This is the third-smallest constellation in
the sky, with no stars brighter than fourth magnitude, but it
was well-known to the Greeks. Aratus described it as
‘alone, without a bow’ since there is no sign of
the archer who might have shot it.
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Sagitta flying near the feet of Vulpecula, from the Atlas Coelestis of John Flamsteed.
There are at least three different stories
to account for the arrow in the sky. Eratosthenes said it was
the projectile with which Apollo killed the Cyclopes because
they made the thunderbolts of Zeus that struck down
Apollo’s son, Asclepius. According to this story,
Asclepius was a great healer with the power to raise the dead,
but Zeus killed Asclepius when Hades, god of the Underworld,
complained that he was losing business. Asclepius is
commemorated in the constellation Ophiuchus.
Hyginus said that Sagitta was one of the
arrows with which Heracles killed the eagle that ate the liver
of Prometheus. It was Prometheus who moulded men out of clay in
the likeness of the gods, and gave them fire that he had stolen
from Zeus. Prometheus carried the fire triumphantly in a
vegetable stalk like a runner bearing the Olympic torch. Zeus
cruelly punished him for this theft by chaining him to Mount
Caucasus, where a long-winged eagle ate his liver during the
day. But at night the liver grew again for the eagle to resume
his feast in the morning. Heracles freed Prometheus from this
eternal torture by shooting the eagle with an arrow.
Germanicus Caesar identified Sagitta as the
arrow of Eros which kindled in Zeus his passion for the
shepherd boy Ganymede, who is commemorated by the constellation
Aquarius. Now, according to Germanicus, the arrow is guarded in
the sky by the eagle of Zeus – and Sagitta does indeed
lie next to the constellation of the eagle, Aquila. None of the
stars of Sagitta are named.
© Ian Ridpath. All rights reserved
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