before he deliv¬ 
ered Andromeda. In ancient poetry the steed is con¬ 
sidered as the horse of Jupiter fetching his thunder 
and lightning. He was also supposed to be the horse 
of Aurora, the dawn. Some authorities hold that the 
horse was sacred to Heptune and was sacrificed by 
drowning, and that Pegasus had the power of causing 
water to gush forth from the earth by striking it with 
his hoof. The Greek poet Pindar describes him as 
the “ Winged Horse.” These considerations, it would 
appear, have made him sacred to the Muses, and, in¬ 
deed, modern poets allude to him only as the horse of 
the Muses. The constellations thus described lie 
about the north pole, and most of them do not dip 
below the horizon. 
ZODIACAL CONSTELLATIONS. 
These constellations lie in the path of the ecliptic, 
and consequently south of those already described. 
The first one, or, better, one that was first in ancient 
times, is Aries, or the Pam. It is now really the 
second, but it is a good starting-point for description. 
This constellation presents no striking group of stars. 
The brightest is Arietis, second magnitude, in the 
ram’s head. The most remarkable thing about this 
star is that it was discovered as a double star, shining 
with bluish and white lights, by Mr. Hooke in 1664. 
Between Arietis and the foot of Andromeda, to the 
north, is a beautiful figure called the Triangles. 
