Nymph - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

Greek mythology

Greek mythology is the body of myths and legends belonging to the ancient Greeks, concerning their gods and heroes, the nature of the world, and the origins and significance of their own cult and ritual practices. They were a part of religion in ancient Greece...

is a female minor nature deity typically associated with a particular location or landform. Different from gods, nymphs are generally regarded as divine spirits who animate nature, and are usually depicted as beautiful, young nubile

Nubile

Nubile refers to a young woman who is ready or suitable for marriage by virtue of her age or maturity. In recent times it has also been used to refer to a sexually attractive young woman.-Etymology:...

maidens who love to dance and sing; their amorous freedom sets them apart from the restricted and chaste wives and daughters of the Greek polis
Polis
Polis , plural poleis , literally means city in Greek. It could also mean citizenship and body of citizens. In modern historiography "polis" is normally used to indicate the ancient Greek city-states, like Classical Athens and its contemporaries, so polis is often translated as "city-state."The...

. They are believed to dwell in mountains and grove

Grove (nature)

A grove is a small group of trees with minimal or no undergrowth, such as a sequoia grove, or a small orchard planted for the cultivation of fruits or nuts...

s, by springs and rivers, and also in trees and in valleys and cool grotto

Grotto

A grotto is any type of natural or artificial cave that is associated with modern, historic or prehistoric use by humans. When it is not an artificial garden feature, a grotto is often a small cave near water and often flooded or liable to flood at high tide...

es. Although they would never die of old age nor illness, and could give birth to fully immortal children if mated to a god, they themselves were not necessarily immortal, and could be beholden to death in various forms. Charybdis and Scylla were once nymphs

Other nymphs, always in the shape of young maidens, were part of the retinue

Retinue

A retinue is a body of persons "retained" in the service of a noble or royal personage, a suite of "retainers".-Etymology:...

of a god, such as Dionysus

Dionysus

Dionysus was the god of the grape harvest, winemaking and wine, of ritual madness and ecstasy in Greek mythology. His name in Linear B tablets shows he was worshipped from c. 1500—1100 BC by Mycenean Greeks: other traces of Dionysian-type cult have been found in ancient Minoan Crete...

, Hermes

Hermes

Hermes is the great messenger of the gods in Greek mythology and a guide to the Underworld. Hermes was born on Mount Kyllini in Arcadia. An Olympian god, he is also the patron of boundaries and of the travelers who cross them, of shepherds and cowherds, of the cunning of thieves, of orators and...

, or Pan

Pan (mythology)

Pan , in Greek religion and mythology, is the god of the wild, shepherds and flocks, nature, of mountain wilds, hunting and rustic music, as well as the companion of the nymphs. His name originates within the Greek language, from the word paein , meaning "to pasture." He has the hindquarters, legs,...

, or a goddess, generally the huntress Artemis

Artemis

Artemis was one of the most widely venerated of the Ancient Greek deities. Her Roman equivalent is Diana. Some scholars believe that the name and indeed the goddess herself was originally pre-Greek. Homer refers to her as Artemis Agrotera, Potnia Theron: "Artemis of the wildland, Mistress of Animals"...

. Nymphs were the frequent target of satyr

Satyr

In Greek mythology, satyrs are a troop of male companions of Pan and Dionysus — "satyresses" were a late invention of poets — that roamed the woods and mountains. In myths they are often associated with pipe-playing....

s. They are frequently associated with the superior divinities: the huntress Artemis

Artemis

; the prophetic Apollo; the reveller and god of wine

Wine

Wine is an alcoholic beverage, made of fermented fruit juice, usually from grapes. The natural chemical balance of grapes lets them ferment without the addition of sugars, acids, enzymes, or other nutrients. Grape wine is produced by fermenting crushed grapes using various types of yeast. Yeast...

, Dionysus

Dionysus

; and rustic gods such as Pan and Hermes.

Etymology

Nymphs are personifications of the creative and fostering activities of nature, most often identified with the life-giving outflow of springs: as Walter Burkert

Walter Burkert

Walter Burkert is a German scholar of Greek mythology and cult.An emeritus professor of classics at the University of Zurich, Switzerland, he also has taught in the United Kingdom and the United States...

(Burkert 1985:III.3.3) remarks, "The idea that rivers are gods and springs divine nymphs 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."

The Greek

Greek language

Greek is an independent branch of the Indo-European family of languages. Native to the southern Balkans, it has the longest documented history of any Indo-European language, spanning 34 centuries of written records. Its writing system has been the Greek alphabet for the majority of its history;...

word νύμφη has "bride" and "veiled" among its meanings: hence a marriageable young woman. Other readers refer the word (and also Latin

Latin

Latin is an Italic language originally spoken in Latium and Ancient Rome. It, along with most European languages, is a descendant of the ancient Proto-Indo-European language. Although it is considered a dead language, a number of scholars and members of the Christian clergy speak it fluently, and...

nubere and German

German language

German is a West Germanic language, related to and classified alongside English and Dutch. With an estimated 90 – 98 million native speakers, German is one of the world's major languages and is the most widely-spoken first language in the European Union....

Knospe) to a root expressing the idea of "swelling" (according to Hesychius

Hesychius of Alexandria

Hesychius of Alexandria , a grammarian who flourished probably in the 5th century CE, compiled the richest lexicon of unusual and obscure Greek words that has survived...

, one of the meanings of νύμφη is "rose-bud").

Adaptations

The Greek nymphs were spirits invariably bound to places, not unlike the Latin genius loci
Genius loci
In classical Roman religion a genius loci was the protective spirit of a place. It was often depicted in religious iconography as a figure holding a Cornucopia, patera and/or a snake. There are many Roman altars found in Western Europe dedicated in whole or in part to the particular Genius Loci...

, and the difficulty of transferring their cult may be seen in the complicated myth that brought Arethusa

Arethusa (mythology)

For other uses, see ArethusaArethusa means "the waterer". In Greek mythology, she was a nymph and daughter of Nereus , and later became a fountain on the island of Ortygia in Syracuse, Sicily....

to Sicily. In the works of the Greek-educated Latin poets

Latin literature

Latin literature includes the essays, histories, poems, plays, and other writings of the ancient Romans. In many ways, it seems to be a continuation of Greek literature, using many of the same forms...

, the nymphs gradually absorbed into their ranks the indigenous Italian divinities of springs and streams (Juturna

Juturna

In the myth and religion of ancient Rome, Juturna was a goddess of fountains, wells and springs. She was a sister of Turnus and supported him against Aeneas by giving him his sword after he dropped it in battle, as well as taking him away from the battle when it seemed he would get killed...

, Egeria

Egeria (mythology)

Egeria was a nymph attributed a legendary role in the early history of Rome as a divine consort and counselor of the Sabine second king of Rome, Numa Pompilius, to whom she imparted laws and rituals pertaining to ancient Roman religion...

