A nymph ( Ancient Greek : νύμφη , romanized : nýmphē ; Attic Greek : [nýmpʰɛː] ; sometimes spelled nymphe ) is a minor female nature deity in ancient Greek folklore . Distinct from other Greek goddesses , nymphs are generally regarded as personifications of nature; they are typically tied to a specific place, landform, or tree, and are usually depicted as maidens . Because of their association with springs, they were often seen as having healing properties; other divine powers of the nymphs included divination and shapeshifting . Nymphs, like other goddesses, were immortal except for the Hamadryads , whose lives were bound to a specific tree.
17-461: The Auloniads ( / ə ˈ l oʊ n i æ d / ; Αὐλωνιάς from the classical Greek αὐλών "valley, ravine") were nymphs who were found in mountain pastures and vales , often in the company of Pan , the god of nature. Eurydice , for whom Orpheus traveled into dark Hades , was an Auloniad, and it was in the valley of the Thessalian river Pineios where she met her death, indirectly, at
34-476: A Roman sculpture of a nymph at a fountain above the River Danube . The report, and an accompanying poem supposedly on the fountain describing the sleeping nymph, are now generally concluded to be a fifteenth-century forgery , but the motif proved influential among artists and landscape gardeners for several centuries after, with copies seen at neoclassical gardens such as the grotto at Stourhead . All
51-496: A love motif, being the lovers of heroes and other deities. Desirable and promiscuous, nymphs can rarely be fully domesticated, being often aggressive to their mortal affairs. Since the Middle Ages , nymphs have been sometimes popularly associated or even confused with fairies . The Greek word nýmphē has the primary meaning of "young woman; bride, young wife" but is not usually associated with deities in particular. Yet
68-541: Is not the authentic Greek classification, but is intended as a guide: The following is a list of individual nymphs or groups thereof associated with this or that particular location. Nymphs in such groups could belong to any of the classes mentioned above (Naiades, Oreades, and so on). The following is a selection of names of the nymphs whose class was not specified in the source texts. For lists of Naiads, Oceanids, Dryades etc., see respective articles. Fontus Fontus or Fons ( pl. : Fontes , "Font" or "Source")
85-1149: The Meliae ( ash tree nymphs), the Dryads ( oak tree nymphs), the Alseids ( grove nymphs), the Naiads ( spring nymphs), the Nereids (sea nymphs), the Oceanids (ocean nymphs), the Oreads (mountain nymphs), and the Epimeliads (apple tree and flock nymphs). Other nymphs included the Hesperides (evening nymphs), the Hyades (rain nymphs), and the Pleiades (companions of Artemis ). Nymphs featured in classic works of art , literature , and mythology . They are often attendants of goddesses and frequently occur in myths with
102-569: The Tempestates , all having to do with sources of water. As a god of pure water, Fons can be placed in opposition to Liber as a god of wine identified with Bacchus . An inscription includes Fons among a series of deities who received expiatory sacrifices by the Arval Brothers in 224 AD, when several trees in the sacred grove of Dea Dia , their chief deity, had been struck by lightning and burnt. Fons received two wethers . Fons
119-550: The Saint Artemidos. Nymphs are often depicted in classic works across art, literature, mythology, and fiction. They are often associated with the medieval romances or Renaissance literature of the elusive fairies or elves . A motif that entered European art during the Renaissance was the idea of a statue of a nymph sleeping in a grotto or spring. This motif supposedly came from an Italian report of
136-508: The etymology of the noun nýmphē remains uncertain. The Doric and Aeolic ( Homeric ) form is nýmphā ( νύμφα ). Modern usage more often applies to young women, contrasting with parthenos ( παρθένος ) "a virgin (of any age)", and generically as kore ( κόρη < κόρϝα ) "maiden, girl". The term is sometimes used by women to address each other and remains the regular Modern Greek term for " bride ". Nymphs were sometimes beloved by many and dwelt in specific areas related to
153-466: The hands of Aristaeus , son of the god Apollo and the nymph Cyrene . It was Aristaeus's wish to ravish Eurydice and either disgust or fear compelled her to run away from him without looking where she was going. Eurydice trod on a venomous serpent and died. This article relating to a Greek deity is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . Nymph Nymphs are divided into various broad subgroups based on their habitat, such as
170-442: The names for various classes of nymphs have plural feminine adjectives, most agreeing with the substantive numbers and groups of nymphai. There is no single adopted classification that could be seen as canonical and exhaustive. Some classes of nymphs tend to overlap, which complicates the task of precise classification. e.g. dryads and hamadryads as nymphs of trees generally, meliai as nymphs of ash trees . The following
187-462: The natural environment: e.g. mountainous regions; forests; springs. Other nymphs were part of the retinue of a god (such as Dionysus , Hermes , or Pan ) or of a goddess (generally the huntress Artemis ). The Greek nymphs were also spirits invariably bound to places, not unlike the Latin genius loci , and sometimes this produced complicated myths like the cult of Arethusa to Sicily. In some of
SECTION 10
#1732782527589204-582: The rites and cults 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. 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 ". Nymphs often tended to frequent areas distant from humans but could be encountered by lone travelers outside
221-581: The scenes of the Mithraic cycle, the god strikes a rock, which then gushes water. A Mithraic text explains that the stream was a source of life-giving water and immortal refreshment. Dedications to "inanimate entities" from Mithraic narrative ritual, such as Fons Perennis and Petra Genetrix ("Generative Rock"), treat them as divine and capable of hearing, like the nymphs and healing powers to whom these are more often made. Fontus Lake in Antarctica
238-409: The village, where their music might be heard, and the traveler 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 man. When parents believed their child to be nereid-struck, they would pray to
255-673: 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 their names, could be identified with the Greek Nymphae. The classical mythologies of the Roman poets were unlikely to have affected
272-621: Was a god of wells and springs in ancient Roman religion . A religious festival called the Fontinalia was held on October 13 in his honor. Throughout the city, fountains and wellheads were adorned with garlands. Fontus was the son of Juturna and Janus . Numa Pompilius , second king of Rome , was supposed to have been buried near the altar of Fontus ( ara Fontis) on the Janiculum . William Warde Fowler observed that between 259 and 241 BC, cults were founded for Juturna, Fons, and
289-769: Was not among the deities depicted on coinage of the Roman Republic . The gens Fonteia claimed to be Fontus' descendants. In the cosmological schema of Martianus Capella , Fons is located in the second of 16 celestial regions, with Jupiter , Quirinus , Mars , the Military Lar , Juno , Lympha , and the Novensiles . Water as a source of regeneration played a role in the Mithraic mysteries , and inscriptions to Fons Perennis ("Eternal Spring" or "Never-Failing Stream") have been found in mithraea . In one of
#588411