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[6] About the time of the rising of the Dog Star,1 if one stands upon the highest peak, the stillness of the surrounding atmosphere gives the impression that the summit is elevated above the motion of the winds, and the sun can be seen rising while it is still night. Its rays are not circumscribed in a circular orb but its flame is dispersed in many places, so that you would think that there were many patches of fire burning along the horizon.

1 According to the calculations of Mr. Alan E. Samuel, this would be the heliacal rising of Sirius, which occurred about 20th July (P. V. Neugebauer, Astronomische Chronologie, Berlin & Leipzig, 1929, Vol. 2, Tables E 58-62). Professor Otto Neugebauer writes that the rising would occur between 18th and 20th July, but that these references in the Greek authors are not to be pressed too closely.

Diodorus Siculus. Diodorus of Sicily in Twelve Volumes with an English Translation by C. H. Oldfather. Vol. 4-8. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press; London: William Heinemann, Ltd. 1989.

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