![]() The number of the Nereides was fifty, but their names are not the same in all writers (Hom. 37), is a patronymic from Nereus, and applied to his daughters (Nereides, Nêreïdes, and in Homer Nêrêïdes) by Doris, who were regarded by the ancients as marine nymphs of the Mediterranean, in contra-distinction from the Naiades, or the nymphs of fresh water, and the Oceanides, or the nymphs of the great ocean (Eustath. NEREUS (Homer lliad 18.37, Orphic Hymn 24, Quintus Smyrnaeus 3.580, Pausanias 5.19) NEREUS & DORIS (Hesiod Theogony 260, Apollodorus 1.11, Aelian On Animals 14.28, Hyginus Pref, Ovid Metamorphoses 2.10, 11.60) The name Nereides means "Daughters of Nereus" but also "the Wet Ones" from nêros the Greek word for "wet". The Nereides were depicted in ancient art as beautiful, young maidens, sometimes running with small dolphins or fish in their hands, or else riding on the backs of dolphins, hippokampoi (hippocamps) and other sea creatures. ![]() The Nereid Thetis was their unofficial leader and Amphitrite was Poseidon's queen. The Nereides dwelt with their elderly father in a silvery grotto at the bottom of the Aegean Sea. Individually they represented various facets of the sea from the salty brine, to the sea foam, sand, rocks, waves and currents, as well as the various skills possessed by seamen. They were goddesses of the sea's rich bounty and protectors of sailors and fishermen, coming to the aid of those in distress. THE NEREIDES (Nereids) were fifty sea-nymphe daughters of Nereus the old man of the sea. ![]() Daughters of Nereus Nereid riding dolphin, Apulian red-figure plate C4th B.C., State Hermitage Museum
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