Doris (mythology)

Doris riding a hippocamp and carrying two torches to light the wedding cortege of Poseidon and Amphitrite, base of a sculpted group, end 2nd century BC, Munich Glyptothek museum (Inv. 239).

Doris (/ˈdoʊrɪs/; Δωρίς "bounty"), an Oceanid, was a sea nymph in Greek mythology, whose name represented the bounty of the sea. She was the daughter of Oceanus and Tethys and the wife of Nereus. She was also aunt to Atlas, the titan who was made to carry the sky upon his shoulders, whose mother Clymene was a sister of Doris. Doris was mother to Nerites and the fifty Nereids, including Thetis, who was the mother of Achilles, and Amphitrite, Poseidon's wife, and mother of Triton.

Doris when not associated with a god, was considered the fertility of the ocean, goddess of the rich fishing-grounds found at the mouths of rivers where fresh water mingled with the brine. Being an Okeanide meant she was a sister of the Rivers. Her name is connected with two words: Dôron meaning "gift" or "abundance," and Zôros meaning the "pure" and "unmixed." Zôros was often used to describe fresh water or in terms of the teachings of the day, the pure soul of a woman, and from this derived words such as zôrua "the transference of running water" and zôrux "water conduit."

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