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According to some versions of the tale, all seven sisters killed themselves because they were so saddened by either the fate of their father, Atlas, or the loss of their siblings, the Hyades. In turn, Zeus, the ruler of the Greek gods, immortalized the sisters by placing them in the sky.
Maia is the daughter of Atlas [3] [4] and Pleione the Oceanid, and is the oldest of the seven Pleiades. [5] They were born on Mount Cyllene in Arcadia, [4] and are sometimes called mountain nymphs, oreads; Simonides of Ceos sang of "mountain Maia" (Maiados oureias) "of the lovely black eyes."
The Hesperides are also listed as the daughters of Atlas [5] and Hesperis, [6] or of Phorcys and Ceto, [7] or of Zeus and Themis. [8] In a Roman literary source, the nymphs are simply said to be the daughters of Hesperus, embodiment of the "west". [9] The Garden of the Hesperides by Frederick, Lord Leighton, 1892.
Pleione was mother to seven daughters, known as the Pleiades. Their names were: Maia, Electra, Taygete, Alcyone, Celaeno, Sterope and Merope. [3] She is often said to be the mother of Calypso with Atlas as well. [4] Among her grandchildren were the god Hermes and the demigod Iasion.
Atlas and the Hesperides by John Singer Sargent (1925).. The etymology of the name Atlas is uncertain. Virgil took pleasure in translating etymologies of Greek names by combining them with adjectives that explained them: for Atlas his adjective is durus, "hard, enduring", [9] which suggested to George Doig that Virgil was aware of the Greek τλῆναι "to endure"; Doig offers the further ...
Hesiod calls the stars the Atlageneis, possibly meaning "born from Atlas", although linguistic considerations suggests that the epithet refers to some geographic location. [18] The lyric poet Simonides of Ceos (c. 556–468 BC), is the first (datable) source to connect the name of the star-cluster with the seven daughters of Atlas. [19]
The Hyades were daughters of Atlas (by either Pleione or Aethra, one of the Oceanids) 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 brightest stars of the cluster are named the Seven Sisters in early Greek mythology: Sterope, Merope, Electra, Maia, Taygeta, Celaeno, and Alcyone. Later, they were assigned parents, Pleione and Atlas. [18] As daughters of Atlas, the Hyades were sisters of the Pleiades. The following table gives details of the brightest stars in the cluster: