Nicolas Poussin: "The Infant Bacchus Entrusted to the Nymphs of Nysa; The Death of
Echo and Narcissus" (1657). The painting shows Mercury (in Greek, Hermes)
delivering the newly born baby Bacchus (in Greek, Dionysus) to the nymphs of Nysa.
The Hyades were also called the nymphs of
Nysa because they lived on Mount Nysa.
Click on image for full size (99K GIF)
Image courtesy of the Fogg Art Museum. Gift of Mrs. Samuel Sachs in memory of
Mr. Samuel Sachs. (c) President and Fellows of Harvard College, Harvard University Art
Museums. To be reproduced only by permission of the Harvard University
Art Museums.
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For the ancient Greeks, the Hyades were daughters of Pleione and Atlas, a giant who
carried the heavens on his shoulders.
The Hyades were sisters of the Pleiades and the Hesperides.
They were very attached to their brother Hyas. One
day, while Hyas was hunting, he was killed by a lion. The Hyades were so
overcome with grief they committed suicide. Zeus changed them into a cluster
of stars and placed them in the constellation
Taurus the Bull.
One of the
Hyades, Aldebaran, is the brightest star and represents the Bull's eye. The other
Hyades are in a peculiar V-shape,forming the horns and the nose of the bull.
Because the Hyades appear during rainy
seasons, the Greeks believed them to be messengers of spring rain showers and
autumn storms. Their name means in Greek "to rain." The rain
was believed to represent their tears of grief for their brother Hyas.
According to a variant of the myth,
Zeus changed the Hyades into a group of stars as a reward for having nursed his
son, the god Dionysus.
Dionysus was the result of a clandestine affair between
Zeus and Semele. In order to hide the child from his jealous wife Hera, Zeus gave
him to the Hyades, who cared for him. Dionysus lived in a cave on Mount
Nysa in Libya, where he invented wine, for which he is mainly celebrated.
As a reward for their services, Zeus placed the images of the Hyades among the
stars in the heavens.
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