Constellations

Constellations are groups of stars forming a recognizable pattern, traditionally named after their apparent shape or identified with a figure from myth. Many of the best-known names, such as the Great Bear, Orion, Perseus and Andromeda, come from Greek mythology. The ancient Greeks told stories about how these figures came to be placed in the sky, and those stories still give the constellations their names.

Constellations in Ancient Greek Literature

The oldest Greek poems already know the constellations. Among the heavenly bodies that Hephaestus makes on the shield of Achilles are the Pleiades, the Hyades, the strength of Orion, and the Bear, “that men call also the Wain”, which turns in one place, watches Orion, and alone has no part in the baths of Ocean (Homer, Iliad 18.483–489). In the Odyssey, Odysseus steers his raft by watching the Pleiades, late-setting Boötes and the Bear, as Calypso told him to (Homer, Odyssey 5.270–277). Hesiod uses the stars as a farmer’s calendar: begin the harvest when the Pleiades rise, and plough when they set (Works and Days 383–384); gather the grapes when Orion and Sirius are in mid-heaven and Arcturus rises (Works and Days 609–611).

Later Greek poets and scholars described the whole sky. Aratus wrote the Phaenomena, a poem on the constellations that describes the two Bears, Helice and Cynosura, as the Cretan nurses of the infant Zeus. The Latin writer Hyginus, in his Astronomica, gives the story of each constellation and often names the earlier writers he draws on, among them Hesiod, Aratus, Eratosthenes and Pherecydes (Astronomica 2.1, 2.3, 2.7, 2.18). Most of the myths below are known from his account.

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Some Constellation Myths

The Great Bear and Arctophylax

According to Hesiod, as Hyginus reports, the Great Bear was Callisto, daughter of Lycaon of Arcadia. She was a companion of Artemis, was seduced by Zeus, and was discovered to be with child when she bathed in a river. Artemis turned her into a bear, and in that form she bore Arcas (Astronomica 2.1). In one version Arcas, grown up, hunted his mother in the bear’s shape and chased her to the sanctuary of Zeus Lycaeus, where the penalty for entering was death; Zeus took pity on both and set them among the stars, and Arcas became Arctophylax, the Bear-Watcher, who follows the Bear (Astronomica 2.4).

The Perseus Family

Cassiopeia boasted that she was more beautiful than the Nereids, and was placed among the stars seated on a chair, which is carried head down as the heavens turn (Hyginus, Astronomica 2.10; Apollodorus, Library 2.4.3). Her daughter Andromeda, who had been exposed to a sea monster, was rescued by Perseus and placed among the stars through Athena’s favour (Astronomica 2.11). The monster, Cetus, sent by Poseidon, was killed by Perseus and also set in the sky (Astronomica 2.31). Perseus himself was placed there for his valour and his unusual birth (Astronomica 2.12). Pegasus, the winged horse, is the son of Poseidon and Medusa according to Aratus and others, and the horse that opened the spring Hippocrene on Mount Helicon with a stroke of his hoof (Astronomica 2.18).

Orion and the Scorpion

Hesiod made Orion a son of Poseidon and Euryale, daughter of Minos (Hyginus, Astronomica 2.34); Pherecydes gave the same parents, while others said he was born of the earth (Apollodorus, Library 1.4.3). In one story, Orion boasted that he could kill every creature the earth produces; Earth sent a scorpion to kill him, and Zeus set the scorpion among the stars as a warning to others. The two are placed so that Orion sets when Scorpius rises (Astronomica 2.26). Apollodorus gives another version, in which Artemis kills Orion on Delos (Library 1.4.3). Orion’s dog and his hunting are linked to Canis Major in other accounts (Astronomica 2.35).

Lyra, Corona Borealis and Others

Lyra is the lyre that Hermes made from a tortoise-shell and gave to Orpheus; after Orpheus was killed, the Muses gathered his limbs and set the lyre among the stars (Astronomica 2.7). Corona Borealis is thought to be the crown of Ariadne, which she received from Aphrodite and the Horae at her marriage to Dionysus on the island of Dia, and which Dionysus set among the stars (Astronomica 2.5). Draco is the serpent that guarded the golden apples of the Hesperides and was killed by Heracles (Astronomica 2.3). Aquila is the eagle that carried off Ganymede for Zeus (Astronomica 2.16), and Ganymede himself is often identified with Aquarius (Astronomica 2.29).

The Zodiac

The twelve signs of the zodiac also have their myths in Hyginus: Aries is the golden ram that carried Phrixus and Helle (Astronomica 2.20); Taurus is the bull that carried Europa to Crete (2.21); Gemini are Castor and Pollux, who loved each other most among brothers (2.22); Cancer is the crab that bit Heracles’ foot in the swamp of Lerna and was placed in the sky by Hera (2.23); Leo is the lion that Heracles killed without weapons (2.24); Virgo is identified by Hesiod as the daughter of Zeus and Themis, and by Aratus as the daughter of Astraeus and Eos, Justice, who left the earth in the age of bronze (2.25); Scorpius is the scorpion of Orion (2.26); Sagittarius is thought to be a centaur or the archer Crotus, son of Eupheme, nurse of the Muses (2.27); Capricornus resembles Aegipan, the companion of Zeus’s childhood (2.28); Aquarius is often called Ganymede (2.29); and Pisces are the two fishes into which Aphrodite and Eros changed themselves to escape Typhon (2.30). Hyginus adds that Scorpius is so large that it is divided into two signs, one of which the Romans called Libra (2.26).

The Modern List of 88 Constellations

The International Astronomical Union fixed the modern list of 88 constellations in the 1920s. Many of the older, mythological names on this list come from the Greek and Roman tradition described above. Others were added much later and have no ancient myth: the constellations named by Nicolas Louis de Lacaille in the 18th century after scientific instruments, and the group of southern constellations named after exotic animals, which are often credited to Johann Bayer. The families below group the names by the myth they belong to, with the later additions at the end.

Hercules Family

Hercules, Sagitta, Aquila, Lyra, Cygnus, Vulpecula, Hydra, Sextans, Crater, Corvus, Ophiuchus, Serpens, Scutum, Centaurus, Lupus, Corona Australis, Ara, Triangulum Australe, Crux

Ursa Major Family

Ursa Major, Ursa Minor, Draco, Canes Venatici, Boötes, Coma Berenices, Corona Borealis, Camelopardalis, Lynx, Leo Minor

Perseus Family

Cassiopeia, Cepheus, Andromeda, Perseus, Pegasus, Cetus, Auriga, Lacerta, Triangulum

Orion Family

Orion, Canis Major, Canis Minor, Lepus, Monoceros

Zodiac Family

Aries, Taurus, Gemini, Cancer, Leo, Virgo, Libra, Scorpius, Sagittarius, Capricornus, Aquarius, Pisces

Heavenly Waters Family

Delphinus, Equuleus, Eridanus, Piscis Austrinus, Carina, Puppis, Vela, Pyxis, Columba

Bayer Family

Hydrus, Dorado, Volans, Apus, Pavo, Grus, Phoenix, Tucana, Indus, Chamaeleon, Musca

Lacaille Family

Norma, Circinus, Telescopium, Microscopium, Sculptor, Fornax, Caelum, Horologium, Octans, Mensa, Reticulum, Pictor, Antlia

Constellations Sources

Homer, Iliad 18.483–489; Homer, Odyssey 5.270–277; Hesiod, Works and Days 383–384 and 609–611; Aratus, Phaenomena (the Bears); Hyginus, Astronomica 2.1–2.35; Apollodorus, Library 1.4.3 and 2.4.3.