Sea nymph. Nymph is the daughter and guardian of nature Ancient Greek nymph

Nymphs Ancient Greece- mythological deities of nature who were associated with young beautiful girls. They lived in the mountains, forest lakes, streams, seas, and loved to dance and sing. They did not die of old age, did not get sick, and could give birth to immortal children from the gods. Some nymphs formed the retinue of gods and goddesses. In particular, Dionysus, Hermes and Artemis had such an honorable escort.

Merry nymphs accompanied by satyrs

Each such mythological deity, generated by the earth goddess Gaia, had its own specific locality in which it resided all the time. Those who lived in streams, lakes and rivers were called naiads. They only lived in fresh waters and had close contact with mere mortals. So the naiad Nomia fell in love with the shepherd Daphnis, and he swore allegiance to her. But soon he cheated on his beloved with the king's daughter. Then the offended Nomiya turned the loving young man into stone, and according to another version, blinded him.

Naiads were considered close relatives Nereids– inhabitants Mediterranean Sea. There were 50 of them in total, and they often accompanied the god of the seas, Poseidon. These deities lived in a golden palace at the bottom Aegean Sea with father Nereus and mother Doris. Thetis is considered the most famous of the sea nymphs. She was the mother of Achilles or Achilles. The father of the child was the royal son Peleus. When the baby was born, the mother decided to make him invulnerable and brought him to the divine river Styx. There she plunged the baby into the water, holding his heel. After this, Achilles' body became invulnerable, with the exception of his heel (Achilles' heel).

In addition, the nymphs of Ancient Greece lived in the mountains, they called them oreads. They differed from each other depending on their homes. Some lived on Mount Ida, some on Mount Pelion, and some on other mountainous formations. The Echo oread is well known. Zeus' wife Hera hated her. Allegedly, when Zeus cheated on his wife with mountain nymphs, Echo distracted Hera with conversation.

For this, the formidable wife of the Thunderer severely punished the unlucky oread. It took away her ability to speak first. Echo was able to only repeat last words interlocutor. Soon the poor girl fell in love with Narcissus (son of the river god Kephissus). But she couldn't tell him about her love. The unfortunate oread died of melancholy. Only her echoing voice remained, and the flesh turned to stone.

Naiad Nomiya and sleeping Daphnis

They lived in the forests dryads. In Greek, "drias" means "oak". Therefore, at first these mythological deities were considered nymphs oak trees. But then this name began to be used for all trees. Many dryads constantly accompanied the goddess of the hunt Artemis. They all lived a very long time and never got sick. But in their midst there were also special dryads - hamadryads. Each of them had an inextricable connection with a specific tree.

One day, the son of the king of Thessaly, Erysichthon, ordered the cutting down of the sacred oak tree that grew in the grove of Demeter. Blood streamed from the felled tree and the branches turned white. This was the blood of the hamadryad, which was an integral part of the oak tree. Dying, she cursed Erysichthon, sending him an insatiable feeling of hunger. After this, the king's son began to eat incessantly. He ate all the supplies that were in the house, spent all the money on food, sold his daughter and wife into slavery, and when he found himself without any money at all, he began to eat his body and destroyed himself.

Such nymphs of Ancient Greece as oceanids. They were the daughters of the titans Oceanus and Tethys. There were 3 thousand of them in total. Each of them was the patroness of something specific: a river, sea, pond, lake, pasture, and even clouds.

The Oceanids enjoyed incomparable respect among sailors who plied the seas on fragile ships. They asked the powerful nymphs for protection from storms and other sea ​​dangers. The Argonauts, who went to Colchis for the Golden Fleece, first made offerings to the daughters of Oceanus and Tethys in the form of honey and flour. In addition, they sacrificed a bull, asking for help and luck.

Vacationing Oceanids

The most famous among the Oceanids was Metis or Metis. She personified wisdom and was Zeus's aunt. She was entrusted with raising the young god, but he was inflamed with passion for her. Metis began to take on different images in order to ward off her loving pupil, but this did not help, and she became the first wife of Zeus.

But the marriage with the Thunderer ended sadly for this oceanid. The narcissistic and formidable god was predicted that his wife would give birth to a son who would surpass his father in all qualities and overthrow him. Zeus could not allow this. He lay down with Metis on the marriage bed, lulled her to sleep with affectionate speeches, and then swallowed her. This action gave rise to the birth of Athena directly from the head of the god. She stepped onto the earth already fully grown, armed and clad in armor. Metis herself remained in Zeus as an adviser, telling him good and evil.

In addition to the above, there were other nymphs of Ancient Greece. Among them are celestial (Egla, Aritus, Pleiades), musical, and also inextricably linked with art (Muse), bee breeding (Melissa). These mythological deities covered all sides human activity, and the ancient Greeks worshiped them, bringing rich gifts as a sign of respect and love.

