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A Naiad by John William Waterhouse, 1893. This Picture shows the Naiad Melite coming across Hercules Sleeping in one of his Animal Skins.

Naiads and Triton by François Boucher, 1763(?)

In Greek mythology, the Naiads (from the Greek νάειν, "to flow," and νἃμα, "running water") were a type of nymph who presided over fountains, wells, springs, streams, and brooks, as river gods embodied rivers, and some very ancient spirits inhabited the still waters of marshes, ponds and lagoon-lakes, such as pre-Mycenaean Lerna in the Argolid. Naiads were associated with fresh water, as the Oceanids were with saltwater and the Nereids specifically with the Mediterranean; but because the Greeks thought of the world's waters as all one system, which percolated in from the sea in deep cavernous spaces within the bosom of the earth, to rise freshened in seeps and springs, there was some overlap. Arethusa, the nymph of a spring, could make her way through subterranean flows from the Peloponnesus, to surface on the island of Sicily. Image File history File links Information_icon. ... The Oricoli bust of Zeus, King of the Gods, in the collection of the Vatican Museum. ... The ancient Greeks proposed many different ideas about the primordial gods in their mythology. ... In Greek mythology, the Titans (Greek Τιτάν, plural Τιτάνες) were a race of powerful deities that ruled during the legendary Golden Age. ... The twelve gods of Olympus. ... In mythology chthonic (from Greek χθονιος-pertaining to the earth; earthy) designates, or pertains to, gods or spirits of the underworld, especially in Greek mythology. ... In Greek mythology, the Muses (Greek Μουσαι, Mousai : from a root meaning mountain) are nine goddesses who embody the right evocation of myth, inspired through remembered and improvised song and traditional music and dances. ... Asclepius (Greek also rendered Aesculapius in Latin and transliterated Asklepios) was the god of medicine and healing in ancient Greek mythology, according to which he was born a mortal but was given immortality as the constellation Ophiuchus after his death. ... The ancient Greeks had a very small number of see gods. ... Neptune reigns in the city centre, Bristol, formerly the largest port in England outside London. ... In the Greek and Roman world-view, Oceanus (Greek , Okeanos), was the world-ocean, which they believed to be an enormous river encircling the world. ... In Greek mythology, Ceto, or Keto (Greek: Κητος, Ketos, sea monster) was a hideous aquatic monster, a daughter of Gaia and Pontus. ... Nereus: in Greek Mythology, eldest son of Pontus and Gaia, the Sea and the Earth. ... In Greek mythology, Glaucus (shiny or bright or bluish-green) referred to several different people. ... This article is about the Greek sea nymph. ... Mosaic from Herculaneum depicting Poseidon and Amphitrite Amphitrite, in ancient Greek mythology, was an ancient sea-goddess, who became the consort of Poseidon; the wife of Neptune in Roman mythology is Salacia. ... In Greek mythology, Tethys was a Titaness and sea goddess who was both sister and wife of Oceanus. ... Triton is a Greek god, the messenger of the deep. ... Proteus as seen by Andrea Alciato In Greek mythology, Proteus is an early sea-god, one of several deities whom Homer calls the Old Man of the Sea[1], whose name suggests the first, as protogonos is the firstborn. He became the son of Poseidon in the Olympian theogony (Odyssey... Phorcys and Ceto, Mosaic, Late Roman, Bardo Museum, Tunis, Tunisia In Greek mythology, Phorcys, or Phorkys was one of the names of the Old One of the Sea, the primeval sea god, who, according to Hesiod, was the son of Pontus and Gaia. ... In Greek mythology, Pontus (or Pontos, sea) was an ancient, pre-Olympian sea-god, son of Gaia and Aether, the Earth and the Air. ... In Greek and Roman mythology, the Oceanids were the three thousand children of the Titans Oceanus and Tethys. ... In Greek mythology, the Nereids (NEER-ee-eds) are blue-haired sea nymphs, the fifty daughters of Nereus and Doris. ... Naiad by John William Waterhouse, 1893 In Greek mythology, the Naiads (from the Greek νάειν, to flow, and νἃμα, running water) were a type of nymph who presided over fountains, wells, springs, streams, and brooks, as river gods embodied rivers, and some very... This article or section contains information that has not been verified and thus might not be reliable. ... The Dryad by Evelyn De Morgan Dryads are female tree spirits in Greek mythology. ... Naiad by John William Waterhouse, 1893 In Greek mythology, the Naiads (from the Greek νάειν, to flow, and νἃμα, running water) were a type of nymph who presided over fountains, wells, springs, streams, and brooks, as river gods embodied rivers, and some very... In Greek mythology, the Meliae were nymphs of the manna-ash tree. ... In Greek mythology, Oreads (ὄρος, mountain) were a type of nymph that lived in mountains. ... In Greek mythology, the Napaeae (νάπη, a wooded dell) were a type of shy but mirthful nymph. ... In Greek mythology, the Nereids (NEER-ee-eds) are sea nymphs, the fifty daughters of Nereus and Doris. ... Categories: Mythology stubs | Nymphs ... In Greek and Roman mythology, the Oceanids were the three thousand children of the Titans Oceanus and Tethys. ... In Greek mythology, the Limnades were a type of nymph. ... In Greek mythology, the Crinaeae were a type of nymph associated with fountains. ... For the ancient Greek city Hesperides see Benghazi. ... In Greek mythology, the Pegaeae were a type of nymph that lived in springs. ... John William Waterhouse (1849-1917): A Naiad or Hylas with a Nymph. ... John William Waterhouse (1849-1917): A Naiad or Hylas with a Nymph. ... Image File history File links Boucher_naiads. ... Image File history File links Boucher_naiads. ... Rinaldo and Armida gained Bouchers admission to the Académie royale François Boucher (1703 in Bordeaux – May 30, 1770) was a French painter, a proponent of Rococo taste, known for his idyllic and voluptuous paintings on classical themes, decorative allegories representing the arts or pastoral occupations, and several... The Oricoli bust of Zeus, King of the Gods, in the collection of the Vatican Museum. ... This article or section contains information that has not been verified and thus might not be reliable. ... Mythological personifications of rivers (river gods, river goddesses) and of the sea or the ocean // [edit] Sea deities [edit] Greek Oceanus and Tethys Proteus Triton Nereids Poseidon/Neptune [edit] Vedic Sea deities are much less common in Vedic than in Greek mythology. ... For the municipality, see Myloi (Argolida), Greece, the seat of the municipality of Lerna In classical Greece, Lerna was a region of springs and a former lake near the east coast of the Peloponnesus, south of Argos. ... In Greek and Roman mythology, the Oceanids were the three thousand children of Oceanus and Tethys. ... In Greek mythology, the Nereids (NEER-ee-eds) are blue-haired sea nymphs, the fifty daughters of Nereus and Doris. ... The Mediterranean Sea is an intercontinental sea positioned between Europe to the north, Africa to the south and Asia to the east, covering an approximate area of 2. ... Arethusa means the waterer. In Greek mythology, Arethusa was one of the Hesperides. ... Peloponnesos (Greek: Πελοπόννησος, sometime Latinized as Peloponnesus or Anglicized as The Peloponnese) is a large peninsula in Greece, forming the part of the country south of the Isthmus of Corinth. ...

