A nymph (girl in Greek) was a creature between god and man. The nymphs lived for a very long time and never grew old, but still eventually died. Being near people and being mortals, they understood their concerns and needs better than the Olympians. They planted flowers on abandoned graves, and during difficult journeys they led travelers to life-giving springs. They gave food to the cattle and taught the shepherds to sing and play. The sound of streams, the rustle of the forest, the buzzing of insects—all the voices of spring and summer were as if they were singing. With little pink legs they ran across the forest clearings. They were the embodiment of everything sweet, pleasant, touching, and refined in nature.
One of the most famous dryads in Greek mythology is Dryope.
Dryope is the daughter of Dryop, “oak-shaped”, according to the Arcadian version of the myth, the beloved of Hermes, from whom she gave birth to a son Pan, the deity of herds, forests and fields. The nymph was horrified to see her son, overgrown with hair, bearded, with horns and goat hooves, and abandoned her son, but Hermes took him to Olympus, where everyone liked him and received the name Pan. According to the Thessalian version of the myth, Dryope became the beloved of Apollo, who took possession of her by force. Dryope's mortal husband was Andremon, to whom she gave birth to a son, Amphis, who became the king of the city of the same name that he founded. As punishment for plucking lotus flowers, a plant into which one of the hamadryad nymphs was turned, Dryopa herself was turned into a tree.
B. Vallejo
Dryopn, in Greek mythology, the daughter of Dryops. According to the Arcadian version of the myth, the beloved of Hermes, from whom she gave birth to Pan. The boy was born covered with hair, with horns and goat hooves. Frightened by his appearance, Dryope abandoned her son, but Hermes took the child to Olympus, where all the gods liked him and received the name Pan (Homer, Hymns, XIX 34). According to the Thessalian version of the myth, Dryope, the daughter of King Echalia Eurytus, became the lover of Apollo. He took the form of a turtle, with which the girls began to play. Dryope put the turtle in her bosom and at that moment the god took the form of a serpent and knew Dryope. Dryope's mortal husband was Andremon, to whom she gave birth to a son, Amphis, who became king of the city of Eta, which he founded. As punishment for plucking the flowers of the lotus, a divine plant into which one of the hamadryad nymphs was transformed, the gods turned Dryope herself into a tree (Ovid, Metamorphoses, IX 326-393).
Dryop (Druop), in Greek mythology, the son of the river god Sperchius, king and eponym of the Dryop tribe, considered by mythographers to be allies of the Lapiths (Apollodorus, II 7, 7). Father of Dryope according to the myths of Arcadia. The archaic nature of the image is indicated by the literal meaning of its name.
According to myths, dryads originated from Zeus and trees. In ancient Greece, it was believed that people who planted and cared for trees enjoyed special protection from dryads.
In Greek mythology, female tree spirits (nymphs). They live in a tree that they guard and often die along with this tree. Dryads are the only nymphs who are mortal. Tree nymphs are inseparable from the tree in which they live. According to myths, dryads originated from Zeus and trees. In ancient Greece, people who planted and cared for trees were believed to enjoy special protection from dryads. Dryads were most often depicted as beautiful, graceful maidens intertwined with tree branches. In autumn, their hair turns golden or reddish, and their skin turns brown, which helps them to be invisible among trees and foliage. In winter, their hair is white and their skin turns black like bare tree trunks. In spring and summer, the dryad's skin and hair are green like foliage. Clothes look like tree bark or foliage...
The dryad does not dare to go far from her tree. Far from him, she weakens and returns to not perish. Dryads are loyal defenders of the forests and groves in which they live. Any actions that harm trees are met aggressively.
Dryads are considered the most beautiful, but also the most cruel. Misfortunes with people in the woods of their conscience. They love to have fun. Sometimes jokes turn out to be evil. But they cannot cause real harm. A person falls under their power only when he is afraid. A pest of the plant world, the dryados will be haunted by misfortunes to the end of their lives.
Dryads understand the language of living nature. They talk to plants. Capable of charming and fooling people to protect themselves and their tree. Dryads with read as the most beautiful, but also the most cruel. Misfortunes with people in the forest are on their conscience. They love to have fun. Sometimes jokes turn out to be mean. But they cannot cause real harm. A person falls under their power only when he is afraid. A pest of the plant world, the dryad will be haunted by misfortunes for the rest of its life.
The water nymphs were called naiads. Besides them, there were many other nymphs: oreads who lived in the mountains, lemoniades in wet meadows, dryads in the forests, hamadryads in the trees themselves. In Homer's hymn to Aphrodite, it is said about the hamadryads that at the moment of their birth, oak and spruce grew from the ground and bloomed beautifully among the mountains. And when, in the end, the definite time of their death comes, these beautiful trees dry up first: their bark crumbles to the ground, their branches fall, and before dawn the soul comes out of them.
