William Tyler Olcott

“ It is indeed strange, as Ideler points out, that these non-drinking animals should be found here so close to a river, but the suggestion has been made that these stars represented pasturing cattle, that being the translation of Na'aim, the title of the 20th lunar station of the Arabs located here.
Some authorities, who claim to explain the origin of the constellations, assert that Sagittarius was so called because, at the time the sun entered it, the hunting season opened, and that this is the Archer or Huntsman. Sagittarius has always been considered the patron of the hunter and the chase. ”

“ Chiron, realising that the wound was incurable, begged Jupiter to deprive him of immortality. The father of the gods granted his request, and placed him among the constellations.
Another legend relates that Apollo urged the moon goddess Artemis to aim a shaft from her bow at a gleaming point on the horizon, which concealed Orion, the mighty hunter. Orion was thus unwittingly slain by Artemis. The constellation Orion is exactly in opposition to the so-called "Bow stars" of Sagittarius, which accounts for this myth connecting the two constellations. ”

“ The centaur Chiron was sometimes called "the Bull Killer." The astronomical significance of this appellation is as follows: When the constellation Sagittarius rises in the east, it always seems to drive below the western horizon the last stars in the constellation Taurus, the Bull. Thus the Archer, metaphorically speaking, slays the Bull.
Chiron was reputed to be a wonderful archer, and taught the Grecian youths the use of the bow and arrow. He is always represented with bow drawn, aiming a shaft at the heart of the Scorpion. As Manilius puts it:
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