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ARETHUSA

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Originally appearing in Volume V02, Page 456 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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ARETHUSA , in See also:

Greek See also:mythology, a nymph who gave her name to a See also:spring in See also:Elis and to another in the See also:island of Ortygia near See also:Syracuse. According to See also:Pausanias (v. 7. 2), See also:Alpheus, a mighty See also:hunter, was enamoured of Arethusa, one of the See also:retinue of See also:Artemis; Arethusa fled to Ortygia, where she was changed into a spring; !Alpheus, in the See also:form of a See also:river, made his way beneath the See also:sea, and See also:united his See also:waters with those of the spring. In See also:Ovid (Afetam. v. 572 See also:foil.), Arethusa, while bathing in the Alpheus, was seen and pursued by the river See also:god in human form; Artemis changed her into a spring, which, flowing underground, emerged at Ortygia. In the earlier form of the See also:legend, it is Artemis, not Arethusa, who is the See also:object of the god's affections, and escapes by smearing her See also:face with mire, so that he fails to recognize her (see L. R. Farnell, Cults of the Greek States, ii. p. 428). The probable origin of the See also:story is the See also:part traditionally taken in the See also:foundation of Syracuse by the lamidae of See also:Olympia, who identified the spring Arethusa with their own river Alpheus, and the nymph with Artemis Alpheiaia, who was worshipped at Ortygia. The subterranean passage of the Alpheus in the upper part of its course (confirmed by See also:modern explorers), and the freshness of the See also:water of Arethusa in spite of its proximity to the sea, led to the belief that it was the outlet of the river.

Further, according to See also:

Strabo (vi. p. 270), during the See also:sacrifice of oxen at Olympia the waters of Arethusa were disturbed, and a See also:cup thrown into the Alpheus would reappear in Ortygia. In See also:Virgil (See also:Eel. x. 1) Arethusa is addressed as a divinity of poetical See also:inspiration, like one of the See also:Muses, who were themselves originally See also:nymphs of springs. For Arethusa on Syracusan coins, see B. V. See also:Head, Historia Numorum, pp. 151, 155.

End of Article: ARETHUSA

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