Arethusa

nature_spirit water Ancient Greece corroborated · 9

Arethusa is Artemis's attendant who was pursued by Alpheus. Artemis pitied her and saved her, transforming her into a spring in the temple Artemis Alphaea in Letrini. The goddess and her attendants drink from this spring.

↻ synthesized from 9 sources

When

First attested
800 BCE
Attested period
-800 – 2020
Historical notes
Attested in Greek mythology from the Iron Age.

Relationships

allied with
Artemis (Diana)
enemy of
Alpheus
consort of
Alpheus
manifests as
well, spring
created by
Artemis (Diana)

Expand to full subgraph →

Sources

Source passages

“In another story, Alphaeus tries to rape Artemis's attendant Arethusa. Artemis pities the girl and saves her, transforming her into a spring in the temple Artemis Alphaea in Letrini, where the goddess and her attendants drink.”

#18620 · extracted by google/gemini-2.0-flash-001

“ Diana and Arethusa https://www.theitalianacademy.com/portfolio-posts/myth-arethusa-alpheus/”

#19807 · extracted by google/gemini-2.0-flash-001

“According to Pausanias, Alpheus was a passionate hunter and fell in love with the nymph Arethusa, but she fled from him to the island of Ortygia near Syracuse, and metamorphosed herself into a well, after which Alpheus became a river”

#42301 · extracted by google/gemini-2.0-flash-001

“Karol Szymanowski, Polish classical music composer, named "The Fountain of Arethusa" first of his three poems entitled "Myths" for violin and piano. The Saucy Arethusa is an 18th-century song about a British naval ship named after Arethusa”

#42314 · extracted by google/gemini-2.0-flash-001

“In another story, Alphaeus tries to rape Artemis's attendant Arethusa. Artemis pities the girl and saves her, transforming her into a spring.”

#43067 · extracted by deepseek/deepseek-chat