Corona Borealis is a small but recognizable constellation in the northern sky. Its name means “the northern crown” in Latin.

The constellation has only four stars brighter than magnitude 3.00. It was first catalogued by the Greek astronomer Ptolemy in the 2nd century. At the time, it was known simply as Corona. The Greeks saw the constellation representing the southern crown, Corona Australis, as a wreath.

Corona Borealis lies between the constellations Boötes and Hercules and represents the crown of Ariadne, daughter of King Minos in Greek mythology, who helped the hero Theseus defeat the Minotaur and find his way out of the labyrinth in which the creature lived. In Celtic mythology, Corona Borealis is known as Caer Arianrhod, or the Castle of Arianrhod, the place where the mythical Lady Arianrhod lived.

Corona Borealis contains the famous Blaze Star (T Coronae Borealis), a recurrent nova, and the Fade-Out Star (R Coronae Borealis), but does not have any bright deep sky objects. The Corona Borealis Galaxy Cluster (Abell 2065) does not contain any galaxies brighter than 16th magnitude.

Facts, location and map

Corona Borealis is the 73rd constellation in size, occupying an area of 179 square degrees. It lies in the third quadrant of the northern hemisphere (NQ3) and can be seen at latitudes between +90° and -50°. The neighboring constellations are Boötes, Hercules, and Serpens Caput.

The constellation name Corona Borealis is pronounced /koʊˈroʊnə ˌbɔːriˈælɪs, -ˈeɪlɪs/. In English, the constellation is known as the Northern Crown. The genitive form of Corona Borealis, used in star names, is Coronae Borealis (pronunciation: /koʊˈroʊniː bɔːriˈælɪs/). The three-letter abbreviation, adopted by the International Astronomical Union (IAU) in 1922, is CrB.

Corona Borealis belongs to the Ursa Major family of constellations, along with Coma Berenices,  Boötes,  Camelopardalis, Canes Venatici, Draco, Leo Minor, Lynx, Ursa Major and Ursa Minor.

Corona Borealis has four stars with known planets and contains no Messier objects. The brightest star in the constellation is Alphecca (or Gemma, Alpha Coronae Borealis). There are no meteor showers associated with the constellation.

Corona Borealis constellation map by IAU and Sky&Telescope magazine.

Myth

Corona Borealis is associated with the myth of Princess Ariadne of Crete, most famous for her part in helping the Greek hero Theseus defeat the Minotaur, the creature with a human body and head of a bull that lived in a labyrinth designed by Daedalus. In the myth, Ariadne married the god Dionysus. The circlet of stars in the constellation Corona Borealis represents the crown made by the god Hephaestus that she wore on her wedding day.

The Minotaur was in fact Ariadne’s half-brother: according to the legend, her mother Pasiphae gave birth to the creature after copulating with one of King Minos’ bulls. The king had the Minotaur locked inside the labyrinth to hide the family secret. The labyrinth was designed in such a way that no one, not even the Minotaur, could find a way out.

