"Lepus (constellation) Lepus (, ) is a constellation lying just south of the celestial equator. Its name is Latin for hare. It is located below—immediately south—of Orion (the hunter), and is sometimes represented as a hare being chased by Orion or, alternatively, by Orion's hunting dogs. Although the hare does not represent any particular figure in Greek mythology, Lepus was one of the 48 constellations listed by the 2nd-century astronomer Ptolemy, and it remains one of the 88 modern constellations. This constellation should not be confused with Lupus, the wolf. Lepus is most often represented as a hare being hunted"
"Orion (mythology) In Greek mythology, Orion (; Ancient Greek: Ὠρίων or ; Latin: ""Orion"") was a giant huntsman whom Zeus placed among the stars as the constellation of Orion. Ancient sources tell several different stories about Orion; there are two major versions of his birth and several versions of his death. The most important recorded episodes are his birth somewhere in Boeotia, his visit to Chios where he met Merope and after he violated her, was blinded by her father, Oenopion, the recovery of his sight at Lemnos, his hunting with Artemis on Crete, his death by the bow of"
"the story of Orion the Hunter and the Scorpius the Scorpion by the ancient Greeks. This ancient culture saw a very startling pattern of bright stars in the winter sky that, from their point of view, resembled a mighty hunter, which they named Orion. During the summer, they saw another startling pattern of bright stars that resembled a scorpion. They noticed that the constellations of Orion and the scorpion were positioned at opposite ends of the sky and were never seen in the sky simultaneously. As one constellation rose above the eastern horizon, the other was setting below the western"
"the Graeco-Roman tradition. One myth recounts Gaia's rage at Orion, who dared to say that he would kill every animal on the planet. The angry goddess tried to dispatch Orion with a scorpion. This is given as the reason that the constellations of Scorpius and Orion are never in the sky at the same time. However, Ophiuchus, the Serpent Bearer, revived Orion with an antidote. This is said to be the reason that the constellation of Ophiuchus stands midway between the Scorpion and the Hunter in the sky. The constellation is mentioned in Horace's ""Odes"" (Ode 3.27.18), Homer's ""Odyssey"" (Book"
"walk through the sea and on its surface. Artemis, the Goddess of the hunt, fell in love with Orion, but her twin brother, Apollo, was jealous and sent a scorpion to kill him. In her sorrow and remorse for his death, Artemis placed him in the sky as a constellation. Orion, the Great Hunter, is a brilliant constellation which straddles the celestial equator and is outlined by a quadrilateral of four 1st and 2nd magnitude stars—Betelgeuse, Rigel, Bellatrix, and Saiph. Inside the quadrilateral are three second-magnitude stars forming the Belt of Orion. The three stars of the Belt point south-eastward"
"bodies have been named after elements of Greek mythology. The constellation of Scorpius represents the scorpion that attacked Hercules and the scorpions that frighted the horses when Phaëton was driving the sun-chariot; while Capricorn may represent Pan in a myth that tells of his escape from Typhon by jumping into the water while turning into an animal - the half in the water turned into a fish and the other half turned into a goat. 1108 Demeter, a main-belt asteroid discovered by Karl Reinmuth on May 31, 1929, is named after the Greek goddess of fruitful soil and agriculture. The"
"""Odyssey"", Odysseus sees him hunting in the underworld with a bronze club, a great slayer of animals; he is also mentioned as a constellation, as the lover of the Goddess Dawn, as slain by Artemis, and as the most handsome of the earthborn. In the ""Works and Days"" of Hesiod, Orion is also a constellation, one whose rising and setting with the sun is used to reckon the year. The legend of Orion was first told in full in a lost work by Hesiod, probably the ""Astronomia"" (simple references to ‘""Hesiod""’, below will refer to the lost text from ""Astronomia"","
"itself, as Robert Graves thought. When the sun is in the sign of Scorpio, the constellation Hercules rises. The Greeks referred to the constellation of Hercules as the Stag (""hind"" is another word for doe), the identification of the constellation with Hercules was made by the Romans. Ceryneian Hind In Greek mythology, the Ceryneian Hind ( ""Elaphos Kerynitis""), also called Cerynitis or the Golden Hind, was an enormous hind, that lived in Keryneia, Greece. It was sacred to Artemis, the chaste goddess of the hunt, animals, and unmarried women. It had golden antlers like a stag and hooves of bronze"
