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The constellation of Orion is the only one that can be seen by both north and south hemispheres simultaneously being on the celestial equator.
It is one of the largest, most conspicuously recognizable constellations the night sky which it has dominated since time began, well... for roughly about 1.5 million years. |
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It's also likely to stay recognisable for the next 2 million years, or so the boffins say, so in a way, it has grown with and paralleled human civilisation. Certainly the constellation of Orion in its vastness and majesty has captured the imaginations of the Ancients - a legacy that has descended through the generations to the present day. Just click on these pix here to get a better view...
The main stars in Orion are: |
Betelguese |
- Alpha Orionis |
Rigel - actually the brightest in the group |
- Beta Orionis |
Bellatrix |
- Gamma Orionis |
Mintaka - the faintest star in Orions Belt |
- Delta Orionis |
Alnilam - the belt |
- Epsilon Orionis |
Alnitak - the belt |
- Zeta Orionis |
Saiph
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- Kappa Orionis |
| The Stars of Orion |
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Other stars of note include Hatsya (Iota Orionis) which makes up the tip of Orions Sword and Meissa (Lamda Orionis) which forms his head.
Of course we mustn't forget about the nebulae in the constellation, namely the Orion Nebula which forms part of the sword and Horsehead Nebula, located just below the southern most star in the belt.
The three stars of Orions belt point in a south eastward direction to Sirius, The Dog Star, whereas if you go northwest from the other end of the belt, You'll eventually find Aldebaran.
The Mythos of Orion
The constellation of Orion in its vastness and majesty has had a major significance for many ancient cultures... So what did the ancients, the ancient Egyptians especially make of all this?
It has been said in the Pyramid Texts that the god of rebirth and the afterlife, Osiris, with whom the dead pharaohs were associated, identified with the stars, and his form in the stars was often said to be that of the constellation of Orion. |
Sothis Rising
So what did the ancients, the ancient Egyptians especially make of all this? It has been said in the Pyramid Texts that the god of rebirth and the afterlife, Osiris, with whom the dead Pharaohs were associated, identified with the stars, and his form in the stars was often said to be that of the constellation of Orion.
But that's not all...Sothis is the ancient name of a star that the Egyptians considered uniquely significant. Although no one knows for certain, there are enough pointers to indicate that Sothis is in fact Sirius, the brightest star in the night's sky. Sirius was also called the Dog Star by the Greeks. The ancients observed that the first appearance in the year, in the night sky, of Sirius rising would coincide with the period just before the annual flooding of the Nile. These would be the hottest days of the year hence the name 'Dog Days' - referring to hot and uncomfortable days in the summer. As Sirius rose with the Nile floods, it was also associated with epidemics which were prevalent at this time and this has often been referred to as the 'Sothic period'. Sothis was thus seen as a destructive and greatly feared goddess and one perhaps akin to Sekhmet herself... Yet all was not doom and gloom for did the flooding of the Nile not rejuvenate the land and bring life back to the people? Did the vines not burst into bloom around this time, to bear gapes when Sothis was at it's highest position in the night's sky? There are those who have said that the destructive force of Sothis was tamed and turned into a life giving one. Whichever belief you favour however, would really depend on your perspective.
The Ancient Egyptians also linked Sothis to Isis. Looking back at the association with Orion and Osiris, with Anubis his gatekeeper and embalmer close by - so follows Sirius... an interesting (if perhaps 'liberal'?) comparison...
It is believed that various Pharaohs and learned ancient individuals also considered our origins as being from the stars, in particular the constellation of Orion, and that we are just 'visitors' here. In some of the tombs we can still see images of 'The Golden Ones' (bright yellow/orange - golden beings drawn in a totally different style to the norm of Egyptian imagery) with what appears to be symbolic representations of a constellation next to each one... One such image has a row of three stars in prominence next to it which could represent the stars in the belt of Orion.
Shown here is an statue of the 5th Dynasty Pharaoh Djoser (Zoser), builder of the stepped pyramid at Saqqara. The difference with this statue is that it is situated in a kind of a bunker with two holes (eye holes?) on one wall, so that the Pharaoh who was facing that direction, could look out, and to the stars... Imagine the stars that were directly in line of his field of vision all those years ago... imagine these stars were the stars of Orion, and Sirius.
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Zoser as seen from outside the bunker
via one of the eye holes.... |
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So just how significant and/or universal is the Orion/Sirius Mythos?
The ancients - i.e. the Greeks, Egyptians 'et al'... well, it doesn't stop there... even the Pawnee tribe of North America, among others, referred to Sirius as the 'Wolf Star', and perhaps with similar stories and legends surrounding it (interesting as 'wolf' and 'Dog' are somewhat closely related). This commonality could indicate that the Sothic Mythos may have extremely ancient roots indeed, perhaps even as old as the first humans to migrate from Africa who would have carried it with them across the emerging world. |
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