A dryad (; el, Δρυάδες, ''sing''.: ) is a

tree In botany, a tree is a perennial plant with an elongated stem, or trunk, usually supporting branches and leaves. In some usages, the definition of a tree may be narrower, including only woody plants with secondary growth, plants that are ...

nymph A nymph ( grc, νύμφη, nýmphē, el, script=Latn, nímfi, label=Modern Greek; , ) in ancient Greek folklore is a minor female nature deity. Different from Greek goddesses, nymphs are generally regarded as personifications of nature, are ...

or tree spirit in

Greek mythology A major branch of classical mythology, Greek mythology is the body of myths originally told by the ancient Greeks, and a genre of Ancient Greek folklore. These stories concern the origin and nature of the world, the lives and activities o ...

. ''Drys'' (δρῦς) signifies " oak" in Greek, and dryads were originally considered the

s of oak trees specifically, but the term has evolved towards tree nymphs in general,Graves, ch. 86.2; p. 289 or human-tree hybrids in

fantasy Fantasy is a genre of speculative fiction involving magical elements, typically set in a fictional universe and sometimes inspired by mythology and folklore. Its roots are in oral traditions, which then became fantasy literature and d ...

. Often their life force was connected to the tree in which they resided and they were usually found in sacred groves of the gods. They were considered to be very shy creatures except around the goddess

Artemis In ancient Greek mythology and religion, Artemis (; grc-gre, Ἄρτεμις) is the goddess of the hunt, the wilderness, wild animals, nature, vegetation, childbirth, care of children, and chastity. She was heavily identified with ...

, who was known to be a friend to most nymphs.

Types

Daphnaie

These were nymphs of the laurel trees.

Epimelides

The Maliades, Meliades or Epimelides were nymphs of apple and other fruit trees and the protectors of sheep. The Greek word ''melas'', from which their name derives, means both apple and sheep.

Hesperides In Greek mythology, the Hesperides (; , ) are the nymphs of evening and golden light of sunsets, who were the "Daughters of the Evening" or "Nymphs of the West". They were also called the Atlantides () from their reputed father, the Titan At ...

, the guardians of the golden apples were regarded as this type of dryad.

Hamadryad

Dryads, like all

s, were supernaturally long-lived and tied to their homes, but some were a step beyond most nymphs. These were the

hamadryad A hamadryad (; grc, αμαδρυάδα, hamadryáda) is a Greek mythological being that lives in trees. It is a particular type of dryad which, in turn, is a particular type of nymph. Hamadryads are born bonded to a certain tree. Some maintain ...

s who were an integral part of their trees, such that if the tree died, the hamadryad associated with it also died. For these reasons, dryads and the

Greek god The following is a list of gods, goddesses, and many other divine and semi-divine figures from ancient Greek mythology and ancient Greek religion. Immortals The Greeks created images of their deities for many purposes. A temple would house the ...

s punished any mortal who harmed trees without first propitiating the tree-nymphs. (associated with Oak trees)

Meliae

The dryads of the

ash tree ''Fraxinus'' (), commonly called ash, is a genus of flowering plants in the olive and lilac family, Oleaceae. It contains 45–65 species of usually medium to large trees, mostly deciduous, though a number of subtropical species are evergr ...

were called the

Meliae In Greek mythology, the Meliae (also called Meliads) (; grc, Μελίαι, or , ) were usually considered to be the nymphs of the ash tree, whose name they shared. Mythology According to Hesiod, the Meliae (probably meaning all tree-nymphs) w ...

. The Meliae sisters tended the infant

Zeus Zeus or , , ; grc, Δῐός, ''Diós'', label= genitive Boeotian Aeolic and Laconian grc-dor, Δεύς, Deús ; grc, Δέος, ''Déos'', label= genitive el, Δίας, ''Días'' () is the sky and thunder god in ancient Greek relig ...

in Rhea's

Cretan Crete ( el, Κρήτη, translit=, Modern: , Ancient: ) is the largest and most populous of the Greek islands, the 88th largest island in the world and the fifth largest island in the Mediterranean Sea, after Sicily, Sardinia, Cyprus, ...

cave. Gaea gave birth to the Meliae after being made fertile by the blood of castrated

Uranus Uranus is the seventh planet from the Sun. Its name is a reference to the Greek god of the sky, Uranus ( Caelus), who, according to Greek mythology, was the great-grandfather of Ares (Mars), grandfather of Zeus (Jupiter) and father of ...

