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THE IMMORTALS of the Ancient Greek pantheon can be divided into roughly eight classes. THE FIRST of these were the PROTOGENOI or First Born gods. These were the primeval beings who emerged at creation to form the very fabric of universe: Earth, Sea, Sky, Night, Day, etc. Although they were divinites they were purely elemental in form: Gaia was the literal Earth, Pontos the Sea, and Ouranos the Dome of Heaven. However they were sometimes represented assuming anthroporphic shape, albeit ones that were indivisible from their native element. Gaia the earth, for example, might manifest herself as a matronly woman half-risen from the ground ; and Thalassa the sea might lift her head above the waves in the shape of a sea-formed woman.

THE GODS

THE SECOND were the nature DAIMONES (Spirits) and NYMPHAI who nurtured life in the four elements. E.g. fresh-water Naiades, forest Dryades, beast-loving Satyroi, marine Tritones, etc. THE THIRD were the body- and mind-affecting DAIMONES (Spirits). E.g. Sleep (Hypnos), Love (Eros), Joy (Euphrosyne), Hate (Eris), Fear (Phobos), Death (Thanatos), Old Age (Geras), etc. THE FOURTH class consisted of the THEOI (Gods) who controlled the forces of nature and bestowed civilised arts upon mankind. THEOI OURANIOI (Sky Gods). E.g. Helios (Sun), Anemoi (Winds), etc. THEOI HALIOI (Sea Gods). E.g. The Nereides, Triton, Glaukos, etc. THEOI KHTHONIOI (Underworld Gods). E.g. Persephone, Hekate, etc. THEOI GEORGIKOI (Agricultural Earth Gods). E.g. Ploutos, etc. THEOI NOMIOI (Pastoral Earth Gods). E.g. Pan, Aristaios, etc. THEOI POLIKOI (City Gods). E.g. Hestia, Eunomia, etc. THEOI OLYMPIOI (Olympian Gods). E.g. The Mousai, Hebe, etc. THEOI TITANES (Titan Gods). E.g. Themis, Kronos, Prometheus, etc. APOTHEOTHENAI (Deified Mortals). E.g. Herakles, Asklepios, etc.

THE GODS

THE FIFTH were the 12 OLYMPIAN GODS who governed the universe and commanded the legions of lesser gods and spirits. They were, namely, Zeus, Hera, Poseidon, Demeter, Artemis, Apollon, Ares, Athene, Aphrodite, Hephaistos, Hermes, Dionysos, and Hestia. THE SIXTH of the immortals were the spirits of the CONSTELLATIONS which circed the heavenly night sky. Every constellation, including the twelve signs of the Zodiac, was possessed of one or more spirits EG Saggitarius was the centaur Kheiron, Gemini the Dioskouroi Twins, etc. THE SEVENTH class consisted of the fabulous MONSTERS, BEASTS, GIANTS of myth. They were semi-divine creatures, closely related to the gods.E.g.GIGANTES (Giants), DRAKONES (Dragons), Kentauroi (Centaurs), Kerberos (Cerberus), Sphinx, Sirens, etc. THE GODS THE EIGHTH were the HEROI HEMITHEOI (Semi-Divine Heroes) who were worshipped after death as minor divinities. They included great heroes like Akhilleus, Theseus and Perseus; heroines such as Alkmene, Helene and Baubo; and founding kings like Erikhthonios, Kadmos and Pelops. There were many divinities in the Greek pantheon who fell into more than one of these categories.

Tykhe (Lady Fortune), for example, can easily be classified under category Two as an Okeanis Nymphe, Three as fortune personified, and Four as a popularly worshipped goddess.

KEY TO THE DEITY-SUMMARIES BELOW NAME Transliterated Greek spelling of the god's name. Modern Spellings: Spellings of the name in modern languages : En = English; Fr = French; Es = Spanish; It = Italian Roman Name: The Roman name of the god God of: The god's general spheres of influence Parents: The usual parentage of the god in myth Spouse: The wife or husband of the god Offspring: The significant divine offspring of the god Animals: The god's sacred animals (beasts, birds and/or fish) Plants: Trees, shrubs, flowers and herbs held sacred to the god Iconography: Usual attributes of the god in Greek vase painting, relief and sculpture Images: Location of images of the deity on the Theoi site GODS vs GIANTS Theoi Pages: Links to pages on this site containing more detailed descriptions of the god, his/her mythology, and cult. The linked to pages contain quotes from a wide range of classical literature, as well as images of the deity in classical art. Click on the numbers 1 - 2 - 3 ... Thumbnail Image: The majority of these images come from C5th - C4th BC Greek vase paintings. The mosaics and frescoes are from the Imperial Roman era. Click on the thumbs to view the full size image.

(I) THE TWELVE OLYMPIAN GODS The Greek Pantheon was ruled by a council of twelve great gods known as the Olympians, namely Zeus, Hera, Poseidon, Demeter, Athene, Hephaistos, Ares, Aphrodite, Apollon, Artemis, Hermes, Dionysos, and sometimes Hestia. These twelve gods demanded worship from all their subjects. Those who failed to honour any one of the Twelve with due sacrifice and libation were duly punished. Directly and through a host of divine minions the Twelve gods governed all aspects of human life. ZEUS Modern Spellings: Zeus (En, Fr, Es, It) Roman Name: Jupiter, Jove God of: King of Heaven, Sky, Weather, Fate, Kingship Parents: Titan Kronos & Titanis Rhea Spouse: Hera Offspring: Athene, Apollon, Artemis, Ares, Aphrodite, Hermes, Dionysos, Herakles, others see pg 2 (below) Animals: Golden eagle, Wolf Plants: Oak, Celery Iconography: Lightning bolt, Lotus staff, Eagle, Oak wreath Images: Vase paintings & mosaics pg 1; statues pgs 5-7 (below) Theoi Pages: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5 - 6 - 7 - 8 - 9 (other pages still under construction) POSEIDON Modern Spell.: Poseidon (En), Posidon (Fr), Poseidn (Es), Poseidone (It) Roman Name: Neptunus (Neptune) God of: King of the Seas, Rivers, Earthquakes, Horses Parents: Titan Kronos & Titanis Rhea Spouse: Amphitrite Offspring: Triton, others see pg 2 (below) Animals: Horse, Bull, Dolphin

ZEUS

Plants: Seaweed, Pine Tree Iconography: Trident, Fish Images: Vase paintings & mosaics pg 1; statues pgs 5- 6(below) Theoi Pages: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5 - 6 (other pages still under construction) HERA Modern Spellings: Hera (En, Es), Hra (Fr), Era (It) Roman Name: Juno Goddess of: Queen of Heaven, the Sky, Women, Marriage, Impregnation Parents: Titan Kronos & Titanis Rhea Spouse: Zeus Offspring: Ares, Hephaistos, Eileithyia, Hebe, others see pg 2 (below) Animals: Cuckoo, Peacock, Crane, Hawk, Cow (Heifer), Lion Plants: Chaste Tree, Pomegranate Iconography: Lotus staff, Crown, Lion Images: Vase paintings & mosaics pg 2; statues pg 4-5 (below) Theoi Pages: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5 (other pages still under construction) DEMETER Modern Spellings: Demeter (En), Dmter (Fr), Demter (Es), Demetra (It) Roman Name: Ceres Goddess of: Agriculture, Grain & Bread, The Afterlife Parents: Titan Kronos & Titanis Rhea Spouse: None Offspring: Persephone, Ploutos, others see pg 8 (below) Animals: Serpent, Swine, Gecko Plants: Wheat, Barley, Poppy, Mint Iconography: Grain Sheaf, Lotus Staff, Torch, Cornucopia Images: Vase paintings pg 2; statues pgs 10-12 (below) Theoi Pages: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5 - 6 - 7 - 8 - 9 - 10 - 11 - 12 - 13 APOLLON Modern Spellings: Apollo (En, It), Apollon (Fr), Apolo (Es) Roman Name: Apollo God of: Music, Prophecy, Education, Healing & Disease Parents: God Zeus and Titanis Leto Spouse: None Offspring: Asklepios, others see pg 2 (below) Animals: Swan, Raven, Mouse, Wolf Plants: Laurel, Larkspur Iconography: Lyre, Laurel wreath or branch, Bow & arrows, Delphic tripod Images: Vase paintings & mosaics pg 1; statues pgs 4-8 (below) Theoi Pages: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5 - 6 - 7 - 8 - 9 (other pages still under construction) ARTEMIS Modern Spellings: Artemis (En), Artmis (Fr), Artemisa (Es), Artemide (It) Roman Name: Diana Goddess of: Hunting, Wild Animals, Children, Choirs, Disease Parents: God Zeus & Titanis Leto Spouse: None (Virgin Goddess) Children: None (Virgin Goddess) Animals: Deer, Bear, Wild boar, Guinea fowl, Quail Plants: Cypress, Walnut, Amaranth-flower Iconography: Bow & arrows, Hunting spears, Lyre, Deer Images: Vase paintings & mosaics pg 2; statues pgs 12-15 (below) Theoi Pages: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5 - 6 - 7 - 8 - 9 - 10 - 11 - 12 - 13 - 14 - 15 - 16 ATHENE

HERA

POSEIDON DEMETER

APOLLON

ARTEMIS

Modern Spellings: Athena (En), Athna (Fr), Atenea (Es), Atena (It) Roman Name: Minerva Goddess of: Warcraft, Heroism, Counsel, Pottery, Weaving, Olives & Oil Parents: God Zeus & Titanis Metis Spouse: None (Virgin Goddess) Offspring: None (Virgin Goddess) Animals: Little Owl, Crow Plants: Olive Tree Iconography: Greek helmet, Aigis (Goat-skin breastplate), Spear Images: Vase paintings see pg 1; statues pgs 2-5 (below) Theoi Pages: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5 - 6 (other pages still under construction) ARES Modern Spellings: Ares (En, Es, It), Ars (Fr) Roman Name: Mars God of: War, Battle, Manliness Parents: God Zeus & Goddess Hera Spouse: Perhaps Aphrodite Offspring: Deimos, Phobos, others see pg 8 (below) Animals: Serpent, Vulture, Woodpecker, Eagle-owl Plants: Perhaps Manna Ash Iconography: Helmet, Spear Images: Vase paintings, mosaics & statues pg 2 (below) Theoi Pages: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5 - 6 - 7 - 8 - 9 - 10 - 11 - 12 APHRODITE Modern Spellings: Aphrodite (En, Fr), Afrodita (Es), Afrodite (It) Roman Name: Venus Goddess of: Love, Beauty, Pleasure, Procreation Parents: God Zeus & Titanis Dione; or Born of the Sea-Foam Spouse: Hephaistos, perhaps later Ares Offspring: Eros, others see pg 10 (below) Animals: Turtle dove, Sparrow, Goose, Hare Plants: Apple Tree, Rose, Myrtle, Myrrh Tree, Anemone, Lettuce Iconography: Eros (winged godling), Apple, Dove Images: Vase paintings & mosaics pg 2; statue see pg 16-17 (below) Theoi Pages: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5 - 6 - 7 - 8 - 9 - 10 - 11- 12 - 13 - 14 - 15 - 16 17 - 18 HERMES Modern Spellings: Hermes (En, Es), Herms (Fr), Ermes (It) Roman Name: Mercurius (Mercury) God of: Animal Husbandry, Travel, Trade, Athletics, Language, Thievery, Good Luck, Guide of the Dead, Herald of the Gods Parents: God Zeus & Nymphe Maia Spouse: None Children: Pan, others see pg 9 (below) Animals: Tortoise, Sheep, Cattle, Hawk Plants: Crocus, Strawberry Tree Iconography: Kerykeion (Herald's Rod), Traveller's Cap, Winged Boots Images: Vase paintings & mosaics pg 2; statues pg 12 (below) Theoi Pages: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5 - 6 - 7 - 8 - 9 - 10 - 11 - 12 - 13 HEPHAISTOS Modern Spell.: Hephaestus (En), Hphastos (Fr), Hefesto (Es), Efesto (It) Roman Name: Vulcanus (Vulcan) God of: Metalworking, Fire, Building, Scupture, Volcanism Parents: Goddess Hera (no father)

ATHENE

ARES

APHRODITE

HERMES

Spouse: Aphrodite or Kharis Offspring: See pg 6 (below) Animals: Donkey, Crane Plants: Fennel Iconography: Hammer, Tongs, Anvil, Donkey, Crane-head Images: Vase paintings pg 2; statue pg 11 (below) Theoi Pages: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5 - 6 - 7 - 8 - 9 - 10 - 11 DIONYSOS Modern Spellings: Dionysus (En, Fr), Dioniso (Es), Dionysio (It) Roman Name: Liber, Bacchus God of: Wine, Drunkenness, Madness, Parties, Vegetation, The Afterlife Parents: God Zeus & Princess Semele Spouse: Ariadne Offspring: See pg 10 (below) Animals: Leopard, Lynx, Tiger, Serpent, Bull, Goat, Donkey Plants: Grape-vine, Ivy, Bindweed, Silver Fir Iconography: Thyrsos (pine-cone tipped staff), Grapes, Ivy wreath, Leopard Images: Vase paintings & mosaics pg 2; statues pgs 13-14 (below) Theoi Pages: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5 - 6 - 7 - 8 - 9 - 10 - 11 - 12 - 13 - 14 - 15 HESTIA Modern Spellings: Hestia (En, Fr, Es), Estia (It) Roman Name: Vesta Goddess of: Home, Hearth, Family, Meals, Sacrificial offerings Parents: Titan Kronos & Titanis Rhea Spouse: None (Virgin Goddess) Offspring: None (Virgin Goddess) Animals: Swine Plants: Chaste Tree Iconography: Chaste tree branch, Head veil, Kettle Images: Vase paintings & statues pg 2 (below) Theoi Pages: 1 - 2

DIONYSOS

HEPHAISTOS

HESTIA

(II) KING & QUEEN OF THE DEAD The thirteenth of the great gods was Haides, King of the Dead. Unlike the other 12, he was never titled Olympian, nor did he partake in the feasts of Heaven. Instead this lord remained ever enthroned within the gloom of the underworld. HAIDES Modern Spellings: Hades (En, Es), Hads (Fr), Ade (It) Roman Name: Pluto, Dis God of: King of the Underworld, the Dead, Death Parents: Titan Kronos & Titanis Rhea Spouse: Persephone Offspring: See pg 1 (below) Animals: Screech owl Plants: Asphodel, Mint, White Poplar Iconography: Cornucopia, Bird-tipped staff Images: Vase paintings pg 1 (below) Theoi Pages: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5 - 6 - 7 PERSEPHONE Modern Spellings: Persephone (En), Persphone (Fr), Persfone (Es), Persefone (It)

HAIDES

Roman Name: Proserpina Goddess of: Queen of the Underworld, the Afterlife, Spring Growth, Grain Parents: God Zeus & Goddess Demeter Spouse: Haides Offspring: See pg 1 (below) Animals: Screech owl Plants: Wheat, Narcissus, Black Poplar, Mint, Asphodel Iconography: Eleusinian torch or torches, Wheat sheafs Images: Vase paintings pg 1 (below) Theoi Pages: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5 - 6 - 7 - 8 - 9

(III) OTHER IMPORTANT GODS The other Gods and Spirits of the Pantheon fell within the sphere of one or more of the twelve great Olympians. They essentially functioned as minions and, servants of the greater gods. The most important of these gods appear below. HEKATE Modern Spellings: Hecate (En), Hcate (Fr, Es), Ecate (It) Roman Name: Hecate, Trivia Goddess of: Witchcraft, Ghosts Parents: Titan Perses & Titanis Asteria Spouse: None (perhaps a Virgin Goddess) Offspring: See pg 1 (below) Plants: Herbs, Asphodel Animals: Dog, Weasel, Polecat Iconography: Twin torches, Triple body Images: Vase paintings pg 1 (below) Theoi Pages: 1 - 2 THE 3 ERINYES (Furies) Modern Spellings: Erinyes, Erinnyes (En, Fr), Erinias (Es), Erinni (It) Roman Name: Furiae Goddesses of: Punishment, Retribution Parents: Protogenos Ouranos & Protogenos Gaia Names: Alekto, Megaira, Tisiphone Animals: Poisonous serpent, Screech owl Plants: Elm, Yew Iconography: Serpentine hair, Poison serpents, Wings, Whip Images: Vase paintings pgs 1, 2 & 4 (below) Theoi Pages: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5 - 6 HELIOS Modern Spellings: Helius (En), Hlios (Fr), Helios (Es), Elo (It) Roman Name: Sol God of: the Sun Parents: Titan Helios & Titanis Thea Spouse: Rhode Offspring: Phaethon, others see pg 3 (below) Animals: Rooster, White Horse Plants: Heliotrope, Frankincense Iconography: Aureole (sun crown) Images: Vase paintings & mosaics pg 1 (below) Theoi Pages: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5 - 6 GAIA

PERSEPHONE

HEKATE

THE ERINYES

HELIOS

Modern Spellings: Gaea (En), Gaia (Fr, Es), Gea (It) Roman Name: Terra, Tellus Goddess of: the Earth Parents: None (Emerged at Creation) Spouse: Ouranos Offspring: Ouranos (Sky), Pontos (Sea), the Titanes, the Erinyes, the Kyklopes, the Hekatonkheires, the Gigantes, others see pg 1 (below) Animals: Plants: Iconography: Half risen from earth Images: Vase paintings & mosaics pg 1 (below) Theoi Pages: 1 RHEA Modern Spellings: Rhea (En, Fr), Rea (Es, It) Roman Name: Ops Goddess of: Mother of the Gods, Motherhood, Mountains Parents: Protogenos Ouranos & Protogenos Gaia Spouse: Kronos Offspring: Zeus, Poseidon, Haides, Hera, Demeter, Hestia Animals: Lion Plants: Silver Fir Iconography: Turret crown, Lions Images: Vase paintings pg 1; statues pg 6 (below) Theoi Pages: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5 - 6 THEMIS Modern Spellings: Themis (En), Thmis (Fr), Temis (Es), Temi (It) Roman Name: Themis Goddess of: Custom, Order, Prophecy Parents: Protogenos Ouranos & Protogenos Gaia Spouse: Zeus Offspring: Horai, Moirai, others see pg 1 (below) Animals: Plants: Iconography: Delphic tripod Images: Vase paintings pg 1 (below) Theoi Pages: 1 LETO Modern Spellings: Leto (En, Es, It), Lt (Fr) Roman Name: Latona Goddess of: Motherhood, Womanly Demure Parents: Titan Koios & Titanis Phoibe Spouse: None (consort of Zeus) Offspring: Apollon, Artemis Animals: Rooster, Weasel (Ichneumon) Plants: Date Palm Iconography: Head veil Images: Vase paintings pg 1 (below) Theoi Pages: 1 - 2 PAN Modern Spellings: Pan (En, Fr, Es, It) Roman Name: Faunus God of: Herds & Flocks, Mountain Wilderness Parents: God Hermes & Nymphe Penelopeia Spouse: Aix

GAIA

RHEA

THEMIS

LETO

Offspring: See pg 1 (below) Animals: Goat, Sheep Plants: Pine Tree, Reeds Iconography: Pan-pipes, Goat legs, Horns Images: Vase paintings & fresco pg 1; statues pg 2 (below) Theoi Pages: 1 - 2 EILEITHYIA Modern Spellings: Ilithyia (En), Ilithye (Fr), Ilita (Es), Ilizia (It) Roman Name: Lucina Goddess of: Childbirth, Pregnancy & Labour Parents: God Zeus & Goddess Hera Spouse: None Offspring: See pg 1 (below) Animals: Weasel (Ichneumon) Plants: Iconography: Raised hands Images: Vase paintings pg 1 (below) Theoi Pages: 1 EROS Modern Spellings: Eros (En, Fr, Es, It) Roman Name: Cupidus (Cupid), Amor God of: Love, Sexual Desire Parents: Goddess Aphrodite & (father variously named) Spouse: Psykhe Offspring: See pg 1 (below) Animals: Hare Plants: Apple, Rose, Myrtle Iconography: Wings, Bow & arrows, Torch, Myrtle wreath Images: Vase paintings & mosaics pgs 1 & 3; statues pg 4 (below) Theoi Pages: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 AMPHITRITE Modern Spellings: Amphitrite (En, Fr), Anfitrite (Es, It) Roman Name: Salacia Goddess of: Queen of the Sea, Sea Life (fish, shellfish, sea-mammals) Parents: Sea-God Nereus & Nymphe Doris Spouse: Poseidon Offspring: Triton, others see pg 1 (below) Animals: Dolphin, Fish, Seal Plants: Seaweed Iconography: Dolphin, Fish, Pinched fingers Images: Vase paintings & mosaics pg 1 (below) Theoi Pages: 1 - 2 ASKLEPIOS Modern Spellings: Asclepius (En), Asclpios (Fr), Asclepio (Es, It) Roman Name: Aesculapius God of: Medicine, Healing Parents: God Apollon & Princess Koronis Spouse: Epione Offspring: See pg 1 (below) Animals: Serpent Plants: Herbs (healing) Iconography: Serpent-entwined staff Images: Mosaics pg 1; statues pg 2 (below) Theoi pages: 1 - 2

EILEITHYIA

PAN

EROS

AMPHITRITE

ASKLEPIOS

THE 9 MOUSAI (Muses) Modern Spellings: Muses (En, Fr), Musas (Es), Muse (It) Roman Name: Musae Goddesses of: Music, Song, Dancing, the Arts Parents: God Zeus & Titanis Mnemosyne Names: Kleio, Euterpe, Thaleia, Melpomene, Terpsikhore, Erato, Polyhymnia, Ourania, Kalliope Animals: Dove Plants: Iconography: Lyre (cithara & barbiton), Laurel wreath, Scroll-chest, Scroll Images: Vase paintings & mosaics pgs 1, 4, 8 & 9; statues pg 11 (below) Theoi Pages: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5 - 6 - 7 - 8 - 9 - 10 - 11 THE 3 KHARITES (Graces) Modern Spellings: Charites (En, Fr), Crites (Es), Carite (It) Roman Name: Gratiae Goddesses of: Joy, Mirth, Beauty, Adornment, Festivities, Dancing Parents: God Zeus & Titanis Eurynome Names: Aglaia, Euphrosyne, Thaleia Animals: Plants: Iconography: Dancing circle Images: Mosaics & frescoes pg 1; statues pg 6 (below) Theoi Pages: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5 - 6 THE 3 HORAI (Seasons) Modern Spellings: Horae (En), Heures (Fr), Horas (Es), Ore (It) Roman Name: Horae Goddesses of: the Seasons, Law, Good Order, Peace Parents: God Zeus & Titanis Themis Names: Eirene, Dike, Eunomia Animals: Plants: Fruit trees Iconography: Branches of fruit & blossoms, Basket of fruit, Cornucopia Images: Vase paintings & mosaics pg 1; statue pg 3 (below) Theoi Pages: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 THE 3 MOIRAI (Fates) Modern Spellings: Moirae (En), Moires (Fr), Moras (Es), Moire (It) Roman Name: Parcae Goddesses of: Fate, Destiny Parents: God Zeus & Titanis Themis Names: Klotho, Lakhesis, Atropos Offspring: None (Virgin goddesses) Animals: Plants: Iconography: Spinning spool, Thread, Shears Images: Currently none Theoi Pages: 1 HERAKLES THEOS Modern Spellings: Heracles (En, Es), Hracls (Fr), Eracle (It) Roman Name: Hercules God of: Defender against Evil Parents: God Zeus & Princess Alkmene Spouse: Hebe Offspring: Numerous mortal offspring

THE MOUSAI

THE KHARITES

THE HORAI

Animals: Plants: White Poplar Iconography: Lion skin cape, Gnarled club Images: Vase paintings see all pages below; statues see God pgs 1 - 3 Theoi Pages 12 Labours: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5 - 6 - 7 - 8 - 9 - 10 - 11 - 12 Theoi Pages Other Adventures: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5 - 6 - 7 - 8 - 9 - 10 - 11 - 12 Theoi Pages God: 1 - 2 - 3 OTHER MINOR GODS For hundreds of other minor gods and spirits see the A-Z Guide. Those listed here on the Pantheon page were the best known and most widely worshipped gods of ancient Greece.

HERAKLES

PROTOGENOI
Area : Greek Mythology : Gods & Goddesses : Primeval Gods The primeval gods or "Protogenoi" of Greek mythology were the basic components of the universe which were emerged at creation. They included Earth, Air, Sea, Sky, Fresh Water, Underworld, Darkness, Night, Light, Day, Procreation and Time.

ANANKE NECESSITY

CHRONOS TIME

EROS PROCREATION

GAEA EARTH

HEMERA DAY

NYX NIGHT

OCEANUS WATER

OUREA MOUNTAINS

PONTUS SEA

TETHYS NURSING

THALASSA SEA

URANUS SKY

GREEK & ROMAN NAMES GREEK Aether Ananke Chaos Chronos Erebus Eros Gaea Hemera Nyx ROMAN Ether Necessitas Chaos Saturn Erebus Amor Tellus Dies Nox

Oceanus Phanes Phusis Pontus Tartarus Tethys Thalassa Uranus

Oceanus Phanes Natura Pontus Tartarus Tethys Mare Caelus *

* The Romans preferred the Greek name Uranus over the Latin Caelus for this god.

A COMPLETE LIST OF PRIMEVAL GODS OR PROTOGENOI The first born of the immortals, who formed the very fabric of the universe, were known in Greek mythology as the Protogenoi (protos meaning "first," and genos "born"). They were, for the most part, purely elemental beings - Uranus was the literal sky, Gaea the body of the earth, etc. A few of them were ocassionally described or portrayed in anthropomorphic form, however these forms were inevitably inseperable from their native element. For example Gaea or Thalassa might appear as a woman half risen from the earth or sea. AETHER (Aither) The Protogenos of the mists of light which fill the upper zones of air. His element lay beneath the arch of heaven's dome, but high above the airs of the mortal realm. ANANKE The Protogeonos of inevitability, compulsion and necessity. She was the mate of Chronus (Time) and like him was an incorporeal, serpentine being who twisted circling around the whole of creation. CHAOS (Khaos) The Protogenos of the lower air. She filled the gap between the bright mists of the heavenly aither and the floor of the earth. From Chaos were descended the other airs: Erebus (darkness), Nyx (night), Aether (light), Hemera (day); as well as the birds. Only late classical writers describe Khaos as a primeval mixture of the elements. CHRONOS (Khronos) The Protogenos of time was the very first being to emerge at creation self-formed. He was a three-headed, incorporeal being with serpentine tail, who circled the whole of creation, entwined with his consort Ananke. EREBUS (Erebos) The Protogenos of the mists of darkness. His dark element was sunk into the hollows of the earth, and encircled the dismal realm of the underworld. EROS The Protegonos of generation. He was known as Phanes or Protogonos, distinguishing him from the younger Eros, Aphrodite's son. He was one of the first beings to emerge at creation, and caused the universe to procreate.

GAEA (Gaia) The Protogenos of the earth. Mother Earth emerged at the beginning of creation to form the foundation of the universe. Gaea was one of the few Protogenoi to be depicted in anthropomorphic form, however even as such she was shown as a woman partially risen from the ground, inseperable from her native form. HEMERA The Protogenos of the day, rose up from the ends of the earth to scatter the dark mists of night, spread across the heavens by her mother Nyx, and reveal to the earth below the bright shining blue of the Aether, her protogenic consort. HYDROS The Protogenos of water. Together with the earth he formed the primeval Mud. Hydros was usually equated with the earth-encircling, freshwater Titan Oceanus. NESOI The Protogenoi of the islands. Their rocky forms were broken from the earth by Poseidon and cast into the sea. NYX The Protogenos of night, Nyx drew the dark mists of her consort, Erebus, across the heavens at night, cloaking the bright light of the heavenly aether. Her anthropomorphic form was of a woman clothed in star-spangled mantle. OCEANUS (Okeanos) The Protogenos of the great earth-encircling, freshwater river Oceanus. From his flow every river, spring and rain-bearing cloud was sprung. His anthropomorphic form was that of a horned man with the tail of a serpentine fish in place of legs. OUREA The Protogenoi of the mountains. Their rocky forms were born of Gaea the Earth. PHANES The Protogenos of generation, the creator-god. He was sprung from a silver egg, the seed of creation, at the beginning of time, and set the universe in order. Phanes was also named Eros or simply Protogonos (the First Born). According to some Zeus swallowed him whole o gain supremacy over the universe. PHUSIS The Protogenos of nature. "Mother Nature" was one of the first beings to emerge at creation. She was related to both Gaea and Tethys. PONTUS (Pontos) The Protogenos of the sea. He sprung from Gaea the Earth at the beginning of creation, when the elements of the universe were set in their proper order. TARTARUS (Tartaros) The Protogenos of the great stormy pit which lay beneath the roots of the earth. He was the anti-heaven: just as the dome of heaven arched high above the earth, Tartarus arched beneath her. The Titans were imprisoned in his depths. TETHYS The Protogenos of the flow of fresh-water. She was an aspect of allnourishing Mother Nature. From Tethys and her husband Oceanus the rivers, springs and clouds drew their waters. THALASSA The Protogenos of the sea or sea's surface. She was born of Aether (light) and Hemera (day). Mixing with the deep waters of Pontus (sea)

Thalassa spawned the schools of fish. THESIS The Protogenos of creation. She was similar to Tethys, Mother Nature's great nurse. URANUS (Ouranos) The Protogenos of the solid dome of heaven, whose form stretched from one horizon to the other. He sprung forth from Gaea the Earth at the beginning of creation. Later his son Cronus, seized and castrated him, as he descended to consort with Mother Earth.

COSMOGONY OF HESIOD "Declare to me from the beginning, you Mousai who dwell in the house of Olympos, and tell me which of them first came to be. In truth at first Khaos (Air) came to be, but next wide-bosomed Gaia (Earth), the ever-sure foundation of all the deathless ones who hold the peaks of snowy Olympos, and dim Tartaros (the Pit) in the depth of the wide-pathed Earth, and Eros (Love), fairest among the deathless gods, who unnerves the limbs and overcomes the mind and wise counsels of all gods and all men within them. From Khaos (Air) came forth Erebos (Darkness) and black Nyx (Night); but of Nyx (Night) were born Aither (Light) and Hemera (Day), whom she conceived and bore from union in love with Erebos. And Gaia (Earth) first bore starry Ouranos (Heaven), equal to herself, to cover her on every side, and to be an ever-sure abiding-place for the blessed gods. And she brought forth long Ourea (Mountains), graceful haunts of the goddess Nymphai who dwell amongst the glens of the hills. She bore also the fruitless deep with his raging swell, Pontos (Sea), without sweet union of love. But afterwards he [Gaia, Earth] lay with Ouranos (Heaven) and bare deepswirling Okeanos, Koios and Krios and Hyperion and Iapetos, Theia and Rhea, Themis and Mnemosyne and gold-crowned Phoibe and lovely Tethys. After them was born Kronos the wily." - Hesiod, Theogony 115

COSMOGONY OF ARISTOPHANES "At the beginning there was only Khaos (Air), Nyx (Night), dark Erebos (Darkness), and deep Tartaros (Hell's Pit). Ge (Earth), Aer (Air) and Ouranos (Heaven) had no existence. Firstly, black-winged Nyx (Night) laid a germless egg in the bosom of the infinite deeps of Erebos (Darkness), and from this, after the revolution of long ages, sprang the graceful Eros (Love) with his glittering golden wings, swift as the whirlwinds of the tempest. He mated in deep Tartaros (Hell-Pit) with dark Khaos (Air), winged like himself, and thus hatched forth our race [the birds], which was the first to see the light. That of the Immortals did not exist until Eros had brought together all the ingredients of the world, and from their marriage Ouranos (Heaven), Okeanos (Ocean), Ge (Earth) and the imperishable race of blessed gods (Theoi) sprang into being." Aristophanes, Birds 685
The Theoi Project: Guide to Greek Mythology was created and is edited by Aaron J. Atsma. Website copyright 20002007 Aaron Atsma, New Zealand.

NYMPHAI
Greek Name Transliteration Nymph Nymphai Latin Name Nympha Nymphae Translation Nymph, Girl of Marriageable Age

THE NYMPHAI (or Nymphs) were female spirits of the natural world, minor goddesses of the forests, rivers, springs, meadows, mountains and seas. They were responsible for the crafting of nature's wild beauty, from the arrangement and growth of the plants, flowers and trees, to the nurture of wild birds and animals, and the formation of rocky caverns, springs, wetlands and brooks. Nymphs were also companions of the gods. Dionysos had his wildeyed Mainades and Bakkhai, Artemis was accompanied by a band of huntress nymphs, Hekate by the dark Lampades nymphs of the underworld. Poseidon's court was attended by Nereides and sea nymphs, and the Olympian court by nymph handmaidens.

River-God & Naiad Nymph, Campanian redfigure amphora C4th B.C., British Museum

Other nymphs were nurses of the gods, including the Idaian nymphs that nursed the god Zeus, and the Nysian nymphs who cared for Dionysos.

INDEX OF NYMPH PAGES PART 1: INTRODUCTION

PARENTS Various, see the NYMPH CATALOGUE NAMES For a comprehensive list see the NYMPH CATALOGUE

Encyclopedia Types of Nymphs Types (by author) Parentage of Nymphs Immortality of Nymphs Colours of Nymphs Hymns to the Nymphs

ENCYCLOPEDIA
NYMPHAE (Numphai), the name of a numerous class of inferior female divinities, though they are designated by the title of Olympian, are called to meetings of the gods in Olympus, and described as the daughters of Zeus. But they were believed to dwell on earth in groves, on the summits of mountains, in rivers, streams, glens, and grottoes. (Hom. Od. vi. 123, &c., xii. 318, Il. xx. 8, xxiv. 615.) Homer further describes them as presiding over game, accompanying Artemis, dancing with her, weaving in their grottoes purple garments. and kindly watching over the fate of mortals. (Od. vi. 105, ix. 154, xiii. 107, 356, xvii. 243, Il. vi. 420, 616.) Men offer up sacrifices either to them alone, or in conjunction with other gods, such as Hermes. (Od. xiii. 350, xvii. 211, 240, xiv. 435.) From the places which they inhabit, they are called agronomoi (Od. vi. 105),orestiades (Il. vi. 420), and nades (Od. xiii. 104). All nymphs, whose number is almost infinite, may be divided into two great classes. The first class embraces those who must be regarded as a kind of inferior divinities, recognised in the worship of nature. The early Greeks saw in all the phenomena of ordinary nature some manifestation of the deity; springs, rivers, grottoes, trees, and mountains, all seemed to them fraught with life; and all were only the visible embodiments of so many divine agents. The salutary and beneficent powers of nature were thus personified, and regarded as so many divinities; and the sensations produced on man in the contemplation of nature, such as awe, terror, joy, delight, were ascribed to the agency of the various divinities of nature. The second class of nymphs are personifications of tribes, races, and states, such as Cyrene, and many others. The nymphs of the first class must again be sublatter divided into various species, according to the different parts of nature of which they are the representatives. 1. Nymphs of the watery element. Here we first mention the nymphs of the ocean, keaninai or keanides, numphai hagiai, who are regarded as the daughters of Oceanus (Hes. Theog. 346, &c., 364; Aeschyl. Prom.; Callim. Hymn. in Dian. 13; Apollon. Rhod. iv. 1414; Soph. Philoct. 1470); and next the nymphs of the

LIST: NAMES OF NYMPHS 1 LIST: NAMES OF NYMPHS 2 PART 2: THE DRYADES

Names of Dryades General Descriptions

PART 3: THE NAIADES

Waters of the Nymphs Of Nymphs & Drought Grottoes of the Nymphs Tears of the Nymphs

PART 4: THE EPIMELIDES PART 5: NYMPH STORIES 1

Dryope & the Nymphs Kerambos & the Nymphs Megaros & the Nymphs Aristaios & the Nymphs Peleus & the Nymphs Erysikththon & Dryades Hylas & the Naiades Paraibios & the Nymphs Kleite & the Nymphs Byblis & the Nymphs Daphnis & the Nymphs Messapians & Nymphs

PART 6: NYMPH STORIES 2

Daphne, Laurel Tree Heliades, Black Poplars Klytie, Heliotrope Leuke, White Poplar Lotis, Lotus Tree MInthe, Mint Pitys, Silver Fir Psalakantha, Plany Plant Sperkheides, Poplars Syrinx, River Reed

PART 5: NYMPH NURSES PART 6: NYMPH ATTENDANTS

PART 8: CULT OF NYMPHS

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The Nymphai (or Nymphs in English) were minor nature goddesses which populated the cosmos. Although they were ranked below the gods, they were still invited to attend the assemblies of the gods on Olympos. The Nymphai presided over various natural phenomena: from springs, to clouds, trees, caverns, meadows, and beaches. They were responsible chiefly for the care of the plants and animals of their domain, and as such were closely associated with the prime gods of nature such as Hermes, Dionysos, Artemis, Poseidon and Demeter.

THE CLASSES OF NYMPH ANTHOUSAI Nymphs of flowers. They were probably the same as the Leimenides, a type of Okeanis. AURAI, THE The nymphs of the cooling breezes. They were daughters of the wind-god Boreas, or Okeanos, the earth-encircling fresh-water stream.

THYIAD NYMPHE

BAKKHAI, THE The Bacchic nymphs, companions of Dionysos. They were also known as Thyiades. BOUKOLAI, THE Bucolic or rustic nymphs. Another name for the Epimelides. DRYADES, THE The nymphs of trees and forests. Some of them had their life force bound to that of a specific tree, usually the loftiest in a forest, or one in a sacred grove of the gods. Dryades of mountain pines were known as Oreiades, those of ash-trees were called Meliai, Hamadryades were of the oaks, and Meliades of fruit-trees. EPIMELIDES, THE (or Epimeliades) Nymphs of highland pasture, the protectresses of sheep-flocks. They were perhaps numbered amongst the Okeanides. HALIAI, THE Nymphs of the sea, the sands, and the rocky shores. They had the schools of fish, and other sea creatures in their keeping. The most famous of them were the fifty Nereides. HAMADRYADES, THE Oak-tree Dryades whose life force was bound to that of a particular tree. HELEIONOMAI, THE Naiad nymphs of fresh-water marshes and wetlands. KRENAIAI, THE Naiad nymphs of wells and fountains. LAMPADES, THE Torch-bearing nymphs of the underworld. They probably belonged to the train of the goddesses of the Eleusinian Mysteries, Persephone and Hekate. LEIMENIDES, THE Nymphs of the water-meadows - pastures thick with lush grass and flowers. They were probably a type of Okeanis Nymphe. LIMNATIDES, THE Naiad nymphs of lakes.

MAINADES, THE The crazed nymphs. Another name for the Thyiades, nymphs in the retinue of Dionysos. MELIADES, THE Another name for Epimelides. MELIAI, THE Nymphs of honey, bees and honeydew (manna). They were also Dryades of the mountain ash. MELISSAI, THE Honey nymphs, another name for the Meliai. NAIADES, THE Nymphs of the sources of fresh-water: springs, fountains, streams, rivers, and lakes. They were usually called daughters of Okeanos and the River-Gods. NEPHELAI, THE Nymphs of the clouds. They were usually numbered amongst the Okeanides. NEREIDES, THE Fifty Haliai (sea) nymphs. NYMPHAI, THE Minor goddesses or daimonaissai (spirits) of nature. Many of the classes overlapped: for example, the Dryad nymphe of a tree growing by a spring was also often the Naiad of the fountain. OREIADES, THE Nymphs of the mountains. They were Dryad nymphs, whose life force was closely tied to that of a lofty mountain pine or fir. OKEANIDES, THE Nymphs who presided over the sources of fresh water: both earthly, the streams and fountains, and heavenly, moist breezes and rain-clouds. They were daughers of Okeanos, the earth-encircling fresh-water stream, and sisters of the River-Gods. PEGAIAI, THE Naiad nymphs of springs. POTAMEIDES, THE Nymphs of the rivers. They were a type of Naiad. THYIADES, THE Wild, orgiastic nymphs in the train of the god Dionysos. They were also known as Mainades, and Bakkhai and Bakkhantes. The Thyiad troupe consisted of a mixture of Dryad and Naiad nymphs.

INDIVIDUAL & GROUPS OF NYMPHAI ABA The Naias Nymphe of the town of Ergiske in Kikonia, Thrake (north of Greece). She was loved by the god Poseidon. ABARBAREE A Naias Nymphe of the River Aisepos in the Troad, Anatolia (modern Turkey). She was loved by the Trojan prince Boukolion. ADMETE One of the Nymphai Okeanides. ADRASTEIA One of the Nymphai of Mount Ida on the island of Krete in the Greek Aegean. She a nurse of the god Zeus. AETHERIE One of the Nymphai Heliades who were transformed into an amber-weeping poplar trees. AGANIPPE The Naias Nymphe of the spring of Aganippe on Mount Helikon in Boiotia, central Greece. Her waters were sacred to the Mousai (Muses).

AGAUE One of the fifty Nereides. AIA The Naias Nymphe of the town of Aia (or Kolkhis) near the Kaukasos Mountains, easternmost Europe. She was loved the river-god Phasis. "AIAIAI" NYMPHAI, THE Naiades and Dryades of the mythical island of Aiaia. They were handmaidens of the goddess Kirke. "AIGAIIDES", THE Naiades of the River Aigaios of the mythical island of the Phaiakians. The island was sometimes identified with Greek Korkyra. AIGEIROS One of the eight Nymphai Hamadryades. Her tree was the black poplar. AIGINA The Naias Nymphe of the town of Aigina, on Aigina Island in southern Greece. She was abducted from her father's mainland stream by Zeus in the shape of an eagle. AIGLE (1) The Nymphe mother of the Kharites by the sun-god Helios. She was probably one of the Okeanides. AIGLE (2) One of the Nymphai Heliades who were transformed into an amber-weeping poplar trees. AISEPIDES, THE Naiades of the River Aisepos in the Troad, Anatolia (modern Turkey). AITHOUSA A Nymphe daughter of Poseidon and the Pleias Alkyone. AITHRE The Okeanis Nymphe wife of the Titan Atlas. She was usually named Pleione. AIX (1) The Nymphe wife of the god Pan. She was also seduced by Zeus. AIX (2) One of the Nymphai of Mount Ida on the island of Krete in the Greek Aegean. She was a nurse of the god Zeus. Aix was usually called Amaltheia and described as a goat. AKASTE One of the Nymphai Okeanides. AKHEIA One of the Nymphai Hyperboreiai, handmaidens of the goddess Artemis from the mythical Northern land of Hyperborea. She was usually named Hekaerge. AKHELOIDES, THE Naiades of the River Akheloios in Anatolia, central Greece. AKRAIA One of the three Asterionides, Nymphai of the River Asterion in Argos, the Peloponnesos, southern Greece. She was a nurse of the goddess Hera. AKTAIE One of the fifty Nereides. ALEXIRHOE A Naias Nymphe of the springs of the River Grenikos on Mount Ida in the Troad, Anatolia (modern Turkey). She was loved by King Priamos of Troy. ALKE A Naias Nymphe of the River Sagggarios in Phrygia, Anatolia (modern Turkey). ALKINOE A Naias Nymphe of Mount Lykaios in Arkadia, the Peloponnesos, central Greece. She was one of nine Arkadian nurses of the god Zeus. ALKIPPE One of the Nymphai Alkyonides.

DAPHNE

ALKYONE The Pleias Star Nymphe of Boiotia, central Greece. She was loved by the god Poseidon. ALKYONIDES, THE Seven Nymphai of the Thrakian Khersonese (modern north Greece). They were daughters of the Gigante Alkyoneus who were transformed by the gods into kingfishers. ALTHAIA One of the Nymphai of Mount Ida on the island of Krete in the Greek Aegean. She a nurse of the god Zeus. Althaia was usually named Amaltheia and described as a goat. AMALTHEIA One of the Nymphai of Mount Ida on the island of Krete in the Greek Aegean. She a nurse of the god Zeus. Amaltheia was usually described as the milk-providing goat of the nurses, rather than a Nymphe herself. AMATHEIA One of the fifty Nereides. AMBROSIA (1) One of the Nysiades, Nymphai of the mythical Mount Nysa. She was a nurse and one of the first Bakkhantes of the god Dionysos. AMBROSIA (2) One of the five Star Nymphai of the constellation Hyades. She was a nurse of the god Dionysos. AMNISIADES, THE Naiades of the River Amnisos on the island of Krete in the Greek Aegean. They were attendants of the goddess Artemis. AMPELOS One of the eight Nymphai Hamadryades. Her plant was wild vine. AMPHINOME One of the fifty Nereides. AMPHIRO One of the Nymphai Okeanides. AMPHITHOE One of the fifty Nereides. AMPHITRITE One of the Nereides or Okeanides. She was the goddess queen of the sea. AMYMONE One of the Danaides, and a Naias Nymphe of the spring of Amymone at Lerna, in Argos, southern Greece. She was loved by the god Poseidon. ANIGRIDES, THE Naiades of the river Anigros in Elis, in the Peloponessos, southern Greece. Their springs were believed to cure skin diseases. ANIPPE A Naias Nymphe of the River Nile in Egypt. She was loved by the god Poseidon. ANKHINOE A Naias Nymphe of the River Nile in Egypt. She was the wife of the Egyptian King Belos. ANKHIROE (1) The Naias Nymphe of the town of Megalopolis, in Arkadia, southern Greece. ANKHIROE (2) The Naias Nymphe of the Psylloi tribe of Libya in North Africa. She was the wife of the tribe's first king Psyllos. ANKHIROE (3) One of the Naiades of the River Erasinos in Argos, the Peloponnesos, southern Greece. She was an attendant of the goddess Britomartis. ANTHE One of the Nymphai Alkyonides. She was the eponymous Nymphe of the town of Anthemos in the Thrakian Khersonesos (north of Greece). ANTHEDON The Naias Nymphe of the town of Anthedon in Boiotia, central Greece.

ANTHRAKIA One of the Nymphai of Mount Lykaios in Arkadia, southern Greece, who nursed the god Zeus. She was probably an Oreias Nymphe. ANTIOPE A Naias Nymphe of Mount Kithairon or the town of Thebes in Boiotia, central Greece. She was loved by the god Zeus. APSEUDES One of the fifty Nereides. ARETHOUSA The Naias Nymphe of a spring of the town of Syrakousa in Sikelia (Sicily), southern Italy. She was loved by the River-God Alpheios, who pursued her from her homeland in Greek Arkadia under the sea to the island of Sikelia. ARGE One of the Nymphai Hyperboreiai, handmaidens of the goddess Artemis from the mythical Northern land of Hyperborea. She was usually named Hekaerge. ARGIA An Okeanis Naias Nymphe of Argos in southern Greece. She was the wife of the river-god Inakhos. She was usually named Melia. NAIAD NYMPHE

"ARGIA" NAIAS An unnamed Naias Nymphe of Mykenai in Argos, southern Greece. She was the wife of the Argive prince Thyestes. ARGIOPE (1) A Naias Nymphe of Mount Parnassos in Phokis, central Greece and later of Pieria, in Makedonia, northern Greece. She was loved by the bard Philammon. ARGIOPE (2) The Naias Nymphe of the town of Eleusis in Attika, southern Greece. She was the wife of the Eleusinian prince Brankhos. ARGYRA A Halias or Naias Nymphe of the town of Argyra in Akhaia, southern Greece. She was loved by the hero Selemnos. ARSINOE One of the Nysiades, Nymphai of the mythical Mount Nysa. She was a nurse and one of the first Bakkhantes of the god Dionysos. "ARTEMISIAI" OKEANIDES, THE Sixty young Okeanides in the retinue of the goddess Artemis. ASIE The Okeanis Nymphe of the Anatolian peninsular (modern Turkey) or the western half thereof. She was the wife of the Titan Iapetos or his son Prometheus. ASKRE The Naias Nymphe of the town of Askra in Boiotia. She was loved by the god Poseidon. ASOPIDES, THE Twelve or twenty Naiades of the River Asopos in Sikyonia and Boiotia, central and southern Greece. They were all abducted by gods. ASOPIS The Naias Nymphe of the town of Asopis. "ASTAKIDES", THE Naiades of Lake Astakos in Bithynia, Anatolia (modern Turkey). ASTERIA (1) One of the Nymphai Alkyonides of the Thrakian Khersonessos (north of Greece). ASTERA (2) A Star Nymphe daughter of the sun-god Helios. She was usually named Astris. "ASTERIONIDES", THE Three Naiades of the River Asterion in Argos, the Peloponnesos, southern Greece. They were nurses of the goddess Hera. ASTERODEIA The Naias Nymphe of a stream in the Kaukasos Mountains, east of Black Sea. She

was loved by the Kolkhian king Aeetes. ASTEROPE (1) A Naias Nymphe of the river Kebren in the Troad, Anatolia (modern Turkey). She was loved by prince Aisakos of Troy. ASTEROPE (2) The Okeanis Naias Nymphe of the town of Akragas in Sikelia (Sicily), southern Italy. She was loved by the god Zeus. ASTRIS A Star Nymphe daughter of the sun-god Helios. She was the wife of the Indian River-God Hydaspes. ASTYOKHE A Naias Nymphe of the town of Troy in the Troad, Anatolia (modern Turkey). She was the wife of the Trojan King Erikhthonios. ATLANTEIA A Hamadryas Nymphe of Libya in North Africa. She was one of the many wives of King Danaus. ATLANTIDES, THE Nymphai daughters of the Titan Atlas, including the Pleiades, the Hyades, Maria and Kalypso. AUTOMATE The Naias Nymphe of a spring in the town of Argos, southern Greece. AUTONOE One of the fifty Nereides. BALANOS One of the eight Nymphai Hamadryades. Her tree was the evergreen oak. BATEIA A Naias Nymphe of the town of Sparta in Lakedaimonia, southern Greece. She was the wife of the Spartan King Oibalos. BENTHESIKYME A Halias (Sea) Nymphe daughter of Poseidon. She was the wife of the Aithiopian King Enalos. BEROE The Okeanis Nymphe of the town of Beruit in Phoinikia (modern Lebanon), west Asia. She was married to the god Poseidon. BOLINA A Halias (Sea) or Naias Nymphe of the town of Bolina in Akhaia, southern Greece. She was loved by the god Apollon, and leapt into the sea to escape his pursuit. BROMIE One of the Nysiades, Nymphai of the mythical Mount Nysa. She was a nurse and one of the first Bakkhantes of the god Dionysos. BYBLIS The Naias or Hamadryas Nymphe of the springs of the town of Byblis in Karia, Anatolia (modern Turkey). She was born a mortal princess who was transformed into a spring by the Karian Naiades. BYZE One of the Naiades of the River Erasinos in Argos, the Peloponnesos, southern Greece. She was an attendant of the goddess Britomartis. DAEIRA The Okeanis Nymphe of the town of Eleusis in Attika, southern Greece. She was loved by the god Hermes. DANAIS A Naias Nymphe of the town of Pisa in Elis, southern Greece. She was loved by the Elean King Pelops. DAPHNE A Naias Nymphe of the River Ladon in Arkadia, southern Greece or River Peneios in Thessalia in the north. She was loved by the god Apollon who pursued her relentlessly, but she escaped his embrace by transforming into a laurel tree.

DAPHNIS An Oreias Nymphe of Mount Parnassos in Phokis, central Greece. She was the prophetess of Gaia at Delphoi before Apollon seized the shrine. DAULIS The Naias Nymphe of the town of Daulis in Boiotia, central Greece. DEINO A Naias Nymphe of the River Sperkheios in Malis, northern Greece. She was the wife of the River-God Sperkheios. DELIADES, THE Naiades of the springs of the River Inopos on the island of Delos in the Greek Aegean. DERKETIS A Naias Nymphe of (Mount Kithairon in) Boiotia, central Greece. She ravished the Theban youth Lapithaon. DERO One of the fifty Nereides. DEXAMENE One of the fifty Nereides. DIOGENEIA A Naias Nymphe of Athens in Attika, southern Greece. She was the wife of the Athenian lord Phrasimos. DIONE (1) One of the Okeanides. According to some she was the mother of Aphrodite by Zeus. DIONE (2) A Star Nymphe of Mount Tmolos in Lydia, Anatolia (modern Turkey). She was the wife of the impious king Tantalos. DIONE (3) One of the fifty Nereides. DIOPATRE A Naias Nymphe of Mount Othrys in Malis, central Greece. She was loved by the god Poseidon who turned her sisters into poplar trees during the seduction. DIOXIPPE One of the Nymphai Heliades who were transformed into an amber-weeping poplar trees. DIRKE The Naias Nymphe of the spring Dirke on Mount Kithairon, in Boiotia, central Greece. She was transformed into a fountain by the god Dionysos after Amphion and Zethos had her killed by binding her to a wild bull. DODONE The Okeanis Nymphe of the town of Dodona in Thesprotia, north-western Greece. DODONIDES, THE Nymphai of the oracular shrine of Dodona. DORIS (1) The Okeanis Nymphe wife of the sea-god Nereus and mother of the fifty Nereides. She was probably the goddess of the mixing of fresh water with the brine. DORIS (2) One of the fifty Nereides. DOTO One of the fifty Nereides. DRIMO One of the Nymphai Alkyonides of the Thrakian Khersonessos (north of Greece). DRYOPE A Hamadryas Naias Nymphe of Mount Oita in Malis, central Greece. She was originally a mortal princess who was seduced by Apollon disguised as a tortoise. Later the Hamadryades of Mount Oita transformed her into a fellow Nymphe. DYNAMENE One of the fifty Nereides.

EIDO A Halias (Sea) Nymphe daughter of the god Proteus. She was usually named Eidothea. EIDOTHEA (1) A Halias (Sea) Nymphe daughter of the god Proteus. EIDOTHEA (2) A Naias Oreias Nymphe of Mount Othrys in Malis, northern Greece who was loved by the god Poseidon. EIDYIA The Okeanis Nymphe of the town of Kholkis in Aia at the eastern end of the Black Sea (modern Georgia). She was the wife of King Aeetes. EIONE One of the fifty Nereides. EKHO An Oreias Nymphe of Mount Helikon in Boiotia, central Greece and the goddess of echoes. Hera cursed her with the voice of mountain echoes as punishment for distracting her while her husband Zeus consorted with the Nymphai.

AIGINA

"ELEIAS" NAIAS The Naias Nymphe of the town of Elis in Elis, southern Greece. She was the wife of King Endymion. ELEKTRA (1) The Okeanis Cloud Nymphe of the amber tinge of storm clouds illuminated by the returning sun. She was the wife of the sea-god Thaumas and mother of Iris the rainbow and the storm-wind Harpyiai. ELEKTRA (2) The Pleias Star Nymphe of Mount Saon on the island of Samothrake in the Greek Aegean. She was loved by the god Zeus. ENDEIS A Nymphe of Mount Pelion in Thessalia, northern Greece. She married Aiakos King of the southern Greek island of Aigina. EPHYRA The Okeanis Nymphe of the town of Korinthos in Korinthia, southern Greece. She was the wife of the Titan Epimetheus. ERASINIDES, THE Four Naiades of the River Erasinos in Argos, the Peloponnesos, southern Greece. They were attendants of the goddess Britomartis. ERATO (1) A Dryas Nymphe of Mount Akakesion in Arkadia. She was a prophetess of the god Pan, and wife of King Arkas. ERATO (2) One of the Nysiades, Nymphai of the mythical Mount Nysa. She was a nurse and one of the first Bakkhantes of the god Dionysos. ERATO (3) One of the fifty Nereides. ERIPHIA One of the Nysiades, Nymphai of the mythical Mount Nysa. She was a nurse and one of the first Bakkhantes of the god Dionysos. EUADNE A Naias Nymphe of the town of Argos in the Argolis, southern Greece. She was the wife of the eponymous King Argos. EUAGORE One of the fifty Nereides. EUARNE One of the fifty Nereides. EUBOIA (1) The Naias Nymphe of the town of Khalkis in Euboia, central Greece. She was loved by the god Poseidon who abducted her to the island. EUBOIA (2) One of the three Asterionides, Nymphai of the River Asterion in Argos, the

Peloponnesos, southern Greece. She was a nurse of the goddess Hera. EUDORA (1) One of the five Star Nymphai of the constellation Hyades. She was a nurse of the god Dionysos. EUDORA (2) One of the Nysiades, Nymphai of the mythical Mount Nysa. She was a nurse and one of the first Bakkhantes of the god Dionysos. EUDORA (3) One of the Nymphai Okeanides. EUDORA (4) One of the fifty Nereides. EUKRANTE One of the fifty Nereides. EULIMENE One of the fifty Nereides. EUMOLPE One of the fifty Nereides. EUNIKE One of the fifty Nereides. EUPHEME A Naias Nymphe of Mount Helikon in Boiotia, central Greece. She was the nurse of the goddess Mousai, and a lover of the god Pan. EUPOMPE One of the fifty Nereides. EUROPE (1) One of the Nymphai Okeanides. EUROPE (2) An Egyptian Naias Nymphe, daughter of the River Neilos (Nile). She was the mother of fifty daughters, the Danaides, by King Danaos. EURYNOME (1) One of the Okeanides. She was the mother of the goddess Kharites by Zeus. EURYNOME (2) One of the Okeanides. She was the wife of the Titan Ophion. EURYRHOE A Naias Nymphe of the Egyptian river Neilos (Nile). She bore fifty sons, the Aigyptides, to King Aigyptos of Egypt. EUTHEMIA A Nymphe of the island of Kos in the Greek Aegean. She was struck down by the goddess Artemis. GALATEIA One of the fifty Nymphai Nereides. She was wooed by the Kyklops Polyphemos, who slew her young lover Akis in a fit of jealousy. GALAXAURA One of the Nymphai Okeanides. GALENE One of the fifty Nymphai Nereides. She was the goddess of calm seas. GARGAPHIE The Naias Nymphe of the Gargaphian spring of Plataia in Boiotia, central Greece. She was usually named Plataia. GLAUKE (1) A Naias Nymphe of Mount Lykaios in Arkadia, the Peloponnesos, central Greece. She was one of nine Arkadian nurses of the god Zeus. GLAUKE (2) One of the fifty Nereides. GLAUKIA A Naias Nymphe of the River Skamandros in the Troad, Anatolia (modern Turkey). She

GALATEIA

was loved by the hero Deimakhos, a companion of Herakles. GLAUKONOME One of the fifty Nereides. GORGYRA A Nymphe of the underworld. She was the mother of the daimon Askalaphos by the infernal river Akheron. HAGNO The Okeanis Naias Nymphe of a spring on Mount Lykaios in Arkadia, southern Greece. She was a nurse of the god Zeus. HALIA (1) A Halias (Sea) Nymphe of the island of Rhodes in the Greek Aegean. She was loved by the god Poseidon, who after being raped by her own sons, threw herself into the sea. HALIA (2) One of the fifty Nereides. HALIMEDE One of the fifty Nereides. HAMADRYAS The Dryas Nymphe of the oak tree. She was the mother of eight tree-specific Hamadryades by the forest-daimon Oxylos. HAMADRYADES OTHREIDES, THE Eight Nymphai Dryades of Mount Othrys in Malis (nothern Greece). Each had a specific type of tree in her care. HARMONIA A Naias Nymphe of the Akmonian wood in the land of the Amazones, in Anatolia (modern Turkey). She was loved by the god Ares, and bore him the first of the Amazon queens. HARPINA The Naias Nymphe of the town of Pisa in Elis, southern Greece. She was loved by the god Ares. HEGETORIA A Nymphe of the island of Rhodes. She was the wife of the Rhodian King Okhimos. HEKAERGE One of the Nymphai Hyperboreiai, handmaidens of the goddess Artemis from the mythical northern land of Hyperborea. HEKATERIDES, THE Five country Nymphai of the rustic dance. They were mothers of the Daimones Oreaides, Satyroi and Kouretes. HELIADES, THE Seven Nymphai daughters of the sun-god Helios who were transformed into amber-weeping poplar trees following the death of the their brother Phaethon. HELIE One of the Nymphai Heliades who were transformed into an amber-weeping poplar trees. HELIKE One of the Nymphai of Mount Ida on the island of Krete in the Greek Aegean. She was a nurse of the god Zeus. Her original name was Ide, being renamed Helike when she was placed amongst the stars as the constellation Ursa Major. HEROPHILOS A Nymphe daughter of Poseidon and Aphrodite. HERKYNA The Naias Nymphe of the River Herkyna near Lebadeia in Boiotia, central Greece. She was a companion of the goddess Persephone. HESIONE The Okeanis Nymphe wife of the Titan Prometheus. She was also named Pronoia. HESPERIA A Naias Nymphe of the river Kebren in the Troad, Anatolia (modern Turkey). While being pursued by prince Aisakos of Troy, she stepped on a poisonous snake and died.

"HESPERIAI" NAIADES, THE Naiades of the mythical far northern river Eridanos. HIEROMNEME A Naias Nymphe of Mount Ida in the Troad, Anatolia (modern Turkey). She was the wife of the Dardanian prince Assarakos. HIMALIA A Nymphe of the island of Rhodes in the Greek Aegean. She was seduced by the god Zeus. "HIMERIAI" NAIADES, THE Naiades of the hot-water springs of the town of Himera, in Sikelia (Sicily), Italia. HIPPE An Argive Naias and goddess of the spring of Hippe. HIPPO One of the Nymphai Okeanides. HIPPONOE One of the fifty Nereides. HIPPOTHOE One of the fifty Nereides. HYADES, THE Five Star Nymphai of the constellation Hyades, whose teary risings marked the beginnning of the Greek rainy season. They were nurses of the god Dionysos. HYALE One of the Okeanides in the retinue of the goddess Artemis. HYDASPIDES, THE Naiades of the River Hydaspes in north-western Indian (modern Kashmir). They were nurses of the god Zagreus. "HYDE" The Naias Nymphe of the town of Hyde (Sardis) in Lydia, Anatolia (modern Turkey). She was the wife of a local lord named Otrynteus. "HYPERBOREIAI" NYMPHAI, THE Three Nymphai of the mythical northern land of Hyperborea who first travelled to the Greek island of the Delos with offerings for the goddess Artemis. They became her handmaidens. HYPEREIA One of the Inakhides, she was the Naias Nymphe of a spring in the town of Argos, in the Peloponnesos, southern Greece. IAIRA One of the fifty Nereides. IAKHE One of the Nymphai Okeanides. IANASSA One of the fifty Nereides. IANEIRA (1) One of the Nymphai Okeanides. IANEIRA (2) One of the fifty Nereides. IANTHE One of the Nymphai Okeanides. IASIS One of the Ionides, Naiades of the healing springs of the River Kytheros in Elis, the Peloponnesos, southern Greece. IDAIA A Naias Nymphe of Mount Ida in the Troad, Anatolia (modern Turkey). She was the wife of the River-God Skamandros. "IDAIAI" NYMPHAI, THE Two Nymphai of Mount Ida on the island of Krete in the Greek Aegean. They were nurses of the god Zeus, who were placed amongst the stars as the constellations Ursa ISMENE

Major and Minor. IDE One of the Nymphai of Mount Ida on the island of Krete in the Greek Aegean. She was a nurse of the god Zeus. IDOTHEA One of the Nymphai of Mount Ida on the island of Krete in the Greek Aegean. She was a nurse of the god Zeus. IDYIA The Okeanis Nymphe of the town of Kholkis in Aia at the eastern end of the Black Sea (modern Georgia). She was the wife of King Aeetes. INAKHIDES, THE Naiades of the river Inakhos and the springs of Argos in the Peloponnesos, southern Greece. IO A Naias of the River Inakhos in Argos, southern Greece. She was loved by the god Zeus, who disguised her as a heifer to avoid discovery by the jealous Hera. The goddess saw through the foil, and plagued her with a gladfly, forcing her to wander as far as Egypt. IONE One of the fifty Nereides. IONIDES, THE Four Naiades of the springs of the River Kytheros in Elis, the Peloponnesos, southern Greece. Their waters were believed to cure aches and pains. ISMENE (1) The Naias Nymphe of the Ismenian spring of Thebes, Boiotia, central Greece. She was the wife of the Argive King Argos. Her descendant Kadmos was the founder of the city of Thebes. ISMENE (2) The Okeanis Naias Nymphe of the Ismenian spring of Thebes, in Boiotia, central Greece. She was loved by the god Apollon. Ismene was usually named Melia. ISMENIS A Naias Nymphe of the River Ismenos of Boiotia, central Greece. She was loved by the god Pan. "ITHAKIAI" NAIADES, THE Naiades of the springs of certain sacred caves on the island of Ithaka, in the Ionian Sea, central Greece. IYNX An Oreias Nymphe of Boiotia, in central Greece. She seduced the god Zeus with the aide of magical love charms and as punishment for her presumption was transformed by Hera into a wryneck bird. KABEIRIDES, THE Nymphai of the Mysteries of the island of Samothrake in the Greek Aegean. KABEIRO A Halias (Sea) Nymphe of the island of Lemnos in the north Aegean. She was loved by the god Hephaistos. KALIADNE A Naias Nymphe of the River Nile in Egypt, North Africa. She was one of the many wives of the Egyptian King Aigyptos. KALLIANASSA One of the fifty Nereides. KALLIANEIRA One of the fifty Nereides. KALLIGENEIA A Nymphe of Eleusis in Attika, southern Greece. She was the nurse of the goddess Demeter and her daughter Persepone. KALLIPHAEIA One of the Ionides, Naiades of the healing springs of the River Kytheros in Elis, the Peloponnesos, southern Greece. KALLIRHOE (1) An Okeanis Nymphe of Erytheia, a mythical island in the Atlantic Ocean or kingdom

of southern Iberia (modern Spain). She was the wife of the King or Gigante Khrysaor. KALLIRHOE (2) A Naias Nymphe of Akarnania in central Greece. She was the wife of the hero Alkmaion and was also loved by Zeus. KALLIRHOE (3) A Naias Nymphe of the town of Troy in the Troad, Anatolia (modern Turkey). She was the wife of the eponymous king Tros. KALLIRHOE (4) A Naias or Okeanis Nymphe of Egypt in North Africa. She was loved by the RiverGod Neilos (Nile). KALLISTE The Halias (Sea) Nymphe of the island of Kalliste in the Greek Aegean. She was given as a gift to the hero Euphemos by her father Triton. KALLITHYIA A Naias Nymphe of the River Inakhos in Argos, southern Greece who was the first priestess of Hera. She was usually called Io. KALYBE A rustic Nymphe of the Troad, Anatolia (modern Turkey). She was loved King Laomedon of Troy. KALYPSO (1) The Goddess Nymphe of the mythical island of Ogygia. She loved the hero Odysseus who was marooned on her island. KALYPSO (2) One of the Nymphai Okeanides. KALYPSO (3) One of the fifty Nereides. KAMARINA The Okeanis Nymphe of the town of Kamarina in Sikelia (Sicily), southern Italia. KAPHEIRA An Okeanis Nymphe of the island of Rhodes in the Greek Aegean. She was the nurse of the god Poseidon. "KARIAI" NAIADES, THE Naiades of the region of Karia in Anatolia (modern Turkey). KARMENTIS A prophetic Arkadian Naias Nymphe loved by Apollon. She emigrated with her son Euenos to Latium. KARYA One of the eight Nymphai Hamadryades. Her plant was the nut-tree: hazel, walnut and chestnut. KASSOTIS The Naias Nymphe of the sacred Kastalian spring of the shrine of Delphoi, in Phokis, central Greece. She was usually named Kastalia. KASTALIA The Naias Nymphe of the sacred Kastalian spring of the shrine of Delphoi, on Mount Parnassos, in Phokis, central Greece. "KEIAI" NYMPHAI, THE Naiades of the springs and wells of the island of Keos in the Greek Aegean. KELAINO A Pleias Star Nymphe of Boiotia, central Greece who was loved by the god Poseidon. KELOUSE A Naias Nymphe of the region of Sikyonia in southern Greece. She bore Poseidon the lame River-God Asopos. KEPHISIDES, THE Naiades of the River Kephisos in Boiotia, central Greece. AURA NYMPHE

KERKEIS One of the Nymphai Okeanides. KETO (1) An Okeanis Naias Nymphe of India loved by the god Poseidon. KETO (2) One of the fifty Nereides. KHALKIS The Naias Nymphe of the town of Khalkis in Euboia, central Greece. She was loved by the god Poseidon who abducted her to the island. She was usually named Euboia. KHARIKLO (1) A Nymphe of Mount Pelion in Thessalia, northern Greece. She was the wife of the wise kentauros (centaur) Kheiron. KHARIKLO (2) A Nymphe of Thebes in Boiotia, central Greece. She was the wife of the Spartos Eueres and a close friend of the goddess Athene, who was nevertheless forced to blind her son Teiresias. KHELONE A lazy Oreias Nymphe of Mount Khelydorea in Arkadia, southern Greece. Hermes transformed her into a tortoise when she refused to attend the wedding of Zeus and Hera. KHESIAS A Naias Nymphe of the island of Samos in the Greek Aegean. She was loved by the River-God Imbrasos. "KHIAS" NAIAS (1) The Naias Nymphe of the town of Khios, on the island of Khios in the Greek Aegean. She was loved by the god Poseidon. "KHIAS" NAIAS (2) The Naias Nymphe of the towns of Agelos and Melas on the island of Khios in the Greek Aegean. She was loved by the god Poseidon. KHIONE (1) A Snow Nymphe of the region of Thrake, north of Greece. She was a daughter of Boreas, god of winter, loved by Poseidon. She cast their infant into the sea to avoid discovery. KHIONE (2) A Snow Nymphe loved by the god Boreas. KHIONE (3) A Naias Nymphe of the River Nile in Aigyptos (Egypt), North Africa. She was raped by a peasant and in grief cast snow down upon the desert. KHLORIS An Okeanis Nymphe of the mythical Islands of the Blessed in the River Okeanos. She was the goddess of flowers, and the wife of the west-wind Zephyros. KHRYSEIS One of the Nymphai Okeanides. KHRYSOPELEIA A Nymphe of Arkadia, southern Greece. She was the wife of the eponymous king Arkas. KISSEIS One of the Nysiades, Nymphai of the mythical Mount Nysa. She was a nurse and one of the first Bakkhantes of the god Dionysos. KLAIA (1) An Oreais or Naias Nymphe of Mount Kalathion in Messenia, southern Greece. KLAIA (2) One of the fifty Nereides. KLEEIA One of the five Star Nymphai of the constellation Hyades. KLEIDE One of the Naiades of Mount Drios on the island of Naxos in the Greek Aegean. She was a nurse of the god Dionysos.

KLEODORA A Naias Nymphe of Mount Parnassos in Phokis, central Greece who was loved by the god Poseidon. KLEOKHAREIA A Naias Nymphe of the River Eurotas in Lakedaimonia, southern Greece. She was loved by the earth-born King Lelex. KLEOMEDE A Naias Nymphe of the main town of Paionia (modern day Makedonia). She was the wife of the region's eponymous King Paion. KLEONE The Naias Nymphe of the town of Kleonai in Argos, southern Greece. KLONIE The Naias Nymphe of the town of Hyria in Boiotia, central Greece. She was the wife of King Hyrieus. KLYMENE (1) The Okeanis wife of the Titan Iapetos. She was the mother of Prometheus and his Titan brothers. Klymene was the spirit of fame. KLYMENE (2) An Okeanis Nymphe loved by the sun-god Helios. KLYMENE (3) One of the fifty Nereides. KLYTIE An Okeanis Nymphe loved by the sun-god Helios. She transformed into a sun-gazing heiotrope flower when he abandoned her. KNOSSIA A Naias Nymphe of the town of Knossos of the island of Krete in the Greek Aegean. She was loved by King Menelaos of Sparta. KOKYTHIAI, THE Naiades of Haides and daughters of the underworld river Kokytos. KOMBE A Nymphe of the island of Euboia. She was the wife of the mother of the Euboian Korybantes by Sokos.

EKHO

KORKYRA The Naias Nymphe of the main town of the island of Korkyra in central western Greece. She was abducted to the island by the god Poseidon. KORONIDES, THE Two Nymphai of Thebes in Boiotia, central Greece, who were transformed into comets. KORONIS (1) One of the five Star Nymphai of the constellation Hyades. She was a nurse of the god Dionysos. KORONIS (2) One of the Nysiades, Nymphai of the mythical Mount Nysa. She was a nurse and one of the first Bakkhantes of the god Dionysos. KORONIS (3) One of the Naiades of Mount Drios on the island of Naxos in the Greek Aegean. She was a nurse of the god Dionysos. KORYKIA The Naias Nymphe of the sacred Korykian cave at Delphoi, in Phokis, central Greece. She was loved by the god Apollon. KORYKIAI NYMPHAI, THE Naiades of the sacred springs of the Korykian cave at Delphoi, in Phokis, central Greece. KRANEIA One of the eight Nymphai Hamadryades. Her plant was the cherry tree. KRANTO One of the fifty Nereides.

KREOUSA An Okeanis Naias Nymphe of (perhaps Lapithai in) Thessalia, northern Greece. She was the wife of the river-god Peneios. KRETHEIS The Naias Nymphe of the town of Smyrna in Lydia, Anatolia (modern Turkey). She was the mother of the poet Homer by the River Meles. KROKALE One of the Okeanides in the retinue of the goddess Artemis. KYANE The Naias Nymphe of a spring in the town of Syrakousa, Sikelia (Sicily), in southern Italy. KYANEE The Naias Nymphe of the town of Miletos in Karia, Anatolia (modern Turkey). She was the wife of Miletos, eponymous king of the town. "KYDNIDES", THE Naiades of the River Kydnos in Kilikia, Anatolia (modern Turkey). They joined Dionysos in his war against the Indians. KYLLENE A Naias or Oreias Nymphe of Mount Kyllene in Arkadia, southern Greece. She was the wife of King Pelasgos. KYMATOLEGE A Halias (Sea) Nymphe of the waves. She was probably the same as Kymopoleia or Kymo. KYMO One of the fifty Nereides. KYMODOKE One of the fifty Nereides. KYMOPOLEIA A Halias (Sea) Nymphe of the waves. She was a daughter or Poseidon and wife of the hundred-handed giant Briareus. KYMOTHOE One of the fifty Nereides. KYNOSOURA One of the Nymphai Idaiai of Mount Ida on the island of Krete in the Greek Aegean. She was a nurse of the god Zeus. Her original name was Adrasteia, being renamed Kynosoura when she was placed amongst the stars as the constellation Ursa Minor. "KYPRIAI" NAIADES, THE Naiades of the island of Kypros in the eastern Meditteranean. "KYRENAIKAI" NYMPHAI, THE Naiades of the Greek colony of Kyrene, in Libya, North Africa. KYRENE (1) The Naias Nymphe of the Greek colony of Kyrene in Libya, North Africa. She was carried off to that country from Thessalia Greece by Apollon. KYRENE (2) A Nymphe of Thrake (north of Greece), loved by the god Ares. "KYRTONIAI" NYMPHAI, THE Naiades of the springs of the town of Kyrtones in Boiotia, central Greece. "LADONIDES", THE Naiades of the River Ladon in Arkadia, the Peloponnesos, southern Greece. LAMIDES, THE Naiades of the River Lamos in Kilikia, Anatolia (modern Turkey) or Boiotia in central Greece. They were nurses of the god Dionysos, and his first Bakkhante followers. LAMPETIA (1) A Nymphe daughter of the sun-god Helios. She tended his sacred flocks of immortal sheep on the mythical island of Thrinakie. NEREID NYMPHE

LAMPETIA (2) One of the Nymphai Heliades who were transformed into an amber-weeping poplar

trees. LANGIA The Naias Nymphe of the springs of the town of Nemea in Argos, southern Greece. LAOMEDEIA One of the fifty Nereides. "LATINIAI" NAIADES, THE Naiades of the rivers, springs and fountains of Latium (the Roman kingdom) in central Italia. LEAGORE One of the fifty Nereides. LEIBETHRIDES, THE Naiades of the springs of Mounts Helikon and Librethrios in Boiotia, central Greece. LELEGEIDES NYMPHAI, THE Naiades of the region of Lykia in Anatolia (modern Turkey). They transformed the Miletian princess Byblis into a spring. LEUKE An Okeanis Nymphe who was abducted by the god Haides to Elysium, where she was transformed into a white poplar tree. LEUKIPPE One of the Nymphai Okeanides. LIBRETHIAS One of the Leibrethrides, Naiades of the springs of Mount Librethrios in Boiotia, central Greece. LIBYA (1) The goddess Nymphe of north Africa. She was a daughter of Epaphos (the Egyptian gullgod Apis), loved by Poseidon. LIBYA (2) One of the Nymphai Okeanides. LIBYES TIMEOROI, THE Three goddess Nymphai protectors of the region of Lake Tritonis in Libya, North Africa. LILAIA The Naias Nymphe of the town of Lilaia in Phokis, central Greece. LIMNAEE The Naias Nymphe of an Indian lake. LIMNOREIA One of the fifty Nereides. LIRIOPE A Naias or Anthousa (Flower) Nymphe of Phokis in central Greece. She was the wife of the River-God Kephisos. LOTIS A Naias Nymphe of Mount Othrys in Malis, northern Greece. She fled the amorous embrace of the god Priapos and was transformed into a lotus tree. "LYKAIAI" NYMPHAI, THE Nine Nymphai Okeanides, Naiades and Dryades of Mount Lykaios in Arkadia, the Peloponnesos, southern Greece. They were nurses of the god Zeus. LYSIANASSA One of the fifty Nereides. MAIA The Pleias Star Nymphe of Mount Kyllene in Arkadia, southern Greece. She was the mother of the god Hermes by Zeus. MAIRA (1) The Star Nymphe of the dog-star Seirios. She was the wife of Tegeates, the founding King of Tegea in Arkadia, southern Greece. MAIRA (2) One of the Naiades of the River Erasinos in Argos, the Peloponnesos, southern Greece.

She was an attendant of the goddess Britomartis. MAIRA (3) One of the fifty Nereides. MAKRIS A Nymphe of the island of Euboia in central Greece. She was a nurse of the god Dionysos. MELAINE A Naias Nymphe of the springs of Delphoi in Phokis, southern Greece. She was loved by the god Apollon. MELANIPPE A Nymphe of Mount Pelion in Thessalia, northern Greece. She was a daughter of the kentauros (centaur) Kheiron who was transformed into a mare by the gods. MELIA (1) An Okeanis Naias Nymphe of Argos in southern Greece (or Thebes, Boiotia in central Greece). She was the wife of the river-god Inakhos. MELIA (2) The Okeanis Naias Nymphe of the Ismenian spring of Thebes, in Boiotia, central Greece. She was loved by the god Apollon, who slew her brother Kaanthos in the contest for her love. MELIA (3) The Naias Nymphe of the Malean peninsular in Lakedaimonia, southern Greece. She was the wife of the god Seilenos. MELIA (4) The Okeanis Naias Nymphe of the town of the Bebrykes in eastern Bithynia, Anatolia (modern Turkey). She was loved by the god Poseidon. NYSIADES

MELIA (5) The Naias Nymphe of the town of Kios in Bithynia, Anatolia. She was loved by the god Seilenos. MELIA (6) The Naias Nymphe of the main town of the island of Keos in the Greek Aegean. She was loved by the god Apollon. MELIAI, THE Nymphai Dryades of the mountain ash-tree, and perhaps honey and bees. They were born from the blood of the castrated Ouranos when it spilt upon the earth. The Meliai were mothers of the Bronze Race of Man. "MELIAI" NYMPHAI, THE Naiades of the island of Melos in the Greek Aegean, who were turned into frogs by Zeus as punishment for burying the body of the blasphemous Euphorion. MELIBOIA (1) An Okeanis Nymphe of Arkadia in southern Greece. She was the wife of King Pelasgos. MELIBOIA (2) An Okeanis Nymphe of Syria in western Asia. She was loved by the River God Orontes. MELITE (1) A Naias Nymphe of the mythical island of the Phaiakians (sometimes identified with Korkyra). She was loved by the hero Herakles. MELITE (2) One of the Naiades of the River Erasinos in Argos, the Peloponnesos, southern Greece. She was an attendant of the goddess Britomartis. MELITE (3) One of the Nymphai Okeanides. MELITE (4) One of the fifty Nereides. MELOBOSIS One of the Nymphai Okeanides. MEMPHIS The Naias Nymphe of the town of Memphis in Aigyptos (Egypt), North Africa. She was

the wife of King Epaphos. MENESTHO One of the Nymphai Okeanides. MENIPPE (1) A Naias Nymphe of the River Peneios in Thessalia, northern Greece. She was the wife of Pelasgos, whose son Phrastor emigrated to Tyrrhenia in Italy. MENIPPE (2) One of the Nymphai Koronides of Boiotia in central Greece. She and her sister were transformed itno a pair of comets. MENIPPE (3) One of the fifty Nereides. MEROPE (1) The Pleias Star Nymphe of the town of Korinthos in southern Greece. She was wife of the wicked king Sisyphos. MEROPE (2) The Okeanis Nymphe mother of Phaethon by the sun-god Helios. She was usually named Klymene. MEROPE (3) One of the Nymphai Heliades who were transformed into an amber-weeping poplar trees. MESSEIS One of the Inakhides, she was the Naias Nymphe of a spring in the town of Argos, in the Peloponnesos, southern Greece. METHE The Bakkhai Nymphe of drunkenness. She was the wife of King Staphylos. METHONE (1) The Naias Nymphe of the town of Methone in Pieria, Makedonia, northern Greece. She was the wife of the eponymous King Pieros. METHONE (2) One of the Nymphai Alkyonides. She was the eponymous Nymphe of the town of Methone in Pieria, Makedonia, northern Greece. METIOKHE One of the Nymphai Koronides of Boiotia in central Greece. She and her sister were transformed itno a pair of comets. METIS (1) An Okeanis Nymphe loved by the god Zeus. He swallowed her whole when he learned that she was destined to be a son greater than his father. She nevertheless bore a daughter, Athene, within the belly of the god. Metis was the spirit of wise counsel. METIS (2) A Naias Nymphe of the River Meles near Smyrna in Lydia, Anatolia (modern Turkey). She was the mother of the poet Homer by Maion. METOPE The Naias Nymphe of the spring of Metope near Stymphalos in eastern Arkadia. She was the wife of the Sikyonian River-God Asopos. MIDEIA The Naias Nymphe of the town of Aspledon in Boiotia, central Greece. She was loved by the god Poseidon. MINTHE A Naias Nymphe of Mount Minthe in Elis, southern Greece. She was loved by the god Haides, but as punishment for her boasting was transformed by Persephone or Demeter into a mintplant. MOREA One of the eight Nymphai Hamadryades. Her plant was the mulberry tree. MORIA A Naias Nymphe of the River Hermos in Lydia, Anatolia (modern Turkey). When her brother Tylos was slain by a Drakon, she discovered a herb that restored him to life.

