 The legend of Orion was first told in full in a lost work by Hesiod , probably the Astronomia ; simple references to Hesiod will refer to this , unless otherwise stated . This version is known through the work of a Hellenistic author on the constellations ; he gives a fairly long summary of Hesiod 's discourse on Orion . According to this version , Orion was likely the son of the sea @-@ god Poseidon and Euryale , daughter of Minos , King of Crete . Orion could walk on the waves because of his father ; he walked to the island of Chios where he got drunk and attacked Merope , daughter of Oenopion , the ruler there . In vengeance , Oenopion blinded Orion and drove him away . Orion stumbled to Lemnos where Hephaestus — the lame smith @-@ god — had his forge . Hephaestus told his servant , Cedalion , to guide Orion to the uttermost East where Helios , the Sun , healed him ; Orion carried Cedalion around on his shoulders . Orion returned to Chios to punish Oenopion , but the king hid away underground and escaped Orion 's wrath . Orion 's next journey took him to Crete where he hunted with the goddess Artemis and her mother Leto , and in the course of the hunt , threatened to kill every beast on Earth . Mother Earth objected and sent a giant scorpion to kill Orion . The creature succeeded , and after his death , the goddesses asked Zeus to place Orion among the constellations . Zeus consented and , as a memorial to the hero 's death , added the Scorpion to the heavens as well . 
