Goats in Mythology: Amaltheia

Of Amaltheia, Aratos (a 3rd B.C. poet) wrote : Sacred goat, which, in story, didst hold thy breast o'er Zeus.AMALTHEIA was the she-goat nurse of the god Zeus who nourished him with her milk in a cave on Mount Ida in Krete. When the god reached maturity he created his thunder-shield (aigis) from her hide and the horn of plenty (keras amaltheias or cornucopia) from her crown.

Amaltheia was placed amongst the stars as the constellation Capra--the group of stars surrounding Capella on the arm (ôlenê) of the Auriga the Charioteer. The goat on the arm no doubt represented the stormy aigis-shield of Zeus. The rising of Capella marked the onset of stormy weather for the Greeks. Indeed, the word aigis denoted both "stormy weather" and "goat-skin," hence their close connection in myth.