Nymphs are translated from Latin as “brides”. These are minor natural deities from ancient Greek myths, appearing as beautiful girls, each of which was the personification of various life-giving and fruitful earthly forces, natural objects and phenomena. All of them are patronesses of specific objects or natural phenomena, embodying their soul.

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Nymphs - general information

Nymphs are the most extensive mythological group, because the Oceanids alone, the nymphs of salt waters, number at least three thousand maidens. The ancient Greeks believed in their existence, attributing natural guardians to the seas, rivers, springs, grottoes, mountains, groves and meadows. They were divided into different subspecies according to their habitats. They often had their own names.

Oreads and agrostins- mountain dwellers; forest and arboreal - dryads and hamariads; naiads- guardians of freshwater sources; Nereids, Oceanids, Dayads- sea spirits that live in salty waters. Napei- guardians of the valleys, limnades- inhabitants and protectors of swamps and lakes, alseids- spirits of groves. Pleiades- heavenly. Distinguished separately meliades- ash nymphs. Chief among the divine natural creatures were considered inhabitants of waters, fresh and salty. Ancient lexicographers indicate that “nymph” is translated as “source”.

Perhaps the most famous representative is the Oread named Echo, who did not have her own speech, but could repeat someone else’s. When an echo is heard in the mountains after a loud sound, it is the voice of a nymph. According to legends, all the islands and valleys were once inhabited by nymphs.

The ancient Greeks combined their vision of the mystical world with real-life natural objects. Ancient Greek poets did not describe nature with delight and aspiration, like modern writers, because in those days nature did not have an abstract appearance - nymphs of all guises personified it, speaking with the voice of nature.

Nymphs and gods

The gods lived on Mount Olympus, and the nymphs preferred to live in forests, groves, and fields. But they could leave their homes when they were called by the Olympians for feasts, hunting or other matters. Nymphs could live both the simple life of nature spirits and have fun among high society immortals.

The fate of the minor goddesses was determined by their appearance. Some lived in meadows, forests and swamps, protecting them from invasion, and some were part of the retinue of the Olympian gods. Nymphs were often romantic relationships with gods and minor deities, heroes, and sometimes even people they especially liked. Many heroes of ancient Greek myths were born from nymphs, such as the famous Achilles, son Thetis. Most often, the unions of gods and nymphs turned out to be short-term, but long-term relationships also occurred. For example, Nereid Amphitrite became the wife of the god of the seas Poseidon. Thanks to her marriage, she became revered as a sea goddess. Pallas Athena's mother was an Oceanian Metis, ex-wife Zeus before his marriage to Hera.

Majority legendary creatures are immortal, but for those living in trees, the life span is the same as for their place of residence - a tree. Death also came to naiads living in rivers, streams and lakes if their habitat dried out or became overgrown with mud. The Oreads lived the longest, because the destruction of mountains is an extremely slow process.

Sanctuaries dedicated to minor goddesses were called nymphaeums. They were located in deep grottoes and caves, where darkness reigned. Their sacrifices included lambs and goats, calves and cows, milk, honey, wine and butter. Depending on the type of nymphs, the appearance of the victims changed. Places such as the beginnings of streams, mountains and rivers, sources, were considered sacred by the Greeks. Homer described a nymphaeum in Ithaca, the home of Odysseus. The philosopher Porfiry in his work “On the Cave of the Nymphs” interpreted it as the center of cosmic forces.

In frescoes, paintings, mosaics, and sculpture, nymphs were depicted as beautiful naked or half-naked maidens. They always had their hair down - an element of natural, erotic beauty. Mortal girls were forbidden to let their hair down, unlike nature spirits. The nymphs decorated themselves with wreaths of flowers and often danced. The Oreads were often shown as brooding maidens, spending their days on the rocks.

Nymphs as embodiments of nature

Nature spirits are very ancient creatures that appeared at the dawn of mankind. The most ancient of them are Meliads, or Melian nymphs. When Chronos castrated his father Uranus, the god's blood fell to the ground, and from it the first ash maidens were born. The Oceanids are the descendants of the god of the seas Ocean and Tethys, the Nereids are the daughters of Doris and Nereus. All oceanids embody one or another quality of the seas, their strength, self-will, unpredictability. Hesiod listed them in his Theogony.

Some sources fed groundwater, have healing properties. Therefore, the nymphs began to enter the retinue of the healing god Asclepius, and received the gift of healing and healing. Despite their frivolous appearance and easy disposition, they kept ancient wisdom and knew the secrets of life and death. The Delphic oracle was replaced by the oracle of Gaia, and then by Daphne, the mountain nymph.

