Nymph

Information about Nymph

This article is about the creatures of Greek mythology. For other uses, see Nymph (disambiguation).

Greek deities series
Primordial deities
Titans and Olympians
Aquatic deities
Chthonic deities
Personified concepts
Other deities
Asclepius, god of medicine Leto, mother of Apollo and Artemis Pan, shepherd god
Nymphs
Alseid Auloniad Crinaeae Dryads Hamadryads Hesperides Limnades	Meliae Naiads Napaeae Nereids Oceanids Oreads Pegaeae

In Greek mythology, a nymph is any member of a large class of female entities in human form, that is either bound to a particular location, or landform, or is part of the retinue of a god, such as Dionysus, Hermes, or Pan, or a goddess, generally Artemis.^[1] Nymphs were the frequent target of satyrs.

Nymphs live in mountains and groves, by springs and rivers, and in valleys and cool grottoes. They are frequently associated with the superior divinities: the huntress Artemis; the prophetic Apollo; the reveller and god of wine, Dionysus; and rustic gods such as Pan and Hermes.

The symbolic marriage of a nymph and a patriarch, often the eponym of a people, is repeated endlessly in Greek origin myths; their union lent authority to the archaic king and his line.

Meaning of nymph

"The idea that rivers are gods and springs divine nymphs," Walter Burkert remarks (Burkert III.3.3) "is deeply rooted not only in poetry but in belief and ritual; the worship of these deities is limited only by the fact that they are inseparably identified with a specific locality." Nymphs are personifications of the creative and fostering activities of nature, most often identified with the life-giving outflow of springs. The Greek word νύμφη has "bride" and "veiled" among its meanings: hence a marriagable young woman. Other readers refer the word (and also Latin nubere and German Knospe) to a root expressing the idea of "swelling" (according to Hesychius, one of the meanings of νύμφη is "rose-bud").

Nymph classifications

A fourth-century Roman depiction of Hylas and the Nymphs

A Hamadryad, by John William Waterhouse

As Rose (1959, p. 173) states, "all these names are simply feminine adjectives, agreeing with the substantive nympha, and there was no orthodox and exhaustive classification of these shadowy beings." He mentions^[2] dryads and hamadryads as nymphs of trees generally, meliai as nymphs of ash trees, and naiads as nymphs of water, but no others specifically.

The following is not the Greek classification, but is intended simply as a guide:

Land nymphs
Alseids (glens, groves)
Napaeae (mountain valleys, glens)
Auloniads (pastures)
Leimakids (meadows)
Oreads (mountains, grottoes)
Minthe (mint)
Hesperides (nymphs of the west, daughters of Atlas)
Aegle ("dazzling light")
Arethusa
Erytheia (or Eratheis)
Hesperia (or Hispereia)
Hespera (or Hespere)
Wood nymphs
Dryads (trees)
Hamadryads (oak tree and others)
Meliae (manna-ash tree)
Leuce (white poplar tree)
Epimeliad (apple tree)
Water nymphs
Helead (fen)
Oceanids (daughters of Oceanus and Tethys, any water, usually salty)
Nereids (daughters of Nereus, the Mediterranean Sea)
Naiads (usually fresh water)
Crinaeae (fountains)
Limnades or Limnatides (lakes)
Pegaeae (springs)
Potameides (rivers)
Eleionomae (marshes)
Hyades (rain)
Other nymphs
Corycian Nymphs (Corycian Cave)
Lampades (underworld)
The Muses

Foreign adaptations

The Greek nymphs were spirits invariably bound to places, not unlike the Latin genius loci, and the difficulty of transferring their cult may be seen in the complicated myth that brought Arethusa to Sicily. In the works of the Greek-educated Latin poets, the nymphs gradually absorbed into their ranks the indigenous Italian divinities of springs and streams (Juturna, Egeria, Carmentis, Fontus), while the Lymphae (originally Lumpae), Italian water-goddesses, owing to the accidental similarity of name, could be identified with the Greek Nymphae. The mythologies of classicizing Roman poets were unlikely to have affected the rites and cult of individual nymphs venerated by country people in the springs and clefts of Latium. Among the Roman literate class their sphere of influence was restricted, and they appear almost exclusively as divinities of the watery element.

Nymphs in modern Greek folklore

The Head of a Nymph by Sophie Anderson

The ancient Greek belief in nymphs survived in many parts of the country into the early years of the twentieth century, when they were usually known as "nereids". At that time John Cuthbert Lawson wrote: "...there is probably no nook or hamlet in all Greece where the womenfolk at least do not scrupulously take precautions against the thefts and malice of the nereids, while many a man may still be found to recount in all good faith stories of their beauty, passion and caprice. Nor is it a matter of faith only; more than once I have been in villages where certain Nereids were known by sight to several persons (so at least they averred); and there was a wonderful agreement among the witnesses in the description of their appearance and dress." Lawson (1910, p. 131)

Usually female, they were dressed in white, decked with garlands of flowers, but they frequently had unnatural legs, like those of a goat, donkey or cow. They were so beautiful that the highest compliment was to compare some feature of a woman (eyes, hair, etc.) with that of nereid. They could move swiftly and invisibly, ride through the air and slip through small holes. Although not immortal, their lives exceeded man's tenfold, and they retained their beauty until death.

