1. The Water-Nymphs, to whom, in their wider signification, the Oceanids and Nereids also belong. Here, however, we have only to deal with the water-nymphs of the brooks and fountains of the land, who are distinguished by the name of Naiads. As the kindly nourishers of plants, and as thereby ministering indirectly to the sustenance of both man and beast, they enjoyed a large measure of veneration among the ancients, although, being inferior deities, they could claim no temples of their own. Like the sea-nymphs, they possessed the gift of prophecy, and appear as the patrons of poetry and song.
2. Nymphs of the Mountains, or Oreads, to whom belong the nymphs of the valleys and glens (Napææ). These were very numerous, and received special names from the particular mountains or districts they inhabited. The most celebrated among them was the Bœotian nymph Echo. She was consumed by love for the beautiful youth Narcissus, a son of the river-god Cephisus, and finding that he did not reciprocate her affection, she pined away in ever-increasing grief, until at length her emaciated frame was changed into rock, and nothing but her voice remained. But Aphrodite avenged this injury to her sex on Narcissus, who had in his vain self-love thus contemned the beautiful nymph. As he was hunting one day on Mount Helicon, he bent down to quench his thirst from a spring clear as crystal, and the goddess caused him to fall in love with his own shadow, which was reflected in the water. The object of his desires being unattainable, he too pined away from grief, and the flower named after him has ever since continued an emblem of heartless beauty.
3. The Dryads, or Hamadryads (wood-nymphs). These appear to have been a conception of later times. It was supposed that their existence depended on that of the trees they inhabited, so that when the latter were destroyed the nymphs also perished. Not sharing immortality, therefore, they cannot properly be reckoned among the gods.
The veneration of nymphs was very ancient in Greece, and was thence transferred to Rome. Goats, lambs, milk, and oil were offered to them.
In art they are depicted as lovely maidens, generally only slightly clad, and adorned with flowers and garlands. The Naiads are also represented as drawing water, or with attributes relating to their element.
5. The Satyrs.—In contrast to the Nymphs, or female personifications of the life of Nature, we find a number of inferior wood and water-deities of the male sex, called Satyrs, Sileni, and Panes, between whom it is difficult to distinguish clearly. Generally by Satyrs (Fauni) we understand the wood and mountain-spirits proper, who are inseparably connected with Dionysus, whose attendant train they form. Coarse sensuality and a wanton spirit of mischief are the leading features of their character. On account of their animal propensities they were fabled to be only half human in appearance, with blunt noses and otherwise ignoble features, bristling hair, goat-like ears, and a goat’s tail. Like the Muses, they love music and dancing, their instruments being the Syrinx and the flute, together with cymbals and castanets. Like their master, they were passionately addicted to excessive indulgence in wine; but whereas in the former this produced only a rapturous enthusiasm and an exalted frame of mind, with them its effects were purely sensual, and excited them to insane and unseemly pranks of all kinds.
Fig. 42.—Head of Satyr. Munich Sculpture Gallery.
The Satyrs were not an uncommon subject of representation among ancient artists. The conception was based on the original hideous half-man, half-animal type; and in art, as well as in poetry, the blunt nose, the pointed ears, and the goat’s tail form their characteristic features. The Bacchic insignia of a band round the brow and an ivy garland also belong to them. There are some particularly fine antique statues of satyrs in the art-collections of Munich and Rome.
The engraving (Fig. 42) shows the highly-expressive face of a satyr in the Munich collection.