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 ...

, the

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 ty ...

daughters of the Titan

Oceanus In Greek mythology, Oceanus (; grc-gre, , Ancient Greek pronunciation: , also Ὠγενός , Ὤγενος , or Ὠγήν ) was a Titan son of Uranus and Gaia, the husband of his sister the Titan Tethys, and the father of the river gods a ...

(Ocean), were known collectively as the

Oceanids In Greek mythology, the Oceanids or Oceanides (; grc, Ὠκεανίδες, Ōkeanídes, pl. of grc, Ὠκεανίς, Ōkeanís, label=none) are the nymphs who were the three thousand (a number interpreted as meaning "innumerable") daughters o ...

. Four ancient sources give lists of names of Oceanids. The oldest, and longest such list, given by the late 8th–early 7th century BC Greek poet

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 ...

, names 41 Oceanids. Hesiod goes on to say that these "are the eldest ... but there are many besides" and that there were "three thousand" Oceanids, a number interpreted as meaning "innumerable". While some of these names, such as

Peitho In Greek mythology, Peitho ( grc, Πειθώ, Peithō, Persuasion or 'winning eloquence') is the goddess who personifies persuasion and seduction. Her Roman equivalent is Suada or Suadela. She is the goddess of charming speech. She is typically ...

Metis Metis or Métis may refer to: Ethnic groups * Métis, recognized Indigenous communities in Canada and America whose distinct culture and language emerged after early intermarriage between First Nations peoples and early European settlers, prima ...

and

Tyche Tyche (; Ancient Greek: Τύχη ''Túkhē'', 'Luck', , ; Roman equivalent: Fortuna) was the presiding tutelary deity who governed the fortune and prosperity of a city, its destiny. In Classical Greek mythology, she is the daughter of Aphrodite a ...

, certainly reflected existing traditions, many were probably mere poetic inventions. The probably nearly as old ''Homeric Hymn to Demeter'' lists 21 names, 16 of which match those given by Hesiod, and were probably taken directly from there. The roughly contemporary (? ) Greek mythographer

Apollodorus Apollodorus (Ancient Greek, Greek: Ἀπολλόδωρος ''Apollodoros'') was a popular name in ancient Greece. It is the masculine gender of a noun compounded from Apollo, the deity, and doron, "gift"; that is, "Gift of Apollo." It may refer to: ...

and the Latin mythographer

Hyginus Gaius Julius Hyginus (; 64 BC – AD 17) was a Latin author, a pupil of the scholar Alexander Polyhistor, and a freedman of Caesar Augustus. He was elected superintendent of the Palatine library by Augustus according to Suetonius' ''De Grammatic ...

also give lists of Oceanids. Apollodorus gives a list containing 7 names, as well as mentioning 5 other Oceanids elsewhere. Of these 12 names, 8 match Hesiod. Hyginus, at the beginning of his ''

Fabulae Gaius Julius Hyginus (; 64 BC – AD 17) was a Latin author, a pupil of the scholar Alexander Polyhistor, and a freedman of Caesar Augustus. He was elected superintendent of the Palatine library by Augustus according to Suetonius' ''De Grammati ...

'', lists 16 names, while elsewhere he gives the names of 10 others. Of these 26 names, only 9 are found in Hesiod, the ''Homeric Hymn'', or Apollodorus. Many other names are given in other ancient sources. The names of the Oceanids are of different types. The Oceanids were the nymphs of springs, and some of the names apparently reflect this aquatic connection, with some perhaps being the names of actual springs. Other names have no apparent connection with water. Some, consistent with the Oceanids' function, as specified by Hesiod, of having "youths in their keeping" (i.e. being ''kourotrophoi''), represent things which parents might hope to be bestowed upon their children: Plouto ("Wealth"), Tyche ("Good Fortune"), Idyia ("Knowing"), and Metis ("Wisdom"). Others appear to be geographical

eponyms An eponym is a person, a place, or a thing after whom or which someone or something is, or is believed to be, named. The adjectives which are derived from the word eponym include ''eponymous'' and ''eponymic''. Usage of the word The term ''epon ...

, such as Europa, Asia, Ephyra (

Corinth Corinth ( ; el, Κόρινθος, Kórinthos, ) is the successor to an ancient city, and is a former municipality in Corinthia, Peloponnese, which is located in south-central Greece. Since the 2011 local government reform, it has been part o ...