MYKALESSIDES, THE Naiades and Oreiades of Mount Mykale in Karia, Anatolia (modern Turkey). MYKENE The Naias Nymphe of the town of Mykenai in Argos, southern Greece. She was the wife of King Arestor. MYRTOESSA The Naias Nymphe of a well in the town of Megalopolis in Arkadia, southern Greece. "MYSIAI" NAIADES, THE Naiades of the springs of the Lake Askanios in Bithynia, Anatolia (modern Turkey). The abducted the handsome youth Hylas when he came to collect water from their spring. MYSTIS A Bakkhe Nymphe of the island of Euboia in central Greece. She was a nurse of the god Dionysos. NAIS The Naias Nymphe of the town of Pyrrhikhos in Lakedaimonia, southern Greece. She was the wife of the god Seilenos. NAKOLE The Naias Nymphe of the town of Nakoleia in Phrygia, Anatolia (modern Turkey). NANA A Naias Nymphe of the River Saggarios in Phrygia, Anatolia (modern Turkey). She was impregnated by a nut which fell from a tree grown from the severed genitals of the Daimon Agdistis. NAUSITHOE One of the fifty Nereides. "NAXIAI" NYMPHAI, THE Three Naiades of Mount Drios on the island of Naxos in the Greek Aegean. They were nurses of the god Dionysos. NEAIRA (1) A Nymphe of the island of the mythical island of Thrinakie loved by the sun-god Helios. NEAIRA (2) A Naias Nymphe of Edonia in Thrake, north of Greece. She was the wife of the RiverGod Strymon. NEAIRA (3) A Naias Nymphe of Mount Sipylos in Lydia, Anatolia (modern Turkey). She was loved by the Lydian prince Theiodamas. "NEAIREIDES", THE Two Nymphai daughters of the sun-god Helios. They tended his herds of sheep and cattle on the mythical island of Thrinakie. NEDA The Okeanis Naias Nymphe of the River Neda in Arkadia, southern Greece. She was a nurse of the god Zeus. NEMEA (2) The Naias Nymphe of the town of Nemea in Argos, southern Greece. NEMERTES One of the fifty Nereides. NEOMERIS One of the fifty Nereides.

NYSIADES

NEPHELE (1) A Nymphe formed by Zeus out of the clouds in the shape of the goddess Hera. She was raped by the impious King Ixion, and spawned the tribe of Kentauroi (Centaurs). NEPHELE (2) A Nymphe of Athamantia in Boiotia, central Greece. She was the wife of King Athamas who sent the flying, golden-fleeced ram to rescue her children, when their stepmother conspired to have them sacrificed. NEPHELE (3) One of the Okeanides in the retinue of the goddess Artemis.

NESAIE One of the fifty Nereides. NESO One of the fifty Nereides. NIKAIA The Naias Nymphe of the town of Nikaia in Bithynia, Anatolia (modern Turkey). She was raped by the god Dionysos. NOMIA A Nymphe of Mount Nomia in Arkadia, southern Greece. She was the wife of King Lykaon. NONAKRIS The Naias Nymphe of the town of Nonakris in Arkadia, southern Greece. She was the wife of King Lykaon. "NYMPHAIIDES", THE Naiades of the River Nymphaios in Paphlagonia, Anatolia (modern Turkey). NYSA One of the Nysiades, Nymphai of the mythical Mount Nysa. She was a nurse and one of the first Bakkhantes of the god Dionysos. NYSIADES, THE Three, five or six Nymphai Okeanides of mythical Mount Nysa. They were nurses of the god Dionysos. OEROE The Naias Nymphe of the stream Oeroe of Plataia in Boiotia, central Greece. She was usually named Plataia. "OGYGIAI" NYMPHAI, THE Four Naiades of the mythical island of Ogygos. They were handmaidens of the goddess Nymphe Kalypso. OINOE (1) The Naias Nymphe of the main town of the island of Sikinos in the Greek Aegean. She was the wife of King Thoas. OINOE (2) A Naias Nymphe of Mount Lykaios in Arkadia, southern Greece. She was one of nine Arkadian nurses of the god Zeus. OINONE A Naias Nymphe of Mount Ida in the Troad, Anatolia (modern Turkey). She was the first wife of Prince Paris, whom he abandoned for the love of Helene. She refused to heal him when he had been wounded in the Trojan War, and following his death, killed herself in grief. OIOLYKA A Halias (Sea) Nymphe daughter of the hundred-handed giant Briareus. OKYRHOE (1) A Naias Nymphe of the River Imbrasos on the island of Samos. She was raped by the god Apollon who transformed the fisherman Pompilos into a pilot-fish when he attempted to rescue her. OKYRHOE (2) A Naias Nymphe of the River Saggarios of Phrygia, Anatolia (modern Turkey). She was loved by the local prince Hippomedon. OKYRHOE (3) A Naias Nymphe of Kolkhis at the eastern end of the Black Sea (modern Georgia) who was loved by the sun-god Helios. OKYRHOE (4) A Naias Nymphe of the River Kaikos in Teuthrania, southern Mysia, Anatolia (modern Turkey). She was loved by the god Hermes. OKYRHOE (5) A prophetic Nymphe of Mount Pelion in Thessalia, northern Greece. She was usually named Melanippe. OKYRHOE (6) One of the Nymphai Okeanides. OPIS One of the Nymphai Hyperboreiai, handmaidens of the goddess Artemis from the mythical

northern land of Hyperborea. The name is usually spelt Oupis. OREITHYIA (1) A Nymphe of the region of Thrake, to the north of Greece. She was an Athenian princess who was carried off to Thrake by the god Boreas to be his immortal wife. She was probably a goddess of chill mountain winds. OREITHYIA (2) A Nymphe of Mount Lebanon in Phoinikia, west Asia. She was loved by King Belos. OREITHYIA (3) One of the fifty Nereides. ORNEA The Naias Nymphe of the town of Orneai in Sikyonia, southern Greece. ORPHNE A Nymphe of the underworld. She was the mother of the daimon Askalaphos by the infernal river Akheron. ORSEIS A Naias Nymphe of the region of Thessalia in northern Greece. She was the wife of King Hellen of the Hellenes (Greeks). ORTYGIA The Naias Nymphe of the sacred Ortygian grove near Ephesos in Lykia, Anatolia (modern Turkey). She was the nurse of the god Apollon. "ORTYGIAI" NYMPHAI, THE Naiades of the springs of Syrakousa and the island of Ortygia in Sikilia (Sicily), southern Italia. OTHREIS A Nymphe of Mount Othrys in Malis, northern Greece. She was loved by the gods Zeus and Apollon. OUPIS One of the Nymphai Hyperboreiai, handmaidens of the goddess Artemis from the mythical northern land of Hyperborea. OURANIA One of the Nymphai Okeanides. OZOMENE The Okeanis Nymphe mother of Iris the rainbow and the storm-wind Harpyiai. She was usually named Elektra. "PAKTOLIDES", THE Naiades of the River Paktolos in Lydia, Anatolia (modern Turkey). PALLAS A Nymphe of the salt-lake Tritonis in Libya, North Africa. She was a childhood companion of the goddess Athena who was accidentally slain during their war games. PALLENE One of the Nymphai Alkyonides. She was the eponymous Nymphe of the peninsular of Pallene in the Thrakian Khersonesos (north of Greece). PANOPEIA One of the fifty Nereides. PAREGORON One of the Okeanides. She was the spirit of soothing words. PAREIA The Naias Nymphe of the main town of the island of Paros in the Greek Aegean. She was loved by King Minos of Krete. "PARTHENIA" NAIAS A Naias Nymphe of the River Parthenios in Bithynia, Anatolia (modern Turkey). She was loved by a local prince named Agamestor. PASITHEA One of the fifty Nereides. PASITHOE One of the Nymphai Okeanides. NEREIDES

PEDILE One of the Nysiades, Nymphai of the mythical Mount Nysa. She was a nurse and one of the first Bakkhantes of the god Dionysos. PEGAIA One of the Ionides, Naiades of the healing springs of the River Kytheros in Elis, the Peloponnesos, southern Greece. PEGASIS The Naias Nymphe of a spring of the River Grenikos in the Troad, Anatolia (modern Turkey). She was loved by the Trojan prince Emathion. PEIRENE The Naias Nymphe of the spring Peirene in the town of Korinthos, southern Greece. She was loved by the god Poseidon. PEITHO One of the Okeanides. She was the spirit of persuasive and seductive words. PELIONIDES, THE Naiades of the springs of Mount Pelion in Thessalia, northern Greece. They were nurses of the Kentauroi (Centaurs). PENELOPEIA A Dryas Nymphe of Mount Kyllene in Arkadia, southern Greece. She was the mother of the god Pan by Hermes. PERIBOIA (1) The Okeanis Nymphe wife of the Titan Lelantos and mother of the goddess Aura. PERIBOIA (2) A Naias Nymphe of the region of Lakedaimonia in southern Greece. She was the wife of Prince Ikarios. PERO A Naias Nymphe of the region of Sikyonia in southern Greece. She bore Poseidon the lame River-God Asopos. Pero was also named Kelouse. PERSE An Okeanis Nymphe of Persia loved by the sun-god Helios. She was usually named Perseis. PERSEIS An Okeanis Nymphe of Persia loved by the sun-god Helios. She was the mother of the witches Aeetes, Pasiphae and Kirke. PETRA One of the Leibrethrides, Naiades of the springs of Mount Librethrios in Boiotia, central Greece. PETRAIE One of the Nymphai Okeanides. PEUKE The Naias Nymphe of the island of Peuke at the mouth of the River Istros (Danube) in western Skythia (modern Romania). PHAETHONIDES, THE Seven Nymphai daughters of the sun-god Helios who were transformed into amber-weeping poplar trees following the death of the their brother Phaethon. They were usually called Heliades. PHAETHOUSA A Nymphe daughter of the sun-god Helios. She tended his sacred herds of immortal cattle on the mythical island of Thrinakie. PHAINO One of the Nymphai Okeanides. PHAIO One of the five Star Nymphai of the constellation Hyades. She was a nurse of the god Dionysos. PHAISYLE One of the five Star Nymphai of the constellation Hyades. She was a nurse of the god Dionysos.

PHARMAKEIA The Naias Nymphe of a poisonous spring near Athens in Attika, southern Greece. "PHASEIDES", THE Naiades of the streams and marshes of the River Phasis in Kolkhis in the Kaukosos, easternmost Europe. PHEROUSA One of the fifty Nereides. PHIALE One of the Okeanis companions of the goddess Artemis. PHIGALIA A Dryas Nymphe of the town of Phigalia in Arkadia, southern Greece. OREITHYIA

PHILIA One of the Naiades of Mount Drios on the island of Naxos in the Greek Aegean. She was a nurse of the god Dionysos. PHILODIKE An Argive Naias and wife of Leukippos king of Messenia. PHILYRE An Okeanis Nymphe of Mount Pelion in Thessalia, northern Greece. She was loved by the god Kronos, who transformed her into a horse when their rendeavous was discovered by his wife. She gave birth to the Kentauros (Centaur) Kheiron. PHOIBE (1) A Hamadryas Nymphe of Libya in North Africa. She was one of the many wives of King Danaus. PHOIBE (2) One of the Nymphai Heliades who were transformed into an amber-weeping poplar trees. PHOSTHONIA One of the Nymphai Alkyonides of the Thrakian Khersonesos (north of Greece). PHRIXA A Naias Nymphe of Mount Lykaios in Arkadia, the Peloponnesos, central Greece. She was one of nine Arkadian nurses of the god Zeus. PHYSADEIA An Argive Naias and goddess of the spring of Physadeia. PHYTO One of the Nysiades, Nymphai of the mythical Mount Nysa. She was a nurse and one of the first Bakkhantes of the god Dionysos. PIERIDES, THE Naiades of the springs of Mount Pieros in Pieria, Makedonia, north of Greece. PITANE The Naias Nymphe of the town of Pitane in Lakedaimonia, southern Greece. She was loved by the god Poseidon. PITYS An Oreias Nymphe of the region of Arkadia in southern Greece. She transfomed into a pine tree to escape the lascivious pursuit of the god Pan. PLATAIA The Naias Nymphe of the Gargaphian spring of Plataia in Boiotia, central Greece. She was abducted to the region by the god Zeus. PLEIADES, THE Seven star Nymphai daughters of the Titan Atlas who formed the constellation Pleiades. PLEIONE The Okeanis Nymphe of Mount Kyllene in Arkadia. She was the wife of the Titan Atlas, and mother of the Nymphai Pleiades and Hyades. PLEXAURE (1) One of the Nymphai Okeanides. PLEXAURE (2) One of the fifty Nereides.

PLOTO One of the fifty Nereides. PLOUTO (1) A Nymphe of Mount Sipylos in Lydia, Anatolia (modern Turkey). She was the mother of the impious king Tantalos by Zeus. PLOUTO (2) One of the Nymphai Okeanides. POLYDORA (1) A Danais & Naias Nymphe. She was the wife of the River Sperkheios in Malis, northern Greece. POLYDORA (2) One of the Nymphai Okeanides. POLYHYMNO One of the Nysiades, Nymphai of the mythical Mount Nysa. She was a nurse and one of the first Bakkhantes of the god Dionysos. POLYNOME One of the fifty Nereides. POLYPHE The Okeanis Nymphe mother of the goddess Athena Hippeia by Poseidon. POLYXO (1) One of the five Star Nymphai of the constellation Hyades. She was a nurse of the god Dionysos. POLYXO (2) One of the Nysiades, Nymphai of the mythical Mount Nysa. She was a nurse and one of the first Bakkhantes of the god Dionysos. POLYXO (3) A Naias Nymphe of the River Nile in Aigyptos (Egypt), north Africa. She was one of the many wives of King Danaus. PONTOMEDOUSA One of the fifty Nereides. PONTOPOREIA One of the fifty Nereides. POULYNOE One of the fifty Nereides. MYSIAN NAIADES

PRAXITHEA A Naias Nymphe of the city of Athens in Attika, southern Greece. She was the wife of King Erektheus. PRONOE One of the fifty Nereides. PRONOIA An Okeanis Nymphe of Mount Parnassos in Phokis, central Greece. She was the wife of the Titan Prometheus. PROSYMNA One of the three Asterionides, Nymphai of the River Asterion in Argos, the Peloponnesos, southern Greece. She was a nurse of the goddess Hera. PROTO One of the fifty Nereides. PROTOMEDEIA One of the fifty Nereides. PRYMNO One of the Nymphai Okeanides. PSALAKANTHA A Nymphe of the island of Ikaria in the Greek Aegean. She was spurned by the god Dionysos and dissuade Ariadne from consorting with the god. As punishment he transormed her into the plany plant. PSAMATHE One of the fifty Nereides. She was the wife of the sea-god Proteus, and loved by King Aiakos of Aigina.

PSANIS The Naias Nymphe of an Arkadian spring. She may have been the wife of the River Ladon. PSEKAS One of the Okeanides in the retinue of the goddess Artemis. PTELEA One of the eight Nymphai Hamadryades. Her tree was the elm. RHANIS One of the Okeanis Nymphe companions of the goddess Artemis. RHENE A Nymphe of the island of Samothrake in the Greek Aegean. She was loved by the god Hermes (or perhaps Zeus). RHETIA A Nymphe of the island of Samothrake in the Greek Aegean. She was the mother of the Samothrakian Korybantes by Apollon. RHODE The Halias (Sea) Nymphe of the island of Rhodes in the Greek Aegean. She was the wife of the sun-god Helios. RHODEIA One of the Nymphai Okeanides. RHODOPE (1) A Naias Nymphe of Kikonia, in Thrake, north of Greece. She and her arrogant husband Haimos were transformed into mountains as punishment for claiming to be Zeus and Hera. RHODOPE (2) One of the Nymphai Okeanides. RHODOS The Halias (Sea) Nymphe of the island of Rhodes in the Greek Aegean. She was usually named Rhode. RHOIO A Naias Nymphe of the town of Troy in the Troad, Anatolia (modern Turkey). She was the wife of the Trojan King Laomedon. She was usually named Strymo. "RHYNDAKIDES", THE Naiades of the springs of the River Rhyndakos in Mysia, Anatolia (modern Turkey). SAGARITIS A Naias Hamadrays Nymphe of the River Saggarios in Phrygia, Anatolia (modern Turkey). She had an affair with Attis, the boy consort of Kybele. The goddess felled her tree, slaying the Nymphe, in retribution. SALAMIS The Naias Nymphe of the main town of the island of Salamis in southern Greece. She was abducted to the island by the god Poseidon. SALMAKIS The Naias Nymphe of the spring Salmakis of the town of Halikarnassos in Karia, Anatolia (modern Turkey). She fell in love with the boy Hermaphroditos and prayed to the gods to be with him forever. The gods combined their two forms to create an hermaphrodite. SAMIA The Naias Nymphe of the main town of the island of Samos in the Greek Aegean. She was the wife of the island's first king Ankaios. SAO One of the fifty Nereides. "SATNIOEIS" NAIAS An unnamed Naias Nymphe of the River Satnioeis in the Troad, Anatolia (modern Turkey). She was loved by the Dardanian prince Enops. SEIRENES, THE Three Naias companions of Persephone. Demeter transformed their bodies \to those of birds to aide them in the search for their abducted mistress. Failing in this endeavour they eventually settled on the island of Anthemoessa and set to luring passing sailors to their death with their irresistable song. "SERIPHIA" NAIAS An unnamed Naias of the island of Seriphos in the Greek Aegean. She was

loved by King Magnes of Magnesia, but emigrated with her two sons to the island. SINOE An Oreias Nymphe of Mount Sinoe in Arkadia, southern Greece. She was the nurse of the god Pan. SINOPE The Naias Nymphe of the Greek colony of Sinope in Assyria on the Black Sea, Anatolia (modern Turkey). She was carried off to the land by Zeus, but made him swear an oath to protect her virginity. The River-God Halys and Apollon also failed to win her. SITHNIDES, THE Naiades of the fountain of the town Megara, in Attika, southern Greece. SKYLLA A Sicilian sea nymphe who was transformed into a monster by the witch Kirke. SOSE A prophetic Oreias Nymphe of the region of Arkadia in southern Greece. She was the mother of the god Pan by Hermes. SPARTE The Naias Nymphe of the town of Sparta in Lakedaimonia, southern Greece. She was the wife of King Lakedaimon. SPEIO One of the fifty Nereides. "SPERKHEIDES", THE Naiades of the springs of the River Sperkheios on Mount Othrys in Malis, central Greece.

PSANIS

SPHRAGITIDES, THE Naiades or Oreaides of a cavern oracle on Mount Kithairon in Attika, southern Greece. STEROPE A Pleias Star Nymphe of Pisa in Elis, southern Greece. She was loved by the god Ares. STILBE The Naias Nymphe of the main town of the Lapithai in Thessalia, northern Greece. She was loved by the god Apollon. STROPHIA The Naias Nymphe of a spring on Mount Kithairon in Boiotia, central Greece. STRYMO A Naias Nymphe of the town of Troy in the Troad, Anatolia (modern Turkey). She was the wife of the Trojan King Laomedon. STYX The Okeanis Nymphe or Goddess of the underworld river Styx, and the Arkadian stream (southern Greece) of the same name. SYKE One of the eight Nymphai Hamadryades. Her tree was the fig. SYLLIS The Naias Nymphe of the town of Sikyon in Sikyonia, southern Greece. She was loved by the god Apollon. SYMAITHIS A Naias Nymphe of the River Symaithos in Sicily, southern Italy. She was loved by the god Pan. SYNALLASIS One of the Ionides, Naiades of the healing springs of the River Kytheros in Elis, the Peloponnesos, southern Greece. SYRINX A Naias Nymphe of the River Ladon in Arkadia, southern Greece. She transformed into a stand of river-reeds in order to escape the lascivious pursuit of the god Pan. TANAGRA The Naias Nymphe of the town of Tanagra in Boiotia, central Greece. Hermes defeated Ares in a boxing match in a contest for her love. TAYGETE The Pleais Star Nymphe of the Taygetos Mountains in Lakedaimonia, southern Greece.

She was loved by the god Zeus. TELEDIKE A Nymphe of the region Argolis in southern Greece. She was the wife of the early king Phoroneus. TELESTO One of the Nymphai Okeanides. She was perhaps the goddess of success. TELPHOUSA The Naias Nymphe of the Telphousian spring of Mount Helikon in Boiotia, central Greece. Apollon burried her waters beneath rocks as punishment for trying to trick him into building his temple elsewhere. TEREINE A Naias Nymphe of the River Strymon in Triballoi, Thrake, north of Greece. She was loved by the god Ares. THALEIA (1) A Nymphe of Mount Aitna in Sikelia (Sicily), southern Italy. She was loved by the god Zeus, and requested to be hidden beneath the earth to avoid the jealous wrath of Hera. She gave birth to Palikoi, Sicilian geyser-gods. THALEIA (2) One of the fifty Nereides. THEBE The Naias Nymphe of the town of Thebes in Boiotia, central Greece. She was abducted to the site of the town by the god Zeus. THEISOA The Okeanis Naias Nymphe of the springs of the town of Theisoa in Arkadia, southern Greece. She was one of the nurses of the god Zeus. THELPOUSA The Naias Nymphe of the town of Thelpousa in Arkadia, southern Greece. "THEMEIDES", THE Three Nymphai daughters of Zeus and Themis who were guardians of various artifacts of the gods. THEMIS An Arkadian Naias loved by Hermes and the mother of Euander a prince of Arkadia. She was usually named Karmentis. THEMISTO One of the fifty Nereides. THEONOE A Halias (Sea) Nymphe daughter of the god Proteus. She was usually named Eidothea. THERO The Naias Nymphe of the town of Therapne, in Lakedaimonia, southern Greece. She was the nurse of the god Ares. THESPIA The Naias Nymphe of the town of Thespiae in Boiotia, central Greece. She was loved by the god Apollon. THESSALIDES, THE Naiades of the River Peneios in Thessalia, northern Greece. THETIS The goddess Nymphe leader of the Nereides. She was wooed by Zeus and Poseidon, but when it was learned she was destined to bear a son greater than his mother, the gods married her to the mortal King Peleus. THISBE The Naias Nymphe of the village of Thisbe in Boiotia, central Greece. THOE (1) One of the Nymphai Okeanides. THOE (2) One of the fifty Nereides.

THOOSA A Halias (Sea) Nymphe loved by the god Poseidon. She bore him the Kyklops Polyphemos. THRASSA A Nymphe of the Triballoi tribe of Thrake, north of Greece. She was the wife of King Hipponous. THRIAI, THE Prophetic Nymphai of Mount Parnassos in Phokis, central Greece. They were minor goddesses of divination by pebbles and birds of omen whom the god Apollon gifted to his brother Hermes. THRONIE The Naias Nymphe of the town of Abdera in Bistonia, Thrake, north of Greece. She was loved by the god Poseidon. THYIA A Naias Nymphe of the shrine of Delphoi in Phokis, central Greece. She was loved by the god Apollon. THYMBRIS A prophetic Nymphe of the region of Arkadia. She was the mother of the god Pan by Zeus. THYSA The Bakkhe Nymphe of the frenzied orgies of Dionysos. TIASA The Naias Nymphe of the Tiasa stream in Lakedaimonia, southern Greece. TITHOREA The Dryas Nymphe of the town of Tithorea in Phokis, central Greece. TRITEIA A Halias (Sea) Nymphe of the town of Triteia in Akhaia, southern Greece. She was loved by the god Ares. TRITONIS The Halias (Sea) Nymphe of the salt-water lake Tritonis in Libya, north Africa. She was loved by the god Poseidon, and also married a local king named Amphithemis. TROIADES NAIADES, THE Naiades of the Rivers of Troy, in the Troad, Anatolia (modern Turkey). TYKHE One of the Okeanides. She was the spirit of good fortune. XANTHE One of the Nymphai Okeanides. ZEUXIPPE A Naias Nymphe of the River Eridanos near Athens in Attika, southern Greece. She was loved by the Athenian lord Teleon. ZEUXO One of the Nymphai Okeanides.

AURAI
Greek Name Transliteration Aura Aurai Latin Spelling Aura Aurae Translation Breeze, Breezes (aura)

Aura nymph, Athenian red- figure vase C5th B.C.

THE AURAI (or Aurae) were the nymphs of the breezes. They were named as daughters of the earth-encircling river Okeanos or the north-wind Boreas. In the story of Kephalos they, or a single Aura, were equated with the dawn-goddess There was also a Titan goddess named Aura. PARENTS
[1] OKEANOS (Homer Odyssey 4.561) [2] BOREAS (Quintus Smyrnaeus 1.683)

Eos.

Homer, Odyssey 4. 561 ff (trans. Shewring) (Greek epic C8th B.C.) : "The world's end, the Elysian fields . . . [there] for men's refreshment Okeanos sends out continually the high-singing breezes of the west (aetai zephyroio)." Aeschylus, Prometheus Bound 88 ff (trans. Weir Smyth) (Greek tragedy C5th B.C.) : "[The Titan Prometheus calls on the spirits of nature to witness his torment:] O you bright sky of heaven (dios aithr), you swift-winged breezes (takhypteroi pnoiai) [i.e. the Aurai], you river-waters (pgai potamn), and infinite laughter of the waves of sea (pontos), O universal mother Earth (panmtr g), and you, all-seeing orb of the sun (panopts kyklos hlios), to you I call! See what I, a god, endure from the gods." Aeschylus, Prometheus Bound 115 ff : "[The Okeanides arrive on the mountain of Prometheus in a winged chariot:] Our group has come in swift rivalry of wings to this crag as friend to you, having won our father's consent as best we might. The swift-coursing breezes (aurai) bore me on . . . unsandalled I have hastened in a winged car." Quintus Smyrnaeus, Fall of Troy 1. 683 ff (trans. Way) (Greek epic C4th A.D.) : "[The Breezes brought Ares news of the death of his daughter Penthesilea in the war of Troy:] For the Aurai (Breezes), Boreas' (North-wind's) fleet-winged daughters, bare to him, as through the wide halls of the sky he strode." Nonnus, Dionysiaca 37. 70 ff (trans. Rouse) (Greek epic C5th A.D.) : "The East Wind [Euros] left the rosy chamber of Eos (Dawn) his mother, and fanned the blazing pure all night long, stirring up the windfed leaping fire; the wild Aurai (Breezes),

neighbours of the sun, shot the gleams into the air." Nonnus, Dionysiaca 47. 302 ff : "[Ariaden was abandoned by Theseus on the island of Naxos:] Boreas (the North Wind) lovelorn himself cared nothing for the maid stricken with desire--yes, even the Aurai (Breezes) themselves must have had a spite against the maiden when they carried the ship [of Theseus away] to the Athenian land."
Greek Name Transliteration Aetai Pnoiai Latin Spelling Aetae Pnoeae Translation Breezes, Winds Breezes

Sources:
o o o Aeschylus, Prometheus Bound - Greek Tragedy C5th B.C. Quintus Smyrnaeus, Fall of Troy - Greek Epic C4th A.D. Nonnos, Dionysiaca - Greek Epic C5th A.D.

NAIADES
Greek Name Transliteration Naias Naides, Naiades Latin Name Naiad Naiades Translation Flowing ones (na)

THE NAIADES were fresh-water Nymphs who inhabited the rivers, streams, lakes, marshes, fountains and springs of the earth. They were immortal, minor divinities who were invited to attend the assemblies of the gods on Mount Olympos. The Naiad Nymphs were often classified by their domain: PEGAIAI were the Naiad nymphs of the springs; KRENAIAI, the Naiads of fountains; POTAMEIDES, the Naiads of rivers & streams; LIMNADES and LIMNATIDES, Naiads of the lakes; HELEIONOMAI, the Naiad Nymphs of marshes and wetlands. The Naiades, along with Artemis, River-God & Naiad Nymph, Campanian redwere regarded as the divine nurses figure amphora C4th B.C., British Museum of the young, and the protectors of girls and maidens, overseeing their safe passage into adulthood. Similarly Apollon and the River-Gods (fathers of the Naiades) were the patron gods of boys and youths. Many of the Naiades married local kings and played a prominent role in the genealogies of the royal families of myth. Others, such as the beautiful Naiad daughters of Asopos, were loved by the gods. They often gave their names to towns, cities and islands, and as such were most likely regarded as the goddessprotectors of the community's water supply, which usually consisting of a spring, stream-fed fountain, or well. The Pegaiai with their distinctive natural springs, and the Krinaiai who presided over town fountains, were the mostly commonly worshipped and individualised of the Nymphs. Those who possessed waters with some special property (or which were believed to have some special property), often had proper cults and shrines established in their honour. Examples of these include the Anigrides of Elis whose waters were believed to cure disease, and the Nymphs of Helikon and Delphoi whose waters were thought to bestow poetical and prophetic inspiration respectively. The Naiades were depicted in ancient art as beautiful, young women, either seated, standing or reclining beside their springs, and holding a hydria (water jug) or branch of lush foliage.

INDEX OF NYMPH PAGES PART 1: NYMPHS GENERAL

PARENTS [1] THE POTAMOI (River-Gods) (Homer, Hesiod, and other

sources)

Encyclopedia Types of Nymphs Types (by author) Parentage of Nymphs Immortality of Nymphs Colours of Nymphs Hymns to the Nymphs

[2] ZEUS (Homer Odyssey 17.240) NAMES For a list of Naiades see the NYMPH CATALOGUE

ENCYCLOPEDIA
NAIADES. Nymphs of the watery element. The rivers were represented by the Potameides (Potamdes), who, as local divinities, were named after their rivers, as Acheloides, Anigrides, Ismenides, Amniisiades, Pactolides. (Apollon. Rhod. iii. 1219; Virg. Aen. viii. 70; Paus. v. 5. 6, i. 31. 2; Callim. Hymn. in Dian. 15; Ov. Met. vi. 16; Steph. Byz. s.v. Amnisos.) But the nymphs of fresh water, whether of rivers, lakes, brooks, or wells, are also designated by the general name Naiades, Ndes, though they have in addition their specific names, as Krnaiai, Pgaiai, Heleionomoi, Limnatides, or Limnades. (Hom. Od. xvii. 240; Apollon. Rhod. iii. 1219; Theocrit. v. 17; Orph. Hymn. 50. 6, Argon. 644.) Even the rivers of the lower regions are described as having their nymphs; hence, Nymphae infernae paludis and Avernales. (Ov. Met. v. 540, Fast. ii. 610.) Many of these presided over waters or springs which were believed to inspire those that drank of them, and hence the nymphs themselves were thought to be endowed with prophetic or oracular power, and to inspire men with the same, and to confer upon them the gift of poetry. (Paus. iv. 27. 2, ix. 3. 5, 34. 3; Plut. Aristid. 11; Theocrit. vii. 92.) Inspired soothsayers or priests are therefore sometimes called numphogptoi. (Plat. Phaedr. p. 421, e.) Their powers, however, vary with those of the springs over which they preside; some were thus regarded as having the power of restoring sick persons to health (Pind. Ol. xii. 26; Paus. v. 5. 6, vi. 22. 4); and as water is necessary to feed all vegetation as well as all living beings, the water nymphs (Hydriades) were also worshipped along with Dionysus and Demeter as giving life and blessings to all created beings, and this attribute is expressed by a variety of epithets, such as karpotrophoi, aipolikai, nomiai, kourotrophoi, &c. As their influence was thus exercised in all departments of nature, they frequently appear in connection with higher divinities, as, for example, with Apollo, the prophetic god and the protector of herds and flocks (Apollon. Rhod. iv. 1218); with Artemis, the huntress and the protectress of game, for she herself was originally an Arcadian nymph

PART 2: THE DRYADES

Names of Dryades General Descriptions

PART 3: THE NAIADES

General Descriptions Naiades of Islands Naiades of Towns Naiades of Springs Naiades of Rivers

PART 4: THE EPIMELIDES PART 5: NYMPH STORIES 1

Dryope & the Nymphs Kerambos & the Nymphs Megaros & the Nymphs Aristaios & the Nymphs Peleus & the Nymphs Erysikththon & Dryades Hylas & the Naiades Paraibios & the Nymphs Kleite & the Nymphs Byblis & the Nymphs Daphnis & the Nymphs Messapians & Nymphs

PART 6: NYMPH STORIES 2

Daphne, Laurel Tree Heliades, Black Poplars Klytie, Heliotrope Leuke, White Poplar Lotis, Lotus Tree MInthe, Mint Pitys, Silver Fir Psalakantha, Plany Plant Sperkheides, Poplars Syrinx, River Reed

PART 7: CULT OF NYMPHS

(Apollon. Rhod. i. 1225, iii. 881; Paus. iii. 10. 8); with Hermes, the fructifying god of flocks (Hom. Hymn. in Aphrod. 262); with Dionysus (Orph. Hymn. 52; Horat. Carm. i. 1. 31, ii. 19. 3); with Pan, the Seileni and Satyrs, whom they join in their Bacchic revels and dances. Source: Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology.

ALTERNATIVE NAMES & TYPES OF NAIADES

Greek Name Transliteration Naias Naides, Naiades Nias, Nis Niades, Nides Hydrias Hydriades Potamis Potamides Pgaia Pgaiai Krnaia Krnaiai Krnas Krniades Limntis Limntides Limnatis Limnatides Limnas Limnades Heleionomos Heleionomoi Latin Name Naiad Naiades Naiad Naiades Hydriad Hydriades Potamis Potamides Pegaea Pegaeae Crenaea Crenaeae Creniad Creniades Limnatis Limnatides Limnatis Limnatides Limnad Limnades Heleonomus Heleonomi Translation Flowing ones (na) Flowing ones (Ionic sp.) Of the Water (hydros) Of the River (potamos) Of the Spring (pg) Of the Fountain (krn) Of the Fountain (krn) Of the Lake (limn) Of the Lake (Doric sp.) Of the Lake (limn) Marsh-Dwelling (heleios, nomos)

N.B. These names were usually adjectives for Nymphs, so nymphs of the marshes were Nymphai Heleionomoi, nymphs of the springs were Nymphai Pegaiai, etc.

NAIADES, GENERAL DESCRIPTIONS

Homer, Iliad 20. 4 ff ff (trans. Lattimore) (Greek epic C8th B.C.) : "But Zeus, from the many-folded peak of Olympos, told Themis to summon all the gods into assembly. She went everywhere, and told them to make thier way to Zeus' house. There was no River [Potamoi] that was not there, except only Okeanos, there was not one of the Nymphai who live in the lovely groves (alsea) [i.e. Dryades], and the springs of rivers (pegai potamon) [i.e. Naiades] and the

grassy meadows (pisea poienta), who came not. These all assembling into the house of Zeus cloud-gathering took places among the smooth-stone cloister walks." Homer, Odyssey 6. 121 ff (trans. Shewring) (Greek epic C8th B.C.) : "A shriek rang in my ears just then--womanish, it seemed. Did it come from girls-did it come from Nymphai who live on high mountain-tops (orea) or in river-springs (pegai potamon) or in grassy meadows (pisea)?" Homer, Odyssey 10. 348 ff : "They [Nymphai] come from springs (krnai) [i.e. Naiades], they come from groves (alsea) [Dryades], they come from the sacred rivers (potamoi) [Naiades] flowing seawards." Homeric Hymn 5 to Aphrodite 94 ff (trans. Evelyn-White) (Greek epic C7th to 4th B.C.) : "The Nymphai [of Mount Ida] who haunt the pleasant woods (alsea) [i.e. Dryades], or of those who inhabit this lovely mountain (oros) [Oreiades] and the springs of rivers (pegai potamoi) [Naiades] and grassy meads (pisea). I will make you an altar upon a high peak in a far seen place, and will sacrifice rich offerings to you at all seasons. And do you feel kindly towards me and grant [good fortune]." Alcman, Fragment 563 (from Scholiast on Homer's Iliad) (trans. Campbell, Vol. Greek Lyric II) (C7th B.C.) : "Some say there are many kinds of nymphs, e.g. Alcman: Naides and Lampades and Thyiades." Pratinus, Fragment 708 (trans. Campbell, Vol. Greek Lyric III) (C6th B.C.) : "Racing over the mountains with the Naiades." Apollonius Rhodius, Argonautica 1. 498 ff (trans. Rieu) (Greek epic C3rd B.C.) : "He [Orpheus] sang of . . . how Ourea (Mountains) rose, and how, together with their Nymphai [the Naiades], the murmuring Potamoi (Rivers) and all four legged creatures came to be." Orphic Hymn 51 to the Nymphs (trans. Taylor) (Greek hymns C3rd B.C. to 2nd A.D.) : "To the Nymphai [Okeanides and Naiades], Fumigation from Aromatics. Nymphai, who from Okeanos famed derive your birth, who dwell in liquid caverns of the earth; nurses of Bakkho [Dionysos]s, secret-coursing powers, fructiferous Goddesses, who nourish flowers: earthly-rejoicing, who in meadows dwell, and caves and dens, who depths extend to hell. Holy, oblique, who swiftly soar through air, fountains, and dews, and winding streams your care, seen and unseen, who joy with wandering wide, and gentle course through flowery vales to glide; with Pan exulting on the mountains height, inspired, and stridulous, whom woods delight: Nymphai odorous, robed in white, whose streams exhale the breeze refreshing, and the balmy gale: with goats and pastures pleased, and beasts of prey, nurses of fruits, unconscious of decay. In cold rejoicing, and to cattle kind, sportive, through ocean wandering unconfined. O Nysiai [Nysiades], insane (manikoi), whom oaks delight, lovers of spring, Paionian virgins bright; with Bakkhos and with Deo [Demeter] hear my prayer, and to mankind abundant favour bear; propitious listen to your suppliants voice, come, and benignant in these rites rejoice; give plenteous seasons and sufficient wealth, and pour in lasting streams, continued health." Pausanias, Description of Greece 8. 4. 2 (trans. Jones) (Greek travelogue C2nd A.D.) :

"They used to call some nymphai Dryades, other Epimeliades, and others Naides, and Homer in his poetry talks mostly of Naiades Nymphai." Philostratus the Elder, Imagines 2. 11 (trans. Fairbanks) (Greek rhetorician C3rd A.D.) : "[Description of an ancient Greek painting:] Here are the Nymphai in a group, but do you look at them by classes; some are Naides (Water Nymphai)--these who are shaking drops of dew from their hair." Ovid, Metamorphoses 2. 238 ff (trans. Melville) (Roman epic C1st B.C. to C1st A.D.) : "[When Phaethon, riding the chariot of the sun, scorched the earth:] The sad Nymphae bewailed their pools and springs; Boeotia mourned her Dirce lost, Argos Amymone, Ephyre Pirene; nor were Flumina (Rivers) safe." Ovid, Metamorphoses 3. 402 ff : "Narcissus mocked her [Ekho]; others too [who sought his love], Nymphae of Hill [Oreades] and Water [Naides] and many a man he mocked; till one scorned youth, with raised hands, prayed, So may he love--and never win his love! And Rhamnusia [Nemesis] approved the righteous prayer . . . [and caused Narkissos to fall in love with his own image in a pool of water, and like Ekho, unrequited in his love wasted away]." Ovid, Metamorphoses6. 453 ff : "Richly robed in gorgeous finery, and richer still her beauty; such the beauty of the Naides and Dryades, as we used to hear, walking the woodland ways." Ovid, Metamorphoses 9. 654 ff : "She [the mourning Byblis] lay in silence, clutching the small sedge, and watering the greensward with her tears. And these, men say, the Naiades made a rill, for ever flowing--what could they give more?" Ovid, Metamorphoses 10. 8 ff : "The new-wed bride [Eurydike, wife of Orpheus], roaming with her gay [Thrakian] Naides through the grass, fell dying when a serpent struck her heel." Ovid, Metamorphoses 11. 47 ff : "All wept and mourned for [the bard] Orpheus; forest trees cast down their leaves, tonsured in grief, and Flumina (Rivers) [Potamoi] too, men say, were swollen with their tears, and Naides wore, and Dryades too, their mourning robes of black and hair dishevelled." Ovid, Metamorphoses 14. 326 ff : "King Picus, son of Saturnus [Kronos], ruled the land of Ausonia [Latium] . . . You observe his features. Gaze upon his striking grace and from his likeness here admire the truth . . . Many a glance he drew from Dryades born among the Latin hills; he was the darling of the Fountain-Sprites (Numina fontana) and all the Naides of Albulba and Anio and Almo's streams [but he loved and married Canens alone, daughter of Janus]." Nonnus, Dionysiaca 12. 372 ff (trans. Rouse) (Greek epic C5th A.D.) : "Near the fountains another [Satyros] driven by the insane impulse of drunken excitement, chased a naked Naias of the waters; he would have seized her with

hairy hand as she swam, but she gave the slip and dived into deep water." Nonnus, Dionysiaca 14. 1 ff : "[As the armies of Dionysos were mustering around her palace in Phrygia:] Then swiftshoe Rheia haltered the hairy necks of her lions beside their highland manger . . . She traversed the firmament to south, to morth, to west, to the turning-place of dawn, gathering the divine battalions for Lyaios [Dionysos]: one all-comprehending summons was sounded for Trees and for Rivers, one call for Neiades and Hadryades, the troops of the forest. All the divine generations heard the summons of Kybele, and they came together from all sides." Nonnus, Dionysiaca 15. 370 ff : "In her watery hall the girl [Naias] of [the river] Rhyndakos groaned, carried along barefoot by the water; the Naiades wept." Suidas s.v. Naides (trans. Suda On Line) (Byzantine Greek lexicon C10th A.D.) : "Naides: Springs. Or Nymphai who dwell by the streams."

O18.1 NAIAD & RIVER-GOD

O19.1 NAIAD GARGAPHIE

O19.2 NAIAD ISMENE

O19.4 NAIAD W/ FROND

NAIADES OF ISLANDS
The most important of the Naiades were the Goddess-Nymphs of the many scattered islands of Greece. Each and every island had its own local Naiad-Nymphe (after whome the island was usually named). She represented the primary water source of the island -- be it a well or a spring--whose presence ensured the habitability of the island. They were usually called daughters of the nearest mainland river whose streams were thought to supply their spring with freshwater--so the Island-Nymph of Salamis was the daughter of the nearby mainland River Asopos, and Samia the daughter of the mainland river Maiandros. Some important island Naides who gave their names to their islands include Aigina and Salamis of islands in the Argolic Gulf, Euboia and Samia of the Aegean, and Korkyra of the Ionian Sea .

NAIADES OF TOWNS
Another of the most important types of Naias were the Goddess-Nymphs of the various towns and cities (after whom many settlements were named). They were the goddesses of the town's primary source of fresh-water--be it a spring or a well. These Naiades were usually called daughters of the local River-God, although colonies outside of Greece often named their town-Naias the daughter of River back in Greece--such as the Arkadian Nymphe Arethousa of the Greek colony of Syrakousa in Sicily, and the Argive Nymphe Sinope of the goddess of the Black Sea town of Sinope. Some important town Naides include Thebe, Plataia, Tanagra, Anthedon, Thespia and Thisbe, eponymous nymphs of a towns in Boiotia, Peirene, of the fountain of Korinthos, Sithnides, of the fountain of Megara, Daulis of a town in Phokis, Sparte and Pitane in Lakonia, Mykene, Nemea, and Mideia in Argolis, Thelpousa in Arkadia and the nymphs Arethousa, Sinope and Kyrene of Greek colonies in Sicily, the Black Sea and Libya respectively.

NAIADES OF THE SPRINGS

Various other springs and fountains (outside of the towns) had their own NaiasNymphe or group of Naiades. The springs that were attributed with special properties (such as healing or poetical inspiration) often had cults associated with them. Some important spring Naiades include the Mysian Naiades who abducted Hylas, the Korykiai of the sacred springs of Delphoi, the Anigrides and Ionides nymphs of two curative springs in Elis, Telphousa and the Leibethrides of Mt Helikon, the Himerian Nymphs of certain hot-water springs in Sicily, and Salmakis of a reputedly effemenizing spring. Homer, Odyssey 13. 140 ff (trans. Shewring) (Greek epic C8th B.C.) :

"At the harbour-head [of Ithaka] is a long-leaved olive-tree; near this lies a twilit cave, a most lovely one, sacred to those Nymphai called Naides [of the cavern's springs]; in it are bowls of stone and pitchers of stone; bees also store honey there; and then there are long looms of stone on which the Nymphai weave tissues of ocean-purple that ravish the gazing eye. There are streams there too that flow perpetually; and there are two entrances into it, a northern entrance that mortals may descend by and a southern one that belongs to the gods; by this no human being may enter; it is the pathway of the immortals." Homer, Odyssey 17. 240 ff : "Lifting his hands he [Odysseus] prayed aloud: Nymphai of the fountain [Naiades], daughters of Zeus, if ever upon your altars Odysseus has made burnt-offerings from his young sheep and goats and covered the thigh-bones with rich fat, I beg you to grant this wish of mine: May that man return, with a god for a guide." Pindar, Olympian Ode 12. 26 ff (trans. Conway) (Greek lyric C5th B.C.) : "At your new home, Himera [famed for its hot springs], . . . the Bathing Place of the Nymphai [Naiades]." Sappho, Fragment 214 (trans. Campbell, Vol. Greek Lyric I) (C6th B.C.) : "Nymphs of the springs (Kranniades)." Diodorus Siculus, Library of History 4. 23. 1 (trans. Oldfather) (Greek historian C1st B.C.) : "While passing along the coast of the island [of Sikelia from Pelorias to Eryx], the Nymphai [Naiades] caused warm baths to gush forth so that he might refresh himself after the toil sustained in his journeying. There are two of these, called respectively Himeraia and Egestaiai, each of them having its name from the place where the baths are." Pausanias, Description of Greece 9. 24. 4 (trans. Jones) (Greek travelogue C2nd A.D.) : "[At Kyrtones in Boiotia:] There is here too a cool stream of water rising from a rock. By the spring is a sanctuary of the Nymphai [Naiades], and a small grove, in which all the trees alike are cultivated." Ovid, Metamorphoses 13. 689 ff (trans. Melville) (Roman epic C1st B.C. to C1st A.D.) : "[During the drought of Thebes:] Nymphae in tears were seen mourning their drought-dried springs." Ovid, Metamorphoses 14. 787 ff : "Beside the shrine of Janus lived Ausonia's Naiad-Nymphae, their watery home an ice-cold welling spring. The goddess [Aphrodite] begged their help, nor did the Nymphae baulk at her request, but conjured forth the currents of their spring; but still the gate of open Janus was unblocked, the gush of water had not barred the passageway. Now they set yellow sulphur underneath their sparkling spring and fired the hollow veins with smoking bitumen. Forced by their power and other pressures, heat pierced its way down right to the bottom of the spring, until water dared a moment past to vie with Alpine cold now matched the flame of fire. Splashed by the boiling flow the twin gateposts steamed and the gate . . . was blocked by the strange stream till the defending force could spring to arms." Ovid, Fasti 4. 751 ff (trans.Boyle) (Roman poetry C1st B.C. to C1st A.D.) : "I entered a forbidden wood, and the Nymphae and half-goat god [Faunus, Pan]

bolted from my sight. If any knife has robbed a grove of a shady bough to give ailing sheep a basket of leaves: forgive my offence. Do not fault me for sheltering my flock from the hail in a rustic shrine, nor harm me for disturbing the pools. Pardon, Nymphae, trampling hooves for muddying your stream. Goddess [Pales], placate for us the Springs and Fountain Spirits [Naiades], placate the gods dispersed through every grove. Keep from our sight the Dryades and Diana's [Artemis'] bath and Faunus [Pan] lying in the fields at noon." Cicero, De Natura Deorum 3. 20 (trans. Rackham) (Roman rhetorician C1st B.C.) : "If Terra the Earth is divine, so also is the sea . . . and therefore the Flumina (Rivers) [Potamoi] and Fontes (Springs) [Pegaiai] too." Nonnus, Dionysiaca 16. 345 ff (trans. Rouse) (Greek epic C5th A.D.) : "She [Nikaia upon awakening from a sleep in which she was raped by Dionysos] heard still the remnants of the Naiades' nuptial song." Nonnus, Dionysiaca 16. 356 ff : "[Nikaia laments after being seduced in drunken sleep by Dionysos:] Alas for maidenhead, stolen by that vagabond Bakkhos! A curse on that deceitful water of the Hydriades [Naiades] [whose fountain Dionysos had turned to wine] . . . She thought to destroy the nuptial fountain of which she had drunk, but already the stream had got rid of its Bakkhic juice, and bubbled out clear water, no longer the liquid of Lyaios. Then she besought Kronides [Zeus] and Artemis to fill the Naiades' grottoes with dust and thirsty soil." Nonnus, Dionysiaca 42. 98 ff : "The unshod deep-bosomed Nymphe of the spring, seeing him [Dionysos] struck by the sting of desire, would say: Cold water to drink, Dionysos, is of no use to you; for all the stream of Okeanos cannot quench the thirst for love . . . So said the unveiled Naias, and laughed at Lyasios [Dionysos], diving into her spring, which had one colour with her body." Nonnus, Dionysiaca 43. 28 ff : "An elephant slowly advanced to a spring hard by, striking straight into the ground his firm unbending leg, lapped the rainwater with parched lips and dried up the stream; and as the waters became bare earth, he drove elsewhere the Nymphe of the spring thirsty and uncovered." Nonnus, Dionysiaca 44. 12 ff : "At times a Hamadryas shot out of her clustering foliage and half showed herself high in a tree, and praised the name of Dionysos cluster-laden; and the unshod Nymphe of the Spring sang in tune with her." Nonnus, Dionysiaca 46. 265 ff : "When Kadmos (Cadmus) had ended [his lament at the sad fates of all his children], ancient Kithairon (Mount Cithaeron) groaned from his springs and poured forth tears in fountains; the Naias Nymphai chanted dirges."

Z36.4 NAIAS, POTAMOS

Z37.1 NAIAS W/ SPRING

Z37.4 NAIAS W/ SPRING

NAIADES OF RIVERS & MARSHES

The Naiades of the rivers and marshes were attendant-nymphai of their River-God fathers. A few of these Nymphai were called goddesses of their own small tributary river, but for the most part they were rarely mentioned as individuals or received cult status. Some important river nymphs included Neda and Tiasa, nymphs of the streams in Arkadia and Lakonia respectively, the Akheloides of the river in Aitolia, and the Asopides, Erasinides and Asterionides of the rivers of Sikyonia and Argolis. Apollonius Rhodius, Argonautica 3. 1219 ff (trans. Rieu) (Greek epic C3rd B.C.) : "The whole meadow trembled under her [Hekate's] feet, and the Nymphai of marsh (Naiades Heleionomai) and river (Potameides) who haunt the fens by Amarantian Phasis cried out in fear." Ovid, Metamorphoses 6. 329 ff (trans. Melville) (Roman epic C1st B.C. to C1st A.D.) : "Standing in the middle of a [Lydian] mere, and black with ash of sacrifice, behold and ancient altar, ringed with waving reeds. My guide stood still and muttered anxiously Be gracious to me! and I muttered too Be gracious!; then I asked him if the altar was built to Faunus [Pan] or the Naiads or some local god." Ovid, Metamorphoses 8. 568 ff : "Of porous pumice and rough tufa-rock the residence [of the River-God Akhelous] was built. The floor was damp and soft with moss, the ceiling diapered with shells of conch and murex laid in turn . . . Theseus with his company reclined on couches . . . Soon barefoot Nymphae [the Akheloides] arranged the tables and spread the banquet-board, and when the feast was cleared they set a jewelled bowl of wine." Nonnus, Dionysiaca 2. 53 ff (trans. Rouse) (Greek epic C5th A.D.) : "He [the monster Typhoeus] made the rivers dust, as he drank the water after his meal, beating off the troops of Neiades from the river-beds: the Neias of the deeps made her way tripping afoot as if the river were a roadway, until she stood, unshod, with dry limbs, she a Nymphe, the creature of the watery ways, and as the girl struggled, thrusting one foot after another along the thirsty bed of the stream, she found her knees held fast to the bottom in a muddy prison." Nonnus, Dionysiaca 7. 222 ff : "Her [princess Semele's] rosy limbs made the dark water [of the river Asopos in Boiotia] glow red; the stream became a lovely meadow gleaming with such graces. An unveiled [river] Neias espying the young woman in wonder, cried out these

words: Can it be that [the naiad speculates which goddess is bathing in her stream]. So spoke the voice from under the swirling waters." Nonnus, Dionysiaca 19. 158 ff : "You [Seilenos transformed into a river] have now for your pleasure the innumerable tribe of Naiades with flowing hair." Nonnus, Dionysiaca 22. 1 ff : "Then sounded the womanish song of the Bassarides, making Phrygian festival for Lyaios [Dionysos] of the Night, and the hairy company of Satyroi (Satyrs) rang out with mystic voice. All the earth laughed, the rocks bellowed, the Naiades [WaterNymphs] sang alleluia, the Nymphai circled in mazes over the silent streams of the river, and sang a melody of Sikelian (Sicilian) tune like the hymns which the minstrel Seirenes (Sirens) pour from their honeytongued throats. All the woodlands rang thereat: the trees found skill to make music like the hoboy, the Hadryades [Tree-Nymphs] cried aloud, the Nymphai sang, peeping up halfseen over her leafy cluster. The fountain, though but water, turned white and poured a stream of snowy milk; in the hollow of the torrent the Naiades bathed in milky streams and drank the white milk."

ATTENDANTS & NURSES OF THE GODS

Many of the gods were nursed by Naiades, including Dionysos by the Lamides and Naxian Nymphs, and Hera by the Asterionides. Others were found in the retinues of gods, such as the Naiades Bakkhai in the train of Dionysos, and Artemis' band of Amnisiades. Homer, Odyssey 5. 20 ff (trans. Shewring) (Greek epic C8th B.C.) : "Around the entrance [of the cavern of Kalypso on Ogygia] a wood rose up in abundant growth--alder and aspen and fragrant cypress . . . Trailing over the cavern's arch was a garden vine that throve and clustered; and here four springs began near each other, then in due order ran four ways with their crystal waters. Grassy meadows on either side stood thick with violet and wild parsley . . . [Kalypso] sat down herself facing the king [Odysseus] while her handmaids [Naiades of the four springs of the cavern] served her with nectar and ambrosia. He and she stretched out their hands to the dishes there; but when they had eaten and drunk their fill." Apollonius Rhodius, Argonautica 4. 708 ff (trans. Rieu) (Greek epic C3rd B.C.) : "Then the attendant Naiades who did her [Kirke (Circe)the witch] housework carried all the refuse out of doors." Apollonius Rhodius, Argonautica 4. 812 ff : "[Hera to Thetis:] Your son Akhilleus, who is now with Kheiron (Chiron) the Kentauros (Centaur) and is fed by Water-Nymphai [Naiades of Mt Pelion] though he should be at your breast." Ovid, Metamorphoses 4. 288 ff (trans. Melville) (Roman epic C1st B.C. to C1st A.D.) :

"To Mercurius [Hermes], runs the tale, and Cythereia [Aphrodite] a boy was born whom in Mount Ida's caves the Naides nurtured . . . When thrice five years had passed, the youth forsook Ida, his fostering home, his mountain haunts." Ovid, Metamorphoses 10. 513 ff : "The tree [of Myrrha who had been transformed into a myrrh-tree] split open and the sundered bark yielded its living load; a baby boy [Adonis] squalled, and the Naides laid him on soft grass and bathed him in his mothers flowing tears [myrrh]."

NAIADES LOVED BY THE GODS

Many of the Naiades were loved by the gods. The most famous of these were Daphne, Sinope and Kyrene, the loves of Apollon, Syrinx the love of Pan, Aigina, Salamis and Minthe, loves of Zeus, Poseidon and Haides.

THE NAIADES & PAN

Greek Lyric Anonymous, Fragment 936 (Inscription at shrine of Asklepios at Epidaurus) (trans. Campbell, Vol. Greek Lyric v) : "I sing of Pan, Nymphe-leader, darling of the Naiades." Euripides, Helen 185 ff (trans. Vellacott) (Greek tragedy C5th B.C.) : "I heard a sound, a mournful song not fit for the lyre, because she was then shrieking, lamenting with her wails; just as a Nymphe Nais, who sends a song of woe ringing over the hills, cries out, under the rocky hollows, with screams at the rape of Pan." Statius, Silvae 2. 3. 1 (trans. Mozley) (Roman poetry C1st A.D.) : "Enfolding with tis overshadowing boughs the clear waters of my elegant Melior's [a patron of the author Statius] lake there stands a tree, whose trunk, curing from its base, bends down towards the mere, and then shoots up aloft straight to its summit, as though it grew a second time from the midst of the waves, and dwelt with hidden roots in the glassy stream. Why ask so slight a tale of Phoebus [Apollon]? Do you, O Naides, relate the cause, and you compliant Fauni [Satyroi]-ye will suffice--inspire my song. Frightened troops of Nymphae were fleeing from Pan; on he came, as though all were his quarry, yet on [the Naias] Pholoe alone was he bent. By copse and stream she fled, shunning now the hairy following limbs, now the wanton horns. Through Janus' grove [at the foot of the Capitol at Rome], scene of battles, and Cacus' deadly haunts [on the Aventine hill]; through the fields of Quirinus she came running a-tiptoe and gained the Caelian wilds; there at last wearied out and fordone with fear--where to-day stand the quiet home of hospitable Melior--she gathered her saffron robe closer about her, and sank down on the edge of the snow-white bank. Swiftly follows the shepherd-god, and deems the maid his bride; already he allays the panting of his fevered breast, already he hovers lightly oer his prey. Lo! With speedy steps Diana [Artemis] approached, as she ranges the seven hills and tracks the flight of a deer on Aventine; the goddess was vexed to see it, and turning to her trusty comrades: Shall I never keep this unseemly, wanton brood from lustful rapine? Must my chaste band of followers ever grow

fewer? So speaking she drew a short shaft from her quiver, but sped it not from the bent bow or with the wonted twang, but was content to fling it with one hand, and touched--so 'tis said--the left hand of the drowsy Naiad with the arrow-feathers. She awaking beheld at once the day and her wanton foe, and lest she should bare her snow-white limbs plunged just as she was with all her raiment into the lake, and at the bottom of the mere, believing Pan was following, she wrapped the weeds about her. What could the robber do, so suddenly baffled? Conscious of his shaggy hide, and from childhood untaught to swim, he dares not trust himself to the deep waters. Lavish complaint made he of heartless Bromius [Dionysos], of the jealous lake and jealous shaft; then spying a young plane tree with long stem and countless branches and summit aspiring to heaven he set it by him and heaped fresh sand about it and sprinkled it with the longed-for waters, and thus commanded it: Live long, O tree, as the memorable token of my vow, and do thou at least stoop down and cherish the secret abode of this hard-hearted Nympha, and cover her waters with thy leaves. Let her not, I pray, though she has deserved it, be scorched by the sun's heat or lashed by cruel hail; only mind thou to bestrew the pool with thickly scattered leaves. Then will I long remember thee and the mistress of this kindly place, and guard both a secure old age, so that the trees of Jove [the oak of Zeus] and Phoebus [the laurel of Apollon], and the twy-coloured poplar shade and my own pines may marvel at thy boughs. So he spake; and the tree, quickened with the old passion of the god, hangs and broods over the full mere with drooping stem, and searches the waves with loving shadows, and hops for their embrace; but he breath of the waters put it from them, and suffered not its touch. At length it struggles upward, and poised upon its base cunningly lifts its head without any knot, as though it sank with another root into the bottom of the lake. Now not even the Nais, Phoebe's [Artemis'] votary, hates it, but her stream invites the boughs she banished."

THE NAIADES & DIONYSOS

The Naiades along with variouus other types of Nymphs formed the train of Bakkhai which accompanied the god Dionysos. These Naiades included the bands of Lamides and Kydnides. Pindar, Dithyrambs Heracles the Bold (trans. Sandys) (Greek lyric C5th B.C.) : "Wise are they that know what manner of festival of Bromios [Dionysos] the Ouranidai (Gods of Heaven) hold in their halls, hard by the sceptre of Zeus. In the adorable presence of the mighty Mother of the gods [Rhea], the prelude is the whirling of timbrels; there is also the ringing of rattles, and the torch that blazeth beneath the glowing pine-trees There, too, are the loudly sounding laments of the Naides, and there the frenzied shouts of dancers are aroused, with the thong that tosseth the neck on high." Euenus, Fragment 2 (trans. Gerber, Vol. Greek Elegiac) (Greek elegy B.C.) : "[Dionysos, Wine] delights in being mixed as the fourth with three Nymphai [three parts water]; then he's most ready for the bedroom." Orphic Hymn 51 to the Nymphs (trans. Taylor) (Greek hymns C3rd B.C. to 2nd A.D.) : "[Naiades] who dwell in liquid caverns of the earth; nurses of Bakkhos, secretcoursing powers, fructiferous Goddesses . . . O Nysiai [Nysiades], insane, whom

oaks delight, lovers of spring, Paionian virgins bright; with Bakkhos and with Deo [Demeter] hear my prayer, and to mankind abundant favour bear." Orphic Hymn 54 to Silenus : "[Silenos] surrounded by the nurses [of Dionysos young and fair, Naiades and Bakkhai who ivy bear, with all thy Satyroi on our incense shine, Daimones wildformed, and bless the rites divine. Come, rouse to sacred joy thy pupil king [Dionysos], and Bakkhai with rites Lenaion bring; our orgies shining through the night inspire, and bless, triumphant power, the sacred choir." Strabo, Geography 10. 3. 10 (trans. Jones) (Greek geographer C1st B.C. to C1st A.D.) : "The [Daimones called] Silenoi and Satyroi and Bakkhai, and also the Lenai and Thyiai and Mimallones and Nades Nymphai and the beings called Tityroi, [are attendants] of Dionysos." Ovid, Fasti 1. 391 ff (trans.Boyle) (Roman poetry C1st B.C. to C1st A.D.) : "You were holding, Greece, the feast of grape-crowned Bacchus [Dionysos], celebrated by custom each third winter. The gods who serve Lyaeus [Dionysos] also attended and whoever is not hostile to play, namely Panes and young Satyri and goddesses who haunt streams and lonely wilds [the Naiades and Dryades]. Old Silenus came, too [and Priapos] . . . They discovered a grove suitable for party pleasures and sprawled on grass-lined couches. Liber [Dionysos] supplied wine, they had brought their own garlands, a brook gave water for frugal mixing. Naiades were there, some with hair flowing uncombed, others with locks artfully coiffured. One serves drinks with a tunic hitched above her calves, another's breast is glimpsed through a torn dress. Another reveals a shoulder or drags her skirt in the grass; no straps bind delicate feet. Some generate tender fires inside the Satyri, others in you, whose brow is bound with pine [Pan]. They inflame you, too, Silenus; your lust can't be quenched, lechery will not allow you to be old. But red Priapus, the garden's glory and protection, fell victim above all to [the Naias] Lotis." Statius, Thebaid 4. 680 ff (trans. Mozley) (Roman epic C1st A.D.) : "It was the hour when panting day uplifts the sun to the mid summit of the world, when the languid heat hangs over the gaping fields, and all the groves let in the sky. He [Dionysos angry at the planned Argive attack on his home town of Thebes], and as they throng round him in silence he begins: Ye rustic Nymphae, deities of the streams, no small portion of my train, fulfil the task that I now do set you. Stop fast with earth awhile the Argolic river-springs, I beg, and the pools and running brooks,and in Nemea most of all, whereby they pass to attack our walls, let the water flee from the depth; Phoebus [Helios the Sun] himself, still at the summit of his path, doth aid you, so but your own will fail not; the stars lend their strong influence to my design, and the heat-bringing hound [Sirios the Dog-Star] of my Erigone is foaming. Go then of your goodwill, go into the hidden places of earth; afterwards will I coax you forth with swelling channels, and all the choicest gifts at my altar shall be for your honour, and I will drive afar the nightly raids of the shameless horn-footed ones, and the lustful rapine of the Fauni [Satyroi or Panes]. He spoke, and a faint blight seemed to overspread their features, and the moist freshness withered from their hair. Straightway fiery thirst drains dry the Inachian fields: the streams are gone, fountains and lakes are parched and dry, and the scorched mud hardens in the river-beds. A sickly drought is upon the soil, the crops of tender springing wheat droop low; at the edge of the bank the flock stands baffled, and the cattle seek in vain the rivers where they bathed . . . Dry is guilty Lerna, dry Lurcius and great Inachus, and Charadrus that rolls down boulders on his stream, bold Erasinus whom his banks ne'er contain, and Asterion

like a billowy sea; oft hath he been heard on pathless uplands, oft known to break the repose of distant shepherds. But [the Nemean spring] Langia alone--and she by the gods command--preserves her waters in the silence of a secret shade. Not yet had slaughtered Archemorus [Opheltes whose death by her waters marked the founding of the Nemean Games] brought her sorrowful renown, no fame had come to the goddess; nevertheless, in far seclusion, she maintains her spring and grove. Great glory awaits the Nympha, when the toiling contests of Achaean princes and the four-yearly festival of woe [the Nemean Games] shall do honour to sad Hypsipyle and holy Opheltes. [The parched Argive army is then forced to stop at Nemea to search for water]." Nonnus, Dionysiaca 24. 123 ff (trans. Rouse) (Greek epic C5th A.D.) : "The Hydriades (Water-Nymphs) of plantloving Dionysos mingled with the Hamadryades of the trees. Groups of Bassarides in this Erythraian wilderness suckled cubs of a mountain lioness, and the juicy milk flowed of itself out of their breasts." Nonnus, Dionysiaca 24. 148 ff : "When Bakkhos came near, the pipes were sounded, the raw drumskin was beaten, on either side was the noise of beaten brass and the wail of the syrinx. The whole forest trembled, the oaktrees [Hamadryades] uttered voices and the hills danced, the Naiades sang alleluia." Nonnus, Dionysiaca 32. 143 ff : "[Dionysos was driven into a murderous frenzy by Hera:] He chased the Hadryades, he volleyed the cliffs and drove the Naias Nymphai out of the river homeless." Nonnus, Dionysiaca 44. 142 ff : "[King Pentheus of Thebes threatens Dionysos:] Drag hither the mad Bassarides, drag the Bakkhantes hither, the handmaids who attend on Bromios--hurl them into the watery beds of [the River] Ismenos here in Thebes, mingle the [Bassaris] Naiades with the Aonian [Boeotian] river-Nymphai their mates, let old Kithairon receive [Bassaris] Hadryades to join his own Hadryades instead of Lyaios." Nonnus, Dionysiaca 47. 456 ff : "[At the wedding of Dionysos and Ariadne:] The Hamadryas sang of the wedding, the Naias Nymphe by the fountains unveiled unshod praised the union of Ariadne with the vine-god." Suidas s.v. Astydromia (trans. Suda On Line) (Byzantine Greek lexicon C10th A.D.) : "Astydromia (Town-running): Among the Libyans [it is] like the birthday celebration of the city, and a Theodaisia festival, in which they honored Dionysus and the Nymphai [Naiades, water nymphai]; it seems to me they are hinting at both unmixed [wine] and the good mixture."

Sources:
o o o o o Homer, The Iliad - Greek Epic C9th-8th BC Homer, The Odyssey - Greek Epic C9th-8th BC Pindar, Odes - Greek Lyric C5th BC Pindar, Fragments - Greek Lyric C5th BC Greek Lyric I Sappho, Fragments - Greek Lyric C6th BC

o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o

Greek Lyric II Alcman, Fragments - Greek Lyric C7th BC Greek Lyric III Pratinus, Fragments - Greek Lyric C6th BC Greek Lyric IV Anonymous, Fragments - Greek Lyric BC Greek Elegaic Euenus, Fragments Greek Elegaic C5th BC Greek Elegaic Mimnermus, Fragments Greek Elegaic C7th BC Euripides, Helen - Greek Tragedy C5th BC Apollonius Rhodius, The Argonautica - Greek Epic C3rd BC The Orphic Hymns - Greek Hymns BC Theocritus Idylls - Greek Idyllic C3rd BC Pausanias, Guide to Greece - Greek Geography C2nd AD Diodorus Siculus, The Library of History - Greek History C1st BC Philostratus the Elder, Imagines - Greek Art History C3rd AD Ovid, Metamorphoses - Latin Epic C1st BC - C1st AD Ovid, Fasti - Latin Epic C1st BC - C1st AD Cicero, De Natura Deorum - Latin Philosophy C1st BC Statius, Thebaid - Latin Epic C1st AD Statius, Silvae - Latin Epic C1st AD Nonnos, Dionysiaca - Greek Epic C5th AD Suidas - Byzantine Lexicon C10th AD

Other references not currently quoted here: Plutarch Aristides 11; Horace Odes 1.1.31 & 2.19.3; Theocritus 5.17 [Eleionomai]; Orphica Argonautica 644 [Limnatides]

EPIMELIDES
Greek Name Transliteration Epimlis Epimlides Latin Spelling Epimelid Epimelides Translation Protectors of Sheep or Fruit Trees

THE EPIMELIDES were nymphs of mountain meadow pastures, the protectors of sheep flocks and goat herds. They were sometimes also the guardians of fruittrees. The name Epimelides was derived from the Greek words epi- "protector" and mlon "sheep" or "apple-tree." The dual meaning of the latter gave them their double role. In genealogical terms the Epimelides were not a clearly defined class of nymph. Their numbers seemed to have included Okeanides and Oreiades, as well as daughters of Helios the sun, and of the rustic gods Hermes, Seilenos and Pan. Even Nereides, such as Galateia and Psamathe, sometimes assumed the role of Epimelides in myth.
PARENTS Perhaps daughters of OKEANOS, HELIOS, the OUREA, HERMES, SEILENOS and PAN

ENCYCLOPEDIA

MALIADES (Maliades numphai), nymphs who were worshipped as the protectors of flocks and of fruit-trees. They are also called Mlides or Epimlides. (Theocrit. i. 22, with Valck. note, xiii. 45; Eustath. ad Hom. p. 1963.) The same name is also given to the nymphs of the district of the Malians on the river Spercheius. (Soph. Philoct. 725.) Source: Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology.
LIST OF EPIMELIDES GALATEIA The "milky-white" Nereid nymph was often regarded as an Epimelid. She was a lover of the Sicilian shepherd Akis and possessed a rustic shrine on the slopes Mount Aitna. NEAIREIDES The Nymphs Lampetie and Phaethousa tended the herds and flocks of their father Helios, the sun-god, on the mythical island of Thrinakie. They were probably Epimelid nymphs. NOMIA An Oreiad of Mount Nomia in Arkadian. Her name means "of the pasture" and she was associated with the god Pan. PENELOPEIA An Epimellid nymph of Mount Kyllene in Arkadia. She was the mother of the god Pan by Hermes. PSAMATHEIA One of the Nereid nymphs who in the story of Peleus, assumes the guise of an Epimelid nymph shen she sends a wolf to destroy his flocks. SINOE An Epimelid nymph of Mount Sinoe in Arkadia who nursed the infant god Pan. SOSE An Oreiad or Epimelid nymph prophetess loved by the god Hermes. She bore him one of the Panes.

Homer, Iliad 20. 4 ff (trans. Lattimore) (Greek epic C8th B.C.) : "But Zeus, from the many-folded peak of Olympos, told Themis to summon all the gods into assembly. She went everywhere, and told them to make thier way to Zeus' house. There was no Potamos (River) that was not there, except only Okeanos, there was not one of the Nymphai who live in the lovely groves (alsea) [i.e. Alseides], and the springs of rivers (pegai potamon) [i.e. Naiades] and grass of the meadows (pisea poienta) [i.e. Epimelides], who came not. These all assembling into the house of Zeus cloud-gathering took places among the smoothstone cloister walks." Homer, Odyssey 6. 121 ff (trans. Shewring) (Greek epic C8th B.C.) : "A shriek rang in my ears just then--womanish, it seemed. Did it come from girls-did it come from Nymphai who live on high mountain-tops (orea) [i.e. Oreiades] or in river-springs (pegai potamon) [i.e. Naiades] or in grassy meadows (pisea) [i.e. Epimelides]?" Homeric Hymn 5 to Aphrodite 94 ff (trans. Evelyn-White) (Greek epic C7th to 4th B.C.) : "[The herdsman Ankhises of Mount Ida speaks:] The Nymphai who haunt the pleasant woods [Dryades], or of those who inhabit this lovely mountain (oros) [i.e. Oreiades] and the springs of rivers (pegai potamoi) [i.e. Naiades] and grassy meads (pisea) [i.e. Epimelides]. I will make you an altar upon a high peak in a far seen place, and will sacrifice rich offerings to you at all seasons. And do you feel kindly towards me and grant [good fortune]." Theocritus, Idylls 1. 22 (trans. Rist) (Greek bucolic C3rd B.C.) : [A goatherd speaks:] Come, sit we under this elm tree, facing the Meliades and

Priapos there by the rustics' seat and the oaks." Pausanias, Description of Greece 8. 4. 2 (trans. Jones) (Greek travelogue C2nd A.D.) : "They used to call some Nymphai Dryades, other Epimeliades, and others Naides, and Homer in his poetry talks mostly of Naides Nymphai." Philostratus the Elder, Imagines 2. 11 (trans. Fairbanks) (Greek rhetorician C3rd A.D.) : "[A description of an ancient Greek painting at Neapolis (Naples):] Here are the Nymphai in a group, but do you look at them by classes; some are Naides (Water Nymphai)--these who are shaking drops of dew from their hair; and the lean slenderness of the Boukolai (Pastoral Nymphai) [i.e. Epimelides] is no white less beautiful than dew; and the Anthousai (Flower Nymphai) have hair that resembles hyacinth flowers." Nonnus, Dionysiaca 14. 210 ff (trans. Rouse) (Greek epic C5th A.D.) : "Nymphai hastened to join the soldiers of the thyrsus [the Bakkhai or Dionysos in his War against the Indians], the wild Oreiades with hearts of men trailing their long robes. Many a year had they seen roll round the turning-point as they lived out their long lives. Some were the Epimelides (Medlars) who lived on the heights near the shepherds; some were from the woodland glades and the ridges of the wild forest Meliai nymphs of the mountain Ash coeval with their tree. All these pressed onwards together to the fray, some with brassbacked drums, the instruments of Kybelid Rheia, others with overhanging ivy-tendrils wreathed in their hair, or girt with rings of snakes. They carried the sharpened thyrsus which the mad Lydian women then took with them fearless to the Indian War."
Greek Name Transliteration Mliades Epimliades Nymphai Boukolai Latin Spelling Meliades Epimelides Nymphae Bucoli Translation Of Sheep or Apples Trees Protectors of Sheep or Apple Trees Pastural Nymphs (boukolos)

EPIMELIDES & THE APULIAN SHEPHERDS

Antoninus Liberalis, Metamorphoses 31 (trans. Celoria) (Greek mythographer C2nd A.D.) : "Tellers of stories say that in the land of the Messapians [in Italy] near the so-called Sacred Rocks there appeared the choral troupe of the Nymphai Epimelides. Young Messapians left their flocks to view them. They declared they themselves could dance better. What they said irritated the Nymphai and rivalry arose increasingly over their dancing. Because the youths did not know that they were competing with deities, they danced as they would in a contest with mortals of their own age. Their manner of dancing, being that of shepherds, was without art, while that of the Nymphai was entirely dedicated to beauty. In their dancing they surpassed the youths and they said to them: Young men, did you want to compete against the Nymphai Epimelides? So, you foolish fellows, now that you have been beaten, you will be punished. The youths, as they stood by the sanctuary of the Nymphai, were changed into trees. Even today one hears at night

the sound of groans coming from the trunks. The place is called that of the Nymphai and the Youths." Ovid, Metamorphoses 14. 513 ff (trans. Melville) (Roman epic C1st B.C. to C1st A.D.) : "The bays and pastures of Apulia [in southern Italy], there he had seen a grotto deep in shade, of forest trees, hidden by slender reeds, the home of half-goat Pan, though once the Nymphae lived there. A local shepherd frightened them; they fled away at first in sudden fear, but soon recovering, disdained the lout who had pursued them and began again the nimble measure of their country dance. The shepherd mocked them, mimicking the dance with loutish leaps and shouts of coarse abuse and rustic insults. Nothing silenced him till wood enswathed his throat. For he's a tree, and from its juice you judge its character. The oleasters bitter berries bear the taint of that tart tongue; they keep today the sourness of the things he used to say."

Sources:
o o o o o o o o Homer, The Iliad - Greek Epic C8th B.C. Homer, The Odyssey - Greek Epic C8th B.C. The Homeric Hymns - Greek Epic C8th-4th B.C. Theocritus Idylls - Greek Bucolic C3rd B.C. Pausanias, Description of Greece - Greek Travelogue C2nd A.D. Antoninus Liberalis, Metamorphoses - Greek Mythography C2nd A.D. Ovid, Metamorphoses - Latin Epic C1st B.C. - C1st A.D. Nonnos, Dionysiaca - Greek Epic C5th A.D.

Epimelides, other references not currently quoted here : Longus 2.39, Alciphron 3.11 Meliades, other references not currently quoted here : Pollux 9.122,127

DRYADES & OREIADES

Greek Name Transliteration Dryas Dryades Oreias Oreiades Latin Spelling Dryad Dryades Oread Oreades Translation Of the Tree or Oak-Tree (drys) Of the Mountain (oros)

THE DRYADES & OREIADES were the beautiful Nymphs of the trees, groves, woods and mountain forests. They were the ladies of the oaks and pines, poplar and ash, apple and laurel. For those known as Hamadryades, trees sprung up from the earth at their birth, trees to which their lives were closely tied. While the tree flourished, so did its resident nymph, but when it died she passed away with it. There were several classes of Dryades associated with a particular types of tree: (1) The Meliai were the Nymphs of the ash-trees. They sprang up from Gaia the Earth when she was impregnated by the blood of the castrated Ouranos. The men of the Silver Age married these Nymphai (in the time before women were created) and from them all of mankind was descended. (2) The Oreiades were the Nymphs of the mountain conifers. The first of these were offspring of the five Daktyloi and the five Hekaterides. Subsequent generations were descended from these elder Oreiades and their brothers the Satyroi. (NB The old forests of ancient Greece were primarily found high in the mountains, since the majority of the lowland forest had been cleared for farming. It was therefore natural for the Greeks to think of the Dryades as mountain-dwelling). (3) The Hamadryades were the Nymphs of oak and poplar trees. These were usually associated with river-side trees and sacred groves. (4) The Maliades, Meliades or Epimelides were Nymphai of apple and other fruit trees. They were also protectors of sheep. The Greek word melas from which their name derives means both apple and sheep. (5) The Daphnaie were Nymphs of the laurel trees, one of a class of rarer treespecific Nymphai. Others included the Nymphai Aigeiroi (black poplar), Ampeloi (grape vine), Balanis (ilex), Karyai (hazel-nut), Kraneiai (cherry-tree), Moreai (mulberry), Pteleai (elm), and Sykei (fig). Others with simply associated with a location: Oreiades were nymphs of the mountain heights, Alseides of the sacred groves, Aulonides of the glens, Napaiai of the vales.

