Ephyra (mythology)

In Greek mythology, Ephyra (Ancient Greek: Ἐφύρα, romanized: Ephýra, lit. "nymph") or Ephyre may refer to two different deities:

• Ephyra, one of the 3,000 Oceanids, water-nymph daughters of the Titans Oceanus^[1] and his sister-wife Tethys.^[2] Otherwise, she was called the daughter^[3] or wife^[4][5] of the Titan Epimetheus. Ephyra was the first to dwell in the land of Ephyrae, which was later called Corinth.^[6] In some accounts, her father was called Myrmex.^{[citation needed]} Ephyra was sometimes attributed to be the mother of Aeetes by Helios.^[7]
• Ephyre, one of the 50 Nereids, sea-nymph daughters of the "Old Man of the Sea" Nereus and the Oceanid Doris.^[8][2] She was in the train of Cyrene along with her sister Opis, Deiopea and Arethusa.^[9] This Ephyra may be the same to the above Oceanid.^[10]

Popular Culture

• In the game, Hades II (the sequel to Hades), "Ephyra" is the name of a City-state (a Polis) sacred to Hades & Persephone (parents of the Protagonist, Melinoë), having been founded near an known entrance to the Underworld--now overrun by the Titan of Time, Chronos's, forces (making it a Necropolis). Possibly referring to modern-day Cranon, known as "Ephyra" back then. Here, the 'Helpful-Hand' character for Melinoë while on her quest is her fellow sorceress, Lady Medea, stationed up in Ephyra prior by Lady Hecate to be her eyes and ears there.

Notes

1. Hyginus, Fabulae 275; Scholiast on Apollonius of Rhodes as cited in Simonides, fr. 596
2. Bane, Theresa (2013). Encyclopedia of Fairies in World Folklore and Mythology. McFarland, Incorporated, Publishers. p. 127. ISBN 9780786471119.
3. Scholiast on Apollonius of Rhodes, 4.1212
4. Scholiast on Apollonius of Rhodes, 4.1212 as cited in Simonides, fr. 596
5. Eumelus, fr. 1 Fowler (Fowler 2013, p. 13)
6. Pausanias, 2.1.1 with Eumelus in his Korinthian History as the authority
7. Epimenides in scholia on Apollonius Rhodius, 3.242
8. Hyginus, Fabulae Preface
9. Virgil, Georgics 4.343
10. This was definitely a misinterpretation of Hyginus in Virgil's Georgics 4.343 which suggests that Ephyra was a naiad, more likely an Oceanides, rather than a Nereid.

References

• Fowler, Robert L., Early Greek Mythography. Volume 2: Commentary. Oxford University Press. 2013.
• Gaius Julius Hyginus, Fabulae 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.
• 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.
• Publius Vergilius Maro, Bucolics, Aeneid, and Georgics of Vergil. J. B. Greenough. Boston. Ginn & Co. 1900. Online version at the Perseus Digital Library.