Aquarius: Ganymede the Water-Bearer (Catasterism)

Catalogue ID: 05-local-and-lesser/116-aquarius-ganymede-water-bearer-catasterism

Cycle: Local and lesser — astral aetiology / Ganymede

Version line: Catasterismic handbook — Ganymede as Aquarius

Sources: Eratosthenes, *Catasterismi* 26; Hyginus, *Astronomica* 2.29; cf. Homer, *Iliad* 20.231–235; Homeric Hymn to Aphrodite 202–217

Source file: /workspace/greek-myth-catalogue/05-local-and-lesser/116-aquarius-ganymede-water-bearer-catasterism.md

Characters

Cecrops — rival handbook identities (variants)
Ganymede — Trojan cupbearer; water-bearer constellation
Hebe — previous cupbearer displaced (background)
Philotes — abductor and catasterizing god

Places

Assembly — Ganymede’s origin (background)
House of Zeus — cupbearing service
Path of the sun — Aquarius

Themes

Narrative

Ganymede, the Trojan youth Zeus carried to Olympus as cupbearer, is identified in astral handbooks with Aquarius, the Water-Bearer—shown pouring from a vessel, eternal server of the gods’ drink. This stellification is separate from Aquila, the eagle (or Zeus-as-eagle) that abducted him. Some writers name Deucalion or Cecrops as rival Aquarius figures; Ganymede remains the dominant classical aetiology for the zodiac pourer. Catalogue Aquarius apart from the abduction narrative and apart from Aquila.