In Greek mythology, Electra (; ) 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.Pseudo-Scymnos, Circuit de la terre 646 ff.
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.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.
Family The Pleiades were said to be the daughters of Atlas, who was the son of the Titan Iapetos.Gantz, pp. 212–213; Hesiod, Catalogue of Women fr. 118 Most [= Hesiod fr. 169* MW = Schol. on Pindar Nemian 2.17]; Simonides, fr. 555 Campbell; Lycophron, 72–80; Apollonius Rhodius, Argonautica 1.916; Catasterismi 23 (Hard 2015, p. 86); Diodorus Siculus, 5.48.2; Hyginus, De astronomia 2.21.2 (Hard 2015, p. 88), Fabulae 155, 192 & 250; Conon, Narrations (from the Bibliotheca of Photius) 21 (Greek with facing French translation; English translation by Brady Kiesling at ToposText); Ovid, Fasti, 4.31–32, 4.166–178, 5.83–84; Apollodorus, 3.10.1, 3.12.1 No early source mentions their mother, but according to some late accounts she was the Oceanid Pleione.Gantz, p. 213; Hyginus, De astronomia 2.21.3 (citing Alexander Polyhistor, see Hard 2015, p. 88), Fabulae 192; Ovid, Fasti, 5.83–84; Apollodorus, 3.10.1 Hyginus' De astronomia says that Electra and her six sisters were called the Pleiades because, according to the 1st-century BC Greek scholar and historian Alexander Polyhistor, they were the daughters of Pleione.Gantz, p. 213; Hyginus, De astronomia 2.21.3 (Hard 2015, pp. 88, 189). Hard 2004, p. 518 says that the Greek name Pleiades for the star-cluster came first, and that the traditional name of the mother of Atlas' daughters Pleione, "was plainly devised to enable the name of the Pleiades to be interpreted as a matronymic". Gantz says that the name Pleiades might have originally been a patronymic, later shifted to a matronymic, when the epithet Atlageneis (see Hesiod Works and Days 383) was misinterpreted (perhaps by Hesiod himself) as referring to their father, see also West 1978, pp. 254–255, on lines 383–4, Πληιάδων Ἀτλαγενέων. De astronomia also says that, according to Musaeus, their mother was instead an Oceanid named Aithra, explaining that they were called the Pleiades because there were more (pleion in Greek) of them than their sisters the Hyades.Hard 2004, p. 518; Gantz, p. 213, with note 23; Hyginus, De astronomia 2.21.2 (Hard 2015, pp. 88, 189); A Greek-English Lexicon s.v. πλείων; compare with Hyginus, Fabulae 192 According to the mythographer Apollodorus, the Pleiades were born to Pleione "at Cyllene" (Mount Cyllene?) in Arcadia.Oxford Classical Dictionary, s.v. Electra (2); Apollodorus, 3.10.1
On the island of Samothrace, Electra had, by Zeus, a son Dardanus who left Samothrace and founded the city of Dardanus in the Troad. Through Dardanus, Electra was the progenitor of the Trojan royal line.Hard 2004, p. 519; Gantz, pp. 214–215, 558; Hesiod fr. 121 Most [= Hesiod fr. 177 MW = Oxyrhynchus papyrus 1359 fr. 2]; Hellanicus fr. 19a Fowler [= Scholia on Iliad 18.486 = Pherecydes fr. 90c Fowler]; Lycophron, 72–80; Catasterismi 23 (Hard 2015, p. 87); Diodorus Siculus, 5.48.2; Hyginus, De astronomia 2.21 (Hard 2015, p. 88), Fabulae 155, 192; Conon, Narrations (from the Bibliotheca of Photius) 21 (Greek with facing French translation; English translation by Brady Kiesling at ToposText); Ovid, Fasti, 4.31–32; Apollodorus, 3.12.1; Quintus Smyrnaeus, 13.551–560 She also had another son, by Zeus, Iasion (also called Eetion), who, because of an outrage against Demeter (or her statue), was blasted by Zeus' thunderbolt.Fowler 2013, p. 522; Hard 2004, p. 521; Gantz, pp. 215, 558; Hesiod fr. 121 Most [= Hesiod fr. 177 MW = Oxyrhynchus papyrus 1359 fr. 2] (Eetion); Hellanicus fr. 23 Fowler [= Scholia ad Apollonius Rhodius 1.916–17a] (called both Iasion and Eetion), fr. 135 Fowler [= Scholia on Odyssey 5.125]; Diodorus Siculus, 5.48.2; Hyginus, Fabulae 250; Conon, Narrations (from the Bibliotheca of Photius) 21 (Greek with facing French translation; English translation by Brady Kiesling at ToposText); Apollodorus, 3.12.1 (blasted by Zeus); compare Homer, Odyssey 5.125–128; Hesiod, Theogony 969–974; Diodorus Siculus, 5.77.1–2; Hyginus, De astronomia 2.4.7, (Hard 2015, p. 39), 2.22.1 (Hard 2015, p. 99), Fabulae 270 The logographer Hellanicus also makes Electra the mother, by Zeus, of Harmonia the wife of Cadmus, although usually Harmonia is the daughter of Ares and Aphrodite.Fowler 2013, pp. 39–40 with n. 142, 522 (which says that Hellanicus "inovated in giving Elektra a third child, Harmonia"); Hard 2004, pp. 297–298; Gantz, p. 215; Hellanicus fr. 23 Fowler [= Scholia on Apollonius Rhodius 1.916-18a]; so also Diodorus Siculus, 5.48.2. For Harmonia as the daughter of Ares and Aphrodite, see e.g. Hesiod, Theogony 933–937; Apollodorus, 3.4.2 Nonnus also makes Electra the mother of Emathion, who succeeded his brother Dardanus as king of Samothrace.Grimal, s.v. Electra 2; Parada, s.vv. Electra 3, Emathion 4; Nonnus, Dionysiaca 3.180–194
According to an Italian tradition, Electra was the wife of the Etruscan king Corythus. Her sons Dardanus and Iasion were born in Italy, with Iasion being the son of Electra and Corythus, and Dardanus being the son of Electra and Zeus.Grimal, s.v. Electra 2; Smith, s.v. Electra 2; Hyginus, Fabulae 270; Lactantius, Divine Institutes 1.23; Servius, Commentary on the Aeneid of Vergil 3.167, 7.207, 10.719; compare Virgil, Aeneid, 3.163–171; 7.205–209; 8.134–137
Mythology There are two stories involving Electra. One concerns the Palladium, the sacred statue of Pallas Athena, considered to be the divine protector of Troy (and later Rome). According to Apollodorus, Electra, seeking protection from Zeus, took refuge at the divine statue, but Zeus in his anger threw the statue from heaven. It landed near Troy, where Ilus, the founder of Troy, found the statue and built a temple to house and honor it. According to another version of the story Electra herself gave the statue to Dardanus as protection for Troy.Grimal, s.vv. Electra 2, Palladium; Tripp, s.vv. Electra (3), Palladium; Smith, s.v. Electra 2; Hard 2004, p. 523; Apollodorus, 3.12.3.
Another story involving Electra, concerns her, and her six sisters transformation into stars. The reason for their transformation varied. According to one account, the Pleiades were being pursued by the huntsman Orion, intent on rape, but Zeus took pity on the sisters and placed them among the stars.Hard, p. 518 (which gives several other stories of how the Pleiades came to reside among the stars); Hyginus, De astronomia 2.21.4 (Hard 2015, p. 89). And by way of explanation for the fact that only six of the seven stars in the constellation were readily visible, it was said that Electra, unable to behold the destruction of Troy, hid her eyes, or turned away; or, in another version, Electra, in mourning, let down her hair, and left her sisters altogether and became a "long haired star" (i.e. a "comet").Hard 2004, pp. 518–519; Gantz, pp. 213, 215; Fowler 2013, pp. 416, 544; Grimal, s.v. Electra 2; Tripp, s.v. Electra 2; The Sack of Ilion (Iliupersis) fr. 5* West [= Scholia on Iliad 18.486] (left her sisters); Hyginus, De astronomia 2.21.3–4 (Hard 2015, pp. 88–89) (Pleiades chased by Orion; Electra becomes a comet), Fabulae 192 (becomes a comet); Ovid, Fasti, 4.166–178 (covers her eyes); Quintus Smyrnaeus, Posthomerica (shrouds herself in a mist).
