Salmacis. In Greek mythology, Salmacis was an atypical naiad who rejected the ways of the virginal Greek goddess Artemis in favour of vanity and idleness.
Her attempted rape of Hermaphroditus places her as the only nymph rapist in the Greek mythological canon. There dwelt a Nymph, not up for hunting or archery: unfit for footraces.
She the only Naiad not in Diana's band. Often her sisters would say: Pick up a javelin, or bristling quiver, and interrupt your leisure for the chase! But she would not pick up a javelin or arrows, nor trade leisure for the chase.
Instead she would bathe her beautiful limbs and tend to her hair, with her waters as a mirror; Ovid, Metamorphoses. Book IV, 306-312.
In Ovid's Metamorphoses, she becomes one with Hermaphroditus, and Hermaphroditus curses the fountain to have the same effect on others. Salmacis fountain is located near the ancient Mausoleum of Halicarnassus, and it is now a tourist attraction located in present-day Bodrum, Turkey. The waters of Salmacis fountain were said to have relaxing properties. Although excellent to drink, in classical times, it was thought to have the effect of making men effeminate and soft. Ovid creates or recounts the myth of how the fountain came to be so in the story of Hermaphroditus and Salmacis. The following passage by Vitruvius gives a different story: There is a mistaken idea that this spring infects those who drink
Her attempted rape of Hermaphroditus places her as the only nymph rapist in the Greek mythological canon. There dwelt a Nymph, not up for hunting or archery: unfit for footraces.
She the only Naiad not in Diana's band. Often her sisters would say: Pick up a javelin, or bristling quiver, and interrupt your leisure for the chase! But she would not pick up a javelin or arrows, nor trade leisure for the chase.
Instead she would bathe her beautiful limbs and tend to her hair, with her waters as a mirror; Ovid, Metamorphoses. Book IV, 306-312.
In Ovid's Metamorphoses, she becomes one with Hermaphroditus, and Hermaphroditus curses the fountain to have the same effect on others. Salmacis fountain is located near the ancient Mausoleum of Halicarnassus, and it is now a tourist attraction located in present-day Bodrum, Turkey. The waters of Salmacis fountain were said to have relaxing properties. Although excellent to drink, in classical times, it was thought to have the effect of making men effeminate and soft. Ovid creates or recounts the myth of how the fountain came to be so in the story of Hermaphroditus and Salmacis. The following passage by Vitruvius gives a different story: There is a mistaken idea that this spring infects those who drink
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