The Labyrinth in Greek Mythology Archaeology and ancient mythology In Greek mythology, the labyrinth was an intricate maze that was said to have been created by a skilled craftsman named Daedalus. The labyrinth is most famously known as the home of the Minotaur, a creature that was half-human and half-bull, and who terrorized the people of Crete. The story of the labyrinth begins with King Minos of Crete, who had angered the god Poseidon by failing to sacrifice a beautiful bull that the god had sent him. In revenge, Poseidon caused Minos’s wife, Queen Pasiphae, to fall in love with the bull, and from their union was born the monstrous Minotaur. King Minos was ashamed of his son, and so he asked Daedalus to construct a labyrinth to contain the creature. Daedalus was a brilliant inventor and architect, and he designed a maze so complex that even he himself could barely navigate it. The labyrinth was constructed with high walls and twisting passages, and it was said to be impossible to escape once you entered it. The Minotaur was placed at the heart of the maze, and every year, King Minos would send seven young men and seven young women from Athens as a tribute to the beast. The legend of Theseus and the Minotaur Theseus, a brave Athenian hero, decided to put an end to this gruesome practice. He volunteered to be one of the tributes and journeyed to Crete. There, he met Princess Ariadne, who fell in love with him and gave him a ball of thread to help him navigate the labyrinth Theseus followed the thread to the heart of the maze, where he encountered the Minotaur. After a fierce battle, Theseus was able to slay the beast and find his way back out of the labyrinth, thanks to the thread provided by Princess Ariadne. The story of the labyrinth and the Minotaur has been told and retold throughout the centuries, and it continues to captivate and intrigue people to this day. The labyrinth has become a symbol of mystery and danger, and it has been featured in countless works of literature, art, and film. Daedalus: The Mastermind Behind the Labyrinth But what about Daedalus, the creator of the labyrinth? Who was he, and what was his role in Greek mythology? Daedalus was a skilled craftsman and inventor who was said to have been born in Athens. He was known for his intricate statues, his skill at making weapons, and his ability to construct elaborate machines. In addition to the labyrinth, Daedalus is also credited with the invention of wings, which he made for himself and his son, Icarus. Daedalus and Icarus were imprisoned on the island of Crete by King Minos, but Daedalus was able to fashion wings out of feathers and wax so that they could escape. However, Icarus flew too close to the sun, causing the wax on his wings to melt, and he fell to his death in the sea. Daedalus was grief-stricken by the loss of his son, and he continued to wander the world, creating art and inventions wherever he went. The story of Daedalus and the labyrinth is a cautionary tale about the dangers of pride and ambition. King Minos’s desire to contain the Minotaur and preserve his own reputation led to the creation of a deadly maze that claimed many lives. Daedalus, too, was undone by his own pride and ambition, as his desire to escape from Crete with his son led to his downfall. But even in his grief, he continued to create and innovate, leaving behind a legacy that has endured for centuries. Myths and Facts about The Labyrinth Mythical Complexity: The Labyrinth’s complexity is legendary. Daedalus designed it not just as a maze but as an intricate puzzle that could confuse even the most intelligent beings. The structure was so sophisticated that Daedalus himself barely managed to escape after constructing it, emphasizing its role as a challenge not just of strength, but of intellect and ingenuity. Association with Crete’s Power: The Labyrinth was a symbol of the power and sophistication of Crete under King Minos. It demonstrated the technological and architectural advancements of Minoan civilization. The presence of such an elaborate structure contributed to Crete’s image as a formidable and advanced society in the ancient world. The Role of Sacrifice: The Labyrinth was not only a prison for the Minotaur but also a place of sacrifice. The annual tribute of Athenian youths sent to the Labyrinth to be devoured by the Minotaur represents a darker aspect of the myth, where human lives were offered to appease a monster, reflecting themes of subjugation and the dire costs of political power. Minos’ Quest for Control: King Minos’ decision to commission the Labyrinth can be seen as a manifestation of his desire for control. By imprisoning the Minotaur, Minos sought to contain the chaos and maintain his authority. The Labyrinth thus serves as a metaphor for the lengths to which rulers will go to consolidate and maintain power.

labyrinth (n.) c. 1400, laberynthe (late 14c. in Latinate form laborintus) “labyrinth, maze, great building with many corridors and turns,” figuratively “bewildering arguments,” from Latin labyrinthus, from Greek labyrinthos “maze, large building with intricate passages,” especially the structure built by Daedelus to hold the Minotaur, near Knossos in Crete, a word of unknown origin. Apparently from a pre-Greek language; traditionally connected to Lydian labrys “double-edged axe,” symbol of royal power, which fits with the theory that the original labyrinth was the royal Minoan palace on Crete. It thus would mean “palace of the double-axe.” But Beekes finds this “speculative” and compares laura “narrow street, narrow passage, alley, quarter,” also identified as a pre-Greek word. Used in English for “maze” early 15c., and in figurative sense of “confusing state of affairs” (1540s). As the name of a structure of the inner ear, the essential organ of hearing, from 1690s. also from c. 1400

When Theseus came to Crete, he was chosen to be one of the people put into the labyrinth for the Minotaur to find and eat. Ariadne fell in love with Theseus and, following Daedalus’ advice, gave him a ball of thread to take with him into the labyrinth if he promised to take her with him once he escaped. Theseus agreed. Once he defeated the Minotaur with his bare hands, the hero followed the trail of the thread and found his way out of the labyrinth.

