What To Know About Orion
Everything there is to know about the constellation Orion, from star names and positions to myths across the globe.
Last Updated
05/31/21
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Ancient Near Eastern Myths
Chapter 2
There are multiple myths pertaining to Orion, and so I will separate them by area of the world.
Babylonia
According to Babylonian texts, the constellation was "The Heavenly Shepherd," or "True Shepherd of Anu." In their worship, Anu was the chief god, comparable to Zeus or Jupiter or Ra. The Babylonians considered the constellation sacred to the minor gods Papshukal and Ninshubur that were the "messengers to the gods." Papshukal was associated with a walking bird in Babylonian boundary stones, and the Rooster is below and behind the True Shepherd on the star map. Both represent the herald of the gods, in his bird and human forms respectively.
Egypt
Another story is that there was a Pharaoh of the Fifth Dynasty by the name of Unas. Unas ate the flesh of his mortal enemies, because of the belief that eating the flesh of great people would let the one eating them to inherit their power. But Unas was not satisfied with that, and so he slayed and devoured the gods themselves. He journeys through the day and night skies to become Sahu, or Orion. The Pyramid texts show that Uras was also identified with Osiris.
Armenia