, Carmentis, Fontus

Fontus

In ancient Roman religion, Fontus or Fons was a god of wells and springs. A religious festival called the Fontinalia was held on October 13 in his honor. Throughout the city, fountains and wellheads were adorned with garlands.Fons was the son of Juturna and Janus...

), while the Lympha

Lympha

The Lympha is an ancient Roman deity of fresh water. She is one of twelve agricultural deities listed by Varro as "leaders" of Roman farmers, because "without water all agriculture is dry and poor." The Lymphae are often connected to Fons, "Source" or "Font," a god of fountains and wellheads...

e (originally Lumpae), Italian water-goddesses, owing to the accidental similarity of their names, 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

Latium

Lazio is one of the 20 administrative regions of Italy, situated in the central peninsular section of the country. With about 5.7 million residents and a GDP of more than 170 billion euros, Lazio is the third most populated and the second richest region of Italy...

. Among the Roman

Roman Empire

The Roman Empire was the post-Republican period of the ancient Roman civilization, characterised by an autocratic form of government and large territorial holdings in Europe and around the Mediterranean....

literate class, their sphere of influence was restricted, and they appear almost exclusively as divinities of the watery element.

In modern Greek folklore

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

Nereids

In Greek mythology, the Nereids are sea nymphs, the fifty daughters of Nereus and Doris, sisters to Nerites. They often accompany Poseidon and can be friendly and helpful to sailors fighting perilous storms. They are particularly associated with the Aegean Sea, where they dwelt with their father...

". 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."

Nymphs tended to frequent areas distant from humans but could be encountered by lone travelers outside 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 human. When parents believed their child to be nereid-struck, they would pray to Saint Artemidos.

Modern sexual connotations

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

Perry Mason

Perry Mason is a fictional character, a defense attorney who was the main character in works of detective fiction authored by Erle Stanley Gardner. Perry Mason was featured in more than 80 novels and short stories, most of which had a plot involving his client's murder trial...

detective novel The Case of the Negligent Nymph (1956) by Erle Stanley Gardner

Erle Stanley Gardner

Erle Stanley Gardner was an American lawyer and author of detective stories, best known for the Perry Mason series, he also published under the pseudonyms A.A. Fair, Kyle Corning, Charles M. Green, Carleton Kendrake, Charles J...

is derived from this meaning of the word.)

The term nymphomania was created by modern psychology

Psychology

Psychology is the study of the mind and behavior. Its immediate goal is to understand individuals and groups by both establishing general principles and researching specific cases. For many, the ultimate goal of psychology is to benefit society...

as referring to a "desire to engage in human sexual behavior

Human sexual behavior

Human sexual activities or human sexual practices or human sexual behavior refers to the manner in which humans experience and express their sexuality. People engage in a variety of sexual acts from time to time, and for a wide variety of reasons...

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 prefer the term hypersexuality
Hypersexuality
Hypersexuality is extremely frequent or suddenly increased sexual urges or sexual activity. Hypersexuality is typically associated with lowered sexual inhibitions. Although hypersexuality can be caused by some medical conditions or medications, in most cases the cause is unknown...

, which can refer to males and females alike.

The word nymphet is used to identify a sexually precocious girl. The term was made famous in the novel Lolita
Lolita
Lolita is a novel by Vladimir Nabokov, first written in English and published in 1955 in Paris and 1958 in New York, and later translated by the author into Russian...

by Vladimir Nabokov

Vladimir Nabokov

Vladimir Vladimirovich Nabokov was a multilingual Russian novelist and short story writer. Nabokov wrote his first nine novels in Russian, then rose to international prominence as a master English prose stylist...

. The main character, Humbert Humbert, uses the term countless times, usually in reference to the title character.

Nymphs who mate with the god Poseidon, are believed to give birth to the mythical creature, cyclops.

Classification

As H.J. Rose states, all the names for various classes of nymphs are plural feminine adjectives agreeing with the substantive nymphai, and there was no single classification that could be seen as canonical and exhaustive. Thus the classes of nymphs tend to overlap, which complicates the task of precise classification. Rose mentions dryad

Dryad

Dryads are tree nymphs in Greek mythology. In Greek drys signifies 'oak,' from an Indo-European root *derew- 'tree' or 'wood'. Thus Dryads are specifically the nymphs of oak trees, though the term has come to be used for all tree nymphs in general...

s and hamadryad

Hamadryad

Hamadryads are Greek mythological beings that live in trees. They are a particular type of dryad, which in turn are a particular type of nymph. Hamadryads are born bonded to a particular tree. Some believe that hamadryads are the actual tree, while normal dryads are simply the entities, or...

s as nymphs of trees generally, meliai as nymphs of ash tree

Ash tree

Fraxinus is a genus flowering plants in the olive and lilac family, Oleaceae. It contains 45-65 species of usually medium to large trees, mostly deciduous though a few subtropical species are evergreen. The tree's common English name, ash, goes back to the Old English æsc, while the generic name...

s, and naiad

Naiad

In Greek mythology, the Naiads or Naiades were a type of nymph who presided over fountains, wells, springs, streams, and brooks....

s as nymphs of water, but no others specifically.

Classification by type of dwelling

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

Celestial nymphs
- Aurae (breezes), also called Aetae or Pnoae
- Asteriae (stars), mainly comprising the Atlantides (daughters of Atlas
  Atlas (mythology)
  In Greek mythology, Atlas was the primordial Titan who supported the heavens. Although associated with various places, he became commonly identified with the Atlas Mountains in north-west Africa...
  
  )
  - Hesperides
    Hesperides
    In Greek mythology, the Hesperides are nymphs who tend a blissful garden in a far western corner of the world, located near the Atlas mountains in North Africa at the edge of the encircling Oceanus, the world-ocean....
    
    (nymphs of the West, daughters of Atlas; also had attributes of the Hamadryads)
    - Aegle ("dazzling light")
    - Arethusa
      Arethusa (mythology)
      For other uses, see ArethusaArethusa means "the waterer". In Greek mythology, she was a nymph and daughter of Nereus , and later became a fountain on the island of Ortygia in Syracuse, Sicily....
    - Erytheia (or Eratheis)
    - Hesperia
      Hesperides
      In Greek mythology, the Hesperides are nymphs who tend a blissful garden in a far western corner of the world, located near the Atlas mountains in North Africa at the edge of the encircling Oceanus, the world-ocean....
      
      (or Hispereia)
  - Hyades
    Hyades (mythology)
    In Greek mythology, the Hyades , are a sisterhood of nymphs that bring rain.The Hyades were daughters of Atlas and sisters of Hyas in most tellings, although one version gives their parents as Hyas and Boeotia...
    
    (star cluster; sent rain)
  - Pleiades
    Pleiades (Greek mythology)
    The Pleiades , companions of Artemis, were the seven daughters of the titan Atlas and the sea-nymph Pleione born on Mount Cyllene. They are the sisters of Calypso, Hyas, the Hyades, and the Hesperides...
    
