Syriana

This name derives from the Ancient Greek “Seírios (Σείριος)”, meaning “sun-bright, glowing, burning, blazing, shining”, which in turn derives from Akkadian “Aššur.” The name Sīrĭus in Latin was used as an ethnic cognomen to indicate people from Syria (just in imperial slaves and freedmen). Sirius is the brightest star in the night sky, known in ancient Egypt as Sopdet (Greek: Sôthis ‘Σῶθῐς’), is recorded in the earliest astronomical records. During the era of the Middle Kingdom, Egyptians based their calendar on the heliacal rising of Sirius, namely the day it becomes visible just before sunrise after moving far enough away from the glare of the Sun. Saint Syrus (Sirus) of Pavia (Italian: San Siro) is traditionally said to have been the first bishop of Pavia during the 1st-century.