Cygnus or Cycnus, according to Ovid, was a relative of Phaëthon. While lamenting the unhappy fate of his kinsman on the banks of the Eridanus, he was changed by Apollo into a swan, and placed among the stars.
Sagittarius was said by the Greeks to be the Centaur Cheiron, the instructor of Peleus, Achilles [37] and Diomed. It is pretty certain, however, that all the zodiacal constellations are of Egyptian origin, and represent twelve Egyptian deities who presided over the months of the year. Thus Aries was Jupiter Ammon; Taurus, the bull Apis; Gemini, the inseparable gods Horus and Harpocrates; and so on. The Greeks adopted the figures, and invented stories of their own to explain them.
Scorpio, in the Egyptian zodiac, represented the monster Typhon. Originally this constellation extended also over the space now filled by Libra.
Ophiuchus represents Æsculpius, the god of medicine. Serpents were sacred to him, probably because they were a symbol of prudence and renovation, and were believed to have the power of discovering herbs of wondrous powers.
Aquarius, in Greek fable, was Ganymede, the Phrygian boy who became the cup-bearer of the gods in place of Hebe.
Taurus, as has been stated above, was the Egyptian Apis. The Greeks made it the bull which carried off Europa. The Pleiades are usually called the daughters of Atlas, whence their name Atlantides. Milton speaks of them as “the seven Atlantic Sisters.”
According to one legend the seventh was Sterope, who became invisible because she had loved a mortal; according to another, her name was Electra, and she left her place that she might not witness the downfall of Troy, which was founded by her son, Dardanus.
The Hyades, according to one of several stories, were sisters of the Pleiades. The name probably means “the Rainy,” since their rising announced wet weather.
Cetus is said by most writers to be the sea-monster from which Perseus rescued Andromeda.
Orion was a famous giant and hunter, who loved the daughter of Oinopion, King of Chios. As her father was slow to consent to her marriage, Orion attempted to carry off the maiden; whereupon Oinopion, with the help of Bacchus, put out his eyes. But the hero, in obedience to an oracle, exposed his eye-balls to the rays of the rising sun, and thus regained his sight. The accounts of his subsequent life, and of his death, are various and conflicting. According to some, Aurora loved him and carried him off; but, as the gods were angry at this, Diana killed him with an arrow. Others say that Diana loved him, and that Apollo, indignant at his sister’s affection for the hero, once pointed out a distant object on the surface of the sea, and challenged her to hit it. It was the head of Orion swimming, and the unerring shot of the goddess pierced it with a fatal wound. Another fable asserts that Orion boasted that he would conquer every animal; but the earth sent forth a scorpion which destroyed him.