Beautiful springs were dedicated to them, because water was their real element. In rocky Greece, water has always been an invaluable rarity. Therefore, even a poor source could seem like something divine, worthy of reverent care. The one who, after traveling for many hours in the heat, came across a spring that gushed from under the stones, knelt down, drank, and then, bending the branch of a tree that grew above the spring, hung his mug on it as a thank-you gift for the magical nymphs, human friends . They made sure that the water was clean and there was always enough of it.
Thanks to them, fresh grass turned green on the banks of streams and rivers and flowers sparkled.
Alena Klementieva
Some springs were healing, so nymphs were considered goddesses of health. In addition, they were clairvoyants and knew how to predict the future. And when the robber washed his bloody hands in the stream, the nymph who lived there left her shelter forever and traveled somewhere further. Because the nymphs were pure creatures, loving life and hating evil; This is what they said about them, as if they weaned the primitive savages from cannibalism.
Nymphs lived in springs or grottoes. Under the cover of gray olive leaves there was an entrance to the cave on the north side, people walked here and bees flew in, because inside the cave there were their hives. Another entrance, into which the south wind blew, was intended for the gods and led directly to the rooms where there were stone weaving benches - on them the nymphs wove beautiful fabrics decorated with sea purple. After a hard day's work, Artemis called them to a night dance.
I. Isachev
Nymphs are a fairy-tale people described in ancient Greek myths. Nereids, naiads, oceanids - they were all associated with one of the natural elements. The dryad nymph, which will be discussed further, was considered the guardian of the forest.
Who are dryads?
Dryads are elusive and charming tree spirits, shrouded in mystery and glorified in legends. Young enchantresses, timid and peace-loving creatures, they were something between a man and a god. Dryads never grew old, but they were not immortal either; they lived for an incredibly long time, but eventually died.
They spent their lives under the green arches of forests, hiding from human eyes. Only the modest and bashful maidens were happy with the company of the huntress Artemis, and even the eternally drunken goat-footed satyrs, with whom they danced and sang all night long.
Like other fairy-tale creatures, dryads were endowed with magic. They were skilled healers and witches, but they could also send damage and madness to people. They patronized people who took care of trees, as well as bees, which served them as messengers.
Who could understand if not a dryad? The plant happily shared its thoughts, thoughts, and news with the nymph. Sweet, shy beauties knew everything about their forest and its inhabitants, since they were its integral part, its soul, its brainchild.
Hamadryads
Among the mythical inhabitants of protected forests there were nymphs inextricably linked with their tree - these are hamadryads. They were his continuation, his protectors and his hostages. If a century-old oak tree was cut down or struck by lightning, the eternally young maiden would die along with it.
According to ancient legends, when a woodcutter's ax pierced a tree, blood began to ooze from the trunk, and painful and drawn-out groans were heard in the foliage. Woe to the one who does not hear this plea for mercy and destroys the keeper of the tree: his entire family will suffer the curse of the dryad, and the culprit will be punished by the just gods.
The Greeks have a myth about the wicked king of Thessaly - Erysichthon. He insulted Demeter by cutting down the centuries-old grove planted in her honor. He did not spare the hundred-year-old oak tree, in which a beautiful dryad lived; it was the goddess’s favorite. For such insolence, the angry Demeter severely punished Erysichthon; she sent him an insatiable hunger: the more he ate, the stronger the torment became. He sold everything he had in the hope of getting enough, even his own daughter, but that didn’t help either. The death of the king was terrible - he ate his own flesh and died in unbearable pain.
Orpheus and Eurydice
The most famous dryad is undoubtedly Eurydice. Like many other forest nymphs, she linked her fate with an ordinary mortal - a musician named Orpheus. But their happiness was short-lived: while running away from an annoying suitor in the forest, Eurydice stepped on a poisonous snake. The bite turned out to be fatal, because the dryad is the only nymph who does not have the gift of immortality. So the girl ended up in the kingdom of Hades.
Orpheus, distraught with grief, decided to return his beloved at any cost and went down the dark river into the abode of night and eternal sleep. The Lord of the Dead took pity on the unfortunate man and gave him his lovely wife, but strictly ordered him not to look at her until they reached the kingdom of the living.
They walked for a long time among the dark and cold dungeons of Hades until they saw the light. Orpheus doubted whether his sweet dryad could keep up with him, this became fatal for him. He turned around and saw Eurydice, but a moment later she disappeared like a shadow.
