The Constellation
Lyra |
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Mythology and History |
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The Vulture or the Lyre. |
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The constellation is named for a musical instrument used
by the ancient Greeks. It is very similar to a harp, but only has
3 to 10 strings. |
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Hermes, Messenger of the Gods, one day came upon an empty
tortoise shell on the beach and out of it fashioned a small harp like instrument,
the lyre. When in the right hands the instrument produced the most
beautiful music ever heard by either gods or mortals. Hermes traded
his invention with the Sun-god Apollo. Later, Apollo presented the
lyre to his son Orpheus. So gifted was Orpheus at playing the lyre
that neither mortals, beasts, nor the gods themselves could turn away when
he played. It is said that on hearing Orpheus play, Pluto, Lord of
the Underworld, wept tears of iron. |
In time Orpheus took a wife, the young
and beautiful Eurydice. But soon after the marriage she was bitten
by a serpent and died, where upon she was transported to the Underworld,
where all mortals souls went. Orpheus himself entered Hades, playing
the lyre as he went. Pluto and all the other ruling spirits were
so enchanted by Orpheus' music that they agreed to restore life to Eurydice--but
only in one condition--that as Orpheus left Hades he would not look back
to see if his wife were following him. As he left Hades, he could
not understand why he had not heard footsteps behind him if his wife really
were there. Breaking his vow, he looked back. He saw Eurydice,
but she was rapidly faded away into the mists of Hades. Now she was
lost to him forever, for once reborn, a departed soul cannot be reborn
a second time.
Utterly sad and lonely, Orpheus spent
the rest of his days roaming over the land playing sweet but sad music
to himself in memory of his dear wife. So sweet was the music that
maidens from far and wide came to him and pleaded that he forget his sorrows
and marry one of them. But he would not.
Their pride crushed, the young maidens
vowed to kill Orpheus since they could not have him for their own.
They tore him apart limb by limb and threw his remains and lyre into the
river. Zeus knew of these events. Also enchanted by the sweet
music of Orpheus, Zeus rewarded the young man by making his music immortal.
He raised the lyre into the skies and placed it beside the graceful swan,
Cygnus. A small but brilliant constellation, Lyra is crowned with
the bright star Vega, also known as the Harp Star.
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The Sumerians and Babylonians saw Lyra not as a harp but
a vulture. This is suggested by early records of the constellation
as a harp being carried by a vulture. So instead of being the Harp
star it may once have been the Vulture Star. |
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The ancient peoples of Britain called Lyra "the Harp of King
Arthur." |
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The Chinese have a story about a weaving Princess and her
cowherd lover. Chih Nu (Vega) was the daughter of the Sun-God. She
was a most clever and deft weaving and spinning artist and could make the
most exquisite tapestries. One sunny summer day she happened to look out
of the palace window and saw her father's herdsman driving the flock of
the King along the banks of the Milky Way. As so often happens in love
stories, their glances met and both knew that this was love at first sight.
The King who had been worried about his daughter's future was delighted
when he heard about their romance, especially as the herdsman Ch'ien Niu
(Altair) was a very conscientious worker who had always looked after the
royal flock with the utmost care. |
Chih Nu wove her own wedding dress
out of sparkling rays of starlight.
They were very happy together. In
fact, they were a little too happy and too devoted to each other. Consequently
they forgot all about their work. The loom stood still and gathered dusty
cobwebs while the royal cattle roamed far and wide across the heavenly
meadows.
The Sun-King gave them repeated warnings
and every time they promised to amend their ways, but soon they lapsed
into idleness again. This annoyed the King so much that after several warnings
he decided to banish the husband to the other side of the Milky Way again
so that he could tend the cattle there. When he had dispatched Ch'ien Niu
across the one and only ford, T'ien-tsin, the King had both sides closed
by barriers and a guard posted with instructions that neither of them were
allowed to pass along this route.
Chih Nu pleaded with her father but
to no avail. Finally she appealed to the magpies who had pity on the couple.
The magpies decided that once a year on the seventh day of the seventh
month they would help the parted lovers. On that day all the magpies in
China would fly to the Milky Way and make a bridge across it with outspread
wings across which the lovers would rush into each other's arms and spend
the rest of the day together. On that day a soft rain began to fall in
the morning, which were their tears of happiness. But at nightfall the
soft rain became a downpour, caused by the tears of having to part again
for a year. Having done their duty the magpies would fly away again.
When on the following day people saw
the magpies in the fields once more they would rejoice and say: "Yes, look,
the lovers have been together. See how the feathers on the birds are all
worn down where their feet have trampled." If the feathers weren't trampled
down the people would be sad and used to say that bad weather had apparently
prevented the birds from building the bridge across the Milky Way.
It is also said the children are told
to throw stones at any magpies if the saw them in the fields on the seventh
day of the seventh month, because those selfish birds were negligent of
their duty. [Stars of Jade by Julius D. W. Staal © 1984]
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