Orion was a son of Hyrieus, in the region of Boeotia. Others call him a son of the sea god Poseidon and Euryale. He was worshiped at many places, but particularly at his hometowns of Hyria, in the territory of Tanagra.

That's boring! Here's the real deal: a Hellenistic poet tells a different story of Orion's birth. In this particular take, the gods Zeus, Poseidon and Hermes dropped by to visit the aforementioned king Hyrieus.

The hospitable king -- even though the gods were well disguised and the king did not recognize them in their beggars' clothing -- impressed the three Olympian gods by roasting his best Black Angus bull for them and most generously opening up his stores of wine and other scrumptious goodies.

The concept of Xenia, which is hospitable reception of strangers -- in particular travelers -- was paramount to Zeus and other gods, who often disguised themselves and visited earth to make sure mortals did not lose sight of the importance of offering refuge to strange passersby.

The grateful gods offered the king any favor he desired. The king and his wife were without child, and he sorely longed for an heir to the throne. King Hyrieus asked the magnanimous gods for the birth of sons.

The gods took the devoured bull's hide and ejaculated or urinated into it. Hey, they're gods, you tell them they shouldn't do that.

They proceeded to bury the bull hide in the earth, then told king Hyrieus to dig it up ten months later. When he obediently did, he found Orion; this helps to explain why Orion is earthborn, albeit a giant, having emanated of divine essence.

Now wasn't that version a little more interesting?

Orion was a very handsome hunter who grew to gigantic size, towering over all.

Perhaps the king should have taken him out of the bull hide at nine, not ten, months. That extra time sure boosted his growth!

Orion was said to be the tallest and the most handsome man of the then known world. He was often seen hunting in the woods and hills of ancient Greece with his pack of dogs.

His beauty was so vivid that he was called 'the most handsome of the earthborn'. There are conflicting versions of his myth; it will be fun to look at them all, and how the Scorpion eventually felled the big guy.

Let's start with the giant's arrival to the island of Chios, where he fell in love with the daughter of king Oenopion and the nymph Helice. The beautiful maiden's name was either Aero or Merope, depending on the source.

Orion  the renowned hunter sought to impress Merope by clearing the large island from all wild beasts and creatures, making it safe for the people. He then personally delivered all the spoils of the chase as presents to his beloved.

In further demonstration of his deep affection Orion then looted the other inhabitants of Chios to make a dowery for Oenopion's daughter.

Orion proposed marriage to the impressed Merope, but her father kept finding ways to defer the wedding, coming up with one excuse after another. King Oenopion wanted his girl to marry a local prince, rather than this oversized handsome stranger.

One sad day Orion got drunk and, in his intoxicated state, he forced his way into the chamber of the maiden and proceeded to violate her. King Oenopion was enraged, calling upon Dionysus for assistance. The god of wine gladly instructed his loyal Satyrs to throw Orion into a deep sleep.

Taking advantage of the snoozing giant's defenselessness, King Oenopion proceeded to brutally blind the hunter. An oracle informed the distraught and sightless Orion that he would recover his vision, if he travelled towards the east and exposed his eyeballs to the rays of the rising sun.

Following the sound of a Cyclop's hammer as a directional beacon, Orion went to the island of Lemnos, where the god of the forge, Hephaestus, gave him a little one-eyed Cyclop named Cedalion to act as his 'eyes' and to be his guide. The little guy perched upon the shoulder of Orion, getting a great bird's eye view of the surroundings, steering the giant in the right direction.

With Cedalion keeping an eye out, they reached the east and Orion gazed upon the rising sun, restoring his vision as the oracle had foretold.

Now it was payback time for the oaf who had inflicted such misery on him!

But when he returned to Chios to exact vengeance he couldn't locate the king, because his friends had secreted him away underground, knowing that what was about to happen to him at the hands of Orion would not be pretty.

Unable to find king Oenopion, Orion proceeded to the large island of Crete, where he hooked up as a hunter with the greatest of them all, the goddess of the Hunt, Artemis.

Most sources have Orion walking on water, while some others indicate he waded through the waters up to his shoulders. Also some claim that it was the god of healing, Asclepius, who restored Orion's eyesight.

There are at least four different variants of the handsome hunter's death, and we will take a brief look at all of them. That's where the Scorpion comes into the picture.

One version holds that Eos, goddess of the Dawn, laid her eyes on Orion and immediately fell in love with his beauty. She carried him off to the island of Delos, which made some gods angry. Artemis allegedly killed him with an arrow there, or on the island of Ortygia.

There are other versions where Artemis killed Orion, either by accident with her arrows or purposely by producing the Scorpion. In the second variant, Orion died of the Scorpion's sting. Although Orion does not defeat the Scorpion in any version, several variants have it die from its wounds.

