Constelation History by Forest Ostrander (good summer reads txt) 📖

Theseus sailed away from
Crete taking Ariadne with him and went to the island of Naxos where he
deserted Ariadne and sailed to his home.

Ariadne had nowhere to go and was extremely sad when Bacchus, the god
of wine and parties, came to her aid. Bacchus had fallen in love with the
beautiful Ariadne and treated her with great tenderness. He had a crown made
for her with one each of the seven most beautiful jewels to be found mounted
in it. Some stories say that there were seven diamonds. When Ariadne died,
Zeus placed her crown in the sky and changed the jewels to seven stars, which
can still be seen today as the constellation Corona Borealis, Ariadne’s Crown.

Cygnus – The Swan or The Northern Cross

Cygnus – The Swan
or
The Northern Cross
One story based in Greek
mythology told of two close
friends, Cygnus and Phaeton, who
were continually competing. One
day, they each challenged the
other to a race across the sky,
around the Sun, and back to
Earth. In an effort to gain the
advantage, they both cut too
closely to the Sun and their
chariots were burned up. They both fell to the Earth and were knocked
unconscious. Upon recovering, Cygnus began looking for his friend, Phaeton, and
discovered his body trapped by the roots of a tree at the bottom of the
Eridanus River. In an effort to retrieve his friend’s body and give it a proper
burial, Cygnus repeatedly dove into the river, but could not reach his friend’s
body. While he sat grieving on the bank of the river, Cygnus begged for Zeus
to help him. Zeus replied that if he gave Cygnus the body of a swan, he would
be able to dive deeply enough to retrieve his friend’s body. However, if Cygnus
did take on the body of a swan, he would also be giving up his immortality and
would only live as long as a swan would normally live. Cygnus readily agreed to
this in order to retrieve his friend’s body and give him a proper burial, allowing
his friend’s spirit to travel into the afterlife. In honor of this great unselfish
act, Zeus placed Cygnus’ image (that of a swan) into the night sky.

Delphinus – The Dolphin

Delphinus – The Dolphin
Delphinus is an interesting little
constellation in the part of the sky
which contains several other sea
creatures nearby: Cetus the sea
monster or whale, Pisces the fish, and
Capricorn the sea goat. Several stories
are told to account for this
constellation, but the story that seems
to be the most prevalent is the one
involving the famous lyric poet Airon.
Airon, a native of Lesbos, an island in
the Archipelago, went to Italy with Periander, king of Corinth. While he was
there, he became quite famous and quite wealthy. After some time, he decided
to return to his home for a visit and boarded a ship going that way. The sailors
on the ship, jealous of his talent and hoping to get his great wealth, planned to
kill him. When Airon learned of this plot, he asked if he might play a song for
them on his lute, a stringed musical instrument much like a guitar, before he
was put to death. As he played, the music attracted a number of dolphins to
the ship. Airon immediately realized that these dolphins might be able to save
him if he were in the sea, for he was surely going to die if he stayed on the ship.
So he threw himself overboard into the sea, and one of the dolphins did come to
his aid by carrying him safely to shore.

When Airon got to the shore, he quickly went to tell King Periander what
had happened. The rebellious sailors were ordered executed upon their return
to port.

To commemorate not only this one act by the dolphins, but the many
times dolphins have helped save lives, Zeus placed their constellation, Delphinus,
in the night sky.

Draco – The Dragon

There are several ancient stories
which could be about Draco the Dragon,
but the one which best seems to fit
with Greek mythology is the story
about Cadmus and the Dragon of
Thebes.

According to this story, Zeus had
stolen the young woman Europa from
her home country of Phoenicia. Her
father ordered her brother Cadmus to
go and search for her, and not return
until he had found her and brought her
back with him.

Cadmus wandered over the whole world looking for Europa, but could not
find her. He knew he would never find her because no one can find someone
that Zeus has hidden. He decided to look for a country in which to build his
city, Thebes, because he knew he could never return to his home in Phoenicia.

Following Apollo’s advice, Cadmus found a suitable site to build his new
city. However, while searching for water, Cadmus’ attendants were killed by a
large dragon. Cadmus went to fight this dragon, and upon finding the dragon in
a cave, was able to kill it with his spear. Cadmus was told by Minerva to plant
the dragon’s teeth in the ground. From these teeth grew warriors who fought
each other until only five were left. With these five, Cadmus was able to build
his city of Thebes, and they became its first residents.

Because Draco had been so faithful in guarding the caves and their
contents, Zeus placed his constellation in the northern sky, where, because his
constellation never sets, he can guard all the treasures of Zeus.

Gemini – The Twins

Castor and Pollux were twin
brothers, the sons of Zeus and
Leda, the wife of Tyndarus, king of
Sparta. They sailed with Jason
and the Argonauts in search of the
Golden Fleece. They were
invincible fighters with
unparalleled courage. Pollux
distinguished himself as a great
boxer or fighter and Castor as a
great wrestler. Some stories say
Castor was a great horseman.
These two were inseparable companions and fought their best when they were
near each other.

Because of the help they gave their fellow Argonauts during a storm
which threatened to sink their ship, the constellation Gemini was considered a
favorable sign to sailors when they saw it.

To commemorate their great feats and the help they gave to the sailors,
and because of their great love for each other, Zeus placed their constellation,
Gemini, in the sky after their deaths.

Today, Gemini can be seen between the constellations of Orion and
Cancer, near Leo.

Hercules – The Strong Man

Hercules was the son of Zeus and
Alcmene. He was the favorite son of Zeus,
who had made special preparations for
Hercules’ birth so that he would be the
mightiest of all the heroes. In keeping with
this plan, Hercules would spend the first part
of his life living among, and even serving,
mortals. He would learn how they lived and
what was important in their lives. Then, he
would be brought up to Mount Olympus to join
the Olympians there, and having lived among
the mortals, could help the gods in their
discussions and plans.

Hercules was known for his great
strength, courage, and agility. He was also known for his Twelve Labors, which
he undertook as a result of Hera’s scheming. Hera tried many times to get
Hercules to fail at some task, and as a result, fall out of favor with his father
Zeus. However, Hercules not only completed these twelve tasks, but did them
in such a way as to win even more favor from his father, and at the same time
make Hera look bad.

In addition to these famous Twelve Labors, he also sailed with Jason and
the Argonauts in search of the Golden Fleece, took part in the war between the
gods and the giants, and still had time to sack Troy.

Zeus commemorated all