By: Amanda Mullen

Phrixis and Helle climbed onto the back of a ram name Aries. They were carried off through the air. Helle could no longer hold on and fell to her death over the strait named after her. It was known as the Hellespot, which links the Aegean Sea with the sea of Marmara in what is now known as Turkey. Phrixus managed to hold on and was carried by Aries to a land near the Black Sea called Colchis, the capital of which was known as Aea. Now that the Aries work was done, he then commanded Phrixus to sacrifice himself to the Gods and remove his golden fleece.

They were told that the gold shinned so brilliantly by night it bathed the surrounding countryside in a warm golden light. The king was delighted with this gift that he hung the fleece in the sacred Grove of Ares, where there lived a dragon who never slept and guarded the gold fleece. The brave and generous ram was given an eternal place in the sky as the constellation Aries. It is said that this constellation is dim, one because at the time the ram was immortalized it no longer had its brilliant and bright shining fleece.

The constellation Aries is located in the North Hemisphere between the zodiacal constellations of Piscis & Taurus. The sun crosses this constellation from the end of April and principles of May. The eliptic crosses Aries by the low part of the constellation next to the constellation of Cetus. Aries is a small constellation of about 400 square degrees. This is visible in the North Hemisphere until 70 degrees of south latitude crosses the meridian in the nights of October.

"Characteristics." Aries. Masm, 25 Oct. 2003. Web. 24 Nov. 2009. <http://www.mallorcaweb.net/masm/Ari1.htm>.

"Mythology and History." The Constellation Aries. Legg Middle School , n.d. Web. 24 Nov. 2009. <http://www.coldwater.k12.mi.us/lms/planetarium/myth/aries.html>.