Nereids
Greek deities series |
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Water deities |
Nymphs |
Greek deities series |
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Water deities |
In
Etymology
The synonyms Νηρηΐδες and Νημερτές are etymologically unrelated. Νηρηΐδες is a patronymic, describing them as the daughters of Nereus.[3][4] Νημερτές means literally 'not-mistaking', and there is an adjective of the same form meaning 'clear', 'unmistakable', or 'true'.
Mythology
The Nereids symbolized everything that is beautiful and kind about the sea. Their melodious voices sang as they danced around their father. They are represented as beautiful women, crowned with branches of red coral and dressed in white silk robes trimmed with gold.
These nymphs are particularly associated with the
In Homer's Iliad XVIII, when Thetis cries out in sympathy for the grief of Achilles for the slain Patroclus, her sisters appear.[6] Four of her siblings, Cymodoce, Thalia, Nesaea and Spio were also among the nymphs in the train of Cyrene.[7] Later on, these four together with their other sisters Thetis, Melite and Panopea, were able to help the hero Aeneas and his crew during a storm.[8]
In one account, Cassiopeia boasted that her daughter Andromeda was more beautiful than the Nereides, who were enraged by the claim. Poseidon, in sympathy for them, sent a flood and a sea monster to the land of the Aethiopians, demanding as well the sacrifice of the princess.[9] These sea goddesses also were said to reveal to men the mysteries of Dionysus and Persephone.[10][11]
Names
This list is correlated from four sources: Homer's Iliad,[12] Hesiod's Theogony,[13] the Bibliotheca of Pseudo-Apollodorus[14] and the Fabulae of Hyginus.[15] Because of this, the total number of names goes beyond fifty.[16]
No. | Name | Sources | Notes | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Hom. | Hes. | Apol. | Hyg. | Others | |||
1 | Actaea | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ||
2 | Agaue | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | Appeared to Thetis when she cried out in sympathy for the grief of Achilles for Patroclus. | |
3 | Amatheia | ✓ | ✓ | Appeared to Thetis when she cried out in sympathy for the grief of Achilles for Patroclus. | |||
4 | Amphinome | ✓ | ✓ | Feeds Poseidon's flock | |||
5 | Amphithoe | ✓ | ✓ | Appeared to Thetis when she cried out in sympathy for the grief of Achilles for Patroclus. | |||
6 | Amphitrite | ✓ | ✓ | Consort of Poseidon The name of an Oceanid[17] | |||
7 | Apseudes | ✓ | ✓ | ||||
8 | Arethusa | ✓ | [18] | ||||
9 | Asia | ✓ | [19] | The name of an Oceanid[20] | |||
10 | Autonoe | ✓ | ✓ | Only mentioned by name | |||
11 | Beroe | ✓ | The name of an Oceanid[21] | ||||
12 | Callianassa | ✓ | ✓ | Appeared to Thetis when she cried out in sympathy for the grief of Achilles for Patroclus. | |||
13 | Callianeira | ✓ | Only mentioned by name on the Iliad. | ||||
14 | Calypso | ✓ | The name of an Oceanid[22] | ||||
15 | Ceto | ✓ | The name of an Oceanid[23] Only mentioned by name | ||||
16 | Clio | ✓ | The name of an Oceanid[24] | ||||
17 | Clymene | ✓ | ✓ | [25] | The name of an Oceanid;[26] appeared to Thetis when she cried out in sympathy for the grief of Achilles for Patroclus. | ||
