Atlas and the Oceanid Pleione bore the seven Pleiades — Maia, Electra, Merope, Taygete, Alcyone, Celaeno, and Sterope — who were placed among the stars by Zeus to shield them from Orion's relentless pursuit across the earth.
The Pleiades were companions of Artemis, sharing her love of hunting and the wild. When Orion began pursuing the sisters, Artemis appealed to Zeus to protect her attendants, leading to their catasterism.
The seven Pleiades — Maia, Electra, Taygete, Alcyone, Celaeno, Sterope, and Merope — are daughters of Atlas and Pleione. Each sister bore children to gods or kings, founding royal lineages across the Greek world.
Dardanus, founder of the Trojan royal line, was the son of Zeus and the Pleiad Electra. Through Dardanus, the Pleiades are ancestresses of the Trojan kings including Priam and ultimately the Romans through Aeneas.
Iasion's mother Electra was one of the seven Pleiades, daughters of Atlas and Pleione. Through this lineage, Iasion and his brother Dardanus are part of the broader Pleiad genealogy.
Orion pursued the Pleiades across the earth for years until Zeus transformed the seven sisters into stars to save them. In the night sky, the constellation Orion eternally chases the Pleiades star cluster.
Sisyphus married Merope of the Pleiades, the only one of the seven sisters to wed a mortal. According to Hyginus, Merope's star shines faintest in the cluster because she hides her face in shame at being the only Pleiad without a divine consort.
Zeus transformed the seven Pleiades into stars to save them from Orion's relentless pursuit across the earth, placing them as a cluster in the heavens where they shine together.
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