Alphecca, "the bright one," also called "The Pearl," marks the radiant point of a shower of meteors called the Coronids. This shower occurs while the constellation is traveling between the east and the zenith, being visible from April 12th to June 20th. The Crown remains in view from April until late October, then disappears between the west and northwest. It lies concealed throughout the winter, then rises in the direct northeast in the early spring, its jewels sparkling as if they had been encased in a winter's casket of snow. This beautiful little constellation is designated on the maps as Corona Borealis. The "Northern Crown" and "Ariadne's Crown" are only popular names. HERCULES, THE GIANT [Figure 61] An astronomical work of Eudoxus, dated about 370 B. C., but based upon observations made probably by the Chaldeans fifteen centuries before, was versified in a poem of 732 verses called "Phenomena" by Aratus, the court poet of Macedonia, who wrote about a century after Eudoxus' time. Aratus mentions this constellation of Hercules as being of immemorial antiquity and describes it as a figure of a man in sorrow with his hands upraised and stretched "one this way and one that, a fathom's length." In the early days of the world's history it was called "The Kneeler" although even this was not supposed to be its original name. Aratus says-- "Right there in its orbit wheels a Phantom form, like to a man that strives at a task. That sign no man knows how to read clearly, nor on what task he is bent, but simply calls him On His Knees." --_Trans. by_ G. R. MAIR. "On His Knees" was given the name of the hero Hercules when the Greeks placed their heroes and divinities among the stars, but his pictures in the modern maps do not seem to accord with the description of his posture in this ancient poem. His foot now rests upon Draco, the Sky Dragon, which probably is here imagined as old Laden, the sleepless dragon which once coiled around the tree of golden apples. Hercules, the great grandson of Perseus, was the greatest of all the heroes. He possessed every high quality of mind and character and was endowed with such great physical strength that his life was filled with constant adventure. Armed with a huge club, he performed the most remarkable deeds, the most wonderful of these being his "Twelve Labors." Some of these labors or adventures were so thrilling that the Greeks named constellations in honor of them as well as of the hero, and they have ever since been proverbs among men. There are many allusions to these throughout literature-- "Thogh I had hadde--al the strengthe of Ercules." --_CHAUCER._