), and Rhodos (

Rhodes Rhodes (; el, Ρόδος , translit=Ródos ) is the largest and the historical capital of the Dodecanese islands of Greece. Administratively, the island forms a separate municipality within the Rhodes regional unit, which is part of the So ...

).Fowler 2013
pp. 13–16
Several of the names given for Oceanids, are also names given for

Nereid In Greek mythology, the Nereids or Nereides ( ; grc, Νηρηΐδες, Nērēḯdes; , also Νημερτές) are sea nymphs (female spirits of sea waters), the 50 daughters of the 'Old Man of the Sea' Nereus and the Oceanids, Oceanid Doris ...

s, the fifty sea nymphs who were the daughters of the sea god

Nereus In Greek mythology, Nereus ( ; ) was the eldest son of Pontus (the Sea) and Gaia (the Earth), with Pontus himself being a son of Gaia. Nereus and Doris became the parents of 50 daughters (the Nereids) and a son ( Nerites), with whom Nereus liv ...

and the Oceanid Doris.

List

Notes

References

Aeschylus Aeschylus (, ; grc-gre, Αἰσχύλος ; c. 525/524 – c. 456/455 BC) was an ancient Greek tragedian, and is often described as the father of tragedy. Academic knowledge of the genre begins with his work, and understanding of earlier Greek ...

(?), ''

Prometheus Bound ''Prometheus Bound'' ( grc, Προμηθεὺς Δεσμώτης, ''Promētheús Desmṓtēs'') is an Ancient Greek tragedy traditionally attributed to Aeschylus and thought to have been composed sometime between 479 BC and the terminus ante ...

'' in ''Aeschylus, with an English translation by Herbert Weir Smyth, Ph. D. in two volumes.'' Vol 2. Cambridge, Massachusetts. Harvard University Press. 1926
Online version at the Perseus Digital Library
*

, ''Apollodorus, The Library, with an English Translation by Sir James George Frazer, F.B.A., F.R.S. in 2 Volumes.'' Cambridge, Massachusetts, Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann Ltd. 1921
Online version at the Perseus Digital Library
*

Apollonius of Rhodes Apollonius of Rhodes ( grc, Ἀπολλώνιος Ῥόδιος ''Apollṓnios Rhódios''; la, Apollonius Rhodius; fl. first half of 3rd century BC) was an ancient Greek author, best known for the ''Argonautica'', an epic poem about Jason and t ...

, ''Apollonius Rhodius: the Argonautica'', translated by Robert Cooper Seaton, W. Heinemann, 1912
Internet Archive
* Bouzek, Jan and Denver Graninger, "Chapter 2: Geography" in ''A Companion to Ancient Thrace'', editors: Julia Valeva, Emil Nankov, Denver Graninger, John Wiley & Sons, 2015. . * Braswell, Bruce Karl, Margarethe Billerbeck, ''The Grammarian Epaphroditus: Testimonia and Fragments'', Peter Lang, 2007. . * Brunck, Richard François Philippe, ''Apollonii Rhodii Argonautica Volume 2: Scholia vetera in Apollonium Rhodium'', second edition by G. H. Schäfer, Fleischer, 1813
Internet Archive
* Caldwell, Richard, ''Hesiod's Theogony'', Focus Publishing/R. Pullins Company (June 1, 1987). . *

Callimachus Callimachus (; ) was an ancient Greek poet, scholar and librarian who was active in Alexandria during the 3rd century BC. A representative of Ancient Greek literature of the Hellenistic period, he wrote over 800 literary works in a wide variety ...

, ''Callimachus and Lycophron with an English translation by A. W. Mair ; Aratus, with an English translation by G. R. Mair'', London: W. Heinemann, New York: G. P. Putnam 1921
Internet Archive
* Cicero, Marcus Tullius, ''

De Natura Deorum ''De Natura Deorum'' (''On the Nature of the Gods'') is a philosophical dialogue by Roman Academic Skeptic philosopher Cicero written in 45 BC. It is laid out in three books that discuss the theological views of the Hellenistic philosophies of ...

'' in ''Cicero in Twenty-eight Volumes, XIX De Natura Deorum; Academica'', with an English translation by H. Rackham, Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press; London: William Heinemann, Ltd, 1967
Internet Archive
*

Diodorus Siculus Diodorus Siculus, or Diodorus of Sicily ( grc-gre, Διόδωρος ; 1st century BC), was an ancient Greek historian. He is known for writing the monumental universal history ''Bibliotheca historica'', in forty books, fifteen of which su ...

, ''Diodorus Siculus: The Library of History''. Translated by C. H. Oldfather. Twelve volumes.