. The

Caryatid A caryatid ( or or ; grc, Καρυᾶτις, pl. ) is a sculpted female figure serving as an architectural support taking the place of a column or a pillar supporting an entablature on her head. The Greek term ''karyatides'' literally means "ma ...

s were associated with walnut trees.

Names

Some of the individual dryads or hamadryads are: * Atlanteia and Phoebe, two of the many wives or concubines of

Danaus In Greek mythology, Danaus (, ; grc, Δαναός ''Danaós'') was the king of Libya. His myth is a foundation legend of Argos, one of the foremost Mycenaean cities of the Peloponnesus. In Homer's ''Iliad'', "Danaans" ("tribe of Danaus") and ...

Chrysopeleia In Greek mythology, Chrysopeleia (; Ancient Greek: ''Χρυσοπέλεια'') was a hamadryad nymph. Mythology The most prolonged account of her is given in John Tzetzes' scholia on Lycophron, and runs as follows. The tree in which Chrysopeleia ...

* Dryope *

Erato In Greek mythology, Erato (; grc, Ἐρατώ) is one of the Greek Muses, which were inspirational goddesses of literature, science, and the arts. The name would mean "desired" or "lovely", if derived from the same root as Eros, as Apollonius ...

Eurydice Eurydice (; Ancient Greek: Εὐρυδίκη 'wide justice') was a character in Greek mythology and the Auloniad wife of Orpheus, who tried to bring her back from the dead with his enchanting music. Etymology Several meanings for the na ...

Tithorea Tithorea ( el, Τιθορέα), is an ancient place with more than 4,000 years of human history. A part of the municipality of Amfikleia-Elateia, in Phthiotis, Greece, it had a population of 630 in 2011, and is situated 156 km from Athens. ...

In popular culture

* Dryad's Saddle is a mushroom found in North America, Australia, Asia, and Europe on dead trees, logs and stumps, so named because dryads could conceivably sit or ride on them. * In western classics such as Milton's ''

Paradise Lost ''Paradise Lost'' is an epic poem in blank verse by the 17th-century English poet John Milton (1608–1674). The first version, published in 1667, consists of ten books with over ten thousand lines of verse. A second edition followed in 16 ...

'', Dryads are mentioned as a way to convey grace and elegance. *

Keats John Keats (31 October 1795 – 23 February 1821) was an English poet of the second generation of Romantic poets, with Lord Byron and Percy Bysshe Shelley. His poems had been in publication for less than four years when he died of tuberculos ...

addresses the nightingale as "light-winged Dryad of the trees", in his "

Ode to a Nightingale "Ode to a Nightingale" is a poem by John Keats written either in the garden of the Spaniards Inn, Hampstead, London or, according to Keats' friend Charles Armitage Brown, under a plum tree in the garden of Keats' house at Wentworth Place, also ...

" . * In the

poetry Poetry (derived from the Greek '' poiesis'', "making"), also called verse, is a form of literature that uses aesthetic and often rhythmic qualities of language − such as phonaesthetics, sound symbolism, and metre − to evoke meani ...

of Donald Davidson they illustrate the themes of

tradition A tradition is a belief or behavior (folk custom) passed down within a group or society with symbolic meaning or special significance with origins in the past. A component of cultural expressions and folklore, common examples include holidays or ...

and the importance of the past to the present. * The poet

Sylvia Plath Sylvia Plath (; October 27, 1932 – February 11, 1963) was an American poet, novelist, and short story writer. She is credited with advancing the genre of confessional poetry and is best known for two of her published collections, '' Th ...

uses them to symbolise nature in her poetry in "''On the Difficulty of Conjuring up a Dryad''" and "''On the Plethora of Dryads''". * The story "''Dear Dryad''" (1924) by

Oliver Onions George Oliver Onions (13 November 1873 – 9 April 1961), who published under the name Oliver Onions, was an English writer of short stories and novels. He wrote in various genres, but is perhaps best remembered for his ghost stories, notably t ...

features a dryad influencing several romantic couples through history. * In

Lev Grossman Lev Grossman (born June 26, 1969) is an American novelist and journalist who wrote ''The Magicians Trilogy'': '' The Magicians'' (2009), ''The Magician King'' (2011), and ''The Magician's Land'' (2014). He was the book critic and lead technology ...

's ''The Magicians Trilogy'', the character Julia becomes a dryad after having had her shade removed during her rape at the hands of

Reynard the Fox Reynard the Fox is a literary cycle of medieval allegorical Dutch, English, French and German fables. The first extant versions of the cycle date from the second half of the 12th century. The genre was popular throughout the Late Middle Ages, a ...