18 | Cranto | ✓ | |||||
19 | Creneis | ✓ | |||||
20 | Cydippe | ✓ | [27] | In the train of Cyrene along with her other sisters | |||
21 | Cymatolege | ✓ | Only mentioned by name | ||||
22 | Cymo | ✓ | ✓ | Only mentioned by name | |||
23 | Cymodoce | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | [28] | ||
24 | Cymothoe | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | [29] | Appeared to Thetis when she cried out in sympathy for the grief of Achilles for Patroclus. |
25 | Deiopea | ✓ | [19] | ||||
26 | Dero | ✓ | Only mentioned by name | ||||
27 | Dexamene | ✓ | ✓ | Appeared to Thetis when she cried out in sympathy for the grief of Achilles for Patroclus. | |||
28 | Dione | ✓ | The name of an Oceanid[30] | ||||
29 | Doris | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | The name of an Oceanid[20] | ||
30 | Doto | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | [31] | |
31 | Drymo | ✓ | [32] | One of the nymphs in the train of Cyrene | |||
32 | Dynamene | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ||
33 | Eione | ✓ | ✓ | Only mentioned by name | |||
34 | Ephyra | ✓ | [19] | The name of an Oceanid[33] | |||
35 | Erato | ✓ | ✓ | ||||
36 | Euagore | ✓ | ✓ | ||||
37 | Euarne | ✓ | |||||
38 | Eucrante | ✓ | ✓ | ||||
39 | Eudore | ✓ | ✓ | The name of an Oceanid[30] | |||
40 | Eulimene | ✓ | ✓ | ||||
41 | Eumolpe | ✓ | Only mentioned by name | ||||
42 | Eunice | ✓ | ✓ | ||||
43 | Eupompe | ✓ | Only mentioned by name | ||||
44 | Eurydice
|
✓ | |||||
45 | Galene | ✓ | |||||
46 | Galatea | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | [31] | |
47 | Glauce | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | |||
48 | Glauconome | ✓ | ✓ | Only mentioned by name | |||
49 | Halie | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | |||
50 | Halimede | ✓ | ✓ | ||||
51 | Hipponoe | ✓ | ✓ | ||||
52 | Hippothoe | ✓ | ✓ | Only mentioned by name | |||
53 | Iaera | ✓ | ✓ | Appeared to Thetis when she cried out in sympathy for the grief of Achilles for Patroclus. | |||
54 | Ianassa | ✓ | ✓ | Appeared to Thetis when she cried out in sympathy for the grief of Achilles for Patroclus. | |||
55 | Ianeira | ✓ | ✓ | The name of an Oceanid;[22] appeared to Thetis when she cried out in sympathy for the grief of Achilles for Patroclus. | |||
56 | Ione | ✓ | |||||
57 | Iphianassa | [34] | Only mentioned by name | ||||
58 | Laomedeia | ✓ | Only mentioned by name | ||||
59 | Leiagore | ✓ | Only mentioned by name | ||||
60 | Leucothoe | ✓ | |||||
61 | Ligea | ✓ | [32] | ||||
62 | Limnoreia | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | |||
63 | Lycorias | ✓ | [27] | ||||
64 | Lysianassa | ✓ | ✓ | ||||
65 | Maera | ✓ | ✓ | Appeared to Thetis when she cried out in sympathy for the grief of Achilles for Patroclus. | |||
66 | Melite | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | [35] | The name of an Oceanid[36] |
67 | Menippe | ✓ | The name of an Oceanid[37] | ||||
68 | Nausithoe | ✓ | |||||
69 | Neaera | The name of an Oceanid | |||||
70 | Nemertes | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | |||
71 | Neomeris | ✓ | |||||
72 | Nesaea | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | [38] | |
73 | Neso | ✓ | Only mentioned by name. Gives her name to Neptune's moons .
