Hyades (mythology)

Greek deities series
Primordial deities Titans and Olympians Aquatic deities Chthonic deities Mycenaean deities Personified concepts Other deities
Nymphs
Alseid Auloniad Aurai Crinaeae Dryads Eleionomae Hamadryads Hesperides Hyades Lampads Leuce Limnades Meliae Melinoe Minthe Naiads Napaeae Nephele Nereids Oceanids Oreads Pegaeae Pegasides Pleiades Potamides Thriae
v t e

In Greek mythology, the Hyades (/ˈhaɪ.ədiːz/; Ancient Greek: Ὑάδες, popularly "rain-makers"^[1] or "the rainy ones" from ὕω hyo "I fall as rain", but probably from ὗς hys "swine"^[2]) are a sisterhood of nymphs that bring rain.^[3]

Contents

• 
  1 Mythology
  


• 
  2 Notes
  


• 
  3 References
  


• 
  4 External links
  

Mythology

The Hyades were daughters of Atlas (by either Pleione or Aethra, one of the Oceanides) and sisters of Hyas in most tellings, although one version gives their parents as Hyas and Boeotia.^[4][5][6] The Hyades are sisters to the Pleiades and the Hesperides.

The main myth concerning them is envisioned to account for their collective name and to provide an etiology for their weepy raininess: Hyas was killed in a hunting accident and the Hyades wept from their grief.^[4][7] They were changed into a cluster of stars, the Hyades, set in the head of Taurus.^[8]

Their number varies from three in the earliest sources to fifteen in the late ones. The names are also variable, according to the mythographer, and include:

Comparative table of Hyade's names, number and family

Relation	Name	Sources
		Hes.[9]	Thales	Mus.	Eurip.	Dio.	Ov.	Hyg.[6]	Theon[9]	Serv.[10]	Hesych	Eust.[11]	Unknown
Parentage	Atlas and Aethra			√			√	√
	Atlas and Pleione							√
	Hyas and Boeotia							√
	Cadmilus								√
	Erechtheus									√
	Hyas and Aethra												√
Number		5	2	1	3	3		5	3	5	1	3	2
Names	Phaisyle or Aesyle	√			not stated			√	not stated			√
	Coronis ('crow')	√				√		√
	Cleeia ('famous') or Cleis	√				√
	Phaeo ('dim')	√
	Eudora ('generous')	√						√				√
	Philia					√
	Ambrosia							√				√
	Polyxo							√
	Pytho									√
	Synecho									√
	Baccho									√
	Cardie									√
	Niseis									√
	Dione										√
	Thyone												√
	Prodice												√

Additionally, Thyone and Prodice were supposed to be daughters of Hyas by Aethra, and have been added to the group of stars.^{[citation needed]}

The Greeks believed that the heliacal rising and setting of the Hyades star cluster were always attended with rain, hence the association of the Hyades (sisters of Hyas) and the Hyades (daughters of ocean) with the constellation of the Hyades (rainy ones).^[6][12][13]

The Hyades are also thought to have been the tutors of Dionysus, in some tellings of the latter's infancy,^[4] and as such are equated with the Nysiads, the nymphs who are also believed to have cared for Dionysus,^[14] as well as with other reputed nurses of the god — the Lamides,^[15] the Dodonides^[6] and the nymphs of Naxos.^[16] Some sources relate that they were subject to aging, but Dionysus, to express his gratitude for having raised him, asked Medea to restore their youth.^[17][18][19]

In Tennyson's poem, Ulysses recalls his travels of old:

"I cannot rest from travel: I will drink -
Life to the lees: All times I have enjoy'd -
Greatly, have suffer'd greatly, both with those -
That loved me, and alone, on shore, and when -
Thro' scudding drifts the rainy Hyades -
Vext the dim sea ..."

Notes

1. 
   ^ Robert Graves. The Greek Myths (1960)
   


2. 
   ^ Online Etymology Dictionary, s.v. "Hyades". Accessed 11 July 2013.
   


