Nymph

Origin

The iconographic origin is the Greek nature-spirit belief of the 8th-7th centuries BCE, and the earliest textual canon is the Iliad and the Odyssey of Homer of the c. 8th century BCE. The Greek etymology Nymphē originally means 'young woman, bride' — the decisive canonical vocabulary. The Theogony (Theogonia) of Hesiod (Hesiodos) of c. 700 BCE — the list of fifty Nereids (descendants of Pontus and Gaia) in lines 240-264 — is the decisive canon of Greek-mythological nymph systematisation, and the list of three thousand Oceanids (descendants of Oceanus and Tethys) in lines 346-370 is the decisive cosmological canon. The Homeric Hymns (Homeric Hymns) Book 3 Hymn to Demeter and Book 5 Hymn to Aphrodite are the decisive religious canon, and lines 1207-1272 of Book 1 of the Argonautica of the 4th-3rd-century-BCE Alexandrian poet Apollonius Rhodius (Apollonios Rhodios, 295-215 BCE) — in which Heracles's squire Hylas (Hylas) is drawn away by the Naiads of the Pegai (Pegai) spring — is the decisive Greek-literary nymph canon. The decisive Latin-literary canon is the metamorphosis canon of Echo (Echo, Book 3 lines 339-510), Arethusa (Arethusa, Book 5 lines 572-641), Daphne (Daphne, Book 1 lines 452-567), and Salmacis (Salmacis, Book 4 lines 285-388) of Ovid's Metamorphoses of c. 8 CE.

Features

• Near-immortal long lifespan
• Unparalleled beauty and grace
• Skilled in music, song, and dance
• Bound to dwelling environment (tree, spring, etc.)
• Mother or lover of gods and heroes
• Vanishes when environment is destroyed

Stories

The Iliad and the Odyssey of Homer of the c. 8th century BCE and the list of fifty Nereids in lines 240-264 and the list of three thousand Oceanids in lines 346-370 of Hesiod's Theogony of c. 700 BCE are the decisive canon of Greek-mythological nymph systematisation. Lines 1207-1272 of Book 1 of the Argonautica of the 3rd-century-BCE Apollonius Rhodius — in which Heracles's squire Hylas is drawn away by the Naiads of the Pegai spring — and the decisive metamorphosis canons of Echo, Arethusa, Daphne, and Salmacis of Ovid's Metamorphoses of c. 8 CE are the decisive Latin-literary canon. Renaissance Italy — the 1499 Hypnerotomachia Poliphili of Polifilo and the c. 1485 Birth of Venus (Nascita di Venere) and 1482 Primavera (Primavera) of Botticelli (Sandro Botticelli, 1445-1510) — established the Renaissance nymph visual-adaptation canon. The decisive Victorian visual canon is the 1896 painting Hylas and the Nymphs (Hylas and the Nymphs) of the British painter John William Waterhouse (John William Waterhouse, 1849-1917) — Manchester Art Gallery collection, 132.1 by 197.5 centimetres — and the 1893 Lamia, 1903 Echo and Narcissus, and 1909 The Naiad of Waterhouse are decisive Victorian painting canons. The Nymph of the 1977 D&D Monster Manual by Gary Gygax of TSR in the USA — consistent through to 5e (5th Edition) of 2014 — is the decisive canon of the modern fantasy RPG.

Weakness

The Nymph's weaknesses are: (1) environmental binding — bound to her dwelling nature (tree, spring, etc.), vanishing when it is destroyed — the most decisive canonical weakness; (2) not truly immortal — near-immortal lifespan, but not truly immortal like the gods, the decisive canon; (3) wrath of the gods — the decisive canon in lines 452-567 of Book 1 of Ovid's Metamorphoses of c. 8 CE in which Daphne (Daphne), pursued by Apollo, is transformed into a laurel tree; (4) tragedy of unrequited love — the decisive canon in lines 339-510 of Book 3 of Ovid's Metamorphoses in which Echo (Echo) loves Narcissus (Narcissus) one-sidedly and vanishes leaving only her voice; (5) revelation of sacred matters — the canon in Greek mythology that if a nymph reveals a god's secret, she is punished; (6) the departure of a hero — the decisive canon in lines 1207-1272 of Book 1 of the Argonautica of the 3rd-century-BCE Apollonius Rhodius — Hylas (Hylas) is drawn away by the Naiads of the Pegai (Pegai) spring, and Heracles is left behind from the Argo seeking him; (7) sacred sealing rite — the canon in Greek-mythological nature-spirit canon that the wrath of the goddess Artemis transforms a nymph; (8) forced union — the decisive canon in lines 285-388 of Book 4 of Ovid's Metamorphoses in which Salmacis (Salmacis) forcibly unites with Hermaphroditus, becoming a hermaphrodite. The decisive tragic finales are the metamorphosis canons of Daphne, Echo, Arethusa, and Salmacis of Ovid's Metamorphoses of c. 8 CE.

Cultural Significance

The Nymph is not merely a nature-spirit icon but the canonical iconographic figure of the Western decisive nature-spirit canon, traversing Homer's Iliad and Odyssey of the c. 8th century BCE, Hesiod's Theogony of c. 700 BCE, the Homeric Hymns, the 3rd-century-BCE Apollonius Rhodius's Argonautica, Ovid's Metamorphoses of c. 8 CE, the 1499 Hypnerotomachia Poliphili of Polifilo, the c. 1485 Birth of Venus of Botticelli, the 1873 Play of the Sirens of Boecklin, the 1896 Hylas and the Nymphs of Waterhouse, and the 1977 D&D Monster Manual. In the Greek-mythological nature-spirit belief of the Mycenaean civilization of the Greek Bronze Age (3000-1200 BCE), the decisive environmental canon of the spirits of sacred trees, springs, mountains, and seas became the decisive canon of Greek Bronze Age nature-spirit belief. The decisive Latin-literary canon is the Metamorphoses (Metamorphoses) of c. 8 CE Ovid (43 BCE - 17 CE) — Daphne in Book 1 lines 452-567, Echo in Book 3 lines 339-510, Salmacis in Book 4 lines 285-388, Arethusa in Book 5 lines 572-641, and the Hamadryad in Book 8 lines 738-878 — which settled as the decisive Greco-Roman metamorphosis canon. The decisive Victorian visual canon is the 1896 painting Hylas and the Nymphs (Hylas and the Nymphs) of the British painter John William Waterhouse (born 6 April 1849 in Rome, Italy, died 10 February 1917 in London, England) — 132.1 by 197.5 centimetres in the collection of the Manchester Art Gallery — and the 1893 Lamia, 1903 Echo and Narcissus, and 1909 The Naiad are the decisive Victorian Pre-Raphaelite canons.

In Popular Culture

Homer, Iliad and Odyssey (c. 8th century BCE) — decisive origin canonHesiod, Theogony lines 240-264 and 346-370 (c. 700 BCE) — decisive Greek-mythological canonHomeric Hymns (c. 7th century BCE) — decisive religious canonApollonius Rhodius, Argonautica Book 1 lines 1207-1272 (3rd century BCE) — decisive Hylas and Naiads canonOvid, Metamorphoses (c. 8 CE) — Latin decisive metamorphosis canonPolifilo, Hypnerotomachia Poliphili (1499) — Renaissance visual canonBotticelli, Birth of Venus, Primavera (c. 1485) — decisive Renaissance painting canonBoecklin, Play of the Sirens (1873) — decisive Symbolist canonWaterhouse, Hylas and the Nymphs (1896) — decisive Victorian visual canonGygax, D&D Monster Manual, Nymph (1977) — decisive fantasy RPG canon