A nymph (; ; 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. In spite of their divine nature, they were not immortal.Brill's New Pauly, s.v. Nymphs.
Nymphs are divided into various broad subgroups based on their habitat, such as 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), and the Oreads (mountain nymphs). Other nymphs included the Hesperides (evening nymphs), the Hyades (rain nymphs), the Heliades (poplar tree nymphs, daughters of Helios), 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 a love motif, being the lovers of heroes and other deities. Desirable and promiscuous, nymphs can rarely be tamed, their dealings with mortals often marked by capricious aggression. Since the Middle Ages, nymphs have been sometimes popularly associated or even confused with fairies.
Etymology The Greek word has the primary meaning of "young woman; bride, young wife" but is not usually associated with deities in particular. Yet the etymology of the noun remains uncertain. The Doric and Aeolic (Homeric) form is ().
Modern usage more often applies to young women, contrasting with parthenos () "a virgin (of any age)", and generically as kore ( < ) "maiden, girl". The term is sometimes used by women to address each other and remains the regular Modern Greek term for "bride".
Ancient Greek mythology
Nymphs often dwelt in specific areas related to 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 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 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.
Greek folk religion 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 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 the Saint Artemius (Perhaps this saint in particular being chosen is due to a corruption of the name of the goddess Artemis. If this is the case, it would be an example of "practical polytheism in the worship of the saints")."Heathen Artemis yielded her functions to her own genitive case transformed into Saint Artemidos", as Terrot Reaveley Glover phrased it in discussing the "practical polytheism in the worship of the saints", in Progress in Religion to the Christian Era 1922:107.
Nymphs and fairies 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.
Sleeping nymph
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 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.
List All 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. According to classicist Robin Hard, these terms "were hardly proper names at all, but feminine adjectives that could be assigned to the noun at will", adding that "[n]o orthodox or exhaustive classification of such beings was ever attempted, and ancient authors were often careless or arbitrary in the application of such titles".Hard, p. 210.
By dwelling or affinity +Type / group / individualsLocationRelations and notesCelestial nymphsAurae (breezes)also called Aetae or Pnoae, daughters of BoreasQuintus Smyrnaeus, 1.683 ff. Hesperides (evening)City of Lixus (probably)nymphs who tended the garden in which the golden apples of Hera grew. • Aegle• Arethusa• Erytheia (or Eratheis)possibly mother of Eurytion by AresStesichorus, Geryoneis Frag S8 Hyades (star cluster; sent rain)Boeotia (probably)daughters of Atlas by either Pleione or AethraHyginus, Fabulae 192 Pleiadesdaughters of Atlas and Pleione;Apollodorus, 3.10.1 constellation; also were classed as Oreads• MaiaMount Cyllene, Arcadiapartner of Zeus and mother of HermesHesiod, Theogony 938• ElectraMount Saos, Samothracemother of Dardanus and Iasion by ZeusApollodorus, 3.12.1• TaygeteTaygetos Mountains, Laconiamother of Lacedaemon by ZeusHyginus, Fabulae 155• AlcyoneMount Cithaeron, Boeotiamother of Hyperes and Anthas by PoseidonPausanias, 2.30.8• CelaenoMount Cithaeron, Boeotia or Euboeamother of Lycus and Nycteus by PoseidonApollodorus, 3.10.1• AsteropePisa, Elismother of Oenomaus by AresHyginus, Fabulae 84• MeropeCorinthwife of Sisyphus and mother of GlaucusHyginus, Astronomica 2.21Nephele (clouds)daughters either of OceanusAristophanes, Clouds 264 or TethysOrphic Hymn 22, or of AitherAristophanes, Clouds 563Land nymphsAlseides (groves)Homer, Iliad 20.4Auloniades (valleys, see also Napaeae) Montanari, s.v. αὐλωνιάς, p. 338; Orphic Hymns 51.7 (Ricciardelli, pp. 134, 135).Leimonides (meadows)Napaeae (dells, see also Auloniades)Statius, Thebaid 9.385Oreads (mountains, grottoes), also OrodemniadesWood and plant nymphsAnthousai (flower nymphs) Philostratus the Elder, Imagines 2.11.Dryades (trees)Hamadryades or Hadryades Daphnaiai () Nymphs associated with the laurel treeLarson, p. 283 n. 31, citing Nonnus, Dionysiaca 24.99. Epimeliades or Epimelides (apple tree; also protected flocks)other name variants include Meliades, Maliades and Hamameliades; same as these are also the Boucolai (Pastoral Nymphs) Kissiae (ivy) • OenoneIndiamother of Melantheus, an Indian chief assisting Dionysus in the war against the Indians Meliae (manna-ash tree)born from the drops of blood that fell on Gaia when Cronus castrated UranusHesiod, Theogony 182–187 Hyleoroi (watchers of woods) Water nymphs (Hydriades or Ephydriades)Haliae (sea and seashores) NereidsMediterranean Sea50 daughters of Nereus and DorisHesiod, Theogony 240–262Naiads, Naides (fresh water) Krenaiai Nymphs associated with springs Limnades (lakes) Pegaeae (springs) Potameides (rivers) Oceanidsdaughters of Oceanus and Tethys,Hesiod, Theogony 365–366 any freshwater, typically clouds and rain. see List of OceanidsUnderworld nymphs• OrphneHadesis a representation of the darkness of the river Styx, the river of hatred, but is not to be confused with the goddess Styx herself nor with Nyx, goddess of night, despite being associated with both. She is the consort of Acheron, (the god of the river in Hades), and the mother of Ascalaphus, (the orchardist of Hades).Ovid, Metamorphoses 5.539 ff• Leuce (white poplar tree)daughter of Oceanus and lover of HadesServius, Commentary on Virgil's Aeneid 7.61• MelinoeOrphic nymph, daughter of Persephone and "Zeus disguised as Pluto".Orphic Hymn 71 Her name is a possible epithet of Hecate.• Minthe (mint)Cocytus Riverprobably a daughter of Cocytus, lover of Hades and rival of PersephoneOppian, Halieutica 3.485 ffStrabo, 8.3.14Other nymphs Lampadestorch bearers in the retinue of HecateScholia minora on Homer's Iliad, 6.21 [= Alcman, fr. 63 Campbell, pp. 438, 439 = fr. 63 PMG (Page, p. 53)]. Hecaterides (rustic dance)daughters of Hecaterus by a daughter of Phoroneus; sisters of the Dactyls and mothers of the Oreads and the SatyrsStrabo, 10.3.19 Kabeiridesdaughters of Cadmilus and sisters of the KabeiroiAcusilaus Frag as cited in Strabo, 10.3.21 or of Hephaestus and CabeiroStrabo, 10.3.21 citing Pherecydes Maenads or Bacchai or Bacchantesfrenzied nymphs in the retinue of Dionysus Lenai (wine-press) Limnakidestranslated by Vian as "marsh nymphs" (Nymphes des Marais); older editions render their name as Limnaioi or LeimakidesVian, commentary on line 646, p. 120; Orphic Argonautica 646 (Vian, p. 120). Mimallones (music) Thyiai or Thyiades (thyrsus bearers)possibly a subgroup of, or a synonymPausanias, 10.6.4 for MaenadsMelissae (honey)likely a subgroup of Oreades or Epimelides
By location 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).