No matter how much Orpheus called, no matter how much he prayed, the gods remained unapproachable. The lovers' hearts united only many years later, when he himself passed away.
Dryad flower
The plant of the rose family is also called dryad. Thickets of this evergreen shrub can be found in the northern Arctic and subarctic latitudes and among high-mountain alpine meadows.
Its simple large flowers of white or soft yellow color stand out against the background of lush vegetation or rocky slopes. Small leathery leaves covering the creeping stems give the plant a decorative appearance. Dryad is often used when decorating rocky hills in landscape design.
Dryads are creatures from Greek myths, a subspecies of nymphs. In Latin, "dryad" means "oak". All forest deities with the appearance of beautiful maidens began to be called dryads.
In the article:
Dryads and their characteristics
Among them there are their own subspecies - for example, these are ash spirits, that is, Meliads and Hamariads, more like trees than others. Hamariads are similar to satyrs, only in the plant world: up to the waist they are women, and below are trees with branches and roots. If a hamariad’s tree was cut down, then it died along with it. Dryads were originally spirit inhabitants of sacred oak groves.
Their appearance is completely human, only dryads are much more beautiful than any mortal women. Depending on the tree in which they live, their hair and skin color changes over the course of four seasons. In winter, the dryad's skin darkens, and her hair, on the contrary, becomes lighter. In the autumn months, hair takes on the color of leaves - yellow, red. During the summer, tree nymphs maintain a rich green color. This serves as an excellent camouflage for them.
Dryads love privacy. It is rare for more than a dozen tree nymphs to live in one large grove at the same time. They do not shy away from the company of their sisters, but they do not seek it either. The only exceptions are those cases when enmity flares up again between the spirits of nature, and this happens not so rarely.
The dryads' food, like plants and flowers, is the sun and water. They are not attracted to human food. A peculiarity of these nymphs is their inability to leave their arboreal home for a long time. The further the dryad moves from her tree, the less strength she has left. If a person discovers her abandoned home, he may not allow her to return until the nymph swears to serve him. True, legends don’t tell you how to find such a tree.
Dryads are attracted to beauty. Therefore, they strive to decorate themselves: they weave living vines and flowers into their hair. The dryad's scent matches its tree.
The irreconcilable enemies of all dryads are people who harm forests, groves and fields. But their love and favor can be gained by those who care for the trees and do not hesitate to tinker in the ground to plant new seedlings. Dryads will gladly provide patronage to those who are engaged in such useful and important work. Their protection also extends to forest animals - they do not like hunters and interfere with them in every possible way.
Dryads remain, first and foremost, spirits of nature, and their abilities are largely determined by this. Tree nymphs understand the language of animals and birds and can give orders to any animal. There are stories in which people were hunted down by beasts sent to them by angry maidens of nature. Often these animals were wyverns and wolves.
Sometimes spirits are credited with the ability to create illusions. Like the Slavic goblin, dryads can cloud a person's mind and make them lose direction. Often in this way they destroy a person, leading them into an impassable swamp. But sometimes they can save you.
When the time to conceive a child approaches, the dryad carefully selects the future father. She often observes candidates, choosing the one who will be the father of a new dryad, and rather falls in love with him than rationally decides to enter into a relationship. It is believed that for them the breeding season occurs once in their entire long life. Sometimes stories say that after copulation, wood nymphs act like female praying mantises and kill the male. A dryad will always become pregnant if she has sexual intercourse during the breeding season. She carries the child for nine months. It is believed that although the child's father may never see his daughter, the mother always maintains a connection with her lover. When the term of his human life approaches, the nymph may wither away from melancholy and grief.
Dryads and legends
Because of their fabulous beauty, dryads have always attracted the attention of immortals and mortals. Forest Nymph Dryope entered into an alliance with Hermes, and in this union the shepherd god Pan was born. Forest Nymph Philira was the beloved of Kronos, from whom she gave birth to the wisest of the centaurs, Chiron.
God Apollo passionately fell in love with the dryad Daphne. Daphne was in the retinue of Apollo's sister Artemis. She strove to maintain chastity, like her divine mistress. But Apollo was blinded by passion, and he began to pursue Daphne until she, driven to despair, offered a prayer to mother Gaia and father Peneus - the earth goddess and the god of the river. To save their daughter, they turned Daphne into a laurel tree. In fact, this is how she became a hamariad.
Dryads are often described as timid and shy creatures who are easily embarrassed. But woe to those who decide to offend the dryad tree. In order to protect their home and land, they do not disdain by any means. Cunning traps, ambushes and swift attacks await the attackers. Dryads can also use their charm to convince their enemies to leave the forest alone. They do not forgive rudeness or disrespect. Offenders, along with their entire family, can be severely cursed.