Ariadne and Theseus sailed off together shortly thereafter, but he soon abandoned her on the island of Naxos. The god Dionysus found the princess weeping, fell in love, and the two were soon married. Ariadne wore a crown made by Hephaestus at the wedding and, once the ceremony was over, she tossed it into the sky, where the jewels turned into stars and the crown became the constellation Corona Borealis. The brightest star in the constellation, Gemma, got its name from the Latin word for “jewel.”

The Arabs know the constellation as “the poor people’s bowl” or Alphecca, which means “broken up.” The name Alphecca was later given to the constellation’s brightest star, Alpha Coronae Borealis.

The Cheyenne called the constellation the Camp Circle because its shape was similar to the way they arranged their camps, in a semi-circle.

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Corona Borealis galaxy cluster (Abell 2065), image: Adam Block/Mount Lemmon SkyCenter/University of Arizona (CC BY-SA 4.0)
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Explore the etymology and symbolism of the constellations

the Northern Crown

Urania’s Mirror1825

3. History_of_the_constellation

Clues to the meaning of this celestial feature

Corona Borealis, the Northern Crown, represents a crown given by Dionysus (Roman Bacchus, or Liber) to Ariadne, the daughter of Minos of Crete, who presented her with this Golden Crown inlaid with precious stones. It contains nine principal Stars, arranged in a semicircular form. [There is another crown in the heavens depicted in Corona Australis, the Southern Crown, it represents the crown given by Dionysus to his mother Semele].

The story relating to Corona Borealis tells how Daedalus built a labyrinth, an elaborate maze-like construction, to house the Minotaur, a creature that was half man and half bull. Here it devoured the seven youths and seven maidens which were sent to it from Athens in tribute to king Minos of Crete who had conquered Athens. The tribute for the Minotaur was to be chosen by lot (sortis). When the third repetition of the nine-year tribute came around, Theseus inserted himself as one of the youths in the line-up. He got from Ariadne, daughter of Minos, who had fallen in love with him, the famous thread that enabled him to retrace his steps back through the Labyrinth. He slew the Minotaur, then, following the string or thread, he left the maze, unchained the young Athenians, and taking Ariadne whom he had promised to marry, along with him, they sailed off from Crete to Naxos. There Theseus deserted her as she lay sleeping. Ariadne was essentially marooned on an island, a castaway, while Theseus in his ship sailed off without her. Then Dionysus (Bacchus, Liber) came to her:

“Deserted and weeping bitterly, as she was, Bacchus-Liber brought her help and comfort. So that she might shine among the eternal stars, he took the crown from her forehead, and set it in the sky. It soared through the rarified air, and as it soared its jewels changed to bright fires, and took their place, retaining the appearance of a crown, as the Corona Borealis, between the kneeling Hercules and the head of the serpent (Serpens) that Ophiuchus  holds” [Ovid, Metamorphoses, Bk VIII:152-182].

Ariadne as the consort of Dionysos, late fourth century BCE, (Louvre). [

The myth of the Labyrinth can be read on this Theoi Project webpage. The myth of Ariadne on this Theoi Project webpage

Manilius’ astrological influences for this constellation (see under astrological influences below) gives the cultivation of gardens, growing flowers, and arranging flowers into garlands (flores sertisque locabit, from Latin serta, garland). [Some see Greek anthos, flower, in the suffix –inth of labyrinth, labrys is Minoan for ‘double-axe’. Labyrinth is a term for the inner ear]

Latin serta, ‘wreathes of flowers, garlands’, which Klein says “is properly plural neuter past participle of serere, ‘to join together’.” The pattern of the myth of ‘deserted Ariadne‘ embraces a number of words from the Indo-European root *ser-. Latin serta, means a garland, from serere, to join. Crowns have a series of points, spikes (or they may be a turret shape). The tribute for the Minotaur was to be chosen by lot (sortilege, from sors, genitive sortis). These words come from the Indo-European root *ser- ‘To line up, lining up lots before drawing them’. Derivatives: series (cognate with Old Indian sarat, ‘thread’),  assert, desert³ (abandon), dissertate, exert, exsert, insert, (these words from Latin serere, to arrange, attach, join – in speech, discuss), sermon, serried (in rows, from Latin sera, a lock, bolt, bar < ‘that which aligns’),  assortment,  sorcerer,  sorcery, sort (means in this sense ‘destiny’ or ‘fortune’. Pronouncements from oracles were known as sortes in Latin, and sortes means ‘lots’ as in ‘casting lots’ or ‘drawing lots’), assort, consort, ensorcel (to enchant; bewitch), sortilege (the act or practice of foretelling the future by drawing lots). [Pokorny 4. ser– 911. Watkins] Klein and AHD adds desert (a barren desolate area).

