The Neades (, Νηάδες) were legendary creatures of gigantic size said to inhabit the Greek island of

Samos Samos (, also ; , ) is a Greek island in the eastern Aegean Sea, south of Chios, north of Patmos and the Dodecanese archipelago, and off the coast of western Turkey, from which it is separated by the Mycale Strait. It is also a separate reg ...

. Their voices were said to be capable of causing

earthquake An earthquakealso called a quake, tremor, or tembloris the shaking of the Earth's surface resulting from a sudden release of energy in the lithosphere that creates seismic waves. Earthquakes can range in intensity, from those so weak they ...

s, and ancient sources report that their bones were put on display by the island's inhabitants.

Ancient accounts

The Neades were described by Euphorion in his lost text ''Commentaries'', written in the 3rd century B.C.E.

Aelian Aelian or Aelianus may refer to: * Aelianus Tacticus, 2nd-century Greek military writer in Rome * Casperius Aelianus (13–98 AD), Praetorian Prefect, executed by Trajan * Claudius Aelianus Claudius Aelianus (; ), commonly Aelian (), born at Pr ...

, writing in the 2nd century C.E., recounts Euphorion's description of them in his own work titled '' On the Nature of Animals'' (''De Natura Animalium'' 17.28).

Plutarch Plutarch (; , ''Ploútarchos'', ; – 120s) was a Greek Middle Platonist philosopher, historian, biographer, essayist, and priest at the Temple of Apollo (Delphi), Temple of Apollo in Delphi. He is known primarily for his ''Parallel Lives'', ...

does not write about the Neades specifically, but he does relate another legend of ancient Samos in which earthquakes are caused by the island's ancient inhabitants, whose bones were likewise viewed by his contemporaries ( Greek Questions 56).

Possible influence by fossil taxa

Adrienne Mayor Adrienne Mayor (born ) is a historian of ancient science and a classical folklorist. Mayor specializes in ancient history and the study of " folk science", or how pre-scientific cultures interpreted data about the natural world, and how these int ...

and Nikos Solounias have speculated that the Neades of Aelian's description may have been influenced by the

fossil A fossil (from Classical Latin , ) is any preserved remains, impression, or trace of any once-living thing from a past geological age. Examples include bones, shells, exoskeletons, stone imprints of animals or microbes, objects preserve ...

ized remains of extinct

proboscidea Proboscidea (; , ) is a taxonomic order of afrotherian mammals containing one living family (Elephantidae) and several extinct families. First described by J. Illiger in 1811, it encompasses the elephants and their close relatives. Three l ...

ns. This speculation is based on the fact that the fossils on Samos are found near a major

fault zone In geology, a fault is a planar fracture or discontinuity in a volume of rock across which there has been significant displacement as a result of rock-mass movements. Large faults within Earth's crust result from the action of plate tectonic f ...

, suggesting that ancient Greeks may have interpreted the presence of their skeletal remains as being associated with past seismic activity in the region. Several species of elephant-like animals are represented in the

Miocene The Miocene ( ) is the first epoch (geology), geological epoch of the Neogene Period and extends from about (Ma). The Miocene was named by Scottish geologist Charles Lyell; the name comes from the Greek words (', "less") and (', "new") and mea ...

-age geological deposits on Samos, namely '' Deinotherium proavum, Choerolophodon pentelici,'' and '' Konobelodon atticus.''

Amazons and equid fossils

They suggest also that Panaima as referred to in Plutarch's account, translated as "bloodbath", is a genuine geographic location on the island. They point to a particular bone bed near red sedimentary deposits, suggesting that it was the color of those sediments that inspired the name Panaima. It has also been suggested that the involvement of the

Amazons The Amazons (Ancient Greek: ', singular '; in Latin ', ') were a people in Greek mythology, portrayed in a number of ancient epic poems and legends, such as the Labours of Hercules, Labours of Heracles, the ''Argonautica'' and the ''Iliad''. ...

, who were themselves legendary horse-riding warriors, in Plutarch's account of these fossiliferous sites was influenced by the discovery of

equid Equidae (commonly known as the horse family) is the Taxonomy (biology), taxonomic Family (biology), family of Wild horse, horses and related animals, including Asinus, asses, zebra, zebras, and many extinct species known only from fossils. The fa ...

fossils near the same localities, namely those of ''

Hippotherium ''Hippotherium'' is an Extinction, extinct genus of Equidae, horse that lived during the Miocene through Pliocene ~13.65—6.7 Mya (unit), Mya, existing for . The last known surviving ''Hippotherium'' was ''H. malpassii'', found in Italy. Spe ...

'' and ''

Hipparion ''Hipparion'' is an extinct genus of three-toed, medium-sized equine belonging to the extinct tribe Hipparionini, which lived about 10-5 million years ago. While the genus formerly included most hipparionines, the genus is now more narrowly defi ...

.''

Temple of Hera

Mayor and Solounias argue that ancient residents of Samos were aware of both the island's fossil record and its geology, and that the stories recounted by Aelian and Plutarch were attempts to make sense of the two. They also cite the discovery of a fossil

femur The femur (; : femurs or femora ), or thigh bone is the only long bone, bone in the thigh — the region of the lower limb between the hip and the knee. In many quadrupeds, four-legged animals the femur is the upper bone of the hindleg. The Femo ...

at the Temple of Hera on Samos,Kyrieleis, H. 1988. Offerings of the “common man” in the Herairon at Samos. In: R. Hagg, N. Marinatos, and G. C. Nordquist (eds.) Early Greek Cult Practice, Proceedings of the Fifth International Symposium, pp. 119-221. Swedish Institute of Athens, 303 p. suggesting that the bones of the "Neades" were in fact put on display in Antiquity, as attested by Aelian.

References

{{Reflist Monsters in Greek mythology Legendary mammals Greek legendary creatures Legendary creatures in Roman mythology Mythological elephants