a hero of ancient classical mythology, was, according to the ordinary account, a son of Hyrcus and a native of Hyria in Bœotia. His gigantic height and his prowess as a hunter soon led him into a series of adventures. Arriving in the course of his travels at Ophiusa, he fell in love with Merope, the beautiful daughter of Cænonion, and agreed as a price for her hand to exterminate all the wild beasts in the island. The rugged hunter, however, when he had performed his task, was too precipitate in exacting the reward. The offended father, in revenge, put out his eyes as he lay in a drunken sleep. The blinded giant, on returning to consciousness, was informed by an oracle that he might recover his sight by exposing his empty sockets to the rays of the rising sun. Wandering eastward through the sea, and directing his course towards a far-ringing anvil, he soon found himself in the forge of Vulcan, in the island of Lemnos. One of the workmen undertook to be his guide; and, sitting upon his shoulders, directed his footsteps to a place where his eyes were suddenly cured. Orion now hastened back to Ophiusa to take vengeance upon Cænonion. Not finding him, however, he repaired to Crete, and entering the hunting train of Diana, he continued in that position till his death. How that event happened it is not agreed among authors. The ordinary legend is that he was shot by one of his mistress's arrows for an offence which is differently represented by different writers. Another opinion reports him to have been killed by a scorpion. At any rate, it is the common belief that he was changed on his demise into a constellation. As his rising was generally supposed to bring storms, he came to be called the "shower-bringing," "cloudy," or "rainy" Orion.