On This Day·Ancient Greece·Classical Athens
On This Day: The Dog Days Won’t Quit
August 10 in Athens—Sirius the Dog Star still blazes over the rooftops. The night offers no relief; Athenians toss in sweat-damp linen, dreaming of cooler winds.
Pierre-Auguste Cot — "The Storm" (1880), public domain
The Dog Star rules the August sky.
By August 10, the Dog Star—Sirius—still hammers Athens. The city’s stones radiate stored heat from the day. Ancient poets blamed sleeplessness and tempers on the star’s relentless glare.
Sirius brings fever and restlessness.
Greeks believed Sirius could scorch crops, drive dogs mad, and spark sudden illness in humans. Priests offered sacrifices to Apollo for relief, hoping for a breeze from the sea—or at least a night when sleep returned.
The dog days were more than a metaphor—ancient Greeks believed Sirius’s burning light could drive people to fever and madness.
