Minos
Mythological king of Crete
In Greek mythology, Minos (; , ]) was a king of Crete, son of Zeus and Europa. Every nine years, he made King Aegeus pick seven young boys and seven young girls to be sent to Daedalus's creation, the labyrinth, to be eaten by the Minotaur. After his death, King Minos became a judge of the dead in the underworld alongside Rhadamanthus and Aeacus.
Archeologist Sir Arthur Evans used King Minos as the namesake for the Minoan civilization of Crete. The Minoan palace at Knossos is sometimes referred to as the "Palace of Minos" though there is no evidence that Minos was a real person.
Literary Minos.
Minos appears in Greek literature as the king of Knossos as early as Homer's "Iliad" and "Odyssey". Thucydides tells us Minos was the most ancient man known to build a navy. He reigned over Crete and the islands of the Aegean Sea three generations before the Trojan War. He lived at Knossos for nine years, where he received instruction from Zeus in the legislation he gave to the island. He was the author of the Cretan constitution and the founder of its naval supremacy.
On the Athenian stage, Minos was one who had strong character, but was also a cruel tyrant. When Asterius died, Minos was boasting to himself that he deserved the rule while shunning the gods. According to Homer, Minos conversed with Zeus every nine years, for educational purposes. Being the only one who received lessons from Zeus made Minos receive great praise. However, he was the heartless exactor of the tribute of Athenian youths to feed to the Minotaur, in revenge for the death of his son Androgeus during a riot (see Theseus). While Minos had stern character and was the law of the land, he was also cruel; this made Minos one who was respected but also greatly feared.
Later rationalization.
To reconcile the contradictory aspects of his character, as well as to explain how Minos governed Crete over a period spanning so many generations, two kings by the name of Minos were assumed by later poets and rationalizing mythologists, such as Diodorus Siculus and Plutarch - "putting aside the mythological element", as he claims - in his life of Theseus.
According to this view, the first King Minos was the son of Zeus and Europa and the brother of Rhadamanthys and Sarpedon. This was the 'good' king Minos, and he was held in such esteem by the Olympian gods that, after he died, he was made one of the three "Judges of the Dead", alongside his brother Rhadamanthys and half-brother Aeacus. The wife of this "Minos I" was said to be Itone (daughter of Lyktos) or Crete (a nymph or daughter of his stepfather Asterion), and he had a single son named Lycastus, his successor as King of Crete.
Lycastus had a son named Minos, after his grandfather, born by Lycastus' wife, Ida, daughter of Corybas. "Minos II"—the "bad" king Minos—is the son of this Lycastus, and was a far more colorful character than his father and grandfather. This is the Minos in the myths of Theseus, Pasiphaë, the Minotaur, Daedalus, Glaucus, and Nisus. Unlike Minos I, Minos II fathered numerous children, including Androgeus, Catreus, Deucalion, Ariadne, Phaedra, and Glaucus—all born to him by his wife, Pasiphaë. Through Deucalion, he was the grandfather of King Idomeneus, who led the Cretans to the Trojan War.
Family.
By his wife, Pasiphaë (or some say Crete), the daughter of the Sun (Helios), and mother of the Minotaur, he fathered Ariadne, Androgeus, Deucalion, Phaedra, Glaucus, Catreus, Acacallis, and Xenodice. By a nymph, Pareia, he had four sons, Eurymedon, Nephalion, Chryses, and Philolaus, whom Heracles killed in revenge for the murder of the latter's two companions. By Dexithea, one of the Telchines, he had a son called Euxanthius. By Androgeneia of Phaistos, he had Asterion, who commanded the Cretan contingent in the war between Dionysus and the Indians. Also given as his children are Euryale, possibly the mother of Orion with Poseidon, and Pholegander, eponym of the island Pholegandros. Minos, along with his brothers, Rhadamanthys and Sarpedon, was raised by King Asterion (or Asterius) of Crete. When Asterion died, his throne was claimed by Minos, who, according to some sources, banished his brothers.
Mythological Minos.
