Why are nymphs important

Foley, , p. Calypso offers Odysseus unchanging immortality, whereas Penelope maintains a situation in Ithaca, which remains basically unchanged until the final return of the hero. Odysseus prefers a changing wife instead of the unchanging Calypso; in other words, the nostos of Odysseus moves between the divine nymphe and the human one. This movement is explicit also in terms of the topographical framework of the actual return in the Odyssey that consists in Odysseus's departure from Calypso's island and his arrival in Ithaca.

Everything else- Ismaros, the Cyclops, Circe, and so on - is a flashback. The «real» time of the Odyssey, in the tenth year after the destruction of Troy, begins with a departure from the cave of a Nymph 1.

The same pattern - from one Nymph-cave to another - is picked up by Sophocles and applied to another hero, Philoctetes Philoctetes 62 : like Odysseus he is stranded on an island, Lemnos, in a cave of Nymphs : « farewell you cave that shared my vigil, you watery meadow Nymphs. It is curious, I think, that in Homer Odysseus makes love to both Circe and Calypso, but the poet seems explicit about leaving no children behind3. In contrast, this is precisely what he does in non-Homeric versions, such as the Theogony It is as if the poet of the Odyssey wishes to concentrate on a different kind of relations between Odysseus and the Nymphs.

In the non-Homeric versions, most of Odysseus's adventures take place in realistic places, in lands that know wars, alliances, and marriages to confirm them.

For example, in Epirus, according to the Thesprotis, Odysseus helps the local king against his enemies the Bryges, marries his daughter, and leaves a son behind. Nostoi PEG [A. By contrast, the Odyssey knows many Nymphs but Odysseus reaches lands that need no marriage-alliances and no wars are fought. This is no accident: there is an implied relation between the prominence of Nymphs in the Odyssey were lands are either empty or in no need of change, and the relative absence of Nymphs in the sequels where Odysseus moves in familiar geography and among recognizable societies whose social, political, and military needs have little to do with Nymphs.

In the Odyssey the hero visits isolated cultures, in no need for his help - neither in war nor in siring dynasties. It is a reverse-picture where all kinds of xenia-alliances, perhaps even marriage alliances, are unnecessary, as Helene Foley rightly comments. In short, the more isolated the societies, the more prominent are the Nymphs. Ithaca and the inland perspective. In contrast to the world of travels, in Ithaca the perspective is different. The Nymphs are very prominent there in a variety of ways : they are the focus of the maritime perspective of Odysseus's arrival and eventual, second departure below ; they give form and religious content to the landscape of Ithaca itself; and they are there during the inland arrival from countryside to city.

In Ithaca Nymphs mark what Ioanna Papadopoulou- Belmehdi calls a «progressive re-integration» of Odysseus into his homeland. Papadopoulou-Belmehdi, , p. When Odysseus prays to the Naiad Nymphs at the Bay of Phorkys, he does so with outstretched hands, a rare private religious moment in the Homeric epics.

It is paralleled by the prayer of Eumaios to the Nymphs at their altar by the public fountain Odyssey The fountain is artificial, but the spring itself, the water, belongs to the Nymphs, since there is a distinction between the source of the water and the fountain. The water flows from the rock above, and «over it had been built an altar bomos to the nymphs and there all passers-by made their sacrifice»4. The distinction between the natural spring and the built fountain articulates precisely the distinctness of the Nymphs as «being» the spring itself.

They are an aspect of the land, of Ithaca. The fountain was built by «first persons», eponymous heroes: Ithakos, Neritos, and Polyktor, founders of Kephallenia and Ithaca. Russo et al. Segal, , p. The Nymphs of the krene are not the same Naiad Nymphs of the cave in the harbor of Phorkys, although both may be Nymphs of sweet. They belong much more to communal religion, since the fountain is a source of the water supply to the city Both spring and fountain lie outside the city, a point of meeting of city and country, as Stephen Scully observes for the Odyssey in general S.

