Maera

Maera was the faithful hound of Icarius, an Athenian follower of the wine god Dionysus.

Icarius was the father of the maiden Erigone. Dionysus had taught Icarius how to make wine.

One day, Icarius was travelling on the road in a wagon when he met some shepherds. Icarius shared his wineskin. The shepherds fell into a drunken stupor and when they woke up, they thought Icarius had tried to poison them. The shepherds bashed Icarius to death and buried him under a tree.

Erigone became concerned for her father's whereabouts, and set off with Maera to find him. Maera led the maiden to the grave. The hound howled in its grief before leaping off a cliff to its death. Erigone was also distraught over her father's death, and hanged herself from the tree above her father's grave.

Taking pity on his followers and the hound, Dionysus placed them in the sky as the constellations Bootes (Icarius), Virgo (Erigone), and Maera as the constellation Sirius. Others say the constellation Canis Major or Canis Minor was Maera.

Dionysus did not let the shepherds escape for murdering Icarius. Dionysus caused madness in Athens, where all the maidens hanged themselves. The Athenians found out from the oracle what had caused this phenomenon. They captured the murderers and hanged them.

From that time onward, the Athenians held an annual festival in honour of Icarius and his daughter during the grape harvest, where the girls swung on trees in the swings.

The Greeks believed that the constellation Canis Minor and the Dog Star - Sirius - heralded the coming of a drought.