Ida (nurse of Zeus)

For other uses, see Ida (mythology).
Greek deities
series
Water deities
Water nymphs

In Greek mythology, Ida or Ide (Ancient Greek: Ἴδη, Idē, 'wooded mountain'[1]) was one of the nurses of the infant Zeus on Crete.[2]

Mythology

According to Apollodorus, Rhea gave the infant Zeus to the nymphs Adrasteia and Ida, daughters of Melisseus, to nurse, and they fed Zeus on the milk of the goat Amalthea.[3] According to Hyginus, Ida and Adrasteia (along with Amalthea) were daughters of Oceanus, whom "others say they were the daughters of Melisseus".[4] She was associated with the Cretan Mount Ida.

According to the second-century geographer Pausanias, Ida was represented on the altar of Athena Alea at Tegea.[5] Ida was one of eight nymphs on either side of the central figures of Rhea and the nymph Oenoe holding the infant Zeus. On one side were Glauce, Neda, Theisoa and Anthracia, and on the other Ida, Hagno, Alcinoe and Phrixa.

According to Diodorus Siculus, Zeus rewarded Ida and Adrasteia by turning them into the constellations of Ursa Major and Ursa Minor.[6]

Notes

  1. ^ Graves, p. 43.
  2. ^ Grimal, s.v. Ida, p. 227; Tripp, s.v. Ida, p. 315; Gantz, pp. 2, 743; Hard, p. 75.
  3. ^ Apollodorus, 1.1.6–7. Compare with Orphic fragments 105, 151 Kern.
  4. ^ Hyginus, Fabulae 182 (Smith and Trzaskoma, pp. 158, 191, endnote to 182)
  5. ^ Larson, p. 153; Pausanias, 8.47.2–3
  6. ^ Diodorus Siculus, 4.80.1

References

  • Apollodorus, Apollodorus, The Library, with an English Translation by Sir James George Frazer, F.B.A., F.R.S. in 2 Volumes. Cambridge, MA, Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann Ltd. 1921. Online version at the Perseus Digital Library.
  • Diodorus Siculus, Library of History, Volume III: Books 4.59-8, translated by C. H. Oldfather, Loeb Classical Library No. 340. Cambridge, Massachusetts, Harvard University Press, 1939. ISBN 978-0-674-99375-4. Online version at Harvard University Press. Online version by Bill Thayer. Online version at ToposText.
  • Gantz, Timothy, Early Greek Myth: A Guide to Literary and Artistic Sources, Johns Hopkins University Press, 1996, Two volumes: ISBN 978-0-8018-5360-9 (Vol. 1), ISBN 978-0-8018-5362-3 (Vol. 2).
  • Grimal, Pierre, The Dictionary of Classical Mythology, Wiley-Blackwell, 1996, ISBN 9780631201021.
  • Graves, Robert, The Greek Myths: The Complete and Definitive Edition. Penguin Books Limited. 2017. ISBN 978-0-241-98338-6, 024198338X
  • Hard, Robin, The Routledge Handbook of Greek Mythology: Based on H.J. Rose's "Handbook of Greek Mythology", Psychology Press, 2004, ISBN 9780415186360.
  • Hyginus, Gaius Julius, Fabulae in Apollodorus' Library and Hyginus' Fabulae: Two Handbooks of Greek Mythology, Translated, with Introductions by R. Scott Smith and Stephen M. Trzaskoma, Hackett Publishing Company, 2007. ISBN 978-0-87220-821-6.
  • Larson, Jennifer, "Greek Nymphs : Myth, Cult, Lore", Oxford University Press (US). June 2001. ISBN 9780195122947.
  • Kern, Otto. Orphicorum Fragmenta, Berlin, 1922. Internet Archive
  • Pausanias, Pausanias Description of Greece with an English Translation by W.H.S. Jones, Litt.D., and H.A. Ormerod, M.A., in 4 Volumes. Cambridge, MA, Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann Ltd. 1918. Online version at the Perseus Digital Library.
  • Tripp, Edward, Crowell's Handbook of Classical Mythology, Thomas Y. Crowell Co; First edition (June 1970). ISBN 069022608X.