New stars were created whenever a god wanted to memorialize something.
Within Greek mythology, the celestial realm contained information and history about the most significant legends. Instead of inanimate objects, stars existed as memorials for gods and humans alike to look and reflect upon. Zeus, as ruler of the heavens, typically performed most of the star and constellation creation, but other gods also contributed as they saw fit.
Transforming and Honoring
The stars existed as a means of preserving a person, creature or event. A person or creature beloved by a god could be physically transformed into a constellation and placed among the stars. Often, a god did this in order to spare the subject from his or her mortality, but sometimes a god did this just to honor the individual. In other instances, the gods honored and displayed the events or deeds of a person's life among the stars without actually transforming anyone.
People
When Zeus or any other Greek god placed a human among the stars, he usually did so by literally transforming that person into a constellation. Many individuals from Greek mythology transformed into stars after their death. For example, the goddess Artemis placed the hunter Orion, killed by the gods due to jealousy, among the stars after his death, rather than sending him to the underworld. Other individuals became constellations without even dying. Pollux, an immortal son of Zeus and twin brother to the mortal Castor, lamented his brother's death so severely that Zeus took pity. Zeus allowed Pollux to share his immortality with Castor by transforming the pair into the Gemini constellation.
Animals
Certain animals within Greek mythology played such significant roles that the gods granted them a place among the stars, just as the gods granted that honor to humans they pitied or loved. Several Zodiac constellations originated from mythical animals. The god Dionysus honored a ram who guided him through Africa by placing it among the stars as the constellation Aries. Other constellations also feature animals. The gods positioned the dog of Orion near its master in the sky, as Canis Major. Zeus prevented the winged horse Pegasus from dying by setting it among the stars after it was thrown down to earth from the heavens.
Events
In some cases, Zeus memorialized an event by showcasing a related object in the stars. This differed from the way that the gods would place a human or animal among the stars since these constellations did not originate from anything living. The constellation Argo, for instance, signifies the ship used by the Argonauts who searched for the Golden Fleece. Similarly, the Triangulum constellation honors and represents the division of the heavens, sea and underworld between the three sons of Cronus.
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