3. iVym2)hs afforests, yroves, and glens were believed sometimes to appear to and frighten solitary travellers. They are designated by the names 'AXaifioeQ, 'YXijiopoi, AvXoji'idcec, and NaTrnTai (Apollon. Khod. i, lOGG, 1227; Orpheus, //ym?«. 50, 7 ; Theocritus, xiii, 44; Ovid, Met. XV, 490 ; Virgil, Georg. iv, 535).
4. Xymphs of trees were believed to die together with the trees which had been their abode, and with whicli they had come into existence. They were called Apvdcic, 'AfiaSpvacic or 'AdpvdStc, which signifies not only an oak, but any wild-growing tree; for the nymphs of fruit-trees were called MijXicic, MyXidStc, 'ETTii^ajXicec, or 'AfiafDjXi^tc. They seem to be of Arcadian origin, and never appear together with any of the great gods (Pausan. viii, 4, 2; Apollon. Rhod. ii, 477, etc. ; Anton, lib. 31, 32 ; Homer, Hymn, in Ven. 259, etc.).
The second class of nymphs, who were connected with certain races or localities (Apollon. Rhod. ii, 504), usually have a name derived from the places with which they arc associated, as Nyciades, Dodonides, Lemniaj (Ovid, Fast, iii, 7G9; Met. v. 412; ix, G51 ; ApoUod. iii, 4, 83; Schol. Ad Find. 01. xiii, 74).
The sacrilices generally offered to nymiihs consisted of goats, lambs, milk, and oil, but never of wine (The- ocrit. v, 12, 53, 139, 149; Serv. Ad Virg. Georg. iv, 380; Fclog. V, 74). They wore worshipped and honored with sanctuaries in many parts of Greece, especially near springs, groves, and grottoes, as, for example, near a spring at Cyrtone (Pausan. ix, 24, 4) ; in Attica (i, 31, 2) ; at Olympia (v, 15, 4; vi, 22, 4); at Mcgara (i, 40, I); between Sycon and Phlius (ii, 11, 3), and other places. Nymphs are represented in works of art as beautiful maidens, either ijuitc naked or only half cov-
ered. Later poets sometimes describe them as having sea-colored hair (Ovid, Met. v, 432). — Smith, Diet, of Greek and Earn. Mythol. and Biog. s. v.
Nymphaeum was the name of a fountain of water placed in the atrium of a church, in which the people were accustomed to wash their hands and fixces before they entered. It was variously called Kpijvr], (j>idXr), (ppinp, (coXvjU^fioj', XiovTapiov, olymjihcnum, etc. Ro- manists labor hard to prove that the practice of s[)rink- ling with holy water at the entrance of the church is derived from that which was considered, by the earlier Christians, as a symbol of purittcation. But at its in- troduction it was recognised as a Grecian rite, and is to be traced, with the greater number of papal ceremonies, to heathenism. — Farrar, Eccles. Diet. s. v.
Nymphagogue (I'l'/Li^aywyof) is a title of the at- tendant of the bridegroom among the Greeks (and Romans). It was his duty to accompany the parties to the marriage; to act as sponsor for them in their vows; to assist in the marriage ceremonies; to accom- pany the parties to the house of the bridegroom ; and to preside over and direct the festivities of the occasion. See Marriage.
Nym'phas (Nir^^ag ; Vulg. Nymphas), a wealthy and zealous Christian in Laodicea (Col. iv, 15). A.D. 57. His house was used as a place of assemblj' for the Christians; and hence Grotius, making an extraordi- narily high estimate of the probable number of Chris- tians in Laodicea, infers that he must have lived in a rural district ; nor is there any good reason for the sup- position of Chrj'sostom that tlie Churcli consisted solely of the family of Nj'mphas (comp. Rom. xvi, 5 ; 1 Cor. xvi, 19; Philem. 2).
In the Vatican MS. (B) this name is taken for that of a woman (uuti'ic) ; and the reading appears in some Latin writers, as pseudo-Ambrose, pseudo-Anselm, and has been adopted in Lachmann's N. T. The common reading, however (^avrov), is found in most MSS., and is the only one known to the Greek fathers. The Alex- andrian and Sinaitic jMSS. (A and X), and that of Eph- raem Syrus (C), do not determine the sex (avrwi'). The difficulty presented by the plural in the text is easily explained by referring it to Nymphas and his family (co7istructio ad sensum), or avrwv may refer to the ctSeXtpol. — Smith; Kitto.
Nymphidianus (SviKpiSiavug') of Smyrna, a Neo- Platonist, lived in the time of the emperor Julian, and was a brother of Maximus and Claudianus. Tiie em- peror Julian, who was greatly attached to Maximus, made Nimphidianus his interpreter and Greek secretary, though he was more fit to write declamations and dis- putations than letters. He survived his brother Jlaxi- mus, and died at an advanced age (Eunapius, 17/. >Sopfi. p, 137), — Smith, Diet, of Greek and Eom. Mythol. and Biog. s. v.
Nymphoeum, Council of (Concilium Xymphoe- ense'), an ecclesiastical council of some importance, was held in April, 1234, under the emperor John, who was then at Nymphojum. In 1233 Gregory IX had sent four legates to Germanus, the patriarch of Constantino- ple, in order, if possible, to effect a union between the churches. The legates, who did not arrive before the beginning of the year 1234, were received with much honor, deputies from the emperor and the patriarch meeting tliem on the road. They first held a disputa- tion with the Greeks at Nica?a, after which they pro- ceeded to Constantinople to abide the issue of a confer- ence between the four Oriental patriarchs. They were then invited to a conference at Nymphceum, where a discussion was again opened upon the two sul)jccts of the procession of the Holy Spirit and the use of un- leavened bread in the lioly eucharist. The legates insisted that the words '-filio que" were used rather in explanation than as an addition, showing both from Holy Scripture and the writings of the fathers that