HERCULES CONTINUED...
Death of Heracles
The death of Heracles is a piece of true Greek tragedy. After his labours,
Heracles married Deianeira, the young and beautiful daughter of King Oeneus.
While travelling together, Heracles and Deianeira came to the swollen river
Evenus where the centaur Nessus ferried passengers across. Heracles swam across
himself, leaving Deianeira to be carried by Nessus. The centaur, aroused by her
beauty, tried to ravish her, and Heracles shot him with one of his arrows
tipped with the Hydra’s poison.
The dying centaur offered Deianeira some of his blood, deceitfully claiming that
it would act as a love charm. Innocently, Deianeira accepted the poisoned blood
and kept it safely until, much later, she began to suspect that Heracles had
his eye on another woman. In the hope of rekindling his affection, Deianeira
gave Heracles a shirt on which she had smeared the blood of the dying Nessus.
Heracles put it on – and as the blood warmed up, the Hydra’s poison began to burn his flesh to the bone.
In agony, Heracles raged over the countryside, tearing up trees. Realizing there
was no release from the pain, he built himself a funeral pyre on Mount Oeta,
spread out his lion’s skin and lay down on it, peaceful at last. The flames burned up the mortal
part of him, while the immortal part ascended to join the gods on Mount
Olympus. His father, Zeus, turned him into a constellation, which we know by
the Roman name Hercules.
Heracles is depicted in the sky holding a club, his favourite weapon. Some
people think that his 12 labours are represented by the 12 signs of the zodiac,
but it is difficult to see the connection in some cases.
Stars of Hercules
Hercules is the fifth-largest constellation but is not particularly prominent.
Alpha Herculis, a red giant star that varies from third to fourth magnitude, is
called Rasalgethi, from the Arabic meaning ‘the kneeler’s head’, which is where Ptolemy said it lay. Beta and Delta Herculis are his right and
left shoulders respectively and his left arm extends towards Lyra. In some
depictions, such as by Johann Bayer, Hercules was imagined holding a branch from the apple tree of the Hesperides
in his left hand. Johannes Hevelius, in his own atlas, replaced the apple
branch with the three-headed monster Cerberus. The four stars Epsilon, Zeta, Eta and Pi Herculis form a distinctive
quadrilateral known as the Keystone that outlines the pelvis of Hercules.
His left leg, with Theta Herculis as the knee and Iota Herculis as the lower
shin, presses on the head of the vanquished Draco, the dragon. Hercules rests
on his right knee (Tau Herculis), and in Ptolemy’s day the star we know as Nu Boötis doubled up as the sole of his right foot, in an example of stars being
shared by neighbouring constellations. Johann Bayer listed this star as both Nu
Boötis and Psi Herculis, but it is now assigned exclusively to Boötes. Astronomically speaking, the most celebrated object in the constellation is
a globular cluster of stars, M13, the best example of such a cluster in
northern skies.
Chinese associations
The southern half of Hercules, and much of Ophiuchus to the south of it, was in
an area of sky that the ancient Chinese visualized as a celestial market, Tianshi, bounded by walls on left and right. At the northern end of the right (west)
wall was Beta Herculis, followed by Gamma and Kappa Herculis; the wall then
continued southwards into Serpens Caput, ending in Ophiuchus. The left (east)
wall started at Delta Herculis then progressed via Lambda, Mu, Omicron and 133
Herculis (or another star nearby) before heading into Aquila, Serpens Cauda and
Ophiuchus.
North of these walls, a chain of nine stars crossed Hercules from Theta via
Epsilon and Zeta Herculis into Corona Borealis, forming Tianji, translated as ‘celestial records’ or ‘celestial discipline’. This is interpreted as an office for registering transactions in the market
and paying taxes on them. (Confusingly, there are three other Chinese
constellations whose names are also transliterated as Tianji, in Monoceros, Sagittarius and Vela, but the meaning of each of them is
different.)
North of Tianji, Pi, 69 and Rho Herculis formed Nüchuang, ‘woman’s bed’, possibly referring to the Emperor’s harem. In this same area, a chain of seven stars leading from Hercules into
neighbouring Boötes formed Qigong, ‘seven dukes’ or ‘seven excellencies’, representing senior government officials. The Chinese had two completely
different sets of stars for Qigong – one version had the chain of stars going diagonally from 42 Herculis to Delta
Boötis, while another saw it as running east–west from Eta Herculis to Beta Boötis. In the far north of Hercules, Iota Herculis formed part of Tianpei, a flail or club; most of Tianpei lay over the border in Draco.
At the heart of the celestial market was Alpha Herculis (Rasalgethi), known in
China as Dizuo, representing the throne of the Emperor, the central authority. Next to Dizuo, a string of four stars in Hercules and Ophiuchus, including 60 Herculis,
formed Huanze, representing one or more eunuchs serving the Emperor. Also nearby were Dou and Hu, containers for measuring liquid and grain respectively, symbolizing standard
measures. Near the left wall of the celestial market were Bodu and Tusi, two pairs of stars in the region of 95 and 102 Herculis. Bodu represented a cloth merchant or draper, while Tusi was a butcher’s shop.
© Ian Ridpath. All rights reserved
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