Merope
The Pleiad who married a mortal and whose star shines faintest in the cluster, dimmed by shame at her choice.
The Myth of Merope
Merope was one of the seven Pleiades, daughters of Atlas and the Oceanid Pleione. Her six sisters all took gods as lovers: Maia with Zeus, Electra with Zeus, Taygete with Zeus, Alcyone with Poseidon, Celaeno with Poseidon, Sterope with Ares. Merope alone chose a mortal — Sisyphus, the clever and ruthless king of Corinth.
Sisyphus was brilliant but cursed. He had cheated Death twice and betrayed Zeus's secrets. His eternal punishment — rolling a boulder up a hill only to watch it roll back down, forever — became the most famous image of futile labour in Western thought. Merope, married to this figure, was pitied by her sisters and, according to the myth, consumed by shame.
When the Pleiades were placed among the stars, Merope's light shone weakest. Ancient astronomers explained the Pleiades' seventh star — barely visible to the naked eye — as Merope hiding her face in shame for having married beneath her station. Modern astronomy calls it Merope too. At magnitude 4.18, it is indeed the faintest of the cluster's bright stars, though not for reasons of matrimonial regret.
Parents
Atlas and Pleione
Symbols
Fun Fact
Look at the Pleiades on a clear night — the faintest of the seven visible stars is Merope, still hiding her face after three thousand years of mythological shame.
Words We Inherited
English words and phrases that trace back to this myth. See our full guide to English words from Greek mythology.
Explore Further
Pleiades
🌿 nymphSeven sisters transformed into stars
The Pleiades were seven sisters, daughters of Atlas and Pleione, who were placed among the stars as the star cluster that has guided sailors and farmers for millennia.
Pleione
🌿 nymphSea, sailing, flocks
Oceanid nymph and mother of the seven Pleiades star-cluster daughters
Sterope
🌿 nymphstars, lightning
A Pleiad, daughter of Atlas and Pleione, whose name means "lightning face" and who bore Oenomaus to the war god Ares.
Callisto
🌿 nymphNymph transformed into the Great Bear
Callisto was a companion of Artemis who was seduced by Zeus and transformed into a bear — placed in the sky as Ursa Major, the Great Bear constellation.
Maia
🌿 nymphMother of Hermes, eldest Pleiad
Maia was the eldest and most beautiful of the seven Pleiades, a shy mountain nymph who bore Hermes to Zeus in a secret cave on Mount Cyllene.
Hyades
🌿 nymphRain-bringing star nymphs
The Hyades were nymphs who nursed the infant Dionysus and were placed among the stars as a cluster whose rising brought the autumn rains.
Phaeo
🌿 nymphStars, nursing
One of the Hyades nymphs who nursed the infant Dionysus and was later placed among the stars
Constellation Pleiades
💭 conceptastronomy, nymph
The seven daughters of Atlas and the Oceanid Pleione, pursued by Orion and transformed into a star cluster that has guided sailors and farmers for millennia.
Thetis
🌿 nymphSea nymph whose son's fate drove the Iliad
Thetis was the Nereid whose son was destined to surpass his father — a prophecy so threatening that Zeus and Poseidon married her off to a mortal.
Idyia
🌿 nymphKnowledge, Colchis
Oceanid nymph known as the knowing one and queen of Colchis beside King Aeetes
Clymene
🌿 nymphfame, ocean
Oceanid nymph and mother of Phaethon and the Heliades.
Calypso
🌿 nymphNymph who concealed Odysseus
Calypso kept Odysseus seven years. Her name means "she who conceals."