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MYTH
Lyra represents the lyre of Orpheus, the musician and poet in Greek mythology
who was killed by the Bacchantes. When he died, his lyre was thrown into a river.
Zeus sent an eagle to get the lyre and placed both of them in the sky.
Orpheus was the son of the Thracian King Oeagrus and the muse Calliope. When
he was young, god Apollo gave him a golden lyre and taught him to play it, and his
mother taught him to write verses.
Orpheus was known for his ability to charm even stones with his music, for his
attempts to save his wife Eurydice from the underworld, and for being the harpist
and companion of Jason and the Argonauts. Without Orpheus and his music, the
Argonauts would not have been able to make it past the Sirens, whose song enticed
sailors to come to them, which usually resulted in sailors crashing their ships into
the islands on which the Sirens lived. When the Argonauts approached the islands,
Orpheus drew his lyre and played music that drowned out the Sirens’ calls.
The most famous story involving Orpheus is that of the death of his wife Eurydice.
Eurydice was trying to escape a satyr at her wedding, and fell into a nest of vipers.
She was bitten on the heel and died. Orpheus found the body and, deeply shaken,
he played songs that made the gods and the nymphs cry. The gods felt pity for him
and advised him to travel to the underworld and try to retrieve Eurydice. Orpheus
took their advice. Once there, his song deeply moved Hades and his wife
Persephone and they agreed to return Eurydice to the world of the living on one
condition: Orpheus should walk in front of her and not look back until they both
had reached the upper world. Orpheus and Eurydice started walking and, as much
as he wanted to, he did not look back. However, he forgot that they both had to
arrive to the upper world before he could turn. As soon as he reached it, he turned
around, but Eurydice was not quite up there yet and she disappeared from his sight,
for good this time.
Orpheus found his death at the hands of Thracian Maenads, who ripped him to
shreds for not honouring Dionysus. His lyre was carried to heaven by the Muses,
who also collected the fragments of his body and buried them below Mount
Olympus.
Lyra constellation was often depicted as a vulture or an eagle carrying Orpheus’
lyre in its wings or beak, and called Aquila Cadens or Vultur Cadens, which means
“the falling eagle” or “falling vulture.”
In Wales, the constellation is known as King Arthur’s Harp (Talyn Arthur) or King
David’s Harp.
LIBRA
Mythology
The association with scales and balance
began with the ancient Babylonians, with
the scales representing the balance
between the seasons as well as day and
night. The ancient Greeks viewed Libra as
the claws of Scorpius reaching out.
To the Romans, Libra represented the
scales of justice being held by the goddess
Virgo or Astraea.
In astrology, which is not a science, Libra is
the seventh sign in the Zodiac and
represents those born between Sept. 23
and Oct. 22.
ORION
MYTH
In Greek mythology, the hunter Orion was the most handsome of men. He was the son of the sea
god Poseidon and Euryale, the daughter of King Minos of Crete. In Homer’s Odyssey, Orion is
described as exceptionally tall and armed with an unbreakable bronze club.
In one myth, Orion fell in love with the Pleiades, the seven sisters, daughters of Atlas and
Pleione. He started pursuing them and Zeus scooped them up and placed them in the sky. The
Pleiades are represented by the famous star cluster of the same name, located in the constellation
Taurus. Orion can still be seen chasing the sisters across the sky at night.
In another story, Orion fell in love with Merope, the beautiful daughter of King Oenopion who
didn’t return his affections. One night, he had too much to drink and tried to force himself on
her. The king, enraged, put out Orion’s eyes and banished him from his land, the island of Chios.
Hephaestus felt sorry for the blind, wandering Orion and offered one of his assistants to guide
the hunter and act as his eyes. Orion eventually encountered an oracle that told him if he went
east toward the sunrise, his sight would be restored. Orion did so and his eyes were miraculously
healed.
The constellation Orion has its origins in Sumerian mythology, specifically in the myth of
Gilgamesh. Sumerians associated it with the story of their hero fighting the bull of heaven,
represented by Taurus. They called Orion URU AN-NA, which means “the light of heaven.”
Their name for the constellation Taurus was GUD AN-NA, or “the bull of heaven.”
Orion is often shown as facing the attack of a bull, yet there are no myths in Greek mythology
telling any such tale. When describing the constellation, the Greek astronomer Ptolemy describes
the hero with a club and lion’s pelt, both of which are usually associated with Heracles, but there
is no evidence in mythology books of a direct relation between the constellation and Heracles.
However, since Heracles, the most famous of Greek heros, is represented by the much less
conspicuousconstellation Hercules, and since one of his tasks was to catch the Cretan bull, there
are at least hints of a possible connection between the two.
Most myths about Orion’s death involve a scorpion, but the stories differ from one mythographer
to another. In one tale, Orion boasted to the goddess Artemis and her mother Leto that he could
kill any beast on earth. The Earth Goddess heard him and sent a scorpion, which stung the giant
to death. In another story, he tried to force himself on Artemis and she was the one who sent the
scorpion. In yet another account of his death, Orion was stung while trying to save Leto from the
scorpion. All myths of Orion’s death share the same outcome: Orion and the scorpion were
placed on opposite sides of the sky, so that when the constellation Scorpius rises in the sky,
Orion sets below the horizon in the west, fleeing from the scorpion.
DRACO
CYGNUS
LYRA