Scully, , p. The location of the Ithaca-Nymphs points to two phases of the completion of the return : first, from a maritime perspective, the landing and the storing of the treasure right on the beach, in the seaside cave of the Nymphs see below. Second, from an inland perspective, at the fountain, not yet in the city but in the middle ground between asty and chora.

In both cases Homer takes the trouble to emphasize Odysseus's special relations with the Nymphs as well as their role of mediating the final leg of his nostos. The fountain of the Nymphs also expresses the hero's re-integration in a narrative sense : it is there that the disguised Odysseus and Eumaios meet with the insulting Melanthios, thus prefiguring - at the point between country and city - what Odysseus is to expect at his home.

This is the occasion for the poet to make explicit the special relations of Eumaios and the Nymphs, perhaps representing here a religion closer to the social class of Eumaios himself.

He reminds them of sacrifices Odysseus used to make on that particular altar, and requests they grant Odysseus's return, as if that is in their power :. An inland perspective is also to be found outside Ithaca. The lands of Odysseus's travels aside from the «lying tale» are differentiated not according to the forbidding nature of their physical environment, but according to the character of their inhabitants. Odysseus often asks whether he had arrived at a land of bread and culture but in fact finds himself in opposite places, where men are hybristai and agrioi Pierre Vidal-Naquet, , p.

Sometimes, however, we find a third possibility : places devoid of humans, such as the « Goat Island » facing. Here there is no built altar and krene.

Thus Nymphs are not mere «in-between» figures but active in receiving the newly arrived into the land. The maritime perspective. Above all, it is the maritime perspective - the view from the sea and approach to new lands -, which characterizes the Odyssey.

Ithaca exemplifies this too, with the subtle and ingenious play of the poet, affording us a double perspective. There is the specific view of the Phaiakians who know precisely what they are doing, and that of Odysseus who wakes up to what seems to him an unfamiliar country, marking his perspective on this a new land as « generic.

Twenty years after he left home to go to Troy, Odysseus is finally being taken to Ithaca on board the Phaiakian ship. He is asleep on board. We first glimpse Ithaca from the point of view of the Phaiakian sailors, from ship-to-shore. Such a maritime perspective was familiar, even self- evident for an audience in the eighth and seventh century when trade, exploration and colonization ranged from the western Mediterranean to the Black Sea - to say nothing of local maritime travel and fishing.

The Phaiakians realize they have come to the right place, the Bay of Phorkys, by means of familiar landmarks : at the head of the harbor is an olive tree and a cave sacred to the Naiad Nymphs. The sea-Cave of the Nymphs thus acknowledges the fact of arrival, a recognition that the « place » is what it is supposed to be. The sailors put Odysseus asleep on the ground, and place his treasure by an olive tree. Recognition of the cave of the Nymphs, both by the Phaiakians and by Odysseus, independently, is tantamount to the realization that.

It is not enough that Athena point out other « natural » landmarks, such as the harbor of Phorkys, or an olive tree. It is the cave of the Naiads although some mss omit these lines which constitutes recognition. Athena reminds Odysseus that he used to sacrifice complete hekatombs for those Nymphs :. Come, I will show you settled Ithaca, so you will believe me.

That is the wide over-arching cave, where often you used to accomplish for the Nymphs their complete hekatombs Odysseus then addresses the Nymphs directly, mentioning again former sacrifices, in what counts as his own realization that Athena is right.

He does not address Mount Neritos or the harbor but. Be welcome now to my gentle prayers, but I will give you gifts, as I used to before It is obvious that the Nymphs' importance to Odysseus does not consist just in the moment of return.

Why would Odysseus have given the Nymphs so much in the past? Sacrifices, gifts and «hekatombs» are mentioned; notwithstanding poetic exaggeration, the latter are supposed to denote exceptionally costly sacrifices, especially suitable for Olympian deities. Why were these offered to the Nymphs, even before the Trojan War? In other words, why are Nymphs represented as especially important for Odysseus? Featured Video. Cite this Article Format. Gill, N. Who Are the Nymphs in Greek Mythology?

