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Nysiads

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In Greek mythology, the Nysiads or Nysiades (Ancient Greek: Νυσιάδες) were Oceanid nymphs of mythical Mount Nysa. Zeus entrusted the infant god Dionysus[1] to their care, and the Nysiads raised him with the assistance of the old satyr-god Silenus. When Dionysus was grown, the Nysiads joined his company as the first of the Maenads.

Names

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The names of the nymphs include:[2]

Also mentioned are Callichore and Calyce[5] (after whom two moons of Jupiter, Kallichore and Kalyke, are named).

In later tellings of Dionysus's infancy, the Nysiades appear to be identified with the Hyades.[6] The term might have been used for the Pleiades and the Hyades as Dionysus's tutors altogether.

Notes

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  1. ^ Homeric Hymn 26 to Dionysus 2 ff.
  2. ^ Hyginus, Fabulae 182
  3. ^ Also occurs in Terpander, fr. 9
  4. ^ In Diodorus Siculus, 3.69, she is called daughter of Aristaeus
  5. ^ Nonnus, Dionysiaca 14.219 ff.
  6. ^ In Bibliotheca 3.4.3, the identification is explicit: "...the Nymphai of Asian Nysa, whom Zeus in later times placed among the stars and named the Hyades."

References

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