KEPHISIDES
Greek Name
Νυμφαι Κεφισιδες
Ναιαδες Κεφισιδες
Transliteration
Nymphai Kephisides
Naiades Kephisides
Latin Spelling
Nymphae Cephisides
Naïdes Cephisides
Translation
Nymphs of Cephisus
Naiads of Cephisus
THE KEPHISIDES (Cephisides) were the Naiad-nymphs of the river Kephisos (Cephisus) in Boiotia (central Greece). They were loved by the giant Orion and bore him fifty sons.
PARENTS
KEPHISOS (Corinna Frag 655, Ovid Metamorphoses 3.350)
OFFSPRING
50x SONS (by Orion) (Corinna Frag 655)
CLASSICAL LITERATURE QUOTES
Pindar, Pythian Ode 12 str 4 (trans. Conway) (Greek lyric C5th B.C.) :
"The Kharites' (Charites') city, home of lovely dances [Orkhomenos (Orchomenus)], where the Nymphe, daughter of Kephissos (Cephisus), has her precinct."
Corinna, Fragment 655 (trans. Campbell, Vol. Greek Lyric IV) (C5th B.C.) :
"Women of Tanagra . . . often I adorned [with songs] our ancestor [the river] Kephisos (Cephisus) with my words, often great Orion and the fifty sons of high strength whom he fathered by intercourse with the fair Nymphai (Nymphs) [i.e. the Naiad-daughters of Kephisos]."
Ovid, Metamorphoses 3. 505 ff (trans. Melville) (Roman epic C1st B.C. to C1st A.D.) :
"On the green grass he [Narcissus son of Cephisus] drooped his weary head, and those bright eyes that loved their master's beauty closed in death . . . His sister Naides (Naiads) wailed and sheared their locks in mourning for their brother; the Dryades too wailed and sad Echo wailed in answering woe. And then the brandished torches, bier and pyre were ready--but no body anywhere; and in its stead they found a flower--behold, white petals clustered round a cup of gold!"
SOURCES
GREEK
- Pindar, Odes - Greek Lyric C5th B.C.
- Greek Lyric IV Corinna, Fragments - Greek Lyric C5th B.C.
ROMAN
- Ovid, Metamorphoses - Latin Epic C1st B.C. - C1st A.D.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
A complete bibliography of the translations quoted on this page.