"The Northern Crown"
Mythology:
Legend tells us that this crown originally belonged to the daughter of
King Minos of Crete -- Ariadne. In mythology, Crete is cited for
being the site of the Labyrinth, or maze, that housed a half-human, half-bull
creature called a Minotaur located under the Cretian palace. Earlier,
the city of Athens had been defeated and overtaken by Crete. One
of the tributes that Athens had to give Crete was some of its young people
(men and women), who were locked in the Labyrinth with the Minotaur.
The son of King Ageus, Theseus, deplored this practice of sacrificing individuals
to the Minotaur. He went to Crete with a group destined to be sacrificed
to the monster. Upon arriving in Crete, Princess Ariadne saw the
handsome Theseus and fell in love with him. She arranged a meeting
with Theseus and promised him to help him defeat the Minotaur if he would
take her away with him. Theseus agreed, and Ariadne gave him twine
that he could use to find his way through the maze of the Labyrinth by
unrolling it behind him.
Everything originally went according to plan: Theseus found the Minotaur,
slew it, and left Crete with Ariadne and the young Athenians that Theseus
had come to Crete with in a stolen boat. It is here where the story
has several versions. All versions have the group stopping at the
Island of Naxos, and Theseus abandons Ariadne. The most common version
of the story states that Dionysius, the God of Wine, fell in love with
Ariadne and would not let her leave with Theseus.
There is further confusion as to where Adriadne obtained the Northern Crown,
upon which this constellation is based. Some versions state she received
it from Aphrodite herself as a wedding present. Still others say
that it originally belonged to Theseus, given to him by the Sea Nymph Thetis
to use for navigation (the Crown sparkled), who gave it to Ariadne.
However Ariadne obtained the crown, the legend tells us that after she
married Dionysius, he took the Crown and threw it into the heavens in joy.
As the Crown traveled into the sky, the jewels upon it became the stars
that form this constellation.
Other Interesting Sights: Over 400 galaxies lie within a very small portion of the sky, about one-half degree or the size of a full Moon, within the Corona Borealis. This is the Corona Borealis Supercluster of Galaxies. This is not in the Virgo Supercluster of Galaxies, of which the Milky Way Galaxy is a part.