Editing Arcturus (section)

==In popular culture==
In [[Ancient Rome]], the star's celestial activity was supposed to portend tempestuous weather, and a personification of the star acts as narrator of the prologue to [[Plautus]]' comedy ''[[Rudens]]'' (circa 211 BC).<ref name=plautus/><ref name=Lewis_Short_1879/>

The ''[[Kāraṇḍavyūha Sūtra]]'', compiled at the end of the 4th century or beginning of the 5th century, names one of [[Avalokiteśvara]]s [[Samadhi|meditative absorptions]] as "The face of Arcturus".<ref name=roberts2013/>

One of the possible etymologies offered for the name "[[Arthur]]" assumes that it is derived from "Arcturus" and that the late 5th to early 6th-century figure on whom the myth of [[King Arthur]] is based was originally named for the star.<ref name=Lewis_Short_1879/><ref>{{cite book | last=Zimmer | first=Stefan | title=Die keltischen Wurzeln der Artussage: mit einer vollständigen Übersetzung der ältesten Artuserzählung Culhwch und Olwen | language=German | date=February 1, 2006 | page=37 | isbn=978-3825351076 | publisher=Universitätsverlag }}</ref><ref>{{cite journal | last=Zimmer | first=Stefan | title=The Name of Arthur – A New Etymology | journal=Journal of Celtic Linguistics | volume=13 | issue=1 | date=March 2009 | publisher=University of Wales Press | pages=131–136 }}</ref><ref>{{cite book | last1=Walter | first1=Philippe | translator-last=Faccia | translator-first=M. | language=Italian | title=Artù. L'orso e il re | publisher=Edizioni Arkeios | date=2005 | page=74 | isbn=978-8886495806 }}</ref><ref>{{cite book | last=Johnson | first=Flint | title=The British sources of the abduction and Grail romances | publisher=University Press of America | date=2002 | pages=38–39 | isbn=978-0761822189 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=V70nCDxlFgEC&pg=PA38 }}</ref><ref>{{cite book | last=Chambers | first=Edmund Kerchever | title=Arthur of Britain | publisher=Speculum Historiale | date=1964 | page=170 }}</ref>

In the [[Middle Ages]], Arcturus was considered a [[Behenian fixed star]] and attributed to the stone [[jasper]] and the [[Plantago|plantain]] herb. [[Cornelius Agrippa]] listed its [[Kabbalah|kabbalistic]] sign [[Image:Agrippa1531 Alchameth.png]] under the alternate name ''Alchameth''.<ref name=tyson1993/>

Arcturus's light was employed in the mechanism used to open the [[Century of Progress|1933 Chicago World's Fair]]. The star was chosen as it was thought that light from Arcturus had started its journey at about the time of the [[World's Columbian Exposition|previous Chicago World's Fair]] in 1893 (at 36.7&nbsp;light-years away, the light actually started in 1896).<ref name=century/>

At the height of the American Civil War, President Abraham Lincoln observed Arcturus through a 9.6-inch refractor telescope when he visited the Naval Observatory in Washington, D.C., in August 1863.<ref>{{cite web | first=Rich | last=Talcott | date=July 14, 2014 | title=Lincoln and the cosmos | website=Astronomy Magazine | url=https://cs.astronomy.com/asy/b/astronomy/archive/2014/07/14/lincoln-and-the-cosmos.aspx | access-date=2022-08-28  }}</ref>

An Anacondrai general from [[Ninjago (TV series)]] is also named Arcturus.{{cn|date=April 2025}}

In the [[Fallout 4]] DLC [[Nuka-World]], an in-game location which was built by Vault-Tec to demonstrate how Vaults might be used for space colonisation uses the name “Arcturus I”.{{cn|date=April 2025}}