“Our word disserit is used in a figurative meaning as well as in relation to the fields: for as the kitchen-gardener disserit ‘distributes’ the things of each kind upon his garden plots, so he who does the like in speaking is disertus ‘skilful.’ Sermo ‘conversation,’ I think, is from series ‘succession,’ whence serta ‘garlands’; and moreover in the case of a garment sartum ‘patched,’ because it is held together: for sermo ‘conversation’ cannot be where one man is alone, but where his speech is joined with another’s. So we are said consereremanum ‘to join hand-to-hand fight’ with an enemy; so to call for manumconsertum ‘a laying on of hands’ according to law; from this, adsereremanuinlibertatem’ to claim that so-and-so is free,’ when we lay hold of him. So the augurs say: If you authorize me to take in my hand the sacred bough, then name my colleagues (consortes). From this, moreover, sors ’lot,’ from which the consortes ‘colleagues’ themselves are named; from this, further, sortes ‘lots,’ because in them time-ideas are joined with men and things; from these, the sortilegi ‘lot-pickers, fortune-tellers’; from this, the money which is at interest is the sors ‘principal,’ because it joins one expense to another” [Varro: On The Latin Language, p.64, 66].

Ariadne, having married Dionysus, to be his consort. A consort crown is a crown worn by the Queen Consort of a kingdom for her coronation or on state occasions. Unlike with reigning monarchs, who may inherit one or more crowns for use, consorts sometimes had special crowns made uniquely for them and which were worn by no other later consort [].

Flora says: Bacchus [Dionysus] loves flowers. Bacchus’ pleasure in the wreath can be known from Ariadne’s star. Light theatre suits her. Do not, believe me, do not rank her with the tragic-booted goddesses [referring to the buskin boots worn by actors of Greek and Roman tragedies]. Indeed the reason why a crowd of whores packs these shows is not difficult to find. She is neither one of the glum set nor a snob; she wants her rites open to the plebs, and warns us to use life’s beauty as it blooms. [Ovid, Fasti 5.183

The Welsh knew the constellation, Corona Borealis, as CaerArianrhod, ‘castle of Arianhrod’, the prefix Arian– bearing a noted similarity to the name Ariadne. Caer ‘castle’ or ceaster, ‘castellated’ means turreted like a castle. Some crowns are described as turreted, Cybele wore a mural or turreted crown.

Romans poets associated the Minoan-Greek, Ariadne, with their goddess Libera [].  Liber [Dionysos, or Bacchus] says to Ariadne:

“Let us seek heaven’s heights together. You have shared my bed and you will share my name. You will be named Libera, when transformed. I will create a monument of you and your crown, which Volcanus [Hephaistos] gave Venus [Aphrodite] and she gave you.’ He does what he said, and turns its nine gems to fires, and the golden crown glitters with nine stars.” – Ovid, Fasti 3.459 [

The Statue of Liberty might relate to this constellation? Libera with a crown. The Statue of Liberty symbolically represents Libertas (liberty), Ancient Rome’s goddess of freedom from slavery, oppression and tyranny. Ariadne was marooned on an island. To be marooned is to be put ashore on a deserted island or coast and intentionally abandoned. A Maroon was the word for a fugitive slave in the West Indies in the 17th and 18th centuries. Liberia, a country in West Africa, was founded and settled mainly by freed slaves.

The Statue of Liberty was a gift from France, but it is really a GREEK SYMBOL, A GREEK GODDESS.

The crown has associations with both liberty and also slavery “in ancient times slaves taken by right of conquest were sold wearing garlands, and hence were said to be sold ‘under a crown.’ For as the crown was a sign that those who were being sold were captives” [Aulus Gellius, (ca. 125 AD—after 180 AD), Noctes Atticae, Book 6]. The word ‘slave’ is related to the name of the adjacent constellation Hercules, who was a slave to Omphale for a year.

