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A dryad (; el, Δρυάδες, ''sing''.: ) is a tree nymph or tree spirit in Greek mythology. ''Drys'' (δρῦς) signifies " oak" in Greek, and dryads were originally considered the nymphs 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. 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, 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, the guardians of the golden apples were regarded as this type of dryad.

Hamadryad

Dryads, like all nymphs, were supernaturally long-lived and tied to their homes, but some were a step beyond most nymphs. These were the hamadryads 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 gods punished any mortal who harmed trees without first propitiating the tree-nymphs. (associated with Oak trees)

Meliae

The dryads of the ash tree were called the Meliae. The Meliae sisters tended the infant Zeus in Rhea's Cretan cave. Gaea gave birth to the Meliae after being made fertile by the blood of castrated Uranus. The Caryatids 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
* Chrysopeleia
*Dryope
*Erato
* Eurydice
* Tithorea

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'', Dryads are mentioned as a way to convey grace and elegance.
* Keats addresses the nightingale as "light-winged Dryad of the trees", in his " Ode to a Nightingale" .
* In the poetry of Donald Davidson they illustrate the themes of tradition and the importance of the past to the present.
* The poet Sylvia Plath 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 features a dryad influencing several romantic couples through history.
* In Lev Grossman'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. 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'' book series by C. S. Lewis.
* 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" 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 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 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 from Andrzej Sapkowski's The Witcher books.
* Dryad Lake in Antarctica is named after the nymphs.Dryad Lake.
SCAR Composite Gazetteer of Antarctica
*The Dryad is a NPC in the 2d sandbox adventure game '' Terraria'', 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.

See also

*Oreads, a related mountain nymph
*Ghillie Dhu, a similar Scottish spirit
* Kodama, a similar Japanese spirit
* Green spirit, a similar spirit found in Myanmar and other Buddhist countries
* Elf, a similar mythical creature associated with nature
*Querquetulanae, Roman nymphs of the oak
*Rådande, a similar Swedish spirit
* Salabhanjika, a similar Indian spirit

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.

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Nymphs
Women in Greek mythology