The Pleiades
And let me lose myself among their depths.
de Vere.
No group of stars known to astronomy has excited such universal attention as the little cluster of faint stars we know as "the Pleiades." In all ages of the world's history they have been admired and critically observed. Great temples have been reared in their honour. Mighty nations have worshipped them, and people far removed from each other have been guided in their agricultural and commercial affairs by the rising and setting of these six close-set stars.
Mrs. Martin thus charmingly alludes to them:
"The magic of their quivering misty light has always made a strong appeal to men of imagination. Minstrels and poets of the early days sang of their bewitchment and beauty, and many of the great poets from Homer and the author of Job down to Tennyson and the men of our own day have had their fancy livened by them and in one form or another have celebrated their sweetness and mystery and charm."
Many have been the metaphors inspired by this famous cluster. They have been compared to a rosette of diamonds, to a swarm of fireflies or bees, and the shining drops of dew. More prosaic minds have regarded these stars as a hen surrounded by her chickens, and some have thought that they represented the seven virgins.
"Even with people who do not know them by sight and have not felt the sweet influences of the Pleiades, there is a vague memory of some story about a lost Pleiad that stirs an emotion suggesting something romantic and sad. The Pleiades form in truth a delightful group of twinkling unfathomable stars, singularly fascinating and singularly persistent in their brilliancy." — Mrs. Martin.
On the Euphrates the Pleiades and the Hyades were known as "the Great Twins of the Ecliptic." The Babylonians and Assyrians regarded them as a family group without dreaming of the full significance of the title, for modern science has proved that this group of suns have a common proper motion, that is, they are moving through space in the same direction, and are obviously part of one great system that holds them fast in bonds immutable.
The patriarch Job is thought to refer to the Pleiades in his word "Kimah," meaning "a cluster or heap," which occurs in the Biblical passages: "[God] maketh Arcturus, Orion, and the Pleiades and the Chambers of the South," and the familiar query: "Canst thou bind the sweet influences of the Pleiades or loose the bands of Orion?"
The meaning of this inquiry has been the cause of much conjecture and many attempts have been made to interpret the sense of it. Maunder thus explains the passage: When the constellations were first designed the Pleiades rose heliacally at the beginning of April and were the sign of the return of spring. Aratos wrote of them:
The harbinger of Summer's brighter days.
The Pleiades which thus heralded the return of this genial season were poetically taken as representing the power and influence of spring. Their "sweet influences" were those that rolled away the gravestone of snow and ice which had lain upon the winter tomb of nature.
The question of Job was in effect, "What control hast thou over the powers of nature? This is God's work, what canst thou do to hinder it?" Of the sweet influence of these fair stars we read again in Milton's Paradise Lost, where the poet sings of the Pleiades in the morning skies:
,_0545,_The_Dance_of_the_Pleiades.png)
The Dance of the PleiadesPainting by Elihu Vedder
Dawn and the Pleiades before him danced,
Shedding sweet influence."
In the New Testament we find the "Seven Stars" also mentioned. In the first chapter of the Revelation, the Apostle St. John writes that "he saw seven golden candle-sticks and in the midst of the seven candlesticks one like unto the Son of Man ... and He had in his right hand Seven Stars. The Seven Stars are of the angels of the seven churches, and the seven candlesticks are the seven churches."
The Seven Stars in a simple compact cluster, says Maunder, stand for the church in its many diversities, and its essential unity. Modern almanacs designate the Pleiades "the 7*" or "seven stars."
The Pleiades were among the first mentioned stars in the astronomical literature of China, one record of them bearing the early date of 2357 b.c., when Aceyone, the lucida of the group, was near the vernal equinox. The Chinese young women worshipped these stars as the Seven Sisters of Industry.
As might be expected, this celebrated group was the object of worship in Egypt. There the Pleiades were identified with the goddess Nit, meaning the shuttle, one of the principal divinities of Lower Egypt.
The Great Pyramid, which was without doubt erected for astronomical purposes, is closely associated with the Pleiades, as Proctor has shown.
In the year 2170 b.c. the date at which the Pleiades really opened the spring season by their midnight culmination, they could be seen through the south passageway of this gigantic mausoleum. It has even been suggested that the seven chambers of the Great Pyramid commemorate these seven famous stars. Blake says: "Either the whole of the conclusions respecting the pyramids is founded on pure imagination, or we have here another remarkable proof of the influence of the Pleiades on the reckoning of the year."
