The Oceanids were three thousand freshwater nymphs born to Oceanus and Tethys who nurtured rivers, springs, and streams across the world. Hesiod named the eldest and most honored among them in the Theogony.
In the Homeric Hymn to Demeter, a company of Oceanids was playing with Persephone in a meadow when Hades seized her. The nymphs witnessed the abduction but could not prevent it.
In Aeschylus's Prometheus Bound, the chorus of Oceanids visits the chained Prometheus out of sympathy. They refuse Hermes' command to abandon him and are swallowed into the earth alongside the Titan.
The Oceanids, three thousand freshwater nymphs, were daughters of Tethys and Oceanus. They inhabited every spring, stream, and pool across the Greek world, inheriting their nurturing nature from Tethys.
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