Otherwise, the essence of a naiad was bound to her spring. If a naiad's body of water dried, she died. Though Walter Burkert points out, "When in the Iliad [xx.4 - 9] Zeus calls the gods into assembly on Mount Olympus, it is not only the well-known Olympians who come along, but also all the nymphs and all the rivers; Okeanos alone remains at his station," (Burkert 1985), Greek hearers recognized this impossibility as the poet's hyperbole, which proclaimed the universal power of Zeus over the ancient natural world: "the worship of these deities," Burkert confirms, "is limited only by the fact that they are inseparably identified with a specific locality." The Iliad (Ancient Greek , Ilias) is, together with the Odyssey, one of two ancient Greek epic poems attributed to Homer, a supposedly blind Ionian poet. ... The twelve gods of Olympus. ... Oceanus or Okeanos refers to the ocean, which the Greeks and Romans regarded as a river circling the world. ... Look up hyperbole in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ...

They were often the object of archaic local cults, worshipped as essential to fertility and human life. Boys and girls at coming-of-age dedicated their childish locks to the local naiad of the spring. In places like Lerna their waters' ritual cleansings were credited with magical medical properties. Animals were ritually drowned there. Oracles might be sited by ancient springs.

When a mythic king is credited with marrying a naiad and founding a city, Robert Graves offers a sociopolitical reading: the new arriving Hellenes justify their presence by taking to wife the naiad of the spring, so, in the back-story of the myth of Aristaeus, Hypseus, a king of the Lapiths wed Chlidanope, a naiad, who bore him Cyrene. In parallels among the Immortals, the loves and rapes of Zeus, according to Graves' readings, record the supplanting of ancient local cults by Olympian ones (Graves 1955, passim). Aristaeus had more than ordinary mortal experience with the naiads: when his bees died in Thessaly, he went to consult the naiads. His aunt Arethusa invited him below the water's surface, where he was washed with water from a perpetual spring and given advice. A less well-connected mortal might have drowned, being sent as a messenger in this way to gain the advice and favor of the naiads for his people. Portrait of Robert Graves (circa 1974) by Rab Shiell Robert von Ranke Graves (24 July 1895 – 7 December 1985) was an English scholar, poet, and novelist. ... A minor god in Greek mythology, Aristaeus or Aristaios was the son of Apollo and the huntress Cyrene, who despised spinning and other womanly arts but spent her days hunting. ... In Greek mythology, the Lapiths were a semi-legenday, semi-historical race, whose home was in Thessaly in the valley of the Peneus. ... In Greek mythology, as recorded in Pindars 9th Pythian ode, Cyrene (or Kyrene) (sovereign queen) was the daughter of Hypseus, King of the Lapiths. ...

