The Nereids

nee ree EE thes

Νηρηιδες

The Daughters of Nereus

The Nereids are the fifty daughters of Nereus and Doris. Their name simply means, Children of Nereus.

They are also called the Daughters of the Sea because that is where they make their homes but they are not sea-creatures in the traditional sense. They are capable of living on the land and flying through the sky as well as staying under water for infinite periods of time. Only Thetis is described in any physical detail so we can assume that her sisters were similar to her in appearance ... therefore, we can safely say that the Nereids do not have gills or fins and are in the form of young women. Hesiod uses adjectives like: comely, rosy-armed, lovely and divine but, in many cases, their names describe their powers, such as: Wave-Receiver, Truthful and Unerring.

The Nereids appear in a number of stories but the only detailed accounts of them are in the poems Theogony by Hesiod (lines 240-264) and The Iliad by Homer (book 18).

The Nereids in Theogony

(listed by line number)

• Agaue - Αγαυη - 247
•  
• Aktaie (Actaie) - Ακταιη - 249
•  
• Alimede - Αλιμηδη - 255
•  
• Amphitrite - Αμφιτριτη - 243 & 252
•  
• Autonoe - Αυτονοη - 258
•  
• Doris - Δωρις - 250
•  
• Doto - Δωτω - 248
•  
• Dynamene - Δυναμενη - 248
•  
• Eione - Ηιονη - 255
•  
• Erato - Ερατω - 246
•  
• Euagore - Ευαγορη - 257
•  
• Euarne - Ευαρνη - 259
•  
• Eudora - Ευδωρη - 244
•  
• Eukrante (Eucrante) - Ευκραντη - 243
•  
• Eulimene - Ευλιμενη - 247
•  
• Eunike (Eunice) - Ευνικη - 246
•  
• Eupompe - Ευπομπη - 261
•  
• Galatea - Γαλατεια - 250
•  
• Galene - Γαληνη - 244
•  
• Glauke (Glauce) - Γλαυκη - 244
•  
• Glaukonome (Glauconome) - Γλαυκονομη - 256
•  
• Halia - Αλιη - 245
•  
• Hipponoe - Ιππονοη - 251
•  
• Hippothoe - Ιπποθοη - 251
•  
• Kymatolege (Cymatolege) - Κυματοληγη - 253
•  
• Kymo (Cymo) - Κυμο - 255
•  
• Kymodoke (Cymodoce) - Κυμοδοκη - 252
•  
• Kymothoe (Cymothoe) - Κυμοθοη - 245
•  
• Laomedea - Λαομεδεια - 257
•  
• Leagore - Ληαγορη - 257
•  
• Lysianassa - Λυσιανασσα - 258
•  
• Melite - Μελιτη - 247
•  
• Menippe - Μενιππη - 260
•  
• Nemertes - Νημερτης - 262
•  
• Neso - Νησω - 261
•  
• Nesaie - Νησαιη - 249
•  
• Panopeia - Πανοπεια - 250
•  
• Pasithea - Πασιθεη - 246
•  
• Pherousa - Φερουσα - 248
•  
• Ploto - Πλωτω - 243
•  
• Poulynoe - Πουλυνοη - 258
•  
• Pontoporeia - Ποντοπορεηα - 256
•  
• Pronoe - Προνοη - 261
•  
• Proto - Πρωτω - 248
•  
• Protomedeia - Πρωτομεδεια - 249
•  
• Psamathe - Ψαμαθη - 260
•  
• Sao - Σαω - 243
•  
• Speio - Σπειω - 245
•  
• Themisto - Θεμιστω - 261
•  
• Thetis - Θετις - 244
•  
• Thoe - Θοη - 245

(Back to Top)

Individual Nereids in The Iliad

(listed by book and line)

The line numbers listed here correspond fairly well with the Lattimore and Murray/Wyatt translations of The Iliad. Other translations (Fitzgerald, Fagles et al) do not correspond as well but, with a small amount of effort, you should be able to find the reference you need regardless of the translation you use. Lattimore (ISBN 0226469409); A.T. Murray/William F. Wyatt Vol. I & II (ISBN 0674995791 and 0674995805); Robert Fitzgerald (ISBN 0374529051); Robert Fagles (ISBN 0140275363)