The crown given to Ariadne belonged to Venus: Allen (Star Names) says that when deserted by Theseus she became the wife of Liber Bacchus, and so took his name Libera; while the crown that Theseus — or, as some said, the goddess Venus — had given her was transferred to the sky:

“Victory herself is named from the fact that the overpowered vinciuntur ‘are bound.’ Poetry bears testimony to both, because both Victory and Venus are called heaven-born; for Tellus ‘Earth,’ because she was the first one bound to the Sky, is from that called Victory. Therefore she is connected with the corona ‘garland’ and the palma ‘palm’ [the customary symbols of victory] because the garland is a binder of the head and is itself, from vinctura’ binding,’ said vieri’ to be plaited,’ that is, vinciri ‘to be bound’; whence there is the line in Ennius’s Sota: The lustful pair were going, to plait the Love-god’s garland”. [Varro: On The Latin Language, p.59 ]

The astrological influences of the constellation given by Manilius:

“Corona the Crown’s lustrous ring, which twinkles with varying luminosity; for the circle is dominated by a single star [Alphecca], which with passing splendor sparkles in the mid forehead and enhances with its blazing flame the bright lights of the constellation. They shine as the memorial of deserted Ariadne” [Manilius, Astronomica, 1st century AD, book 5, p.29].

“Next to rise is Erigone [Virgo]. When you behold her ascending with five degrees wrested from the sea, there will emerge from the waves the bright memorial of what was once [in her lifetime] Ariadne’s crown; and gentle will be the skills herefrom bestowed. For here shines a maiden’s gifts. The child of the Crown will cultivate a garden budding with bright flowers and slopes. Grey with olive (trees) or green with grass. He will plant pale violets, purple hyacinths, lilies, poppies which vie with bright Tyrian dyes, and the rose which blooms with the redness of blood, and will stipple meadows with designs of natural color. Or he will entwine different flowers and arrange them in garlands; he will wreathe the constellation under which he was born, and like Ariadne’s crown will be the crowns he fashions; and stems he will squeeze together, and distil mixtures (make perfume) therefrom, and will flavor Arabian with Syrian scents and produce unguents which give off a mingled fragrance, that the charm of the perfume be enhanced by the blending. His heart is set upon elegance, fashion, and the art of adornment, upon gracious living and the pleasure of the hour. Such is the endowment prescribed by the years of the Maid and the flowers of the Crown” [Manilius, Astronomica, 1st century AD, book 5, p.321.]

© Anne Wright 2008.

Hevelius,Firmamentum, 1690

History of the constellation

from Star Names, 1889, Richard H. Allen

Looke! how the crowne which Ariadne wore

Upon her yvory forehead, . . .

Being now placed in the firmament,

Through the bright heavens doth her beams display,

And is unto the starres an ornament,

Which round about her move in order excellent.

—  Spenser’s FaerieQueen

Corona Borealis, the Northern Crown {Page 174} is the French CouronneBoreale, the German  NordlicheKrone, and the Italian ancestral Corona. It was the only stellar crown known to Eratosthenes and the early Greeks, but they called it Stephanos, a Wreath; and their successors, who had begun to locate the Southern Crown (Corona Australis), added to this title of the original the distinguishing protos; and beta Borelos to show its priority and its northern position. The Latins adopted the Greek name and adjectives in Coronaborea, borealis, and septentrionalis; and further knew it as the Crown of Vulcan  fashioned exauroetindicisgemmis; or of Amphitrite, probably from its proximity in the sky to the Dolphin (Delphinus) associated with that goddess. But generally it was AriadnaeaCorona, CoronaAriadnae, CoronaAriadnes, CressaCorona, CoronaGnosida, CoronaCretica and Gnossis, varied by MinoiaCorona and MinoiaVirgo found with Valerius Flaccus and Germanicus, and AriadnaeaSidus with Ovid; these classical designations referring to Ariadne, or to her father Minos, king of Crete, and to her birthplace in that island, at Gnosos, where Theseus married her. When deserted by him she became the wife of Liber Bacchus, and so took his name Libera; while the crown that Theseus — or, as some said, the goddess Venus — had given her was transferred to the sky, where it became our Corona; and, as early as the 3rd century B.C., Apollonius Rhodius wrote in his Argonauticae

Still her sign is seen in heaven,

And midst the glittering symbols of the sky

The starry crown of Ariadne glides.

