Sky & Telescope - August 2024 - 45

Stories in the Stars by Stephen James O'Meara
Hercules and Ophiuchus
Head-to-Head
How a pair of summer constellations have much in common.
T
wo ancient constellations on this
month's Northern Hemisphere sky
chart (pages 42 to 43) stand head-tohead,
one on top of the other: Hercules,
the mightiest of heroes, and Ophiuchus,
the Serpent Bearer. Like Ophiuchus,
Hercules deals with a serpent; in his
case it's Draco, which was imagined as a
serpent before it became a dragon. Both
constellations also symbolize tales of
good and evil, and of life and death.
The two celestial figures have been
linked for millennia. In his 1899 book
Researches into the Origin of the Primitive
Constellations of the Greeks, Phoenicians
and Babylonians, Robert Brown suggests
that the pairing is a reduplication of
Gemini, the Twins. In early Babylonian
art, Gemini was frequently depicted as
two figures, one above the other - just
as we see Hercules and Ophiuchus today.
William Tyler Olcott expands on this in
his 1911 book Star Lore of All Ages:
One of the most peculiar features
of the arrangement of the stars into
constellations by the ancients is the
fact that many of the figures are
repeated, and in almost every case the
two constellations similar in figure are
situated close together in the sky.
We know Hercules and Ophiuchus
are head-to-head because Rasalgethi,
the Alpha (α) star of Hercules, translates
to " the Kneeler's Head, " while the
name for Alpha Ophiuchi, Rasalhague,
means " the Head of the Serpent Bearer. "
The two Alphas are only 5° apart, with
Rasalgethi being the more northerly.
The Babylonian Hercules and Ophiuchus
weren't twins - rather, they were
king and queen of the Underworld,
respectively. Ophiuchus was known as
Allat, who had the head of a lioness, the
body of a huge hairy ape, and the feet of
an eagle. Babylonian stone engravings
often portrayed an important
figure as a mythical
beast comprising many different
animal parts. However,
these parts were chosen
to represent the strongest
qualities of the figure, not
an actual appearance.
Allat's consort was Lugal,
pOphiuchus, the Serpent Bearer, is shown here as depicted
in Alexander Jamieson's 1822 Celestial Atlas. Note the
upside-down head of Hercules at the top of the map.
who rises in the night sky
along with the Scorpion, an
ancient symbol of darkness.
The scene, Brown writes,
is a " pre-constellational
aspect of the Snake and the
Scorpion, as connected with
death and darkness. " This
connection was linked to
the autumn equinox, when
the Sun dips below the celestial
equator, the gateway to
the celestial Underworld.
During Babylonian times, the point
of the autumn equinox was located
in the Scorpion's claws - symbolizing
the death of the Sun and the long dark
nights of Northern Hemisphere winter.
Fast-forwarding to Greek mythology,
Heracles (the Roman Hercules) was
originally known as Egonasi or Engonasin,
meaning " the Kneeling One. "
He was also known as " the Phantom. "
In the Phaenomena, Greek poet Aratus
(271-213 BC) tells us that the Phantom
seems to sit on bended knee with his
hands upraised in a pleading gesture.
As Olcott remarks, " It is . . . an incongruous
position for a hero . . . There
appears no satisfactory explanation for
this attitude. "
But maybe there is. All we have to do
is use our imaginations to combine the
Babylonian twin motif with the classical
myth about the infant Heracles. In
this construct, Zeus, king of all gods,
disguises himself as Amphitryon, the
husband of the most wise and beautiful
mortal, Alceme. Alceme unknowingly
beds Zeus one night, and Amphitryon
on the following night. Twins are born
from these unions: Heracles on one day,
and Iphicles on the next. (Such " twins "
are allowed in mythology.)
When Zeus's wife Hera learns of
her husband's infidelity, she sends two
venomous snakes to the infants' cribs.
Terrified, Iphicles cowers. But before
the serpents have a chance to strike,
Heracles takes hold of the snakes
and strangles them. This courageous
display reveals to Amphitryon that
Iphicles was his son and that Heracles
belongs to Zeus.
On clear August nights, see if you
can imagine the constellation Ophiuchus
as the young Heracles, clutching
the serpents in his hands, while the
figure of Hercules serves as his terrified
younger brother, Iphicles. He holds his
arms outstretched toward his stronger
brother, as the jaws of the coiled serpent
Draco nears one of his feet in this tale
of life and death.
¢ Contributing Editor STEPHEN JAMES
O'MEARA has been studying the stars
and their lore for more than 50 years.
sk yand tele scope .o r g * AUGUST 2024 45
ALEXANDER JAMIESON / CELESTIAL ATLAS (1822) / UNITED
STATES NAVAL OBSERVATORY LIBRARY / PUBLIC DOMAIN
https://skyandtelescope.org/
Sky & Telescope - August 2024

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