Speio
Nereid sea nymph whose name means "of the cave," associated with the grottoes and hidden places of the sea
The Myth of Speio
Speio was numbered among the fifty Nereids by Hesiod in his Theogony, and her name derives from speos, the Greek word for cave. She personified the sea caves and underwater grottoes that dotted the coasts of the Aegean, mysterious spaces where sunlight filtered through water into hidden chambers. The Nereids were often described as dwelling in such caves — silver-floored grottoes deep beneath the waves where they sat spinning and singing. Speio represented this hidden, interior world of the ocean, the secret spaces below the surface. Ancient sailors knew these coastal caves well as shelters from storms, and they were often considered sacred to the sea nymphs.
Parents
Nereus and Doris
Symbols
Fun Fact
Her name gives us insight into how ancient Greeks imagined the Nereids' home — silver-floored sea caves beneath the waves
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