ARCTURUS ärk tŏŏr’ əs. The tr. of the KJV for the Heb עַ֗יִשׁ, RSV and JPS read “Bear,” which is found only in Job 38:32 in a list of constellations along with the “Orion” and “Pleiades” groups of stars. A similar term Heb עָשׁ֒, H6931, cognate to Akkad. ašašu(m), “moth” or “fishmoth” (cf. B. Landsberger, Die Fauna des Alten Mesopotamien nach der 14. Tafel der Serie Ḥar-ra = hubullu [1934], 11. 268, p. 20). However, the tr. or usage of either of these terms is far from sure. A whole variety of possible explanations and identifications has been forthcoming from various commentators, and the VSS are confused and often indicate that the copyists were totally ignorant of the texts they were attempting to interpret. The manifold derivations taken from the Arab. lexica prove little, as they are without parallel citations in any texts. The fuller form of the Heb. seems to be that in Job 38:32, and a shorter variant of this term appears in Job 9:9, both terms referring to some constellation. However the LXX of 38:32 reads ἕσπερον, “evening star,” which is followed by the Vul. which reads “Hesperum,” while in 9:9 the LXX reads ἀρκτοῦρον (another term in the series is read Hesperon), the Vul. follows with Arcturum. Needless to say, such readings are sheer guesswork.

The proper comprehension of ancient Sem. astrology and astronomical terminology is far from certain. There is the added problem that Job frequently refers to ancient cosmological stories which are only in a few instances recoverable from the great antiquity when the book was written. From the general information given in the text, it is highly probable that the Great Bear is in fact the constellation meant, and if not, then prob. the constellation Aldebaran.

The medieval commentators, thoroughly imbued with Hel. post-Platinian astrology, were particularly interested in such Biblical references to astral phenomena. From such writings have come a vast lit. based on folklore and folk etymology. There is no doubt that the ancients had a highly developed sense of the cosmos, but the necessary quantitative data is rarely available for definite identification. Ibn Ezra and other rabbinical writers of the Judeo-Arab. tradition define these terms in the sense in which they were understood at their time. In effect, either Arcturus or Great Bear is a permissible tr.