Despite its Arabian fame, the name ath-Thuraya survives in no modern star name. However, this star cluster was anthropomorphized as a female figure with two expansive arms, and from these arms come the internationally recognized star names of Ceph, Mirfak, Menkib and Kaffaljidhma. The shorter arm was called the Amputated Hand (al-kaf al-jadhma’) because it is the shorter one and lacks a proper hand. This is represented by a chain of stars that extends from ath-Thuraya to the star Kaffaljidhma in the Greek constellation of Cetus.

The other arm was called the Henna-Dyed Hand (al-kaf al-khadib) because one of its end stars is orange like the color of henna after it has dried. This arm extends through the dense starfields of the Milky Way, from ath-Thuraya through much of modern-day Perseus and Cassiopeia. The Henna-Dyed Hand was well-articulated with numerous named stars, some of which survive as modern star names like Ceph (”hand”, from kaf), Mirfak (“elbow”, from al-mirfaq) and Menkib (“shoulder”, from al-mankib). In addition to these were other named points that included the Shoulder Blade (al-‘atiq), the Upper Arm (al-‘adud), the Forearm (al-dhira’) and the Tip (ibrat al-mirfaq) and Pit (al-ma’bid) of the Elbow. Between the Forearm and the Hand itself is a fuzzy patch of sky that was interpreted to be the Tattoo on the Wrist (washm al-mi’sam) of ath-Thuraya. Binoculars reveal this nebulosity to be the famed Double Cluster of Perseus (NGC 869 and NGC 884).

The Two Hands of ath-Thuraya were attested in poetry by the time of the poet Dhu r-Rumma (d. 735 CE); their many parts may have been in use at that time as well, but this was surely the case by the time of the philologist Ibn Qutayba (d. 889 CE).

The story of al-Jawza’ and Suhayl

If you ask most Arabs today about al-Jawza’, they will point you to the Greek zodiacal figure of Gemini. Yet, long ago, the Arabian figure of al-Jawza’ largely correlated with the stars of Orion, and in the beginning the figure likely included just the three brilliant stars that mark the modern-day Belt of Orion.

Like ath-Thuraya, al-Jawza’ is a long-used proper name, and its Arabic root conveys the sense of being in the middle of something else. It is likely that the name was applied on account of the visual appearance of a nearly perfect line of three stars spaced equidistantly, which together were located between two other pairs of bright stars that in time came to represent the hands and feet of al-Jawza’. Indeed, it may have been that just the central star of the three was the first to bear the name al-Jawza’. A similar but less bright line of three stars is found in the handle of our modern Big Dipper, the central star of which Ibn Qutayba also identified as al-Jawza’.

An old Arabian legend tells the story of the woman al-Jawza’, who had been promised to a man named Suhayl. This man lived across the river with his two sisters, known together as the Two Shi’ra Sisters (ash-shi’rayan). When the wedding night came, something dreadful happened, and by morning al-Jawza’ was dead. Fearing for his life, Suhayl fled far to the south. One of his sisters crossed the river to be closer to him, and so she was called the Shi’ra Who Crossed Over (ash-shi’ra al-‘abur). His other sister stayed at home and cried her eyes out, so she was called the Little Bleary-Eyed Shi’ra (ash-shi’ra al-ghumaysa’).

Like al-Jawza’, the characters in this story correlate with stars in the night sky. Suhayl, who fled far to the south, is represented by the star known by modern astronomy as Canopus, the second brightest star in the sky. The Shi’ra Who Crossed Over is the brightest star in the sky, known today as Sirius, and her sister, the Little Bleary-Eyed Shi’ra, is the somewhat less bright star Procyon, whose light is dimmer because her eyes are filled with pus from crying so much.