They represented diverse aspects of nature, including water, mountains, trees, and even specific locales Like other nymphs, echo assumed the form of a beautiful young woman They were also frequently divided into subgroups (such as dryads, naiads, and nereids) according to the type of environment they inhabited.
Nereids: Sea Nymph Daughters Of Nereus In Greek Mythology
The oreads were beautiful, youthful mountain nymphs
These female divinities roamed the mountains and woodlands of greece, accompanying other nature gods and presiding over various aspects of the natural world.
Dryads and hamadryads were the most famous tree nymphs of ancient greek mythology Hamadryads in particular were closely connected with the trees in which they lived, and even died when their tree died. The naiads were water nymphs, generally associated with bodies of fresh water such as springs, rivers, and lakes Many of them were the daughters, lovers, or mothers of famous heroes and gods.
The nereids were the fifty daughters of the sea gods nereus and doris Numbered among the nymphs—female divinities who took the form of beautiful young women—the nereids were widely regarded as kind and helpful sea deities The most famous among them were amphitrite, galatea, and thetis. The oceanids were gentle water nymphs, the three thousand daughters of the titans oceanus and tethys
Scattered across the world, their main responsibility was caring for the young.
Satyrs and silens were hybrid creatures—part human and part horse—who served as companions of the wine god dionysus They lived in the forest, where they gained a reputation for revelry and for chasing after beautiful nymphs and maenads. Doris was a nymph, one of the three thousand oceanids born to the titans oceanus and tethys She married nereus, the “old man of the sea,” and gave birth to the fifty sea nymphs known as the nereids.
The hesperides were goddesses or nymphs associated with the evening and the west They guarded the golden apples of hera, located in the famous garden of the hesperides in the far west. Echo could therefore be classified among the nymphs sometimes called oreads, or mountain nymphs
