History of the star: A double orange star in the right Eye of the Dragon, Draco. It was the pole star about 3500 BC. The Arabic spelling for Eltanin or Etamin is At-Tinnin (1), "The great serpent". Ras Eltanim, Eltanin, Ettanin, Etannin, Etanim, Etamin, etc., is from Al Ras al Tinnin, "the Dragon's Head", applied to this, as it also is to alpha (Thuban). The word Tinnin is nearly synonymous with Thuban.

This star was also called Rastaben, Rasaben, Rastaban "head of the snake".

It was one of Al'Awa'id, "the Mother Camels" which was known as the Quinque Dromedarii. In the Arabic theme for this constellation the stars beta (Alwaid), gamma (this star Etamin), nu (Kuma) and xi (Grumium) in the Head of the Dragon represent four mother camels protecting a baby camel from the attack of two hyenas (eta and zeta, Nodus 1). The nomads camp located nearby (the three unnamed stars in the neck of the Dragon: upsilon, tau, and sigma).

Apet, Bast, Mut, Sekhet, and Taurt were all titles of one goddess in the Nile worship, symbolized by this star, gamma Draconis, Etamin.

It was nearer the pole than any other bright star about 4000 years ago.

It is interesting to know that the Boeotian Thebes, the City of the Dragon, from the story of its founder, Cadmus, shared with its Egyptian namesake the worship of this star in a temple dedicated, so far as its orientation shows, about 1130 BCE, a cult doubtless drawn from the parent city (Thebes) in Egypt, and adopted in Greece, as also in Italy in the little temple to Isis in Pompeii. Here, however, the city authorities interfered with this star-worship in one of their numerous raids on the astrologers, and bricked up the opening whence the star was observed.

This star, Etamin, lies almost exactly in the zenith of Greenwich, in fact, it has been called the Zenith-star in Greenwich; and, being circumpolar, descends toward the horizon, but, without disappearing.

[Star Names, Their Lore and Meaning, Richard Hinchley Allen, 1889].

The astrological influences of the constellation: "According to Ptolemy the bright stars are like Saturn and Mars. Draco gives an artistic and emotional but somber nature, a penetrating and analytical mind, much travel and many friends, but danger of robbery and accidental poisoning. It gives craft, ingenuity, and valor. The Ancients said that when a comet was here, poison was scattered over the world. By the Kabalists it is associated with the Hebrew letter Mem and the 13^th Tarot Trump, Death". (Robson).

The general astrological influences of the star: Liking for solitude. Good mental concentration. Dishonor and downfall and loss of prestige. Esoteric and philosophical studies. (Fixed Stars and Their Interpretation, Elsbeth Ebertin, 1923)