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 ...

, Nicaea ( ) or Nikaia (, ) is a

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 ...

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 ...

("the Astacid nymph", as referred to by

Nonnus Nonnus of Panopolis (, ''Nónnos ho Panopolítēs'', 5th century AD) was the most notable Greek epic poet of the Imperial Roman era. He was a native of Panopolis (Akhmim) in the Egyptian Thebaid and probably lived in the 5th century AD. He i ...

) of the springs or fountain of the ancient Greek colony of

Nicaea Nicaea (also spelled Nicæa or Nicea, ; ), also known as Nikaia (, Attic: , Koine: ), was an ancient Greek city in the north-western Anatolian region of Bithynia. It was the site of the First and Second Councils of Nicaea (the first and seve ...

Bithynia Bithynia (; ) was an ancient region, kingdom and Roman province in the northwest of Asia Minor (present-day Turkey), adjoining the Sea of Marmara, the Bosporus, and the Black Sea. It bordered Mysia to the southwest, Paphlagonia to the northeast a ...

(in northwestern

Asia Minor Anatolia (), also known as Asia Minor, is a peninsula in West Asia that makes up the majority of the land area of Turkey. It is the westernmost protrusion of Asia and is geographically bounded by the Mediterranean Sea to the south, the Aegean ...

) or else the goddess of the adjacent lake Ascanius. She is the daughter of the river-god Sangarius and the mother-goddess

Cybele Cybele ( ; Phrygian: ''Matar Kubileya, Kubeleya'' "Kubeleya Mother", perhaps "Mountain Mother"; Lydian: ''Kuvava''; ''Kybélē'', ''Kybēbē'', ''Kybelis'') is an Anatolian mother goddess; she may have a possible forerunner in the earliest ...

. By the god of wine,

Dionysus In ancient Greek religion and Greek mythology, myth, Dionysus (; ) is the god of wine-making, orchards and fruit, vegetation, fertility, festivity, insanity, ritual madness, religious ecstasy, and theatre. He was also known as Bacchus ( or ; ...

, she mothered Telete (consecration) and

Satyr In Greek mythology, a satyr (, ), also known as a silenus or ''silenos'' ( ), and sileni (plural), is a male List of nature deities, nature spirit with ears and a tail resembling those of a horse, as well as a permanent, exaggerated erection. ...

us, as well as other children.

Mythology

Nonnus' account

Nicaea was a huntress, devoted to the goddess

Artemis In ancient Greek religion and Greek mythology, mythology, Artemis (; ) is the goddess of the hunting, hunt, the wilderness, wild animals, transitions, nature, vegetation, childbirth, Kourotrophos, care of children, and chastity. In later tim ...

from Astacia, a sworn virgin unacquainted with

Aphrodite Aphrodite (, ) is an Greek mythology, ancient Greek goddess associated with love, lust, beauty, pleasure, passion, procreation, and as her syncretism, syncretised Roman counterpart , desire, Sexual intercourse, sex, fertility, prosperity, and ...

, the goddess of love.

Eros Eros (, ; ) is the Greek god of love and sex. The Romans referred to him as Cupid or Amor. In the earliest account, he is a primordial god, while in later accounts he is the child of Aphrodite. He is usually presented as a handsome young ma ...

made a young shepherd named Hymnus ("hymn") fall in love with her with a single arrow. One day, Hymnus stole Nicaea's hunting gear, her arrows, her nets, her lance, and quiver, lamenting his misfortune. Nicaea found him, and he pressured her to shoot him in the heart, so that he might be freed from the soreness of unrequited love. Angered, Nicaea obliged and fulfilled his wish. Hymnus was greatly mourned; Adrasteia alerted

and Eros of Nicaea's deeds. Eros then found

, and shot him with one of his love arrows; the moment Dionysus saw Nicaea bathing not too far from where he stood, he instantly fell in love, and had nothing else in mind but her. He tried to court her, but to no avail: One day Nicaea, thirsty, drunk from a sweet spring, not knowing Dionysus had previously filled it with

wine Wine is an alcoholic drink made from Fermentation in winemaking, fermented fruit. Yeast in winemaking, Yeast consumes the sugar in the fruit and converts it to ethanol and carbon dioxide, releasing heat in the process. Wine is most often made f ...

