Corona Borealis: A Hint of Truth
** This is an embellishment of what Ariadne's crown looked like.
However it is said that when Bacchus threw her crown into the night sky
the jewels of the crown broke off and formed in the shape of a crown in the night sky.
I felt this image was a good representation of that.**
The story I am about to tell is my absolute favorite from all my travels back in time trying to prove my great ancestor Ptolemy is not a fraud.
My majestic blue rock had already crumbled to half its original size since I had used two of the four time travel requests I was allowed. I had not been able to concentrate, so instead of meditating as I normally would, I held the blue rock in my left hand and the lyre from my visit with Orpheus in my right and said, "Take me to the first meeting of Bacchus and Ariadne." The world as I knew it started spinning and before my eyes the landscape and surroundings transformed. I was looking at Bacchus and Ariadne in real time. To understand the importance of this encounter, I suppose it is important to understand the history of this event.
Ariadne was the princess of Crete and daughter of King Minos. The wife of King Minos gave birth to a hideous beast. The creature was born half-man, half-bull and referred to as Minotaur. King Minos and his wife could not bear to kill their son, no matter how hideous and deformed, so they built a large, strong labrynith that contained many mazes from which he could not escape. Unfortunately for the Athenians, the Minotaur had to be fed and would only eat humans. On the third feeding of the Minotaur, a hero named Theseus was one of the lucky chosen few to be sacrificed. Ariadne was in love with him and offered him a good deal. She said she would help him slay the Minotaur if only he would take her to a far off land afterwards. He quickly agreed and Ariadne provided him with a long string which he unwound behind him as he made his passage in the prison towards the Minotaur. He slayed the vicious beast with his bare hands by breaking its neck.
After he slayed the beast he followed the string back to the entrance of the prison and fled the city of Crete with Ariadne at his side. They sailed in a ship for what seemed like weeks and eventually landed on a strange island. As soon as they stepped on shore, Theseus left Ariadne to face her fate alone. Not long after Theseus abandoned Ariadne, Bacchus, whom the Greeks call Dionysus, the God of wine, came and took her in his arms.
It was right after this happened that I arrived to the unknown island thanks to the help from my majestic rock. I saw Bacchus take the crown off of Ariadne's head and throw it into the night sky to give her eternal glory. This was my opening to approach the pair.
"Bacchus, I come from the future and am here to help prove my great ancestor Ptolemy is not a fraud like many scientists think," I said.
"And you think I can help?" Bacchus replied.
"Well, I am not sure but you were one of his favorite mythology stories. He wrote about you in a book called the Almagest," I said.
"What is that instrument you have in your hand, little child?" he said, looking at the lyre in my hand.
"Oh, this is a lyre I found in a cave in the Rhodope Mountains near Batak, Bulgaria when I was visting Orpheus, son of Apollo. Do you know what it means?" I asked.
Bacchus took the lyre out of my hand and focused on the script that covered it. I only know English so I had no idea which language it was. My best guess was Greek or Latin.
"This language written on this instrument is Greek. It talks of instruments and formulas," Bacchus said. "Look here at the fourth line from the top. It talks of a man named Hipparchus and the mistakes he made in his calculations of movement of the solar system. And here at the bottom it says this formula here is the one he used to calculate much of the data he wrote in a book called Almagest."
My smile my have been bigger that a rainbow because Bacchus seemed to know that his work was done. He handed the lyre back to me and walked away holding Ariadne's hand. In the night sky, her crown can still be seen shining brightly.
What have I learned from this trip you must be wondering? The biggest obstacle Ptolemy has right now is showing the formulas he used to calculate the information he wrote in the Almagest. I now have those formulas and can prove they are original since he also cites on this lyre exactly what Hipparchus did wrong.
At last, I have what I need to free his name. The only question remaining now is what is in the the wooden box I inherited from Ptolemy that Perseus mentioned when I took my trip to help save Andromeda...
Author's Note: The original story of the constellation Corona Borealis is very short, maybe 200 words total, so I had to expand it a bit to meet the word requirements for this assignment. The original story is very quick and to the point. It talks about how Ariadne is the daughter of King Minos, the birth of his hideous son, how Ariadne falls for Theseus who then abandons her after killing the beast, and ultimately how she meets Bacchus who then places her crown in the night sky. I take a much more active role in the story. In essence the only part of the mythology story that plays a role in my frame tale is when Bacchus translates the script on the lyre. Obviously, Maple did not play a role in the original story. The second paragraph of my story retells the Corona Borealis story. After that, most of the story incorporates Maple as an active participant as she talks to Bacchus to find out how he can help her free Ptolemy's name.
Bibliography:
Title: Corona Borealis
Web source: Corona Borealis
* Image Information
Title: Ariadne's Crown
Web source: Crown
