------------------------------------------------------------------------ [55] Fifteen stars. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ PTOLEMY’S FIRST-MAGNITUDE STARS. _Name and Description Modern Name and Meaning._ _in the Catalogue._ 1. Arctouros, fire-coloured Arcturus (the Bear-Watcher). 2. The brightest star in the Vega, in Lyra. (Falling Eagle, Lyre Arabic). 3. Aichs (the Goat) Capella (Little Goat, Latin). 4. The brightest star of the Aldebaran. (The follower, Hyades, fire-coloured because following the Pleiades, Arabic). 5. Basiliskos (the royal), on Regulus (Latin equivalent). the heart (of Leo). 6. The tip of the tail (of Leo ) Denebola (Lion’s Tail, Arabic). 7. Stachys (Ear-of-Corn) Spica (Latin equivalent). 8. The last of the Water and Fomalhaut. (Mouth of the Mouth of the Southern Fish, Arabic). Fish. 9. The fire-coloured bright Betelgueux. (Shoulder of star on the shoulder Giant, Arabic). of Orion. 10. On the left foot of Orion, Rigel. (Foot of the Giant, common to the Water. Arabic). 11. The last of the River Achernar (Arabic equivalent). 12. The very brilliant star, Sirius (Greek _Seirios_, or fire-coloured, at the _Sothis_, from the Egyptian mouth of the Dog, _Sept_),in Canis Major.[56] called the Dog. 13. Prokuon (the preceding Procyon (in Canis Minor), which Dog), on the thigh of rises before Canis Major. Prokuon 14. Canopos, on the rudder Canopus (an Egyptian god, and (of Argo) a town on the Nile delta). 15. The tip of the right forefoot Alpha Centauri. (of the Centaur). Altair and Antares were counted as second magnitude, though we now class them among the first. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ [56] Lockyer, _Dawn of Astronomy_, p. 196. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ It will be seen from the above that only two of these fifteen brightest stars of Ptolemy’s still bear their Greek names, Arcturus, and Procyon; but most of the other modern names are direct translations, either into Latin or Arabic, of Ptolemy’s description or name for the star, while Vega and Aldebaran have preserved their original Arabic names (much corrupted), and Canopus and Sirius are derived from the Egyptian. Regulus-Basiliskos apparently comes from Babylon, for the name of this star on tablets of the second century B.C. was Shar-ru, which means “royal.”