Dryad

Dryads are tree nymphs in Greek mythology. In Greek drys signifies 'oak,' from an Indo-European root *derew(o)- 'tree' or 'wood'. Thus dryads are specifically the nymphs of oak trees, though the term has come to be used for all tree nymphs in general. "Such deities are very much overshadowed by the divine figures defined through poetry and cult," Walter Burkert remarked of Greek nature deities (Burkert 1986, p174). Normally considered to be very shy creatures, except around the goddess Artemis who was known to be a friend to most nymphs.

Meliai

The dryads of ash trees were called the Meliai. The ash-tree sisters tended the infant Zeus in Rhea's Cretan cave. Rhea gave birth to the Meliai after being made fertile by the blood of castrated Ouranos. They were also sometimes associated with fruit trees.

Hamadryad

Dryads, like all nymphs, were supernaturally long-lived and tied to their homes, but some were a step beyond most nymphs. These were the hamadryads who were an integral part of their trees, such that if the tree died, the hamadryad associated with it died as well. For these reasons, dryads and the Greek gods punished any mortals who harmed trees without first propitiate the tree-nymphs.

Daphnaie

In the myth of Daphne, the nymph was pursued by Apollo and became a dryad associated with the laurel.

See also

• Kodama a similar Japanese spirit
• Ghillie Dhu a similar Scottish spirit

Literature

• Seen in John Keat's poem Ode to a Nightingale in line 7 where the bird is compared to a Dryad.
• Seen in Ben Jonson's poem To Penshurst in line 10 - "They mount, to which thy Dryads do resort."
• Referenced in Charles Williams's novel, Descent into Hell.
• Dryads are amongst the creatures who appear in C.S. Lewis's The Chronicles of Narnia.
• Ce'Nedra, a central character in David Eddings' Belgariad and Malloreon, is of dryad heritage.
• Dryads (including male dryads) briefly appear in the Discworld novel The Colour of Magic.
• Sylvia Plath uses Dryads symbolically in her poetry, for example: "On the Difficulty of Conjuring up a Dryad"
• Thomas Burnett Swann's works feature a number of dryad characters, most notably Zoe of the Minotaur Trilogy, and Mellonia of Green Phoenix and The Lady of the Bees.
• Dryads appear in The Life and Adventures of Santa Claus, though they are simply called "wood nymphs" instead of dryads.

Dance

• A Dryad Scene appears in Rudolf Nureyev's version of Don Quixote (ballet)

References

Sources

• Graves, Robert, 1960. The Greek Myths, 82.i; 86.2.
• Burkert, Walter, 1985. Greek Religion (Cambridge: Harvard University Press).

External links

• Greek Mythology Link: Nymphs.
• Hans Christian Anderson, "The Dryad", 1868 (e-text)
• Tim Hoke, "The Dryad", 2002 (e-text)