Naiad
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2008-07-11T20:07:23Z
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{{otheruses}}
{{Greek myth (aquatic nymphs)}}
In [[Greek mythology]], the '''Naiads''' or '''Naiades''' (from the [[Greek language|Greek]] νάειν, "to flow," and νἃμα, "running water") were a type of [[nymph]] who presided over fountains, wells, springs, streams, and brooks<ref name="mythica">{{cite web
| last = Fisher
| first = Bob
| title = Naiads
| url=http://www.pantheon.org/articles/n/naiads.html
| accessdate = 2008-03-13 }}</ref>.
They are distinct from [[river god]]s, who embodied rivers, and the very ancient spirits that inhabited the still waters of marshes, ponds and lagoon-lakes, such as pre-Mycenaean [[Lerna]] in the Argolid. Naiads were associated with fresh water, as the [[Oceanids]] were with saltwater and the [[Nereids]] specifically with the [[Mediterranean]]; but because the Greeks thought of the world's waters as all one system, which percolated in from the sea in deep cavernous spaces within the earth, there was some overlap. [[Arethusa (mythology)|Arethusa]], the nymph of a spring, could make her way through subterranean flows from the [[Peloponnesus]], to surface on the island of [[Sicily]].
==Mythology==
[[Image:Naiad1.jpg|thumb|left|''A Naiad'' by [[John William Waterhouse]], 1893: a water nymph approaches the sleeping [[Hylas]]]]
The essence of a naiad was bound to her spring, so if a naiad's body of water dried, she died.
They were often the object of archaic local cults, worshipped as essential to humans. Boys and girls at coming-of-age ceremonies dedicated their childish locks to the local naiad of the spring. In places like Lerna their waters' ritual cleansings were credited with magical medical properties. Animals were [[sacrifice|ritually drowned]] there. Oracles might be situated by ancient springs.
Naiads could be dangerous: [[Hylas]] of the [[Argo]]'s crew was lost when he was taken by naiads fascinated by his beauty (''illustration, above left''). The naiads were also known to exhibit jealous tendencies. [[Theocritus]]'s story of naiad jealousy was that of a shepherd, [[Daphnis]], who was the lover of [[Nomia]]; Daphnis had on several occasions been unfaithful to Nomia and as revenge she permanently blinded him. [[Salmacis]] forced the youth [[Hermaphroditus]] into a carnal embrace and, when he sought to get away, fused with him.
[[Image:Boucher naiads.jpg|thumb|right|''Naiads and Triton'' by [[François Boucher]], 1763(?)]]
The Naiads were either daughters of [[Zeus]] or various [[Oceanids]], but a genealogy for such ancient, ageless creatures is easily overstated. The water nymph associated with particular springs was known all through Europe in places with no direct connection with Greece, surviving in the [[Celt|Celtic]] wells of northwest Europe that have been rededicated to Saints, and in the medieval [[Melusine]].
Walter Burkert points out, "When in the ''[[Iliad]]'' [xx.4–9] Zeus calls the gods into assembly on Mount Olympus, it is not only the well-known [[Twelve Olympians|Olympians]] who come along, but also all the nymphs and all the rivers; [[Okeanos]] alone remains at his station," (Burkert 1985), Greek hearers recognized this impossibility as the poet's [[hyperbole]], which proclaimed the universal power of Zeus over the ancient natural world: "the worship of these deities," Burkert confirms, "is limited only by the fact that they are inseparably identified with a specific locality."
==Interpretation==
When a mythic king is credited with marrying a naiad and founding a city, [[Robert Graves]] offers a sociopolitical reading: the new arriving [[Hellenes]] justify their presence by taking to wife the naiad of the spring, so, in the back-story of the myth of [[Aristaeus]], Hypseus, a king of the [[Lapiths]] wed Chlidanope, a naiad, who bore him [[Cyrene (mythology)|Cyrene]]. In parallels among the Immortals, the loves and rapes of Zeus, according to Graves' readings, record the supplanting of ancient local cults by Olympian ones (Graves 1955, ''passim''). Aristaeus had more than ordinary mortal experience with the naiads: when his bees died in [[Thessaly]], he went to consult the naiads. His aunt Arethusa invited him below the water's surface, where he was washed with water from a perpetual spring and given advice. A less well-connected mortal might have drowned, being sent as a messenger in this way to gain the advice and favor of the naiads for his people.