"Babylonian astronomy, the constellation was called UR.GU.LA, the ""Great Lion""; the bright star Regulus was known as ""the star that stands at the Lion's breast."" Regulus also had distinctly regal associations, as it was known as the King Star. In Greek mythology, Leo was identified as the Nemean Lion which was killed by Heracles (Hercules to the Romans) during the first of his twelve labours. The Nemean Lion would take women as hostages to its lair in a cave, luring warriors from nearby towns to save the damsel in distress, to their misfortune. The Lion was impervious to any weaponry;"
"and was later slain by a pair of sea serpents sent by the gods to punish him. According to Roman era mythography, the figure represents the healer Asclepius, who learned the secrets of keeping death at bay after observing one serpent bringing another healing herbs. To prevent the entire human race from becoming immortal under Asclepius' care, Jupiter killed him with a bolt of lightning, but later placed his image in the heavens to honor his good works. In medieval Islamic astronomy (Azophi's ""Uranometry"", 10th century), the constellation was known as ""Al-Ḥawwaʾ"", ""the snake-charmer"". Aratus describes Ophiuchus as trampling on"
"verbal ones. To commemorate his diligence, the Muses asked Zeus to place him among the stars, which he did, transforming Krotos into the constellation Sagittarius. Various details of his stellar image were thought to represent one of his virtues: lower body of a horse for his skills of a horse rider; arrows for his keenness and swiftness as a hunter; a Satyr's tail for him being as delightful to the Muses as the Satyrs are to Dionysus. Krotos In Greek mythology, Krotos or Crotus (Ancient Greek: Κροτος) was the son of Pan and Eupheme. He dwelt on Mount Helicon and"
"back Zeus' stolen sinews. As a reward the king of the gods placed him amongst the stars as the Constellation Capricorn. The mother of Aegipan, Aix (the goat), was perhaps associated with the constellation Capra. Sybarios was an Italian Pan who was worshipped in the Greek colony of Sybaris in Italy. The Sybarite Pan was conceived when a Sybarite shepherd boy named Krathis copulated with a pretty she-goat amongst his herds. According to the Greek historian Plutarch (in ""De defectu oraculorum"", ""The Obsolescence of Oracles""), Pan is the only Greek god (other than Asclepius) who actually dies. During the reign"
"It is one of two Babylonian ""serpent"" constellations (the other being the origin of the Greek Serpens), a mythological hybrid of serpent, lion and bird. The shape of Hydra resembles a twisting snake, and features as such in some Greek myths. One myth associates it with a water snake that a crow served Apollo in a cup when it was sent to fetch water; Apollo saw through the fraud, and angrily cast the crow, cup, and snake, into the sky. It is also associated with the monster Hydra, with its many heads, killed by Hercules, represented in another constellation. According"
"the sky by the constellation Ophiuchus, Asclepius once killed a snake, but the animal was subsequently resurrected after a second snake placed a revival herb on it before its death. As snakes shed their skin every year, they were known as the symbol of rebirth in ancient Greek society, and legend says Asclepius would revive dead humans using the same technique he witnessed. Although this is likely the logic for Serpens' presence with Ophiuchus, the true reason is still not fully known. Sometimes, Serpens was depicted as coiling around Ophiuchus, but the majority of atlases showed Serpens passing either behind"
"called Atlantides, Modonodes, or Nysiades and were the caretakers of the infant Bacchus. Orion pursued the Pleiades named Maia, Electra, Taygete, Celaeno, Alcyone, Sterope, and Merope after he fell in love with their beauty and grace. Artemis asked Zeus to protect the Pleiades and in turn, Zeus turned them into stars. Artemis was angry because she no longer could see her companions and had her brother, Apollo, send a giant scorpion to chase and kill Orion. Zeus then turned Orion into a constellation to further pursue the Pleiades in the skies. In another legend, the sisters were transformed by Zeus"
"Narcissus (mythology) In Greek mythology, Narcissus (; Ancient Greek: Νάρκισσος ""Nárkissos"") was a hunter from Thespiae in Boeotia who was known for his beauty. According to Tzetzes, he was a Laconian hunter who loved everything beautiful. Narcissus was proud, in that he disdained those who loved him, causing some to commit suicide to prove their unrelenting devotion to his striking beauty. Narcissus is the origin of the term ""narcissism"", a fixation with oneself and one's physical appearance or public perception. The name is of uncertain etymology. According to R. S. P. Beekes, ""[t]he suffix [-ισσος] clearly points to a Pre-Greek"
"a silent link in T. S. Eliot's ""The Waste Land"" (1922), connecting the lustful Actaeon/Sweeney to the blind Teiresias and, through Sirius, to the Dog ""that's friend to men"". Orion (mythology) In Greek mythology, Orion (; Ancient Greek: Ὠρίων or ; Latin: ""Orion"") was a giant huntsman whom Zeus placed among the stars as the constellation of Orion. Ancient sources tell several different stories about Orion; there are two major versions of his birth and several versions of his death. The most important recorded episodes are his birth somewhere in Boeotia, his visit to Chios where he met Merope and"
