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Amun Anubis Aten Atum Babi Bastet Bes Geb Hapi hathor heqet Horus Isis Khepri Khnum Khonsu Maat Nephthys Nut Osiris Ptah Ra Seshat Seth Shu Sobek Thoth
Alfheim Baldur Freya Freyr Frigg Heimdallr Helheim Idun Jotunheim Loki Nerthus Njord Odin Thor Tyr
Aengus Arawn Badb Brigid Cailleach Ceridwen Cernunnos Cu Chulainn Dagda Danu Gwydion Herne the Hunter Lugh Medb Morrigan Neit Nuada Taliesin Taranis
Chalchiuhtlicue Coatlicue Huitzilopochtli Mictlantecuhtli Mixcoatl Ometeotl Quetzalcoatl Tezcatlipoca Tlaloc Tonatiuh Xipe Totec Xochiquetzal Xolotl
Amaterasu Ame no Uzume Benzaiten Bishamonten Daikokuten Ebisu Fujin Fukurokuju Inari Izanagi Kagutsuchi Raijin Susanoo Tsukuyomi
Caishen Cangjie Dragon King Eight Immortals Erlang Shen Fuxi Guanyin Hou Yi Huxian Jade Emperor King Yama Leizi Lu-ban Mazu Nezha Nuwa Pangu Shennong Sun Wukong Xiwangmu Yue Lao Zhong Kui
Norse Classical Celtic Arthurian
Literature Stories Names
Aphrodite Apollo Ares Artemis Athena Atlas Coeus Crius Cronus Demeter Dionysus Gaia Hades Hephaestus Hera Hermes Hestia Hyperion Iapetus Mnemosyne Oceanus Phobos Phoebe Poseidon Prometheus Rhea Tethys Themis Uranus Zeus
Bacchus Ceres Diana Juno Jupiter Mars Mercury Minerva Neptune Pluto Venus Vesta Vulcan
Amun Anubis Aten Atum Babi Bastet Bes Geb Hapi hathor heqet Horus Isis Khepri Khnum Khonsu Maat Nephthys Nut Osiris Ptah Ra Seshat Seth Shu Sobek Thoth
Alfheim Baldur Freya Freyr Frigg Heimdallr Helheim Idun Jotunheim Loki Nerthus Njord Odin Thor Tyr
Aengus Arawn Badb Brigid Cailleach Ceridwen Cernunnos Cu Chulainn Dagda Danu Gwydion Herne the Hunter Lugh Medb Morrigan Neit Nuada Taliesin Taranis
Chalchiuhtlicue Coatlicue Huitzilopochtli Mictlantecuhtli Mixcoatl Ometeotl Quetzalcoatl Tezcatlipoca Tlaloc Tonatiuh Xipe Totec Xochiquetzal Xolotl
Amaterasu Ame no Uzume Benzaiten Bishamonten Daikokuten Ebisu Fujin Fukurokuju Inari Izanagi Kagutsuchi Raijin Susanoo Tsukuyomi
Caishen Cangjie Dragon King Eight Immortals Erlang Shen Fuxi Guanyin Hou Yi Huxian Jade Emperor King Yama Leizi Lu-ban Mazu Nezha Nuwa Pangu Shennong Sun Wukong Xiwangmu Yue Lao Zhong Kui
Norse Classical Celtic Arthurian
Literature Stories Names
  1. Classical Mythology
    Pantheon Heroic Age Royal Houses Geographia Facts & Figures Genealogy Bibliography About Classical Myths
  2. Pantheon
    Creation Primeval Deities Titans Olympians Mother Goddesses House of Hades Thracian Deities Anatolian Deities Nymphs Minor Greek Deities Etruscan Deities Roman Deities The Wrath of Heaven Mysteries
  3. Nymphs
    Nereids Oceanids Pleiades Companions of the Goddess Other Nymphs
  4. Pleiades
    Orion and the Pleiades Electra Taÿgete Maia Merope Alcyone, Celaeno and Asterope
  5. Orion and the Pleiades

Orion and the Pleiades

The most famous story about the Pleiades was when Orion, the giant hunter, pursued them.

Hyginus said that the Pleiades were travelling with their mother Pleïone through Boeotia when they encountered Orion. Lusting after the seven sisters, Orion tried to capture and ravish them. They fled from Orion, running and hiding for seven years.

They were almost captured when Zeus, taking pity on them, transported them to the sky as the stars – the Pleiades. However, they did not escape from pursuit for long. Orion was also immortalised and placed up in the sky as a constellation when he died. The constellation Orion can be seen still chasing the Pleiades across the night sky.

