Oread
In Greek mythology, an Oread (/ˈɔːriˌæd, ˈɔːriəd/; Ancient Greek: Ὀρειάς, romanized: Oreiás, stem Ὀρειάδ-, Oreiád-, Latin: Oreas/Oread-, from ὄρος, 'mountain'; French: Oréade) or Orestiad (/ɔːˈrɛstiˌæd, -iəd/; Ὀρεστιάδες, Orestiádes) is a mountain nymph. Oreads differ from each other according to their dwelling: the Idaeae were from Mount Ida, Peliades from Mount Pelion, etc. Myths associated the Oreads with Artemis, since the goddess, when she went out hunting, preferred mountains and rocky precipices.

| Greek deities series |
|---|
| Nymphs |
The generic term "oread" itself appears to be Hellenistic (first attested in the Epitaph of Adonis (Greek: Ἐπιτάφιος Ἀδώνιδος) of Bion of Smyrna, fl. c. 100 BCE) and thus post-Classical.[1]
List of Oreads
The number of Oreads includes but is not limited to:
| Name | Location | Relations and Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Britomartis | Mount Dicte, Crete | daughter of Carme and Zeus[2] |
| Chelone | Mount Khelydorea, Arcadia | changed by Hermes into a tortoise[3] |
| Claea | Mount Calathion, Messenia | [4] |
| Cyllene | Mount Cyllene, Arcadia | [5] |
| Daphnis | Mount Parnassos | [6] |
| Echo | Mount Cithaeron, Boeotia | loved Narcissus[7] and loved by Pan[8] |
| Eidothea | Mount Othrys, Malis | mother of Cerambus by Eusiros[9] |
| The Idaeae | Mount Ida, Crete | [10] |
| • Adrasteia | ||
| • Cynosura | ||
| • Helike | ||
| • Ida | ||
| Nomia | Mount Nomia, Arcadia | a friend of Callisto[11] |
| Oenone | Mount Ida, Troad | daughter of the river-god Cebren and first wife of Paris[12] |
| Othreis | Mount Othrys, Malis | mother of Meliteus by Zeus and Phager by Apollo[13] |
| Penelope | Mount Cyllene, Arcadia | mother of Pan by Hermes[14] |
| Phigalia | Phigalia, Arcadia | eponym of the town of Phigalia |
| Pitys | loved by Pan[15] | |
| Sinoe | Mount Sinoe, Arcadia | nurse of Pan[16] |
| Sose | loved by Hermes | |
| The Sphragitides or Cithaeronides | Mount Cithaeron, Boeotia | [17] |
Honours
- Oread Institute, a former women's college in Worcester, Massachusetts
- Mount Oread in Lawrence, Kansas, named after the institute by settlers from Worcester
- Oread Lake in Antarctica
Notes
- Henry George Liddell, Robert Scott, A Greek-English Lexicon s.v. text at Perseus project
- Diodorus Siculus, 5.76.3
- Servius ad Virgil, Aeneid 1.509
- Pausanias, 3.26.11
- Apollodorus, 3.8.1
- Pausanias, 10.5.5
- Aristophanes, Thesmophoriazusae 970
- Britannica, The Editors of Encyclopaedia, "Echo"
- Antoninus Liberalis, 22; Ovid, Metamorphoses 7.353–356
- Apollodorus, 1.4.5; Hyginus, De Astronomica 2.2
- Pausanias, 8.38.0
- Apollodorus, 3.12.6
- Antoninus Liberalis, 13
- The Homeric Hymns: Hymn to Pan; Nonnus, 24.87 ff.; Hyginus, 224
- Propertius, Elegies 1.18
- Pausanias, 8.30.2
- Plutarch, Life of Aristides 11. 3; Pausanias, 9.3.9
References
- Antoninus Liberalis, The Metamorphoses of Antoninus Liberalis translated by Francis Celoria (Routledge 1992). Online version at the Topos Text Project.
- Apollodorus, The Library with an English Translation by Sir James George Frazer, F.B.A., F.R.S. in 2 Volumes, Cambridge, MA, Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann Ltd. 1921. ISBN 0-674-99135-4. Online version at the Perseus Digital Library. Greek text available from the same website.
- Aristophanes, Thesmophoriazusae in The Complete Greek Drama, vol. 2. Eugene O'Neill, Jr. New York. Random House. 1938. Online version at the Perseus Digital Library.
- Britannica, The Editors of Encyclopaedia, "Echo." Encyclopedia Britannica. Accessed 18 May 2022.
- Diodorus Siculus, The Library of History translated by Charles Henry Oldfather. Twelve volumes. Loeb Classical Library. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press; London: William Heinemann, Ltd. 1989. Vol. 3. Books 4.59–8. Online version at Bill Thayer's Web Site
- Diodorus Siculus, Bibliotheca Historica. Vol 1-2. Immanel Bekker. Ludwig Dindorf. Friedrich Vogel. in aedibus B. G. Teubneri. Leipzig. 1888-1890. Greek text available at the Perseus Digital Library.
- Gaius Julius Hyginus, Astronomica from The Myths of Hyginus translated and edited by Mary Grant. University of Kansas Publications in Humanistic Studies. Online version at the Topos Text Project.
- Liddell, Henry George, Robert Scott, A Greek-English Lexicon, revised and augmented throughout by Sir Henry Stuart Jones with the assistance of Roderick McKenzie, Clarendon Press Oxford, 1940. Online version at the Perseus Digital Library.
- Maurus Servius Honoratus, In Vergilii carmina comentarii. Servii Grammatici qui feruntur in Vergilii carmina commentarii; recensuerunt Georgius Thilo et Hermannus Hagen. Georgius Thilo. Leipzig. B. G. Teubner. 1881. Online version at the Perseus Digital Library.
- Pausanias, Description of Greece with an English Translation by W.H.S. Jones, Litt.D., and H.A. Ormerod, M.A., in 4 Volumes. Cambridge, MA, Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann Ltd. 1918. ISBN 0-674-99328-4. Online version at the Perseus Digital Library
- Pausanias, Graeciae Descriptio. 3 vols. Leipzig, Teubner. 1903. Greek text available at the Perseus Digital Library.
- Plutarch. Lives, Volume II: Themistocles and Camillus. Aristides and Cato Major. Cimon and Lucullus. Translated by Bernadotte Perrin. Loeb Classical Library No. 47. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press, 1914. ISBN 978-0-674-99053-1. Online version at Harvard University Press. Aristides at the Perseus Digital Library.
- Propertius, Elegies Edited and translated by G. P. Goold. Loeb Classical Library 18. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press, 1990. Online version at Harvard University Press.