Dione

DIONE was the Titan goddess of the oracle of Dodona in Thesprotia, and the mother of Aphrodite by Zeus. Her name is simply the feminine form of Zeus (Dios).

Dione was described as "the temple associate" of Zeus at Dodona. The three elderly prophetesses of the shrine, known collectively as the Peleiades, were probably her priestesses. These women were named "the Doves" after the sacred bird of Dione's daughter Aphrodite who also posssessed a temple at the shrine. Dione's Titaness-sisters were also oracular goddesses--Phoibe possessed Delphi, Mnemosyne Lebadeia, and Themis Delphi and Dodona.

Dione can be identified with both the Titanis Phoibe (Phoebe) and the nymphe Dodone, eponym of the shrine.

THE OKEANIDES (Oceanids) were three thousand goddess-nymphs who presided over the sources of earth's fresh-water--from rain-clouds to subterranean springs and fountains. Their numbers included the Nephelai (Cloud-Nymphs), Aurai (Breeze-Nymphs), Naiades (Spring and Fountain Nymphs), Leimonides (Pasture Nymphs), and Anthousai (Flower Nymphs). They were all daughters of the great, earth-encircling, fresh-water stream Okeanos (Oceanus) and his wife Tethys.

The eldest among them were numbered among the Titanides (female Titans)--Styx, Dione, Neda, Metis, Klymene, Eurynome, Doris, Elektra, and Pleione. These were most likely heavenly goddesses of the clouds.

Some of the Okeanides personified divine blessings such as Metis (Wisdom), Klymene (Fame), Plouto (Wealth), Tykhe (Good Fortune), Telesto (Success), and Peitho (Persuasion). The goddess Nemesis was sometimes also included in their number as one who provided balance by punishing undeserved good fortune as might arise from her sister's gifts. These Good Spirits (Daimones Agathoi) were ephemeral in nature much like the dark children of Nyx (Night), the Spirits of Harm (Daimones Kakoi).

Another group of Okeanides were handmaidens of the Olympian goddesses, the most prominent of these were the sixty Okeanis companions of Artemis, Peitho the handmaiden of Aphrodite, and Klymene the handmaiden of Hera.

The Naias-Okeanides (Naiads) were primarily nymphs of springs, wells and fountains. They were often portrayed as the wives of the Potamoi (River-Gods) and mothers of younger Naiades.

The Okeanides were occasionally described as sea-nymphs. In the late classical era the mythical, earth-encircling, fresh-water river Okeanos was increasingly equated with the briny Atlantic and Indian Oceans, and his nymph-daughters reimagined as marine deities.