Asterion, king of Crete, adopted the three sons of Zeus and Europa: Minos, Sarpedon, and Rhadamanthus. According to the "Odyssey" (Book XIX l. 203, as interpreted by Plato in "Laws" 624), Minos consulted with Zeus every nine years. He got his laws straight from Zeus himself. When Minos' son Androgeos won the Panathenaic Games, the king, Aegeus, sent him to Marathon to fight a bull, resulting in the death of Androgeos. Outraged, Minos went to Athens to avenge his son, and on the way, he camped at Megara, where Nisos lived. Learning that Nisos' strength came from his hair, Minos gained the love of Scylla and her aid in cutting off her father's hair so that he could conquer the city. After his triumph, he punished Scylla for her treachery against her father by tying her to a boat and dragging her until she drowned. On arriving in Attica, he asked Zeus to punish the city, and the god struck it with plague and hunger. An oracle told the Athenians to meet any of Minos' demands if they wanted to escape the punishment. Minos then asked Athens to send seven boys and seven girls to Crete every nine years to be sacrificed to the Minotaur (the offspring from the zoophilic encounter of Minos' wife Pasiphaë with the Cretan Bull that the king refused to surrender to Poseidon) which he had placed within a labyrinth he commanded his architect Daedalus to build. The Minotaur was defeated by the hero Theseus with the help of Minos' daughter Ariadne.
Glaucus.
Glaucus was playing with a ball or mouse and suddenly disappeared one day. The Curetes told the Cretans, "A marvelous creature has been born amongst you: whoever finds the true likeness of this creature will also find the child."
Three times a day, the calf changed color from white to red to black. Polyidus of Argos observed the similarity to the ripening of the fruit of the mulberry plant, and Minos sent him to find Glaucus.
Searching for the boy, Polyidus saw an owl driving bees away from a wine cellar in Minos' palace. Inside the wine cellar was a cask of honey, with Glaucus dead inside. Minos demanded Glaucus be brought back to life, though Polyidus objected. Minos ordered Polyidus to be entombed with the body. When a snake appeared nearby, Polyidus killed it immediately. Another snake came for the first, and after seeing its mate dead, the second serpent left and brought back an herb, bringing the first snake back to life. Following this example, Polyidus used the same herb to resurrect Glaucus.
Minos refused to let Polyidus leave Crete until he taught Glaucus the art of divination. Polyidus did so, but then, at the last moment before leaving, he asked Glaucus to spit in his mouth. Glaucus did so and forgot everything he had been taught.
Poseidon, Daedalus and Pasiphaë.
Minos justified his accession as king and prayed to Poseidon for a sign. Poseidon sent a giant white bull out of the sea. Minos was committed to sacrificing the bull to Poseidon but then decided to substitute a different bull. Poseidon cursed Pasiphaë, Minos' wife, in rage, with a mad passion for the bull. Daedalus built her a wooden cow, which she hid inside. The bull mated with the wooden cow, and Pasiphaë was impregnated by the bull, giving birth to a horrible monster, again named Asterius, the Minotaur, half-man half bull. Daedalus then built a complicated "chamber that with its tangled windings perplexed the outward way" called the Labyrinth, and Minos put the Minotaur in it. To make sure no one would ever know the secret of who the Minotaur was and how to get out of the Labyrinth (Daedalus knew both of these things), Minos imprisoned Daedalus and his son, Icarus, along with the monster. Daedalus and Icarus flew away on wings Daedalus invented, but Icarus' wings melted because he flew too close to the sun. Icarus fell into the sea and drowned.
Theseus.
Minos' son Androgeus won every game in a contest hosted by Aegeas of Athens. Alternatively, the other contestants were jealous of Androgeus and killed him. Minos was angry and declared war on Athens. He offered the Athenians peace if they sent Minos seven young men and seven virgin maidens to feed the Minotaur yearly (which corresponded directly to the Minoans' meticulous records of lunar alignments – a full moon falls on the equinoxes once every eight years). This continued until Theseus killed the Minotaur with the help of Ariadne, Minos' lovestruck daughter.
Nisus.
