EP 17: Nymphs - Between Gods & Mortals

 ... Welcome to Episode 17.  In this podcast we enter the extraordinary world of nymphs.

These semi-divine beings were young girls who populated and protected every waterway, spring and sacred grove. They were not deathless, but could live for centuries, and were found throughout Greece, Sicily, Crete and on all the Cycladic islands of the Aegean sea …

Because they appeared as young girls, eternally beautiful, many of the stories surrounding them were erotic in nature. Many remained virgins, but others became lovers to the Olympic gods, including Zeus. Yet other nymphs, particularly those populating springs and rivers, were known to seduce those who wandered too close ...

Narrated by mythologist and best-selling author, Patrick Garner, Garner's Greek Mythology is unlike any other Greek history series.  Here these divine beings are viewed as if they were anything but mythical...

If you love these podcasts, you'll also enjoy new stories about the gods in Garner's novel Homo Divinitas, now available as an audio book on Amazon.com and Audible.com.

(Musical score includes selections from Fesliyan Studios and Free Sounds Library. Many thanks to both.)

Transcript

NYMPHS ... IMAGINE A GIRL STEPPING SLOWLY FROM A PRISTINE WATERWAY. MOMENTS BEFORE ... THERE WAS NO ONE THERE.

AND BECAUSE WE'RE USING OUR MIND'S EYE, IMAGINE 3 OR 4 MORE GIRLS PLAYING TOGETHER IN THE SAME CRYSTALLINE WATERS. THEY TOO HAVE SUDDENLY APPEARED ...

FOR THE ANCIENT GREEKS, EVERY SPRING & POND & RIVER WAS PROTECTED BY SUCH BEINGS. THESE CREATURES — THESE NYMPHS — WERE INVARIABLY AGELESS YOUNG GIRLS.

I SAID 'AGELESS,' BUT THEY WERE ALSO ANCIENT. NYMPHS EXISTED EVEN BEFORE THE OLYMPIC GODS ... & BEFORE THE BIRTH OF MORTALS.

THEY WERE NOT ALL IMMORTAL, AS SOME DIED AFTER LIVING FOR CENTURIES ... IN REALITY THEY EXISTED IN A MAGICAL WORLD BETWEEN MORTALS & GODS.

AND NYMPHS WERE GENERALLY HARMLESS, BUT NOT ALWAYS ... FOR A MAN, ENCOUNTERING A NYMPH WHILE ALONE MIGHT BE PRECARIOUS ...

YOU MAY HAVE HEARD THE TERM, NYMPHOMANIA. THAT'S FROM THE WORD NYMPH. IT MEANS UNCONTROLLABLE DESIRE IN A WOMAN. AND IT'S DERIVED FROM A BELIEF ... 

THAT SOME NYMPHS WOULD BEWITCH INNOCENT YOUNG MEN, BECOMING THEIR LOVERS & NEVER RELEASING THEM FROM THE DARK, WILD WOODS WHERE THEY LIVED ...

Ω

WELCOME TO EPISODE 17 OF GARNER'S GREEK MYTHOLOGY. I'M YOUR HOST, MYTHOLOGIST & BEST-SELLING AUTHOR, PATRICK GARNER. 

YOU CAN READ MORE ABOUT MY NOVELS and ABOUT THIS PODCAST AT PATRICKGARNERBOOKS.COM. ALL OF MY BOOKS IMAGINE THE ANCIENT GODS LIVING IN MODERN TIMES.

AND CHECK OUT THE PAGE ABOUT GREEK GODS I'VE ADDED TO THE WEBSITE. IT'S A GREAT OVERVIEW OF ALL THINGS DIVINE IN ANCIENT GREECE. 

AS ALWAYS, THIS PODCAST SERIES WILL FOCUS ON ONE THING ... GREEK GODS, OF COURSE.

HERE THE ANCIENT GODS ARE NOT CONSIDERED IMAGINARY. HARDLY. INSTEAD, THEY, LIKE YOU, ARE HERE, NOW ...