"bears strong similarities with the tales of Atalanta and Callisto. It has been suggested that all these tales deal with the function of Artemis within the rituals of Ancient Greece and shed light on how they saw a woman's first sexual encounter. In so far as the tale details bestiality as a punishment for offending the gods, the myth is also similar to that of Pasiphaë and the Minotaur where Pasiphaë mated with a bull resulting in the Minotaur's birth. Polyphonte Polyphonte (Ancient Greek: """"slayer of many"") is a character in Greek mythology, transformed into a strix. The story of"
"(because of the precession of the equinoxes) over the centuries from when the Greeks, Babylonians and the Dacians through Zamolxis originally developed the Zodiac. Ophiuchus Ophiuchus () is a large constellation straddling the celestial equator. Its name is from the Greek ""Ophioukhos""; ""serpent-bearer"", and it is commonly represented as a man grasping the snake that is represented by the constellation Serpens. Ophiuchus was one of the 48 constellations listed by the 2nd-century astronomer Ptolemy, and it remains one of the 88 modern constellations. It was formerly referred to as Serpentarius and ""Anguitenens"". Ophiuchus figures between Aquila, Serpens and Hercules, northwest"
"placed it in the heavens as the constellation Cancer. After slaying the serpent, Heracles buried the immortal head under a rock and dipped his arrows in the creature's blood to make them fatal to his enemies. In one version, the poisoned arrows would eventually prove to be the undoing of his centaur tutor Chiron, who was placed in the heavens as the constellation Centaurus. In Greek mythology Python was the earth-dragon of Delphi, always represented in the vase-paintings and by sculptors as a serpent. Various myths represented Python as being either male or female (a drakaina). Python was the chthonic"
"Canopus (mythology) In Greek mythology, Canopus or Canobus () was the pilot of the ship of King Menelaus of Sparta during the Trojan War. Canopus is described as a handsome young man who was loved by the Egyptian prophetess Theonoe but never reciprocated her feelings. According to legend, while visiting the Egyptian coast Canopus was bitten by a serpent and died. His master Menelaus erected a monument to him at one of the mouths of the River Nile, around which the town of Canopus later developed. Also named for Canopus is Canopus, the brightest star in the southern constellation of"
"the sky as the constellation Ophiucus, ""the Serpent-Bearer"". The modern symbol of medicine is the rod of Asclepius, a snake twining around a staff, while the symbol of pharmacy is the bowl of Hygieia, a snake twining around a cup or bowl. Hygieia was a daughter of Asclepius. Laocoön was allegedly a priest of Poseidon (or of Apollo, by some accounts) at Troy; he was famous for warning the Trojans in vain against accepting the Trojan Horse from the Greeks, and for his subsequent divine execution. Poseidon (some say Athena), who was supporting the Greeks, subsequently sent sea-serpents to strangle"
"second variant, Orion died of the Scorpion's sting as he does in Hesiod. Although Orion does not defeat the Scorpion in any version, several variants have it die from its wounds. Artemis is given various motives. One is that Orion boasted of his beast-killing and challenged her to a contest with the discus. Another is that he assaulted either Artemis herself or Opis, a Hyperborean maiden in her band of huntresses. Aratus's brief description, in his ""Astronomy"", conflates the elements of the myth: according to Aratus, Orion attacks Artemis while hunting on ""Chios"", and the Scorpion kills him there. Nicander,"
"Actaeon Actaeon (; ""Aktaion""), in Greek mythology, son of the priestly herdsman Aristaeus and Autonoe in Boeotia, was a famous Theban hero. Like Achilles in a later generation, he was trained by the centaur Chiron. He fell to the fatal wrath of Artemis, but the surviving details of his transgression vary: ""the only certainty is in what Aktaion suffered, his pathos, and what Artemis did: the hunter became the hunted; he was transformed into a stag, and his raging hounds, struck with a 'wolf's frenzy' (Lyssa), tore him apart as they would a stag."" This is the iconic motif by"
"is a continuation of the older Indo-European dragon-slayer motif. Wilhelm Heinrich Roscher (1913) pointed out that the serpent as an attribute of both Hermes and Asclepius is a variant of the ""pre-historic semi-chthonic serpent hero known at Delphi as Python"", who in classical mythology is slain by Apollo. One Greek myth of origin of the caduceus is part of the story of Tiresias, who found two snakes copulating and killed the female with his staff. Tiresias was immediately turned into a woman, and so remained until he was able to repeat the act with the male snake seven years later."
