History of Constellations

Have you looked up in the sky lately? Do you see the stars forming shapes? Those shapes are called constellations. Many empires found and named these constellations. They used stories, myths, or legends to example why the constellations are there. Constellations are part of both the Earth’s history and the universe’s history.
The Greeks are famous for their myths. In the myth “The Great Bear” Jupiter, the God of the skies, fell in love with a moral woman named Callisto. Juno, Jupiter’s wife, became jealous of Callisto after she gave birth to Jupiter’s son, Arcus. To get back at Callisto, Juno changed her into a bear. One would think that Callisto would trusted just as before because she was known to be kind and gentle. But no one believed she was still the same kind and caring person. The villagers forced her to leave her child by sending hunters with their dogs after her, while the women of the village took care of her baby. Years later Callisto came back to the village where she once lived. She soon found a hunter about to shot a bird; she soon realized the hunter was her son Arus. But when Arus saw the bear, he didn’t know it was his mother and aimed for it. Jupiter stepped in, even though it had be years since he last saw Callisto in her human form, he still loved her. To protect Callisto from her own son, he hurled her into the night sky. He also changed Arus into a small bear and then put Arus right next to his mother. But Juno was still jealous so she made Neptune, the God of the Sea, to keep the two bears from descending into the ocean like all the other stars. This is the myth the Greeks used to example to themselves why the Great Bear and the Little Bear are the only constellations to never set below the horizon.
They said that their gods made the stars move to make a shape of someone or something that the Gods thought honorable or wanted to honor. The Greeks believed the gods thought a hunter named Orion was honorable enough to be made in a constellation. In ancient Greek and in Greek mythology Orion was a great hunter who accomplished many things. It is said that he killed many beasts. But no one knows just how he died. One theory is that a Scorpios killed him. Now both are up in the night sky as constellations.
Hundreds of cultures have thought that their gods placed their heroes and myths up into the night sky. Were the myths, stories, and legends true? No one truly knows, and no one truly knows which opinion is right. Only you can choice which way you believe.