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Cymothoe (Ancient Greek: Κυμοθόη) was one of the Haliads/Marine nymphs in Greek and Roman mythology. She was the "cerulean" Nereid of gentle and quiet waves. She was a marine-nymph daughter of the "Old Man of the Sea" Nereus and the Oceanid Doris.[1]

Mythology[]

Greek Myth[]

In Homer's Iliad, Cymothoe and her other sisters appeared to Thetis when she cries out in sympathy for the grief of Achilles for his slain friend Patroclus.

Then terribly did Achilles groan aloud, and his queenly mother heard him as she sat in the depths of the sea beside the old man her father. Thereat she uttered a shrill cry, and the goddesses thronged about her, even all the daughters of Nereus that were in the deep of the sea. There were Glauce and Thaleia and Cymodoce, Nesaea and Speio and Thoë and ox-eyed Halië, and Cymothoë and Actaeä and Limnoreia, and Melite and Iaera and Amphithoe and Agave, Doto and Proto and Pherousa and Dynamene, and Dexamene and Amphinone and Callianeira, Doris and Pynope and glorious Galatea, Nemertes and Apseudes and Callianassa, and there were Clymene and Ianeira and Ianassa, Maera and Orithyia and fair-tressed Amatheia, and other Nereids that were in the deep of the sea.

–Iliad, Homer

[1]

Achilles departure Eretria Painter CdM Paris 851

Achilles departing, the Nereid Cymothoe holding a phiale and an oinochoe, by the Eretria Painter

Roman Myth[]

When Juno ordered Aeolus to buffet the fleet of Aeneas (who, as a Trojan, was disliked by Juno), Cymothoe and Triton helped him retrieve most of his ships.

He spoke; and, while he spoke, he smooth'd the sea,

Dispell'd the darkness, and restor'd the day. Cymothoe, Triton, and the sea-green train Of beauteous nymphs, the daughters of the main, Clear from the rocks the vessels with their hands

–Aeneid, Virgil

[2]

In Valerius Flaccus' Argonautica, Cymothoe and the sea-god Glaucus rescued Helle when she fell from the golden ram.

For no storm bruises me tossed upon rocks and waves; straightway as I fell, Cymothoe and Glaucus came swift to my succour; this abode too, this realm the father of the deep himself awarded me, willing justly, and our gulf envies not Ino’s sea.

–Argonautica, Valerius Flaccus

[3]

She also appeared in the account of Quintus Smyrnaeus' Posthomerica:

Against the wise Prometheus bitter-wroth the Sea-maids were, remembering how that Zeus, moved by his prophecies, unto Peleus gave Thetis to wife, a most unwilling bride. Then cried in wrath to these Cymothoe: "O that the pestilent prophet had endured all pangs he merited, when, deep-burrowing, the eagle tare his liver aye renewed!

–Posthomerica, Quintus Smyrnaeus

[4]

References[]

This page uses content from Wikipedia. The original article was at Cymothoe (view authors). As with Myth and Folklore Wiki, the text of Wikipedia is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike License 3.0 (Unported).
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