"Arcas from shooting Callisto, and turned Arcas into a bear, then putting them into the stars. They are now referred to as Ursa Major and Ursa Minor, the big and little bears. When Hera heard of that, she became so angry that she asked Tethys to keep them in a certain place so that the constellations would never sink below the horizon and receive water. Arcas is referenced in the album ""The Circus"" by The Venetia Fair. Arcas is one of the two bears. Arcas In Greek mythology, Arcas (; Ἀρκάς) was a hunter who became king of Arcadia. He"
"most famous in Classical Greece. Medusa and the other Gorgons were vicious female monsters with sharp fangs and hair of living, venomous snakes whose origins predate the written myths of Greece and who were the protectors of the most ancient ritual secrets. The Gorgons wore a belt of two intertwined serpents in the same configuration of the caduceus. The Gorgon was placed at the center, highest point of one of the pediments on the Temple of Artemis at Corfu. Asclepius, the son of Apollo and Koronis, learned the secrets of keeping death at bay after observing one serpent bringing another"
"grow back. Hera, upset that Hercules had slain the beast she raised to kill him, placed it in the dark blue vault of the sky as the constellation Hydra. She then turned the crab into the constellation Cancer. Later, Hercules used an arrow dipped in the Hydra's poisonous blood to kill the centaur Nessus; and Nessus's tainted blood was applied to the Tunic of Nessus, by which the centaur had his posthumous revenge. Both Strabo and Pausanias report that the stench of the river Anigrus in Elis, making all the fish of the river inedible, was reputed to be due"
"arms each. Their neighbours are the Doliones, a civilized people descended from Poseidon. The savages are hostile but the Argonauts receive a friendly welcome from Cyzicus, the newly wed king of the Doliones, about Jason's age. However, the Argonauts and Doliones end up fighting each other in the dark, mistaking one another for enemies. Cyzicus is killed by Jason. His widow Cleite hangs herself in despair. Shared grief and a magnificent funeral reconcile the two sides. Meanwhile, the Argonauts are kept there by adverse winds. Finally the seer Mopsus learns from omens that they are meant to establish a cult"
"(which Asclepius himself had fatally wounded) back to life with healing herbs. To prevent the entire human race from becoming immortal under Asclepius's care, Zeus killed him with a bolt of lightning. Asclepius' death at the hands of Zeus illustrates man's inability to challenge the natural order that separates mortal men from the gods. In honor of Asclepius, snakes were often used in healing rituals. Non-poisonous snakes were left to crawl on the floor in dormitories where the sick and injured slept. The ""Bibliotheca"" claimed that Athena gave Asclepius a vial of blood from the Gorgons. Gorgon blood had magical"
"deadly sting raised to strike. Alarmed, he dipped the chariot too close, causing the vegetation to burn. By accident, Phaeton turned most of Africa into desert and darkened the skin of the Ethiopian nation until it was black. Eventually, Zeus was forced to intervene by striking the runaway chariot and Phaeton with a lightning bolt to put an end to its rampage and Phaeton plunged into the River Eridanos. The Babylonians called this constellation MUL.GIR.TAB - the 'Scorpion', the signs can be literally read as 'the (creature with) a burning sting'. In some old descriptions the constellation of Libra is"
"to kill him. Triptolemus could not escape, as Carnabon had killed one of the dragons that pulled his chariot. He was rescued by Demeter, who restored the chariot to him and substituted another dragon. She punished Carnabon for having mistreated Triptolemus so harshly that the rest of his life was made unbearable. After his death, he was placed among the stars as the constellation Ophiuchus, which reminds of a man holding a serpent as if to kill it, in remembrance of his crime and punishment. Charnabon Charnabon (Ancient Greek ""Χαρναβών"", gen. ""Χαρναβώντος"") was a king of the Getae, mentioned in"
"life, killing one of his dragons to prevent his escape. Demeter intervened again, replacing the dragon and condemning Charnabon to a life of torment. Upon his death, Charnabon was placed in the stars as the constellation Ophiuchus, said to resemble a man trying to kill a serpent, as a warning to mortals who would think to betray those favoured by the gods. In the archaic Homeric Hymn to Demeter, Triptolemus is briefly mentioned as one of the original priests of Demeter, one of the first men to learn the secret rites and mysteries of Eleusinian Mysteries: Diocles, Eumolpos, Celeus and"