Located in Canis major Sirius is the brightest star throughout the day.Since the ancient times, it has been people's attention, played an important role in the history of human civilization, many civilizations have detailed and interesting legends about it.

Our ancestors, so called the star Sirius might think it's the light with a murderous look, and think that the star prime, such as shi-ji day GuanShu recorded: "the east is big star, said the Wolf.The Wolf Angle change color, more than a thief."The Book of Jin. Day in chinese-speaking "also said:" the Wolf in the southeast of east well after a week.For wild Wolf, Lord ravage 0 'method of generation of great poet Li Baizeng with "star who is, alas, exhausted soldier good when Sirius, father and son have leisure Ann" verse to exclamation generation star you state hu horse crusade against evil slave loss.

In ancient Rome, Babylon, ancient Greece, and arabs called the Sirius star, wolves and dogs the same, Sirius in these different centers of ancient civilization unexpectedly so similar to the call, puzzled by astronomers.In ancient Rome, every year on July 3, on August 1, I, Sirius rises in the east before dawn, at a time when midsummer, heat.Trees and flowers are tan a withered, even the wild animalsescapeHave not enough strength, popular in the crowd with a terrible fever.The ancient Romans thought these disasters are caused by the stars and the sun, will this period of time is called the dog days.When Sirius first emerged from the horizon in the morning, the Romans would offer a dog, as an offering.

Contrary to the Chinese and the Romans, the ancient egyptians Sirius as the "star of the Nile" worshipped them, and they to Sirius observation, is used to forecast the flood of the Nile to become one of the most famous ancient scientific observation.

The Nile is the "mother river" of the Egyptian people, flooding of the Nile regularly, formed the fertile alluvial plain, people to life on the land of Egypt.Generally called the Nile valley south of Memphis in Egypt, the Nile river downstream of the delta swamp areas called down to Egypt.BC 4500 years ago, Egypt in the late paleolithic people make a living by fishing and hunting, after 4500 BC, Egypt entered the new Stone Age, began to produce the original agriculture and animal husbandry.When Sirius shortly after dawn rose from the eastern horizon, the Nile flood season is coming.And the ancient egyptians use the Nile flooded regularly every year after the fertile land for farming.Sirius in the eyes of the egyptians, have becomeThe floodSymbol and the arrival of spring, so the Sirius as gods, specially built the temple worship Sirius, the door of the temple is just at the direction of Sirius rises.They put before dawn Sirius rises in the east of the cycle as a year, and called the first day of the beginning, the man's earliest solar.As in Marx's "das kapital" explained: "calculate the needs of the fluctuation of the waters of the Nile, Egypt's astronomy."

Modern astronomers found that, from 700 BC to AD 200 nearly 1000 years, in the land of Egypt, Babylon, are recorded in ancient Greece, and much of the ancient Arab Sirius is red, including the famous ancient Greek astronomer Ptolemy wrote "astronomical dacheng".And written by sima qian in China during the shi-ji cheongwan said, "but clearly said Sirius is a white star on it is hard to say.