Constellation Myths — Stories in the Stars

The sky as a calendar and a compass

Long before anyone attached tidy myths to every star pattern, Greeks used the stars for practical work. The earliest Greek poems treat a handful of star groups as tools, not as stories.

Hesiod's Works and Days is in part a farmer's almanac set to the stars. Begin the harvest when the Pleiades rise at dawn in early summer, and plough when they set in autumn. Pick the grapes when Orion and Sirius stand in mid-heaven and Arcturus is seen at dawn. Stop sailing when the Pleiades plunge into the sea to escape Orion. The "chase" of the Pleiades by Orion started as a way to describe the timing of their risings and settings.

Homer names almost the same short list. On the shield Hephaestus makes for Achilles there are the Pleiades, the Hyades, Orion, and the Bear "which men also call the Wagon", the only one with no share in the baths of Ocean, because it never sets. In the Odyssey, Odysseus steers his raft from Calypso's island by the Pleiades, Boötes and the Bear, keeping the Bear on his left as Calypso told him. Everything beyond this core was filled in later.

The full set of mythological star-stories was put together in the Hellenistic period. Aratus' poem Phaenomena (3rd century BC) set the constellations of the astronomer Eudoxus into verse and was hugely popular. Then came a handbook called the Catasterisms ("placings among the stars"), which survives only in an abridged form under the name of Eratosthenes, and the Latin De Astronomica of Hyginus. Most of the stories behind constellations come from these three works, and they often give two or three alternatives for the same figure.

More constellations and the myths behind them

• Corona Borealis: the crown that Dionysus gave Ariadne after Theseus abandoned her on Naxos. He threw it into the sky, and its jewels became stars. Ovid tells the story both in the Metamorphoses and in the Fasti.
• Cancer: the crab that Hera sent to nip at Heracles' feet while he fought the Hydra. Heracles crushed it, and Hera rewarded it with a place in the sky. It is a faint constellation, appropriately enough.
• Corvus, Crater and Hydra: Apollo sent his raven to fetch water in a cup. The bird stopped to wait for a fig tree to ripen, then came back late with a water snake and blamed it for the delay. Apollo saw through the lie and set all three in the sky, with the snake placed so that the thirsty raven can never reach the cup.
• Centaurus: usually Chiron, the wise centaur who was accidentally wounded by one of Heracles' poisoned arrows and gave up his immortality.
• Capricornus: Pan or the goat-god Aegipan. When the gods fled from Typhon, he leapt into a river and was half-turned into a fish, which explains the goat-fish shape.
• Virgo: in Aratus, Dike (Justice). She lived among humans in the Golden Age, grew more distant in the Silver Age, and fled to the sky when the Bronze Age men forged swords. Others identified her with Erigone, daughter of Icarius. In that version Icarius became Boötes and his faithful dog Maera became a star.
• Delphinus: the dolphin that found the shy Nereid Amphitrite and persuaded her to marry Poseidon, or alternatively the dolphin that carried the singer Arion safely to shore.
• Eridanus: the mythical river into which Phaethon fell, burning, after losing control of the chariot of the Sun.
• Cygnus: most often Zeus in the form of a swan, approaching Leda (or Nemesis). Some writers made it Orpheus, transformed after his death.
• Argo Navis: the ship of the Argonauts, one of Ptolemy's 48. It was so large that astronomers in the 18th century broke it up into Carina, Puppis and Vela.

Common mix-ups

Sagittarius is not Chiron. The centaur archer is very often identified with Chiron today, but the Hellenistic handbooks point out that centaurs did not use bows. They identify Sagittarius as Crotus, a satyr-like son of Pan who lived with the Muses and was said to have invented archery. Chiron belongs to Centaurus.

Libra was a late addition. To Aratus these stars were the Claws (Chelai) of the Scorpion. The scales are a Roman-era development, which is why Libra has almost no Greek myth of its own. More on the twelve signs is on the zodiac page.

Not every "Greek" constellation is mythological. Coma Berenices (Berenice's Hair) honours a real Ptolemaic queen, Berenice II. She dedicated a lock of her hair for her husband's safe return, and the court astronomer Conon announced it had become stars. Callimachus wrote a poem about it, which Catullus translated into Latin.

"Zeus put them there" is a simplification. In different stories the gods placing figures in the sky include Artemis, Hera, Dionysus, Poseidon and Apollo, so it is far from always Zeus. In several cases the sources disagree about who did it, or whether the figure was placed there at all.

Ancient sources

• Homer, Iliad 18.483–489: the stars on the shield of Achilles, including the Pleiades, Hyades, Orion and the Bear that never bathes in Ocean.
• Homer, Odyssey 5.270–277: Odysseus navigates by the Pleiades, Boötes and the Bear.
• Hesiod, Works and Days 383–387 and 609–621: the Pleiades, Orion, Sirius and Arcturus as markers for harvest, vintage and sailing.
• Aratus, Phaenomena: a verse description of the constellations, including the story of Dike leaving the earth to become Virgo.
• [Eratosthenes], Catasterisms: a short myth for each constellation, often with alternatives; the source for Crotus as Sagittarius.
• Hyginus, De Astronomica: a Latin handbook gathering the star-myths, including Corvus and the cup, Capricornus and the crab of Cancer.

Frequently asked questions

Which constellations are named after Greek myths?

Most of Ptolemy's 48 classical constellations, which are still recognised today, have Greek myths attached. They include Orion, Perseus, Andromeda, Cassiopeia, Cepheus, Cetus, Pegasus, Hercules, Lyra, Corona Borealis, Ursa Major and the zodiac signs.

Is Sagittarius a centaur from Greek mythology?

It is drawn as an archer centaur, but ancient handbooks identified it as Crotus, a son of Pan credited with inventing archery. The centaur Chiron was placed in a different constellation, Centaurus.

Why did the Greeks believe heroes became stars?

Being placed among the stars (catasterism) was a way of making a hero's fame last forever. Most of these stories were collected or invented by Hellenistic scholars to explain star patterns inherited from Babylonian astronomy.

What is the oldest Greek reference to constellations?

Homer's Iliad and Odyssey and Hesiod's Works and Days, from around the 8th to 7th centuries BC. They mention the Pleiades, Hyades, Orion, the Bear, Boötes, Sirius and Arcturus.