Nym′phs. This was a general name for a class of inferior female deities who were attendants of the gods. Some of them presided over springs, fountains, wells, woods, and the sea. They are spoken of as land-nymphs or Naiads, and sea-nymphs or Nereides, though the former are associated also with fountains and rivers. The Dryades were forest-nymphs, and the Hama-dryades were nymphs who lived amongst the oak-trees—the oak being always specially venerated by the ancients. The mountain-nymphs were called Oreades.
“With flower-inwoven tresses torn,
The nymphs in twilight shade
Of tangled thickets mourn.”
Milton.
Ny′sæ. The names of the nymphs by whom Bacchus was nursed. See Dionysius.
Ny′sæus. A name of Bacchus, because he was worshipped at Nysa.
Ny′sus. A king of Megara who was invisible by virtue of a particular lock of hair. This lock his daughter Scylla cut off, and so betrayed her father to his enemies. She was changed into a lark, and the king into a hawk, and he still pursues his daughter, intending to punish her for her treachery.
Oan′nes. An Eastern god, represented as a monster, half man, half fish. He was said to have taught men the use of letters in the day-time, and at night to have retired to the depth of the ocean.
Oath, see Lapis.