Editing Meliae (section)

==Mythology==
According to [[Hesiod]], the Meliae (probably meaning all tree-nymphs) were born from the drops of blood that fell on [[Gaia (mythology)|Gaia]] [Earth] when [[Cronus]] castrated [[Uranus (god)|Uranus]].<ref>[[Hesiod]], ''[[Theogony]]'' [http://data.perseus.org/citations/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0020.tlg001.perseus-eng1:173-206 182&ndash;187]; West, p. 221 n. 187 '''Μελίας'''; Hard, [https://books.google.com/books?id=r1Y3xZWVlnIC&pg=PA209 p. 209].</ref> In [[Hesiod]]'s ''[[Works and Days]]'', the ash trees, perhaps meaning the Melian nymphs, are said to have been the progenitors of the generation of men belonging to Hesiod's [[Ages of Man|Bronze Age]].<ref>[[Hesiod]], ''[[Works and Days]]'' [http://data.perseus.org/citations/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0020.tlg002.perseus-eng1:140-173 140&ndash;155 (Evelyn-White)]: "Zeus the Father made a third generation of mortal men, a brazen race, sprung from ash-trees [''meliai'']", here interpreting ''meliai'' as the common noun ash-trees, as did [[Eustathius of Thessalonica|Eustathius]]. However [[Proclus]] thought it meant ash-tree nymphs (see Evelyn-White's [http://data.perseus.org/citations/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0020.tlg002.perseus-eng1:140-173 note]; Larson, p. 29), cf. [[Apollonius of Rhodes]], ''[[Argonautica]]'' [https://archive.org/stream/argonautica00apoluoft#page/406/mode/2up 4.1641&ndash;1642], which makes it simply "ash-trees". According to Most, p. 19 n. 9, "It is unclear what exactly the relation is between the Melian nymphs, the ash trees with which they are closely associated, and human beings, who may have originated from one or the other of these".</ref>

The Meliae were nurses of the infant Zeus in the Cretan [[Dikti]] mountains, according to the 3rd century BC poet [[Callimachus]], ''Hymn to Zeus'', where they fed him on the milk of the goat [[Amalthea (mythology)|Amalthea]] and honey.<ref>[[Callimachus]], ''Hymn 1&mdash;To Zeus'' [https://archive.org/stream/callimachuslycop00calluoft#page/40/mode/2up 42&ndash;50].</ref>

Callimachus appears to make the [[Thebes, Greece|Theban]] nymph [[Melia (consort of Apollo)|Melia]], who was, by [[Apollo]], the mother of [[Tenerus (son of Apollo)|Tenerus]] and  [[Ismenus]], one of the "earth-born" Meliae.<ref>[[Callimachus]], ''Hymn 4—To Delos'' [https://archive.org/stream/callimachuslycop00calluoft#page/90/mode/2up 79–85]; [[Hesiod]], ''[[Theogony]]'' [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Hes.+Th.+187 187]; Larson, p. 142.</ref> Elsewhere, however, this Melia is an [[Oceanid]], one of the many daughters of [[Oceanus]] and [[Tethys (mythology)|Tethys]].<ref>[[Pindar]], ''Paean 9'' fr. 52k 38–46; [[Pausanias (geographer)|Pausanias]], [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Paus.+9.10.5 9.10.5], [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Paus.+9.10.6 6], [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Paus.+9.26.1 9.26.1]; Larson, pp. 40&ndash;41, 142.</ref> The mythographer [[Bibliotheca (Pseudo-Apollodorus)|Apollodorus]] wrote that centaur Pholus's parents were [[Silenus]] and one of the Meliae,<ref>[[Bibliotheca (Pseudo-Apollodorus)|Apollodorus]], [http://data.perseus.org/citations/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0548.tlg001.perseus-eng1:2.5.4 2.5.4]; Gantz, pp. 139, 392.</ref> thus differentiating him genealogically from the other centaurs.