ORION, in fabulous history, was the son of Jupiter, Neptune, and Mercury. As these gods were visiting the earth, they entered the house of Hyrieus, a native of Tanagra, in Bœotia, under the character of benighted travellers, on account of his being famed for hospitality to strangers. Hyrieus treated them in the best manner possible; and even killed an ox, the only one he had, for their entertainment. With this the gods were so pleased, that they offered the old man whatever he should ask; and he having let them know that he desired nothing so much as a son, they, anxious to gratify his wish, caused the ox's hide to be brought before them, and having deposited in it their urine, bade him keep it under ground for nine months. He then dug for the skin, and found in it a beautiful child, whom he called Orion. The name was afterwards changed into Orion, by the corruption of one letter, as Ovid observes: Perdidit antiquum littera prima sonum. Orion soon became conspicuous, and Diana admitted him amongst her attendants, and even became deeply enamoured of him. His gigantic stature, however, displeased Oenopion king of Chios, whose daughter Hero or Merope he requested in marriage. The king, not willing to deny him openly, promised to make him his son-in-law as soon as he should have delivered that island from wild beasts. This task, which Oenopion supposed to be impracticable, was soon performed by Orion, who eagerly demanded his reward. Oenopion, on pretence of complying,
Orissa. made his illustrious guest drunk, and in this state put out his eyes on the sea-shore, where he had laid himself down to sleep, so that Orion, when he awoke from his debauch, found himself blind. Directed by the sound, he then went to a neighbouring forge, where he placed one of the workmen on his back, and by his directions proceeded to a place where the rising sun was seen with the greatest advantage. Here he turned his face towards the luminary; and, according to report, he immediately recovered his eye-sight, and hastened to punish the perfidious cruelty of Oenopion. Orion was believed to have been an excellent workman in iron, and to have fabricated a subterranean palace for Vulcan.
Some say that Orion was the son of Neptune and Euryale, and that he had received from his father the privilege and power of walking over the sea without wetting his feet; but others assert that he was a son of Terra, like the rest of the giants. He had married a nymph called Sida before his connection with the family of Oenopion; but Sida was the cause of her own death, by boasting herself fairer than Juno. Diodorus says that Orion was a celebrated hunter, superior to the rest of mankind by his strength and uncommon stature. He built the port of Zancle, and fortified the coast of Sicily against the frequent inundations of the sea, by heaping up a mound of earth called Pelorum, on which he built a temple to the gods of the sea. After his death Orion was placed in heaven, where one of the constellations still bears his name. The constellation of Orion was placed near the feet of the bull. It was composed of seventeen stars, in the form of a man holding a sword; for which reason the poets often speak of Orion's sword. As the constellation of Orion, which rises about the 9th day of March, and sets about the 21st of June, is generally supposed to be accompanied at its rising with great rains and storms, it has acquired the epithet of agnosus, which is applied to it by Virgil.