• OVERVIEW
    The nymphs, or Meliae, were created by the blood that fell on the earth when the Titan Cronus castrated his father Uranus, in his effort to overthrow him.

    Along with the nymphs, came out the Erinyes (the Furies) and the Giants. The mankind of the Age of Bronze originated from the Meliae. The honey-nymphs that nurtured and raised Zeus in Crete, Ida and Adrasteia, were called Meliai and probably belonged to this group of nymphs.

    The Meliae were always invoked as a group, although in a few myths, some of them are given individual names. One of them was called Melia and was the mother of Io, Philodice, Inachus, and Aegialeus.

    DIFFERENT NYMPHS
       Hamadryad •     Dryad that lives in the trees; usually bonded to a certain tree.
       Dryad • is a tree nymph (dry signifies "oak" in Greek). Sometimes human-tree hybrids.
       Nereids • Sea nymphs who often accompany Poseidon. They can be friendly to sailors.
       Oceanides • The nymphs who were the three thousand daughters of the Titans: Oceanus and Tethys
       Oreads • Mountain nymphs who went hunting with Artemis; preferred rocky precipices.

     

    ECHO (& NARCISSUS)
    Hera was jealous because her Zeus's many affairs and she was always watching Zeus carefully. However, whenever she was about to catch him, Echo distracted her with lengthy conversations. When at last Hera realized the truth, she cursed Echo. From that moment on, the once talkative nymph could only repeat the most recently spoken words of another person.

    Sometime after being cursed, Echo spied a young man, Narcissus, while he was out hunting deer with his companions. She immediately fell in love with him for he was very handsome and, infatuated, followed quietly. The more she looked at the young man, the more she longed for him. Though she wished with all her heart to call out to Narcissus, Juno's curse prevented her.

    While out on a hunt, Narcissus became separated from his companions and called out, ‘is anyone there,’ and heard the nymph repeat his words. Startled, Narcissus answered the voice, ‘come here,’ only to be told the same. When Narcissus saw that nobody had emerged from the glade, he concluded that the owner of the voice must be running away from him and called out again. Finally, he shouted, "This way, we must come together." Taking this to be a reciprocation of her love, Echo concurred ecstatically, "We must come together!"

    In her delight, Echo rushed to Narcissus ready to throw her arms around her beloved. Narcissus, however, was appalled and, spurning her, exclaimed, ‘Hands off! May I die before you enjoy my body’ for Narcissus was far too vain to think that any was worthy of him. All Echo could whisper in reply was, ‘enjoy my body’ and having done so she fled, scorned, humiliated, and shamed.

    Despite the harshness of his rejection, Echo's love for Narcissus only grew.

    However, by this point, Narcissus was quite tired and went to sit by a nearby pond where he could spy his own reflection which he had never seen so clearly before in this still water. From there, he whispered that he loved his reflection while Echo repeated the same to him till he wasted away.

    Eventually, Echo, too, began to waste away. Her beauty faded, her skin shrivelled, and her bones turned to stone. Today, all that remains of Echo is the sound of her voice.

     

    DAPHNE (& APOLLO)
    It was Apollo’s job to pull the sun across the sky in his 4-horse chariot every day.

    He has also been referred to as the God of music, poetry, art, medicine, knowledge, plague and archery.

    Apollo was the son of Zeus (the God of Thunder) and Leto. He had a twin sister, Artemis, who was the Goddess of Hunting.

    Apollo was also famous for being an oracular god, and had two cults in Delphi and Delos. People would come from all over the world to learn from Apollo what their future held. It was believed that, as the God of both medicine and plague, Apollo could heal people as well as cause disease by shooting people with his arrows.

    Daphne was a Naiad Nymph in Greek Mythology, and was the daughter of a river god. She was famous for being incredibly beautiful and for catching the eye of Apollo. However, Daphne was determined to remain unmarried and untouched for all her life.

    At this same time, Apollo had been mocking the God of Love, Eros, for being vastly inferior in importance to Apollo who moved the sun.Finally, Eros had had enough of his nephews jabs and, in retaliation, Eros fired two arrows: a gold arrow that struck Apollo and made him fall in love with Daphne, and a lead arrow that made Daphne hate Apollo.

    Under the spell of the arrow, Apollo continued to follow Daphne. He was deeply smitten as he had never known he could be for anyone. He told her as much and, no matter where she went, he would follow her and repeat how much he loved her. However, Daphne continued to reject him. Apollo may have told Daphne that he would love her forever, but she did not care.

    Eventually, fed up with the constant attentions of the unwanted suitor, Daphne turned to the river god, Peneus, and pleaded for him to free her from Apollo. In response, Peneus used metamorphosis to turn Daphne into a laurel tree so that she would no longer be of interest to Apollo. The transformation worked. Still, Apollo was saddened to see that his love could never be reciprocated, so he used his powers of eternal youth and immortality to make Daphne’s laurel leaves evergreen.