Nereids- Greek GroupCollective"Daughters of Nereus"

Daughters of the Deep

The Nereids were the fifty daughters of Nereus, the Old Man of the Sea, and the Oceanid Doris. Hesiod catalogs their names, each an aspect of the sea — Galene for calm water, Cymothoe for the swell. They dwelt in their father's palace on the ocean floor. When storms rose, they calmed the waves and steered ships to safety.

They attended Poseidon's court and accompanied his chariot across the waves. Amphitrite became Poseidon's queen. Thetis, mother of Achilles, drew the whole sisterhood into grief when she learned her son would die young — Homer catalogs them emerging from the waves, wailing, surrounding their sister as the silver sea echoed their lament. In the Argonautica, Thetis and the Nereids guided the Argo through the passage between Scylla and Charybdis, lifting the ship over the rocks like women tossing a ball between them.

The Insult of Cassiopeia

Queen Cassiopeia of Ethiopia boasted that her daughter Andromeda surpassed the Nereids in beauty. The sea nymphs, outraged at the mortal presumption, appealed to Poseidon for vengeance. He sent a flood and the sea monster Cetus to ravage the Ethiopian coast. The oracle at Ammon declared that only Andromeda's sacrifice could end the devastation, and she was chained to a sea rock as an offering to the beast. Perseus killed Cetus and freed her.

The Nereids received worship at coastal shrines throughout the Greek world, particularly from sailors and fishermen who depended on calm seas. Pausanias records sanctuaries and offerings made to them along the shores of the Peloponnese.