The Mythology of the Night Sky: Part Two

We’re all quasi familiar with the stars in the night sky; some more than others which often depends on whether you’re in the centre of a brightly lit polluted city sky or out in the clear dark air of rural – wherever. To the ancients, those bright lights in the night sky weren’t just bright lights in the night sky, but actual representations of their myths and legends. Time and time again their gods rewarded various characters with immortality, not by turning them into deities, but by placing them forever and a night in the heavens for all to see and remember.

One of the highest honours any demigod, demigoddess, mortal male or female, or beast for that matter could be awarded in Greco-Roman times would be to immortalized as a star or a constellation in the heavens. Here’s a few of those that achieved that honour.

Continued from yesterday’s blog…

*Eosphoros [see] Venus.

*Eridanus [see] Auriga, the Charioteer.

*Equuleus, the Pony: In Greek mythology, Pegasus, the winged horse, had either a brother or son, the foal Celeris (meaning "swiftness" or "speed"). Celeris was given to Castor (one of the two Gemini twins) by Hermes (Mercury to the Romans). Another version has Equuleus as the horse struck from Poseidon’s trident during a pissing contest between him and the goddess Athena when contesting who would be the superior patron of Athens (that name gives away who won). Because Equuleus’s section of stars rises before the constellation of Pegasus, it is often called Equus Primus, or the First Horse. See also Pegasus.

*Ganymede [see] Aquarius, the Water-Carrier.

*Gemini, the Twins: The Dioscuri, the “Sons of Zeus” or the “Heavenly Twins” are better known as Castor and Polydeuces (who is even better known as Pollux). Despite the “Sons of Zeus” tag, Pollux was the son of Zeus and Leda, and Castor the son of Leda and her husband, the King of Sparta. However they were twins, and brothers to Helen (of Troy), daughter of Zeus and Leda. When Castor was fatally wounded, Pollux asked Zeus to let him die alongside his beloved brother. They were eventually placed among the stars as the constellation we know as Gemini.

*Hercules was finally undone by an act of deception. His wife without knowing the true facts of the matter had Hercules put on a poisoned robe, which was akin to him bathing in a tub of acid. In agony, the demigod builds his own funeral pyre and lays on it awaiting death. A passing King of Malis, a former Argonaut, Poias, lights the pyre. An almighty thunderclap booms out as the pyre started burning as Zeus took Hercules up to Olympus and made him an immortal god. Even his stepmother, Hera, finally give up her intense anger towards him and they were reconciled. To honour his son, Zeus set up the stars in the constellation now named for him. See also Draco, Hydra and Leo.  

*Hesperus [see] Venus.

*Hyades (star cluster) [see] Pleiades.

*Hyas [see] Pleiades.

*Hydra, the Snake (or Water-Snake): After Hercules killed the Hydra (his second of twelve labours), the Hydra was placed in the firmament by Athena as the constellation Hydra, the Snake (or Water-Snake). See also Corvus, the Crow and Hercules.

*Ladon [see] Draco, the Dragon.

*Leo, the Lion: The first great labour of Hercules was to slay the great Nemean Lion who was invulnerable to arrows and spears and swords, etc. So, Hercules had to choke the beast to death. Hercules wore the skin of the lion as a cloak, and Zeus, to honour his son’s completion of his first Mission: Impossible task was to place the lion in the sky as a memorial – the constellation Leo. See also Hercules.

*Lyra: Orpheus, son of one of the nine Muses, was a highly skilled musician and singer who could charm the gods, mortals and beasts alike. However, when Orpheus eventually came to a sticky end, Zeus immortalized his music by placing his lyre among the stars as the constellation Lyra. Orpheus himself went to and stayed put in Hades, but that’s actually a happy ending, for he was forever reunited with his wife Eurydice, who he earlier, when alive, tried to rescue from the underworld, but failed to do so.

*Orpheus [see] Lyra.

*Ophiuchus, the Serpent Bearer: Asclepius, the son of Apollo and a mortal woman, turned out to be an extremely skilled physician. So skilled was he than he actually brought a corpse back to life! This was frowned on by Zeus as it got into deity only abilities, so Zeus smote him with his thunderbolts (and the now alive corpse as well). Now this pisses off Apollo, so in turn he smites the Cyclopes, the makers of those lethal thunderbolts. Now this as you would expect pisses off Zeus, so he forces Apollo into servitude to a mortal for one year as punishment. Meantime, as Asclepius was depicted with a staff with a snake coiled around it, he was immortalised as the eternal symbol in the heavens, the constellation Ophiuchus, the Serpent Holder (or Bearer). See also Sagitta.

*Orion: Orion, the mighty hunter, lusted after the Pleiades (the seven sisters) and their mum, so Zeus put the lot of them in the heavens thus out of Orion’s and harms way. Orion finally met his doom by boasting once too often about hunting and killing the wildlife, and so his was stung to death by a giant scorpion by orders of the earth goddess Gaia. On behalf of several of the gods or goddesses (Artemis and Leto) Zeus placed Orion too in the heavens, behind and forever chasing after those Pleiades sisters. The scorpion, for services rendered was also places in the heavens as the constellation Scorpio, still in pursuit of Orion! As an almighty hunter, Orion was accompanied by a hunting dog, the constellation Canis Major which includes the brilliant Dog Star, Sirius. 

