Galaxy/The codex of Taygete

One of the seven Pleiades, daughters of Atlas by Pleione. By Zeus she bore a son, Lacedaemon, after whom the country of Lacedaemon is named — making her the Pleiad mother of the Spartan royal house.1

I

Apollodorus numbers her among her sisters: to Atlas and Pleione, daughter of Ocean, were born seven daughters called the Pleiades, brought forth at Cyllene in Arcadia — Alcyone, Merope, Celaeno, Electra, Sterope, Taygete, and Maia. Where Sterope was married to Oenomaus and Merope to Sisyphus, Taygete drew the regard of Zeus.2

II

Taygete had by Zeus a son, Lacedaemon, after whom the country of Lacedaemon is called. Hyginus likewise reckons Lacedaemon among the sons of Jove, born of Taygete, daughter of Atlas.3

III

Apollodorus traces the descent onward: Lacedaemon wedded Sparta, daughter of Eurotas, and by her had a son Amyclas and a daughter Eurydice — the seam by which the Pleiad's line grafts onto Laconian soil.4

IV

Pausanias keeps the same descent and points to its monuments. Lacedaemon, he says, whose mother was Taygete, gave the mountain her name, while report made his father none other than Zeus; the old king Eurotas, having no male issue, left him the throne. At Amyclae Pausanias saw the throne's reliefs showing Poseidon and Zeus carrying off Taygete, daughter of Atlas, and her sister Alcyone, and elsewhere a hero-shrine of Lacedaemon, son of Taygete.5

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 Taygete — art, artifacts and echoes.

The Pleiades
The Dance of the Pleiades (Star Lore of All Ages, plate)
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