, and was instantly intoxicated. Seeing double, Nicaea lay down to rest. Eros then pointed her whereabouts to Dionysus, who proceeded to rape the unconscious nymph. When she woke up and realised what had happened, she was distraught; crying, she contemplated suicide, and sought Dionysus out, wishing to harm him, but she never found him. Nicaea conceived Telete from this union; after her daughter's birth, Nicaea attempted to hang herself. Although surviving stories do not tell if she made any further suicide attempts, she did live to see Aura, another nymph raped and impregnated by Dionysus in the same manner, going into labor and giving birth to

Iacchus In ancient Greek religion and mythology, Iacchus (also Iacchos, Iakchos) () was a minor deity, of some cultic importance, particularly at Athens and Eleusis in connection with the Eleusinian mysteries, but without any significant mythology. He pe ...

, as described in

’s ''

Dionysiaca The ''Dionysiaca'' (, ''Dionysiaká'') is an ancient Greek epic poem and the principal work of Nonnus. It is an epic in 48 books, the longest surviving poem from Greco-Roman antiquity at 20,426 lines, composed in Homeric dialect and dactylic hex ...

''. After Dionysus raped Aura, Nicaea expressed her condolences to the unfortunate goddess, having herself suffered the same, and lamented the fact that she could no longer roam the woods with her bow and arrows due to her ill fate. After Aura gave birth to twins, in her frenzy she killed one infant; Artemis saved the other,

, and Dionysus gave him to Nicaea to nurse. Dionysus named the city

after her.

Memnon's account

According to Memnon of Heraclea, Nicaea was a

daughter of

and the river god Sangarius who preferred her virginity to relationships with men. Dionysus courted her, but she kept rejecting his advances; so Dionysus replaced the water in the spring she used to drink from with wine. Nicaea, not suspecting a thing, drank from there. Thus drunkenness and sleep took over her, and Dionysus took advantage of her, against her will. By Dionysus she had Satyrus and (after reconciling with him?) other sons. The city of

, nowadays known as İznik in

Turkey Turkey, officially the Republic of Türkiye, is a country mainly located in Anatolia in West Asia, with a relatively small part called East Thrace in Southeast Europe. It borders the Black Sea to the north; Georgia (country), Georgia, Armen ...

, was named after her. Memnon of Heraclea, ''History of Heraclea'' book 15, as epitomized by

Photius Photius I of Constantinople (, ''Phōtios''; 815 – 6 February 893), also spelled ''Photius''Fr. Justin Taylor, essay "Canon Law in the Age of the Fathers" (published in Jordan Hite, T.O.R., and Daniel J. Ward, O.S.B., "Readings, Cases, Mate ...

in his '' Myriobiblon'
223.28
/ref>

Notes

References

, ''

'', 16 ''passim''; 48. 866–876 * Nonnus of Panopolis, ''

'' translated by William Henry Denham Rouse (1863-1950), from the Loeb Classical Library, Cambridge, MA, Harvard University Press, 1940.
Online version at the Topos Text Project.
* Nonnus of Panopolis, ''Dionysiaca. 3 Vols.'' W.H.D. Rouse. Cambridge, MA., Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann, Ltd. 1940-1942
Greek text available at the Perseus Digital Library
* Smith, William, ''

Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology The ''Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology'' is a biographical dictionary of classical antiquity, edited by William Smith (lexicographer), William Smith and originally published in London by John Taylor (English publisher), Tayl ...

'', London (1873)
Online version at the Perseus Digital Library

External links