Electra (Pleiad)

Electra
Member of the Pleiades
The Pleiades by Elihu Vedder
AbodeMt. Cyllene on Arcadia or later
Mt. Saon on Samothrace
Genealogy
ParentsAtlas and Pleione or Aethra
Siblings
(b) Hyades
(c) Hyas
Consort(i) Zeus
(ii) Corythus
Children(i) & (ii) Dardanus, Iasion (or Iasus or Eetion), Harmonia and
(i) Emathion

In Greek mythology, Electra (/ɪˈlɛktrə/; Greek: Ἠλέκτρα 'amber'[1]) was one of the Pleiades, the seven daughters of Atlas and Pleione. She lived on the island of Samothrace. She had two sons, Dardanus and Iasion (or Eetion), by Zeus.[2]

Electra was connected with the legend of the Palladium, the sacred statue, which became the talismanic protector of Troy. Electra, along with the rest of the Pleiades, were transformed into stars by Zeus. By some accounts she was the one star among seven of the constellation not easily seen because, since she could not bear to look upon the destruction of Troy, she hid her eyes, or turned away; or in her grief, she abandoned her sisters and became a comet.[3]

  1. ^ A Greek-English Lexicon s.v. ἤλεκτρον.
  2. ^ Pseudo-Scymnos, Circuit de la terre 646 ff.
  3. ^ Hard 2004, pp. 297–298, 517–519, p. 521; Gantz, pp. 212–215, 558; Fowler 2013, pp. 415–417, p. 522; Grimal, s.v. Electra 2; Tripp, s.v. Electra (3); Smith, s.v. Electra 2; Oxford Classical Dictionary s.v. Electra (2); Parada, s.v. Electra 3.