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NYMPHS — THESE GRACEFUL YOUNG GIRLS — NOT ONLY POPULATED WATERS, THEY WERE FOUND THROUGHOUT NATURE. 

FOR INSTANCE, EVERY TREE IN EVERY SACRED GROVE WAS BELIEVED TO OWE ITS LIFE SOURCE TO A NYMPH WHO LIVED WITHIN IT.

NOT ALL NYMPHS LIVED IN SPRINGS & TREES. THERE WERE MOUNTAIN NYMPHS & SEA-NYMPHS & NYMPHS IN THE SMALLEST WATERWAYS.

WHEREVER GREEKS VENTURED INTO NATURE, THEY WERE CONSCIOUS OF THESE BEINGS. AS VILLAGE-DWELLERS, THEY WERE AWARE BEING WATCHED & MEASURED & EVALUATED BY INTELLIGENT BEINGS WHO WERE WILD & UNPREDICTABLE... 

USUALLY NYMPHS WERE INVISIBLE, BUT 1,000s OF GREEKS REPORTED SEEING THEM AS NYMPHS SEEMED TO BE EVERYWHERE ...

NYMPHS PRESIDED OVER ALL NATURAL PHENOMENA, INCLUDING CLOUDS, CAVES, MEADOWS & THE ROCKY BEACHES FOUND ALL OVER GREECE.

THEY CARED FOR ALL THE FAUNA & FLORA IN THEIR DOMAIN. PLANTS THRIVED UNDER THEIR WATCH & DEER DRANK FEARLESSLY FROM THEIR SPRINGS.

AS NATURE SPIRITS THEY WERE ASSOCIATED WITH SEVERAL OF THE OLYMPIC GODS, INCLUDING HERMES, ARTEMIS, POSEIDON, DEMETER & DIONYSOS.

IN ALL THREE OF MY NOVELS, ARTEMIS IS FOLLOWED BY A HUNDRED NYMPHS WHO PLAY MULTIPLE ROLES. THEY'RE HUNTERS, ADMINISTRATORS, GRAD STUDENTS & SHEPARDS.

AND OF ALL THE GODS, ARTEMIS, WHOM WE FOLLOWED IN EPISODE SIX, HAD THE CLOSEST ASSOCIATION WITH NYMPHS.

THE MOST FAMOUS OF ARTEMIS' NYMPHS WERE THE PLEIADES, SEVEN SISTERS, WHO WERE HER CONSTANT COMPANIONS. THEY WERE THE DAUGHTERS OF THE TITAN ATLAS & THE SEA-NYMPH PLEIONE ... 

ALTHOUGH ARTEMIS HERSELF WAS A VIRGIN GODDESS — AS WERE MOST OF THE NYMPHS SHE PROTECTED — THE PLEIADES WERE AN EXCEPTION. THEY BECAME WIVES & MOTHERS OF MANY LEGENDARY GREEKS.

FOR INSTANCE, ONE OF THE PLEIADES SISTERS, MAIA, WAS THE MOTHER OF THE OLYMPIC GOD HERMES. SHE WAS A SHY & NAÏVE GIRL WHO WAS EASILY SEDUCED BY ZEUS.

ANOTHER SISTER INVOLVED WITH ZEUS WAS TAYGETE, WHO MOTHERED THE BOY WHO GREW UP TO FOUND SPARTA.

THE SISTERS WERE ALSO COURTED BY POSEIDON, PROMETHEUS & ARES ... BETWEEN THE SEVEN, THEY BORE MORE THAN 15 CHILDREN, MANY WHO WENT ON TO FOUND CITIES THROUGHOUT GREECE.

THEY ALSO BECAME TEACHERS & NURSEMAIDS TO BABY DIONYSOS, HELPING SEMELE'S SISTER RAISE THE CHILD.

EVENTUALLY, TO HONOR & IMMORTALIZE THE NYMPHS, ZEUS TRANSFORMED ALL SEVEN INTO THE CONSTELLATION WE NOW CALL THE PLEIADES ...

