In the Pyramid Texts, from the 24th and 23rd centuries BC, Sah was one of many gods whose form the dead pharaoh was said to take in the afterlife. Sah was syncretized with Osiris, while Sopdet was syncretized with Osiris' mythological wife, Isis. The god Sopdu was said to be the son of Sah and Sopdet. Because Orion rises before Sirius, the star whose heliacal rising was the basis for the Solar Egyptian calendar, Sah was closely linked with Sopdet, the goddess who personified Sirius. In ancient Egypt, the stars of Orion were regarded as a god, called Sah.

Papshukal was closely associated with the figure of a walking bird on Babylonian boundary stones, and on the star map the figure of the Rooster was located below and behind the figure of the True Shepherd-both constellations represent the herald of the gods, in his bird and human forms respectively. The Babylonian constellation was sacred to Papshukal and Ninshubur, both minor gods fulfilling the role of 'messenger to the gods'. The Babylonian star catalogues of the Late Bronze Age name Orion MULSIPA.ZI.AN.NA, 'The Heavenly Shepherd' or 'True Shepherd of Anu' - Anu being the chief god of the heavenly realms. It has also been used as a symbol in the modern world. The distinctive pattern of Orion has been recognized in numerous cultures around the world, and many myths have been associated with it. Archaeologists have estimated it to have been fashioned approximately 32,000 to 38,000 years ago. The earliest depiction that has been linked to the constellation of Orion is a prehistoric ( Aurignacian) mammoth ivory carving found in a cave in the Ach valley in Germany in 1979. Star formation in the constellation Orion as photographed in infrared by NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope

The eyes of ara constellation puzzle