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 ...

, Lotis (

Ancient Greek Ancient Greek (, ; ) includes the forms of the Greek language used in ancient Greece and the classical antiquity, ancient world from around 1500 BC to 300 BC. It is often roughly divided into the following periods: Mycenaean Greek (), Greek ...

: Λωτίς) was a

nymph 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 ...

mentioned by

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 ...

Mythology

's ''

Fasti In ancient Rome, the ''fasti'' (Latin plural) were chronological or calendar-based lists, or other diachronic records or plans of official and religiously sanctioned events. After Rome's decline, the word ''fasti'' continued to be used for simi ...

'', at the

Liberalia In ancient Roman religion Religion in ancient Rome consisted of varying imperial and provincial religious practices, which were followed both by the Roman people, people of Rome as well as those who were brought under its rule. The Romans t ...

festival,

Priapus In Greek mythology, Priapus (; ) is a minor rustic fertility god, protector of livestock, fruit plants, gardens, and male genitalia. Priapus is marked by his oversized, permanent erection, which gave rise to the medical term priapism. He becam ...

tried to rape the nymph Lotis when everyone had fallen asleep, but she was awakened by a sudden cry of

Silenus In Greek mythology, Silenus (; , ) was a companion and tutor to the wine god Dionysus. He is typically older than the satyrs of the Dionysian retinue ('' thiasos''), and sometimes considerably older, in which case he may be referred to as a Pa ...

's donkey and ran off, leaving Priapus in embarrassment as everyone else woke up too and became aware of his intentions. In another work of his however, the ''

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 ...

'', Lotis escaped Priapus only when she was changed into a lotus, either a plant or the

lotus tree The lotus tree (, ''lōtós'') is a plant that is referred to in stories from Greek and Roman mythology. The lotus tree is mentioned in Homer's '' Odyssey'' as bearing a fruit that caused a pleasant drowsiness, and which was said to be the only f ...

; later,

Dryope In Greek mythology, Dryope (; Ancient Greek: Δρυόπη derived from δρῦς ''drys'', "oak"; ''dryope'' "woodpecker") is the name attributed to several distinct figures: *Dryope (daughter of Dryops), Dryope, daughter of Dryops (Oeta), Dryops ...

picked a flower off the tree Lotis had become, and was transformed into a

black poplar ''Populus nigra'', the black poplar, is a species of cottonwood poplar, the type species of section ''Aigeiros'' of the genus ''Populus'', native to Europe, southwest and central Asia, and northwest Africa.Flora Europaea''Populus nigra''/ref> ...

. This narrative is only found in one more author,

Servius Servius may refer to: * Servius (praenomen), a personal name during the Roman Republic * Servius the Grammarian (fl. 4th/5th century), Roman Latin grammarian * Servius Asinius Celer (died AD 46), Roman senator * Servius Cornelius Cethegus, Roma ...

. In Book 6 of the ''Fasti'' Ovid tells much the same story, but with the goddess Vesta rather than Lotis as the intended victim. According to some sources, Lotis was the daughter of

Nereus In Greek mythology, Nereus ( ; ) was the eldest son of Pontus (the Sea) and Gaia ( the Earth), with Pontus himself being a son of Gaia. Nereus and Doris became the parents of 50 daughters (the Nereids) and a son ( Nerites), with whom Nereus ...

. Ovid suggests that Priapus later kills the donkey. What the 'lotus' (if not the tree), that Lotis turned into is, has stirred much debate. Ovid describes it as having reddish-purple flowers and growing near water; the

Indian lotus ''Nelumbo nucifera'', also known as the pink lotus, sacred lotus, Indian lotus, or simply lotus, is one of two extant species of aquatic plant in the family Nelumbonaceae. It is sometimes colloquially called a water lily, though this more of ...

and the

water lily Water lily or water lilies may refer to: Plants * Members of the family Nymphaeaceae Nymphaeaceae () is a family of flowering plants, commonly called water lilies. They live as rhizomatous aquatic herbs in temperate climate, temperate ...

have both been suggested but also rejected by a number of scholars on account of them growing ''in'' water and not ''near'' it. Counter-arguments in favour of those plants include the fact that while they are rooted in sediments of water bodies, they do not grow in water over eight feet deep (that is, they grow in very shallow water). Servius, on the other hand, writes that Lotis became the tree.

In art

The story does not seem to feature in Ancient Greek vase-painting, and only occasionally in later art. Priapus and Lotis appear in the right foreground of '' The Feast of the Gods'' by

Giovanni Bellini Giovanni Bellini (; c. 1430 – 29 November 1516) was an Italian Renaissance painter, probably the best known of the Bellini family of Venetian painters. He was raised in the household of Jacopo Bellini, formerly thought to have been his father, ...

(c. 1514), in an

engraving Engraving is the practice of incising a design on a hard, usually flat surface by cutting grooves into it with a Burin (engraving), burin. The result may be a decorated object in itself, as when silver, gold, steel, or Glass engraving, glass ar ...

by Giovanni Battista Palumba (c. 1510), and a drawing by

Parmigianino Girolamo Francesco Maria Mazzola (11 January 150324 August 1540), also known as Francesco Mazzola or, more commonly, as Parmigianino (, , ; "the little one from Parma"), was an Italian Mannerist painter and printmaker active in Florence, Rome, ...

of the 1530s. Bellini keeps Priapus's aroused state visible under his clothes, Palumba has it out in the open, as Parmigianino originally did, but this has been altered subsequently, as very explicit details often were in art. There are also some depictions of Lotis as a tree.Bayer, 196

Gallery

File:Wilton Album, folio 10a- Priapus and Lotis MET DP822195.jpg, alt=, ''Priapus and Lotis'' by Wilton Album File:Palumba lotis.jpg, alt=, The story of

and Lotis, engraving by Giovanni Battista Palumba, c. 1510 File:Tintoretto, tavole per un soffitto a palazzo pisani in san paterniano a venezia, 1541-42, priapo insidia lotide addormentata.jpg, alt=, ''''Priapo Insidia Lotide Addormentata'''' by

Tintoretto Jacopo Robusti (late September or early October 1518Bernari and de Vecchi 1970, p. 83.31 May 1594), best known as Tintoretto ( ; , ), was an Italian Renaissance painter of the Venetian school. His contemporaries both admired and criticized th ...

Notes

References

*Bayer, Andrea, ''Art and Love in Renaissance Italy'', 2008, Metropolitan Museum of Art, , 9781588393005
google books
*Bull, Malcolm, ''The Mirror of the Gods, How Renaissance Artists Rediscovered the Pagan Gods'', Oxford UP, 2005, *Hall, James, ''Hall's Dictionary of Subjects and Symbols in Art'', 1996 (2nd edn.), John Murray, * Publius Ovidius Naso, ''Fasti'' translated by James G. Frazer
Online version at the Topos Text Project.
*Publius Ovidius Naso, ''Fasti.'' Sir James George Frazer. London; Cambridge, MA. William Heinemann Ltd.; Harvard University Press. 1933
Latin text available at the Perseus Digital Library
* Publius Ovidius Naso, ''Metamorphoses'' translated by Brookes More (1859–1942). Boston, Cornhill Publishing Co. 1922
Online version at the Perseus Digital Library.
*Publius Ovidius Naso, ''Metamorphoses.'' Hugo Magnus. Gotha (Germany). Friedr. Andr. Perthes. 1892
Latin text available at the Perseus Digital Library
{{Authority control Nereids Metamorphoses into trees in Greek mythology Metamorphoses into flowers in Greek mythology