    (daughters of Atlas
    Atlas (mythology)
    In Greek mythology, Atlas was the primordial Titan who supported the heavens. Although associated with various places, he became commonly identified with the Atlas Mountains in north-west Africa...
    
    and Pleione
    Pleione (mythology)
    Pleione was an Oceanid nymph. She lived in a southern region of Greece called Arcadia, on a mountain named Mount Kyllini. She married Atlas and gave birth to the Hyades, Hyas and the Pleiades.-The Pleiades:...
    
    ; constellation; also were classed as Oreads)
    - Maia
      Maia (mythology)
      In Greek mythology, Maia is one of the Pleiades and the mother of Hermes. The goddess known as Maia among the Romans may have originated independently, but attracted the myths of Greek Maia because the two figures shared the same name.-Birth:...
      
      (partner of Zeus and mother of Hermes)
    - Electra
      Electra (Pleiad)
      The Pleiad Electra of Greek mythology was one of the seven daughters of Atlas and Pleione. Electra was the wife of Corythus. She was raped by Zeus and gave birth to Dardanus, who became the founder of Troy, ancestor of Priam and his house. According to one legend, she was the lost Pleiad,...
    - Taygete
      Taygete
      In Greek mythology, Taygete was a nymph, one of the Pleiades according to Apollodorus and a companion of Artemis, in her archaic role as potnia theron, "Mistress of the animals". Mount Taygetos in Laconia, dedicated to the Goddess, was her haunt....
    - Alcyone
      Alcyone (Pleiades)
      Alcyone in Greek mythology is the name of one of the Pleiades, daughters of Atlas and Pleione or, more rarely, Aethra. She attracted the attention of the god Poseidon and bore him several children, variously named in the sources: Hyrieus, Lycus, Hyperenor, and Aethusa; Hyperes and Anthas;...
    - Celaeno
    - Asterope
      Sterope (Pleiad)
      In Greek mythology, Sterope , also called Asterope , was one of the seven Pleiades and the wife of Oenomaus ....
    - Merope
      Merope (Pleiades)
      In Greek mythology, Merope is one of the seven Pleiades, daughters of Atlas and Pleione. Pleione, their mother, is the daughter of Oceanus and Tethyus and is the protector of sailors...
- Nephelae (clouds)
Land nymphs
- Alseid
  Alseid
  In Greek mythology, Alseids were the nymphs of glens and groves. Of the Classical writers, the first and perhaps only poet to use the term alseid is Homer. Rather than alseid he used alsea...
  
  es (glens, groves)
- Auloniad
  Auloniad
  The names of different species of nymphs varied according to their natural abodes. The Auloniad was a nymph who could be 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...
  
  es (pastures)
- Leimakid
  Leimakid
  In Greek Mythology, Leimakids were nymphs of meadows. They are also known as Leimoniads....
  
  es or Leimonides (meadows)
- Napaea
  Napaeae
  In Greek mythology, the Napaeae were a type of nymph that lived in wooded valleys, glens or grottoes. Statius invoked them in his Thebaid, when the naiad Ismenis addresses her mortal son Krenaios:"I was held a greater goddess and the queen of Nymphae...
  
  e (mountain valleys, glens)
- Oread
  Oread
  In Greek mythology, an Oread or Orestiad was a type of nymph that lived in mountains, valleys, ravines. They differ from each other according to their dwelling: the Idae were from Mount Ida, Peliades from Mount Pelia, etc...
  
  s (mountains, grottoes), also Orodemniades

Wood and plant nymphs
- Anthousai
  Anthousai
  Anthousai are nymphs of flowers in Greek mythology. They were described as having hair that resembles hyacinth flowers.-Sources:*...
  
  (flowers)
- Dryad
  Dryad
  Dryads are tree nymphs in Greek mythology. In Greek drys signifies 'oak,' from an Indo-European root *derew- 'tree' or 'wood'. Thus Dryads are specifically the nymphs of oak trees, though the term has come to be used for all tree nymphs in general...
  
  es (trees)
- Hamadryad
  Hamadryad
  Hamadryads are Greek mythological beings that live in trees. They are a particular type of dryad, which in turn are a particular type of nymph. Hamadryads are born bonded to a particular tree. Some believe that hamadryads are the actual tree, while normal dryads are simply the entities, or...
  
  es or Hadryades
  - Daphnaeae
    Daphnaie
    In Greek mythology the Daphnaie are the nymphs of the laurel trees.Like the other Dryads, they are the spirits of the trees and spend most of their time sleeping behind the bark. They only come out to dance when the coast is clear....
    
    (laurel
    Bay Laurel
    The bay laurel , also known as sweet bay, bay tree, true laurel, Grecian laurel, laurel tree, or simply laurel, is an aromatic evergreen tree or large shrub with green, glossy leaves, native to the Mediterranean region. It is the source of the bay leaf used in cooking...
    
    tree)
  - Epimeliad
    Epimeliad
    In Greek mythology, the Epimeliads or Epimelides are nymphs who are protectors of apple trees. However, the word for "apple" in ancient Greek texts is also the word for "sheep". This translation gives Epimeliads as protectors of sheep and goats. Their hair was white, like apple blossoms or undyed...
    
    es or Epimelides (apple
    Apple
    The apple is the pomaceous fruit of the apple tree, species Malus domestica in the rose family . It is one of the most widely cultivated tree fruits, and the most widely known of the many members of genus Malus that are used by humans. Apple grow on small, deciduous trees that blossom in the spring...
    
    tree; also protected flocks), other name variants include Meliades, Maliades and Hamameliades; same as these are also the Boucolai (Pastoral Nymphs)
  - Kissiae (ivy
    Ivy
    Ivy, plural ivies is a genus of 12–15 species of evergreen climbing or ground-creeping woody plants in the family Araliaceae, native to western, central and southern Europe, Macaronesia, northwestern Africa and across central-southern Asia east to Japan and Taiwan.-Description:On level ground they...
    
    )
  - Meliae
    Meliae
    In Greek mythology, the Meliae or Meliai were nymphs of the ash tree, whose name they shared. They appeared from the drops of blood spilled when Cronus castrated Uranus, according to Hesiod, Theogony 187. From the same blood sprang the Erinyes, suggesting that the ash-tree nymphs represented the...
    
    (manna-ash tree
    Ash tree
    Fraxinus is a genus flowering plants in the olive and lilac family, Oleaceae. It contains 45-65 species of usually medium to large trees, mostly deciduous though a few subtropical species are evergreen. The tree's common English name, ash, goes back to the Old English æsc, while the generic name...
    
    )
- Hyleoroi (watchers of woods)
Water nymphs (Hydriades or Ephydriades)
- Haliae (sea and seashores)
  - Nereids
    Nereids
    In Greek mythology, the Nereids are sea nymphs, the fifty daughters of Nereus and Doris, sisters to Nerites. They often accompany Poseidon and can be friendly and helpful to sailors fighting perilous storms. They are particularly associated with the Aegean Sea, where they dwelt with their father...
    
