Mythology of the Sun Sign Constellations
Part 2 - Libra through Pisces

Libra

Libra means "The Scales" or "Balance", so named because when the zodiac was still in its infancy, some four thousand years ago, the sun passed through this constellation at the autumnal equinox (21 March). That is, day and night were of equal length, and the day would begin to lengthen from that day on.

As a symbol for equality, the constellation came to represent Justice in several middle Eastern cultures. However, the Greeks had a different perspective; at one time Scorpius, which lies just to the east, was much larger, and the stars that make up Libra were then known as the Claws of the Scorpion.

Eventually, however, these stars of Libra came to represent the Golden Chariot of Pluto. The story of Pluto's abduction of Persephone is a widely known Greek myth, perhaps because it has such a strong astronomical association.

Pluto's (or Hades') Golden Chariot was used whenever the Lord of the Underworld wished to visit the Upperworld, usually to seduce a nymph. But when he took Persephone back to Tartarus, the deepest part of Hades, the Upperworld would change forever. The name of the ruler of the Underworld was actually Hades. Hades was a brother of Zeus and of Poseidon; he was usually ignorant of the happenings of the Upperworld, only emerging rarely from his dark kingdom.

 Deep beneath the earth, he owned all its mineral riches, but his favourite possession was a gift from the Cyclopes: a helmet that rendered him invisible. It was considered imprudent and dangerous to mention the names of certain gods and goddesses. Thus the Furies, or Cronies, were called Eumenides (Kindly Ones), and Hades was called Pluto (Rich One).

His golden chariot was pulled by four jet-black horses. While he used the chariot to periodically visit the Upperworld, in order to seduce a beautiful nymph, he rarely wished the relationship to last. Until he saw Persephone, the daughter of Demeter and Zeus.

Demeter was the sister of Zeus and Hades, and one of the most important of goddesses as she was responsible for agriculture, and all growing things. Hades is so enamoured by the beauty of Persephone, he wants her for his own, so takes her by force down to his kingdom, where she becomes the Queen of the Underworld. Demeter mourns for her lost daughter and begs the other gods for help. So Theseus and Peiritheus (his brother) descend into Hades in search of Persephone, but are unsuccessful. In fact, they are held captive by Hades, and Heracles is sent to rescue them. He can only manage to bring back Theseus; Peiritheus is condemned to remain forever in Hades.

Demeter is so distraught about the loss of her daughter she decides to forbid any seeds from sprouting. A vast drought spreads throughout the Upperworld. Zeus becomes vexed, for he is owed a certain tribute, and if the drought continues his tribute will not be forthcoming.

Some accounts give Zeus a more noble reason for acting on his sister's behalf: that he empathizes with Demeter and wishes to rectify her loss. In any event, he convinces his brother Hades to give up Persephone, so that the Upperworld can again become green and lush. Hades agrees, provides that Persephone hasn't eaten anything since her arrival. Alas, she had consumed six pomegranate seeds, so Hades claims she cannot return.

Zeus will have none of it, and rules that she must forever divide her time between the Upperworld and the Underworld; four months out of the year she must stay with her husband, while the rest of the year she may visit her mother, in the Upperworld. Thus every year the world retreats briefly into a cold and forbidding place, until the 21st of March, when Persephone is allowed to emerge from the Underworld, bringing Spring with her.

The stars of Libra are fairly dim, except for two two-magnitude stars, alpha2 and beta. The constellation has several objects of interest, including some fine double stars and an unusual variable. Alpha Librae is also known as Zubenelgenubi, a derivation of an older Arabic name that translates into "Southern Claw" (i.e. of the Scorpion). The star is a wide binary of unequal stars. Beta Librae is called Zubeneschamali, "The Northern Claw". This white star has been described by some to be green in colour; Burnham points out that truly green stars are close companions to red stars (such as the companion to Antares), and beta Librae doesn't fit that category. Still, the impression apparently persists for some observers; you'll have to decide for yourself.

Scorpio

Orion's tragic life ended when he stepped on Scorpius, the scorpion. The gods felt sorry for him, so they put him and his dogs in the sky as constellations. They also put all of the animals he hunted up there near him. Scorpius, however, was placed on the opposite side of the sky so Orion would never be hurt by it again.

As mentioned regarding Orion, Gaia may have sent the scorpion to kill the mighty hunter, as he had vowed to rid the earth of all wild animals. Or Apollo might have told Gaia of Orion's boast, fearful that Orion had designs on Apollo's sister Artemis. In any case it was Gaia who sent the scorpion to kill Orion. Later the animal would chase Orion across the heavens, but it could never catch him, for the scorpion was so placed that it would rise in the east only after Orion had safely disappeared over the western horizon.

