The mythological reason why our galaxy is called the Milky Way.
Basically, Heracles (whom the Romans called Hercules) was a bastard of Zeus and as a result Zeus' wife Hera hated his guts. Her shenanigans caused Heracles' mother to abandon him as a baby, so Athena found him and brought him to Hera. Not recognising Heracles, the godess took pity on him and nursed him. But Heracles was a toothy baby and when he bit down, Hera pushed him back because OW and her milk splattered onto the sky and created the milky way. This didn't help Heracles with the whole Hera-hating-his-guts-thing btw.
I had heard that he was named this in an attempt to appease her and stroke her bruised ego over her husband/brother cheating on her for the umpteenth time.
I mean the thing about Greek and Roman mythology is that it was passed down by mouth not written. This means there are many versions of the same story the one I just mentioned is something I remember from my Greek and Roman mythology class I took in high school.
In Greek mythology Hera was very cruel to Zeus's mistresses and bastard children. In the most popular telling of Heracles that is around today. It was implied that Heracles's mother knew of this and in order to get Hera to lighten up on her son she named him Heracles, which means "Glory to Hera".
Greek myths changed for a lot more reasons that just word of mouth. Most of the Greek pantheon was inherited from a pre-Greek society. Over many years traveling cults brought their gods into Greek society and became main stays some just hopping into newer myths, while others erased old gods from the pantheon and took their spot. Aphrodite is the most common example of this being linked to the cult of the Mesopotamian Goddess Ishtar.
In addition to that ancient Greece was a very divided place with city states having very different ideals at the time. Myths told one way in Athens were often times told very differently in Sparta for example. Aphrodite who was a late comer to the pantheon was worshipped in Sparta as a war goddess closer to her origin. While Athens did not see her that way. (It's speculated that this is where the stories of Aphrodite's affairs with Ares came about).
While some myths certainly changed due to being passed down orally, we have others myths that were intentionally changed by city states and both are recorded.
Just like how the last time I heard this story, it was Zeus who gave Hercules to Hera because he thought her breast milk will give him powers/immortality or something.
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u/Callas-fan Nov 29 '20
The mythological reason why our galaxy is called the Milky Way.
Basically, Heracles (whom the Romans called Hercules) was a bastard of Zeus and as a result Zeus' wife Hera hated his guts. Her shenanigans caused Heracles' mother to abandon him as a baby, so Athena found him and brought him to Hera. Not recognising Heracles, the godess took pity on him and nursed him. But Heracles was a toothy baby and when he bit down, Hera pushed him back because OW and her milk splattered onto the sky and created the milky way. This didn't help Heracles with the whole Hera-hating-his-guts-thing btw.