Minos was also part of the King Nisus story. Nisus was King of Megara and was invincible as long as a lock of crimson hair still existed, hidden in his white hair. Minos attacked Megara, but Nisus knew he could not be beaten because he still had his lock of crimson hair. His daughter, Scylla, fell in love with Minos and proved it by cutting the crimson hair off her father's head. Nisus died, and Megara fell to Crete. Minos spurned Scylla for disobeying her father. She was changed into a shearer bird, relentlessly pursued by her father, who was a falcon.
Death.
Minos searched for Daedalus by traveling from city to city, asking a riddle; he presented a spiral seashell and asked for it to be strung all the way through. When he reached Camicus, Sicily, King Cocalus, knowing Daedalus would be able to solve the riddle, fetched the old man. He tied the string to an ant, which walked through the seashell, stringing it all the way through. Minos then knew Daedalus was in the court of King Cocalus and demanded he be handed over. Cocalus managed to convince him to take a bath first; then Cocalus' daughters and Daedalus, with Minos trapped in the tub, scalded him to death with boiling water.
After his death, Minos became a judge of the dead in Hades together with his half-brother Aeacus and his full-brother Rhadamanthus. Rhadamanthus judged the souls of Asians, Aeacus judged Europeans, and Minos had the deciding vote.
Minos in art.
On Cretan coins, Minos is represented as bearded, wearing a diadem, curly-haired, haughty, and dignified, like the traditional portraits of his reputed father, Zeus. He frequently occurs on painted vases and sarcophagus bas-reliefs, with Aeacus and Rhadamanthus as underworld judges and in connection with the Minotaur and Theseus.
In Michelangelo's famous fresco, "The Last Judgment" (located in the Sistine Chapel), Minos appears as a judge of the underworld, surrounded by a crowd of devils. With his tail coiled around him and two donkey ears (symbol of stupidity), Minos judges the damned as they are brought down to hell (see "Inferno", Second Circle).
In poetry.
In the "Aeneid" of Virgil, Minos was the judge of those who had been given the death penalty on a false charge - Minos sits with a huge urn and decides whether a soul should go to Elysium or Tartarus with the help of a silent jury. Radamanthus, his brother, is a judge at Tartarus who decides upon suitable punishments for sinners there.
In Dante Alighieri's "Divine Comedy" story "Inferno", Minos is depicted as having a snake-like tail. He sits at the entrance to the second circle in the "Inferno", which is the beginning of Hell proper. There, he judges the sins of each soul and assigns it to its appropriate punishment by indicating the circle to which it must descend. He does this by circling his tail around his body the appropriate number of times. He can also speak to clarify the soul's location within the circle indicated by the wrapping of his tail.
Astronomy.
Minor planet 6239 Minos is named after Minos. Its orbit being relatively close to Earth's, it is deemed as a potentially hazardous asteroid.
Notes.
<templatestyles src="Reflist/styles.css" />

Nephalion
In Greek mythology, Nephalion (Ancient Greek: Νηφαλίωνα) was one of the four sons of Minos, who lived on the Greek island of Paros. Nephalion and his brothers Eurymedon, Khryses, and Philolaus rebelled against Herakles and murdered two sailors from one of his vessels that had washed up ashore on the rocks of Paros.
References.
Sources
Citations
<templatestyles src="Reflist/styles.css" />

Nephus (mythology)
Figure in Greek mythology
In Greek mythology, Nephus () was the Thespian son of Heracles and Praxithea, daughter of King Thespius of Thespiae.
Mythology.
Nephus and his 49 half-brothers were born of Thespius' daughters who were impregnated by Heracles in one night, for a week or in the course of 50 days while hunting for the Cithaeronian lion. Later on, the hero sent a message to Thespius to keep seven of these sons and send three of them in Thebes while the remaining forty, joined by Iolaus, were dispatched to the island of Sardinia to found a colony.

Nephi, son of Lehi
Book of Mormon prophet
Nephi () is one of the central figures described in the Book of Mormon. In the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, he is described as the son of Lehi, a prophet, and the founder of the Nephite people. The Book of Mormon also describes him as the author of its first two books, First and Second Nephi.
