In the Greek mythic tradition Arethusa is first encountered bathing in a clear stream in Arcadia as a maiden and attendant of Artemis/Diana. When the river god Alpheus discovered and pursued her, she fled to preserve her chastity. Overcome by fear she began to perspire and transformed into a stream; Artemis then broke the ground to permit her waters to escape. The stream traveled beneath the sea and re-emerged as a freshwater fountain on the island of Ortygia at Syracuse, where she became identified with that spring and represented on local coinage.
As a mythic person Arethusa is portrayed as a youthful female nymph — an attendant of Artemis/Diana — and appears in ancient art in anthropomorphic form (e.g., heads of the nymph depicted on Syracusan coinage and on a terracotta kylix tondo). In her transformed state she is the freshwater spring/fountain rising on Ortygia, often iconographically shown with surrounding dolphins in Syracusan civic imagery and in sculptural fountain groups alongside Alpheus.
Attested abilities in the sources are principally metamorphosis into a stream/fountain (during flight from Alpheus) and the mythic subterranean movement of her waters from mainland Arcadia/Peloponnesus to Ortygia. Narrative episodes also record that she petitioned a major deity (she entreated Demeter in a single attested account) and that Artemis/Diana intervened on her behalf; these are presented as specific mythic incidents rather than generalized ritual powers available to worshippers.
Weaknesses
- otherNo classical weaknesses attested
Wards
- otherNo protective wards or ritual countermeasures are recorded in the supplied sources
Amphitryon
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Caerus (Kairos)
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Catreus
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Chalbes
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Cretheus
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Cycnus of Aetolia
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Daedalus
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Elephantis
Elephantis (Ancient Greek: Ἐλεφαντίς) is a name attested in two distinct registers of the ancient Greek world: (1) a late 1st century BCE Greek poet/physician credited in Roman and Greek authors with erotic manuals, cosmetics and abortive recipes, midwifery, and medical remedies; and (2) a mythographic/mortal figure listed among the wives or consorts of Danaus and named as mother of some Danaïdes in variant genealogical traditions.
Epochus
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Gorgythion
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Harpalion
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Hesione
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Community Record
- [1]Arethusa (nymph) — Wikipedia. "In Greek mythology, Arethusa (Ancient Greek: Ἀρέθουσα) was a nymph who fled from her home in Arcadia beneath the sea and came up as a fresh water fountain on the island of Ortygia in Syracuse, Sicily." — Wikipediawiki
- [2]Terracotta stemless kylix (drinking cup) — Museum Archive. "The other cup features the head of the nymph Arethusa, taken from the reverse of a celebrated coin of Syracuse" — archive object descriptionother
- [3]Alpheus and Arethusa (sculptural group) — Museum Archive. "In Roman mythology the river god Alpheus pursued the nymph Arethusa until Diana changed her into a fountain. This group was carved to go above a fountain..." — archive object descriptionother
- [4]A Dreamer Lost in a Dream — Archive. Archive collection referencing literary and artistic receptions of mythic figures including Arethusa — archiveother