Rhapsody to the Pleiades

Nymphs art thee
To train of Artemis
To fly afore
Orion and hound, Sirius

Sweet Daughters of Atlas
Who enamoured Orion
He beleaguered thee, Dryads
He, Neptunes scion

Entreaty, asked Pleiades
From Zeus, who hath bade
To transmogrify The Ladies
As Pigeons, to evade

In sidereal form
Took they fore'er
Sisters Seven, reborn
In benighted sky fair

Only six are clear
To the earthbound eye
For Electra hides, in tears
For Her son, Dardanus, She cries

Dardanus hath founded
Illium city of Troy
Lay to ruin, and confounded
She laments Her sweet boy...

A poem by Steve Trimmer, with special thanks

Pleiades (Seven Sisters) ~by Greek Mythology

The Pleiades, companions of Artemis, were the seven daughters of the titan Atlas and the sea-nymph Pleione born on Mount Cyllene. The Pleiades were nymphs in the train of Artemis.

THE PLEIADES' leader was Maia, the mother of by Zeus. Five of the others were also loved by gods, becoming ancestresses of various royal families including those of Troy and Sparta.

After Atlas was forced to carry the heavens on his shoulders, Orion began to pursue all of the Pleiades, and Zeus transformed them first into doves, and then into stars to comfort their father. The constellation of Orion is said to still pursue them across the night sky.

Their name "The Pleiades" was derived from the Greek word pleion, meaning "plenty." Names of Seven Sisters are: Maia, Electra, Taygete, Alcyone, Celaeno, Sterope, Merope.

Several of the most prominent male Olympian gods (including Zeus, Poseidon, and Ares) engaged in affairs with the seven heavenly sisters. These relationships resulted in the birth of thier children, of which all of them play significant roles in Greek Mythology.

1. Maia, eldest of the seven Pleiades, was mother of by Zeus.
2. Electra was mother of Dardanus and Iasion by Zeus.
3. Taygete was mother of Lacedaemon, also by Zeus.
4. Alcyone was mother of Hyrieus by Poseidon.
5. Celaeno was mother of Lycus and Eurypylus by Poseidon.
6. Sterope (also Asterope) was mother of Oenomaus by Ares.
7. Merope, youngest of the seven Pleiades, was wooed by Orion. In other mythic contexts she married Sisyphus and, becoming mortal, faded away. She bore to Sisyphus several sons.

Pleiades (Seven Sisters): Star Cluster

In astronomy, the Pleiades, or Seven Sisters, is an open star cluster located in the constellation of Taurus. It is among the nearest star clusters to Earth and is the cluster most obvious to the naked eye in the night sky

Framed painting

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