A semi-circle of stars between Boötes
and Hercules marks the golden crown worn by Princess Ariadne of
Crete when she married the god Dionysus. The crown is said to
have been made by Hephaestus, the god of fire, and was studded
with jewels from India.
Ariadne, daughter of King Minos of Crete,
is famous in mythology for her part in helping Theseus to slay
the Minotaur, the gruesome creature with the head of a bull on
a human body. Ariadne was actually half-sister to the Minotaur,
for her mother Pasiphae had given birth to the creature after
copulating with a bull owned by King Minos. To hide the
family’s shame, Minos imprisoned the Minotaur in a
labyrinth designed by the master craftsman Daedalus. So complex
was the maze of the labyrinth that neither the Minotaur nor
anyone else who ventured in could ever find their way out.
 | ||
Corona Borealis, a jewelled crown, shown in the Atlas Coelestis of John Flamsteed.
One day the hero Theseus, son of King
Aegeus of Athens, came to Crete. Theseus was a strong, handsome
man with many of the qualities of Heracles and was unsurpassed
as a wrestler. Ariadne fell in love with him on sight. When
Theseus offered to kill the Minotaur she consulted Daedalus,
who gave her a ball of thread and advised Theseus to tie one
end to the door of the labyrinth and pay out the thread as he
went along. After killing the Minotaur with his bare hands,
Theseus emerged by following the trail of thread back to the
door.
He sailed off with Ariadne, but no sooner
had they reached the island of Naxos than he abandoned her. As
she sat there, cursing Theseus for his ingratitude, she was
seen by Dionysus. The god’s heart melted at the sight of
the forlorn girl and he married her on the spot.
Accounts differ about where Ariadne’s
crown came from. One story says that it was given to her by
Aphrodite as a wedding present. Others say that Theseus
obtained it from the sea nymph Thetis, and that its sparkling
light helped Theseus find his way through the labyrinth.
Whatever the case, after their wedding Dionysus joyfully tossed
the crown into the sky where its jewels changed into stars. Its
brightest star is called Gemma, the Latin for
‘jewel’, although it is also known as Alphekka from
the Arabic name for the constellation.
© Ian Ridpath. All rights reserved
|
|
||||
 |
|
|||
|
|
||||
|
|
||||
|
|
|
|
|
|