Melissa
Melissa is a nymph who raised the infant Zeus alongside Amalthea according to the late-1st-century BC writer Didymus. She is described as a daughter of Melisseus who fed Zeus honey and goat's milk.
↻ synthesized from 4 sources
When
- First attested
- 800 BCE
- Attested period
- -800 – 2020
- Historical notes
- Appears in account by late 1st century BC writer Didymus as nurse of Zeus.
Relationships
- co occurs with
- Night, Ah Muzen Cab, Aristaeus, Austėja, Bubilas, Colel Cab, Mellona, Actaeon, Muses, Cadmus, Autonoë, Cyrene, Cheiron, Peneus, Zeus Icmaeus, Laphria, Lecho, Leukophryene, Limnaia, Limnatis, Lochia, Lousia, Lyaia, Lyceia, Lycoatis, Lygodesma, Molpadia, Munichia, Mysia, Zeus, Hera, Cronus, Oceanus, Rhea, Kouretes, Adrasteia, Ida
- allied with
- Amalthea
- child of
- Melisseus
Mentioned by
Sources
- peer reviewed
Source passages
“the infant Zeus is raised by the nymphs Amalthea and Melissa, the daughters of Melisseus, who feed him honey and the milk of a goat”
#8981 · extracted by anthropic/claude-sonnet-4.5
“Melissa -- Ancient Greek/Minoan goddess of bees.”
#30270 · extracted by google/gemini-2.0-flash-001
“Melissa, bee or beauty of nature, as a moon goddess. In Neoplatonic philosophy melissa is any pure being of souls coming to birth. The goddess took suffering away from mothers giving birth. It was Melissa who drew souls coming to birth.”
#42983 · extracted by google/gemini-2.0-flash-001
“the child was at first handed over to the care of the Hours, or the nymph Melissa and the centaur Cheiron”
#44488 · extracted by openai/gpt-oss-20b:free