The Pleiades is actually an open cluster of stars in the region of the constellation of Taurus. It was said that only six of the seven stars could be seen with the naked eye, unless you are very sharp-sighted. They said that the star that is invisible was Merope, because she was the only one to have a mortal as her lover. Her husband was Sisyphus, the king of Corinth, the shrewdest and most cunning mortal. The faintness of the star Merope is because she was embarrassed by her marriage to a mortal. However, Hyginus also suggested that this star was possibly Electra, who mourned when her son Dardanus died, hiding her face.

See Facts and Figures on Astronomy for more details about the star cluster.

Below are articles on individual Pleiads.

Related Information

Name

Pleiades, Πλειάδες – "Daughters of Pleïone".

Sources

Astronomy was possibly written by Hesiod.

The Iliad and the Odyssey were written by Homer.

Fabulae and the Poetica Astronomica were written by Hyginus.

Library was written by Apollodorus.

Related Articles

Atlas, Pleïone, Orion, Sisyphus.

Facts and Figures: Astronomy, see the constellation of the Taurus.

Genealogy: The Pleiades.

Jimmy Joe. "Orion and the Pleiades." https://timelessmyths.com/classical/pantheon/nymphs/pleiades/orion-and-the-pleiades. Accessed May 9, 2025.
Jimmy Joe Timeless Myths

By Jimmy Joe

Pleiades:

  • • Orion and the Pleiades
  • • Electra
  • • Taÿgete
  • • Maia
  • • Merope
  • • Alcyone, Celaeno and Asterope
The Pleiades (The Atlantids)

The Pleiades (The Atlantids)

July 28th, 1999 • Jimmy Joe
Pleiades

Pleiades

The Pleiades (Πλειάδες) were the seven daughters of Atlas and the Oceanid Pleïone (Pleione). However, Hyginus says in the Fabulae that Atlas and Pleïone originally had twelve daughters and a son named Hyas , and five of their daughters died grievi...

August 31st, 2002 • Jimmy Joe
Orion

Orion

Orion was a great hunter. Orion was the son of Poseidon and Euryale, the daughter of King Minos of Crete. Orion was a giant who could wade through the sea, with his head sticking out of the water. Another version said that Hyreius, the king of Thr...

June 1st, 2000 • Jimmy Joe
Pleïone

Pleïone

Pleïone (Πληιόνη) was the daughter of Oceanus and Tethys . She was married to Atlas , and became the mother of seven daughters who were known as the Pleiades . Apart from being the mother to the Pleiades, not much is known about Pleiades. Her daug...

August 31st, 2002 • Jimmy Joe
Hyades

Hyades

The Hyades were sisters of Hyas and the Pleiades . According to Hyginus in his work Fabulae , Atlas and Pleïone originally had 12 daughters and a son named Hyas (though in Poetica Astronomica , Hyginus contradicted himself, saying that there were ...

August 31st, 2002 • Jimmy Joe
Merope

Merope

One of the Pleiades; a daughter of Atlas and Pleïone . Of all the Pleiades, only Merope had a mortal husband or lover: Sisyphus , king of Corinth. Merope was the mother of Glaucus , Ornytion, Thersander and Almus. On her husband's instructions, Me...

August 31st, 2002 • Jimmy Joe
Alcyone, Celaeno and Asterope

Alcyone, Celaeno and Asterope

The other Pleiades' seduction by Poseidon and Ares was less interesting. Alcyone Poseidon seduced Alcyone (Ἀλκυόνη) who became the mother of Hyreis, Hyperenor and Aethusa. Celaeno Celaeno (Κελαινώ) had Poseidon as her lover as well, and became the...

August 31st, 2002 • Jimmy Joe
Electra

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 childho...

August 31st, 2002 • Jimmy Joe
Maera

Maera

Maera was the faithful hound of Icarius, an Athenian follower of the wine god Dionysus . Icarius was the father of the maiden Erigone. Dionysus had taught Icarius how to make wine. One day, Icarius was travelling on the road in a wagon when he met...

June 1st, 2000 • Jimmy Joe
Taÿgete

Taÿgete

One of the Pleiades; a daughter of Atlas and Pleïone . Taÿgete sought protection from the goddess Artemis . Artemis tried to hide Taÿgete by turning her into a doe with golden horns, but Zeus wasn't fooled by the disguise. Zeus ravished her while ...

August 31st, 2002 • Jimmy Joe

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