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GANYMEDE
Ganymede, in Greek mythology, was a young boy whom Zeus brought to Olympus to be his cup-bearer. He was the son of Tros, a king of Troy. There are variants within the myth as to how Ganymede was brought to be with the gods, from Zeus transforming himself into an eagle to bear him, to his being kidnapped by Eos, goddess of the dawn, and then taken by Zeus. The constellation of Aquarius is said to be commemorative of his position, the water-bearer.1 Zeus was often said to have places images of his lovers, or the lovers themselves, in the sky to protect them from jealous Hera. More applicable to Rosalind's choosing Ganymede to be her nom de guerre than this, however, is the fact that he was also known to be Zeus' lover. Some take this to be a condoning of homosexuality (or, at least, homosexual activities) in Greek culture. Rosalind's love for Orlando while she is in disguise, is, in it's own way, a type of homosexual love and because "the very word ganymede was used from the medieval times well into the seventeenth century to mean an object of homosexual desire," her pseudonym is therefore quite apropos.
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