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Argyra (mythology)
In Greek mythology, Argyra (; ) was one of the Naiads, a nymph who lived in a well. There was a city in ancient Achaea, also named Argyra, that was the site of a spring. Mythology According to legend, the nymph Argyra was in love with a shepherd named Selemnus whom she visited frequently. But when he aged and his youthful beauty vanished, she forsook him. When the boy died of grief, the goddess Aphrodite Aphrodite (, ) is an Greek mythology, ancient Greek goddess associated with love, lust, beauty, pleasure, passion, procreation, and as her syncretism, syncretised Roman counterpart , desire, Sexual intercourse, sex, fertility, prosperity, and ... out of pity changed him into a river, the Selemnos. There was a popular belief in Achaia that a forsaken lover who bathes in this river will forget their pain.Pausanias, ''Graeciae Descriptio'7.23.2/ref> Notes References * Pausanias, ''Description of Greece'' with an English Translation by W.H.S. Jones, Litt.D., and H.A ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Greek Mythology
Greek mythology is the body of myths originally told by the Ancient Greece, ancient Greeks, and a genre of ancient Greek folklore, today absorbed alongside Roman mythology into the broader designation of classical mythology. These stories concern the ancient Greek religion's view of the Cosmogony, origin and Cosmology#Metaphysical cosmology, nature of the world; the lives and activities of List of Greek deities, deities, Greek hero cult, heroes, and List of Greek mythological creatures, mythological creatures; and the origins and significance of the ancient Greeks' cult (religious practice), cult and ritual practices. Modern scholars study the myths to shed light on the religious and political institutions of ancient Greece, and to better understand the nature of mythmaking itself. The Greek myths were initially propagated in an oral tradition, oral-poetic tradition most likely by Minoan civilization, Minoan and Mycenaean Greece, Mycenaean singers starting in the 18th century&n ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Naiad
In Greek mythology, the naiads (; ), sometimes also hydriads, 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 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 (), "body of flowing 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''’s crew was lost when he was taken by n ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Nymph
A nymph (; ; sometimes spelled nymphe) is a minor female nature deity in ancient Greek folklore. Distinct from other Greek goddesses, nymphs are generally regarded as personifications of nature; they are typically tied to a specific place, landform, or tree, and are usually depicted as Virginity, maidens. Because of their association with springs, they were often seen as having healing properties; other divine powers of the nymphs included divination and shapeshifting. In spite of their divine nature, they were not immortality, immortal. Nymphs are divided into various Nymph#List, broad subgroups based on their habitat, such as the Meliae (ash tree nymphs), the Dryads (oak tree nymphs), the Alseids (Grove (nature), grove nymphs), the Naiads (Spring (hydrology), spring nymphs), the Nereids (sea nymphs), the Oceanids (ocean nymphs), and the Oreads (mountain nymphs). Other nymphs included the Hesperides (evening nymphs), the Hyades (mythology), Hyades (rain nymphs), and the Pleiade ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Achaea
Achaea () or Achaia (), sometimes transliterated from Greek language, Greek as Akhaia (, ''Akhaḯa'', ), is one of the regional units of Greece. It is part of the modern regions of Greece, region of Western Greece and is situated in the northwestern part of the Peloponnese peninsula. The capital is Patras which is the third largest city in Greece. Geography Achaea is bordered by Elis (regional unit), Elis to the west and southwest, Arcadia (regional unit), Arcadia to the south, and Corinthia to the east and southeast. The Gulf of Corinth lies to its northeast, and the Gulf of Patras to its northwest. The mountain Panachaiko (1926 m), though not the highest of Achaea, dominates the coastal area near Patras. Higher mountains are found in the south, such as Aroania (mountain), Aroania (2341 m) and Mount Erymanthos, Erymanthos (2224 m). Other mountain ranges in Achaea are Skollis, Omplos, Kombovouni and Movri. Its main rivers ordered from west to east are the Laris ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Argyra (Achaea)
