Himalia
nymphA nymph of Rhodes who bore three sons to Zeus and gave her name to a moon of Jupiter.
The Myth
Himalia was a Rhodian nymph, one of the local spirits of that fertile island before it became famous for its Colossus and its laws. Zeus came to her — a pattern so familiar in Greek myth it almost passes without comment — and she bore him three sons: Spartaeus, Cronios, and Cytus. These sons were associated with the grain harvest, and Rhodes honoured them as protectors of the crops.
Little else survives of Himalia's mythology. She is one of those nymphs who exist at the edges of the literary record, mentioned by a few scholars, absent from the great epics. Rhodes had its own rich mythological tradition that did not always align with mainland Greek stories, and Himalia belonged to that local layer.
Her name experienced an unlikely revival in 1905 when the astronomer Charles Dillon Perrine discovered a small, irregular moon orbiting Jupiter and named it Himalia. At roughly 170 kilometres across, it is the largest of Jupiter's irregular satellites, a dark, potato-shaped rock tumbling through space — a strange monument to an obscure harvest nymph.
Parents
Unknown Rhodian parentage
Children
Spartaeus, Cronios, and Cytus (by Zeus)
Symbols
Fun Fact
Jupiter's sixth-largest moon, a dark irregular satellite 170 km across, is named Himalia — making this obscure Rhodian nymph the namesake of a real celestial body.
Explore Further
Rhode
nymphA sea nymph, daughter of Poseidon and Amphitrite (or Aphrodite), who gave her name to the island of...
Sparta
placeSparta was the austere military state whose warriors were the most feared in Greece — whose stand...
Zeus
godSupreme ruler of the Olympian gods and lord of the sky. Zeus overthrew his father Kronos and...
Zeus (King)
godZeus was the king of the Olympian gods, ruler of the sky, wielder of the thunderbolt — the supreme...
Zeus (Thunderer)
godThe supreme Olympian who rules gods and mortals from Mount Olympus, wielding the thunderbolt as...
Zeus Xenios
godAn epithet of Zeus as guardian of guests and the sacred law of hospitality (xenia), whose violation...
Aegina
nymphA river nymph abducted by Zeus and brought to the island that bears her name.
Arethusa
nymphArethusa was a nymph of Artemis who was pursued by the river god Alpheus and transformed into a...
Calypso (Nymph)
nymphCalypso kept Odysseus seven years. Her name means "she who conceals."
Halia
nymphA sea nymph of Rhodes who bore six sons and a daughter to Poseidon before throwing herself into the...
Adrasteia
nymphNymph who nursed the infant Zeus on Crete, later identified with divine retribution.
Aegle
nymphA nymph whose name means "radiance" — identified variously as a Hesperid, a daughter of Asclepius,...