Читать книгу Astrology For Dummies - Rae Orion - Страница 72

The Egyptians of 3500 years ago saw this constellation as a ram, just as we do, but the myth most associated with Aries comes from Greece. It starts with Queen Ino, who resented her stepchildren, Phrixus and Helle, and devised a plan to get rid of them. She began by causing the harvest to fail. Fearing famine, her husband, King Athamas, sent for advice from the Delphic oracle, but Ino persuaded the messenger to ignore whatever the oracle said and instead instruct Athamas to sacrifice his son, Phrixus. Like the Biblical patriarch Abraham, Athamas agreed. He was just about to cut his son’s throat when a winged ram, sent by Hermes (aka Mercury), appeared out of nowhere. The children scrambled on top of the creature and off they flew. Helle lost her grip and tumbled into the narrow strait, once known as the Hellespont, that separates Europe from Asia Minor. But Phrixus held on. After they landed, he sacrificed the ram to Zeus and nailed its golden fleece to an oak tree in a sacred grove. But that’s another story.