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  • Essay / The Hyades Constellation - 1731

    Perhaps the simplest of the four original Greek constellations is the Hyades. One of the first mentions of the Hyades is found in Homer's Works and Days, as a seasonal signal to farmers. Farmers were told: “…when the…Hyades…begin to lie down…don’t forget to plow…” (Hesiod 612-613). The myth is that the Hyades are the daughters of the Titan Atlas and the Oceanid Aethra and the sisters of the Pleiades (Britannica school). After nursing the god Dionysus as babies, they were rewarded with immortality in the stars (Britannica School). Meaning “the rainy ones”, the Hyades rose in October and settled in April, which is also the rainy season in Greece (Britannica school). Another version of the myth says that they were so distraught over the loss of their brother, Hyas, that Zeus placed them in the stars out of compassion (Britannica school). Regardless, the Hyades are a simple but popular myth that has been around for centuries. Visible in a similar arrangement in the sky to that of the Hyades, the Pleiades developed a mythos fundamentally similar to that of the Hyades, but expanded in unique ways. to incorporate several other constellations into the overall myth. The Pleiades, like the Hyades, were mentioned by both Homer and Hesiod. “When the Pleiades, daughters of Atlas, rise,” Hesiod tells the farmers to “begin [their] harvests and [their] plowing when they go to put themselves in the ground” (Hesiod 383-384). This constellation was held in great honor because “the rising of their sign signals summer, while its setting signals winter” (Condos 1865). According to the myth, “Pleione was traveling through Boeotia with her daughters when Orion was excited and wanted to possess her, but she fled. Orion pursued her for seven years...... middle of paper...... l. Np, and Web. April 14, 2014. Condos, Theony, Eratosthenes and Hyginus. Star Myths of the Greeks and Romans: A Sourcebook. Grand Rapids, MI: Phanes, 1997. Print.Homer. The Odyssey. Trans. Robert Fitzgerald. Garden City, NY: Anchor/Doubleday, 1961. Print.Krupp, E.C. “About the Book.” Beyond the Blue Horizon: Myths and Legends of the Sun, Moon, Stars and Planets. New York, New York: HarperCollins, 1991. 1-11. Print.Krupp, Edwin C. "Night gallery: the function, origin and evolution of the constellations." » Aracheoastronomy The Journal of Astronomy In Culture XV (2000): 43-63. Print.Krupp, Edwin C. Telephone interview. April 2, 2014. Thompson, Gary D. “Essays Relating to the History of.” Greek constellations and constellation myths. Np, September 16, 2013. Web. April 14, 2014. “Works and Days”. Hesiod, translated by Evelyn-White. Np, and Web. April 16. 2014.