Naiads could be dangerous: Hylas of the Argo's crew was lost when he was taken by naiads fascinated by his beauty (illustration, above right). The naiads were also known to exhibit jealous tendencies. Theocritus' story of naiad jealousy was that of a shepherd, Daphnis, who was the lover of Nomia; Daphnis had on several occasions been unfaithful to Nomia and as revenge she permanently blinded him. Salmacis forced the god Hermaphroditus into a carnal embrace and, when he sought to get away, fused with him. Two Argonauts before a hunt. ... In Greek mythology, Argo was the ship on which Jason and the Argonauts sailed from Iolcus to retrieve the Golden Fleece. ... Theocritus (Greek Θεόκριτος), the creator of Ancient Greek bucolic poetry, flourished in the 3rd century BC. Little is known of him beyond what can be inferred from his writings. ... Daphnis can also be a genus of hawk moth, and a moon of Saturn Sculpture of Pan teaching Daphnis to play the pipes; ca. ... For a place in Laconia, see Nomia (Laconia), Greece In Greek mythology, Nomia was a naiad. ... Salmacis and Hermaphroditus The boy cannot escape the nymph Salmacis is a mythological figure whose only attestation is in Book IV of Ovid’s Metamorphoses. ... Salmacis and Hermaphroditus by Bartholomeus Spranger (c. ...

The Naiads were either daughters of Zeus or various Oceanids, but a genealogy for such ancient, ageless creatures is easily overstated. The water nymph associated with particular springs was known all through Europe in places with no direct connection with Greece, surviving in the Celtic wells of northwest Europe that have been rededicated to Saints, and in the medieval Melusine. The Statue of Zeus at Olympia Phidias created the 12-m (40-ft) tall statue of Zeus at Olympia about 435 BC. The statue was perhaps the most famous sculpture in Ancient Greece, imagined here in a 16th century engraving In Greek mythology, Zeus (in Greek: nominative: Ζεύς Zeús, genitive... In Greek and Roman mythology, the Oceanids were the three thousand children of Oceanus and Tethys. ... Melusines secret discovered, from One of sixteen paintings by Guillebert de Mets circa 1410. ...

Types of Naiads

1. Crinaeae (fountains)
2. Limnades or Limnatides (lakes)
3. Pegaeae (springs)
4. Potameides (rivers)
5. Eleionomae (marshes)

In Greek mythology, the Crinaeae were a type of nymph associated with fountains. ... In Greek mythology, the Limnades were a type of nymph. ... In Greek mythology, the Limnades were a type of nymph. ... In Greek mythology, the Pegaeae were a type of nymph that lived in springs. ... Potameides were graceful nymphs of rivers and streams. ... The Eleionomae were nymphs of marshes in Greek mythology. ...

Individual Naiads

1. Abarbarea
2. Aegle
3. Arethusa
4. Bateia
5. Callirrhoe
6. Castalia
7. Cleochareia
8. Corycian
   1. Corycia
   2. Kleodora or Cleodora
   3. Melaina
9. Creusa
10. Drosera
11. Echenais
12. Harpina
13. Lara
14. Lethe
15. Lilaea
16. Melite
17. Minthe
18. Nomia
19. Orseis
20. Periboea
21. Pitane
22. Praxithea
23. Salmacis
24. Styx

