Castalia
{{Short description|Water deity}}
{{other uses}}
{{Infobox mythical creature
|name=Castalia
|image = Castalia spring delphi.jpg
|caption = Water Ritual at Delphi
|Grouping = Legendary creature
|Sub_Grouping = Water spirit
|Country = Greece
|Region = Delphi
}}
{{Greek myth (nymph)}}
Castalia {{IPAc-en|k|ə|ˈ|s|t|eɪ|l|i|ə}} ({{langx|grc|Κασταλία|Kastalia}}), in ancient Greek and Roman literature,The spring is mentioned in Herodotus, 8.39; Pindar, Pyth. 1.39; Virgil, Georgics 3.293; Horace, Odes 3.4.61; Statius, Thebaid 1.698 and elsewhere: see Liddell, Scott, Jones Greek Lexicon s.v. {{lang|grk|Κασταλία}}; Lewis and Short, Latin Dictionary, s.v. {{lang|la|Castalia}}. was the name of a spring near Delphi, sacred to the Muses; it is also known as the Castalian Spring. It is said to have derived its name from Castalia, a naiad-nymph, daughter of the river-god Achelous,{{Cite web |title=Pausanias, Description of Greece, Phocis and Ozolian Locri, chapter 8 |url=http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0525.tlg001.perseus-eng1:10.8 |access-date=2024-12-11 |website=www.perseus.tufts.edu}} who is said to have flung herself into the spring when pursued by the god Apollo.Smith, W. (1858). Classical Dictionary, s.v. Castalia.
Mythology
In older traditions, the Castalian Spring already existed by the time Apollo came to Delphi searching for Python.Homer, Hymn to Apollo According to some, the water was a gift to Castalia from the river Cephisus.
In his commentary on Statius's Thebaid, Latin poet Lactantius Placidus says that to escape Apollo's amorous advances, Castalia transformed herself into a fountain at Delphi, at the base of Mount Parnassus, or at Mount Helicon.{{cite encyclopedia|encyclopedia=Encyclopædia Britannica|title=Castalia|url=http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/98355/Castalia}}{{Cite book |last=Lactantius Placidus |author-link=Lactantius Placidus |url=https://archive.org/details/bub_gb_fYj9nL6HlREC/page/70/mode/2up?view=theater |title=Lactantii Placidi qvi dicitvr Commentarios in Statii Thebaida it Commentarivm in Achilleida recensvit Ricardvs Jahnke |publisher=Lipsiae : in aedibvs B. G. Tevbneri |year=1898 |at=1.698 (p 71) |language=la |translator-last=Jahnke |translator-first=Richard |trans-title=Lactantius Placidus, On Statius's Thebaid |lccn=06008769 |ol=21778486M}} Castalia then became the sacred fountain of Poseidon.{{Harvnb|id=Hamilton|Hamilton|1978|p=25}}. She inspired the genius of poetry to those who drank her waters or listened to their quiet sound; the sacred water was also used to clean the Delphian temples. Apollo consecrated Castalia to the Muses (Castaliae Musae).
The 20th-century German writer Hermann Hesse used Castalia as inspiration for the name of the futuristic fictional utopia in his 1943 magnum opus The Glass Bead Game. Castalia is home to an austere order of intellectuals with a twofold mission: to run boarding schools for boys, and to nurture and play the Glass Bead Game.
See also
- Castalian Spring
- Castalia House
- 4769 Castalia, an Earth-crossing asteroid
- 646 Kastalia, an asteroid
References
{{Reflist}}
=Bibliography=
- {{cite book |last=Hamilton |first=Edith |author-link=Edith Hamilton |title=La Mythologie – ses dieux, ses héros, ses légendes |publisher=Marabout Editions |year=1978 |translator=Abeth de Beughem |isbn=978-2-501-00264-6 |language=fr}}
External links
- {{Commonscatinline|Castalia (naiad)}}
- [https://www.theoi.com/Nymphe/NympheKastalia.html CASTALIA from The Theoi Project]
{{Greek mythology (deities)|state=collapsed}}
{{Metamorphoses in Greco-Roman mythology}}
{{Authority control}}
Category:Locations in Greek mythology
Category:Metamorphoses into bodies of water in Greek mythology
{{Greek-myth-stub}}