Orion (mythology)

In Greek mythology, Orion (/əˈraɪən/; Ancient Greek: Ὠρίων or Ὠαρίων; Latin: Orion) was a giant huntsman whom Zeus or Artemis placed among the stars as a constellation. He was venerated as a hero in the region of Boeotia, and there is one etiological passage which says that Orion was responsible for the present shape of the Strait of Sicily.

Ancient sources tell several, often conflicting, stories about Orion. Two major versions describe his birth, and several accounts relate his death. Other key episodes in his life include his visits to Chios and Lemnos and his relationship to Artemis. Most stories about him are recorded in incidental allusions and in fairly obscure later writings. No great poet standardized the myth.

Orion is mentioned in the oldest surviving works of Greek literature. In Homer's Iliad he is described as a constellation, and the star Sirius is mentioned as his dog. In the Odyssey, Odysseus sees him hunting in the underworld with a bronze club, a great slayer of animals. He is also mentioned as a constellation, as the lover of Eos, as slain by Artemis, and as the most handsome of the earthborn. In the Works and Days of Hesiod, Orion is also a constellation, one whose rising and setting with the sun is used to reckon the year, and chases the Pleiades.