Arshaljawza (عرش الجوزاء)

Authors: Khalid Al-Ajaji, Susanne M Hoffmann, Roland Laffitte

---

Arshaljawza (عرش الجوزاء), the Throne of Al Jawza, is an Arabian asterism

Concordance, Etymology, History

Adams (2018), pp. xx-xx.

...

Khalid AlAjaji

Jawza with adjacent asterisms (CC BY Roland Laffitte 2025).

Concordance

Headword (Arabic): عَرْشُ الجَوْزَاءِ

Transliteration: ʿArsh al‑Jawzāʾ

IPA: ʕurʃul.dʒaw.zaːʔ

Gloss: “The Throne of al‑Jawzāʾ” – a quadrilateral asterism beneath the feet of al‑Jawzāʾ (Orion). Within the constellation al-Arnab (Lepus) lie four stars arranged in a quadrilateral pattern that Arabs referred to as ʿArsh al-Jawzāʾ (“the Throne of al-Jawzāʾ”) and Kursi al-Jawzāʾ al-Muʾakhkhar (“the Rear Chair of al-Jawzāʾ”). These designations derive from their position below the feet of al-Jawzāʾ (Orion). The “rear” qualifier distinguishes this group from the Front Chair of al-Jawzāʾ (al-Muqaddam), located within the constellation al-Nahr (Eridanus), which similarly consists of four stars in an analogous configuration near Orion’s left foot.

Corpus and scope:

Occurrences in early Arabic astronomical, poetic, and cosmographical literature, with particular attention to constellation and anwāʾ texts.

1. Ibn Qutaybah (d. 889 CE), pp. 45–46.– Classifies al‑Jawzāʾ among the southern (Yamānī) constellations, notes its alternative name al‑Jabbār (“the Giant / the Mighty One”), likened to a king seated on a throne, and describes Kursi al‑Jawzāʾ as four stars forming an irregular quadrilateral beneath Orion.
2. Al‑Marzūqī (d. 1030 CE), 2nd vol., p. 246. – States that beneath each of Orion’s legs there is a set of four stars termed Kursi al‑Jawzāʾ and notes that one of the two “chairs” is more conspicuous than the other.
3. Al-Ṣūfī (ʿAbd al-Raḥmān al-Ṣūfī, (d. 986 CE), Kitāb al-Kawākib, p. 740. – in his description of al-Arnab (Lepus), states that the Arabs designated the seventh through tenth stars of Lepus—those located on its body—as Kursi al-Jawzāʾ al-Muʾakhkhar and ʿArsh al-Jawzāʾ because they lie between Orion’s two feet, in the position corresponding to a throne. Some works on al-Anwāʾ (“seasonal star risings”) also refer to these stars as al-Nihāl.

Roland Laffitte (2012, 2025) writes:

Arsh al-Jauzah (δ Lep : 3,8) / أرش Introduit à la fin du XX^e siècle, ce nom est ^cArš al-Ğawzā’, « le Repose-pied d’Elgeuze », qui correspond au groupe αβγδ Lep (voir aussi  α Lep). Ar. ^cArš al-Ğawzā’, al-Ṣūfī p/ αβγδ Lep > ‘Arsh AlGjauza’, Hyde, noté Arsh p/ α Lep, Allen. Arsh al-Jauzah, Rhoads. NB : cette étoile est en turc Ricl-ül-erneb-üş-şimâlî , soit « le Pied septentrional du Lièvre », tiré d’un traité en langue turque c/ Pultar.

Arsh al-Jauzah (δ Lep: 3.8) / أرش Introduced at the end of the 20^th century, this name is ^cArš al-Ğawzā’, ‘Elgeuze’s Footrest’, which corresponds to the αβγδ Lep group (see also α Lep). Ar. ^cArš al-Ğawzā’, al-Ṣūfī p/ αβγδ Lep > ‘Arsh AlGjauza’, Hyde, noted as Arsh p/ α Lep, Allen. Arsh al-Jauzah, Rhoads. NB: this star is known in Turkish as Ricl-ül-erneb-üş-şimâlî, meaning ‘the Northern Foot of the Hare’, taken from a treatise in Turkish c/ Pultar.

IAU Working Group Star Names

The name was suggested to WGSN in 2026.