"Aeneas' helmet blazed; flames from the crest Gushed upward; the gold boss of his great shield Shot out vast firelight, even as when Blood-red, ill-omened, through tranparent night A comet glows, or Sirius comes up, That burning star that brings drought and disease To ill mankind, and makes all heaven drear With baleful shining."

The Aeneid, lines 374-381. Table 1 Ancient references to the color of Sirius. Explicit namings or red span a millennium, from a Babylonian cuneiform text to the Greek astronomer Ptolemy. All seem agreed that the Dog Star is red, but this is distressing, for the star is blue-white today, and modern theories of stellar evolution cannot account for it being a different color in historical times.

Egyptian glyphs (ca. 2800 B.C.) "Sothis (Sirius), herald of the new year and the flood; no explicit color reference.

Babylonian cuneiform text (ca. 700 B.C.) A star called KAK.SI.DI "shines like copper."

Aratus (ca. 270 B.C.) (poikilos, or "colored").

Cicero (ca. 50 B.C.) Rutilo com lumine ("with ruddy light").

Horace (ca. 10 B.C.) Rubra Canicula ("red dog").

Seneca (ca. 25 A.D.) Acrior sit Caniculae rubor, Martis remissior, Jovis nullus. ("The redness of the Dog Star is deeper, that of Mars milder, that of Jupiter nothing at all.")

Ptolemy (ca. 150 A.D.) (hipokeros, or red, coppery, yellowish) used for Aldebaran, Betelgeuse, Arcturus, Antares, Pollux (all currently red stars), and Sirius.

Al Sufi (ca. 980 A.D.) Red stars include all those named by Ptolemy except Sirius.

Ulugh Beigh (ca. 1450 A.D.) Red start include all those named by Ptolemy except Sirius.