in Greek mythology, daughters of the Titan Atlas and the Oceanid Aethra, the five (or more) sisters of the Pleiades who nursed the infant wine god, Dionysus, and as a reward were made the five stars in the head of the constellation Taurus, the bull. According to another version, they so bitterly lamented the death of their brother Hyas that Zeus, out of compassion, changed them into stars. Their name means the Rainers, since they rose in October and set in April.

cluster of several hundred stars in the zodiacal constellation Taurus. As seen from Earth, the bright star Aldebaran appears to be a member of the cluster, but in fact Aldebaran is much closer to the Earth than the Hyades' distance of about 150 light-years. Five genuine members of the group are visible to the unaided eye. Their name (Greek: “the rainy ones”) is derived from the ancient association of spring rain with the season of their heliacal (near dawn) rising.