The Egyptians called this star group "Athur-ai" or "Atauria," meaning the stars of Athyr (Hathor), a name also given the Seven Stars by the Chaldeans and Hebrews. From this title is derived the Latin Taurus, and the German Thier. It is possible that this title was somehow connected with the Greek letter tau, and the sacred scarabæus or tau beetle of Egypt. It has also been suggested that the "tors" and Arthur's Seat, which were names given to British hilltops, may be connected with the "high places" of the worship of the Pleiades. Arthur's Seat at Edinburgh is a notable example of such a site.
The Arabians called the Pleiades, "Atauria" signifying "the little ones."
There appear to be three distinct derivations of the word Pleiades. First, from the Greek word πλείν, meaning "to sail," the heliacal rising and setting of these stars marking the opening and closing of the season of navigation among the Greeks.
Second, from πέλειαι, meaning "a flight of doves." Hesiod, Pindar, and Simonides all use this word. The doves or pigeons were considered as flying from the mighty hunter Orion. They were also said to be the doves that carried ambrosia to the infant Zeus.
D'Arcy Thompson asserts that the Pleiad is in many languages associated with bird names, and considers that the bird on the bull's back on coins of Eretria and Dicæa represents the Pleiades. We have a reduplication of this strange position of a bird among the constellational figures in the crow perched on the coils of Hydra.
A third derivation of the title of this group is from πλεῑος, meaning "full" or in the plural "many." This derivation is considered to be the correct one by the weight of authority.
Many of the Greek temples were oriented to the Seven Stars, notably temples erected as early as 1530 and 1150 b.c., and the noted Parthenon built in 438 b.c., and in the works of the Grecian poets we find many references to the group.
Allen tells us that the Hindus pictured these stars as a flame typical of Agni, the god of fire, and regent of the asterism. The more usual representation of the group among the Hindus was a razor; possibly the arrangement of the stars in the group suggested this title. It is thought that there may be a connection between the Hindu title "Flame," and the great Feast of Lamps of the western Hindus held in the Pleiad season, October and November, a great festival of the dead which gave rise to the present Feast of Lanterns of Japan.
This closely associated star group has from time immemorial impressed mankind with a sense of mystery. A great cataclysm, possibly the Biblical Deluge, is in some way connected with the Pleiades, and some reference to such an event can be traced in many of the legends and myths surrounding these stars that have come down to us from nations far removed from each other.
Memorial services to the dead at the season of the year when the Pleiades occupied a conspicuous position in the heavens are found to have taken place, and to have been a feature in the history of almost every nation of the earth, from remote antiquity to the present day. The universality of this custom may well be considered one of the most remarkable facts that astronomical history records, and it serves to make the study of this group the most interesting chapter in all stellar history. This little group of stars, twinkling so timidly in the nights of autumn in the eastern heavens, links the races of mankind in closer relationship than any bonds save nature's. No wonder that they have inspired universal awe and admiration, that within this group of suns man has sought to find the very centre of the universe.
Among the Aztecs of South America we find the Pleiades the cynosure of all eyes, a nation trembling at their feet. At the end of every period of fifty-two years, in the month of November when the Pleiades would culminate at midnight, these rude people imagined the world would end. Human sacrifices were offered, while the entire population passed the night upon their knees awaiting their doom.
Far removed from the Aztecs we find the people of Japan in their great national festival, the Feast of Lanterns, a feast that is alive to-day, commemorating at this same season of the year some great calamity which was supposed to have overwhelmed the race of man, in the far distant past, when these seven little stars were prominent in the heavens.
In the Talmud we find a curious legend associating the Pleiades with an all-destroying flood, expressed as follows:
"When the Holy One, blessed be He, wished to bring the deluge upon the world. He took two stars out of the Pleiades and thus let the deluge loose, and when He wished to arrest it. He took two stars out of Arcturus and stopped it."
As we have seen, the ancient Hindus, the Aztecs, and the Japanese all had memorial festivals in the month of November. These generally occurred on the 17th of the month.