IN MY NOVELS — THE WINNOWING, CYCLADIC GIRLS & HOMO DIVINITAS — NYMPHS PLAY AN IMMENSE ROLE. ONE OF THEM ... TIMESSA ... IS TRANSFORMED INTO AN ALL-POWERFUL GODDESS FROM THE BEGINNING OF TIME.

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THE PLEIADES WERE MOUNTAIN NYMPHS, BUT THERE WERE MANY VARIETIES.

ONE EARLY TYPE WERE THE MELIADS WHO LIVED IN ASH TREES ... THEIR ORIGIN WAS HORRIFIC AS THEY WERE BORN FROM THE SPLATTERED BLOOD OF THE MURDERED URANUS. 

REMEMBER HOW WE SPOKE IN A PREVIOUS EPISODE ABOUT HOW URANUS' SON, KRONOS, KILLED HIM?

THE ANCIENT WRITER HESIOD RELATES THAT BLOOD FROM THIS MURDER FELL ON THE EARTH, & FROM IT WAS BIRTHED APHRODITE ... 

THE MELIADS WERE BORN FROM THE SAME BLOOD AT THE SAME MOMENT.

THESE NYMPHS, SPAWNED FROM TRAGEDY, BECAME THE WIVES OF MORTALS. THEIR HUSBANDS & OFFSPRING WERE CALLED THE MELIANS, SOME OF THE EARLIEST GREEKS ... 

THEY WERE WARRIORS FAMOUS FOR THEIR UNBREAKABLE SPEARS. THE SHAFTS WERE ALL MADE FROM ASH TREES FOUND ON MOUNTAIN SIDES. 

THE SONS OF THESE NYMPHS, ALL BRONZE AGE WARRIORS, REVELED IN KILLING. THE ANCIENT WRITER HESIOD SAID OF THEM,

"The Melian were a brazen race, sprung from Ash-Trees; and they were ... terrible and strong. They loved the works of Ares and all deeds of violence ...” 

ZEUS WAS SAID TO SO DISLIKE THESE WARRIORS THAT HE REFUSED THEM THE GIFT OF FIRE. AT SOME POINT THEY INFURIATED ZEUS ENOUGH THAT HE DESTROYED THEM IN A FLOOD. 

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OTHER TREE-NYMPHS INCLUDED THE DRYADES & THE HAMADRYADES. THE DRYADES LIVED IN GROVES, WOODS & DEEP MOUNTAIN FORESTS.

HAVE YOU EVER WALKED THROUGH A WOODLAND & COME ACROSS AN ANCIENT TREE THAT SEEMED ALMOST CONSCIOUS, EVEN INTELLIGENT? 

ITS IMMENSITY & SHEER PRESENCE MAY HAVE BEEN OVERWHELMING. YOU MAY HAVE EVEN REACHED OUT & TOUCHED ITS TRUNK ... PERHAPS ... IT SHELTERED A DRYADE.

THESE DRYADE NYMPHS WERE THE SPIRITS OF OAK & ASH, PINE & POPLAR, LAUREL & APPLE TREES. REMEMBER THE STORY OF DAPHNE? SHE WAS A ORIGINALLY A LAUREL NYMPH.

APOLLO FELL MADLY IN LOVE WITH HER, CHASING HER THRU THE WOODS ... DAPHNE'S FATHER, A RIVER-GOD, TRYING TO SAVE HER, TURNED HER INTO A LAUREL TREE. 

THE NYMPH BECAME THE VERY TREE SHE HAD ONCE PROTECTED. EVEN APOLLO COULD NOT UNDO WHAT HER FATHER HAD DONE ...

THERE WAS ANOTHER VARIETY OF DRYADE CALLED A HAMA-DRYADE. HAMA IN GREEK MEANS TO GIRDLE OR BE BOUND TO, & THESE NYMPHS WERE BOUND FOR LIFE TO A SPECIFIC TREE.

IT WAS BELIEVED THAT THE TREE & THE NYMPH WERE BORN AS ONE, & HER LIFE & THE TREE'S LIFE WERE A SINGLE THING.  

IF THE TREE DIED, SO DID THE NYMPH. AND SIMILARLY, IF SHE DIED, THE TREE FOLLOWED.

