All nymphs
Greek · Naiad
Arethusa
Arethusa is a nymph transformed into a spring, especially associated with Ortygia near Syracuse. Her myth links pursuit, water, and underground passage.
Story shape
Flight through water
Pursued by the river god Alpheus, Arethusa is changed by Artemis and escapes as water. In later imagination, her spring in Sicily connects mysteriously with Alpheus across the sea. The myth makes water a route of refusal and survival.
Arethusa is a perfect Nymphine subject: place, story, and element are almost impossible to separate.
Tradition boundary
Greek nymphs are minor divinities tied to animate landscape: groves, springs, caves, mountains, and sea foam.