Cyane
nymphA Sicilian water nymph who tried to stop Hades from abducting Persephone and dissolved into her own spring from grief.
The Myth
Cyane was a Naiad who presided over a spring and pool near Syracuse in Sicily. She was present on that terrible day when Hades burst through the earth in his black chariot, seized Persephone, and began dragging her to the Underworld. Cyane rose from her waters and physically blocked his path, spreading her arms across the pool and telling the god he could not take the girl by force.
Hades was not interested in negotiation. He hurled his royal sceptre into the depths of Cyane's pool, opening a passage directly to his underground realm, and plunged through with Persephone. Cyane, powerless and devastated, wept. She wept so long and so completely that her body dissolved — flesh becoming water, bones becoming the bed of the spring, hair becoming waterweeds. She literally became her own grief.
When Demeter searched the world for her missing daughter, it was Cyane's pool that offered the first clue. Persephone's belt floated to the surface, placed there by the dissolved nymph who could no longer speak but could still bear witness.
Parents
Unknown river god
Children
None
Symbols
Fun Fact
The colour cyan takes its name from this nymph — kyanos was the Greek word for the dark blue of deep water, and Cyane was its spirit.
Words We Inherited
English words and phrases that trace back to this myth:
Explore Further
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Demeter
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Demeter (Grain Mother)
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Demeter (Grain)
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Demeter Thesmophoros
godAn epithet of Demeter as bringer of divine law and civilised customs, honoured at the Thesmophoria,...
Hades
godRuler of the underworld and lord of the dead. Despite his fearsome reputation, Hades was not evil —...
Hades (God)
godHades was the lord of the underworld who received the dead — feared but not evil, wealthy from...
Hades (Unseen One)
godThe ruler of the Underworld who received the dead, guarded by Cerberus and feared so deeply that...
Persephone
godDaughter of Demeter and queen of the underworld. Her annual return from Hades brings spring; her...
Syracuse (Colony)
placeThe wealthiest Greek colony in Sicily, founded by Corinthians and home to Archimedes, connected to...
Underworld
placeThe Underworld was the vast subterranean realm where all mortal souls went after death — a...
Persephone (Queen Below)
godThe daughter of Demeter who became queen of the dead — the goddess who bridges the living world and...