    (50 daughters of Nereus
    Nereus
    In Greek mythology, Nereus was the eldest son of Pontus and Gaia , a Titan who with Doris fathered the Nereids, with whom Nereus lived in the Aegean Sea. In the Iliad the Old Man of the Sea is the father of Nereids, though Nereus is not directly named...
    
    , the Mediterranean Sea
    Mediterranean Sea
    The Mediterranean Sea is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean surrounded by the Mediterranean region and almost completely enclosed by land: on the north by Anatolia and Europe, on the south by North Africa, and on the east by the Levant...
    
    )
- Naiads or Naides (fresh water)
  - Crinaeae
    Crinaeae
    In Greek mythology, the Crinaeae were a type of Naiad nymphs associated with fountains or wells.The number of Crinaeae includes but is not limited to:# Aganippe# Appias...
    
    (fountains)
  - Eleionomae
    Eleionomae
    The Eleionomae were marsh naiads in ancient Greek mythology. Aside from living in marshy environments, the Eleionomae often misled travelers with their illusions. The illusions constituted images of a traveler's loved ones. These nymphs also lured young, virgin boys and seduced them with their...
    
    (wetlands)
  - Limnades
    Limnades
    In Greek mythology, the Limnades / Leimenides were a type of Naiad. They lived in freshwater lakes. Their parents were river or lake gods.The number of Limnades includes but is not limited to:...
    
    or Limnatides (lakes)
  - Pegaeae
    Pegaeae
    In Greek mythology, the Pegaeae were a type of naiad that lived in springs. They were often considered daughters of the river gods , thus establishing a mythological relationship between a river itself and its springs....
    
    (springs)
  - Potameides (rivers)
- Oceanid
  Oceanid
  In Greek mythology and, later, Roman mythology, the Oceanids were the three thousand daughters of the Titans Oceanus and Tethys. Each was the patroness of a particular spring, river, sea, lake, pond, pasture, flower or cloud...
  
  s (daughters of Oceanus
  Oceanus
  Oceanus ; , Ōkeanós) was a pseudo-geographical feature in classical antiquity, believed by the ancient Greeks and Romans to be the world-ocean, an enormous river encircling the world....
  
  and Tethys
  Tethys (mythology)
  In Greek mythology, Tethys , daughter of Uranus and Gaia was an archaic Titaness and aquatic sea goddess, invoked in classical Greek poetry but not venerated in cult. Tethys was both sister and wife of Oceanus...
  
  , any water, usually salty)
  - see List of Oceanids

Underworld nymphs
- Cocytiae, daughters of the river god Cocytus
  Cocytus
  Cocytus or Kokytos, meaning "the river of wailing" , is a river in the underworld in Greek mythology. Cocytus flows into the river Acheron, across which dwells the underworld, the mythological abode of the dead. There are five rivers encircling Hades...
- Lampades - torch bearers in the retinue of Hecate
  Hecate
  Hecate or Hekate is a chthonic Greco-Roman goddess associated with magic, witchcraft, necromancy, and crossroads.She is attested in poetry as early as Hesiod's Theogony...
- individual underworld nymphs:
  - Gorgyra
  - Leuce
    Leuce (mythology)
    In Greco-Roman mythology, Leuce or Leuka was the most beautiful of the nymphs and a daughter of Oceanus. Pluto fell in love with her and abducted her to the underworld...
    
    (white poplar
    White Poplar
    Populus alba, commonly called abele, silver poplar, silverleaf poplar, or white poplar, is a species of poplar, most closely related to the aspens . It is native from Spain and Morocco through central Europe to central Asia...
    
    tree), lover of Hades
    Hades
    Hades , Hadēs, originally , Haidēs or , Aidēs , meaning "the unseen") was the ancient Greek god of the underworld. The genitive , Haidou, was an elision to denote locality: "[the house/dominion] of Hades". Eventually, the nominative came to designate the abode of the dead.In Greek mythology, Hades...
  - Minthe
    Minthe
    In Greek mythology, Minthe was a naiad associated with the river Cocytus. She was dazzled by Hades' golden chariot and was about to be seduced by him had not Queen Persephone intervened and metamorphosed Minthe into the pungently sweet-smelling mint, which some call hedyosmus...
    
    (mint
    Mentha
    Mentha is a genus of flowering plants in the family Lamiaceae . The species are not clearly distinct and estimates of the number of species varies from 13 to 18. Hybridization between some of the species occurs naturally...
    
    ), lover of Hades
    Hades
    Hades , Hadēs, originally , Haidēs or , Aidēs , meaning "the unseen") was the ancient Greek god of the underworld. The genitive , Haidou, was an elision to denote locality: "[the house/dominion] of Hades". Eventually, the nominative came to designate the abode of the dead.In Greek mythology, Hades...
    
    , rival of Persephone
    Persephone
    In Greek mythology, Persephone , also called Kore , is the daughter of Zeus and the harvest-goddess Demeter, and queen of the underworld; she was abducted by Hades, the god-king of the underworld....
  - Orphne
    Orphne
    In Greek mythology, Orphne, also known as Styx and Gorgyra, was a nymph that lived in Hades. With Acheron, she mothered Ascalaphus.Orphne also seems to be one translation of the name of the Roman goddess Caligo ....
Other nymphs
- Hecaterides (rustic dance) - sisters of the Dactyls
  Dactyl (mythology)
  In Greek mythology, the Dactyls were the archaic mythical race of small phallic male beings associated with the Great Mother, whether as Cybele or Rhea. Their numbers vary, but often they were ten spirit-men so like the three Curetes, the Cabiri or the Korybantes that they were often interchangeable...
  
  , mothers of the Oreads and the Satyr
  Satyr
  In Greek mythology, satyrs are a troop of male companions of Pan and Dionysus — "satyresses" were a late invention of poets — that roamed the woods and mountains. In myths they are often associated with pipe-playing....
  
  s
- Kabeirides - sisters of the Kabeiroi
- Maenads or Bacchai or Bacchantes - frenzied nymphs in the retinue of Dionysus
  Dionysus
  Dionysus was the god of the grape harvest, winemaking and wine, of ritual madness and ecstasy in Greek mythology. His name in Linear B tablets shows he was worshipped from c. 1500—1100 BC by Mycenean Greeks: other traces of Dionysian-type cult have been found in ancient Minoan Crete...
  - Lenai (wine-press)
  - Mimallones (music)
  - Naides (Naiads)
  - Thyiai or Thyiades (thyrsus
    Thyrsus
    In Greek mythology, a thyrsus or thyrsos was a staff of giant fennel covered with ivy vines and leaves, sometimes wound with taeniae and always topped with a pine cone. These staffs were carried by Dionysus and his followers. Euripides wrote that honey dripped from the thyrsos staves that the...
    
    bearers)
- Melissae (honey bees), likely a subgroup of Oreades or Epimelides
- The Muses
  Muse
  The Muses in Greek mythology, poetry, and literature, are the goddesses who inspire the creation of literature and the arts. They were considered the source of the knowledge, related orally for centuries in the ancient culture, that was contained in poetic lyrics and myths...
  
