 "Arktikos" comes from "Arktos", the Greek name for the constellation of the Great Bear Ursa Major, visible only in the Northern Hemisphere, which comes from the ancient Greek word ἄρκτος (), which means "bear".The word "Asia" originated from the Ancient Greek word Ἀσία, first attributed to Herodotus (about 440 BCE) in reference to Anatolia or to the Persian Empire, in contrast to Greece and Egypt.It originally was just a name for the east bank of the Aegean Sea, an area known to the Hittites as Assuwa.