"The Sea Goat"
Location: R.A. = 21h, Dec. = 20 S
Mythology:
Capricornus is one of the oldest known constellations. References
to the Sea Goat can be found on artifacts from Mesopotamia and the word
itself is Sumarian for "goat-fish." In Greek mythology, Capricornus
is associated with Pan.
Pan, the God of the Countryside, was the son of Hermes, the messenger of
the Gods. He is depicted as being half-man and his lower body being
half-goat. Some even speculate that the Christian description of
Satan comes from Pan. In fact, laborers were the last of the Romans
to accept Christianity and give up the old Gods. The word "pagan"
is simply Latin for "country dweller." So, early Christians may have
viewed the countryside as "enemy" to the Christian God and His Son.
Therefore, it is not surprising that the God of the Land's laborers would
have been turned into the Christian God's enemy, Satan.
More
interesting trivia: Pan is also said to have had an extremely loud
voice that would terrify people. The word "panic" is derived from
the Greek God Pan!
Pan was a "spirited" young God, taken to lusting after women, or consuming
copious amounts of drink. He was a lover of music, and is often remembered
as being the inventor of the Pipes of Pan. In fact, his love of women
was his inspiration for inventing the pipes: Pan lusted after the
nymph Syrinx. Syrinx was not interested in Pan, so she changed herself
into reeds to avoid him. As Pan reached for her, all he was able
to get was a handful of reeds. Pan was enchanted by the sound that
came from the reeds when he blew through them, so he fastened reeds of
different lengths together, which became the Pipes of Pan. These
pipes are also called "syrinx" in reference to the nymph that broke his
heart.
Capricornus is indeed an unusual picture -- the front body of a goat attached
to the tail of a fish! But in actuality, Capricornus represents Pan,
as he undergoes his transformation from his "normal" form to that of a
fish (the ancient Gods could transform themselves at will).
Pan in this form commemorates an incident in the battle between the older
generation Titans and the younger Titans, lead by Zeus. The mother
of Zeus, Earth or Mother Gaia, was so outraged by the ten year struggle
for power that she brought forth a Typhon, a monster so terrible and strong
that it threatened even the Gods. The Gods were so distracted by
the fighting that they did not see the monster approaching. Pan was
the first to notice Typhon, and suggested to the other Gods that they transform
themselves into animals to hide from Typhon. Hence, Capricornus is
Pan transforming himself into a fish. Some stories claim that Pan
was in such a hurry that he was unable to complete the transformation and
never fully became a fish!
Eventually, Typhon and Zeus battled, and it took pan and Hermes to nurse
Zeus back to health when Typhon delivered a seriouos wound to Zeus.
Once back to health, Zeus used his thunderbolts to drive Typhon deep underground
and trap it under the slopes of Mount Etna. As you might suspect,
earthquakes and volcanic eruptions were thought to be Typhon trying to
escape his underground prison!
Other Interesting Sights: The Sun resides in Capricornus during the Winter Solstice -- the time when the Sun is the farthest below the Celestial Equator, marking the first day of winter in the Northern Hemisphere. The latitude south where the Sun is overhead on that day is the Tropic of Capricorn (its northern analog being the Tropic of Cancer). The globular cluster M30 is within Capricornus.
M30