Neaera (consort of Helios)

This article is about the consort of Helios. For other mythological figures, see Neaera (mythology).

In Greek mythology, Neaera (/niˈɪərə/; Ancient Greek: Νέαιρα, Néaira), also Neaira (/niˈaɪrə/), is the name of a minor goddess, a lover of Helios the god of the sun and the mother by him of twins Phaethusa and Lampetia.^[1][2]

Mythology

In the Odyssey, Circe informs Odysseus that after Neaera bore and nursed her daughters, she sent them to the island of Thrinacia, the island where Helios kept his sacred cows, to tend to the flocks of their father.^[3] Homer calls her "divine" without giving her any parentage; Hesychius of Alexandria wrote that 'Neaera' is the name of an Oceanid nymph, though it is not clear whether this Neaera is the same person.^[4]

Neaera's name, roughly meaning "younger", relates to Helios, as do the names of their daughters, since the sun is new and young each morning, adding to the symbolism of the Oxen of the Sun episode.^[5]

See also

• Rhodos
• Perse
• Clymene

Notes

1. Smith, s.v. Neaira 1
2. John Tzetzes, Chiliades 4.362
3. Homer, Odyssey 12.127–137, "They do not breed, nor do they become fewer in number, and they are tended by the goddesses Phaethusa and Lampetia, who are children of the sun-god Hyperion by Neaera. Their mother when she had borne them and had done suckling them sent them to the Thrinacian island, which was a long way off, to live there and look after their father's flocks and herds".
4. Hesychius of Alexandria s. v. Νέαιρα
5. W. Walter Merry, James Riddell, D. B. Monro, Commentary on the Odyssey, 12.132

References

• Hesychius of Alexandria, Alphabetical Collection of All Words: Vol. I (alpha through delta).
• Homer; The Odyssey with an English Translation by A.T. Murray, PH.D. in two volumes. Cambridge, MA., Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann, Ltd. 1919. Online version at the Perseus Digital Library.
• John Tzetzes, Chiliades, books II-IV translated by Gary Berkowitz.
• Smith, William; Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology, London (1873).

External links

• NEAERA from The Theoi Project