There is a story in which a hamariad tree was cut down by a cruel person. No matter how the nymph begged to spare her, the man was adamant. Before her death, the gamariad cursed the hard-hearted woodcutter along with his entire family. The only way to atone for guilt was through sacrifice on a specially erected altar.
In another legend, Prince Erysichthon, son of Triops, ordered the cutting down of the sacred oak grove of Demeter, the goddess of fertility. The unfortunate tree spirits died, cursing him before their death. Demeter herself cursed the defiler - she sent an insatiable hunger to the prince. He spent all his money on food and eventually died of exhaustion.
Modern understanding of the image of nature spirits
Thanks to writers and creators of fantasy games, recent decades have significantly changed the image of dryads in the public consciousness. Sweet maidens in dresses made of leaves became implacable warriors.
Andrzej Sapkowski in his The Witcher series, he described the dryads as a separate race consisting exclusively of women. To procreate, they use men of other races. This concept is typical for describing forest nymphs in fantasy. They often appear as a race of Amazon-like women who do not tolerate men and only associate with them during marriage.
Forest spirits are not eager to communicate with mortals. This only happens when they are ready to conceive a child or the forest needs the help of people. Sometimes - to negotiate with those who entered the forest. Sometimes dryads appear before woodcutters to warn them about the ban on cutting down the local trees. If people do not listen, then the spirits begin to hinder them in every possible way - they make old trees fall and crush people, they break equipment.
Some wood nymphs have a kind-hearted and forgiving nature, and they always try to use their skills for good, even when people harm them. Other dryads are cruel and can pit people against animals just for fun. But in general, the people of the forest nymphs are quite friendly towards all living creatures, even people. The main thing is not to insult the maidens themselves, their forest, animals and nature. Left behind garbage, damaged tree bark, broken branches - all this makes the dryads furious. A cheerful, playful spirit can easily turn into a vengeful fury who knows no pity.
There is nothing more important than the desire to live. And the life of one who does not fight for existence with all his might is meaningless.
I am a dryad, but my tree is no taller than an ordinary bush, and its gnarled trunk is only slightly thicker than a few crooked branches.
There is no land, water, heat or light here. The roots of my tree wrap around only dead stone, greedily absorbing rare grains of water. The sun comes here only at sunset, and in this short moment it does not even have time to warm the gray layered stone.
And all life exists here too. Small insects hide on my tree, sometimes birds fly in and sit down to rest on the thin, gnarled branches. And recently a flower blossomed on one of the branches, and now I’m waiting for the first fruit in the life of my tree to ripen.
The only thing that torments me is loneliness. After all, in the entire visible space there is not a single large plant, only yellow-gray moss freely spread out on a steep wall. It seems that even a dead stone is enough for him to live. But there is nothing to talk about with moss, and therefore my random interlocutors are only birds that soar freely in the blue sky and, without bothering at all, descend into this dark gorge in search of food or hiding from hawks and eagles.
But even birds rarely come here. Only lizards are frequent guests here, but they are usually silent and very difficult to get them to talk.
Somewhere up there, there is a small area where, by some miracle, there was a small piece of land. It is there that my mother, also a dryad, lives, and the parent of my tree looks into the sky. However, I never went up there, for fear of leaving my tree. And yet they are there, and someday I will definitely visit them. We'll have a lot to talk about.
By the will of fate, a stray wind brought a seed here, it got stuck among the stone and found the strength to survive. And soon I, a dryad, was born.
However, not every tree has a dryad. Only once do fruits appear on a mature tree, each of which contains a dryad sleeping. This usually happens when the parent tree reaches its prime. Our parent tree only ripened three such fruits. One of them fell into the depths of the gorge, and there the tree, along with the dryad, my sister, died. The bird ate the second fruit and carried away the seed. It, the seed, is still alive, but it still remains unawakened. And the dryad sleeps along with the seed. I don’t know why, maybe the seed ended up in a place where even what is here is not there. The third fruit dried up on the tree and crumbled into dust, and the wind blew the seed here.
How do I know this? I don't know myself. But there is some kind of connection between us. Even with that dryad and the tree that died.
And once I saw a man. He rose from the bottom of the gorge. How did he end up there and why did he climb this steep cliff? His thoughts were full of fear and his body was tired. When he was already close, one of his hands fell off, and he almost fell. I tilted the branches towards him, he grabbed them, almost uprooting my tree. Then he tore all the leaves from my tree, greedily ate them and climbed further up.
