Monday 21 January 2008

The Naiades Pool


The Naiades Pool

If you take the path down the side of the hill opposite the Alpha Hotel heading towards the Monastery, you come to the remains of the old Alpha CafĂ©. By the river there is the place the women used to wash their clothes; the same place the Holy Fathers used to gather to pray. According to local legend it’s also the only place on the river that’s inhabited by the Naiades; the spirits of the river. It’s been said for at least 300 years that that the Naiades would appear there at midnight and if you saw them and spoke to them they would steal your voice. It was enough just to say one word to them and they would take your voice away forever.


The Naiades were the nymphs of freshwater streams rivers and lakes, but were not limited to these water courses. Many Naiades could be found prancing around with Artemis, who chose 20 Naiades from Amnisus for companions. They were the daughters of rivergods. They had extremely long lifetimes, but they were not considered immortal, and were believed to have sat in on the Gods discussions on Olympus. There were 5 types of Naiades:

· Pegaiai, the Nymphs of Springs
· Krinaia, the Nymphs of Fountains
· Potameides, the Nymphs of Rivers and Streams
· Limnades or Limnatides, the Nymphs of Lakes
· Eleionomai, the Nymphs of Marshes

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