 Orion is mentioned in the oldest surviving works of Greek literature , which probably date back to the 7th or 8th century BC , but which are the products of an oral tradition with origins several centuries earlier . In Homer 's Iliad Orion is described as a constellation , and the star Sirius is mentioned as his dog . In the Odyssey , Odysseus sees him hunting in the underworld with a bronze club , a great slayer of animals ; he is also mentioned as a constellation , as the lover of the Goddess Dawn , as slain by Artemis , and as the most handsome of the earthborn . In the Works and Days of Hesiod , Orion is also a constellation , one whose rising and setting with the sun is used to reckon the year . 
