Nymph

A Hamadryad, by John William Waterhouse

In Greek mythology, a nymph is any member of a large class of female nature entities, either bound to a particular location or land form, such as mountains, groves, springs, rivers, valleys and cool grottos, or joining the retinue of a god, such as Dionysus, Hermes, or Pan, or a goddess, generally Artemis. Nymphs were the frequent target of lusty satyrs, their male counterpart.

Etymology

The exact origin for the word nymph is obscure. The Oxford English Dictionary claims that the word nymph comes from the Latin nympha, which is the Latinized Greek word νύμφη, which roughly translates as "bride".

Origin

The idea of the Nymph comes out nature worship, in particular a reverence for the idea of fertility. Women, being the bearers of children, were seen as human representations of the ability for life to grow and flourish in nature. Coupled with the belief that nature was inhabited by personified spirits, the ideas eventually merged into the belief in female spirits that protected and actually helped nourish nature and life.

The ancient Greeks worshipped the nymphs in several different ways. Often times those paying tribute to the Goddess Artemis, would also pay tribute to the nymphs in the same ceremony since Artemis was seen as the mistress of the nymphs. The nymphs also had their own place of worship, the fountain nymphaeum, where the ancients could worship the nature spirits directly.

Description

A nineteenth-century depiction of Hylas and the Nymphs by John William Waterhouse

Originally, there was no distinction among the nymphs; they were all treated as almost identical creatures. They were generally depicted as young and beautiful, but more importantly as healthy females who were are the perfect stage to beginning reproducing, a significant connection between them and fertility deities. They were said to be enchanting to humans, particularly males and had ethereal qualities. Much like the cyclical aspect of nature, nymphs were not immortal; they lived extremely long lives, but were prone to the processes of aging and death.

As time went on, the nymphs evolved into several different sub-classifications, based on the type of environment they inhabited, which is how they are generally depicted as today.

Classifications

The following is not the Greek classification, but is intended simply as a guide:

• Land Nymphs
  • Alseids (glens, groves)
  • Napaeae (mountain valleys, glens)
  • Auloniads (pastures)
  • Leimakids (meadows)
  • Oreads (mountains, grottoes)
  • Minthe (mint)
  • Hesperides (garden)
    • Aegle ("dazzling light")
    • Arethusa
    • Erytheia (or Eratheis)
    • Hesperia (or Hispereia)
    • Hespera (or Hespere)
  • Hamadryads (trees)
    • Dryads (oak tree)
    • Meliae (manna-ash tree)
    • Leuce (white poplar tree)
    • Epimeliad (apple tree)
• Water Nymphs
  • Helead (fen)
  • Oceanids (daughters of Oceanus and Tethys, any water, usually salty)
  • Nereids (daughters of Nereus, the Mediterranean Sea)
  • Naiads (usually fresh water)
    • Crinaeae (fountains)
    • Limnades or Limnatides (lakes)
    • Pegaeae (springs)
    • Potameides (rivers)
    • Eleionomae (marshes)
• Wood Nymphs
  • "Corycian Nymphs" (Classical Muses)
  • Lampades (underworld)

Nymphs in modern Greek folklore

The ancient Greek belief in nymphs survived in many parts of the country into the early years of the twentieth century, when they were usually known as "nereids." At that time John Cuthbert Lawson wrote:

there is probably no nook or hamlet in all Greece where the womenfolk at least do not scrupulously take precautions against the thefts and malice of the nereids, while many a man may still be found to recount in all good faith stories of their beauty, passion and caprice. Nor is it a matter of faith only; more than once I have been in villages where certain Nereids were known by sight to several persons (so at least they averred); and there was a wonderful agreement among the witnesses in the description of their appearance and dress.

The Head of a Nymph by Sophie Anderson

Usually female, they were dressed in white, decked with garlands of flowers, but they frequently had unnatural legs, like those of a goat, donkey or cow. They were so beautiful that the highest compliment was to compare some feature of a woman (eyes, hair, etc.) with that of nereid. They could move swiftly and invisibly, ride through the air and slip through small holes. Although not immortal, their lives exceeded man's tenfold, and they retained their beauty until death.

They tended to frequent areas distant from man, but could be encountered by lone travelers outside the village, where their music might be heard, and the traveler could spy on their dancing or bathing in a stream or pool, either during the noon heat or in the middle of the night. They might appear in a whirlwind. Such encounters could be dangerous, bringing dumbness, besotted infatuation, madness or stroke to the unfortunate human. When parents believed their child to be nereid-struck they would pray to Saint Artemidos, the Christian manifestation of Artemis.

Stock stories about nereids include the girl who fell ill and died and was seen after death dancing with the nereids; the nereid changeling; and the man who won a nereid as his wife by stealing a piece of her clothing. The latter would become an ideal wife until she recovered her clothing and returned to her own people.

Foreign adaptations

A fourth-century Roman depiction of Hylas and the Nymphs

The Greek nymphs were spirits invariably bound to places, not unlike the Latin genius loci, and the difficulty of transferring their cult may be seen in the complicated myth that brought Arethusa to Sicily. In the works of the Greek-educated Latin poets, the nymphs gradually absorbed into their ranks the indigenous Italian divinities of springs and streams (Juturna, Egeria, Cavmentis, Fontus), while the Lymphae (originally Lumpae), Italian water-goddesses, owing to the accidental similarity of name, could be identified with the Greek Nymphae. The mythologies of classicizing Roman poets were unlikely to have affected the rites and cult of individual nymphs venerated by country people in the springs and clefts of Latium. Among the Roman literate class their sphere of influence was restricted, and they appear almost exclusively as divinities of the watery element.

Pop Culture

Unlike other similar creatures, few nymphs have been depicted on film, in television, or in other forms of mass media and popular culture. They do appear in the Chronicles of Narnia by C.S. Lewis, the Xanth series by Piers Anthony, and The Belgariad by David Eddings. Lady in the Water (2006), a film by M. Night Shyamalan, features a water nymph (called a Narf) of a mythology he created for the movie. They also sometimes appear in role-playing fantasy games, such as Dungeons and Dragons.

References

ISBN links support NWE through referral fees

• Burkert, Walter. 1985. Greek Religion. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press. ISBN 0674362810
• Lawson, John Cuthbert, Modern Greek Folklore and Ancient Greek Religion, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 1910 p131
• Rose, Herbert Jennings. 1959. A Handbook of Greek Mythology. New York, NY: E.P. Dutton & Co. ISBN 0525470417
• Tomkinson, John L., Haunted Greece: Nymphs, Vampires and other Exotika, Retrieved August 8, 2007. Anagnosis, Athens, 2004, ISBN 9608808707

External Links

• "Encyclopedia Mythica" Retrieved August 8, 2007.
• "Mythography" Retrieved August 8, 2007.
• "Timeless Myths" Retrieved August 8, 2007.
• Nereids Retrieved August 8, 2007.
• Nymphs Retrieved August 8, 2007.

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