Auriga (constellation) been a separate constellation; however, Ptolemy merged the Charioteer and the Goats in the 2nd-century Almagest. Before that, Capella was sometimes seen as its own constellation—by Pliny the Elder and Manilius—called "Capra", "Caper", or "Hircus", all of which relate to its status as the "goat star". Zeta Aurigae and Eta Aurigae were first called the "Kids" by Cleostratus, an ancient Greek astronomer. Traditionally, illustrations of Auriga represent it as a chariot and its driver. The charioteer holds a goat over his left shoulder and has two kids under his left arm; he holds the reins to the chariot in his
Cancer (constellation) as a lobster. Richard Allen, in "Star-names and Their Meanings", lists names for the constellation as follows: In Ancient Greece, Aratus called the crab "Καρκινος" ("Karkinos"), which was followed by Hipparchus and Ptolemy. The Alfonsine tables called it "Carcinus", a Latinized form of the Greek word. Eratosthenes extended this as "Καρκινος", "Ονοι", "και Φατνη" ("Karkinos", "Onoi", "kai Fatne"): the Crab, Asses, and Crib. In Ancient Rome, Manilius and Ovid called the constellation "Litoreus" (shore-inhabiting). "Astacus" and "Cammarus" appear in various classic writers, while it is called "Nepa" in Cicero's "De Finibus" and the works of Columella, Plautus, and Varro; all