The Fixed Stars

Girtab

Kappa Scorpii

From a Babylonian name for the scorpion, or for its sting. It stands at about 18° Sagittarius (tropical).

The joint of the tail where it lifts to strike.

Kappa Scorpii stands where the tail lifts toward the sting, a hot blue-white star of the second magnitude. Girtab is among the oldest names for the whole figure, a Babylonian word for the scorpion carried down to this single star. Ptolemy counted the stars of the sting as being of the nature of Mercury and Mars. It falls within Mula, the tail nakshatra.