Scorpio, Scorpius

Scorpius was a giant scorpion sent by Gaia the Earth to slay the giant Orion when he threatened to slay all the beasts of the world. Orion and the Scorpion were afterwards placed amongst the stars as the constellations of the same name. The two opponents are never seen in the sky at the same time-for as one constellation rises, the other sets. The ancient Greek Skorpios originally encompassed two constellations-Scorpio formed its body and Libra its claws.