Mixed media, collage, acrylics, micron pen on a 16" x 20" canvas
The Naiad was intimately connected to her body of water and her very existence seems to have depended on it. If a stream dried up, its Naiad expired. The waters over which Naiads presided were thought to be endowed with inspirational, medicinal, or prophetic powers. Whoever drank of these magical waters would be inspired, thus the Naiads were themselves considered prophetic and were frequently worshipped by the ancient Greeks in association with divinities of fertility and growth. Hence all persons in a state of rupture, such as madmen, poets, seers and prophets, were said to be caught by the Nymphs.
The genealogy of the Naiads varies according to geographic region and literary source. Naiads were either daughters of Zeus, daughters of various river gods, or simply part of the vast family of the Titan Oceanus. Like all the nymphs, the Naiads were in many ways female sex symbols of the ancient world and played the part of both the seduced and the seducer. Zeus in particular seems to have enjoyed the favors of countless Naiads and the other gods do not seem to have lagged far behind.
The Naiades (Naiades) were nymphs of bodies of fresh water and were one of the three main classes of water nymphs - the others being the Nereids (nymphs of the Mediterranean Sea) and the Oceanids (nymphs of the oceans). The Naiads presided over rivers, streams, brooks, springs, fountains, lakes, ponds, wells, and marshes.
The Naiads fell in love with and actively pursued mortals as well. Classical literature abounds with the stories of their love affairs with gods and men and with the tales of their resulting children.
A gorgeous nymph named Dryope and her sister Naiads of a spring in Bithynia (or Mysia) fell in love with a very handsome mortal named Hylas (squire and companion of Heracles) as he filled his pitcher from their spring. Dryope and her sisters begged Hylas to live with them in their underwater grotto, and lured him into their waters.
This put an end to his part of the voyage with Jason and the Argonauts on their quest for the Golden Fleece, and caused his best buddy Heracles to also leave the crew of the Argo and spend months searching for his pal. Some ancient sources claim that Hylas was transformed into an echo by the Naiads, and as Heracles boomed the name 'Hylas', it would echo back at him, nearly driving the hero nuts.
But not all Naiads were willing accomplices: Arethusa, a nymph of a spring, was a huntress with whom the river god Alpheus fell in love. Arethusa, unwilling to marry, crossed to the island Ortygia, and there turned from a woman to a spring to escape from her pursuer. But when she changed into a spring the river Alpheus quickly mingled with it his own waters, thus achieving his purpose.
Amalthea was a Naiad, and famous as a nurse of Zeus, when he was a baby being reared in Crete. Amalthea owned a horn which could supply food in abundance, in other words she possessed the original Horn of Plenty. (Other sources claim that she had been a goat or to have owned a she-goat who suckled Zeus, and from the goat's skin Zeus fashioned his fearsome Aegis, his protective shield.)
But Zeus wasn't always loving towards Nymphs: Lara, a Naiad daughter of the River God Almo, could not hold her tongue and reported to Hera that Zeus loved a mortal woman named Juturna. Zeus punished Lara for this by wrenching from her the indiscreet tongue, and told Hermes to take her to Hades as she was to become an infernal Nymph. In this way she became Tacita, The Silent Goddess (Dea Muta). Lara consorted with Hermes and gave birth to the Lares, twin brothers, who guard the crossroads and ever keep watch in the city.
Greek towns and cities were called after the names of Naiads. Lilaea, in Phocis, was named for Lilaea, the Naiad of the Cephissus River.
There is a reference in Homer's Odyssey to a cave, rather than a body of water, that is sacred to the Naiads. It might be assumed, therefore, that this cave in Ithaca may have contained a spring or have been the source of a stream or brook.
I got this info about naiads at http://thanasis.com/mythman/nymph.htm
