The music of the spheres : $b A nature lover's astronomyGrondal, Florence Armstrong
Science
The music of the spheres : $b A nature lover's astronomy
Grondal, Florence Armstrong
Astronomy
The eleventh Labor of Hercules was the obtaining of the three golden
apples from the Garden of the Hesperides. The location of these gardens,
according to most versions of the story, was to the west of Mount Atlas
where this most rare and delightful tree was guarded by a dragon and the
four nieces of Atlas. Atlas, who knew best where to find the apples,
offered to obtain them for Hercules if he would hold up the heavens
while he was gone. Nothing daunted Hercules, so,
"The wearied Atlas he relieved,
His arm the starry realms upheaved,
And propped the Gods above."
--_Euripides._
In the meantime Atlas went to the garden and got the apples from his
nieces. But according to another myth, Hercules went himself and stole
the apples, after slaying the dragon that guarded them. It is to be
noted that in the constellations Hercules has been placed in a decidedly
uncomfortable position so that he might rest his foot upon the Sky
Dragon, Draco--so perhaps Draco, after all, was the monster that
was wound around that wondrous apple tree.
There is also a possibility that the sixth Labor of Hercules has been
memorialized in the sky although the weight of evidence is against it.
In his sixth Labor, Hercules destroyed the cruel carnivorous birds with
the arrows he had dipped in the blood of the poisonous hydra. These
birds, which had brazen wings, beaks and claws, hovered over the
stagnant waters of Lake Stymphalus, in Arcadia, and ravaged all the
surrounding country. This praiseworthy deed may have been represented in
the sky by the "bird" constellations, Cygnus, Lyra and Aquila, which
hover near the stream of the Milky Way, and in the little arrow Sagitta,
which lies not far away, but it is more than likely, according to the
majority of the myths, that these constellations were named in honor of
other things rather than to commemorate the deeds of Hercules.
Among other exploits which illustrate the unrivaled prowess of this
hero, are his battles with giants, monsters and centaurs; catching
Diana's brazen-footed stag by driving it deep into a snowdrift in the
distant northland; obtaining the girdle of Hippolyta, Queen of the
Amazons, in the land of women; capturing boars, bulls, mares and even
bringing from the infernal regions the three-headed dog Cerberus.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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