  (memory, knowledge, art)
- Themeides - daughters of Zeus
  Zeus
  In the ancient Greek religion, Zeus was the "Father of Gods and men" who ruled the Olympians of Mount Olympus as a father ruled the family. He was the god of sky and thunder in Greek mythology. His Roman counterpart is Jupiter and his Etruscan counterpart is Tinia.Zeus was the child of Cronus...
  
  and Themis
  Themis
  Themis is an ancient Greek Titaness. She is described as "of good counsel", and is the embodiment of divine order, law, and custom. Themis means "divine law" rather than human ordinance, literally "that which is put in place", from the verb τίθημι, títhēmi, "to put"...
  
  , prophets and keepers of certain divine artifacts

Location-specific groupings of nymphs

The following is a list of groups of nymphs associated with this or that particular location. Nymphs in such groupings could belong to any of the classes mentioned above (Naiades, Oreades, and so on).

Aeaean Nymphs (Aeaea
Aeaea
Aeaea or Eëa was a mythological island said to be the home of the sorceress Circe. Odysseus tells Alcinous that he stayed here for a year on his way home to Ithaca....

Island), handmaidens of Circe
Circe
In Greek mythology, Circe is a minor goddess of magic , described in Homer's Odyssey as "The loveliest of all immortals", living on the island of Aeaea, famous for her part in the adventures of Odysseus.By most accounts, Circe was the daughter of Helios, the god of the sun, and Perse, an Oceanid...
Aegaeides (Aegaeus River on the island of Scheria
Scheria
Scheria –also known as Scherie or Phaeacia– was a geographical region in Greek mythology, first mentioned in Homer's Odyssey as the home of the Phaiakians and the last destination of Odysseus before returning home to Ithaca.-Odysseus meets Nausikaa:In the Odyssey, after Odysseus sails...

)
Aesepides (Aesepus
Aesepus
In Greek mythology, Aesepus may refer to:*The son of the naiad Abarbarea and Bucolion. His twin brother was Pedasus; the pair appears briefly in the Iliad, Book VI...

River in Anatolia
Anatolia
Anatolia is a geographic and historical term denoting the westernmost protrusion of Asia, comprising the majority of the Republic of Turkey...

)
- Abarbarea
  Abarbarea
  In classical Greek and Roman mythology, Abarbarea is a naiad, daughter of the river god Aesepus. She was the wife of Bucolion and had two sons by him, Aesepus and Pedasus. Abarbarea is also one of the three ancestors of the Tyrians, along with Callirrhoe and Drosera...
Acheloides (Achelous River)
- Callirhoe, second wife of Alcmaeon
Acmenes (Stadium in Olympia
Olympia, Greece
Olympia , a sanctuary of ancient Greece in Elis, is known for having been the site of the Olympic Games in classical times, comparable in importance to the Pythian Games held in Delphi. Both games were held every Olympiad , the Olympic Games dating back possibly further than 776 BC...

, Elis
Elis
Elis, or Eleia is an ancient district that corresponds with the modern Elis peripheral unit...

)
Amnisiades (Amnisos River on the island of Crete
Crete
Crete is the largest and most populous of the Greek islands, the fifth largest island in the Mediterranean Sea, and one of the thirteen administrative regions of Greece. It forms a significant part of the economy and cultural heritage of Greece while retaining its own local cultural traits...

), who entered the retinue of Artemis
Artemis
Artemis was one of the most widely venerated of the Ancient Greek deities. Her Roman equivalent is Diana. Some scholars believe that the name and indeed the goddess herself was originally pre-Greek. Homer refers to her as Artemis Agrotera, Potnia Theron: "Artemis of the wildland, Mistress of Animals"...
Anigrides (Anigros River in Elis
Elis
Elis, or Eleia is an ancient district that corresponds with the modern Elis peripheral unit...

), who were believed to cure skin diseases
Asopides (Asopus
Asopus
Asopus or Asôpos is the name of four different rivers in Greece and one in Turkey. In Greek mythology, it was the name of the gods of those rivers.-The rivers in Greece:...

River in Sicyonia and Boeotia
Boeotia
Boeotia, also spelled Beotia and Bœotia , is one of the regional units of Greece. It is part of the region of Central Greece. It was also a region of ancient Greece. Its capital is Livadeia, the second largest city being Thebes.-Geography:...

)
- Aegina
  Aegina (mythology)
  Aegina was a figure of Greek mythology, the nymph of the island that bears her name, Aegina, lying in the Saronic Gulf between Attica and the Peloponnesos. The archaic Temple of Aphaea, the "Invisible Goddess", on the island was later subsumed by the cult of Athena...
- Asopis
- Chalcis
- Cleone
- Corcyra
- Euboea
  Euboea (mythology)
  Euboea is the name of several women in Greek mythology.#Euboea, a Naiad, daughter of the Boeotian river-god Asopus and of Metope. Poseidon abducted her. The island of Euboea was given her name....
- Harpina
  Harpina
  In Greek mythology, Harpina was a Naiad nymph and daughter of Phliasian Asopus and of Metope. Pausanias and Diodorus Siculus mention Harpina and state that, according to the tradition of the Eleans and Phliasians, Ares mated with her in the city of Pisa and she bore him Oenomaus, the king of Pisa...
- Ismene
- Nemea
- Oeroe
- Ornea
- Peirene
- Plataia
- Salamis
  Salamis (mythology)
  Salamis was a nymph in Greek mythology, the daughter of the river god Asopus and Metope, daughter of the Ladon, another river god. She was carried away by Poseidon to the island which was named after her, whereupon she bore the god a son Cychreus who became king of the island....
- Sinope
  Sinope (mythology)
  In Greek Mythology, Sinope was one of the daughters of Asopus and thought to be an eponym of the city Sinope on the Black Sea.According to Corinna and Diodorus Siculus, Sinope was seized by the god Apollo and carried over to the place where later stood the city honouring her name...
- Tanagra
- Thebe
- Thespeia
Astakides (Lake Astakos in Bithynia
Bithynia
Bithynia was an ancient region, kingdom and Roman province in the northwest of Asia Minor, adjoining the Propontis, the Thracian Bosporus and the Euxine .-Description:...

)
- Nicaea
  Nicaea (mythology)
  In Greek mythology, Nicaea was a nymph , the daughter of the river-god Sangarius and Cybele. She was beloved by a shepherd, Hymnus, and killed him, but Eros took vengeance upon her, and Dionysus, who first intoxicated her, made her mother of Telete, whereupon she attempted to hang herself; yet she...
Asterionides (Asterion
Asterion
In Greek mythology, Asterion denotes two sacred kings of Crete. The first Asterion or Asterius , the son of Tectamus or son of Neleus and Chloris by the Greeks called "king" of Crete, was the consort of Europa and stepfather of her sons by Zeus, who had to assume the form of the Cretan bull of...