  According to others Orion was beloved by Artemis, causing her brother Apollo, god of Light,  to became jealous and indignant at his sister's affection for the good looking, gigantic earthborn hunter.

Apollo challenged Artemis that she was unable to hit with her bow and arrow a tiny distant point which he showed to her in the sea. Well, that was nothing for the goddess of the hunt, who had unerring aim.

Artemis thereupon zeroed in, and easily hit the impossibly faraway target, which just happened to be the head of Orion, who had been swimming in the sea.

Nasty, nasty Apollo.

A third account states that he harbored an improper love for Artemis, who was a virgin goddess, and that he challenged her to a game of discus, or even that he violated the maiden Upis, a Hyperborean virgin nymph in her company of hunters.

Upis was one of Artemis' favorites, a mythical being said to have reared Artemis. On her account Artemis shot dead Arion, or sent a monstrous scorpion which chased and killed him.

A fourth version states that he boasted that he would conquer every ferocious animal, and would clear the earth from all wild beasts. That's some highly pompous declarations, and Gaea, Mother Earth, was not going to put up with such hubris, especially when it came to her beloved creatures.

To show who's boss, Gaea sent forth a scorpion by which he was killed. As soon as the scorpion was released from the breast of Gaea, it chased after the giant. The pesky critter eventually caught and stung Orion, and its deadly venom sent him straight to his death.

That was the end of Orion.

The god of healing Asclepius wanted to resurrect him back to life, but for this impudence he was slain by Zeus with a flash of lighting.

In Homer's Odyssey, the great hero Odysseus saw him hunting in the Underworld with a bronze club, a gigantic slayer of animals.

Fifty sons were attributed to Orion, a standard number in mythology.

Poor Mrs. Orion - where did she find time?

Some accounts have the killer scorpion of ordinary size and hiding under a small stone. After his death, Zeus was asked to place Orion among the stars; he appears as a giant with a belt, a sword, a lion's skin and a club.

Zeus consented to the honoring of the famous hunter and, as a memorial to the hero's death, added the Scorpion to the heavens as the constellation Scorpio, the eighth sign of the Zodiac.

Others allege that the Scorpion was set up on the sky by Gaia to mark her victory over the boastful Orion.

Because Orion had cared so much for his hunting dog, Artemis or Zeus also put up a star for his dog: This is Sirius, the brightest star in the heavens.

His constellation shows him striding across the heavens flourishing a gleaming sword on his bejeweled belt. Many of the stories concerning the constellations of Orion and Scorpio reflect the annual rising and setting of their constellations, which appear to pursue each other across the sky.

Thus, every winter Orion hunts in the sky, but every summer he flees as the constellation of the Scorpion comes.

Only one story involves Scorpio without Orion. Phaeton (the mortal son of Helios, the Sun God) went to his father, who had earlier sworn by the River Styx, where divine oaths were uttered, to give Phaeton anything he should ask for.

Phaeton wanted to drive his father's Sun Chariot for a day.

Helios vehemently tried to dissuade his son, knowing the inherent dangers, but Phaeton was adamant. However, when the day arrived, Phaeton panicked and lost control of the divine white horses that drew the chariot.

First, the Earth grew chill as Phaeton flew too high and encountered the celestial Scorpion, its deadly sting raised to strike. Alarmed and terrified, he overcompensated and dipped the chariot too close to the earth, causing the vegetation to scorch.

By accident, Phaeton turned most of Africa into desert and darkened the skin of the Ethiopian nation until it was black. Eventually, Zeus reluctantly was forced to intervene by striking the runaway chariot and Phaeton with a lightning bolt to put an end to its rampage.

Young Phaeton plunged to his death into the River Eridanos.

I have it on good authority that was a cautionary myth told by parents to all Grecian youth keen on taking the family chariot for a spin.

"Remember Phaethon! Home by eleven!"

Let me relate one final story about Orion and the Scorpion. One day, when Orion was out in the woods, he caught sight of seven beautiful sisters, the daughters of Titan Atlas and Pleione.

Orion loved them all at first sight and began to chase after them. The sisters, however, were terrified and cried out to Zeus to save them. Zeus heard their pleas and helped them by turning them first into doves, so they could fly away from Orion, and then into the seven stars which are now called Pleiades.

According to myth, Orion was stung by the Scorpion as a punishment for chasing the Seven Sisters. Zeus decided that the constellations of Orion and the Pleiades were arranged in the heavens, so that it seemed that Orion was in constant pursuit of the seven sisters, without ever becoming successful, just as the Scorpio seems always to be chasing Orion, without ever touching him.

And that is how Scorpio the Scorpion joined the honored and exalted Little Animals in a Circle.

ZODIAC

HOROSCOPE

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