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Aquila is a constellation on the celestial equator. Its name is Latin for 'eagle' and it represents the bird that carried Zeus/Jupiter's thunderbolts in Greek-Roman mythology. Its brightest star, Altair, is one vertex of the Summer Triangle asterism. The constellation is best seen in the northern summer, as it is located along the Milky Way.
Zeus and an eagle, krater (c. 560 BC), now in the Louvre Ptolemaic tetradrachm with the Eagle of Zeus, standing on a thunderbolt, on the obverse The Eagle of Zeus (Ancient Greek: ἀετός Διός, romanized: aetos Dios) was one of the chief attributes and personifications of Zeus, the head of the Olympian pantheon.
The Catasterismi or Catasterisms (Greek Καταστερισμοί Katasterismoi, "Constellations" or "Placings Among the Stars" [1]) is a lost work by Eratosthenes of Cyrene. It was a comprehensive compendium of astral mythology including origin myths of the stars and constellations.
In various stories, Zeus later put Ganymede in the sky as the constellation Aquarius (the "water-carrier" or "cup-carrier"), which is adjacent to Aquila (the Eagle). [27] In recognition of this myth, the largest moon of the planet Jupiter (named after Zeus's Roman counterpart) was named Ganymede by the German astronomer Simon Marius. [28]
The Draco is another example of star lore. In Roman mythology, the constellation is representative of Ladon, the dragon that guarded the golden apples inside the garden, Hesperides. The tree was a wedding gift to Hera when she and Zeus were married, and she planted it on Mount Atlas. Hera tasked the Hesperides to guard the tree and put Ladon ...
In Greek mythology, Cynosura (Ancient Greek: Κυνοσούρα, romanized: Kunosoúra, lit. 'dog's tail' κυνός οὐρά, pronounced [kynosǔːraː]) is the name of an Idaean Oread nymph from the island Crete who brought up a young Zeus during his early years when he hid from his father Cronus, and ended up among the stars.
The Perseus Family includes several constellations associated with the Perseus myth: Cassiopeia, Cepheus, Andromeda, Perseus, Pegasus, and Cetus (representing the monster sent to devour Andromeda). Menzel also included a few neighboring constellations: Auriga, Lacerta, and Triangulum. Except for Cetus, these constellations all lie north of the ...
Roman ornament with an aquila (100–200 AD) from the Cleveland Museum of Art A modern reconstruction of an aquila. An aquila (Classical Latin: [ˈakᶣɪla]; lit. ' eagle ') was a prominent symbol used in ancient Rome, especially as the standard of a Roman legion. A legionary known as an aquilifer, the "eagle-bearer", carried this standard.