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584
81 After Enkidu had thrown the right thigh of the Bull into the face of Ishtar ... but Enkidu tears out the right thigh of the Bull of Heaven and flings it in her face, amidst brutal [→ Brutus] taunts ... it evidently became the asterism named the Thigh, ruled by Phekda (γ Ursae Majoris). ... Phacd, and Phachd, Phad, Phaed, Phaecda, Phekda, and Phegda, are all from Al Faĥdh, the Thigh, where this star is located in the figure. Al Bīrūnī said that it was Palastya, one of the Hindu Seven Sages. The Chinese knew it as Ke Seuen Ke, and as Tien Ke, another Armillary Sphere ...
Although in the illustration by Hevelius the Thigh becomes the left leg because he has drawn the daytime view where time runs heliacally - together with the Sun from the horizon in the east:
And in ancient Egypt (where everything was viewed 'upside down') it was not marking an uplifted hind leg but an outstretched front leg:
From this it will not come as a major surprise to find that my first description of the Tahitian star pillars went wrong.at number 9 (Ana-nia, the Pillar of Exit). I thought it was referring to γ Ursae Majoris. However south of the equator they had instead chosen α Columbae (*84.7). And when young Maui went to visit his parents he flew like a pigeon through a hole.
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