Scorpius is one of the oldest constellations known - possibly even one of the original six signs of the zodiac. While the sun still traverses Scorpius, it only takes nine days to do so; most of the time is spent in neighbouring Ophiuchus (which is the only constellation that the sun enters but which is not a part of the zodiac).

The asterism of a gigantic skewed "S" was seen in many ancient cultures as a scorpion, possibly handed down by cultural conquest or influence. The constellation was once much larger, but the western portion now represents a Wolf (Lupus) rather than the claws of the scorpion.

The star table indicates just how bright many of Scorpius's stars are; in fact the constellation is one of the brightest of the larger constellations. Alpha Scorpii is better known as Antares ("Rival of Mars"). This is one of the four Royal Stars of the ancients, along with Aldebaran, Regulus, and Fomalhaut. It glitters with an unusual metallic red while the entire region is bathed in a pale red nebula, lit from the same star. This red supergiant has a visual binary that just might be visible. The star is estimated to be between 285 sun diameters to about 700 suns. It's 600 light years away.

Sagittarius

The center of our galaxy, the Milky Way, lies in the direction of Sagittarius. It is believed to be about 29,000 light years away from us. The Sun orbits around the Milky Way once every 200 million years at a speed of 220 kilometers per second! What is at the center of the galaxy? No one really knows yet, but it appears that there might be a giant black hole there with a mass about a million times greater that the Sun.

Sagittarius has a muddled history. In ancient times the asterism of three bright stars in a curved line was seen as a bow to some, leading both Greek and Roman writers to confuse the constellation with Centaurus. This constellation (in part) represents Cheiron, the king of the Centaurs. Sagittarius is also half-man, half-beast, said by some to have been placed in the heavens to guide the Argonauts in their travels.

Others claim that the constellation was invented by the Sumerians, that Nergal (as the supreme god of war) is found on two cuneiform inscriptions. Yet this interpretation is open to debate, for Nergal is not necessarily linked with a bow.

In the Gilgamech epic, Nergal is one of the "seven gods" to whom one sacrificed sheep and oxen. His name, in Sumerian, means "Lord of the Great Abode", that is, of the Underworld. Yet there are few extant stories that provide much of a picture of this god. Hammurabi, the great lawgiver (18th century BC) called him "the fighter without a rival who brought him victory" over those who would resist his laws. He was also seen as the god of plagues, and of destruction.

However to consider Nergal as the prototype of The Archer seems to be stretching the evidence. For whatever reason, when the select group of twelve constellations was codified sometime in the third millenium BC, The Archer was one of them.

It was the Romans who named the constellation Sagittarius ("sagitta" is Latin for `arrow'), although several stars carry Arabic names which identify just which portion of the constellation they represent: Alpha Sagittarii is named "Rukbat" (Rukbat al Rami = Archer's knee), and beta Sgr is "Arkab" (Tendon). The bow is outlined by three stars: Lambda Sgr: "Kaus Borealis" = the northern (part of the) bow; Delta Sgr: "Kaus Meridionalis" = the middle (part of the) bow; Epsilon Sgr: "Kaus Australis" = the southern (part of the) bow. The arrow tip is gamma Sgr ("Al Nasl" = the point).

While the asterism of the bow is quite apparent, it takes some imagination to see the half-man, half-beast pulling back on the string. Perhaps it helps to know that zeta Sagittarii is named "Ascella" (the armpit of the archer), while nu Sgr is "Ain al Rami": The Eye of the Archer.

Capricorn

Capricornus has been recognized as a goat since Babylonian and Chaldean times. Usually, it is depicted as a goat with a fish tail, which might relate to a story about the god Pan. Pan, fleeing a monster called Typhon, jumped into the river Nile. The part of him that was below water turned into a fish, while the rest of him above water, stayed as a goat.

Capricornus (or Capricorn) is usually translated as "The Sea Goat" or "The Goat-Fish", although the name literally means horned goat. The constellation is ancient, and was one of the earliest members of the zodiac, perhaps transferred to the heavens from far older earthly concerns.

Horned animals, particularly the ibex, were worshipped icons in the prehistoric Near East, as seen on pottery as far back as 5500 BC. Often these animals appeared with pictorial representations of the 'Tree of Life' and lunar or astral symbols. That is, for thousands of years— as attested by both pottery and cylinder seals— this horned animal played a central part in some mythology which involved the heavens, culminating (perhaps around 2000 BC) with the sacrificial scenes depicted on Akkadian cylinder seals (below).

One respected student of the Near East, Professor Willy Hartner, late director of the Institut für Geschichte der Naturwissenschaften (Institute for the History of Natural Science) at the Johann Wolfgang Goethe-Universität in Frankfurt, has postulated that the ibex was an early constellation, which was later broken up to form Capricorn and Aquarius. Hartner shows the heavens as they would have appeared in 4000 BC in Mesopotamia. He argues that a much larger constellation, The Ibex, was in place where we now have Aquarius and Capricorn.

