(iv) Napææ (na-pē´ē), the nymphs of glens.
(v) Dryades (drī´ad-ēz), or Dryads, and Hamadryades (ham-a-dri´ad-ēz), the nymphs of trees; these nymphs died with the trees that had been their abode, and with which they had come into existence.
Nysa (nī´sa).—A city in India, where Bacchus was brought up.
O
Oceanus (ō-sē´an-us).—Son of Heaven and Earth, the god of the water that was supposed to surround the whole earth, the husband of Tethys, and the father of all the river-gods and water-nymphs of the whole earth. The ancient Greeks imagined the earth to be flat and circular, and to be surrounded by a river, which flowed perpetually around it, and which they called Oceanus. It was the great Outward Sea, opposed to the Inward or Mediterranean.
Odhærir.—In Scandinavian mythology the mead or nectar made of Kvasir´s blood, kept in three jars. The second of these jars is called “Sohn,” and the third “Bohn.” Probably the nectar is the “spirit of poetry.”
Odin.—The king of gods and men, and the reputed progenitor of the Scandinavian kings. He corresponds both to the Jupiter and the Mars of classical mythology. As god of war, he holds his court in Valhalla, surrounded by all warriors who have fallen in battle, and attended by two wolves, to whom he gives his share of food; for he himself lives on wine alone. On his shoulders he carries two ravens, Hugin (mind) and Munin (memory), whom he dispatches every day to bring him news of all that is doing throughout the world. He has three great treasures, namely, Sleipnir, an eight-footed horse of marvelous swiftness; Gungnir, a spear, which never fails to strike what it is aimed at; and Draupnir, a magic ring, which every ninth night drops eight other rings of equal value. The German tribes worshiped Odin under the name of “Woden.” The fourth day of the week, Wednesday, was sacred to him.
Odur.—In Scandinavian mythology, husband of Freyja, whom he deserted. He abandoned his wife on her loss of youth and beauty, and was punished.
Odysseus (od-is´sūs).—The Greek form of Ulysses, king of Ithaca, whose return from Troy to Ithaca forms the subject of the Odyssey. See “[Ulysses].”
Œneus (ē´nūs).—King of Pleuron and Calydon, in Ætolia, husband of Althæa, and father of Meleager, Deianira, and other children. During his reign the boar that laid waste the lands of Calydon gave rise to the celebrated Calydonian boar hunt.