The Constellation
Orion |
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Mythology and History |
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The Great Hunter. He boasted that no animal could defeat
him. |
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Orion was known in ancient Greece, around 500 B.C., as the
warrior. |
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Orion was the son of Poseidon, the god of the seas. |
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Orion boasted that so great was his might and skill as a
hunter that he could kill all the animals on the face of the Earth.
Gaea, Goddess of Earth, was alarmed at such a boastful and inappropriate
statement. Gaea decided that Orion must be killed just in case he
might one day decide to carry out his boast. So Gaea sent a giant
scorpion to Orion and ordered the beast to sting Orion. As mighty
as Orion was, after only a brief battle, the scorpion managed to deliver
the hunter a deadly sting. Scorpius stung Orion on the heel (at the
star Rigel). Orion and the scorpion were given honored places in
the sky, but they were placed at opposite ends of the great sky dome so
that they would never engage in battle again. Although there are
other storied about how Orion met his death, this one is the most common. |
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In another Greek myth, the goddess Artemis (goddess of Wild
Animals and of the Moon) fell in love with the handsome Orion. Her
brother, Apollo, did not like this, and plotted to destroy Orion.
One day while Orion was swimming, Apollo walked by with Artemis.
Apollo challenged her to hit the target bobbing in the water. Artemis
did not know it was the head of Orion, and shot her arrow. The arrow
struck Orion in the head killing him. When Orion's body washed ashore
by the waves, Artemis was horrified to see her arrow and to learn that
she had been tricked by Apollo. In great sadness she tenderly placed
the body of Orion in her silver Moon-chariot an carried him high up into
the sky. Then finding the darkest place, so that his stars would
shine the brightest of all surrounding stars, she placed him where we see
him today. |
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In one myth, Orion was blinded by King Oenopion for kidnapping
his daughter Merope, who Orion was trying to marry. |
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He was the Sun-god of both the Egyptians and Phoenicians. |
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The ancient Arabians called Orion Al Jauzah,
loosely meaning "the Middle Figure of the Heavens," and Al Babadur,
"the Strong One." |
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The Jews called him Gibbor, or "the Giant."
They also considered him as Nimrod, who was strapped to the great sky dome
for rebelling against Jehovah. |
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The Hindus once called him Praja-pati, meaning
"the Stag." The stag was said to be chasing his own daughter, Aldebaran,
but was killed by an arrow shot by Sirius. The arrow can be seen
sticking into the stag as Orion's belt stars. |
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In ancient China, Orion formed part of a larger constellation
recognized as the White Tiger. |
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