In Greek mythology, the Nereids or Nereides ( ; ; , also Νημερτές) are sea (female spirits of sea waters), the 50 daughters of the 'Old Man of the Sea' Nereus and the Oceanids Doris, sisters to their brother Nerites.Aelian, De Natura Animalium 14.28 They often accompany Poseidon, the god of the sea, and can be friendly and helpful to sailors (such as the Argonauts in their search for the Golden Fleece).
The name of the Nereids has survived in modern Greek folklore as , .; ;
These nymphs are particularly associated with the Aegean Sea, where they dwelt with their father Nereus in the depths within a golden palace. The most notable of them are Thetis, wife of Peleus and mother of Achilles; Amphitrite, wife of Poseidon and mother of Triton; Galatea, the vain love interest of the Cyclopes Polyphemus, and lastly, Psamathe who became the mother of Phocus by King Aeacus of Aegina, and Theoclymenus and Theonoe by Proteus, a sea-god or king of Ancient Egypt.
In Homer's Iliad XVIII, when Thetis cries out in sympathy for the grief of Achilles for the slain Patroclus, her sisters appear.Homer, Iliad 18.39–18.51 Four of her siblings, Cymodoce, Thalia, Nesaea and Spio were also among the nymphs in the train of Cyrene.Virgil, Georgics 4.338 Later on, these four together with their other sisters Thetis, Melite and Panopea, were able to help the hero Aeneas and his crew during a storm.Virgil, Aeneid 5.825–5.826
In one account, Cassiopeia boasted that her daughter Andromeda was more beautiful than the Nereides, who were enraged by the claim. Poseidon, in sympathy for them, sent a flood and a sea monster to the land of the , demanding as well the sacrifice of the princess.Apollodorus, 2.4.3; Hyginus, Fabulae 64, De Astronomica 2.10 with Euripides and Sophocles as the authority; Ovid, Metamorphoses 5.16 ff. These sea goddesses also were said to reveal to men the mysteries of Dionysus and Persephone. Orphic Hymns 24.10
2 | Agaue | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | Appeared to Thetis when she cried out in sympathy for the grief of Achilles for Patroclus. | |
3 | Amatheia | ✓ | ✓ | Appeared to Thetis when she cried out in sympathy for the grief of Achilles for Patroclus. | |||
4 | Amphinome | ✓ | ✓ | Feeds Poseidon's flock | |||
5 | Amphithoe | ✓ | ✓ | Appeared to Thetis when she cried out in sympathy for the grief of Achilles for Patroclus. | |||
6 | Amphitrite | ✓ | ✓ | Consort of Poseidon The name of an OceanidsApollodorus, 1.2.2 & 1.4.5 | |||
7 | Apseudes | ✓ | ✓ | ||||
8 | Arethusa | ✓ | Virgil, Georgics 4.346 | ||||
9 | Asia | ✓ | Virgil, Georgics 4.343 | The name of an OceanidHesiod, Theogony 349–361; Apollodorus, 1.2.2 | |||
10 | Autonoe | ✓ | ✓ | Only mentioned by name | |||
11 | Beroe | ✓ | The name of an OceanidVirgil, Georgics 4.341; Nonnus, Dionysiaca 41.153 | ||||
12 | Callianassa | ✓ | ✓ | Appeared to Thetis when she cried out in sympathy for the grief of Achilles for Patroclus. | |||
13 | Callianeira | ✓ | Only mentioned by name on the Iliad. | ||||
14 | Calypso | ✓ | The name of an OceanidHesiod, Theogony 349–361; Homeric Hymns, 418–423 | ||||
15 | Ceto | ✓ | The name of an OceanidNonnus, Dionysiaca 26.355 Only mentioned by name | ||||
16 | Clio | ✓ | The name of an OceanidVirgil, Georgics 4.341 | ||||
17 | Clymene | ✓ | ✓ | Virgil, Georgics 4.345 | The name of an Oceanid;Hesiod, Theogony 349–361; Hyginus, Fabulae 156; Tzetzes, Chiliades 4.19.359 appeared to Thetis when she cried out in sympathy for the grief of Achilles for Patroclus. | ||
18 | Cranto | ✓ | |||||
19 | Creneis | ✓ | |||||
20 | Cydippe | ✓ | Virgil, Georgics 4.339 | In the train of Cyrene along with her other sisters | |||
21 | Cymatolege | ✓ | Only mentioned by name | ||||
22 | Cymo | ✓ | ✓ | Only mentioned by name | |||
23 | Cymodoce | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | Virgil, Georgics 4.338; Aeneid 5.826; Statius, Silvae 2.2.20 | ||
24 | Cymothoe | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | Valerius Flaccus, 2.605; Quintus Smyrnaeus, 5.394 ff. | Appeared to Thetis when she cried out in sympathy for the grief of Achilles for Patroclus. |
