Orion
After hanging
out with Eos a bit, Orion decided it was time to get back & reek a bit of vengeance. When he returned, Oenopion was nowhere to be
found. Thinking he may have
gone to Crete to receive aid from his grandfather Minos, Orion left to seek
him there. Along the way he
ran into the Artemis (Diana – Goddess of the hunt & twin to Apollo), who convinced Orion to forget about vengeance
and to go hunting with her instead.
Her brother Apollo was concerned by this turn of events was alarmed that Artemis may succumb to his charms. Apollo went to Mother
Earth and stated that Orion had
boasted he would rid the entire earth of wild beasts and monsters. Incensed by such a claim, she sent a monstrous scorpion
to pursue him. Orion attacked the
scorpion and soon realized that none of his mortal weapons had an effect upon the armor of this creature, deciding that
discretion was the better part of valor
in this case he skedaddled, jumping into the ocean. He started swimming in the
direction of Delos hoping that Eos
would help him once again.
Apollo
called his sister over and asked if she could see the object at distance in
the water… He indicated it was the head
of a villain and challenged her to hit it with one of her deadly arrows, which she did. Going into the
water to investigate her quarry, Artemis
was mortified to learn she had killed Orion. In her grief she implored
Apollo’s son Asclepius (God of
Healing) to revive him. He consented to this task but Zeus, seeing what was going on, struck Asclepius with a
thunderbolt before he could do anything
as he feared raising the ire of Hades. Artemis then set Orion’s image among the stars, eternally pursued by Scorpius,
the scorpion.