| ||||
74 | Opis | ✓ | [19] | ||||
75 | Oreithyia | ✓ | ✓ | Appeared to Thetis when she cried out in sympathy for the grief of Achilles for Patroclus. | |||
76 | Panope | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | [31] | ||
77 | Panopea | ✓ | ✓ | [35] | |||
78 | Pasithea | ✓ | Only mentioned by name | ||||
79 | Pherusa | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | Appeared to Thetis when she cried out in sympathy for the grief of Achilles for Patroclus. | |
80 | Phyllodoce | ✓ | [32] | ||||
81 | Plexaure | ✓ | The name of an Oceanid[39] | ||||
82 | Ploto | ✓ | Only mentioned by name | ||||
83 | Polynoe | ✓ | |||||
84 | Polynome | ✓ | Only mentioned by name | ||||
85 | Pontomedusa | ✓ | Only mentioned by name | ||||
86 | Pontoporeia | ✓ | Only mentioned by name | ||||
87 | Pronoe | ✓ | Only mentioned by name | ||||
88 | Proto | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ||
89 | Protomedeia | ✓ | Only mentioned by name | ||||
90 | Psamathe | ✓ | ✓ | ||||
91 | Sao | ✓ | ✓ | Means 'the rescuer'; only mentioned by name | |||
92 | Speio | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | [38] | Appeared to Thetis when she cried out in sympathy for the grief of Achilles for Patroclus. |
93 | Thaleia | ✓ | ✓ | [38] | |||
94 | Themisto | ✓ | Only mentioned by name | ||||
95 | Thetis | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | [35] | Mother of Achilles | |
96 | Thoe | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | The name of an Oceanid[40] | ||
97 | Xantho | ✓ | [32] | The name of an Oceanid[30] | |||
Total | 34 | 50 | 45 | 47 |
Iconography
In ancient art the Nereides appear in the retinue of Poseidon, Amphitrite, Thetis and other sea-divinities. On black-figure Greek vases they appear fully clothed, such as on a Corinthian hydra (sixth century BCE; Paris) where they stand near the bier of Achilles. Later vase-paintings depict them nude or partially nude, mounted on dolphins, sea-horses or other marine creatures, and often grouped together with Tritons. They appear as such on Roman frescoes and sarcophagi. An Etruscan bronze cista from Palestrina depicts winged Nereides.
Famous is the Nereid Monument, a marble tomb from Xanthos (Lycia, Asia Minor), partially in the collection of the British Museum. At the top is a small temple surrounded by pillars between which Nereides stood. They were depicted in motion and with billowing, transparent clothes. The style is Attic-Ionian and dates to c. 400 BCE.
In the Renaissance and baroque periods the Nereid was frequently used to decorate fountains and garden monuments.
Worship
Nereides were worshiped in several parts of Greece, but more especially in seaport towns, such as Cardamyle,[41] and on the Isthmus of Corinth.[42] The epithets given them by the poets refer partly to their beauty and partly to their place of abode.
Modern use
In modern Greek folklore, the term "nereid" (νεράιδα, neráida) has come to be used for all nymphs, fairies, or mermaids, not merely nymphs of the sea.[43]
Nereid, a moon of the planet Neptune, is named after the Nereids, as is Nereid Lake in Antarctica.[44]
See also
- Neraida (type of supernatural wife)
Notes
- ^ Aelian, De Natura Animalium 14.28
- ISBN 978-90-474-0568-9.
- ^ "nereid | Etymology, origin and meaning of the name nereid by etymonline". www.etymonline.com. Retrieved 2023-08-24.
- ISBN 9780192534767.
- ^ Atsma, Aaron J. "Nereides". Theoi Project Greek Mythology. Retrieved 7 March 2016.
- ^ Homer, Iliad 18.39-51
- ^ Virgil, Georgics 4.338
- ^ Virgil, Aeneid 5.825-826
- 5.16 ff.
- ^ Orphic Hymns 24.10
- Thames and Hudson. p. 66.
- ^ Homer, Iliad 18.39-51
- ^ Hesiod, Theogony 240-262
- ^ Apollodorus, 1.2.7
- ^ Hyginus, Fabulae Preface
- ^ Parada, Carlos. "Nereids". Greek Mythology Link. Retrieved 7 March 2016.
- ^ Apollodorus, 1.2.2 & 1.4.5
- ^ Virgil, Georgics 4.346
- ^ a b c d Virgil, Georgics 4.343
- ^ a b Hesiod, Theogony 349–361; Apollodorus, 1.2.2
- ^ Virgil, Georgics 4.341; Nonnus, Dionysiaca 41.153
- ^ a b Hesiod, Theogony 349–361; Homeric Hymn to Demeter, 418–423
- ^ Nonnus, Dionysiaca 26.355
- ^ Virgil, Georgics 4.341
- ^ Virgil, Georgics 4.345
- Chiliades 4.19.359
- ^ a b Virgil, Georgics 4.339
- ^ Virgil, Georgics 4.338; Aeneid 5.826; Statius, Silvae 2.2.20
- ^ Valerius Flaccus, 2.605; Quintus Smyrnaeus, 5.394 ff.