Sources Early A constellation called the Pleiades is mentioned in Homer's Iliad and Odyssey and Hesiod's Works and Days, however none of the stars are named.Homer, Iliad 18.486; Odyssey 5.272; Hesiod, Works and Days 383. Hesiod calls the stars the Atlageneis, possibly meaning "born from Atlas", although linguistic considerations suggests that the epithet refers to some geographic location.Gantz, p. 212; West 1978, pp. 254–255, on lines 383–4, Πληιάδων Ἀτλαγενέων. The lyric poet Simonides of Ceos (c. 556–468 BC), is the first (datable) source to connect the name of the star-cluster with the seven daughters of Atlas.Gantz, p. 213; West 1978, p. 255; Simonides, fr. 555 Campbell.
The names of the seven Pleiades are first attested in a scholion on Pindar, which quotes three hexameter lines from an unattributed poem, probably from the Hesiodic corpus:Gantz, pp. 212–213. lovely Taygete and dark-eyed Electra, Alcyone and Asterope and godly Celaeno, Maia and Merope, whom splendid Atlas begot.Hesiod fr. 118 Most [= Hesiod fr. 169* MW = Schol. on Pindar Nemian 2.17].
Electra is also mentioned in the Hesiodic Catalogue of Women, where apparently she was said to be the mother of Dardanus and Eetion.Gantz, p. 558; Hesiod fr. 121 Most [= Hesiod fr. 177 MW = Oxyrhynchus papyrus 1359 fr. 2]. The fifth-century Greek logographer Hellanicus of Lesbos provides more details. According to Hellanicus, Electra (called Electryone by Hellanicus) lived on Samothrace, where the locals called her Strategis. She had two sons by Zeus, Dardanus, and Eetion, who was also called Iasion. She also had a daughter Harmonia by Zeus, who was the bride of Cadmus, the founder of Thebes, and that because of this, the Thebans named one of the city gates (the Electran gates) after her.Fowler 2013, p. 522; Gantz, pp. 215, 558; Hellanicus fr. 23 Fowler [= Scholia on Apollonius Rhodius 1.916-18a]; see also Fowler 2013, p. 417; Hellanicus fr. 19a Fowler [= Scholia on Iliad 18.486 = Pherecydes fr. 90c Fowler]. However, according to the geographer Pausanias, 9.8.3, the Electran gate was said to have been named after Cadmus's sister Electra.
The story of Electra and her sisters being transformed into stars may also have been told somewhere in the Epic Cycle. A scholion to the Iliad mentions the Pleiades escape from Orion by catasterism and says the following about Electra:Fowler 2013, p. 415; Gantz, pp. 213, 215. They say that Electra, being unwilling to watch the sack of Ilion [i.e. Troy] because it was a foundation of her descendants, left the place where she had been set as a star, so that whereas they had previously been seven, they became six. The story is found in the Cyclic poets.The Sack of Ilion (Iliupersis) fr. 5* West = Scholia on the Iliad 18.486 = Titanomachhy fr. dubia 14 Bernabé.
Late De astronomia is a Latin astronomical guide, attributed to Hyginus (died AD 17), containing the most complete surviving ancient compendium of astral mythology.Hard 2015, pp. i, xxvi. It gives the following account of why only six of the seven Pleiades can be seen: The Pleiades are said to be seven in number, but no one can see more than six of them. It has been suggested by way of explanation that, of the seven, six went to bed with immortals—while the other is indicated to have been the wife of Sisyphos. ... She [Merope] was placed among the stars thanks to her other sisters, but because she married a mortal, her star is faint.