Orion

Orion was a giant hunter in Greek mythology, a mortal and not a god. In the Odyssey he is the tallest and most handsome of men, and he hunts even in the underworld. The sources disagree about his birth, and they give several different accounts of how he died, usually at the hands of Artemis or by a scorpion sent against him. He became the constellation Orion.

Orion’s Family and Role

Birth

Hesiod made Orion the son of Poseidon and Euryale, the daughter of Minos. Poseidon gave him the power to cross the waves as if they were land (Hesiod, quoted in Hyginus, Astronomica 2.34). Apollodorus says that some call him a giant born of the earth, but that Pherecydes made him a son of Poseidon and Euryale, and that Poseidon gave him the power to stride across the sea (Apollodorus, Library 1.4.3). In another story, told by Hyginus and Ovid, Orion was born to the old Hyrieus, who welcomed Zeus and Hermes (in Ovid, Poseidon too) to his house. He asked them for a son. Hyginus says that the gods urinated on the hide of the ox he had sacrificed for them and told him to bury it. Ten months later the boy was born, and Hyrieus named him Uriona, later Orion (Hyginus, Astronomica 2.34; Ovid, Fasti 5.493–536). Hyginus adds that some placed Hyrieus at Thebes and Pindar placed him on Chios.

Appearance and Wives

Homer says that the earth reared Otus and Ephialtes as the tallest and by far the handsomest of men, after famous Orion (Odyssey 11.309–310). Odysseus sees the huge Orion in the meadow of asphodel in the underworld, driving the wild beasts he had killed in the mountains, with an unbreakable bronze club in his hands (Odyssey 11.572–575). Apollodorus says that he first married Side, whom Hera cast down to Hades because she rivalled Hera in beauty (Apollodorus, Library 1.4.3).

Oenopion and Merope

Orion then went to Chios and wooed Merope, the daughter of King Oenopion. Apollodorus says that Oenopion made him drunk, blinded him as he slept and threw him on the beach. Hyginus says that Orion, heated by wine, forced Merope, and that Oenopion blinded him and drove him from the island (Apollodorus, Library 1.4.3; Hyginus, Astronomica 2.34). Orion made his way to the forge of Hephaestus, took a boy from the smithy, set him on his shoulders and had him lead the way to the sunrise, where the rays of the sun healed his sight. He then hurried back against Oenopion, but Poseidon had prepared for the king an underground house built by Hephaestus (Apollodorus, Library 1.4.3–4). In Hyginus, Vulcan gives Orion a guide named Cedalion on Lemnos, and the people of Chios keep Oenopion hidden underground (Hyginus, Astronomica 2.34).

Dawn and Artemis

Orion was loved by Eos (Dawn). In the Odyssey the gods resented this, until chaste Artemis killed him with her gentle arrows in Ortygia (Odyssey 5.121–124). Apollodorus says that Eos carried Orion off to Delos, and also says that Artemis killed him there (Apollodorus, Library 1.4.3–4).

The Constellation of Orion

In the Iliad the Shield of Achilles shows Orion among the stars of the sky, and the Bear “watches Orion” (Iliad 18.486–488; Odyssey 5.273–275). Achilles in his armour shines like the star called the Dog of Orion (Iliad 22.29).

The best-known account of his death is the Scorpion. Hyginus says that Orion came to Crete and hunted there with Artemis, and boasted to her and Leto that he could kill every creature that grows from the earth. Earth was angry and sent a scorpion that killed him. Zeus set the Scorpion among the stars as a warning to men not to trust in their own strength, and at Artemis’ request gave Orion the same honour, because of his love of hunting (Hyginus, Astronomica 2.26, 2.34). In Ovid’s version Orion was a companion of Diana, and the Scorpion was sent by Earth at the goddess, but Orion stood in its way to protect Latona and was killed; she placed him among the stars as a reward (Ovid, Fasti 5.537–544). Because of this story the constellation Orion sets as the Scorpion rises (Aratus, Phaenomena 634–646).

The Death of Orion

Besides the Scorpion, the ancient writers give several reasons for the death of Orion. Aratus says that Orion laid hands on the robe of Artemis while he was hunting for Oenopion on Chios, and she raised the Scorpion against him (Aratus, Phaenomena 636–646). Apollodorus gives two other versions: that he was killed for challenging Artemis to a match at throwing the discus, or that she shot him for offering violence to Opis, one of the maidens who had come from the Hyperboreans (Apollodorus, Library 1.4.5). Hyginus names Callimachus as authority for the version in which Artemis shot Orion with arrows for trying to force himself on her (Hyginus, Astronomica 2.34).

Apollo’s Trick

Hyginus attributes a different story to Istrus: Artemis loved Orion so much that she almost married him, and her brother Apollo, who disliked this, rebuked him often without effect. One day he saw Orion swimming far out to sea, with only his head showing. Apollo challenged Artemis to hit the dark object in the water, and since she wished to be known as the best archer, she shot and pierced Orion’s head. When the waves washed the body ashore and she knew what she had done, she wept and placed him among the stars (Hyginus, Astronomica 2.34).

Orion Sources

Homer, Iliad 18.486–488, 22.29; Odyssey 5.121–124, 5.273–275, 11.309–310, 11.572–575; Hesiod (as quoted by Hyginus, Astronomica 2.34); Aratus, Phaenomena 634–646; Apollodorus, Library 1.4.3–5; Hyginus, Astronomica 2.26, 2.34; Ovid, Fasti 5.493–544.

See Also: Poseidon, Minos, Merope, Hephaestus, Gaea, Zeus, Artemis, Leto, Apollo, Eos, Helios