Editing Arcturus (section)

==Mythology==
[[File:Hugo-de-Groot-Syntagma-Arateorum MG 0605.tif|thumb|Arcturus in Arctophyllax]]
{{See also|Ursa Major#Mythology|Boötes#History and mythology}}
One astronomical tradition associates Arcturus with the mythology around [[Arcas]], who was about to shoot and kill his own mother [[Callisto (mythology)|Callisto]] who had been transformed into a bear. Zeus averted their imminent tragic fate by transforming the boy into the constellation Boötes, called Arctophylax "bear guardian" by the Greeks, and his mother into Ursa Major (Greek: Arctos "the bear"). The account is given in [[Gaius Julius Hyginus|Hyginus]]'s ''[[De Astronomica|Astronomy]]''.<ref name=eratosthenes/>

[[Aratus]] in his ''Phaenomena'' said that the star Arcturus lay below the belt of Arctophylax, and according to [[Ptolemy]] in the ''Almagest'' it lay between his thighs.<ref name=ridpath/>

An alternative lore associates the name with the legend around [[Icarius (Athenian)|Icarius]], who gave the gift of wine to other men, but was murdered by them, because they had had no experience with intoxication and mistook the wine for poison. It is stated that Icarius became Arcturus while his dog, [[Maera (hound)|Maira]], became Canicula ([[Procyon]]), although "Arcturus" here may be used in the sense of the constellation rather than the star.<ref>{{harvp|Eratosthenes|Hyginus|Aratus|Hard (tr.)|2015|pp=38–40}}, p. 182 (note to p. 40)</ref>