Orion and Scorpius
Orion, the hunter, dominates the northern hemisphere winter sky. His position straddling the projection of the equator onto the sky, allows Orion to be seen from all inhabited parts of the Earth.
Just as Orion dominates the northern hemisphere winter sky, Scorpius, the scorpion, dominates the summer sky. It appears further south and in the opposite seasons than Orion.
Cosmic Chase
The scorpion is poised ready to strike its next victim if it can ever catch him. In an endless cosmic chase the scorpion pursues the hunter, his intended victim, as they run across the sky. The scorpion never catches the hunter. As the scorpion appears in the east, the hunter drops below the western horizon (In Homer's words, Orion "takes a bath in the ocean."), not to reappear in the east until the scorpion takes its own bath disappearing in the west. The chase continues. They are opposite each other in the sky, so they do not appear at the same time. The hunter is never caught; the scorpion never catches its prey and cannot give the hunter another sting. The stinger remains poised never to strike.
According to ancient Greek myths a scorpion's sting felled Orion the mighty hunter. Like another hero, Achilles, Orion's heel was his downfall. The scorpion bit him in the heel. As for many mythological heroes, the hunter and scorpion both now occupy a place in the heavens. The mighty hunter is still running in fear of the scorpion's stinger. The scorpion chases but also runs in fear. It is being chased by the archer, Sagittarius, whose arrow is pointed straight at the scorpion's heart.
Greek Mythology
Why did the scorpion sting the hunter? Legends abound. They frequently contradict each other and also often resemble modern soap operas.
One Greek legend holds that Orion was so proud of his ability as a hunter that he boasted of his ability to kill anything. Gaia, Mother Earth, like all mothers was protective of her young. She protected her young by sending the scorpion to kill the hunter who threatened her creatures. In The Odyssey, when Odysseus visited the underworld, he saw Orion's huge figure in a meadow in Hades tending all the beasts he had killed.
Other legends involve Artemis, goddess of the hunt. She was also the daughter of Zeus, king of the gods, and a twin sister to Apollo, god of light and truth. In one version Orion angered Artemis when he pursued her with considerably less than honorable intentions. As his punishment, she sent the scorpion to kill him.
Other contradictory legends involve triangles. In one of these triangular legends, Artemis was fond of her huntsman, Orion. Apollo became jealous of his twin sister's companion and sent the scorpion to kill Orion. Artemis, finding her favorite hunter dead, honored him by placing him in the sky.
Yet another version, mentioned briefly in The Odyssey, holds that Artemis rather than Apollo was the jealous one. She was angry because Orion also loved and possibly married the blushing goddess of the Dawn. In a fit of jealousy Artemis killed Orion either by sending the scorpion after Orion or, as in Homer's brief allusion, slinging one of her own arrows after him.
In the sky, Orion reunites with the Dawn in late summer. In July, Orion is reclining just above the eastern horizon waiting to take his lover's hand as Dawn lifts her rosy fingers out of the eastern mists. Their daily encounters become more distant and the reunion ends in the late winter when Orion sets in the west just as Dawn shows in the east. The rest of the year the lovers are separated. Orion is not visible at dawn.
More Constellation Mythology
Nebula in the Constellation Orion
Phaethon & the Chariot of the Sun
Tewa Myth for Constellation Orion
India & Constellation Orion Myths
Myths for the Constellation Orion
Further Reading
Krupp, E.C., Beyond the Blue Horizon: Myths and Legends of the Sun, Moon, Stars, and Planets, Harper Collins, 1991.
