Starlore

Algol

Algol - Arabic name, Ras al-Ghul, or the "Demon's Head." or, "The Demon," can be seen between the constellations Perseus and Pegasus. Today it is classified as the beta star in Perseus.

• The Hebrews identified this star in two ways: Rosh ha Satan or, "Satan's Head," or, Lilith. Lilith is referenced in Isaiah 34:14 who describes the destruction wrought by an angry Jehovah which leaves the land so desolate that Lilith translated as "the screech owl," " shall also settle there and find a place for herself." The Interlinear Bible.
• The Greeks referred to the star as the "Eye of the Medusa." The star appears in Ptolemy's Catalogue as "the bright one in the Gorgon's Head."

  
  La Hire, Phillipe, Planispehere Celeste, Paris, 1705

• From the Earth , Algol appears to blink every 68 hours 48 mins 55 secs. An observer over a period of two to three days will see the the star blink.
• The blinking is caused by mutual eclipse of a pair of stars (binary) which we see as one star.
• The ancients, by general agreement, depicted Algol as a malevolent star which was thought to be the cause of sudden death.