IF A GREEK ENTERED A SACRED GROVE & DECIDED TO FELL SUCH A TREE, BLOOD WOULD FLOW FROM WHERE THE TREE WAS STRUCK.

A STORY IS TOLD OF ONE MAN WHO DECIDED TO CUT DOWN A LARGE OAK FROM ONE OF DEMETER'S SACRED GROVES.

HE STRUCK IT &, INDEED, BLOOD FLOWED FROM THE NYMPH WHO LIVED INSIDE. DESPITE THIS, HE CONTINUED UNTIL HE HAD CUT IT DOWN.

AFTERWARD, IN THEIR GRIEF, ALL THE OTHER DRYADES BEGGED THE GODDESS DEMETER TO PUNISH THE MAN, WHICH SHE DID ... 

FOR HIS CRIME HE SUFFERED FOR MONTHS WITH AN INSATIABLE HUNGER WHICH WAS IMPOSSIBLE TO SATISFY ... UNTIL HE, TOO, DIED.

Ω

WE'VE MENTIONED NYMPHS IN MANY OF OUR EPISODES. ONE WAS THETIS, A NEREID OR SEA-NYMPH. SHE WAS THE MOTHER OF THE FAMOUS WARRIOR, ACHILLES.

TO MAKE HIM INVULNERABLE THETIS DIPPED THE BABY ACHILLES IN THE RIVER STYX, WHICH MADE HIM INVINCIBLE ... 

BUT WHERE SHE HELD HIM BY ONE HEEL, HE REMAINED DRY & UNPROTECTED. THIS IS THE ORIGIN OF OUR PHRASE, "TO HAVE AN ACHILLES HEEL." 

IN THE TROJAN WAR, PARIS, A SON OF THE TROJAN KING, SHOT ACHILLES IN HIS ONE UNPROTECTED SPOT.

TROJANS SAID THE ARROW WAS GUIDED BY APOLLO. REGARDLESS, IT KILLED GREECE'S GREATEST WARRIOR. 

AND SO THETIS' NEGLIGENCE CAME BACK TO HAUNT HER AS SHE HELD THE DYING ACHILLES IN HER ARMS ON THE BATTLEFIELD.

... ANOTHER FAMOUS NYMPH WAS ARETHUSA. SHE TOO WAS A NEREID & THETIS' SISTER. AS AN ASIDE, SHE'S APPEARS IN ALL THREE OF MY NOVELS. 

UNLIKE THETIS, ARETHUSA DEDICATED HER LIFE TO ARTEMIS, TAKING VOWS OF CHASTITY. WHY DID SHE DO SO?

ONE MORNING SHE CAME ACROSS A STREAM SHE HAD NEVER SEEN & DECIDED TO BATHE. SHE DIDN'T KNOW THAT THE STREAM WAS OCCUPIED BY A RIVER-GOD NAMED ALPHEUS.

SEEING THE GIRL NAKED IN HIS WATERS, ALPHEUS FELL IN LOVE. HE DISGUISED HIMSELF AS THE STREAM ITSELF & SLIPPED BETWEEN HER THIGHS.

SHOCKED AT WHAT SHE FELT, ARETHUSA SCREAMED & PRAYED TO ARTEMIS. HEARING HER CRIES, THE GODDESS APPEARED & HID ARETHUSA IN A CLOUD.

LATER SHE BECAME ONE OF THE GODDESS' RIGHT-HAND NYMPHS ... 

Ω

I SHOULD NOTE THAT SOME NYMPHS WERE CONSIDERED EXTRAORDINARY & EXHIBITED AWESOME POWERS which entitled them to be called GODDESSES.

PERHAPS ONE OF THE BEST KNOWN WAS KALYPSO. LIKE THE PLEIADES SISTERS, SHE TOO WAS THE DAUGHTER OF ATLAS.

AND LIKE CIRCE, WHO STARRED IN THE LAST EPISODE, KALYPSO LIVED ON AN ISLAND ... WHAT TIED CIRCE & KALYPSO TOGETHER WAS THE GREEK WARRIOR ODYSSEUS.