- ^ a b c Hesiod, Theogony 349–361
- ^ a b c Valerius Flaccus, Argonautica 1.130 ff.
- ^ a b c d Virgil, Georgics 4.336
- ^ Hyginus, Fabulae 275.6; Eumelus, fr. 1 Fowler (apud Pausanias, 2.1.1)
- ^ Lucian, Dialogi Marini 14
- ^ a b c Virgil, Aeneid 5.825
- ^ Homeric Hymn to Demeter, 418–423; Hyginus, Fabulae Th. 8
- Fabulae Th. 6 (Smith and Trzaskoma, p. 95), except where otherwise indicated.
- ^ a b c Virgil, Georgics 4.338; Aeneid 5.826
- ^ Hesiod, Theogony 353
- ^ Homeric Hymn to Demeter, 418–423
- ^ Pausanias, 3.2.5
- ^ Pausanias, 2.1.7
- ISBN 9781137484154.
- ^ Nereid Lake. SCAR Composite Gazetteer of Antarctica
References
- Aken, Dr. A.R.A. van. (1961). Elseviers Mythologische Encyclopedie. Amsterdam: Elsevier.
- .
- Gaius Julius Hyginus, Astronomica from The Myths of Hyginus translated and edited by Mary Grant. University of Kansas Publications in Humanistic Studies. Online version at the Topos Text Project.
- Gaius Julius Hyginus, Fabulae from The Myths of Hyginus translated and edited by Mary Grant. University of Kansas Publications in Humanistic Studies. Online version at the Topos Text Project.
- Gaius Valerius Flaccus, Argonautica translated by Mozley, J H. Loeb Classical Library Volume 286. Cambridge, MA, Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann Ltd. 1928. Online version at theio.com.
- Gaius Valerius Flaccus, Argonauticon. Otto Kramer. Leipzig. Teubner. 1913. Latin text available at the Perseus Digital Library.
- Hesiod, Theogony from The Homeric Hymns and Homerica with an English Translation by Hugh G. Evelyn-White, Cambridge, MA.,Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann Ltd. 1914. Online version at the Perseus Digital Library. Greek text available from the same website.
- Homer, Homeri Opera in five volumes. Oxford, Oxford University Press. 1920. .
- The Hymns of Orpheus. Translated by Taylor, Thomas (1792). University of Pennsylvania Press, 1999. Online version at the theoi.com
- Kerényi, Carl, The Gods of the Greeks, Thames and Hudson, London, 1951.
- Lucian of Samosata, Dialogues of the Sea Gods translated by Fowler, H W and F G. Oxford: The Clarendon Press. 1905. Online version at theoi.com
- Luciani Samosatensis, Opera. Vol I. Karl Jacobitz. in aedibus B. G. Teubneri. Leipzig. 1896. Greek text available at the Perseus Digital Library.
- Pausanias, Graeciae Descriptio. 3 vols. Leipzig, Teubner. 1903. Greek text available at the Perseus Digital Library.
- Publius Ovidius Naso, Metamorphoses translated by Brookes More (1859-1942). Boston, Cornhill Publishing Co. 1922. Online version at the Perseus Digital Library.
- Publius Ovidius Naso, Metamorphoses. Hugo Magnus. Gotha (Germany). Friedr. Andr. Perthes. 1892. Latin text available at the Perseus Digital Library.
- Publius Vergilius Maro, Aeneid. Theodore C. Williams. trans. Boston. Houghton Mifflin Co. 1910. Online version at the Perseus Digital Library.
- Publius Vergilius Maro, Bucolics, Aeneid, and Georgics. J. B. Greenough. Boston. Ginn & Co. 1900. Latin text available at the Perseus Digital Library.
- Publius Vergilius Maro, Bucolics, Aeneid, and Georgics of Vergil. J. B. Greenough. Boston. Ginn & Co. 1900. Online version at the Perseus Digital Library.