Nereids

The Nereidas de Gaston Bussière (1902).

In Greek mythology, the Nereids (in ancient Greek Νηρείδες Nêreídes or Νηρηίδες Nêrêídes, singular Νηρείς Nêreís or Νηρηίς Nêrêís, from νέειν néein, 'to swim') are the fifty daughters of Nereus and Doris, and sisters of the handsome Nerites (a minor marine deity)..

They are considered nymphs of the Mediterranean sea, and as such they live in the depths of the Mediterranean; however, they rise to the surface to aid sailors plying the stormy seas, the most famous being the Argonauts whom they aided as they journeyed in search of the Golden Fleece.

They symbolize everything that is beautiful and friendly in the sea. They sing in a melodious voice and dance around their father. They are depicted as very beautiful girls, dressed in white silk robes edged in gold, sometimes totally nude, crowned with branches of red coral and barefoot, carrying the trident of Poseidon, of whose entourage they are part.

They appear to men mounted on dolphins, seahorses and sea monsters. The Greeks worshiped them on altars located on beaches and cliffs, where milk, oil and honey were offered to them.

Among all these sea nymphs, only a few stand out:

• Tetis, wife of Peleo and mother of Achilles
• Step up, wife of Eaco and mother of Foco
• Galatea, lover of Pastor Acis, and to whom the cyclop Polifemo tried to fall in vain (only in late versions)
• Anphitrite, wife of the powerful Poseidon and mother of Triton, Rode and Bentesicime

Some of the Nereids share names with Oceanid nymphs, namely: Amphitrite, Asia, Béroe, Calypso, Ceto, Clio, Clímene, Dione, Doris, Efira, Eudora, Yanira, Melite, Menippe, Plexaura, Toa and Janta.

Some of these names also appear in Homer, such as Thetis, Glauca, Nesea, Espeo, Actea, Cimótoa, Cimódoca and Agave. These names - says B. Snell - give us a vivid and impressive image of the Aegean Sea: brilliant, incessantly moving, strewn with islands, surrounded by caves and cliffs. But in it the visible, the exterior is accepted (B. Snell: The Sources..., p. 72). There is a noticeable difference with Hesiod's Nereids that more precisely reflect the mercantile traffic that crossed the Aegean in the VIII-VII centuries BC. C. To Homer's descriptive names are added others referring to marine traffic. The etymology of the daughters of Nereo corresponds to Plotus ("The shipping company"), Eucranta ("The one who grants to crown the end"), Sao ("Savior"), Eudora ("The one who gives prosperity"), Galena ("The calm"), Glauca ("Bluish"), Cimótoa ("Fast waves"), Espeo ("The one of the caves"), Toa ("The fast one", which suggests the sea nymph Toosa), Halía ("Salty", which suggests the sea nymph Halia), Pasitea ("The very divine"), Erato ("Delicious"), Eunice ("Easy to win"), Melitta ("The sweet"), Eulimena ("The one with a good leek"), Agave ("The Shining One"), Doto ("Giving One"), Proto ("The First One"), Ferusa ("The One Who Carries"), Dinámena ("The Powerful One"), Nesea ("Isleña"), Actea ("She of the cliffs"), Protomedea ("First in thoughts"), Doris ("The giver"), Panope ("All-seeing"), Hippotoa ("Swift as a horse"), Hipponoa («Intelligent as the horse»), Cimódoca («The one who receives the waves»), Cimatolega («That calms the waves», which suggests the marine nymph Leucótea), Cimo («The one of the waves», which suggests the ni nfa marine Cymopolea), Éyone ("She of the anchorage"), Halimeda ("Who cares for the sea"), Glauconoma ("She of bluish meadow"), Pontoporea ("That allows to cross the sea"), Leágora ("She of soft word"), Evágora ("Eloquent"), Laomedea ("Who cares for the people"), Polínoe ("The one who understands a lot"), Autónoe ("The one who understands herself"), Lisiánasa ("Lady of freedom"), Evarna ("Rich in cattle"), Psámate ("The sandy one"), Menipa ("The one with the horse's vigor"), Neso ("Island"), Eupompa ("Happy journey"), Themisto ("Observer of divine laws"), Prónoe ("Foresighted"), and Nemertes ("The blameless"). They do not have a clear etymology Amphitrite, Thetis and Galatea.

Catalogue of the Nereids

The relationship of Nereids appears in the works of various classical authors, differing from one to another.

Thus, Apollodorus relates:

De Nereo and Doris were born, whose names are Cimótoe, Espeo, Glauconome, Nausítoe, Halia, Erató, Sao, Anfítrite, Eunice, Tetis, Eulímene, Ágave, Eudora, Doto, Ferusa, Galatea, Actee, Pontomedusa, Hippotoe, Lisiana Dinámene, Ceto and Limnoria.

Hesiod lists the following:

O mystery, my dear.

In the Iliad, the following are named:

There were Glauce, Talia, Cimodoce, Nesea, Espeo, Toa, Halia, that of the great eyes, Cimótoe, Acteea, Limnoria, Mélite, Yera, Anfítoe, Ágave, Doto, Proto, Ferusa, Dinámene, Dexámene, Anphinome, Calanira, Doris, Pánope

Adding immediately after Thetis:

And Tetis, giving principle to the laments, exclaimed:"
"Hear, dear sisters, that you may know how many sorrows my heart suffers.

Hyginus names these Nereids:

Neoreus and Doris fifty nereides: Glauce, Talia, Cimódoce, Nesea, Espeo, Toa, Cimótoe, Acteea, Limnoria, Mélite, Yanira, Anfítoe, Doto, Proto, Ferusa, Dinámene, Dexámene, Calianasa, Doris

Vase paintings from the period name other Nereids, such as Nao, Pontomeda, Chalice, Coro, Iresia, Cimatotea and Eudia.

Confusion of the Mermaids with the Nereids

The mermaids were originally beings with the head of a woman and the body of birds that sang songs that attracted sailors until they crashed their ships against the rocks of the islands they inhabited, being later devoured by these beings. Even in the times of Apolonio de Rodas, sirens were characterized in this way. In the Odyssey, its main character, Odysseus or Ulysses, is tied to the mast of his ship and forces the rest of the crew to plug their ears with wax so that he can hear the song of the sirens without risking his life. After the mermaids lost a singing contest with the muses, a fact that caused them to lose their feathers at the same time, their inclusion in the oral traditions did not become noticeably present again and later, in the 7th and 8th centuries, the Mermaids are described in the Liber monstrorum de diversis generibus with the tail of a fish and not the body of a bird. However, the tail was not an element that formed part of the original iconography of the Nereids, as can be seen seen in the images of Thetis and Galatea among many others, which were represented with legs, sometimes in the company of fish or mounted on dolphins. It is possible that the tail was an iconographically incorporated element after the visual confusion of certain paintings where the legs of a Nereid mounted on the back of a dolphin could not be clearly distinguished, and its tail could be confused with the lower part of the Nereid's body..

Writer Robert Graves considers the Nereids to have been a college of about 50 priestesses of the moon goddess, called "seal women," because they dressed in seal skins and danced a ritual dance on Aegina and Magnesia as a proem of the election ceremony of a sacred king. These Nereids also performed magical rites to ensure fishermen a good catch.