Home > Myths and Legends of the World > Pleiades

In Greek mythology, the Pleiades were seven sisters who were the daughters of the Titanone of a family of giants who ruled the earth until overthrown by the Greek gods of Olympus Atlas and the nymphminor goddess of nature, usually represented as young and beautiful Pleione. Their names were Maia, Electra, Taygete, Celaeno, Alcyone, Sterope, and Merope. The Pleiades are best known as a constellation in the sky consisting of seven stars.

According to one legend, Zeusin Greek mythology, king of the gods and husband of Hera (Roman god Jupiter) turned the Pleiades into a constellation after they had killed themselves out of sorrow over the death of their sisters, the Hyades. A better-known version of the story says that the giant hunter Orion fell in...