The constellation of Orion is the only one that can be seen by both north and south hemispheres simultaneously being on the celestial equator, and as such, it is visible throughout the world. It is one of the largest, most conspicuously recognizable constallations the night sky which it has dominated since time began, well... for roughly about 1.5 million years or so... 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 parallelled human civilsation. Certainly it has captured he imaginations of the Ancients - A legacy that has decended through the generations to the present day. The name 'Orion' refers to a Hunter in Greek Mythology. The main stars have largely Arabic names in spite of the constellation being named after a Greek character from the land of legend. They 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
|
- Kappa Orionis |
| The Stars of Orion |
|
 |
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 and Horsehead Nebula (located just below the southern most star in the belt). The Orion Nebula (M42) also forms part of the sword.
The three stars of Orions belt point in a south eastward direction to Sirius, The Dog Star, whereas if you go northwast from the other end of the belt, You'll eventually hit Aldebaran... well, you know what I mean!
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 pharoahs 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
But that's not all... Sothis (Greek Σώθις) 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 appearence in the year of Sirius rising in the night sky 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 prevailent at this time and this has often been referrred 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 is not doom and gloom for did the flooding of the Nile 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 its highest position in the night's sky (and just before the Birthday of Dionysos and this being true to form for this particular God, was associated with the opening of the first wine)? 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, whereas according to the Greeks "The soul of Isis is called Dog" (Plutarch), as well as calling Sirius 'The Dog'. Isis became synonymous or even amalgamated with other powerful Egyptian deities like Neith, Hathor and some say even Sekhmet, and took on their roles. The link between Sirius and 'Dog' is thought to reflect the stars associations with destruction and the destructive power of the goddess(es). However if the Dog star is being seen to be 'serving' Orion the hunter, does this mean that the mythos here is one of a servile entity with the nature of the dog being a pack animal that follows and obeys and is so harnessed to enhnace and improve (give?) life?? Looking back at the associiation with Orion and Osiris, with Anubis his gatekeeper and embalmer close by... so follows Sirius - an interesting (if perhaps 'liberal'?) comparison...
Various pharoahs and learned individuals in ancient times considered our origins, that they ebe from the stars and that we are just 'visitors' here.
In some of the tombs there are 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 number constellations next to each one... One such image has a row of three stars in prominence next to it. Could these represent the stars in the belt of Orion???
Shown here is an statue of the 5th Dynasty pharoah 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?) one one wall, so that the pharoah could look out, and to the stars... Imagine the stars that were directly inline of his field of vision... imagine if these stars were the stars of Orion? Is it possible that the ancients believed we came from there?
|
|
Zoser as seen from outside the bunker
via one of the eye holes.... |
 |
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. |
|
|
|