They tended to frequent areas distant from man, but could be encountered by lone travellers outside the village, where their music might be heard, and the traveller could spy on their dancing or bathing in a stream or pool, either during the noon heat or in the middle of the night. They might appear in a whirlwind. Such encounters could be dangerous, bringing dumbness, besotted infatuation, madness or stroke to the unfortunate human. When parents believed their child to be nereid-struck they would pray to Saint Artemidos, the Christian manifestation of Artemis. Tomkinson (2004, chapter 3)

Stock stories about nereids include the girl who fell ill and died and was seen after death dancing with the nereids; the nereid changeling; and the man who won a nereid as his wife by stealing a piece of her clothing. The latter would become an ideal wife until she recovered her clothing and returned to her own people. Nereids

Modern sexual connotations

Cover of The Case of the Negligent Nymph (1956), by Erle Stanley Gardner

Cover of the 2005 album Nympho by Armand Van Helden.

Due to the depiction of the mythological nymphs as females who mate with men at their own volition and are completely outside male control, the term is often used for women who are perceived as behaving similarly.

The term "Nymphomania" was created by modern psychology as refering to a "desire to engage in human sexual behavior at a level high enough to be considered clinically significant", "Nymphomaniac" being the person suffering from such a disorder.

Due to widespread use of the term among lay persons (often shortened to "nympho") and stereotypes attached, professionals nowadays prefere the term "Hypersexuality" which can refer to males and females alike.

Footnotes

↑ Rose, Herbert Jennings (1959). A Handbook of Greek Mythology, 1st edition, New York: E.P. Dutton & Co.. ISBN 0-525-47041-7.
↑ Lawson, John Cuthbert (1910). Modern Greek Folklore and Ancient Greek Religion, 1st edition, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
↑ Tomkinson, John L. (2004). Haunted Greece: Nymphs, Vampires and other Exotika, 1st edition, Athens: Anagnosis. ISBN 960-88087-0-7.
Nereids

Notes

1. ^ But see Jennifer Larson , "Handmaidens of Artemis?" The Classical Journal 92.3 (February 1997), pp. 249-257.
2. ^ (pp. 172–3)

References

Burkert, Walter (1985). Greek Religion, 1st edition, Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.. ISBN 0-674-36281-0.
Lawson, John Cuthbert, Modern Greek Folklore and Ancient Greek Religion, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 1910 p131
Tomkinson, John L., Haunted Greece: Nymphs, Vampires and other Exotika, Anagnosis, Athens, 2004, ISBN 960-88087-0-7
Information page
Nereids

In Greek mythology, a nymph (νύμφη) is a female nature-spirit.

Nymph may also mean:

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The ancient Greeks proposed many different ideas about the primordial gods in their mythology. The many theogonies constructed by Greek poets each give a different account of which gods came first.

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Titans (Greek: Τιτάν Titan; plural: Τιτάνες Titanes
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Twelve Olympians, also known as the Dodekatheon (Greek: Δωδεκάθεον
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Chthonic (from Greek χθόνιος-khthonios, of the earth, from khthōn, earth; pertaining to the Earth; earthy) designates, or pertains to, gods or spirits of the underworld, especially in relation to Greek religion.
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Asclepius (Greek Ἀσκληπιός, transliterated Asklēpiós; Latin Aesculapius) is the demigod of medicine and healing in ancient Greek mythology.
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Medicine is the science and "" of maintaining and/or restoring human health through the study, diagnosis, and treatment of patients. The term is derived from the Latin ars medicina meaning the art of healing.
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In Greek mythology, Lētṓ (Greek: Λητώ, Lato in Dorian Greek, etymology and meaning disputed) is a daughter of the Titans Coeus and Phoebe:^[1] Kos claimed her birthplace.
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In Greek and Roman mythology, Apollo (in Greek, Ἀπόλλων — Apóllōn or Ἀπέλλων — Apellōn), the ideal of the kouros
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Artemis (Greek: (nominative) Ἄρτεμις, (genitive) Ἀρτέμιδος
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Pan (Greek Πάν, genitive Πανός) is the Greek god of shepherds and flocks, of mountain wilds, hunting and rustic music: paein means to pasture.
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shepherd is one who takes care of sheep, usually in flocks in the fields.

History

Shepherding is one of the oldest professions, beginning some 6,000 years ago in Asia Minor. Sheep were kept for their milk, meat, and especially their wool.
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In Greek mythology, Alseids were the nymphs of glens and groves. They liked to scare travelers.

Of the Classical writers, the first and perhaps only poet to use the term alseid is Homer. Rather than alseid he used alsea.
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Auloniad (from the classical Greek αύλών; valley, ravine) was a nymph who could be found in the mountain pastures and vales, often in the company of Pan, the god of nature.
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In Greek mythology, the Crinaeae were a type of nymph associated with fountains.

The Crinaeae included:

Aganippe
Appias (Roman mythology)

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