Anthracia

Anthracia appears in Arcadian local tradition as one of the Nymphai Lykaiides (nymphs of Lycaeus) incorporated into the wider Greek narrative of Zeus's infancy. In the sources assembled by modern reference works, she is listed alongside Neda, Hagno, Anchiroe and Myrtoessa as a nurse of the infant Zeus. Her role is attested through cultic imagery and local sanctuary context rather than through an extended mythic biography in the surviving summaries consulted here.

Literary and descriptive sources record Anthracia iconographically as a nymph figure holding a burning torch; Pausanias (as summarized in modern references) is cited for a depiction of her holding a torch on a table at a temple in Megalopolis. Beyond the torch attribute, the provided sources give no further consistent physical description, though one modern compendium (Theoi) infers she may be a tree-nymph from the attribute.

The surviving attestations confine Anthracia's active role to that of a nurturing/cultic nymph: she is named among the Arcadian nurses of Zeus. The sources do not ascribe explicit supernatural powers, aggressive behaviors, or ritual formulas to her; any wider functional implications of the torch (such as illumination or ritual fire) are interpretive suggestions in modern summaries rather than explicit ancient claims. Given her localized cultic function and nurturing role, she is best understood as a local nature-spirit with symbolic/ritual presence.