• Agaue (Agave) - Αγαυη
• 18.042 - Melite, Iaira, Amphithoe and Agaue (Agave)
•  
• Aktaia (Actaee) - Ακταιη
• 18.041 - Kymothoe, Aktaia (Actaee) and Limnoreia
•  
• Amatheia - Αμαθεια
• 18.048 - Maira, Oreithyia and fair-tressed Amatheia
•  
• Amphinome - Αμφινομη
• 18.044 - Dexamene, Amphinome and Kallianeira
•  
• Amphithoe - Αμφιθοη
• 18.042 - Melite, Iaira, Amphithoe and Agaue
•  
• Apseudes - Αψευδες
• 18.046 - Nemertes, Apseudes and Kallianassa
•  
• Dexamene - Δεξαμενη
• 18.044 - Dexamene, Amphinome and Kallianeira
•  
• Doris - Δωρις
• 18.045 - Doris, Panope and Galateia
•  
• Doto - Δωτω
• 18.043 - Doto, Proto, Dynamene and Pherousa
•  
• Dynamene - Δυναμενη
• 18.043 - Doto, Proto, Dynamene and Pherousa
•  
• Galateia (Galatea) - Γαλατεια
• 18.045 - Doris, Panope and Galateia
•  
• Glauke (Glauce) - Γλαυκη
• 18.039 - Glauke, Kymodoke, Thaleia
•  
• Halia (Halie) - Αλιη
• 18.040 - Nesaie, Speio, Thoe and ox-eyed Halia
•  
• Iaira - Ιαιρα
• 18.042 - Melite, Iaira, Amphithoe and Agaue
•  
• Ianassa - Ιανασσα
• 18.047 - Klymene, Ianeira and Ianassa
•  
• Ianeira - Ιανειρα
• 18.047 - Klymene, Ianeira and Ianassa
•  
• Kallianassa (Callianassa) - Καλλιανασσα
• 18.046 - Nemertes, Apseudes and Kallianassa
•  
• Kallianeira (Callianeira ) - Καλλιανειρα
• 18.044 - Dexamene, Amphinome and Kallianeira
•  
• Klymene (Clymene) - Κλυμενη
• 18.047 - Klymene, Ianeira and Ianassa
•  
• Kymodoke (Cymodoce) - Κυμοδοκη
• 18.039 - Glauke, Kymodoke, Thaleia
•  
• Kymothoe (Cymothoe) - Κυμοθοη
• 18.041 - Kymothoe, Aktaia and Limnoreia
•  
• Limnoreia - Λιμνωρεια
• 18.041 - Kymothoe, Aktaia and Limnoreia
•  
• Maira (Maera) - Μαιρα
• 18.048 - Maira, Oreithyia and fair-tressed Amatheia
•  
• Melite - Μελιτη
• 18.042 - Melite, Iaira, Amphithoe and Agaue
•  
• Nemertes - Νημερτης
• 18.046 - Nemertes, Apseudes and Kallianassa
•  
• Nesaie (Nesaea) - Νησαιη
• 18.040 - Nesaie, Speio, Thoe and ox-eyed Halia
•  
• Oreithyia - Ωρειθυια
• 18.048 - Maira, Oreithyia and fair-tressed Amatheia
•  
• Pherousa (Pherusa) - Φερουσα
• 18.043 - Doto, Proto, Dynamene and Pherousa
•  
• Panope - Πανοπη
• 18.045 - Doris, Panope and Galateia
•  
• Proto - Πρωτω
• 18.043 - Doto, Proto, Dynamene and Pherousa
•  
• Speio - Σπειω
• 18.040 - Nesaie, Speio, Thoe and ox-eyed Halia
•  
• Thaleia - Θαλεια
• 18.039 - Glauke, Kymodoke, Thaleia
•  
• Thetis - Θετις
• 01.280 - Agamemnon warns Achilles that he is no match for him even though his mother, Thetis, is an Immortal
•  
• 01.351 - Achilles calls upon his mother, Thetis, to help him
•  
• 01.360 - Thetis comes to her son, Achilles, on the beach and asks what has made him sad
•  
• 01.394 - Achilles asks his mother, Thetis, to supplicate Zeus on his behalf
•  
• 01.401 - Achilles reminds his mother, Thetis, of the time she summoned Briareos (Briareus) to free Zeus from the shackles which Hera, Athene (Athena) and Poseidon had put on him
•  
• 01.413 - Thetis laments that her son, Achilles, will have a brief and bitter life but she will still approach Zeus and ask for help
•  
• 01.495 - Thetis rose from the sea and ascended Mount Olympos (Olympus) to speak to Zeus on behalf of her son, Achilles
•  
• 01.502 - Thetis supplicates Zeus on behalf of her son, Achilles
•  
• 01.511 - When Zeus would not say that he would help Achilles, Thetis took his knees and begged him to nod his head if he would agree to help her
•  
• 01.531 - After speaking with Zeus, Thetis descends Mount Olympos (Olympus)
•  
• 01.538 - Hera berates Zeus for meeting secretly with Thetis
•  
• 01.556 - Hera tells Zeus that she is afraid that Thetis has won his favor
•  
• 06.136 - The warrior, Diomedes, tells Glaukos (Glaucus) the story of when the mortal man, Lykourgos (Lycurgus), attacked Dionysos, the injured god took refuge in the sea and Thetis took him to her breast
•  
• 08.370 - Athene (Athena) tells Hera that Zeus has taken the side of Thetis and will not help the Trojans
•  
• 09.410 - Achilles says that his mother, Thetis, has told him that his life has two possibilities: 1) he can go home and have a long life or 2) he can die at Troy and have eternal fame
•  
• 13.350 - Zeus protected Hector but also honored his promise to Thetis to give glory to her son, Achilles
•  
• 15.076 - Zeus tells the other Immortals that he will honor his promise to Thetis and give glory to her son, Achilles
•  
• 15.599 - Zeus allows Hector to set fire to the Argive ships but also remembers the prayer of Thetis to give glory to her son, Achilles
•  
• 16.034 - Patroklos (Patroclus) berates Achilles for not joining the fight for the ships; he angrily says that Peleus and Thetis were not the parents of Achilles but that he was born of sea and rock
•  
• 16.051 - Achilles tells Patroklos (Patroclus) that he refuses to fight because of his anger towards Agamemnon and not because of a prophecy from Zeus or his mother, Thetis
•  
• 16.203 - Achilles calls his men to fight and recalls their bitter words against him when they said that his mother, Thetis, nursed him on gall
•  
• 16.222 - Achilles retrieves a golden goblet from a chest his mother, Thetis, had given him and prepares a libation for Zeus
•  
• 16.574 - When Epeigeus was exiled for killing his cousin, Peleus and Thetis took him into their home
•  
• 16.860 - After hearing the prophecy of the dying Patroklos (Patroclus), Hector insists that he will kill the son of Thetis, Achilles, and not vise versa
•  
• 17.409 - Thetis often told her son, Achilles, the will of Zeus but she did not tell him of the death of Patroklos (Patroclus)
•  
• 18.035 - After the death of Patroklos (Patroclus), Thetis heard Achilles crying and gathered her sisters to come to the camp of the Achaeans (Achaians)
