Amnisiades
{{Short description|Nymph daughters of Amnisus}}
{{Greek myth (nymph)}}
In Greek mythology, the Amnisiades ({{langx|grc|Αμνισιαδες}}) or Amnisides ({{lang|grc|Αμνισιδες}}) are nymphs of the Amnisos river in Crete.RE, s.v. Amnisiades.
Callimachus
The nymphs of the Amnisos are mentioned thrice in Callimachus's Hymn to Artemis.Petrovic, p. 249. Near the beginning of the Hymn, the goddess asks her father Zeus for twenty of the Amnisiades to be part of her retinue, alongside sixty of the Oceanids, saying that the former group would:Callimachus, Hymn to Artemis 13–17 (Stephens, pp. 109, 117).
{{poem quote|take care of my high hunting boots and, whenever I am no longer shooting at lynxes and deer, my swift hounds.}}
She then travels to Crete to pick up the Amnisiades.Petrovic, p. 249. Later in the Hymn, they are described as tending for Artemis's deer.Petrovic, p. 249; Callimachus, Hymn to Artemis 162–167 (Stephens, pp. 113, 120).
Association with Artemis
Along the Amnisos river, there exists a cave which was dedicated to the goddess Eileithyia, with her having been venerated there as early as the Mycenaean era.Vian and Delage, p. 138. According to Ivana Petrovic, is it highly likely Artemis and Eileilthyia were assimilated at this cave, or that at some point the worship of Eileithyia there was superseded by that of Artemis.Petrovic, p. 252. In Jennifer Larson's view, an identification of the two goddesses here is likely the reason for Artemis being connected with the nymphs of this river.Larson, pp. 187–188; cf. Stephens, p. 125.
Later references
Apollonius of Rhodes, following Callimachus,RE, s.v. Amnisiades. relates that among the companions of Artemis are nymphs who have come "from the very source of the Amnisus".Apollonius of Rhodes, [https://www.loebclassics.com/view/apollonius_rhodes-argonautica/2009/pb_LCL001.285.xml 3.876–882 (pp. 282–285)]. Stephanus of Byzantium also mentions the Amnisiades, calling them Naiads.Stephanus of Byzantium, Ethnica [https://archive.org/details/STEPHANUSBYZANTIUSETHNICAvol.AALPHAGAMMA2006ByMargaretheBillerbeck/page/182/mode/2up s.v. Ἀμνισός].
Notes
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References
- Apollonius Rhodius, Argonautica, edited and translated by William H. Race, Loeb Classical Library No. 1, Cambridge, Massachusetts, Harvard University Press, 2009. {{ISBN|978-0-674-99630-4}}. [https://www.loebclassics.com/view/LCL001/2009/volume.xml Harvard University Press].
- Larson, Jennifer, Greek Nymphs: Myth, Cult, Lore, Oxford University Press, 2001. {{ISBN|978-0-19-512294-7}}.
- Petrovic, Ivana, Von den Toren des Hades zu den Hallen des Olymp. Artemiskult bei Theokrit und Kallimachos, Leiden, Brill, 2007. {{ISBN|978-90-04-15154-3}}. {{DOI|10.1163/ej.9789004151543.i-319}}.
- Realencyclopädie der classischen Altertumswissenschaft, Band I, Halbband 2, Stuttgart, J. B. Metzler, 1894. [https://de.wikisource.org/wiki/Paulys_Realencyclop%C3%A4die_der_classischen_Altertumswissenschaft Wikisource].
- Stephanus of Byzantium, Stephani Byzantii Ethnica: Volumen I Alpha - Gamma, edited by Margarethe Billerbeck, in collaboration with Jan Felix Gaertner, Beatrice Wyss and Christian Zubler, De Gruyter, 2006. {{ISBN|978-3-110-17449-6}}. [https://doi.org/10.1515/9783110202816 De Gruyter]. [https://books.google.com/books?id=e2WGsl7oeEUC Google Books].
- Stephens, Susan A., Callimachus: The Hymns, Oxford University Press, 2015. {{ISBN|9780190266783}}.
- Vian, Francis, and Émile Delage, Apollonios de Rhodes: Argonautiques. Tome II: Chant III, Paris, Les Belles Lettres, 1980. {{ISBN|2251003525}}.