Among the ancient Egyptians the same day was observed, and although their calendar was subsequently changed, the occasion was not lost sight of. The date of their celebration was determined by the culmination of the Pleiades at midnight, and on this date the solemn three days' festival commenced. With them, as with the three pr^iously mentioned nations, the festival was associated with the tradition of a deluge or race-destroying calamity. Blake says in regard to this that "when we connect the fact that this festival occurred on the 17th day of Athyr, with the date on which the Mosaic account of the deluge of Noah states it to have commenced, in the second month of the Jewish year, which corresponds to November, the 17th day of the month, it must be acknowledged that this is no chance coincidence, and that the precise date here stated must have been regulated by the Pleiades, as was the Egyptian date." Surely this is an interesting reference to the history of these stars.
The Persians formerly called the month of November "Mordad," meaning "the angel of death," and that month marked the date of their festival of the dead. On the day of the midnight culmination of the Pleiades, Nov. 17th, no petition was presented in vain to their ancient kings.
In Ceylon, and in far distant Peru, a like festival took place at this season of the year. In the latter country the observation of the rising and setting of the Pleiades was the basis of their primitive calendar.
The Society Islanders commenced their year on the first day of the appearance of the Pleiades, which occurred in November. This star group also marked a festival in commemoration of the dead which took place annually about the end of October in the Tonga Islands of the Fiji group.
Blake tells us that the first of November was with the ancient Druids of Britain a night full of mystery, in which they annually celebrated the reconstruction of the world. Although Druidism is now extinct the relics of it remain to this day, for in our calendar we still find Nov. 1st marked as "All Saints' Day," and in the pre-Reformation calendar the last day of October was marked "All Hallow Eve," and the 2d of November as "All Souls'," indicating clearly a three days' festival of the dead, commencing in the evening, and originally regulated by the Pleiades.
In France, the Parisians at this festival repair to the cemeteries and lunch at the graves of their ancestors. Prescott in his History of the Conquest of Mexico, states that the great festival of the Mexican cycle was held in November at the time of the midnight culmination of the Pleiades, and the Spanish conquerors found in Mexico a tradition that the world was once destroyed when the Pleiades culminated at midnight, the identical tradition that we find in the far east, a myth so universal as to suggest a foundation of fact.
The actual observance at the present day of this festival is to be found among the Australian savages. At the midnight culmination of the Pleiades, in November, they still hold a New Year's corroboree in honour of this group of stars, which they say are "very good to the black fellows." The corroborees are connected with a worship of the dead. Still another custom associated with the Pleiades which has come down to us is the November date of our elections; the convocation of the tribal meeting at this time, because of the significant position of the Pleiades, being a very ancient custom.
Many Masonic organisations of the present day have memorial services to the dead about the middle of November, a survival of the universal recognition of the season of the year as commemorating the destruction of the world, when the Pleiades culminated at midnight.
The fall of the year was especially appropriate as a season for memorial services for the dead, as nature's life was then at a low ebb and every prospect was suggestive of death, and the preparation for the long sleep imposed by winter. Thus we see in the association of this star group with this season of the year, a link that binds the remote past with the ever-living present in a most remarkable manner, and no one cognisant of these facts can watch these faintly glimmering stars with any feelings save those of awe and reverence.
Brown tells us that in the symbolism of Masonry the Pleiades play a prominent part. The emblem of the Seven Stars alludes to this star group as emblematic of the vernal equinox, thus making the Pleiades a beautiful symbol of immortality. It was for this reason tha^ of all the "hosts of heaven" the Pleiades were selected as an emblem.
In ancient times the appearance and disappearance of the Pleiades was associated with meteorological conditions. Statius calls them "a snowy constellation." Valerius Flaccus speaks of their danger to ships, and Horace pictures the south wind lashing the deep into storm in the presence of these famous stars. The Romans generally referred to the Pleiades as " Vergiliæ" or "Virgins of Spring."
This star cluster was also of great service to the husband-man in marking the progress of the year. Hesiod thus alludes to the Pleiades:
And forty nights concealed from human eye,
But in the course of the revolving year,
When the swain sharps the scythe, again appear.
He also refers to the rising of the Pleiades as the time for the harvest, while the period at which they disappeared for some time, he termed ploughing time.
The heliacal rising of this star group, that is its rising with the sun, heralded the summer season, while its acronical rising, when it rose as the sun set, marked the beginning of winter, and led to the association of the group with the rainy season, and with floods, so often mentioned by the poets. Aratos thus expressed its acronical rising:
Forerunners of the Winter's gloomy night.
Valerius Flaccus used the word "Pliada" for showers, and Josephus tells us that during the siege of Jerusalem by Antiochus Epiphanes, in 170 b.c., the besieged wanted for wateir until relieved by a large shower of rain which fell at the setting of the Pleiades.