Keats changed this in his Lamia to Ariadne’tiar; and others made it the CoiledHairofAriadne as companion to the Streaming Tresses of Berenice (Coma Berenices). Some authors, however, — Ovid among them in his Fasti—  said that Ariadne herself became the constellation; and Mrs. Browning, in her Paraphrases from Nonnus of HowBacchuscomfortsAriadne

{Page 175} Or wilt thou choose

A still surpassing glory? — take it all —

A heavenly house, Kronion’s self for kin.

This legend of Ariadne and her Crown seems to have been first recorded by Pherecydes early in the 5th century before Christ.

Dante, referring to Ariadne’s descent, called these stars laFigliuoladiMinoi, the poet giving much prominence to her father (King Minos) who “was so renowned for justice as to be called the Favorite of the Gods, and after death made Supreme Judge in the Infernal Regions.”

In all ages Corona has been a favorite, popularly as well as in literature, and few of our stellar groups have had as many titles, although the English of the Middle Ages usually wrote its wearer’s name “Adrian” and “Adriane.”

Chaucer had this strange passage on the constellation:

And in the sygne of Taurus men may see

The stonys of hire coroune shyne clere;

but this seems unintelligible, unless from some confusion in the poet’s mind with the location of Koronis of the Hyades. These, however, lie in the heavens just opposite the Crown, and Skeat ingeniously suggests that Chaucer may have meant that when the Sun was in Taurus the Crown was specially noticeable in the midnight sky, as is exactly the case.

“England’s Arch Poet,” Edmund Spenser, wrote in the ShepheardKalendar of 1579:

And now the Sunne hath reared up his fierie footed teme,

Making his way between the Cuppe (Crater) and golden Diademe;

one of the early titles of Corona being DiademaCoeli

The WreathofFlowers, occasionally seen for it, is merely the early signification of the words Stephanos and Corona.

Oculus was another name of the constellation — a term common in poetry and post-Augustan prose for any celestial luminary; and Prudens [Aurelius Clemens Prudentius, the Latin Christian poet of our 4th century] called it Maera, the Shining One.

As the ardenscorona of the Georgics, Vergil included it with the Pleiades as a calendar sign. May translating the passage:

{Page 176} But if thou plow to sowe more solid graine,

A wheat or barley harvest to obtaine:

First let the morning Pleiades be set,

And Ariadne’s shining Coronet,

Ere thou commit thy seed to ground, and there

Dare trust the hope of all the following yeare.

Columella, in a similar connection, called it GnosiaArdorBacchi, and NaxiusArdor, from Naxos, where Ariadne had been deserted by Theseus; and specially designated its lucida as claraStella

Its stars were favored also by the astrologers, Manilius expressing this in:

Births influenced then shall raise fine Beds of Flowers,

And twine their creeping Jasmine round their Bowers;

The Lillies, Violets in Banks dispose,

The Purple Poppy, and the blushing Rose:

For Pleasure shades their rising Mounts shall yield,

And real Figures paint the gawdy Field;

Or they shall wreath their Flowers, their Sweets entwine,

To grace their Mistress, or to Crown their Wine.

Bayer said of it AzophiParma, by which he meant that Al Sufi called it a Shield; but the majority of Arabian astronomers rendered the classical title by AlIklilalShamaliyyah, which degenerated into Acliluschemali  and Aclushemali, and appeared with Ulug Beg as plain Iklil

But in early Arabia there was a different figure here, AlFakkah, the Dish, which Ulug Beg’s translator gave as Phecca, and others as Alphaca, Alfecca, Alfacca, Foca, Alfeta, and Alfelta; while Riccioli said AlphenaSyrochaldaeis; and Schickard, Alphakhaco

Hyde quoted KasatalSalik, and KasatalMasakin, the Pauper’s Bowl; and the Persians had the same in their KasahDarwishan, the Dervish’s Platter, or KasahShekesteh, the Broken Platter, because the circle is incomplete. Bullialdus latinized some of these titles in his Discusparvusconfractus, evidently taken from Chrysococca’s Pinakin keklasmenon, a Small Broken Dish, which, however, should read Pinakion (A “pinax” or “pinakion”, meaning “tablet,” because of its flat shape.).