CIRCE LIVED WITH ODYSSEUS FOR A YEAR. SHE GAVE HIM REST & REPAIRED HIS SHIP. KALYPSO, ON THE OTHER HAND, KEPT HIM FOR SEVEN LONG YEARS.

LIKE CIRCE, SHE TOO FELL IN LOVE WITH THE MAN. THE POET HOMER WROTE,

"The nymph Kalypso, a goddess of strange power and beauty, had kept him captive within her arching caverns, yearning for him to be her husband ..."

HOMER CONTINUED,

"Odysseus' ship had been destroyed by a whirlpool & he escaped on floating wreckage. For nine days he drifted; on the tenth night the gods let him reach an island. There dwells Kalypso, the goddess of braided hair, strange powers & of human speech; she welcomed & tended him."

HOMER THEN WROTE THAT KALYPSO,

"... lavished every care upon him & offered him deathlessness & agelessness — yet all of these gifts failed to win his heart ..."

HESIOD, WRITING ABOUT THE SAME TIME AS HOMER, SAID,

"Kalypso, shining among goddesses, joined in love's delight with Odysseus, & bore him two daughters...”

AND SO TIME PASSED. YEARS WENT BY & ODYSSEUS, DESPAIRING THAT HE WOULD EVER SEE HIS HOME AGAIN, WAS NEVER TRULY HAPPY WITH THE BEAUTIFUL KALYPSO. 

HOMER, IN THE ODYSSEY, DESCRIBES WHAT HAPPENED NEXT AS SHE FOUND HIM LOOKING OVER THE SEA IN TEARS:

"Coming up to him, the goddess said: ‘Listen unhappy man; I am willing now to let you go. Come then; take tools of bronze, cut long beams and fashion them into a wide raft ... so that you may be carried over the misty sea ...

"I’ll put food in it, with water & red wine as well ... I’ll give you clothes to wear & will send a fair wind behind you to let you reach your own land unharmed --

"So she spoke, but he retorted, ‘Goddess, your purpose cannot be as you say; you cannot intend to speed me home. You tell me to make myself a raft to cross the great ocean -- one so baffling and so perilous that not even rapid ships will traverse it ... 

"I will not set foot on such a raft unless I’m sure of your good will -- unless, goddess, you swear a solemn oath to neither plot against me nor craft any new mischief that might lead to my ruin.”

HOMER CONTINUED, "These were his words. Queenly Kalypso smiled &, caressing him, answered: ‘You ... are all too cunning. No innocent could have mustered such words. So be it then -- let Earth be witness to me ... that I will plot against you no new mischief to your ruin.

"Kalypso went on: ‘I see that your mind is firmly set on returning now without delay to your home and country ...

"Go then, & joy go with you. Yet if you knew -- if you fully knew -- what miseries ... are fated to fill your cup before you attain your own land, you would choose to stay here, to join with me ... & be beyond reach of death --’

“Odysseus answered her, saying, ‘Goddess & queen, I know the truth of everything you say; I know that ... you ... are immortal & un-aging. Yet, still, my desire & longing is to reach my home ...

HOMER THEN CONCLUDED HIS TALE, SAYING, “The Nymph ... then began helping him to leave. She gave him a great axe of bronze, easy to wield, with a keen double blade ... Then she led the way to the far side of the island; tall trees were standing there ... 

“When Kalypso had shown him where the trees stood, he began to cut them down & the work went briskly. Later the goddess brought him pieces of cloth to make a sail ...

“By the fourth day all his work was done. On the fifth, Lady Kalypso made ready to let him leave her island; she bathed him first & clothed him in sweet-smelling garments. Moreover, the goddess put aboard one skin of dark wine, & a larger one of water, with provisions in a sack ... last, she summoned a fair wind that was warm & kindly."

AND SO THE HERO ODYSSEUS FINALLY LEFT KALYPSO'S ISLAND AFTER SEVEN YEARS, NEVER TO SEE THE NYMPH & HIS TWO DAUGHTERS AGAIN ...