INDEX OF DRYAD PAGES PART 1: DRYADES & OREIADES

PARENTS OF OREIADES [1.1] THE DAKTYLOI & THE HEKATERIDES (Strabo 10.3.19) [2.1] HERMES & THE OREIADES (Homeric Hymn V To Aphrodite
256)

Encyclopedia Entry List Dryades & Oreiades Alternative Names General Descriptions

[3.1] THE SATYROI & THE OREIADES (Homeric Hymn V To

Aphrodite 256)

PARENTS OF HAMADRYADES [1.1] SEILENOS (Propertius Elegies 2.32) [2.1] OUROS (Athenaeus 3.78 ) [3.1] OXYLOS & HAMADRYAS (Athenaeus 3.78 )

PART 2: NYMPH STORIES 1

Dryope the Hamadryad Byblis the Hamadryad Kerambos & the Dryades Erysikhthon & Dryades Paraibos & the Dryades Aristaios & the Dryades Messapians & Meliades

ENCYCLOPEDIA
DRYADES (Druades) All nymphs, whose number is almost infinite, may be divided into two great classes. The first class embraces those who must be regarded as a kind of inferior divinities, recognised in the worship of nature. The early Greeks saw in all the phenomena of ordinary nature some manifestation of the deity; springs, rivers, grottoes, trees, and mountains, all seemed to them fraught with life; and all were only the visible embodiments of so many divine agents. The salutary and beneficent powers of nature were thus personified, and regarded as so many divinities; and the sensations produced on man in the contemplation of nature, such as awe, terror, joy, delight, were ascribed to the agency of the various divinities of nature. The nymphs of the first class must again be sublatter divided into various species, according to the different parts of nature of which they are the representatives. 1. Nymphs of mountains and grottoes, are called Orodemniades and Oreiades but sometimes also by names derived from the particular mountains they inhabited, as Kithairnides, Pliades, Korukiai, &c. (Theocrit. vii. 137; Virg. Aen. i. 168, 500; Paus. v. 5. 6, ix. 3. 5, x. 32. 5; Apollon. Rhod. i. 550, ii. 711; Ov. Her. xx. 221; Virg. Eclog. vi. 56.)

PART 3: NYMPH STORIES 2

Daphne, Laurel Tree Heliades, Black Poplars Leuke, White Poplar Lotis, Lotus Tree Pitys, Silver Fir Sperkheides, Poplars

PART 4: NYMPHS & THE GODS

Retinue of Artemis Retinue of Dionysos Companions of Hermes Companions of Pan Companions of Satyroi

PART 5: CULT OF NYMPHS

2. Nymphs of forests, groves, and glens, were believed sometimes to appear to and frighten solitary travellers. They are designated by the names Alsdes, Holroi, Aulniades, and Napaiai. (Apollon. Rhod. i. 1066, 1227; Orph. Hymn. 50. 7; Theocrit. xiii. 44; Ov. Met. xv. 490; Virg. Georg. iv. 535.) 3 . Nymphs of trees, were believed to die together with the trees which had been their abode, and with which they had come into existence. They were called Dryades, Hamadruades or Hadryades, from drys, which signifies not only an oak, but any wild-growing lofty tree; for the nymphs of fruit trees were called Mlides, Mliades, Epimlides, or Hamamlides. They seem to be of Arcadian origin, and

never appear together with any of the great gods. (Paus. viii. 4. 2; Apollon. Rhod. ii. 477, &c.; Anton. Lib. 31, 32; Hom. Hymn. in Ven. 259, &c.) Source: Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology.
LIST OF DRYADES AIGEIROS A Hamadryad of the black poplar-tree. AMPELOS A Hamadryad of the wild grape vine. ATLANTEIA An Libyan Hamadryad nymph who was the mother of several of the Danaides by King Danaus. BALANIS A Hamadryad of the acorn tree, or ilex. BYBLIS A girl of Miletos in Karia transformed into a Hamadryas. DAPHNIS An Oreiad of Mount Parnassos in Phokis who was appointed by the goddess Gaia as the prophetess at the oracle at Delphoi (in the time before it passed into the hands of Apollon). DRYOPE A Hamadryad nymph of Mount Othrys in Malis. She was a princess of the Dryopes who was transformed into a poplar-tree nymph by her Hamadryad sister-in-laws. EIDOTHEA A Oreiad of Mt Othreis in Malis who was loved by the god Poseidon. EKHO A Oreiad nymph of Mount Helikon in Boiotia, and a handmaiden of the goddess Hera. She was cursed to only repeat the words of others by her mistress. When she fell in love with the self-obsessed youth Narkissos, he spurned her advances, and she faded away in her grief. ERATO A prophetic Arkadian Dryad nymph of Mount Kyllene, the wife of King Nyktimos. HELIADES Daughters of the sun-god Helios, the Heliades were transformed into amberteared poplar trees. They were probably regarded as a type of Hamadryad. HESPERIDES The three guardians of the golden apples were sometimes regarded as Hamadryad or Hamameliad (apple-tree) nymphs. KARYA A Hamadryad nymph of the hazel or chestnut-tree. KHELONE An Arkadian Oreiad nymph who ignored the summons to attend the wedding of Zeus and Hera and as punishment was transformed into a tortoise . KLAIA A Messenian Oreiad nymph who had a cavern shrine on Mt Kalathion. KRANEIA A Hamadryad nymph of the cherry tree. KYLLENE An Arkadian Oreiad who was the eponym of Mt Kyllene in Arkadia. She was the wife of Pelasgos the very first king of Arkadia. MOREA A Hamadryad of the mulberry-tree. NOMIA An Oreiad of Mount Nomia in Arkadian. OTHREIS An Oreiad of Mount Othrys in Malis. She was loved by the gods Apollon and Zeus. PENELOPEIA An Oreiad or Epimellid nymph of Mount Kyllene in Arkadia. She was the mother of the god Pan by Hermes. PHIGALIA An Oreiad nymph who gave her name to the Arkadian town of Phigalia. PHOIBE A Libyan Hamadryad nymph who was the mother of several of the Danaides by King Danaus.

PITYS An Oreiad nymph loved by Pan. She fled his advances and was transformed into a pine-tree. PTELEA A Hamadryad of the elm tree. SINOE An Oreiad nymph of Mount Sinoe in Arkadia. She nursed the infant god Pan. SOSE An Oreiad nymph prophetess loved by the god Hermes. She bore him one of the Panes. SPHRAGITIDES The Oreiad nymphs of a cavern oracle located on Mount Kithairon in Attika. SYKE A Hamadryad nymph of the fig tree. TITHOREA An Arkadian Dryad who gave her name to the town of Tithorea.

ALTERNATIVE NAMES & TYPES OF DRYADES & OREIADES

Greek Name Transliteration Dryas Dryades Adryades Hamadryades Alsides Aulniades Napaiai Hylroi Daphnai Kissiai Mliades Epimlides Hamamliades Oreias Oreiades Orodemniades Nymphai Oreskoi Latin Spelling Dryad Dryades Adryades Hamadryades Alseides Aulonides Napaeae Hyleori Daphniae Cissiae Meliades Epimelides Hamameliades Oread Oreades Orodemniades Nymphae Orescoe Translation Of the Tree. Of the Oak-Tree Of the Trees, Of the Woods Together with Trees, Together with Oaks Of the Groves Of the Glens Of the Vales, Of the Dells Watchers of the Woods Of the Laurel Trees Of the Ivy Of the Orchards, Of the Flocks Protectors of Orchards, of Flocks Together with Fruit Trees Of the Mountain (oros) Of the Mountains Living on the Mountain (oreskos)

GENERAL DESCRIPTIONS OF DRYADES & OREIADES

Homer, Iliad 20. 4 ff ff (trans. Lattimore) (Greek epic C8th B.C.) : "But Zeus, from the many-folded peak of Olympos, told Themis to summon all the gods into assembly. She went everywhere, and told them to make thier way to Zeus' house. There was no River [Potamoi] that was not there, except only

Okeanos, there was not one of the Nymphai who live in the lovely groves (alsea) [i.e. Dryades], and the springs of rivers (pegai potamon) [i.e. Naiades] and the grassy meadows (pisea poienta), who came not. These all assembling into the house of Zeus cloud-gathering took places among the smooth-stone cloister walks." Hesiod, Theogony 129 ff (trans. Evelyn-White) (Greek epic C8th or 7th B.C.) : "Long Hills (Ourea), graceful haunts of the Goddess Nymphai who dwell amongst the glens of the hills (ourea bssenta)." Hesiod, Fragments of Unknown Position 6 (from Strabo 10.3.19) (trans. EvelynWhite) (Greek epic C8th or 7th B.C.) : "But of them [the daughters of Hekateros] were born the divine mountain nymphs (theai nymphai oureiai) and the tribe (genos) of worthless, helpless Satyroi (Satyrs)." Hesiod, The Precepts of Chiron Fragment 3 (trans. Evelyn-White) (Greek epic C8th or 7th B.C.) : "A chattering crow lives out nine generations of aged men, but a stag's life is four times a crow's and a raven's life makes three stags old, while the Phoenix outlives nine raves, but we, the rich-haired Nymphai, daughters of Zeus the aigis-holder, outlive ten phoenixes." Homeric Hymn 5 to Aphrodite 256 ff (trans. Evelyn-White) (Greek epic C7th or 6th B.C.) : "[Aphrodite to Ankhises (Anchises):] As for the child [Aeneas, son of Ankhises and Aphrodite], as soon as he sees the light of the sun, the deep-breasted Mountain (oreskoi) Nymphai [i.e. Oreiades] who inhabit this great and holy mountain [Ida] shall bring him up. They rank neither with mortals nor with immortals: long indeed do they live, eating ambrosia and treading the lovely dance among the immortals, and with them the Seilenoi and the sharp-eyed Argeiphontes [Hermes] mate in the depths of pleasant caves; but at their birth pines or high-topped oaks spring up with them upon the fruitful earth, beautiful, flourishing trees, towering high upon the lofty mountains (and men call them holy places of the immortals, and never mortal lops them with the axe); but when the fate of death (moira thanatoio) is near at hand, first those lovely trees wither where they stand, and the bark shrivels away about them, and the twigs fall down, and at last the life of the Nymphe and of the tree leave the light of the sun together. These Nymphai shall keep my son [Aeneas] with them and rear him, and as soon as he is come to lovely boyhood, the goddesses (theiai) will bring him here to you and show you your child . . . Say he is the offspring of one of the flower-like Nymphe who inhabit this forest-clad hill." Homerica Fragments of Unknown Position 6 (trans. Evelyn-White) (Greek epic B.C.) : "But of them [the daughters of Hekateros] were born the divine Nymphai Oureiai (Mountain Nymphs)." Aristophanes, Birds 1088 ff (trans. O'Neill) (Greek comedy C5th to 4th B.C.) : "[Comedy-Play] I [a bird] winter in deep caverns, where I frolic with the Nymphai Oreiai (Mountain Nymphs)." Aristophanes,Thesmophoriazusae 324 ff : "[Invocation in the Thesmophoria festival of Demeter:] Come, ye Nymphai Oreiplanktoi (Mountain-Wandering Nymphs)." Aristophanes,Thesmophoriazusae 990 ff :

"Dionysos, who delightest to mingle with the dear choruses of the Nymphai Oreiai (Mountain Nymphs), and who repeatest, while dancing with them, the sacred hymn, Euios, Euios, Euoi! Ekho (Echo), the Nymphe of Kithairon, returns thy words, which resound beneath the dark vaults of the thick foliage and in the midst of the rocks of the forest; the ivy enlaces thy brow with its tendrils charged with flowers." Apollonius Rhodius, Argonautica 1. 1066 ff (trans. Rieu) (Greek epic C3rd B.C.) : "Her [Kleite's] death was bewailed even by the Nymphai Alseides (Woodland Nymphs) [of Mysia], who caused the many tears they shed to unite in a spring, which the people call Kleite in memory of a peerless but unhappy bride." Apollonius Rhodius, Argonautica 1. 1224 ff : "The Nymphai [of Bithynia] were about to hold their dances--it was the custom of all those who haunt (Hylroi) the beautiful headland [of Pegai in Mysia] to sing the praise of Artemis by night. The Nymphai of the Mountain Peaks and the Caverns were all posted some way off to patrol the woods." Nymphe of the Waters (nymph ephytati). Callimachus, Hymn 4 to Delos 75ff (trans. Mair) (Greek poet C3rd B.C.) : "Goddesses mine, ye Mousai (Muses), say did the oaks come into being at the same time as the Nymphai [Dryades]? The Nymphai rejoice when the rain makes the oaks to grow; and again the Nymphai weep when there are no longer leaves upon the oaks." Strabo, Geography 10. 3. 19 (trans. Jones) (Greek geographer C1st B.C. to C1st A.D.) : "Further, one might also find . . . these Daimones [Kouretes, Satyroi and Oreiades] . . . were called, not only ministers of gods, but also gods themselves. For instance, Hesiod says that five daughters were born to Hekateros (Hecaterus) and the daughter of Phoroneus, from whom sprang the mountain-ranging Nymphai [Oreades], goddesses, and the breed of Satyroi, creatures worthless and unfit for work, and also the Kouretes, sportive gods, dancers." Pausanias, Description of Greece 8. 4. 2 (trans. Jones) (Greek travelogue C2nd A.D.) : "They used to call some Nymphai Dryades other Epimeliades, and others Naides, and Homer in his poetry talks mostly of Naiades Nymphai." Pausanias, Description of Greece 10. 32. 9 : "Those [Nymphai Dryades] who in days of old, according to the story of the poets, grew out of trees and especially out of oaks." Philostratus the Elder, Imagines 2. 11 (trans. Fairbanks) (Greek rhetorician C3rd A.D.) : "[Description of an ancient Greek painting:] Here are the Nymphai in a group, but do you look at them by classes . . . and the lean slenderness of the Boukolai (Pastoral Nymphai) [Oreiades and Dryades] is no white less beautiful than dew." Athenaeus, Deipnosophistae 78b (trans. Gullick) (Greek rhetorician C2nd to 3rd A.D.) : "The Epic poet Pherenikos, a Herakleto by birth, declares that the fig (Sykon) was named from Syke (Fig-Tree), the daughter of Oxylos (Thick with Woods); for Oxylos, son of Oreios (Mountain), married his sister Hamadryas (Oak-Tree) and begot among others, Karya (Nut-Tree), Balanos (Acorn-Tree), Kraneia (CornelTree), Morea (MulberryTree), Aigeiros (Black Poplar-Tree), Ptelea (Elm-Tree),

Ampelos (Vines), and Syke (Fig-Tree); and these are called Nymphai Hamadryades, and from them many trees derive their names. Hence, also, he adds, Hipponax says: The black fig-tree (syke), sister of the vine (ampelos)." Oppian, Cynegetica 1. 77 ff (trans. Mair) (Greek poet C3rd A.D.) : "[Invocation of Oppian as he begins his poem on bird hunting:] Thou . . . choir of Dryades who love the birds, grant me your grace!" Oppian, Cynegetica 4. 265 ff : "[Aristaios] received the infant Dionysos from the coffer of Ino and reared him in his cave and nursed him with the help of the Dryades and the Nymphai that have bees in their keeping and the maidens of Euboia and the Aionian women." Tryphiodorus, 322 ff The Taking of Ilias (trans. Mair) (Greek poet C5th A.D.) : "And as they haled [the Trojans dragged the Wooden Horse into Troy], loud rose the din and the vaunting. Groaned shady Ida together with her Nymphe-haunted oaks: the eddying waters of the river Xanthos shrieked, and the mouth of Simoeis rang aloud: and in heaven the trumpet of Zeus prophesied of the war they drew." Ovid, Metamorphoses 1. 689 ff (trans. Melville) (Roman epic C1st B.C. to C1st A.D.) : "Once there lived on the cold mountainsides of Arcadia a Naias, who among the Hamadryades Nonacrinae (of lofty Nonacris) was the most renowned. Syrinx the Nymphae called her." Ovid, Metamorphoses 3. 402 ff : "Narcissus mocked her [Ekho]; others too [who sought his love], Nymphae of Hill [Oreades] and Water [Naides] and many a man he mocked; till one scorned youth, with raised hands, prayed, So may he love and never win his love! And Rhamnusia [Nemesis] approved the righteous prayer . . . [and caused Narkissos to fall in love with his own image in a pool of water, and like Ekho, unrequited in his love wasted away]." Ovid, Metamorphoses 3. 505 ff : "On the green grass he [the handsome youth Narkissos] drooped his weary head, and those bright eyes that loved their masters beauty closed in death . . . His sister Naides wailed and sheared their locks in mourning for their brother; the Dryades too wailed and sad Echo wailed in answering woe." Ovid, Metamorphoses 6. 15 & 6. 44 ff : "In all the towns of Lydia Arachnes work had won a memorable name, although her home was humble and Hypaepae where she lived was humble too. To watch her wondrous work the Nymphae would often leave their vine-clad slopes of Tmolus [Oreades], often leave Pactolus stream [Naiades], delighted both to see the cloth she wove and watch her working too; such grace she had . . . Pallas [Athena] [came to challenge Arakhne] and threw aside the old crone's guise and stood revealed. The Nymphae and Lydian women knelt in reverence." Ovid, Metamorphoses 6. 392 ff : "The countryfolk, the Sylvan Deities (Numina Silvarum), the Fauni [Panes] and brother Satyri and the Nymphae [probably here meaning the Oreades], were all in tears [at the flaying alive of the Satyrus Marsyas], Olympus too." Ovid, Metamorphoses 6. 453 ff : "Richly robed in gorgeous finery, and richer still her beauty; such the beauty of the

Naides and Dryades, as we used to hear, walking the woodland ways." Ovid, Metamorphoses 11. 47 ff : "All wept and mourned for [the bard] Orpheus; forest trees cast down their leaves, tonsured in grief, and Flumina [Potamoi, Rivers] too, men say, were swollen with their tears, and Naides wore, and Dryades too, their mourning robes of black and hair dishevelled." Ovid, Metamorphoses 14. 326 ff : "King Picus, son of Saturnus [Kronos], ruled the land of Ausonia [Latium] . . . You observe his features. Gaze upon his striking grace and from his likeness here admire the truth . . . Many a glance he drew from Dryades born among the Latin hills; he was the darling of the Fountain-Sprites (Numina Fontana) and all the Naides of Albulba and Anio and Almo's streams [but he loved and married Canens alone, daughter of Janus]." Ovid, Metamorphoses 14. 622 ff : "Pomona lived in good King Proca's [of Latium] reign and none of all the Hamadryadae Latinae was cleverer than she in garden lore nor keener in the care of orchard trees. Thence came her name. For in her heart she loved not woods nor rivers, but a plot of ground and boughs of smiling apples all around." Ovid, Metamorphoses 15. 490 ff : "Deep in the forests of Aricia's vale, and there her [the Nymphe wife of the Latin king Numa] moans of misery disturbed Diana's [Artemis'] shrine that once Orestes built. How many times the Nymphae of Lake (Limnatides) and Grove (Auloniades) warned her to cease and tried to comfort her!" Ovid, Fasti 2. 155 ff (trans.Boyle) (Roman poetry C1st B.C. to C1st A.D.) : "Callisto once belonged to the sacred circle of Hamadryades and huntress Diana [Artemis] . . . Phoebe [Artemis] returned from hunting scores of forest beasts, as the sun occupied or passed midday. When she reached the grove (a grove dark with dense ilex, around a deep fountain of cool water), she said, `Lets bathe here in the wood.'" Ovid, Fasti 4. 751 ff : "I entered a forbidden wood, and the Nymphae and half-goat god [Faunus-Pan] bolted from my sight. If any knife has robbed a grove of a shady bough to give ailing sheep a basket of leaves: forgive my offence. Do not fault me for sheltering my flock from the hail in a rustic shrine, nor harm me for disturbing the pools. Pardon, Nymphae, trampling hooves for muddying your stream . . . placate the gods dispersed through every grove. Keep from our sight the Dryades and Diana's [Artemis'] bath and Faunus [Pan] lying in the fields at noon."

T62.2 OREIADBAKKHANTE

T62.1 OREIADBAKKHANTE

T60.10 OREIAD, SATYROS

T60.13 OREIAD, SATYROS

Virgil, Aeneid 1. 500 ff (trans. Day-Lewis) (Roman epic C1st B.C.) : "By the banks of Eurotas or over the Cynthian slopes Diana [Artemis] foots the dance, and a thousand Oreades following weave a constellation around that arrowy one, who in grace of movement excels all goddesses." Virgil, Aeneid 1. 168 ff : "Under these twin mountains [on the coast of Libya] the bay lies still and sheltered: a curtain of overhanging woods with their shifting light and shadow forms the backdrop; at the seaward foot of the cliffs there's a cave of stalactites, fresh water within, and seats which nature has hew from the stone--a home of the Nymphai (Oreades)." Propertius, Elegies 1. 20 (trans. Goold) (Roman elegy C1st B.C.) : "Ward off from him [the handsome youth] the ever lustful hands of the Nymphae (the Ausonian [Italian] Adryades are no less amorous than their sisters) . . . Beneath the crest of Arganthus mount [in Mysia] lay the well of Pege, a watery haunt dear the Nymphae Thyniae; overhead from deserted trees hung dewy apples, owing naught to the hand of man, and round about in the water-meadow grew white lilies mingled with crimson poppies . . . With lowered hands he prepares to cup the water, leaning on his right shoulder to draw a full measure. When the Dryades [the story usually features Naiades not Dryades], fired by his beauty, abandoned in wonder their accustomed dance and on his slipping pulled him nimbly through the yielding water." Propertius, Elegies 2. 32 : "She [Aphrodite] loved a shepherd [Ankhises] and amid his flocks gave herself, a goddess, to him; their armour was witnessed by the band of sister Hamadryades as well as the Sileni and the father of the company himself [Silenos], with whom were Naiads gathering apples in the vales of Ida." Valerius Flaccus, Argonautica 1. 105 ff (trans. Mozley) (Roman epic C1st A.D.) : "They whose labour was in the fields and with the peaceful plough are aroused by the sight of Fauni [Satyroi] about the thickets and ways in the clear light of day, and woodland Goddesses [Dryades] and Rivers [Potamoi] with lofty horns." Statius, Thebaid 4. 259 ff (trans. Mozley) (Roman epic C1st A.D.) : "Forest-queens [Dryades] and spirits enshrined in rivers [Naiades] . . . [and] Napaea (Nymphs of the Glade)." Statius, Thebaid 4. 329 ff : "[Atalanta to her son Parthenopaios:] Thou a boy scarce ripe for the embarces of Dryades or the passions of Erymanthian Nymphae." Statius, Thebaid 5. 580 ff : "The Nymphae who were wont to strew him [the guardian Drakon of the Nemean groves] with vernal flowers, and Nemeas fields whereon he crawled; ye too, ye woodland Fauni [Satyroi], bewailing him in every grove with broken reeds." Statius, Thebaid 6. 90 ff : "As they go [felling the trees] the woodland groans in sympathy, nor can the Nymphae loose the trees from their embrace." Statius, Thebaid 9. 385 ff : "I [the Naias Ismenis] was held a greater goddess and the queen of Nymphae. Where alas! is that late crowd of courtiers round thy mother's halls, where are the

Napaeae (Maidens of the Glen) that prayed to serve thee [her mortal son Krenaios]?" Seneca, Phaedra 782 ff (trans. Miller) (Roman tragedy C1st A.D.) : "For thy [the hunter Hippolytus'] slumbers the frolicsome goddesses of the groves (nemorum deae) will lay their snares, the Dryads, who pursue Panes wandering on the mountains." Nonnus, Dionysiaca 2. 92 ff (trans. Rouse) (Greek epic C5th A.D.) : "The Hadryades Nymphai [Hamadryads] lamented the lost shade of their yearsmate trees [destroyed in the rampages of the monster Typhoeus]. One Hamadryas leapt unveiled from the cloven shaft of a bushy laurel (daphne), which had grown with her growth, and another maiden stepping out of her pine-tree (pityos) appeared beside her neighbour the exiled Nymphe, and said: Laurel (Daphnaie) Hamadryas, so shy of the marriage bed, let us both take one road, lest you see Phoibos, lest I espy Pan! Woodmen, pass by these trees! Do not fell the afflicted bush of unhappy Daphne! Ship-wright, spare me! Cut no timbers from my pine-tree, to make some lugger that may feel the billows of Aphrodite, Lady of the Sea! Yes, woodcutter, grant me this last grace: strike me with your axe instead of my clusters, and drive our unmarried Athenas chaste bronze through my breast, that I may die before I wed, and go to Haides a virgin, still a stranger to Eros, like Pitys and like Daphne! With these words, she contrived a makeshift kirtle with leaves, and modestly covered the circle of her breasts with this green girdle, pressing thigh upon thigh. The other seeing her so down-cast, answered thus: I feel the fear inborn in a maiden, because I was born of a laurel, and I am pursued like Daphne. But where shall I flee? Shall I hide under a rock? No, thunderbolts have burnt to ashes the mountains hurled at Olympos; and I tremble at your lustful Pan, who will persecute me like Pitys, like Syrinx--I shall be chased myself until I become another Ekho, to scour the hills and second another's speech. I will haunt these clusters no longer; I will leave my tree and live in the mountains which are still half to be seen . . . Let me be another tree, and pass from tree to tree keeping the name of a virtuous maid; may I never, instead of laurel, be called that unhallowed plant which gave its name to Myrrha (myrrh-tree). Yes, I beseech thee, let me be one of the Heliades beside the stream of mourning Eridanos: often will I drop amber from my eyelids; I will spread my leaves to entwine with the dirge-loving clusters of my neighbouring poplar, bewailing my maidenhood with abundant tears--for Phaethon will not be my lament. Forgive me, my laurel; I shrink from being another tree after the tree of my former wood." Nonnus, Dionysiaca 3. 61 ff : "Already the bird of morning was cutting the air with loud cries [on the island of Samothrake]; already the helmeted bands of desert-haunting Korybantes were beating on their shields in the Knossian dance . . . Aye, and the trees whispered, the rocks boomed, the forests held jubilee with their intelligent movings and shakings, and the Dryades did sing. Packs of bears joined the dance, skipping and wheeling face to face; lions with a roar from emulous throats mimicked the triumphant cry of the priests of the Kabeiroi, sane in their madnes." Nonnus, Dionysiaca 6. 257 ff (trans. Rouse) (Greek epic C5th A.D.) : "The sea rose [during the great deluge] until Nereides became Oreiades on the hills over the woodland." Nonnus, Dionysiaca 12. 372 ff : "Another [drunken Satyros] turning his unsteady took towards a tree espied a Nymphe half-hidden, unveiled, close at hand; and he would have crawled up he

highest tree in the forest, feet slipping, hanging on by his toenails, had not Dionysos held him back." Nonnus, Dionysiaca 14. 1 ff : "Then [while the armies of Dionysos were mustering around her palace in Phrygia] swiftshoe Rheia haltered the hairy necks of her lions beside their highland manger . . . She traversed the firmament to south, to morth, to west, to the turning-place of dawn, gathering the divine battalions for Lyaios: one all-comprehending summons was sounded for Trees and for Rivers, one call for Neiades and Hadryades, the troops of the forest. All the divine generations heard the summons of Kybele, and they came together from all sides." Nonnus, Dionysiaca 14. 203 ff : "These combatants [those divinities summoned by Rheia to join Dionysos in his war against the Indians] were joined by Bakkhai, some coming from the Meionian rocks, some from the moutain above the precipitous peaks of Sipylos. Nymphai hastened to join the soldiers of the thyrsus, the wild Oreiades with hearts of men trailing their long robes. Many a year had they seen roll round the turning-point as they lived out their long lives. Some were the Epimelides who lived on the heights near the shepherds; some were from the woodland glades, and the ridges of the wild forest Meliai nymphs of the mountain ash-coeval with their tree. All these pressed onwards together to the fray, some with brassbacked drums, the instruments of Kybelid Rheia, others with overhanging ivy-tendrils wreathed in their hair, or girt with rings of snakes. They carried the sharpened thyrsus which the mad Lydian women then took with them fearless to the Indian War." Nonnus, Dionysiaca 15. 370 ff : "At the lot of [the shepherd] Hymnos perishing [slain by a Nymphe he dared to love], even the trees [Dryades] uttered a voice [calling for vengeance]: How did the oxheard offend you [Nikaia] so much? May Kythereia never be merciful to you, Artemis never!" Nonnus, Dionysiaca 16. 356 ff : "[Nikaia cries out after being seduced in drunken sleep by Dionysos:] . . . Hamadryas Nymphai, whom shall I blame for Hypnos, Eros, trickery and wine, are the robbers of my maiden state! . . . Why did not Pitys (the Pine) whisper in my ear, too low for Bakkhos to hear? Why did not Daphne (the Laurel) speak out "Maiden, beware, drink not the deceiving water!"?" Nonnus, Dionysiaca 17. 310 ff : "The dead body of Orontes [the Indian chief] was carried away swollen by the restless waters, until the stream vomited out the floating corpse upon the bank breathless and cold. There the Nymphai gave it burial and sang their dirges, the Nymphai Hamadryades, beside the stem of a golden laurel on the bank of the river stream, and inscribed upon the trunk above Here lies Indian Orontes, leader of the host, who insulted Bakkhos and slew himself with his own hand." Nonnus, Dionysiaca 21. 279 ff : "He [Dionysos messenger] found the Seilenoi in high glee: Dionysos had come up out the waters [after being driven into the sea by Lykourgos] and joined the Nymphai Oreiades. The Satyroi skipt, the Bakkhantes danced about, [the Seilenos] Maron with his old legs led the music between two Bakkhantes, with his arms laid round their necks, and bubbles of fragrant wine at his lips. The Mimallon unveiled trilled a song, how the footstep of Dionysos had come that way again."

Nonnus, Dionysiaca 22. 1 ff : "Then sounded the womanish song of the Bassarides [in Dionysos' war with the Indians], making Phrygian festival for Lyaios of the Night, and the hairy company of Satyroi rang out with mystic voice. All the earth laughed, the rocks bellowed, the Naiades [Water-Nymphs] sang alleluia, the Nymphai circled in mazes over the silent streams of the river, and sang a melody of Sikelian tune like the hymns which the minstrel Seirenes pour from their honeytongued throats. All the woodlands rang thereat: the trees found skill to make music like the hoboy, the Hadryades [TreeNymphs] cried aloud, the Nymphai sang, peeping up halfseen over her leafy cluster. The fountain, though but water, turned white and poured a stream of snowy milk; in the hollow of the torrent the Naiades bathed in milky streams and drank the white milk." Nonnus, Dionysiaca 22. 82 ff : "[In the Indian War of Dionysos:] And now the swarthy Indians would have leapt from their hidden ambush and attacked the army of Bakkhos at their meal; but a Hamadryas Nymphe peering over a high branch sprang up, leafy to the hips [she appeared first as a woman growing out of her tree]. Holding thyrsus in hand, she looked like a Bakkhante, with bushy ivy thick in her hair like one of them; first she indicated the enemies plot by eloquent sings, then whispered in the ear of Lyaios of the grapes: Vinegod Dionysos, lord gardener of the fruits! Your plant gives grace and beauty to the Hadryades! I am no Bassaris, I am no comrade of Lyaios, I carry only a false thyrsus in my hand. I am not from Phrygia, your country, I do not dwell in the Lydian land by that river rolling in riches. I am a Hamadryas of the beautiful leaves, in the place where the enemy warriors lie in ambush. I will forget my country and save your host from death: for I offer loyal faith to your Satyroi, Indian though I am. I take sides with Dionysos instead of Deriades; I owe my gratitude to you, and I will pay it, because your Father, mighty Zeus of the raincloud, always brings the watery travail to the rivers, always feeds the trees with his showers of rain. Give me your leaes, and here I will plant them; give me your clusters of grapes which drive our cares away! But my friend, do not hasten to cross the river, or the Indians, who are near, may overwhelm you in the water. Direct your eye to the forest, and see in the leafy thickets a secret ambuscade of men unseen hidden there. But what will those weaklings in their thickets do to you? Your enemies live so long as you still hold back your thyrsus. Silence between us now, that the enemy near may not hear, that Hydaspes may not tell it to the hidden Indians. When she had said this, the Hamadryas Nymphe went away again quick as a wing, quick as a thought; and changing her shape to look like a bird she sped through the secret wood, down upon her oak her yearsmate." Nonnus, Dionysiaca 24. 94 ff : "All the denizens of Olympos who cared for their beloved oaks, rescued Hadryas Nymphai [when the Indian River Hydaspes tried to drown them with the rest of the army of Dionysos]; and most especially laurel-Apollon appeared and saved the Daphnaiai (Laurel-Nymphs); and Leto his mother stood by her son and helped them, for she still honoured the tree which helped her childbirth [the Delian palm]." Nonnus, Dionysiaca 24. 123 ff : "They [the Panes, Satyroi and Bakkhantes] leapt about dancing on the Indian crags, along the rocky paths; then they built shelters undisturbed in the dark forest, and spent the night among the trees. Some went deerhunting with dogs after the long-antlered stags: the Hydriades (Water-Nymphs) of plantloving Dionysos mingled with the Hamadryades of the trees. Groups of Bassarides in this Erythraian wilderness suckled cubs of a mountain lioness, and the juicy milk flowed of itself out of their breasts."

Nonnus, Dionysiaca 24. 148 ff : "When Bakkhos came near, the pipes were sounded, the raw drumskin was beaten, on either side was the noise of beaten brass and the wail of the syrinx. The whole forest trembled, the oaktrees [Hamadryades] uttered voices and the hills danced, the Naiades sang alleluia." Nonnus, Dionysiaca 32. 143 ff : "[Dionysos was driven into a murderous frenzy by Hera:] He chased the Hadryades, he volleyed the cliffs and drove the Naias Nymphai out of the river homeless." Nonnus, Dionysiaca 37. 10 ff : "The woodman's axe cut down the trees in long rows. Many an elm was felled by the long edge of the axe, many an oak with leaves waving high struck down with a crash, many a pine lay all along, many a fir stooped its dry needles; as the trees were felled far and wide, little by little the rocks were bared. So many a Hamadryade Nymphe sought another home, and swiftly joined the unfamiliar maids of the brooks." Nonnus, Dionysiaca 43. 62 ff : "Melantheus . . . an Indian chief and the son of Oinone the Ivy-nymphe (Kisseias): his mother had wrapt her boy in leafy tips of the sweet-smelling vine for swaddlings, and bathed her son in the winepress teeming with strong drink. Such was the host armed with missiles of ivy which followed Bakkhos." Nonnus, Dionysiaca 44. 12 ff : "At times a Hamadryas shot out of her clustering foliage and half showed herself high in a tree, and praised the name of Dionysos cluster-laden; and the unshod Nymphe of the Spring sang in tune with her." Nonnus, Dionysiaca 44. 88 ff : "Beside the trunk of a tall pinetree where Kithairon spreads his lofty head; he [Teiresias the seer] told her [Agaue following a disturbing dream] to offer a female sheep to the Nymphai Hamadryades in the thicket . . . Agaue the tender mother obeyed the wise old man, and went to the lofty hill together with Kadmos while Pentheus followed. At the horns of the altar Kadmos Agenorides made one common sacrifice to Zeus and the Hadryades, female and male together, sheep and horned bull, where stood the grove of Zeus full of mountain trees; he lit the fire on the altar to do pleasure to the gods, and did sacrifice to both. When the flame was kindled, the rich savour was spread abroad with the smoke in fragrant rings." Nonnus, Dionysiaca 44. 142 ff : "[King Pentheus of Thebes threatens Dionysos:] Drag hither the mad Bassarides, drag the Bakkhantes hither, the handmaids who attend on Bromios hurl them into the watery beds of [the River] Ismenos here in Thebes, mingle the [Bassaris] Naiades with the Aonian [Boeotian] river-Nymphai their mates, let old Kithairon receive [Bassaris] Hadryades to join his own Hadryades instead of Lyaios." Nonnus, Dionysiaca 45. 174 ff : "[A] band of woodmen cutting timbers for a ship troubled the Nymphai of the trees." Nonnus, Dionysiaca 47. 456 ff : "[At the wedding of Dionysos and Ariadne:] The Hamadryas sang of the wedding, the Naias Nymphe by the fountains unveiled unshod praised the union of Ariadne with the vine-god."

Nonnus, Dionysiaca 48. 188 ff : "That was a wedding [the marriage of Dionysos and Pallene] of many songs: the bridechamber was never silent, Seilenoi chanted, Bakkhantes danced, drunken Satyroi wove a hymn of love and sang the alliance which came of this victorious match . . . many a Hamadryas of Athos kindled a Thrakian torch for the bridal in fiery Lemnos close by." Nonnus, Dionysiaca 48. 514 ff : "Beside a fragrant myrtle he [Dionysos] stayed his feet for a soothing rest at midday. He leaned against a tree and listened to the west breeze whispering, overcome by fatigue and love; and as he sat there, a Hamadryas Nymphe [of the myrtle-tree] at home in the clusters of her native tree, a maiden unveiled, peeped out and said, true both to Kypris and to loving Lyaios: Bakkhos can never lead Aura to his bed, unless he bends her first in heavy galling fetters, and winds the bonds of Kypris round hands and feet; or else puts her under the yoke of marriage in sleep, and steals the girl's maidenhood without brideprice. Having spoken she hid again in her tree her agemate, and entered again her woody home." Nonnus, Dionysiaca 48. 640 ff : "The Hamadryas half-visible shook her agemate fir."

Sources:
o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o Homer, The Iliad - Greek Epic C9th-8th BC Homer, The Odyssey - Greek Epic C9th-8th BC Hesiod, Theogony - Greek Epic C8th-7th BC The Homeric Hymns - Greek Epic C8th-4th BC Homerica, Fragments - Greek Epic BC Aristophanes, Birds - Greek Comedy C5th-4th BC Aristophanes, Thesmophoriazusae - Greek Comedy C5th-4th BC Apollonius Rhodius, The Argonautica - Greek Epic C3rd BC Athenaeus, Deipnosophistae - Greek Cullinary Guide C3rd AD Callimachus, Hymns - Greek C3rd BC Strabo, Geography - Greek Geography C1st BC - C1st AD Pausanias, Guide to Greece - Greek Geography C2nd AD The Orphic Hymns - Greek Hymns BC Philostratus the Elder, Imagines - Greek Art History C3rd AD Virgil, Aeneid - Latin Epic C1st BC Ovid, Metamorphoses - Latin Epic C1st BC - C1st AD Ovid, Fasti - Latin Epic C1st BC - C1st AD Valerius Flaccus, The Argonautica - Latin Epic C1st AD Propertius, Elegies - Latin Elegy C1st BC Cicero, De Natura Deorum - Latin Philosophy C1st BC Seneca, Phaedra - Latin Tragedy C1st AD Statius, Thebaid - Latin Epic C1st AD Oppian, Cynegetica - Greek Poetry C3rd AD Tryphiodorus, The Taking of Ilias - Greek Epic C5th AD Nonnos, Dionysiaca - Greek Epic C5th AD

Other references to Draydes, Adryades & Hamadryades not currently quoted here: Stephanus Byzantium s.v. Dryope; Sophocles OT 1108 Other references to Meliades, Epimeliades, Maliades: Eustathius on Homer's Odyssey 1963;

Sophocles Philoctetes 715 (Meliades) Other references to Oreiades, Orodemniades: Theocritus 7.137 & 8.44; Virgil Georgics 4.535 Other references to Alseides, Auloniades, Napaia: Orphic Hymns 50.7 (Auloniades); Theocritus 8.44 & 13.44 (Auloniades); Virgil Georgics 4.535 (Auloniades, Napaia)

NYMPHAI STORIES 1
Greek Name Transliteration Nymph Nymphai Latin Spelling Nymph Nymphae Translation Girl of marriageable age (nymph)

THE NYMPHAI (or Nymphs) were beautiful Index of Nymphs nature spirits responsible for the nurture of Nymphs Introduction plants and animals in the countryside and the Stories of Nymphs 2 wilds. They were worshipped by the rustic folk: shepherds and herdsmen, hunters and woodsmen, orchadists and beekeepers. The following are stories from Greek myth of encounters between Nymphs and men. The Nymph types in most stories are interchangeable: in the story of Peleus a Nereid (sea nymph) assumes the role of an Epimelid (nymph of the flocks); in the tale of Kerambos the Nymphs are simultaneously Naiades of the river and Hamadryades of the river-side poplars, etc.

OTHER NYMPHS PAGES

DRYOPE & THE NYMPHS

LOCALE: Mt Othrys, Malis (Northern Greece) Antoninus Liberalis, Metamorphoses 32 (trans. Celoria) (Greek mythographer C2nd A.D.) : "Dryope herded the flocks of her father. Now, the Nymphai Hamadryades were very much attached to her and made her their companion, teaching her to sing to the gods and to dance. Apollon, seeing her dancing, felt an urge to couple with her. He first changed himself into a tortoise. Dryope, with the other Nymphai, was amused by it and they made a toy of the tortoise. She placed it in her bosom. He changed from a tortoise to a serpent. The frightened Nymphai abandoned Dryope. Apollon coupled with her and . . . she gave birth to Amphissos, the son of Apollon . . . In Dryopis he established a sanctuary of Apollon. One day, as Dryope was approaching the temple, the Nymphai Hamadryades gathered her up affectionately and hid her in the woods. In her place they caused a poplar to appear out of the ground. Beside it they made a spring to gush forth. Dryope was changed from mortal to Nymphe. Amphissos, in honour of the favour shown to his mother, set up a shrine to the Nymphai and was the first to inaugurate a foot-race there. To this day local people maintain this race. It is not holy for women to be present there because wo maidens told local people that Dryope had been snatched away by Nymphai. The Nymphai were angry at this and turned the maidens into pines." Ovid, Metamorphoses 9. 334 ff (trans. Melville) (Roman epic C1st B.C. to C1st

A.D.) : "The loveliest girl of all Oechalis, dear Dryope, her mother's only child . . . There is a lake whose shelving sides had shaped a sloping shore, and myrtles crowned the ridge. There Dryope had come, not dreaming of fate's design, and, what must make you more indignant, bringing garlands for the Nymphae . . . Near the lakeside was a water-lotus flowered, its crimson blooms like Tyrian dye, fair hope of fruit to come. Dryope picked a posy of these flowers to please her boy. I [her companion Iole] meant to do the same (for I was there), when I saw drops of blood drip from the blossoms of the boughs shiver in horror. For this shrub, you see (too late the peasants told us), was the Nymphe Lotis who fled Priapus's lechery and found changed features there but kept her name. Nothing of this my sister knew. She'd said prayers to the Nymphae and now in terror tried to turn away and leave, but found her feet rooted [and she was transformed into a lotus-tree]."
For MORE information on this maiden see DRYOPE

BYBLIS & THE NYMPHS

LOCALE: Miletos & Byblis, Karia (Western Anatolia) Parthenius, Love Romances 11 (trans. Gaselee) (Greek poet C1st B.C.) : "[Miletos had] twain children: Kaunos, lover of right and law, and then fair Byblis, whom men likened to the tall junipers . . . Most authors say that Byblis fell in love with Kaunos, and made proposals to him, begging him not to stand by and see the sight of her utter misery. He was horrified at what she said, and crossed over to the country then inhabited by the Leleges . . . She, as her passion did not abate, and also because she blamed herself for Kaunos' exile, tied the fillets of her head-dress to an oak, and so made a noose for her neck . . . Some also say that from her tears sprang a stream called after her name, Byblis." [N.B. According to other sources the nymphs transformed her tears into a spring.] Antoninus Liberalis, Metamorphoses 30 (trans. Celoria) (Greek mythographer C2nd A.D.) : "Miletos built the city of Miletos and . . . [had] twins, Kaunos and Byblis . . . Byblis attracted many local suitors . . . She did not pay them much attention since an unspeakable desire for Kaunos was driving her mad. Because she did all she could to hide this passion, she kept it from her parents. But daily she was being gripped by an even more unmanageable Daimon and one night she decided to throw herself from a rock. She went to a nearby mountain and set about throwing herself off. But Nymphai, pitying her, held her back. Casting her into a deep sleep they changed her from a mortal to a deity, into a Nymphe called a Hamadryas [or Hydrias] named Byblis. They made her their companion and sharer of their way of life. The stream which flows from that rock is called to this day by local people the Tears of Byblis." Ovid, Metamorphoses 9. 450 ff (trans. Melville) (Roman epic C1st B.C. to C1st A.D.) : "[Miletos had children] Byblis and Caunus, twins, a tragic pair. The tale of Byblis shows that girls should love as law allows, Byblis who lost her heart to great Apollineus [Kaunos], her twin brother. Hers was no sisters love; her love was wrong . . . Poor girl, she passed all bounds, kept offering herself to his rebuffs, and soon, no end in sight, her brother fled, fled from his country and the scene of shame to found a city in a foreign land. Then Byblis was beside herself with grief.

She beat herself in frenzy . . . [and] ran howling through the countryside, watched by the wives of Bubasis, then on through Caria and Lycia she roamed, among the warrior Leleges, and now Cragus was far behind her and the streams of Limyre and Canthos . . . The forest failed; on the hard ground she fell, exhausted by her quest, and lay face down, with tumbled hair, among the fallen leaves. Often the Nymphae Lelegeides (of the Leleges) tried to cradle her in their soft arms and often sought to salve the fever of her love, and comforted with soothing words her heart that heard no more. She lay in silence, clutching the small sedge, and watering the greensward with her tears. And these, men say, the Naides made a rill, for ever flowing--what could they give more? At once, as resin drips from damaged bark, or asphalt oozes from the earth's dark womb, or, when the west wind breathes its balm, the sun unlocks the water that the frost has bound, so, wasting by her weeping all away, Byblis became a spring. Still in that dale it keeps its mistress' name, still mournfully trickles below the tall dark ilex tree."
For MORE information on this girl see BYBLIS

KERAMBOS & THE NYMPHS

LOCALE: Mt Othrys, Malis (Northernn Greece) Antoninus Liberalis, Metamorphoses 22 (trans. Celoria) (Greek mythographer C2nd A.D.) : "Kerambos, son of Eusiros, who was the son of Poseidon and of Eidothea the Nymphe of Othreis, lived in the land of the Melians on the spurs of Mount Othrys. He had numerous flocks and herded them himself. Nymphai would help him since he delighted them as he sang among the mountains. He is said to have been the best singer of those days and was famous for his rural songs. In those hills he devised the shepherds pipes and was the first to teach mankind to play the lyre, composing many beautiful songs. It is said that because of this the Nymphai one day became visible to Kerambos as they danced to the strumming of his lyre. Pan, in good will, gave him this advice: to leave Othrys and pasture his flocks on the plain, for the coming winter was going to be exceptionally and unbelievably severe. Kerambos, with the arrogance of youth, decided--as though smitten by some god-not to drive his beasts from Othrys to the plain. He also uttered graceless and mindless things to the Nymphai, saying they were not descended from Zeus, but that Deino had given birth to them, with the River Sperkheios was the father. He also said that Poseidon, for lust of one of them, Diopatre, had made her sisters put down roots and turned them into poplars until, satiated with his desires, he had returned them to their original shapes. Thus did Kerambos taunt the Nymphai. After a short while there came a sudden frost and the streams froze. Much snow fell on the flocks of Kerambos and they were lost to sight as well as were the trees and paths. The Nymphai, in anger against Kerambos because of his slanders, changed him into a wood-gnawing Kerambyx beetle. He can be seen on trunks and has hook-teeth, ever moving his jaws together. He is black, long and has hard wings like a great dung beetle. He is called the ox that eats wood and, among the Thessalians, Kerambyx. Boys use him as a toy, cutting off his head, to wear as a pendant. The head looks like the horns of a lyre made from a tortoiseshell." Ovid, Metamorphoses 7. 353 ff (trans. Melville) (Roman epic C1st B.C. to C1st A.D.) : "Othrys and those fair uplands that Cerambus' fate made famous long ago. By the Nymphae's aid wings bore him through the air, and when the earth's great mass

was whelmed beneath Deucalion's flood, he escaped unflooded by the sweeping sea."

MEGAROS & THE NYMPHS

LOCALE: Mt Gerania, Megaris (Southern Greece) Pausanias, Description of Greece 1. 40. 1 (trans. Jones) (Greek travelogue C2nd A.D.) : "The Megarians say that the Nymphai Sithnides are native, and that one of them mated with Zeus; that Megaros, a son of Zeus and of this Nymphe, escaped the flood in the time of Deukalion, and made his escape to the heights of Gerania. The mountain had not yet received this name, but was then named Gerania (Crane Hill ) because cranes were flying and Megaros swam towards the cry of the birds."
Compare Ovid's version of the Kerambos & the Nymphai story above

ARISTAIOS & THE NYMPHS

LOCALE: Thessaly (Northern Greece) Virgil, Georgics 4. 317 ff (trans. Fairclough) (Roman bucolic C1st B.C.) : "Aristaeus the shepherd, quitting Tempe by the Peneus, when--so runs the tale--his bees were lost through sickness and hunger . . . [Aristaios wrestled the sea-god Proteus to learn the cause:] On this the seer [Proteus], yielding at last to mighty force . . . thus opened his lips to tell of fate's decrees: It is a god, no other, whose anger pursues you: Great is the crime you are paying for; this punishment, far less than you deserve, unhappy Orpheus arouses against you--did not Fate interpose--and rages implacably for the loss of his bride. She [Eurydike], in headlong flight along the river, if only she might escape you [Aristaios], saw not, doomed maiden, amid the deep grass the monstrous serpent at her feet that guarded the banks. But her sister band of Dryades filled the mountaintops with their cries; the towers of Rhodope wept, and the Pangaean heights, and the martial land [Thrace] or Rhesus, the Getae and Hebrus and Orithyia, Acte's child . . . [Proteus departed, and Aristaios' mother Kyrene advised him to appease the angry nymphs:] You may dismiss from your mind the care that troubles it. This is the whole cause of the sickness, and hence it is that the Nymphae, with whom she used to tread the dance in the deep groves, have sent this wretched havoc on your bees. You must offer a suppliant's gifts, sue for peace, and pay homage to the gentle maidens of the woods; for they will grant pardon to prayers, and relax their wrath. But first I will tell you in order the manner of your supplication. Pick out four choice bulls, of surpassing form, that now graze among your herds on the heights of green Lycaeus, and as many heifers of unyoked neck. For these set up four altars by the stately shrines of the goddesses, and drain the sacrificial blood from their throats, but leave the bodies of the steers within the leafy grove. Later, when the ninth Dawn displays her rising beams, you must offer to Orpheus funeral dues of Lethe's poppies, slay a black ewe, and revisit the grove. Then with Eurydice appeased you should honour her with the slaying of a calf. Tarrying not, he straightway does his mothers bidding. He comes to the shrine, raises the altars appointed, and leads there four choice bulls, of surpassing form,

and as many heifers of unyoked neck. Later, when the ninth Dawn had ushered in her rising beams, he offers to Orpheus the funeral dues, and revisits the grove. But here they espy a portent, sudden and wondrous to tell--throughout the paunch, amid the molten flesh of the oxen, bees buzzing and swarming forth from the ruptured sides, then trailing in vast clouds, till at last on a treetop they stream together, and hang in clusters from the bending boughs."
For MORE information on this god see ARISTAIOS

PELEUS & THE NYMPH PSAMATHEIA

LOCALE: Phthia, Thessaly (Northern Greece) Lycophron, Alexandra 900 ff (trans. Mair) (Greek poet C3rd B.C.) : "The lord [Peleus] of the Wolf [sent by Psamathe to avenge the slaying of her son Phokos] that devoured the atonement [a herd of cattle] and was turned to stone [by Thetis]." Antoninus Liberalis, Metamorphoses 38 (trans. Celoria) (Greek mythographer C2nd A.D.) : "Aiakos . . . has as sons Telamon and Peleus and a third, Phokos, born of Psamathe, daughter of Nereos. Aiakos was very fond of this third son because he was handsome as he was god. Peleus and Telemon envied him and killed him in secret. For this Aiakos drove them away and they left the isle of Aigina . . . Peleus brought together many sheep and cattle [while in exile] . . . A wolf, coming upon the animals unattended by herdsmen, ate them all. By divine will this wolf was changed into a rock which stood for a long time between Lokris and the land of the Phokians." Ovid, Metamorphoses 11. 348 ff (trans. Melville) (Roman epic C1st B.C. to C1st A.D.) : "In bursts Onetor, the royal herdsman, breathless in his haste, and Peleus, Peleus! cries, I've brought the news--disaster. I'd driven . . . my weary bullocks to the curving beach. The sun stood at his zenith in mid course, seeing as much behind as lay ahead. Some of the cattle knelt on the brown sand and, lying, gazed across the wide flat sea; some wandered, ambling slowly to and fro; some swam or stood neck-deep amid the water. Close to the sea a temple stood, not bright with gold and marble, but a timber frame of beams and shaded by an ancient grove. The shrine belonged to Nereus and the Nereides, they are the Sea-gods (Di Ponti) there, a sailor said, spreading his nets to dry along the beach). Adjoining it a marsh, a backwater left swampy by the tide, lay overgrown with willows. Here a heavy crashing sound filled the whole place with fear--a giant beast! A wolf! He came out smeared in swampy slime, his great jaws flashing, flecked with blood and foam, his eyes aflame. Hunger and fury both spurred him, but fury most. For when he killed the cattle, he was not concerned to glut his ghastly greed, but savaged the whole herd, and in his battling blood-lust slew them all. Some of ourselves too, trying to fend him off, were done to death felled by his fatal fangs. The beach and water's edge were red with blood. The marsh too, all aroar with bellowings. Before all's lost, together let us go! To arms! To arms! To join against the foe! The yokel finished. All his losses left Peleus unmoved: remembering his crime, he knew the Nereis who he'd bereaved had sent these losses as a sacrifice for [her]

murdered [son] Phocus [half-brother of Peleus] . . . Peleus: . . . To the Seagoddess (Numen Pelagi) now I needs must pray! There was a tower, a beacon high atop the citadel, a landmark to rejoice a weary ship. They climbed here and beheld with groans, the cattle strewn along the shore, and the destroyer, wild and bloody-jawed, his shaggy coat all red and caked with gore. Stretching his hands toward the open sea, Peleus addressed his prayers to Psamathe, the wave-blue Nymph, that she would end her wrath and bring her succour. Her no prayer of his could turn, but Thetis for her husband's sake pleaded and won her pardon. But the wolf though called from his fierce slaughter, still kept on, wild with the nectar-taste of blood, until as he tore a heifer's neck and held it fast, she changed him into marble. Everything save colour was preserved; the marble's hue proclaimed him wolf no longer and no more a terror to be dreaded as before. Yet in that country, even so, fate would not let banished Peleus find a home. He roamed in exile to Magesia, and there Acastus Haemonius [of Thessaly] gave absolution for his guilt of blood."

ERYSIKHTHON & THE NYMPHS

LOCALE: Dotion, Thessaly (Northern Greece) Callimachus, Hymn 4 to Demeter 33 ff (trans. Mair) (Greek poet C3rd B.C.) : "In holy Dotion dwelt the Pelasgians and unto thyself they made a fair grove abounding in trees; hardly would an arrow have passed through them. Therein was pine, and therein were mighty elms, and therein were pear-trees, and therein were fair sweet-apples; and from the ditches gushes up water as it were of amber. And the goddess [Demeter] loved the place to madness . . . Then the worse counsel took hold of Erysikhthon. He hastened with twenty attendants, all in their prime, all men-giants able to lift a whole city, arming them both with double axes and with hatchets, and they rushed shameless into the grove of Demeter. Now there was a poplar, a great tree reaching to the sky, and thereby the Nymphai were wont to sport. This poplar was smitten first and cried a woeful cry to the others. Demeter marked that her holy tree was in pain, and she was angered . . . beyond telling . . . [and] sent on him a cruel and evil hunger--a burning hunger and a strong--and he was tormented by a grievous disease. Wretched man, as much as he ate, so much did he desire again." Ovid, Metamorphoses 8. 738 ff (trans. Melville) (Roman epic C1st B.C. to C1st A.D.) : "[Erysikhthon] was a man who spurned the gods and never censed their shrines. His axe once violated Ceres' [Demeter's] grove, his blade profaned her ancient holy trees. Among them stood a giant oak, matured in centuries of growing strength, itself a grove; around it wreaths and garlands hung and votive tablets, proofs of prayers fulfilled. Often beneath its shade Dryades danced in festival and often hand in hand their line circled its trunk, full fifty feet of giant girth; it towered high above the woodland trees as they above the grass. Yet even so that wicked man refused to spare his blade, and bade his woodsmen fell that sacred oak, and when he saw them slow to obey he seized the axe himself, and cried Be this the tree the goddess loves, be this the goddess' very self, its leafy crown shall touch the ground today, and poised his axe to strike a slanting cut. The holy tree shuddered and groaned, and every leaf and acorn grew pale and pallor spread on each long branch. And when his impious stroke wounded the trunk, blood issued, flowing from the severed bark, as when a mighty bull is sacrificed before the altar and from his riven neck the lifeblood pours.

All stood aghast, but one was bold to thwart the crime, to stay the steel. Then Erysichthon glared at him: Take this for pious thoughts he cried and turned the axe against the man and struck the man's head off, and blow on blow, attacked the oak again. Then deep from the tree's heart there came a voice: I, Ceres' [Demeter's] Nymphe, Ceres' most favourite Nymphe, dwell in this oak, and, dying, prophesy that punishment is night for what you do, to comfort me in death. But he pursued his crime, till weakened by so many blows, hauled down by ropes, at last the giant oak crashed and its weight laid low the trees around. Heartbroken by their loss--the grove's loss too--her sister Dryades, clad in mourning black, going to Ceres, prayed for punishment on Erysichthon. That most lovely goddess assented and the teeming countryside, laden with harvest, trembled at her nod. A punishment she planned most piteous, were pity not made forfeit by his deed--hunger to rack and rend him; and because Ceres [Demeter] and Hunger [Limos] may never meet, she charged a mountain sprite, a rustic Oread, to take her message . . . She gave the chariot; riding through the air the Oread reached Scythia; on a peak of granite men call Caucasus she unyoked the dragons and set out in search of Hunger, and found her in a stubborn stony field . . . Eyeing her from a distance, fearing to go closer, the Nymphe gave her the goddess orders and hardly waiting, though some way away, though just arrived, she felt, or seemed to feel, hunger and seized the reins and soaring high she drove the dragons back to Thessaly."

PARAIBIOS & THE NYMPHS

LOCALE: Thynia (Western Anatolia) Apollonius Rhodius, Argonautica 2. 471 ff (trans. Rieu) (Greek epic C3rd B.C.) : "There was a time in that man's [Paraibios'] life when the more he toiled the harder he found it to keep body and soul together. He sank lower day by day, and there was no respite from his labours. He was paying in misery for a sin committed by his father, who had refused to listen to a Hamadryas' prayers when he was felling trees one day, alone in the mountains. She wished him to spare the stump of an oak which was as old as she and had been her only home for many a long year. She wept and pleaded with him piteously. But in the headstrong arrogance of youth he cut it down; and in revenge the Nymphe laid a curse on him and his children. When Paraibios consulted me, I realized the nature of the sin and told him to an altar to build an altar to the Thynian Nymphe and there make an offering in atonement, with prayers for release from his fathers doom. Thus he escaped the wrath of Heaven."

HYLAS & THE NYMPHS

LOCALE: Bithynia, Mysia (Western Anatolia) Pseudo-Apollodorus, Bibliotheca 1. 117 (trans. Aldrich) (Greek mythographer C2nd A.D.) : "Hylas whom Herakles loved, while off on a mission to fetch water, was kidnapped by Nymphai because of his beauty." Apollonius Rhodius, Argonautica 1. 1334 ff (trans. Rieu) (Greek epic C3rd B.C.) :

"Hylas had bone off by himself with a bronze ewer in search of some hallowed spring where he could draw some water for the evening meal . . . Hylas soon found a spring, which the people of the neighbourhood call Pegai. He reached it when the Nymphai were about to hold their dances--it was the custom of all those who haunt the beautiful headland to sing the praise of Artemis by night. The Nymphai of the mountain peaks and caverns were all posted some way off to patrol the woods; but one, the Naias of the spring, was just emerging from the limpid water as Hylas drew near. And there, with the full moon shining from a clear sky, she saw him in all his radiant beauty and alluring grace. Her heart was flooded by desire; she had a struggle to regain her scattered wits. But Hylas now leant over to one side to dip his ewer in: and as soon as the water was gurgling loudly round the ringing bronze she threw her left arm round his neck in her eagerness to kiss his gentle lips. Then with her right hand she drew his elbow down and plunged him in midstream . . . [The sea-god Glaukos later reports to the Argonauts:] As for Hylas, who caused these two to go astray and so be left behind, a Nymphe has lost her heart to him and made him her husband." Antoninus Liberalis, Metamorphoses 26 (trans. Celoria) (Greek mythographer C2nd A.D.) : "The boy Hylas went carrying a pail to the River Askanios to fetch water for the leaders [Argonauts]. And when the Nymphai, who were the daughters of this River, saw and fell in love with him, they pulled him in, dragging him down into the spring. After Hylas had disappeared, Herakles saw that he was not coming back to him and deserted the heroes, searching everywhere in the thickets, calling Hylas again and again. The Nymphai, fearing that Herakles might discover that they had hidden the lad among them, changed him into a n echo which again and again echoed back the cries of Herakles . . . To this day local people make sacrifices to Hylas by the spring. The priest calls him by his name three times and an echo replies three times." Strabo, Geography 12. 4. 3 (trans. Jones) (Greek geographer C1st B.C. to C1st A.D.) : "Here [Kios in Bithynia] is the scene of the myth of Hylas, one of the companions of Herakles who sailed with him on the Argo, and who, when he was going out to get water, was carried off by the Nymphai." Propertius, Elegies 1. 20 (trans. Goold) (Roman elegy C1st B.C.) : "The squire [Hylas] of the invincible prince [Herakles] ranged farther afield to seek the choice water of a sequestering spring . . . Hylas went on, alas, went on to the Hamadryades. Here beneath the crest of Arganthus' mount lay the well of Pege, a watery haunt dear the Nymphae Thyniae; overheard from deserted trees hung dewy apples, owing naught to the hand of man, and round about in the water-meadow grew white lilies mingled with crimson poppies. Now in boyish delight plucking these with delicate nail, putting flowers before his appointed task, and now unwarily bending over the beauteous pool, he prolongs his truancy because of its charming reflections. At length, with lowered hands he prepares to cup the water, leaning on his right shoulder to draw a full measure. When the Dryades, fired by his beauty, abandoned in wonder their accustomed dance and on his slipping pulled him nimbly through the yielding water, then by the snatching of his body did Hylas cause a loud sound. In answer Hercules from afar thrice called out Hylas!, but to him from distant hills the breeze echoes naught save the name." Valerius Flaccus, Argonautica 3. 521 ff (trans. Mozley) (Roman epic C1st A.D.) :

"She [the Naias Dryope] puts up a swift hart through the trackless brushwood [and lures Hylas in pursuit of the deer away from Herakles] . . . The stag leads him far onward to where a bright fountain gushes forth, and with light bound [the stag] springs clear over the pool. Thus is the lad's hope baffled nor is he fain to struggle farther; and since sweat had bathed his limbs and labouring breast, he greedily sinks beside the pleasant stream. Even as the light that shifts and plays upon a lake . . . so doth he shed a gleam upon the waters; he heeds not the shadow of the Nympha or her hair or the sound of her as she rises to embrace him. Greedily casting her arms about him, as he calls, alack! Too late for help and utters the name of his mighty friend [Herakles], she draws him down; for her strength is aided by his falling weight." Valerius Flaccus, Argonautica 4. 22 ff : "Lo! In a vision [to Herakles] the boy [Hylas] rises from the water's level, clad in saffron weeds, the gift of the unkind Nympha, and standing by his dear head utters such words as these: Why, father, dost thou waste time in vain lament? Mine now by fate's appointing is this glade, this home, wither at cruel Juno's [Hera's] behest the wanton Nympha has stolen me; now doth she win me power to consort with the streams of Jove [Zeus] and the heavenly deities, and shares with me her love and the honours of the fountain." Statius, Silvae 1. 5. 22 (trans. Mozley) (Roman poetry C1st A.D.) : "[Naias] ravisher of Hercules young ward [Hylas]." Statius, Silvae 3. 4. 42 : "The Nais of the dark-blue water would have preferred thee [to Hylas], and grasped thy urn and drawn thee down more boldly." Nonnus, Dionysiaca 11. 226 ff (trans. Rouse) (Greek epic C5th A.D.) : "The Nymphai had hidden dainty Hylas in their envious water, a bridegroom kept safely for the greedy watersprite."
For MORE information on these nymphs see THE MYSIAN NYMPHS

Z37.2 HYLAS, MYSIAN NAIADES

DAPHNIS & THE NYMPHS

LOCALE: Heraion Mts, Sicily (Southern Italy) Parthenius, Love Romances 29 (trans. Gaselee) (Greek poet C1st B.C.) : "In Sikelia (Sicily) was born Daphnis the son of Hermes, who was skilled in playing on the pipes and also exceedingly beautiful. He would never frequent the places where men come together, but spent his life in the open, both winter and summer, keeping his herds on the slopes of Aitna. The nymph Ekhenais, so the story runs,

fell in love with him, and bade him never have to do with mortal woman; if he disobeyed, his fate would be to lose his eyes. For some considerable time he stood out strongly against all temptation, although not a few women were madly in love with him; but at last one of the Sicilian princesses worked his ruin by plying him with much wine, and so brought him to the desire to consort with her. Thus he, too, like Thamyras the Thracian, was thenceforward blind through his own folly." Diodorus Siculus, Library of History 4. 84. 1-4 (trans. Oldfather) (Greek historian C1st B.C.) : "There are in Sikelia (Sicily), namely, the Heraean Mountains, which, men say, are naturally well suited, by reason of the beauty and nature and special character of the region round about, to relaxation and enjoyment in the summer season. For they possess many springs of exceptionally sweet water and are full of trees of every description. On them also is a multitude of great oak-trees which bear fruit of extraordinary size, since it is twice as large as any that grows in other lands . . . It was in this region, where there were glens filled with trees and meet for a god and a grove consecrated to the Nymphai, that, as the myths relate, he who was known as Daphnis was born, a son of Hermes and a Nymphe, and he, because of the sweet bay (daphn) which grew there in such profusion and so thick, was given the name Daphnis. He was reared by Nymphai, and since he possessed very many herds of cattle and gave great attention to their care, he was for this reason called by the name Boukolos or Neatherd. And being endowed with an unusual gift of song, he invented the bucolic or pastoral poem and the bucolic song which continues to be so popular throughout Sikelia to the present day. The myths add that Daphnis accompanied Artemis in her hunting, serving the goddess in an acceptable manner, and that with his shepherds pipe and singing of pastoral songs he pleased her exceedingly. The story is also told that one of the Nymphai became enamoured of him and prophesied to him that if he lay with any other woman he would be deprived of his sight; and indeed, when once he had been made drunken by a daughter of a king and had lain with her, he was deprived of his sight in accordance with the prophecy delivered by the Nymphe. As for Daphnis, then, let what we have said suffice."
Another Sicilian shepherd loved by a Nymph was AKIS

MESSAPIAN SHEPHERDS & THE NYMPHS

LOCALE: Messapia-Apulia (Southern Italy) Antoninus Liberalis, Metamorphoses 31 (trans. Celoria) (Greek mythographer C2nd A.D.) : "Tellers of stories say that in the land of the Messapians [in Italy] near the so-called Sacred Rocks there appeared the choral troupe of the Nymphai Epimelides (Protectors of Sheep). Young Messapians left their flocks to view them. They declared they themselves could dance better. What they said irritated the Nymphai and rivalry arose increasingly over their dancing. Because the youths did not know that they were competing with deities, they danced as they would in a contest with mortals of their own age. Their manner of dancing, being that of shepherds, was without art, while that of the Nymphai was entirely dedicated to beauty. In their dancing they surpassed the youths and they said to them: Young men, did you want to compete against the Nymphai Epimelides? So, you foolish fellows, now that

you have been beaten, you will be punished. The youths, as they stood by the sanctuary of the Nymphai, were changed into trees. Even today one hears at night the sound of groans coming from the trunks. The place is called that of the Nymphai and the Youths." Ovid, Metamorphoses 14. 513 ff (trans. Melville) (Roman epic C1st B.C. to C1st A.D.) : "The bays and pastures of Apulia [in Italia], there he had seen a grotto deep in shade, of forest trees, hidden by slender reeds, the home of half-goat Pan, though once the Nymphae lived there. A local shepherd frightened them; they fled away at first in sudden fear, but soon recovering, disdained the lout who had pursued them and began again the nimble measure of their country dance. The shepherd mocked them, mimicking the dance with loutish leaps and shouts of coarse abuse and rustic insults. Nothing silenced him till wood enswathed his throat. For he's a tree, and from its juice you judge its character. The oleasters bitter berries bear the taint of that tart tongue; they keep today the sourness of the things he used to say."

Sources:
o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o Apollodorus, The Library - Greek Mythography C2nd BC Apollonius Rhodius, The Argonautica - Greek Epic C3rd BC Callimachus, Hymns - Greek C3rd BC Lycophron, Alexandra - Greek C3rd BC Parthenius, Love Romances - Greek Mythography C1st BC Strabo, Geography - Greek Geography C1st BC - C1st AD Diodorus Siculus, The Library of History - Greek History C1st BC Antoninus Liberalis, Metamorphoses - Greek Mythography C2nd AD Hyginus, Fabulae - Latin Mythography C2nd AD Ovid, Metamorphoses - Latin Epic C1st BC - C1st AD Virgil, Georgics - Latin Idyllic C1st BC Propertius, Elegies - Latin Elegy C1st BC Valerius Flaccus, The Argonautica - Latin Epic C1st AD Statius, Silvae - Latin Epic C1st AD Nonnos, Dionysiaca
- Greek Epic C5th AD

NYMPHAI STORIES 2
Greek Name Transliteration Nymph Nymphai Latin Spelling Nymph Nymphae Translation Girl of marriageable age (nymph)

THE NYMPHAI (or Nymphs) were nature spirits responsible for the care of plants and animals in the wilds. Naturally many of the Greek metamorphosis myths, which describe the origins of plants, feature Nymphs. The most famous of these are surely Daphne, Apollon's beloved laurel, and the Heliades, the amber-teared poplar trees of the sun. Curiosly in the plant metamorphosis myths, Nymphs and maidens were usually transformed into trees while youths became flowers (Narkissos,

Hyakinthos, Krokos, Mekon, Adonis, etc.). The latter are not described on this page. For a summary of plants in myth see Myth.

Flora, the Plants of Ancient Greek Religion &

DAPHNE, LAUREL TREE

LOCALE: Vale of Tempe, Thessaly (Northern Greece) or Arkadia (Southern Greece) Pausanias, Description of Greece 10. 7. 8 (trans. Jones) (Greek travelogue C2nd A.D.) : "The reason why a crown of laurel is the prize for a Pythian victory is in my opinion simply and solely because the prevailing tradition has it that Apollon fell in love with the daughter of Ladon [Daphne]." Philostratus, Life of Apollonius of Tyana 1. 16 Index of Nymphs (trans. Conybeare) (Greek biography C1st to Nymphs Introduction 2nd A.D.) : Stories of Nymphs 1 "[In Antiokhos (Antioch) in Asia Minor is] the temple of Apollon Daphnaios, to which the Assyrians attach the legend of Arkadia. For they say that Daphne, the daughter of Ladon, there underwent her metamorphosis, and they have a riving flowing there, the Ladon, and a laurel tree is worshipped by them which they say was substituted for the maiden." Pseudo-Hyginus, Fabulae 203 (trans. Grant) (Roman mythographer C2nd A.D.) : "When Apollo was pursuing the virgin Daphne, daughter of the river Peneus, she begged for protection from Terra [Gaia the Earth], who received her, and changed her into a laurel tree. Apollo broke a branch from it and placed it on his head." Ovid, Metamorphoses 1. 452 ff (trans. Melville) (Roman epic C1st B.C. to C1st A.D.) : "Daphne Peneia was the first love of great Phoebus [Apollon], a love not lit by chance unwitting, but by Cupido's [Eros'] spiteful wrath. Delius [Apollon], proud in victory saw Cupido [Eros] draw his bow's taut arc, and said: Mischievous boy, what are a brave mans arms to you? That gear becomes my shoulders best. My aim is sure; I wound my enemies, I wound wild beasts; my countless arrows slew but now the bloated Python, whose vast coils across so many acres spread their blight. You and your loves! You have your torch to light them Let that content you; never claim my fame! And Venus' [Aphrodite's] son [Eros] replied: Your bow, Phoebus, may vanquish all, but mine shall vanquish you. As every creature yields to power divine, so likewise shall your glory yield to mine. Then winging through the air his eager way he stood upon Parnasos' shady peak, and from his quiver's laden armoury he drew two arrows of opposing power, one shaft that rouses love and one that routs it. The first gleams bright with piercing point of gold; the other, cull and blunt is tipped with lead. This one he lodged in Nympha Peneis' [Daphne's] heart; the first he shot to pierce Apollo to the marrow. At once he loves; she flies the name of love, delighting in the forest's depths, and trophies of the chase, a Nympha to vie with heaven's virgin huntress Phoebe [Artemis]; a careless ribbon held her straying hair. Many would woo her; she, rejecting them all, manless, aloof, ranged the untrodden woods nor cared what love, what marriage rites might mean. Often her father [the
OTHER NYMPHS PAGES

River-God Peneios] said, My dearest daughter, it is my due to have a son-in-law. Often her father said, It is my due, child of my heart, to be given grandchildren. She hated like a crime the bond of wedlock and, bashful blushes tingeing her fair cheeks, with coaxing arms embraced him and replied: My dear, dear father grant I may enjoy virginity for ever; this Diana [Artemis] was granted by her father. He, indeed, yielded, but Daphne--why, her, loveliness thwarts her desire, her grace denies her prayer. Phoebus saw her, loved her, wanted her--her for his bride, and, wanting, hoped-deceived by his own oracles; and, as the stubble flames in the harvest fields or as a hedge catches alight when some late wayfarer chances his torch too close or, in the dawn, discards its smouldering embers, so love's fire consumed the god, his whole heart was aflame, and high the hopes that stoked his fruitless passion. He sees the loose disorder of her hair and thinks what if it were neat and elegant! He sees her eyes shining like stars, her lips--but looking's not enough!--her fingers, hands, her wrists, her half-bare arms--how exquisite! And sure her hidden charms are best! But she flies swifter than the lightfoot wind nor stops to hear him calling: Stay, sweet Nympha Peneis! Oh, stay! I am no foe to fear. Lambs flee from wolves and hinds from lions, and the fluttering doves from eagles; every creature flees its foes. But love spurs my pursuit. Oh, you will fall and briars graze your legs--for shame!-and I, alas, the cause of your distress! The ground you race across is rough. You run too fast! Check your swift flight, and I'll not chase so fast. Yet ask who loves you. No rough forester am I, no unkempt shepherd guarding his flocks an herds. You do not know--you fly, you madcap girl, because you do not know. I am the lord of Delphi; Tenedos and Patara and Claros are my realms. I am the son of Juppiter [Zeus]. By me things future, past and present are revealed; I shape the harmony of songs and strings. Sure are my arrows, but one surer still has struck me to the heart, my carefree heart. The art of medicine I gave the world and all men call me "Healer"; I possess the power of every herb. Alas! That love no herb can cure, that skills which help afford to all mankind fail now to help their lord! More he had tried to say, but she in fear fled on and left him and his words unfinished. Enchanting still she looked--her slender limbs bare in the breeze, her fluttering dress blown back, her hair behind her streaming as she ran; and flight enhanced her grace. But the young god, could bear no more to waste his blandishments. And (love was driving him) pressed his pursuit. And as a beagle sees across the stubble a hare and runs to kill and she for life--he almost has her; now, yes now, he's sure she's his; his straining muzzle scrapes her heels; and she half thinks shes caught and, as he bites, snatches away; his teeth touch--but she's gone. So ran the god and girl, he sped by hope and she by fear. But he, borne on the wings of love, ran faster, gave her no respite, hot on her flying heels and breathing close upon her shoulders and her tumbling hair. Her strength was gone; the travail of her flight vanquished her, and her face was deathly pale. And then she was at the river, swift Peneus, and called; Help, father, help! If mystic power dwells in your waters, change me and destroy my baleful beauty that has pleased too well. Scarce had she made her prayer when through her limbs a dragging languor spread, her tender bosom was wrapped in thin smooth bark, her slender arms were changed to branches and her hair to leaves; her feet but now so swift were anchored fast in numb stiff roots, her face and had became the crown of a green tree; all that remained of Daphne was her shining loveliness. And still Phoebus loved her; on the trunk he placed his hand and felt beneath the bark her heart still beating, held in his embrace her branches, pressed his kisses on the wood; yet from his kisses the wood recoiled. My bride, he said, since you can never be, at least, sweet laurel, you shall be my tree. My lure, my locks, my quiver you shall wreathe. . . . Thus spoke the god; the laurel in assent inclined her new-made branches and bent down, or seemed to bend, her head, her leafy crown."

