familiar with the worship of nymphs at cave shrines, often in company with Pan or
other deities concerned with rural life. Although most of these sanctuaries are not
archaeologically visible until the late archaic and classical periods, the concept is
already well developed in theOdyssey, which describes one such sacred cave in Ithaca:
At the head of the harbor is a long-leafed olive tree, and near it is a pleasant, shadowy
cave sacred to the nymphs called naiads. In it are stone mixing bowls and jars and there
too the bees store honey. And in the cave are long looms of stone, where the nymphs
weave sea-purple cloth, a wonder to see, and there are ever-flowing springs. There are
two doors: that toward the north wind is the way down for humans, but that toward the
south wind is holy indeed. Men do not enter by that way, but it is the path of
the immortals. (Odyssey13.102–12)Created by nature yet analogous in many ways to human dwellings, caves of the
nymphs often contain formations suggestive of furniture: beds, looms, and house-
hold vessels or bathing pools. The numerous cave shrines of Attica have been most
thoroughly investigated, but others are known in Thessaly, Crete, the Ionian islands,
Magna Graecia, and elsewhere. The few examples securely dated to the archaic period
include Saftulis cave near Sicyon, where unique examples of archaic painting on wood
were discovered in 1934. Visitors in the sixth century hungpinakesor painted tablets
in the cave to commemorate their gifts to the nymphs. One well-preservedpinax
shows a family preparing to sacrifice a sheep at a low altar; another has a triad of
women, probably the nymphs. The terracottas of pregnant women found at this cave,
while not standard offerings to the nymphs, are consistent with the general Greek
belief that nymphs aided in childbirth (Euripides,Electra626), the nurture of the
young, and girls’ transition to adulthood at the time of their wedding. Many girls
brought dolls and other toys to the nymphs when they entered adulthood, and the
nymphs were among the goddesses who might receive formal prenuptial offerings.
The wordnymphe ̄means ‘‘bride,’’ and the nymphs were always pictured as beautiful
women, the divine models for mortal brides.
The offerings at Saftulis cave began in the seventh century and included valuable
metal objects such as bronze vases and jewelry. Such lavish gifts, contrasting with the
simple, perishable offerings typical of rustic shrines, suggest that the cave attracted
visitors from the city of Sicyon or even Corinth. Yet Saftulis cave is not mentioned by
Greek writers and was probably a strictly local cult. In contrast, the Corycian cave of
the nymphs and Pan at Delphi was famous because of its location in a panhellenic
sanctuary and contained an unusual volume of cult-related deposits. Pilgrims to
Delphi brought hundreds of seashells from the Corinthian gulf as gifts for the
nymphs. The cave was also a center of divination, withastragaloior ‘‘knucklebones’’
from sheep and goats, which were cast like dice. This form of fortune-telling was
associated with Hermes, whose relationship with the Corycian nymphs is mentioned
in theHomeric Hymn(4)to Hermes(552–65).
In addition to the cave shrine, the nymphs were worshiped in other contexts, for
which Homer also supplies models. At the spring sanctuary outside the town of Ithaca,
a fountain and altar are encircled by a grove of poplars, and everyone who passes greets
the nymphs (Odyssey17.205–11). All evidence suggests that the nymphs were first and
foremost spring deities, but they came to personify many aspects of the landscape,
Nature Deities 61