In the narrative, Nephi's family flees Jerusalem as commanded by God but returns twice. The first time, Lehi's sons return to retrieve the brass plates from a man named Laban. After two unsuccessful attempts to get the plates, Nephi, prompted by the Holy Spirit, kills Laban and receives the plates after disguising himself as Laban. The next time they return, the brothers convince Ishmael's family to join them. Both times Nephi's life is threatened by two of his older brothers, Laman and Lemuel.
After spending eight years in the wilderness, the family reaches the land Bountiful, where Nephi builds a ship under the direction of God. As the family voyages across the sea, Laman and Lemuel rebel, tying Nephi when he admonishes them about their behavior. A storm pushes them back on their journey, and eventually Laman and Lemuel untie him. Some time after their arrival in the Promised Land, Laman and Lemuel once again try to kill Nephi and he flees with several members of the family. Now safe, Nephi becomes a leader over his people and builds a prosperous community. Nephi is the subject of religious scholarship and various creative authorial works.
Background and family.
According to the Book of Mormon, Nephi is the fourth of six sons of Lehi and Sariah. Nephi and his family live in Jerusalem, circa 600 BC, during the reign of King Zedekiah, who is initiated as king under the direction of Nebuchadnezzar. They live there until Lehi is commanded by God to take his family and flee into the wilderness. Before their flight, Nephi's father Lehi prophesies of the impending destruction and captivity of Jerusalem by the armies of Babylon, an event mentioned in the Bible several times.
Family tree.
Nephi also mentions having sisters, though he does not give their names or birth orders. Little is known about Nephi's children. Religious scholar Grant Hardy suggests that all of Nephi's children may have been daughters at the time of passing on the record, or that his sons were influenced by Laman and Lemuel; his speculations are based on the fact that Nephi says he has children yet passes the record on to his brother Jacob.
Narrative.
In the narrative of the Book of Nephi, Nephi and his family leave Jerusalem around 600 B.C., travel to the Red Sea, and journey three days farther into the wilderness, stopping in a valley by a river near the Red Sea. Lehi then sends four sons (Laman, Lemuel, Sam, and Nephi) back to Jerusalem to get the brass plates. After successfully obtaining them, they are commanded to return to Jerusalem a second time to bring Ishmael's family.
Returning to Jerusalem.
A powerful man named Laban, who is a kinsman to Lehi, possesses the brass plates, a record kept by the Jews which contains their laws, customs, history, and lineage. Nephi and his brothers attempt three times to get them from Laban. First, they send Laman, whom Laban accuses of theft and sends servants to kill when he asks for the plates. Nephi convinces his brothers to try buying the plates using their abandoned wealth; Laban refuses the offer, though he keeps the goods, and sends his servants to kill them. After running away, the brothers hide in a cave, where Laman and Lemuel beat Nephi and Sam. An angel appears and stops them. Nephi returns a third time to make a final attempt to get the plates. When Nephi finds Laban drunk and passed out in the street, the Lord commands him to kill Laban—an idea Nephi struggles with. The Spirit tells him that it is better for "one man to perish than for an entire nation to dwindle and perish in unbelief." Nephi follows through with the command and then dresses himself in Laban's clothing and armor. He returns to Laban's house and orders Zoram, one of Laban's servants, to bring him the brass plates. When he leads Zoram back to his brothers, they think that Nephi is Laban and turn to flee; Nephi calls out to them. Realizing that Nephi is not Laban, Zoram turns to run, but Nephi stops him. He commands him to join them as an act of self-preservation, to which Zoram consents.
Sometime after they obtain the brass plates, the Lord tells Lehi to send his sons back to Jerusalem so they can convince Ishmael’s family to join them. This allows Lehi’s sons to marry, as Ishmael is father to five daughters. They succeed and return to the wilderness. During the journey, Laman and Lemuel as well as members of Ishmael’s family defy Nephi, three of Ishmael’s daughters, and Ishmael and his wife. They want to go back to Jerusalem. When Nephi warns them that they will be destroyed if they do so, they tie him up, planning to leave him behind on their journey. Nephi's bonds are loosed by the Lord when he prays for help. Laman and Lemuel want to tie him again, but eventually give in to the pleas of mercy from Ishmael's family.