River) - nurses of Hera
Hera
Hera was the wife and one of three sisters of Zeus in the Olympian pantheon of Greek mythology and religion. Her chief function was as the goddess of women and marriage. Her counterpart in the religion of ancient Rome was Juno. The cow and the peacock were sacred to her...
- Acraea
  Acraea
  Acraea was a name that had several uses in Greek and Roman mythology.*Acraea was a daughter of the river-god Asterion near Mycenae, who together with her sisters Euboea and Prosymna acted as nurses to Hera...
- Euboea
  Euboea
  Euboea is the second largest Greek island in area and population, after Crete. The narrow Euripus Strait separates it from Boeotia in mainland Greece. In general outline it is a long and narrow, seahorse-shaped island; it is about long, and varies in breadth from to...
- Prosymna
Carian Naiades (Caria
Caria
Caria was a region of western Anatolia extending along the coast from mid-Ionia south to Lycia and east to Phrygia. The Ionian and Dorian Greeks colonized the west of it and joined the Carian population in forming Greek-dominated states there...

)
- Salmacis
  Salmacis
  In Greek mythology, Salmacis was an atypical naiad who rejected the ways of the virginal Greek goddess Artemis in favour of vanity and idleness. Her attempted rape of Hermaphroditus places her as the only nymph rapist in the Greek mythological canon ."There dwelt a Nymph, not up for hunting or...
Nymphs of Ceos
Corycian Nymphs
Corycian
The Corycian Nymphs were the three Naiads of the sacred springs of the Corycian Cave of Mount Parnassus in Phocis. The names of the nymphs are Corycia, Kleodora and Melaina; their father's name was Kephisos or Pleistos....

(Corycian Cave
Corycian Cave
The Corycian Cave is located on the slopes of Mount Parnassus, in Greece. In the mythology of the area, it is named after the nymph Corycia; however, its name etymologically derives from korykos, "knapsack". A modern name for the cave in some references is Sarantavli, meaning "forty rooms"...

)
- Cleodora
  Cleodora
  Cleodora may refer to:* Another name for the plant genus Croton* In Greek mythology:** One of the Danaids** Kleodora, one of the Thriae...
- Corycia
  Corycia
  In Greek mythology, Corycia was a naiad who lived on Mount Parnassus in Phocis. Her father was the local river-god Kephisos or Pleistos of northern Boeotia. With Apollo, she became the mother of Lycoreus. Corycia was one of the nymphs of the springs of the Corycian Cave which was named after her...
- Daphnis
- Melaina
  Melaina
  In Greek mythology, Melaina was a Corycian nymph, or member of the prophetic Thriae, of the springs of Delphi in Phocis, who was loved by Apollo bearing him Delphos. Her father was the local river-gods Kephisos, or Pleistos of northern Boeotia. Her name meant the black suggesting she presides over...
Cydnides (River Cydnus in Cilicia
Cilicia
In antiquity, Cilicia was the south coastal region of Asia Minor, south of the central Anatolian plateau. It existed as a political entity from Hittite times into the Byzantine empire...

)
Cyrenaean Nymphs (City of Cyrene, Libya
Cyrene, Libya
Cyrene was an ancient Greek colony and then a Roman city in present-day Shahhat, Libya, the oldest and most important of the five Greek cities in the region. It gave eastern Libya the classical name Cyrenaica that it has retained to modern times.Cyrene lies in a lush valley in the Jebel Akhdar...

)
Cypriae Nymphs (Island of Cyprus
Cyprus
Cyprus , officially the Republic of Cyprus , is a Eurasian island country, member of the European Union, in the Eastern Mediterranean, east of Greece, south of Turkey, west of Syria and north of Egypt. It is the third largest island in the Mediterranean Sea.The earliest known human activity on the...

)
Cyrtonian Nymphs (Town of Cyrtone, Boeotia
Boeotia
Boeotia, also spelled Beotia and Bœotia , is one of the regional units of Greece. It is part of the region of Central Greece. It was also a region of ancient Greece. Its capital is Livadeia, the second largest city being Thebes.-Geography:...

)
Deliades (Island of Delos
Delos
The island of Delos , isolated in the centre of the roughly circular ring of islands called the Cyclades, near Mykonos, is one of the most important mythological, historical and archaeological sites in Greece...

) - daughters of the river god Inopos
Dodonides (Oracle at Dodona
Dodona
Dodona in Epirus in northwestern Greece, was an oracle devoted to a Mother Goddess identified at other sites with Rhea or Gaia, but here called Dione, who was joined and partly supplanted in historical times by the Greek god Zeus.The shrine of Dodona was regarded as the oldest Hellenic oracle,...

)
Erasinides (Erasinos River in Argos
Argos
Argos is a city and a former municipality in Argolis, Peloponnese, Greece. Since the 2011 local government reform it is part of the municipality Argos-Mykines, of which it is a municipal unit. It is 11 kilometres from Nafplion, which was its historic harbour...

), followers of Britomartis
Britomartis
Britomartis , was the Minoan goddess of mountains and hunting. She is among the Minoan goddess figures that passed through the Mycenaeans' culture into classical Greek mythology, with transformations that are unclear in both transferrals...
- Anchiroe
- Byze
- Maira
  Maera
  -Mythology and religion:*The name Maera or Maira is used by several beings in Greek mythology:**Maera , hound of Icarius, was turned into the dog star**Maera , daughter of Proetus, mother of Locrus by Zeus...
- Melite
Nymphs of the river Granicus
Granicus
The Biga River is a small river or large creek in Çanakkale Province in northwestern Turkey. The river begins at the base of Mount Ida and trends generally northeasterly to the Sea of Marmara. It is located approximately 50 km to the east of the Dardanelles. It flows past the towns of Çan...
- Alexirhoe
- Pegasis
Heliades
Heliades
In Greek mythology, the Heliades were the daughters of Helios and Clymene the Oceanid.According to one source, there were three of them: Aegiale, Aegle, and Aetheria. According to another source, there were five: Helia, Merope, Phoebe, Aetheria, and Dioxippe...

(River Eridanos
Eridanos (mythology)
The river Eridanos or Eridanus is a river mentioned in Greek mythology. Virgil considered it one of the rivers of Hades in his Aeneid VI, 659.-Ancient references:...

) - daughters of Helios
Helios
Helios was the personification of the Sun in Greek mythology. Homer often calls him simply Titan or Hyperion, while Hesiod and the Homeric Hymn separate him as a son of the Titans Hyperion and Theia or Euryphaessa and brother of the goddesses Selene, the moon, and Eos, the dawn...

who were changed into trees
Himeriai Naiades (Local springs at the town of Himera
Himera
thumb|250px|Remains of the Temple of Victory.thumb|250px|Ideal reconstruction of the Temple of Victory.Himera , was an important ancient Greek city of Sicily, situated on the north coast of the island, at the mouth of the river of the same name , between Panormus and Cephaloedium...

, Sicily
Sicily
Sicily is a region of Italy, and is the largest island in the Mediterranean Sea. Along with the surrounding minor islands, it constitutes an autonomous region of Italy, the Regione Autonoma Siciliana Sicily has a rich and unique culture, especially with regard to the arts, music, literature,...