Nonnus, Dionysiaca 33. 210 ff (trans. Rouse) (Greek epic C5th A.D.) : "She told how the knees of that unwedded Nymphe [Daphne] fled swift on the breeze, how she ran once from Phoibos quick as the north wind, how she planted her maiden foot by the flood of a longwinding river, by the quick stream of Orontes, when the Earth (Gaia) opened beside the wide mouth of a marsh and received the hunted girl into her compassionate bosom . . . the god never caught Daphne when she was pursued, Apollon never ravished her . . . and [he] always blamed Gaia (earth) for swallowing the girl before she knew marriage." Nonnus, Dionysiaca 42. 386 ff : "How the daughter of Ladon [Daphne], that celebrated river, hated the works of marriage and the Nymphe became a tree with inspired whispers, she escaped the bed of Phoibos but she crowned his hair with prophetic clusters."
For MORE information on this Nymph see DAPHNE

DAPHNE, LAUREL TREE

PHILYRE, LINDEN TREE

PITYS, CORSICAN PINE

SYRINX, SWEET FLAG REED

PHILYRE, LINDEN TREE

LOCALE: Mt Pelion, Magnesia (Northern Greece) Pseudo-Hyginus, Fabulae 138 (trans. Grant) (Roman mythographer C2nd A.D.) : "When Saturn [Kronos] was hunting Jove [Zeus] throughout the earth, assuming the form of a steed he lay with Philyra, daughter of Oceanus. By him she bore Chiron the Centaur, who is said to have been the first to invent the art of healing. After Philyra saw that she had borne a strange species, she asked Jove [Zeus] to change her into another form, and she was transformed into the tree which is called the linden."
For MORE information on this Nymph see PHILYRE

PITYS, CORSICAN PINE

LOCALE: Mt Lykaios?, Arkadia (Southern Greece) Nonnus, Dionysiaca 42. 257 ff (trans. Rouse) (Greek epic C5th A.D.) : "Sing also of Pitys who hated marriage, who fled fast as the wind over the mountains to escape the unlawful wooing of Pan, and her fate--how she disappeared into the soil herself; put the blame of Ge (Earth)!"
For MORE information on this Nymph see PITYS

SYRINX, RIVER REED

LOCALE: Mt Nonacris, Arkadia (Southern Greece) Ovid, Metamorphoses 1. 689 ff (trans. Melville) (Roman epic C1st B.C. to C1st A.D.) : "Once there lived on the cold mountainsides of Arcadia a Naias, who among the Hamadryades Nonacrinae (of lofty Nonacris) was the most renowned. Syrinx the Nymphae called her. Many a time she foiled the chasing Satyri and those gods who haunt the shady copses and the coverts of the lush countryside. In her pursuits-and in her chastity--Syrinx revered Ortygia [Artemis]; girt like her she well might seem, so easy to mistake, Diana's [Artemis'] self, were not her bow of horn, Latonia's [Artemis'] gold. Indeed she was mistaken. Pan returning from Mount Lycaeus, crowned with his wreath of pine, saw Syrinx once and said--but what he said remained to tell, and how the scornful Nympha fled through the wilderness and came at last to Ladon's peaceful sandy stream, and there, her flight barred by the river, begged her Watery Sisters (sorores liquidae) to change her; and, when Pan thought he had captured her, he held instead only the tall marsh reeds, and, while he sighed, the soft wind stirring in the reeds sent forth a thin and plaintive sound; and he, entranced by this new music and its witching tones, cried You and I shall stay in unison! And waxed together reeds of different lengths and made the pipes that keep his darlings name." Nonnus, Dionysiaca 16. 332 ff (trans. Rouse) (Greek epic C5th A.D.) : "Pan cried out: . . . I alone, Kythereia [Aphrodite], must suffer. Alas for love! Syrinx [transformed into a reed] escaped from Pan's marriage and left him without a bride, and now she [the pipes made from the plant] cries Euoi to the newly-made marriage of Dionysos with melodies unasked; while Syrinx gives voice, and to crown all, Ekho chimes in with her familiar note." Nonnus, Dionysiaca 42. 363 ff : "You know how Syrinx disregarded fiery Kythera [Aphrodite], and what price she paid for her too-great pride and love for virginity; how she turned into a plant with reedy growth substituted for her own, when she had fled from Pan's love, and how she still sings Pans desire!"
For MORE information on this Nymph see SYRINX

LOTIS, LOTUS TREE

KLYTIE, HELIOTROPE

HELIADES, BLACK POPLAR

SIDE, POMEGRANATE

LOTIS, LOTUS TREE

LOCALE: Mt Othrys, Malis (Northern Greece)

Ovid, Metamorphoses 9. 334 ff (trans. Melville) (Roman epic C1st B.C. to C1st A.D.) : "There is a lake [in Oikhalia] whose shelving sides had shaped a sloping shore, and myrtles crowned the ridge . . . Near the lakeside was a lotus flowered, its crimson blooms like Tyrian dye, fair hope of fruit to come. Dryope picked a posy of these flowers to please her boy . . . [and she] saw drops of blood drip from the blossoms of the boughs shiver in horror. For this shrub, you see (too late the peasants told us), was the Nymphe Lotis who fled Priapus's lechery and found changed features there but kept her name. Nothing of this my sister knew. She'd said prayers to the Nymphae and now in terror tried to turn away and leave, but found her feet rooted [and was herself transformed into a tree]."
For MORE information on this Nymph see LOTIS

KLYTIE, HELIOTROPE
LOCALE: Unspecified Ovid, Metamorphoses 4. 256 ff (trans. Melville) (Roman epic C1st B.C. to C1st A.D.) : "Clytie loved Sol [Helios the Sun-god] beyond all measure . . . [but] the Lord of Light no longer visited; his dalliance was done. She pined and languished, as love and longing stole her wits away. Shunning the Nymphae, beneath the open sky, on the bare ground bare-headed day and night, she sat dishevelled, and for nine long days, with never taste of food or drink, she fed her hunger on her tears and on the dew. There on the ground she stayed; she only gazed upon her god's bright face as he rode by, and turned her head to watch him cross the sky. Her limbs, they say, stuck fast there in the soil; a greenish pallor spread, as part of her changed to a bloodless plant, another part was ruby red, and where her face had been a flower like a violet [a heliotrope] was seen. Though rooted fast, towards the sun she turns; her shape is changed, but still her passion burns."
For MORE information on this Nymph see KLYTIE

HELIADES, POPLAR TREES

LOCALE: River Eridanos, Hyperborea (Mythical North) or River Po (Northern Italy) Philoxenus of Cythera, Fragment 834 (from Pliny, Natural History) (trans. Campbell, Vol. Greek Lyric V) (C5th to 4th B.C.) : "When Phaethon was struck by the thunderbolt, his sisters were changed into poplar trees in their grief and every year shed tears of amber by the banks of the river Eridanos, which we call the Padus (Po); the amber is known as electrum, since the Sun is called Elector (elektor, the shiner). Many poets have told this." Apollonius Rhodius, Argonautica 4. 598 ff (trans. Rieu) (Greek epic C3rd B.C.) : "The Argo sped on under sail, up the Eridanos as far as ships can go. They reached the outfall of that deep lake where Phaethon, struck in the breast and halfconsumed by a blazing thunderbolt . . . All around, the Daughters of the Sun (Heliades), encased in tall poplars, utter their sad and unavailing plaint. Shining drops of amber fall from their eyes onto the sands and are dried by the sun. But

when the wailing wind stirs the dark waters of the lake to rise above the beach, all the tersr that have collected there are swept by the overflow into the river." Apollonius Rhodius, Argonautica 4. 619 ff : "At night they [the Argonauts] had to listen to the loud lament of the shrill-voiced Daughters of Helios (Heliades), whose tears were borne along on the stream like drops of oil [amber]." Strabo, Geography 5. 1. 9 (trans. Jones) (Greek geographer C1st B.C. to C1st A.D.) : "I must disregard most of the mythical or false stories [about the River Eridanos (modern-day Po) in Italy], as, for example, the stories of Phaethon, and of the Heliades that were changed into poplar-trees near the Eridanos (the Eridanos that exists nowhere on earth, although it is spoken of as near the Pados), and of the Elektrides (Amber) Islands that lie off the Pados." Pausanias, Description of Greece 1. 4. 1 (trans. Jones) (Greek travelogue C2nd A.D.) : "Through their [the Gaul's] country flows the river Eridanos, on the bank of which the daughters of Helios are supposed to lament the fate that befell their brother Phaethon." Diodorus Siculus, Library of History 5. 23. 2 (trans. Oldfather) (Greek historian C1st B.C.) : "Zeus smote Phaethon [who had lost control of the chariot of the sun and brought destruction upon the earth] with a thunderbolt and brought back the sun to its accustomed course. And Phaethon fell to the earth at the mouths of the river which is now known as the Pados (Po), but in ancient times was called the Eridanos, and his sisters [the Heliades] vied with each other in bewailing his death and by reason of their exceeding grief underwent a metamorphosis of their nature, becoming poplar trees. And these poplars, at the same season each year, drip tears (or sap), and these, when they harden, for what men call amber, which in brilliance excels all else of the same nature and is commonly used in connection with the mourning attending the death of young." Philostratus the Elder, Imagines 1. 11 (trans. Fairbanks) (Greek rhetorician C3rd A.D.) : "[Description of an ancient Greek painting:] Golden are the tears of the Heliades. The story is that they are shed for Phaethon; for in his passion for driving this son of Helios (the Sun) ventured to mount his father's chariot, but because he did not keep a firm rein he came to grief and fell into the Eridanos . . . The women on the bank, not yet completely transformed into trees, men say that the Heliades on account of their brother's mishap changed their nature and became trees, and that they shed tears. The painting recognizes the story, for it puts roots at the extremities of their toes, while some, over here, are trees to the waist, and branches have supplanted the arms of others. Behold the hair, it is nothing but poplar leaves! Behold the tears, they are golden! While the welling tide of tears in their eyes gleams in the bright pupils and seems to attract rays of light, and the tears on the cheeks glisten amid the cheek's ruddy glow, yet the drops tricking down their breasts have already turned into gold." Pseudo-Hyginus, Fabulae 153 (trans. Grant) (Roman mythographer C2nd A.D.) : "Phaethon, son of Sol [Helios] and Clymene, who had secretly mounted his father's car, and had been borne too high above the earth, from fear fell into the river Eridanus. When Jupiter [Zeus] struck him with a thunderbolt, everything started to

burn . . . The sisters of Phaethon, because they had yoked the horses without the orders of their father, were changed into poplar trees." Pseudo-Hyginus, Fabulae 154 : "The sisters of Phaethon, too, in grieving for their brother, were changed into poplar trees. Their tears, as Hesiod tells, hardened into amber in spite of the change they are called Heliades." Ovid, Metamorphoses 2. 319 ff (trans. Melville) (Roman epic C1st B.C. to C1st A.D.) : "Phaethon, flames ravaging his auburn hair, falls headlong down . . . Eridanus receives him, far from home, in his wide waters half a world away. And bathes his burning face. The Naides Hesperiae bury his smouldering body in a tomb . . . His sisters' too, the three Heliades, wept sad tears, their futile tribute to the dead, and long lay prostrate on their brother's tomb, bruising their breasts and calling day and night Phaethon who never more would hear their moans. Four times the waxing crescent of the moon had filled her orb, in their wonted way, wailing was now their wont, they made lament, when Phaethusa, eldest of the three, meaning to kneel upon the ground, complained her feet were rigid, When Lampetie, her lovely sister, tried to come to her, she found herself held fast by sudden roots; the third, reaching to tear her hair, instead plucked leaves. One, in dismay, felt wood encase her shins and one her arms become long boughs. And while they stood bewildered, bark embraced their loins and covered, inch by inch, their waists, breasts, shoulders, hands, till only lips were left, calling their mother. She, what can she do but dart distractedly now here, now there, and kiss them while she may. It's not enough. She tries to tear the bark away and breaks the tender boughs, but from them bloody drops ooze like a dripping wound. Stop, mother, stop! each injured girl protests; I beg you, stop, the tree you tear is me. And now, farewell! The bark lapped her last words. So their tears still flow on, and oozing from the new-made boughs, drip and are hardened in the sun to form amber and then the clear stream catches them and carries them for Roman brides to wear." Valerius Flaccus, Argonautica 5. 428 ff (trans. Mozley) (Roman epic C1st A.D.) : "His poplar sisters [the Heliades] were weeping for young Phaethon, while the charred lump fell into the terrified waters of Eridanus." Statius, Thebaid 12. 412 ff (trans. Mozley) (Roman epic C1st A.D.) : "His sisters [the Heliades] lave the smoking Phaethon, Hyperion's son, in the heated Padus: scarce was he interred, when a weeping grove rose by the riverside." Nonnus, Dionysiaca 2. 150 ff (trans. Rouse) (Greek epic C5th A.D.) : "Let me be one of the Heliades beside the stream of mourning Eridanos: often will I drop amber from my eyelids; I will spread my leaves to entwine with the dirgeloving clusters of my neighbouring poplar, bewailing my maidenhood with abundant tears--for Phaethon." Nonnus, Dionysiaca 38. 99 ff : "The Olympian tale which the Celts of the west know well: how Phaethon tumbled over and over through the air, and why even the Heliades (Daughters of Helios) were changed into trees beside the moaning Eridanos, and from their leafy trees drop sparkling tears into the stream."
For MORE information on these Nymphs see the HELIADES

SPERKHEIDES, POPLAR TREES

LOCALE: River Sperkheios, Malis (Northern Greece) Antoninus Liberalis, Metamorphoses 22 (trans. Celoria) (Greek mythographer C2nd A.D.) : "Poseidon, for lust of one of them [the Nymphs of Mt Othrys and the River Sperkheios], Diopatre, had made her sisters put down roots and turned them into poplars until, satiated with his desires, he had returned them to their original shapes."
For MORE information on these Nymphs see the SPERKHEIDES

SIDE, POMEGRANATE
LOCALE: (Greek Aegean) Pseudo-Apollodorus, Bibliotheca 1. 25 (trans. Aldrich) (Greek mythographer C2nd A.D.) : "His [the giant Orion's] first wife was Side, who for vying with Hera in shapeliness was thrown by her into Haides' realm." N.B. In Greek sid is the word for pomegranate. Apollodorus' brief summary of the myth probably presumes the metamorphosis of Side into her namesake plant. Her casting into Haides' realm is probably a reference to the famed pomegranate orchard of the underworld, a seed from which Persephone was tempted to taste in the myth.

LEUKE, WHITE POPLAR

MINTHE, SPEAR MINT

PSALAKANTHA, PLANY PLANT

LEUKE, WHITE POPLAR

LOCALE: River Akheron, Thesprotia (Northern Greece) According to Servius, Scholiast on Virgil's Eclogues 4.250, Leuke was a nymph carried off by the god Hades. After her death she was changed into a white poplar in Elysium. Pausanias, Description of Greece 5. 14. 2 (trans. Jones) (Greek travelogue C2nd A.D.) : "Herakles found the white poplar (leuk) growing on the banks of the Akheron, the

river in Thesprotia, and for this reason Homer calls it Akherois."

For MORE information on this Nymph see LEUKE

MINTHE, SPEAR MINT

LOCALE: Mount Mintha, Elis (Southern Greece) Strabo, Geography 8. 3. 14 (trans. Jones) (Greek geographer C1st B.C. to C1st A.D.) : "Near Pylos, towards the east, is a mountain named after Minthe, who, according to myth, became the concubine of Haides, was trampled under foot by Kore [Persephone], and was transformed into garden-mint, the plant which some call Hedyosmos. Furthermore, near the mountain is a precinct sacred to Haides." Oppian, Halieutica 3. 485 ff (trans. Mair) (Greek poet C3rd A.D.) : "Mint (Mintha), men say, was once a maid beneath the earth, a Nymphe of Kokytos, and she lay in the bed of Aidoneus; but when he raped the maid Persephone from the Aitnaian hill [Mount Aitna in Sicily], then she complained loudly with overweening words and raved foolishly for jealousy, and Demeter in anger trampled upon her with her feet and destroyed her. For she had said that she was nobler of form and more excellent in beauty than dark-eyed Persephone and she boasted that Aidoneus would return to her and banish the other from his halls: such infatuation leapt upon her tongue. And from the earth spray the weak herb that bears her name." Ovid, Metamorphoses 10. 728 ff (trans. Melville) (Roman epic C1st B.C. to C1st A.D.) : "Persephone of old was given grace to change a woman's [Mintha's] form to fragrant mint."
For MORE information on this Nymph see MINTHE

PSALAKANTHA, PLANY PLANT

LOCALE: Ikaria (Greek Aegean) Ptolemy Hephaestion, New History Book 5 (summary from Photius, Myriobiblon 190) (trans. Pearse) (Greek mythographer C1st to C2nd A.D.) : "As for the psalakanthos, it's an Egyptian plant which gains health and victory when used to decorate horses. It is said, on the other hand, that Psalakantha was a Nymphe of the isle of Ikaros who, captured by Dionysos, helped him to obtain Ariane on the condition that he should also belong to her, and Dionysos refused; Psalakantha took herself to Ariane and the irritated god turned her into a plany; then, feeling remorse, he wanted to honour this plant by placing it in the crown of Ariadne, who took her place among the celestial constellations. As for the plant, some say it resembles the armoise, others the melilot."

Sources:
o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o Greek Lyric V Philoxenus, Fragments - Greek Lyric BC Apollodorus, The Library - Greek Mythography C2nd BC Apollonius Rhodius, The Argonautica - Greek Epic C3rd BC Strabo, Geography - Greek Geography C1st BC - C1st AD Pausanias, Guide to Greece - Greek Geography C2nd AD Diodorus Siculus, The Library of History - Greek History C1st BC Philostratus, Life of Apollonius of Tyana - Greek Biography C2nd AD Philostratus the Elder, Imagines - Greek Art History C3rd AD Hyginus, Fabulae - Latin Mythography C2nd AD Ovid, Metamorphoses - Latin Epic C1st BC - C1st AD Valerius Flaccus, The Argonautica - Latin Epic C1st AD Statius, Thebaid - Latin Epic C1st AD Oppian, Halieutica - Greek Poetry C3rd AD Nonnos, Dionysiaca - Greek Epic C5th AD Photius, Myriobiblon
- Byzantine Greek Scholar C9th AD

EPIMELIDES
Greek Name Transliteration Epimlis Epimlides Latin Spelling Epimelid Epimelides Translation Protectors of Sheep or Fruit Trees

THE EPIMELIDES were nymphs of mountain meadow pastures, the protectors of sheep flocks and goat herds. They were sometimes also the guardians of fruittrees. The name Epimelides was derived from the Greek words epi- "protector" and mlon "sheep" or "apple-tree." The dual meaning of the latter gave them their double role. In genealogical terms the Epimelides were not a clearly defined class of nymph. Their numbers seemed to have included Okeanides and Oreiades, as well as daughters of Helios the sun, and of the rustic gods Hermes, Seilenos and Pan. Even Nereides, such as Galateia and Psamathe, sometimes assumed the role of Epimelides in myth.
PARENTS Perhaps daughters of OKEANOS, HELIOS, the OUREA, HERMES, SEILENOS and PAN

ENCYCLOPEDIA
MALIADES (Maliades numphai), nymphs who were worshipped as the protectors of flocks and of fruit-trees. They are also called Mlides or Epimlides. (Theocrit. i. 22, with Valck. note, xiii. 45; Eustath. ad Hom. p. 1963.) The same name is also

given to the nymphs of the district of the Malians on the river Spercheius. (Soph. Philoct. 725.) Source: Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology.
LIST OF EPIMELIDES GALATEIA The "milky-white" Nereid nymph was often regarded as an Epimelid. She was a lover of the Sicilian shepherd Akis and possessed a rustic shrine on the slopes Mount Aitna. NEAIREIDES The Nymphs Lampetie and Phaethousa tended the herds and flocks of their father Helios, the sun-god, on the mythical island of Thrinakie. They were probably Epimelid nymphs. NOMIA An Oreiad of Mount Nomia in Arkadian. Her name means "of the pasture" and she was associated with the god Pan. PENELOPEIA An Epimellid nymph of Mount Kyllene in Arkadia. She was the mother of the god Pan by Hermes. PSAMATHEIA One of the Nereid nymphs who in the story of Peleus, assumes the guise of an Epimelid nymph shen she sends a wolf to destroy his flocks. SINOE An Epimelid nymph of Mount Sinoe in Arkadia who nursed the infant god Pan. SOSE An Oreiad or Epimelid nymph prophetess loved by the god Hermes. She bore him one of the Panes.

Homer, Iliad 20. 4 ff (trans. Lattimore) (Greek epic C8th B.C.) : "But Zeus, from the many-folded peak of Olympos, told Themis to summon all the gods into assembly. She went everywhere, and told them to make thier way to Zeus' house. There was no Potamos (River) that was not there, except only Okeanos, there was not one of the Nymphai who live in the lovely groves (alsea) [i.e. Alseides], and the springs of rivers (pegai potamon) [i.e. Naiades] and grass of the meadows (pisea poienta) [i.e. Epimelides], who came not. These all assembling into the house of Zeus cloud-gathering took places among the smoothstone cloister walks." Homer, Odyssey 6. 121 ff (trans. Shewring) (Greek epic C8th B.C.) : "A shriek rang in my ears just then--womanish, it seemed. Did it come from girls-did it come from Nymphai who live on high mountain-tops (orea) [i.e. Oreiades] or in river-springs (pegai potamon) [i.e. Naiades] or in grassy meadows (pisea) [i.e. Epimelides]?" Homeric Hymn 5 to Aphrodite 94 ff (trans. Evelyn-White) (Greek epic C7th to 4th B.C.) : "[The herdsman Ankhises of Mount Ida speaks:] The Nymphai who haunt the pleasant woods [Dryades], or of those who inhabit this lovely mountain (oros) [i.e. Oreiades] and the springs of rivers (pegai potamoi) [i.e. Naiades] and grassy meads (pisea) [i.e. Epimelides]. I will make you an altar upon a high peak in a far seen place, and will sacrifice rich offerings to you at all seasons. And do you feel kindly towards me and grant [good fortune]." Theocritus, Idylls 1. 22 (trans. Rist) (Greek bucolic C3rd B.C.) : [A goatherd speaks:] Come, sit we under this elm tree, facing the Meliades and Priapos there by the rustics' seat and the oaks." Pausanias, Description of Greece 8. 4. 2 (trans. Jones) (Greek travelogue C2nd

A.D.) : "They used to call some Nymphai Dryades, other Epimeliades, and others Naides, and Homer in his poetry talks mostly of Naides Nymphai." Philostratus the Elder, Imagines 2. 11 (trans. Fairbanks) (Greek rhetorician C3rd A.D.) : "[A description of an ancient Greek painting at Neapolis (Naples):] Here are the Nymphai in a group, but do you look at them by classes; some are Naides (Water Nymphai)--these who are shaking drops of dew from their hair; and the lean slenderness of the Boukolai (Pastoral Nymphai) [i.e. Epimelides] is no white less beautiful than dew; and the Anthousai (Flower Nymphai) have hair that resembles hyacinth flowers." Nonnus, Dionysiaca 14. 210 ff (trans. Rouse) (Greek epic C5th A.D.) : "Nymphai hastened to join the soldiers of the thyrsus [the Bakkhai or Dionysos in his War against the Indians], the wild Oreiades with hearts of men trailing their long robes. Many a year had they seen roll round the turning-point as they lived out their long lives. Some were the Epimelides (Medlars) who lived on the heights near the shepherds; some were from the woodland glades and the ridges of the wild forest Meliai nymphs of the mountain Ash coeval with their tree. All these pressed onwards together to the fray, some with brassbacked drums, the instruments of Kybelid Rheia, others with overhanging ivy-tendrils wreathed in their hair, or girt with rings of snakes. They carried the sharpened thyrsus which the mad Lydian women then took with them fearless to the Indian War."
Greek Name Transliteration Mliades Epimliades Nymphai Boukolai Latin Spelling Meliades Epimelides Nymphae Bucoli Translation Of Sheep or Apples Trees Protectors of Sheep or Apple Trees Pastural Nymphs (boukolos)

EPIMELIDES & THE APULIAN SHEPHERDS

Antoninus Liberalis, Metamorphoses 31 (trans. Celoria) (Greek mythographer C2nd A.D.) : "Tellers of stories say that in the land of the Messapians [in Italy] near the so-called Sacred Rocks there appeared the choral troupe of the Nymphai Epimelides. Young Messapians left their flocks to view them. They declared they themselves could dance better. What they said irritated the Nymphai and rivalry arose increasingly over their dancing. Because the youths did not know that they were competing with deities, they danced as they would in a contest with mortals of their own age. Their manner of dancing, being that of shepherds, was without art, while that of the Nymphai was entirely dedicated to beauty. In their dancing they surpassed the youths and they said to them: Young men, did you want to compete against the Nymphai Epimelides? So, you foolish fellows, now that you have been beaten, you will be punished. The youths, as they stood by the sanctuary of the Nymphai, were changed into trees. Even today one hears at night the sound of groans coming from the trunks. The place is called that of the Nymphai and the Youths."

Ovid, Metamorphoses 14. 513 ff (trans. Melville) (Roman epic C1st B.C. to C1st A.D.) : "The bays and pastures of Apulia [in southern Italy], there he had seen a grotto deep in shade, of forest trees, hidden by slender reeds, the home of half-goat Pan, though once the Nymphae lived there. A local shepherd frightened them; they fled away at first in sudden fear, but soon recovering, disdained the lout who had pursued them and began again the nimble measure of their country dance. The shepherd mocked them, mimicking the dance with loutish leaps and shouts of coarse abuse and rustic insults. Nothing silenced him till wood enswathed his throat. For he's a tree, and from its juice you judge its character. The oleasters bitter berries bear the taint of that tart tongue; they keep today the sourness of the things he used to say."

Sources:
o o o o o o o o Homer, The Iliad - Greek Epic C8th B.C. Homer, The Odyssey - Greek Epic C8th B.C. The Homeric Hymns - Greek Epic C8th-4th B.C. Theocritus Idylls - Greek Bucolic C3rd B.C. Pausanias, Description of Greece - Greek Travelogue C2nd A.D. Antoninus Liberalis, Metamorphoses - Greek Mythography C2nd A.D. Ovid, Metamorphoses - Latin Epic C1st B.C. - C1st A.D. Nonnos, Dionysiaca - Greek Epic C5th A.D.

Epimelides, other references not currently quoted here : Longus 2.39, Alciphron 3.11 Meliades, other references not currently quoted here : Pollux 9.122,127

HALIAI
Greek Name Transliteration Halia, Halias Haliai, Haliades Einaliai Thalassai Latin Name, Spelling Nymphae Marini Nymphae Pelagi Einalii Thalassi Translation Of the Sea (halia) Nymphs of the Sea

THE HALIAI or HALIADES were the nymphs of the Sea. They were depicted as beautiful maidens, sometimes riding through the sea on the backs of Hippokampoi (Fish-tailed horses), Ketea (Sea-monsters) and dolphins. PARENTS
THE SEA-GODS (Various sources)

ENCYCLOPEDIA
HALIA (Halia). One of the Nereides (Hom. Il. xviii. 42; Apollod. i. 2. 6); but the plural, Haliae, is used as a name for marine nymphs in general. (Soph. Philoct. 1470; Callim. Hymn. in Dian. 13.)

Source: Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology.

LIST OF SEA NYMPHS AMPHITRITE One of the Nereides and the wife of Poseidon King of the Sea. ARGYRA A Sea-Nymphe loved by the hero Selemnos. BENTHESIKYME A Sea-Nymphe daughter of Poseidon and wife of Enalos king of Aithiopia. EIDOTHEA A Sea-Nymphe daughter of Proteus. GALATEIA One of the Nereides, she was loved by the Kyklops Polyphemos. HALIA A Sea-Nymphe daughter of Pontos loved by Poseidon. KABEIRO A Sea-Nymphe daughter of Proteus loved by Hephaistos. KALLISTE A Sea-Nymphe daughter of Triton and goddess of the island of Kalliste. KYMOPOLEIA A Sea-Nymphe daughter of Poseidon and the wife of the giant Briareos. LEUKOTHEA A mortal woman and nurse of Dionysos who was transformed into a Sea-Nymphe at her death. NEREIDES, THE The fifty Sea-Nymphe daughters of Nereus the old man of the sea. PALLAS A Sea-Nymphe daughter of Triton. She was companion of Athene. PSAMATHE One of the Nereides and the wife of the sea-god Proteus. RHODE A Sea-Nymphe daughter of Poseidon and wife of Helios. She was goddess of the island of Rhodes. SKYLLA A Sea-Nymphe daughter of Phorkys loved by Glaukos. She was transformed into a monster by Kirke. THETIS One of the Nereides and the wife of the hero Peleus. THOOSA A Sea-Nymphe daughter of Phorkys loved by Poseidon. TRITEIA A Sea-Nymphe daughter of Triton loved by Ares. TRITONIDES Sea-nymph daughters of the marine god Triton. TRITONIS A Sea-Nymphe daughter of Triton and goddess of the salty Lake Tritonis of Libya.

Sophocles, Philoctetes 1470 ff (Greek tragedy C5th B.C.) : "Chorus: Come let us go now all together, and pray to the Nymphai Haliai (of the Sea i) to grant us a prosperous voyage." Pausanias, Description of Greece 7. 23. 1 (trans. Jones) (Greek travelogue C2nd A.D.) : "Argyra, they say, was a Nymphe Thalassa (Sea)." Orphic Hymn 24 to the Nereides (trans. Taylor) (Greek hymns C3rd B.C. to 2nd A.D.) : "[The Nereides] fifty inspired Nymphai Einalioi (Of the Sea), who through the main delight to follow in the Tritones' train, rejoicing close behind their ars to keep; whose forms half wide are nourished by the deep, with other Nymphai of different degree, leaping and wandering through the liquid sea. Bright, watery dolphins, sonorous and gay, well-pleased to sport with Bacchanalian play; Nymphai beauteous-eyed, whom sacrifice delights, give plenteous wealth, and bless our mystic rites." Ovid, Metamorphoses 13. 736 ff (trans. Melville) (Roman epic C1st B.C. to C1st A.D.) : "Many a suitor sought her [the sea nymph Skylla's] hand, but she repulsed them all and went to the Nymphae Pelagi (Sea-Nymphs), she was the Sea-Nymphae's favourite, and

told how shed eluded all the young mens love." Statius, Silvae 3. 1. 144 ff (trans. Mozley) (Roman poetry C1st A.D.) : "The very Nymphae of the green waters leap forth unbidden from their pumice caves; they cling to the streaming rocks nor think shame to gaze unseen on the naked wrestlers [of the Games]." Statius, Silvae 2. 2. 102 ff : "Often in autumn-time when the grapes are ripening, a Nereis [here probably meaning a sea-nymphe in general] climbs the rocks, and under cover of the shades of night brushes the sea-water from her eyes with a leafy vine-spray, and snatches sweet clusters from the hills. Often is the vintage sprinkled by the neighbouring foam; Satyri plunge into the waters, and Panes from the mountain are fain to grasp the Sea-Nympha as she flies naked through the waves." Catullus, Carmina 64. 103 ff (Roman poetry C1st A.D.) : "And then on that propitious day [the sailing of the first ship] mortal eyes gazed on the Nymphae Marini (Of the Sea) with naked bodies bare to the breasts outstanding from the foamy swirl."

Sources:
o o o o o o o Sophocles, Philoctetes - Greek Tragedy C5th B.C. Pausanias, Description of Greece - Greek Travelogue C2nd A.D. The Orphic Hymns - Greek Hymns C3rd B.C. - C2nd A.D. Ovid, Metamorphoses - Latin Epic C1st B.C - C1st A.D. Statius, Silvae - Latin Poetry C1st A.D. Cattulus, Carmina - Latin Poetry C1st B.C. Others, see individual entries

AMPHITRITE
Greek Name Transliteration Amphitrit Latin Name Amphitrite, Salacia Translation Encircling Third

AMPHITRITE was the goddess queen of the sea, the wife of King Poseidon. Some say she was one of the fifty Nereides, others an Okeanis, but most simply describe her as the female personification of the sea: the loud-moaning mother of fish, seals and dolphins. As such she was essentially the same as Thalassa. When Poseidon first sought Amphitrite's hand in marriage, she fled his advances, and hid herself away near Atlas in the Ocean stream at the far ends of the earth. The dolphin-god Delphin eventually tracked her down and persuaded her to return to wed the sea-king.
C4th A.D.. Muse du Louvre Amphitrite was depicted in Greek vase painting as a young woman, often raising her hand in a pinching gesture. Sometimes she was shown holding a fish. In mosaic art the goddess usually rides beside her husband in a chariot drawn by fish-tailed horses or hippokampoi. Sometimes her hair is enclosed with a net and her brow adorned with a pair of crab-claw "horns". Amphitrite & Poseidon, Roman mosaic

Her name is probably derived from the Greek words amphis and tris, "the surrounding third." Her son Tritn was similarly named "of the third." Clearly "the third" is the sea, although the reason for the term is obscure. Her Roman equivalent was Salacia, whose name means "the salty one." PARENTS
[1.1] NEREUS & DORIS (Hesiod Theogony 243, Apollodorus 1.11) [2.1] OKEANOS & TETHYS (Apollodorus 1.8)

OFFSPRING
[1.1] [2.1] [3.1] [4.1] [5.1] TRITON (by Poseidon) (Hesiod Theogony 939, Apollodorus 1.28, Hyginus Pref) RHODE (by Poseidon) (Apollodorus 1.28) KYMOPOLEIA (by Poseidon) (Hesiod Theogony 817) BENTHESIKYME (by Poseidon) (Apollodorus 3.201) SEALS, DOLPHINS, FISH, SHELLFISH (Homer Odyssey 4.404 & 5.440, Aelian On Animals

12.45, Athenaeus Deip. 3.92d, Oppian Halieutica 1.1)

ENCYCLOPEDIA
AMPHITRITE (Amphitrit), according to Hesiod (Theog. 243) and Apollodorus (i. 2. 7) a Nereid, though in other places Apollodorus (i. 2. 2, i. 4. 6) calls her an Oceanid. She is represented as the wife of Poseidon and the goddess of the sea (the Mediterranean), and she is therefore a kind of female Poseidon. In the Homeric poems she does not occur as a goddess, and Amphitrite is merely the name of the sea. The most ancient passages in which she occurs as a real goddess is that of Hesiod above referred to and the Homeric hymn on the Delian

Apollo (94), where she is represented as having been present at the birth of Apollo. When Poseidon sued for her hand, she fled to Atlas, but her lover sent spies after her, and among them one Delphinus, who brought about the marriage between her and Poseidon, and the grateful god rewarded his service by placing him among the stars. (Eratosth. Catast. 31; Hygin. Poet. Astr. ii. 17.) When afterwards Poseidon shewed some attachment to Scylla, Amphitrite's jealousy was excited to such a degree, that she threw some magic herbs into the well in which Scylla used to bathe, and thereby changed her rival into a monster with six heads and twelve feet. (Tzetz. ad Lycoph. 45, 649.) She became by Poseidon the mother of Triton, Rhode, or Rhodos, and Benthesicyme. (Hesiod. Theog. 930, &c.; Apollod. i. 4. 6; iii. 15. 4.) Later poets regard Amphitrite as the goddess of the sea in general, or the ocean. (Eurip. Cycl. 702; Ov. Met. i. 14.) Amphitrite was frequently represented in ancient works of art; her figure resembled that of Aphrodite, but she was usually distinguished from her by a sort of net which kept her hair together, and by the claws of a crab on her forehead. She was sometimes represented as riding on marine animals, and sometimes as drawn by them. The temple of Poseidon on the Corinthian isthmus contained a statue of Amphitrite (Paus. ii. 1. 7), and her figure appeared among the relief ornaments of the temple of Apollo at Amyclae (iii. 19. 4). on the throne of the Olympian Zeus, and in other places. (v. 2. 3, comp. i. 17. 3, v. 26. 2.) We still possess a considerable number of representations of Amphitrite. A colossal statue of her exists in the Villa Albani, and she frequently appears on coins of Syracuse. The most beautiful specimen extant is that on the arch of Augustus at Rimini. Halosydne (Halosudn), that is, "the seafed," or the sea born goddess, occurs as a surname of Amphitrite and Thetys. (Hom. Od. iv. 404, Il. xx. 207.) Source: Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology.

FAMILY OF AMPHITRITE
Hesiod, Theogony 240 ff (trans. Evelyn-White) (Greek epic C8th or C7th B.C.) : "To Nereus and rich-haired Doris, daughter of Okeanos (Oceanus), there were born in the barren sea daughters greatly beautiful even among goddesses: Ploto and Eukrante (Eucrante) and Amphitrite [the first three of fifty listed] . . . Kymodoke (Cymodoce) who, with Kymatolege (Cymatolege) and Amphitrite, light of foot, on the misty face of the open water easily stills the water and hushes the winds in their blowing . . . These were the daughters born to irreproachable Nereus, fifty in all, and the actions they know are beyond reproach." Hesiod, Theogony 930 ff : "And of Amphitrite and the loud-roaring Earth-Shaker [Poseidon] was born great, wide-ruling Triton, and he owns the depths of the sea, living with his dear mother and the lord his father in their golden house, an awful god." Pseudo-Apollodorus, Bibliotheca 1. 11 (trans. Aldrich) (Greek mythographer C2nd A.D.) : "Nereus and Doris were parents of the Nereides, whose names were Kymothoe . . . Amphitrite [in a list of forty-five names]." Pseudo-Apollodorus, Bibliotheca 1. 28 : "Poseidon married Amphitrite, and had as children Triton and Rhode." Pseudo-Apollodorus, Bibliotheca 3. 201 :

"His [Poseidon's] and Amphitrite's daughter Benthesikyme (Deep-Waves)." Pseudo-Hyginus, Preface (trans. Grant) (Roman mythographer C2nd A.D.) : "From Neptunus [Poseidon] and Amphitrite [was born]: Triton." Colluthus, Rape of Helen 21 (trans. Mair) (Greek poem C5th A.D.) : "[Thetis] the white-armed bride, own sister of Amphitrite."

P14.5B AMPHITRITE SEATED

P14.5 AMPHITRITE, POSEIDON, IRIS

P14.3 AMPHITRITE, POSEIDON

P14.1 AMPHITRITE, THESEUS, ATHENA

P14.4 AMPHITRITE, POSEIDON, IRIS

P14.7 AMPHITRITE, POSEIDON

P14.2 AMPHITRITE, THESEUS

THE MARRIAGE OF POSEIDON & AMPHITRITE

Pseudo-Hyginus, Astronomica 2. 17 (trans. Grant) (Roman mythographer C2nd A.D.) : "Constellation Delphin. Eratosthenes [Hellenistic poet C3rd B.C.] and others give the following reason for the dolphin's being among the stars. Amphitrite, when Neptunus [Poseidon] desired to wed her and she preferred to keep her virginity, fled to Atlas. Neptunus sent many to seek her out, among them a certain Delphin, who, in his wandering s among the islands, came at last to the maiden, persuaded her to marry Neptunus, and himself took charge of the wedding. In return for this service, Neptunus put the form of a dolphin among the constellations." Virgil, Georgics 1. 29 ff (trans. Fairclough) (Roman bucolic C1st B.C.) : "You [Caesar praised as if he were Neptunus (Poseidon)] come as god of the boundless sea and sailors worship your deity alone, while farthest Thule owns your lordship and Tethys with the dowry of all her waves buys you to wed her daughter [Amphitrite]." Oppian, Halieutica 1. 38 ff (trans. Mair) (Greek poet C3rd A.D.) : "The Dophins: Poseidon loves them exceedingly, inasmuch as when he was seeking Amphitrite the dark-eyed daughter of Nereus who fled from his embraces, Delphines (the Dolphins) marked her hiding in the halls of Okeanos (Oceanus) and told Poseidon; and the god of the dark hair straightway carried off the maiden and overcame her against her will. Her he made his bride, queen of the sea, and for their tidings he commended his kindly attendants and bestowed on them exceeding honour for their portion."

AMPHITRITE & THE CHARIOT OF POSEIDON

Apollonius Rhodius, Argonautica 4. 1353 ff (trans. Rieu) (Greek epic C3rd B.C.) : "[Jason addresses the Argonauts whose ship is beached in the Libyan desert:] They [the Libyan Nymphai] said that when Amphitrite had unyoked the horses from Poseidon's rolling chariot we were to recompense our mother [the ship Argo] amply for what she had suffered all the long time she bore us in her womb. Now I admit that the meaning of this oracle eludes me . . . The Minyai [Argonauts] listened with amazement to his tale. It was followed by the most astounding prodigy. A great horse came bounding out of the sea, a monstrous animal, with his golden mane waving in the air. He shook himself, tossing off the spray in showers. Then, fast as the wind, he galloped away. Peleus was overjoyed and at once explained the portent to the others. It is clear to me, he said, that Poseidon's loving wife has just unyoked his team. As for our mother, I take her to be none but the ship herself. Argo carried us in her womb; we have often heard her groaning in her pain. Now, we will carry her. We will hoist her on our shoulders, and never resting , never tiring, carry her across the sandy waste in the track of the galloping horse. He will not disappear inland. I am sure that his hoofprints will lead us to some bay that overlooks the sea."

AMPHITRITE & THESEUS

Bacchylides, Fragment 17 (trans. Campbell, Vol. Greek Lyric IV) (Greek lyric C5th B.C.) : "But sea-dwelling dolphins were swiftly carrying great Theseus to the house of his father [Poseidon], god of horses, and he reached the hall of the gods. There he was awe-struck at the glorious daughters of blessed Nereus, for from their splendid limbs shone a gleam as of fire, and round their hair were twirled gold-braided ribbons; and they were delighting in their hearts by dancing with liquid feet. And he saw his father's dear wife, august ox-eyed Amphitite, in the lovely house; she put a purple cloak about him and set on his thick hair the faultless garland which once at her marriage guileful Aphrodite had given her, dark with roses [presumably as a wedding gift]. Nothing that the gods wish is beyond the belief of sane mortals: he [Theseus] appeared beside the slender-sterned ship. In what thoughts did he check the Knossian (Cnossian) commander [Minos] when he came unwet from the sea, a miracle for all, and the gods' gifts shone on his limbs." Pausanias, Description of Greece 1. 17. 3 (trans. Jones) (Greek travelogue C2nd A.D.) : "[Minos king of Krete (Crete)] hurled insults at him [Theseus] and denied that he was a son of Poseidon, since he could not recover for him the signet-ring, which he happened to be wearing, if he threw it into the sea. With these words Minos it is said to have thrown the ring, but they say that Theseus came up from the sea with that ring and also with a gold crown that Amphitrite had given him." Pseudo-Hyginus, Astronomica 2. 5 (trans. Grant) (Roman mythographer C2nd A.D.) : "Minos is said to have drawn a gold ring from his finger and cast it into the sea. He bade Theseus bring it back, if he wanted him to believe he was a son of Neptunus [Poseidon] . . . Theseus, without any invoking of his father or obligation of an oath, cast himself into the sea. And at once a great swarm of dolphins, tumbling forward over the sea, led him through gently swelling waves to the Nereides. From them he brought back the ring of Minos and a crown, bright with many gems, from Thetis, which she had received at her wedding as a gift from Venus [Aphrodite]. Others say that the crown came from the wife of Neptunus [i.e. Amphitrite], and Theseus is said to have given it to Ariadne as a gift, when on account of his valor and courage she was given to him in marriage."

Z2.3 AMPHITRITE, POSEIDON

Z2.7 AMPHITRITE, POSEIDON

Z2.5 AMPHITRITE, POSEIDON

AMPHITRITE GODDESS OF THE SEA, POETICAL MISCELLANY

Homer, Odyssey 3. 99 (trans. Shewring) (Greek epic C8th B.C.) : "Drowned at sea amid Amphitrite's billows." Homer, Odyssey 4. 404 : "A throng of seals, the brood (phkoi nepodes) of lovely Halosydne [Amphitrite]." Homer, Odyssey 5. 421 ff : "[Odysseus adrift at sea:] I fear that . . . some god may send out against me, from the brine, a Ketos, one of the swarming strange huge creatures in the breeding grounds of Amphitrite." Homer, Odyssey 12. 60 ff : "On the one side are overshadowing rocks against which dash the mighty billows of the Amphitrite, the goddess of blue-glancing seas (kyanpis). The blessed gods call these rocks the Planktai (Wanderers)." Hesiod, Theogony 252 ff (trans. Evelyn-White) (Greek epic C8th or C7th B.C.) : "[The Nereides] Kymodoke (Cymodoce) who, with Kymatolege (Cymatolege) and Amphitrite, light of foot, on the misty face of the open water easily stills the water and hushes the winds in their blowing." Homeric Hymn 3 to Delian Apollo 89 ff (trans. Evelyn-White) (Greek epic C7th - 4th B.C.) : "Leto [on the island of Delos] was racked nine days and nine nights with pangs beyond wont. And there were with her all the chiefest of the goddesses, Dione and Rheia and Ikhnaie (Ichnaea) and Themis and loud-moaning Amphitrite and the other deathless goddesses. Then the child leaped forth to the light, and all the goddesses raised a cry. Straightway, great Phoibos [Apollon], the goddesses washed you purely and cleanly with sweet water, and swathed you in a white garment of fine texture, new-woven, and fastened a golden band about you." [N.B. The "chiefest of the goddesses" are the Titanides. Amphitrite stands in place of Tethys, Dione is equivalent to Phoibe, and Ikhnaie "the tracing goddess" is Theia.] Pindar, Olympian Ode 6. 105 ff (trans. Conway) (Greek lyric C5th B.C.) : "Great god of the sea [Poseidon], husband of Amphitrite, goddess of the gold spindle." Timotheus, Fragment 79 (trans. Campbell, Vol. Greek Lyric V) (Greek lyric C5th to C4th B.C.) : "The barbarian naval host was driven back in confusion on the fish-wreathed bosom of Amphitrite with its gleaming folds." Greek Lyric V Anonymous, Fragment 939 (from Aelian, On Animals) (trans. Campbell) : "Highest of gods, gold-tridented Poseidon of the sea, earth-shaker amid the teeming brine, with their fins swimming beasts dance round you in a ring, bounding lightly with nimble flingings of their feet, snub-nosed bristle-necked swift-racing pups, the music-loving dolphins, sea nurslings of the young goddesses the Nereides, whom Amphitrite bore [i.e. Amphitrite was the mother of dolphins]: you brought me [Arion] to the cape of Tainaron (Taenarum) in Pelops' land when I drifted the Sikelian (Sicilian) Sea, carrying me on your humped backs, cleaving the furrows of Nereus' plain, a path untrodden, when treacherous men had thrown me from the sea-sailing hollow ship into the sea-purple swell of the ocean."

Pausanias, Description of Greece 10. 37. 6 (trans. Jones) (Greek travelogue C2nd A.D.) : "[The author quotes an oracle of the Pythian priestess:] The wave of blue-eyed Amphitrite, roaring over the wine-dark sea." Quintus Smyrnaeus, Fall of Troy 8. 62 ff (trans. Way) (Greek epic C4th A.D.) : "A ruining storm maddens along the wide gulfs of the deep, and moans Amphitrite (the Sea-queen) with her anguished waves which sweep from every hand, uptowering like precipiced mountains, while the bitter squall, ceaselessly veering, shrieks across the sea." Aelian, On Animals 12. 45 (trans. Scholfield) (Greek natural history C2nd A.D.) : "Arion [the poet rescued by a dolphin] wrote a hymn of thanks to Poseidon . . .: Music-loving dolphins, sea-nurslings of the Nereis maids divine, whom Amphitrite bore." Athenaeus, Deipnosophistae 3. 92d (trans. Gullick) (Greek rhetorician C2nd to C3rd A.D.) : "Nikandros of Kolophon (Nicander of Colophon) in the Georgics: And all the shellfish which feed at the bottom of the ocean--sea snails, conchs, giant clams, and mussels, slimy offspring of Halosydne [Amphitrite]." Oppian, Cynegetica 1. 77 (trans. Mair) (Greek poet C3rd A.D.) : [Invocation of Oppian to the sea-gods at the beginning of his poem on hunting and fishing:] "Thou, Nereus, and ye gods (daimones) of Amphitrite . . . grant me your grace!" Oppian, Halieutica 1. 1 : "The tribes of the sea and the far scattered ranks of all manner of fishes, the swimming brood of Amphitrite." Callistratus, Descriptions 14 (trans. Fairbanks) (Greek rhetorician C4th A.D.) : [From a description of an ancient Greek painting depicting the leap of Ino into the sea and her reception by the sea-gods:] "The figure of Ino was hastening towards the promontory of Skeiron (Sciron) and the sea at the foot of the mountain, and the breakers that were wont to surge in billows were spreading out in a hollow to receive her . . . And sea-dolphins were sporting near by, coursing through the waves in the painting . . . At the outer edges of the painting an Amphitrite rose from the depths, a creature of savage and terrifying aspect who flashed from her eyes a bright radiance. And round about her stood Nereides; these were dainty and bright to look upon, distilling love's desire from their eyes; and circling in their dance over crests of the sea's waves, they amazed the spectator. About them flowed Okeanos, (Oceanus) the motion of his stream being well-nigh like the billows of the sea." Ovid, Fasti 5. 731 (trans.Boyle) (Roman poetry C1st B.C. to C1st A.D.) : "Amphitrite's rich waters welcome the day." Apuleius, The Golden Ass 4. 31 ff (trans. Walsh) (Roman novel C2nd A.D.) : "Nereus' daughters appeared in singing chorus . . . and Salacia [Amphitrite], the folds of her garment sagging with fish." Suidas s.v. Alkyonides (trans. Suda On Line) (Byzantine Greek Lexicon C10th A.D.) : "After the death of their [the Alkyonides'] father [the Gigante Alkyoneus] they

threw themselves into the sea from Kanastraion (Canastraeum), which is the peak of Pellene, but Amphitrite made them birds, and they were called Alkyones from their father. Windless days with a calm sea are called Alkyonides (Alcyonides)."

TITLES & EPITHETS OF AMPHITRITE

Amphitrite had a number of poetic titles and epithets.
Greek Title Transliteration Agastonos Halosydn Khryslakatos Kyanpis Latin Spelling Agastonus Halosydna Chryselacatus Cyanopis Translation Loud-Moaning Sea-Born Of Golden Spindle Blue-, Dark-Eyed

CULT OF AMPHITRITE
Amphitrite was often depicted in the artistic decorations of Poseidon's temples. Presumably she was honoured alongside the god. Pausanias, Description of Greece 2. 1. 7 (trans. Jones) (Greek travelogue C2nd A.D.) : "[The temple of Poseidon at Korinthos (Corinth) on the Isthmos:] The offerings inside were dedicated in our time by Herodes the Athenian, four horses, gilded except the hoofs, which are of ivory, and two gold Tritones beside the horses, with the parts below the waist of ivory. On the car stand Amphitrite and Poseidon and there the boy Palaimon (Palaemon) upright upon a dolphin. These too are made of ivory and gold." Pausanias, Description of Greece 3. 19. 3- 5 : "On the altar [of Apollon at Amyklai in Lakonia] are wrought in relief, here an image of Biris, there Amphitrite and Poseidon." Pausanias, Description of Greece 5. 26. 2 - 3 : "The offerings of Mikythos (Micythus) I found [at Olympia] were numerous and not together . . . [statues of] Amphitrite, Poseidon and Hestia." Pausanias, Description of Greece 5. 11. 8 : "[Reliefs on the throne in the temple of Zeus at Olympia:] There are also reliefs of . . . Amphitrite and Poseidon."

Sources:
o o o o Homer, The Odyssey - Greek Epic C8th B.C. Hesiod, Theogony - Greek Epic C8th-7th B.C. The Homeric Hymns - Greek Epic C8th-4th B.C. Pindar, Odes - Greek Lyric C5th B.C.

o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o

Greek Lyric IV Bacchylides, Fragments - Greek Lyric C5th B.C. Greek Lyric V Timotheus, Fragments - Greek Lyric C5th-4th B.C. Greek Lyric V Anonymous, Fragments - Greek Lyric B.C. Apollodorus, The Library - Greek Mythography C2nd A.D. Apollonius Rhodius, The Argonautica - Greek Epic C3rd B.C. Quintus Smyrnaeus, Fall of Troy - Greek Epic C4th A.D. Pausanias, Description of Greece - Greek Travelogue C2nd A.D. Aelian, On Animals - Greek Natural History C2nd-3rd A.D. Athenaeus, Deipnosophistae - Greek Cullinary Guide C3rd A.D. Callistratus, Descriptions - Greek Rhetoric C4th A.D. Hyginus, Fabulae - Latin Mythography C2nd A.D. Hyginus, Astronomica - Latin Mythography C2nd A.D. Virgil, Georgics - Latin Idyllic C1st B.C. Apuleius, The Golden Ass - Latin Epic C2nd A.D. Oppian, Halieutica - Greek Poetry C3rd A.D. Oppian, Cynegetica - Greek Poetry C3rd A.D. Colluthus, The Rape of Helen - Greek Epic C5th-6th A.D. Suidas - Byzantine Greek Lexicon C10th A.D.

Other references not currently quoted here: Eratosthenes Catast.; Tzetzes ad Lycophron 45, 649; Euripides Cyclops 702

ARGYRA
Greek Name Transliteration Argyra Latin Spelling Argyra Translation Silver (argyros)

ARGYRA was either a Haliad or Naiad nymph of the town of Argyra in Akhaia (Achaea), southern Greece. Agyra was loved by the hero Selemnos, who died of grief when the Nymphe left him and was transformed into a local stream. PARENTS
Perhaps TRITON though nowhere stated

ENCYCLOPEDIA
ARGYRA (Argura), the nymph of a well in Achaia, was in love with a beautiful shepherd-boy, Selemnus, and visited him frequently, but when his youthful beauty vanished, she forsook him. The boy now pined away with grief, and Aphrodite, moved to pity, changed him into the river Selemnus. There was a popular belief in Achaia, that if an unhappy lover bathed in the water of this river, he would forget the grief of his love. (Paus. vii. 23. 2.) Source: Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology. Pausanias, Description of Greece 7. 23. 1 (trans. Jones) (Greek travelogue C2nd A.D.) : "The spring Argyra, [of the town Argyra in Akhaia] on the right of the high road,

and to the river Selemnos going down to the sea. The local legend about Selemnos is that he was a handsome lad who used to feed his flocks here. Argyra , they say, was a Sea-Nymphe (thalassa nymphe), who fell in love with Selemnos and used to come up out of the sea to visit him, sleeping by his side. After no long while Selemnos no longer seemed so handsome, and the Nymphe would not visit him. So Selemnos, deserted by Argyra, died of love, and Aphrodite turned him into a river. This is what the people of Patrai say. As Selemnos continued to love Argyra even when he was turned into water, just as Alpheios in the legend continued to love Arethousa, Aphrodite bestowed on him a further gift, by blotting out the memory of Argyra.

Sources:
o Pausanias, Description of Greece
- Greek Travelogue C2nd A.D.

BENTHESIKYME
Greek Name Transliteration Benthesikym Latin Spelling Benthesicyme Translation Deep-Swells, -Waves (benthos, kyma)

BENTHESIKYME (or Benthesicyme) was a Haliad nymph of Aithiopia (Ethiopia) in Africa. She was a daughter of Poseidon and the wife of the first Ethiopian king Enalos (of the Sea). Benthesikyme was a goddess of the waves, as is revealed by her name which means "lady of the deep-swells," from benthos, "the depths," and kyma, "waves." She was perhaps related to Tritonis, goddess of the Libyan Lake of the same name. Indeed Benthesikyme's "Aithiopia" could encompass this area, the term often being used to describe Africa in a general sense. If this is the case, then her husband Enalos (of the Sea) would be the Libyan Sea-God Triton. Apollodorus also mentions that she had two daughters which was true of Tritonis, whose daughters were Pallas and the Libyan Athena. PARENTS
POSEIDON & AMPHITRITE (Apollodorus 3.201)

OFFSPRING
DAUGHTERS x2 (by Enalos) (Apollodorus 3.201)

Pseudo-Apollodorus, Bibliotheca 3. 201 (trans. Aldrich) (Greek mythographer C2nd A.D.) : "Poseidon rescued him [his son Eumolpos by Khione] and took him to Aithiopia (Ethiopia), where he gave him to his and Amphitrite's daughter Benthesikyme to rear. When he was grown, Benthesikyme's husband gave him one of their two daughters."

Sources:
o Apollodorus, The Library
- Greek Mythography C2nd A.D.

EIDOTHEA
Greek Name Transliteration Eidothea Latin Spelling Idothea Translation Knowing-, ShapelyGoddess (eid, thea)

EIDOTHEA (or Idothea) was a prophetic sea-nymph, a daughter of the shapeshifting sea god Proteus. When Menelaus was becalmed on the island of Pharos near Egypt, Eidothea told him how he might capture her father to reveal prophecies that would ensure his escape. She was probably identified with the Thrakian sea-nymph PARENTS
[1.1] PROTEUS (Homer Odyssey 4.365, Hyginus Fabulae 118) [1.2] PROTEUS & PSAMATHE (Euripides Helen 1)

Kabeiro.

ENCYCLOPEDIA
EIDOTHEA (Eidothea), a daughter of the aged Proteus, who instructed Menelaus, in the island of Pharos at the mouth of the river Aegyptus, in what manner he might secure her father and compel him to say in what way he should return home. (Hom. Od. iv. 365, &c.) THEONOE (Theono). A daughter of Proteus and Psammathe, who is said to have been in love with Canobus, the helmsman of Menelaus, who died in Egypt, in consequence of the bite of a snake. She is also called Eido or Eidothea. (Eurip. Helen. 11 ; Aristoph. Thesm. 897 ; Plat. Cratyl. p. 407; Hom. Od. iv. 363.) Source: Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology. Homer, Odyssey 4. 365 ff (trans. Shewring) (Greek epic C8th B.C.) : [After the Trojan War, the fleet of Menelaus was blown off course and landed on the island of Pharos near Egypt, where they were becalmed:] "And now our food would have failed utterly, and with it the courage of my men, had not a goddess had pity on me [Menelaus] and rescued me; this was Eidothea, daughter of mighty Proteus the ancient sea-god. I touched her heart as I had no others when she came upon me wandering in solitude apart from my companions (they had kept roaming about the island, fishing with bent hooks, because hunger gnawed their bellies). She halted near me and addressed me: Stranger, have you no sense, no wits at all? Or are you so reckless wilfully? Do you take pleasure in your distress? All this while you have stayed a prisoner in this island, unable to contrive deliverance while your men grow more and more disheartened. So she spoke, and I answered her: Goddess, whoever you may be, I will tell you all. Not by my own choice do I stay a prisoner here; I must have offended the

Deathless Ones whose home is wide heaven itself. Rather it is for you to tell me-because gods know everything--which of the Deathless Ones it is who has thwarted me in my journeying and keeps me pent here. Tell me also of my return--how am I to go forth again over the teaming ocean? So I spoke, and at once the goddess answered: I will tell you, stranger, without deceit. An ancient sea-god comes often to this place--he is unerring and he is deathless--Proteus of Aigyptos, a vassal of Poseidon who knows the sea throughout its depths; they say that he is the father who begot me. If only you could ambush and capture him! Then he will tell you of your return, the means to pass over the teaming ocean and all the long journey home. And beyond all this, he will tell you, if so you wish (are you not a king?), what good or evil has come to pass in your own palace while you have been far away on your long and toilsome journey. So she spoke, and I answered her, You yourself must contrive some way to entrap this ancient god; if not, he may see me or sense me all too soon, and then he will elude me. It is hard for a mortal man to bend an immortal to his will. These were my words. The goddess answered: So be it, stranger; I will tell you all without deceit. When the sun in its course has reached mid-sky, the sage old seagod leaves his ocean--the west wind blows then, and the ruffled water is dark enough to hide him. Once ashore, he lies down to sleep under the arching caves, and around him is a throng of seals, the brood of the lovely Halosydne [Amphitrite]; they too have come up through the grey waters, and they too lie down to sleep, smelling rankly of the deep brine below. To this spot I myself will take you as soon as tomorrow dawns, and will range you all side by side--because you must carefully choose three comrades, the bravest you have beside your vessels. I will tell you all the deluding arts of the ancient god. First he will pass along all the seals and count them; then, having viewed them and made his reckoning, he will lie down among them all like a shepherd among his flock of sheep. As soon as you see him lying down, you must all summon up your strength and courage and hold him fast there despite his struggles and his endeavours to elude you. He will seek to foil you by taking the shape of every creature that moves on earth, and of water and of portentous fire; but you must hold him unflinchingly and you must press the harder. When at length he puts away all disguise and questions you in the shape he had when you saw him resting, then cease from your constraint; then, O king, let the ancient sage go free and ask him which of the gods is thwarting you and how you are to reach home again over the teeming ocean. So she spoke, and sank down through the billowy sea . . . Dawn comes early, with rosy fingers. When she appeared, I began to walk along the shore of the widewayed ocean, with many a prayer to the gods meanwhile. I had three of my companions with me, those that on any venture I trusted most. The goddess, I said, had sunk down through the wide and yielding waters; now she returned, bringing back the skins of four seals, all newly flayed--such was her scheme to deceive her father. She hollowed out hiding-places for us inside the sea-sand, then sat there waiting; when we had come right up to her, she made us lie down side by side and threw a skin over each of us. Our lying there might have been intolerable, for a hideous stench of the briny creatures distressed us monstrously; who would choose a sea-calf for bedfellow? But the goddess found us rescue and remedy. She brought every one of us ambrosia and put it underneath his nostrils; it smelt delectably; and so she countered the bestial stench." Euripides, Helen 1 ff (trans. Vellacott) (Greek tragedy C5th B.C.) : "Proteus, while he lived, was King here, ruling the whole of Aigyptos (Egypt) from his palace on the island of Pharos. Now Proteus married Psamathe, one of the seanymphai, and formerly the wife of Aiakos. She bore Proteus two children: a son, Theoklymenos (a name contradicted by his impious life) and a daughter, the apple of her mother's eye, called Eido when she was a child; when she grew up and was ripe for marriage they called her Theonoe, for she had divine knowledge of all

things present and to come--a gift inherited from her grandfather Nereus." Pseudo-Hyginus, Fabulae 118 (trans. Grant) (Roman mythographer C2nd A.D.) : "In Egypt Proteus, the prophetic old man of the sea, is said to have dwelt, he who used to change himself into all sorts of shapes. By the advice of his daughter Idothea Menelaus bound him with a chain, so that he would tell him when he wouold reach home. Proteus told him that the gods were angry because Troy had been taken, and on that account an offering should be made which the Greeks call Hekatombe, a hundred animals being slain." Nonnus, Dionysiaca 1. 36 ff (trans. Rouse) (Greek epic C5th A.D.) : "Let Homer [the poet] and deep-sea Eidothea keep the rank skin of the seals for Menelaos."
Greek Name Transliteration Eid Theono Latin Spelling Ido Theonoe Translation Knowing or Shapely One (eid, eidos) Intelligent Goddess (thea, noos)

Sources:
o o o o Homer, The Odyssey - Greek Epic C8th B.C. Euripides, Helen - Greek Tragedy C5th B.C. Hyginus, Fabulae - Latin Mythography C2nd A.D. Nonnos, Dionysiaca - Greek Epic C5th A.D.

Other references not currently quoted here : Dionysius Periegeta 259

GALATEIA
Greek Name Transliteration Galateia Galatia Latin Spelling Galatea Galatia Translation Goddess of Calm-Seas, Milky-White

GALATEIA was one of the Nereides, fifty goddess-nymphs of the sea. Her name means either "the goddess of calm seas" from galn and theia or "milky-white" from galaktos. Galateia frequented the coast of Sicily where she attracted the attention of the Kyklops (Cyclops) Polyphemos. The giant wooed her with tunes from his rustic pipes, and offerings of cheese, milk, and wild fruit. The nymph, however, spurned his advances and

Polyphemus & Galatea, Roman mosaic,

She was depicted in ancient art as a beautiful woman riding side-saddle on the back of a sea monster or fish-tailed god. PARENTS
NEREUS & DORIS (Hesiod Theogony 240, Homer Iliad 18.37, Apollodorus 1.11, Hyginus Pref,
Ovid Metamorphoses 13.736)

OFFSPRING
GALATOS (by Polyphemos) (Bacchylides Frag 59)

ENCYCLOPEDIA
GALATEIA (Galateia). A daughter of Nereus and Doris. (Hom. Il. xviii. 45; Hes. Theog. 251.). Acis was beloved by the nymph Galatea, and Polyphemus the Cyclop, jealous of him, crushed him under a huge rock. His blood gushing forth from under the rock was changed by the nymph into the river Acis or Acinius at the foot of mount Aetna. Source: Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology

FAMILY OF GALATEIA
Homer, Iliad 18. 37 ff (trans. Lattimore) (Greek epic C8th B.C.) : "The goddesses gathered about her [Thetis], all who along the depth of the sea were daughters of Nereus. For Glauke was there . . . and Doris and Panope and glorious Galateia [in a list of thirty-four names]." Hesiod, Theogony 240 ff (trans. Evelyn-White) (Greek epic C8th or C7th B.C.) : "To Nereus and to Doris . . . there were born in the barren sea daughters greatly beautiful even among goddesses: . . . Doris and Panopeia, and Galateia the beautiful [in a list of 50 Nereides named]." Pseudo-Apollodorus, Bibliotheca 1. 11 - 12 (trans. Aldrich) (Greek mythographer C2nd A.D.) : "Nereus and Doris were parents of the Nereides, whose names were . . . Pherousa, Galateia, Aktaia [in a list of 45 names]." Pseudo-Hyginus, Preface (trans. Grant) (Roman mythographer C2nd A.D.) : "From Nereus and Doris fifty Nereids . . . Doris, Panope, Galatea [from a list of 49 names]." Propertius, Elegies 1. 8A (trans. Goold) (Roman elegy C1st B.C.) : "May Galatea be not unfriendly to your voyage." Suidas s.v. Galateia (trans. Suda On Line) (Byzantine Greek lexicon C10th A.D.) : "Galateia: Name of a goddess."

POLYPHEMOS & GALATEIA

Bacchylides, Fragment 59 (from Natale Conti, Mythology) (trans. Campbell, Vol. Greek Lyric IV) (Greek lyric C5th B.C.) : "Polyphemos is said not only to have loved Galatea but to have fathered a son Galatos on her, as Bakkhylides testified." Philoxenus of Cythera, Fragment 817 (from Scholiast on Theocritus 6) (trans. Campbell, Vol. Greek Lyric V) (Greek lyric C5th to 4th B.C.) : "Philoxenos of Kythera [poet C5th B.C.] when he paid his visit [to Sicily] and could not think of the reason for the shrine [of Galatea] invented the tale that Polyphemos was in love with Galatea." Philoxenus of Cythera, Fragment 818 (from Synesius, Letters) : "Odysseus was trying to persuade Polyphemos (Polyphemus) to let him out of the cave: For I am a sorcerer, he said, and I could give you timely help in your unsuccessful marine love: I know incantations and binding charms and love spells which Galatea is unlikely to resist even for a short time. For your part, just promise to move the door--or rather this door-stone: it seems as big as a promontory to me--or I'll return more quickly than it takes to tell, after winning the girl over. Winning her over, do I say? I'll produce her here in person, made compliant by many enchantments. She'll beg and beseech you, and you will play coy and hide your true feelings. But one thing worries me in all this : Im afraid the goat-stink of your fleecy blankets may be offensive to a girl who lives in luxury and washes many times a day. So it would be a good idea if you put everything in order and swept and washed and fumigated your room, and better still if you prepared wreaths of ivy and bindweed to garland yourself and your darling girl. Come on, why waste time? Why not put your hand to the door now? At this Polyphemos roared with laughter and clasped his hands, and Odysseus imagined he was beside himself with joy at the thought that he would win his darling; but instead he stroked him under the chin and said, No-man, you seem to be a shrewd little fellow, a smooth businessman; start work on some elaborate scheme, however, for you won't escape from here." Philoxenus of Cythera, Fragment 819 (from Scholiast on Aristophanes, Plutus) : "The tragic poet Philoxenos, who introduced Polyphemos playing the lyre . . . who wrote of the love of the Kyklops (Cyclops) for Galatea . . . he introduces the Kyklops playing the cithara and challenging Galatea . . . He says the Kyklops carries a leather bag and eats herbs." Philoxenus of Cythera, Fragment 821 (from Athenaeus, Deipnosophistae) : "But when the Kyklops of Philoxenos of Kythera is in love with Galatea and is praising her beauty, he praises everything else about her but makes no mention of her eyes, since he has a premonition of his own blindness. He addresses her as follows: Fair-faced, golden-tressed, Grace-voiced offshoot of the Erotes (Loves)." Philoxenos of Cythera, Fragment 822 (from Plutarch, Table-Talk) : "Philoxenos says that the Kyklops (Cyclops) tries to cure his love with the tuneful Mousai (Muses) [i.e. with music]." Philoxenus of Cythera, Fragment 822 (from Scholiast on Theocritus 11) : "Philoxenos makes the Kyklops (Cyclops) console himself for his love of Galatea and tell the dolphins to report to her that he is healing his love with the Mousai [i.e. "with the Muses" means with music]." Athenaeus, Deipnosophistae 1. 6e - 7a (trans. Gullick) (Greek rhetorician C2nd to C3rd A.D.) :

"[On the origin of the tale of Polyphemos and Galateia:] Phainias says that Philoxenos, the poet of Kythera [C5th B.C.], who was devoted to dainty food, was once dining with [the Sicilian tyrant] Dionysios, and when he saw that a large mullet had been set before Dionysios, while a small one had been served to himself, he took it up in his hands and placed it to his ear. When Dionysios asked him why he did that, Philoxenos answered that he was writing a poem on Galateia [the mistress of Dionysios and her namesake Nereid] and [said in jest, that he] desired to ask the mullet some questions about Nereus and his daughters [the Nereides]. And the creature, on being asked, had answered that she had been caught when too young, and therefore had not joined Nereus' company; but her sister, the one set before Dionysios, was older, and knew accurately all he wished to learn. So Dionysios, with a laugh, sent him the mullet that he had been served to himself. Moreover, Dionysios was fond of drinking deep in company with Philoxenos. But when Philoxenos was detected in the act of seducing the king's [Dionysios's] mistress Galateia, he was thrown into the quarries. There he wrote his Kyklops, telling the story of what happened to him, and representing Dionysios as Kyklops (Cyclops), the flute-girl as the Nymphe Galateia, and himself as Odysseus. Philostratus the Elder, Imagines 2. 18 (trans. Fairbanks) (Greek rhetorician C3rd A.D.) : "[Ostensibly a description of an ancient Greek painting at Neapolis (Naples):] Kyklops (Cyclops) . . . Polyphemos son of Poseidon, the fiercest of them [the Kyklopes], lives here; he has a single eyebrow extending above his single eye and a broad nose astride his upper lip, and he feeds upon men after the manner of savage lions. But at the present time he abstains from such food that he may not appear gluttonous or disagreeable; for he loves Galateia, who is sporting here on the sea, and he watches her from the mountain-side. And though his shepherds pipe is still under his arm and silent, yet he has a pastoral song to sing that tells how white she is and skittish and sweeter than unripe grapes, and how he is raising for Galateia fawns and bear-cubs. All this he sings beneath an evergreen oak, heeding not where his flocks are feeding nor their number nor even, any longer, where the earth is. He is painted a creature of the mountains, fearful to look at, tossing his hair, which stands erect and is as dense as the foliage of a pine tree, showing a set of jagged teeth in his voracious jaw, shaggy all over--breast and belly and limbs even to the nails. He thinks, because he is in love, that his glance is gentle, but it is wild and stealthy still, like that of wild beasts subdued under the force of necessity. The nymphe sports on the peaceful sea, driving a team of four dolphins yoked together and working in harmony; and maiden-daughters of Triton, Galateia's servants, guide them, curving them in if they try to do anything mischievous or contrary to the rein. She holds over her heads against the wind a light scarf of seapurple to provide a shade for herself and a sail for her chariot, and from it a kind of radiance falls upon her forehead and her head, though no white more charming than the bloom on her cheek; her hair is not tossed by the breeze, for it is so moist that it is proof against the wind. And lo, her right elbow stands out and her white forearm is bent back, while she rests her fingers on her delicate shoulder, and her arms are gently rounded, and her breasts project, nor yet is beauty lacking in her thigh. Her foot, with the graceful part that ends in it, is painted as on the sea, my boy, and it lightly touches the water as if it were the rudder guiding her chariot. Her eyes are wonderful, for they have a kind of distant look that travels as far as the sea extends." Suidas s.v. Threttanelo (trans. Suda On Line) (Byzantine Greek Lexicon C10th A.D.) : "Philoxenus the dithyramb poet or tragedian wrote The Love of the Kyklops for Galateia; and then that he said the word threttanelo in the epigram in imitation of a

sound of the cithara. For there he brings on the Kyklops (Cyclops) playing the cithara and making Galatea blush."

F42.1 GALATEIA, POLYPHEMUS

F42.1C GALATEIA RIDING DOLPHIN

Z42.1 GALATEIA, POLYPHEMUS

Theocritus, Idylls 6 (trans. Rist) (Greek bucolic C3rd B.C.) : "[The seer Telamos addresses Polyphemos:] Galateia is pelting your flocks, Polyphemos, with apples, and calling you names--goatherd and laggard in love; and you, poor fool, do not see, but sit sweetly piping. Look, there again! She's hurling one at your sheepdog, and the bitch is looking out to sea and barking--you can see her silhouetted on the clear of the waves as she runs along the edge of the gently sucking sands. Watch out she doesn't rush at the child's knees, emerging from the water, and claw her fairy flesh! She's casting at you again, look--brittle as the down the torrid glare of summer leaves upon the thistle. You love, she flees; and when you leave loving, follows, staking her all upon a desperate move. Ah, Love! How often, Polyphemos, has he made unfair show fair! . . . [Polyphemos:] I saw, yes, by Pan, I saw when she pelted the flock. It did not escape me--no, by my one sweet eye: may I see with it to the last, and may Prophet Telamos carry his hostile mouthings home, to keep for his children! But I too can use the goad, so I take no notice, and tell her I've another woman now. Apollon! Hearing that, she's all consumed with spite, and frenzied spies, form the sea, on my cave and flocks. It was I set on the dog to bark at her, too. In the days of my courting, it used to lay its muzzle against her groin and whine. When she's seen enough of this act of mine, perhaps she'll send a messenger; but I'll bar my door, until she vows in person to make my bed up fairly on this isle. Certainly I'm not ugly, as they call me; for lately I looked in the sea - there was a clam--and I though my cheeks and my one eye showed up handsome, and my teeth shone back, whiter than Parian marble. But I spat three times into my bosom, as the witch Kotytaris (Cotytaris) taught me, to turn away evil." Theocritus, Idylls 11 : "In days of old, my countryman, the Kyklops Polyphemos (Cyclops Polyphemus), fared best with them, for one: he barely had a beard on lip or cheek, when he fell in love with the sea nymph Galatea. He wooed her, not with apples and roses and lovelocks, but with so fine a frenzy that all beside seemed pointless. Often enough his sheep had to find their own way home to the fold from the green pastures, while he sang of Galatea, sitting alone on the beach amid the sea wrack, languishing from daybreak, with a deadly wound which mighty Kypris [Aphrodite] dealt him with her arrow, fixing it under his heart. Nevertheless, he found the cure, and seated high on a rock, looking out to sea, this is how he would sing. O white Galatea, why do you spurn my love?--whiter than curds to look on, softer than a lambkin, more skittish than a calf, tarter than the swelling grape! How do you walk this way, so soon as sweet sleep laps me, and are gone as soon, whenever sweet sleep leaves me, fleeing like a sheep when she spies the grey wolf coming! I fell in love with you, maiden, the first time you came, with my mother, eager to cull the bluebells from our hillside: I was your guide. Once seen, I could not forget you, nor to this day can I yet; not that you care: God knows you do not,

not a whit! O, I know, my beauty, the reason why you shun me: the shaggy eyebrow that grins across my forehead, unbroken, ear to ear; the one eye beneath; and the nose squat over my lips. For all my looks, I'd have you know, I graze a thousand sheep, and draw the best milk for myself to drink. I am never without cheeses, summer or fall: even in midwinter my cheese nets are laden. There's not another Kyklops can play the flute as I can, and I sing of you, my peach, always of me and you, till dead of night, quite often. I'm rearing eleven fawns, all with white collars, for you, and four bear cubs. come to us, then; you'll lack for nothing. Leave the green sea gulping against the dry shore. You'll do better o' nights with me, in my cave; I've laurels there, and slender cypresses; black ivy growing, and the honey-fruited vine; and the water's fresh that tree-dressed Aitna sends me, a drink divine, distilled from pure white snow. Who'd choose instead to stay in the salt sea waves? And if my looks repel you, seeming over-shaggy, I've heart of oak within, and under the ash a spark that's never out. If you will fire me, gladly will I yield my life, or my one eye, the most precious thing I have. O, why did not my mother bring me to birth with gills! Down I'd dive and kiss you hand--your lips if you'll allow--and bring you white narcissus flowers, or soft poppies, with wide, red petals--not both at the same time for one's, you see, a winter, the other a summer flower. Even so, sweetheart, I've made a start : I'm going to learn to swim, if some stranger comes this way, sailing in a ship, and find out why it is you nymphai like living in the deep. O, won't you come out, Galatea, and coming out forget, as I, as I sit here, forget to go back home! You'd learn to like to shepherd sheep with me, and milk, and set the curds for cheese, dropping in sharp rennet. Only my mother does me wrong, and it's her I blame. She's never said a single word on my behalf to you, for all she sees me growing thin, day after day. I shall tell her that my head and both my feet are throbbing: so I'll be even, making her suffer, even as she makes me. Kyklops, Kyklops! Where is this mad flight taking you? You'd surely show more sense if you'd keep at your basket weaving, and go gather the olive shoots and give them to the lambs. Milk the ewe that's at hand: why chase the ram that's fleeing? Perhaps you'll find another Galatea, and more fair. Many a girlie calls me out to play with her by night, and when I do their bidding, don't they giggle gleefully! I too am clearly somebody, and noticed--on dry land! In this way did Polyphemos shepherd his love with song; and he found a readier cure than if he had paid hard cash." Ovid, Metamorphoses 13. 728 ff (trans. Melville) (Roman epic C1st B.C. to C1st A.D.) : "Galatea letting Scylla comb her hair, heaved a deep sigh and said, My dear, your suitors after all are men and not unkind: you can reject them, as you do, unscathed. But I whom sea-blue Doris bore, whose father's Nereus, who am safe besides among my school of sisters, I could not foil Cyclops' love except in bitter grief. Tears choked her as she told it. Scylla wiped the tears with sleek white fingers, comforting the goddess: Tell me, darling. Do not hide (you know you trust me) how you were so hurt. And Nereis [Galateia] answered with these words: Acis was son of Nympha Symaethis and Faunus [Pan] was his father, a great joy to both his parents, and a greater joy to me; for me, and me alone, he loved. He was sixteen, the down upon his cheek scarce yet a beard, and he was beautiful. He was my love, but I was Cyclops' love, who wooed me endlessly and, if you ask whether my hate for him or my love for Acis was stronger in my heart, I could not tell; for both were equal. Oh, how powerful kind Venus [Aphrodite], is thy reign! That savage creature, the forest's terror, whom no wayfarer set eyes upon unscathed, who scorned the gods of great Olympos (Di Olympi), now felt pangs of love, burnt with a mighty passion,

and forgot his flocks and cares. Now lovelorn Polyphemus cared for his looks, cared earnestly to please; now with a rake he combed his matted hair, and with a sickle trimmed his shaggy beard, and studied his fierce features in a pool and practised to compose them. His wild urge to kill, his fierceness and his lust for blood ceased and in safety ships might come and go. Meanwhile a famous seer had sailed to Sicilian Aetna, wise Telemus Eurymides, whom no bird could delude, and warned the dreadful giant "That one eye upon your brow Ulixes soon shall take." He answered laughing "You delude yourself! Of all the stupid prophets! Someone else has taken it already." So he mocked the warning truth; then tramped along the shore with giant crushing strides or, tired anon, returned to the dark cave that was his home. There juts into the sea a wedgeshaped point, washed by the ocean waves on either side. Here Cyclops climbed and at the top sat down, his sheep untended trailing after him. Before him at his feet he laid his staff, a pine, fit for the mainmast of a ship, and took his pipe, made of a hundred reeds. His pastoral whistles rang among the cliffs and over the waves; and I behind a rock, hidden and lying in my Acis' arms, heard far away these words and marked them well. "Fair Galatea, whiter than the snow, taller than alders, flowerier than the meads, brighter than crystal, livelier than a kid, sleeker than shells worn by the ceaseless waves, gladder than the winter's sun and summer's shade, nobler than apples, sweeter than ripe grapes, fairer than lofty planes, clearer than ice, softer than down of swans or creamy cheese, and, would you welcome me, more beautiful than fertile gardens watered by cool streams. Yet, Galatea, fiercer than wild bulls, harder than ancient oak, falser than waves, tougher than willow wands or branching vines, wilder than torrents, firmer than these rocks, prouder than peacocks, crueller than fire, sharper than briars, deafer than the sea, more savage than a bear guarding her cubs, more pitiless than snakes beneath the heel, and--what above all else I'd wrest from you--swifter in flight than ever hind that flees the baying hounds, yes, swifter than the wind and all the racing breezes of the sky. (Though, if you knew, you would repent your flight, condemn you coyness, strive to hold me fast.) Deep in the mountain I have hanging caves of living rock where never summer suns are felt nor winter's cold. Apples I have loading the boughs, and I have golden grapes and purple in my vineyards--all for you. Your hands shall gather luscious strawberries in woodland shade; in autumn you shall pick cherries and plums, not only dusky black, but yellow fat and waxen in the sun, and chestnuts shall be yours, if I am yours, and every tree shall bear its fruit for you. All this fine flock is mine, and many more roam in the dales or shelter in the woods or in my caves are folded; should you chance to ask how many, that I could not tell: a poor man counts his flocks. Nor need you trust my praises; here before your eyes you see their legs can scarce support the bulging udders. And I have younger stock, lambs in warm folds, and kids of equal age in other folds, and snowy milk always, some kept to drink and some the rennet curdles into cheese. No easy gifts or commonplace delights shall be your portion--does and goats and hares, a pair of doves, a gull's nest from the cliff. I found one day among the mountain peaks, for you to play with, twins so much alike you scarce could tell, cubs of a shaggy bear. I found them and I said She shall have all these; I'll keep them for my mistress for her own. Now, Galatea, raise your glorious head from the blue sea; spurn not my gifts, but come! For sure I know--I have just seen--myself reflected in a pool, and what I saw was truly pleasing. See how large I am! No bigger body Juppiter [Zeus] himself can boast up in the sky--you always talk of Jove [Zeus] or someone reigning there. My ample hair o'erhangs my grave stern face and like a grove darkens my shoulders; and you must not think me ugly, that my body is so thick with prickly bristles. Trees without their leaves are ugly, and a horse is ugly too without a mane to veil its sorrel neck. Feathers clothe birds and fleeces grace the sheep: so beard and bristles best become a man. Upon my brow I have one single eye, but it is huge, like some vast shield. What then? Does not the mighty sun see

from the sky all things on earth? Yet the sun's orb is one. Moreover in your sea my father [Poseidon] reigns; him I give you--my father, yours to be, would you but pity me and hear my prayer. To you alone I yield. I, who despise Jove [Zeus] and his heaven and his thunderbolt, sweet Nereis, you I fear, your anger flames more dreadful than his bolt. Oh, I could bear your scorn more patiently did you but spurn all others, but, if Cyclops you reject, why prefer Acis, Acis' arms to mine? Acis may please himself and please, alas, you Galatea. Give me but the chance, he'll find my strength no smaller than my size. I'll gouge his living guts, I'll rend his limbs and strew them in the fields and in the sea--your sea, so may he be one flesh with you! I burn! The fire you fight is fanned to flame; all Aetne's furnace in my breast I bear, and you, my Galatea, never care!" Such was his vain lament; then up he rose (I saw it all) as a fierce thwarted bull roams through the woodlands and familiar fields, and, spying in his rage Acis and me, all unaware and fearing no such fate, shouted "I see you; now I shall make sure that loving fond embrace shall be your last." Loud as an angry Cyclops ought to shout he shouted; Aetna shuddered at the din. Then I in panic dived into the sea beside us; Acis had already turned his hero's back and shouted as he fled "Help, Galatea! Father, mother, help! Admit me to your kingdom for I die." Cyclops pursued and hurled a massive rock, torn from the hill, and though its merest tip reached Acis, yet it crushed and smothered him. But I (it was all fate permitted me) caused Acis to assume his ancestral powers . . . [He was turned into a river-god.] So Galatea ended and the group of Nereides dispersed and swam away across the placid waters of the bay."