Ω

CLEARLY, NYMPHS PLAYED A UNIQUE ROLE AMONG THE DIVINITIES. 

SOME WERE THE LOVERS OF THE MALE OLYMPIANS. OTHERS SERVED ARTEMIS, WHO IN TURN PROTECTED THEM AS LONG AS THEY REMAINED CHASTE. 

STILL OTHERS ... SEDUCED MORTALS, PARTICULARLY THE WATER NYMPHS WHO MIGHT GRAB AN ATTRACTIVE MALE IF HE CAME TOO CLOSE TO THEIR SACRED SPRING.

AS A RESULT, MANY YOUNG MEN WERE TERRIFIED OF NYMPHS. AND WHY NOT? GREEK MOTHERS WARNED REPEATEDLY THAT IF A YOUNG MAN WERE SEDUCED BY ONE OF THESE WILD THINGS, HE MIGHT NEVER RETURN HOME ...

BUT NOT ALL NYMPHS WHO FELL IN LOVE WITH MORTALS SUCCEEDED IN CONSUMMATING THEIR LOVE ... I'LL END THIS EPISODE WITH A WELL-KNOWN EXAMPLE ...

YOU'RE FAMILIAR WITH THE WORD 'NARCISSIST.' IT'S DERIVED FROM NARCISSUS, THE NAME OF A YOUNG MAN SO HANDSOME HE WAS CONSIDERED BEAUTIFUL.

HE THOUGHT SO TOO, & AS A RESULT, ONLY LOVED HIMSELF ... ONE DAY HE WAS IN THE WOODS HUNTING & WAS SPOTTED BY A WATER-NYMPH NAMED ECHO.

HE HAD STUMBLED UPON HER SPRING. AS HE PAUSED TO REVEL AT HIS OWN REFLECTION, ECHO SAW HIM FROM BELOW & INSTANTLY FELL IN LOVE.

BUT THE ROMANCE WAS NOT TO BE. ZEUS' WIFE, HERA, HAD CURSED ECHO WITH THE INABILITY TO SPEAK FOR HERSELF. 

ONCE AGAIN ZEUS HAD DARED EXPRESS INTEREST IN SOME WOMAN OTHER THAN HERA & THE POOR NYMPH, NOT HER PURSUER, WAS PUNISHED.

NOW ALL ECHO COULD DO WAS REPEAT — OR ECHO — THE LAST WORDS SPOKEN TO HER.

NARCISSUS HAD BEEN WARNED ABOUT NYMPHS & WAS TERRIFIED WHEN ECHO SPRANG FROM THE WATERS TO SHOW HERSELF ...

ON SEEING HER HE SHOUTED, "MAY I DIE BEFORE YOU ENJOY MY BODY!" HELPLESSLY, SHE REPEATED, "... ENJOY MY BODY." 

HE LOOKED AT HER IN HORROR ... ECHO WAS SHAMED AT HIS REJECTION, & SHE SLIPPED BACK UNDER THE WATERS OF HER SPRING.

HIS INSTINCT WAS TO FLEE, BUT HE COULDN'T HELP BUT GLANCE A FINAL TIME AT HIS REFLECTION. IT WAS SO PLEASING THAT HE WHISPERED, "OH BEAUTIFUL BOY, I LOVE YOU IN VAIN ... " 

ECHO REPEATED, "I LOVE YOU IN VAIN ..." & WATCHED, BROKEN-HEARTED, AS NARCISSUS TURNED HIS BACK FOREVER ON THE LOVELY NYMPH ...

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IN OUR NEXT EPISODE WE HIDE OURSELVES, HOPING NOT TO BE SEEN, AS WE OBSERVE THE FATES & THE FURIES, SISTERS WHO DETERMINED THE LIFESPAN OF EVERY MORTAL ...

AND WHO PUNISHED MURDERERS EVEN AFTER DEATH... THEY WERE THE SPAWN OF THE GODDESS OF NIGHT WHO GAVE BIRTH TO NUMEROUS DARK & FEARSOME THINGS ...