The Nereids: From Fifty Sea-Daughters to the Village Neraides
Hesiod named fifty daughters of the Old Man of the Sea. Many centuries later, Greek villagers still spoke, carefully, of Neraides who danced by springs and shores at midnight.
Myth log
Every myth we have charted
Stories from the ancient sources, each read against the sky that framed it. Choose a region of the sky to narrow the log: wanderers, monsters, gods, night watchers or village lore.
6 myths charted
Penelope: The Weaver Who Outwaited the Night
Penelope unpicked her weaving by torchlight, dreamed of an eagle among her geese and tested her husband with a secret only the two of them knew. Her best work was done at night.
Scylla and Charybdis: Through the Strait by Night
Ovid’s Scylla was a nymph until Circe poisoned her pool. Homer’s Odysseus passed her twice, the second time after a whole night drifting back toward the whirlpool.
Circe, Daughter of the Sun
Circe was born into the household of Helios, sister to a king of Colchis and aunt to Medea. Homer gives her a wand, a cup and one herb she could not defeat.
Polyphemus and the Cyclopes: Smiths, Masons and a Lovesick Shepherd
Before Polyphemus ate Odysseus’ men, Cyclopes forged Zeus’s thunder and raised walls no mortal could lift. After him, poets sat the giant on a rock to sing for Galatea.
The Sirens and the Stars Odysseus Steered By
Circe warned Odysseus about the Sirens on a beach at night, and Homer’s hero crossed open water by the Bear and the Pleiades. This is the song set against his sky.