Ὑάδες
Huades

Greek noun

Last edited: 2025-07-14
Primary meaning Hyades
Literal translation Hyades
Variants
Ὑάδες Huades
Ὑάς Huas singular, used by Hephaistion 1.3
Edited by

Hyades constellation

not necessarily identical to the modern constellation

Ἐν μὲν γαῖαν ἔτευξ᾽, ἐν δ᾽ οὐρανόν, ἐν δὲ θάλασσαν, ἠέλιόν τ᾽ ἀκάμαντα σελήνην τε πλήθουσαν, ἐν δὲ τὰ τείρεα πάντα, τά τ᾽ οὐρανὸς ἐστεφάνωται, Πληϊάδας θ᾽ Ὑάδας τε τό τε σθένος Ὠρίωνος Ἄρκτόν θ᾽, ἣν καὶ Ἄμαξαν ἐπίκλησιν καλέουσιν, ἥ τ᾽ αὐτοῦ στρέφεται καί τ᾽ Ὠρίωνα δοκεύει, οἴη δ᾽ ἄμμορός ἐστι λοετρῶν Ὠκεανοῖο.

‘On it he produced the earth, and on it the sky, and on it the sea, and the untiring sun and the full moon, and on it all the constellations, that the sky is wreathed with: the Pleiades as well as the Hyades as well as the might of Orion as well as the Bear, which they call Wagon as additional name, and which revolves around itself and keeps an eye on Orion, and which alone is without share of baths in Ocean.’

— Homer, Iliad 18.483-489

Genre: epic
Date: 8th century BCE

Homer. 1920. Homeri Opera in five volumes, eds. D.B. Monro & T.W. Allen. Oxford: Oxford University Press.


Hyades (α+θ+γ+δ+ε Tauri) part of constellation

corresponding to α+θ+γ+δ+ε Tauri when defined as 5 stars (Geminus)

Οἱ μὲν γὰρ ἐπὶ τοῦ Ταύρου ἐπὶ τοῦ νώτου αὐτοῦ κείμενοι ἀστέρες τὸν ἀριθμὸν ϛʹ καλοῦνται Πλειάδες· οἱ δὲ ἐπὶ τοῦ βουκράνου τοῦ Ταύρου κείμενοι ἀστέρες τὸν ἀριθμὸν εʹ καλοῦνται Ὑάδες.

‘Thus the stars lying on Taurus, on its back, 6 in number, are called Pleiades; and the stars lying on the bull’s head of Taurus, 5 in number, are called Hyades.’

— Geminus 3.3

Genre: astronomy
Date: 1st century BCE

Geminus. 1975. Géminos, Introduction aux Phénomènes, ed. G. Aujac. Paris: Les Belles Lettres. 18


Cite this entry
APA (7th)
Peeters, T. (2025). Ὑάδες (Lemma #1301). The ZODIAC Glossary: A Cross-Cultural Glossary of Ancient Astral Science. https://zodiacglossary.github.io/lemma/1301/

Chicago (Author-Date)
Peeters, T. (2025). Ὑάδες (Lemma #1301). The ZODIAC Glossary: A Cross-Cultural Glossary of Ancient Astral Science. https://zodiacglossary.github.io/lemma/1301/

MLA (9th)
Peeters, T. (2025). Ὑάδες (Lemma #1301). The ZODIAC Glossary: A Cross-Cultural Glossary of Ancient Astral Science. https://zodiacglossary.github.io/lemma/1301/

Harvard
Peeters, T. (2025) Ὑάδες (Lemma #1301), The ZODIAC Glossary: A Cross-Cultural Glossary of Ancient Astral Science. Available at: https://zodiacglossary.github.io/lemma/1301/ (Accessed: December 1, 2025).

BibTeX
@misc{zodiac1301,
	note = {[Online; accessed 2025-12-01]},
	author = {Peeters, Thomas},
	year = {2025},
	title = {Ὑάδες ({Lemma} #1301)},
	url = {https://zodiacglossary.github.io/lemma/1301/},
	howpublished = {https://zodiacglossary.github.io/lemma/1301/},
}