25 | Deiopea | ✓ | |||||
26 | Dero | ✓ | Only mentioned by name | ||||
27 | Dexamene | ✓ | ✓ | Appeared to Thetis when she cried out in sympathy for the grief of Achilles for Patroclus. | |||
28 | Dione | ✓ | The name of an OceanidHesiod, Theogony 349–361 | ||||
29 | Doris | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | The name of an Oceanid | ||
30 | Doto | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | Valerius Flaccus, Argonautica 1.130 ff. | |
31 | Drymo | ✓ | Virgil, Georgics 4.336 | One of the nymphs in the train of Cyrene | |||
32 | Dynamene | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ||
33 | Eione | ✓ | ✓ | Only mentioned by name | |||
34 | Ephyra | ✓ | The name of an OceanidHyginus, Fabulae 275.6; Eumelus, fr. 1 Fowler (apud Pausanias, 2.1.1) | ||||
35 | Erato | ✓ | ✓ | ||||
36 | Euagore | ✓ | ✓ | ||||
37 | Euarne | ✓ | |||||
38 | Eucrante | ✓ | ✓ | ||||
39 | Eudore | ✓ | ✓ | The name of an Oceanid | |||
40 | Eulimene | ✓ | ✓ | ||||
41 | Eumolpe | ✓ | Only mentioned by name | ||||
42 | Eunice | ✓ | ✓ | ||||
43 | Eupompe | ✓ | Only mentioned by name | ||||
44 | Eurydice | ✓ | |||||
45 | Galene | ✓ | |||||
46 | Galatea | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ||
47 | Glauce | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | |||
48 | Glauconome | ✓ | ✓ | Only mentioned by name | |||
49 | Halie | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | |||
50 | Halimede | ✓ | ✓ | ||||
51 | Hipponoe | ✓ | ✓ | ||||
52 | Hippothoe | ✓ | ✓ | Only mentioned by name | |||
53 | Iaera | ✓ | ✓ | Appeared to Thetis when she cried out in sympathy for the grief of Achilles for Patroclus. | |||
54 | Ianassa | ✓ | ✓ | Appeared to Thetis when she cried out in sympathy for the grief of Achilles for Patroclus. | |||
55 | Ianeira | ✓ | ✓ | The name of an Oceanid; appeared to Thetis when she cried out in sympathy for the grief of Achilles for Patroclus. | |||
56 | Ione | ✓ | |||||
57 | Iphianassa | Lucian, Dialogi Marini 14 | Only mentioned by name | ||||
58 | Laomedeia | ✓ | Only mentioned by name | ||||
59 | Leiagore | ✓ | Only mentioned by name | ||||
60 | Leucothoe | ✓ | |||||
61 | Ligea | ✓ | |||||
62 | Limnoreia | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | |||
63 | Lycorias | ✓ | |||||
64 | Lysianassa | ✓ | ✓ | ||||
65 | Maera | ✓ | ✓ | Appeared to Thetis when she cried out in sympathy for the grief of Achilles for Patroclus. | |||
66 | Melite | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | Virgil, Aeneid 5.825 | The name of an Oceanid Homeric Hymn to Demeter, 418–423; Hyginus, Fabulae Th. 8 |
67 | Menippe | ✓ | The name of an OceanidHyginus, Fabulae Th. 6 (Smith and Trzaskoma, p. 95), except where otherwise indicated. | ||||
68 | Nausithoe | ✓ | |||||
69 | Neaera | The name of an Oceanid | |||||
70 | Nemertes | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | |||
71 | Neomeris | ✓ | |||||
72 | Nesaea | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | Virgil, Georgics 4.338; Aeneid 5.826 | |
73 | Neso | ✓ | Only mentioned by name. Gives her name to Neso, one of Neptune's moons. | ||||
74 | Opis | ✓ | |||||
75 | Orithyia | ✓ | ✓ | Appeared to Thetis when she cried out in sympathy for the grief of Achilles for Patroclus. | |||
76 | Panopea | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | |||
77 | Panopea | ✓ | ✓ | ||||
78 | Pasithea | ✓ | Only mentioned by name | ||||
79 | Pherusa | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | Appeared to Thetis when she cried out in sympathy for the grief of Achilles for Patroclus. | |
80 | Phyllodoce | ✓ | |||||
81 | Plexaure | ✓ | The name of an OceanidHesiod, Theogony 353 | ||||
82 | Ploto | ✓ | Only mentioned by name | ||||
83 | Polynoe | ✓ | |||||
84 | Polynome | ✓ | Only mentioned by name | ||||
85 | Pontomedusa | ✓ | Only mentioned by name | ||||
86 | Pontoporeia | ✓ | Only mentioned by name | ||||
