In Greek mythology, Epimelides () or Epimeliades (Ἐπιμηλιάδες) are nymphs who protect herds. Antoninus Liberalis relates a tale in which they compete with Messapians shepherds in dancing. The term may have sometimes also been used to refer to tree nymphs.
Type of nymph
The Epimelides are nymphs who, it was believed, were tasked with protecting herds of animals.
[ RE, s.v. Epimelides; Larson, pp. 297 n. 17, 360.] Pausanias (2nd century AD), who calls them "Epimeliades", mentions them as one of the three types of nymphs, alongside the
and
.
[ RE, s.v. Epimelides; Pausanias, 8.4.2.]
Other names – (Μηλίδες), (Μαλίδες), (Μαλιάδες), and (Ἁμαμηλίδες) – denote nymphs associated with trees, and stem from the word (μηλέα); given these terms, states that the term "Epimelides" may have at times also been used to refer to tree nymphs.[ RE, s.v. Epimelides.]
Antoninus Liberalis
Antoninus Liberalis, citing
Nicander (2nd century BC), relates that a group of performing Epimelides arrived in the land of the
Messapians. Young local shepherds gathered to see them, leaving behind the animals under their protection, and proclaimed that their dancing abilities were superior to those of the nymphs. The Epimelides, incensed, competed in dancing against their mortal counterparts; but the men, unaware that they had challenged divinities, danced as though they were against other young men, and, being shepherds, their dancing was "without art". The nymphs, on the other hand, danced gracefully and beautifully, and beat their challengers, saying to them:
The young men were then transformed into trees, and it is said that groans can still be heard emanating from these trees.[Antoninus Liberalis, 31 (Celoria, p. 90).]
According to Jessen, this tale fits with both possible conceptions of these figures, as either nymphs related to herds or nymphs associated with trees.[ RE, s.v. Epimelides] A similar tale appears in Ovid's Metamorphoses, in which a shephard from Apulia mocks the dancing of a group of nymphs, resulting in him being turned into a tree.[Celoria, p. 197.]
Notes
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Celoria, Francis, The Metamorphoses of Antoninus Liberalis: A Translation with a Commentary, Routledge, 1992. .
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Larson, Jennifer (2001), Greek Nymphs: Myth, Cult, Lore, Oxford University Press, 2001. .
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Pausanias, Pausanias Description of Greece with an English Translation by W.H.S. Jones, Litt.D., and H.A. Ormerod, M.A., in 4 Volumes, Cambridge, Massachusetts, Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann Ltd., 1918. Perseus Digital Library.
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Realencyclopädie der classischen Altertumswissenschaft, Band VI, Halbband I, Stuttgart, J. B. Metzler, 1907. Wikisource.
