Libra: The Scales (and the Chelae of Scorpius)

Catalogue ID: 05-local-and-lesser/118-libra-scales-chelae-catasterism

Cycle: Local and lesser — astral aetiology / Justice / zodiac history

Version line: Catasterismic / Aratean — Chelae become Libra; scales of Dike/Astraea

Sources: Aratus, *Phaenomena* 88–90, 147–148 (Chelae); Eratosthenes / Hyginus notices; Roman calendar reform noted only as later naming

Source file: /workspace/greek-myth-catalogue/05-local-and-lesser/118-libra-scales-chelae-catasterism.md

Characters

Artemis — Justice associated with the scales and with Virgo
Chelae — older identity as Scorpius’s claws
Libra — balance constellation
Scorpius — neighboring sign whose claws the Chelae were

Places

Path of the sun — stellified Justice imagery
Zodiac between Virgo and Scorpius — place of Chelae/Libra

Themes

None detected.

Narrative

In older Greek star-lore the zodiac place later called Libra was the Chelae—the Claws of Scorpius—counted as part of the scorpion’s reach. As Astraea/Dike (Virgo) left the earth, later tradition also spoke of scales of Justice in the sky; the Chelae were reinterpreted or renamed as a balance (Libra), the scales that weigh under Virgo’s sign. Aratus still sings the Claws; handbook and imperial-era usage spread the Scales as a full sign. Catalogue Libra as the zodiac balance with its Greek prehistory as Scorpius’s Chelae, linked to Justice beside Virgo.