Nymphs

Nymphs

Nymphs This was a general name for a class of inferior female deities who were attendants of the gods. Some of them presided over springs, fountains, wells, woods, and the sea. They are spoken of as land-nymphs or Naiads, and sea-nymphs or Nereids, though the former are associated also with fountains and rivers. The Dryads were forest-nymphs, and the Hamadryads were nymphs who lived among the oak-trees – the oak being always specially venerated by the ancients. The mountain-nymphs were called Oreads.

“With flower-inwoven tresses torn,
The nymphs in twilight shade
Of tangled thickets mourn.”

Milton

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