| Orion | |
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Real Name |
Orion |
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First Appearance |
Greek Myth |
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Created by |
Greek Myth |
Origin[]
In Greek mythology, Orion was a giant huntsman whom Zeus (or perhaps Artemis) placed among the stars as the constellation of Orion.
Ancient sources told several different stories about Orion; there are two major versions of his birth and several versions of his death. The most important recorded episodes are his birth in Boeotia, his visit to Chios where he met Merope and raped her, being blinded by Merope's father, the recovery of his sight at Lemnos, his hunting with Artemis on Crete, his death by the bow of Artemis or the sting of the giant scorpion which became Scorpius, and his elevation to the heavens. Most ancient sources omit some of these episodes and several tell only one. These various incidents may originally have been independent, unrelated stories, and it is impossible to tell whether the omissions are simple brevity or represent a real disagreement.
The first says that because of his "living joined in too great a friendship" with Oenopion, he boasted to Artemis and Leto that he could kill anything which came from Earth. Gaia (the personification of Earth in Greek mythology) objected and created the Scorpion. In the second story, Apollo, being jealous of Orion's love for Artemis, arranged for Artemis to kill him. Seeing Orion swimming in the ocean, a long way off, he remarked that Artemis could not possibly hit that black thing in the water. Feeling challenged, she sent an arrow right through it and killed Orion; when his body washed up on shore, she wept copiously, and decided to place Orion among the stars.
Public Domain Appearances[]
All Published appearances of Orion from before January 1, 1929 are public domain in the US.
Some notable appearances are listed below:
- The Iliad
- The Odyssey
- Works and Days
- Astronomy Fragments
- Aesop's Fables
- Odes
- Fragments (Greek Lyric IV Corinna)
- The Library
- Callimachus, Hymns
- Phaenomena
- Love Romances
- The Library of History
- Geography (Strabo)
- Metamorphoses
- Imagines
- Cynegetica
- Fall of Troy
- Dionysiaca