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Nympholepsy is the belief of the ancient Greeks that individuals could be possessed by the nymphs. Individuals who considered themselves nympholepts would display a great religious devotion to the nymphs. An example is Archedemos of Thera, who built the sanctuary of the nymphs in the Vari Cave northeast of Attica, Greece. [1]
Nympholepsy, a term first used in 1775 by Richard Chandler in Travels in Greece, [2] is described as “frenzy or rapture [that was] supposed to take hold of a man upon gazing on a nymph”. [3] It originates from the Greek word nymphe, meaning “bride”, “beautiful young woman”, then “semi-divine being in the form of a beautiful maiden”, [4] and epilepsy, from the Greek word epilepsis, meaning “a seizure”. [5] Though the root of nympholepsy implies a fit or seizure, according to Socrates, as presented in the writings of Plato, a person could experience nympholepsy without any “tearing of clothes, the biting of lips, or convulsions, or frenzies”. [1] Plato implies in his writings that nympholepsy showed itself in others by “heightened awareness and eloquence”. [1] Ancient Greece also had the word nymphleptos, meaning “caught by nymphs”. [3]
Nymphs were known as female spirits of the natural world, and were minor goddesses of various aspects in nature – forests, rivers, springs, meadows, mountains and seas. [6] They were often depicted as beautiful young women with attributes symbolizing whatever natural formation they ruled over. [6]
Nymphs are most often described as either the daughters of Zeus, [6] the river Oceanus, [6] or Gaia, [6] though various other gods and goddesses have been attributed to their parentage over the years. Many gods are also described as having various nymph companions; for example, Artemis is known for her band of huntress nymphs, Poseidon is often accompanied by sea nymphs called Nereides, and nymph handmaidens were common companions to the goddesses of Olympos. [6] Some elder nymphs, such as those of the Okeanides and Nereides class, were known as immortal goddesses, but most nymphs had a finite, though very long, lifespan. [6]
The Vari Cave is also known as the Nympholyptos Cave, and lies northeast of Vari in Attica, Greece. Along with being a shrine to the nymphs, the Vari Cave is also a shrine devoted to the gods Pan and Apollo. It is also known as the Cave of Pan, and is unique for the reliefs cut into the rock by nympholept Archedemos. [2]
Archedemos was a native of Thera, an island which is now known as modern-day Santorini [7] and is located 318 kilometers from the Vari Cave. [8] According to Richard Chandler's writings in his account in Travels in Greece, Archedemos moved from his native town and settled in Attica, Greece, which was 35.5 kilometers from the Cave of Vari [9] where he would later create his shrine to the nymphs, Apollo, and Pan.
Though it is a shrine devoted to Apollo and Pan as well, Archedemos created the cave “for the nymphs, by whom he was possessed”. [2] By the writings of Archedemos in the cave, it is presumed that the Vari Cave was furnished with a dwelling and a garden for the nymphs, as well as a well of water. [2]
Richard Chandler, an English antiquary, was the first scientist to report his findings of the Vari Cave in 1765, [2] but the cave was not excavated until 1901 by Charles Heald Weller. [10]
In modern culture, nympholepsy is also defined as "passion aroused in men by beautiful young girls", and "wild frenzy caused by desire for an unattainable ideal". [3] The most famous example is in Vladimir Nabokov's Lolita , where the main character Humbert Humbert has an obsession with prepubescent girls he refers to as nymphets and self-describes as a nympholept. [11] The obsession with young girls is explained with the loss of his first love when she was a young age, referring back to the definition of an unattainable ideal.
Apollo is one of the Olympian deities in classical Greek and Roman religion and Greek and Roman mythology. The national divinity of the Greeks, Apollo has been recognized as a god of archery, music and dance, truth and prophecy, healing and diseases, the Sun and light, poetry, and more. One of the most important and complex of the Greek gods, he is the son of Zeus and Leto, and the twin brother of Artemis, goddess of the hunt. Seen as the most beautiful god and the ideal of the kouros, Apollo is considered to be the most Greek of all the gods. Apollo is known in Greek-influenced Etruscan mythology as Apulu.
Artemis is the Greek goddess of the hunt, the wilderness, wild animals, the Moon, and chastity. The goddess Diana is her Roman equivalent.
Hermes is an Olympian deity in ancient Greek religion and mythology. Hermes is considered the herald of the gods. He is also considered the protector of human heralds, travellers, thieves, merchants, and orators. He is able to move quickly and freely between the worlds of the mortal and the divine, aided by his winged sandals. Hermes plays the role of the psychopomp or "soul guide" — a conductor of souls into the afterlife.
In Greek mythology, the Nereids are sea nymphs, the 50 daughters of the 'Old Man of the Sea' Nereus and the Oceanid Doris, sisters to their brother Nerites. They often accompany Poseidon, the god of the sea, and can be friendly and helpful to sailors.
A nymph in ancient Greek folklore is a minor female nature deity. Different from Greek goddesses, nymphs are generally regarded as personifications of nature, are typically tied to a specific place or landform, and are usually depicted as beautiful maidens. They were not necessarily immortal, but lived much longer than humans before they died.
