MELIA

MELIA was the Naiad-nymph of the spring or fountain of the main town of the Aegean island of Keos (Ceos). She was loved by the god Apollon and bore him Keos, the eponymous king of the island.

Melia's name was derived from the Greek word meli "honey-sweet", an adjective often applied to the waters of a spring.

PARENTS

Presumably KEPHISOS like the other NYMPHAI KORYKIAI

OFFSPRING

KEOS (by Apollon) (Callimachus Aitia Frag 3.1)

CLASSICAL LITERATURE QUOTES

Callimachus, Aitia Fragment 3.1 (from Oxyrhynchus Papyri 7) (trans. Trypanis) (Greek poet C3rd B.C.) :
"This we heard from old Xenomedes, who once enshrined all the island [the island of Keos (Ceos)] in a mythological history : beginning with the tale of how it was inhabited by the Nymphai Korykiai (Corycian Nymphs) whom a great lion drave from Parnassos (Parnassus) : wherefore also they called it Hydrussa . . . Keos (Ceos), son of Phoibos (Phoebus) [Apollon] and Melia, caused it [the island of Hydrussa] to take another name [Keos]."

SOURCES

GREEK

• Callimachus, Fragments - Greek Poetry C3rd B.C.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

A complete bibliography of the translations quoted on this page.