Sirius signified certain emanations which caused its malignant influence. Anyone suffering its effects was said to be "star-struck" (, "astrobólētos"). It was described as "burning" or "flaming" in literature. The season following the star's reappearance came to be known as the "dog days". The inhabitants of the island of Ceos in the Aegean Sea would offer sacrifices to Sirius and Zeus to bring cooling breezes, and would await the reappearance of the star in summer. If it rose clear, it would portend good fortune; if it was misty or faint then it foretold (or emanated) pestilence. Coins retrieved from the island
Sirius four Galilean moons of Jupiter and the rings of Saturn. This has been the subject of controversy and speculation. Doubts have been raised about the validity of Griaule and Dieterlein's work. In a 1991 article in "Current Anthropology" anthropologist Walter van Beek concluded after his research among the Dogon that, "Though they do speak about "sigu tolo" [which is what Griaule claimed the Dogon called Sirius] they disagree completely with each other as to which star is meant; for some it is an invisible star that should rise to announce the "sigu" [festival], for another it is Venus that, through