Castalia ( grc, Κασταλία), in
Greek mythology, was a
naiad
In Greek mythology, the naiads (; grc-gre, ναϊάδες, naïádes) are a type of female spirit, or nymph, presiding over fountains, wells, springs, streams, brooks and other bodies of fresh water.
They are distinct from river gods, who ...
-
nymph, a daughter of
Achelous who inhabited the Castalian spring in
Delphi
Delphi (; ), in legend previously called Pytho (Πυθώ), in ancient times was a sacred precinct that served as the seat of Pythia, the major oracle who was consulted about important decisions throughout the ancient classical world. The oracle ...
. In older traditions, Castalian spring already existed by the time
Apollo came to Delphi searching for Python. According to some, the water was a gift to Castalia from the river
Cephisus.
Latin poet
Lactantius Placidus
Lactantius Placidus (c. 350 – c. 400 AD) was the presumed author of a commentary on Statius's poem ''Thebaid''. Wilhelm Siegmund Teuffel
Wilhelm Siegmund Teuffel (; September 27, 1820March 8, 1878), German classical scholar, was born at Lud ...
in his commentary on
Statius'
''Thebaid'' tells that to escape Apollo's amorous advances, Castalia transformed herself into a fountain at Delphi, at the base of
Mount Parnassus, or at
Mount Helicon.
She inspired the genius of
poetry to those who drank her waters or listened to their quiet sound; the
sacred water was also used to clean the Delphian temples. Apollo consecrated Castalia to the
Muses
In ancient Greek religion and mythology, the Muses ( grc, Μοῦσαι, Moûsai, el, Μούσες, Múses) are the inspirational goddesses of literature, science, and the arts. They were considered the source of the knowledge embodied in the p ...
(''Castaliae Musae'').
The 20th-century
German writer
Hermann Hesse used Castalia as inspiration for the name of the futuristic fictional utopia in his 1943
magnum opus ''
The Glass Bead Game''. Castalia is home to an austere order of
intellectuals with a twofold mission: to run boarding schools for boys, and to nurture and play the Glass Bead Game.
See also
*
Castalian Spring
The Castalian Spring, in the ravine between the Phaedriades at Delphi, is where all visitors to Delphi — the contestants in the Pythian Games, and especially pilgrims who came to consult the Delphic Oracle — stopped to wash themse ...
*
Castalia House
*
4769 Castalia
4769 Castalia (; '' prov. designation:'' ) is a near-Earth object and potentially hazardous asteroid of the Apollo group, approximately in diameter and was the first asteroid to be modeled by radar imaging. It was discovered on 9 August 1989, by ...
, an Earth-crossing asteroid
*
646 Kastalia, an asteroid
References
External links
*
Naiads
Children of Achelous
Women of Apollo
Metamorphoses into bodies of water in Greek mythology
Nymphs
{{Greek-myth-stub