Oceanids
The Oceanids included Metis, Styx, Doris — nymphs of all fresh waters.
The Myth of Oceanids
The Oceanids, three thousand daughters of Oceanus and Tethys, personified every spring, stream, and cloud. Styx, the most powerful, swore her household to Zeus in the Titanomachy and became the river of unbreakable oaths. Clymene bore Prometheus and Atlas to Iapetus. Calypso held Odysseus on Ogygia. Metis, first wife of Zeus, conceived Athena before Zeus swallowed her on Gaia's advice. Doris bore the fifty Nereids. Eurynome bore the Graces. The Oceanids thus mothered much of the divine and heroic world, linking the primal Titan generation to the Olympians who ruled from Olympus.
Parents
Oceanus and Tethys
Children
Many divine figures
Symbols
Fun Fact
The word "ocean" derives from Oceanus, their father.
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
Metope
🌿 nymphrivers, motherhood
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.
Nereids
🌿 nymphFifty sea nymphs
The fifty Nereids were daughters of Nereus — benevolent spirits of the calm sea who aided sailors and rode dolphins.
Polydora
🌿 nymphGenerosity, abundance
Oceanid nymph whose name means many gifts and who embodied bountiful waters
Meliboea
🌿 nymphnature, grief
A nymph (or mortal woman) who survived the massacre of Niobe's children and was preserved by her extreme pallor of terror.
Creusa
🌿 nymphsprings, motherhood
A Naiad nymph of Thessaly who bore Hypseus and Stilbe to the river god Peneus.
Asia
🌿 nymphLand, territory
Oceanid nymph whose name was given to the continent of Asia
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.
Antiope
🌿 nymphrivers, motherhood
A nymph or princess loved by Zeus, who bore the twins Amphion and Zethus, builders of Thebes' walls.
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.
Calliope
🌿 nymphMuse of epic poetry
Calliope was the chief of the nine Muses, presiding over epic poetry — she inspired Homer and was the mother of Orpheus.
Eurynome
🌿 nymphthe sea, creation
An Oceanid who, in Pelasgian creation myth, was the goddess of all things and danced the world into being.
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.