Pleiades (Greek mythology) in the context of "Mercury (mythology)"

Hermes (/ˈhɜːrmiːz/; Ancient Greek: Ἑρμῆς) is an Olympian deity in ancient Greek religion and mythology considered the herald of the gods. He is also widely considered the protector of human heralds, travelers, thieves, merchants, and orators. He is able to move quickly and freely between the worlds of the mortal and the divine aided by his winged sandals. Hermes plays the role of the psychopomp or "soul guide"—a conductor of souls into the afterlife.

In myth, Hermes functions as the emissary and messenger of the gods, and is often presented as the son of Zeus and Maia, the Pleiad. He is regarded as "the divine trickster", about which the Homeric Hymn to Hermes offers the most well-known account.

A nymph (Ancient Greek: νύμφη, romanized: nýmphē; Attic Greek: [nýmpʰɛː]; sometimes spelled nymphe) is a minor female nature deity in ancient Greek folklore. Distinct from other Greek goddesses, nymphs are generally regarded as personifications of nature; they are typically tied to a specific place, landform, or tree, and are usually depicted as maidens. Because of their association with springs, they were often seen as having healing properties; other divine powers of the nymphs included divination and shapeshifting. In spite of their divine nature, they were not immortal.

Nymphs are divided into various broad subgroups based on their habitat, such as the Meliae (ash tree nymphs), the Dryads (oak tree nymphs), the Alseids (grove nymphs), the Naiads (spring nymphs), the Nereids (sea nymphs), the Oceanids (ocean nymphs), and the Oreads (mountain nymphs). Other nymphs included the Hesperides (evening nymphs), the Hyades (rain nymphs), and the Pleiades (companions of Artemis).

Maia (/ˈmeɪ.ə, ˈmaɪ.ə/; Ancient Greek: Μαῖα; also spelled Maie, Ancient Greek: Μαίη; Latin: Maia), in ancient Greek religion and mythology, is one of the Pleiades and the mother of Hermes, one of the major Greek gods, by Zeus, the king of Olympus.

A proper noun is a noun that identifies a single entity and is used to refer to that entity (Africa; Jupiter; Sarah; Microsoft) as distinguished from a common noun, which is a noun that refers to a class of entities (continent, planet, person, corporation) and may be used when referring to instances of a specific class (a continent, another planet, these persons, our corporation). Some proper nouns occur in plural form (optionally or exclusively), and then they refer to groups of entities considered as unique (the Hendersons, the Everglades, the Azores, the Pleiades). Proper nouns can also occur in secondary applications, for example modifying nouns (the Mozart experience; his Azores adventure), or in the role of common nouns (he's no Pavarotti; a few would-be Napoleons). The detailed definition of the term is problematic and, to an extent, governed by convention.

A distinction is normally made in current linguistics between proper nouns and proper names. By this strict distinction, because the term noun is used for a class of single words (tree, beauty), only single-word proper names are proper nouns: Peter and Africa are both proper names and proper nouns; but Peter the Great and South Africa, while they are proper names, are not proper nouns. The term common name is not much used to contrast with proper name, but some linguists have used it for that purpose. While proper names are sometimes called simply names, this term is often used more broadly: "An earlier name for tungsten was wolfram." Words derived from proper names are occasionally called proper adjectives (or proper adverbs, and so on), but not in mainstream linguistic theory. Not every noun phrase that refers to a unique entity is a proper name. For example, chastity is a common noun even though chastity is considered a unique abstract entity (constrasted with the personal name Chastity, which is a proper name).

In Greek mythology, Electra (/ɪˈlɛktrə/; Greek: Ἠλέκτρα 'amber') was one of the Pleiades, the seven daughters of Atlas and Pleione. She lived on the island of Samothrace. She had two sons, Dardanus and Iasion (or Eetion), by Zeus.

Electra was connected with the legend of the Palladium, the sacred statue, which became the talismanic protector of Troy. Electra, along with the rest of the Pleiades, were transformed into stars by Zeus. By some accounts she was the one star among seven of the constellation not easily seen because, since she could not bear to look upon the destruction of Troy, she hid her eyes, or turned away; or in her grief, she abandoned her sisters and became a comet.

In Greek mythology, Atlas (/ˈætləs/; Ancient Greek: Ἄτλας, Átlās) is a Titan condemned to hold up the heavens or sky for eternity after the Titanomachy. Atlas also plays a role in the myths of two of the greatest Greek heroes: Heracles (Hercules in Roman mythology) and Perseus. According to the ancient Greek poet Hesiod, Atlas stood at the ends of the earth in the extreme west. Later, he became commonly identified with the Atlas Mountains in northwest Africa and was said to be the first King of Mauretania (modern-day Morocco and west Algeria, not to be confused with the modern-day country of Mauritania). Atlas was said to have been skilled in philosophy, mathematics, and astronomy. In antiquity, he was credited with inventing the first celestial sphere. In some texts, he is even credited with the invention of astronomy itself.

Atlas was the son of the Titan Iapetus and the Oceanid Asia or Clymene. He was a brother of Epimetheus and Prometheus. He had many children, mostly daughters, the Hesperides, the Hyades, the Pleiades, and the nymph Calypso who lived on the island Ogygia.

In Greek mythology, Alcyone (/ælˈsaɪ.əniː/; Ancient Greek: Ἀλκυόνη, romanized: Alkyóne, derived from ἀλκυών, alkyón, "kingfisher") was the name of the following personages.

• Alcyone, one of the Pleiades seven sisters.
• Alcyone, daughter of Aeolus and wife of Ceyx.
• Alcyone, daughter of Sthenelus and Nicippe (Antibia or Archippe). She undoubtedly witnessed the results of the labors of Heracles, and she herself was indebted to the hero when he killed Hómados (Ὅμαδος) the Centaur, who had attempted to rape her.
• Cleopatra Alcyone, Meleager's wife.
• Alcyone, wife of King Chalcodon of Euboea and possible mother of Elephenor.
• Alcyone, a priestess at Argos for three generations before the Trojan War.
• Alcyone, mother of Serus and Alazygus by Halirrhotius, son of Perieres.
• Alcyone, daughter of Sciron who was killed by her father.