In the ancient Denderah Zodiac it is represented as a Scarabæus, or sacred beetle.[69] In the Zodiac of Esneh and in a Hindu Zodiac (400 b.c.) it is the same.
Plate 35: CANCER (the Crab)
According to the Greeks, Jupiter placed this Crab amongst the signs of the Zodiac.
In Sir William Jones's Oriental Zodiac we meet with a crab, and an Egyptian Zodiac found at Rome bears also the crab in this sign.
The more ancient Egyptians placed Hermanubis, or Hermes, with the head of an ibis or hawk, as the symbol of the sign now allotted to Cancer.
The Denderah name is Klaria, or the cattle-folds, and in this name we have the key to the meaning of the sign, and to the subject of this chapter.
The Arabic name is Al Sartan, which means who holds or binds, and may be from the Hebrew אָסַר, to bind together (Gen. xlix. 11). There is no ancient Hebrew word known for the crab. It was classed with many other unclean creatures, and would be included in the general term “vermin.”
The Syriac, Sartano, means the same. The Greek name is Karkinos, which means holding or encircling, as does the Latin, Cancer, and hence is applied to the crab. In the word Khan, we have the traveller's rest or inn; while Ker or Cer is the Arabic for encircling. The ancient Akkadian name of the month is Su-kul-na, the seizer or possessor of seed.
The sign contains 83 stars, one of which is of the 3rd magnitude, and seven are of the 4th magnitude, and the remainder of inferior magnitudes.