the three Furies, daughters of Night, who represent the remorse which torments and pursues the wicked; the three Sirens, who lived on an enchanted Isle in the Mediterranean Sea and lured mariners on the rocks with their bewitching songs; the three Graces, who presided over feast and dance; the nine Muses, daughters of Jupiter, who dwelt on Mount Helicon and presided over arts and sciences—
"Fortunate is he whomsoever the Muses love, and sweet blows his voice from his lips."
Mount Helicon was also the home of the great Flying Horse which is sought by poets and is now represented in the sky by a large square of stars called the Square of Pegasus. In one of the adventures of the hero Perseus he snatched the solitary eye away from the three Grey Sisters and thus forced them to tell where he might find the three terrible Gorgons. Transcribed to stars, he still holds the snaky ringlets of the Gorgon Medusa which he had been forced to obtain at the command of the king of the Island of Seriphus. This head now has the added attraction of a mysterious star called Algol, which every few days indulges in a slow, deliberate "wink," a performance most unusual among the wide-eyed stars.
The names of the gods and goddesses were bestowed upon the five planets then known—Saturn, Jupiter, Mars, Venus and Mercury. This plan was also followed when the two outer planets, Uranus and Neptune, were discovered in modern days. These names are Roman names but the mythology of the Greeks and Romans is so intermingled that the names of their characters are, as a general rule, used interchangeably, although the Roman names seem more popular and are used by astronomers. Many writers of mythology use the Grecian names entirely because much of the material of the Roman legends was brought into their literature by Greek poetry.
| Roman | Greek |
|---|---|
| Jupiter | Zeus |
| Juno | Hera |
| Neptune | Poseidon |
| Ceres | Demeter |
| Diana | Artemis |
| Vulcan | Hephaestus |
| Minerva | Pallas Athene |
| Mars | Ares |
| Venus | Aphrodite |
| Mercury | Hermes |
| Apollo | Apollo |
| Vesta | Hestia |
The symbols of the gods were used as signs for their planets. These signs are very familiar objects in almanacs. Thus, Uranus (Heaven) and Earth are respectively represented by ♅ and ♁; Saturn, their son, has a sign which suggests his ancient scythe ♄; Jupiter has a hieroglyph for the eagle ♃, a bird which carried his thunderbolts; his brother Neptune is pictured with a trident ♆, the pronged fork he used when issuing commands; Mercury, son of Jupiter, is represented by his Caduceus, a miraculous staff intertwined with serpents ☿; Mars, God of War and also a son of Jupiter, a conventionalized arrangement of his shield and spear ♂; while Venus, Goddess of Love and born from the foam of the sea, has a sign somewhat like Mercury's ♀, resembling a hand mirror.
A word as to Mars, Mercury and Venus might not be amiss. Mars was worshiped as a warrior in splendid armor, his name being quite appropriate for the red tinged planet which shines as such a brilliant, fiery star. Discord was visioned as running before him in tattered garments while Anger and Clamor follow in his train. Deimos and Phobos, children of Venus and Mars, were given as names to the two satellites of his planet, although these satellites (or moons), were not discovered until modern times. (The ten satellites of Saturn were named after his brothers and sisters, while those of Jupiter, who possessed nine, were named after various favorites.)
Mercury, also a son of Jupiter, was a somewhat mischievous but charming young man with wings fixed to his helmet and sandals, and his hand held a rod which quieted all disputes. He was messenger, herald and ambassador for Jupiter, just as Iris, who flew along the rainbow in her tinted robes, was a messenger for Juno, Jupiter's wife. It was afterwards discovered by astronomers that the tiny orb which had been given the name of Mercury in honor of this god, not only resembled a drop of "quick-silver" but also possessed the "wing-shoe" characteristic of its namesake, for it speeds at the rate of more miles per second than any other planet in the solar system.
Venus, the beautiful Goddess of Love, has been the inspiration for painters, poets and sculptors in every corner of the world.
"But light as any wind that blows,
So fleetly did she stir,
The flower she touched on dipt and rose,
And turned to look at her."