SERPENS

, in Astronomy, a constellation in the northern hemisphere, being one of the 48 old constellations mentioned by all the Ancients, and is called more particularly Serpens Ophiuchi, being grasped in the hands of the constellation Ophiuchus. The Greeks, in their fables, have ascribed it sometimes to one of Triptolemus's dragons, killed by Carnabos; and sometimes to the serpent of the river Segaris, destroyed by Hercules. This is by some supposed to be the same as the author of the book of Job calls the Crooked Serpent; but this expression more probably meant the constellation Draco, near the north pole.

The stars in the constellation Serpens, in Ptolomy's catalogue are 18, in Tycho's 13, in Hevelius's 22, and in the Britannic catalogue 64.