Sterope
A Pleiad, daughter of Atlas and Pleione, whose name means "lightning face" and who bore Oenomaus to the war god Ares.
The Myth of Sterope
Sterope (also called Asterope) was one of the seven Pleiades, those daughters of Atlas who were pursued by the hunter Orion until Zeus placed them among the stars for safety. Her name connects to sterope, 'lightning flash,' suggesting the sharp, brief brilliance that defined her.
She became the lover of Ares, the god of war, and bore him Oenomaus, who grew to be king of Pisa in Elis and a man consumed by a dark prophecy. An oracle had told Oenomaus he would be killed by his son-in-law, so he challenged every suitor for his daughter Hippodamia to a chariot race — and killed them when they lost. Thirteen suitors died before Pelops finally won, with the help of divine horses and a bribed charioteer who sabotaged Oenomaus's axle.
The consequences rippled forward through generations. Pelops married Hippodamia and founded the Pelopid dynasty, which produced Atreus, Agamemnon, and the entire cursed house that drove the Trojan War and the tragedies of Aeschylus. Sterope's grandson's paranoid violence set the whole chain in motion.
Parents
Atlas and Pleione
Symbols
Fun Fact
The chain of curses leading to Agamemnon, Clytemnestra, and Orestes all traces back to Sterope's son Oenomaus murdering thirteen young men to avoid a prophecy about his son-in-law.
Explore Further
Pleione
🌿 nymphSea, sailing, flocks
Oceanid nymph and mother of the seven Pleiades star-cluster daughters
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.
Perseis
🌿 nymphWitchcraft, sun
Oceanid nymph and mother of the sorceress Circe and King Aeetes of Colchis
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.
Clymene
🌿 nymphfame, ocean
Oceanid nymph and mother of Phaethon and the Heliades.
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.
Stilbe
🌿 nymphrivers, light
A nymph of Thessaly, daughter of the river Peneus, who bore Centaurus and Lapithes to Apollo — thus originating both the Centaurs and the Lapiths.
Electra
🌿 nymphclouds, rain, rainbows
An Oceanid nymph, daughter of Oceanus and Tethys, who married the sea god Thaumas and bore Iris the rainbow goddess and the Harpies.
Aegle
🌿 nymphlight, healing
A nymph whose name means "radiance" — identified variously as a Hesperid, a daughter of Asclepius, or the most beautiful of the Naiads.
Thetis
🌿 nymphSea nymph mother of Achilles
Thetis was a sea nymph so powerful that both Zeus and Poseidon desired her — until a prophecy warned her son would surpass his father.
Polyxo
🌿 nymphStars, nursing
One of the Hyades nymphs and nurse of Dionysus, transformed into a star for her devoted care of the god
Merope
🌿 nymphstars, shame
The Pleiad who married a mortal and whose star shines faintest in the cluster, dimmed by shame at her choice.