Galaxy/The codex of Alcyone

Alcyone is one of the seven Pleiades, daughters of Atlas and the Oceanid Pleione, born on Mount Cyllene in Arcadia. By Poseidon she bore children including Hyrieus, Hyperenor, and Aethusa. She must be distinguished from Alcyone daughter of Aeolus, wife of Ceyx, and from other Alcyone homonyms.

Adapted from Wikipedia, "Alcyone (Pleiades)" · CC BY-SA 4.0

I.Among the Pleiades

Apollodorus lists Alcyone with Maia, Electra, Celaeno, Taygete, Sterope, and Merope as daughters of Atlas and Pleione (Bibliotheca 3.10.1). The sisters are sometimes called Atlantides or mountain nymphs of Cyllene; catasterism traditions place them as the Pleiades in the sky.

As a Pleiad she shares the collective myths of Orion's pursuit and of Zeus, Poseidon, or other gods taking several sisters as lovers.

II.Children by Poseidon

Apollodorus reports that Poseidon lay with Alcyone and that she bore Hyrieus and other offspring (including Hyperenor and Aethusa in fuller lists). Hyrieus becomes an important Boeotian eponym and father in Orion traditions.

Pausanias describes Poseidon carrying off Alcyone among the reliefs on the throne of Amyclaean Apollo (Description of Greece 3.18.10), tying her abduction to Laconian cult art.

III.Homonyms

The Aeolid Alcyone who marries Ceyx and becomes a kingfisher is a separate figure (often alcyone-aeolid in atlas data). Other minor Alcyones appear in local genealogies; the Pleiad is identified by Atlas–Pleione parentage and Poseidon’s Boeotian children.

AT A GLANCE

Greek nameAlkyonē (Ἀλκυόνη)
Roman nameAlcyone
Typenymph
Domainsthe Pleiades · Mount Cyllene · mother of Boeotian heroes
ParentageAtlas · Pleione
SymbolsPleiades star-cluster · Poseidon
Cult centersMount Cyllene (Arcadia) · Amyclae (throne of Pelops relief)
EtymologyAncient Greek Ἀλκυόνη (Alkyónē), related to ἀλκυών, "kingfisher" — the bird-name also belongs to the Aeolid Alcyone's metamorphosis myth.
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