*Pegasus: Pegasus, the winged horse was the offspring of the god of the sea, Poseidon (often identified with all things equine) and the gorgon Medusa, born when Perseus sliced off Medusa’s head. Pegasus was caught and tamed by Bellerophon, the two of which made a good team when Belleraphon slew the Chimera from the air and out of harms way.  But, he became unstuck when he tried to use his aerial transport and fly Pegasus to Olympus uninvited. Zeus, furious at the presumption that Bellerophon could just waltz into the abode of the gods any old time, sent an insect to sting Pegasus, causing the winged horse to throw off its rider, Bellerophon, who, without benefit of a parachute eventually went splat. Though Bellerophon survived the crash, he was crippled for life. Zeus then utilized Pegasus to draw his chariot filled with his thunderbolts, and as a final reward, placed Pegasus among the stars. See also Equuleus, the Pony.

*Perseus, who killed the gorgon Medusa, also rescued the lovely Andromeda from a sea monster, Cetus. Perseus and Andromeda of course married and had a son, Perses, but Parses was entrusted to and raised by King Cepheus (father of Andromeda) who needed a male heir to his throne (in Ethiopia). Now King Cepheus was married to the vain Cassiopeia (mother of Andromeda) who bragged she was better looking than the sea nymphs, the Nereids. The Nereids complained to their boss, Poseidon, the god of the sea who spat the dummy and demanded that her child, Andromeda of course, be sacrificed to Cetus, the sea monster, as retribution. That’s when Perseus happened by. All five, after they died their natural deaths, were placed among the stars as the constellations named after them. But Cassiopeia was placed upside down in the heavens to teach her some humility.

*Phaethon [see] Auriga, the Charioteer.

*Phosphorus [see] Venus.

*Pleiades (star cluster): The Pleiades, seven sisters all, were born of the Titan god Atlas and the Oceanid, Pleione. Prior to that Titan mated via the Oceanid Aithra producing a son, Hyas and his sisters, the Hyades. Thus the Pleiades were half-sisters to Hyas and the Hyades. Now one day Hyas was out hunting and was killed in the process by his prey, probably a boar. His sisters, the Hyades, died in turn from grief suffered by the loss of their beloved brother. In a triple-hankie story, their half-sisters, the Pleiades, also died, one and all, out of grief. Zeus, out of sympathy, immortalised the lot of them. Hyas and the Hyades as the star cluster Hyades; close in the sky to that of the Pleiades star cluster. The alternative version is that the hunter Orion had the hots for the seven sisters so Zeus intervened and transferred them to the sky where Orion couldn’t bother them. Of course later on, Orion too gets placed among the stars in the sky and to this day endlessly chases after the Pleiades. See also Orion.

*Pollux [see] Gemini.

*Sagitta, the Arrow: In ancient Greece, Sagitta was regarded as the weapon that Hercules used to kill the eagle (Aquila), an eagle that Zeus employed that perpetually gnawed at Prometheus’s liver. That was punishment for Prometheus’s ‘gift of fire’ to mankind, in defiance of Zeus’s instructions to the contrary. Another version believes the Arrow to be the one shot by Hercules towards the Stymphalian birds, his sixth labour. Those winged creatures had claws, beaks and wings of iron, and they lived on human flesh. Hercules got rid of the lot of them. Yet another version claimed it as the arrow with which Apollo exterminated the original trio of Cyclopes because the Cyclopes forged the thunderbolts for Zeus which Zeus used to kill Apollo’s son, Asclepius. See also Ophiuchus.

*Sagittarius: While undertaking his fourth labour, Hercules accidentally hit the centaur Chiron with one of his arrows that had been tipped with poison from the Hydra he killed earlier. Because the centaur was immortal and couldn’t die, he was doomed to be forever in agony. Zeus relieved him of his immortality, allowing Chiron to pass away, but Zeus in one manner restored Chiron’s immortality when he placed the centaur in the sky as the constellation Sagittarius. See also Centaurus.

*Scorpio [see] Orion.

*Sirius [see] Orion.

*Taurus, the Bull: When the king of the gods, Zeus, had his wicked way with Europa, he did so by shape-shifting into the form of a bull and carried Europa across the sea to Crete in that form, where they ‘did it’ (presumably Zeus shape-shifted back to human form before they ‘did it’). Since that time Crete (known as the Minoan culture or civilization) has had a long association with bulls or a bull-cult, like the sport of bull-jumping (grabbing the horns and somersaulting onto the back of the animal) and hosting half-a-bull as in the Minotaur. Because the bull-form suited Zeus so well, he immortalized the animal as the constellation Taurus.

*Ursa Major, the Great Bear: Callisto was the daughter of the King of Arcady, and she had the misfortune to have Zeus fall for her. Callisto was associated with the virgin goddess Artemis. When Zeus raped Callisto, she got in a family way (in mythology, every rape results in a pregnancy otherwise there’s no point to the rape in the first place). This rape ultimately produces a son, Arcas. Artemis, being the virgin, was livid and banished Callisto from any further association with her. Hera (Mrs. Zeus) in the meantime assumed Callisto was a willing partner to her wayward hubby and in revenge turned Callisto into a bear. Years later, Arcas, out hunting, ran across that bear and not realizing that it was mom, shot her dead. Zeus then placed Callisto into the zodiac as Ursa Major, the Great Bear (or the Big Dipper); Arcas ultimately got his place in the heavens too as the Little Bear (or the Little Dipper).

*Ursa Minor [see] Ursa Major

*Venus: Eos (Dawn) or to the Romans Aurora, born to Astraios all of the stars in the sky, of which two were most notable: Phosphorus (or Eosphorus), the Morning Star, and Hesperus, the Evening Star. In reality, both ‘stars’ are one and the same ‘star’ and not stars at all but the planet Venus.  

*Virgo [see] Bootes.

It’s a pity all that came to an end. If you were living way back then, perhaps you too might have been immortalised as a star, a star cluster or perhaps even as a constellation to be recorded for posterity, seen and talked about by millions for generations upon generations to come.