Page:The Music of the Spheres.djvu/198

 up comes Orion just a little way behind and pursues the Bull across the heavens with his dogs and club.

Æschylus, however, claims that the Pleiades were named after the daughters of Atlas because of their touching sorrow when their father was laden with the weight of the sky. Thus many of the stories of Orion's adventures seem to conflict with other fables. Since the stars of the Pleiades bear the individual names of seven of Atlas's daughters, Æschylus was probably right. The stars outlining the face of Taurus were named after the half-sisters of the Pleiades and are called the Hyades.



The group of five stars which deck the face of the mythological Bull have the individual names of Phaola, Ambrosia, Eudora, Coronis and Pholyxo. However these names are rarely, if ever, used and the bright red star at the top of the V is generally known as Aldebaran, the name given it by the Arabian astronomers.

During ancient times there was a certain amount of ill-feeling directed toward the Hyades, just as in the case of the "mad stars" in Auriga, for it was thought that since this group of stars rose in November when the stormy weather usually began they exerted an unsettling influence on the atmosphere, which caused rain. The word itself is derived from the Greek word meaning rain.

In April when the Hyades set they also "Vext the dim sea" so by watching these stars the ancients were forewarned when the