Pope in his "Spring" thus alludes to the showery nature of the Pleiades:
And from the Pleiades fruitful showers descend.
Among the Dyaks of Borneo, the Pleiades regulated the seasons by their periodic return and disappearance, and guided them in their agricultural pursuits.
In South Africa, they were called the "hoeing stars," andtheir last visible rising after sunset has been celebrated with rejoicing all over the southern hemisphere as betokening the summons to agricultural activity.
The Bantu tribe called the group "the ploughing constellation," because its rising in the early morning in mid-winter told the black man to turn out in the cold and plough for mealies. With the Peruvians also the Pleiades governed the crops and harvest, and indeed were supposed to have created them.
Four thousand years ago this star group marked the position of the sun at the spring equinox, and this is the principal reason why, as we have seen, it was so universally associated with the apparent wax and wane of the forces of nature.
Many strange fables and fancies surround the Pleiades quite apart and entirely disassociated with their classical mythology. The Hottentots had a curious notion concerning them. They regarded the Pleiades as wives who shut their husbands out because they missed their game. It would be difificult to trace the origin of this singular idea concerning these stars.
The Pleiades was the favourite constellation of the Iroquois Indians. In all their religious festivals the calumet was presented towards these stars, and prayers for happiness were addressed to them. They also believed that the Pleiades represented seven young persons who guarded the holy seed during the night.
An Onondaga legend concerning these stars is as follows: "A long time ago a party of Indians journeyed through the woods in search of a good hunting ground. Having found one, they proceeded to build their lodges for the winter, while the children gathered together to dance and sing. While the children were thus engaged, an old man dressed in white feathers, whose white hair shone like silver, appeared among them and bid them cease dancing lest evil befall them, but the children danced on unmindful of the warning, and presently they observed that they were rising little by little into the air, and one exclaimed, 'Do not look back for something strange is taking place.' One of the children disobeyed this warning and looking back became a falling star. The other children reached the high heavens safely and now we see them in the star group known as the Pleiades."
Another Indian legend relates that "seven brothers once upon a time took the warpath and discovered a beautiful maiden living all alone whom they adopted as their sister. One day they all went hunting save the youngest, who was left to guard his sister. Shortly after the departure of the hunters, the younger brother discovered game and set off in pursuit of it, leaving his sister unprotected. Whereupon a powerful buffalo came to her lodge and carried her away. The brothers returned and in dismay found that their sister had been taken from them. They immediately went in pursuit of her, only to find that she was confined in a lodge in the very centre of a great herd of fierce buffaloes. The younger brother cleverly tunnelled beneath them, however, and rescued his sister, and hastened homeward with her, where her brothers hedged her lodge about with a very high iron fence. The buffaloes, enraged at the escape of the maiden, attacked the seven brothers, and battered down the fence, only to find that the maiden and her brothers had been carried upward to the sky out of their reach, and there they may be seen in the clustering Pleiades."
The Shasta Indians of Oregon have the following legend concerning the Pleiades:
"The Coyote went to a dance with the Coon. On his return home he sent his children after the game he had killed, and when they had brought it in, he prepared a grand feast. The youngest child was left out, and in anger went to the Coon's children and told them that the Coyote had killed their father. The Coon's children revenged themselves by killing all the Coyote's children, save one, while the Coyote was away from home. They then disappeared.
The Coyote, being unable to find his children, hunted everywhere, and asked all things as to their whereabouts. As he was searching he perceived a cloud of dust rising, and in the midst he saw the Coon's children and his youngest child. He ran after them in vain, and the children rose to the stars where they became the Pleiades." The Coyote's child is represented by the faintest star of the group.
In winter, when Coons are in their holes, the Pleiades are most brilliant, and continually visible. In summer, when Coons are out and about, the Pleiades are not to be seen.
The medicine men among the Malays, in their invocations, besought the Pleiades to help them heal bodily diseases. The Abipones, a tribe of Indians dwelling on the banks of the Paraguay River in South America, thought that they were descended from the Pleiades, and as that asterism disappeared at certain periods from the sky of South America, upon such occasions they supposed that their grandfather was sick, and were under a yearly apprehension that he was going to die, but as soon as the seven stars were again visible in the month of May, they welcomed their grandfather as if restored from sickness with joyful shouts and the festive sound of pipes and trumpets, and congratulated him on the recovery of his health. The hymn of welcome begins: "What thanks do we owe thee? And art thou returned at last? Ah! thou hast happily recovered."
