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Meliae, a MythSource painting
Greek

Meliae

The Ash-Tree Nymphs · Daughters of Uranus · Blood-Born Nymphs

01Identity

Meliae in Greek tradition

Drops of blood from Uranus’s wound gave rise to the Meliae after Cronus attacked him. They are ash-tree nymphs, also called the Daughters of Uranus and the Blood-Born Nymphs. Their origin and association with ash wood distinguish them from the Roman Dryads named as their counterparts. They are also linked with the ash-born human race and the Bronze Race.

Top questions

The quick answers

  • Who are the Meliae?

    Meliae is a Greek being associated with ash trees, woodland nymphs, the ash-born human race, the Bronze Race.
    Source

    Source

    • Encyclopedia of Celtic Mythology and Folklore
    • Greek Myths & Tales
    • The Greek Myths
    • The Library of Greek Mythology (Oxford World's Classics)
    • Dictionary of Mythology
    • Essential Visual History of World Mythology
    • Classical Mythology a to Z

  • What is Meliae associated with?

    ash trees, woodland nymphs, the ash-born human race, the Bronze Race
    Source

    Source

    • Encyclopedia of Celtic Mythology and Folklore
    • Greek Myths & Tales
    • The Greek Myths
    • The Library of Greek Mythology (Oxford World's Classics)
02The names

The names Meliae answers to

Meliai

Greek plural form meaning ash-tree nymphs

SourceDictionary of Mythology

Ash-Tree Nymphs

Nymphs associated with the ash tree

SourceGreek Myths & Tales

Daughters of Uranus

Daughters born from Uranus's blood

SourceEssential Visual History of World Mythology

Blood-Born Nymphs

Nymphs generated from drops of Uranus's blood

SourceClassical Mythology a to Z

03The myths

The myths of Meliae

2 myths, each traced to its primary text and corpus sources.

The Birth of the Meliae

Cronus waited while Uranus approached Gaia to lie with her. Gaia had made a sharp flint sickle and given it to her youngest Titan son. Uranus had forced the Hundred-Handers and Cyclopes into Tartarus, a dark place in the Underworld, and Gaia had suffered because of it. She urged the Titans to oppose their father. Cronus alone agreed to attack him in the telling in which he acted without help.

When Uranus came upon Gaia, Cronus struck him with the sickle and castrated him. He seized the severed organs with his left hand and threw them, together with the sickle, into the sea by Cape Drepanum. Blood poured from Uranus' wound. The drops fell upon Gaia, the Earth, and she conceived from them.

Gaia bore the Three Erinyes, or Furies, from the blood. They avenged parricide and perjury. Their names were Alecto, Tisiphone, and Megaera. The Meliae, nymphs of the ash tree, also sprang from the blood. In one telling, the Giants came from the same drops as well. Another said that Gaia would bear the Giants later.

The severed organs produced white foam in the sea, and Aphrodite emerged from it in one telling. Another account said that the severed organs played no part in Aphrodite's birth. The blood from Uranus' wound remained the source of the Meliae.

The Birth of the Meliae, a MythSource painting of the scene

In the modern world

No modern rework confirmed yet.

3 sources· checked 2026-08-19

  1. 1The Greek MythsT1
  2. 2Apollodorus, The LibraryT1

    Quote

    “Blood from Uranus’s wound fell upon Gaia and produced the Meliae and the Erinyes, with the Giants also born from it in some accounts.”

    Apollodorus, The Library

  3. 3The Library of Greek Mythology (Oxford World's Classics)T1

The Meliae Nurse Zeus

Cronus swallowed each child born to Rhea because Mother Earth and his dying father Uranus had foretold that one of his sons would dethrone him. When Zeus was born, Rhea hid him from Cronus. In one telling, he was born at dead of night on Mount Lycaeum in Arcadia. Rhea bathed him in the River Neda and gave him to Mother Earth. She carried him to Lyctos in Crete and hid him in the cave of Dicte on the Aegean Hill. In another telling, the Melian nymphs carried him to a cave on Mount Ida.

Mother Earth left Zeus with the ash-tree nymphs Adrasteia and Io, who were sisters and daughters of Melisseus. In another telling, the nymphs were Adrasteia and Ida. The goat-nymph Amaltheia nursed him. Zeus drank her milk and ate honey. Bees also fed him. Goat-Pan stayed with him as his foster-brother. The nymphs cared for the infant while Cronus remained unaware that his son lived.

The Curetes, who were Rhea’s priests, concealed Zeus’s cries. They screamed, clashed their weapons, danced fiercely, and sang war songs. The noise stopped Cronus from hearing the baby. In another telling, the Curetes were armed companions who clashed their weapons to drive away evil spirits during sacred rites. Zeus stayed safe until he grew strong enough to challenge Cronus.

Zeus remembered the care given to him. When he became Lord of the Universe, he placed Amaltheia’s image among the stars as Capricorn.

The Meliae Nurse Zeus, a MythSource painting of the scene

In the modern world

No modern rework confirmed yet.

3 sources· checked 2026-08-19

  1. 1The Greek MythsT1
  2. 2the ancient sourcesT1

    Quote

    “Mother Earth entrusted Zeus to the ash-tree nymphs Adrasteia and Io, while Amaltheia nursed him and the Curetes concealed his cries with their weapons.”

    the ancient sources

  3. 3Greek Myths & TalesT1

Also appears in

The myths across MythSource where Meliae features, each on that figure’s page.

The film

The Underdrawing video on Meliae embeds here once it publishes.