Greek mythology Greek mythology is the body of myths originally told by the Ancient Greece, ancient Greeks, and a genre of ancient Greek folklore, today absorbed alongside Roman mythology into the broader designation of classical mythology. These stories conc ...

, Epimelides () or Epimeliades () are

nymphs A nymph (; ; sometimes spelled nymphe) is a minor female nature deity in ancient Greek folklore. Distinct from other Greek goddesses, nymphs are generally regarded as personifications of nature; they are typically tied to a specific place, land ...

who protect herds. Antoninus Liberalis relates a tale in which they compete with Messapian shepherds in dancing. The term may have sometimes also been used to refer to tree nymphs.

Type of nymph

The Epimelides are nymphs who, it was believed, were tasked with protecting herds of animals. Pausanias (2nd century AD), who calls them "Epimeliades", mentions them as one of the three types of nymphs, alongside the

Naiad In Greek mythology, the naiads (; ), sometimes also hydriads, are a type of female spirit, or nymph, presiding over fountains, wells, springs, streams, brooks and other bodies of fresh water. They are distinct from river gods, who embodied ...

s and Dryads. Other names – (), (), (), and () – denote nymphs associated with trees, and stem from the word (); given these terms, states that the term "Epimelides" may have at times also been used to refer to tree nymphs.

Antoninus Liberalis

Antoninus Liberalis, citing

Nicander Nicander of Colophon (; fl. 2nd century BC) was a Greece, Greek poet, physician, and grammarian. The scattered biographical details in the ancient sources are so contradictory that it was sometimes assumed that there were two Hellenistic authors ...

(2nd century BC), relates that a group of performing Epimelides arrived in the land of the Messapians. Young local shepherds gathered to see them, leaving behind the animals under their protection, and proclaimed that their dancing abilities were superior to those of the nymphs. The Epimelides, incensed, competed in dancing against their mortal counterparts; but the men, unaware that they had challenged divinities, danced as though they were against other young men, and, being shepherds, their dancing was "without art". The nymphs, on the other hand, danced gracefully and beautifully, and beat their challengers, saying to them: The young men were then transformed into trees, and it is said that groans can still be heard emanating from these trees. According to Jessen, this tale fits with both possible conceptions of these figures, as either nymphs related to herds or nymphs associated with trees. A similar tale appears in

Ovid Publius Ovidius Naso (; 20 March 43 BC – AD 17/18), known in English as Ovid ( ), was a Augustan literature (ancient Rome), Roman poet who lived during the reign of Augustus. He was a younger contemporary of Virgil and Horace, with whom he i ...

's ''

Metamorphoses The ''Metamorphoses'' (, , ) is a Latin Narrative poetry, narrative poem from 8 Common Era, CE by the Ancient Rome, Roman poet Ovid. It is considered his ''Masterpiece, magnum opus''. The poem chronicles the history of the world from its Cre ...

'', in which a shephard from

Apulia Apulia ( ), also known by its Italian language, Italian name Puglia (), is a Regions of Italy, region of Italy, located in the Southern Italy, southern peninsular section of the country, bordering the Adriatic Sea to the east, the Strait of Ot ...

mocks the dancing of a group of nymphs, resulting in him being turned into a tree.Celoria, p. 197.

Notes

References

* Celoria, Francis, ''The Metamorphoses of Antoninus Liberalis: A Translation with a Commentary'', Routledge, 1992. . * Larson, Jennifer (2001), ''Greek Nymphs: Myth, Cult, Lore'', Oxford University Press, 2001. . * Pausanias, ''Pausanias Description of Greece with an English Translation by W.H.S. Jones, Litt.D., and H.A. Ormerod, M.A., in 4 Volumes'', Cambridge, Massachusetts, Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann Ltd., 1918
Perseus Digital Library
* ''

Realencyclopädie der classischen Altertumswissenschaft The Pauly encyclopedias or the Pauly-Wissowa family of encyclopedias, are a set of related encyclopedias on Greco-Roman world, Greco-Roman classical studies, topics and scholarship. The first of these, or (1839–1852), was begun by compiler A ...

'', Band VI, Halbband I, Stuttgart, J. B. Metzler, 1907
Wikisource
{{Authority control Nymphs