Zodiac Mythology

1. What are the Zodiacs?

In astronomy, the Zodiac is an area of the sky where the sun, moon, and planets move through from Earth's perspective. In this area, twelve constellations roughly align with path, well technically thirteen but Ophiuchus is overshadowed by Sagittarius and Scorpius, even though it is larger than either. Each constellation is assigned their own segment of the zodiac. The twelve zodiacs are Aries, Taurus, Gemini, Cancer, Leo, Virgo, Libra, Scorpius, Sagittarius, Capricornus, Aquarius, and Pisces.

The zodiacs were first recorded in Babylon, except theirs had either seventeen or eighteen. The Babylonians assigned twelve of the zodiacs to their calender, and later on in history the Greeks recieve this calender. The Greeks implemented these constellations to their own, forming what the twelve constellations known today. Each constellation has their own associated stories, taken from famous Greek myths and legends.

Note: Each constellation has multiple versions of the myths they derive from, the ones discussed are the most well-known.

Stories behind the Zodiacs

• Aries: Aries is Chrysomallus, the golden ram whose golden fleece was sought after by the Greek heroes Jason and Argonauts from the story "Argonautica.""
• Taurus: Taurus is associated with the myths of Zeus, either when he transformed himself into a bull to abduct Europa or when he turned Io into a bull after taking advantage of Io and trying to hide the fact from Hera (Taurus has some of the worst myths associated with them).
• Gemini: Gemini are said to be the twin brothers of Helen of Troy Castor and Pollux. In a story Castor, who is immortal, sacrifices half of their immortality to save a fatally wounded Pollux. This caused them to spend half the year in the heavens as a constellation and the other half in the Underworld.
• Cancer: Cancer is a crab Hera summoned in order to distract Heracles while he was fighting the Hydra as part of one of his twelve labors. The crab fails to get Heracles killed by the Hydra, and is stepped on by Heracles, later immortalized as a constellation.
• Leo: Leo is associated with the Nemean Lion who Heracles had to defeat as one of his twelve labors.
• Virgo: Virgo is either Demeter, goddess of agriculture and harvest, or Persephone, queen of the Underworld and wife of Hades.
• Libra: A representation of the importance of justice. This was in honor of Julius Caesar, with Libra before being either combined with Virgo to represent Lady Justice or Scorpius to signify their claws.
• Scorpius: The immortal scorpion summoned by Demeter to kill the hunter Orion. After accomplishing their task, the gods made him a constellation to chase Orion.
• Sagittarius: Sagittarius is most commonly considered to be a centaur, sometimes specifically Chiron, the eternal mentor to heroes like Achilles.
• Capricornus: Capricorn is either the goat that cared for Zeus when he was a baby and cast to Earth so Kronos would not eat him or Pan, a goat who gave himself a fish tail to escape the monster Typhon. The latter is meant to explain the goat fish association with Capricorn that originated from Babylon.
• Aquarius: Aquarius is either just a water jug or Ganymede, a trojan prince who was kidnapped by Zeus to act as his own cup-bearer.
• Pisces: Pisces are two fishes that were tied together. They are commonly associated with the goddess of love Aphrodite, goddess of beauty and love. This comes from two possible stories, one were her and Eros, also god of love, shapeshift to fishes to escape the monster Typhon or a story were Aphrodite was born from an egg and brought to shore by two fishes.