They represented diverse aspects of nature, including water, mountains, trees, and even specific locales They were also frequently divided into subgroups (such as dryads, naiads, and nereids) according to the type of environment they inhabited. The oreads were beautiful, youthful mountain nymphs These female divinities roamed the mountains and woodlands of greece, accompanying other nature gods and presiding over various aspects of the natural world. The naiads were water nymphs, generally associated with bodies of fresh water such as springs, rivers, and lakes Many of them were the daughters, lovers, or mothers of famous heroes and gods.
Echo was a boeotian nymph who used her endless chatter to hide zeus’ affairs from his jealous wife hera As punishment, she was cursed to only repeat the last words spoken to her Because of this, the vain narcissus spurned her love, and she faded into a disembodied voice—an “echo.” Dryads and hamadryads were the most famous tree nymphs of ancient greek mythology Hamadryads in particular were closely connected with the trees in which they lived, and even died when their tree died. Calypso, daughter of the titan atlas, was a greek nymph and goddess
Calypso rescued odysseus and kept him on the island as her lover until finally commanded to let him go. Callisto was a princess or nymph from arcadia and a companion of the goddess artemis After being seduced by zeus, she bore him a son named arcas But she was soon transformed into a bear by either artemis, hera, or zeus In her new form, callisto was either shot down by artemis or made into a constellation. Arethusa was a nymph, sometimes numbered among the daughters of the sea god nereus
Her myth describes how she fled to syracuse to escape the undesired advances of the river god alpheus, finally transforming into a freshwater spring. Amalthea was the name of either the nymph or goat (there were different versions) who nursed zeus when he was a baby In some accounts, zeus honored amalthea after her death by placing her among the stars as a constellation In others, he celebrated her by placing her skin over his shield, the aegis. Daphne was a virginal nymph, the daughter of a greek river god In her most famous myth, she was desired by the olympian god apollo and was only able to escape his advances by transforming into a laurel tree.
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