The Constellation
Aries |
 |
 |
Mythology and History |
 |
 |
The Ram. |
|
The ancients needed a marker of some sort to indicate the
beginning of spring. The only stars occupying that particular place
on the Zodiac at that time were those dim ones we now recognize as Aries.
Around 1800 B.C. the position occupied by Aries on the Zodiac band was
an important one, and will be again in the distant future. It marked
the beginning of spring and was known as the First Point of Aries. |
|
The brightest star in Aries is Hamal, from the Arabic Al
Ras al Hamal, meaning "the Head of the Sheep." The ancient Greeks
from about 1580 B.C. to 360 B.C. oriented the construction of many of their
sacred temples in relationship to Hamal. |
|
In May of A.D. 1012, a nova reportedly was seen in Aries. |
|
Athamas, King of Orchomenus, has taken a new wife, Ino.
Ino was a jealous woman and was extremely envious of Phrixus and his sister
Helle, Athamas' two children by his first wife. After much persuasion
by Ino, Athamas agreed to sacrifice his son, Phrixus, who would have inherited
his father's kingdom. Now the god Hermes was aware of the death plot
against the boy and at the last minute sent down form heaven a beautiful
and powerful ram with golden fleece. |
Phrixus and Helle both climbed onto
the ram's back and were carried off through the air. Poor Helle was
unable to hang on and fell to her death over the strait named after her,
the Hellespont, which links the Aegean Sea with the Sea of Marmara in what
is now Turkey. Phrixus managed to hang on and was carried by Aries
to a land near the Black Sea called Colchis, the capital of which was Aea.
Now that the golden ram's work was
done, the ram commanded Phrixus to sacrifice him to the gods and remove
his golden fleece. Phrixus did and presented the golden fleece to
King Aeetes, who was delighted with the gift. The King hung the fleece
in the sacred Grove of Ares, where there lived a dragon who never slept
and guarded the golden fleece. We are told that so brilliantly did
the golden fleece shine that by night it bathed the surrounding countryside
in a warm golden light. The brave and generous ram was given an eternal
place in the sky as the constellation Aries. It is said that this
constellation is a dim one because at the time the ram was immortalized
it no longer had its brightly shining fleece.
|
The Chinese knew Aries as a dog, Kiang Leu.
Later they knew it as Pih Yang, or "the White Sheep." |
back to Constellation Table
- Planetarium Home Page
|