For a long time I could not come to my senses from the fear that overwhelmed him. What could be so terrible that could happen to him? I'm afraid I'll never know.
I forgave him for almost destroying my tree and me. After all, he also wanted to survive. And maybe if we hadn’t been here, he would already be dead.
Moreover, the appearance of that man led me to one unusual thought, not at all characteristic of dryads. Or maybe it was just the desire of that person that I heard.
What if a dryad can grant wishes? Not all of them, of course, but only the most cherished and purest. Although, it seems to me that these are my inventions. Anything is possible, but only from that very day I have been obsessed with one strange idea.
I decided to create a platform for my tree. I carefully remove pieces of stone from the steep wall, and at the bottom of the resulting hole I collect sticks, twigs and leaves - everything that the wind brings here or that falls from above. This will be a kind of recess in the stone wall, and at the bottom of this recess there will be soil in which my tree can grow. In addition, this platform will protect the tree from the winds, and if suddenly someone else decides to climb a steep wall, he will be able to rest on this platform.
How many stones will need to be broken to make at least a small platform in which my tree could fit? But much more is needed, because the tree will grow. So far, the result of my work is almost zero, although I work day and night. My hands are small and weak, so every piece chipped from the wall is a whole event for me. However, I have nowhere to rush, and I don’t have any other things to do either, so I calmly continue to take out pebble after pebble from the steep wall, and dream that my tree will in due time produce no less than ten fruits, each of which contains The little dryad will sleep.
In the myths of the ancient Greeks, nymphs are the patroness of trees (in Greek, oak, tree). Sometimes dryads were named after the names of trees: for example, dryads born from drops of the blood of Uranus and associated with an ash tree (melia in Greek) were called dryads... ... Historical Dictionary
- (Dryades, Δουάδες). Nymphs of the forests who were born, lived and died along with the trees in which they lived. (Source: “A Brief Dictionary of Mythology and Antiquities.” M. Korsh. St. Petersburg, published by A. S. Suvorin, 1894.) DRYADS (Δρυάδες), in Greek ... ... Encyclopedia of Mythology
- (Greek dryos, driados, from drys tree). Forest nymphs in Greek. mythology. Dictionary of foreign words included in the Russian language. Chudinov A.N., 1910. DRYADS forest nymphs, goddesses of forests in Greek. mythology. Dictionary of foreign words included in... ... Dictionary of foreign words of the Russian language
DRYADS, in Greek mythology, tree nymphs, inhabitants of forests and groves... Modern encyclopedia
In Greek mythology, tree nymphs, inhabitants of forests and groves... Big Encyclopedic Dictionary
Dryads- DRYADS, in Greek mythology, tree nymphs, inhabitants of forests and groves. ... Illustrated Encyclopedic Dictionary
dryads- > and other.hells. Painting by A. Böcklin. 1897 Milan, private collection. /> and other.hells. Painting by A. Böcklin. 1897 Milan, private collection. and other.hells. Painting by A. Böcklin. 1897 Milan, private collection. dryads in the myths of the ancient Greeks, nymphs,... ... Encyclopedic Dictionary of World History
- (mythological) inhabitants of forests Wed. (In the forest) such oaks and maples, and in their shadows brooding dryads! Leskov. Deception. 3. Wed. The autumn wind rustles through the groves, The trees stand without decorations! The dryads disappeared into the hollows. Book P.A. Vyazemsky. To Batyushkov. 1817 Wed. AND… … Michelson's Large Explanatory and Phraseological Dictionary
In Greek mythology, tree nymphs, inhabitants of forests and groves. * * * DRYADS DRYADS, in Greek mythology, nymphs of trees, inhabitants of forests and groves... encyclopedic Dictionary
Dryads- (Greek dryas oak, tree) nymphs who, according to the belief of the ancient Greeks, lived in trees; with the death of the trees they died. (I.A. Lisovy, K.A. Revyako. The ancient world in terms, names and titles: Dictionary reference book on the history and culture of Ancient... ... Ancient world. Dictionary-reference book.
Books
- Dryad's Necklace, Dmitry Alexandrovich Yemets, The forces of the former heir of Darkness haunt Ligul. True, Daph is always next to Methodius, and this complicates everything. But then the right moment came: the light one ran into Meph’s sword, and... Category: Mysticism. Fantastic. Fantasy Series: Methodius Buslaev. Legendary children's fantasy Publisher: Eksmo,
- Dryad's Necklace, Yemets D., The forces of the former heir of Darkness haunt Ligul. True, Daph is always next to Methodius, and this complicates everything. But then the right moment came: the light one ran into Meph’s sword, and... Category:
