Nereïdes
(
Νηρηΐδες). The nymphs of the sea,
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Nereïd. (Pompeii.)
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daughters of
Nereus (q.v.) and Doris. They
were said to be fifty in number, though Propertius (iii. 5, 33) makes them a hundred. The best
known were Amphitrité, wife of Poseidon, Thetis, Galatea, Doto, etc. They were
originally represented as having sea-grown hair and descending into a fish-like form, like the
mermaids of later times. See Pliny,
H. N. ix. 4; and the articles
Naiades;
Nymphae;
Oceanides.