In
Greek mythology
A major branch of classical mythology, Greek mythology is the body of myths originally told by the Ancient Greece, ancient Greeks, and a genre of Ancient Greek folklore. These stories concern the Cosmogony, origin and Cosmology#Metaphysical co ...
, Lilaea or Lilaia (
Ancient Greek
Ancient Greek includes the forms of the Greek language used in ancient Greece and the ancient world from around 1500 BC to 300 BC. It is often roughly divided into the following periods: Mycenaean Greek (), Dark Ages (), the Archaic peri ...
: Λίλαια) may refer to two different women:
* Lilaea, 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 ...
of a spring of the same name. She was the daughter of the
river god Cephissus. The ancient ''
polis
''Polis'' (, ; grc-gre, πόλις, ), plural ''poleis'' (, , ), literally means "city" in Greek. In Ancient Greece, it originally referred to an administrative and religious city center, as distinct from the rest of the city. Later, it also ...
'' of
Lilaea, and the modern village of
Lilaia In Greek mythology, Lilaea or Lilaia (Ancient Greek: Λίλαια) may refer to two different women:
* Lilaea, a Naiad of a spring of the same name. She was the daughter of the river god Cephissus. The ancient ''polis'' of Lilaea, and the modern ...
in
Phocis
Phocis ( el, Φωκίδα ; grc, Φωκίς) is one of the regional units of Greece. It is part of the administrative region of Central Greece. It stretches from the western mountainsides of Parnassus on the east to the mountain range of Vardo ...
, and the asteroid
213 Lilaea
Lilaea (minor planet designation: 213 Lilaea) is a large Asteroid belt, main belt asteroid. It was discovered by German-American astronomer Christian Heinrich Friedrich Peters, C. H. F. Peters on February 16, 1880, in Clinton, Oneida County, New Y ...
are named after her.
* Lilaia, a
maenad
In Greek mythology, maenads (; grc, μαινάδες ) were the female followers of Dionysus and the most significant members of the Thiasus, the god's retinue. Their name literally translates as "raving ones". Maenads were known as Bassarids, ...
named in a vase painting.
Notes
References
* ''The Homeric Hymns and Homerica'' with an English Translation by Hugh G. Evelyn-White. Homeric Hymns. Cambridge, MA.,Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann Ltd. 1914
Online version at the Perseus Digital Library.Greek text available from the same website
* Pausanias, ''Description of Greece'' with an English Translation by W.H.S. Jones, Litt.D., and H.A. Ormerod, M.A., in 4 Volumes. Cambridge, MA, Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann Ltd. 1918.
Online version at the Perseus Digital Library
* Pausanias, ''Graeciae Descriptio.'' ''3 vols''. Leipzig, Teubner. 1903.
Greek text available at the Perseus Digital Library
{{Greek myth index
Naiads
Maenads
Companions of Dionysus
Children of Potamoi
Phocian characters in Greek mythology