"The Ram"
Mythology: Many people are
familiar with the story of Jason and the Argonauts, and Aries is connected
to one part of this famous story. King Athamus and Queen Nephele
of Boeotia had two children -- Phrixus and Helle. When Nephele died,
Athamus married Ino, daughter of King Cadmus of Thebes. As is common
in mythology throughout the world, the "stepmother" Ino disliked Phrixus
and Helle.
Ino poisoned the crops with disease
so there would be no harvest. With his subjects starving, Athamus
consulted the oracle at Delphi for guidance. Ino bribed the messengers
from Delphi to tell Athamus that his children should be sacrificed to appease
the Gods and save the crops. At first, Athamus resisted, but the
local priests and advisors insisted that the children be sacrificed.
Athamus was to sacrifice his children
himself. He took them to the top of a mountain to commit the sacrifice,
but Nephele was watching from heaven and sent down the Golden Ram Aries
to carry the children to safety. The children climbed onto his back,
and the Ram flew high in the air toward Asia. Unfortunately, young
Helle was unable to hold on, and fell into a channel connecting the Black
Sea and the Mediterranean Sea. This channel became known as the Hellespont,
to remember and honor her.
Upon arriving safely in the Caucausus
Mountains, Phrixus sacrificed Aries to Zeus to display his gratitude, and
then presented the ruler of the land the golden fleece. This leader
was King Aeetes of Colchis, who betrothed onto Phrixus his daughter.
The fleece was hung in a tree in the middle of sacred woods, where a dragon
who never slept kept guard over the fleece.
Meanwhile, Jason, who was usurped
by Pelias (cousin to Phrixus) as the rightful leader of Iolcus in Thessaly,
was leading the Argonauts in a quest to recover the golden fleece.
Pelias had told Jason he would yield the throne to him if he recovered
the golden fleece. Pelias figured this to be an impossible task,
and a suitable alternative for getting rid of Jason.
Note: Not only is Aries a
constellation in the sky, but Jason's ship, the Argo, is an asterism
spread out over the two Southern Hemisphere constellations of Carina and
Puppis.
Other: Although Aries is regarded as a dim constellation with no outstanding or notable features, it does have one claim to fame. Between 1800 B.C. and the first few centuries A.D., the location of the Sun at the March (Vernal) Equinox in the Northern Hemisphere was located in Aries. This is why the equinox's position is still called "The First Point in Aries."