Peleiades (
Greek
Greek may refer to:
Greece
Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe:
*Greeks, an ethnic group.
*Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family.
**Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor ...
: , "
dove
Columbidae () is a bird family consisting of doves and pigeons. It is the only family in the order Columbiformes. These are stout-bodied birds with short necks and short slender bills that in some species feature fleshy ceres. They primarily ...
s") were the sacred women of
Zeus
Zeus or , , ; grc, Δῐός, ''Diós'', label= genitive Boeotian Aeolic and Laconian grc-dor, Δεύς, Deús ; grc, Δέος, ''Déos'', label= genitive el, Δίας, ''Días'' () is the sky and thunder god in ancient Greek reli ...
and the
Mother Goddess,
Dione, at the
Oracle at
Dodona
Dodona (; Doric Greek: Δωδώνα, ''Dōdṓnā'', Ionic and Attic Greek: Δωδώνη, ''Dōdṓnē'') in Epirus in northwestern Greece was the oldest Hellenic oracle, possibly dating to the second millennium BCE according to Herodotus. Th ...
.
Pindar
Pindar (; grc-gre, Πίνδαρος , ; la, Pindarus; ) was an Ancient Greek lyric poet from Thebes. Of the canonical nine lyric poets of ancient Greece, his work is the best preserved. Quintilian wrote, "Of the nine lyric poets, Pindar ...
made a reference to the
Pleiades
The Pleiades (), also known as The Seven Sisters, Messier 45 and other names by different cultures, is an asterism and an open star cluster containing middle-aged, hot B-type stars in the north-west of the constellation Taurus. At a distance ...
as the "peleiades" a flock of doves, but the connection seems witty and poetical, rather than mythic. The chariot of
Aphrodite
Aphrodite ( ; grc-gre, Ἀφροδίτη, Aphrodítē; , , ) is an ancient Greek goddess associated with love, lust, beauty, pleasure, passion, and procreation. She was syncretized with the Roman goddess . Aphrodite's major symbols inclu ...
was drawn by a flock of doves, however. A mythic element of a black dove that initiated the oracle at Dodona, which
Herodotus
Herodotus ( ; grc, , }; BC) was an ancient Greek historian and geographer
A geographer is a physical scientist, social scientist or humanist whose area of study is geography, the study of Earth's natural environment and human society ...
was told in the 5th century BC may be an attempt to account for a
folk etymology applied to the archaic name of the sacred women that no longer made sense (an
aitiological myth). Perhaps the ''pel-'' element in their name was originally connected with "black" or "muddy" root elements in names like
Peleus
In Greek mythology, Peleus (; Ancient Greek: Πηλεύς ''Pēleus'') was a hero, king of Phthia, husband of Thetis and the father of their son Achilles. This myth was already known to the hearers of Homer in the late 8th century BC.
Biogra ...
or
Pelops
In Greek mythology, Pelops (; ) was king of Pisa in the Peloponnesus region (, lit. "Pelops' Island"). He was the son of Tantalus and the father of Atreus.
He was venerated at Olympia, where his cult developed into the founding myth of the O ...
and
peliganes Peliganes (GreekΠελιγᾶνες''Peliganes'') is the word used to refer to the Ancient Macedonian senators. The term is attested to in Hesychius, Strabo and two inscriptions (in dative peligasi), one from Dion and one from Laodicea. From ...
(Epirotian, Macedonian senators), Attic ''polios'', Doric ''peleios'' grey, old,
PIE *pel-, "gray". Peleiades are often confused with the
nymphs
A nymph ( grc, νύμφη, nýmphē, el, script=Latn, nímfi, label=Modern Greek; , ) in ancient Greek folklore is a minor female nature deity. Different from Greek goddesses, nymphs are generally regarded as personifications of nature, are ...
Pleiades.
[Hutchinson]
p. 90
See also
*
Ancient Epirotes
*
Pythia
Pythia (; grc, Πυθία ) was the name of the high priestess of the Temple of Apollo at Delphi. She specifically served as its oracle and was known as the Oracle of Delphi. Her title was also historically glossed in English as the Pythoness ...
*
Hiereiai
Hiereiai (singular: ''hiereia'') was the title of the female priesthood or priestesses in ancient Greek religion, being the equivalent of the male title '' Hierei''. Ancient Greece had a number of different offices in charge of worship of gods a ...
References
Sources
*Athenaeus (translated by Charles Duke Yonge). ''The Deipnosophists, Or, Banquet of the Learned of Athenaeus''. Henry G. Bohn, 1867 (Original from Harvard University).
*Hutchinson, G. O. ''Greek Lyric Poetry: A Commentary on Selected Larger Pieces''. Oxford University Press, 2001.
External links
Greek Myth Index - Peleiades
{{authority control
Classical oracles
Ancient Greek seers
Religion in ancient Epirus
Ancient Greek priestesses