Orion: the Hunter Star

Welcome back, Greeks and Geeks! Today, I’m going to be telling you about the man behind the constellation: Orion.

Now, there are different versions of Orion’s myth, specifically in how he was born and how he died. To start, I will be telling you about the oldest version of this myth.

Orion was the son of Poseidon and Euryale, the daughter of King Minos of Crete, making him a demigod. Because of his heritage, he was able to walk on water. With this ability, he walked all the way to the island of Chios, where he made sexual advances on the Princess Merope after drinking far too much. King Oenopion of Chios then blinded Orion and removed him from the island.

Orion then walked, again, to the island of Lemnos, where Hephaestus (God of Fire and Forges) helped him follow the rising sun, where the Titan Helios restored his eyesight.

Finally, he reached yet another island (this guy loved islands) where he hunted with the goddess Artemis and her mother Leto.

Orion was an exceptionally skilled hunter in every version of his myth. In this version, he was so enthusiastic about joining with the Hunters of Artemis that he declared he would hunt every animal in the world.

Gaea was angered by this, and sent a giant scorpion to kill him, which it did. Artemis and Leto were devastated by this, and pleaded to Zeus to put him in the skies. Now, we have the Hunter’s Belt constellation, alongside the scorpion that killed him (The Scorpion is now the Zodiac Sign Scorpio!). The two constellations are never seen together in the sky, portraying a hunt that will last forever.

In a different version of the myth, and one that is more widely accepted as truth, states that Orion was a giant. Here, Orion did not make sexual advances to Merope due to being drunk, but the two were actually in love. The king still disliked Orion, and continued to not allow them to be together, before eventually blinding Orion.

Still the same, Orion had his vision restored by the sun and then went to join the Hunters of Artemis. When he is a giant, there are two versions of the myth that lead to his death.

(TW) In one, he is killed by Artemis after he tried to rape her.

In another, he is killed by Apollo due to his jealousy over Artemis’ love of Orion. Sometimes, Apollo kills Orion himself, and in another version Apollo tricks Artemis into accidentally killing Orion.

The twin gods are both exceptional archers, so Apollo had a contest with Artemis to see who is better. Apollo told Artemis to shoot at something bobbing in the ocean, and not knowing that it was really Orion’s head, she shot and killed him.

Personally, I think that Artemis was not truly in love with Orion because of her chastity and swearing against all romantic or sexual love. So, the version of the myth where Orion tries to make advances on her and she kills him for it seems more plausible to me. But the story of Artemis is a story for another time.

As always, thank you for reading and I hope you enjoyed. Leave a comment about what myth you’d like me to tell next! Αντίο, Σοφία.