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Hyades, a MythSource painting
Greek

Hyades

The Rain-Bringing Nymphs · Nurses of Dionysus · Daughters of Atlas

01Identity

Hyades in Greek tradition

As rain-bringing nymphs and nurses of Dionysus, the Hyades are daughters of Atlas associated with the night sky and seasonal stars. When a wild animal killed their brother Hyas, they mourned him so deeply that Zeus placed them among the stars as the Hyades. Other traditions connect their name with the nymphs who delivered Dionysus safely to Ino, or with those at Nysa who raised him after Hermes carried him there.

Top questions

The quick answers

  • Who are the Hyades?

    Hyades is a Greek being associated with rainfall, storm and weather signs, the night sky and seasonal stars, the care of Dionysus.
    Source

    Source

    • The Library of Greek Mythology (Oxford World's Classics)
    • Teutonic Mythology: Gods and Goddesses of the Northland
    • Classical Mythology a to Z

  • What is Hyades associated with?

    rainfall, storm and weather signs, the night sky and seasonal stars, the care of Dionysus
    Source

    Source

    • The Library of Greek Mythology (Oxford World's Classics)

  • What family links are recorded for Hyades?

    Father: Hyas, Mother: Boeotia.
02Family

Hyades’s family, at a glance

Parents above, children below, and the figure’s consorts named in between, the same family data as the fact box, laid out as a chart instead of a field list.

HyasBoeotia
Hyades
03The names

The names Hyades answers to

Rainers

A gloss of the Greek name Hyades, referring to their association with rain.

SourceTeutonic Mythology: Gods and Goddesses of the Northland

Suculae

The Latin name for the Hyades, commonly glossed as Little Pigs.

SourceThe Library of Greek Mythology (Oxford World's Classics)

Daughters of Atlas

Their mythic genealogy as daughters of the Titan Atlas.

SourceClassical Mythology a to Z

Nurses of Dionysus

Their role in nurturing or protecting the infant Dionysus.

SourceThe Library of Greek Mythology (Oxford World's Classics)

04The myths

The myths of Hyades

2 myths, each traced to its primary text and corpus sources.

The Hyades Mourn Hyas

A wild animal killed Hyas, and his sisters mourned their dead brother. Their grief grew so great that Zeus noticed it. He placed the sisters among the stars, where they became the group known as the Hyades. They formed seven stars in the constellation Taurus and outlined the face of the bull. Their place in the sky preserved the memory of their mourning for Hyas.

In one telling, Zeus placed the sisters among the stars after they had delivered Dionysos safely to Ino. Their transformation followed the protection they had given the god. In this telling, the Hyades were the sisters of Hyas, and Zeus honoured them after they had carried out this task.

In another telling, Hera became angry with Dionysos, so Zeus changed him into a kid to rescue him from her anger. Hermes gathered him up and carried him to nymphs who lived at Nysa in Asia. Zeus later changed those nymphs into a constellation and gave them the name Hyades. In this telling, the Hyades were the nymphs who cared for Dionysos at Nysa, rather than the sisters of Hyas. Their transformation followed their care for the god.

The Hyades Mourn Hyas, a MythSource painting of the scene

In the modern world

No modern rework confirmed yet.

2 sources· checked 2026-08-19

  1. 1The Library of Greek Mythology (Oxford World's Classics)T1
  2. 2Apollodorus, The LibraryT1

    Quote

    “Hyas is killed by a wild animal, and Zeus sets his mourning sisters among the stars as the Hyades, though another account names as Hyades the nymphs who cared for Dionysus.”

    Apollodorus, The Library

The Hyades Nurse Dionysus

Zeus rescued the infant Dionysus from Hera’s anger by turning him into a kid. Hermes gathered him up and carried him to Nysa in Asia, where nymphs lived. They took the child into their care and raised him there. Zeus later changed these nymphs into a constellation and named them the Hyades.

Another account gives a longer sequence. At Hera’s command, the Titans seized Dionysus, described as a horned child crowned with serpents. Although he changed his shape, they tore him apart and boiled the pieces in a cauldron. A pomegranate tree grew from the ground where his blood had fallen. Rhea rescued and reassembled him, and he came back to life.

Zeus then entrusted Dionysus to Persephone. She brought him to Athamas, king of Orchomenus, and his wife Ino, persuading them to rear him in the women’s quarters while he was disguised as a girl. Hera was not deceived. She drove Athamas and Ino mad, and Athamas killed their son Learchus, mistaking him for a stag. Zeus then instructed Hermes to transform Dionysus into a kid or a ram.

Hermes presented him to the nymphs Macris, Nysa, Erato, Bromie, and Bacche, associated with Mount Nysa. They tended him in a cave and fed him on honey. The nymphs were later identified with the Hyades, whose earlier names are given as Phaesyle, Coronis, Cleia, Phaeo, and Eudore. Some accounts describe them as changed into the constellation because they cared for Dionysus, while the longer account presents their guardianship after the child had been moved from Athamas and Ino.

The Hyades Nurse Dionysus, a MythSource painting of the scene

In the modern world

No modern rework confirmed yet.

3 sources· checked 2026-08-19

  1. 1The Library of Greek Mythology (Oxford World's Classics)T1
  2. 2Apollodorus, The LibraryT1

    Quote

    “Zeus changes Dionysus into a kid to escape Hera, Hermes takes him to the nymphs of Nysa, and Zeus later changes those nurses into the constellation called the Hyades.”

    Apollodorus, The Library

  3. 3The Greek MythsT1

Also appears in

The myths across MythSource where Hyades features, each on that figure’s page.

The film

The Underdrawing video on Hyades embeds here once it publishes.