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 Fresh water or freshwater is any naturally occurring liquid or frozen water containing low concentrations of dissolved salts and other total dissolved solids. Although the term specifically excludes seawater and brackish water, it does include ...

. They are distinct from river gods, who embodied rivers, and the very ancient spirits that inhabited the still waters of marshes, ponds and lagoon-lakes such as pre-Mycenaean Lerna in the Argolis.

Etymology

The Greek word is (, ), plural (, ). It derives from (), "to flow", or (), "running water".

Mythology

Naiads were often the object of archaic local cults, worshipped as essential to humans. Boys and girls at coming-of-age ceremonies 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 situated by ancient springs. Naiads could be dangerous: Hylas of the ''

Argo In Greek mythology the ''Argo'' (; in Greek: ) was a ship built with the help of the gods that Jason and the Argonauts sailed from Iolcos to Colchis to retrieve the Golden Fleece. The ship has gone on to be used as a motif in a variety of sour ...

''’s crew was lost when he was taken by naiads fascinated by his beauty. The naiads were also known to exhibit jealous tendencies. Theocritus's story of naiad jealousy was that of a shepherd, Daphnis, who was the lover of Nomia or Echenais; Daphnis had on several occasions been unfaithful to Nomia and as revenge she permanently blinded him. The nymph Salmacis raped

Hermaphroditus In Greek mythology, Hermaphroditus or Hermaphroditos (; grc, Ἑρμαφρόδιτος, Hermaphróditos, ) was a child of Aphrodite and Hermes. According to Ovid, he was born a remarkably handsome boy whom the naiad Salmacis attempted to rape an ...

and fused with him when he tried to escape. The water nymph associated with particular springs was known all through Europe in places with no direct connection with Greece, surviving in the

Celt The Celts (, see pronunciation for different usages) or Celtic peoples () are. "CELTS location: Greater Europe time period: Second millennium B.C.E. to present ancestry: Celtic a collection of Indo-European peoples. "The Celts, an ancient ...

ic wells of northwest Europe that have been rededicated to Saints, and in the medieval Melusine. Walter Burkert points out, "When in the '' Iliad'' x.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, III, 3.3
p. 174
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."

Interpretation

Robert Graves Captain Robert von Ranke Graves (24 July 1895 – 7 December 1985) was a British poet, historical novelist and critic. His father was Alfred Perceval Graves, a celebrated Irish poet and figure in the Gaelic revival; they were both Celtic ...

offered a sociopolitical reading of the common myth-type in which a mythic king is credited with marrying a naiad and founding a city: it was the newly arrived Hellenes justifying their presence. The loves and rapes of Zeus, according to Graves' readings, record the supplanting of ancient local cults by Olympian ones (Graves 1955, ''passim''). So, in the back-story of the myth of Aristaeus, Hypseus, a king of the Lapiths, married Chlidanope, a naiad, who bore him Cyrene. Aristaeus had more than ordinary mortal experience with the naiads: when his bees died in Thessaly, he went to consult them. His aunt Arethusa invited him below the water's surface, where he was washed with water from a perpetual spring and given advice.

Types and individual names

Place names

St. Charles Avenue St. Charles Avenue (french: avenue Saint-Charles) is a thoroughfare in New Orleans, Louisiana, U.S. and the route of the St. Charles Streetcar Line. It is also famous for the dozens of mansions that adorn the tree-lined boulevard for much of the ...

in New Orleans was formerly known as Nyades Street, and is parallel to Dryades Street. * Naiad Lake in Antarctica is named after the nymphs.Naiad Lake.
SCAR Composite Gazetteer of Antarctica

Gallery

File:Gioacchino Pagliei - The Naiads, 1881.JPG, Gioacchino Pagliei - ''The Naiads'', 1881 File:Cyprian Kamil Norwid Najady.PNG, ''Naiads'', a drawing by Cyprian Kamil Norwid File:Fountain of Naiads, Piazza della Repubblica.jpg, ''

Fountain of the Naiads The Fountain of the Naiads ( it, Fontana delle Naiadi) is a fountain in Rome, Italy, located at the centre of the Piazza della Repubblica on the Viminal Hill. The fountain was created by the architect Alessandro Guerrieri in 1888. Its four bronze ...

'', Piazza della Repubblica, Rome, Italy

Notes

References

* Bibliotheca (Pseudo-Apollodorus) 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 Hesiod (; grc-gre, Ἡσίοδος ''Hēsíodos'') was an ancient Greek poet generally thought to have been active between 750 and 650 BC, around the same time as Homer. He is generally regarded by western authors as 'the first written poet i ...

. Theogony * Burkert, Walter, ''Greek Religion'', Harvard University Press, 1985. . *

, ''The Greek Myths'' 1955 * Edgar Allan Poe, "

Sonnet to Science "Sonnet to Science" (originally "Sonnet — To Science") is an 1829 poem by Edgar Allan Poe, published in ''Al Aaraaf, Tamerlane, and Minor Poems''. Summary Poe asks why science preys on the poet. Science is peering, destructive and interested ...

" 1829 {{Authority control Nymphs Bogs, fens and marshes in mythology