Editing Nymph (section)

==Ancient Greek mythology==
[[File:John William Waterhouse - Hylas and the Nymphs.jpg|left|thumb|210x210px|In this 1896 painting of ''[[Hylas and the Nymphs (Waterhouse)|Hylas and the Nymphs]]'' by [[John William Waterhouse]], [[Hylas]] is abducted by the [[Naiad]]s, i.e. fresh water nymphs]]
Nymphs were sometimes beloved by many and 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 (god)|Pan]]) or of a goddess (generally the huntress [[Artemis]]).<ref name="Larson1997">{{Cite journal |last1=Larson|first1=Jennifer|year=1997|title=Handmaidens of Artemis?|journal=The Classical Journal|volume=92|issue=3|pages=249–257|jstor=3298110}}</ref>

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 (mythology)|Arethusa]] to Sicily. In some of the works of the Greek-educated [[Latin literature|Latin poets]], the nymphs gradually absorbed into their ranks the indigenous Italian divinities of springs and streams ([[Juturna]], [[Egeria (mythology)|Egeria]], [[Carmentis]], [[Fontus]]) while the [[Lympha]]e (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 Empire|Roman]] literate class, their sphere of influence was restricted and they appear almost exclusively as divinities of the watery element.{{citation needed|date=February 2019}}