Galaxy/The codex of Orseis

In Greek mythology, Orseïs (Ancient Greek: Ὀρσηΐς) was a Thessalian spring-nymph (Naiad) and mythical ancestor of the Greeks. Wife of Hellen, son of Deucalion and Pyrrha, she was mother of Dorus, Xuthus, and Aeolus — founders of the Dorian, Achaean/Ionian, and Aeolian stocks. M. L. West suggested her name may be a corruption of "Othryis," a nymph of Mount Othrys.

Adapted from Wikipedia, "Orseis" · CC BY-SA 4.0

I.Family and ethnogenesis

According to Apollodorus's Library, Orseis married Hellen, son of Deucalion and Pyrrha and brother of Pandora. Their sons Dorus, Xuthus, and Aeolus — together with Hesiodic sons of Pandora by Zeus (Graecus, Magnetas, Makedon) — became founders of the seven primordial tribes of Hellas: Graecians, Magnetes, Makedones, Dorians, Achaeans, Ionians, and Aeolians.

In some accounts Xenopatra is also named a daughter of Hellen and Orseis. As a genealogical Naiad she has little independent narrative beyond this stemma that anchors Hellenic ethnē in Thessaly after the flood.

AT A GLANCE

Greek nameOrseïs (Ὀρσηΐς)
Typenymph
Domainsnymph-mother of the Hellenes · the mothering of the Greek races
Cult centersThessaly
EtymologyAncient Greek Orsēḯs (Ὀρσηΐς), from órsō / orsô, "to rouse, stir, awaken, excite, or arise." West proposed a possible corruption of Othryis.
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