Starlore
Sirius
Sirius- Greco-Roman
name, the Dog Star; Sihor - Egyptian name, The Point.
- According to Lockyear, in 3285 BCE Sirius had replaced yDraconis (Eltanin - Dragon's head) as the star marker of the Summer Solstice and the beginning of the Egyptian New Year.
- The star was used as an orientation point especially at Thebes and became identified with Isis..
- The Temple of Isis at Denderah constructed in 700 BCE is oriented to this
star through the northern opening of the central passage. On the temple wall is
a zodiac square which shows the star.
Metropolitan Museum of Art - For the period of time Sirius disappears from the sky (this is the sequence in the myth when Isis is hiding until the birth of her son, Horus) and eventually the star reappears.
- The first time each year in which Sirius appears is called the heliacal rising of Sirius. In Egypt this would be in the month of Thoth and would occur close to the Summer solstice and the time of the Nile's inundation. The helical rising marked the beginning of the New Year which was held to be controlled by Isis.