The Canis Minor is the other similar faithful of adventures of the giant
hunter Orione; its name is Procione. The original Greek name is Prokyon,
that it means “he who precedes the dog”, with obvious reference to Sirio
and connection to the fact that the rise of this asterismo precedes that
of its homologous one.
According to an ancient original legend of the Attica (the region around
to Atene), told from the mitografo Igino, the constellation represents
Maera, the dog of Icaro, the first man which the God Dioniso taught to
make the wine. When Icaro made it to taste to some shepherds, they got
drunk nearly immediately.
They believing that Icaro had poisons them, they killed it. The dog Maera
run screaming from the daughter of Icaro,Erigone,taken the garments between
the teeth and pulled it until the place where the dead father lay.
Erigone and the dog killed beside the body of Icaro.
Zeus placed their images between stars to memory of the ill-fated event.
In order to repair to their tragic error, people of Atene instituted a
yearly celebration in honor of Icaro and Erigone.
In this history, Icaro is identified with the constellation of Boote,
Erigone with that of the Vergine and Maera is the Canis Minor.
According to Igino, the murders of Icaro escaped in the island of Cea,
near the Attica, but they were pursued because of their bad action.
The island was plagued from the scarcity and the diseases,attributed
in the legend to the drying effect of the Star of the Dog (Procine seems
here is confused with the star of the Canis Major, Sirio). The King of
the island, Aristeo, son of the God Apollo, asked advice to the father
who said to it to ask aid Zeus.
Zeus sent it the winds Etesii, that they blow every year for forty
days from the moment in which rises the Star of the Dog, in order to cool
Greece and the islands that encircle it during the summery sultriness.
Later on, the clergymen of Cea instituted the practical of yearly
sacrifices to the goddess before the rising of the Star of the Dog.