==Types of Naiads==
#[[Crinaeae]] (fountains)
#[[Limnades]] or [[Limnatides]] (lakes)
#[[Pegaeae]] (springs)
#[[Potameides]] (rivers)
#[[Eleionomae]] (marshes)
==Individual Naiads==
[[Image:John William Waterhouse - Undine.JPG|thumb|right|'''Undine''', by [[John William Waterhouse]]]]
#[[Abarbarea]]
#[[Aegle (mythology)|Aegle]]
#[[Annaed]]
#[[Arethusa (mythology)|Arethusa]]
#[[Bateia]]
#[[Callirrhoe (naiad)|Callirrhoe]]
#[[Castalia]]
#[[Cleochareia]]
#[[Corycian]]
##[[Corycia]]
##[[Kleodora]] or Cleodora
##[[Melaina]]
#[[Creusa]]
#[[Drosera (naiad)|Drosera]]
#[[Echenais]]
#[[Harpina]]
#[[Lara (mythology)|Lara]]
#[[Lethe]]
#[[Lilaea]]
#[[Melite]]
#[[Minthe]]
#[[Nomia (mythology)|Nomia]]
#[[Orseis]]
#[[Periboea]]
#[[Pitane (Greek mythology)|Pitane]]
#[[Praxithea]]
#[[Salmacis]]
#[[Styx#Nymph|Styx]]
#[[Ondine (mythology)|Undine]] or Ondine
==In popular culture==
*In [[Fablehaven]], the character Lena is a Naiad who chose to become Mortal. She is returned to life as a Naiad by fairies at the end of the book.
*The [[Ron Horsley]] short story "Joy, Unbottled," is about a young boy who discovers a senile and corrupted naiad residing in an old discarded bathtub on his uncle's rural property.
*Despite her name, the Marvel Comics character [[Venus (Marvel Comics)|Venus]] is a Naiad.
*Naiads are among the creatures appearing in [[Aslan]]'s company in ''[[The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe]]'' and are also in ''[[The Magician's Nephew]]'' and ''[[Prince Caspian]]''.
==See also==
*[[Siren]]
*[[Melusine]]
*[[Nix]]
*[[Camenae]]
==References==
{{reflist}}
*[[Bibliotheca (Pseudo-Apollodorus)]] 2.95, 2.11, 2.21, 2.23, 1.61, 1.81, 1.7.6
*[[Homer]]. [[Odyssey]] 13.355, 17.240, [[Iliad]] 14.440, 20.380
*[[Ovid]]. [[Metamorphoses (poem)|Metamorphoses]]
*[[Hesiod]]. [[Theogony]]
*[[Walter Burkert]], ''Greek Religion'' 1985, 3.3
*[[Robert Graves]], ''The Greek Myths'' 1955
==External links==
*[http://www.theoi.com/Nymphe/Naiades.html The Naiades]
*[http://www.paleothea.com/Nymphs.html#Naiads Naiad Nymphs]
*[http://www.pantheon.org/articles/n/naiads.html Encyclopedia Mythica - Naiads]
[[Category:Greek goddesses]]
[[Category:Naiads]]
[[Category:Nymphs]]
[[Category:Sea and river goddesses]]
[[Category:Roman mythology]]
[[bs:Najade (mitologija)]]
[[br:Naiadezed]]
[[bg:Наяди]]
[[ca:Nàiade]]
[[cs:Najády]]
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[[el:Ναϊάδες]]
[[es:Náyade]]
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[[hr:Najade (mitologija)]]
[[id:Naiad]]
[[it:Naiadi]]
[[lt:Najadės]]
[[hu:Naiaszok]]
[[nl:Naiaden]]
[[ja:ナーイアス]]
[[no:Najade]]
[[nn:Najader]]
[[pl:Najady]]
[[pt:Náiade]]
[[ro:Naiade]]
[[ru:Наяды]]
[[sr:Најаде]]
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[[fi:Najadi]]
[[sv:Najader]]
[[uk:Наяди]]
[[zh:那伊阿得斯]]