3. 
   ^ "HYADES - Star Nymphs of Greek Mythology". www.theoi.com. Retrieved 2017-02-16..mw-parser-output cite.citation{font-style:inherit}.mw-parser-output .citation q{quotes:"""""""'""'"}.mw-parser-output .citation .cs1-lock-free a{background:url("//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/6/65/Lock-green.svg/9px-Lock-green.svg.png")no-repeat;background-position:right .1em center}.mw-parser-output .citation .cs1-lock-limited a,.mw-parser-output .citation .cs1-lock-registration a{background:url("//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/d/d6/Lock-gray-alt-2.svg/9px-Lock-gray-alt-2.svg.png")no-repeat;background-position:right .1em center}.mw-parser-output .citation .cs1-lock-subscription a{background:url("//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/a/aa/Lock-red-alt-2.svg/9px-Lock-red-alt-2.svg.png")no-repeat;background-position:right .1em center}.mw-parser-output .cs1-subscription,.mw-parser-output .cs1-registration{color:#555}.mw-parser-output .cs1-subscription span,.mw-parser-output .cs1-registration span{border-bottom:1px dotted;cursor:help}.mw-parser-output .cs1-ws-icon a{background:url("//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/4/4c/Wikisource-logo.svg/12px-Wikisource-logo.svg.png")no-repeat;background-position:right .1em center}.mw-parser-output code.cs1-code{color:inherit;background:inherit;border:inherit;padding:inherit}.mw-parser-output .cs1-hidden-error{display:none;font-size:100%}.mw-parser-output .cs1-visible-error{font-size:100%}.mw-parser-output .cs1-maint{display:none;color:#33aa33;margin-left:0.3em}.mw-parser-output .cs1-subscription,.mw-parser-output .cs1-registration,.mw-parser-output .cs1-format{font-size:95%}.mw-parser-output .cs1-kern-left,.mw-parser-output .cs1-kern-wl-left{padding-left:0.2em}.mw-parser-output .cs1-kern-right,.mw-parser-output .cs1-kern-wl-right{padding-right:0.2em}
   


4. 
   ^ ^abc Hyginus, Fabulae, 192
   


5. 
   ^ Ovid, Fasti, 5. 169 ff
   


6. 
   ^ ^abcd Hyginus, Poetical Astronomy 2. 21
   


7. 
   ^ Hyginus, Fabulae 248
   


8. 
   ^ "Taurus' face gleams with seven rays of fire, which Greek sailors call Hyades from their rain-word." (Ovid, Fasti, 5. 164). In Ancient Greek, "to rain" is hyein.
   


9. 
   ^ ^ab Hesiod, Astronomy Fragment 2 (in Theon on Aratus, Phaenomena, 254)
   


10. 
    ^ Servius on Virgil's Georgics, 1. 138
    


11. 
    ^ Eustathius on Homer's Iliad 1156
    


12. 
    ^ Hesiod, Works and Days 609 ff
    


13. 
    ^ Cicero, De Natura Deorum 2. 43. 111; he also points out that the Romans wrongly refer to the Hyades as Suculae (Piglets), as though the name Hyades was derived from hys "sow", while it actually derives from hyein "to rain"
    


14. 
    ^ Pseudo-Apollodorus, Bibliotheca 3. 4. 3
    


15. 
    ^ Nonnus, Dionysiaca, 9. 28 ff; in 14. 143, the identification is explicit
    


16. 
    ^ Diodorus Siculus, Library of History 5.52.1; the Naxian nymphs were named Philia, Coronis and Cleide
    


17. 
    ^ Ovid, Metamorphoses 7. 294
    


18. 
    ^ Hyginus, Fabulae 182
    


19. 
    ^ Suidas s. v. απεψησάμην
    

References

• 
  Smith, William; Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology, London (1873). "Hyades"
  

External links

Wikisource has the text of the 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica article Hyades.

• Theoi Project – Nymphai Hyades


• Myth Index - Hyades

This page is only for reference, If you need detailed information, please check here