. Her transformation accelerates when she visits Fillory in the company of the novel's other principals, and is complete when she and Quentin Coldwater visit Fillory's underworld. * Dryads (also referred to as " wood nymphs", "tree people", " silvans", or simply "trees") appear several times in ''

The Chronicles of Narnia ''The Chronicles of Narnia'' is a series of seven high fantasy novels by British author C. S. Lewis. Illustrated by Pauline Baynes and originally published between 1950 and 1956, ''The Chronicles of Narnia'' has been Adaptations of The Chron ...

'' book series by

C. S. Lewis Clive Staples Lewis (29 November 1898 – 22 November 1963) was a British writer and Anglican lay theologian. He held academic positions in English literature at both Oxford University (Magdalen College, 1925–1954) and Cambridge Univer ...

. * In the 2005 CG animated film '' Barbie: Fairytopia'', there is a character named Dahlia who is a dryad. * In the 1940 short story "

The Hardwood Pile "The Hardwood Pile" is a contemporary fantasy story by American writer L. Sprague de Camp. It was first published in the magazine ''Unknown (magazine), Unknown'' for September, 1940.Laughlin, Charlotte, and Levack, Daniel J. H. ''De Camp: An L. Sp ...

" by L. Sprague de Camp, the antagonist is a ''sphendamniad'', a dryad-like spirit whose tree has been made into lumber. * The fantasy novels of

Thomas Burnett Swann Thomas Burnett Swann (October 12, 1928 - May 5, 1976) was an American poet, critic and fantasy author. His criticism includes works on the poetry of H.D. and Christina Rossetti. Poetry Swann's poetry consists largely of short, whimsical pieces e ...

frequently feature dryads, along with other mythological creatures, usually endangered by the advent of more "advanced" civilisations. Swann's story "''The Dryad-tree''" is set in contemporary

Florida Florida is a state located in the Southeastern region of the United States. Florida is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the northwest by Alabama, to the north by Georgia, to the east by the Bahamas and Atlantic Ocean, and ...

and features a woman's reaction to the knowledge that her new husband's garden contains a tree possessed by a jealous dryad. The story was adapted as a short film in 2017. * In '' Warcraft III: Reign of Chaos'', ''Frozen Throne'', and ''Reforged'', dryads are playable night elf characters. They are shown as taur-type creatures with the lower body of a doe. *Dryads are mentioned in

Sword of Destiny ''Sword of Destiny'' ( pl, Miecz przeznaczenia) is the second published short story collection in Polish fantasy writer Andrzej Sapkowski's ''The Witcher'' series. Although published in 1992, it is officially considered the second entry in the ...

from Andrzej Sapkowski's

The Witcher ''The Witcher'' ( pl, Wiedźmin ) is a series of six fantasy novels and 15 short stories written by Polish author Andrzej Sapkowski. The series revolves around the eponymous "witcher", Geralt of Rivia. In Sapkowski's works, "witchers" are be ...

books. *

Dryad Lake Dryad Lake ( bg, езеро Дриада, ezero Driada, ) is the oval-shaped 190 m long in north-northwest to south-southeast direction and 90 m wide on the southwest coast of Livingston Island in the South Shetland Islands, Antarctica. It has a ...

Antarctica Antarctica () is Earth's southernmost and least-populated continent. Situated almost entirely south of the Antarctic Circle and surrounded by the Southern Ocean, it contains the geographic South Pole. Antarctica is the fifth-largest cont ...

is named after the nymphs.Dryad Lake.
SCAR Composite Gazetteer of Antarctica *The Dryad is a NPC in the 2d sandbox adventure game ''

Terraria ''Terraria'' is an action-adventure sandbox game developed by Re-Logic. The game was first released for Windows on May 16, 2011, and has since been ported to several other platforms. The game features exploration, crafting, building, painting ...

'', helping to keep the world pure from the spread of malicious biomes in the game. *Dryads are featured in the trading card game '' Magic: the Gathering'' as a creature subtype.

References

Citations Bibliography * * Burkert, Walter, 1985. ''Greek Religion'' (Cambridge: Harvard University Press).

External links

Greek Mythology Link: Nymphs.

(e-text) * Andersen, H. C.; Craigie (transl.) " The Dryad" ''Fairy tales and other stories'' London; Toronto: Oxford University Press. 1914
Tim Hoke, "The Dryad", 2002
(e-text; strong language)
Dryad Networks
German company developing an ultra-early wildfire detection system using gas sensors and distributed LoRaWAN mesh network. {{Authority control Nymphs Women in Greek mythology