Merope

Merope (/ˈmɛrəpiː/; Greek Μερόπη) was originally the name of several, probably unrelated, characters in Greek mythology. The name may refer to:

Greek mythology

Books and music

Plants and animals

Heliades

In Greek mythology, the Heliades (Greek: Ἡλιάδες, "children of the sun") were the daughters of Helios and Clymene the Oceanid.

According to one version recorded by Hyginus, there were three of them: Aegiale, Aegle, and Aetheria. According to another version, there were five: Helia, Merope, Phoebe, Aetheria, and Dioxippe. Aeschylus's fragmentary "Heliades" names Phaethousa and Lampetia, who are otherwise called daughters of Neaera.

Their brother, Phaëthon, died after attempting to drive his father's chariot (the sun) across the sky. He was unable to control the horses and fell to his death (according to most accounts, Zeus struck his chariot with a thunderbolt to save the Earth from being set afire). The Heliades grieved for four months and the gods turned them into poplar trees and their tears into amber. According to some sources, their tears (amber) fell into the river Eridanos, in which Phaethon had fallen.

According to Hyginus, the Heliades were turned to poplar trees because they yoked the chariot for their brother without their father Helios' permission.

Merope (Oedipus)

In Greek mythology, Merope (/ˈmɛrəpiː/; Greek: Μερόπη) was Queen of Corinth, and wife of King Polybus.

The royal couple adopted a baby found by shepherds and named him Oedipus. To avoid the prediction of an oracle that he will kill his father and marry his mother, Oedipus goes in voluntary exile to Thebes. On his way he has a quarrel with an old man, and kills him, and for answering a riddle of the Sphinx at the entrance of Thebes gets to marry the queen dowager Jocasta. He fathers four children with Jocasta: Polynices, Eteocles, Antigone, and Ismene. He eventually finds out that the old man whom he killed on his way to Thebes was his own biological father, King Laius, husband of Jocasta, and that he fulfilled the prophecy.