PHARMAKEIA

PHARMAKEIA (Pharmaceia) was the Naiad-nymph of a poisonous spring near the river Ilissos of Athens (southern Greece). She was a playmate of the maiden Oreithyia who was abducted from her spring by the north-wind Boreas.

PARENTS

ILISSOS (Plato Phaedrus 229)

ENCYCLOPEDIA

PHARMACEIA (Pharmakeia), the nymph of a well with poisonous powers, near the river Ilissus, in Attica; she is described as a playmate of Oreithyia (Plat. Phaed. p. 229, c.; Timaeus, Ixr. Plat. s.v.).

Source: Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology.

CLASSICAL LITERATURE QUOTES

Plato, Phaedrus 229 (trans. Fowler) (Greek philosopher C4th B.C.) :
"Phaidros (Phaedrus) : I should like to know, Sokrates (Socrates), whether the place is not somewhere here at which Boreas (the North Wind) is said to have carried off Oreithyia from the banks of the Ilissos (Ilissus)? . . .
Sokrates : Oreithyia was playing with Pharmakeia (Pharmaceia), when a northern gust carried her over the neighbouring rocks; and this being the manner of her death, she was said to have been carried away by Boreas."

SOURCES

GREEK

• Plato, Phaedrus - Greek Philosophy C4th B.C.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

A complete bibliography of the translations quoted on this page.