Argyra () was a town or village in ancient Achaea, in the neighbourhood of Patrae. It was located near the river Selemnus, the spring Argyra and the town of Bolina. Pausanias says it was on the road from Patrae to Aegium, following the Caradrus river. Pausanias relates a local legend that Argyra was a sea-nymph, who fell in love with a shepherd boy named Selemnus and used to come up out of the sea to visit him, sleeping by his side, but when Selemnus lost its beauty, the nymph stopped visiting him and Selemnus died of a broken heart. Then, Aphrodite transformed Selemnus into a river, the Selemnos. ''et seq.'' In the war between the Achaeans and the Romans Patrae suffered so severely, that the greater part of the inhabitants abandoned the city and took up their abodes in the surrounding villages of Mesatis, Antheia, Bolina, Argyra, and Arba. A long time later, the Emperor Augustus Gaius Julius Caesar Augustus (born Gaius Octavius; 23 September 63 BC – 19 Aug ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Selemnus (god)
In Greek mythology, Selemnus () is a young shepherd boy turned river god from the Peloponnese in southern Greece. He was traditionally the divine personification of the Selemnos, a river which flows in the region of Achaea, northern Peloponnese. Selemnus is notable for his brief and tragic love story with the nymph Argyra, preserved in the ''Description of Greece'', a travel guide by Pausanias, an ancient Greek traveller of the second century AD. Family Traditionally, the 3,000 river gods were said to be the children of the Titans Oceanus and his sister-wife Tethys, although in the Achaean tradition Selemnus having been a mortal man originally means he would have had different parents, who are not given names in the surviving texts. Mythology According to a local Patraean myth, the river Selemnus was originally a mortal man, a young and handsome shepherd who used to feed his flock by the Argyra spring near the town of Argyra. The sea-nymph of that spring, Argyra, fell ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Pausanias (geographer)
Pausanias ( ; ; ) was a Greek traveler and geographer of the second century AD. He is famous for his '' Description of Greece'' (, ), a lengthy work that describes ancient Greece from his firsthand observations. ''Description of Greece'' provides crucial information for making links between classical literature and modern archaeology, which is providing evidence of the sites and cultural details he mentions although knowledge of their existence may have become lost or relegated to myth or legend. Biography Nothing is known about Pausanias apart from what historians can piece together from his own writing. However, it is probable that he was born into a Greek family and was probably a native of Lydia in Asia Minor. From until his death around 180, Pausanias travelled throughout the mainland of Greece, writing about various monuments, sacred spaces, and significant geographical sites along the way. In writing his '' Description of Greece'', Pausanias sought to put together ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Aphrodite
Aphrodite (, ) is an Greek mythology, ancient Greek goddess associated with love, lust, beauty, pleasure, passion, procreation, and as her syncretism, syncretised Roman counterpart , desire, Sexual intercourse, sex, fertility, prosperity, and victory. Aphrodite's major symbols include seashells, Myrtle (common), myrtles, roses, doves, sparrows, and swans. The cult of Aphrodite was largely derived from that of the Ancient Canaanite religion, Phoenician goddess Astarte, a cognate of the East Semitic goddess Ishtar, whose cult was based on the Sumerian religion, Sumerian cult of Inanna. Aphrodite's main cult centers were Kythira, Cythera, Cyprus, Corinth, and Athens. Her main festival was the Aphrodisia, which was celebrated annually in midsummer. In Laconia, Aphrodite was worshipped as a warrior goddess. She was also the patron goddess of Prostitution in ancient Greece, prostitutes, an association which led early scholars to propose the concept of sacred prostitution in Greco-Rom ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Selemnos
Selemnos (Ancient Greek: Σέλεμνος, ) is a river in the northern part of Achaea, Greece. The river flows entirely in the municipal unit of Rio and empties into the Gulf of Corinth. Geography The river begins on the northwest side of the Panachaiko mountain. It passes along the villages Ano Kastritsi and Kato Kastritsi. It empties into the Gulf of Corinth, east of the Rio-Antirrio bridge. The lower course of the river is also called ''Kastritsianiko'' (Καστριτσιάνικο). Mythology In Greek mythology, Selemnus was a shepherd who loved the nymph Argyra, who eventually abandoned him and Selemnus died of grief. That time, the goddess Aphrodite made him a river, the waters of which were believed to cure of unrequited love. Pausanias, ''Description of Greece'', 7. 23. 1 - 3 The story of Selemnus is referenced in a tale by Rena Galanaki in ''Mnimi tou erota, lithi tou erota'' (''Μνήμη του έρωτα, λήθη του έρωτα'') in the book ''Ena sch ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Naiads
In Greek mythology, the naiads (; ), sometimes also hydriads, 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 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 (), "body of flowing 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''’s crew was lost when he was taken by na ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