Loeb Classical Library The Loeb Classical Library (LCL; named after James Loeb; , ) is a series of books originally published by Heinemann in London, but is currently published by Harvard University Press. The library contains important works of ancient Greek and L ...

. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press; London: William Heinemann, Ltd. 1989
Online version by Bill Thayer
* Evelyn-White, Hugh G., ''The Homeric Hymns and Homerica with an English Translation by Hugh G. Evelyn-White'', Cambridge, Massachusetts.,

Harvard University Press Harvard University Press (HUP) is a publishing house established on January 13, 1913, as a division of Harvard University, and focused on academic publishing. It is a member of the Association of American University Presses. After the retirem ...

; London, William Heinemann Ltd. 1914
Internet Archive
* Fowler, R. L. (2000), ''Early Greek Mythography: Volume 1: Text and Introduction'', Oxford University Press, 2000. . * Fowler, R. L. (2013), ''Early Greek Mythography: Volume 2: Commentary'', Oxford University Press, 2013. . * Freeman, Kathleen, ''Ancilla to the Pre-Socratic Philosophers: A Complete Translation of the Fragments in Diels, Fragmente Der Vorsokratiker'', Harvard University Press, 1983. . * Hard, Robin, ''The Routledge Handbook of Greek Mythology: Based on H.J. Rose's "Handbook of Greek Mythology"'', Psychology Press, 2004, . * Harder, Annette, ''Callimachus: Aetia: Introduction, Text, Translation and Commentary'', Oxford University Press, 2012. . (two volume set). *

, ''

Theogony The ''Theogony'' (, , , i.e. "the genealogy or birth of the gods") is a poem by Hesiod (8th–7th century BC) describing the origins and genealogies of the Greek gods, composed . It is written in the Epic dialect of Ancient Greek and contains 10 ...

'', in ''The Homeric Hymns and Homerica with an English Translation by Hugh G. Evelyn-White'', Cambridge, Massachusetts., Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann Ltd. 1914
Online version at the Perseus Digital Library
*

Homer Homer (; grc, Ὅμηρος , ''Hómēros'') (born ) was a Greek poet who is credited as the author of the ''Iliad'' and the ''Odyssey'', two epic poems that are foundational works of ancient Greek literature. Homer is considered one of the ...

, ''The Iliad with an English Translation by A.T. Murray, Ph.D. in two volumes''. Cambridge, Massachusetts., Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann, Ltd. 1924
Online version at the Perseus Digital Library
*

, ''The Odyssey with an English Translation by A.T. Murray, PH.D. in two volumes''. Cambridge, Massachusetts., Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann, Ltd. 1919
Online version at the Perseus Digital Library
* ''Homeric Hymn to Demeter'', in ''The Homeric Hymns and Homerica with an English Translation by Hugh G. Evelyn-White'', Cambridge, Massachusetts., Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann Ltd. 1914
Online version at the Perseus Digital Library
* Hyginus, Gaius Julius, '' Astronomica'', in ''The Myths of Hyginus'', edited and translated by Mary A. Grant, Lawrence: University of Kansas Press, 1960
Online version at the Topos Text Project
* Hyginus, Gaius Julius, ''

'' in ''Apollodorus' ''Library'' and Hyginus' ''Fabulae'': Two Handbooks of Greek Mythology, Translated, with Introductions by R. Scott Smith and Stephen M. Trzaskoma'', Hackett Publishing Company, 2007. . * Liddell, Henry George, Robert Scott. ''

A Greek-English Lexicon A, or a, is the first letter and the first vowel of the Latin alphabet, used in the modern English alphabet, the alphabets of other western European languages and others worldwide. Its name in English is ''a'' (pronounced ), plural ''aes'' ...

''. Revised and augmented throughout by Sir Henry Stuart Jones with the assistance of. Roderick McKenzie. Oxford. Clarendon Press. 1940
Online version at the Perseus Digital Library
* Meineke, August, ''Stephani Byzantii Ethnicorvm quae svpersvnt'', Berolini: Impensis G. Reimeri, 1849
Internet Archive
* Most, G.W., ''Hesiod: Theogony, Works and Days, Testimonia,''

, No. 57, Cambridge, Massachusetts, 2006
Online version at Harvard University Press
*

Nonnus Nonnus of Panopolis ( grc-gre, Νόννος ὁ Πανοπολίτης, ''Nónnos ho Panopolítēs'', 5th century CE) was the most notable Greek epic poet of the Imperial Roman era. He was a native of Panopolis (Akhmim) in the Egyptian Thebai ...

