HELIACAL

heliacal, relating to the sun ([greek: helios]), a term applied in the ancient astronomy to the first rising of a star which could be seen after it emerged from the rays of the sun, or the last setting that could be seen before it was lost from sight by proximity to the sun. heliand. the 9th-century poem on the gospel history, to which its first editor, j. a. schmeller, gave the appropriate name of _heliand_ (the word used in the text for "saviour," answering to the o. eng. _haelend_ and the ger. _heiland_), is, with the fragments of a version of the story of genesis believed to be by the same author, all that remains of the poetical literature of the old saxons, i.e. the saxons who continued in their original home. it contained when entire about 6000 lines, and portions of it are preserved in four mss. the cotton ms. in the british museum, written probably late in the 10th century, is nearly complete, ending in the middle of the story of the journey to emmaus. the munich