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Prometheus: Fire Bringer and Philanthropist. Top Special Animals in Greek Mythology. Your Privacy Rights. Most famously, Maia was the mother of Hermes. The sisters were pursued once by the giant Orion, who sought to take advantage of the fact that their father was holding up the dome of the sky and could not protect them. When the sisters threw themselves from a cliff to avoid being captures, Zeus turned them into birds to save their lives. The Pleiades were an important star cluster for marking the seasons in the Greek world.

They were eternally followed by the constellation Orion, but never captured by him. The Hesperides were often named among the star nymphs, although they were more commonly said to have been spirits of the sunset. Another group of daughters of Atlas , they were Dryads who were assigned to guard the golden apple tree of Hera in the far west.

As Dryads they lived in their garden and tended to the tree they guarded, but they also brought bright golden light to the western horizon at sunset. The Hesperides featured prominently in the story of Heracles. When he was sent to pluck an apple from the tree they guarded, he got assistance from their Titan father to complete the task.

The tree they watched over had been a gift to the queen of Olympus from Gaia and they were fierce defenders of the immortality-granting apples that grew on it. Like the celestial nymphs, those of the underworld often fit into the usual water and plant groupings.

They were distinguished, though, by their association with the realm of Hades. There was only one group among the nymphs who resided in the land of the dead. The Lampades were torch bearers in the retinue of the goddess of witchcraft, Hecate. According to legend, the service of the Lampades was a gift to Hecate from Zeus for services she performed in the Titanomachy.

The Lampades were, unlike most nymphs, sinister spirits. It was said that anyone touched by the light of their torches would be driven mad. There were Naiads in the underworld as well. They were the only nymphs who were native to the underworld.

They were said to be the daughters of underworld gods or of the rivers that flowed there. The other chthonic nymphs went to the underworld individually, leaving the groups they had belonged to on the surface.

Leuce, a poplar tree Dryad for example, was abducted by Hades. She lived out the rest of her long life in the darkness of the underworld. Minthe, mint, was also a lover of Hades. She went to the underworld willingly to be with him however, until she was transformed into a smaller plant for taunting Demeter.

The nymphs were the female nature spirits of Greek mythology. Unlike the raucous and uncivilized satyrs, they were usually seen as graceful and beautiful. This made them especially attractive to both gods and men.

Many of the nymphs named in classical mythology were the lovers and wives of kings and gods, becoming the mothers of great men and demigods. The nymphs were almost always seen as part of a group. Sometimes this was a specific group of sisters, like the Pleiades, but it could also be as a broader race.

While the word nymph referred to nature spirits as a whole, there were many specific types of nymphs. Land nymphs were rarely mentioned but were said to watch over groves, pastures, meadows, and glens. The most numerous nymphs were those of the water. They were divided both by the type of water they lived in and by which marine god had fathered them.

There were three thousand Oceanids who personified fresh water, along with countess younger Naiads. The fifty Nereids controlled the salty waters of the seas. Another numerous group were the Dryads. This is why the version of being the daughters of big rivers or ever the daughter of Okeanos, stands.

That is also why there are 3 types of Nymphs:. Naiads : the nymphs of the rivers, the lakes, the springs, and the fountains they used to live into caves or under the freshwater.

Dryads : the nymphs of the forests and the lonely trees. Actually, they lived until the water dried out from the part of nature they were committed to and vice versa, something which means that for example, a pine tree started to grow as soon as the life of the Nymph into it started! Being considered as divine spirits and depicted as young beautiful women, usually, they were beloved by many men.

There are also many stories of passionate pairings of the Nymphs with shepherds, who used to leave their sheep in the river shores to graze. After these rural matings, Nymphs were giving birth to mortal, but brave and wise men! However, the most known love affair was that of Apollo with the Nymph Dafne.