jeudi 4 septembre 2008

Auriga 1


Auriga, is a northern constellation. It was one of the 48 constellations listed by Ptolemy, and counts as one of the 88 modern constellations. Its brightest star is Capella, which is associated with the mythological she-goat Amalthea. The three stars ε Aurigae, ζ Aurigae and η Aurigae are called Haedi (the Kids).


α........Capella......Greek.......little female goat
β........Menkalinan..Arabic......shoulder
γ........El Nath......Arabic......the one who butts
δ........Praja........Hindi.......lord
ε........Al Maz......Arabic......the billy goat
ζ........Saclateni...Arabic......second arm
θ........Manus.......Latin.......hand
η........Haedus......Latin.......the lamb
ι........Hasseleh....?...........?
λ........Al Hurr.....Arabic......the fawn


According to one Greek myth, Hera had a child who was born lame. Disgusted, she threw him out of Heaven to Earth, where he became the famous lame smith, Hephaestus, who fashioned beautiful ornaments and armor for the gods. He is also the smith who came to Orion's rescue after Orion had been blinded. It is said that because he was lame he invented the chariot so as to easily travel wherever he wanted to go without difficulty. He also built a chariot for Helios.
In another Greek myth, Auriga is said to represent Myrtilus, the charioteer of King Oenomaus. The king was jealous of anyone who came to seek his daughter's hand in marriage. Being noted for his love of horses, the king announced that all suitors would have to take part in a chariot race against him and, should they lose, pay with their lives. Pelops, the lover of Oenomaus' daughter, bribed Myrtilus to sabotage the king's chariot to guarantee his marriage with Hippodameia. Upon the day of the race, the king was killed in the ensuing accident. Shortly thereafter, Myrtilus tried to seduce Hippodameia as he was secretly in love with her. She ran crying to Pelops who then cursed Myrtilus by casting him into the sea. As Myrtilus drown, he in turn cursed Pelops, which was the source of the curse that forever haunted the future generation of Pelops' children.
Auriga might also represent the 10th Labour of Heracles. Together with the area of the sky that is deserted (now considered as the new and extremely faint constellations Camelopardalis and Lynx), and the other features of the area in the Zodiac sign of Gemini (i.e. the Milky Way, and the constellations Gemini, Orion, and Canis Major), this may be the origin of the myth of the cattle of Geryon, which forms one of The Twelve Labours of Heracles.
Before the classical era, it was also identified as a chariot and its driver, which, considering its fainter stars visible to the naked eye, it resembles. However, the driver was considered to be a shepherd, usually one which had flung a goat over its left shoulder (due to the resemblance of that area to a lump), and had its kids (two bright stars) nearby.


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