Maunder tells us that in many Babylonian cylinder seals there are engraved seven small discs in addition to other astronomical symbols. These seven discs are arranged thus:
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much as we would plot the Pleiades. In all probability these discs represent this celebrated star group.
Another name for the Pleiades was "the clusterers," and they are frequently represented on ancient coins by a cluster of grapes. A coin of Mallos in Cilicia shows them represented by doves whose bodies are formed by bunches of grapes.
The Pleiades according to mythology were the seven daughters of Atlas, the giant who bears the world upon his shoulders, and the nymph Pleione. The story is, that these seven maidens, together with their sisters the Hyades, were transformed into stars on account of their "amiable virtues and mutual affection." According to Æschylus they were placed in the heavens on account of their filial sorrow at the burden imposed upon their father Atlas.
Aratos thus records the names of these seven sisters:
Alcyone and Merope, Celæno,
Taygeta, and Sterope, Electra,
And queenly Maia, small alike and faint,
But by the will of Jove illustrious all
At morn and evening, since he makes them mark
Summer and winter, harvesting and seed time.
One myth concerning the Pleiades relates that they were so beautiful in appearance that Orion unceasingly pursued them, much to their discomfiture. They appealed to Jupiter for assistance and he pitying them changed them into doves. Thereupon they flew into the sky and found a refuge among the stars.
The Smith Sound Eskimos have the following legend concerning the Pleiades, which group they call "Nanuq," meaning "the Bear": "A number of dogs were pursuing a bear on the ice. The bear gradually rose up in the air as did the dogs until they reached the sky. Then they turned to stars and the bear became a larger star in the centre of the group, and is represented by the star Alcyone."
One of the seven stars in this cluster is not as brilliant as the others and this star the Greeks called "the Lost Pleiad."
The tradition that one of the stars of this group has been lost or has grown dim is very ancient and almost universal. It is found among nations far removed from each other and has survived to the present day. It is found in Greece, Italy, and Australia, among the Malays in Borneo, and the negroes of the Gold Coast.
Miss Clerke writes: "Variants of the classical story of the 'Lost Pleiad' are still repeated by sable legend-mongers in Victoria, by head-hunters in Borneo, by fetish worshippers amid the mangrove swamps of the Gold Coast. An impression thus widely diffused must either have spread from a common source or originated in an obvious fact; and it is at least possible that the veiled face of the seventh Atlantid may typify a real loss of light in a prehistorically conspicuous star."
Byron thus alludes to this mysterious star:
and Aratos wrote:
Though six alone are beaming on the eye.
There is little doubt that originally one of these stars was brighter than it now appears. Some of the Pleiades are known to be variable, and one of them may have lost lustre at some time far remote, a fact that may account for the tradition of a lost star.
It is interesting to review the myths and legends of the Lost Pleiad and the ingenious suggestions that have been made to account for its apparent loss of brilliancy.
As to which of the seven sisters disappeared mythology
is uncertain. According to one story it was Electra, the
mother of Dardanus, the founder of Troy, who hid her face
in order that she might not see the destruction of that city.
The Greeks claimed that the Lost Pleiad was Merope, who
marrying a mortal, and feeling disgraced, withdrew from
the company of her sisters. Some said the seventh Pleiad ,_0559,_The_Lost_Pleiad.png)
The Lost Pleiad
By Randolph Rogers was struck by lightning, others that it was removed into
the tail of the Great Bear. There is a myth that while a
terrible battle was being waged on the earth, one of the
sisters hid herself behind the others. The Iroquois Indians
also had a legend respecting this famous star that appears to
have been lost. They imagined that the Lost Pleiad was a
little Indian boy in the sky, who was very homesick. When
he cried he covered his face with his hands and thus hid
his light. The legend is as follows: "Seven little Indian
boys lived in a log cabin in the woods, and every starlight
night they joined hands and danced about singing the
'Song of the Stars.' The stars looked down and learned
to love the children, and often beckoned to them. One
night the children were very much disappointed with their
supper, and so when they danced together and the stars
beckoned to them, they accepted the invitation and betook
themselves to Starland, and became the seven Pleiades,
and the dim one represents one of the little Indian
boys who became homesick."
