Nereids

It is not known whether the name Nereus was known to Homer or not, but the name of the Nereids is attested before it, and can be found in the Iliad.^[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 to Martin Litchfield West (1966), Nereus is much less important than his daughters, mentioning that Herodotus offered "the Nereids, not Nereus, as an example of a divine name not derived from Egypt".^[6]

The name of the Nereids has survived in modern Greek folklore as νεράιδες, neráides 'fairies'.^[7]

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.

These nymphs are particularly associated with the Aegean Sea, where they dwelt with their father Nereus in the depths within a golden palace.^[8] The most notable of them are Thetis, wife of Peleus and mother of Achilles; Amphitrite, wife of Poseidon and mother of Triton; Galatea, the vain love interest of the Cyclops Polyphemus, and lastly, Psamathe who became the mother of Phocus by King Aeacus of Aegina, and Theoclymenus and Theonoe by Proteus, a sea-god or king of Egypt.

In Homer's Iliad XVIII, when Thetis cries out in sympathy for the grief of Achilles for the slain Patroclus, her sisters appear.^[9] Four of her siblings, Cymodoce, Thalia, Nesaea and Spio were also among the nymphs in the train of Cyrene.^[10] Later on, these four together with their other sisters Thetis, Melite and Panopea, were able to help the hero Aeneas and his crew during a storm.^[11]

In one account, Cassiopeia boasted that her daughter Andromeda 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 the Aethiopians, demanding as well the sacrifice of the princess.^[12] These sea goddesses also were said to reveal to men the mysteries of Dionysus and Persephone.^[13][14]

This list is correlated from four sources: Homer's Iliad,^[15] Hesiod's Theogony,^[16] the Bibliotheca of Pseudo-Apollodorus^[17] and the Fabulae of Hyginus.^[18] Because of this, the total number of names goes beyond fifty.^[19]

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 to c. 400 BCE.

In the Renaissance and baroque periods the Nereid was frequently used to decorate fountains and garden monuments.

Nereides were worshiped in several parts of Greece, but more especially in seaport towns, such as Cardamyle,^[44] and on the Isthmus of Corinth.^[45] The epithets given them by the poets refer partly to their beauty and partly to their place of abode.

In modern Greek folklore, the term "nereid" (νεράιδα, neráida) has come to be used for all nymphs, fairies, or mermaids, not merely nymphs of the sea.^[46]

The neraida appears in modern Greek folktales as a kind of supernatural wife, akin to the swan maiden, and gives its name to the homonymous type in the Catalogue of Greek Folktales: tale type ATU 400, "The Neraïda".^[47] She has been compared to the nymph, 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, the Nereids (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 the neraida.^[54] In modern tales from Greek tellers, the neraides 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 the neraides 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 storyline The Stolen Scarf, one of four narratives involving the neraida. 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 dubbed The sisters of Alexander the Great. This refers to a pseudo-historical or mythological account about Alexander 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 a gorgona, 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 a gorgona three times (or three gorgones) 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 modern gorgona was a merging of three mythological characters (the Sirens, the Gorgons, and the Scylla), and reported alternate tales where Alexander's sisters are replaced for his mother or a female lover.^[57][a]

Nereid, a moon of the planet Neptune, is named after the Nereids, as is Nereid Lake in Antarctica.^[58]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Nereids.

• Nereids in classical literature and art
• Nereid and Triton Mosaic from Ephesus Terrace Home -2
• 3D stereoview of Nereid and Triton relief from Temple of Apollo in Didim
• The Warburg Institute Iconographic Database (images of Nereids and other Sea Deities)