Paris, also known as Alexander, the son of King Priam and Queen Hecuba of Troy, appears in a number of Greek legends.
In ancient Greek religion and mythology, the Muses are the inspirational goddesses of literature, science, and the arts. They were considered the source of the knowledge embodied in the poetry, lyric songs, and myths that were related orally for centuries in ancient Greek culture.
In ancient Greek religion and mythology, Pan is the god of the wild, shepherds and flocks, nature of mountain wilds, rustic music and impromptus, and companion of the nymphs. He has the hindquarters, legs, and horns of a goat, in the same manner as a faun or satyr. With his homeland in rustic Arcadia, he is also recognized as the god of fields, groves, wooded glens and often affiliated with sex; because of this, Pan is connected to fertility and the season of spring. The word panic ultimately derives from the god's name.
![Oceanids Nymph daughters of [[Oceanus]]](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/a/ae/Les_Oceanides_Les_Naiades_de_la_mer.jpg/320px-Les_Oceanides_Les_Naiades_de_la_mer.jpg)
In Greek mythology, the Oceanids or Oceanides are the nymphs who were the three thousand daughters of the Titans Oceanus and Tethys.
In Greek mythology, the Ourea were progeny of Gaia, members of the Greek primordial deities, who were the first-born elemental gods and goddesses. The ourea are also referred to by their Roman name, Montes. They were produced alongside Ouranos, the sky, and Pontos, the sea. According to Hesiod:
And [Gaia] brought forth long hills, graceful haunts
of the goddess Nymphs who dwell amongst the glens of the hills.
In Greek mythology, Iris is the personification and goddess of the rainbow and messenger of the gods.
The ancient Greeks had numerous sea deities. The philosopher Plato once remarked that the Greek people were like frogs sitting around a pond—their many cities hugging close to the Mediterranean coastline from the Hellenic homeland to Asia Minor, Libya, Sicily, and southern Italy. Thus, they venerated a rich variety of aquatic divinities. The range of Greek sea gods of the classical era range from primordial powers and an Olympian on the one hand, to heroized mortals, chthonic nymphs, trickster-figures, and monsters on the other.
The Vari Cave, also known as the Nympholyptos Cave, is a small cave northeast of Vari in Attica, Greece. In classical antiquity the cave was used as a shrine dedicated to Apollo, Pan and the Nymphs. The cave was occupied from the sixth to second century BC. The cave then fell into disuse until it was occupied again in the fourth century AD. It was finally abandoned in approximately the sixth century. The cave was excavated in 1901.
Lolita is a 1955 novel written by Russian-American novelist Vladimir Nabokov. The novel is notable for its controversial subject: the protagonist and unreliable narrator, a middle-aged literature professor under the pseudonym Humbert Humbert, is obsessed with a 12-year-old girl, Dolores Haze, with whom he becomes sexually involved after he becomes her stepfather. "Lolita" is his private nickname for Dolores. The novel was originally written in English and first published in Paris in 1955 by Olympia Press. Later it was translated into Russian by Nabokov himself and published in New York City in 1967 by Phaedra Publishers.
Ancient Thera is an ancient city on a ridge of the steep, 360 m high Messavouno mountain on the Greek island of Santorini. It was named after the mythical ruler of the island, Theras, and was inhabited from the 9th century BC until 726 AD. Starting in 1895, Friedrich Hiller von Gaertringen systematically investigated the city until 1904. Later excavations by N. Zapheiropoulos between 1961 and 1982, under the auspices of the Archaeological Society of Athens, unearthed the city's necropolis in Sellada. Findings from these excavations are on exhibit at the archaeological museum in Fira. Excavation work was again taken up between 1990 and 1994 under the leadership of Wolfram Hoepfner of the Free University of Berlin and resulted in a more precise understanding of the history of the southern Aegean.
The Lympha is an ancient Roman deity of fresh water. She is one of twelve agricultural deities listed by Varro as "leaders" (duces) of Roman farmers, because "without water all agriculture is dry and poor." The Lymphae are often connected to Fons, meaning "Source" or "Font," a god of fountains and wellheads. Lympha represents a "functional focus" of fresh water, according to Michael Lipka's conceptual approach to Roman deity, or more generally moisture.
Dione is the name of four women in ancient Greek mythology, and one in the Phoenician religion described by Sanchuniathon. Dione is translated as "Goddess", and given the same etymological derivation as the names Zeus, Diana, et al. Very little information exists about these nymphs or goddesses, although at least one is described as beautiful and is sometimes associated with water or the sea. Perhaps this same one was worshiped as a mother goddess who presided over the oracle at Dodona, Greece and was called the mother of Aphrodite.
The Cave Sanctuaries of the Akropolis, Athens, are the natural fissures in the rock of the Akropolis hill that were used as sites of worship for deities of the panhellenic pantheon in antiquity. Traditionally a sharp distinction has been drawn between the state religion practised on the summit of the akropolis and the cult practice of the shrines on the lower slopes. Recently, however, interest has burgeoned in the individual religious experience or personal piety in Greek society of which these cult sites may be the expression. The proceeding description follows the order of the shrines from the Klepsydra at the northwest face of the akropolis clockwise via the Peripatos round to the foot of the Nike bastion.