Galaxy/The codex of Nubes

The cloud-shape Hyginus names as mate of Ixion and mother, with him, of the centaur kind — distinct from Nephele the cloud who bore Phrixus and Helle to Athamas.1

I

Hyginus makes Nessus a centaur, son of Ixion and Nubes, and uses the same cloud-mother for Eurytion and the centaur brood in his catalogue of the wild Thessalian race. She is the Hyginus counterpart to the unnamed cloud of Apollodorus — though there the cloud was fashioned in Hera's likeness by Zeus, and bore Centaurus alone.2

II

The atlas already holds `nephele`, the cloud of Boeotia who saved Phrixus and Helle. That Nephele and this Nubes share the language of cloud-nymphs but not the same myth: never merge the Athamantid cloud with Ixion's mate.3

the spine ignites as you read · hover a bond on the card — every mention of them lights in the story

BEYOND THE POETS

How the centuries since have seen Nubes — art, artifacts and echoes.

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