Cerberus et Ramus Pomifer

Among the constellations of the Ptolemaic canon, certain figures clearly predate the Greeks and were received by them from some significantly older source thought to be the civilization of ancient Mesopotamia. Some Mesopotamian constellations received by the Greeks were simply repurposed to fit Greek legends, such as the Perseus- Pegasus- Andromeda- Cepheus- Cassiopeia-Cetus group, while others like Orion were interpreted generically without becoming attached to any particular mythological figures. Hercules is among the former, “one of the oldest sky figures, although not known to the first Greek astronomers under that name,” according to Richard Hinckley Allen,