Acteon, having accidentally seen the goddess Diana and her nymphs bathing, begins to become a deer
Greek and Roman nymphs were not only sensual spirits of nature. They also had other important functions in society and nature.
Would it be possible to be truly alone in the greece woods or ancient Rome? According to myths, the ancient world was full of wild animals, terrifying monsters and deities.
Among them were the nymphs: Semi-divin female figures that embodied elements of the natural world.
In Portugal, thanks to ‘Os Lusíadaswe tend to think about nymphs as objects of eroticism, reward and celebration.
Luís Vaz de Camões reports in singing IX that Portuguese navigators were received on the island of love by nymphs with celebrated the heroic deeds of the Lusitanians, raising them a almost immortality.
But be very careful with objectifications… in reality, nymphs offer them very more than just stories of sensual spirits of nature. They can reveal the way ancient people thought their world and related to their landscape through mythology.
Personification of elements of nature
Nymph was a very vast category in myth. He encompassed almost all the women and semi-divin girls of the myth, including some goddesses. The goddess of the sea Tetis and the underworld river Estige They were both sea nymphs and goddesses.
In art and literature, nymphs were usually portrayed as women Jovensoi and exceptionally beautiful. The word “nymph” in ancient Greek could even be used to mean “Young Girl” or “Single Woman” when applied to deadly women.
Despite this etymological connection, many nymphs were married, mothers or gods. Anfitrite was Poseidon’s wife, and her sister MetisThe personification of wisdom was Zeus’s first wife, according to Hesiod’s theogony. Maia It was the mother of Hermes, the messenger god.
What unites all nymphs is your connection with the natural world. Nymphs typically personified elements of nature, such as water pasta, mountains, forests, climate or specific plants.
He died.
One of the most emblematic nymphs was Daphne (or Laurel, in Latin). According to the Roman poet Ovid, in his poem “Metamorphoses”, Daphne was a nymph of a stunning beauty that lived in the forest.
Daphne had chosen to follow the steps of Artemis (Diana), the goddess of hunting, being hunting and abstaining from sex and marriage. But its beauty would become its ruin.
One day the god Apollo saw Daphne and immediately tried to pursue her. Daphne did not feel comfortable and fled through the forest. Apollo chased her and almost caught her.
But Daphne’s father, Peneus, a river god, saved his daughter by turning her into a laurel.
Like many nymphs, Daphne’s myth was a history of origin of the tree that named him and his meaning to the Apollo god.
But his story also followed one of the most common trops in the myths of nymphs – the trope of a nymph transformed into his namesake after fleeing a male deity.
Different nymphs for trees, water, mountains, stars
There were even special names for different types of nymphs.
Daphne was a drin, or trees nymph. Oreads (Mountains Nymphs) are referred to in Homer’s Iliad. There were three different types of water nymphs: Oceanidas e and nereídeas of salt water and the naiades freshwater.
Nymphs lived in the wild world. These wild places could be dangerous, but they also contained precious natural resources that nymphs personified, such as special trees and springs.
Spring nymphs embodied one of the most precious resources of all: freshwater.
It was difficult to find fresh water in the ancient world, especially in places without human infrastructure. The cities were often built around springs.
Hago Arethusa It was the embodiment of the nascent arethusa in Sicily. Currently, you can visit the source of Arethusa in the current Syracuse.
Wherever it was looking at the old landscape, there were nymphs – even in the sky.
As Pleiades e and Hiads There were two sets of God’s daughters atlas that eventually turned into stars.
Their myths gave rise to two sets of constellations that were used for navigation and divination.
The constellations of the Pleiades and Hiads were visible to the naked eye and can still be seen today.
Do not object to nymphs!
Although myths may seem like a history of fiction told to children, nymph myths show that ancient myth is inseparable from the ancient landscape and ancient peoples.
The natural world was imbued with a divine presence of the gods who physically created him – Gaia (Earth) It was literally the soil under the feet. The nymphs were part of this divine presence.
This divine presence brought with it a very special gift: the gift of inspiration.
Some writers (like Plato) referred to this type of natural inspiration as being “Taken by the nymphs” (nymphspeatic or nympholeptus).
Being present in nature and in places with nymphs could bring divine inspiration to philosophers, poets and artists.
You already know: If you ever meet alone in a Greek woods, you can find you inspired and in good company- as long as it is respectful And, of course, not Object to nymphs!