Z33.4 GALATEIA, PARDALOKAMPOS

Z34.4E GALATEIA, ANARESINEOS

Propertius, Elegies 3. 2 (trans. Goold) (Roman elegy C1st B.C.) : "Galatea beneath savage Aetna (Etna) turned her dripping horses at the sound of Polyphemus serenade." Valerius Flaccus, Argonautica 1. 130 ff (trans. Mozley) (Roman epic C1st A.D.) : "Panope and her sister Doto and Galatea with bare shoulders, revelling in the waves, escort her [Thetis to her marriage with Peleus] towards the caverns [of Kheiron in Thessalia]; Cyclops from the Sicilian shore calls Galatea back." Nonnus, Dionysiaca 6. 300 ff (trans. Rouse) (Greek epic C5th A.D.) : "Then Pan [during the great Deluge] well soaked saw Galateia swimming under a neighbouring wavebeaten rock, and sang out: Where are you going, Galateia? Have you given up sea for hills? Perhaps you are looking for the love-song Kyklops (Cyclops)? I pray you by the Paphian [Aphrodite], and by your Polyphemos--you know the weight of desire, do not hide from me if you have noticed my mountainranging Ekho swimming by the rocks! . . . Come, leave your Polyphemos, the laggard! If you like, I will lift you upon my own back and save you. The roaring flood does not overwhelm me; if I like I can mount to the starry sky on my goatish feet! He spoke, and Galateia said in reply: My dear Pan, carry your own Ekho (Echo)

through the waves--she knows nothing of the sea. Dont waste your time in asking me why I am going here this day. I have another and higher voyage which Rainy Zeus and found me. Let be the song of Kyklops, though it is sweet. I seek no more the Sikelian (Sicilian) Sea; I am terrified at this tremendous flood, and I care nothing for Polyphemos. With these words, she passed away from the lair of wayfaring Pan." Nonnus, Dionysiaca 14. 52 ff : "Polyphemos, tall as the clouds, so mighty and so great, the Earthshaker's [Poseidon's] own son; he was kept in his place by another love, dearer than war, under the watery ways, for he had seen Galateia half-hidden, and made the neighbouring sea resound as he poured out his love for a maiden in the wooing tones of his pipes." Nonnus, Dionysiaca 43. 253 ff : "[When Poseidon led the sea-gods into battle against the army of Dionysos in the Indian War:] The tribes of Nereides sounded for their sire the cry of battle-triumph: unshod, half hidden in the brine, the company rushed raging to combat over the sea . . . Galateia too the Sea-Nymphe lifting the club of her lovesick Polyphemos attacked a wild Bakkhante." Nonnus, Dionysiaca 43. 390 ff : [At the wedding of Poseidon and Beroe:] Galateia twangled a marriage dance and restlessly twirled in capering step, and she sang the marriage verses, for she had learnt well how to sing, being taught by Polyphemos with a shepherds syrinx."

CULT OF GALATEIA IN SICILY

Philoxenus of Cythera, Fragment 817 (from Scholiast on Theocritus 6) (trans. Campbell, Vol. Greek Lyric V) (Greek lyric C5th to 4th B.C.) : "Douris [historian C3rd B.C.] says that Polyphemos built a shrine to Galatea near Mount Aitna in gratitude for the rich pasturage for his flocks and the abundant supply of milk, but that Philoxenos of Kythera [poet C5th B.C.] when he paid his visit and could not think of the reason for the shrine invented the tale that Polyphemos was in love with Galatea."

Sources:
o o o o o o o o o o o o Homer, The Iliad - Greek Epic C8th B.C. Hesiod, Theogony - Greek Epic C8th-7th B.C. Greek Lyric IV Bacchylides, Fragments - Greek Lyric C5th B.C. Greek Lyric V Philoxenus, Fragments - Greek Lyric C5th-4th B.C. Apollodorus, The Library - Greek Mythography C2nd A.D. Theocritus Idylls - Greek Bucolic C3rd B.C. Athenaeus, Deipnosophistae - Greek Rhetoric C3rd A.D. Philostratus the Elder, Imagines - Greek Rhetoric C3rd A.D. Hyginus, Fabulae - Latin Mythography C2nd A.D. Ovid, Metamorphoses - Latin Epic C1st B.C. - C1st A.D. Propertius, Elegies - Latin Elegy C1st B.C. Valerius Flaccus, The Argonautica - Latin Epic C1st A.D.

o o

Nonnos, Dionysiaca Suidas

- Greek Epic C5th A.D.

- Byzantine Greek Lexicon C10th A.D.

HALIA
Greek Name Transliteration Halia Leukothea Latin Spelling Halia Leucothea Translation Briny (hals) White Goddess (leukos, thea)

HALIA was a Haliad nymph of the island of Rhodes, who was loved by the god Poseidon. Her six sons forbade Aphrodite land on their island when she was sailing the seas following her birth. As punishment the goddess drove them mad and they raped their mother. Halia threw herself into the sea in shame, and the sons were buried by their father in the deep sea caves beneath the island. The Rhodians say that Halia became the goddess Leukothea. However, in myth, this goddess was usually the apotheosed Boiotian princess Ino. Halia appears to be the same as Kapheira, the Rhodian nurse of the god Poseidon. She was also probably related to Himalia, a Nymphe who was seduced by Zeus when he came to vanquish the Rhodian Gigantes (presumably the Telkhines). Finally, as the mother of Rhode, the Rhodian Athena, she was probably identified with Polyphe PARENTS
THALASSA (Diodorus Siculus 5.55.4)

OFFSPRING
PROSEOOUS DAIMONES, RHODOS (by Poseidon) (Diodorus Siculus 5.55.4)

ENCYCLOPEDIA
HALIA (Halia). A sister of the Telchines in Rhodes, by whom Poseidon had six sons and one daughter, Rhodos or Rhode, from whom the island of Rhodes received its name. Halia, after leaping into the sea, received the name of Leucothea, and was worshipped as a divine being by the Rhodians. (Diod. v. 55; comp. Rhodos.) Source: Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology. Diodorus Siculus, Library of History 5. 55. 4 (trans. Oldfather) (Greek historian C1st B.C.) : "Poseidon, the myth continues, when he had grown to manhood, became enamoured of Halia, the sister of the Telkhines, and lying with her he begat six male children and one daughter, called Rhodos, after whom the island was named . . . And while these were still young men, Aphrodite, they say, as she was journeying [after her birth from the sea] from Kytherea (Cytherea) to Kypros (Cyprus) and dropped anchor near Rhodes, was prevented from stopping there by

the sons of Poseidon, who were arrogant and insolent men; whereupon the goddess, in her wrath, brought a madness upon them, and they lay with their mother against her will . . . Halia cast herself into the sea, and she was afterwards given the name Leukothea and attained to immortal honour in the eyes of the natives.

Sources:
o Diodorus Siculus, The Library of History
- Greek History C1st B.C.

KABEIRO
Greek Name Transliteration Kabeir Latin Spelling Cabeiro, Cabiro Translation Of the Kabeirian Mysteries

KABEIRO (or Cabeiro) was a Haliad nymph daughter of the sea-god Proteus. She was the mother of the Kabeiroi (Cabeiri) gods of Lemnos by Hephaistos. Kabeiro may be the same as the prophetic, sea-goddess PARENTS
[1.1] PROTEUS (Pherecydes Frag, Strabo 10.3.21)

Eidothea.

OFFSPRING
[1.1] KADMILOS (by Hephaistos) (Acusilaus Frag, Strabo 10.3.21) [2.1] THE KABEIROI & THE KABEIRIDES (by Hephaistos) (Pherecydes Frag, Strabo 10.3.21) [2.2] THE KABEIROI (by Hephaistos) (Nonnus Dionysiaca 14.17 & 27.325)

Strabo, Geography 10. 3. 21 (trans. Jones) (Greek geographer C1st B.C. to C1st A.D.) : "Akousilas [Greek mythographer C6th-5th B.C.], the Argive, calls Kadmilos (Cadmilus) the son of Kabeiro (Cabeiro) and Hephaistos, and Kadmilos the father of three Kabeiroi (Cabeiri), and these the fathers of the Nymphai called Kabeirides. Pherekydes [mythographer C5th B.C.] says that . . . three Kabeiroi and three Nymphai called Kabeirides were the children of Kabeiro, the daughter of Proteus, and Hephaistos, and that sacred rites were instituted in honor of each triad." Nonnus, Dionysiaca 14. 7 ff (trans. Rouse) (Greek epic C5th A.D.) : "From the firepeak rock of Lemnos the two Kabeiroi in arms answered the stormy call answered the stormy call beside the mystic torch of Samos [Samothrake], two sons of Hephaistos whom Thrakian Kabeiro (Cabeiro) had borne to the heavenly smith, Alkon and Eurymedon well skilled at the forge, who bore their mothers tribal name." Nonnus, Dionysiaca 27. 120 ff : "[Deriades addresses his Indian troops during the war with Dionysos:] Let Lemnian Kabeiro (Cabeiro) unveiled lament the death of her two sons [the Kabeiroi]; let

sooty Hephaistos throw down his tongs, and see the destroyer of his race sitting in the car of the Kabeiroi." Nonnus, Dionysiaca 27. 325 ff : "[Zeus addresses Hephaistos during the Indian War of Dionysos:] Do you sit still, Hephaistos, and will not you save your children? Lift your accustomed torch to defend the Kabeiroi (Cabeiri); turn your eye and see your ancient bride, your Kabeiro (Cabeiro), reproaching you in love for her sons." Nonnus, Dionysiaca 29. 193 ff : "Two firestrong citizens of Samothrake [the Kabeiroi, Cabeiri] . . . sons of Lemnian Kabeiro (Cabeiro); their eyes flashed out their own natural sparks, which came from the red smoky flame of their father Hephaistos."

Sources:
o o Strabo, Geography Nonnos, Dionysiaca
- Greek Geography C1st B.C. - C1st A.D - Greek Epic C5th A.D.

KALLISTE
Greek Name Transliteration Kallist Latin Spelling Calliste Translation Of Calliste (island)

KALLISTE (or Calliste) was the Haliad nymph of the island of Kalliste (now Santorini) in the Aegean Sea. Her father, the sea-god Triton, presented her to the Argonaut Euphemos as a clod of earth. When the clod was washed overboard during the voyage it formed into the island of Kalliste. PARENTS
TRITON & LIBYA (Apollonius Rhodius 4.1734)

Pindar, Pythian Ode 4. 20 ff (trans. Conway) (Greek lyric C5th B.C.) : "When leaping from the prow where Lake Tritonis pours to the sea, Euphemos took the gift, token of a host's friendship, from a god [Triton] in mortal guise ho gave a clod of earth; and from aloft, to mark the sign, a peal of thunder sounded from Zeus the father, son of Kronos. This so befell, as on our ship we hung the bronze-fluked anchor . . . when for twelve days we had carried from Okeanos over earth's desert backs our good ship's hull . . . Then came to us this deity, all alone, clad in the noble semblance of a man of reverent bearing, and with friendly speech made to address us with a kindly greeting--such words with which a man of good intent speaks to invite the strangers newly come to share his table, and bids them first welcome. Yet did the dear plea of our homeward voyage call to us and forbade our stay. His name he gave, Eurypylos, saying he was the son of the immortal Holder of Earth (Ennosides) [Poseidon]; He saw hour haste to be away, and straightway he stopped and seized a clod beside his foot and in his right hand proffered the gift of friendship. And, for

he felt no misbelief, Euphemos lept to the shore and grasped his outstretched hand, and took the earth, that sign of heaven's will. But now I learn that it is lost, washed down as evening fell from the ship's deck, to wander on the seas dark smooth tide, with the sea spray. Many a time, indeed, did I charge to the serving-men who ease our toil to watch it well; but they forgot. Thus now the deathless seed of Libyas far-spreading plains is spilt upon this isle, e'er the due time. For had that prince, son of the horseman's god Poseidon . . . Euphemos come to holy Tainaros (Taenarum) and cast that seed where cleft earth opens to the mouth of hell, then had his sons in the fourth generation seized with the Danai this broad mainland. For then from mighty Sparta and Argos' gulf and from Mykenai (Mycenae) the peoples shall rise and move from their abode. But now Euphemos, taking from a breed a foreign women one to be his bride, shall found a chosen race. And they shall come paying due honour to the gods, unto this island, when they shall beget a man born to be lord of those dark-misted plains. And on a day in time to come, this man shall tread the path down to the shrine of Pytho, and Phoibos [Apollon] . . . shall speak to him his oracle, proclaiming that he shall bring a mighty host in ships to [Egypt] the rich land of Neilos (Nile) the precinct of the son of Kronos." Apollonius Rhodius, Argonautica 4. 1548 ff (trans. Rieu) (Greek epic C3rd B.C.) : "The great god Triton appeared before them, taking the form of a young man. He picked up a clod of earth and held it out to them by way of welcome, saying: Accept this gift, my friends. Here and now, I have no better one with which to welcome strangers such as you. But if you have lost your bearings, like many a traveller in foreign parts, and wish to cross the Libyan Sea, I will be your guide. My father Poseidon has taught me all its secrets, and I am the king of this seaboard. You may have heard of me though you live so far away--Eurypylos, born in Libya, the country of wild beasts. Euphemos gladly held his hand out for the clod." Apollonius Rhodius, Argonautica 4. 1734 ff : "[During the voyage from Libya to Greece across the Meditterannean the Argonaut Euphemos:] dreamt that he was holding to his breast the lump of earth which the god [Triton] had given him and was suckling it with streams of white milk. The clod, small as it was, turned into a woman of virginal appearance; and in an access of passion he lay with her. When the deed was done, he felt remorse--she had been a virgin and he had suckled her himself. But she consoled him, saying in a gentle voice: My friend, I am of Triton's stock and the Nurse of your children; no mortal maid, but a Daughter of Triton and Libya. Give me a home with Nereus' Daughters in the sea near Anaphe, and I will reappear in the light of day in time to welcome your descendants. Euphemos, after committing his dream to memory, told it to Iason (Jason). The dream reminded Iason of an oracle of Apollon's himself, exclaiming: My noble friend, you are marked out for great renown! When you have thrown this clod of earth into the sea, the gods will make an island of it, and there your children's children are to live. Triton received you as a friend with this little piece of Libyan soil. It was Triton and no other god that met us and gave you this. Euphemos heard Iason's prophecy with joy and did not make it void. He threw the clod into the depths of the sea, and there grew up from it an island called Kalliste (Calliste), the sacred Nurse of his descendants."

Sources:

o o

Pindar, Odes

- Greek Lyric C5th B.C. - Greek Epic C3rd B.C.

Apollonius Rhodius, The Argonautica

KYMOPOLEIA
Greek Name Transliteration Kymopoleia Kymatolg Latin Spelling Cymopoleia Cymatolege Translation Wave-Ranging (kyma, pole) Wave-Stiller (kyma, --)

KYMOPOLEIA (or Cymopoleia) was a Haliad nymph daughter of the god Poseidon and wife of the hundred-handed, storm-giant Briareos. She was probably a goddess of the violent storm waves generated by her stormy husband and, like her husband, presumably was of gigantic form. PARENTS
POSEIDON & AMPHITRITE (Hesiod Theogony 817 & 240)

OFFSPRING
Perhaps OIOLYKA (by Briareos)

Hesiod, Theogony 817 ff (trans. Evelyn-White) (Greek epic C8th or 7th B.C.) : "But [the three Hekatonkheires] the glorious allies of loud-crashing Zeus have their dwelling upon Okeanos' foundations, even Kottos (Cottus) and Gyes; but Briareos, being goodly, the deep-roaring Earth-Shaker [Poseidon] made his son-in-law, giving him Kymopoleia (Cymopoleia) his daughter to wed." Hesiod, Theogony 140 ff : "[The Nereis] Kymodoke (Cymodoce) who, with Kymatolege (Cymatolege) and Amphitrite, light of foot, on the misty face of the open water easily stills the waves and hushes the winds in their blowing." [N.B. Kymatolege appears in connection with the Nereides, but was not numbered amongst them. She may be the same as Kymopoleia, the daughter of Amphitrite, who is later mentioned by Hesiod.]

Sources:
o Hesiod, Theogony
- Greek Epic C8th-7th B.C.

INO LEUKOTHEA

Greek Name

Transliteration Leukothea In

Latin Spelling Leucothea Ino

Translation White-Goddess Of the Ionian Sea

LEUKOTHEA (or Leucothea) was a sea goddess who aided sailors in distress. She was once a mortal princess named Ino, a daughter of King Kadmos (Cadmus) of Thebes. She and her husband Athamas incurred the wrath of Hera when they fostered the infant god Dionysos. As punishment Hera drove Athamas into a murderous rage and he slew his eldest child. Ino grapped the other, and in her flight leapt off a cliff into the Leucothea & Palaemon, Roman mosaic C4th A.D., sea. The pair were Villa Romana del Casale, Piazza Amerina welcomed into the company of the marine gods and renamed Leukothea (the White Goddess) and Palaimon. Leukothea later came to the aid of Odysseus when his raft had been destroyed by Poseidon, and wrapped him in the safety of her buoyant shawl. The Romans identified her with the goddess Mater Matuta. PARENTS
[1.1] KADMOS (Homer Odyssey 5.333, Orphic Hymn 74) [1.2] KADMOS & HARMONIA (Pindar Olympian Ode 2, Pindar Pythian Ode 11, Apollodorus
3.25, Pausanias 9.5.2, Hyginus Fabulae 1, Nonnus Dionysiaca 5.556)

OFFSPRING
[1.1] LEARKHOS & MELIKERTES (by Athamas) (Apollodorus 1.80 & 3.28, Hyginus Fabulae 1 &
239, Nonnus Dionysiaca 5.556) [1.2] MELIKERTES (Pausanias 1.44.7, Philostratus Elder 2.16, Virgil Georgics 1.432, Cicero De Natura Deorum 3.15)

ENCYCLOPEDIA
INO (In), a daughter of Cadmus and Harmonia, and the wife of Athamas, who married her in addition to his proper wife Nephele, but according to some, not till after the death of Nephele. After her death and apotheosis, Ino was called Leucothea. The common story about her is related under Athamas [not included here]; but there are great variations in the traditions respecting her, which probably arose from the fact of the story having been made great use of by the Greek poets, especially the dramatists, among whose lost tragedies we find the titles of Athamas, Ino, and Phrixus. It here remains for us to mention the principal traditions about the latter period of her life and her apotheosis. After the supposed death of Ino, and after his flight from Boeotia, Athamas married

Themisto; but when he was informed that Ino was still living as a Bacchant in the valleys of Mount Parnassus, he secretly sent for her. Themisto, on hearing this, resolved to kill the children of Ino. With this object in view, she ordered one of her slaves at night to cover her own children with white, and those of Ino with black garments, that she might know the devoted children, and distinguish them from her own. But the slave who received this command was Ino herself in disguise, who changed the garments in such a manner as to lead Themisto to kill her own children. When Themisto discovered the mistake, she hung herself. (Hygin. Fab. 1 - 5.) Other traditions state that Athamas, when Hera visited him and Ino with madness for having brought up Dionysus, killed Learchus, one of his sons by Ino, and when he was on the point of killing also the other, Melicertes, Ino fled with him across the white plain in Megaris, and threw herself with the boy (or, according to Eurip. Med. 1289, with her two sons) into the sea. Melicertes is stated in some traditions to have previously died in a cauldron filled with boiling water. (Eustath. ad Hom. p. 1543; Plut. Sympos. v. 3; Ov. Met. iv. 505, 520, &c.; Tzetz, ad Lycoph. 229.) According to Plutarch (Quaest. Rom. 13), Ino killed her own son, as she had become mad from jealousy of an Aetolian slave, of the name of Antiphera, and Plutarch recognized an allusion to that story in a ceremony observed at Rome in the temple of Matuta, who was identified with Leucothea; for no female slave was allowed to enter the temple of Matuta at her festival, with the exception of one, who received a box on the ears from the matrons that were present. Hyginus (Fab. 2; comp. Paus. ii. 44. 11) states, that Athamas surrendered Ino and her son Melicertes to Phrixus to be killed, because she herself had attempted to kill Phrixus. But when Phrixus was on the point of committing the crime, Dionysus enveloped him in darkness and thus saved Ino. Athamas, who was thrown by Zeus into a state of madness, killed Learchus ; and Ino, who leaped into the sea, was raised to the rank of a divinity, by the desire of Dionysus. Others relate that Leucothea placed Dionysus with herself among the gods. (Plut. de Frat. Am. in fin.) After her leap into the sea, Leucothea was carried by a dolphin to the coast of Corinth, which was governed by Sisyphus, a brother of Athamas, who instituted the Isthmian games and an annual sacairfice in honour of the the. (Tzetz,. ad Lycoph. 107; comp. 229; Schol. ad Pind. Hypoth. Isthm. p. 514, ed. Boeckh.) According to a Megarian tradition, the body of Ino was washed on the coast of Megara, where she was found and buried by two virgins; and it is further said that there she received the name of Leucothea. (Paus. i. 42. 8.) Source: Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology.

FAMILY OF INO LEUCOTHEA

Pseudo-Apollodorus, Bibliotheca 3. 25 (trans. Aldrich) (Greek mythographer C2nd A.D.) : "Kadmos (Cadmus) had as daughters [by Harmonia] Autonoe, Ino, Semele, and Aguae (Agave), and one son Polydoros." Pausanias, Description of Greece 9. 5. 2 (trans. Jones) (Greek travelogue C2nd A.D.) : "Kadmos (Cadmus) made a brilliant marriage, if, as the Greek legend says, he indeed took to wife a daughter of Aphrodite and Ares. His daughters too have made him a name; Semele was famed for having a child by Zeus, Ino for being a divinity of the sea." Nonnus, Dionysiaca 5. 88 ff (trans. Rouse) (Greek epic C5th A.D.) :

"Soon Harmonia yoked by the cestus-girdle that guides wedded desire, carried in her womb the seed of many children whom she brought froth soon one by one: turn by turn she was delivered of her teeming burden by the birth of daughters, after four times nine circuits had been fulfilled . . . Then [second] came Ino to be her sister, the beautiful consort of Athamas who bore him two children."
Greek Name Transliteration Thalassomedoisa Byn Latin Spelling Thalassomedusa Byne Translation Sea Queen Malt (for brewing)

DEATH AND APOTHEOSIS OF INO

Homer, Odyssey 5. 333 ff (trans. Shewring) (Greek epic C8th B.C.) : "Kadmos' (Cadmus') daughter, slender-ankled Ino who is also Leukothea (Leucothea); once she had been a mortal and spoken with human voice, but now she lives in the salt seas and the gods give her the honour that is her due." Pindar, Olympian Ode 2. 22 ff (trans. Conway) (Greek lyric C5th B.C.) : "Such is the tale told of the fair-throned maids of Kadmos (Cadmus), who suffered mightily, but heavy woe falls before greater good . . . The tale runs too, that in the ocean with the sea-maidens, Nereus' daughters [the Nereides], Ino was given undying life forever." Aeschylus, Athamas (lost play) (Greek tragedy C5th B.C.) : Aeschylus' lost play Athamas told the story of the madness of Athamas and the flight of Ino with her son Melikertes. Pseudo-Apollodorus, Bibliotheca 1. 80 (trans. Aldrich) (Greek mythographer C2nd A.D.) : "Athamas, lord of Boiotia (Boeotia), sired by Nephele a son Phrixos and a daughter Helle. Then he took a second wife, Ino, by whom he had Learkhos (Learchus) and Melikertes (Melicertes)." Pseudo-Apollodorus, Bibliotheca 3. 28 : "Zeus . . . gave birth to Dionysos, whom he entrusted to Hermes. Hermes took him to Ino and Athamas, and persuaded them to bring him up as a girl. Incensed, Hera inflicted madness on them, so that Athamas stalked and slew his elder son Learkhos (Learchus) on the conviction that he was a dear, while Ino threw Melikertes (Melicertes) into a basin of boiling water, and then, carrying both the basin and the corpse of the boy, she jumped to the bottom of the sea. Now she is called Leukothea (Leucothea), and her son is Palaimon (Palaemon): these names they receive from those who sail, for they help sailors beset by storms." Pausanias, Description of Greece 1. 44. 7 (trans. Jones) (Greek travelogue C2nd A.D.) : "There are legends about these rocks [the Molourian Rocks on the coast of Megara] . . . it is said that from it Ino flung herself into the sea with Melikertes (Melicertes), the younger of his children . . . Then it was that she fled to the sea and cast herself and her son from the Molourian Rock . . . The Molourian Rock they though sacred to Leukothea (Leucothea) and Palaimon (Palaemon)." Pausanias, Description of Greece 4. 34. 4 : "On this road [under Mount Mathia in Messenia] is a place on the coast regarded as

sacred to Ino. For they say that she came up from the sea at this point, after her divinity had been accepted and her name changed from Ino to Leukothea (Leucothea)." Philostratus the Elder, Imagines 2. 16 (trans. Fairbanks) (Greek rhetorician C3rd A.D.) : "Ino throwing herself from the land for her part becomes Leukothea (Leucothea) and one of the band of the Nereides, while as for the child, the earth will claim the infant Palaimon (Palaemon)." Callistratus, Descriptions 14 (trans. Fairbanks) (Greek rhetorician C4th A.D.) : "[A description of an ancient Greek painting:] There was a figure on the Skythian shores, not yet up for display but fashioned not inelegantly for a contest of beauty in painting. It represented Athamas goaded on by madness. He was shown as naked, his hair reddened with blood and its locks flying in the wind, his eye distraught, himself filled with consternation; and he was armed not by madness alone for a rash deed, nor did he rage merely with the soul-consuming fears which the Erinyes (Furies) send; nay, he even held a sword out in front of him, like a man making a sally . . . Ino too was present, in a state of terror, trembling slightly, her face place and corpse-like though fright; and she embraced her infant child [Melikertes] and held her breast to its lips, letting the nurturing drops fall on the nursling. The figure of Ino was hastening towards the promontory of Skeiron (Sciron) and the sea at the foot of the mountain, and the breakers that were wont to surge in billows were spreading out in a hollow to receive her, and something of Zephyros (the West Wind) pervaded the waters as he with shrill blast lulled the sea to rest. For in truth the wax beguiled the sense into thinking that it could fashion a breeze and cause the sea winds to rise and could apply the art of imitation to nature's works. And sea-dolphins were sporting near by, coursing through the waves in the painting, and the wax seemed to be tossed by the wind and to become wet in imitation of the sea, assuming the sea's own qualities. Moreover, at the outer edges of the painting an Amphitrite rose from the depths, a creature of savage and terrifying aspect who flashed from her eyes a bright radiance. And round about her stood Nereides; these were dainty and bright to look upon, distilling love's desire from their eyes; and circling in their dance over crests of the sea's waves, they amazed the spectator. About them flowed Okeanos, the motion of his stream being well-nigh like the billows of the sea." Pseudo-Hyginus, Fabulae 1 (trans. Grant) (Roman mythographer C2nd A.D.) : "Athamas, son of Aeolus, had by his wife Nebula [Nephele], a son Phrixus and a daughter Helle . . . and by Ino, daughter of Cadmus, two sons, Learchus and Melicertes." Pseudo-Hyginus, Fabulae 2 : "Ino, daughter of Cadmus and Harmonia, wishing to kill Phrixus and Helle, Nebula's [Nephele's] children, formed a plan with the women of the entire tribe, and conspired to parch the seed grain to make it unfertile, so that, when the sterility and scarcity of grain resulted, the whole state should perish, some by starvation, others by sickness. With regard to this situation Athamas sent a servant to Delphi, but Ino instructed him to bring back a false reply that the pestilence would end if he sacrificed Phrixus to Jove [Zeus]. When Athamas refused to do this, Phrixus voluntarily and readily promised that he alone would free the state from its distress. Accordingly he ws led to the altar, wearing fillets of sacrifice, but he servant, out of pity for the youth, revealed Ino's plans to Athamas. The king, thus informed of the crime, gave over his wife Ino and her son Melicertes to be put to

death, but Father Liber [Dionysos] cast mist around her, and saved Ino his nurse. Later, Athamas, driven mad by Jove [Zeus], slew his son Learchus. But Ino, with Melicertes her son, threw herself into the sea. Liber [Dionysos] would have her called Leucothea, and Melicertes, her son the god Palaemon, but we call her Mater Matuta, and him Portunus. In his honor every fifth year gymnastic contests are held, which are called Isthmian." Pseudo-Hyginus, Fabulae 4 : "Ino with the younger [son of her and Athamas], Melicertes, cast herself into the sea and was made a goddess." Pseudo-Hyginus, Fabulae 224 : "Mortals who were made immortal . . . Ino, daughter of Cadmus, into Leucothea, whom we call Mater Matuta; Melicertes, son of Athamas, into the god Palaemon." Pseudo-Hyginus, Fabulae 239 : "Ino, daughter of Cadmus, killed her son Melicertes by Athamas, son of Aeolus, when she was fleeing from Athamas." Pseudo-Hyginus, Fabulae 243 : "Ino, daughter of Cadmus, hurled herself into the sea with her son, Melicertes." Ovid, Metamorphoses 4. 416 ff (trans. Melville) (Roman epic C1st B.C. to C1st A.D.) : "Bacchus' [Dionysos'] divinity was hymned through all Thebae, and Ino everywhere told of the god's (her nephew's) mighty power. Of all the sisters she alone was spared sorrow except her sorrow for her sake. Her pride was high, pride in her children, pride in Athamas, her husband and the god, her foster-child; and this in Juno's [Hera's] sight was more than she could bear . . . [And the goddess summoned up an Erinys to drive the couple mad.] Then raving through the palace Aeolides [Athamas] shouted Here in this copse, friends, spread the nets! I've seen a lioness with her two cubs! And, in this madness hunting her, tracked down his wife and snatched Learchus from her arms, his little laughing son with hands outstretched, and like a slinger whirled him round and round and wildly smashed the baby's head against a granite block; and then his mother, crazed by grief or by the sprinkled poison's power, screamed madly and with streaming hair rushed out with tiny Melicerta in her arms, and shouted Bacchus! Bacchus!; at the name of Bacchus Juno [Hera] smiled, Well done, the brat you fostered, to bestow a boon like that! A cliff hung by the shore; the bottom part was hollowed by the waves and formed a roof to shield the waters from the storms; the top stood hard and high and faced the open sea. Here Ino climbed (her madness gave her strength) and with her burden launched herself, unchecked by any thought of fear, out and away, and where she fell the waves were white with spray. But Venus [Aphrodite], pitying her grandchild's woes, so undeserved, addressed with winning words her uncle: Lord of waters, whose power yields to heaven alone, great Neptunus [Poseidon], what I ask is much indeed, put pity those I love, now tossing in the vast Ionian Sea, and make them gods to join your company. I too should find some favour with the sea, for in its holy depths in days gone by from sea-foam I was formed, and still from foam I take my name in Greece. Her prayer was granted. Neptunus [Poseidon] removed their mortal essences, clothed them in majesty and awe, and changed features and names alike, the boy to be Palaemon, and his mother Leucothoe." Valerius Flaccus, Argonautica 8. 16 ff (trans. Mozley) (Roman epic C1st A.D.) :

"Ino horror-stricken leaps into the sea, nor in her panic remembers the tiny babe [Melikertes] she carries; her spouse strikes the far end of the Isthmus--baffled." Statius, Thebaid 1. 12 ff (trans. Mozley) (Roman epic C1st A.D.) : "With Palaemon in her arms his mother [Ino] quailed not to leap into the vast Ionian Sea." Statius, Thebaid 9. 401 ff : "So did Leukothea, not yet a Nereid, wail in Isthmus' haven, when her cold babe [Melikertes] with gasping breast spewed out upon his mother the angry sea." Nonnus, Dionysiaca 5. 556 ff (trans. Rouse) (Greek epic C5th A.D.) : "After the bridals of Nephele of the earlier marriages, maiden Ino went with revels to the bridal chamber of Athamas. She bore Learkhos (Learchus) destined to woe, and Melikertes (Melicertes). She was afterwards to find a home in the sea, as cherishing nurse for the childhood of Bromios [Dionysos]: to both she gave one common breast, Palaimon (Palaemon) and Dionysos." Nonnus, Dionysiaca 9. 59 ff : "[Hermes delivers the infant Dionysos into the foster-care of Ino:] The god [Hermes] spoke to her [Ino] in friendly coaxing tones, and let pass a divine message from his prophetic throat: Madam, receive a new son; lay in your bosom the child of Semele your sister. Not the full blaze of the lightning destroyed him in her chamber; even the sparks of the thunderbolt which killed his mother did him no harm. Let the child be kept safe in a gloomy room, and let neither the Sun's eye by day nor the Moon's eye by night see him in your roofed hall. Cover him up, that jealous resentful Hera may never see him playing, though she is said to have eyes to se a bull. Receive your sister's boy, and you shall have from Kronion [Zeus] a reward for his nurture worthy of your pains. Happy are you among all the daughters of Kadmos (Cadmus)! for already Semele has been brought low by a fiery bolt; Autonoe shall lie under the earth with her dead son, and Kithairon (Cithaeron) will set up one tomb for both; Agaue (Agave) shall see the fate of Pentheus among the hills, and she shall touch his ashes all deceived. A soothsayer she shall be, and a banished woman, but you alone shall be proud; you shall inhabit the mighty sea and settle in Poseidon's house; in the brine like Thetis, like Galateia, your name shall be Ino of the Waters. Kithairon shall not hide you in the hollow earth, but you shall be one of the Nereides. Instead of Kadmos (Cadmus), you shall call Nereus father, with happier hopes. You shall ever live with Melikertes (Melicertes) your immortal son as Leukothea (Leucothea), holding the key of calm waters, mistress of good voyage next to Aiolos. The merchant seaman trusting in you shall have a fineweather voyage over the brine; he shall set up one altar for the Earthshaker and Melikertes, and do sacrifice to both together; Seabluehair shall accept Palaimon as guide for his coach of the sea. With these words Hermes was off into the sky unapproachable, twirling in the air the windswift soles of his shoes." Nonnus, Dionysiaca 10. 67 ff : "[Athamas is driven mad by the goddess Hera as punishment for the fostering of Dionysos:] In the hall he [Athamas] espied little Melikertes (Melicertes) [his son] who had just been brought in, and setting a cauldron over the hearth, a steaming cauldron, he laid his son in it: the fire blazed up, the murderous cauldron bubbled with boiling water. His son called out for papa! but none of the servants could help. Ino his mother came in like a stormwind, and snatched him from the cauldron parboiled and half-consumed. Then she ran out bounding with wild-roaming feet

swift as the wind; she traversed the dust of the White Plain, and for that reason she was named after it Leukothea (Leucothea), the White Goddess. Athamas mad was out of the hall, stirring his knees like the wind and pursuing Ino over the hills in vain,--she was too quick for him. But when the raving husband with restless staggering foot caught her up, at that moment the unhappy woman had halted by the sea which washed her foot, moaning in plaintive tones over her crying child, while she upbraided Kronion [Zeus] and Maia's son [Hermes] his messenger: A fine reward you have given me, Flash-thunderbolt, for the care of Bakkhos (Bacchus)! See this boy, Lyaios' agemate, half burnt to death! If it please you, strike down with your merciless bolt mother and son together, the little one I nursed in one bosom with you're your divine Dionysos! Child, Necessity is a great god!--where will you flee? What mountain will receive you, now you have fled to the sea? What Kithairon (Cithaeron) will hide you in a dark hollow? What mortal man will pity you, when your father has no mercy? Either sword or water shall receive you: if needs must, better to perish in the sea than by the sword. I know where this disaster came from, rolling upon your mother: I know! It is Nephele sends the Erinyes (Furies) after me, that I may die in this sea where maiden Helle fell. I have heard that Phrixos was carried through the air to the Kolkhian (Colchian) country, guiding aloft the Ram who took him off, and he still lives in a distant land. O that my son Melikertes (Melicertes) too might escape to another country, and travel the high path of the Gold-fleece Ram (krios khrysopokos)! O that Poseidon, the hospitable friend of Glaukos (Glaucus), might save you, pitying your Ino as once he pitied Phoibos [Apollon]! I fear that after the fate of unburied Learkhos (Learchus) I may see you also dead, unburied, unwept, undone, panting under the bloody knife of your father. Make haste! escape from mad Athamas, and then you will not see the father who murdered his child, murder the mother. Receive me you too, O sea! I have done with earth. Receive Melikertes also with hospitable hand, O Nereus, as you received Perseus! Receive Ino, as once Danae in her gloating hutch! I have been justly punished for my impiety. As I made seedless the earth's lifegiving furrow, so Kronion [Zeus] has made my family seedless. A kind of stepmother, I planned to mow down the bastard plants of Athamas, and Hera, the real stepmother of newly nurtured Dionysos, is angry with me. She spoke, and with trembling feet sprang into the sea, swiftly diving with her son. Seabluehair [Poseidon] opened his arms to receive Leukothea (Leucothea), and took her into the divine company in the deep waters. She helps ever since the seamen who lose their way, and now she is Ino of the sea, a Nereis who has charge of untumultuous calm. So Kronides [Zeus] pointed her out to the mother of Lyaios [i.e. Semele the mother of Dionysos], because she owed it to Bromios that she was a goddess. Semele in her joy addressed her seafaring sister in mockery: Ino, you have the sea, Semele has gained the round heavens! Give me place! I had an immortal husband in Kronides [Zeus] the plower of my field, who brought forth the fruit of my birth instead of me; but you were wedded to a mortal mate Athamas, the murderer of your family. Your son's lot is the sea, but my son will come to the house of Zeus to dwell in the sky. I will not compare heavenly Dionysos with Melikertes down in the water! That is how Semele the heavenly bride yelled out in mockery of her sister Ino's life who dwelt in the sea." Nonnus, Dionysiaca 40. 209 ff : "[The Indian Queen prays for a fate like Ino's:] May I dwell with the Neiades (Naiads), since Seabluehair [Poseidon] received Leukothea (Leucothea) also living and she is called one of the Nereides; and may I appear another watery Ino, no longer white, but blackfooted."

Z33.8 LEUKOTHEA, PALAIMON, TRITON

LEUCOTHEA RESCUES ODYSSEUS

Homer, Odyssey 5. 333 ff (trans. Shewring) (Greek epic C8th B.C.) : "[As Odysseus was sailing from the island of Kalypso (Calypso) on a raft, Poseidon sent a storm to capsize the vessel:] One being saw him [Odysseus], Kadmos' (Cadmus') daughter, slender-ankled Ino who is also Leukothea (Leucothea); once she had been a mortal and spoken with human voice, but now she lives in the salt seas and the gods give her the honour that is her due. She it was who now felt compassion for Odysseus the persecuted wanderer; she flew up from the waves as a seagull might, sat on the strong-bound raft and spoke: Unhappy man, why has Poseidon who shakes the earth become so monstrously angry with you? Why does he sow all these seeds of misery for you? But despite his malice he shall not destroy you utterly. Only you must do as I say--I think you do not lack understanding; strip off these clothes, leave the raft for the winds to toss, strike out with your arms and try to reach land again on the Phaiakian (Phaeacian) shore; it is there you are fated to find deliverance. And see--this is a scarf of mine, of celestial make; wind it round you above your waist, and you need fear neither death nor harm. But once you have grasped the shore with your hands, undo the scarf and throw it into the wine-dark sea again, far from the shore; and avert your eyes. With that, the goddess gave him the scarf; then sank once more, as a seagull might, into the billowy sea, and the dark wave covered her. Odysseus, acquainted with many perils, was distrustful now and spoke in bitterness to his ardent soul: Wretch that I am! Can this divinity in her turn be laying a snare for me in her command to forsake the raft? I will not at once do what she said, because the land that she called my refuge seemed still far away when I caught a glimpse of it. No, I will do this instead--it seems the most prudent thing. As long as the planks hold together, I will stay on board and endure whatever evil comes; but when once the waves have shattered the craft piece from piece, I will take to swimming: there is nothing better I can think of. While he was inwardly planning thus, Poseidon the earth-shaker heaved a huge wave against him--overwhelming, hideous, with arching crest; and it struck him full . . . so the wave now scattered the raft's long planks. But Odysseus bestrode a single plank, like a man riding a horse; he stripped off the clothes Kalypso (Calypso) gave him, drew the scarf round him above his waist at once, then let himself fall downwards into the sea, striking out with his arms and striving desperately to swim . . . Then for two nights and two days Odysseus was driven at random by swollen billows . . . [until he eventually came ashore on the island of the Phaiakes (Phaeacians)] When he had got his breath again and rallied the spirit in his breast, he undid the scarf the goddess had given him and threw it into the seaward flowing river. The swelling water carried it on downstream, and Ino hastened to catch it in her hands." Lycophron, Alexandra 755 ff (trans. Mair) (Greek poet C3rd B.C.) :

"And hardly shall the frontlet of Bryne [Leukothea] save him [Odysseus] from the evil tide with torn breast and fingers wherewith he shall clutch the flesh-hooking rocks." Philostratus, Life of Apollonius of Tyana 7. 22 (trans. Conybeare) (Greek biography C1st to C2nd A.D.) : "[The philosopher Damis:] I am ready to believe that Leukothea (Leucothea) did really once give her veil to Odysseus, after he had fallen out of his ship and was paddling himself over the sea with his hands. For we are reduced to just as awful and impossible a plight, when some god, as it seems to me, stretches out his hand over us, that we fall not away from all hope of salvation." Pseudo-Hyginus, Fabulae 125 (trans. Grant) (Roman mythographer C2nd A.D.) : "When a raft had been made there, Calypso sent him [Odysseus] off with an abundance of provisions, but Neptunus shattered the raft with his waves because he had blinded his son, the Cyclops. While he was being tossed about by the waves, Leucothoe, who we call Mater Matuta, who lives forever in the sea, gave him her girdle to bind around his chest, to buoy him up. When he had done this, he swam to safety."

LEUCOTHEA THE SEA GODDESS, MISCELLANY

Pindar, Pythian Ode 11. 1 ff (trans. Conway) (Greek lyric C5th B.C.) : "Daughter of Kadmos (Cadmus), Semele from your high place amidst the queens of heaven, and Ino Leukothea (Leucothea), you who dwell by the immortal seanymphai, Nereus' daughters, come with the noble mother of Herakles (Heracles) to the shrine of Melia, to the treasure-house of golden tripods, the temple that above all others Apollon held in honour, and he named it the Ismenion, the seat of prophecy that known no lie. Daughters of Harmonia, the god now summons to assemble here that band of heroine women who dwelt within this land, that you may sing in praise of holy Themis and Pytho, and the centre-stone of earth, whose word is justice--here as evening's shadows fall." Alcman, Fragment 50 (trans. Campbell, Vol. Greek Lyric II) (Greek lyric C7th B.C.) : "Ino Thalassomedoisa (Queen of the Sea)." Pseudo-Apollodorus, Bibliotheca 3. 28 (trans. Aldrich) (Greek mythographer C2nd A.D.) : "Now she [Ino] is called Leukothea (Leucothea), and her son is Palaimon (Palaemon): these names they receive from those who sail, for they help sailors beset by storms." Orphic Hymn 74 to Leucothea (trans. Taylor) (Greek hymns C3rd B.C. to 2nd A.D.) : "To Leukothea (Leucothea), Fumigation from Aromatics. I call, Leukothea, of great Kadmos (Cadmus) born, and Dionysos' nurse, who ivy leaves adorn. Hear, powerful Goddess, in the mighty deep vast-bosomed, destined thy domain to keep: in waves rejoicing, guardian of mankind; for ships from thee alone deliverance find, amidst the fury of the unstable main, when art no more avails, and strength is vain. When

rushing billows with tempestuous ire overwhelm the mariner in ruin dire, thou hearest with pity touched his suppliant prayer, resolved his life to succour and to spare. Be ever present, Goddess! In distress, waft ships along with prosperous success: thy mystics through the stormy sea defend, and safe conduct them to their destined end." Ovid, Heroides 19. 123 ff (trans. Showerman) (Roman poetry C1st B.C. to C1st A.D.) : "With what great waves the shores [of the Hellespontos] are beaten, and what dark clouds envelop and hide the day! It may be the loving mother [Nephele the Cloud] of Helle has come to the sea, and is lamenting in downpouring tears the drowning of her child--or is the step-dame [Ino], turned to a goddess of the waters [Leukothea], vexing the sea that is called by her step-child's hated name?" Virgil, Georgics 1. 432 ff (trans. Fairclough) (Roman bucolic C1st B.C.) : "If at her [the moon's] fourth rising she pass through the sky clear and with undimmed horns, then all that day, and the days born of it to the month's end, shall be free from rain and wind; and the sailors, safe in port, shall pay their vows on the shore to Glaucus, and to Panopea, and to Melicerta, Ino's son." Valerius Flaccus, Argonautica 2. 585 ff (trans. Mozley) (Roman epic C1st A.D.) : "This realm [the Hellespont] the father of the deep [Poseidon] himself awarded me [Helle, stepdaughter of Ino, also transformed into a sea-goddess], willing justly, and our gulf envies not Ino's sea [the Gulf of Corinth]." Propertius, Elegies 2. 26 (trans. Goold) (Roman elegy C1st B.C.) : "How I feared lest the sea perchance should take you name and mariners sailing your waters should weep for you. What vows did I then make to Neptunus [Poseidon], to Castor and his brother [the Dioskouroi], and to you, Leucothoe, a goddess now!" Propertius, Elegies 2. 28 : "Ino also in early life wandered over the earth: now she is invoked as Leucothoe by sailors in distress." Seneca, Oedipus 444 ff (trans. Miller) (Roman tragedy C1st A.D.) : "Cadmean Ino, foster-mother of shining Bacchus [Dionysos], holds the realms of the deep, encircled by bands of Nereides dancing; over the waves of the mighty deep a boy holds sway, new come, the kinsman of Bacchus, no common god, Palaemon." Statius, Thebaid 1. 120 ff (trans. Mozley) (Roman epic C1st A.D.) : "[The] Isthmus scarce withstood the waves on either side. With her own hand his mother [Leukothea] snatched Palaemon from the curved back of his straying dolphin steed and pressed him to her bosom." Statius, Silvae 3. 2. 1 (trans. Mozley) (Roman poetry C1st A.D.) : "But above all others thou, Palaemon, with the goddess mother [Leukothea], be favourable [on this sea-voyage], if 'tis thy desire that I [the poet Statius] should tell of thine own Thebes, and sing of Amphion, bard of Phoebus, with no unworthy quill." Nonnus, Dionysiaca 9. 59 ff (trans. Rouse) (Greek epic C5th A.D.) : "You [Ino] shall ever live with Melikertes (Melicertes) your immortal son as Leukothea, holding the key of calm waters, mistress of good voyage next to Aiolos

(Aeolus) [god of the winds]. The merchant seaman trusting in you shall have a fineweather voyage over the brine; he shall set up one altar for the Earthshaker and Melikertes, and do sacrifice to both together." Nonnus, Dionysiaca 20. 350 ff : "Lykourgos (Lycurgus) indignant [that Dionysos had escaped him by fleeing into the sea] shouted aloud to the water--I wish my father [Ares] had taught me not war alone, but how to deal with the sea! . . . But since I have not learnt the work of seafaring fishers, and know nothing of the tricks of hunting in the deep with a cunning mesh of nets, you may have Leukothea's house in the watery deep, until I can dislodge both you and Melikertes (Melicertes) as they call him, another of your kin . . . Ho Fishermen! Searchers of the haunts of Nereus! Spread not your nets for the denizens of the deep, but haul out Dionysos in the meshes! Let Leukothea (Leucothea) be caught along with Lyaios, and let her come back to the land." Nonnus, Dionysiaca 21. 170 ff : "In the Erythraian (Red) Sea, the daughters of Nereus [Nereides] cherished Dionysos [driven to refuge in the sea by Lykourgos] at their table, in their halls deep down under the waves. Mermaid Ino threw off her jealousy of [her sister] Semele's bed divine, and struck up a brave hymn for winepouring Lyaios [Dionysos]. Ino the nurse of Dionysos made music; and Melikertes his fosterbrother ladled out nectar from the bowl, and poured the sweet cups for his agemate. So he remained in the hall deep down in the waves under the waters, and he lay sprawled among the seaweed in Thetis' bosom; he embraced never satisfied Kadmos' (Cadmus') daughter, Ino his nurse, mother of a noble son, sister of his own mother, and often he held in the loving prison of his arms Palaimon (Palaemon) his yearsmate, his foster-brother." Nonnus, Dionysiaca 43. 253 ff : "[When Poseidon led the sea-gods into battle against Dionysos and his allies in the Indian War:] The tribes of Nereides sounded for their sire the cry of battle-triumph: unshod, half hidden in the brine, the company rushed raging to combat over the sea. Restless Ino [Leukothea] speeding unarmed into strife with the Satyroi, fell again into her old madness spitting white foam from her maddened lips."

CULT & CULT IMAGES OF LEUCOTHEA

Alcman, Fragment 4a (trans. Campbell, Vol. Greek Lyric II) (Greek lyric C7th B.C.) : "I came to the lovely sanctuary of Leukothea (Leucothea)." Cicero, De Natura Deorum 3. 15 (trans. Rackham) (Roman rhetorician C1st B.C.) : "In Greece they worship a number of deified human beings . . . Leucothea, formerly Ino, and her son Palaemon [worshipped] throughout the whole of Greece." Cicero, De Natura Deorum 3. 19 : "Ino is to be deemed divine, under the title Leucothea in Greece and Matuta at Rome, she is the daughter of Cadmus."

I) CULT IN MEGARIS (SOUTHERN GREECE) Pausanias, Description of Greece 1. 44. 7 (trans. Jones) (Greek travelogue C2nd A.D.) : "There are legends about these rocks [the Molourian Rocks on the coast of Megara] . . . it is said that from it Ino flung herself into the sea with Melikertes (Melicertes) . . . The Molourian Rock they though sacred to Leukothea (Leucothea) and Palaimon (Palaemon)." Pausanias, Description of Greece 1. 42. 7 : "On the road to the town-hall [of Megara] is the shrine of the heroine Ino, about which is a fencing of stones, and beside it grows olives. The Megarians are the only Greeks who say that the corpse of Ino was cast up on their coast, that Kleos (Cleos) and Tauropolis, the daughters of Kleson (Cleson), son of Lelex, found and buried it, and they say that among them first was she nnamed Leukothea (Leucothea), and that every year they offer her sacrifice." II) CULT IN KORINTHOS (CORINTH) (SOUTHERN GREECE) Pausanias, Description of Greece 2. 2. 1 : "Within the enclosure [of Poseidon at Korinthos] is on the left a temple of Palaimon (Palaemon), with images in it of Poseidon, Leukothea (Leucothea) and Palaimon himself." Pausanias, Description of Greece 2. 3. 4 : "After the image of Hermes [on the road from Korinthos (Corinth) to its port of Lekhaion] come Poseidon, Leukothea, and Palaimon on a dolphin." Statius, Silvae 2. 2. 34 (trans. Mozley) (Roman poetry C1st A.D.) : "The lofty height of Bacchic Ephyre [Corinth], is the covered way that leads from Lechaeum, of Ino's fame." [N.B. Lechaeum was the Corinthian port connected with teh cult of Ino and Palaimon.] III) CULT IN LAKEDAIMONIA (SOUTHERN GREECE) Pausanias, Description of Greece 3. 23. 8 (trans. Jones) (Greek travelogue C2nd A.D.) : "About two stades to the right [of Epidauros Limera in Lakedaimon] is the water of Ino, as it is called, in extent like a small lake, but going deeper into the earth. Into this water they throw cakes of barley meal at the festival of Ino. If good luck is portended to the thrower, the water keeps them under. But if it brings them to the surface, it is judged a bad sign." Pausanias, Description of Greece 3. 26. 1 : "On [the road from Oitylos to Thalamai in Lakonia] is a sanctuary of Ino and an oracle. They consult the oracle in sleep, and the goddess reveals whatever they wish to learn, in dreams. Bronze statues of Pasiphae and of Helios (the Sun) stand in the unroofed part of the sanctuary [of Ino at Thalamai]. It was not possible to see the one within the temple clearly, owing to the garlands, but they say this too is of bronze. Water, sweet to drink, flows from a sacred spring. Pasiphae is a title of Selene, and is not a local goddess of the people of Thalamai (Thalamae)." Pausanias, Description of Greece 3. 19. 3 - 5 :

"On the altar [of Apollon at Amyklai in Lakonia] are wrought in relief . . . Zeus and Hermes are conversing; near stand Dionysos and Semele, with Ino by her side." Lycophron, Alexandra 105 ff (trans. Mair) (Greek poet C3rd B.C.) : "On the beach she [Helene in Sparta] burns the firstling of the flocks to the Thysad Nympha and the goddess Byne [Leukothea]." IV) CULT IN KOLKHIS (BLACK SEA) Strabo, Geography 11. 2. 17 (trans. Jones) (Greek geographer C1st B.C. to C1st A.D.) : "Above the aforesaid rivers [the Phasis] in the Moskhian country [Kolkhis (Colchis), at the Eastern end of the Black Sea] lies the temple of Leukothea, founded by Phrixos [her step-son], and the oracle of Phrixos, where a ram is never sacrificed; it was once rich, but it was robbed in our time by Pharnakes, and a little later by Mithridates of Pergamon." V) CULT IN TYRRHENIA (CENTRAL ITALY) Aelian, Historical Miscellany 1. 20 (trans. Wilson) (Greek rhetorician C2nd to 3rd A.D.) : "Dionysios [Sicilian tyrant, ca. 430-367 B.C.] stole objects from all the temples of Syrakousa (Syracuse) . . . He [also] sailed to Tyrrhenia [Etruria] and stole all the property of Apollon and Leukothea (Leucothea)."

Sources:
o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o Homer, The Odyssey - Greek Epic C8th B.C. Pindar, Odes - Greek Lyric C5th B.C. Greek Lyric II Alcman, Fragments - Greek Lyric C7th B.C. Apollodorus, The Library - Greek Mythography C2nd A.D. The Orphic Hymns - Greek Hymns C3rd B.C.- C2nd A.D. Lycophron, Alexandra - Greek Poetry C3rd B.C. Strabo, Geography - Greek Geography C1st B.C. - C1st A.D. Pausanias, Description of Greece - Greek Travelogue C2nd A.D. Aelian, Historical Miscellany - Greek Rhetoric C2nd-3rd A.D. Philostratus, Life of Apollonius of Tyana - Greek Biography C2nd A.D. Philostratus the Elder, Imagines - Greek Rhetoric C3rd A.D. Callistratus, Descriptions - Greek Rhetoric C4th A.D. Hyginus, Fabulae - Latin Mythography C2nd A.D. Ovid, Metamorphoses - Latin Epic C1st B.C. - C1st A.D. Ovid, Heroides - Latin Poetry C1st B.C. - C1st A.D. Virgil, Georgics - Latin Bucolic C1st B.C. Propertius, Elegies - Latin Elegy C1st B.C. Cicero, De Natura Deorum - Latin Philosophy C1st B.C. Seneca, Oedipus - Latin Tragedy C1st A.D. Valerius Flaccus, The Argonautica - Latin Epic C1st A.D. Statius, Thebaid - Latin Epic C1st A.D. Statius, Silvae - Latin Epic C1st A.D. Nonnos, Dionysiaca - Greek Epic C5th A.D.

Other references not currently quoted here: Plutarch Roman Questions 13; Tzetzes on

Lycophron

NEREIDES
Greek Name Transliteration Nreis Nreides Latin Spelling Nereid Nereids Translation Daughters of Nereus, Wet Ones (nros)

THE NEREIDES (or Nereids) were fifty Haliad Nymphs or goddesses of the sea. They were the patrons of sailors and fishermen, who came to the aid of men in distress, and goddesses who had in their care the sea's rich bounty. Individually they also represented various facets of the sea, from salty brine, to foam, sand, rocky shores, waves and currents, in addition to the various skills possessed by seamen. The Nereides dwelt with their elderly Nereid nymph riding dolphin, Apulian red-figure pelike father Nereus in a silvery C5th B.C., J. Paul Getty Museum, Malibu cavern at the bottom of the Aegean Sea. The Nereid Thetis was their unofficial leader, and Amphitrite was the queen of the sea. Together with the Tritones they formed the retinue of Poseidon. The Nereides were depicted in ancient art as beautiful young maidens, sometimes running with small dolphins or fish in their hands, or else riding on the back of dolphins, hippokampoi (fish-tailed horses) and other sea creatures. PARENTS
[1.1] NEREUS & DORIS (Hesiod Theogony 260, Apollodorus 1.11, Aelian On Animals 14.28,
Hyginus Pref, Ovid Metamorphoses 2.10, 11.60) [1.2] NEREUS (Homer lliad 18.37, Orphic Hymn 24, Quintus Smyrnaeus 3.580, Pausanias 5.19)

ENCYCLOPEDIA
NEREIS (Nres), or Nerine (Virg. Eclog. vii. 37), is a patronymic from Nereus, and applied to his daughters (Nereides, Nredes, and in Homer Nrdes) by Doris, who were regarded by the ancients as marine nymphs of the Mediterranean, in contra-distinction from the Naiades, or the nymphs of fresh water, and the Oceanides, or the nymphs of the great ocean (Eustath. ad Hom. p. 622). The number of the Nereides was fifty, but their names are not the same in all writers (Hom. Il. xviii. 39, &c.; Hes. Theog. 240, &c.; Pind. Isthm. vi. 8; Apollod. i. 2. 7; Ov. Met. ii. 10, &c.; Virg. Aen. v. 825; Hygin. Fab. praef.) They are described as lovely divinities, and dwelling with their father at the bottom of the sea, and they were believed to be propitious to all sailors, and especially to the Argonauts (Hom. Il. xviii. 36, &c. 140; Apollod. i. 9. 25; Apollon. Rhod. iv. 859, 930). They were worshipped in several parts of Greece, but more especially in sea-port towns. such as Cardamyle (Paus. iii. 2. 5), and on the Isthmus of Corinth (ii. 1. 7). The epithets given them by the poets refer partly to their beauty and partly to their place of abode. They were frequently represented in antiquity, in paintings, on gems, in relievoes and statues, and commonly as youthful, beautiful, and naked maidens, and often grouped together with Tritons and other marine monsters, in which they resemble the Bacchic routs. Sometimes, also, they appear on gems as half maidens and half fish, like mermaids, the belief in

PALLAS
Greek Name Transliteration Pallas Latin Spelling Pallas Translation Spear Brandishing (pall)

PALLAS was a nymph of Lake Tritonis in Libya, North Africa. In the mythology of the local tribes, both she and the Libyan Athena were probably daughters of Triton (a Libyan sea-god identified with Poseidon) and Tritonis (goddess of the salt-water lake Tritonis, identified with Amphitrite). In their childhood war games, Athena accidentally slew Pallas. The story was reenacted in an annual festival celebrated by the lakeside tribes. She was probably related to the Timeosoi Libyes, goat-skin wearing guardian Nymphs of Libya. The sister of Pallas, the Libyan Athena, appears to be related to the Akhaian Nymphe Triteia. She was also identified with Rhode, the Athena of the Rhodes, who was called a daughter of Poseidon and Halia or Amphitrite. PARENTS
[1.1] TRITON (Apollodorus 3.144) [1.2] POSEIDON & TRITONIS (Herodotus 4.180, Pausanias 1.14.6)

Pseudo-Apollodorus, Bibliotheca 3. 144 (trans. Aldrich) (Greek mythographer C2nd A.D.) : "They say that after Athene's birth, she was reared by Triton, who had a daughter named Pallas. Both girls cultivated the military life, which once led them into contentious dispute. As Pallas was about to give Athene a whack, Zeus skittishly held out the aegis, so that she glanced up to protect herself, and thus was wounded by Athene and fell. Extremely saddened by what had happened to Pallas, Athene fashioned a wooden likeness of her, and round its breast tied the aegis which had frightened her, and set the statue beside Zeus and paid it honour. Later on, Elektra, after her seduction, sought refuge at this statue, whereupon Zeus threw both her and the palladium into the Ilian land." Herodotus, Histories 4. 180. 1 ff (trans. Godley) (Greek historian C5th B.C.) : "[On the tribes of Libya:] Next to the Makhlyes are the Auseans; these and the Makhlyes, separated by the Triton, live on the shores of Lake Tritonis. The Makhlyes wear their hair long behind, the Auseans in front. They celebrate a yearly festival of Athena, where their maidens are separated into two bands and fight each other with stones and sticks, thus, they say, honoring in the way of their ancestors that native goddess whom we call Athena. Maidens who die of their wounds are called false virgins. Before the girls are set fighting, the whole people choose the fairest maid, and arm her with a Korinthian helmet and Greek panoply, to be then mounted on a chariot and drawn all along the lake shore. With what armor they equipped their maidens before Greeks came to live near them, I cannot say; but I suppose the armor was Egyptian; for I maintain that the Greeks took their shield and helmet from Egypt." [N.B. This festival is obviously connected with the myth of Pallas described by Apollodorus above.]

Pausanias, Description of Greece 1. 14. 6 (trans. Jones) (Greek travelogue C2nd A.D.) : "The Libyans have a saying that the Goddess [Athene] is the daughter of Poseidon and Lake Tritonis, and for this reason has blue eyes like Poseidon."

Sources:
o o o Herodotus, Histories - Greek History C5th B.C. Apollodorus, The Library - Greek Mythography C2nd A.D. Pausanias, Guide to Greece
- Greek Geography C2nd A.D.

PSAMATHE
Greek Name Transliteration Psamath PSamatheia Latin Spelling Psamathe Psamathea Translation Sand Goddess (psammos, theia)

PSAMATHE was the Nereid goddess of sand beaches. Her name means "the SandGoddess" from psammos, sand and theia, goddess. Psamathe was the wife of Proteus, the old seal-herder of Poseidon. She bore him a mortal son and a sea-nymph daughter. The goddess was also seduced by the Aiginetan king Aiakos (Aeacus) who ambushed her on the beach. She tried to escape his grasp by transforming herself into a seal, but he refused to give up and she conceded to his desires, bearing him a son named Phokos (Phocus, "the Seal"). The boy was the favourite of his father, which the jealousy of his half-brothers Peleus and Telamon. The pair conspired to Psamathe, Athenian red-figure dinos murder him and were exiled from the island. C5th B.C., Martin von Wagner Museum Psamathe was aggrieved and sent a giant wolf to harrass the flocks of Peleus. However, through the advise of Thetis, his wife and the sister of Psamathe, he managed to assuage the goddess with sacrifices. PARENTS
[1.1] NEREUS & DORIS (Hesiod Theogony 260) [1.2] NEREUS (Apollodorus 3.158, Euripides Helen 1, Antoninus Liberalis 38, Ovid

Metamorphoses 11.348)

OFFSPRING
[1.1] PHOKOS (by Aiakos) (Hesiod Theogony 1003, Apollodorus 3.158, Pindar Nemean Ode 5,
Antoninus Liberalis 38, Ovid Metamorphoses 11.348) [2.1] EIDO, THEOKLYMENOS (by Proteus) (Euripides Helen 1)

Hesiod, Theogony 260 ff (trans. Evelyn-White) (Greek epic C8th or C7th B.C.) : "To Nereus and to Doris of the lovely hair, daughter of Okeanos (Oceanus) . . . there were born in the barren sea daughters greatly beautiful even among goddesses . . . Psamathe of the graceful form [in a list of fifty Nereides]." Hesiod, Theogony 1003 ff : "But of the daughters of Nereus, the old man of the sea, one, Psamathe, shining among goddesses, joined to Aiakos (Aeacus) in love through golden Aphrodite, bore him Phokos (Phocus)." Pindar, Nemean Ode 5. 22 ff (trans. Conway) (Greek lyric C5th B.C.) : "Phokos (Phocus) in his lordly might, whom divine Psamatheia (Psamathe) bore beside the crested wave." Euripides, Helen 11 ff (trans. Vellacott) (Greek tragedy C5th B.C.) : "This is Aigyptos (Egypt); here flows the virgin river, the lovely Neilos (Nile), who brings down melted snow to slake the soil of the Aigyptian plain with the moisture heaven denies. Proteus, while he lived, was King here, ruling the whole of Aigyptos from his palace on the island of Pharos. Now Proteus married Psamathe, one of the sea-nymphai (nymphs), and formerly the wife of Aiakos (Aeacus). She bore Proteus two children: a son, Theoklymenos (Theoclymenus) (a name contradicted by his impious life) and a daughter, the apple of her mother's eye, called Eido when she was a child; when she grew up and was ripe for marriage they called her Theonoe, for she had divine knowledge of all things present and to come--a gift inherited from her grandfather Nereus. Pseudo-Apollodorus, Bibliotheca 1. 11 (trans. Aldrich) (Greek mythographer C2nd A.D.) : "Nereus and Doris were parents of the Nereides, whose names were . . . Psamathe [in a list of forty-five names]." Pseudo-Apollodorus, Bibliotheca 3. 158 : "Aiakos (Aeacus) had intercourse with Nereus' daughter Psamathe, although she turned into a seal in her desire to resist him; he fathered a son named Phokos (Phocus, the Seal)." Lycophron, Alexandra 900 ff (trans. Mair) (Greek poet C3rd B.C.) : "The lord [Peleus] of the Wolf [sent by Psamathe for the slaying of her son Phokos (Phocus)] that devoured the atonement [a herd of cattle] and was turned to stone [by Thetis]." Pausanias, Description of Greece 2. 29. 9 (trans. Jones) (Greek travelogue C2nd A.D.) : "Phokos (Phocus) . . . was a son of a sister of Thetis [by Aiakos king of Aigina]." Antoninus Liberalis, Metamorphoses 38 (trans. Celoria) (Greek mythographer C2nd A.D.) : "Aiakos (Aeacus) . . . has as sons Telamon and Peleus and a third, Phokos

(Phocus), born of Psamathe, daughter of Nereos. Aiakos was very fond of this third son because he was handsome as he was god. Peleus and Telemon envied him and killed him in secret. For this Aiakos drove them away and they left the isle of Aigina . . . Peleus brought together many sheep and cattle [while in exile] . . . A wolf, coming upon the animals unattended by herdsmen, ate them all. By divine will this wolf was changed into a rock which stood for a long time between Lokris and the land of the Phokians." Ovid, Metamorphoses 11. 348 ff (trans. Melville) (Roman epic C1st B.C. to C1st A.D.) : "In bursts Onetor, the royal herdsman, breathless in his haste, and Peleus, Peleus! cries, I've brought the news--disaster. I'd driven . . . my weary bullocks to the curving beach. The sun stood at his zenith in mid course, seeing as much behind as lay ahead. Some of the cattle knelt on the brown sand and, lying, gazed across the wide flat sea; some wandered, ambling slowly to and fro; some swam or stood neck-deep amid the water. Close to the sea a temple stood, not bright with gold and marble, but a timber frame of beams and shaded by an ancient grove. The shrine belonged to Nereus and the Nereides, they are the Sea-gods (Di Ponti) there, a sailor said, spreading his nets to dry along the beach). Adjoining it a marsh, a backwater left swampy by the tide, lay overgrown with willows. Here a heavy crashing sound filled the whole place with fear--a giant beast! A wolf! He came out smeared in swampy slime, his great jaws flashing, flecked with blood and foam, his eyes aflame. Hunger and fury both spurred him, but fury most. For when he killed the cattle, he was not concerned to glut his ghastly greed, but savaged the whole herd, and in his battling blood-lust slew them all. Some of ourselves too, trying to fend him off, were done to death felled by his fatal fangs. The beach and water's edge were red with blood. The marsh too, all aroar with bellowings. Before all's lost, together let us go! To arms! To arms! To join against the foe! The yokel finished. All his losses left Peleus unmoved: remembering his crime, he knew the Nereis who he'd bereaved had sent these losses as a sacrifice for [her] murdered [son] Phocus [half-brother of Peleus] . . . Peleus: . . . To the Sea-goddess (Numen Pelagi) now I needs must pray! There was a tower, a beacon high atop the citadel, a landmark to rejoice a weary ship. They climbed here and beheld with groans, the cattle strewn along the shore, and the destroyer, wild and bloody-jawed, his shaggy coat all red and caked with gore. Stretching his hands toward the open sea, Peleus addressed his prayers to Psamathe, the wave-blue Nympha, that she would end her wrath and bring her succour. Her no prayer of his could turn, but Thetis for her husband's sake pleaded and won her pardon. But the wolf though called from his fierce slaughter, still kept on, wild with the nectar-taste of blood, until as he tore a heifer's neck and held it fast, she changed him into marble. Everything save colour was preserved; the marble's hue proclaimed him wolf no longer and no more a terror to be dreaded as before. Yet in that country, even so, fate would not let banished Peleus find a home. He roamed in exile to Magesia, and there Acastus Haemonius [of Thessaly] gave absolution for his guilt of blood." Nonnus, Dionysiaca 43, 361 ff (trans. Rouse) (Greek epic C5th A.D.) : "[When Poseidon led the sea-gods into battle against Dionysos and his allies:] Psamathe sorrowful on the beach beside the sea, watching the turmoil of seabattling Dionysos, uttered the dire trouble of her heart in terrified words: O Lord Zeus! If thou hast gratitude for Thetis and the ready hands of Briareus, if thou hast not forgot Aigaion (Aegaeon) the protector of they laws, save us from Bakkhos (Bacchus) in his madness! Let me never see Glaukos dead and Nereus a slave! Let not Thetis in floods of tears be servant to Lyaios, let me not see her a slave to Bromios, leaving the deep . . . Pity the groans of Leukothea (Leucothea) . . . She spoke her prayer, and Zeus on high heard her in heaven [and ended the

battle].

P12.2C PSAMATHE

Sources:
o o o o o o o o o Hesiod, Theogony - Greek Epic C8th-7th B.C. Pindar, Odes - Greek Lyric C5th B.C. Euripides, Helen - Greek Tragedy C5th B.C. Apollodorus, The Library - Greek Mythography C2nd A.D. Lycophron, Alexandra - Greek Poetry C3rd B.C. Pausanias, Description of Greece - Greek Travelogue C2nd A.D. Antoninus Liberalis, Metamorphoses - Greek Mythography C2nd A.D> Ovid, Metamorphoses - Latin Epic C1st B.C. - C1st A.D> Nonnos, Dionysiaca
- Greek Epic C5th A.D.

RHODE
Greek Name Transliteration Rhod Rhodos Latin Spelling Rhode Rhodus Translation Of Rhodes (island), Rose (rhodos)

RHODE was the Haliad nymph or goddess of the Aegean island of Rhodes. She was a daughter of the sea-god Poseidon, and the wife of the island's most important god, Helios the sun. Rhode was identified by the Rhodians with the goddess with the Kouretes of Krete. PARENTS
[1.1] [1.2] [1.3] [1.4] [1.5] APHRODITE (Pindar Olympian Ode 7) POSEIDON & AMPHITRITE (Apollodorus 1.28) POSEIDON & HALIA (Diodorus Siculus 5.55.1) POSEIDON & APHRODITE (Scholiast on Pindar's Pythian 8.24) POSEIDON & POLYPHE (Suidas s.v. Polyphe)

Athena, and her seven sons

OFFSPRING
[1.1] IALYSOS, KAMIROS, LINDOS (by Helios) (Pindar Olympian Ode 7) [2.1] OKHIMOS, KERKAPHOS, MAKAR, AKTIS, TENAGES, TRIOPAS, KANDALOS, ELEKTRYONE

(by Helios) (Diodorus Siculus 5.55.1) [3.1] THE KORYBANTES (by Helios) (Strabo 14.1.18)

ENCYCLOPEDIA
RHODE (Rhod),a daughter of Poseidon by Amphitrite, was married to Helios, and became by him the mother of Phaeton and his sisters (Apollod. i. 4. 4). It should be observed that the names Rhodos and Rhode are often confounded (Diod. v. 55). RHODOS (Rhodos), was, according to Diodorus (v. 55), a daughter of Poseidon and Halia, and sometimes called Rhode. The island of Rhodes was believed to have derived its name from her. According to others, she was a daughter of Helios and Amphitrite, or of Poseidon and Aphrodite, or lastly of Oceanus (Pind. Olymp. vii. 24; Tzetz. ad Lycoph. 923). She was a sea-nymph, of whom the following legend is related. When the gods distributed among themselves the various countries of the earth, the island of Rhodes was yet covered by the waves of the sea. Helios was absent at the time; and as no one drew a lot for him, he was not to have any share in the distribution of the earth. But at that moment the island of Rhodes rose out of the sea, and with the consent of Zeus he took possession of it, and by the nymph of the isle he then became the father of seven sons. (Pind. Ol. vii. 100, &c.; Ov. Met. iv. 204.) Source: Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology. Pindar, Olympian Ode 7. 13 ff (trans. Conway) (Greek lyric C5th B.C.) : "Praise the sea maid, daughter of Aphrodite, bride of Helios (the Sun), this isle of Rhodes." Pindar, Olympian Ode 7. 69 ff : "And there grew up from the watery wave this island [Rhodes], and great Helios who begets the fierce rays of the sun, holds her in his dominion, that ruler of the horses breathing fire. There long ago he [Helios] lay with Rhodes and begot seven sons, endowed beyond all men of old with genius of thoughtful mind. And of these one begot he eldest Ialysos, and Kamiros and Lindos; and in three parts they divided their father's land, and of three citadels the brothers held each his separate share, and by their three names are the cities called." Pseudo-Apollodorus, Bibliotheca 1. 28 (trans. Aldrich) (Greek mythographer C2nd A.D.) : "Poseidon married Amphitrite, and had as children Triton and Rhode, whom Helios (the Sun) made his wife." Diodorus Siculus, Library of History 5. 55. 1 (trans. Oldfather) (Greek historian C1st B.C.) : "Poseidon, the myth continues, when he had grown to manhood, became enamoured of Halia, the sister of the Telkhines, and lying with her he begat six male children and one daughter, called Rhodos, after whom the island was named . .. Helios, the myth tells us, becoming enamoured of Rhodos, named the island Rhodes after her and caused the water which had overflowed it to disappear . . . His seven sons [by Rhodos] were Okhimos, Kerkaphos, Makar, Aktis, Tenages, Triopas, Kandalos, and there was one daughter, Elektryone, who quit this life while still a maiden and attained at the hands of the Rhodians to honours like those accorded to the heroes."

Strabo, Geography 14. 1. 18 (trans. Jones) (Greek geographer C1st B.C. to C1st A.D.) : "Some say that, of the nine Telkhines who lived in Rhodes, those who accompanied Rhea to Krete (Crete) and reared Zeus in his youth (kouros) were named Kouretes (Curetes); and that Kyrbas, a comrade of these, who was the founder of Hierapytna [in Krete (Crete)], afforded a pretext to the Prasians for saying among the Rhodians that the Korybantes (Corybantes) were certain Daimones, sons of Athena and Helios (the Sun)." [N.B. "Athena" wife of Helios is Rhode.] Ovid, Metamorphoses 4. 204 ff (trans. Melville) (Roman epic C1st B.C. to C1st A.D.) : "Not Clymene, nor Rhodos now had power to hold his [Helios'] heart . . . All were forgotten for Leucothoe." Suidas s.v. Hippeia Athene (trans. Suda On Line) (Byzantine Greek lexicon C10th A.D.) : "Hippeia Athene (Athena-of-Horses): They say she is a daughter of Poseidon and Polyphe, daughter of Okeanos; she was the first to use a chariot and was called ofHorses because of this." [N.B. "Hippeia Athene" is probably Rhode. Cf. Strabo above.]

Sources:
o o o o o Pindar, Odes - Greek Lyric C5th B.C. Apollodorus, The Library - Greek Mythography C2nd A.D. Diodorus Siculus, The Library of History - Greek History C1st B.C. Ovid, Metamorphoses - Latin Epic C1st B.C. - C1st A.D. Suidas - Byzantine Lexicn C10th AD

Other references not currently quoted here : Tzetzes on Lycophron 923

SKYLLA
Greek Name Transliteration Skylla Latin Spelling Scylla Translation Tear, Rend (skull)

SKYLLA (or Scylla) was a monstrous sea goddess who haunted the rocks of certain narrow strait opposite the whirlpool daemon Kharybdis. Ships who sailed too close to her rocks would lose six men to her ravenous, darting heads. Homer describes Skylla as a creature with twelve dangling feet, six long necks and grisly heads lined with

Late classical writers say that she was once a beautiful nymph who was loved by the sea-god Glaukos. She has a jealous rival in the witch Kirke who used her magics to transform Skylla into a monster. The old poets, however, imagined Skylla as a creature who was born monstrous. PARENTS
[1.1] [1.2] [1.3] [1.4] [1.5] [1.6] [1.7] [2.1] KRATAIIS (Homer Odyssey 12.125, Hyginus Fabulae 199, Pliny Natural History 3.73) PHORKYS & KRATAIIS (Apollodorus E7.20) PHORKYS & TRIENOS (Apollodorus E7.20) PHORKYS & KRATAIIS-HEKATE (Apollonius Rh. 4.828) PHORKYS & LAMIA (Stesichorus Frag 220, Scholiast on Apoll. Rhod.) POSEIDON & KRATAIIS (Eustathius on Hom. Od. 1714) TRITON (Eustathius on Hom. Od. 1714) TYPHOEUS & EKHIDNA (Hyginus Pref.& Fabulae 151)

ENCYCLOPEDIA
SCYLLA (Skulla) and Charybdis, the names of two rocks between Italy and Sicily, and only a short distance from one another. In the midst of the one of these rocks which was nearest to Italy, there dwelt, according to Homer, Scylla, a daughter of Crataeis, a fearful monster, barking like a dog, with twelve feet, six long necks and mouths, each of which contained three rows of sharp teeth. The opposite rock, which was much lower, contained an immense fig-tree, under which there dwelt Charybdis, who thrice every day swallowed down the waters of the sea, and thrice threw them up again : both were formidable to the ships which had to pass between them (Hom. Od. xii. 73, &c., 235, &c.). Later traditions represent Scylla as a daughter of Phorcys or Phorbas, by Hecate Crataeis (Apollon. Rhod. iv. 828, &c., with the Scholiast), or by Lamia; while others make her a daughter of Triton, or Poseidon and Crataeis (Eustath. ad Hom. p. 1714), or of Typhon and Echidna (Hygin. Fab. praef.). Some, again, describe her as a monster with six heads of different animals, or with only three heads (Tzetz. ad Lycoph. 650 ; Eustath. l. c.). One tradition relates that Scylla originally was a beautiful maiden, who often played with the nymphs of the sea, and was beloved by the marine god Glaucus. He applied to Circe for means to make Scylla return his love; but Circe, jealous of the fair maiden, threw magic herbs into the well in which Scylla was wont to bathe, and by these herbs the maiden was metamorphosed in such a manner, that the upper part of her body remained that of a woman, while the lower part was changed into the tail of a fish or serpent, surrounded by dogs (Ov. Met. xiii. 732, &c., 905, xiv. 40, &c.; Tibull. iii. 4. 89). Another tradition related that Scylla was beloved by Poseidon, and that Amphitrite, from jealousy, metamorphosed her into a monster (Tzetz. ad Lycoph. 45 ; Serv. ad Aen. iii. 420). Heracles is said to have killed her, because she had stolen some of the oxen of Geryon; but Phorcys is said to have restored her to life (Eustath., Tzetz., Hygin., l. c.). Virgil (Aen. vi. 286) speaks of several Scyllae, and places them in the lower world (comp. Lucret. v. 893). Source: Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology.

