Electra
One of the Pleiades; a daughter of Atlas and Pleïone.
Zeus lusted after Electra and spirited her to Olympus. Electra tried to prevent Zeus from raping her by running away and hiding behind the Palladium, a wooden image of Pallas, Athena's childhood friend. Zeus, in anger, flung the Palladium from heaven, and then he raped Electra on the island of Samothrace.
Electra became the mother of Dardanus, founder of the Trojan dynasty, and Iasion. According to most writers, Iasion was the lover of the goddess Demeter, who taught him farming and agriculture, and they had a son named Plutus. Apollodorus, on the other hand, said that Iasion tried to rape Demeter, so he was struck down by a thunderbolt. Grieving for his brother, Dardanus left Samothrace and migrated to the east, before settling around Mount Ida.
Either her son Dardanus or Ilus (her great, great grandson) would later find the Palladium. The Palladium was an object that protected Troy from being captured. Troy's fall was imminent in the Trojan War when Odysseus and Diomedes stole the Palladium. (Heracles had actually captured Troy a generation earlier, without the need to steal the Palladium.)
It was said that when the Pleiades were placed among the stars, her star was the dimmest because she hid her face, mourning for her son Dardanus, when he died.
Related Information
Name
Electra, Elektra, Ἠλέκτρη.
Sources
Library was written by Apollodorus.
Poetica Astronomica was written by Hyginus.
Related Articles
Atlas, Pleïone, Dardanus, Ilus.
House of Troy.
Facts and Figures: Astronomy, see the constellation of the Pleiades.
Genealogy: House of Troy.
By Jimmy Joe