•  
• 18.038 - The names of many of the sisters of Thetis are listed in passages 038-049
•  
• 18.049 - Thetis tells her sisters, the Nereids, of her sorrow
•  
• 18.065 - Thetis leads her sisters from the depths of the sea towards the camp of the Achaeans (Achaians)
•  
• 18.070 - Thetis emerges from the sea with her sisters and speaks to her son, Achilles
•  
• 18.079 - Achilles tells his mother, Thetis, about the death of Patroklos (Patroclus)
•  
• 18.085 - Achilles reminds his mother, Thetis, that she was forced to marry a mortal man, Peleus
•  
• 18.094 - Thetis tells her son, Achilles, that he will die soon after Hector is killed
•  
• 18.127 - Thetis tells her son, Achilles, that even though Hector has taken the armor from Patroklos (Patroclus), he will soon die
•  
• 18.139 - Thetis tells her sisters, the Nereids, to return to the sea because she is going to Mount Olympos (Olympus) to ask Hephaistos (Hephaestus) for new armor for her son, Achilles
•  
• 18.146 - As her sisters, the Nereids, plunge back into the sea, Thetis goes to Mount Olympos (Olympus)
•  
• 18.189 - Achilles tells Iris that he cannot join the fighting until his mother, Thetis, brings his new armor
•  
• 18.369 - Thetis enters the home of Hephaistos (Hephaestus)
•  
• 18.381 - Thetis enters the home of Hephaistos (Hephaestus) and draws near him as he works
•  
• 18.385 - Charis, wife of Hephaistos (Hephaestus), asks Thetis why she has come to their home
•  
• 18.390 - Charis, wife of Hephaistos (Hephaestus), escorts Thetis into their house and makes her comfortable on an elaborate chair
•  
• 18.392 - Charis calls to her husband, Hephaistos (Hephaestus), and tells him that Thetis has come
•  
• 18.394 - When Hephaistos (Hephaestus) is told that Thetis has come to his house, he says that a goddess he honors has arrived
•  
• 18.398 - Hephaistos (Hephaestus) recounts how Thetis and Eurynome helped him when he had been thrown from Mount Olympos (Olympus)
•  
• 18.405 - Hephaistos (Hephaestus) says that Eurynome and Thetis were the only Immortals who knew that he had survived the fall from Mount Olympos (Olympus)
•  
• 18.407 - Hephaistos (Hephaestus) says that he owes lovely haired Thetis a debt
•  
• 18.422 - The golden robot assistants of Hephaistos (Hephaestus) moved near to where Thetis was seated
•  
• 18.424 - Hephaistos (Hephaestus) asks Thetis why she has come to his house
•  
• 18.427 - Crying, Thetis tells Hephaistos (Hephaestus) of the plight of her son, Achilles, and his need for new armor
•  
• 18.468 - Hephaistos (Hephaestus) agrees to help Thetis and returns to his bellows to forge new armor for Achilles
•  
• 18.615 - Thetis, like a hawk, descended Mount Olympos (Olympus) with the armor that Hephaistos (Hephaestus) made for her son, Achilles
•  
• 19.002 - Carrying the armor Hephaistos (Hephaestus) made, Thetis finds her son, Achilles, racked with sorrow for the death of his friend, Patroklos (Patroclus)
•  
• 19.006 - Thetis presents her son, Achilles, with the armor that Hephaistos (Hephaestus) made and tells him to put away his sorrow for Patroklos (Patroclus)
•  
• 19.012 - Thetis placed the armor that Hephaistos (Hephaestus) made before her son, Achilles
•  
• 19.021 - (Achilles accepts the armor that his mother, Thetis, has given him and asks her to protect the dead body of Patroklos (Patroclus)
•  
• 19.028 - Thetis promises to protect the body of Patroklos (Patroclus) from all types of degradation while her son, Achilles, arms himself for battle
•  
• 20.107 - Apollon tells Aineias (Aeneas) to fight against Achilles because his mother was Aphrodite, daughter of Zeus, and Achilles was born to a lesser goddess, Thetis
•  
• 20.207 - Aineias (Aeneas) taunts Achilles by saying that after they fight either Thetis or Aphrodite will mourn
•  
• 24.074 - Zeus tells Hera that they should summon Thetis to Mount Olympos (Olympus) and tell her of their plans to return the body of Hector to his parents
•  
• 24.082 - After plunging into the sea between the islands of Samos and Imbros, Iris found Thetis with her sisters, the Nereids, in a cave
•  
• 24.085 - Iris found Thetis under the sea mourning the impending death of her son, Achilles
•  
• 24.088 - Iris tells Thetis to rise up and obey the summons of Zeus
•  
• 24.090 - Thetis asks Iris why Zeus has summoned her to Mount Olympos (Olympus)
•  
• 24.095 - Thetis donned a black veil and followed Iris as the waves of the sea opened before the divine messenger
•  
• 24.100 - On Mount Olympos (Olympus), Thetis sits by Zeus while Athene (Athena) and Hera make her comfortable
•  
• 24.104 - Zeus tells Thetis that the dead body of Hector must be returned to his parents and that her son, Achilles, must accept a ransom for the body
•  
• 24.120 - After Zeus told her that the body of Hector must be returned to his parents, Thetis descended Mount Olympos (Olympus) and went to the camp of her son, Achilles
•  
• 24.126 - Thetis tells her son, Achilles, that the body of Hector must be returned to his parents and that he must accept a ransom for the body
•  
• 24.466 - Hermes reveals his true identity to king Priam and advises him to ask Achilles, in the name of his mother, Thetis, for the return of the body of Hector
•  
• 24.537 - Achilles reminds king Priam that the Immortals gave his father, Peleus, an immortal wife, Thetis
•  
• 24.562 - Achilles tells king Priam that he will return the body of Hector because his mother, Thetis, and Zeus commanded him to do so
•  
• Thoe - Θοη
• 18.040 - Nesaie, Speio, Thoe and ox-eyed Halia

