 Water Ritual at Delphi | |
| Creature information | |
|---|---|
| Grouping | Legendary creature |
| Sub grouping | Water spirit |
| Origin | |
| Country | Greece |
| Region | Delphi |
| Greek deities series |
|---|
| Nymphs |
Castalia/kəˈsteɪliə/ (Ancient Greek:Κασταλία,romanized: Kastalia), in ancientGreek andRoman mythology, is a youngnymph, a daughter of the river-godAchelous who attracted the godApollo and who is said to have flung herself into the sacred spring inDelphi when pursued by him. The spring took the nameCastalia afterwards.
Castalia was the child of the river-godAchelous.[1]
The Castalia orCastalian Spring was the name of a spring nearDelphi, sacred to theMuses, mentioned by many authors.[2] According to old traditions, the Castalian Spring already existed by the timeApollo came to Delphi searching for Python.[3] According to some, the water was a gift to Castalia from the riverCephisus.[citation needed]
In his commentary onStatius'sThebaid, Latin poetLactantius Placidus says that the virgin Castalia, trying to escape Apollo's unwanted amorous advances, threw herself into a fountain at Delphi, at the base ofMount Parnassus, or atMount Helicon, which took her name thereafter.[4][5][6] Castalia then became the sacred fountain of Poseidon.[7]
She inspired the genius ofpoetry to those who drank her waters or listened to their quiet sound; thesacred water was also used to clean the Delphian temples. Apollo consecrated Castalia to theMuses (Castaliae Musae).[citation needed]
The 20th-centuryGerman writerHermann Hesse used Castalia as inspiration for the name of the futuristic fictional utopia in his 1943magnum opusThe Glass Bead Game. Castalia is home to an austere order ofintellectuals with a twofold mission: to run boarding schools for boys, and to nurture and play the Glass Bead Game.[citation needed]
Media related toCastalia (naiad) at Wikimedia Commons