, ''

Dionysiaca The ''Dionysiaca'' {{IPAc-en, ˌ, d, aɪ, ., ə, ., n, ᵻ, ˈ, z, aɪ, ., ə, ., k, ə ( grc-gre, Διονυσιακά, ''Dionysiaká'') is an ancient Greek epic poem and the principal work of Nonnus. It is an epic in 48 books, the longest survi ...

''; translated by Rouse, W H D, II Books XVI–XXXV.

No. 345, Cambridge, Massachusetts, Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann Ltd. 1940
Internet Archive
*

, ''

''; translated by Rouse, W H D, III Books XXXVI–XLVIII.

No. 346, Cambridge, Massachusetts, Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann Ltd. 1940
Internet Archive
*

Ovid Pūblius Ovidius Nāsō (; 20 March 43 BC – 17/18 AD), known in English as Ovid ( ), was a Roman poet who lived during the reign of Augustus. He was a contemporary of the older Virgil and Horace, with whom he is often ranked as one of the th ...

, '' Ovid's Fasti: With an English translation by Sir James George Frazer'', London: W. Heinemann LTD; Cambridge, Massachusetts: : Harvard University Press, 1959
Internet Archive
*

, ''

Metamorphoses The ''Metamorphoses'' ( la, Metamorphōsēs, from grc, μεταμορφώσεις: "Transformations") is a Latin narrative poem from 8 CE by the Roman poet Ovid. It is considered his ''magnum opus''. The poem chronicles the history of the wo ...

'', Brookes More. Boston. Cornhill Publishing Co. 1922
Online version at the Perseus Digital Library
*

Pausanias Pausanias ( el, Παυσανίας) may refer to: *Pausanias of Athens, lover of the poet Agathon and a character in Plato's ''Symposium'' *Pausanias the Regent, Spartan general and regent of the 5th century BC * Pausanias of Sicily, physician of t ...

, ''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, Massachusetts, Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann Ltd. 1918
Online version at the Perseus Digital Library
*

Pindar Pindar (; grc-gre, Πίνδαρος , ; la, Pindarus; ) was an Ancient Greek lyric poet from Thebes. Of the canonical nine lyric poets of ancient Greece, his work is the best preserved. Quintilian wrote, "Of the nine lyric poets, Pindar is ...

, ''Nemean Odes. Isthmian Odes. Fragments'', Edited and translated by William H. Race.

No. 485. Cambridge, Massachusetts:

, 1997.
Online version at Harvard University Press
*

, ''Odes'', Diane Arnson Svarlien. 1990
Online version at the Perseus Digital Library
* ''Scholia Graeca in Homeri Iliadem'', edited by Wilhelm Dindorf and

Ernst Maass Ernst Maass (12 April 1856, in Kolberg – 11 November 1929, in Marburg) was a German classical philologist. From 1875 he studied at the universities of Tübingen and Greifswald, receiving his doctorate in 1879 as a student of Ulrich von Wila ...

, Volume II, Oxford 1875
Internet Archive
*

Tzetzes John Tzetzes ( grc-gre, Ἰωάννης Τζέτζης, Iōánnēs Tzétzēs; c. 1110, Constantinople – 1180, Constantinople) was a Byzantine poet and grammarian who is known to have lived at Constantinople in the 12th century. He was able to p ...

, '' Chiliades'', editor Gottlieb Kiessling, F.C.G. Vogel, 1826. (English translation, Books II–IV, by Gary Berkowitz
Internet Archive
. *

Virgil Publius Vergilius Maro (; traditional dates 15 October 7021 September 19 BC), usually called Virgil or Vergil ( ) in English, was an ancient Roman poet of the Augustan period. He composed three of the most famous poems in Latin literature: t ...

, ''Bucolics, Aeneid, and Georgics Of Vergil''. J. B. Greenough. Boston. Ginn & Co. 1900
Online version at the Perseus Digital Library
* West, M. L. (1966), ''Hesiod: Theogony'', Oxford University Press. . * West, M. L. (1983), ''The Orphic Poems'', Clarendon Press. . * West, M. L. (2003), ''Greek Epic Fragments: From the Seventh to the Fifth Centuries BC''. Edited and translated by Martin L. West.

No. 497. Cambridge, Massachusetts:

, 2003.
Online version at Harvard University Press
{{DEFAULTSORT:List Of Oceanids *List

Women in Greek mythology

List

See also

Notes

References