Oceanid

Description and function

The Oceanids are not easily categorized, nor confined to any single function, not even necessarily associated with water. Though most nymphs were considered to be minor deities, many Oceanids were significant figures. Metis, the personification of intelligence, was Zeus' first wife, whom Zeus impregnated with Athena and then swallowed. The Oceanid Doris, like her mother Tethys, was an important sea-goddess. While their brothers, the river gods, were the usual personifications of major rivers, Styx (according to Hesiod the eldest and most important Oceanid) was also the personification of a major river, the underworld's river Styx. And some, like Europa, and Asia, seem associated with areas of land rather than water.