Greek Lores

As you look up at the night sky, Uranus, the primordial Greek sky god, appears alongside Jupiter, the Roman King of the Gods, with Orion, the hunter, and Cetus, the sea monster. According to Greek mythology, Perseus slayed Cetus, a sea monster, to save Andromeda, the beautiful daughter of Cassiopeia and Cepheus, who decided to sacrifice her to the gods after an oracle made the suggestion. Astronomy is filled with fascinating myths and lores that have played a huge role in shaping its history giving it its current form.

The Greeks imagined the heavens as a great, solid dome, which, some say, was forged of bronze, and upon which the heavenly constellations were fixed. The Titan Atlas, who stood either beneath the axis of heaven in the far north, was said to spin the dome around upon his shoulders, causing the stars to rise and set. Part of the heavenly dome always lay beneath the horizon. Here the constellations were apparently believed to dwell deep beneath the earth in the misty pit of Tartaros, or else within the lands of the dead. When they rose up into the heavens, the constellations were first bathed in the purifying waters of the great earth-encircling river Okeano. Various myths describe the birth and death of the semi-immortal constellations: such as the Gemini twins, or Dioskouroi, who were said to divide their time equally between Heaven and Hades. Orion was also described by Homer as both striding across the heavens and hunting wild beasts in the underworld.

Scorpio and Orion

Scorpius was a giant scorpion sent by Gaia, the Earth to slay the giant Orion when he threatened to slay all the beasts of the world. Orion and the Scorpion were afterwards placed amongst the stars as the constellations of the same name. The two opponents are never seen in the sky at the same time, for as one constellation rises, the other sets. The ancient Greek Skorpios originally encompassed two constellations, Scorpio formed its body and Libra its claws.

Gemini

Castor and Pollux were mythical Greek twins known together as the Dioskouroi (literally translating to ‘sons of Zeus’). Their mother was Leda, Queen of Sparta, whom Zeus (the king of the gods) visited one day in the form of a swan (now represented by the constellation Cygnus). That same night she also slept with her husband, King Tyndareus. Because of their kindness and generosity they were deified at death. Pollux, being a son of Zeus, was at first the only one offered this gift but he insisted it be shared with his twin Castor. Zeus agreed, but in order to appease the Fates, the twins had to spend alternate days in heaven and the underworld. The Dioskouroi were placed amongst the stars as the constellation Gemini (the Twins). The division of their time between heaven and the underworld might be a reference to the heavenly cycles, for their constellation is visible in the sky for only six months of the year.

Ursa Major

Callisto was a hunting companion of the goddess Artemis and had sworn a vow of chastity to her. One day, Zeus, cunningly assuming the appearance of Artemis met with her in the forest, later revealing his true self and had his way with her. When Artemis found out about her pregnancy she banished Callisto. Hera, the wife of Zeus, angered by her husband’s infidelity turned Callisto into a bear. Once a huntress herself, she was now pursued by hunters. One day she came face to face with her son Arcas. Callisto recognized Arcas and tried to approach him, but he backed off in fear. He would have killed the bear, not knowing it was really his mother, had Zeus not intervened by sending a whirlwind that carried them up into heaven, where he transformed Callisto into the constellation Ursa Major and Arcas into Boötes. Hera was now even more enraged to find her rival glorified among the stars, so she persuaded the gods of the sea to never let the bear bathe in the northern waters. Hence, as seen from mid-northern latitudes, the bear never sets below the horizon.

Sagittarius

Chiron, an immortal son of the Titan Kronos was the eldest and the wisest of the Kentauroi (Centaurs), a Thessalian tribe of half-horse men. He was a renowned teacher who mentored many of the greatest heroes of myth including the Argonauts Jason and Peleus, and Achilles of Troy. The old centaur was accidentally wounded by Hercules when the hero was battling other members of the tribe. The wound, poisoned with Hydra-venom, was incurable, and suffering unbearable pain Chiron voluntarily relinquished his immortality. Zeus then placed him amongst the stars as the constellation Sagittarius or Centaurus.

Leo, Cancer, Hydra and Taurus

Several creatures killed by the legendary Greek hero Hercules during his 12 labours were immortalised as constellations by the gods.

The Nemean Lion plagued the district of Nemea in Greece. Its hide was impervious to weapons and Hercules was sent to destroy it as the first of his twelve labours. The hero cornered the lion in its cave and, seizing it by the neck, wrestled it to death. He then skinned its hide to make a lion-skin cape, one of his most distinctive attributes. Hera afterwards placed the lion amongst the stars as the constellation Leo.

The Lernaean Hydra was a gigantic, nine-headed water serpent; whenever one of its heads was decapitated, two more would grow in its place. To destroy her, in one of his labours, Hercules, with the help of his nephew, applied burning brands to the severed stumps, cauterising the wounds and preventing the regeneration. In the battle he also crushed a giant crab beneath his heel which had come to assist the Hydra. The Hydra and the Crab were afterwards placed amongst the stars by Hera as the Constellations Hydra and Cancer.

The Cretan Bull was sent forth from the sea by the God Poseidon. Queen Pasiphae of Crete lusted after the animal and coupled with it by hiding inside a wooden cow crafted by the architect Daedalus. She later gave birth to the Minotaur, a man with the head of a bull. Hercules was commanded to fetch the Cretan Bull as one of his Twelve Labours. The bull was later placed among the stars as the Constellation Taurus.