... In Greek mythology, there were three different people named Aegle. ... Arethusa means the waterer. In Greek mythology, Arethusa was one of the Hesperides. ... In Greek mythology, Bateia can refer to several characters: The daughter of Teucer and ancesstress of the Trojans. ... In Greek mythology, Callirrhoe was a naiad. ... Castalia, in Greek and Roman mythology was a nymph whom Apollo transformed into a fountain at Delphi, at the base of Mt. ... In Greek mythology, Cleochareia was a Naiad, a river nymph. ... Wikipedia does not yet have an article with this exact name. ... In Greek mythology, Corycia or Korykia was a Naiad (nymph) who lived on Mount Parnassus in Phocis. ... In Greek mythology, Kleodora was a Naiad (nymph) who lived on Mount Parnassus in Phocis who was loved by Poseidon. ... In Greek mythology, Melaina was a Corycian (nymph) of the springs ofDelphi in Phocis, who was loved by Apollo bearing him Delphos. ... In Greek mythology, four people had the name Creusa. ... In Greek mythology, Drosera was a naiad. ... Hylas and the Nymphs by John William Waterhouse, 1896 In Greek mythology, Harpina (Greek Ἀρπινα) was a Naiad Nymph daughter of Phliasian Asopus and of Metope. ... Lara was a Naiad, daughter of the river Almon in Roman mythology. ... In Classical Greek, Lethe (LEE-thee) literally means forgetfulness or concealment. The Greek word for truth is a-lethe-ia, meaning un-forgetfulness or un-concealment. In Greek mythology, Lethe is one of the several rivers of Hades. ... In Greek mythology, Lilaea was a Naiad who lived in the Cephissus River. ... Melite is one of the Naiads and one of the many loves of Zeus and his son Hercules. ... In Greek mythology, Minthe (also Menthe, Mentha, Mintho, in Greek Μένθη) was a nymph associated with the river Cocytus. ... In Greek mythology, Nomia was a naiad. ... In Greek mythology, Orseis, (Greek: ) was the water-nymph (Naiad) of a spring in Thessalia, Greece, and the mythical ancestor of the Greeks. ... In Greek mythology, five people shared the name Periboea. ... The Naiad Nymph of the town of Pitane in Lakedaimonia, southern Greece. ... Hylas and the Nymphs by John William Waterhouse, 1896 In Greek mythology, Praxithea (Greek ???) was a Naiad Nymph daughter of ??? and of ???. According to Apollodorus Praxithea married Erichthonius of Athens and by him had a son named Pandion I. References Apollodorus, 1921. ... Salmacis and Hermaphroditus The boy cannot escape the nymph Salmacis is a mythological figure whose only attestation is in Book IV of Ovid’s Metamorphoses. ... In Greek mythology, Styx (Στυξ) is the name of a river which formed the boundary between Earth and the Underworld, Hades. ...

See also

• Siren
• Melusine
• Nix
• Camenae

Odysseus and the Sirens. ... Melusines secret discovered, from One of sixteen paintings by Guillebert de Mets circa 1410. ... Strömkarlen from 1884 by Ernst Josephson has formed many modern Swedes view of Näcken. ... In Roman mythology, the Camenae were originally goddesses of springs, wells and fountains, or water nymphs of Venus . ...

References

• Apollodorus. Library 2.95, 2.11, 2.21, 2.23, 1.61, 1.81, 1.7.6
• Homer. Odyssey 13.355, 17.240, Iliad 14.440, 20.380
• Ovid. Metamorphoses
• Hesiod. Theogony
• Walter Burkert, Greek Religion 1985, 3.3
• Robert Graves, The Greek Myths 1955

Apollodorus was a common name in ancient Greece. ... A modern-style library in Chambéry In the traditional sense of the word, a library is a collection of books and periodicals, . It can refer to an individuals private collection, but more often it is a large collection that is funded and maintained by a city or institution. ... Homer (Greek HómÄ“ros) was a legendary early Greek poet and aoidos (singer) traditionally credited with the composition of the Iliad and the Odyssey. ... Odysseus and Nausicaä - by Charles Gleyre The Odyssey (Greek: , Odusseia) is one of the two major ancient Greek epic poems attributed to the poet Homer. ... The Iliad (Ancient Greek , Ilias) is, together with the Odyssey, one of two ancient Greek epic poems attributed to Homer, a supposedly blind Ionian poet. ... Engraved frontispiece of George Sandyss 1632 London edition of Publius Ovidius Naso (Sulmona, March 20, 43 BC â€“ Tomis, now Constanta AD 17) Roman poet known to the English-speaking world as Ovid, wrote on topics of love, abandoned women, and mythological transformations. ... Cover of George Sandyss 1632 edition of The Metamorphoses by the Roman poet Ovid is a poem in fifteen books that describes the creation and history of the world in terms of Greek and Roman mythology. ... Bust, traditionally thought to be Seneca, now identified by some as Hesiod. ... Wikisource has original text related to this article: Theogony Wikisource has original text related to this article: Theogony (in Greek) Theogony is a poem by Hesiod describing the origins of the gods of ancient Greek religion. ... Walter Burkert (born Neuendettelsau (Bavaria), February 2, 1931), the most eminent living scholar of Greek myth and cult, is an emeritus professor of classics at the University of Zurich, Switzerland who has also taught in the United Kingdom and the United States. ... Portrait of Robert Graves (circa 1974) by Rab Shiell Robert von Ranke Graves (24 July 1895 – 7 December 1985) was an English scholar, poet, and novelist. ...

Further reading

• The Naiads
• Naiad Nymphs