Arcturus is a star created by Zeus to protect the nearby constellations Arcas and Callisto. Or: Icarius, who was instructed by Dionysus in wine making and was killed by
…drunken who he had shared this gift with; when his daughter Erigone came in search of her missing father with her faithful dog Maira, she found out his death and hanged herself in grief. Dionysus was angered by their deaths, and after transferring Ikarios, Erigone and Maira to the stars as the constellations Bootes (or Arcturus), Virgo and Canis Major, inflicted the land with drought and drove the Athenians maidens mad causing them to hang themselves. In accordance with an oracle a festival was instituted in honor of the dead heroes to appease the god's wrath. (MORE)