The fine constellation Leo, the Lion, is the next "sign" of the Zodiac, and is marked by the well-known "Sickle." According to Dupuis, it represents the first "labour of Hercules"--the killing of the Nemælian lion. Manilius called it Nemæus. It was also called Janonus sidus, Bacchi sidus, etc. The Greek name was μεχιρ, μεχειρ, or μεχος. In ancient Egypt, Leo was sacred to Osiris, and many of the Egyptian monuments are ornamented with lions' heads. It is stated in the Horapolla that its appearance was supposed to announce the annual rising of the Nile. Regulus (α Leonis) is the brightest and most southern of the stars in the "Sickle." Al-Sufi says "it is situated in the heart and is of the 1st magnitude. It is that which is called _al-maliki_, the royal star. It is marked on the astrolabe as _kalb al-asad_, the Heart of the Lion" (whence the name Cor Leonis). Modern photometric measures make it about 1·3 magnitude. It has an 8½ magnitude companion at about 177" distance (Burnham) which is moving through space with the bright star, and is therefore at probably the same distance from the earth as its brilliant primary. This companion is double (8·5, 12·5: 3"·05, Burnham). The spectroscope shows that Regulus is approaching the earth at the rate of 5½ miles a second. Its parallax is very small--about 0"·022, according to Dr. Elkin--which indicates that it is at a vast distance from the earth; and its brightness shows that it must be a sun of enormous size. Ptolemy called it βασιλισκος, whence its Latin name Regulus, first used by Copernicus as the diminutive of _rex_.[412] The next constellation of the Zodiac is Virgo, the Virgin. It was also called by the ancients Ceres, Isis, Erigone, Fortuna, Concorda, Astræa, and Themis. The Greek name was φαμενωθ. Ceres was the goddess of the harvest. Brown thinks that it probably represents the ancient goddess Istar, and also Ashtoreth. According to Prof. Sayce it is the same as the Accadian sign of "the errand of Istar, a name due to the belief that it was in August that the goddess Astarte descended into Hades in search of her betrothed, the sun god Tammuz, or Adonis, who had been slain by the boar's tusk."[413] The ear of corn (Spica) is found on the ancient Egyptian monuments, and is supposed to represent the fertility caused by the annual rising of the Nile. According to Aratus, the Virgin lived on earth during the golden age under the name of Justice, but that in the bronze age she left the earth and took up her abode in the heavens. "Justice, loathing that race of men, Winged her flight to heaven." The Sphinx near the Great Pyramid has the head of a virgin on the body of a lion, representing the goddess Isis (Virgo) and her husband Osiris (Leo).