 <unk> have discussed Orion at least since the Renaissance of classical learning ; the Renaissance interpretations were allegorical . In the 14th century , Boccaccio interpreted the oxhide story as representing human conception ; the hide is the womb , Neptune the moisture of semen , Jupiter its heat , and Mercury the female coldness ; he also explained Orion 's death at the hands of the moon @-@ goddess as the Moon producing winter storms . The 16th @-@ century Italian mythographer <unk> Comes interpreted the whole story of Orion as an allegory of the evolution of a storm cloud : Begotten by air ( Zeus ) , water ( Poseidon ) , and the sun ( Apollo ) , a storm cloud is diffused ( Chios , which Comes derives from <unk> , " pour out " ) , rises though the upper air ( <unk> , as Comes spells Merope ) , chills ( is blinded ) , and is turned into rain by the moon ( Artemis ) . He also explains how Orion walked on the sea : " Since the subtler part of the water which is rarefied rests on the surface , it is said that Orion learned from his father how to walk on water . " Similarly , Orion 's conception made him a symbol of the philosophical child , an allegory of philosophy springing from multiple sources , in the Renaissance as in alchemical works , with some variations . The 16th @-@ century German alchemist Michael Maier lists the fathers as Apollo , Vulcan and Mercury , and the 18th @-@ century French alchemist Antoine @-@ Joseph <unk> gave them as Jupiter , Neptune and Mercury . 
