'' by
John William Waterhouse,
Hylas is abducted by the
Naiads, i.e. fresh water nymphs Nymphs often dwelt in specific areas related to the natural environment: e.g. mountainous regions; forests; springs. Other nymphs were part of the
retinue of a god (such as
Dionysus,
Hermes, or
Pan) or of a goddess (generally the huntress
Artemis). The Greek nymphs were also spirits invariably bound to places, not unlike the Latin
genius loci, and sometimes this produced complicated myths like the cult of
Arethusa to Sicily. In some of the works of the Greek-educated
Latin poets, the nymphs gradually absorbed into their ranks the indigenous Italian divinities of springs and streams (
Juturna,
Egeria,
Carmentis,
Fontus) while the
Lymphae (originally Lumpae), Italian water goddesses, owing to the accidental similarity of their names, could be identified with the Greek Nymphae. The classical mythologies of the Roman poets were unlikely to have affected the rites and cults of individual nymphs venerated by country people in the springs and clefts of
Latium. Among the
Roman literate class, their sphere of influence was restricted and they appear almost exclusively as divinities of the watery element. == Greek folk religion ==