Pleiădes
（
Πλειάδες). The seven daughters of Atlas and the
Ocean-nymph Pleioné, born on the Arcadian mountain Cyllené, sisters of
the Hyades. The eldest and most beautiful, Maia, became the mother of Hermes by Zeus; Electra
and Taÿgeté, of Dardanus and Lacedaemon by the same; Alcyoné,
of Hyrieus by Poseidon; Celaeno, of Lycus and Nycteus by the same; Steropé or
Asteropé, of Oenomaüs by Ares; Meropé (i. e. “the
mortal”), of Glaucus by Sisyphus. Out of grief, either for the fate of Atlas or for
the death of their sisters, they killed themselves and were placed among the constellations.
According to another legend, they were pursued for five years by the giant hunter
Orion (q.v.), until Zeus turned the distressed nymphs and
their pursuer into neighbouring stars. As the constellation of the seven stars, they made
known by their rising (in the middle of May) the approach of harvest, and by their setting (at
the end of October) the time for the new sowing. Their rising and setting
were also looked upon as the sign of the opening and closing of the sailing season. One of the
seven stars is invisible; this was explained to be Meropé, who hid herself out of
shame at her marriage with a mortal. The constellation of the Pleiades seems also to have been
compared to a flight of doves (
πελειάδες). Hence the Pleiades
were supposed to be meant in the story told by Homer of the ambrosia brought to Zeus by the
doves, one of which is always lost at the Planctae Rocks, but is regularly replaced by a new
one (
Od. xii. 62). Among the Romans, the constellation was called Vergiliae,
the stars of spring. As being the daughters of Atlas, the name Atlantides is often used of
them. See also
Hyades.
