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

large
brown bear. When Hera arrived, she saw only Zeus walking by himself through
the forest. She looked around, searching for someone with Zeus, but saw only
an old brown bear. She still did not trust Zeus and insisted that he return to
Mount Olympus. Zeus did not want to go because he wanted to change his
girlfriend Callisto back into her human form before leaving. But Hera insisted.
So Zeus went with Hera, leaving Callisto as a large brown bear.

Unknown to Zeus, Arcas, Callisto’s son who was a great hunter, was out in
the woods hunting that day. As chance would have it, he saw this great big
brown bear. He put an arrow to his bow, took careful aim, and shot that great
bear through the heart. Right before his startled eyes, Arcas watched the
bear as it died change back into the form of his mother Callisto with an arrow
through her heart.

Arcas began to cry loudly for his mother and what he had done to her.
When he realized that it was Zeus that had changed her into the bear, he grew
even angrier. Zeus, fearing that Hera might hear the cries, went down to earth
to try to appease Arcas. In order to hide what he had done, Zeus changed
Callisto back into a bear and placed her form, as a constellation, into the
northern sky as the Big Dipper. He then changed Arcas into the small bear (the
Little Dipper).

As Arcas was being placed into the sky, he turned to look at his mother
Callisto (now the Big Dipper). That is why the Little Dipper is curved toward
the Big Dipper, so that Arcas can watch over his mother Callisto for all
eternity.

Virgo – The Virgin

There seems to
be at least two ancient
myths, with variations
of each, that are most
commonly associated
with the constellation
Virgo.

The first was
that Virgo was
Persephone, the beautiful daughter of Zeus and Demeter, goddess of the
fertility of the earth. One spring day as Persephone was wandering out in the
fields, Hades, god of the underworld, grabbed her and took her down into the
underworld to become his wife. But this stubborn young goddess refused to
accept her captivity, refusing to eat or even to speak to Hades. He tried to
give her jewels, fancy clothes, and even slaves to entertain her, but she still
would not speak to him.

When Demeter found out that Hades had abducted her daughter and
that Zeus (who had been bribed by Hades) would not intervene, she became so
angry that she refused to care for the crops and plants of the earth. A great
famine followed, crops failed, animals and people began to die. Finally, Zeus
gave in and told Demeter that she could have her daughter back. However,
under the ancient Law of Abode, if Persephone had accepted food, she would
have to be considered a guest, not a captive, and would have to stay in the
underworld as Hades’ bride.

Demeter immediately sent Hermes on his winged sandals to fetch
Persephone. But before Hermes could get there, an evil man who hated
Demeter took a sweet red pomegranate and broke it in half and offered some
of it to Persephone who had grown very hungry by this time. Before she could
stop herself, she had eaten six of the sweet juicy seeds. When Hermes
arrived, Hades claimed Persephone as his bride under the Law of Abode because
she had eaten the six pomegranate seeds. When Demeter heard this, she
declared that no crops or flowers would ever grow if her daughter became the
bride of death. Zeus declared a compromise. Each year, Persephone would have
to spend six months with Hades because she had eaten the six seeds. The
other six months she could spend with her mother. Both Hades and Demeter had to agree because Zeus was the King. But Demeter also kept her promise.
During the six months when her daughter had to be in the underworld with
Hades, no crops would grow. In the spring, when Persephone returned, the
flowers and the crops in the fields would grow again.

The second myth associated the constellation Virgo with Astraea,
goddess of Justice, when the gods lived among men on earth during the Golden
Age. The increasing iniquity of the humans, however, began to drive the gods,
one by one, to leave the humans on earth and go to heaven. Astraea was the
last of the gods to leave. When she left she took the scales of justice with
her, which you can see beside her in the sky today.

Imprint

Text: Naturalist and Astronomy Intern
Publication Date: 02-11-2012

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