Orion (episode)

***Miscellaneous Myths: Orion*** is the fifty-fifth episode of the Miscellaneous Myths series, and it focuses on the myth of Orion, the hunter and the constellation. As it happens many times with mythologies, various versions of this tale exist, with the consistent points being that Orion is a constellation and that a scorpion factors in the story in one way or another.

## Summary

The video starts with Red explaining how various mythologies have so many versions of their stories it’s pointless to argue about what’s canon, because no mythology has a single, set canon, with gods and heroes reshuffling all the time. It’s better to look for what remains consistent throughout the changes.

In the myth of Orion, what remains consistent is that he is a constellation.

Orion gets mentioned pretty early on; he’s on the shield that Hephaestus created for Achilles, he’s the lover of Eos that Artemis killed, and his shade is still hunting deer in the Underworld, as Odysseus witnesses. The various myths attributed to him try to explain the constellation’s journey through the sky.

In one version, Orion is the son of Poseidon and Euryale (the daughter of Minos or the sister of Medusa), and he’s given by his father the ability to walk on water. He visits Chios, but gets drunk and attacks Princess Merope, thereupon her father King Oenopion blinds him. Orion wanders around blind for a while until he bumps into Hephaestus, who gives him Cedalion to guide him around. Together they reach Helios, who heals Orion’s eyes and restores his light (“the healing properties of staring directly at me are *very* well documented”).

With his sight fixed, Orion then tries to take vengeance on the king, but he can’t find Oenopion anywhere. Red comments that this myth sounds like a mythologization of Orion’s movement across the sky; he goes to Chios, which is at the east of mainland Greece (rising over the eastern horizon), then attacks Merope who shares her name with one of the Pleiades (the star cluster Pleiades is constantly chased by the Orion constellation), he’s blinded and visits Hephaestus whose workshop in in Etna, west of Greece (Orion sinking below western horizon) and guided by Cedalion he reaches the east and Helios (the Sun rises in the east) and with his sight restored he goes to chase Oenopion and Merope again–sadly, there isn’t any solid confirmation of this.

After all this went down, Orion started hanging out with Artemis and her mother, bonding over their shared love of hunting. However one day Orion boasts that he will kill every beast on earth, angering Gaia. Gaia sends Orion a scorpion which stings and kills him. Zeus places Orion among the stars, and the scorpion as well, “presumably so Orion doesn’t get too comfortable”. The scorpion chasing Orion is another consistent feature of Orion’s mythos. Orion and Scorpio are on opposite sides of the celestial sphere; when Scorpio rises, Orion sets.

In another variation, Orion keeps harassing the Pleiad nymphs. Artemis asks Zeus for help, and he responds by turning the nymphs into stars. Artemis, upset, has her brother Apollo send a giant scorpion to kill Orion. Orion dies and Zeus places him among the stars, and he resumes chasing the Pleiades.

Red then touches the subject of Orion being the only man Artemis ever loved, and makes clear that this was never truly the case. She explains that this popular trope of love lost is based on a fragmentary myth by Hyginus; in this, Apollo disapproves of the friendship of Artemis and Orion, fearing it might get romantic, not noticing how little Artemis, a sworn virgin, is interested in sex and romance. Apollo, getting too overprotective, challenges Artemis that she cannot hit that tiny dot in the ocean. But she can, and it turns out this was Orion all along. Artemis is devastated and turns Orion into a constellation.

Red then says that Orion only gets written as Artemis’ tragic boyfriend due to mistaken translations published millenia after the myths were told. This interpretation however ignores the numerous versions where it’s Artemis herself who kills Orion.

## Credits

In the credits, Red sings a cover of *Counting Stars* by OneRepublic, and explains that there’s a bit of controversy over what colour the dog star, Sirius, is (it’s a white star, but many ancient sources describe it as red).

## Characters appearing

Orion

Eos

Odysseus

Poseidon

Euryale

Oenopion

Merope

Cedalion

Helios

Artemis

Gaia

Pleiades (Merope, Maia, Electra, Sterope, Alcyone, Taygete, Celaeno)

Zeus

Apollo

## Notes

1. ↑ However the myth also states that Orion found Hephaestus in Lemnos, east of mainland Greece, which doesn’t quite fit with the constellation’s movement across the sky.
2. ↑ While it’s true that the narrative of Artemis being in love with Orion is blown out of proportion in modern pop culture, it’s not inaccurate, nor a translation mistake. Hyginus (who quotes an earlier writer, Istrus) makes it clear that Apollo wasn’t worried because he had foolishly misunderstood the nature of their relationship; Artemis announced her intetion to marry Orion, and wouldn’t change her mind no matter how many times Apollo tried to talk her out of it.