(Back to Top)

The Nereids in The Iliad

(listed by book and line)

The line numbers listed here correspond fairly well with the Lattimore and Murray/Wyatt translations of The Iliad. Other translations (Fitzgerald, Fagles et al) do not correspond as well but, with a small amount of effort, you should be able to find the reference you need regardless of the translation you use. Lattimore (ISBN 0226469409); A.T. Murray/William F. Wyatt Vol. I & II (ISBN 0674995791 and 0674995805); Robert Fitzgerald (ISBN 0374529051); Robert Fagles (ISBN 0140275363)

• 18.038 - Many of the sisters of Thetis are listed in the passages: 039-049
•  
• 18.052 - Thetis tells her sisters, the Nereids, of her sorrow
•  
• 18.065 - Thetis leads her sisters from the depths of the sea towards the camp of the Achaeans (Achaians)
•  
• 18.139 - Thetis tells her sisters, the Nereids, to return to the sea because she is going to Mount Olympos (Olympus) to ask Hephaistos (Hephaestus) for new armor for her son, Achilles
•  
• 18.146 - As her sisters, the Nereids, plunge back into the sea, Thetis goes to Mount Olympos (Olympus)
•  
• 18.432 - Thetis bemoans the fact that, of all the sisters of the sea, she was chosen to marry a mortal

(Back to Top)