in fabulous history, was the son of Jupiter, Neptune, and Mercury. For as these gods were visiting the earth, they entered the house of Hyrieus, a native of Tanagra, in Boeotia, under the character of benighted travellers, on account of his being famed for for hospitality to strangers. Hyrieus treated them in the best manner in his power; and even killed an ox, the only one he had, for their entertainment. At which the gods were so pleased, that they offered the old man whatever he would ask; who letting them know that he desired nothing so much as a son, they, to gratify his wish, caused the ox's hide to be brought before them, in which, having deposited their urine, they bad him keep it under ground for ten months. At the expiration of that term he dug it up, and found in it an infant, whom he at first called Orion, to express his origin; but afterwards changed it to Orion. He was a remarkable hunter; and Neptune gave him the power of walking on the surface of the waters, with the same speed that Iphiclus did over the ears of corn; on which he crossed from the continent of Greece to the island of Chios, where attempting to violate Ærope, the wife of king Oenopion, that monarch deprived him of his sight. He then travelled to Lesbos, where he was kindly received by Vulcan, who gave him a guide to the palace of the sun, where he was restored to sight. He then made war on Oenopion; who escaping his vengeance by concealing himself under ground, he went to Crete, where he pursued his favourite exercise of hunting. But having offended Diana, that goddess put him to death, either by her arrows, or by sending a scorpion which gave him a mortal wound; but afterwards relenting, she prevailed on Jupiter to raise him to the skies, where he forms a constellation, remarkable for predicting rain and tempestuous weather.

Orion, in astronomy, one of the constellations of the southern hemisphere.—The word is formed from the Greek "orion," "to make water;" the ancients supposing that it raised tempests at its rising and setting.—The stars in the constellation Orion, in Ptolemy's catalogue are 37, in Tycho's 62, in the Britannic catalogue 80.