The Pleiades

The Pleiades were the seven daughters of the Titan Atlas and the Oceanid Pleione, born on Mount Cyllene in Arcadia. Their names were Alcyone, Merope, Celaeno, Electra, Sterope, Taygete and Maia. Six of them bore children to gods, and the family produced Hermes, Dardanus, Lacedaemon and others. The sisters also gave their name to the star cluster in the constellation of the Bull.

The Origins of the Pleiades

Parentage and Lineage

Apollodorus says that Atlas and Pleione, a daughter of Ocean, had seven daughters at Cyllene in Arcadia, and he lists them as Alcyone, Merope, Celaeno, Electra, Sterope, Taygete and Maia (Library 3.10.1). The poet Aratus gives the same seven names (Phaenomena 254–267). Because Atlas was their father they are also called the Atlantides, and Hesiod calls them “the Pleiades, daughters of Atlas” (Works and Days 383).

The seven sisters are:

• Maia, the eldest
• Electra
• Taygete
• Alcyone
• Celaeno
• Sterope (also called Asterope)
• Merope

Hyginus records another family. Citing the poet Musaeus, he says that Atlas and Aethra, a daughter of Ocean, had fifteen daughters. Five of them, called Hyades after their brother Hyas, died of grief when a lion killed him while hunting; of the other ten, seven also died of grief, and these were called Pleiades. Alexander, he adds, says that the Hyades were the daughters of Hyas and Boeotia and the Pleiades the daughters of Atlas and Pleione (Astronomica 2.21). According to Pherecydes, whom Hyginus cites, the Hyades were seven nymphs who nursed the infant Dionysus and gave him to Ino.

Myths and Legends

The Pursuit by Orion

Orion the hunter and the Pleiades appear together in the earliest Greek poetry. Homer lists “the Pleiades and the Hyades and the strength of Orion” among the stars on the shield of Achilles (Iliad 18.486), and Hesiod describes the setting of the Pleiades as a flight: when they “flee the strength of Orion” and fall into the misty sea, the winds rage and ships should be hauled ashore (Works and Days 619–621). In Greek poetry the sisters therefore run before Orion across the sky.

Transformation into Stars

The sisters are placed among the stars in Greek poetry and in the star-catalogues that followed it. Aratus describes the Pleiades as small and dim, moving close together near the left knee of Perseus, and says that they are “seven in the songs of men” though only six can be seen (Phaenomena 254–267). The Latin writer Hyginus places them in the constellation of the Bull (Astronomica 2.21).

Relationships and Offspring

Consorts and Children

Apollodorus says that Poseidon had intercourse with Celaeno and Alcyone, that Sterope and Merope were married, and that Zeus consorted with the other daughters of Atlas (Library 3.10.1). Hyginus gives the count: three of the sisters with Zeus, two with Poseidon, one with Ares, and Merope as the wife of Sisyphus (Astronomica 2.21).

• Maia gave birth to Hermes, fathered by Zeus, in a cave on Mount Cyllene (Library 3.10.2; Homeric Hymn to Hermes 3–4).
• Electra had two sons by Zeus, Iasion and Dardanus (Library 3.12.1). Dardanus became the ancestor of the Trojan royal house.
• Taygete had a son Lacedaemon by Zeus, from whom the country of Lacedaemon took its name (Library 3.10.3). Pausanias adds that Mount Taygetus was named after her and that Lacedaemon married Sparta, the daughter of Eurotas (Description of Greece 3.1.2).
• Alcyone bore Poseidon a daughter, Aethusa, and two sons, Hyrieus and Hyperenor (Library 3.10.1).
• Celaeno bore Poseidon a son, Lycus, whom Poseidon settled in the Islands of the Blessed (Library 3.10.1). Hyginus makes Lycus and Nycteus her sons (Astronomica 2.21), while Apollodorus gives Nycteus and Lycus as sons of Hyrieus and the nymph Clonia.
• Sterope is the mother of Oenomaus by Ares in one tradition (Hyginus, Astronomica 2.21). In another she is the wife of Oenomaus, the king of Pisa whose chariot-race with Pelops was carved on the pediment of the temple of Zeus at Olympia (Library 3.10.1; Pausanias 5.10.6).
• Merope was the only sister to marry a mortal, Sisyphus, the founder of Ephyra (Corinth). Their son was Glaucus, the father of Bellerophon (Library 1.9.3).

The Pleiades and the Seasons

For Greek farmers and sailors the Pleiades marked the year. Hesiod tells Perses to begin the harvest when the Pleiades rise and to plough when they set; they are hidden for forty days and nights and then appear again as the year turns (Works and Days 383–387). The season in which they set was the time to haul ships ashore (Works and Days 619–624). Homer's Odysseus keeps his eyes on the Pleiades as he steers his raft from Calypso's island (Odyssey 5.272).

The “Lost” Seventh Sister

Although the Pleiades are seven, only six stars are easily visible. Aratus remarks that only six can be seen though the songs name seven (Phaenomena 254–267). Hyginus offers an explanation: of the seven, six slept with immortals, but Merope was the wife of Sisyphus, and for that reason she cannot be seen (Astronomica 2.21). Ovid gives two possible reasons for the missing star: that Merope was ashamed of marrying a mortal, or that Electra could not bear to look on the ruin of Troy (Fasti 4.169–178).

The Pleiades Sources

Homer, Iliad 18.486 and Odyssey 5.272; Homeric Hymn to Hermes 3–4; Hesiod, Works and Days 383–387, 615–624; Aratus, Phaenomena 254–267; Apollodorus, Library 1.9.3, 3.10.1–3, 3.12.1; Pausanias, Description of Greece 3.1.2 and 5.10.6; Hyginus, Astronomica 2.21; Ovid, Fasti 4.169–178.

See Also: Atlas, Pleione, Orion, Hermes, Zeus, Poseidon, Sisyphus, Hyades