Hydrochoüs, by Jove

So, Spring has sprung.

In days gone by, and by that I mean years, Spring was heralded by the flooding of the River Nile in Egypt which made the banks and surrounding areas very fertile, which in turn helped to create the ancient Egyptian civilisation.

Those ancient Egyptians, well some of them, believed that the flooding was caused when a little-known character by the name of Aquarius flung his jar into the river, causing the flood. Where the ancient Egyptians welcomed these floods, the ancient Babylonians were plagued by floods, which were also caused by Aquarius, so they didn’t see him in the same light.

Just goes to prove that you can please some of the people some of the time, but not all of the people all of the time.

Back in those days of old, Aquarius was still a constellation, like today. Some referred to this constellation as Hydrochoüs, and included in that ‘some’ is the God known as Zeus.

Aquarius represents the water-bearer; and is Latin for cup carrier.

Legend has it that that Zeus made a devilishly handsome young man Immortal after changing himself into an eagle and kidnapping the lad, who was busy tending sheep at the time on the hillside. Zeus was infatuated by this youth, so much so that he needed to have him serve his drinks forever. Obviously, a mere mortal couldn’t perform such a task, so Zeus had no choice but to turn the young lad into an Immortal. The young lad, whose name was Ganymede, did as he was asked, up to a certain point.

Obviously, Ganymede’s father was furious that his son had been kidnapped by Zeus, but was calmed when Zeus sent Tros (Ganymede’s father) a herd of fine horses, the kind used by the Gods themselves. (Incidentally, Tros is the one who the ancient city of Troy is named after, but I digress)

All of the Gods liked Zeus’ choice of cup-bearer… apart from Hera, Zeus’ wife / sister / consort, who thought Ganymede to be a rival for her husband’s affections. Apparently he wasn’t, but jealousy can cause many a strange thought; even more so when the reality tends to get somewhat ‘twisted’.

Being granted eternal youth and immortality wasn’t enough for Ganymede, such is the petulance of youth, so one day he refused to serve Zeus. He poured his wine away, which in turn started the whole flooding process.

As Zeus was fond of Ganymede, rather than punish him, he gave him the constellation Hydrochoüs. Well, what else could he do? He’d already made him Immortal.

Now, many, many years later.

Zeus’ Roman equivalent name is Jove, or Jupiter. Jupiter is the largest planet in our Solar System, and it has several moons. One of them, Ganymede, is the largest moon in the Solar System, and is larger than the planet Mercury…. it would be classed as a planet itself if it orbited the Sun on its own accord, but it has to be classed as a moon as it orbits Jupiter.  Ganymede has a subterranean sea and an atmosphere made up of oxygen. It has its own aurorae. They are saying that life is unlikely there, but oxygen and water are quite important where life is concerned, so it can’t exactly be ruled out.

And is it me, or do the markings on the above image of Ganymede not look like city lights?

I shall leave that one with you…