)
Hydaspides (River Hydaspes in India
India
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...

), nurses of infant Zagreus
Zagreus
In ancient Greek religion and myth, the obscure and ancient figure of Zagreus was identified with the god Dionysus and was worshipped by followers of Orphism, whose late Orphic hymns invoke his name....
Idaean Nymphs (Mount Ida), nurses of infant Zeus
Zeus
In the ancient Greek religion, Zeus was the "Father of Gods and men" who ruled the Olympians of Mount Olympus as a father ruled the family. He was the god of sky and thunder in Greek mythology. His Roman counterpart is Jupiter and his Etruscan counterpart is Tinia.Zeus was the child of Cronus...
- Ida
- Adrasteia
  Adrasteia
  In Greek mythology, Adrasteia was a nymph who was charged by Rhea with nurturing the infant Zeus, in secret in the Dictaean cave, to protect him from his father Cronus .-Zeus:Adrasteia and her sister Ida, the nymph of Mount Ida, who also...
Inachides (Inachus
Inachus
In Greek mythology, Inachus was a king of Argos after whom a river was called Inachus River, the modern Panitsa that drains the western margin of the Argive plain...

River)
- Amymone
- Io
  Io (mythology)
  Io was, in Greek mythology, a priestess of Hera in Argos, a nymph who was seduced by Zeus, who changed her into a heifer to escape detection. His wife Hera set ever-watchful Argus Panoptes to guard her, but Hermes was sent to distract the guardian and slay him...
- Hyperia
- Messeis
- Philodice
  Philodice
  Philodice may refer to:* Philodice, daughter of the river-god Inachus, wife of Leucippus, and sister to Io in Greek mythology* Philodice a genus of flowering plants in the family Eriocaulaceae...
Ionides
Ionides
In Greek mythology, the Ionides were a sisterhood of water nymphs. Their individial names were Calliphaea, Synallasis , Pegaea and Iasis....

(Kytheros
Kytheros
Not to be confused with Kythera islandKytheros or Cytherus may refer to:*Kytheros a River-God of Elis in West Peloponnesos*Kytheros an ancient Athenian Deme-References:**The Political Organization of Attica By John S. Traill...

River in Elis
Elis
Elis, or Eleia is an ancient district that corresponds with the modern Elis peripheral unit...

)
- Calliphaea
- Iasis
- Pegaea
- Synallaxis
Ithacian Nymphs (Local springs and caves on the island of Ithaca
Ithaca
Ithaca or Ithaka is an island located in the Ionian Sea, in Greece, with an area of and a little more than three thousand inhabitants. It is also a separate regional unit of the Ionian Islands region, and the only municipality of the regional unit. It lies off the northeast coast of Kefalonia and...

)
Ladonides (Ladon River)
Lamides or Lamusides (Lamos River
Lamos (Cilicia)
The Lamus also Lamos, river is a river of ancient Cilicia, now in Mersin Province, Turkey. The river formed the boundary between Cilicia Campestris and Cilicia Trachea, and later between Cilicia Aspera and Cilicia Propria...

in Cilicia
Cilicia
In antiquity, Cilicia was the south coastal region of Asia Minor, south of the central Anatolian plateau. It existed as a political entity from Hittite times into the Byzantine empire...

), possible nurses of infant Dionysus
Dionysus
Dionysus was the god of the grape harvest, winemaking and wine, of ritual madness and ecstasy in Greek mythology. His name in Linear B tablets shows he was worshipped from c. 1500—1100 BC by Mycenean Greeks: other traces of Dionysian-type cult have been found in ancient Minoan Crete...
Leibethrides (Mounts Helicon and Leibethrios in Boeotia
Boeotia
Boeotia, also spelled Beotia and Bœotia , is one of the regional units of Greece. It is part of the region of Central Greece. It was also a region of ancient Greece. Its capital is Livadeia, the second largest city being Thebes.-Geography:...

; or Mount Leibethros in Thrace
Thrace
Thrace is a historical and geographic area in southeast Europe. As a geographical concept, Thrace designates a region bounded by the Balkan Mountains on the north, Rhodope Mountains and the Aegean Sea on the south, and by the Black Sea and the Sea of Marmara on the east...

)
- Libethrias
- Petra
Lelegeides (Lycia
Lycia
Lycia Lycian: Trm̃mis; ) was a region in Anatolia in what are now the provinces of Antalya and Muğla on the southern coast of Turkey. It was a federation of ancient cities in the region and later a province of the Roman Empire...

, Anatolia
Anatolia
Anatolia is a geographic and historical term denoting the westernmost protrusion of Asia, comprising the majority of the Republic of Turkey...

)
Lycaean Nymphs (Mount Lycaeus
Lycaeus
Lykaion is a mountain in Arcadia. Lykaion has two peaks, the northern one higher than the southern , where the altar of Zeus is located. Mount Lykaion is sacred to Zeus Lykaios, who was said to have been born and brought up on it, and was the home of Pelasgus and his son Lycaon, who is said to...

), nurses of infant Zeus, perhaps a subgroup of the Oceanides
Melian Nymphs (Island of Melos), transformed into frogs by Zeus; not to be confused with the Meliae (ash tree nymphs)
Mycalessides (Mount Mycale
Mycale
Mycale, also Mykale and Mycali , called Samsun Daği and Dilek Daği in modern Turkey, is a mountain on the west coast of central Anatolia in Turkey, north of the mouth of the Maeander and divided from the Greek island of Samos by the 1300 metre wide Samos Strait...

in Caria
Caria
Caria was a region of western Anatolia extending along the coast from mid-Ionia south to Lycia and east to Phrygia. The Ionian and Dorian Greeks colonized the west of it and joined the Carian population in forming Greek-dominated states there...

, Anatolia
Anatolia
Anatolia is a geographic and historical term denoting the westernmost protrusion of Asia, comprising the majority of the Republic of Turkey...

)
Mysian Nymphs (Spring of Pegai near Lake Askanios in Bithynia
Bithynia
Bithynia was an ancient region, kingdom and Roman province in the northwest of Asia Minor, adjoining the Propontis, the Thracian Bosporus and the Euxine .-Description:...

), who abducted Hylas
Hylas
In Greek mythology, Hylas was the son of King Theiodamas of the Dryopians. Roman sources such as Ovid state that Hylas' father was Hercules and his mother was the nymph Melite, or that his mother was the wife of Theiodamas, whose adulterous affair with Heracles caused the war between him and her...
- Euneica
- Malis
- Nycheia
Naxian Nymphs (Mount Drios on the island of Naxos
Naxos (island)
Naxos is a Greek island, the largest island in the Cyclades island group in the Aegean. It was the centre of archaic Cycladic culture....

), nurses of infant Dionysus; were syncretized with the Hyades
Hyades (mythology)
In Greek mythology, the Hyades , are a sisterhood of nymphs that bring rain.The Hyades were daughters of Atlas and sisters of Hyas in most tellings, although one version gives their parents as Hyas and Boeotia...
- Cleide
- Coronis
- Philia
Neaerides (Thrinacia
Thrinacia
Thrinakia , also Trinacria or Thrinacie, mentioned in Book 11 of Homer's Odyssey, is the island home of Helios's cattle, guarded by his eldest daughter, Lampetia...