According to another legend concerning the Lost Pleiad, known to be current among the blacks of Australia, this star group represented a queen and her six attendants. Long ago the Crow (our Canopus) fell in love with the queen, who refused to be his wife. The Crow found that the queen and her attendants were wont to hunt for white edible grubs in the bark of trees, and changing himself into a grub hid beneath the bark. The six maidens sought in vain to pick him out with their wooden hooks, but when the queen tried to draw him out with a pretty bone hook he came out, and assuming the shape of a giant ran away with her. Ever since that time there have been only six stars in the group.
Aratos wrote of the number of the Pleiades:
Yet six alone are viewed by mortal eyes.
From Zeus' abode no star unknown is lost
Since first from birth we heard, but thus the tale is told.
Euripides mentions these "seven paths," and Eratosthenes calls them "the seven-starred Pleiad," although he describes one as "all invisible."
The South Sea Islanders' myth concerning the Pleiades relates that these stars were once a single star which shone with such a clear lustre as to incur the envy of the god Tane, who was in league with the stars Aldebaran and Sirius and followed the Pleiades. Tane in his anger hurled Aldebaran at this bright star and broke it up into six parts, each of which became a star.
The blacks of Victoria, Australia, have a myth in which the Pleiades are considered a host of young wives. Another myth relates that these stars were once pretty maidens on the earth who were followed by some young men called "the Beriberi." To get away from them, the girls climbed into the tree-tops, and thence sprang into the heavens, where they were transformed into shining bodies. One maiden remained behind. She was called "the shy one," and is represented by the least bright star in the group. The Beriberi were eventually placed in the heavens where they appear in the girdle of Orion.
In the Solomon Islands the Pleiades were also called a company of maidens.
The Dyaks and the Malays of Borneo imagine the Pleiades to be six chickens followed by their mother, who remains always invisible. At one time there were seven chickens, but one of them paid a visit to the earth, and there received something to eat. This made the hen very angry and she threatened to destroy the chickens, and the people on the earth. Fortunately the latter were saved by Orion, the mighty hunter. At that period of the year when the Pleiades are invisible the Dyaks say that "the hen broods her chickens." When these stars are to be seen they say "the cuckoo calls."
The North American Indians call the Pleiades "the dancers," while the South American Indian name for the group is "the six stars." The cluster has also been likened to a necklace of brilliant gems, and popularly associated with the "little she goats" that Sancho Panza saw on his aërial excursions.
We come now to a consideration of the individual stars of this celebrated group. Alcyone, the brightest of the Pleiades, represents in the sky the Atlantid nymph who became the mother of Hyrieus by Poseidon. It is sometimes called "the light of the Pleiades." The Arabs called it "the bright one" and "the Walnut." Alcyone is famous as locating the supposed centre of the universe, the point about which the starry heavens revolved. The German astronomer Mädler held this view, but there is no satisfactory reason for his opinion. Alcyone has three companion stars, and the three form a beautiful little triangle, a fine sight in a small telescope. The star culminates at 9 p.m., on the last night of the year. Miss Clerke considers that Alcyone exceeds the sun in brilliancy one thousand times.
Past fields of ether, crimson, violet, rose,
The vast star-garden of eternity,
Behold: it shines with white, immaculate rays,
The home of peace, the haven of repose,
The lotus-flower of heaven, Alcyone.
Frances Mace.
The star Maia represents the oldest and most beautiful of the sisters, and some have said that this star was the brightest of the group. Maia married Jupiter and became the mother of Mercury, of whom Shelley sings:
Of Jove and Maia sprung—never by me
Nor thou, nor other songs, shall unremembered be.
It was discovered in 1884 that Maia was surrounded by a nebulous cloud, while later and more perfect photographs showed that this was also true of nearly all the stars of the group.
Electra was the mother of Dardanus, the founder of Troy, and the ancestor of Priam and his house. Aghast at the fall of Troy, she fled from her sisters that she might not be obliged to gaze on the destruction of the city so precious in her sight. According to another story she veiled her face so that she could not see the city's fall. Because of these stories respecting her, she has often been regarded as the Lost Pleiad. Ovid called her "Atlantis," personifying the family.
Merope made the mistake of marrying beneath her. Her sisters chose gods for husbands, whereas she selected a mortal, Sisyphus, King of Corinth. She subsequently repented her choice, and hid her face in shame. On this account she is thought by some to be the Lost Pleiad. Her name signifies mortal, and Allen tells us that the star is enveloped in a faintly extended triangular nebulous haze, visually discovered by Temple in 1859.
