| Type: | Greek |
| Consort: | Boeotia |
| Abode: | Boeotia |
| Children: | Hyades (in one account) |
| Hyas | |
| Deity Of: | Ancestor of the Hyantes (i.e. Boeotians) |
| Parents: | Atlas and Pleione or Aethra |
Hyas (Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: Ὑάς|Hūás, in Greek, Modern (1453-); pronounced as /hyːás/;), in Greek mythology, was a Boeotian who was regarded as the ancestor of the ancient Hyantes (Ὕαντες), who were the aboriginal inhabitants of Boeotia.[1] His name means rain from hyô, hyetos.
Hyas was the son of the Titan Atlas and either of the Oceanids, Pleione[2] or Aethra,[3] thus brother to the Pleiades and Hyades.[4] In one account, Hyas instead was called the father of the Hyades by Boeotia.[5]
Hyas was a notable archer who was killed by his intended prey. Some stories have him dying after attempting to rob a lion of its cubs.
''While his [i.e. Hyas] beard was fresh, stags trembled in terror before him, and the hare was welcome prey. But when years matured his manhood, he breavely closed with the shaggy lioness and the boar. He sought the lair and brood of the whelped lioness and was bloody prey to the Libyan beast.''[6]Some have Hyas killed by a serpent, but most commonly he is said to have been gored by a wild boar.[7] His sisters, the Hyades, mourned his death with so much vehemence and dedication that they died of grief. Zeus, in recognition of their familial love, took pity upon them and changed them into stars—the constellation Hyades—and placed them in the head of Taurus, where their annual rising and setting are accompanied by plentiful rain.
''HisNotes and References
- [Pliny the Elder]
- [Gaius Julius Hyginus|Hyginus]
- Hyginus, De Astronomica 2.21.4; Ovid, Fasti 5.164
- [Hesiod]
- Hyginus, De Astronomica 2.21.4 with Alexander as the authority; Eustathius ad Homer, Odyssey p. 1155
- Ovid, Fasti 5.173–178
- Hyginus, Fabulae 248