 Blog PostsFriends         | Mythology to Astronomy: How we got our milky wayMythology gives an interesting story about the origin of Milky Way. The story starts with the Roman goddess 'Hera'Hera is a complex woman. She is the wife and one of three sisters of Zeus. She was the goddess of women and marriage. She was also the emblem of fertility. Jealousy and vengeance were often mentioned in her mythology. Juno is her name in Roman mythology. The Greek name for the Milky Way (galaxies) is derived from the word milk (gala). One legend explains that the Milky Way was created by Heracles when he was a baby. He was a son of Zeus with a mortal woman Alcmene. Zeus let the infant Hercules suckle on his wife Hera’s milk when she was asleep, an act that would give the baby with godlike qualities. When Hera woke up and realized, she pushed him away and the spurting milk became the Milky Way.   aurora36: It was actually Athena who gave Hera Heracles to nurse, telling her she found the abandoned newborn in the field.Hera's motherly instincts kicking in and she started to nurse him.Heracles however bit her on a nipple and she withdrew him quickly, which is when the milk squirted all over the sky creating milky way.His name was first Alcides, he was renamed Heracles- for the glory of Hera, in order to appease her 3 years ago • Report 0 |
