Below the left foot of Hercules - suggesting a place of birth - was the head of the Dragon and inside his mouth, below his beak, Hevelius has put what looks like the lower part of a wheel. Searching in Allen I found: "Assemani mentioned μ as Al Ca'ab, the Little Shield or Salver, but gave no reason for this, and its inappropriateness renders the claim very doubtful."
"A salver is a flat tray of silver, other metal or glass used for carrying or serving glasses, cups, and dishes at a table, or for the presenting of a letter or card by a servant. In a royal or noble household the fear of poisoning led to the custom of tasting the food or drink before it was served to the master and his guests; this was known as the assay of meat and drink, and in Spanish was called salva. The verb salvar means to preserve from risk, from the Latin salvare, to save. The term salva was also applied to the dish or tray on which the food or drink was presented after the tasting process ..." (Wikipedia) The star at this wheel was Arrakis (μ) and due to its position at the opposite side of the year compared to Haedus II (at the 'wheel' of Auriga) we can guess Hevelius understood the Little Shield to allude to the wheel of time.
He has for instance equipped Orion with another and greater such double rimmed shield, and the right ascension position of this shield is earlier than the Belt of Orion and close to the left horn of Taurus, possibly alluding to the Auriga oval balancing on the tip of the right horn of the Bull:
The rongorongo equivalent could be the vaha kai (mouth orifice) type of glyph. We can perceive lips surrounding a mouth:
The mouth orifice of the Dragon (Arrakis, μ Draconis) was in day 260 at the time of Elnath. The 'mouth orifice' of Orion's shield was upside down - reasonably a sign of death because the head was upside down. At Orion the Old Sun Lion should have been dead and buried.
It should be noted that Kuma (ν Draconis) was earlier in the mouth and also a very faint star (4.86). |