ARETHUSA

This article appears in Volume V02, Page 456 of the Encyclopedia Britannica.

Encyclopedia Britannica - Main :: APO-ARN

ARETHUSA , in Greek mythology, a nymph who gave her name to a

spring

SPRING (from " to spring," " to leap or jump up," " burst out," O. Eng., springau, a common Teut. word, cf. Ger.
springer
- SPRINGER (Fr. rein)
- SPRINGER, ANTON HEINRICH (1825–1891)
, possibly allied to Gr. QnrFpxecOac, to move rapidly)

Elis

and to another in the

island

ISLAND (O.E. ieg =isle, +land')

of Ortygia near Syracuse. According to Pausanias (v. 7. 2),

Alpheus

ALPHEUS ('AAdseaos; mod. Ruphia)

, a mighty hunter, was enamoured of Arethusa, one of the

retinue

RETINUE (O. Fr. retenue, from retenir, Lat. retenere, hold back, retain)

of Artemis; Arethusa fled to Ortygia, where she was changed into a

spring

SPRING (from " to spring," " to leap or jump up," " burst out," O. Eng., springau, a common Teut. word, cf. Ger.
springer
- SPRINGER (Fr. rein)
- SPRINGER, ANTON HEINRICH (1825–1891)
, possibly allied to Gr. QnrFpxecOac, to move rapidly)

; !

Alpheus

ALPHEUS ('AAdseaos; mod. Ruphia)

, in the form of a river, made his way beneath the sea, and united his waters with those of the spring. In Ovid (Afetam. v. 572 foil.), Arethusa, while bathing in the Alpheus, was seen and pursued by the river god in human form; Artemis changed her into a spring, which, flowing underground, emerged at Ortygia. In the earlier form of the legend, it is Artemis, not Arethusa, who is the

object

OBJECT

of the god's affections, and escapes by smearing her face with mire, so that he fails to recognize her (see L. R. Farnell, Cults of the Greek States, ii. p. 428). The probable origin of the story is the

part

PART

traditionally taken in the

foundation

FOUNDATION (Lat. fundatio, from fundare, to found)

of Syracuse by the lamidae of Olympia, who identified the spring Arethusa with their own river Alpheus, and the nymph with Artemis Alpheiaia, who was worshipped at Ortygia. The subterranean passage of the Alpheus in the upper

part

PART

of its course (confirmed by modern explorers), and the freshness of the water of Arethusa in spite of its proximity to the sea, led to the belief that it was the outlet of the river. Further, according to Strabo (vi. p. 270), during the sacrifice of oxen at Olympia the waters of Arethusa were disturbed, and a cup thrown into the Alpheus would reappear in Ortygia. In Virgil (Eel. x. 1) Arethusa is addressed as a divinity of poetical

inspiration

INSPIRATION (Lat. inspirare, breathe upon or into)

, like one of the Muses, who were themselves originally nymphs of springs.
For Arethusa on Syracusan coins, see B. V. Head, Historia Numorum, pp. 151, 155.

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