Nephele
A cloud nymph shaped by Zeus to resemble Hera, who became the mother of the centaurs.
The Myth of Nephele
When the mortal king Ixion lusted after Hera, Zeus decided to test him. He shaped a cloud into the exact likeness of Hera and placed this phantom — Nephele — where Ixion would find her. Ixion, unable to tell cloud from goddess, lay with Nephele, proving his guilt. Zeus punished him by binding him to a fiery wheel that spins through the sky for eternity.
But Nephele was not merely a trap. She had become real enough to conceive. She bore a child — Centaurus — who grew to be a wild, deformed creature that mated with the mares of Mount Pelion. Their offspring were the centaurs, those half-human, half-horse beings who would become some of Greek mythology's most memorable figures: the wise Chiron, the drunken brawlers at the Lapith wedding, the tragic Nessus.
Nephele appears again in a separate myth as the first wife of King Athamas, mother of Phrixus and Helle. When Athamas's second wife tried to have her children killed, Nephele sent the golden ram that carried them to safety — Phrixus to Colchis, where the ram's fleece became the Golden Fleece that Jason later sought.
Parents
Created by Zeus from cloud
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
Philyra
🌿 nymphhealing, nature
An Oceanid nymph who bore the centaur Chiron after Kronos mated with her in the form of a horse.
Coronis
🌿 nymphlove, betrayal
A Thessalian nymph or princess beloved by Apollo, whose infidelity led to the birth of Asclepius, god of medicine.
Callisto
🌿 nymphNymph transformed into the Great Bear
Callisto was a companion of Artemis who was seduced by Zeus and transformed into a bear — placed in the sky as Ursa Major, the Great Bear constellation.
Thetis
🌿 nymphSea nymph mother of Achilles
Thetis was a sea nymph so powerful that both Zeus and Poseidon desired her — until a prophecy warned her son would surpass his father.
Autonoe
🌿 nymphnature, grief
A Nereid and, in separate traditions, a daughter of Cadmus who witnessed the death of her son Actaeon.
Penelope
🌿 nymphnature, pastoral
A mountain nymph of Arcadia who, in one tradition, was the mother of Pan by Hermes — distinct from Odysseus's famous wife.
Clymene
🌿 nymphfame, ocean
Oceanid nymph and mother of Phaethon and the Heliades.
Thetis
🌿 nymphSea nymph whose son's fate drove the Iliad
Thetis was the Nereid whose son was destined to surpass his father — a prophecy so threatening that Zeus and Poseidon married her off to a mortal.
Perseis
🌿 nymphWitchcraft, sun
Oceanid nymph and mother of the sorceress Circe and King Aeetes of Colchis
Eurynome
🌿 nymphthe sea, creation
An Oceanid who, in Pelasgian creation myth, was the goddess of all things and danced the world into being.
Perse
🌿 nymphthe sea, sorcery
An Oceanid nymph who married the sun god Helios and bore him Circe, Pasiphae, and Aeetes — a family of legendary sorcerers.
Galatea
🌿 nymphSea nymph loved by a Cyclops
Galatea was a Nereid loved by the Cyclops Polyphemus — but she loved the mortal Acis.