Nymphs of the Fountain
group · 2 works · 2 mentions · 4 anchored passages
the nymphs · Fountain nymphs · other gods of this place
in the texts
Odyssey
Minor local goddesses associated with the fountain outside Ithaca's city, invoked in prayer by Eumaios.
"Fountain nymphs," he cried, "children of Zeus, if ever Odysseus burned you thigh bones covered with fat whether of lambs or kids, grant my prayer that a daimôn may send him home.
There was a grove of water-loving poplars planted in a circle all round it, and the clear cold water came down to it from a rock high up, while above the fountain there was an altar to the nymphs, at which all wayfarers used to sacrifice.
Phaedrus
The nymphs are the divine occupants of the fountain and sacred site where Socrates and Phaedrus rested, credited with the words Socrates relays about writing.
Is it not well to pray to the deities here before we go?
Go and tell Lysias that you and I came down to the fountain and sacred place of the nymphs, and heard words which they told us to repeat to Lysias and anyone else who composed speeches, and to Homer or any other who has composed poetry with or without musical accompaniment, and third to Solon and whoever has written political compositions which he calls laws: