Metope
A river nymph, daughter of the river Ladon, who married the river god Asopus and bore him twenty daughters — many of whom were abducted by gods.
The Myth of Metope
Metope was a daughter of the Arcadian river Ladon and married Asopus, the great river god of Boeotia and the Peloponnese. Together they produced twenty daughters, a remarkable brood even by the prolific standards of Greek river gods. These daughters became some of the most sought-after nymphs in mythology.
Zeus took Aegina. Poseidon took Salamis, Corcyra, and several others. Apollo claimed Sinope. Nearly every major god helped himself to one of Metope's daughters, and each abducted nymph gave her name to an island or city — Aegina, Salamis, Corcyra (Corfu), Sinope, Thebe, and more. Metope and Asopus essentially populated the map of Greece through their stolen children.
Asopus tried to recover his daughters. He chased Zeus himself when Aegina was taken, only to be driven back by thunderbolts. The scars of that pursuit were said to be the coal deposits found in the river's bed. Metope, unlike her husband, had no such dramatic confrontation. She endured. She produced. Her children became the geography of Greece.
Parents
The river Ladon
Symbols
Words We Inherited
English words and phrases that trace back to this myth. See our full guide to English words from Greek mythology.
Explore Further
Creusa
🌿 nymphsprings, motherhood
A Naiad nymph of Thessaly who bore Hypseus and Stilbe to the river god Peneus.
Antiope
🌿 nymphrivers, motherhood
A nymph or princess loved by Zeus, who bore the twins Amphion and Zethus, builders of Thebes' walls.
Aegina
🌿 nymphrivers, islands
A river nymph abducted by Zeus and brought to the island that bears her name.
Stilbe
🌿 nymphrivers, light
A nymph of Thessaly, daughter of the river Peneus, who bore Centaurus and Lapithes to Apollo — thus originating both the Centaurs and the Lapiths.
Idaea
🌿 nymphmountains, springs
A nymph of Mount Ida in the Troad who became the second wife of the river god Scamander — or in other versions, of King Phineus.
Asopus
⚡ godriver, justice
River god of the Asopus in Boeotia, father of many nymphs.
Styx
🌿 nymphOceanid goddess of the oath-river
Styx was both a river and an Oceanid goddess — the first divine ally of Zeus in the Titanomachy, rewarded by having her waters become the gods' unbreakable oath.
Arethusa
🌿 nymphNymph who became a freshwater spring
Arethusa was a nymph of Artemis who was pursued by the river god Alpheus and transformed into a freshwater spring on the island of Ortygia in Syracuse.
Larissa
🌿 nymphcities, rivers
A Pelasgian nymph or princess who gave her name to the city of Larissa in Thessaly, one of Greece's oldest continuously inhabited cities.
Liriope
🌿 nymphrivers, prophecy
A river nymph who was the mother of Narcissus and the first person to consult the prophet Tiresias.
Sinope
🌿 nymphcleverness, virginity
A nymph who outwitted Zeus, Apollo, and the river god Halys by making each promise her virginity as a gift before granting her favours — then holding them to it.
Lilaea
🌿 nymphrivers, springs
A Naiad nymph of the spring that feeds the river Cephissus in Phocis, and the namesake of an ancient Greek town.