Greek Mythology >> Nymphs >> Naiads >> Hesperian Naiads (Naiades Hesperiai)

NAIADES HESPERIAI

Greek Name

Ναιαδες Ἑσπεριαι

Transliteration

Naiades Hesperiai

Latin Spelling

Naiades Hesperiae

Translation

Hesperian Naiads

THE NAIADES HESPERIAI were nymphs of the river Eridanos in the mythical northern land of Hyperborea.

They are probably identical to the Heliades, sisters of Phaethon, or the Hesperides, the nymphs of evening.

PARENTS

Perhaps daughters of the River ERIDANOS

CLASSICAL LITERATURE QUOTES

Ovid, Metamorphoses 2. 319 ff (trans. Melville) (Roman epic C1st B.C. to C1st A.D.) :
"[Phaethon was struck from the chariot of the sun by Zeus :] Phaethon, flames ravaging his auburn hair, falls headlong down, a streaming trail of light, as sometimes through the cloudless vault of night a star, though never falling, seems to fall. Eridanus receives him, far from home, in his wide waters half a world away. And bathes his burning face. The Naides Hesperiae (Hesperian Naiads) bury his smouldering body in a tomb and on a stone engrave his epitaph : ‘Here Phaethon lies, his father's charioteer; great was his fall, yet did he greatly dare.’"