In Greek mythology, the Hyades (in Greek Ὑας, Ὑαδες) are the five “rain-making nymphs,” or at least that seems to be the meaning of their name. In the oldest source where they appear (Hesiod’s Astronomy), they are five in number and named Phaesile, Coronis, Cleea, Phao, and Eudora. The Hyades are said to be daughters of Atlas and Pleione, or the ocean nymph Etra, but a lesser version states that they were the daughters of Hyas and Boeotia.
Who Are Hyades?
Different affiliations are also common, imagining them as daughters of Oceanus, Melisseus, Cadmilus, or Erectheus. Nonetheless, their sisters were the Pleiades, and their brother was Hyas. Pherecydes mentions them as six and calls them the Dodonides nymphs, chosen by Zeus to raise the still-infant Dionysus.
Due to these qualities, the Hyades are associated with the Nisae nymphs. When Lycurgus dared to threaten Dionysus and his retinue, the Hyades, except for Ambrosia, fled with the infant in their arms to where Thetis was or towards Thebes, where they entrusted him to a daughter of Cadmus, Ino. In gratitude for the selfless work of the nymphs, Zeus placed them among the stars.
Some say this happened when the Hyades were already old, but with the help of Medea, they returned to youth at Dionysus’s explicit request. As nymphs of Dodona or Dodonides, they were naturally associated with the nurses of the infant Zeus. In episodes where the Hyades are daughters of Atlas, they are often twelve or fifteen sisters; the first five were catasterized in the skies, while other sisters were thereafter called the Pleiades as a reward for their brotherly love, such as when they comforted their brother Hyas inconsolably.
Their collective name, the Hyades, seems to derive from their paternal name, Hyas or Hiente, a mystical name of Dionysus. According to other authors, this name is due to their position in the heavens, where they form a figure resembling the letter “u.” The Romans, deriving the word from “hus,” meaning “a pig,” translated their names as the Suculae. However, Latin poets generally derive their name from the verb “to rain” because the Hyades constellation, when rising on the horizon with the sun, is an unmistakable sign of rain and storms.
Other Version
When the Hyades mourned the death of their brother, Hyas, who died while hunting from the claws of a lion or from the bite of a snake, Zeus took them to the sky and turned them into stars in the form of the eponymous asterism (or open star cluster) in the constellation Taurus; since then, the appearance of the Hyades cluster marks the beginning of the rainy season in Greece.
According to the Cypriot version, the Hero was transformed into a centaur with bull’s horns and eyes, horse legs, and a mane. According to one of the myths, it was the deaths of the Hyades and Hyas that caused the suicide of the Pleiades and their subsequent transformation into the neighboring asterism of the Pleiades. The constellation Hyades is mentioned by Hesiod and Homer:
“There he presented the earth, presented the sky, and the sea,
The sun, in its unswerving course, the full silver moon,
All the beautiful stars that adorn the sky:
In their assembly, the Pleiades, the Hyades, and the might of Orion are visible.”
— Homer, “Iliad,” translated by Gnedich, Song XVIII, verses 483-489. St. Petersburg, 1884, p. 374.
Their Definition
The Hyades in ancient Greek mythology are rain nymphs, the daughters of the Titan Atlas and the Oceanid Pleione (or Ephra). Sisters of Hyas, Pleiads, and Calypso. According to the philologist Alexander, they are the daughters of Hyas and Boeotia, or the daughters of the river god Lamus.
Various sources mention different numbers of Hyades, ranging from two to twelve. In the poem “Astronomy” by Pseudo-Hesiod, their names are listed: Phesila, Cleaea, Coronida, Theo, and Eudora. The Hyades are five daughters who died mourning their brother. At the request of Dionysus, Medea rejuvenated them, and then they became stars. Myrtilus of Methymna identified them with the five daughters of Cadmus.
The Hyades are the nymphs of Nysa who raised Dionysus. According to Pherecydes and Hippias of Elea, there are seven of them. According to Pherecydes, they accompanied Dionysus as far as Thebes; their names were Ambrosia, Eudora, Pedila, Coronida, Polixo, Phyto, and Fiona, and they were also called the Dodona nymphs. According to Asclepiades, Lycurgus put them to flight, and they took refuge with Thetis, except for Ambrosia.
List of Hyades
- Ambrosia: Hyades, nurse of Dionysus, elevated to the sky. Bacchant, transformed into a plant and confused Lycurgus. Lycurgus released Hera, Ambrosia ascended to Olympus.
- Arsinoy: Hyades, nurse of Dionysus.
- Bromia: Dodonian nymph, Hyades, nurse of Dionysus (mentioned in two lists of Hyades). Bacchant, tormented Lycurgus.
- Diona: Daughter of Atlas, one of the Hyades. Mother of Niobe and Pelops by Tantalus.
- Eudora: Hyades, elevated to the sky.
- Kisseida: Dodonian nymph, Hyades, nurse of Dionysus (mentioned in two lists of Hyades). One of the Bacchants who tormented Lycurgus.
- Cleia: Hyades.
- Coronida: Hyades. Mentioned in another list of Hyades, elevated to the sky.
- Nysa: Dodonian nymph, Hyades, nurse of Dionysus. There is a myth about her death by Dionysus. Bacchant, Dionysus heals her wound.
- Pedila: One of the Hyades, according to Pherecydes.
- Polygymno: Dodonian nymph, Hyades, nurse of Dionysus.
- Polikso: Hyades, elevated to the sky. One of the Bacchants who tormented Lycurgus.
- Feo (Theo): Hyades.
- Phesila (Phaisila): Hyades, elevated to the sky.
- Fiona: Nurse of Dionysus. One of the Hyades. Nymph of the Dodonian grove.
- Phito: According to Pherecydes, one of the Hyades.
- Erato: Dodonian nymph, Hyades, nurse of Dionysus.
- Erifya: Dodonian nymph, Hyades, nurse of Dionysus.
In Astronomy
- An asteroid (404) Arsinoe is named after Arsinoy, discovered in 1895.
- An asteroid (193) Ambrosia is named after Ambrosia, discovered in 1879.
- An asteroid (158) Coronis is named after Coronida, discovered in 1876 by Russian astronomer Victor Karlovich Knorre.
- An asteroid (308) Polyxo is named after Polikso, discovered in 1891.
- An asteroid (322) Theo is named after Feo, discovered in 1891.
- An asteroid (217) Eudora is named after Eudora, discovered in 1880.
Also:
- Lam: Father of Hyades nymphs.
- Horned Furies: Descendants of Hyades, Hera endowed them with such a form.