Taygeta was the patron goddess of Sparta, since her son Lacedæmon founded that State.
Calæno is said to have been struck by lightning, and consequently is thought by some to be the Lost Pleiad.
Sterope, it is said, married Œnomaus. Their offspring was Hippodaima, a beautiful maiden. The star is a double one, as is Taygeta, and also lays claim to the distinction of being the Lost Pleiad.
Atlas, the father, has his star. Riccioli called the star "Pater Atlas." It represents the mighty man, who, condemned to bear the dome of heaven on his shoulders, was transformed into a mountain. It is a double star and I believe it does not bear claim to be the Lost Pleiad.
Pleione was the mother of the seven sisters, and her star may be the true Lost Pleiad, as the spectroscope reveals evidence of its variable character. It has been suggested that the Lost Pleiad may have been a nova, that is, a star which flashed out brilliantly for a time, only to fade away as its fires grew cold.
With the unaided eye seven stars can be seen in this
group, although persons possessed of very keen eyesight
have been able to count as many as fourteen stars. With a ,_0565,_The_Pleiades,_Showing_Nebula.png)
The Pleiades, Showing Nebula
(Bruce 24-inch Telescope.) Courtesy of Prof. E. C. Pickering good telescope six hundred stars have been counted, while
in a photograph of the cluster taken in 1888 no less than
two thousand three hundred and twenty-six stars were
revealed.
Of this great galaxy of suns all are drifting across the heavens in the same direction. Two of the stars seem to be hurrying on in advance, like heralds announcing the coming of a host, and six are straggling behind as if wearied by their ceaseless journeying.
The Pleiades are said to be two hundred and fifty light years distant from our system. Our sun removed to this enormous distance would appear as a telescopic star of the tenth magnitude, barely discernible in a three-inch telescope.
Another fact of interest concerning this wonderful star group is that the spectroscope reveals that all these stars are similar in make-up. They all appear to be the product of a common mould, and are in that great class of stars of the Sirian type.
In addition to this the entire group is enshrouded in a nebulous haze, a net that seems to hold its contents fast.
Tennyson well describes the cluster in his line:
Bayard Taylor likened the Pleiades to a swarm of bees upon the mane of Taurus.
Astrologers considered the Pleiades eminent stars, but they denoted accidents to the sight or blindness.
The following list of titles given to this famous star group by the nations of the world ancient and modern attests the fact that of all the stars the Pleiades are the best known and the most celebrated.
| name | source | |
| The Great Twins | On the Euphrates | |
| A Family Group | Babylonians | |
| The Many Little Ones | ||
| Herd of camels | Arabians | |
| The little ones | ||
| A Flame, a Razor | Hindus | |
| Seven sisters of Industry | Chinese | |
| Seven Sisters | The Bible | |
| Seven Stars | ||
| A cluster or heap | ||
| Booths of the maidens | The Rabbis | |
| Flock of Clusterers | Aratos | |
| Rock pigeons flying from Orion | Hesiod | |
| Atlas-born, Seven Virgins | ||
| A Coat of Arms for the merchants | Æschylus | |
| Seven Doves | ||
| Narrow cloudy train of female stars | Manilus | |
| The Rounded Asterism | ||
| Virgin Stars | Virgil | |
| Vergilæ or Virgins of Spring | The Romans | |
| The Baker's peel or shovel | Gælic | |
| Young Girls | Australians | |
| Wives who shut out their husbands | Hottentots | |
| A season | Polynesians | |
| Tau | ||
| The hoeing stars | South Africans | |
| A company of maidens | Solomon Islanders | |
| Grandfather | Abipones | |
| The Six Stars | S. A. Indians | |
| The Dancers | N. A. Indians | |
| A Sieve | Finns | |
| Mosquito Net | French peasants | |
| The Setting Hen | Russians | |
| Old wives | Poles | |
| Dog baiting a bear | Norse | |
| The Close Pack | Welsh | |
| Starry Seven, old Atlas’ children | Keats | |
| Seven Atlantic Sisters | Milton | |
| Hesperides | ||
| Seven Little Nanny Goats | Sancho Panza | |
| Hen with her chickens | Popular names | |
| Little Dipper | ||
| A Heap, a troop |