PARENTAGE OF SCYLLA
Homer, Odyssey 12. 126 (trans. Shewring) (Greek epic C8th B.C.) : "Invoke Krataiis (Crataeis); she is Skylla's (Scylla's) mother; it is she who bore her

to plague mankind." Stesichorus, Fragment 220 (from Scholiast on Apollonius Rhodius) (trans. Campbell, Vol. Greek Lyric III) (Greek lyric C7th to 6th B.C.) : "Stesikhoros in his Skylla says that Skylla (Scylla) is the daughter of Lamia (the Shark). Pseudo-Apollodorus, Bibliotheca E7. 20 (trans. Aldrich) (Greek mythographer C2nd A.D.) : "Skylla (Scylla), daughter of Krataiis (Crataeis, Of the Rocks) or Trienos (ThreeTimes) and Phorkos (Phorcus)." Apollonius Rhodius, Argonautica 4. 825 (trans. Rieu) (Greek epic C3rd B.C.) : "Ausonian Skylla (Scylla), the wicked monster borne to Phorkys (Phorcys) by nightwandering Hekate, whom men call Kratais (Crataeis)." Pseudo-Hyginus, Fabulae 151 (trans. Grant) (Roman mythographer C2nd A.D.) : "From Typhon the giant and Echidna were born . . . Scylla [in a list of monsters]." Pliny the Elder, Natural History 3. 73 (trans. Rackham) (Roman encyclopedia C1st A.D.) : "[In southern Italy] is the town of Scyllaeum and the river Crataeis, know in legend as the mother of Scylla."

SCYLLA & ODYSSEUS

Homer, Odyssey 12. 54 ff (trans. Shewring) (Greek epic C8th B.C.) : "[Kirke (Circe) warns Odysseus of the dangers he will face on his journey:] When your crew have rowed past the Seirenes (Sirens), I will not expressly say to you which of two ways you ought to take; you must follow your own counsel there; I will only give you knowledge of both. On the one side are overshadowing rocks against which dash the mighty billows of the goddess of blue-glancing seas. The blessed gods call these rocks the Wanderers . . . On the other side are a pair of cliffs. One of them with its jagged peak reaches up to the spreading sky, wreathed in dark cloud that never parts. There is no clear sky above this peak even in summer or harvest-time, nor could any mortal man climb up it or get a foothold on it, not if he had twenty hands and feet; so smooth is the stone, as if it were all burnished over. Half-way up the cliff is a murky cave, facing Erebos, and doubtless it is past this, Odysseus, that you and your men will steer your vessel. A strong man's arrow shot from a ship below would not reach the recesses of that cave. Inside lives Skylla (Scylla), yelping hideously; her voice is no deeper than a young puppy's but she herself is a fearsome monster; no one could see her and still be happy, not even a god if he went that way. She has twelve feet all dangling down, six long necks with a grisly head on each of them, and in each head a triple row of crowded and close-set teeth, fraught with black death. Sunk waist-deep in the cave's recesses, she still darts out her head from that frightening hollow, and there, groping greedily round the rock, she fishes for dolphins (delphines) and for sharks (kynes) and whatever beast (ketos) more huge than these she can seize upon from all the thousands that have their pasture from loud-moaning Amphitrite. No seaman ever, in any vessel, has boasted of sailing that way unharmed, for with every single head of hers she snatches and carries off a man from the dark-prowed ship. You will see that the other cliff lies lower, no more than an arrow's flight

away. On this there grows a great leafy fig-tree; under it, awesome Kharybdis (Charybdis) sucks the dark water down . . . No, keep closer to Skylla's cliff, and row past that as quickly as may be; far better to lose six men and keep your ship than to lose your men one and all. So she spoke, and I answered her: Yes, goddess, but tell me truly--could I somehow escape this dire Kharybdis and yet make a stand against the other when she sought to make my men her prey? So I spoke, and at once the queenly goddess answered: Self-willed man , is your mind then set on further perils, fresh feats of war? Will you not bow to the deathless gods themselves? Skylla is not of mortal kind; she is a deathless monster, grim and baleful, savage, not to be wrestled with. Against her there is no defence, and the best path is the path of flight. If you pause to arm beside that rock, I fear that she may dart out again, seize again with as many heads and snatch as many men as before. No, row hard and invoke Krataiis (Crataeis); she is Skylla's mother; it is she who bore her to plague mankind; Krataiis will hold her from darting twice." Homer, Odyssey 12. 210 - 259 : "But the island [of the Seirenes, Sirens] was hardly left behind when I [Odysseus] saw smoke above heavy breakers and heard a great noise . . . [Odysseus addresses his crew:] . . . And to you, steersman . . . keep the craft away from the smoke and breakers and rather make for the rock yonder, lest unawares you should let the ship drive the other way and should bring us all to ruin. So I spoke, and at once they obeyed my words. I had stopped short of mentioning Skylla, an inexorable horror; the crew in fear might have left their oars and huddled down inside the hold. And here I let myself forget that irksome command of Kirke's (Circe's); she had told me not to arm at all, but I put my glorious armour on, took a long spear in either hand and strode up to the half-deck forward, since it was from there that I thought to catch the first glimpse of Skylla (Scylla), that monster of the rock who was bringing doom to my companions. I could not as yet spy her anywhere, and my eyes grew tired as I peered this way and that toward the misty rock. So with much lamenting we rowed on and into the strait; this side lay Skylla; that side in hideous fashion, fiendish Kharybdis (Charybdis) . . . We had looked her way with the fear of death upon us; and at that moment Skylla snatched up from inside my ship the six of my crew who were strongest of arm and sturdiest. When I turned back my gaze to the ship in search of my companions, I saw only their feet and hands as they were lifted up; they were calling to me in their heart's anguish, crying out my name for the last time. As when a fisherman on a promontory takes a long rod to snare little fishes with his bait and casts his ox-hair line down in to the sea below, then seizes the creatures one by one and throws them ashore still writhing; so Skylla swung my writhing companions up to the rocks, and there at the entrance began devouring them as they shrieked and held out heir hands to me in their extreme of agony. Many pitiful things have met my eyes in my toilings and searchings through the sea-paths, but this was most pitiful of all. When we had left the rocks behind us with Skylla and terrible Kharybdis, we came soon enough to the lovely island of the sun-god." Pseudo-Apollodorus, Bibliotheca E7. 20 - 21 (trans. Aldrich) (Greek mythographer C2nd A.D.) : "Odysseus came to a divided passage. On one course lay the rocks called Planktai (Planctae), and on the other were two great cliffs, in one of which was Skylla (Scylla), daughter of Krataiis (Crataeis) and Trienos or Phorkos (Phorcus). She had the face and breast of a woman, but from her flanks grew six dog-heads and twelve dog-feet. On the other crag was Kharybdis (Charybdis) . . . Kirke (Circe) had

warned Odysseys against taking the course by the Planktai, so he started instead past the cliff of Skylla, placing himself on the stern, armed to the teeth. But Skylla appeared, grabbed six comrades and gulped them down." Lycophron, Alexandra 648 ff (trans. Mair) (Greek poet C3rd B.C.) : "Others [Odysseus] shall wander . . . the narrow meet of the Tyrrhenian Strait and the watching-place fatal to mariners of the hybrid monster [Skylla, Scylla] that formerly died by the hand of Mekisteus [Herakles], the hide-clad Spademan, the Cattle-driver, and the rocks of the harpy-limbed nightingales [Seirenes, Sirens]. There, devoured raw, Hades [i.e. death], shall seize them all, torn with all manner of evil entreatment; and he shall leave but one [Odysseus] to tell of his slaughtered friends." Lycophron, Alexandra 668 : "What Kharybdis (Charybdis) shall not eat of his [Odysseus'] dead? What halfmaiden Fury-hound [Skylla]? Athenaeus, Deipnosophistae 1. 13b (trans. Gullick) (Greek rhetorician C2nd to C3rd A.D.) : "The poet [Homer] compares those companions of Odysseus who had been snatched up by Skylla (Scylla), to fish caught on a long pole and flung out upon the shore." Pseudo-Hyginus, Fabulae 125 (trans. Grant) (Roman mythographer C2nd A.D.) : "From there [the island of the Seirenes, Sirens] he [Odysseus] came to Scylla, daughter of Typhon, who was woman above, but fish from the hips down, with six dogs joined to her body. She snatched and devoured six men from Ulysses' ship." Ovid, Metamorphoses 14. 44 (trans. Melville) (Roman epic C1st B.C. to C1st A.D.) : "Scylla stayed there where she was and, when the first chance came to vent her rage and hate on Circe, robbed Ulixes [Odysseus] of his comrades."

P27.1 SCYLLA

P27.2 SCYLLA

P27.4 SCYLLA

P27.3 SCYLLA

SCYLLA & THE ARGONAUTS

Apollonius Rhodius, Argonautica 4. 786 ff (trans. Rieu) (Greek epic C3rd B.C.) : "[The goddess Hera addresses Thetis:] I brought them [the Argonauts] safely through the Wandering Rocks, where fiery blasts rage and roar and the rollers break in foam on jagged reefs. But it still remains for them to pass the great cliff of Skylla (Scylla) and the gurgling whirlpool of Kharybdis (Charybdis)." Apollonius Rhodius, Argonautica 4. 825 : "[Hera commands the sea-goddess Thetis to guide the Argonauts safely past Skylla:] And do not let my friends [the Argonauts] be so unwary as to fall into

Kharybdis (Charybdis), or at one gulp she will swallow them all. Nor let them go too near the hateful den of Ausonian Skylla (Scylla), the wicked monster borne to Phorkys by nigh-wandering Hekate, whom men call Kratais (Crataeis)--or she may swoop down, take her pick and destroy them in her terrible jaws. What you must do is so to guide the ship that they escape disaster, if only by a hair's breadth." Apollonius Rhodius, Argonautica 4. 921 ff : "The Argonauts sailed on in gloom. The Seirenes were behind them, but worse perils lay ahead, at a place where two seas met and shipping came to grief. On one side the sheer cliff of Skylla (Scylla) hove in sight; on the other Kharybdis (Charybdis) seethed and roared incessantly; while beyond, great seas were booming on the Wandering Rocks. Ovid, Heroides 12. 123 ff (trans. Showerman) (Roman poetry C1st B.C. to C1st A.D.) : "[Medea laments:] Would [that] . . . Scylla the ravening submerged us [the Argonauts] in the deep to be devoured by her dogs--fit were it for Scylla to work woe to ingrate men! And she [Kharybdis] who spews forth so many times the floods, and sucks them so many times back in again--would she had brought us, too, beneath the Trinacrian [Sicilian] wave!" Seneca, Medea 350 ff (trans. Miller) (Roman tragedy C1st A.D.) : "[On the voyage of the Argonauts:] What, when the maid [Skylla, Scylla] of Sicilian Pelorus, her waist begirt with dogs, opened all her gaping throats together? Who did not shudder in every limb when that one monster howled with so many tongues?"

SCYLLA & AENEAS

Virgil, Aeneid 3. 420 ff (trans. Day-Lewis) (Roman epic C1st B.C.) : "Scylla guards the right shore, insatiable Charybdis the left . . . But Scylla lurks unseen in a cavernous lair, from which she pushes out her lips to drag ships onto the rocks. Her upper part is human--a girl's beautiful body down to the privates; below, she is a weird sea-monster, with dolphin's tail and a belly of wolverine sort. It's advisable to fetch a long compass, although it protracts the voyage, and sail right round the Sicilian cape of Pachynum, a southernmost mark, rather than to set eyes on that freakish Scylla within her cavern vast or the rocks where her sea-blue hounds are baying." Ovid, Metamorphoses 14. 44 ff (trans. Melville) (Roman epic C1st B.C. to C1st A.D.) : "Scylla stayed there where she was and, when the first chance came to vent her rage and hate on Circe, robbed Ulixes [Odysseus] of his comrades. Later, too, she would have sunk the Trojan galleons, had she not been transformed before they came into a reef whose rocks rise up today, and sailors shun her still and steer away." Ovid, Metamorphoses 14. 75 ff : "Past Scylla's reef and ravening Charybdis the Troianae [Trojan] galleons had won their way and almost reached the shores of Ausonia [Italy]."

SCYLLA & HERACLES

Lycophron, Alexandra 44 ff (trans. Mair) (Greek poet C3rd B.C.) : "[Herakles] also slew the fierce hound [Skylla, Scylla] that wached the narrow straits of the Ausonian sea, fishing over her cave, the bull-slaying lioness whom her father [Phorkys] restored to life, burning her flesh with brands: she who feared not Leptynis [Persephone], goddess of the underworld." Lycophron, Alexandra 648 ff : "The hybrid monster [Skylla] that formerly died by the hand of Mekisteus [Herakles], the hide-clad Spademan, the Cattle-driver." Pseudo-Hyginus, Preface (trans. Grant) (Roman mythographer C2nd A.D.) : "Scylla, who was woman above, but dog-forms below, whom Hercules killed."

SCYLLA & CIRCE

Pseudo-Hyginus, Fabulae 199 (trans. Grant) (Roman mythographer C2nd A.D.) : "Scylla, daughter of the River Crataeis, is said to have been a most beautiful maiden. Glaucus loved her, but Circe, daughter of Sol [Helios the Sun], loved Glaucus. Since Scylla was accustomed to bathe in the sea, Circe, daughter of Sol, out of jealousy poisoned the water with drugs, and when Scylla went down into it, dogs sprang from her thighs, and she was made a monster. She avenged her injuries, for as Ulysses sailed by, she robbed him of his companions." Ovid, Metamorphoses 13. 729 ff (trans. Melville) (Roman epic C1st B.C. to C1st A.D.) : "The fleet [of Aeneas] made land at evenfall on Zancle's shelving sand. Scylla infests the right-hand coast, the left restless Charybdis; one grasps passing ships and sucks them down to spew them up gain; the other ringed below her hell-black waist with raging dogs. She has a girl's sweet face, and if the tales the poets have passed down are not all false, she was a sweet girl once. Many a suitor sought her hand, but she repulsed them all and went to the SeaNymphs (Nymphae Pelagi) (she was the Sea-Nymphae's favourite) and told how she'd eluded all the young men's love. Then Galatea letting Scylla comb her hair, heaved a deep sigh . . . [and tells her the tale of how she was wooed by the Kyklops (Cyclops) Polyphemos.] Galatea ended and the group of Nereides dispersed and swam away across the placid waters of the bay. Scylla turned back; she dared not trust herself far out at sea. Along the thirsty sands she sauntered naked or, when she was tired, made for a little land-locked cove and in its sheltered waves enjoyed a cooling bathe. Suddenly, breaking the surface of the sea [the sea-god] Glaucus appeared . . . He saw the girl, and stopped, his heart transfixed, then spoke to her, spoke anything he thought might stay her flight. But Scylla fled (her terror gave her speed) and reached a cliff-top rising from the shore, a vast cliff by the strait, that towered up to one great peak and with its tree-clad height rose in a curve far out over the sea. The place was safe; she stopped; she could not tell if he were god or monster . . . So much he [Glaukos] said [trying to woe Skylla], and would have said more too, but Scylla fled. Enraged at his repulse, he made in fury for the magic halls of Circe . .. [And Circe confessed her love for the sea-god:] . . . I, Circe, pray that I be yours.

Spurn her who spurns you; welcome one who wants you. By one act requite us both! But Glaucus answered: Sooner shall green leaves grow in the sea or seaweed on the hills that I shall change my love while Scylla lives. Rage filled the goddess' heart. She had no power nor wish to wound him (for she loved him well), so turned her anger on the girl he chose. In fury at his scorn, she ground together her ill-famed herbs, her herbs of ghastly juice, and, as she ground them, sang her demon spells . . . There was a little bay, bent like a bow, a place of peace, where Scylla loved to laze, her refuge from the rage of sea and sky, when in mid heaven the sun with strongest power shone from his zenith and the shade lay least. Against her coming Circe had defiled this quiet bay with her deforming drugs, and after them had sprinkled essences of noxious roots; then with her witch's lips had muttered thrice nine times a baffling maze of magic incantations. Scylla came and waded in waistdeep, when round her lions she saw foul monstrous barking beasts. At first, not dreaming they were part of her, she fled and thrust in fear the bullying brutes away. But what she feared and fled, she fetched along, and looking for her thighs, her legs, her feet, found gaping jaws instead like Hades' vile hound [Kerberos]. Poised on a pack of beasts! No legs! Below her midriff dogs, ringed in a raging row! Glaucus her lover, wept and fled the embrace of Circe who had used too cruelly the power of her magic. Scylla stayed there where she was and, when the first chance came to vent her rage and hate on Circe, robbed Ulixes [Odysseus] of his comrades. Later, too, she would have sunk the Trojan galleons, had she not been transformed before they came into a reef whose rocks rise up today, and sailors shun her still and steer away."

SCYLLA LOVED BY POSEIDON

Nonnus, Dionysiaca 42. 409 ff (trans. Rouse) (Greek epic C5th A.D.) : "He [Poseidon] slept with Skylla (Scylla), and made her a cliff in the water [i.e. he transformed her from the monstrous Nymphe into a rocky coastal cliff]." According to the Greek and Roman scholia Tzetzes on Lycophron 650 & Servius on Aeneid 3.420 Skylla was loved by the god Poseidon, and transformed by his jealous wife Amphitrite into a sea-monster. Compare Ovid's story of Skylla, Glaukos (Glaucus) and Kirke (Circe) above.

SCYLLA GUARDIAN OF HADES

Virgil, Aeneid 6. 287 ff (trans. Fairclough) (Roman epic C1st B.C.) : "Many monstrous forms besides of various beasts are stalled at the doors [of Hades], Centauri (Centaurs) and double-shaped Scyllae, and the hundredfold Briareus, and the beast of Lerna, hissing horribly, and the Chimaera armed with flame, Gorgones and Harpyiae (Harpies), and the shape of the three-bodied shade [Geryon]." Statius, Thebaid 4. 536 ff (trans. Mozley) (Roman epic C1st A.D.) : "Why should I tell thee of Erebus' [Haides'] monsters, of Scyllae, and the empty rage of Centauri (Centaurs), and the Gigantes' (Giants') twisted chains of solid adamant, and the diminished shade of hundredfold Aegaeon?"

Statius, Silvae 5. 3. 260 ff (trans. Mozley) (Roman poetry C1st A.D.) : "But do ye, O monarchs of the dead and thou, Ennean Juno [Persephone], if ye approve my prayer [provide a peaceful journey for the soul of my dead father] . . . let the warder of the gate [Kerberos, Cerberus] make no fierce barking, let distant vales conceal the Centauri and Hydra's multitude and Scylla's monstrous horde [other monsters appointed guardians of Haides after their deaths]."

SCYLLA, MISCELLANY
Aeschylus, Agamemnon 1232 ff (trans. Weir Smyth) (Greek tragedy C5th B.C.) : "Such boldness has she [Klytaimestra, Clytemnestra)], a woman to slay a man. What odious monster shall I fitly call her? An Amphisbaina? Or a Skylla (Scylla), tenanting the rocks, a pest to mariners, a raging, devil's mother (Haidou meter), breathing relentless war against her husband?" Plato, Republic 588c (trans. Shorey) (Greek philosopher C4th B.C.) : "One of those natures that the ancient fables tell of, as that of the Khimaira (Chimera) or Skylla (Scylla) or Kerberos (Cerberus), and the numerous other examples that are told of many forms grown together in one." Pseudo-Hyginus, Fabulae 151 (trans. Grant) (Roman mythographer C2nd A.D.) : "From Typhon the giant and Echidna were born . . . Scylla who was woman above but dog below, with six dog-forms sprung from her body." Ovid, Metamorphoses 7. 62 ff (trans. Melville) (Roman epic C1st B.C. to C1st A.D.) : "What of those strange tales of cliffs that clash in the open sea, Charbydis' whirling waves that suck and spew to sink the ships she hates, and greedy Scylla, girt with savage hounds baying beside the seas of Sicilia (Sicily)." Ovid, Fasti 4. 499 (trans.Boyle) (Roman poetry C1st B.C. to C1st A.D.) : "Zanclaean Charybdis, and you shipwreck monsters, dogs of Nisus [Skylla]." [N.B. The monster Skylla is here confounded with Skylla daughter of King Nisos.] Virgil, Aeneid 3. 184 ff (trans. Day-Lewis) (Roman epic C1st B.C.) : "Yet [the Trojan prophet] Helenos had warned [the hero Aeneas] not to attempt the passage between Skylla (Scylla) and Kharybdis (Charybdis), there being on either side so narrow a margin of safety." Seneca, Hercules Furens 375 ff (trans. Miller) (Roman tragedy C1st A.D.) : "Sooner shall . . . Scylla join the Sicilian and Ausonian shores [i.e. it will never happen]." Seneca, Medea 407 ff : "What ferocity of beasts, what Scylla, what Charybdis, sucking up the Ausonian and Sicilian waters, or what Aetna, resting heavily on panting Titan [Typhoeus], shall burn with such threats as I?" Pliny the Elder, Natural History 3. 87 (trans. Rackham) (Roman encyclopedia C1st A.D.) : "In these Straits [i.e. the Straits of Messina] is the rock of Scylla and also the whirlpool of Charybdis, both notoriously treacherous."

Statius, Silvae 3. 2. 85 (trans. Mozley) (Roman poetry C1st A.D.) : "Whether eddying Charybdis be heaving or the maid [Scylla] that ravages the Sicilian deep." Nonnus, Dionysiaca 18. 245 ff (trans. Rouse) (Greek epic C5th A.D.) : "The countenance . . . of Skylla with a marshalled regiment of thronging dogs' heads." Suidas s.v. Skylla (trans. Suda On Line) (Byzantine Greek Lexicon C10th A.D.) : "Skylla (Scylla): The story used to be told that there is a monster in the Tyrrhenian Sea who has the form of a very beautiful woman as far as her eyes; she has six dog heads side by side; and for the rest a snaky body."

Sources:
o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o Homer, The Odyssey - Greek Epic C8th B.C. Greek Lyric III Stesichorus, Fragments - Greek Lyric C7th-6th B.C. Aeschylus, Agamemnon - Greek Tragedy C5th B.C. Plato, Republic - Greek Philosophy C4th B.C. Apollodorus, The Library - Greek Mythography C2nd A.D. Lycophron, Alexandra - Greek Poetry C3rd B.C. Athenaeus, Deipnosophistae - Greek Rhetoric C3rd A.D. Hyginus, Fabulae - Latin Mythography C2nd A.D. Virgil, Aeneid - Latin Epic C1st B.C. Ovid, Metamorphoses - Latin Epic C1st B.C. - C1st A.D. Ovid, Fasti - Latin Poetry C1st B.C. - C1st A.D. Ovid, Heroides - Latin Poetry C1st B.C. - C1st A.D. Seneca, Hercules Furens - Latin Tragedy C1st A.D. Seneca, Medea - Latin Tragedy C1st A.D. Pliny the Elder, Natural History - Latin Encyclopedia C1st A.D. Nonnos, Dionysiaca - Greek Epic C5th A.D. Suidas - Byzantine Lexicographer C10th A.D.

Other references not currently quoted here: Eustathius on Homer's Odyssey 1714; Tzetzes on Lycophron 45 650, Servius on Virgil's Aeneid 3.420

THETIS 1
Greek Name Transliteration Thetis Latin Spelling Thetis Translation Creation (thesis) Nurse (tth)

THETIS was a goddess of the sea and the leader of the fifty Nereides. Like many other sea gods she possessed the gift of prophesy and power to change her shape at will. Because of a prophesy that she was destined to bear a son greater than his father, Zeus had her marry a mortal man. Peleus, the chosen groom, was instructed to ambush her on the beach, and not release his grasp of the struggling goddess as she metamorphosed into a host of Thetis riding a Hippocamp, Apulian red-figure Pelike C5th B.C., The J. Paul Getty Museum shapes. The couple were afterwards married in a ceremony attended by all the gods of heaven, and she bore a son, the celebrated hero Akhilleus. In her desperate attempts to protect her son during the Trojan War, Thetis called in many favours from the gods. These included Hephaistos and Dionysos, both of whom she had given refuge in the sea as they faced crises of youth, and Zeus, whose throne she had protected by summoning the giant Briareus when the gods had sought to bind him. There are three other pages on Theoi.com in the Thetis series : (2) Peleus & Thetis ; (3) Thetis & the Birth & Youth of Akhilleus ; (4) Thetis, Akhilleus & the Trojan War. PARENTS
NEREUS & DORIS (Hesiod Theogony, Homer Iliad, Homeric Hymns, Pindar Odes, Alcaeus,
Apollodorus, Apollonius Rhodius, Ovid Metamorphoses, et al)

OFFSPRING
AKHILLEUS (by Peleus) (Homer Iliad & Odyssey, Hesiod Theogony, Alcaeus, The Aegimius,
Apollodorus, Plato Republic 391c, Ovid Metamorphoses, et al)

ENCYCLOPEDIA
THETIS (Thetis), one of the daughters of Nereus and Doris, was the wife of Peleus, by whom she became the mother of Achilles. (Hom. Il. i. 538, xviii. 35, &c., 52, &c.; Hes. Theog. 244.) Later writers describe her as a daughter of Cheiron (Schol. ad Apollon. Rhod. i. 558). According to others, Peleus married Philomela, the daughter of Actor, but his friend Cheiron, wishing to render Peleus celebrated, spread the report that he was married to Thetis. (Schol. ad Apollon. Rhod. iv. 816.) Being a granddaughter of Poseidon, Catullus (64. 28) calls her Neptunine. As a marine divinity, she dwelt like her sisters, the Nereids, in the depth of the sea, with her father Nereus. (Hom. Il. i. 358, xviii. 36, xx. 207.) She there received Dionysus on his flight from Lycurgus, and the god, in his gratitude, presented her with a golden urn. (Hom. Il. vi. 135, Od. xxiv. 75; comp. Tzetz. ad

Lycoph. 273.) When Hephaestus was thrown down from heaven, he was likewise received by Thetis. She had been brought up by Hera (Il. xxiv. 60), and when she reached the age of maturity, Zeus and Hera gave her, against her own will, in marriage to Peleus. Poseidon and Zeus himself are said by some to have sued for her hand (Pind. Isthm. viii. 58), but when Themis declared that the son of Thetis would be more illustrious than his father, both suitors desisted. (Pind. l. c. viii. 70; Ov. Met. xi. 225, xv. 856, xi. 350, &c.; Aeschyl. Prom. 767 ; Hygin. Fab. 54 ; Serv. ad Virg. Eclog. vi. 42.) Others state that Thetis rejected the offers of Zeus, because she had been brought up by Hera (Hom. Il. xxiv. 60; Apollon. Rhod. iv. 793); and the god, to revenge himself, decreed that she should marry a mortal. Cheiron then informed his friend Peleus how he might gain possession of her, even if she should metamorphose herself; for Thetis, like Proteus, had the power of assuming any form she pleased, and she had recourse to this means of escaping from Peleus, but the latter did not let her go, until she again assumed her proper form. (Apollod. iii. 13. 5; Pind. Nem. iii. 60; Paus. viii. 18. l.) Others again relate, that a marine divinity appeared to Peleus on Mount Pelion, and testified her love to him, but without revealing herself to him. Peleus, however, who saw her playing with dolphins, recognised the goddess, and henceforth shunned her presence. But she encouraged him, reminding him of the love of Eos to Tithonus, of Aphrodite to Anchises, &c., and promised to present him with a son who should be more illustrious than any mortal. (Philostr. Her. 19. 1.) The wedding of Peleus was honoured with the presence of all the gods. (Hom. Il. xxiv. 62.) After she had become the mother of Achilles, she bestowed upon him the tenderest care and love. (Hom. Il. i. 359, 500, &c., viii. 370, xviii. 73, 457; comp. Achilles.) Her prayers to Zeus for him were listened to, because at one time, when Zeus was threatened by the other gods, she induced Briareus or Aegaeon to come to his assistance. (Hom. Il. i. 396, &c.) Thetis had a temple (Thetideion) between Old and New Pharsalus in Thessaly (Strab. ix. p. 431), and in Sparta and Messenia she was likewise worshipped. (Paus. iii. 14. 4, 22. 2.) HALOSYDNE (Halosudn), that is, "the seafed," or the sea born goddess, occurs as a surname of Amphitrite and Thetys. (Hom. Od. iv. 404, Il. xx. 207.) Source: Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology.

THE BIRTH OF THETIS

Homer, Iliad 24. 59 ff (trans. Lattimore) (Greek epic C8th B.C.) : "A goddess [Thetis], one whom I myself [Hera] nourished and brought up." Hesiod, Theogony 240 ff (trans. Evelyn-White) (Greek epic C8th or C7th B.C.) : "To Nereus and to Doris . . . there were born in the barren sea daughters greatly beautiful even among goddesses: Ploto and Eukrante and Amphitrite and Sao, Eudora and Thetis [in a list of fifty names]." Pseudo-Apollodorus, Bibliotheca 3. 168 (trans. Aldrich) (Greek mythographer C2nd A.D.) : "Thetis had been reared by Hera." Apollonius Rhodius, Argonautica 4. 757 ff (trans. Rieu) (Greek epic C3rd B.C.) : "[Hera addresses Thetis:] I brought you [Thetis] up myself and loved you more than any other Lady of the Sea."

THETIS & THE FALL OF HEPHAESTUS

Homer, Iliad 18. 369 ff (trans. Lattimore) (Greek epic C8th B.C.) : "[Hephaistos (Hephaestus) addresses his wife Kharis (Charis):] There is a goddess [Thetis] we honour and respect in our house. She saved me when I suffered much at the time of my great fall through the will of my own brazen-faced mother, who wanted to hide me for being lame. Then my soul would have taken much suffering had not Eurynome and Thetis caught me and held me . . . With them I worked nine years as a smith . . . working there in the hollow of the cave, and the stream of Okeanos around us went on forever with its foam and its murmur. No other among the gods or among mortal men knew about us except Eurynome and Thetis. They knew since they saved me. Now she has come into our house; so I must by all means do everything to give recompense to lovely-haired Thetis for my life." Homeric Hymn 3 to Pythian Apollo 319 ff (trans. Evelyn-White) (Greek epic C7th 4th B.C.) : "[Hera addresses Zeus:] My son Hephaistos (Hephaestus) whom I bare . . . I myself took in my hands and cast out so that he fell in the great sea. But silvershod Thetis the daughter of Nereus took and cared for him with her sisters: would that she had done other service for the blessed gods." Pseudo-Apollodorus, Bibliotheca 1. 19 (trans. Aldrich) (Greek mythographer C2nd A.D.) : "Zeus threw [Hephaistos] from the sky. [He] landed on Lemnos, crippled in both legs, but saved by Thetis." Quintus Smyrnaeus, Fall of Troy 2. 433 ff (trans. Way) (Greek epic C4th A.D.) : "The cunning God-smith [Hephaistos] welcomed she [Thetis] within her mansion, when from heaven he fell." Pausanias, Description of Greece 8. 41. 4 - 6 (trans. Jones) (Greek travelogue C2nd A.D.) : "Eurynome was a daughter of Okeanos (Oceanus), whom Homer mentions in the Iliad, saying that along with Thetis she received Hephaistos (Hephaestus) . . . If she [Eurynome] is a daughter of Okeanos, and lives with Thetis in the depth of the sea, the fish may be regarded as a kind of emblem of her." Nonnus, Dionysiaca 43. 400 ff (trans. Rouse) (Greek epic C5th A.D.) : "Clever work of Hephaistos (Hephaestus), Olympian ornaments . . . necklace and earrings and armlets he [Nereus] brought and offered, all that the Lemnian craftsman had made for the Nereides with inimitable workmanship in the waves-there in the midst of the brine he [at the time he lived with Thetis in the sea] shook his fiery anvil and tongs under the water, blowing the enclosed breath of the bellows with mimic winds, and when the furnace was kindled the fire roared in the deep unquenched."

THETIS & THE FLIGHT OF DIONYSUS

Homer, Iliad 6. 135 ff (trans. Lattimore) (Greek epic C8th B.C.) : "[Lykourgos, Lycurgus] once drove the fosterers of rapturous Dionysos headlong down the sacred Nyseion hill, and all of them shed and scattered their wands on the ground stricken with an ox-goad by murderous Lykourgos, while Dionysos in terror dived into the salt surf, and Thetis took him to her bosom, frightened, with the strong shivers upon him at the man's blustering." Stesichorus, Fragment 234 (from Scholiast on Homer's Iliad) (trans. Campbell, Vol. Greek Lyric III) (Greek lyric C7th to C6th B.C.) : "When he [Dionysos] was pursued by Lykourgos (Lycurgus) and took refuge in the sea, Thetis gave him a kindly welcome, and he gave her the amphora [a golden urn], Hephaistos' (Hephaestus') handiwork. She gave it to her son [Akhilleus, Achilles], so that when he died his bones might be put in it. The story is told by Stesikhoros." Pseudo-Apollodorus, Bibliotheca 3. 34 (trans. Aldrich) (Greek mythographer C2nd A.D.) : "Lykourgos (Lycurgus) . . . was the first to show hubris to Dionysos by expelling him. Dionysos fled to the sea and took shelter with Nereus' daughter Thetis." Quintus Smyrnaeus, Fall of Troy 2. 433 ff (trans. Way) (Greek epic C4th A.D.) : "In her [Thetis'] bowers she sheltered Dionysos, chased by might of murderous Lykourgos (Lycurgus) from the earth." Pseudo-Hyginus, Astronomica 2. 21 (trans. Grant) (Roman mythographer C2nd A.D.) : "[The Hyades:] Pherecydes the Athenian [C5th B.C. mythographer] says, are the nurses of Liber, seven in number, who earlier were nymphae called Dodonidae . . . They are said to have been put to flight by Lycurgus and all except Ambrosia took refuge with Theits, as Asclepiades [of Samos, C3rd B.C. poet] says." Nonnus, Dionysiaca 20. 350 ff (trans. Rouse) (Greek epic C5th A.D.) : "He [Dionysos] thought Kronion [Zeus] was fighting for Lykourgos (Lycurgus) [an Arabian king who attacked Dionysos and his troop of Bakkhantes], when he heard the thunderclaps rolling in the heavens. He took to his heels in fear and ran too fast for pursuit, until he plunged into the gray water of the Erythraian (Red) Sea. But Thetis in the deeps embraced him with friendly hands, when he entered within the loud-resounding hall. Then she comforted him with friendly words, and said: Tell me, Dionysos, why are your looks despondent? No army of earthborn Arabs has conquered you, no pursuinig mortal man, you fled from no human spear; but Hera, sister and consort of Zeus Kronides, has armed herself in heaven and fought on the side of Lykourgos--Hera and stubborn Ares and the brazen sky; Lykourgos the mighty was only a fourth. Often enough your father himself, the lord of heaven ruling on high, had to give way to Hera! You will have all the more to boast of, when one of the Blessed shall say--Hera consort and sister of mighty Zeus took arms herself against Dionysos umarmed! So speaking, the Nereis tried to console Bakkhos." Nonnus, Dionysiaca 21. 170 ff : "In the Erythraian Sea, the daughters of Nereus [Nereides] cherished Dionysos [driven into the sea by Lykourgos] at their table, in their halls deep down under the waves . . . So he remained in the hall deep down in the waves under the waters, and he lay sprawled among the seaweed in Thetis' bosom." Nonnus, Dionysiaca 33. 348 ff :

"She [Khalkomedeia (Chalcomedeia) a leader of the Bassarides in Dionysos' War against the Indians] would have thrown herself rolling headlong into the waves [to escape the pursuit of the Indian Morrheus], but Thetis gave her help, to please Dionysos. She changed her shape, and stood before Khalkomedeia in the form of a Bakkhante (Bacchante) woman with comfortable words: Courage Khalkomede! Fear not the bed of Morrheus. You have in me a lucky omen of your untouched maidenhead, bringing witness that no marriage shall come near your bed. I am Thetis, like you an enemy marriage. I love maidenhood, as Khalkomede herself . . . Be astute, and save us! For if you contrive your own death, without learning what marriage is without a bridegroom, the wild Indian will destroy the whole company of Bassarides. No, you must delude him, and you will save from death your army, which is now in flight while Dionysos is under the lash [driven mad by the Erinys] . . . Have no fear about marriage. No bedfellow shall loose the firm knot of your maidenhood: I swear it by Dionysos, who has touched my board, I swear it by your thyrsus, and by Aphrodite of the sea. She ended her consolation; and then hid the girl in a cloud, that the guards might not see her, or some spy walking cunningly in the night with secret foot, or some bold goatherd womanmad, and drag the maiden in the evening to a wayside wedding. The girl passed over the hills in her quickmoving step, until she silently passed into the woody uplands; nor did Thetis herself linger upon the shore, but she too returned to the weedy hall of her father Nereus."

P12.4A THETIS, HIPPOKAMPOS

P12.4B THETIS, HIPPOKAMPOS

Z33.2 THETIS, HIPPOKAMPOS

Z33.1 THETIS, NEREIDES, BYTHOS

THETIS, AEGAEON & THE BINDING OF ZEUS

Homer, Iliad 1. 393 ff (trans. Lattimore) (Greek epic C8th B.C.) : "[Akhilleus (Achilles) addresses his mother Thetis:] You [Thetis] only among the immortals beat aside a shameful destruction from Kronos' son [Zeus] the darkmisted that time when all the other Olympians sought to bind him, Hera and Poseidon and Pallas Athene. Then you, goddess, went and set him free from his shackles, summoning in speed the creature of the hundred hands [Briareus] to tall Olympos." Ion of Chios, Fragment 741 (from Scholiast on Apollonius of Rhodes) (trans. Campbell, Vol. Greek Lyric IV) (Greek lyric C5th B.C.) : "Ion says in a dithyramb that Aigaion (Aegaeon) was summoned from the ocean by Thetis and taken up to protect Zeus, and that he was the son of Thalassa (Sea)." Quintus Smyrnaeus, Fall of Troy 2. 433 ff (trans. Way) (Greek epic C4th A.D.) : "The Lightning-lord [Zeus] she [Thetis] once released from bonds. "

Statius, Achilleid 1. 209 ff (trans. Mozley) (Roman epic C1st A.D.) : "What time she [Thetis] was sent to follow Aegaeon freed [Zeus] from his stubborn bonds and to count the hundred fetters of the god." Nonnus, Dionysiaca 43. 361 ff (trans. Rouse) (Greek epic C5th A.D.) : "[When Poseidon led the sea-gods into battle against Dionysos and his allies during the Indian War:] Psamathe sorrowful on the beach beside the sea, watching the turmoil of seabattling Dionysos, uttered the dire trouble of her heart in terrified words: O Lord Zeus! If thou hast gratitude for Thetis and the ready hands of Briareus, if thou hast not forgot Aigaion the protector of they laws, save us from Bakkhos (Bacchus) in his madness! Let me never see Glaukos (Glaucus) dead and Nereus a slave! Let not Thetis in floods of tears be servant to Lyaios, let me not see her a slave to Bromios, leaving the deep . . . She spoke her prayer, and Zeus on high heard her in heaven [and ended the battle]."

THETIS THE SEA-GODDESS, MISCELLANY

Athenaeus, Deipnosophistae 2. 26c (trans. Gullick) (Greek rhetorician C2nd to C3rd A.D.) : "Matron the parodist, in the Banquet, has, He brought oysters, which are the truffles [i.e., a great delicacy] of the Nereis Thetis." Ovid, Heroides 20. 60 ff (trans. Showerman) (Roman poetry C1st B.C. to C1st A.D.) : "[Praise for a maiden:] Feet which Thetis' own methinks could scarcely equal." [N.B. Thetis is called the silver-footed by Homer.] Virgil, Georgics 1. 396 (trans. Fairclough) (Roman bucolic C1st B.C.) : "The halcyons, the pride of Thetis [as the sea personified], spread their wings on the shore." Propertius, Elegies 3. 6 (trans. Goold) (Roman elegy C1st B.C.) : "Ye hundred Sea-Maidens (Aequoreae Puellae) sired by Nereus, and you, Thetis, that have felt a mother's grief, you should have placed your arms beneath his failing chin [a boy drowning in a shipwreck]: he could not have weighed heavy on your hands." Statius, Thebaid 9. 360 ff (trans. Mozley) (Roman epic C1st A.D.) : "Often does Alcyone [the sea-nesting kingfisher] deserted make lament for her wave-wandering, spray-drenched home, when savage Auster [Notos the South Wind] and envious Thetis have scattered her darlings and their shivering nests." Statius, Silvae 3. 2. 1 (trans. Mozley) (Roman poetry C1st A.D.) : "Before ships were, the waters lay in a slumberous calm, Thetis dared not foam nor the waves assault the clouds." Suidas s.v. Argyropeza (trans. Suda On Line) (Byzantine Greek Lexicon C10th A.D.) : "Argyropeza (silver-footed): She who has a silver foot. For peza [is] the foot."

CULT OF THETIS
I) SEPIA Headland in Euboia (Central Greece) Herodotus, Histories 7. 178. 1 (trans. Godley) (Greek historian C5th B.C.) : "[A storm struck the Persian invasion fleet as it was sailing down the coast of Euboia (historical):] Finally the [Persian] Magi made offerings and cast spells upon the Wind [Boreas], sacrificing also to Thetis and the Nereides. In this way they made the Wind stop on the fourth day--or perhaps it died down on its own. They sacrificed to Thetis after hearing from the Ionians the story that it was from this place that Peleus had carried her off and that all the headland of Sepia (Cuttle-Fish) [in Euboia] belonged to her and to the other Nereides." II) SPARTA Chief City of Lakedaimonia (Southern Greece) Pausanias, Description of Greece 3. 14. 4 (trans. Jones) (Greek travelogue C2nd A.D.) : "The sanctuary of Thetis [in Sparta] was set up, they say, for the following reason. The Lakedaimonians were making war against the Messenians, who had revolted, and their king Anaxandros (Anaxander), having invaded Messenia, took prisoners certain women, and among them Kleo, priestess of Thetis. This Kleo (Cleo) the wife of Anazandros asked for from her husban, and discovering that she had the wooden image of Thetis, she set up with her a temple for the goddess. This Leandris did because of a vision in a dream, but the wooden image of Thetis is guarded in secret." Pausanias, Description of Greece 3. 22. 2 : "But when Menelaus had taken Ilion [Troy] and had returned safe home eight years after the sack of Troy, he set up near the sanctuary of Migonitis [sanctuary of Aphrodite founded by Paris at Migonion in Lakonia] an image of Thetis and the goddesses Praxidikai (Exacters of Justice)." III) LAKINION (Lacinium) Promontory (Southern Italy) Lycophron, Alexandra 856 ff (trans. Mair) (Greek poet C3rd B.C.) : "The recesses of Lakinion (Lacinium) [in Italia] wherein a heifer [Thetis] shall fashion an orchard for the goddess Hoplosmia [Hera], furnished with trees. And it shall be for all time an ordinance for women of the land to mourn the nine-cubit hero [Akhilleus, Achilles], third in descent from Aiakos (Aeacus) [grandfather of Akhilleus] and Doris [Thetis' mother], the hurricane of battle strife, and not to deck their radiant limbs with gold, nor array them in fine-spun robes stained with purple - because a goddess [Thetis] to a goddess [Hera] presents that great spur of land [Lakinion] to be her dwelling-place."

TITLES & EPITHETS OF THETIS

Thetis had a number of poetic titles and epithets.
Greek Epithet Transliteration Argyropeza Latin Spelling Argyropeza Translation Silver-Footed

Halosydns

Halosydne

Brine-Born

Sources:
o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o Homer, The Iliad - Greek Epic C8th B.C. Hesiod, Theogony - Greek Epic C8th-7th B.C. The Homeric Hymns - Greek Epic C8th-4th B.C.C Greek Lyric III, Stesichorus - Greek Lyric C7th-6th B.C. Greek Lyric IV Ion of Chios, Fragments - Greek Lyric C5th B.C. Apollodorus, The Library - Greek Mythography C2nd A.D. Lycophron, Alexandra - Greek Poetry C3rd B.C. Quintus Smyrnaeus, Fall of Troy - Greek Epic C4th A.D. Herodotus, Histories - Greek History C5th B.C. Pausanias, Description of Greece - Greek Geography C2nd A.D. Athenaeus, Deipnosophistae - Greek Rhetoric C3rd A.D. Hyginus, Astronomica - Latin Mythography C2nd A.D. Ovid, Heroides - Latin Poetry C1st B.C. - C1st A.D. Virgil, Georgics - Latin Bucolic C1st B.C. Propertius, Elegies - Latin Elegy C1st B.C. Statius, Thebaid - Latin Epic C1st A.D. Statius, Achilleid - Latin Epic C1st A.D. Statius, Silvae - Latin Poetry C1st A.D. Nonnos, Dionysiaca - Greek Epic C5th A.D. Suidas
- Byzantine Greek Lexicon C10th A.D.

THETIS 2
Greek Name Transliteration Thetis Latin Spelling Thetis Translation Nurse (tth) OTHER THETIS PAGES THETIS 1: VARIOUS STORIES THETIS 3: AKHILLEUS BIRTH THETIS 4: THE TROJAN WAR

THETIS was the leader of the fifty goddesses of the sea.

Nereid

This page describes Thetis' capture of Thetis by Peleus and their subsequent marriage attended by all the gods.

P13.1 THETIS, PELEUS

P12.3B THETIS, PELEUS

P12.2 THETIS, PELEUS

P13.8 THETIS, PELEUS

THE WEDDING OF THETIS

Homer, Iliad 24. 59 ff (trans. Lattimore) (Greek epic C8th B.C.) : "[Hera:] Akhilleus is the child of a goddess, one whom I myself nourished and brought up and gave her as a bride to her husband Peleus, one dear to the hearts of the immortals, for you all went, you gods, to the wedding, and you too [Apollon] feasted among them and held you lyre." Hesiod, Catalogues of Women Fragment 57 (from Herculaeneum Papyri 2. 8. 104) (trans. Evelyn-White) (Greek epic C8th or 7th B.C.) : "The author of the Cypria says that Thetis, to please Hera, avoided union with Zeus, at which he was enraged and swore that she should be the wife of a mortal. Hesiod also has the like account." Hesiod, Catalogues of Women Fragment 58 (from Strassburg Greek papyri 55) : "Peleus the son of Aiakos, dear to the deathless gods, came to Phthia the mother of flocks, bringing great possessions from spacious Iolkos. And all the people envied him in their hearts seeing how he had sacked the well-built city, and accomplished his joyous marriage [to the goddess Thetis]; and they all spake this word: Thrice, yea, four times blessed son of Aiakos, happy Peleus! For far-seeing Olympian Zeus has given you a wife with many gifts and the blessed gods have brought your marriage fully to pass, and in these halls you go up to the holy bed of a daughter of Nereus. Truly the father, the son of Kronos, made you very pre-eminent among heroes and honoured above other men who eat bread and consume the fruit of the ground." Hesiod, Catalogues of Women Fragment 59 (from Origen, Against Celsus 4.79) : "For in common then [at the marriage of Peleus and Thetis] were the banquets, and in common the seats of deathless gods and mortal men." Stasinus of Cyprus or Hegesias of Aegina, Cypria Fragment 1 (from Proclus, Chrestomathia 1) (trans. Evelyn-White) (Greek epic C7th or 6th B.C.) : "The epic called Cypria which is current is eleven books. Its contents are as follows. Zeus plans with Themis to bring about the Trojan war. Eris (Strife) arrives while the gods are feasting at the marriage of Peleus and starts a dispute between Hera, Athena, and Aphrodite as to which of them is fairest." Stasinus of Cyprus or Hegesias of Aegina, Cypria Fragment 4 (from Herculaeneum Papyri 2. 8. 104) : "The author of the Cypria says that Thetis, to please Hera, avoided union with Zeus, at which he was enraged and swore that she should be the wife of a mortal. Hesiod also has the like account." Stasinus of Cyprus or Hegesias of Aegina, Cypria Fragment 5 (from Scholiast on Homer's Iliad 17. 140) : "For at the marriage of Peleus and Thetis, the gods gathered together on Pelion to feast and brought Peleus gifts. Kheiron (Chiron) gave him a stout ashen shaft which he had cut for a spear, and Athena, it is said, polished it, and Hephaistos fitted it with a head. The story is given by the author of the Cypria." Pindar, Pythian Ode 3 ep4 - ant5 (trans. Conway) (Greek lyric C5th B.C.) : "Yet a life free from care came neither to Peleus Aiakos' son, nor to Kadmos that godlike king; though they of all men won, so men say, the highest bliss, who heard

the Mousai (Muses) in golden diadems chanting their songs upon the mountain and within the seven gates of Thebes, when one took for his bride Harmonia, the darkeyed maid, the other glorious Thetis, daughter of wise Nereus. And the gods shared their marriage feasts, and seated upon golden thrones beside them they saw the royal children of Kronos, and received from them their wedding-gifts: and by the grace of Zeus were from their former toils uplifted, and peace was in their hearts established . . . And Peleus' son, that one son whom the immortal Thetis in Phthia bore, gave up his life in the fore-front of war, to the sharp arrow's point." Pindar, Nemean Ode 3 ant2 : "And Thetis too the sea maid, he [Peleus] held struggling in his strong grasp." Pindar, Nemean Ode 3 ant3 : "For Nereus' daughter glorious in her fruit, he [Kheiron] set the marriage feast, and reared her peerless son." Pindar, Nemean Ode 4 str8 : "The fate destined by Zeus he [Peleus] made his own: devouring flames, and the sharp claws of fearless lions, and tearing teeth safely endured [as Thetis metamorphosed into varoius shapes], his Nereis bride he [Peleus] won from her high seat, and saw, round him enthroned, the gods of sky and sea proffer their gifts, foretelling the kingdom he and his race should rule." Pindar, Nemean Ode 5 str2 : "Yet for these men [Peleus and Telamon] the Mousai's (Muses') peerless choir glad welcome sang on Pelion [at Peleus' marriage to Thetis], and with them Apollon's seven-stringed lyre and golden quill led many a lovely strain. To Zeus a prelude, then sang they first divine Thetis, and Peleus." Pindar, Nemean Ode 5 ep2 : "Then from heaven beholding the king of the high gods, cloud-gathering Zeus, with nodding brow forthwith ordained a Sea-Nymphe [Thetis] of the golden-spindled Nereides his [Peleus'] bride would be, and to accept this kinship, enlisted Poseidon's favour." Pindar, Isthmian Ode 8 str3 - str5 : "When for marriage with Thetis there arose strife 'twixt Zeus and glorious Poseidon when each of the two gods would have her to be his lovely bride, for passion filled their hearts. But for them did the wisdom of the immortal gods not grant this union should come to pass, when to their ears came the prophetic oracle. For in their midst wise-counselled Themis told that it was ruled of fate that the sea-goddess should bring forth a son, of strength mightier than his father, whose hand should launch a shaft more powerful than the bolt of thunder or the fearsome trident, if she wed with Zeus or with his brothers. Leave, said she, From this design, but with a mortal let her bed be blessed, and let her see her son dying in war. Like Ares shall he be in strength of arm and in fleetness of foot like to the lightning flash. In my word you would hear, grant that her marriage be for an honour given of heaven to Peleus, the son of Aiakos, who, so they tell, is of all men most righteous, dwelling upon Iolkos' plain. And to the immortal cave of Kheiron (Chiron) let your bidding speedily take its way, nor let the ballot-leaves of strife be set amidst as twice by Nereus' daughter. But on the full-moon's eve let her for this hero unloose the lovely girdle of her pure maidenhood. Such words the goddess spoke to the children of Kronos; and they nodded giving their assent with immortal brows. Nor was the fruit of these words cast away. For

the two gods joined in their honours given to the wedding of maid Thetis." Alcaeus, Fragment 42 (trans. Campbell, Vol. Greek Lyric I) (Greek lyric C6th B.C.) : "The delicate maiden [Thetis] whom the noble son of Aiakos [Peleus], inviting all the blessed gods to the wedding, married, taking her from the halls of Nereus to the home of Kherronos [Kheiron, Chiron]; he loosened the pure maiden's girdle, and the love of Peleus and the best of Nereus' daughters flourished; and within the year she bore a son [Akhilleus], the finest of demigods." Melanippides, Fragment 765 (from Scholiast on Homer's Iliad) (trans. Campbell, Vol. Greek Lyric V) (Greek lyric C5th B.C.) : "That is why Melanippides says that Thetis was pregnant by Zeus when she was given in marriage to Peleus because of the remarks of Prometheus or Themis [that she would bear a son greater than his father]." Aeschylus, Prometheus Bound 168 ff (trans. Smyth) (Greek tragedy C5th B.C.) : "Prometheus [chained by Zeus to a mountain crag]: Truly the day shall come when, although I am tortured in stubborn fetters, the prince of the blessed [Zeus] will need me to reveal the new design whereby he shall be stripped of his sceptre and his dignities [i.e. by any son born to him by Thetis]." Aeschylus, Prometheus Bound 519 ff : "Chorus: What is fated for Zeus except to hold eternal sway? . . . Prometheus: Think of some other subject, for it is not the proper time to speak of this. No matter what, this must be kept concealed; for it is by safeguarding it that I am to escape my dishonorable bonds and outrage. [i.e. Zeus will eventually release Prometheus in return for telling him the secret of which goddess would bear a son more powerful than he.]" Aeschylus, Prometheus Bound 761 ff : "Io: By whom shall he be despoiled of the sceptre of his sovereignty? Prometheus: By himself and his own empty-headed purposes. Io: In what way? Oh tell me, if there be no harm in telling. Prometheus: He shall make a marriage that shall one day cause him distress. Io: With a divinity or with a mortal? If it may be told, speak out. Prometheus: Why ask with whom? I may not speak of this. Io: Is it by his consort that he shall be dethroned? Prometheus: Yes, since she shall bear a son mightier than his father. Io: And has he no means to avert this doom? Prometheus: No, none--except me, if I were released from bondage." Aeschylus, Prometheus Bound 907 ff : "Prometheus: Yes, truly, the day will come when Zeus, although stubborn of soul, shall be humbled, seeing that he plans a marriage [i.e. a union with the goddess Thetis] that shall hurl him into oblivion from his sovereignty and throne; and then immediately the curse his father Kronos invoked as he fell from his ancient throne, shall be fulfilled to the uttermost. Deliverance from such ruin no one of the gods can show him clearly except me. I know the fact and the means. So let him sit there in his assurance, putting his trust in the crash reverberating on high and brandishing his fire-breathing bolt in his hands. For these shall not protect him from falling in ignominious and unendurable ruin. Such an adversary is he now preparing despite himself, a prodigy irresistible, even one who shall discover a flame mightier than the lightning and a deafening crash to outroar the thunder; a prodigy who shall shiver the trident, Poseidon's spear, that scourge of the sea and shaker of the land. Then, wrecked upon this evil, Zeus shall learn how different it is to be a

sovereign and a slave." Aeschylus, Fragment 189 (from Plato, Republic 2. 383B) (trans. Weir Smyth) (Greek tragedy C5th B.C.) : "[Thetis contrasts Apollon's prophecy of her happy motherhood, uttered at her marriage to Peleus, with his deed in guiding the shaft of Paris that killed her son.:] He dwelt on my happiness in my children, whose days were to be many and unacquainted with disease; and, comprising all, in triumph-strain that cheered my soul, he praised my lot, blest of the gods. And so I deemed that falsehood sat not upon Phoibos' lips divine, fraught with the prophet's art. But he, who raised this song himself, he who himself was present at my marriage-feast, he who himself spake thus, he it is who himself hath slain my son [i.e. Akhilleus at Troy]." Pseudo-Apollodorus, Bibliotheca 3. 168 (trans. Aldrich) (Greek mythographer C2nd A.D.) : "Next he [Peleus] married Nereus' daughter Thetis, over whom Zeus and Poseidon had been rivals. But when Themis had predicted that the son of Thetis would be stronger than his father, they bowed out. Some say that, when Zeus was eager to have sex with Thetis, Prometheus told him that his son by her would take over dominion of the sky. Others say that Thetis was unwilling to have sex with Zeus because she had been reared by Hera, and that Zeus in fury wanted to marry her off to a mortal. At any rate, Kheiron (Chiron) warned Peleus to grab Thetis and hold on while she changed her form; so he watched for his chance and carried her off, and, although she changed into fire and then water and then a wild animal, he did not release her until he saw that she had returned to her original shape. They were married on Pelion and the gods celebrated the marriage with hymns and a banquet." Apollonius Rhodius, Argonautica 4. 757 ff (trans. Rieu) (Greek epic C3rd B.C.) : "[Hera to Thetis:] I brought you up myself and loved you more than any other Lady of the Sea because you rejected the amorous advances of my consort Zeus. He, of course, has made a habit of such practices and sleeps with goddesses and girls alike. But you were frightened and out of your regard for me you would not let him have his will. In return for which he took a solemn oath that you should never be the bride of an immortal god. Yet in spite of your refusal he did not cease to keep his eye on you, till the day when the venerable Themis made him understand that you were destined to bear a son who would be greater than his father. When he heard this, Zeus gave you up though he still desired you. He wished to keep his power forever and was terrified at the thought that he might meet his match and be supplanted as the King of Heaven. Then, in the hope of making you a happy bride and mother, I chose Peleus, the noblest man alive, to be your husband; I invited all the gods and goddesses to the wedding-feast; and I carried the bridal torch myself, in return for the goodwill and deference you had shown me." Quintus Smyrnaeus, Fall of Troy 3. 580 ff (trans. Way) (Greek epic C4th A.D.) : "Zeus promised me [Thetis] to make him [her son Akhilleus] glorious in the Aiakid halls, in recompense for the bridal [to Peleus] I so loathed that into wild wind now I changed me, now to water, now in fashion as a bird I was, now as the blast of flame; nor might a mortal win me for his bride, who seemed all shapes in turn that earth and heaven contain, until the Olympian pledged him to bestow a godlike son on me, a lord of war. Yea, in a manner this did he fulfil faithfully; for my son was mightiest of men." Quintus Smyrnaeus, Fall of Troy 3. 96 ff : "[Hera rebukes Apollon for slaying Akhilleus (Achilles):] What deed of outrage,

Phoibos, hast thou done this day, forgetful of that day whereon to godlike Peleus' spousals gathered all the Immortals? Yea, amidst the feasters thou sangest how Thetis silver-footed left the sea's abysses to be Peleus' bride; and as thou harpedst all earth's children came to hearken, beasts and birds, high craggy hills, rivers, and all the deep-shadowed forests came. All this hast thou forgotten, and hast wrought a ruthless deed, hast slain a godlike man, albeit thou with other Gods didst pour the nectar, praying that he might be the son by Thetis given to Peleus. But that prayer hast thou forgotten . . . how wilt thou meet the Nereis' eyes when she shall stand in Zeus' hall midst the Gods, who priased thee once, and loved as her own son?" Quintus Smyrnaeus, Fall of Troy 4. 48 ff : "Zeus, Lightning-father . . . the fair-haired bride [Thetis] whom once to Peleus thou didst give to wife midst Pelion's glens. Thyself didst bring to pass those spousals of a Goddess: on that day all we Immortals feasted there, and gave gifts passingfair." Quintus Smyrnaeus, Fall of Troy 4. 128 ff : "Now in their midst he [Nestor at the funeral games of Akhilleus] sang the gracious Queen of Nereids [Thetis], sang how she in willsomeness of beauty was of all the Sea-maids (Einaliai) chief. Well-pleased she hearkened. Yet again he sang, singing of Peleus' Bridal of Delight, which all the blest Immortals brought to pass by Pelion's crests; sang of the ambrosial feast when the swift Horai (Hours) brought in immortal hands meats not of earth, and heaped in golden mauds; sang how the silver tables were set forth in haste by Themis blithely laughing; sang how breathed Hephaistos purest flame of fire; sang how the Nymphai [Thriai] in golden chalices mingled ambrosia; sang the ravishing dance twined by the Kharites' (Graces') feet; sang of the chant the Mousai (Muses) raised, and how its spell enthralled all mountains, rivers, all the forest brood; how raptured was the infinite firmament, Kheiron's (Chiron's) fair caverns, yea, the very Gods." Quintus Smyrnaeus, Fall of Troy 5. 73 ff : "And there [depicted on the shield of Akhilleus] were lordly Nereus' daughters shown leading their sister [Thetis] up from the wide sea to her espousals with the warrior-king [Peleus]. And round her all the Immortals banqueted on Pelion's ridge far-stretching. All about lush dewy watermeads there were, bestarred with flowers innumerable, grassy groves, and springs with clear transparent water bright." Quintus Smyrnaeus, Fall of Troy 5. 334 ff : "Against the wise Prometheus bitter-wroth the Sea-maids [Nereides] were, remembering how that Zeus, moved by his prophecies, unto Peleus gave Thetis to wife, a most unwilling bride." Plato, Republic 383b (trans. Shorey) (Greek philosopher C4th B.C.) : "Nor shall we approve of Aiskhylos (Aeschylus) when his Thetis avers that Apollon singing at her wedding, foretold the happy fortunes of her issue Their days prolonged, from pain and sickness free, and rounding out the tale of heaven's blessings, raised the proud paian, making glad my heart. And I believed that Phoibos' [Apollon's] mouth divine, filled with the breath of prophecy, could not lie. But he himself, the singer, himself who sat at meat with us, himself who promised all, is now himself the slayer of my son. When anyone says that sort of thing about the gods, we shall be wroth with him." Pausanias, Description of Greece 5. 18. 5 (trans. Jones) (Greek travelogue C2nd A.D.) :

"[Depicted on the chest of Kypselos at Olympia:] There is also a figure of Thetis as a maid; Peleus is taking hold of her, and from the hand of Thetis a snake is darting at Peleus." Ptolemy Hephaestion, New History Book 6 (summary from Photius, Myriobiblon 190) (trans. Pearse) (Greek mythographer C1st to C2nd A.D.) : "When he [Zeus] came to the wedding of Peleus and Thetis, he brought these wings [those of the Titan-goddess Arke] as a gift for Thetis [to attach to the feet of her destined son]. Peleus, it is said, received on the occasion of his marriage a sword from Hephaistos, from Aphrodite a piece of jewelry on which was engraved an Eros (Love), from Poseidon some horses, Xanthos and Balios, from Hera a chlamyde, from Athena a flute, from Nereus a basket of the salt called divine; and which has an irresistable virtue for the appetite, the taste of food and their digestion, whence the expression she poured the divine salt." Pseudo-Hyginus, Fabulae 54 (trans. Grant) (Roman mythographer C2nd A.D.) : "A prediction about Thetis, the Nereid, was that her son would be greater than his father. Since no one but Prometheus knew this, and Jove [Zeus] wished to lie with her, Prometheus promised Jove [Zeus] that he would give him timely warning if he would free him from his chains. And so when the promise was given he advised Jove [Zeus] not to lie with Thetis, for if one greater than he were born he might drive Jove from his kingdom, as he himself had done to Saturn [Kronos]. And so Thetis was given in marriage to Peleus, son of Aeacus, and Hercules was sent to kill the eagle which was eating out Prometheus' heart. When it was killed, Prometheus after thirty thousand years was freed from Mount Caucasus." Pseudo-Hyginus, Fabulae 92 : "Jove [Zeus] is said to have invited to the wedding of Peleus and Thetis all the gods except Eris, or Discord. When she came later and was not admitted to the banquet, she threw an apple through the door, saying that the fairest should take it. Juno [Hera], Venus [Aphrodite], and Minerva [Athene] claimed the beauty prize for themselves." Pseudo-Hyginus, Astronomica 2. 15 : "The following reason for the release of Prometheus has been handed down. When Jupiter [Zeus], moved by the beauty of Thetis, sought her in marriage, he couldn't win the consent of the timid maiden, but none the less kept planning to bring it about. At that time the Parcae [Moirai, Fates] were said to have prophesied what the natural order of events should be. They said that the son of Thetis' husband, whoever he might be, would be more famous than his father. Prometheus heard this as he kept watch, not from inclination but from necessity, and reported it to Jove [Zeus]. He, fearing that what he had done to his father Saturnus [Kronos] in a similar situation, would happened to him, namely, that he would be robbed of his power, gave up by necessity his desire to wed Thetis, and out of gratitude to Prometheus thanked him and freed him from his chains." Ovid, Metamorphoses 11. 217 ff (trans. Melville) (Roman epic C1st B.C. to C1st A.D.) : "Peleus had the glory of a goddess wife [Thetis] and pride in her great father [Nereus] just as strong as in his grandfather; for he, of course was not alone a grandson of great Jove [Zeus], but won alone a bride from heaven above. Old Proteus once had said to Thetis, Bear a child, fair goddess of the waves. For you shall be the mother of a youth whose deeds in his brave years of manhood shall surpass his father's and he'll win a greater name. Therefore, for fear the world might ever have a greater than himself, Jove [Zeus]

shunned the bed of Thetis, fair sea-goddess, though his heart was fired with no cool flame, and in his place as lover bade his grandson Aeacides [Peleus] take in his embrace the virgin of the waves. There is a curving bay in Haemoniae [Thessaly], shaped like a sickle; two long arms run out and were the water deeper there would be a harbour. Smooth across the shallow sand the sea extends; the shore is firm; it holds no footprints, slows no passage, slopes unlined by seaweed. Myrtles grow near by, a grove of double-coloured berries. In their midst there lies a grotto, formed maybe by art, maybe by nature, rather though by art, here Thetis used to come, naked, astride her bridled dolphin. There, as she lay lapped in sleep, Peleus surprised her, winding his two strong arms around her neck. And had she not resorted to her arts and changed her shape so often, he'd have gained the end he dared. But first she was a bird--that bird he held; and then a sturdy tree--that tree he fastened on; her third shape was a stripy tigress--Aeacides [Peleus], terrified, released his hold on her and let her go. He prayed then to the Sea-gods (Di Pelagi), offering wine poured on the water, smoke of incense, flesh of sheep, till Carpathius [Proteus] from his briny deep said, Aeacides [Peleus], you shall gain the bride you seek if, while she's sleeping in her rocky cave, you catch her off her guard and truss her tight with ropes that won't give way and, though she takes a hundred spurious shapes don't be deceived but grapple it, whatever it is until she forms again the shape she had before. So Proteus spoke and sank into the sea, his wavelets washing over his last words. Titan [Helios the Sun] was setting and his chariot sloped to the western waves, when the fair Nereis [Thetis] sought the grotto and resumed her usual couch. Peleus had barely touched her lovely limbs before from shape to shape she changed, until she felt her body trussed; her arms pinioned apart. And then at last, sighing, with some god's help, she said, you've won. And there revealed stood-Thetis. Self-confessed, he held her, hopes triumphant, to his side and filled with great Achilles his fair bride." Valerius Flaccus, Argonautica 1. 130 ff (trans. Mozley) (Roman epic C1st A.D.) : "Argos adds paintings [to the hull of the ship Argo] of varied grace. One one side Thetis, whom a god had hoped to win, is being borne upon the back of a Tyrrhene fish to the bridal chamber of Peleus; the dolphin is speeding over the sea; she herself is sitting with her veil drawn down over her eyes, and is sorrowing that Achilles shall not be born greater than Jupiter [Zeus]. Panope and her sister Doto and Galatea with bare shoulders, revelling in the waves, escort her towards the caverns." Statius, Achilleid 1. 25 ff (trans. Mozley) (Roman epic C1st A.D.) : "His [the kentauros Kheiron's] lofty home bores deep into the mountain, beneath the long, overarching vault of Pelion; part had been hollowed out by toil, part worn away by its own age. Yet the images and couches of the gods are shown, and the places that each had sanctified by his reclining and his sacred presence [at the marriage-feast of Peleus and Thetis]." Statius, Achilleid 2. 55 ff : "Verily that quarrel [of the goddesses Hera, Athene and Aphrodite] arose in thy [Akhilleus'] own glades, at a gathering of the gods, when pleasant Pelion made marriage feast for Peleus [and Thetis], and thou [Akhilleus] even then wert promised to our [the Greeks] armament." Statius, Silvae 1. 2. 215 (trans. Mozley) (Roman poetry C1st A.D.) : "Peleus [was led] to Thessalian Tempe, when Chiron high on his horse's body looked forth and beheld Thetis draw nigh to the Haemonian strand [and advised

him how to capture her as his bride]." Colluthus, Rape of Helen 14 ff (trans. Mair) (Greek poetry C5th to 6th A.D.) : "Among the high-peaked hills of the Haimonians, the marriage song of Peleus [and Thetis] was being sung while, at the bidding of Zeus, Ganymede poured the wine. And all the race of gods hasted to do honour to the white-armed bride [Thetis], own sister of Amphitrite: Zeus from Olympos and Poseidon from the sea. Out of the land of Melisseus, from fragrant Helikon, Apollon came leading the clear-voiced choir of the Mousai. On either side, fluttering with golden locks, the unshorn cluster of his hair was buffeted by the west wind. And after him followed Hera, sister of Zeus; nor did the queen of harmony herself, even Aphrodite, loiter in coming to the groves of the Kentauros [Kheiron]. Came also Peitho (Persuasion), having fashioned a bridal wreath, carrying the quiver of archer Eros. And Athene put off her mighty helmet from her brow and followed to the marriage, albeit of marriage she was untaught. Nor did Leto's daughter Artemis, sister of Apollon, disdain to come, goddess of the wilds though she was. And iron Ares, even as, helmetless nor lifting warlike spear, he comes into the house of Hephaistos, in such wise without breastplate and without whetted sword danced smilingly. But Eris (Strife) did Kheiron leave unhonoured: Kheiron did not regard her and Peleus heeded her not . . . And Eris (Strife) overcome by the pangs of angry jealousy, wandered in search of a way to disturb the banquet of the gods . . . And now she bethought her of the golden apples of the Hesperides. Thence Eris took the fruit that should be the harbinger of war, even the apple, and devised the scheme of signal woes. Whirling her arm she hurled into the banquet the primal seed of turmoil and disturbed the choir of goddesses. Hera, glorying to be the spouse and to share the bed of Zeus, rose up amazed, and would fain have seized it. And Kypris [Aphrodite], as being more excellent than all, desired to have the apple, for that it is the treasure of the Erotes (Loves). But Hera would not give it up and Athena would not yield." Nonnus, Dionysiaca 33. 355 ff (trans. Rouse) (Greek epic C5th A.D.) : "[Thetis speaks:] I am Thetis, like you an enemy marriage. I love maidenhood . . . yet Father Zeus drove me from heaven and would have dragged me into marriage, but that old Prometheus stopt his desires, by prophesying that I should bear a son stronger than Kronion [Zeus]; he wished that Thetis' boy should not some time overpower his father and drive out Kronides as high Zeus drove out Kronos."

THETIS & THE VOYAGE OF THE ARGONAUTS

Pseudo-Apollodorus, Bibliotheca 1. 136 (trans. Aldrich) (Greek mythographer C2nd A.D.) : "The ship [Argo] then came successively to Kharybdis, Skylla, and the wandering rocks called Planktai, beyond which a mighty flame and smoke were seen rising. But Hera sent for Thetis and the Nereides, who escorted the ship through these hazards." Apollonius Rhodius, Argonautica 4. 757 - 967 ff (trans. Rieu) (Greek epic C3rd B.C.) : "[Hera commands Iris:] Dear Iris . . . speed away on your light wings and ask Thetis to come here to me out of the salt sea depths. I need her . . .

Iris, spreading her light pinions, swooped down from Olympos and cleft the air. Plunging first into the Aigaion Sea where Nereus lives, she approached Thetis, delivered the message from Hera, and urged her to go to the goddess . . . Thetis, leaving Nereus and her sisters in the sea, reached Olympos and presented herself to Hera. The goddess made her take a seat beside her and disclosed her mind. Listen, Lady Thetis, she said. I was anxious to have a word with you. You know the strength of my regard for the noble son of Aison and the others who supported him in his ordeal . . . It still remains for them to pass the great cliff of Skylla and the gurgling whirlpool of Kharybdis. Now you will not have forgotten that I brought you up myself and loved you more than any other Lady of the Sea [the story of the marriage of Thetis follows, see section above] . . . And there is something else that I must tell you, a prophecy concerning your son Akhilleus, who is now with Kheiron the Kentauros (Centaur) and is fed by water-nymphs though he should be at you breast. When he comes to the Elysian Fields, it has been arranged that he shall marry Medea the daughter of Aeetes; so you, as her future mother-in-law, should be ready to help her now. Help Peleus too. Why are you still so angry with him? He was very foolish; but even the gods are sometimes visited by Ate (Delusion). It is for you to see that they [the Argonauts] come safely home. The only things I fear are the rocks and those tremendous waves. I count on you and your sisters to deal with these. And do not let [them] . . . fall into Kharybdis [the whirlpool] . . . [or] go too near the hateful den of Ausonian Skylla . . . What you must do is to guide the ship that they escape disaster, if only by a hair's breadth. Thetis replied: If the fury of the flames and the storm winds is indeed to be abated, I am confident. Given a fresh breeze from the west, I shall bring Argo safely through, whatever seas she may encounter. But time presses and I have a long way to go, first to my sisters to enlist their help, then to the place where the ship is moored to induce the men to sail at dawn if they wish to reach their homes. With that, Thetis dropped from the sky and plunged into the turmoil of the dark blue sea. There she called to all her sister Nereides to help her. They heard her call, and when they had assembled Thetis told them what Hera wished and sent them speeding off to the Ausonian Sea. She herself, quick as the twinkle of an eye or the sun's rays when he springs from the world's rim, sped through the water to the beach of Aia on the Tyrrhenian coast. She found the young lords by their ship, passing the time with quoits and archery. Drawing near, she touched the hand of the lord Peleus, who was her husband. The rest saw nothing. She appeared to him only and to him she said: 'You and your friends have sat here long enough. In the morning you must cast off the hawsers of you gallant ship in obedience to Hera. She is your friend and has arranged for the Nereides to foregather quickly and bring Argo safely through the Wandering Rocks, as they are called, that being the way you must follow. But when you see me coming with the rest do not point me out to anyone. Keep my appearance to yourself, or you will make me angrier that you did when you treated me in such a brutal fashion.' And with that she vanished into the depths of the sea. Her husband felt a pang of remorse. He had never set eyes on her since the night when in a rage she had left her bridal bed. They had quarrelled about the illustrous Akhilleus. He was a baby then, and in the middle of the night she used to surround her mortal child with fire and every day anoint his tender flesh with ambrosia, to make him immortal and save him from the horrors of old age. One night Peleus, leaping out of bed, saw his boy gasping in the flames and gave a terrible cry. It was a foolish thing to do. Thetis heard, and snatching up the child threw him screaming on the floor. Then, passing quickly out of the house, light as a dream and insubstantial as the air, she plunged into the sea. She was mortally offended and she never returned. The Argonauts sailed on in gloom . . . great seas were booming on the Wandering Rocks . . . The Nereides swimming in from all directions, met them here, and Lady

Thetis coming up astern laid her hand on the blade of the steering-oar to guide them through the Wandering Rocks. While she played the steersman's part, nymph after nymph kept leaping from the sea and swimming round Argo, like a school of dolphins gambolling round a moving ship in sunny weather, much to the entertainment of the crew as they see them darting up, now aft, now ahead, and now abeam. But just as they were about to strike the Rocks, the Sea-nymphs, holding their skirts up over their white knees, began to run along on top of the reefs and breaking waves following each other at intervals on either side of the ship. Argo, caught in the current, was tossed to right and left. Angry seas rose up all round her and crashed down on the Rocks which at one moment soared into the air like peaks, and at the next, sticking fast at the bottom of the sea, were submerged by the raging waters. But the Nereides, passing the ship from hand to hand and side to side, kept her scudding through the air on top of the waves. It was like that game that young girls play beside a sandy beach, when they roll their skirts up to their waists on either side and toss a ball round to one another, throwing it high in the air so that it never touches the ground. Thus, though the water swirled and seethed around them, these sea-nymphs kept Argo from the Rocks . . . The Nereides worked hard to heave Argo clear of the resounding rocks and it took then as long a time as daylight lingers in an evening of spring." Valerius Flaccus, Argonautica 1. 188 ff (trans. Mozley) (Roman epic C1st A.D.) : "Next in joy they [the Argonauts preparing to depart on their voyage] pile altars; chiefly unto thee, lord of the waters [Poseidon], is reverence paid, unto thee, unto Zephyros (the West Wind) and unto Glaucus upon the shore Ancaeus sacrifices an ox decked with dark blue fillets, unto Thetis a heifer." Valerius Flaccus, Argonautica 1. 655 ff : "The vessel [the Argo] stands high out of calm waters, and Thetis and her kinsman Nereus with his strong arms support it from the bottom of the sea."

THETIS & THE WOLF OF PSAMATHE

Ovid, Metamorphoses 11. 397 ff (trans. Melville) (Roman epic C1st B.C. to C1st A.D.) : "[Peleus' flocks were ravaged by a giant wolf sent by the Nereis Psamathe:] Peleus: . . . To the Sea-goddess (Numen Pelagi) now I needs must pray! . . . Peleus addressed his prayers to Psamathe, the wave-blue Nympha, that she would end her wrath and bring her succour. Her no prayer of his could turn, but Thetis for her husband's sake pleaded and won her pardon."

THE CONTEST OF THETIS & MEDEIA

Thetis and Medeia engaged in a beauty contest when they were living with their husbands Peleus and Jason in Thessalian Iolkos. Ptolemy Hephaestion, New History Book 5 (summary from Photius, Myriobiblon 190) (trans. Pearse) (Greek mythographer C1st to C2nd A.D.) : "He [Hephaestion] reports that Athenodoros of Eretria, in the eighth book of his

commentaries, says that Thetis and Medea had a dispute in Thessalia as to which was the most beautiful; their judge was Idomeneus, who gave the victory to Thetis; Medea in anger said that the Kretans were always liars and in revenge she made the curse that he would never speak the truth, just as he had lied in his judgement; it is from that, he says, that Kretans pass as liars. Athenodoros cites as author of this story Antiokhos in his second book of Legends of the town."

Sources:
o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o Homer, The Iliad - Greek Epic C9th-8th BC Hesiod, Catalogues of Women - Greek Epic C8th-7th BC Homerica, The Cypria - Greek Epic BC Pindar, Odes - Greek Lyric C5th BC Greek Lyric I Alcaeus, Fragments - Greek Lyric C6th BC Greek Lyric V Melanippides, Fragments - Greek Lyric C5th BC Aeschylus, Prometheus Bound - Greek Tragedy C5th BC Aeschylus, Fragments - Greek Tragedy C5th BC Plato, Republic - Greek Philosophy C4th B.C. Apollodorus, The Library - Greek Mythography C2nd BC Apollonius Rhodius, The Argonautica - Greek Epic C3rd BC Quintus Smyrnaeus, Fall of Troy - Greek Epic C4th AD Pausanias, Guide to Greece - Greek Geography C2nd AD Ptolemy Hephaestion, New History - Greek Scholar C1st-2nd AD Hyginus, Fabulae - Latin Mythography C2nd AD Hyginus, Astronomica - Latin Mythography C2nd AD Ovid, Metamorphoses - Latin Epic C1st BC - C1st AD Valerius Flaccus, The Argonautica - Latin Epic C1st AD Statius, Achilleid - Latin Epic C1st AD Statius, Silvae - Latin Epic C1st AD Colluthus, The Rape of Helen - Greek Epic C5th-6th AD Nonnos, Dionysiaca - Greek Epic C5th AD Photius, Myriobiblon
- Byzantine Greek Scholar C9th AD

THETIS 3
Greek Name Transliteration Thetis Latin Spelling Thetis Translation Nurse (tth) OTHER THETIS PAGES THETIS 1: GENERAL STORIES THETIS 2: PELEUS MARRIAGE THETIS 4: THE TROJAN WAR

THETIS was the leader of the fifty goddesses of the sea.