The AlfonsineTables have Malfelcarre, “of the Chaldaeans,” Riccioli’s Malphelcane, considered by Ideler a degenerate form of the Arabic AlMuniralFakkah, the Bright One of the Dish; though Buttmann derived it from AlMalfalKhatar, the Loop of the Wreath, or the Junction of the Crown; and Scaliger suggested AlMalifalKurra, of somewhat similar meaning, more correctly written AlMilaffalKurrah. Bayer said Malphelcarrequodestsertumpupillae, the Circle of the Pupil of the Eye; and, although he did not explain this, may have written better than he knew, {Page 177} for Pupilla is the Latin equivalent of Kore, which, as a proper name, was a title for Persephone. In La Lande’s Astronomic Dupuis (circe 1862) devoted much space to his identification of this goddess, the Latin Proserpina, with the Chaldaean Phersephon, taking the title from Phe’er, Crown, and Serphon, Northern. Thus, if Dupuis be correct, the origin of the figure, as well as of the name, may lie far back of Cretan days. The Hebrews are said to have called it ‘Ataroth, the Crown, — perhaps of the Semitic queen Cushiopeia; and the Syrians, Ashtaroth, their Astarte, the Aphrodite of the Greeks and the Venus of the Latins; but all this seems doubtful, as also is Ewald’s conjecture that it was the biblical Mazzaroth.

Blake quotes from Flammarion, Vichaca, but without explanation.

Reeves catalogued it as the Chinese KwanSoo, a Cord. In Celtic story Corona was CaerArianrod, the House of Arianrod or Ethlenn, the sister of Gwydyon and daughter of Don, the Fairy King, this name bearing a singular resemblance to that of the classical owner of the Crown.

The Shawnee Indians knew it as the CelestialSisters, the fairest of them being the wife of the hunter White Hawk, our Arcturus

Caesius said that it represented the CrownthatAhasuerusplaceduponEsther’head, or the goldenoneoftheAmmoniteKing of a talent’s weight, or the CrownofThorns worn by the Christ.

Tlie LeydenManuscript shows it as a laurel wreath, and thus, or as a typical crown, it appears on the maps. In the FirmamentumFirmianum, a work of 1731, in honor of the persecuting bishop of Salzburg, of the Firmian family, the figuring is that of the CoronaFirmiana, with a stag’s antlers from the coat of arms of that family. But an exception to the rule may be noted in an illustration, in the original AlfonsineTables, of a plain three-quarter circle, entirely unlike either crown or wreath. Proctor suggested that in the earliest astronomy it may have formed the right arm of Bootes

It is interesting to the astronomer from its many close binaries, and is a favorite object with youthful observers, who generally know it as Ariadne’Crown. It certainly is much more like that for which it is named than usually is the case with our sky figures; and it is equally suggestive to the Australian native of the Woomera, our Boomerang, his idea of Corona’s stars.

Here appeared very suddenly, 58′ south of epsilon, on the 12th of May, 1866, the celebrated BlazeStar as a 2d-magnitude visible to the naked eye for only eight days, declining, with some fluctuations, to the 10th magnitude at the rate of half a magnitude a day, but rising again to the 8th, where it {Page 178} still remains as T Coronae, a pale yellow, slightly variable star. Although called a nova, Argelander had already mapped it on the 18th of May, 1855, and again noted it on the 31st of March, 1856, probably at its normal magnitude. It was the first temporary star to be “studied by the universal chemical method” — the spectroscope.

Near its place the VariabilisCoronae, now lettered R, was discovered by Pigott in 1795, still varying from 5.8 to 13, but with much irregularity.

Professor Young repeats the bagdel of Cassiopeia as a help to the memory in locating the stars of this constellation. The extreme northern one is theta, but then follow in order beta, alpha, gamma, delta, epsilon, iota. They form an almost perfect semicircle 20° northeast of Arcturus

Argelander gives a total of 27 stars visible to the naked eye; and Heis, 31.

One plac’d i’ th’ front above the rest displays

A vigorous light, and darts surprising rays —

The Monument of the forsaken Maid.

— Creech’s Manilius

Star Names: Their Lore and Meaning, Richard H. Allen, 1889.]

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