Introduction
Electra is one of the seven Pleiades, daughter of the Titan Atlas and the Oceanid Pleione. Through her union with Zeus, she became the mother of Dardanus, the legendary ancestor of the Trojan royal house, giving her a foundational place in the mythic prehistory of the Trojan War. She should not be confused with the far better-known Electra, daughter of Agamemnon and Clytemnestra, a wholly separate, later mortal figure.
This figure marks the point where the genealogy of the gods gives way to the genealogy of heroes. A fuller account of their adventures belongs to a separate treatment of the Greek Heroic Cycle; this article covers their divine parentage and place in that transition.
Family
- Husband: Zeus
- Son: Dardanus
Among the Pleiades
As one of the seven star-nymph daughters of Atlas and Pleione, Electra shares in the wider mythology of that group, including their pursuit by the hunter Orion and eventual placement among the stars as the Pleiades cluster.
Mother of Dardanus
By Zeus, Electra bore Dardanus, who travelled to the region of the Troad in Asia Minor and founded the settlement that would grow into Troy's ruling dynasty, making Electra, through this single union, a direct genealogical root of the entire Trojan side of the Heroic Cycle.