Since ancient times, people have been at springs, rivers, streams. If the laws were violated, there was execution by water - the person was thrown into the river so that the nymphs, incorruptible and fair, would decide his fate. Sometimes they used the water to tell fortunes by throwing a tablet covered with writing into the whirlpool. Depending on whether the tablet sank, floated, or was thrown out of the whirlpool, the fate of the person was predicted. Apollo often taught nymphs the ability to tell fortunes. Often, soothsayers and oracles called the spirits of nature their mothers - the same Tiresias believed that the nymph Chariklo gave birth to him.

The earthly goddesses punished rudeness and disrespect, like the Olympian celestials, with madness. But madmen could be revered as soothsayers, respected and revered. The Pythia breathed hallucinogenic vapors emanating from the fissures of the earth, falling into temporary madness and predicting the future. Possession was considered highest state, helping a madman acquire supernatural hearing, vision, understand the language of animals and listen to bird speech.

Legends about nymphs

There is a well-known story according to which a man in the Poebius family committed a great sin - he cut down an oak tree where a gamariad lived. The virgin begged him in vain to stop and not destroy her abode. For this crime, a curse was imposed on the entire family. To atone for the guilt, an altar was erected on the site of the felled oak tree and sacrifices were made to soften the nymph’s anger.

Hamadryad

When an oak tree was cut down in the sacred grove of Demeter, the goddess of all living things, human blood flowed along the bark, and the branches turned pale like the skin of a dying person. The blood belonged to a nymph who lived in an oak tree trunk. Before her death, she cursed the killer - he began to feel a hunger that he could not satisfy with anything.

Shy hamariad Syringa turned into a reed, running away from Pan. Equally sad is the fate of the nymph Cops, the beloved concubine of Hades, whom Persephone was jealous of, turned into mint and trampled. Many celestials and heroes played a sad role in the destinies of the beautiful nymphs. According to legend, the famous Hercules, in order to get apples from the garden of the Hesperides, seduced one of the sisters and with her help stole the treasured fruits. And he abandoned the nymph - he no longer needed her.

The nymphs of the ocean were called oceanids, there were three thousand of them, all of them were daughters of the ocean. Oceanids were associated not only with the ocean, but also with seas and rivers. Nereids - nymphs of the seas. They were born by the god of the sea, Nereus, and one of the oceanids, Doris. The ancient Greeks called the nymphs of springs and streams Naiads. Limnades are nymphs of small bodies of water located in meadows. Among the water nymphs, the most famous are the Nereids Galatea and Amphitrite, the oceanids Clymene, Styx and Lethe, and the naiads Pirene, Cocytis and Alope. Leta – nymph famous river oblivion. According to one version, the nymph Clymene is the mother of Prometaeus and Atlas.

Plant nymphs

Dryads and hamadryads are the patroness of trees and forests. Tree nymphs are one with their tree. The Greeks believed that if you hit a tree, the nymph living in it would also be injured. The most ancient of the forest spirits were the Meliads, who lived in the ash tree. Alseids are nymphs that live in groves. In ancient Greek myths the names of tree nymphs Eurydice, Syringa and Melia are mentioned. The sad story of Eurydice and her husband Orpheus is known.

The nymphs, the guardians of the mountains, were called orestiades. In the mountains, when shouting words, an echo is heard; perhaps the name of one mountain nymph came precisely from this phenomenon. Echo died from unrequited love for Narcissus, leaving behind only her voice. The names of other orestiads are known - Daphne, Maya, Ido. Daphne was considered the first lover of the god Apollo. But she did not reciprocate his feelings, and in order to escape from his love she fell into a laurel tree. Nymphs became mothers of gods and soothsayers. Thus, the Mayan orestiad gave birth to the god Hermes, the patron of messengers and traders, from Zeus.

Other nymphs

Hesperides are the most famous nymphs. Their habitat was the garden of the gods, in which they guarded golden apples. The number of Hesperides varied from myth to myth. It is known that no more than seven of them existed.

Pleiades or Atlantis - nymphs, daughters of Atlas. A group of stars in the constellation Taurus is named after them. There are several myths associated with the Pleiades about how they got to the sky. Merope's husband was a man of whom the nymph was ashamed. It is for this reason that the ancient Greeks explained that the star Merope is the dimmest because of its confusion. Other names of the Pleiades are Electra, Sterope, Taygeta, Alcyone, Keleno, Maya. The nymph Adarsteya took care of Zeus when he was a baby.

As personifications of nature, nymphs had a dual essence. They brought benefits to people, healed, gave advice, and predicted the future. At the same time, the nymph could send madness to a person, thereby killing him.

Sea nymph: talisman of the conquerors of the water surface

The sea nymph is mythical creature, born in the stories of Ancient Greece. They have always been represented in the minds of people as naked, beautiful maidens, mortal, but capable of becoming the mothers of true immortal heroes.

