It is not known whether the name Nereus was known toHomer or not, but the name of the Nereids is attested before it, and can be found in theIliad.[3] Since Nereus only has relevance as the father of the Nereids, it has been suggested that his name could actually be derived from that of his daughters;[4] while the derivation of the Nereids from Nereus, as a patronymic, has also been suggested.[5] According toMartin Litchfield West (1966), Nereus is much less important than his daughters, mentioning thatHerodotus offered "the Nereids, not Nereus, as an example of a divine name not derived from Egypt".[6]
The Nereids symbolized everything that is beautiful and kind about the sea. Their melodious voices sang as they danced around their father. They are represented as beautiful women, crowned with branches of red coral and dressed in white silk robes trimmed with gold.
In Homer'sIliad XVIII, when Thetis cries out in sympathy for the grief ofAchilles for the slainPatroclus, her sisters appear.[9] Four of her siblings,Cymodoce,Thalia,Nesaea andSpio were also among the nymphs in the train ofCyrene.[10] Later on, these four together with their other sisters Thetis,Melite andPanopea, were able to help the heroAeneas and his crew during a storm.[11]
In one account,Cassiopeia boasted that her daughterAndromeda was more beautiful than the Nereides, who were enraged by the claim. Poseidon, in sympathy for them, sent a flood and a sea monster to the land of theAethiopians, demanding as well the sacrifice of the princess.[12] These sea goddesses also were said to reveal to men the mysteries ofDionysus andPersephone.[13][14]
In ancient art the Nereides appear in the retinue of Poseidon, Amphitrite, Thetis and other sea-divinities. On black-figure Greek vases they appear fully clothed, such as on a Corinthian hydra (sixth century BCE; Paris) where they stand near the bier of Achilles. Later vase-paintings depict them nude or partially nude, mounted on dolphins, sea-horses or other marine creatures, and often grouped together with Tritons. They appear as such on Roman frescoes and sarcophagi. An Etruscan bronze cista from Palestrina depicts winged Nereides.
Famous is the Nereid Monument, a marble tomb from Xanthos (Lycia, Asia Minor), partially in the collection of the British Museum. At the top is a small temple surrounded by pillars between which Nereides stood. They were depicted in motion and with billowing, transparent clothes. The style is Attic-Ionian and dates toc. 400 BCE.
Nereides were worshiped in several parts of Greece, but more especially in seaport towns, such asCardamyle,[44] and on theIsthmus of Corinth.[45] The epithets given them by the poets refer partly to their beauty and partly to their place of abode.
Theneraida appears in modern Greek folktales as a kind of supernatural wife, akin to theswan maiden, and gives its name to the homonymous type in the Catalogue of Greek Folktales: tale typeATU 400, "The Neraïda".[47] She has been compared to thenymph, the female character of ancient Greek mythology.[48][49] She is said to inhabit water sources (rivers and wells),[50] similar to their ancient mythical counterpart, theNereids (water nymphs).[51][52] However,in modern speech, the term also encompasses fairy maidens from mountains and woodlands.[53]
Greek folklorist Nicolaos Politis amassed a great amount of modern folkloric material regarding theneraida.[54] In modern tales from Greek tellers, theneraides are said to dance at noon or at midnight; to have beautiful golden hair; to dress in white or rose garments and to appear wearing a veil on the head, or holding a handkerchief. Due to their beauty, young men are drawn to theneraides and steal their veils or kerchiefs to force their stay in the mortal realm. The women marry these men, but later regain their piece of clothing back and disappear forever.[52][55][54] Greek scholar Anna Angeloupoulos terms this storylineThe Stolen Scarf, one of four narratives involving theneraida. Also, this sequence is "the most frequent and stable introductory episode" in Greek variants of tale type 400.[47]
In a tale from Greece, a human goatherd named Demetros, dances with ten fairies three nights, and in the third night, on a full moon, he dances with them and accidentally touches the handkerchief of Katena. Her companions abandon her to the mortal world and she becomes Demetros's wife, bearing him a daughter. For seven years, Demetros has hidden the handkerchief, until his wife Katena asks him for it. She takes the handkerchief and dances with it in a festival, taking the opportunity to return home and leave her mortal husband. Years later, their daughter follows her mother when she turns fifteen years old.[56]
Another introductory episode of the Greek variants is one Angelopoulos dubbedThe Sisters of Alexander the Great. This refers to apseudo-historical or mythological account aboutAlexander the Great and a quest for a water of life that grants immortality. His sister (or sisters) drinks it instead of him, is thrown in the sea and becomes agorgona, a half-human, half-fish creature with power over the storm who can sink boats and become birds. They approach ships to ask if Alexander still lives, and can only be appeased if answered positively. In one tale, a youth on a ship captures agorgona three times (or threegorgones) and beats her until she promises not to threaten any more ships. The youth then arrives on a deserted island and sees three birds that become human (or flying maidens), and steals their garments.[47][57]Richard MacGillivray Dawkins suggested that the moderngorgona was a merging of three mythological characters (theSirens, theGorgons, and theScylla), and reported alternate tales where Alexander's sisters are replaced for his mother or a female lover.[57][a]
^Zervas, Theodore G. (2016).Formal and Informal Education During the Rise of Greek Nationalism: Learning to be Greek. Springer. p. 121.ISBN9781137484154.
^Mitakidou, Soula; Manna, Anthony L.; Kanatsouli, Melpomeni.Folktales of Greece: A Treasury of Delights. Greenwood Press/Libraries Unlimited, 2002. p. 15.ISBN1-56308-908-4.
^Blagojevic, Gordana. "Женидба вилом и нерајдом: јужнословенско-грчке фолклорне паралеле" [Marrying a Fairy and a Nereid: South Slavic-Greek Folk Parallels]. In:Заједничко у словенском фолклору: зборник радова [Common Elements in Slavic Folklore: Collected Papers, 2012]. Београд: Балканолошки институт САНУ, 2012. p. 178.ISBN9788671790741.
^abΛουκατος, Δημητριος σ. (1982). "Les néréides en Grèce, êtres toujours légendaires, aussi bien maritimes que terrestres".Le Monde alpin et rhodanien. Revue régionale d'ethnologie.10 (1):293–299.doi:10.3406/mar.1982.1164.
^Lawson, John Cuthbert (1910).Modern Greek Folklore and Ancient Greek Religion (1st ed.). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. pp. 132–133, 135–136, 138–139.
^"III. The Fairy Wife". In: Gianakoulis, Theodore P. and MacPherson, Georgia H.Fairy Tales of Modern Greece. New York City: E. P. Dutton & Co. [1930]. pp. 34–47.
Gaius Valerius Flaccus,Argonautica translated by Mozley, J H. Loeb Classical Library Volume 286. Cambridge, MA, Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann Ltd. 1928.Online version at theio.com.
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