Auriga (constellation) Flaming Star Nebula, associated with the variable star AE Aurigae. In Chinese mythology, Auriga's stars were incorporated into several constellations, including the celestial emperors' chariots, made up of the modern constellation's brightest stars. Auriga is home to the radiant for the Aurigids, Zeta Aurigids, Delta Aurigids, and the hypothesized Iota Aurigids. The first record of Auriga's stars was in Mesopotamia as a constellation called GAM, representing a scimitar or crook. However, this may have represented just Capella (Alpha Aurigae) or the modern constellation as a whole; this figure was alternatively called Gamlum or MUL.GAM in the MUL.APIN. The crook of
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