Hyades (mythology)

In Greek mythology, the Hyades (, popularly "rain-makers" or "the rainy ones"; from , but probably from ; ( or , ; ) are a sisterhood of nymphs that bring rain.

Family

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. The Hyades are sisters to the Pleiades and the Hesperides.

Names

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:

{| class="wikitable"

|+<big>Comparative table of Hyades' names, number and family</big>

! rowspan="2" |Relation

! rowspan="2" |Name

! colspan="10" |Sources

|Hes.

|Thales

|Eurip.

|Dio.

|Hyg.

|Hesych

|Eust.

|Unknown

| rowspan="6" |Parentage

|Atlas and Aethra

|✓

|Atlas and Pleione

|✓

|Hyas and Boeotia

|✓

|Cadmilus

|✓

|Erechtheus

|✓

|Hyas and Aethra

|✓

| colspan="2" |Number

| rowspan="16" |Names

|Phaisyle ('filtered light') or Aesyle

|✓

| rowspan="16" |not stated

|✓

| rowspan="16" |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.

Mythology

The main myth concerning the Hyades accounts for their collective name and provides an etiology for their weepy raininess: after the death of Hyas in a hunting accident his sisters (or daughters) the Hyades wept from their grief. Jupiter/Zeus changed them into a cluster of stars, the Hyades, set in the head of Taurus.

The Greeks believed that the heliacal rising and setting of the Hyades star cluster always accompanied rain, hence the association of the Hyades (sisters of Hyas) and the Hyades (daughters of ocean) with the constellation of the Hyades (rainy ones).

The Hyades also functioned as the tutors of Dionysus in some tellings of the latter's infancy, as well as with other reputed nurses of the god—the Lamides, the Dodonides Some sources relate that they were subject to aging, but Dionysus, to express his gratitude for their having raised him, asked Medea to restore their youth.

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 ..."

In astronomy

A well-studied star cluster in Taurus and the open cluster nearest Earth is named after the Hyades of Greek mythology.

Notes

References

Apollodorus, The Library with an English Translation by Sir James George Frazer, F.B.A., F.R.S. in 2 Volumes, Cambridge, MA, Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann Ltd. 1921. ISBN 0-674-99135-4. Online version at the Perseus Digital Library. Greek text available from the same website.
Diodorus Siculus, The Library of History translated by Charles Henry Oldfather. Twelve volumes. Loeb Classical Library. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press; London: William Heinemann, Ltd. 1989. Vol. 3. Books 4.59–8. Online version at Bill Thayer's Web Site
Diodorus Siculus, Bibliotheca Historica. Vol 1-2. Immanel Bekker. Ludwig Dindorf. Friedrich Vogel. in aedibus B. G. Teubneri. Leipzig. 1888–1890. Greek text available at the Perseus Digital Library.
Gaius Julius Hyginus, Astronomica from The Myths of Hyginus translated and edited by Mary Grant. University of Kansas Publications in Humanistic Studies. Online version at the Topos Text Project.
Gaius Julius Hyginus, Fabulae from The Myths of Hyginus translated and edited by Mary Grant. University of Kansas Publications in Humanistic Studies. Online version at the Topos Text Project.
Hesiod, Works and Days from The Homeric Hymns and Homerica with an English Translation by Hugh G. Evelyn-White, Cambridge, MA., Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann Ltd. 1914. Online version at the Perseus Digital Library. Greek text available from the same website.
Marcus Tullius Cicero, Nature of the Gods from the Treatises of M.T. Cicero translated by Charles Duke Yonge (1812–1891), Bohn edition of 1878. Online version at the Topos Text Project.
Marcus Tullius Cicero, De Natura Deorum. O. Plasberg. Leipzig. Teubner. 1917. Latin text available at the Perseus Digital Library.
Publius Ovidius Naso, Fasti translated by James G. Frazer. Online version at the Topos Text Project.
Publius Ovidius Naso, Fasti. Sir James George Frazer. London; Cambridge, MA. William Heinemann Ltd.; Harvard University Press. 1933. Latin text available at the Perseus Digital Library.
Publius Ovidius Naso, Metamorphoses translated by Brookes More (1859–1942). Boston, Cornhill Publishing Co. 1922. Online version at the Perseus Digital Library.
Publius Ovidius Naso, Metamorphoses. Hugo Magnus. Gotha (Germany). Friedr. Andr. Perthes. 1892. Latin text available at the Perseus Digital Library.
Smith, William; Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology, London (1873). "Hyades"
Suida, Suda Encyclopedia translated by Ross Scaife, David Whitehead, William Hutton, Catharine Roth, Jennifer Benedict, Gregory Hays, Malcolm Heath Sean M. Redmond, Nicholas Fincher, Patrick Rourke, Elizabeth Vandiver, Raphael Finkel, Frederick Williams, Carl Widstrand, Robert Dyer, Joseph L. Rife, Oliver Phillips and many others. Online version at the Topos Text Project.