Island) - daughters of Helios and Neaera
Neaera
Neaera, Neæra, or Neaira are different transliterations of an Ancient Greek name . They may refer to:-Characters in Ancient Greek mythology and history:* Neaira , a prostitute in the 4th century BC...

, watched over Helios' cattle
Nymphaeides (Nymphaeus River in Paphlagonia
Paphlagonia
Paphlagonia was an ancient area on the Black Sea coast of north central Anatolia, situated between Bithynia to the west and Pontus to the east, and separated from Phrygia by a prolongation to the east of the Bithynian Olympus...

)
Nysiads
Nysiads
The Nysiads or Nysiades were the nymphs of Mount Nysa who cared for and taught the infant Dionysus.Their names include:* Ambrosia* Arsinoe* Bromia or Bromis* Cisseis* Coronis* Erato...

(Mount Nysa
Nysa (mythology)
In Greek mythology, the mountainous district of Nysa, variously associated with Ethiopia, Libya, Tribalia, India or Arabia by Greek mythographers, was the traditional place where the rain nymphs, the Hyades, raised the infant god Dionysus, the "Zeus of Nysa"...

) - nurses of infant Dionysos, identified with Hyades
Hyades (mythology)
In Greek mythology, the Hyades , are a sisterhood of nymphs that bring rain.The Hyades were daughters of Atlas and sisters of Hyas in most tellings, although one version gives their parents as Hyas and Boeotia...
Ogygian Nymphs (Island of Ogygia
Ogygia
Ogygia , is an island mentioned in Homer's Odyssey, Book V, as the home of the nymph Calypso, the daughter of the Titan Atlas, also known as Atlantis in ancient Greek. In Homer's Odyssey Calypso detained Odysseus on Ogygia for 7 years and kept him from returning to his home of Ithaca, wanting to...

), four handmaidens of Calypso
Calypso (mythology)
Calypso was a nymph in Greek mythology, who lived on the island of Ogygia, where she detained Odysseus for a number of years. She is generally said to be the daughter of the Titan Atlas....
Ortygian Nymphs (Local springs of Syracuse, Sicily
Sicily
Sicily is a region of Italy, and is the largest island in the Mediterranean Sea. Along with the surrounding minor islands, it constitutes an autonomous region of Italy, the Regione Autonoma Siciliana Sicily has a rich and unique culture, especially with regard to the arts, music, literature,...

), named for the island of Ortygia
Ortygia
Ortygia is a little island and it is the historical centre of the city of Syracuse, Sicily. The island, also known as Città Vecchia , contains many historical landmarks...
Othreides (Mount Othrys), a local group of Hamadryads
Pactolides (Pactolus
Pactolus
Pactolus is a river near the Aegean coast of Turkey. The river rises from Mount Tmolus, flows through the ruins of the ancient city of Sardis, and empties into the Gediz River, the ancient Hermus. The Pactolus once contained electrum that was the basis of the economy of the ancient state of Lydia...

River)
- Euryanassa
  Euryanassa
  In Greek mythology, Euryanassa is a name that may refer to:*Daughter of the river-god Pactolus. She was the wife of Tantalus, and one of the possible mothers of Pelops, Broteas and Niobe.*Daughter of Hyperphas and mother of Clymene with Minyas....
  
  , wife of Tantalus
  Tantalus
  Tantalus was the ruler of an ancient western Anatolian city called either after his name, as "Tantalís", "the city of Tantalus", or as "Sipylus", in reference to Mount Sipylus, at the foot of which his city was located and whose ruins were reported to be still visible in the beginning of the...
Pelionides (Mount Pelion
Pelion
Pelion or Pelium is a mountain at the southeastern part of Thessaly in central Greece, forming a hook-like peninsula between the Pagasetic Gulf and the Aegean Sea...

), nurses of the Centaur
Centaur
In Greek mythology, a centaur or hippocentaur is a member of a composite race of creatures, part human and part horse...

s
Phaethonides, a synonym for the Heliades
Heliades
In Greek mythology, the Heliades were the daughters of Helios and Clymene the Oceanid.According to one source, there were three of them: Aegiale, Aegle, and Aetheria. According to another source, there were five: Helia, Merope, Phoebe, Aetheria, and Dioxippe...
Phaseides (Phasis
Rioni River
The Rioni or Rion River is the main river of western Georgia. It originates in the Caucasus Mountains, in the region of Racha and flows west to the Black Sea, entering it north of the city of Poti...

River)
Rhyndacides (Rhyndacus River in Mysia
Mysia
Mysia was a region in the northwest of ancient Asia Minor or Anatolia . It was located on the south coast of the Sea of Marmara. It was bounded by Bithynia on the east, Phrygia on the southeast, Lydia on the south, Aeolis on the southwest, Troad on the west and by the Propontis on the north...

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Sithnides (Fountain at the town of Megara
Megara
Megara is an ancient city in Attica, Greece. It lies in the northern section of the Isthmus of Corinth opposite the island of Salamis, which belonged to Megara in archaic times, before being taken by Athens. Megara was one of the four districts of Attica, embodied in the four mythic sons of King...

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Spercheides (River Spercheios); one of them, Diopatra, was loved by Poseidon
Poseidon
Poseidon was the god of the sea, and, as "Earth-Shaker," of the earthquakes in Greek mythology. The name of the sea-god Nethuns in Etruscan was adopted in Latin for Neptune in Roman mythology: both were sea gods analogous to Poseidon...

and the others were changed by him into trees
Sphragitides, or Cithaeronides (Mount Cithaeron)
Thessalides (Peneus River in Thessaly
Thessaly
Thessaly is a traditional geographical region and an administrative region of Greece, comprising most of the ancient region of the same name. Before the Greek Dark Ages, Thessaly was known as Aeolia, and appears thus in Homer's Odyssey....

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Thriae
Thriae
The Thriae or Thriai were nymphs, three virginal sisters, one of a number of such triads in Greek mythology who were able to see the future and interpret the signs of nature and omens, a gift they taught Apollo, who passed it to Hermes...

(Mount Parnassos), prophets and nurses of Apollo
Apollo
Apollo is one of the most important and complex of the Olympian deities in Greek and Roman mythology...
Trojan Nymphs (Local springs of Troy
Troy
Troy was a city, both factual and legendary, located in northwest Anatolia in what is now Turkey, southeast of the Dardanelles and beside Mount Ida...

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Sources

Lawson, John Cuthbert, Modern Greek Folklore and Ancient Greek Religion, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 1910, p. 131
Nereids
paleothea.com homepage
Tomkinson, John L., Haunted Greece: Nymphs, Vampires and other Exotika, Anagnosis, Athens, 2004, ISBN 960-88087-0-7

External links

Theoi.com: Nymphs

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