Pointing to Something
“Grasping my bow I soar high up in the sky.
I aim my long arrow and shoot the Wolf of Heaven.”
― Dong Jun "Lord of the East", from Jiu GeThe "Wolf of Heaven" is of course Sirius and it always intrigued me, when I first learnt of the fact, that both the ancient Chinese and Greeks associated Sirius with canid symbolism. Unfortunately my curiousity stopped there, or I was distracted by something else, and I probed no further.
But going further, the connections go deeper into time and it gets more interesting. It seems that many different ancient cultures, in different time periods, were associating Sirius with something triangular or arrowlike. The names might have changed over time but the meanings and associations basically stayed the same.
The Middle Egyptian word for Sirius was "spdt", also known as the goddess Sopdet who was believed to be the aforementioned star. The word "spdt" was also the same word that was used for "Triangle".
The Akkadian name for Sirius was "Šukūdu", which meant "Arrow".
The Akkadian name for Sirius was "Šukūdu", which meant "Arrow".
The thread continues:
“The name of Sirius, the brightest of the fixed stars, may provide another Graeco-Aryan link. In the Avesta it is venerated as the star Tištrya, especially in Yt. 8, which is devoted to it. The Vedic Tiṣíya (RV 5. 54. 13; 10. 64. 8) is very probably the same. Bernhard Forssman derived these forms by dissimilation from *tri-str-iyo-, ‘belonging to the Tristar’; the ‘Tristar’, he suggested, was the Belt of Orion, a prominent line of three stars that points down towards Sirius. Eric Hamp more persuasively understands it of the large equilateral triangle formed by the bright stars Procyon, Betelgeuse, and Sirius itself, which, as the most brilliant of the three, would be *Tristriyos, the Triangle Star.
Meanwhile H. Fischer had argued that the Greek Σείριος could also be derived from the reduced form *tisrio-, by way of *tīrio- > *sīrio-, remodelled under the influence of Σειρἡν.”
― M.L. West, Indo-European Poetry and Myth
“The name of Sirius, the brightest of the fixed stars, may provide another Graeco-Aryan link. In the Avesta it is venerated as the star Tištrya, especially in Yt. 8, which is devoted to it. The Vedic Tiṣíya (RV 5. 54. 13; 10. 64. 8) is very probably the same. Bernhard Forssman derived these forms by dissimilation from *tri-str-iyo-, ‘belonging to the Tristar’; the ‘Tristar’, he suggested, was the Belt of Orion, a prominent line of three stars that points down towards Sirius. Eric Hamp more persuasively understands it of the large equilateral triangle formed by the bright stars Procyon, Betelgeuse, and Sirius itself, which, as the most brilliant of the three, would be *Tristriyos, the Triangle Star.
Meanwhile H. Fischer had argued that the Greek Σείριος could also be derived from the reduced form *tisrio-, by way of *tīrio- > *sīrio-, remodelled under the influence of Σειρἡν.”
― M.L. West, Indo-European Poetry and Myth
“Sirius asked Ohrmazd for strength, and Ohrmazd made him strong. As it says:
"At once, the strength of ten young horses, ten young camels, ten young bulls, ten mountains, and ten rivers came to Sirius."
He chased Apōš back one frasang. That is why they say:
"An arrow [tīr] with Sirius’s strength."”
“Interestingly, the Bundahišn’s comparison of Sirius’s strength to an arrow (also referred to as tīr) in 6B:13 may reflect another Iranian mythic tradition. Islamic-era historians Thaʿālebī, Ṭabarī, and Bīrūnī relate the story, only hinted at in earlier sources, of the archer Āraš (Avestan Ǝrəxša, Yašt 8:6) who shot an arrow a superhuman distance to establish the borders of Iran.”
― Domenico Agostini and Samuel Thrope, The Bundahišn: The Zoroastrian Book of Creation
"At once, the strength of ten young horses, ten young camels, ten young bulls, ten mountains, and ten rivers came to Sirius."
He chased Apōš back one frasang. That is why they say:
"An arrow [tīr] with Sirius’s strength."”
“Interestingly, the Bundahišn’s comparison of Sirius’s strength to an arrow (also referred to as tīr) in 6B:13 may reflect another Iranian mythic tradition. Islamic-era historians Thaʿālebī, Ṭabarī, and Bīrūnī relate the story, only hinted at in earlier sources, of the archer Āraš (Avestan Ǝrəxša, Yašt 8:6) who shot an arrow a superhuman distance to establish the borders of Iran.”
― Domenico Agostini and Samuel Thrope, The Bundahišn: The Zoroastrian Book of Creation
“[Un]swerving arrow that [kills] all enemies.
Great storm, who grasps the leadline
[of heaven and netherworld].
Judge of verdicts, diviner of oracles,
Great storm, who grasps the leadline
[of heaven and netherworld].
Judge of verdicts, diviner of oracles,
Conflagration that incinerates and burns up the wicked
Whose celestial name is "Straight Dart," whose ... is the greatest among the Igigi-gods,
Among all the gods your divinity is singular.”
“"Arrow" is a name for Sirius, Sumerian kak-si-sá "Straight Dart."”
― Benjamin R. Foster, Before the Muses: An Anthology of Akkadian Literature
Whose celestial name is "Straight Dart," whose ... is the greatest among the Igigi-gods,
Among all the gods your divinity is singular.”
“"Arrow" is a name for Sirius, Sumerian kak-si-sá "Straight Dart."”
― Benjamin R. Foster, Before the Muses: An Anthology of Akkadian Literature
Does all this point to something?
To be continued... soon.
Comments
Post a Comment