87 | Pronoe | ✓ | Only mentioned by name | ||||
88 | Proto | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ||
89 | Protomedeia | ✓ | Only mentioned by name | ||||
90 | Psamathe | ✓ | ✓ | ||||
91 | Sao | ✓ | ✓ | Means 'the rescuer'; only mentioned by name | |||
92 | Spio | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | Appeared to Thetis when she cried out in sympathy for the grief of Achilles for Patroclus. | |
93 | Thaleia | ✓ | ✓ | ||||
94 | Themisto | ✓ | Only mentioned by name | ||||
95 | Thetis | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | Mother of Achilles | ||
96 | Thoe | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | The name of an Oceanid Homeric Hymn to Demeter, 418–423 | ||
97 | Xantho | ✓ | The name of an Oceanid | ||||
Total | 34 | 50 | 45 | 47 |
Famous is the Nereid Monument, a marble tomb from Xanthos (Lycia, Asia Minor), partially in the collection of the British Museum. At the top is a small temple surrounded by pillars between which Nereides stood. They were depicted in motion and with billowing, transparent clothes. The style is Attic-Ionian and dates to .
In the Renaissance and baroque periods the Nereid was frequently used to decorate fountains and garden monuments.
Greek folklorist Nicolaos Politis amassed a great amount of modern folkloric material regarding the . In modern tales from Greek tellers, the are said to dance at noon or at midnight; to have beautiful golden hair; to dress in white or rose garments and to appear wearing a veil on the head, or holding a handkerchief. Due to their beauty, young men are drawn to the and steal their veils or kerchiefs to force their stay in the mortal realm. The women marry these men, but later regain their piece of clothing back and disappear forever.Lawson, John Cuthbert (1910). Modern Greek Folklore and Ancient Greek Religion (1st ed.). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. pp. 132–133, 135–136, 138–139. Greek scholar Anna Angeloupoulos terms this storyline The Stolen Scarf, one of four narratives involving the . Also, this sequence is "the most frequent and stable introductory episode" in Greek variants of tale type 400.
In a tale from Greece, a human goatherd named Demetros, dances with ten fairies three nights, and in the third night, on a full moon, he dances with them and accidentally touches the handkerchief of Katena. Her companions abandon her to the mortal world and she becomes Demetros's wife, bearing him a daughter. For seven years, Demetros has hidden the handkerchief, until his wife Katena asks him for it. She takes the handkerchief and dances with it in a festival, taking the opportunity to return home and leave her mortal husband. Years later, their daughter follows her mother when she turns fifteen years old."III. The Fairy Wife". In: Gianakoulis, Theodore P. and MacPherson, Georgia H. Fairy Tales of Modern Greece. New York City: E. P. Dutton & Co. 1930. pp. 34–47.
Another introductory episode of the Greek variants is one Angelopoulos dubbed The Sisters of Alexander the Great. This refers to a pseudo-historical or mythological account about Alexander the Great and a quest for a water of life that grants immortality. His sister (or sisters) drinks it instead of him, is thrown in the sea and becomes a , a half-human, half-fish creature with power over the storm who can sink boats and become birds. They approach ships to ask if Alexander still lives, and can only be appeased if answered positively. In one tale, a youth on a ship captures a three times (or three ) and beats her until she promises not to threaten any more ships. The youth then arrives on a deserted island and sees three birds that become human (or flying maidens), and steals their garments. Richard MacGillivray Dawkins suggested that the modern was a merging of three mythological characters (the Sirens, the , and the Scylla), and reported alternate tales where Alexander's sisters are replaced for his mother or a female lover.
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