Cancer is small and dim, and to many it does not resemble a crab. It lies between Gemini to the west and Leo to the east, Lynx to the north and Canis Minor and Hydra to the south. If not for the fact that it lies on the Ecliptic, and is therefore part of the zodiac, Cancer would be a rather inconspicuous group of stars. It is home to the relatively nearby Beehive/Praesepe complex of star clusters.As the constellation vaguely resembles a crab, it may, together with the Hydra constellation, form the basis of the myth of the Lernaean Hydra, one of The Twelve Labours of Herakles, with which it is associated. History Cancer is said to have been the place for the Akkadian Sun of the South, perhaps from its position at the winter solstice in very remote antiquity. But afterwards it was associated with the fourth month Duzu (June-July in the modern western calendar), and was known as the Northern Gate of Sun. Cancer is a very dim constellation it's stars being of 4th-magnitude or less, so it is the least spectacular and often missed constellations. It certainly isn't visible with the naked eye. As a result of it;s darkness it was considered to be a "Dark Sign", quaintly described as black and without eyes. The modern symbol for Cancer is the crab, but it has been represented with various types of creatures, usually those that live in water, and always those with an exoskeleton. In the 12th century, an illustrated astronomical manuscript shows it as a water beetle. Albumasar calls this sign a large crayfish, in his work that was published in 1489. Bartschius and Stanislaus Lubienitzki, in the 17th century, described it as a lobster. Mythology The Egyptians saw Cancer as the sacred scarab, a beetle which rolls its dung in the dust, making pellets in which its eggs are laid. The scarab was a symbol of resurrection and immortality; mummies often had a carving of the scarab in place of the heart. In Greek myth, the second labor of Hercules was to slay the many-headed monster the Hydra. Hera (Juno) sent a crab to bite the heel of Hercules while he struggled with the Hydra. Hercules crushed the crab underfoot; this explains why the crab is the hardest constellation to see, with no bright stars. Astrology The Western astrological sign Cancer of the tropical zodiac (June 21 - July 22) differs from the astronomical constellation and the Hindu astrological sign of the sidereal zodiac (July 21 - August 9). In some cosmologies, Cancer is associated with the classical element Water, and thus called a Water Sign, forming Watery Trigon with Scorpio and Pisces. It is also one of the four cardinal signs (along with Aries, Libra, and Capricorn). Cancer is the domicile of the Moon or "House of the Moon", and this concept might originate from an ancient belief that the Moon was located here at the creation of the world. Cancer is also the exaltation of Jupiter, and the traditional astrology claims it is the triplicity of Mars, one of the three lesser dignities which the modern astrology does not recognize. Since Cancer is the opposite sign of Capricorn, which is the domicile of Saturn and the exaltation of Mars, Saturn naturally becomes detriment in Cancer, and Mars, although has the dignity of triplicity, becomes fall.