Nereid

This page describes the birth and raising of her son Akhilleus, including the tale of how she hid the boy on the island of Skyros disguised as a girl.

THETIS AND THE BIRTH & CHILDHOOD OF ACHILLES

Homer, Iliad 20. 207 ff (trans. Lattimore) (Greek epic C8th B.C.) : "They say you [Akhilleus] are the issue of blameless Peleus and that your mother was Thetis of the lovely hair, Halosydne (the brine-born)." Pseudo-Hesiod, Aegimius Fragment 2 (from Scholiast on Apollonius Rhodius 4.816) (trans. Evelyn-White) (Greek epic C8th or 7th B.C.) : "The author of the Aigimios says in the second book that Thetis used to throw the children she had by Peleus into a cauldron of water, because she wished to learn where they were mortal . . . And that after many had perished Peleus was annoyed, and prevented her from throwing Akhilleus into the cauldron." Plato, Republic 391c (trans. Shorey) (Greek philosophy C4th B.C.) : "Akhilleus, the son of a goddess [Thetis] and of Peleus the most chaste of men, grandson of Zeus, and himself bred under the care of the most sage Kheiron." Pseudo-Apollodorus, Bibliotheca 3. 117 (trans. Aldrich) (Greek mythographer C2nd A.D.) : "When Thetis had a baby [Akhilleus] by Peleus, and wished to make it immortal, without telling Peleus she hid the child in the fire at night to destroy its paternally derived mortal qualities, and during the day she rubbed it with ambrosia. But Peleus spied on her and when he saw the child convulsed in the fire, he shouted out. So Thetis prevented from carrying out her plan, deserted her infant son and went off to join the Nereides." Apollonius Rhodius, Argonautica 4. 757 ff (trans. Rieu) (Greek epic C3rd B.C.) : "[The infant] Akhilleus, who is now with Kheiron the kentauros (centaur) and is fed by water-nymphai though he should be at your [Thetis'] breast . . . [Peleus] had never set eyes on her [Thetis] since the night when in a rage she had left her bridal bed. They had quarrelled about the illustrous Akhilleus. He was a baby then, and in the middle of the night she used to surround her mortal child with fire and every day anoint his tender flesh with ambrosia, to make him immortal and save him from the horrors of old age. One night Peleus, leaping out of bed, saw his boy gasping in the flames and gave a terrible cry. It was a foolish thing to do. Thetis heard, and snatching up the child threw him screaming on the floor. Then, passing quickly out of the house, light as a dream and insubstantial as the air, she plunged intothe sea. She was mortally offended and she never returned." Lycophron, Alexandra 178 ff (trans. Mair) (Greek poet C3rd B.C.) : "Out of seven sons [of Thetis] consumed in the flame alone [Akhilleus] escaping the fiery ashes." [N.B. Thetis placed each of her infants on the fire after they were born in an attempt to make them immortal. Peleus rescued Akhilleus from the same fate.] Ptolemy Hephaestion, New History Book 6 (summary from Photius, Myriobiblon 190) (trans. Pearse) (Greek mythographer C1st to C2nd A.D.) : "Thetis burned in a secret place the children she had by Peleus; six were born; when she had Akhilleus (Achilles), Peleus noticed and tore him from the flames with only a burnt foot and confided him to Kheiron (Chiron). The latter exhumed the

body of the Gigante (Giant) Damysos who was buried at Pallene--Damysos was the fastest of all the Gigantes--removed the astragale and incorporated it into Akhilleus' foot using ingredients. This astragale fell when Akhilleus was pursued by Apollon and it was thus that Akhilleus, fallen, was killed." Ptolemy Hephaestion, New History Book 6 (summary from Photius, Myriobiblon 190) : "[In an alternate story to the one given above:] It is said . . . that he [Akhilleus, Achilles] was called Podarkes (Swift-Footed) by the Poet, because, it is said, Thetis gave the newborn child the wings of Arke and Podarkes means that his feet had the wings of Arke. And Arke was the daughter of Thaumas . . . [and ally of] the Titanes. After the victory Zeus removed her wings before throwing her into Tartaros and, when he came to the wedding of Peleus and Thetis, he brought these wings as a gift for Thetis." Ptolemy Hephaestion, New History Book 7 (summary from Photius, Myriobiblon 190) : "Akhilleus (Achilles), because he was saved from the fire that his mother had lit to burn him, was called saved from fire [Pyrrhos] and it is because one of his lips was burned that he was called Akhilleus by his father." Philostratus the Elder, Imagines 2. 2 (trans. Fairbanks) (Greek rhetorician C3rd A.D.) : "[From a description of a painting of Akhilleus (Achilles) in his youth in the care of the centaur Kheiron (Chiron):] The cloak he wears is probably his mother's gift; for it is beautiful and its colour is sea-purple with red glints shading into a dark blue." Seneca, Troades 344 ff (trans. Miller) (Roman tragedy C1st A.D.) : "Achilles who by right of lineage extends throughout the realm of the immortals and claims the universe: the sea through Thetis, through Aeacus [i.e. his grandfather] the shades, the heavens through Jove [i.e. Zeus, his great-grandfather]." Statius, Achilleid 1. 134 ff (trans. Mozley) (Roman epic C1st A.D.) : "[Thetis speaks:] I take my son [Akhilleus] down to the void of Tartarus, and dip him . . . in the springs of Styx . . . The Carpathian seer [i.e. Proteus, god of the Carpathian sea] bids me banish these terrors [i.e. the prophesied death of Akhilleus] by the ordinance of a magic rite, and purify the lad in secret waters [the Styx] beyond the bound of heavens vault, where is the farthest shore of Oceanus and father Pontus is warmed by the ingliding stars. There awful sacrifices and gifts to gods unknown--but 'tis long to recount all, and I am forbidden." Statius, Achilleid 1. 478 ff : "Whom else [but Akhilleus] did a Nereis [Thetis] take be stealth through the Stygian waters and make his fair limbs impenetrable to steel?"

P12.4A THETIS, ARMOUR ACHILLES

P12.4B THETIS, ARMOUR ACHILLES

THETIS & THE HIDING OF ACHILLES ON SCYROS

Pseudo-Apollodorus, Bibliotheca 3. 174 (trans. Aldrich) (Greek mythographer C2nd A.D.) : "When Akhilleus (Achilles) was nine, Khalkas announced that Troy could not be captured without him. Thetis, who had foreknowledge that he would have to die if he went to war, concealed him in women's dress and handed him over to Lykomedes as a girl." Philostratus the Younger, Imagines 1 (trans. Fairbanks) (Greek rhetorician C3rd A.D.) : "[From a description of an ancient Greek painting:] [Skyros,] the place where the daughters of Lykomedes follow their maidenly pursuits with the seeming daughter of Thetis. For when Thetis learned from her father Nereus the decree of Moirai (the Fates) about her son--that one of two things had been allotted to him, either to live ingloriously or becoming glorious to die very soon--her son was put away among the daughters of Lykomedes on Skyros and now lives hidden there . . . [But] as the rumour of Thetis' secret spreads among the Greeks, Diomedes in company with Odysseus sets forth to Skyros to ascertain the truth of this story." Pseudo-Hyginus, Fabulae 96 (trans. Grant) (Roman mythographer C2nd A.D.) : "When Thetis the Nereis knew that Achilles, the son she had borne to Peleus, would die if he went to attack Troy, she sent him to the island of Scyros, entrusting him to King Lycomedes." Ovid, Metamorphoses 13. 162 ff (trans. Melville) (Roman epic C1st B.C. to C1st A.D.) : "Achilles' Nereid mother [Thetis] who foreknew the death that he would die, disguised her son in women's clothes, and all the world was tricked." Statius, Achilleid 1. 25 - 396 (trans. Mozley) (Roman epic C1st A.D.) : "Thetis--ah! never vain are a parent's auguries! [i.e. that Akhilleus (Achilles) was destined to die at Troy.]--started with terror beneath the glassy flood at the Idaean oars [i.e. when she saw the ship of Paris carrying Helene to Troy]. Without delay she sprang forth from her watery bower, accompanied by her train of sisters [the Nereides]: the narrowing shores of Phrixus [the Hellespontos] swarm, and the straitened sea has not room for its mistresses. As soon as she had shaken the brine from off her, and entered the air of heaven: There is danger to me, said she, in yonder fleet, and threat of deadly harm; I recognise the truth of Proteus' [the prophetic sea-god's] warnings. Lo! Bellona [Enyo, goddess of war] brings from the vessel amid uplifted torches a new daughter-in-law [Helene] to Priam; already I see the Ionian and Aegean seas pressed by a thousand keels; nor does it suffice that all the country of the Grecians conspires with the proud sons of Atreus, soon will my Achilles be sought for by land and sea, ay, and himself will wish to follow them. Why indeed did I suffer Pelion and the stern master's cave to cradle his infant years? [I.e. Akhilleus was then in the foster-care of the centaur Kheiron (Chiron).] There, if I mistake not, he plays, the rogue, at the battle of the Lapithai, and already takes his measure with this father's spear. O sorrow! O fears that came too late to a mother's heart! Could I not, unhappy that I am, when first the timber of Rhoeteum was launched upon my flood [by Paris], have raised a mighty sea and pursued with a tempest on the deep the adulterous robber's sails and led on all my sisters against him? Even now--but

'tis too late, the outrage hath been wrought in full. Yet will I go, and clinging to the gods of ocean and the right hand of second Jove [i.e. Neptunus, Poseidon]--nought else remains--entreat him in piteous supplications by the years of Tethys and his aged sire for one single storm. She spoke, and opportunely beheld the mighty monarch [Poseidon], he was coming from Oceanus his host, gladdened by the banquet, and his countenance suffused with the nectar of the deep: wherefore the winds and tempest are silent and with tranquil song proceed the Tritones who bear his armour and the rock-like Cete (Sea-Monsters) and the Tyrrhenian herds [seals], and gambol around and blow him, saluting their king; he towers on high above the peaceful waves, urging his team [of Hippokampoi] with his three-pronged spear: frontwise they run at furious speed amid showers of foam, behind they swim and blot out their footprints with their tails:--when Thetis: O sire and ruler of the mighty deep, seest thou to what uses thou hast made a way o'er the hapless ocean? The crimes of the nations pass by with unmolested sails, since the Pagasaean bark broke through the sanctions of the waters and profaned their hallowed majesty on Jason's quest of plunder. Lo! freighted another wicked theft, the spoils of hospitality, sails the daring arbiter of unjust Ida [Paris], destined to cause what sorrow, alas! to heaven and earth, and what to me! Is it thus we requite the joy of the Phrygian triumph [i.e. of Aphrodite in the contest for the golden apple], is this the way of Venus [Aphrodite], is this her gift to her dear ward? These ships at least--no demigods nor our own Theseus do they carry home--o'erwhelm, if thou still hast any regard for the waters, or give the sea into my power; no cruelty do I purpose; suffer me to fear for my own son. Grant me to drive away my sorrow, nor let it be thy pleasure that out of all the seas I find a home in but a single coast and the rocks of an Ilian tomb [i.e. haunting the tomb at Troy where Akhilleus was destined to be buried]. With torn cheeks she made her prayer, and with bare bosom would fain hinder the cerulean steeds. But the ruler of the seas [Poseidon] invites her into his chariot and soothes her thus with friendly words: Seek not in vain, Thetis, to sink the Dardanian [Trojan] fleet: the fates forbid it, 'tis the sure ordinance of heaven that Europe and Asia should join in bloody conflict, and Jupiter [Zeus] hath issued his decree of war and appointed years of dreary carnage. What prowess of thy son in the Sigean dust, what vast funeral trains of Phyrgian matrons shalt thou victoriously behold, when thy Aeacides [her son Akhilleus] shall flood the Trojan fields with streaming blood, and anon forbid the choked river to flow and check his chariot's speed with Hector's corpse and mightily o'erthrow my walls, my useless toil! Cease now to complain of Peleus and thy inferior wedlock: thy child shall be deemed begotten of Jove [Zeus]; nor shalt thou suffer unavenged, but shalt use thy kindred seas: I will grant thee to raise the billows, when the Danaans [Greeks] return and Caphereus shows forth his nightly signals and we search together for terrible Ulysses. He spoke; but she, downcast at the stern refusal, for but now she was preparing to stir up the waters and make war upon the Ilian [Trojan] craft, devised in her mind another plan, and sadly turned her strokes toward the Haemonian land [Greece]. Thrice stove she with her arms, thrice spurned the clear water with her feet, and the Thessalian waves are washing on her snow-white ankles. The mountains rejoice, the marriage-bowers fling open their recesses, and [the river] Spercheus in wide, abundant stream flows to meet the goddess and laps her footsteps with his fresh water. She delights not in the scene, but wearies her mind with schemes essayed, and taught cunning by her devoted love seeks out the aged Chiron. His lofty home bores deep into the mountain, beneath the long, overarching vault of Pelion; part had been hollowed out by toil, part worn away by its own age. Yet the images and couches of the gods are shown, and the places that each had sanctified by his reclining and his sacred presence [i.e. at the wedding of Peleus and Thetis]; within are the Centaurus' wide and lofty stalls . . . On the threshold's edge he awaited his return from hunting, and was urging the

laying of the feast and brightening his abode with lavish fire: when far off the Nereis was seen climbing upward from the shore; he burst forth from the forests-joy speeds his going--and the well-known hoof-beat of the sage rang on the now unwonted plain. Then bowing down his horse's shoulders he leads her with courtly hand within his humble dwelling and warns her of the cave. Long time has Thetis been scanning every corner with silent gaze: then, impatient of delay, she cries: Tell me, Chiron, where is my darling? Why spends the boy any time apart from thee? Is it not with reason that my sleep is troubled, and terrible portents from the gods and fearful panics--would they were false!--afflict his mother's heart? For now I behold swords that threaten to pierce my womb, now my arms are bruised with lamentation, now savage beasts assail my breasts; often-ah, horror!--I seem to take my son down to the void of Tartarus, and dip him a second time in the springs of Styx. The Carpathian seer [i.e. Proteus, god of the Carpathian Sea] bids me banish these terrors by the ordinance of a magic rite, and purify the lad in secret waters beyond the bound of heaven's vault, where is the farthest shore of Oceanus and father Pontus is warmed by the ingliding stars. There awful sacrifices and gifts to gods unknown--but 'tis long to recount all, and I am forbidden; give him to me rather. Thus spoke his mother in lying speech--nor would he have given him up, had she dared to confess to the old man the soft raiment and dishonourable garb. Then he replies: Take him, I pray, O best of parents, take him, and assuage the gods with humble entreaty. For thy hopes are pitched too high, and envy needs much appeasing. I add not to thy fears, but will confess the truth: some swift and violent deed--the forebodings of a sire deceive me not--is preparing, far beyond his tender years. Formerly he was wont to endure my anger, and listen eagerly to my commands nor wander far from my cave: now Ossa cannot contain him, nor mighty Pelion and all the snows of Thessalia. Even the Centauri often complain to me of plundered homes and herds stolen before their eyes, and that they themselves are driven from field and river; they devise violence and fraud, and utter angry threats. Once when the Thessalian pine bore hither the princes of Argo, I saw the young Alcides [Herakles] and Theseus--but I say no more. Cold pallor seized the daughter of Nereus : lo! he [Akhilleus] has come . . . He has stricken a lioness lately delivered and had left her in the empty lair, but had brought her cubs and was making them show their claws. Yet when he sees his mother on the well-known threshold, away he throws them, catches her up and binds her in his longing arms, already violent in his embrace and equal to her in height. Patroclus follows him, bound to him even then by a strong affection . . . Straightway with rapid bound he hies him to the nearest river, and freshens in its waters his steaming face and hair . . . The old man [Kheiron] marvels as he adorns him, caressing how his breast, and now his strong shoulders: her very joy pierces his mother's heart. Then Chiron prays her to taste the banquet and the gifts of Bacchus [Dionysos], and contriving various amusements for her beguiling at last brings forth the lyre and moves the care-consoling strings, and trying the chords lightly with his finger gives them to the boy. Gladly he sings of the mighty causes of noble deeds . . . lastly [he sung] of his mothers marriage-feast and Pelion trodden by the gods. Then Thetis relaxed her anxious countenance and smiled. Night draws them on to slumber: the huge Centaurus lays him down on a stony couch, and Achilles lovingly twines his arms about his shoulders-- though his faithful parent is there--and prefers the wonted breast. But Thetis, standing by night upon the sea-echoing rocks, this way and that divides her purpose, and ponders in what hiding-place she will set her son, in what country she shall choose to conceal him . . . Of late from the unwarlike palace of Lycomedes had she heard the sound of maiden bands and the echo of their sport along the shore, what time she was sent to follow Aegaeon freed [Zeus] from his stubborn bonds and to count the hundred fetters of the god. This land finds favour, and seems safest to the timid mother . . .

One more care abides in her mind and troubles the sad goddess, whether she shall carry her son in her own bosom o'er the eaves, or use great Triton's aid, whether she shall summon the swift Venti [Anemoi, Winds] to help her, of the Thaumantian [i.e. Iris the Rainbow] that is wont to drink the main. Then she calls out from the waves and bridles with a sharp-edged shell her team of dolphins twain, which Tethys, mighty queen, had nourished for her in an echoing vale beneath the sea;-none throughout all Neptunus' [Poseidon's] watery realm had such renown for their sea-green beauty, nor greater speed of swimming, nor more of human sense;-these she halts in the deep shore-water, lest they take harm from the touch of naked earth. Then in her own arms she carries Achilles, his body utterly relaxed in the boy's slumber, from the rocks of the Haemonian cave down to the placid waters and the beach that she had bidden be silent; Cynthia [Selene, the moon] lights her way and shines out her full orb. Chiron escorts the goddess, and careless of the sea entreats her speedy return, and hides his moistened eyes and high upon his horse's body gazes out towards them as suddenly they are whirled away, and now--and now are lost to view, where for a short while the foamy marks of their going gleam white and the wake dies away into the watery main. Him destined never more to return to Thessalian Tempe now mournful Pholoe bewails, now cloudy Othrys, and Spercheos with diminished flood and the silent grotto of the sage; the Fauni [Satyroi] listen for his boyish songs in vain, and the Nymphae bemoan their longhoped for nuptials. Now day o'erwhelms the stars, and from the low and level main Titan [Helios the Sun] wheels heavenward his dripping steeds, and down from the expanse of air falls the sea that the chariot bore up; but long since had the mother traversed the waves and gained the Scyrian shores, and the weary dolphins had been loosed from their mistress' yoke : when the boy's sleep was stirred, and his opening eyes grew conscious of the inpouring day. In amaze at the light that greets him he asks, where is he, what are these waves, where is Pelion? All he beholds is different and unknown, and he hesitates to recognise his mother. Quickly she caresses him and soothes his fear: If, dear lad, a kindly lot had brought me the wedlock that it offered, in the fields of heaven should I be holding thee, a glorious star, in my embrace, nor a celestial mother should I fear the lowly Parcae [Moirai, Fates] or the destinies of earth. But now unequal is thy birth, my son, and only on thy mother's side is the way of death barred for thee; moreover, times of terror draw nigh, and peril hovers about the utmost goal. Retire we then, relax awhile thy mighty spirit, and scorn not this raiment of mine . . . [she asks her son disguise himself as a girl in the palace of Lykomedes of Skyros.] This way, I entreat thee, suffer me to escape the threatening, baleful cloud. Soon will I restore thy plains and the fields where the Centauri roam: by this beauty of thine and the coming joys of youth I pray thee, if for thy sake I endured the earth and an inglorious mate, if at thy birth I fortified thee with the stern waters of Styx--ay, would I had wholly!--take these safe robes awhile, they will in now wise harm thy valour. Why dost thou turn away? What means that glance? Art thou ashamed to soften thee in this garb? Dear lad, I swear it by my kindred waters, Chiron shall know nought of this. So doth she work on his rough heart, vainly cajoling; the thought of his sire and his great teacher oppose her prayer and the rude beginnings of his mighty spirit . . . What god endued the despairing mother with fraud and cunning? What device drew Achilles from his stubborn purpose? . . . When he beheld her [Lykomedes daughter Deidameia] . . . the lad, ungentle as he was and heart-whole from any touch of passion, stood spellbound and drank in strange fire through all his frame . . . Seizing the moment his mother purposely accosts him: Is it too hard a thing, my son, to make pretence of dancing and join hands in sport among these maidens? Hast thou aught such neath Ossa and the crags of Pelion? O, if it were my lot to match two loving hearts, and to bear another Achilles in my arms! He is softened, and blushes for joy, and with sly and sidelong glance repels the robes less certainly. His mother sees him in doubt and willing to be compelled, and

casts the raiment o'er him; then she softens his stalwart neck and bows his strong shoulders, and relaxes the muscles of his arms, and tames and orders duly his uncombed tresses, and sets her own necklace about the neck she loves; then keeping his step within the embroidered skirt she teaches him gait and motion and modesty of speech. Even as the waxen images that the artists thumb will make to live take from and follow the fire and the hand that carves them, such was the picture of the goddess as she transformed her son. Nor did she struggle long; for plenteous charm remains to him though his manhood book it not, and he baffles beholders by the puzzle of his sex that by a narrow margin hides its secret. They go forward, and Thetis unsparingly plies her counsels and persuasive words: Thus then, my son, must thou manage thy gait, thus thy features an thy hands, and imitate thy comrades and counterfeit their ways, lest the king [Lykomedes] suspect thee and admit thee not to the womens chambers, and the crafty cunning of our enterprise be lost. So speaking she dealys not to put correcting touches to his attire . . . Straightway she accosts the monarch [Lykomedes], and there in the presence of the altars: Here, O king, she says, I present to thee the sister of my Achilles--seest thou not how proud her glance and like her brother's?--so high her spirit, she begged for arms and a bow to carry on her shoulders, and like an Amazon to spurn the thought of wedlock. But my son is enough care for me; let her carry the baskets at the sacrifice, do thou control and tame her wilfulness, and keep her to her sex, till the time for marriage come and the end of her maiden modesty; nor suffer her to engage in wanton wrestling-matches, nor to frequent the woodland haunts. Bring her up indoors, in seclusion among girls of her own age; above all remember to keep her from the harbour and the shore. Lately thou sawest the Phrygian sails [i.e. of Paris' ships]: already ships that have crossed the sea have learnt treason to mutual loyalties. The sire accedes to her words, and receives the disguised Achilles by his mother's ruse-- who can resist when gods deceive? Nay more, he venerates her with suppliants hand, and gives thanks that he was chosen; nor is the band of duteous Scyrian maidens slow to dart keen glances at the face of their new comrade, how she o'ertops them by head and neck . . . Long, ere she [Thetis] departs, lingers the mother at the gate, while she repeats advice and implants whispered secrets in his ear and in hushed tones gives her last counsels. Then she plunges into the main, and gazing back swims far away, and entreats with flattering prayers the island-shore: O land that I love, to whom by timid cunning I have committed the pledge of my anxious care, a trust that is great indeed, mayst thou prosper and be silent, I beg, as Crete was silent for Rhea; enduring honour and everlasting shrines shall gird thee, nor shalt thou be surpassed by unstable Delos; sacred alike to wind and wave shalt thou be, and calm abode of Nereides among the shallows of the Cyclades, where the rocks are shattered by Aegean storms, an isle that sailors swear by--only admit no Danaan [Greek] keels, I beg! "Here are only the wands of Bacchus [Dionysos], nought avails for war"; that tale bid rumour spread, and while the Dorian armaments make ready and Mavors [Ares] rages from world to world--he may, for aught I care--let Achilles be the maiden daughter of good Lycomedes." Statius, Achilleid 1. 684 ff : "The ship [of Odysseus sent to fetch Akhilleus from the island of Skyros] sails o'er the sea untroubled; for the Thunderer's [Zeus'] high commands suffered not Thetis to overturn the sure decrees of Fate, faint as she was with tears, and foreboding much because she could not excite the main and straightway pursue the hated Ulysses [Odysseus] with all her winds and waves." Statius, Achilleid 2. 14 : "[Akhilleus departing from the island of Skyros] does sacrifice to the gods and the

waters and south winds, and venerates with a bull the cerulean king [Poseidon] below the waves and Nereus his grandsire: his mother [Thetis] is appeased with a garlanded heifer. Thereupon casting the swollen entrails on the salt foam he addresses her: Mother, I have obeyed thee, though thy commands were hard to bear; too obedient have I been: now they demand me, and I go to the Trojan war and the Argolic fleet. So speaking he leapt into the bark, and was swept far from the neighbourhood of land by the whistling south wind."

Sources:
o o o o o o o o o o o o o Hesiod, Aegimius Fragments - Greek Epic C8th-7th B.C. Plato, Republic - Greek Philosophy C4th B.C. Apollodorus, The Library - Greek Mythography C2nd A.D. Apollonius Rhodius, The Argonautica - Greek Epic C3rd B.C. Lycophron, Alexandra - Greek Poetry C3rd B.C. Ptolemy Hephaestion, New History - Greek Mythographer C1st-2nd A.D. Philostratus the Elder, Imagines - Greek Rhetoric C3rd A.D. Philostratus the Younger, Imagines - Greek Rhetoric C3rd A.D. Hyginus, Fabulae - Latin Mythography C2nd A.D. Ovid, Metamorphoses - Latin Epic C1st B.C. - C1st A.D. Seneca, Troades - Latin Tragedy C1st A.D. Statius, Achilleid - Latin Epic C1st A.D. Photius, Myriobiblon
- Byzantine Greek Scholar C9th A.D.

THETIS 4

Thetis Thetis Nurse (tth) OTHER THETIS PAGES THETIS 1: GENERAL STORIES THETIS 2: PELEUS MARRIAGE THETIS 3: AKHILLEUS BIRTH

THETIS was the leader of the goddesses of the sea.

Nereid

This page describes the role of Thetis in the saga of the Trojan War, primarily as described in Homer's Iliad, but also including various post-Homeric stories, such as the hero's battle with Memnon, and his eventual death.

TROJAN WAR : THETIS COUNSELS ACHILLES

Homer, Iliad 21. 275 ff (trans. Lattimore) (Greek epic C8th B.C.) : "[Akhilleus (Achilles) speaks:] My own mother [Thetis] . . . told me that

underneath the battlements of the armoured Trojan I should be destroyed by the flying shafts of Apollon." Homer, Iliad 17. 408 ff : "Often he [Akhilleus] had word from his mother [Thetis], not known to mortals; she was ever telling him what was the will of great Zeus." Homer, Iliad ff : "[Akhilleus (Achilles) speaks:] For my mother Thetis the goddess of the silver feet tells me I carry two sorts of destiny toward the day of my death. Either, if I stay here and fight beside the city of the Trojans, my return home is gone, but my glory shall be everlasting; but if I return home to the beloved land of my fathers, the excellence of my glory is gone, but there will be a long life left for me, and my end in death will not come to me quickly." See also Thetis page 3: The Birth of Akhilleus & Hiding of Akhilleus on Skyros (where Thetis tries to avoid the prophesy of her son's death).

TROJAN WAR : THE FIRST NINE YEARS

Pseudo-Apollodorus, Bibliotheca E3. 26 (trans. Aldrich) (Greek mythographer C2nd A.D.) : "Akhilleus (Achilles) plunged a sword into his [Tenes'] chest and killed him, even though Thetis warned him not to. For he himself would be slain by Apollon, if he should slay Tenes." Pseudo-Apollodorus, Bibliotheca E3. 29 : "Thetis warned Akhilleus (Achilles) not to be the first to disembark from the ships [at Troy], because the first to land was going to be the first to die." Pindar, Paean 6 (trans. Sandys) (Greek lyric C5th B.C.) : "The doughty son of the dark-haired Nereis Thetis. Bacchylides, Fragment 13 (trans. Campbell, Vol. Greek Lyric IV) (Greek lyric C5th B.C.) : "The fearless son [Akhilleus] of the violet-crowned Nereis [Thetis]."

TROJAN WAR : FEUD OF ACHILLES & AGAMEMNON

Homer, Iliad 1.348 & 495 ff (trans. Lattimore) (Greek epic C8th B.C.) : "[Akhilleus (Achilles) argued with Agamemnon and the king took the slave-girl Briseis from him.] Akhilleus weeping went and sat in sorrow . . . beside the beach of the grey sea looking out on the infinite water. Many times stretching forth his hands he called on his mother [Thetis]: Since, my motther, you boe me to be man with a short life, therefore Zeus of the loud thunder on Olympos should grant me

honour at least. But now he has given me not even a little. Now the son of Atreus, powerful Agamemnon has dishonoured me, since he has taken away my prize [Briseis] and kept it. So he spoke in tears and the lady his mother heard him as she sat in the depths of the sea at the side of her aged father, and lightly she emerged like a mist from the grey water. She came and sat beside him as he wept, and stroked him with her hand and called him by name and spoke to him: Why then, child, do you lament? What sorrow has come to your heart now? Tell me, do not hide it in your mind, and thus we shall both know. Sighing heavily Akhilleus of the swift feet answered her: [He tells Thetis of his dispute with Agamemnon] . . . You then [Thetis], if you have power to, protect your own son, going to Olympos and supplicating Zeus, if ever before now either by word you comforted Zeus' heart or by action. Since many times in my father's halls I have heard you making claims, when you said you only among the immortals beat aside a shameful destruction from Kronos' son the dark-misted that time when all the other Olympians sought to bind him, Hera and Poseidon and Pallas Athene. Then you, goddess, went and set him free from his shackles, summoning in speed the creature of the hundred hands [Briareus] to tall Olympos . . . Sit beside him and take his knees and remind him of these things now, if perhaps he might be willling to help the Trojans, and pin the Akhaians back against the ships and the water, dying, so that thus they may all have profit of their own king, that Atreus' son wide-ruling Agamemnon may recognise his madness, that he did no honour to the best of the Akhaians. Thetis answered him then letting the tears fall: Ah me, my child. Your birth was bitterness. Why did I raise you? If only you could sit by your ships untroubled, not weeping, since indeed you lifetime is to be short, of no length. Now it has befallen that your life must be brief and bitter beyond all men's. To a bad destiny I bore you in my chambers. But I will go to cloud-dark Olympos and ask this thing of Zeus who delights in thunder. Perhaps he will do it. Do you therefore continuing to sit by your swift ships be angry at the Akhaians and stay away from all fighting. For Zeus went to the blameless Aithiopes at the Okeanos yesterday to feast, and the rest of the gods went with him. On the twelfth day he will be coming back to Olympos, and then I will go for your sake to the house of Zeus, bronze-founded, and take him by the knees and I think I can persuade him. So speaking she went away from that place . . . When the twelfth dawn after this day appeared, the gods who live forever came back to Olympos all in a body and Zeus led them; nor did Thetis forget the entreaties of her son but she emerged from the sea's waves early in the morning and went up to the tall sky and Olympos. She found Kronos's broad-browed son apart from the others sitting upon the highest peak of rugged Olympos. She came and sat beside him with her left hand embracing his knees, but took him underneath the chin with her right hand and spoke in supplication to lord Zeus son of Kronos: Father Zeus, if ever before now in word or action I did you favour among the immortals, now grant what I ask for. Now give honour to my son short-lived beyond all other mortals. Since even now the lord of men Agamemnon dishonours him, who has taken away his prize [Briseis] and keeps it. Zeus of the counsels, lord of Olympos, now do him honour. So long put strength in to the Trojans, until the Akhaians give my son his rights, and his honour is increased among them. She spoke thus. But Zeus who gathers the clouds made no answer but sat in silence a long time. And Thetis, as she had taken his knees, clung fast to them and urged once more her question: Bend you head and promise me to accomplish this thing, or else refuse it, you have nothing to fear, that I may know by how much I am the most dishonoured of all gods. Deeply disturbed Zeus who gathers the clouds answered her: This is a disastrous matter when you set me in conflict with Hera, and she troubles me with recriminations. Since even as things are, forever among the immortals she is at me

and speaks of how I help the Trojans in battle. Even so, go back again now, go away, for fear she see us. I will look at these things that they be accomplished. See then, I will bend my head that you may believe me. For this among the immortal gods is the mightiest witness I can give, and nothing I do shal be vain nor revocable nor a thing unfulfilled when I bend my head in assent to it. He spoke, the son of Kronos, and nodded his head with his dark brows, and the immortally anointed hair of the great god swept from his divine head, and all of Olympos was shaken. So these two who had made their plans separated, and Thetis leapt down again from shining Olympos into the sea's depths, but Zeus went back to his own house . . . yet Hera was not ignorant, having seen how he had been plotting counsels with Thetis the silver-footed, the daughter of the sea's ancient, and at once she spoke reviling . . . Now I am terribly afraid you were won over by Thetis the silver-footed, the daughter of the sea's ancien. For early in the morning she sat bestide you and took your knees, and I think you bowed your head in assent to do honour to Akhilleus, and to destroy many beside the ships of the Akhaians." Alcaeus, Fragment 44 (trans. Campbell, Vol. Greek Lyric II) (Greek lyric C6th B.C.) : "Akhilleus (Achilles) called his mother [Thetis], naming her, the Naiad, best of the sea-nymphs; and she, clasping the knees of Zeus, begged him to (prosper) the wrath of her beloved son."

TROJAN WAR : THE ARMOUR OF ACHILLES

Homer, Iliad 18. 34 - 96 ff (trans. Lattimore) (Greek epic C8th B.C.) : "He [Akhilleus (Achilles)] cried out terribly, aloud [mourning the death of his friend Patroklos], and the lady his mother heard him as she [Thetis] sat in the depths of the sea at the side of her aged father, and she cried shrill in turn, and the goddesses gathered about her, all who along the depth of the sea were daughters of Nereus . . . The silvery cave was filled with these, and together all of them beat their breasts, and among them Thetis led out the threnody: Hear me Nereides, my sisters; so you may all know well all the sorrows that are in my heart, when you hear of them from me. Ah me, my sorrow, the bitterness in this best child-bearing, since I gave birth to a son who was without fault and powerful conspicuous among heroes; and he shot up like a young tree, and I nurtured him, like a tree grown in the pride of the orchard I sent him away with the curved ships to the land of Ilion to fight with the Trojans; but I shall never again receive him won home again to his country and into the house of Peleus. Yet while I see him live and he looks on the sunlight, he has sorrows, and though I go to him I can do nothing to help him. Yet I shall go, to look on my dear son, and to listen to the sorrow that has come to him as he stays back from the fighting. So she spoke, and left the cave, and the others together went with her in tears, and about them the wave of the water was broken. Now these, when they came to the generous Troad, followed each other out on the sea-shore, where close together the ships of the Myrmidons were hauled up about swift Akhilleus. There as he sighed heavily the lady his mother stood by him and cried out shrill and aloud, and took her son's head in the arms, then sorrowing for him she spoke to him in winged words: Why then, child, do you lament? What sorrow has come to you heart now? Speak out do not hide it. These things are brought to accomplishment through Zeus: in the way that you lifted your hands and prayed for . . .

Then sighing heavily Akhilleus of the swift feet answered her: My mother . . . Hektor, who killed him [Patroklos], has stripped away the gigantic armour, a wonder to look on and splendid, which the gods gave Peleus, a glorious present, on that day they drove you to the marriage bed of a mortal. I wish you had gone on living then with the other goddesses of the sea . . . Hektor [must] first be beaten down under my spear . . . Then in turn Thetis spoke to him, letting the tears fall: Then I must lose you soon my child, by what you are saying since it is decreed your death must come soon after Hektor's." Homer, Iliad 18. 127 ff : "In turn the goddess Thetis of the silver feet answered him [Akhilleus (Achilles)]: Yes, it is true, my child this is no cowardly action, to beat aside sudden death from your afflicted companions. Yet, see now, your splendid armour, glaring and brazen, is held among the Trojans, and Hektor . . . wears it . . . Yet I think he will not glory for long, since his death stands very close to him. Therefore do not yet go into the grind of the war god, not before with you own eyes you see me come back to you. For I am coming to you at dawn and as the sun rises bringing splendid armour to you from the lord Hephaistos. So she spoke, and turned, and went away from her son, and turning now to her sisters of the sea she spoke to them: Do you now go back into the wide fold of the water to visit the ancient of the sea and the house of our father, and tell him everything. I am going to tall Olympos and to Hepahistos, the glorious smith, if he might be willing to give me for my son renowned and radiant armour. She spoke, and they plunged back beneath the wave of the water, while she the goddess Thetis of the silver feet went onward to Olympos, to bring back to her son the glorious armour." Homer, Iliad 18. 369 & 612 & 19. 2 ff : "Thetis of the silver feet came to the house of Hephaistos . . . As he was at work . . . the goddess Thetis the silver-footed drew near him. Kharis (Charis) of the shining veil saw her as she came forward . . . She came, and caught her hand and called her by name and spoke to her: Why is it, Thetis of the light robes, you have come to our house now? We honour you and love you; but you have not come much before this. But come in with me so I may put entertainment before you. She spoke, and, shining among divinities, led the way forward and made Thetis sit down in a chair . . . She called to Hephaistos the renowned smith and spoke a word to him: Hephaistos, come this way; here is Thetis, who has need of you. Hearing her the renowned smith of the strong arms answered her: Then there is a goddess we honour and respect in our house. She saved me when I suffered much at the time of my great fall through the will of my own brazen-faced mother, who wanted to hide me for being lame. Then my soul would have taken much suffering had not Eurynome and Thetis caught me and held me . . . With them I worked nine years as a smith . . . working there in the hollow of the cave, and the stream of Okeanos around us went on forever with its foam and its murmur. No other among the gods or among mortal men knew about us except Eurynome and Thetis. They knew since they saved me. Now she has come into our house; so I must by all means do everything to give recompense to lovely-haired Thetis for my life. Therefore set out before her fair entertainment . . . Moving to where Thetis sat in her shining chair, Hephaistos caught her by the hand and called her by name and spoke a word to her: Why is it, Thetis of the light robes, you have come to our house now? We honour you and love you; but you have not come much before this. Speak forth what is in your mind. My heart is urgent to do it if I can, and if it is a thing that can be accomplished. Then in turn Thetis answered him, letting the tears fall: Hephaistos, is there among all the goddesses on Olympos one who in her heart has endured so many grim

sorrows as the griefs Zeus, son of Kronos, has given me beyond others? Of all the other sisters of the sea he gave me to a mortal, to Peleus, Aiakos' son, and I had to endure mortal marriage though much against my will. And now he, broken by mournful old age, lies away in his halls. Yet I have other troubles. For since he has given me a son to bear and to raise up . . . Now I come to your knees; so might you be willing to give me for my short-lived son a shield and a helmet and two beautiful greaves fitted with clasps for the ankles and a corselet . . . Hearing her the renowned smith of the strong arms answered her: Do not fear. Let not these things be a thought in you mind. And I wish that I could hide him away from death and its sorrow at that time when his hard fate comes upon him, as surely as there shall be fine armour for him, such as another man out of many men shall wonder at, when he looks on it . . . When the renowned smith of the strong arms had finished the armour he lifted it and laid it before the mother of Akhilleus. And she like a hawk came sweeping down from the snows of Olympos and carried with her the shining armour, the gift of Hephaistos . . . Thetis came to the ships and carried with her the gifts of Hephaistos. She found her beloved son lying in the arms of Patroklos crying shrill, and his companions in their numbers about him mourned. She, shining among divinities, stood there beside them. She clung to her son's hand and called him by name and spoke to him: My child, now, though we grieve for him, we must let this man lie dead in the wayhe first was killed through the gods' designing. Accept rather from me the glorious arms of Hephaistos so splendid, and such as no man has ever worn on his shoulders. The goddess spoke so, and set down the armour on the ground before Akhilleus . . . He [Akhilleus] spoke to his mother and addressed her in winged words: My mother . . . I am sadly afraid during this time, for the warlike son of Menoitios that flies might get into the wounds beaten by bronze in his body and breed worms in them, and these make foul the body, seeing that the life is killed in him, and that all his flesh may be rotted. In turn the goddess Thetis the silver-footed answered him: My child, no longer let these things be a care in your mind. I shall endeavour to drive from him the swarming and fierce things, those flies, which feed upon the bodies of men who have perished; and although he lie here till a year has gone to fulfilment, still his body shall be as it was or firmer that ever. Go then and summon into assembly the fighting Akhaians, . . . and arm at once for the fighting, and put your war strength upon you. She spoke so, and drove the strength of great courage into him; and meanwhile through the nostrils of Patroklos she distilled ambrosia and red nectar, so that his flesh might not spoil." Homer, Iliad 23. 13 ff : "And among them [the soldiers at the funeral of Patroklos] Thetis stirred the passion for weeping. The sands were wet and the armour of men was wet with their tears." Aeschylus, Nereides (lost play) (Greek tragedy C5th B.C.) : The subject of this lost play is summarised by Weir Smyth (L.C.L.): "Thetis, accompanied by her sister Neredes, comes from the depths of the sea to enquire the cause of the lamentations of her son. She finds Akhilleus (Achilles) by the dead body of Patroklos and promises to procure from Hephaistos new armour that he may take vengeance on Hektor, who has been exulting over the death of Patroklos. The play probably contained a description of Akhilleus new armour, his reconciliation with Agamemnon, and his combat with Hektor, whose corpse was dragged in at the close."

Aeschylus, Fragment 72 Nereids (from Scholiast on Euripides, Women of Phoenicia 209) (trans. Weir Smyth) (Greek tragedy C5th B.C.) : "[Thetis] having crossed the plain of the sea, that bears dolphins." Pausanias, Description of Greece 5. 19. 8 (trans. Jones) (Greek travelogue C2nd A.D.) : "[Amongst the scenes depicted on the chest of Kypselos dedicated at Olympia:] Next come two-horse chariots with women standing in them. The horses have golden wings, and a man is giving armour to one of the women. I conjecture that this scene refers to the death of Patroklos; the women in the chariots, I take it, are Nereides, and Thetis is receiving the armour from Hephaistos. And moreover, he who is giving the armour is not strong upon his feet, and a slave follows him behind, holding a pair of fire-tongs." Pseudo-Hyginus, Fabulae 106 (trans. Grant) (Roman mythographer C2nd A.D.) : "Thetis his [Akhilleus'] mother secured armor for him from Vulcan [Hephaistos], and the Nereides brought it to him over the sea. Wearing this he slew Hector." Ovid, Metamorphoses 13. 288 ff (trans. Melville) (Roman epic C1st B.C. to C1st A.D.) : "When his [Akhilleus'] sea-nymphe mother [Thetis] had that high ambition for her son . . . [she obtained divine armour for him] celestial gifts, this work of art so fine . . . scenes embossed upon the shield, the ocean and the lands, the constellations in the height of heaven, the Pleiades and the Hyades and Arctos (the Bear), banned from the sea, Orion's shining sword, the cities set apart."

P13.4 THETIS, HEPHAISTOS

P13.9 THETIS, AKHILLEUS

P13.3 THETIS, HEPHAISTOS

P13.6 THETIS, HIPPOKAMPOS

TROJAN WAR : THE RANSOM OF HECTOR

Homer, Iliad 24. 77 ff (trans. Lattimore) (Greek epic C8th B.C.) : [After Akhilleus (Achilles) had slain Hektor and dragged off his body, Zeus and the gods summoned Thetis to persuade Akhilleus to accept a ransom from the Trojans for a ransom for the princes' body:] "Iris storm-footed[messenger of the gods] sprang away with the message, and at a point between Samos and Imbros of the high cliffs plunged in the dark water, and the sea crashed moaning about her. She plummeted to the sea floor . . . She found Thetis inside the hollow cave, and gathered about her sat the rest of the sea goddesses, and she in their midst was mourning the death of her blameless son, who soon was destined to die in Troy of the rich soil, far from the land of his fathers. Iris the swift-foot came close beside her and spoke to her: Rise, Thetis. Zeus whose purposes are infinite calls you. In turn Thetis the goddess, the silver-footed , answered her: What does he, the

great god, want with me? I feel shame fast to mingle with the immortals, and my heart is confused with sorrows. But I will go. No word shall be in vain, if he says it. So she spoke, and shining among divinities took up her black veil, and there is no darker garment. She went on her way, and in front of her rapid wind-footed Iris guided her, and the wave of the water opened about them. They stepped out on dry land and swept to the sky. There they found [Zeus] the son of Kronos of the wide brows, and gathered about him sat all the rest of the gods, the blessed who live forever. She sat down beside Zeus father, and Athene made a place for her. Hera put in to her hand a beautiful golden goblet and spoke to her to comfort her, and Thetis accepting drank from it. The father of gods and men began the discourse among them: You have come to Olympos, divine Thetis, for all your sorrow, with an unforgotten grief in you heart. I myself know this. But even so I will tell you why I summoned you hither . . . give to your son this message . . . give back [the body of] Hektor . . . He spoke and the goddess silver-foot Thetis did not disobey him but descended in a flash of speed from the peaks of Olympos and made her way to the shelter of her son and there found him in close lamentation . . . His honoured mother came close to him and sat down beside him, and stroked him with her hand and called him by name and spoke to him: My child, how long will you go on eating your heart out in sorrow and lamentation, and remember neither your food nor going to bed? It is a good thing even to lie with a woman in love. For you will not be with me long, but already death and powerful destiny stand closely above you. But listen hard to me, for I come from Zeus with a message . . . give him [Hektor] up and accept ransom for the body."

TROJAN WAR : ACHILLES BATTLES PENTHESILEIA

Ptolemy Hephaestion, New History Book 6 (summary from Photius, Myriobiblon 190) (trans. Pearse) (Greek mythographer C1st to C2nd A.D.) : "Akhilleus (Achilles), killed by [the Amazon] Penthesileia, was resuscitated at the request of his mother Thetis to return to Haides once he had killed Penthesileia."

TROJAN WAR : ACHILLES BATTLES MEMNON

Aeschylus, Memnon and Psychostasia (lost plays) (Greek tragedy C5th B.C.) : Aeschylus told the story of Memnon, son of Eos the Dawn), in two plays entitled Memnon and Psychostasia (The Weighing of Souls). Weir Smyth (L.C.L.) summarises the second of these: "In the Psychostasia Zeus was represented as holding aloft the balance, in the scales of which were the souls of Akhilleus (Achilles) and Memnon, while beneath each stood Thetis and Eos, praying each for the life of her son." Quintus Smyrnaeus, Fall of Troy 2. 418 & 433 ff (trans. Way) (Greek epic C4th A.D.) : "[Memnon addresses Akhilleus (Achilles) before they engage in battle and compares the strength of their two divine mothers:] But thine [mother Thetis]--she sits in

barren crypts of brine: she dwells glorying mid dumb Ketea (Sea-monsters) and mid fish, deedless, unseen! Nothing I reck of her, nor rank her with the immortal Heavenly Ones . . . [Akhilleus replies to Memnon:] From supremest Zeus I trace my glorious birth; and from the strong Sea-god Nereos, begetter of the Maids of the Sea (kourai einalia), the Nereides, honoured of the Olympian Gods. And chiefest of them all is Thetis, wise with wisdom world-renowned; for in her bowers she sheltered Dionysos, chased by might of murderous Lykougos from the earth. Yea, and the cunning Godsmith [Hephaistos] welcomed she within her mansion, when from heaven he fell. Ay, and the Lightning-lord [Zeus] she once released from bonds. The all-seeing Dwellers in the Sky remember all these things, and reverence my mother Thetis in divine Olympos. Ay, that she is a Goddess shalt thou know when to thine heart the brazen spear shall pierce sped by my might." Quintus Smyrnaeus, Fall of Troy 2. 490 ff : "But when long lengthened out the conflict was of those two champions [Akhilleus and Memnon], and the might of both in that strong tug and strain was equalmatched, then, gazing from Olympus' far-off heights, the Gods joyed, some in the invincible son of Peleus [and Thetis], others in the goodly child of old Tithonus and Eos (the Queen of Dawn). Thundered the heavens on high from east to west, and roared the sea from verge to verge, and rocked the dark earth 'neath the heroes' feet, and quaked proud Nereos' daughters all round Thetis thronged in grievous fear for mighty Akhilleus' sake; and trembled for her son Erigeneia (the Child of the Mist) [i.e. Eos] as in her chariot through the sky she rode." Pausanias, Description of Greece 5. 19. 1 (trans. Jones) (Greek travelogue C2nd A.D.) : "[Amongst the scenes depicted on the chest of Kypselos dedicated at Olympia:] Akhilleus (Achilles) and Memnon are fighting; their mothers [Thetis & Eos] stand by their side." Pausanias, Description of Greece 5. 22. 2 : "[At Olympia there] is a semicircular stone pedestal, an on it are Zeus, Thetis and Hemera [Eos] entreating Zeus on behalf of their children. These are on the middle of the pedestal. There are Akhilleus (Achilles) and Memnon, one at either edge of the pedestal, representing a pair of combatants in position."

T19.9 THETIS, EOS, HERMES

T19.10 THETIS, AKHILLEUS, MEMNON

F7.2 THETIS, HEPHAISTOS

TROJAN WAR : THE FUNERAL OF ACHILLES

Homer, Odyssey 24. 15 (trans. Shewring) (Greek epic C8th B.C.) : "[The ghost of Agamemnon addresses the ghost of Akhilleus (Achilles) in Haides:]

Having heard the tidings [of your death] your mother [Thetis] herself rose from the sea with the other divinities of the waters; over the sea there now came forth an unearthly lamentation, and shuddering fell on the limbs of the Akhaians. And indeed they would have started for their ships, had they not been checked by Nestor . . .: "Stand there, you Argives; do not turn to flight, young Akhaian warriors. This is the mother of Akhilleus; she is coming now to her dead son's side, and with her the other divinities of the waters." At these words the Akhaians checked their flight; the daughters of the ancient sea-god stood round about you, wailing piteously, and clothed you with celestial garments; and nine Mousai (Muses) sang your dirge with sweet responsive voices. Not one Argive could you have seen there who was not weeping, the clear notes so went to their hearts. For seventeen days and seventeen nights we lamented for you, immortal beings and mortal men; on the eighteenth day we committed you to the flames . . . You were burned in garments such as gods have . . . Your mother gave us a golden urn that had two handles--given her, she said, by Dionysos, and made by renowned Hephaistos himself. In this your bones now lie, Akhilleus . . . And over the bones our mighty host . . . reared a tall cairn. Then in full view in the place of contest your mother laid out prizes for the Akhaian chieftains; she had begged the gods for them, and most noble prizes they were . . . had you but seen these gifts, you must needs have wondered more--these noble prizes, set out in you honour there by your mother Thetis the silver-sandaled, because you were very dear to the gods." Homer, Odyssey 15. 545 ff : "[Odysseus speaks:] My victory in the contest when beside the ships I made my claim for the armour of Akhilleus (Achilles), whose goddess-mother [Thetis] offered the prize." Pindar, Pythian Ode 3. 100 ff (trans. Conway) (Greek lyric C5th B.C.) : "And Peleus' son [Akhilleus], that one son whom the immortal Thetis in Phthia bore, gave up his life in the fore-front of war." Aeschylus, The Award of the Arms (Greek tragedy C5th B.C.) : The Award of the Arms or Hopln Krisis was the first play of the Ajax trilogy. In the play Thetis presided over the contest between Odysseus and Ajax for the arms of Akhilleus. Aeschylus, Fragment 189 (from Plato, Republic 2. 383B) (trans. Weir Smyth) (Greek tragedy C5th B.C.) : "[Thetis laments the death of her son Akhilleus (Achilles):] He [i.e. Apollon] who himself was present at my marriage-feast, he who himself spake thus, he it is who himself hath slain my son [Akhilleus]." Callimachus, Hymn 2 to Apollo 20 ff (trans. Mair) (Greek poet C3rd B.C.) : "Neither doth Thetis his mother wail her dirge for Akhilleus (Achilles), when she hears Hie Paieon, Hie Paieon [the hymn to Apollon]. Quintus Smyrnaeus, Fall of Troy 3. 96 ff (trans. Way) (Greek epic C4th A.D.) : "[Hera rebukes Apollon for slaying Akhilleus (Achilles):] How wilt thou meet the Nereis' eyes when she shall stand in Zeus' hall midst the Gods, who praised thee once, and loved as her own son?" Quintus Smyrnaeus, Fall of Troy 3. 527 ff : "Clothe [the corpse of Akhilleus] in vesture fair, sea-purple, which his mother [Thetis] gave her son at his first sailing against Troy."

Quintus Smyrnaeus, Fall of Troy 3. 580 ff : "[After the death of Akhilleus (Achilles) on the battlefields of Troy:] Now came the sound of that upringing wail to Nereus' Daughters, dwellers in the depths unfathomed. With sore anguish all their hearts were smitten: piteously they moaned: their cry shivered along the waves of Hellespont. Then with dark mantles overpalled they sped swiftly to where the Argive men were thronged. As rushed their troop up silver paths of sea, the flood disported round them as they came. With one wild cry they floated up; it rang, a sound as when fleet-flying cranes forebode a great storm. Moaned the Ketea (Monsters of the Deep) plaintively round that train of mourners. Fast on sped they to their goal, with awesome cry wailing the while their sister's mighty son. Swiftly from Helikon the Mousai came heartburdened with undying grief, for love and honour to the Nereis starry-eyed. Then Zeus with courage filled the Argive men, that-eyes of flesh might undismayed behold that glorious gathering of Goddesses. Then those Divine Ones round Akhilleus' corpse pealed forth with one voice from immortal lips a lamentation. Rang again the shores of Hellespont. As rain upon the earth their tears fell round the dead man, Aiakos' son; for out of depths of sorrow rose their moan. And all the armour, yea, the tents, the ships of that great sorrowing multitude were wet with tears from ever-welling springs of grief. His mother [Thetis] cast her on him, clasping him, and kissed her son's lips, crying through her tears: Now let rosy-vestured Erigeneia [Eos, Dawn] in heaven exult! Now let broad-flowing Axios exult, and for Asteropaios dead put by his wrath! Let Priamos' seed be glad but I unto Olympos will ascend, and at the feet of everlasting Zeus will cast me, bitterly planning that he gave me, an unwilling bride, unto a man--a man whom joyless eld soon overtook, to whom the Keres (Fates) are near, with death for gift. Yet not so much for his lot do I grieve as for Akhilleus; for Zeus promised me to make him glorious in the Aiakid halls, in recompense for the bridal I so loathed that into wild wind now I changed me, now to water, now in fashion as a bird I was, now as the blast of flame; nor might a mortal win me for his bride, who seemed all shapes in turn that earth and heaven contain, until the Olympian pledged him to bestow a godlike son on me, a lord of war. Yea, in a manner this did he fulfil faithfully; for my son was mightiest of men. But Zeus made brief his span of life unto my sorrow. Therefore up to heaven will I: to Zeus's mansion will I go and wail my son, and will put Zeus in mind of all my travail for him and his sons in their sore stress, and sting his soul with shame. So in her wild lament the Sea-queen cried. But now to Thetis spake [the Muse] Kalliope, she in whose heart was steadfast wisdom throned: From lamentation, Thetis, now forbear, and do not, in the frenzy of thy grief for thy lost son, provoke to wrath the Lord of Gods and men. Lo, even sons of Zeus, the Thunder-king, have perished, overborne by evil fate. Immortal though I be, mine own son Orpheus died, whose magic song drew all the forest-trees to follow him, and every craggy rock and river-stream, and blasts of winds shrill-piping stormy-breathed, and birds that dart through air on rushing wings. yet I endured mine heavy sorrow: Gods ought not with anguished grief to vex their souls. Therefore make end of sorrowstricken wail for thy brave child; for to the sons of earth minstrels shall chant his glory and his might, by mine and by my sisters' inspiration, unto the end of time. Let not thy soul be crushed by dark grief, nor do thou lament like those frail mortal women. Know'st thou not that round all men which dwell upon the earth hovereth irresistible deadly Aisa (Fate), who recks not even of the Gods? Such power she only hath for heritage. Yea, she soon shall destroy gold-wealthy Priamos' town, and Trojans many and Argives doom to death, ahomso she will. No God can stay her hand. So in her wisdom spake Kalliope. Then plunged the sun down into Okeanos' stream, and sable-vestured Nyx (Night) came floating up o'er the wide firmament, and brought her boon of sleep to sorrowing mortals . . . But upon Thetis sleep laid not his hand: still with the deathless Nereides by the sea

she sate; on either side the Mousai (Muses) spake one after other comfortable words to make that sorrowing heart forget its pain. But when with a triumphant laugh Eos (the Dawn) soared up the sky, and her most radiant light shed over all the Trojans and their king, then, sorrowing sorely for Akhilleus still, the Danaans woke to weep. Day after day, for many days they wept. Around them moaned farstretching beaches of the sea, and mourned great Nereus for his daughter Thetis' sake; and mourned with him the other Sea-gods all for dead Akhilleus. Then the Argives gave the corpse of great Peleides to the flame . . . Then, when all things were set in readiness about the pyre, all, footmen, charioteers, compassed that woeful bale, clashing their arms, while, from the viewless heights Olympian, Zeus rained down ambrosia on dead Aiakos' son. For honour to the Goddess, Nereus' child, he sent to Aiolos Hermes, bidding him summon the sacred might of his swift Anemoi (Winds), for that the corpse of Aiakos' son must now be burned . . . His bones, and in a silver casket laid massy and deep, and banded and bestarred with flashing gold; and Nereus' daughters shed ambrosia over them, and precious nards for honour to Akhilleus: fat of kine and amber honey poured they over all. A golden vase his mother gave, the gift in old time of the Wine-god, glorious work of the craft-master Fire-god, in the which they laid the casket that enclosed the bones of mighty-souled Achilles. All around the Argives heaped a barrow, a giant sign, upon a foreland's uttermost end, beside the Hellespont's deep waters, wailing loud farewells unto the Myrmidons' hero-king." Quintus Smyrnaeus, Fall of Troy 3. 766 ff : "[At the funeral of Akhilleus (Achilles):] Then from the surge of heavy-plunging seas rose the Earth-shaker [Poseidon]. No man saw his feet pace up the strand, but suddenly he stood beside the Nereid Goddesses, and spake to Thetis, yet for Akhilleus bowed with grief: Refrain from endless mourning for thy son. Not with the dead shall he abide, but dwell with Gods, as doth the might of Herakles, and Dionysos ever fair. Not him dread doom shall prison in darkness evermore, nor Haides keep him. To the light of Zeus soon shall he rise; and I will give to him s holy island for my gift: it lies within the Euxine Sea: there evermore a God thy son shall be. The tribes that dwell around shall as mine own self honour him with incense and with steam of sacrifice. Hush thy laments, vex not thine heart with grief. Then like a wind-breath had he passed away over the sea, when that consoling word was spoken; and a little in her breast revived the spirit of Thetis: and the God brought this to pass thereafter. All the host moved moaning thence, and came unto the ships that brought them o'er from Hellas. Then returned to Helikon the Mousai (Muses): 'neath the sea, wailing the dear dead, Nereus' Daughters [the Nereides] sank." Quintus Smyrnaeus, Fall of Troy 4. 87 ff : "[At the funeral of Akhilleus (Achilles):] Aias (Ajax) spake: . . . We must needs abide amidst the ships till goddess Thetis come forth of the sea; for that her heart is purposed to set here fair athlete-prizes for the funeral-games. This yesterday she told me, ere she plunged into sea-depths, yea, spake to me apart from other Danaans; and, I trow, by this her haste hath brought her nigh. Yon Trojan men, though Peleus' son hath died, shall have small heart for battle, while myself am yet alive, and thou, and noble Atreus' son, the king. So spake the mighty son of Telamon, but knew not that a dark and bitter doom for him should follow hard upon those games by Fate's contrivance. Answered Tydeus' son O friend, if Thetis comes indeed this day with goodly gifts for her son's funeralgames, then bide we by the ships, and keep we here all others. Meet it is to do the will of the Immortals: yea, to Akhilleus too, though the Immortals willed it not, ourselves must render honour grateful to the dead. So spake the battle-eager Tydeus' son. And lo, the Bride of Peleus gliding came

forth of the sea, like the still breath of dawn, and suddenly was with the Argive throng where eager-faced they waited, some, that looked soon to contend in that great athlete-strife, and some, to joy in seeing the mighty strive. Amidst that gathering Thetis sable-stoled set down her prizes, and she summoned forth Akhaia's champions : at her best they came . . . [First was the competition of song.] That noble song [of Nestor] acclaiming Argives praised; yea, silver-looted Thetis smiled, and gave the singer fleetfoot horses, given of old beside Kaikos' mouth by Telephos to Akhilleus . . . Then Thetis set amidst the athlete-ring ten kine, to be her prizes for the footrace, and by each ran a fair suckling calf. These the bold might of Peleus' tireless son had driven down from slopes of Ida, prizes of his spear. To strive for these rose up two victory-fain, Teukros . . . and Aias . . . these twain with swift hands girded them about with loin-cloths, reverencing the Goddess-bride of Peleus, and the Seamaids, [i.e. the contest was normally performed naked but for the presence of the goddesses] who with her came to behold the Argives' athlete-sport . . . [The wrestling contest takes place.] Then Thetis, queen of Goddesses, gave to them [the wrestlers] four handmaids [slave-girls of Akhilleus] . . . [No-one challenged king Idomeneus in the contest of boxing.] In their midst gave Thetis unto him a chariot and fleet steeds, which theretofore mighty Patroklos from the ranks of Troy drave, when he slew Sarpedon, seed of Zeus . . . [More warriors come forth to box.] Then Thetis sable-stoled gave to their glad hands [the boxers] two great silver bowls which Euneus, Jason's warrior son in sea-washed Lemnos to Akhilleus gave to ransom strong Lykaon . . . [Aias then wins the archery contest.] Then Peleus' bride gave unto him the arms of godlike Troilos, the goodliest of all fair sons whom Hekuba had borne in hallowed Troy . . . [Aias wins the bar throwing contest.] So then the Nereis gave to him the glorious arms from godlike Memnon stripped . . . [Agapenor wins the foot-race.] And Thetis gave him the fair battle-gear of mighty Kyknos, who had smitten first Protesilaus, then had reft the life from many more, till Peleus' son slew him . . . [Euryalos wins the javelin-throwing contest.] The Aiakid hero's mother gave to him a deep wide silver oil-flask, ta'en by Akhilleus in possession, when his spear slew Mynes, and he spoiled Lyrnessos' wealth . . . [Aias then uncontested wins the prize in hand and foot fighting.] Gleaming talents twain of silver he from Thetis' hands received, his uncontested prize . . . [Menelaus wins the chariot races.] Menelaus with exceeding joy of victory glowed, when Thetis lovely-tressed gave him a golden cup, the chief possession once of Eetion the godlike; ere Akhilleus spoiled the far-famed burg of [Asian] Thebes . . . [Then Agamemnon wins the horseback racing contest.] Then Thetis gave to Atreus' son, while laughed his lips for joy, god-sprung Polydoros' breastplate silverwrought. To Sthenelos [who came second] Asteropaios' massy helm, two lances, and a taslet strong, she gave. Yea, and to all the riders who that day came at Akhilleus' funeral-feast to strive she gave gifts." Quintus Smyrnaeus, Fall of Troy 5. 1 & 334 ff : "[At the funeral games of Akhilleus (Achilles):] So when all other contests had an end, Thetis the Goddess laid down in the midst great-souled Akhilleus' arms divinely wrought; and all around flashed out the cunning work wherewith Hephaistos (the Fire-god) overchased the shield fashioned for Aiakos' son, the dauntless-souled . . . Then mid the Argives Thetis sable-stoled in her deep sorrow for Akhilleus spake; Now all the athlete-prizes have been won which I set forth in sorrow for my child. Now let that mightiest of the Argives come who rescued from the foe my dead: to him these glorious and immortal arms I give which even the blessed Deathless joyed to see. Then rose in rivalry, each claiming them, Laertes' seed [Odysseus] and godlike

Telamon's son, Aias (Ajax), the mightiest far of Danaan men [to lay claim to the armour of Akhilleus] . . . [The Greek leaders awarded the armour to Odysseus and after that] into the great deep Thetis plunged, and all the Nereides with her. Round them swam Seamonsters many, children of the brine. Against the wise Prometheus bitter-wroth the Sea-maids were, remembering how that Zeus, moved by his prophecies, unto Peleus gave Thetis to wife, a most unwilling bride. Then cried in wrath to these Kymothoe: O that the pestilent prophet [Prometheus] had endured all pangs he merited, when, deep-burrowing, the eagle tare his liver aye renewed!" Quintus Smyrnaeus, Fall of Troy 5. 636 ff : "Then thrust they [the corpse of Aias (Ajax) who killed himself after losing the armour of Akhilleus to Odysseus] in the strength of ravening flame, and from the sea there breathed a wind, sent forth by Thetis, to consume the giant frame of Aias." Anonymous, Epicedeion for a Professor of the University of Berytus (trans. Page, Vol. Select Papyri III, No. 138) (Greek poetry C4th A.D.) : "As once the Mousai (Muses) nine, Olympian maids of Zeus, wailed in mourning around Thetis, daughter of Nereus, weeping for her son [Akhilleus], the leader of the Myrmidones." Statius, Silvae 2. 7. 96 (trans. Mozley) (Roman poetry C1st A.D.) : "Even so did Thetis swoon to see Pelides [Akhilleus] fall, pierced by the hand of coward Paris."

TROJAN WAR : NEOPTOLEMOS AT TROY

Neoptolemos was the only son of Akhilleus (Achilles) and the only grandson of the goddess Thetis. Quintus Smyrnaeus, Fall of Troy 8. 24 ff (trans. Way) (Greek epic C4th A.D.) : "Exulted Thetis' heart when from the sea she saw the mighty strength of her son's son [Neoptolemos brought to join the Trojan War]." Quintus Smyrnaeus, Fall of Troy 8. 492 ff : "[Neoptolemos celebrates his victory over Eurypylos in the Trojan War:] Mid triumphant mirth he feasted in kings' tents: no battle-toil had wearied him; for Thetis from his limbs had charmed all ache of travail, making him as one whom labour had no power to tire." Quintus Smyrnaeus, Fall of Troy 9. 182 ff : "Peleides' fierce-heart son [Neoptolemos] of other ranks made havoc. Thetis gazed rejoicing in her son's son, with a joy as great as was her grief for Akhilleus slain." Quintus Smyrnaeus, Fall of Troy 11. 238 ff : "Yet not against Aeneas Akhilleus' son [Neoptolemos] upraised his father's spear, but elsewhither turned his fury: in reverence for Aphrodite [mother of Aeneas], Thetis splendour-veiled turned from that man her mighty son's son's rage and giant strength on other hosts of foes."

Quintus Smyrnaeus, Fall of Troy 13. 63 ff : "[The Greek troops sail back to Troy following the ruse of the Wooden Horse:] Fast rowed the host the while; on swept the ships over the great flood: Thetis made their paths straight, and behind them sent a driving wind speeding them."

TROJAN WAR : THE RETURN TO GREECE

Pseudo-Apollodorus, Bibliotheca E6. 5 (trans. Aldrich) (Greek mythographer C2nd A.D.) : "Thetis came to persuade Neoptolemos to wait two days [before departing from Troy] and make sacrifices, and he obeyed her. But the others left and were overtaken by storms." Pseudo-Apollodorus, Bibliotheca E6. 6 : "Aias fell into the sea and was drowned [when his ship was wrecked by Athena on the return from Troy]. After his body was cast ashore, Thetis buried it on Mykonos." Ptolemy Hephaestion, New History Book 4 (summary from Photius, Myriobiblon 190) (trans. Pearse) (Greek mythographer C1st to C2nd A.D.) : "Some authors . . . say that she [Helene] was removed during the voyage of the Greeks home by Thetis, metamorphosed into a seal [--in anger for the death of Akhilleus]." Seneca, Troades 878 ff (trans. Miller) (Roman tragedy C1st A.D.) : "[After the fall of Troy, Helene speaks of Polyxena's marriage to the ghost of Akhilleus, son of Thetis:] Thee will great Tethys call her own, thee, all the goddesses of the deep [the Nereides], and Thetis, calm deity of the swelling sea; wedded to Pyrrhus . . . Nereus shall call thee daughter."

EVENTS AFTER THE RETURN TO GREECE

Pausanias, Description of Greece 3. 26. 7 (trans. Jones) (Greek travelogue C2nd A.D.) : "Here [at Kardamyle, Messenia] not far from the beach is a precinct sacred to the daughters of Nereus. They say that they came up from the sea to this spot to see Pyrrhos [Neoptolemos] the son of Akhilleus, when he was going to Sparta to wed Hermione [daughter of Menelaos]."

Sources:
o o o Homer, The Iliad - Greek Epic C8th B.C. Homer, The Odyssey - Greek Epic C8th B.C. Pindar, Odes - Greek Lyric C5th B.C.

o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o

Pindar, Fragments - Greek Lyric C5th B.C. Greek Lyric I Alcaeus, Fragments - Greek Lyric C6th B.C. Greek Lyric IV Bacchylides, Fragments - Greek Lyric C5th B.C. Aeschylus, Fragments - Greek Tragedy C5th B.C. Apollodorus, The Library - Greek Mythography C2nd A.D. Callimachus, Hymns - Greek Poetry C3rd B.C. Quintus Smyrnaeus, Fall of Troy - Greek Epic C4th A.D. Pausanias, Description of Greece - Greek Travelogue C2nd A.D. Ptolemy Hephaestion, New History - Greek Scholar C1st-2nd A.D. Greek Papyri III Anonymous, Fragments - Greek Elegiac C4th A.D. Hyginus, Fabulae - Latin Mythography C2nd A.D. Ovid, Metamorphoses - Latin Epic C1st B.C. - C1st A.D. Seneca, Troades - Latin Tragedy C1st A.D. Statius, Silvae - Latin Poetry C1st A.D. Photius, Myriobiblon
- Byzantine Greek Scholar C9th A.D.

THOOSA
Greek Name Transliteration Thosa Latin Spelling Thoosa Translation Swift (thosa, thoos)

THOOSA was a Haliad nymph loved by the god Poseidon. She was probably a goddess of dangerously swift currents, as her name suggests. Thoosa may have been conceived as a mermaid-like woman with the serpentine-tail of a fish in place of legs, similar in appearance to her sisters Skylla and Ekhidna. PARENTS
PHORKYS (Homer Odyssey 1.70)

OFFSPRING
POLYPHEMOS (by Poseidon) (Homer Odyssey 1.70, Apollodorus E7.4)

Homer, Odyssey 1. 68 ff (trans. Shewring) (Greek epic C8th B.C.) : "Polyphemos (Polyphemus), the Kyklops (Cyclops) whose power is greatest among the Kyklopes race and whose ancestry is more than human; his mother was the nymphe Thoosa, child of Phorkys (Phorcys) the lord of the barren sea, and she lay with Poseidon within her arching caverns." Pseudo-Apollodorus, Bibliotheca E7. 4 (trans. Aldrich) (Greek mythographer C2nd A.D.) : "A son of Poseidon and a nymphe named Thoose (Thoosa), an enormous maneating wild man named Polyphemos, who had one eye in his forehead." Theocritus, Idylls 11. 25 ff (trans. Rist) (Greek bucolic C3rd B.C.) : "I [Polyphemos] fell in love with you [Galateia], maiden, the first time you came, with my mother, eager to cull the bluebells from our hillside: I was you guide."

Theocritus, Idylls 11. 62 ff : "Only my [Polyphemos'] mother does me wrong, and it's her I blame. She's never said a single word on my behalf to you [Galateia], for all she sees me growing thin, day after day. I shall tell her that my head and both my feet are throbbing: so I'll be even, making her suffer, even as she makes me."

Sources:
o o o Homer, The Odyssey - Greek Epic C8th B.C. Apollodorus, The Library - Greek Mythography C2nd A.D. Theocritus Idylls
- Greek Bucolic C3rd B.C.

TRITEIA
Greek Name Transliteration Triteia Latin Spelling Tritia Translation Of Triteia (town); Daughter of Triton

TRITEIA was a Haliad nymph of the town of Triteia in Akhaia (Achaea), southern Greece. She may also have been the Naiad of a local fresh-water spring, like most town-Nymphai. Triteia was loved by the god Ares and bore him a son named Melanippos, the founder of her name-sake town. Triteia appears to be related to Athena and other regional war-goddess consorts of the god Ares such as Harpina and Sterope. She also appears to have been closely identified with the Libyan Athena and her sister Pallas, the war-goddess daughters of the Libyan Lake Tritonis. Triteia may have also been identified with the wargoddess Enyo. PARENTS
TRITON (Pausanias 7.22.8)

OFFSPRING
MELANIPPOS (by Ares) (Pausanias 7.22.8)

ENCYCLOPEDIA
TRITAEA (Tritaia), a daughter of Triton, a priestess of Athena, by whom Ares became the father of Melanippus, who gave to a town in Achaia the name of his mother. Sacrifices were offered there to Ares and Tritaea in the temple of Athena. (Paus. vii. 22. 5, &c.) Source: Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology. Pausanias, Description of Greece 7. 22. 8 (trans. Jones) (Greek travelogue C2nd

A.D.) : "Ares mated with Triteia the daughter of Triton, that this maiden was priestess to Athena, and that Melanippos, the son of Ares and Triteia, founded the city [Triteia, Akhaia] when he grew up, naming it after his mother . . . The people here are accustomed to sacrifice both to Ares and to Triteia."

Sources:
o Pausanias, Description of Greece
- Greek Travelogue C2nd A.D.

TRITONIDES
Greek Name Transliteration Tritnis Tritnides Latin Spelling Tritonis Tritonides Translation Daughters of Triton

THE TRITONIDES were sea-nymph daughters of the marine god Triton. They were handmaidens of the Nereid Galateia and perhaps also of her sisters. PARENTS
TRITON (Philostratus Elder 2.18)

Philostratus the Elder, Imagines 2. 18 (trans. Fairbanks) (Greek rhetorician C3rd A.D.) : "[Ostensibly a description of an ancient Greek painting at Neapolis (Naples):] The nymphe [Nereid Galateia] sports on the peaceful sea, driving a team of four dolphins yoked together and working in harmony; and maiden-daughters of Triton, Galateia's servants, guide them, curving them in if they try to do anything mischievous or contrary to the rein. She holds over her heads against the wind a light scarf of sea-purple to provide a shade for herself and a sail for her chariot."

Sources:
o Philostratus the Elder, Imagines
- Greek Rhetoric C3rd A.D.

TRITONIS
Greek Name Transliteration Tritnis Latin Spelling Tritonis Translation Of Lake Tritonis

TRITONIS was the Haliad nymph of the salt-water lake Tritonis, in Libya, North Africa. In the story of the birth of the Libyan Athena, Triton (a Libyan sea-god sometimes identified with Poseidon) and Tritonis (the goddess of the salt lake Tritonis), were the parents of two daughters, the Libyan Athena and Pallas. The first daughter accidentally killed the second in a mock battle, a story which was reenacted by the Makhlyes and Ausean tribes in an annual festival. She also had two sons by Amphithemis (if this is the same Tritonis) named Kephalion and Nasamon, who were founding kings of the two Libyan tribes. Tritonis appears to be closely related to the Timeoroi Libyes (Guardian Spirits of Libya), who nursed the young Athena. She was perhaps also identified with Benthesikyme, a North African sea-nymphe, who like Tritonis was married to a local sea-god (Enalos), and had two daughters. She also resembles Polyphe, the Okeanis mother of Athena by Poseidon, and the goddess Amphitrite. PARENTS
Nowhere stated

OFFSPRING
[1.1] ATHENE (by Poseidon) (Herodotus 4.180, Pausanias 1.14.6) [1.2] ATHENE, PALLAS (by Triton) (reconstructed from Apollodorus 3.144) [2.1] KEPHALION, NASAMON (by Amphithemis) (Apollonius Rhodius 4.1493, Hyginus Fab 14)

ENCYCLOPEDIA
TRITONIS (Tritnis). A nymph of lake Tritonis in Libya, who according to an ancient tradition was the mother of Athena by Poseidon. (Herod. iv. 180.) By Amphithemis she became the mother of Nasamon and Caphaurus. (Apollon. Rhod. iv. 1495.) Source: Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology. Herodotus, Histories 4. 180 (trans. Godley) (Greek historian C5th B.C.) : "[The tribes of Libya:] Next to the Makhlyes (Machlyes) are the Auseans; these and the Makhlyes, separated by the Triton, live on the shores of Lake Tritonis. The Makhlyes wear their hair long behind, the Auseans in front. They celebrate a yearly festival of Athena, where their maidens are separated into two bands and fight each other with stones and sticks, thus, they say, honoring in the way of their ancestors that native goddess whom we call Athena. Maidens who die of their wounds are called false virgins. Before the girls are set fighting, the whole people choose the fairest maid, and arm her with a Korinthian helmet and Greek panoply, to be then mounted on a chariot and drawn all along the lake shore. With what armor they equipped their maidens before Greeks came to live near them, I cannot say; but I suppose the armor was Egyptian; for I maintain that the Greeks took their shield and helmet from Egypt. As for Athena, they say that she was daughter of Poseidon and Lake Tritonis, and that, being for some reason angry at her father, she gave herself to Zeus, who made her his own daughter. Such is their tale. The intercourse of men and women there is promiscuous; they do not cohabit but have intercourse like cattle. When a woman's child is well grown, the men assemble within three months and the child is adjudged to be that man's whom it is most like." Pseudo-Apollodorus, Bibliotheca 3. 144 (trans. Aldrich) (Greek mythographer C2nd A.D.) :

"They say that after Athene's birth, she was reared by Triton [or Tritonis], who had a daughter named Pallas. Both girls cultivated the military life, which once led them into contentious dispute. As Pallas was about to give Athene a whack, Zeus skittishly held out the aegis, so that she glanced up to protect herself, and thus was wounded by Athene and fell. Extremely saddened by what had happened to Pallas, Athene fashioned a wooden likeness of her, and round its breast tied the aegis which had frightened her, and set the statue beside Zeus and paid it honour." Apollonius Rhodius, Argonautica 4. 1493 ff (trans. Rieu) (Greek epic C3rd B.C.) : "[Amphithemis, the son of Apollon and Akakallis (Acacallis):] He married the Nymphe Tritonis and she gave him two sons, Nasamon and the powerful Kaphauros." Pausanias, Description of Greece 1. 14. 6 (trans. Jones) (Greek travelogue C2nd A.D.) : "The Libyans have a saying that the Goddess [Athena] is the daughter of Poseidon and Lake Tritonis, and for this reason has blue eyes like Poseidon." Pseudo-Hyginus, Fabulae 14 (trans. Grant) (Roman mythographer C2nd A.D.) : "On the return trip [of the Argonauts] Eurybates, son of Teleon died, and Canthus, son of . . ((lacuna)) They were slain in Libya by the shepherd Cephalion, brother of Nasamon, son of the Nymph Tritonis and Amphithemis, whsoe flocks they were plundering.

Sources:
o o o o o Herodotus, Histories - Greek History C5th B.C. Apollodorus, The Library - Greek Mythography C2nd A.D. Apollonius Rhodius, The Argonautica - Greek Epic C3rd B.C. Pausanias, Description of Greece - Greek Travelogue C2nd A.D. Hyginus, Fabulae
- Latin Mythography C2nd A.D.

LAMPADES
Greek Name Transliteration Lampas Lampades Latin Name Nymphae Avernales Translation Torch Bearers (lampadion)

THE LAMPADES were the torch-bearing Khthonian Nymphs of the underworld, companions of the goddess Hekate in her night-time revels and hauntings. They were associated with the Eleusinian celebrants who carried torches during the nocturnal Mystery rites of Demeter.
PARENTS Nowhere stated

Alcman, Fragment 63 (from Scholiast on Iliad) (trans. Campbell, Vol. Greek Lyric II) (Greek lyric C7th B.C.) : "Some say there are many kinds of Nymphai, eg Alkman: Naides and Lampades and Thyiades . . . Lampades those who carry torches and lights with Hekate." Ovid, Metamorphoses 5. 539 ff (trans. Melville) (Roman epic C1st B.C. to C1st A.D.) : "Orphne . . . not the least famous of the Nymphae Avernales (Underworld Nymphs), bore once [a son] to Acheron in her dusky bower." - Ovid, Metamorphoses 5.539 Statius, Silvae 2. 4. 100 (trans. Mozley) (Roman poetry C1st A.D.) : "Haply by the pleasant silences of [the river] Lethe Nymphae Avernales (Underworld Nymphs) mingle and sport around him [a handsome boy who died young], and Proserpine [Persephone] notes him with sidelong glance."

