Orion

ORION was a handsome giant granted the ability to walk on water by his father Poseidon. He served King Oinopion (Oenopion) of Khios (Chios) as huntsman for a time, but was blinded and exiled from the island after raping the king's daughter Merope. Orion then travelled across the sea to Lemnos to petition the god Hephaistos (Hephaestus) for help in recovering his sight. Lending him his assistant Kedalion (Cedalion), the god directed the giant to the rising place of the sun where Helios restored his vision. Upon returning to Greece, Orion sought out Oinopion to exact his revenge but the king hid himself away in an underground, bronze chamber.

The giant then retired to the island of Delos or Krete (Crete) where he became a hunting companion of the goddess Artemis. After his death he was placed amongst the stars as the constellation Orion.

There were various accounts of his death. In one version he desired to marry Artemis but her brother Apollon tricked the goddess into shooting him with an arrow as he was swimming far out at sea. In another version, Artemis slew him after he raped her handmaiden Oupis. The most common story, however, was that Orion bragged he would hunt down and kill all the beasts of the earth, so Gaia (Mother Earth) sent a Scorpion to destroy him. Orion and the Scorpion were afterwards placed amongst the stars as opposing constellations--one rises as the other sets.

The Boiotians also had their own stories about the stellar hunter. According to their version of his myth Orion was born when three gods--Zeus, Poseidon, and Hermes--urinated on a bull-hide and buried it in the earth to provide King Hyrieus with a son and heir.

Orion's name is derived from the ancient Greek word oros "mountain" or from ourios "urine".

The stories surrounding Orion resemble those of several other mythical hunters of the Boiotian region. The hunter Kephalos (Cephalus), for example, was also said to have been seduced by the goddess Eos. Another, Aktaion (Actaeon), was similarly killed by Artemis while out hunting. And finally, the earth-born Boiotian giant Tityos attempted to violate the goddess Leto--just as Orion assaulted Oupis--and was destroyed by Apollon and Artemis with their arrows.