Monday, January 5, 2015

Eponymous Nymphs and Heroic Husbands


I checked all the placenames in the catalogue of ships and the names of all the Oceanides. Here is the resulting list of eponymous nymphs who married mortals. (Thanks to theoi.com)  

KLONIE (or Clonia) was the Naiad Nymph of a spring or fountain of the town of Hyria in Boiotia (central Greece). She was the wife of the town's eponymous founder, Hyrieus, and the mother of Lykos and Nykteus, regents of the city of Thebes.

MEROPE was one of the seven Pleiades, star-nymph daughters of the Titan Atlas. She married the impious king Sisyphos

CALLIRHOE (or Callirhoe) was the Naiad Nymph of a spring or fountain of the main town of Akarnania (central Greece). She was a daughter of the river-god Akheloios (Achelous), who married the Argive prophet Alkmaion (Alcmaeon)

Menoitios, the child of the nymph Aigina and Aktor."

MYCE′NE (Mukênê), a daughter of Inachus and wife of Arestor, from whom the town of Mycenae or Mycene

SPARTE was the Naiad Nymph of the main spring, well or fountain of the town of Sparta in Lakedaimonia (Lacedaemonia) (southern Greece). She was a daughter of the river Eurotas, and wife of the country's eponymous king Lakedaimon.

KYLLENE (or Cyllene) was an Oreiad or Naiad nymph of Mount Kyllene (Cyllene) in Arkadia, southern Greece. She was the wife of Pelasgos the first Arkadian king who lived in the days before the Great Deluge.

MELIBOIA (or Meliboea) was an Okeanid Nymph of the region of Mounts Kyllene (Cyllene0 in Arkadia (southern Greece). She was the wife of King Pelasgos, the eponymous first king of the aboriginal Pelasgian tribes of Arkadia.

SAMIA was the Naiad Nymph of the spring, well or fountain of the main town of the island of Samos in the Aegean. She was a daughter of the mainland river Maiandros (Meander), and the wife of Ankaios (Ancaeus), the island's first king.

MAIRA (or Maera) was the nymph of the dog-star Seirios whose rising in conjunction with the sun brought on the scorching heat of midsummer. Like the Pleiades and Hyades, Maira was a starry daughter of the Titan Atlas. She married a mortal king, the Arkadian Tegeates.

KYANEE (Cyanea) was the Naiad Nymph of a spring or fountain of the town of Miletos in Karia (south-western Anatolia). She was a daughter of the River Maiandros (Meander), and the wife of the town's founding king, Miletos.

ORSEIS was the Naiad Nymph of spring in the region of Hellas, Thessalia (northern Greece). She married Hellen, an early King of Northern Greece, sole son of Deukalion and Pyrrha, survivors of the Great Deluge

METHONE was the Naiad Nymph of the spring, well or fountain of the town of Methone in Pieria (northern Greece). She was the wife of the country's eponymous king, Pieros.

EIDYIA (or Idyia) was an Okeanis nymph of the town of Kolkhis (Colchis) in Aia at the far eastern end of the Black Sea and the wife of the magician-king Aeetes. (He might be immortal)

NEPHELE (1) A Nymphe "cloud" who was the wife of the mortal King Athamas

5 comments:

  1. Did you find what happened to the nymphs after their husbands' deaths? I guess, they returned to their old environment and long-lived kin after their husbands' deaths, or when the husbands grew old, or (in Nephele's case) even before this. Or maybe some nymphs have their lifespan reduced by family life, like female fruit flies:
    http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v338/n6218/abs/338760a0.html

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  2. Maya, I don't think we will find a firm answer here. Odd though that Sisyphus King of Corinth had a successor who adopted Oedipus. That is Polybus, king of Corinth, and his wife Merope. Hmm.

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    1. There is something about the family of Sisyphus that puzzles me:

      "Eurynome the daughter of Nisus... Her, then, Glaucus (son of Sisyphus) sought to win by Athena's advising... But he knew not at all the intent of Zeus who holds the aegis. So Glaucus came seeking her to wife with gifts; but cloud-driving Zeus, king of the deathless gods, bent his head in oath that the . . . son of Sisyphus should never have children born of one father (i.e. of himself). So she lay in the arms of Poseidon and bare in the house of Glaucus blameless Bellerophon..."

      Does this mean that Zeus feared the bloodline of Sisyphus?

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    2. The oracles screwed with Sisyphus bloodline via the death of his first two children and the gods announced that his son Glaucus wouldn't have any children. Sisyphus ended up having several children (isn't Odysseus a bastard grandson of his?) and Glaucus probably had daughters if not more sons. So cutting off the hydra headed branches of the Sisyphian blood line and scarifying, didn't work.

      As to why? That old thing about Sisyphus being a titan?

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  3. Maya,

    After doing a ridiculous about of research I want to add the shepherd Rhaecus to a Hamadryad. The earliest reference I could find t the story was a poem by James Russell Lowell (1873) under the name "Rhoecus" N-gram made it clear that Lowell was the source of the stories fame, but also included evidence that the story was around und the name of Rhaecus long before,. I finally tracked now a reference from the Scholiast of Apollonius Rhodius II 471, quoting Charon of Lampsacus. I just thought all this sleuthing was cool,so I had to share!

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