Sources:
o o o Greek Lyric II Alcman, Fragments - Greek Lyric C7th B.C. Ovid, Metamorphoses - Latin Epic C1st B.C. - C1st A.D. Statius, Silvae
- Latin Epic C1st A.D.

MELIAI
Greek Name Transliteration Nymph Melia Nymphai Meliai Latin Spelling Nympha Melia Nymphae Meliae Translation Ash-Tree Nymphs; Honey Nymphs

THE MELIAI (or Meliae) were Oread nymphs of the mountain ash, born to Gaia (the Earth) when she was impregnated by the blood of the castrated god Ouranos (Sky). They were the mothers of the third, Bronze Race, of mankind. Their sons were nursed on the sweet manna (Greek meli) of the ash (Greek melia), and crafted spears from the branches of their mothers' trees. They were an overly warlike race who incurred the wrath of Zeus and were destroyed in the floods of the Great Deluge. The Meliai were probably the same as the honey-nymph (meliai) nurses of the god Zeus, Ida and Adrasteia. The manna (meli) of the ash and the honey (meli) of bees were believed to be related, both being regarded as an ambrosial food fallen from heaven. In Hesiod's Theogony they were born alongside the Erinyes--avengers of the castration of Ouranos--and the Gigantes, who in Hesiod appear to be the Kourete-protectors of the infant Zeus. As children born of the castration, it would be appropriate that they and their brothers should play a role in the downfall of Kronos, perpetrator of the crime. They were probably also identified with the Kouretes, Daktyloi and Kabeiroi.
PARENTS GAIA & the blood of OURANOS (Hesiod Theogony 178)

Hekaterides and Kabeirides, the sister-wives of the

OFFSPRING [1.1] BRAZEN RACE OF MEN (Hesiod Works & Days 150) [1.2] ARKADIAN MEN (Statius Thebaid 4.280)

ENCYCLOPEDIA
MELIA (Melia). In the plural form Meliai or Meliades is the name of the nymphs, who, along with the Gigantes and Erinnyes, sprang from the drops of blood that fell from Uranus, and which were received by Gaea. (Hes. Theog. 187.) The nymphs that nursed Zeus are likewise called Meliae. (Callim. Hymn. in Jov. 47; Eustath. ad Hom. p. 1963.) Source: Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology. Hesiod, Theogony 176 f (trans. Evelyn-White) (Greek epic C8th or 7th B.C.) : "Then the son [Kronos, Cronus] from his ambush stretched forth his left hand and in his right took the great long sickle with jagged teeth, and swiftly lopped off his own father's [Ouranos'] members and cast them away to fall behind him. And not vainly did they fall from his hand; for all the bloody drops that gushed forth Gaia (Earth) received, and as the seasons moved round she bare the strong Erinyes (Furies) and the great Gigantes (Giants) with gleaming armour and the Nymphai whom they call Meliai all over the boundless earth." [N.B. The Gigantes and Meliai of Hesiod may be the Kouretes (Curetes) and Nymphs of Mount Ida in Krete who nursed the infant Zeus. In meliai suggests both ash-tree, melia, and honey, meli. Cf. Callimachus, Hymn to Zeus below.] Hesiod, Theogony 560 ff : "[Zeus] would not give the power of unwearying fire to the Melian race of mortal men who live on the earth." [N.B. The human race was born of the Melian nymphs, see Works and Days below.] Hesiod, Works and Days 106 ff : "Or if you will, I will sum you up another tale well and skilfully--and do you lay it up in your heart,--how the gods and mortal men sprang from one source . . . Zeus the Father made a third generation of mortal men, a brazen race, sprung from Ash-trees (Meliai); and it was in no way equal to the silver age, but was terrible and strong. They loved the lamentable works of Ares and deeds of violence; they ate no bread, but were hard of heart like adamant, fearful men. Great was their strength and unconquerable the arms which grew from their shoulders on their strong limbs. Their armour was of bronze, and their houses of bronze, and of bronze were their implements: there was no black iron. These were destroyed by their own hands and passed to the dank house of chill Haides, and left no name: terrible though they were, black Death seized them, and they left the bright light of the sun." Apollonius Rhodius, Argonautica 4. 1642 ff (trans. Rieu) (Greek epic C3rd B.C.) : "[The bronze-giant Talos] a descendant of the brazen race [of men] that sprang from Meliai (Ash-Trees)." Callimachus, Hymn 1 to Zeus 42 ff (trans. Mair) (Greek poet C3rd B.C.) : "[The Arkadian nymph Neda handed the infant Zeus over to his nurses on Mount Ida in Krete (Crete):] The Nymphe [Neda], carrying thee, O Father Zeus, toward Knosos (Cnossus) . . . Thee, O Zeus, the companions of Kyrbantes [Curetes] took to their arms, even the Diktaian Meliai (Honey Nymphs), and Adrasteia laid thee to rest in a cradle of gold, and thou didst suck the rich teat of the she-goat Amaltheia, and thereto eat the sweet honey-comb." Callimachus, Hymn 4 to Delos 75 ff (trans. Mair) (Greek poet C3rd B.C.) : "[Rivers and springs flee at the approach of the pregant goddess Hera, fearing that they would

incur the wrath of Hera should they offer her sanctuary:] Fled, too, Aonia [Boiotia] on the same course, and Dirke and Strophia [Boiotian springs], holding the hands of their sire, dark-pebbled Ismenos . . . And the earth-born Nymphe Melia wheeled about thereat and ceased from the dance and her cheek paled as she panted for her coeval oak, when she saw the locks of Helikon tremble. Goddesses mine, ye Mousai (Muses), say did the oaks come into being at the same time as the Nymphai? The Nymphai rejoice when the rain makes the oaks to grow; and again the Nymphai weep when there are no longer leaves upon the oaks." [N.B. The Greek word for "oak" drys, is also the generic word for "tree."] Virgil, Georgics 4. 1 ff (trans. Fairclough) (Roman bucolic C1st B.C.) : "Heaven's gift, the honey from the skies." [N.B. Honey-sap or manna which was harvested from the leaves of the mountain ash, was believed to fall from the sky. Cf. the tradition that the Meliai, nymphs of ash-tree and manna, were born from the sky's blood.] Virgil, Georgics 4. 149 ff (trans. Fairclough) (Roman bucolic C1st B.C.) : "Qualities which Jove [Zeus] himself has given bees [i.e. to be social animals], I will unfold--even the reward for which they [the bees] followed the tuneful sounds and clashing bronzes of the Curetes, and fed the king of heaven within the cave of Dicte." [N.B. The Meliai ("Honey Nymphs") nourished Zeus with the honey of the bees.] Statius, Thebaid 4. 275 ff (trans. Mozley) (Roman epic C1st A.D.) : "The Arcadians an ancient people, older than the moon and stars . . . they were born, tis said, of the hard trunks of forest trees, when the wondering earth first bore the print of feet; not yet were fields or houses or cities or ordinance of marriage: oaks and laurels suffered rude childbirth, and the shady Mountain-Ash [Greek meliai] peopled the earth, and the young babe fell from the pregnant Ash-Tree's womb. 'Tis said that, struck with terror at the change from light to murky darkness, they followed far the setting Titan [Helios the sun], despairing of the day." Nonnus, Dionysiaca 14. 203 ff (trans. Rouse) (Greek epic C5th A.D.) : "[Rhea summoned rustic gods and spirits to join the army of Dionysos for his campaign against the Indians:] These combatants were joined by Bakkhai [female devotees of the Dionysos], some coming from the Meionian rocks, some from the moutain above the precipitous peaks of Sipylos. Nymphai hastened to join the soldiers of the thyrsos, the wild Oreiades with hearts of men trailing their long robes. Many a year had they seen roll round the turning-point as they lived out their long lives. Some were the Epimelides (Medlars) who lived on the heights near the shepherds; some were from the woodland glades and the ridges of the wild forest Meliai nymphs of the mountain Ash coeval with their tree. All these pressed onwards together to the fray, some with brassbacked drums, the instruments of Kybelid Rheia, others with overhanging ivy-tendrils wreathed in their hair, or girt with rings of snakes. They carried the sharpened thyrsus which the mad Lydian women then took with them fearless to the Indian War." Nonnus, Dionysiaca 16. 228 ff : "A tree was near him [Dionysos] when he spoke; and through her clustering leaves an ancient Melia (Ash-Tree) heard the cry of womanmad Dionysos, and she uttered a mocking voice: Other masters of hounds, Dionysos, hunt here for the Archeress [Artemis]; but you are huntsman for Aphrodite! . . . So she mocked the timid mind of Bakkhos, and vanished into her coeval tree."

Sources:
o o o Hesiod, Theogony - Greek Epic C8th-7th B.C. Hesiod, Works & Days - Greek Epic C8th-7th B.C. Apollodorus, The Library - Greek Mythography C2nd A.D.

o o o o o

Callimachus, Hymns - Greek Poetry C3rd B.C. Strabo, Geography - Greek Geography C1st B.C. - C1st A.D. Virgil, Georgics - Latin Bucolic C1st B.C. Statius, Thebaid - Latin Epic C1st A.D. Nonnos, Dionysiaca
- Greek Epic C5th A.D.

NEPHELAI
Greek Name Transliteration Nephel Nephelai Latin Spelling Nebula Nubes Translation Cloud (nephel)

THE NEPHELAI (or Nephelae) were the Okeanid nymphs of clouds and rain who rose up from the earth-encircling river Okeanos bearing water to the heavens in cloudy pitchers. With their rains, the Nephelai nourished the earth and the fed the streams of their River-god brothers. The Nephelai were depicted as beautiful, young women pouring water from pitchers, like their sisters, the Naiades of the springs, or as women flitting across the sky with billowing robes. PARENTS
Nephelae nymphs in flight, Athenian red-figure [1.1] OKEANOS (Homeric Hymn 2.5, Aristophanes Clouds 264) astragalos C5th B.C., British Museum, London [1.2] TETHYS (Orphic Hymn 22) [2.2] AITHER (Aristophanes Clouds 563)

NEPHELAE NYMPHS OF THE CLOUDS

Aeschylus, Prometheus Bound 115 - 285 (trans. Weir Smyth) (Greek tragedy C5th B.C.) : "[In the following passage, Aeschylus appears to represent the Okeanides as the clouds gather around the peak of Mount Kaukasos:] Prometheus [who has just been chained to the mountain crag]: Ha! Behold! What murmur, what scent wings to me, its source invisible, heavenly or human, or both? Has someone come to this crag at the edge of the world to stare at my sufferings--or with what motive? . . . What may be this rustling stir of birds I hear again nearby? The air whirs with the light rush of wings. Whatever approaches causes me alarm. [The Daughters of Oceanus enter on a winged car, perhaps representing the clouds.] Chorus [of Okeanides]: Do not fear! For our group has come in swift rivalry of wings to this crag as friend to you, having won our father's consent as best we might. The swift-coursing breezes (aurai) bore me on; for the reverberation of the clang of iron pierced the depths of our caves and drove my grave modesty away in fright; unsandalled I have hastened in a winged car. Prometheus: Alas! Alas! Offspring of fruitful (polyteknos) Tethys and of him who with his sleepless current encircles the whole earth, children of your father Okeanos, behold, see with what fetters, upon the summit crag of this ravine, I am to hold my unenviable watch

Chorus [of Okeanides]: I see, Prometheus; and over my eyes a mist of tears and fear spread as I saw your body withering ignominiously upon this rock in these bonds of adamant. For there are new rulers in heaven, and Zeus governs with lawless customs; that which was mighty before he now brings to nothing . . . Who of the gods is so hard of heart as to exult in this? Who does not sympathize with your woes--save only Zeus? But he in malice, has set his soul inflexibly and keeps in subjection the race sprung from Ouranos [the Titanes]; nor will he stop, until he has satiated his soul or another seizes his impregnable empire by some device of guile . . . You are bold, and do not yield to your bitter pangs; you give too much license to your tongue. But my soul is agitated by piercing fear, and I am in dread about your fate, wondering to what haven you must steer your ship to see an end of your voyage of sorrow. For the heart of Kronos' son is hardened against entreaty and his ways are inexorable . . . Chorus [of Okeanides]: Not to unwilling ears have you made this appeal, Prometheus. And so now with light foot I will quit my swift-speeding seat and the pure air (aithr), the pathway of birds and draw near to this rugged ground; for I want to hear the whole story of your sorrows." Aeschylus, Prometheus Bound 399 ff : "Chorus [of Okeanides]: I mourn your unfortunate fate, Prometheus. Shedding from my eyes a coursing flood of tears I wet my tender cheeks with their moist streams. For Zeus, holding this unenviable power by self-appointed laws, displays towards the gods of old an overweening spirit. Now the whole earth cries aloud in lamentation." [N.B. The tears of the Okeanides probably represent the rain.] Aeschylus, Prometheus Bound 528 ff : "Chorus [of Okeanides]: Nor may I be slow to approach the gods, with holy sacrifices of oxen slain, by the side of the ceaseless stream of Okeanos, my father; and may I not offend [Zeus] in speech; but may this rule abide in my heart and never fade away." Aeschylus, Prometheus Bound 1054 ff : "Hermes: Such indeed are the thoughts and the words [of Prometheus] one hears from men deranged . . . But, at all events, may you [the Okeanides] who sympathize with his anguish, withdraw in haste from this spot so that the relentless roar of the thunder [from Zeus] does not stun your senses. Chorus [of Okeanides]: Use some other strain and urge me to some other course in which you are likely to convince me. This utterance in your flood of speech is, I think, past all endurance. How do you charge me to practise baseness? With him I am content to suffer any fate; for I have learned to detest traitors, and there is no pest I abhor more than this. [As the thunder begins to roar, the Okeanides heed the warning and depart.]" Aristophanes, Clouds 264 ff (trans. O'Neill) (Greek comedy C5th to 4th B.C.) : "[In Aristophanes' comedy the Clouds, Sokrates declares that the Nephelai (Clouds) are the greatest of the gods :] Sokrates: Give heed to the prayers. (In an hierophantic tone) Oh! most mighty king, the boundless Aer (Air), that keepest the earth suspended in space, thou bright Aither (Upper Air) and ye venerable goddesses, the Nephelai (Clouds), who carry in your loins the thunder and the lightning, arise, ye sovereign powers and manifest yourselves in the celestial spheres to the eyes of your sage . . . Come, oh! Nephelai (Clouds), whom I adore, come and show yourselves to this man, whether you be resting on the sacred summits of Olympos, crowned with hoar-frost, or tarrying in the gardens of Okeanos, your father, forming sacred Choruses with the Nymphai; whether you be gathering the waves of the Neilos (Nile) in golden vases or dwelling in the Maiotic marsh or on the snowy rocks of Mimas, hearken to my prayer and accept my offering. May these sacrifices be pleasing to you. (Amidst rumblings of thunder the Chorus of Nephelai (Clouds) appears.) Chorus [of Nephelai] (singing): Eternal Nephelai (Clouds), let us appear; let us arise from the roaring depths of Okeanos, our father; let us fly towards the lofty mountains, spread our damp wings over their forest-laden summits, whence we will dominate the distant valleys, the harvest

fed by the sacred earth, the murmur of the divine streams and the resounding waves of the sea, which the unwearying orb lights up with its glittering beams. But let us shake off the rainy fogs, which hide our immortal beauty and sweep the earth from afar with our gaze. Sokrates: Oh, venerated goddesses, yes, you are answering my call! (To Stresoades.) Did you hear their voices mingling with the awful growling of the thunder? Strepsiades: Oh! adorable Nephelai (Clouds), I revere you and I too am going to let off my thunder, so greatly has your own affrighted me. (He farts.) Faith! whether permitted or not, I must, I must crap! Sokrates: No scoffing; do not copy those damned comic poets. Come, silence! a numerous host of goddesses approaches with songs. Chorus [of Nephelai] (singing): Virgins, who pour forth the rains, let us move toward Attika, the rich country of Pallas, the home of the brave; let us visit the dear land of Kekrops, where the secret rites are celebrated, where the mysterious sanctuary [of Demeter] flies open to the initiate . . . What victims are offered there to the deities of heaven! What glorious temples! What statues! What holy prayers to the rulers of Olympos! At every season nothing but sacred festivals, garlanded victims, is to be seen. Then spring brings round again the joyous feasts of Bromios (Dionysos), the harmonious contests of the Choruses and the serious melodies of the flute. Strepsiades: By Zeus! Tell me, Socrates, I pray you, who are these women, whose language is so solemn; can they be demi-goddesses? Sokrates: Not at all. They are the Nephelai (Clouds) of heaven, great goddesses for the lazy; to them we owe all, thoughts, speeches, trickery, roguery, boasting, lies, sagacity. [N.B. Presumably he has in mind abstract Okeanides such as Metis, Peitho, Klymene.] Strepsiades : Ah! that was why, as I listened to them, my mind spread out its wings; it burns to babble about trifles, to maintain worthless arguments, to voice its petty reasons, to contradict, to tease some opponent. But are they not going to show themselves? I should like to see them, were it possible. Sokrates: Well, look this way in the direction of Parnes; I already see those who are slowly descending. Strepsiades: But where, where? Show them to me. Sokrates: They are advancing in a throng, following an oblique path across the dales and thickets. Strepsiades: Strange! I can see nothing. Sokrates: There, close to the entrance. Strepsiades: Hardly, if at all, can I distinguish them. Sokrates: You must see them clearly now, unless your eyes are filled with gum as thick as pumpkins. Strepsiades: Aye, undoubtedly! Oh! the venerable goddesses! Why, they fill up the entire stage. Sokrates: And you did not know, you never suspected, that they were goddesses? Strepsiades : No, indeed; I thought the Nephelai (Clouds) were only fog, dew and vapour. Sokrates: But what you certainly do not know is that they are the support of a crowd of quacks, the diviners, who were sent to Thurium, the notorious physicians, the well-combed fops, who load their fingers with rings down to the nails, and the braggarts, who write dithyrambic verses, all these are idlers whom the Clouds provide a living for, because they sing them in their verses. Strepsiades: It is then for this that they praise the rapid flight of the moist clouds, which veil the brightness of day and the waving locks of the hundred-headed Typho and the impetuous tempests, which float through the heavens, like birds of prey with aerial wings loaded with mists and the rains, the dew, which the clouds outpour. As a reward for these fine phrases they bolt well-grown, tasty mullet and delicate thrushes. Sokrates: Yes, thanks to these. And is it not right and meet? Strepsiades: Tell me then why, if these really are the Nephelai (Clouds), they so very much resemble mortals. This is not their usual form. Sokrates: What are they like then? Strepsiades: I don't know exactly; well, they are like great packs of wool, but not like women-no, not in the least . . . And these have noses. Sokrates: Answer my questions.

Strepsiades: Willingly! Go on, I am listening. Sokrates: Have you not sometimes seen clouds in the sky like a kentauros (centaur), a leopard, a wolf or a bull? Strepsiades: Why, certainly I have, but what of that? Sokrates: They take what metamorphosis they like. If they see a debauchee with long flowing locks and hairy as a beast, like the son of Xenophantes, they take the form of a Kentauros in derision of his shameful passion. [N.B. Kentauros was the son of Nephele, a cloud.] Strepsiades: And when they see Simon, that thiever of public money, what do they do then? Sokrates: To picture him to the life, they turn at once into wolves. Strepsiades: So that was why yesterday, when they saw Kleonymos, who cast away his buckler because he is the veriest poltroon amongst men, they changed into deer. Sokrates: And to-day they have seen Klisthenes; you see . . . they are women Strepsiades: Hail, sovereign goddesses, and if ever you have let your celestial voice be heard by mortal ears, speak to me, oh! speak to me, ye all-powerful queens. Chorus-Leader [of the Nephelai] : Hail! veteran of the ancient times, you who burn to instruct yourself in fine language. And you, great high-priest of subtle nonsense, tell us; your desire. To you and Prodikos alone of all the hollow orationers of to-day have we lent an ear-to Prodikos, because of his knowledge and his great wisdom, and to you, because you walk with head erect, a confident look, barefooted, resigned to everything and proud of our protection. Strepsiades: Oh! Earth! What august utterances! how sacred! how wondrous!" Aristophanes, Clouds 563 ff : "First Semi-Chorus [of Nephelai] (singing): Oh, ruler of Olympos, all-powerful king of the gods, great Zeus, it is thou whom I first invoke; protect this Chorus; and thou too, Poseidon, whose dread trident upheaves at the will of thy anger both the bowels of the earth and the salty waves of the ocean. I invoke my illustrious father, the divine Aither, the universal sustainer of life, and Phoibos [Helios the Sun], who, from the summit of his chariot, sets the world aflame with his dazzling rays, Phoibos, a mighty deity amongst the gods and adored amongst mortals . . . Second Semi-Chorus [of Nephelai] (singing): Aid me also, Phoibos [Apollon], god of Delos, who reignest on the cragged peaks of Kynthia; and thou, happy virgin [Artemis], to whom the Lydian damsels offer pompous sacrifice in a temple; of gold; and thou, goddess of our country, Athene, armed with the aigis, the protectress of Athens; and thou, who, surrounded by the Bakkhantes of Delphoi; roamest over the rocks of Parnassos shaking the flame of thy resinous torch, thou, Bakkhos [Dionysos], the god of revel and joy." Aristophanes, Clouds 1115 ff : "Leader of the Chorus [of Nephelai]: In spring, when you wish to give your fields the first dressing, we will rain upon you first; the others shall wait. Then we will watch over your corn and over your vinestocks; they will have no excess to fear, neither of heat nor of wet. But if a mortal dares to insult the goddesses Nephelai (Clouds), let him think of the ills we shall pour upon him. For him neither wine nor any harvest at all! Our terrible slings will mow down his young olive plants and his vines. If he is making bricks, it will rain, and our round hailstones will break the tiles of his roof. If he himself marries or any of his relations or friends, we shall cause rain to fall the whole night long." Orphic Hymn 21 to the Nephelae (trans. Taylor) (Greek hymns C3rd B.C. to 2nd A.D.) : "To the Nephelai (Clouds), Fumigation from Myrrh. Aerial Nephelai, through heavens resplendent plains who wander, parents of prolific rains; who nourish fruits, whose watery frames are hurled, by winds impetuous round mighty world. Loud-sounding, lion-roaring, flashing fire, in airs wide bosom bearing thunders dire: impelled by each sonorous stormy gale, with rapid course along the skies ye sail. With gentle gales your watery frames I call, on mother earth (gaia) with fruitful showers to fall." Orphic Hymn 22 to Thalassa : "[Tethys-Thalassa] mother of Kypris [Aphrodite], and of Nephelai (Clouds) obscure, great nurse

of beasts, and source of fountains [Naiades] pure." Cicero, De Natura Deorum 3. 20 (trans. Rackham) (Roman rhetorician C1st B.C.) : "If the Arcus [i.e. Iris the rainbow] is a divinity, what will you do about the Nubes (Clouds)? The rainbow itself is caused by some coloration of the clouds; and also a Nubes (Cloud) is fabled to have given birth to the Centauri. If you enrol the Nubes (Clouds) among the gods, you will undoubtedly have to enrol the Tempestae (Seasons)." [N.B. Cicero is critical of the personification of all phenomena into gods.] Statius, Thebaid 1. 205 ff (trans. Mozley) (Roman epic C1st A.D.) : "A crowd of wandering Semidei (Demigods) and Amnes [Potamoi, rivers], of one kin with the high Nubes [Nephelai, Clouds], and Venti [Anemoi, Winds], their clamours hushed by fear, throng the golden halls [of Olympos]."

CLOUD PHANTOMS OF HERA & HELENE

Pseudo-Apollodorus, Bibliotheca E1. 20 (trans. Aldrich) (Greek mythographer C2nd A.D.) : "Ixion fell in love with Hera and tried to rape her, and when Hera told Zeus about it, Zeus wanted to determine if her report was really true. So he fashioned a cloud (nephele) to look like Hera, and laid it by Ixion's side. When Ixion bragged that he had slept with Hera, Zeus punished him by tying him to a wheel, on which he was turned by winds up in the air. The cloud (nephele) bore Kentauros from Ixions seed." Pseudo-Apollodorus, Bibliotheca E3. 5 : "Some say, that Helene, in accordance with the will of Zeus, was kidnapped by Hermes and taken to Aigyptos (Egypt) . . . and that Alexandros [Paris] proceeded to Troy with an image of Helene made from clouds (nephelai)."
For MORE information on cloud phantoms see NEPHELE 1 and NEPHELE 2

O2.1 NEPHELAE, ALCMENA ON PYRE

O2.2 NEPHELAE FLYING

O2.2B NEPHELAE FLYING

Sources:
o o o o o o Aeschylus, Prometheus Bound - Greek Tragedy C5th B.C. Aristophanes, Clouds - Greek Comedy C5th-4th B.C. Apollodorus, The Library - Greek Mythography C2nd A.D. The Orphic Hymns - Greek Hymns C3rd B.C. - C2nd A.D. Cicero, De Natura Deorum - Latin Philosophy C1st B.C. Statius, Thebaid
- Latin Epic C1st A.D.

OKEANIDES
Greek Name Transliteration keanis keanides keaninai keanines Latin Spelling Oceanid Oceanides Oceaniae Oceanines Translation Daughters of Oceanus Daughters of Oceanus

THE OKEANIDES (or Oceanides) were three thousand goddess Nymphs who presided over the sources of earth's fresh-water, ranging from rainclouds to subterranean springs and fountains. Their numbers included the Nephelai (CloudNymphs), Aurai (Breeze-Nymphs), Naiades (Spring and Fountain Nymphs), Leimonides (Pasture Nymphs), and Anthousai (Flower Nymphs). They were all daughters of the great, earth-encircling, fresh-water stream Okeanos and his wife Tethys. The eldest among them were numbered among the Titanides - Styx, Dione, Neda, Metis, Klymene, Eurynome, Doris, Elektra, and Pleione. These were most likely heavenly goddesses of the clouds. Some of the Okeanides personified divine blessings, such as Metis (Wisdom), Klymene (Fame), Plouto (Wealth), Tykhe (Good Fortune), Telesto (Success), and Peitho (Persuasion). The goddess Nemesis (Distributor) was also sometimes included, as one who provided balance to her sister's gifts by punishing undeserved good fortune. These Good Spirits (daimones agathoi) were ephemeral in nature much like the dark children of Nyx (Night), the Spirits of Harm (daimones kakoi). Another group of Okeanides were described as attendants of the Olympian goddesses, the most prominent of these were the sixty Okeanis companions of Artemis, Peitho the handmaiden of Aphrodite, and Klymene a handmaiden of Hera. The Okeanid Naiades were mostly Nymphs of springs, wells and fountains which never ran dry. They were often portrayed as the wives of the Potamoi (River-Gods) and mothers of a host of younger Naiades. The Okeanides were very rarely described as Sea-Nymphs. It was only later, when the mythical, earth-encircling, fresh-water river Okeanos came to be equated with the salty seas of the Atlantic, that his daughter nymphs came to be described as marine.
PARENTS [1.1] OKEANOS & TETHYS (Hesiod Theogony 346, Aeschylus Prometheus 136, Apollodorus 1.8, Hyginus Preface
Nonnus Dionysiaca 38.108) [1.2] OKEANOS (Homeric Hymn 2.5)

NAMES [1.1] PEITHO, ADMETE, IANTHE, ELEKTRA, DORIS, PRYMNO, OURANIA, HIPPO, KLYMENE, RHODEIA, KALLIRHOE, ZEUXO, KLYTIA, EIDYIA, PASITHOE, PLEXAURE, GALAXAURA, DIONE, MELOBOSIS, THOE, POLYDORA, KERKEIS, PLOUTO, XANTHE, AKASTE, PERSEIS, IANEIRA, PETRIAE, EUROPA, METIS, EURYNOME, TELESTO, KHRYSEIS, ASIA, KALYPSO, EUDORA, TYKHE, AMPHIRO, OKYROE, STYX (41 Names) (Hesiod Theogony 346) [1.2] LEUKIPPE, PHAINO, ELEKTRA, IANTHE, MELITE, IAKHE, RHODEA, KALLIRHOE, MELOBOSIS, TYKHE, OKYRHOE, KHRYSEIS, IANEIRA, AKASTE, ADMETE, RHODOPE, PLOUTO, KALYPSO, STYX, OURANIA, GALAXAURA (21 Names) (Homeric Hymn 2.415) [1.3] ASIA, STYX, ELEKTRA, DORIS, EURYNOME, AMPHITRITE, METIS, EIDYIA, MELIA, MELIBOEA, PLEIONE, KALLIRRHOE (Apollodorus 1.8, 1.6, 1.13, 1.29, 2.1, 2.106, 3.96, 3.110) [1.4] MELITE, IANTHE, ADMETE, STILBO, PASIPHAE, POLYXO, EURYNOME, EUAGOREIS, RHODOPE, KLYTIA, METIS, MENIPPE, ARGIA, PLEIONE (14 Names) (Hyginus Preface & Fabulae
142)

[1.5] KLEIO, BEROE, KLYMENE, EPHYRA (Virgil Georgics 4.341) NAMES OF OKEANIDES ADMETE An Okeanis whose name means "the unbroken" or "unwedded". She may have been the Naias Nymphe of a wild mountain stream, or the Nephele of wild clouds and rain.

AMPHITRITE
Greek Name Transliteration Amphitrit Latin Name Amphitrite, Salacia Translation Encircling Third

AMPHITRITE was the goddess queen of the sea, the wife of King Poseidon. Some say she was one of the fifty Nereides, others an Okeanis, but most simply describe her as the female personification of the sea: the loud-moaning mother of fish, seals and dolphins. As such she was essentially the same as Thalassa. When Poseidon first sought Amphitrite's hand in marriage, she fled his advances, and hid herself away near Atlas in the Ocean stream at the far ends of the earth. The dolphin-god Delphin eventually tracked her down and persuaded her to return to wed the sea-king.
C4th A.D.. Muse du Louvre Amphitrite was depicted in Greek vase painting as a young woman, often raising her hand in a pinching gesture. Sometimes she was shown holding a fish. In mosaic art the goddess usually rides beside her husband in a chariot drawn by fish-tailed horses or hippokampoi. Sometimes her hair is enclosed with a net and her brow adorned with a pair of crab-claw "horns". Amphitrite & Poseidon, Roman mosaic

Her name is probably derived from the Greek words amphis and tris, "the surrounding third." Her son Tritn was similarly named "of the third." Clearly "the third" is the sea, although the reason for the term is obscure. Her Roman equivalent was Salacia, whose name means "the salty one." PARENTS
[1.1] NEREUS & DORIS (Hesiod Theogony 243, Apollodorus 1.11) [2.1] OKEANOS & TETHYS (Apollodorus 1.8)

OFFSPRING
[1.1] [2.1] [3.1] [4.1] [5.1] TRITON (by Poseidon) (Hesiod Theogony 939, Apollodorus 1.28, Hyginus Pref) RHODE (by Poseidon) (Apollodorus 1.28) KYMOPOLEIA (by Poseidon) (Hesiod Theogony 817) BENTHESIKYME (by Poseidon) (Apollodorus 3.201) SEALS, DOLPHINS, FISH, SHELLFISH (Homer Odyssey 4.404 & 5.440, Aelian On Animals

12.45, Athenaeus Deip. 3.92d, Oppian Halieutica 1.1)

ENCYCLOPEDIA
AMPHITRITE (Amphitrit), according to Hesiod (Theog. 243) and Apollodorus (i. 2. 7) a Nereid, though in other places Apollodorus (i. 2. 2, i. 4. 6) calls her an Oceanid. She is represented as the wife of Poseidon and the goddess of the sea (the Mediterranean), and she is therefore a kind of female Poseidon. In the Homeric poems she does not occur as a goddess, and Amphitrite is merely the name of the sea. The most ancient passages in which she occurs as a real goddess is that of Hesiod above referred to and the Homeric hymn on the Delian Apollo (94), where she is represented as having been present at the birth of Apollo. When Poseidon sued for her hand, she fled to Atlas, but her lover sent spies after her, and among them one Delphinus, who brought about the marriage between her and Poseidon, and the grateful god rewarded his service by placing him among the stars. (Eratosth. Catast. 31; Hygin. Poet. Astr. ii. 17.) When afterwards Poseidon shewed some attachment to Scylla, Amphitrite's jealousy was excited to such a degree, that she threw some magic herbs into the well in which Scylla used to bathe, and thereby changed her rival into a monster with six heads and twelve feet. (Tzetz. ad Lycoph. 45, 649.) She became by Poseidon the mother of Triton, Rhode, or Rhodos, and Benthesicyme. (Hesiod. Theog. 930, &c.; Apollod. i. 4. 6; iii. 15. 4.) Later poets regard Amphitrite as the goddess of the sea in general, or the ocean. (Eurip. Cycl. 702; Ov. Met. i. 14.) Amphitrite was frequently represented in ancient works of art; her figure resembled that of Aphrodite, but she was usually distinguished from her by a sort of net which kept her hair together, and by the claws of a crab on her forehead. She was sometimes represented as riding on marine animals, and sometimes as drawn by them. The temple of Poseidon on the Corinthian isthmus contained a statue of Amphitrite (Paus. ii. 1. 7), and her figure appeared among the relief ornaments of the temple of Apollo at Amyclae (iii. 19. 4). on the throne of the Olympian Zeus, and in other places. (v. 2. 3, comp. i. 17. 3, v. 26. 2.) We still possess a considerable number of representations of Amphitrite. A colossal statue of her exists in the Villa Albani, and she frequently appears on coins of Syracuse. The most beautiful specimen extant is that on the arch of Augustus at Rimini. Halosydne (Halosudn), that is, "the seafed," or the sea born goddess, occurs as a surname of Amphitrite and Thetys. (Hom. Od. iv. 404, Il. xx. 207.) Source: Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology.

FAMILY OF AMPHITRITE
Hesiod, Theogony 240 ff (trans. Evelyn-White) (Greek epic C8th or C7th B.C.) : "To Nereus and rich-haired Doris, daughter of Okeanos (Oceanus), there were born in the barren sea daughters greatly beautiful even among goddesses: Ploto and Eukrante (Eucrante) and Amphitrite [the first three of fifty listed] . . . Kymodoke (Cymodoce) who, with Kymatolege (Cymatolege) and Amphitrite, light of foot, on the misty face of the open water easily stills the water and hushes the winds in their blowing . . . These were the daughters born to irreproachable Nereus, fifty in all, and the actions they know are beyond reproach." Hesiod, Theogony 930 ff : "And of Amphitrite and the loud-roaring Earth-Shaker [Poseidon] was born great, wide-ruling Triton, and he owns the depths of the sea, living with his dear mother and the lord his father in their golden house, an awful god."

Pseudo-Apollodorus, Bibliotheca 1. 11 (trans. Aldrich) (Greek mythographer C2nd A.D.) : "Nereus and Doris were parents of the Nereides, whose names were Kymothoe . . . Amphitrite [in a list of forty-five names]." Pseudo-Apollodorus, Bibliotheca 1. 28 : "Poseidon married Amphitrite, and had as children Triton and Rhode." Pseudo-Apollodorus, Bibliotheca 3. 201 : "His [Poseidon's] and Amphitrite's daughter Benthesikyme (Deep-Waves)." Pseudo-Hyginus, Preface (trans. Grant) (Roman mythographer C2nd A.D.) : "From Neptunus [Poseidon] and Amphitrite [was born]: Triton." Colluthus, Rape of Helen 21 (trans. Mair) (Greek poem C5th A.D.) : "[Thetis] the white-armed bride, own sister of Amphitrite."

P14.5B AMPHITRITE SEATED

P14.5 AMPHITRITE, POSEIDON, IRIS

P14.3 AMPHITRITE, POSEIDON

P14.1 AMPHITRITE, THESEUS, ATHENA

P14.4 AMPHITRITE, POSEIDON, IRIS

P14.7 AMPHITRITE, POSEIDON

P14.2 AMPHITRITE, THESEUS

THE MARRIAGE OF POSEIDON & AMPHITRITE

Pseudo-Hyginus, Astronomica 2. 17 (trans. Grant) (Roman mythographer C2nd A.D.) : "Constellation Delphin. Eratosthenes [Hellenistic poet C3rd B.C.] and others give the following reason for the dolphin's being among the stars. Amphitrite, when Neptunus [Poseidon] desired to wed her and she preferred to keep her virginity, fled to Atlas. Neptunus sent many to seek her out, among them a certain Delphin, who, in his wandering s among the islands, came at last to the maiden, persuaded her to marry Neptunus, and himself took charge of the wedding. In return for this service, Neptunus put the form of a dolphin among the constellations." Virgil, Georgics 1. 29 ff (trans. Fairclough) (Roman bucolic C1st B.C.) : "You [Caesar praised as if he were Neptunus (Poseidon)] come as god of the boundless sea and sailors worship your deity alone, while farthest Thule owns your lordship and Tethys with the dowry of all her waves buys you to wed her daughter [Amphitrite]." Oppian, Halieutica 1. 38 ff (trans. Mair) (Greek poet C3rd A.D.) : "The Dophins: Poseidon loves them exceedingly, inasmuch as when he was seeking Amphitrite the dark-eyed daughter of Nereus who fled from his embraces, Delphines (the Dolphins) marked her hiding in the halls of Okeanos (Oceanus) and told Poseidon; and the god of the dark hair straightway carried off the maiden and overcame her against her will. Her he made his bride, queen of the sea, and for their tidings he commended his kindly attendants and bestowed on them exceeding honour for their portion."

AMPHITRITE & THE CHARIOT OF POSEIDON

Apollonius Rhodius, Argonautica 4. 1353 ff (trans. Rieu) (Greek epic C3rd B.C.) : "[Jason addresses the Argonauts whose ship is beached in the Libyan desert:] They [the Libyan Nymphai] said that when Amphitrite had unyoked the horses from Poseidon's rolling chariot we were to recompense our mother [the ship Argo] amply for what she had suffered all the long time she bore us in her womb. Now I admit that the meaning of this oracle eludes me . . . The Minyai [Argonauts] listened with amazement to his tale. It was followed by the most astounding prodigy. A great horse came bounding out of the sea, a monstrous

animal, with his golden mane waving in the air. He shook himself, tossing off the spray in showers. Then, fast as the wind, he galloped away. Peleus was overjoyed and at once explained the portent to the others. It is clear to me, he said, that Poseidon's loving wife has just unyoked his team. As for our mother, I take her to be none but the ship herself. Argo carried us in her womb; we have often heard her groaning in her pain. Now, we will carry her. We will hoist her on our shoulders, and never resting , never tiring, carry her across the sandy waste in the track of the galloping horse. He will not disappear inland. I am sure that his hoofprints will lead us to some bay that overlooks the sea."

AMPHITRITE & THESEUS

Bacchylides, Fragment 17 (trans. Campbell, Vol. Greek Lyric IV) (Greek lyric C5th B.C.) : "But sea-dwelling dolphins were swiftly carrying great Theseus to the house of his father [Poseidon], god of horses, and he reached the hall of the gods. There he was awe-struck at the glorious daughters of blessed Nereus, for from their splendid limbs shone a gleam as of fire, and round their hair were twirled gold-braided ribbons; and they were delighting in their hearts by dancing with liquid feet. And he saw his father's dear wife, august ox-eyed Amphitite, in the lovely house; she put a purple cloak about him and set on his thick hair the faultless garland which once at her marriage guileful Aphrodite had given her, dark with roses [presumably as a wedding gift]. Nothing that the gods wish is beyond the belief of sane mortals: he [Theseus] appeared beside the slender-sterned ship. In what thoughts did he check the Knossian (Cnossian) commander [Minos] when he came unwet from the sea, a miracle for all, and the gods' gifts shone on his limbs." Pausanias, Description of Greece 1. 17. 3 (trans. Jones) (Greek travelogue C2nd A.D.) : "[Minos king of Krete (Crete)] hurled insults at him [Theseus] and denied that he was a son of Poseidon, since he could not recover for him the signet-ring, which he happened to be wearing, if he threw it into the sea. With these words Minos it is said to have thrown the ring, but they say that Theseus came up from the sea with that ring and also with a gold crown that Amphitrite had given him." Pseudo-Hyginus, Astronomica 2. 5 (trans. Grant) (Roman mythographer C2nd A.D.) : "Minos is said to have drawn a gold ring from his finger and cast it into the sea. He bade Theseus bring it back, if he wanted him to believe he was a son of Neptunus [Poseidon] . . . Theseus, without any invoking of his father or obligation of an oath, cast himself into the sea. And at once a great swarm of dolphins, tumbling forward over the sea, led him through gently swelling waves to the Nereides. From them he brought back the ring of Minos and a crown, bright with many gems, from Thetis, which she had received at her wedding as a gift from Venus [Aphrodite]. Others say that the crown came from the wife of Neptunus [i.e. Amphitrite], and Theseus is said to have given it to Ariadne as a gift, when on account of his valor and courage she was given to him in marriage."

Z2.3 AMPHITRITE, POSEIDON

Z2.7 AMPHITRITE, POSEIDON

Z2.5 AMPHITRITE, POSEIDON

AMPHITRITE GODDESS OF THE SEA, POETICAL MISCELLANY

Homer, Odyssey 3. 99 (trans. Shewring) (Greek epic C8th B.C.) : "Drowned at sea amid Amphitrite's billows." Homer, Odyssey 4. 404 : "A throng of seals, the brood (phkoi nepodes) of lovely Halosydne [Amphitrite]." Homer, Odyssey 5. 421 ff : "[Odysseus adrift at sea:] I fear that . . . some god may send out against me, from the brine, a Ketos, one of the swarming strange huge creatures in the breeding grounds of Amphitrite." Homer, Odyssey 12. 60 ff : "On the one side are overshadowing rocks against which dash the mighty billows of the Amphitrite, the goddess of blue-glancing seas (kyanpis). The blessed gods call these rocks the Planktai (Wanderers)." Hesiod, Theogony 252 ff (trans. Evelyn-White) (Greek epic C8th or C7th B.C.) : "[The Nereides] Kymodoke (Cymodoce) who, with Kymatolege (Cymatolege) and Amphitrite, light of foot, on the misty face of the open water easily stills the water and hushes the winds in their blowing." Homeric Hymn 3 to Delian Apollo 89 ff (trans. Evelyn-White) (Greek epic C7th - 4th B.C.) : "Leto [on the island of Delos] was racked nine days and nine nights with pangs beyond wont. And there were with her all the chiefest of the goddesses, Dione and Rheia and Ikhnaie (Ichnaea) and Themis and loud-moaning Amphitrite and the other deathless goddesses. Then the child leaped forth to the light, and all the goddesses raised a cry. Straightway, great Phoibos [Apollon], the goddesses washed you purely and cleanly with sweet water, and swathed you in a white garment of fine texture, new-woven, and fastened a golden band about you." [N.B. The "chiefest of the goddesses" are the Titanides. Amphitrite stands in place of Tethys, Dione is equivalent to Phoibe, and Ikhnaie "the tracing goddess" is Theia.] Pindar, Olympian Ode 6. 105 ff (trans. Conway) (Greek lyric C5th B.C.) : "Great god of the sea [Poseidon], husband of Amphitrite, goddess of the gold spindle." Timotheus, Fragment 79 (trans. Campbell, Vol. Greek Lyric V) (Greek lyric C5th to

C4th B.C.) : "The barbarian naval host was driven back in confusion on the fish-wreathed bosom of Amphitrite with its gleaming folds." Greek Lyric V Anonymous, Fragment 939 (from Aelian, On Animals) (trans. Campbell) : "Highest of gods, gold-tridented Poseidon of the sea, earth-shaker amid the teeming brine, with their fins swimming beasts dance round you in a ring, bounding lightly with nimble flingings of their feet, snub-nosed bristle-necked swift-racing pups, the music-loving dolphins, sea nurslings of the young goddesses the Nereides, whom Amphitrite bore [i.e. Amphitrite was the mother of dolphins]: you brought me [Arion] to the cape of Tainaron (Taenarum) in Pelops' land when I drifted the Sikelian (Sicilian) Sea, carrying me on your humped backs, cleaving the furrows of Nereus' plain, a path untrodden, when treacherous men had thrown me from the sea-sailing hollow ship into the sea-purple swell of the ocean." Pausanias, Description of Greece 10. 37. 6 (trans. Jones) (Greek travelogue C2nd A.D.) : "[The author quotes an oracle of the Pythian priestess:] The wave of blue-eyed Amphitrite, roaring over the wine-dark sea." Quintus Smyrnaeus, Fall of Troy 8. 62 ff (trans. Way) (Greek epic C4th A.D.) : "A ruining storm maddens along the wide gulfs of the deep, and moans Amphitrite (the Sea-queen) with her anguished waves which sweep from every hand, uptowering like precipiced mountains, while the bitter squall, ceaselessly veering, shrieks across the sea." Aelian, On Animals 12. 45 (trans. Scholfield) (Greek natural history C2nd A.D.) : "Arion [the poet rescued by a dolphin] wrote a hymn of thanks to Poseidon . . .: Music-loving dolphins, sea-nurslings of the Nereis maids divine, whom Amphitrite bore." Athenaeus, Deipnosophistae 3. 92d (trans. Gullick) (Greek rhetorician C2nd to C3rd A.D.) : "Nikandros of Kolophon (Nicander of Colophon) in the Georgics: And all the shellfish which feed at the bottom of the ocean--sea snails, conchs, giant clams, and mussels, slimy offspring of Halosydne [Amphitrite]." Oppian, Cynegetica 1. 77 (trans. Mair) (Greek poet C3rd A.D.) : [Invocation of Oppian to the sea-gods at the beginning of his poem on hunting and fishing:] "Thou, Nereus, and ye gods (daimones) of Amphitrite . . . grant me your grace!" Oppian, Halieutica 1. 1 : "The tribes of the sea and the far scattered ranks of all manner of fishes, the swimming brood of Amphitrite." Callistratus, Descriptions 14 (trans. Fairbanks) (Greek rhetorician C4th A.D.) : [From a description of an ancient Greek painting depicting the leap of Ino into the sea and her reception by the sea-gods:] "The figure of Ino was hastening towards the promontory of Skeiron (Sciron) and the sea at the foot of the mountain, and the breakers that were wont to surge in billows were spreading out in a hollow to receive her . . . And sea-dolphins were sporting near by, coursing through the waves in the painting . . . At the outer edges of the painting an Amphitrite rose from the depths, a creature of savage and

terrifying aspect who flashed from her eyes a bright radiance. And round about her stood Nereides; these were dainty and bright to look upon, distilling love's desire from their eyes; and circling in their dance over crests of the sea's waves, they amazed the spectator. About them flowed Okeanos, (Oceanus) the motion of his stream being well-nigh like the billows of the sea." Ovid, Fasti 5. 731 (trans.Boyle) (Roman poetry C1st B.C. to C1st A.D.) : "Amphitrite's rich waters welcome the day." Apuleius, The Golden Ass 4. 31 ff (trans. Walsh) (Roman novel C2nd A.D.) : "Nereus' daughters appeared in singing chorus . . . and Salacia [Amphitrite], the folds of her garment sagging with fish." Suidas s.v. Alkyonides (trans. Suda On Line) (Byzantine Greek Lexicon C10th A.D.) : "After the death of their [the Alkyonides'] father [the Gigante Alkyoneus] they threw themselves into the sea from Kanastraion (Canastraeum), which is the peak of Pellene, but Amphitrite made them birds, and they were called Alkyones from their father. Windless days with a calm sea are called Alkyonides (Alcyonides)."

TITLES & EPITHETS OF AMPHITRITE

Amphitrite had a number of poetic titles and epithets.
Greek Title Transliteration Agastonos Halosydn Khryslakatos Kyanpis Latin Spelling Agastonus Halosydna Chryselacatus Cyanopis Translation Loud-Moaning Sea-Born Of Golden Spindle Blue-, Dark-Eyed

CULT OF AMPHITRITE
Amphitrite was often depicted in the artistic decorations of Poseidon's temples. Presumably she was honoured alongside the god. Pausanias, Description of Greece 2. 1. 7 (trans. Jones) (Greek travelogue C2nd A.D.) : "[The temple of Poseidon at Korinthos (Corinth) on the Isthmos:] The offerings inside were dedicated in our time by Herodes the Athenian, four horses, gilded except the hoofs, which are of ivory, and two gold Tritones beside the horses, with the parts below the waist of ivory. On the car stand Amphitrite and Poseidon and there the boy Palaimon (Palaemon) upright upon a dolphin. These too are made of ivory and gold." Pausanias, Description of Greece 3. 19. 3- 5 : "On the altar [of Apollon at Amyklai in Lakonia] are wrought in relief, here an image of Biris, there Amphitrite and Poseidon."

Pausanias, Description of Greece 5. 26. 2 - 3 : "The offerings of Mikythos (Micythus) I found [at Olympia] were numerous and not together . . . [statues of] Amphitrite, Poseidon and Hestia." Pausanias, Description of Greece 5. 11. 8 : "[Reliefs on the throne in the temple of Zeus at Olympia:] There are also reliefs of . . . Amphitrite and Poseidon."

Sources:
o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o Homer, The Odyssey - Greek Epic C8th B.C. Hesiod, Theogony - Greek Epic C8th-7th B.C. The Homeric Hymns - Greek Epic C8th-4th B.C. Pindar, Odes - Greek Lyric C5th B.C. Greek Lyric IV Bacchylides, Fragments - Greek Lyric C5th B.C. Greek Lyric V Timotheus, Fragments - Greek Lyric C5th-4th B.C. Greek Lyric V Anonymous, Fragments - Greek Lyric B.C. Apollodorus, The Library - Greek Mythography C2nd A.D. Apollonius Rhodius, The Argonautica - Greek Epic C3rd B.C. Quintus Smyrnaeus, Fall of Troy - Greek Epic C4th A.D. Pausanias, Description of Greece - Greek Travelogue C2nd A.D. Aelian, On Animals - Greek Natural History C2nd-3rd A.D. Athenaeus, Deipnosophistae - Greek Cullinary Guide C3rd A.D. Callistratus, Descriptions - Greek Rhetoric C4th A.D. Hyginus, Fabulae - Latin Mythography C2nd A.D. Hyginus, Astronomica - Latin Mythography C2nd A.D. Virgil, Georgics - Latin Idyllic C1st B.C. Apuleius, The Golden Ass - Latin Epic C2nd A.D. Oppian, Halieutica - Greek Poetry C3rd A.D. Oppian, Cynegetica - Greek Poetry C3rd A.D. Colluthus, The Rape of Helen - Greek Epic C5th-6th A.D. Suidas - Byzantine Greek Lexicon C10th A.D.

Other references not currently quoted here: Eratosthenes Catast.; Tzetzes ad Lycophron 45, 649; Euripides Cyclops 702

ASIE
Greek Name Transliteration Asi, Asia Latin Spelling Asia Translation Of the Land of Asia

ASIE was a Nymph or Prometheus.

Titan goddess of Lydia in Anatolia. She was the wife of the Titan

The term Asia was originally used to describe the Anatolian peninsular (modern Turkey) rather than the entire Asian continent. Even more specifically, Asia was the old empire of the Lydians, a region often associated with Prometheus.

Asia was frequently confused with Klymene-Asie, the wife of Iapetos, and was probably identical to Pronoia, the wife of Prometheus.
PARENTS OKEANOS & TETHYS (Hesiod Theogony 359; Apollodorus 1.8) OFFSPRING HELLEN, DEUKALION (by Prometheus) (Scholiast on Apollonius Rhodius 2.1086)

Hesiod, Theogony 346 ff (trans. Evelyn-White) (Greek epic C8th or 7th B.C.) : "Tethys bore to Okeanos the swirling Potamoi (Rivers) . . . She [Tethys] brought forth also a race apart of daughters, who with lord Apollon and the Rivers have the young in their keeping all over the earth, since this right from Zeus is given them. They are [amongst a list of fifty] . . . Europa, Metis and Eurynome, Telesto robed in saffron, Khryseis, and Asia, and alluring Kalypso . . . Now these are the eldest of the daughters who were born to Tethys and Okeanos, but there are many others beside these, for there are three thousand light-stepping daughters of Okeanos scattered far and wide, bright children among the goddesses, and all alike look after the earth and the depths of the standing water." Pseudo-Apollodorus, Bibliotheca 1. 8 (trans. Aldrich) (Greek mythographer C2nd A.D.) : "The Titanes had children. Those of Okeanos and Tethys were called Okeanides: Asia, Styx, Elektra, Doris, Eurynome, Amphitrite, and Metis." Herodotus, Histories 4. 45. 1 (trans. Godley) (Greek historian C5th B.C.) : "Asia [was named] after the wife of Prometheus; yet the Lydians claim a share in the latter name, saying that Asia was not named after Prometheus' wife Asia, but after Asies, the son of Kotys, who was the son of Manes, and that from him the Asiad clan at Sardis also takes its name."

Sources:
o o o Hesiod, Theogony - Greek Epic C8th-7th BC Apollodorus, The Library - Greek Mythography C2nd BC Herodotus, Histories
- Greek History C5th BC

ASTEROPE
Greek Name Transliteration Asterop Latin Spelling Asterope Translation Starry Eyed (astr, ops)

ASTEROPE was the Okeanid Nymph of the town of Akragas in Sikelia (Sicily). She was the mother of Akragas, eponymous king of the town, by Zeus. Asterope was probably the
PARENTS

Naiad of the town's well, spring or fountain.

OKEANOS & TETHYS (Stephanus Byzantium s.v. Acragantes) OFFSPRING AKRAGAS (by Zeus) (Stephanus Byzantium s.v. Acragantes)

Sources:
o Women of Classical Mythology
- English Encyclopedia of Mythology C20th AD

Other references not currently quoted here: Stephanus of Byzantium s.v. Acragantes

BEROE
Greek Name Transliteration Bero, Brytos Amymon Latin Spelling Beroe, Beruit Amymone Translation Of the Town of Beruit Blameless, Noble

BEROE was an Okeanid Nymph of the city of Beruit in Phoinikia (Phoenicia) (modern Lebanon). She was wooed by the gods Dionysos and Poseidon, and won by the latter as his bride. She was closely identified with the nymph

Amymone.

Beroe was also described as a daughter of Aphrodite and Adonis, perhaps reflecting a local myth which made her the daughters of the Phoenician gods Ashtarte and Adon.
PARENTS [1] ADONIS & APHRODITE (Nonnus Dionysiaca 41.155) [2] NO PARENTS, emerged at the beginning of time (Nonnus Dionysiaca 41.51) [3] OKEANOS & TETHYS (Nonnus Dionysiaca 41.51)

THE BIRTH & CHILDHOOD OF BEROE

Nonnus, Dionysiaca 41. 155 ff (trans. Rouse) (Greek epic C5th A.D.) : "There is a younger legend, that her [Beroe's] mother was Kythereia [Aphrodite] herself, the pilot of human life, who bore her all white to Assyrian Adonis. Now she had completed the nine circles of Selene's (the Moon's) course carrying her burden: but Hermes was there in time on speedy foot, holding a Latin tabled which was herald of the future. He came to help the labour of Beroe [a city famous for its lawcourts], and Themis [Law-goddess] was her Eileithyia [Birth-goddess]--she made a way through the narrow opening of the swollen womb for the child, and unfolded the wrapping, and lightened the sharp pang of the ripening birth, with Solon's laws in hand. Kypris [Aphrodite] under the oppression of her travail leaned back heavily against the ministering goddess, and in her throes brought forth the wise child upon the Attic book, as the Lakonian women bring forth their sons upon the round

leather shield. She brought forth her newborn child from her motherly womb with Hermes the Judge to help as man-midwife. So she brought the baby into the light. The girl was bathed by the four Aetai (Winds), which ride through all cities to fill the whole earth with the precepts of Beroe. Okeanos, first messenger of the laws for the newborn child, sent his flood for the childbed round the loins of the world, pouring his girdle of water in an everflowing belt. Aion (Time), his coeval, with his aged hands swaddled about the newborn girls body the robes of Dike (Justice), prophet of things to come; because he would put off the rope-like slough of his feeble old scales, and grow young again bathed in the waves of Law. The four Horai (Seasons) struck up a tune together, when Aphrodite brought forth her wonderful daughter. The beasts were wild with joy when they learnt of the Paphian's child safely born . . . With calm face ever-smiling Aphrodite rang out her unfailing laugh, when she saw the birthday games of the happy beasts. She turned her round eyes delighted in all directions; only the boars she would not watch in their pleasures, for being a prophet she knew, that in the shape of a wild boar, Ares with jagged tusk and spitting deadly poison was destined toe weave fate for Adonis [father of Beroe] in jealous madness. Virgin Astraia [lady of Justice] . . .received Beroe from her mother into the embrace of her arms, laughing, still a babe, and fed her with wise breast as she babbled words of law. With her virgin milk, she let streams of statutes gush into the baby's lips, and dropt into the girl's mouth the sweet produce of the Attic bee; she pressed the bees riddled travail of many cells, and mixed the voiceful comb in a sapient cup. If the girl thirsting asked for a drink, she gave the speaking Pythian water kept for Apollon, or the stream of Ilissos, which is inspired by the Attic Mousa (Muse) when the Pierian breezes of Phoibos beat on the bank. She took the golden Cornstalk [the star Spica which Astraia holds in her hand] from the stars, and entwined it in a cluster to put round the girl's neck like a necklace. The dancing maidens of Orkhomenos [the Kharites, Graces], handmaids of the Paphian, drew from the horsehoof fountain of imagination [Hippokrene], dear to the nine Mousai, delicate water to wash her. Beroe grew up, and coursed with the Archeress [Artemis], carrying the nets of ther hunter sire [Adonis]. She had the very likeness of her Paphian mother, and her shining feet . . . Zeus perceiving another unwedded maiden of Assyria, was fluttered again and wished to change his form: certainly he would have carried the burden of love in bulls form again [as he did with Europa] . . . had not the Bull of Olympos, Europa's bridegroom, bellowed from out the stars with jealous throat, to think that he might set up there a new star of seafaring armours and make the image of a rival bull in the sky. So he left Beroe, who was destined for a watery bridal, as his brothers bedellow, for he wished not to quarrel with the Earthshaker [Poseidon] about a mortal wife. Such was Beroe, flower of the Kharites (Graces). If ever the girl uttered her voice trickling sweeter than honey and honeycomb, winning Peitho (Persuasion) sat ever upon her lips and enchanted the clever wits of men whom nothing else could charm. Her laughing eyes outshone all the company of her young Assyrian agemates as they shot their shafts of love, with brighter graces, like the moon at the full, when showering her cloudless rays and hiding the stars. Her white robes falling down to the girl's feet showed the blush of her rosy limbs. There is no wonder in that, even if she had such fairness beyond her young yearsmates, since bright over her countenance sparkled the beauties of both her parents."

BEROE GODDESS OF BERUIT

Nonnus, Dionysiaca 41. 263 ff : "Then Kypris [Aphrodite] saw her [daughter Beroe]: pregnant with prophetic intelligence she sent her imagination wandering swiftly round, and driving her mind to wander about the whole earth surveyed the foundations of the brilliant cities of ancient days. She saw how Mykene girt about with a garland of walls by the Kyklopian masons took the name of twinkle-eye Mykene; how Thebes beside the southern Nile took the name of primeval Thebe; and she decided to design a city named after Beroe, being possessed with a passion to make her city as good as theirs. She observed there the long column of Solons Laws, that safeguard against wrong, and turned aside her eye to the broad streets of Athens, and envied her sister the just Judge. With hurrying shoe, she whizzed along the vault of heaven to the hall of Allmother Harmonia . . . [Aphrodite enquires of Harmonia]: Reveal to your questioner, and tell me . . .which of the cities has the organ of sovereign voice? Which has reserved for it the unshaken reins of troublesolving Law? I joined Zeus in wedlock with Hera his sister, after he had felt the pangs of longlasting desire and desired her for three hundred years: in gratitude he bowed his wise head, and promised a worthy reward for the marriage that he would commit the precepts of Justice (Dike) to one of the cities allotted to me. I wish to learn whether the gift is reserved for land of Kypros or Paphos or Korinthos or Sparta . . . or the noblemens country of my own daughter Beroe . . . To these words of hers the goddess [Harmonia] replied with an encouraging speech: . . . I have oracles of history on seven tablets, and the tablets bear the names of the seven planets . . . But since you ask me about the directing laws, this prerogative I keep for the eldest of cities. Whether then Arkadia is first or Hera's city [Argos], whether Sardis be the oldest, or even Tarsos celebrated in song be the first city, or some other, I have not been told. The tabled of Kronos will teach you all this, which first arose, which was coeval with Dawn. She spoke; and led the way to the glorious oracles of the wall, until she saw the place where Ophion's art had engraved in ruddy vermilion on the tablet of Kronos the oracle to be fulfilled in time about Beroe's country. Beroe came the first, coeval with the universe her agemate, bearing the name of the Nymphe later born, which the colonizing sons of the Ausonians, the consular lights of Rome, shall call Berytos, since here fell a neighbour of Lebanon . . . Now the Phaphian . . . scanned the various deeds of the scattered cities; and on the written tabled which lay in the midst on the circuit of the universe, she found the words of wisdom inscribed in many lines of Grecian verse: When Augustus shall hold the sceptre of the world, Ausonian Zeus will give to divine Rome the lordship, and to Beroe he will grant the reins of law, when armed in her fleet of shielded ships she shall pacify the strife of battlestirring Kleopatra."

THE MARRIAGE OF BEROE

Nonnus, Dionysiaca 42. 1 ff : "Treading on Time's heels hot Eros (Love) swiftly sped, plying his feet into the wind, high in the clouds scoring the air with winged step, and carried his flaming bow; the quiver too, filled with gentle fire, hung down over his shoulder . . . Then near the Assyrian rock he united from fiery arrows on one string, to bring two wooers into like desire for the love of a maid [Beroe], rivals for one bride, the vinegod [Dionysos] and the ruler of the sea [Poseidon] . . .

One came from the deep waters of the sea-neighbouring roadstead, and one left the land of Tyre, and among the mountains of Lebanon the two met in one place . . . Then Eros (Love) came quickly up to the maiden [Beroe] hard by, and struck both divinities with two arrows. He maddened Dionysos to offer his treasures to the bride, lifes merry heart and the ruddy vintage of the grape; he goaded to love the lord of the trident, that he might bring the sea-neighbouring maid a double lovegift, seafaring battle on the water and varied dishes for the table. He set Bakkhos [Dionysos] more in a flame, since wine excites the mind for desire, and wine finds unbridled youth much more obedient to the rein when it is charmed with the prick of unreason; so he shot Bakkhos and drove the whole shaft into his heart, and Bakkhos burnt, as much as he was charmed by the trickling honey of persuasion. Thus he maddened them both; and in the counterfeit shape of a bird circling his tracks in the airy road as swift as the rapid winds, he rose with paddling feet, and cried these taunting words: If Dionysos confounds men with wine, I excite Bakkhos with fire! The vinegod turned his eye to look, and scanned the tender body of the longhaired maiden, full of admiration the conduit of desire; his eye led the way and ferried the newborn love. Dionysos wandered in that heartrejoicing wood, secretly fixing his careful gaze on Beroe, and followed the girls path a little behind. He could not have anough of his gazing; for the more he beheld the maid standing there, the more he wanted to watch. He called to Helios (the Sun), reminding the chief of the stars of his love for Klymene, and prayed him to hold back his car and check the stalled horses with the heavenly bit, that he might prolong the sweet light, that he might go slow to his setting and with sparing whip increase the day to shine again. Pressing measured step by step in Beroe's tracks the god passed round her as if noticing nothing; while Earthshaker [Poseidon] stole from Lebanon with lingering feet, and departed with steps slow to obey, turning again and again, his mind shifting like the sea and rippling with billows of ever-murmuring care. Unsated, in the delicious forests of Lebanon, Dionysos was left along beside the lonely girl. Dionysos was left alone! Tell me, Oreaid Nymphai, what could he wish for more lovely than to see the maidens flesh, alone, and free from lovesick Earthshaker? He kissed with a million kisses the place where she set her foot, creeping up secretly, and kissed the dust where the maiden had trod making it bright with her shoes of roses. Bakkhos watched the girl's sweet neck, her ankles as she walked, beauty which nature had given her, the beauty which nature had made: for no ruddy ornament for the skin had Beroe smeared on her round rosy face, no meretricious rouge put a false blush on her cheeks. She consulted no shining mirror of bronze with its reflection a witness to her looks, she laughed at no lifeless form of a mimic face to estimate her beauty, she was not for ever arranging the curls over her brows, and setting in place some stray wandering lock of hair by her eyebrows with cunning touch. But the natural beauties of a face confound the desperate lover with a sharp sting, and the untidy tresses of an unbedizened head are all the more dainty, when they stray unbraided down the sides of a snow-white face. Sometimes athirst when beaten by the heat of the fiery Dog of heaven [the star Sirios], the girl sought out a neighbouring spring with parched lips; the girl bent down her curving neck and stooped her head, dipping a hand again and again and scooping the water of her own country to her mouth, until she had enough and left the rills. When she was gone, Dionysos would bend his knee to the lovely spring, and hollow his palms in mimicry of the beloved girl: then he drank water sweeter than selfpoured nectar . . . The god grudging at Poseidon ruler of the waves felt fear and jealousy, since the maiden drank water and not wine. He uttered his voice to the unhearing air, as if the girl were there to hear and obey: Maiden ,accept the

nectar--leave this water that maidens love! Avoid the water of the spring, lest Seabluehair steal your maidenhood in the water - for a mad lover and a crafty one he is! You know the love of Thessalian Tyro and her wedding in the waters; then you too take care of the crafty flood, lest the deceiver loose your girdle just as the wedding-thief Enipeus did. O that I also might become a flood, like Earthshaker, and murmuring might embrace my own Tyro of Lebanon, thirsty and careless beside the lovestricken spring! So the god spoke; and changing his form for another [that of a hunter] he plunged into the shady thicket where the maiden was, Euios wholly like a hunter . . . with cautious countenance and stolen glances he watched the girl so close to him, lest she should turn and run away; for beauty and the eyes of a girl of his own age have little consolation to a lad who gazes at her for the loves which the Kyprian sends. He came near to Beroe and would have spoken a word, but fear held him fast [shyness in the presence of the maiden] . . . He spoke, and hardly then, when he burst the chain of shame from his lips - it came from his heart and crept back to his heart again, but the bittersweet fear held it in shamefast silence, and drew back the voice, as it tried to issue into the light. Too late he spoke, and hardly then, when he burst the chain of shame from his lips and undid the procrastinating silence, and asked Beroe in a voice of pretence, Artemis, where are your arrows? Who has stolen your quiver? [he praises her by comparing her to various goddesses] . . . So he spoke, feigning astonishment, and the maiden smiled in her heart; she lifted a proud neck in unsuspicious pleasure, rejoicing in her youthful freshness, because she, a mortal woman, was likened to a goddess in beauty, and did not see the trick of mindconfusing Dionysos. But Bakkhos was yet more affected, because the girl in her childish simplicity knew not desire; he wished she might learn his own overpowering passion, since when the girl knows, there is always hope for the lad that love will come at last, but when women do not notice, mans desire is only a fruitless anxiety. Thus day after day, midday and afternoon, morning and evening, the god lingered in the pinewood, waiting for the girl and ever willing to wait; for men can have enough of all things, of sweet sleep and melodious song, and when one turns in the moving dance but only the man mad for love never has enough of his longing . . . Dionysos put on a serious look, the trickster! And questioned the maiden about her father Adonis, as a friend of his, as a fellow-hunter among the hills. She stood still, he brought a longing hand near her breast, and stoked her belt as if not thinking what he did: but touching her breast, the lovesick god's right hand grew numb. Once in her childlike way, the girl asked the son of Zeus beside her who he was and who was his father . . . and in the cunning of his mind, he made as if he were a farm-labourer . . . Eiraphiotes [Dionysos] thought of trick after trick. He took the hunting-net from Beroes hands and pretended to admire the clever work, shaking it round and round for some time and asking the girl many questions--What god made this gear, what heavenly art? Who made it? Indeed I cannot believe that Hephaistos mad with jealousy made hunting-gear for Adonis! So he tried to bewilder the wits of the girl who would not be so charmed. Once it happened that he lay sound asleep on a bed of anemone leaves; and he saw the girl in a dream decked out in bridal array . . . In company with Beroes father [Adonis], the son of Myrrha, he showed his hunting-skill. He cast his thyrsus, and wrapt himself in the dappled skins of the newslain fawns, ever with his eye secretly on Beroe; as he stood, the maiden covered her bright cheeks with her robe, to escape the wandering eye of Dionysos. She made him burn all the more, since the servants of love watch shamefast women more closely, and desire more strongly the covered countenance. Once he caught sight of the unyoked girl of Adonis alone, and came near, and

changed his human form and stood as a god before her. He told her his name and family, the slaughter of the Indians, how he found out for man the vine-dance and the sweet juice of wine to drink; then in loving passion he mingled audacity with a boldness far from modesty, and his flattering voice uttered this ingratiating speech: Maiden, for your love I have even renounced my home in heaven. The caves of your fathers are better than Olympos. I love your country more than the sky; I desire not the sceptre of my father Zeus as much as Beroe for my wife. Your beauty is above ambrosia; indeed, heavenly nectar breathes fragrant from your dress! Maiden, when I hear that your mother is Kypris, my only wonder is that her cestus has left you uncharmed. How is it you alone have Eros (Love for a brother, and yet know not the sting of love . . . Girl, you have the blood of Kypris - then why do you flee from the secrets of Kypris? Do not shame your mothers race. If you really have in you the blood of Assyrian Adonis the charming, learn the tender rules of your sire whose blessing is upon marriage, obey the cestus girdle born with the Paphian, save yourself from the dangerous wrath of the bridal Erotes (Loves)! Harsh are the Erotes (Loves) when there's need, when they extract from women the penalty for love unfulfilled . . . Beware of the god's horrid anger, lest hot Love should afflict you in heavy wrath. Spare not your girdle, but attend Bakkhos both as comrade and bedfellow. I myself will carry the nets of your father Adonis, I will the bed of my sister Aphrodite. What worthy gifts will Earthshaker [Poseidon] bring? Will he choose his salt water for a bridegift, and lay sealskins breathing the filthy stink of the deep, as Poseidons coverlets from the sea? Do not accept his sealskins. I will provide you with Bakkhantes to wait upon your bridechamber, and Satyroi for your chamberlains. Accept from me as bridegift my grape-vintage too. If you want a wild spear also as daughter of Adonis, you have my thyrsus for a lance--away with the trident's tooth! Flee, my dear, from the ugly noise of the neversilent sea, flee the madness of Poseidons dangerous love! . . . I, distressed for your beauty as I stand here, what have I for you, what gifts shall I offer? The daughter of golden Aphrodite needs no gold. Shall I bring you heaps of treasure from Alybe? Silverarm cares not for silver! Shall I bring you gleaming gifts [amber] from brilliant Eridanos? Your beauty, your blushing whiteness, puts to shame all the wealth of the Heliades; the neck of Beroe is like the gleams of Dawn, it shines like amber, outshines a sparkling jewel; your fair shape makes precious marble cheap. I would not bring you the lampstone blazing like a lamp, for light comes from your eyes. I would not give you roses, shooting up from the flowercups of a rosy cluster, for roses are in your cheeks. Such was his address; and the girl pressed the fingers of her two hands into her ears to keep the words away from hearing, lest she might hear another speech concerned with love, and she hated the works of marriage. So she made trouble upon trouble for lovestricken Lyaios . . . So he was flogged by the maddening cestus of desire; and he kept away from the girl, but full of bittersweet pangs, he sent his mind to wander a-hunting with the girl with ungirt tunic. Then out from the sea came Poseidon, moving his wet footsteps in search of the girl over the thirsty hills, a foreign land to him, and sprinkling the unwatered earth with watery foot . . . He espied Beroe, and from head to foot he scanned her divine young freshness while she stood. Clear through the filmy robe he noted the shape of the girl with steady eyes, as if in a mirror glancing from side to side he saw the shining skin of her breasts as if naked, and cursed the jealous bodice wrapt about in many folds which hid the bosom, he ran his lovemaddened eye round and round her face, he gazed never satisfied on her whole body. Then mad with passion Earthshaker lord of the brine appealed in his trouble to Kythereia of the brine, and tried with flattering words to make friends with the maiden standing beside the country flock: One woman outshines all the lovely women of Hellas! . . . Beroe has appeared a fourth Kharis (Grace), younger than the three! Maiden, leave the land.

That is just, for your mother grew not from the land, she is Aphrodite daughter of the brine. Here is my infinite sea for your bridegift, larger than earth. Hasten to challenge the consort of Zeus . . . Beroe has gotten the empire of the sea . . . I will make Proteus chamberlain of your marriage-consummating bed, and Glaukos shall be your underling--take Nereus too, and Melikertes if you like; and I will call murmuring Okeanos your servant, broad Okeanos girdling the rim of the eternal world. I give you a bridal gift all the Rivers together for your attendants. If you are pleased to have waitingmaids also, I will bring you the daughters of Nereus; and let Ino the nurse of Dionysos be your chambermaid, whether she likes it or not! Thus he pleaded, but he maiden was angry and would not listen; so he left her, pouring out his last words into the air--Happy son of Myrrha, you have got a fine daughter, and now a double honour is yours alone; you alone are named father of Beroe and bridegroom of the Foamborn. Thus Earthshaker was flogged by the blows of the cestus [desire]; but he offered many gifts to Adonis and Kythereia, bridegifts for the love of their daughter. Dionysos burning with the same shaft brought his treasures, all the shining gold that the mines near the Ganges had brought forth in their throes of labour; earnestly but in vain he made his petition to Aphrodite of the sea. Now Paphia [Aphrodite] was anxious, for she feared both wooers of her muchwooed girl. When she saw equal desire and ardour of love in both, she announced that the rivals must fight for the bride, a war for a wedding, a battle of love. Kypris arrayed her daughter in woman's finery, and placed her upon the fortress of her country, a maiden to be fought for as the dainty prize of contest. Then she addressed both gods in the same words: I could wish had I two daughters, to wed one as is justly due to Earthshaker, and one to Lyaios; but since my child was not twins, and the undefiled laws of marriage do not allow us to join one girl to a pair of husbands together change and change about, let battle be chamberlain for one single bride, for without hard labour there is no marriage with Beroe. Then if you would wed the maid, first fight it out together; let the winner lead away Beroe without brideprice. Both must agree to an oath, since I fear for the girls neighbouring city where I am known as Cityholder, that because of Beroe's beauty I may lose Beroe's home. Make treaty before the marriage, that seagod Earthshaker if he lose the victory shall not in his grief lay waste the land with his trident's tooth; and that Dionysos shall not be angry about Amymone's wedding and destroy the vineyards of the city. And you must be friends after the battle: both be rivals in singlehearted affection, and in one contract of goodwill adorn the city of the bride with still more brilliant beauty. The wooers agreed to this proposal. Both took a binding oath . . . From heaven came all the dwellers on Olympos, with Zeus, and stayed to watch the combat upon the rocks of Lebanon . . . For King of Satyroi and Ruler of the Sea, a maiden was the prize. She stood silent, but reluctant to have a foreign wedding with a wooer from the sea; she feared the watery bower of love in the deep waves, and preferred Bakkhos . . . Heaven unclouded by its own spinning whirl trumpeted the call to war; and Seabluehair armed himself with his Assyrian trident, shaking his maritime pike and pouring a hideous din from a mad throat. Dionysos threatening the sea danced into the fray with vineleaves and thyrsus, seated in the [lion-drawn] chariot of his [foster] mother mountainranging Rheia . . . [Dionysos and his sylvan gods battle Poseidon and his sea gods in a contest for Beroe's hand in marriage] . . . He [Zeus breaking up the contest] granted the hand of Beroe to Earthshaker [Poseidon], and pacified the rivals' quarrel. For from heaven to check the bridebattle yet undecided came threatening thunderbolts round about Dionysos. The vinegod wounded by the arrow of love still craved the maiden; but Zeus the Father on high stayed him by playing a tune of thunder, and the sound from his father held back the desire for strife. With lingering feet he departed, with heavy pace, turning back for a last gloomy look at the girl; jealous, with shamed ears, he

heard the bridal songs of Amymone in the sea. The syrinx sounding from the brine proclaimed that the rites were already half done. Nereus as Amymone's chamberlain showed the bridal bed, shaking the wedding torches, the fire which no water can quench. Phorkys sang a song; with equal spirit Glaukos danced and Melikertes romped about. And Galateia twangled a marriage dance and restlessly twirled in capering step, and she sang the marriage verses."

BEROE THE OLDEST OF CITIES

Nonnus, Dionysiaca 41. 51 ff : "Here [the city of Beroe which emerged at the very creation of the universe] dwelt a people agemates with the dawn, whom Phusis (Nature) by her own breeding, in some unwedded way, begat without bridal, without wedding, fatherless, motherless, unborn: when the atoms were mingled in fourfold combination, and the seedless ooze shaped a clever offspring by comingling water with fiery heat and air [the four elements--Air, Earth, Water, Fire], and quickened the teeming mud with the breath of life. To these Phusis (Nature) gave perfect shape . . . the golden crop of men [the Golden Race of Mankind] brought forth in the image of the gods, with the roots of their stock in the earth. And these dwelt in the city of Beroe, that primordial seat which Kronos himself builded . . . O Beroe, root of life, nurse of cities, the boast of princes, the first city seen, twin sister of Aion (Time), coeval with the universe, sea of Hermes, land of Dike (Justice), bower of Euphrosyne (Merryheart), house of Paphia, hall of the Erotes, delectable ground of Bakkhos, home of the Archeress, jewel of the Nereides, house of Zeus, court of Ares, Orkhomenos of the Kharites, star of the Lebanon country, yearsmate of Tethys, running side by side with Okeanos, who begat thee in his bed of many fountains when joined in watery union with Tethys--Beroe the same they named Amymone when her mother brought her forth on her bed in the deep waters!"

Sources:
o Nonnos, Dionysiaca
- Greek Epic C5th AD

Other references not currently quoted here: Virgil Georgics 4.341

DAEIRA
Greek Name Transliteration Daeira, Daira Latin Spelling Daira Translation Learned, Knowing, Teacher (da)

DAEIRA (or Daira) was an Okeanid Nymph of the town in Eleusis in Attika (southern Greece). She may have been the Naiad of the town's famous well, the Khallikhoros (Challichorus), where Demeter first rested upon entered Eleusis. She was also the mother of the town's eponymous king by Hermes.

Daeira was no doubt connected with the rites of the Eleusinian Mysteries, her name "the knowing one" or "teacher" describes the imparting of secret knowledge. The name Daeira was also an Eleusinian title for the goddess Persephone. Daeira may have been identified with the Eleusinian Hekate, who a few sources appear to suggest was the consort of Khthonian Hermes, Guide of the Dead.
PARENTS OKEANOS (Pausanias 1.38.7) OFFSPRING ELEUSIS (by Hermes) (Pausanias 1.38.7)

ENCYCLOPEDIA
DAEIRA (Daeira or Daira), that is, "the knowing," a divinity connected with the Eleusinian mysteries. According to Pausanias (i. 38. 7) she was a daughter of Oceanus, and became by Hermes the mother of Eleusis; but others called her a sister of Styx; while a third account represents her as identical with Aphrodite, Demeter, Hera, or Persephone. (Apollon. Rhod. iii. 847; Eustath, ad Hom. p. 648.) Source: Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology. Pausanias, Description of Greece 1. 38. 7 (trans. Jones) (Greek travelogue C2nd A.D.) : "The hero Eleusis, after whom the city is named, some assert to be a son of Hermes and of Daeira, daughter of Okeanos; there are poets, however, who have made Ogygos father of Eleusis." Lycophron, Alexandra 697 ff (trans. Mair) (Greek poet C3rd B.C.) : "He [Odysseus] shall offer up a gift to Daeira [here used as a name for Persephone] and her consort [Haides], fastening his helmet to the head of a pillar." Suidas s.v. Eleusinia (trans. Suda On Line) (Byzantine Greek lexicon C10th A.D.) : "Eleusinia (festival): To the winners [at] the Eleusinia a prize used to be given. The city was named after Eleusinos, the son of Hermes. But others give another reason and say that the Eleusinia was only a festival."

Sources:
o o o Lycophron, Alexandra - Greek C3rd BC Pausanias, Guide to Greece - Greek Geography C2nd AD Suidas - Byzantine Lexicon C10th AD

Other references not currently quoted here: As a title of Persephone: Pherecydes 45J, Aristophanes, Frogs 277, Pollux 1.35