Considering its importance, Capricornus is rather faint; the asterism of a horned animal isn't terribly evident. Alpha Capricorni is known as Al Giedi or Algedi (the goat or ibex). This is a double star, alpha1 and alpha2 Capricorni. Alpha2 is the primary, although they only make an optical pair. Each star is however a visual binary.

Beta Capricorni is called Dabih, from the Arabic Al Sa'd al Dhabih meaning "The Lucky One of the Slaughterers". This name indicates that the star served to signal the beginning of a winter ritual, possibly the very ones depicted on the pottery examples shown above. For the sun would have been in this constellation at the winter solstice three to four thousand years ago; were they beseeching the gods to bring back the Spring?

Delta Capricorni is the brightest star of the constellation. The Arabs called Deneb Algedi and Nashira "The Two Friends".

Aquarius

Aquarius is a rather faint constellation which would not be famous if it weren't part of the Zodiac. Aquarius, as its name suggests is universally associated with water. In most cultures, it is drawn as a man pouring water from a bucket. This may arise from the fact that the Sun enters Aquarius in early winter when the rainy season begins in many parts of the world.

In Greek mythology Aquarius was Ganymede, "cup-bearer to the gods". Ganymede's story is told in "Aquila." His position was essentially to pour wine for all the gods on Olympus, a function far removed from the initial importance of the Water Bearer, as it first rose in Babylonia. In fact, the constellation seems to have represented water in a number of ancient cultures. In Egypt, for instance, the constellation was thought to cause the Nile to give forth its annual floods. The waters of the Nile, far to the south, would start to rise in June as the rains from the Ethiopian highlands began to run off into the Blue Nile. The night sky, in June, would show Aquarius at its zenith: the bringer of water.

Alpha Aquarii is a supergiant, perhaps a hundred times the size of the Sun, but since it's a thousand light years away, it only shines with a 2.96 visual magnitude. Alpha Aquarii ("Sadalmelik") and beta Aquarii ("Sadalsuud") are twin supergiants with nearly identical names. The names mean, respectively, "The Lucky One of the King" and "The Luckiest of the Lucky". Gamma Aquarii shares in the good fortune: "Sadachbia": "The Lucky Star of Hidden Things".

"Why is so much luck found in Aquarius?" you may ask. When the sun entered Aquarius, the new year was about to begin. Spring was on the horizon, and the watery season would assure abundant crops. One can therefore appreciate the importance of the Water Bearer.

Pisces

Pisces is an ancient constellation derived, some say, from the story of the terrible Greek god Typhon. (This is not the Chinese word for "big wind", which in English is spelled "typhoon". The French, however, spell this word "typhon", which adds to the confusion. It is possible that the Chinese borrowed the word from the Greek. The modern Greek equivalent is spelled "tau upsilon phi omega nu" and means "cyclone".)

Typhon was born from Gaia (Mother Earth) and Tartarus. This was Gaia's youngest offspring, but by far the deadliest and the largest monster ever conceived. Its thighs were gigantic coiled serpents; its arms could spread across the heavens, and its head (in the shape of an ass's head) touched the stars. When it took flight, its wings blotted out the sun, and when it opened its mouth, out came burning boulders.

Typhon was so frightful even the gods of Olympus refused to fight, fleeing instead to Egypt when Typhon attacked their mountain home. Each god disguised itself into an animal: Zeus transformed himself into a ram, Dionysus a goat, and so on. Aphrodite and Eros both disguised themselves as fish and swam up the Nile to escape the monster. Typhon was eventually defeated, due in large part to the brave and level-headed Athene, who convinced Zeus to take up his thunderbolts and make battle. Typhon actually captured Zeus and placed him in a cave, but Hermes and Pan were able to free him.

To make a long story short, Zeus then took the battle to Typhon, chasing him to Sicily. There Zeus threw Mount Aetna at the monster, finally subduing it. But under the earth, the buried monster still spews up fire and boulders every so often. While the myth eventually moved to Italy, there were origins from the ancient Hittite culture, as well as the volcanic eruptions along the Aegean archipelago.

As for Aphrodite and Eros, who escaped the monster's wrath, these two were given their fish-like images in the heavens, thus commemorating the time Typhon nearly overran Olympus. Later cultures equated the two fish with the Biblical story of the miracle of the fishes and the loaves.

Pisces is depicted as two fish connected by their tails at the star alpha Piscium. Indeed, alpha's name, "Al Rischa", means "the cord". The constellation is rather faint; Pisces' stars are generally fourth magnitude.