According to myths, the Oceanids and Nereids lived in the sea, each of which was a resident of an underwater castle located in the very depths of the sea and owned by their father. The Nereids lived in the so-called “inner sea”, the shores of which were inhabited by people. The Oceanids, in contrast, were inhabitants of the “external sea”, which washed the edges of the earth.

The oceanid sea nymph was the daughter of Ocean and Tethys, and many such creatures were born - three thousand. Each of them had a personal purpose, its own functions and place in the mythological system. The most famous among the oceanids are Hesione, Callirhoe, Clymene, Electra, Perseid, Lethe and Doris.

The Nereid nymph was the daughter of the god Nereus and the nymph Doris. Fifty such daughters were born from this divine union, each of them has given name, which indicates the various states of the sea: its variability, depth, whimsicality, swiftness, and the like. The sea nymph Amphitrite gained the greatest fame, becoming the wife of the legendary Poseidon. No less famous is Thetis, the mother of Achilles. The sea nymph Galatea became the lover of Polyphemus. The names of Thalia, Nimerthea, Scylla and Glauca are often mentioned in myths.

The Nereids led an idle lifestyle: they rode on dolphins, led sea round dances that made the waves rise, held competitions with newts, and went ashore on moonlit nights. The nymph was a creature benevolent to people and helped on sea voyages to find the long-awaited shore. On a moonlit night, the Nereids came ashore and sang songs that people always mistook for the roar of the surf. The man remained grateful for such help. The most famous myth about nymphs in Greek mythology is "Victory of Perseus over Gargona Medusa." The image of this creature became the subject for paintings by Vallejo, Falero and Diefenbach.

- (Nymphae, Νύμφαι). Lower female deities who, according to Greek belief, lived in the seas, rivers, springs, grottoes, mountains, groves and meadows. They were divided into several classes, according to the places they inhabited. 1) Sea nymphs, to... ... Encyclopedia of Mythology

In the myths of the ancient Greeks, the deities of nature, its life-giving and fruitful powers. There are nymphs of rivers, seas, springs (these are water nymphs of oceanids, nereids, naiads), lakes and swamps (nymphs of limnads), mountains (nymphs of agrostina, orestiads), groves (nymphs of alseids), ... ... Historical Dictionary

- (Greek nymphe). Greek young demigoddesses who personified objects of nature, from which they received names, for example, Nymphs of forests, mountains, rivers, etc. 2) one of the external parts of the female genital organs. Dictionary foreign words included in... Dictionary of foreign words of the Russian language

- (foreign) women of easy virtue (an allusion to the nymphs of mythological cheerful beauties, demigoddesses, long-lived, but not immortal). Wed. Sitting with her was... one of the youngest... quick-tongued nymphs of the demimonde. Markevich. From... ... Michelson's Large Explanatory and Phraseological Dictionary (original spelling)

Nymphs, in Greek mythology, female deities of nature living in mountains, forests, seas, springs (Nereids, Naiads, Dryads). They were considered daughters of Zeus, companions of Artemis or Dionysus... Modern encyclopedia

In Greek mythology, female deities of nature living in mountains, forests, seas, and springs. They were considered daughters of Zeus, companions of Artemis or Dionysus... Big Encyclopedic Dictionary

In Greek mythology, female deities of nature live in mountains, forests, seas, and springs. They were considered the daughters of Zeus, companions of Artemis and Dionysus. Big Dictionary in cultural studies.. Kononenko B.I.. 2003 ... Encyclopedia of Cultural Studies

Nymphs- Nymphs, in Greek mythology, female deities of nature, living in mountains, forests, seas, springs (Nereids, Naiads, Dryads). They were considered daughters of Zeus, companions of Artemis or Dionysus. ... Illustrated Encyclopedic Dictionary

Nymphs- (from the Greek nymphe maiden, bride) in Greek mythology there are numerous deities in the form of young maidens, personifying the forces and phenomena of nature; were considered the patroness of marriage. Distinguished n. sources, n. river, sea, mountain, forest, etc.... ... Ancient world. Dictionary-reference book.

NYMPHS- in Greek mythology, young and beautiful women's perfume, which were believed to inhabit some places. If Paracelsus limited their possession to the element of water, then the ancients believed that the whole world was inhabited by nymphs. They gave the nymphs various names... Symbols, signs, emblems. Encyclopedia

Books

• Nymphs, Oikkonen Mikko, Luhtanen Sari. Responding to her lover's kisses, Didi did not know that by doing so she was dooming him to death... After all, she is a nymph! Nymphs are immortal, but to remain young and beautiful, they need energy...
• Nymphs (2014 ed.), Mikko Oikkonen, Sari Luhtanen. Responding to her lover's kisses, Didi did not know that by doing so she was dooming him to death... After all, she is a nymph! Nymphs are immortal, but to remain young and beautiful, they need energy...