Nephi and his family spend eight years in the wilderness, facing many hardships. At one point Nephi's bow breaks, making it difficult to obtain food. While the rest of the family complains, Nephi sets forth to make a new bow and prays to God for help.
Building the ship and voyage.
Finally, in the land of Bountiful, God commands Nephi to build a ship and sail to the Promised Land. However, Laman and Lemuel do not think he should build it. They try to throw Nephi into the depths of the sea; however, Nephi commands them not to, warning them that they will be smitten by the power of God if they touch him. In response, Laman and Lemuel try worshipping Nephi, but he commands them to stop. Meanwhile, the Spirit protects Nephi.
Partway through the voyage over sea, Laman, Lemuel, and some of Ishmael's family participate in irreverent revelry. Nephi asks them to stop, but in their anger they tie him up. The Liahona stops working and they are significantly delayed in their journey until the brothers finally untie him. This done, Nephi prays to God and the storm calms down.
Life in the Promised Land.
Not long after arriving in the Promised Land, Lehi dies, leaving the leadership of the colony in Nephi's hands. His brothers Laman and Lemuel rebel shortly thereafter, and the colony splits into two. Nephi's followers name themselves "Nephites" while the others are dubbed "Lamanites." The Nephites separate into the wilderness, where they begin building in the land of Nephi. Within twenty-one years of arriving in the Promised Land, Nephi's people construct a temple. Nephi teaches his people artisan skills, including but not limited to wood and metal work. Under Nephi's leadership, the Nephite civilization prospers despite occasional war with the Lamanites. According to the Book of Mormon, Nephi is revered by his people. Upon his death, Jacob is entrusted with keeping the records of the Book of Mormon.
Nephi's vision.
After his father receives a Vision of the Tree of Life, Nephi receives a similar vision and records it in detail, including an interpretation of each element of the dream. Nephi also sees and records details of the birth, life, and crucifixion of Jesus Christ. An angel also shows him similar things to those found in the vision of John the Revelator.
Latter-day Saint interpretation.
Obtaining the brass plates.
Anthropologist Steven L. Olsen points out that the journey to possess the brass plates is the first instance in which Nephi is portrayed as a leader of his brothers. Additionally, Olsen points out that deliverance and remembering are themes that show up in Nephi's account. In fact, the concept of deliverance is one factor in Nephi's contemplation of killing Laban. Writing about this contemplation, R. John Williams, who is an assistant professor of English at Yale, concludes that while Nephi's internal struggle is very personal, his rationalization of killing Laban appears to be more unemotional. According to Hardy, Nephi's difficult decision demonstrates the value of the brass plates to his family. Robert L. Millet explains that the brass plates serve as a link between the Nephites and their predecessors. The content of the plates gives the people a connection to their ancestors, culture, and religious beliefs.
Further, healthcare technologist Ben McGuire identifies what he calls "thematic parallels" between Nephi's slaying of Laban and David's killing of Goliath; among the parallels are confrontation with an intimidating foe, fear of the foe, and slaughter of the foe. Author Elizabeth Fenton, on the other hand, compares Nephi and Laban to David and Saul, pointing out that Nephi killed Laban but David did not kill Saul, while both were encouraged to kill said enemies.
The ship.
The design for Nephi's ship is divine, which theme is common in various Biblical stories, says legal editor Alan Goff. He points out that Nephi wants to make it clear that he is following a divine pattern. On another note, Riess compares Nephi's calming of the water to Jesus' calming of the storm in the New Testament, pointing out that while Jesus used his own power, Nephi prayed.
Visions.
Like others, during his visions Nephi is often taken by the Spirit into a mountain. Brent Farley, who is the former manager of Church Educational System College Curriculum within the LDS church, explains in a devotional-type article that this transportation by the Spirit to a mountain typically occurs in religious records when a temple is unavailable to worship in.
Nephi as a narrator.
Though Nephi begins his narrative with a basic genealogy, he eventually shifts from a familial to a national focus. Nevertheless, he is conscious of his posterity as he writes. Nephi desires that his record should be filled with religious things. Hardy proposes that Nephi portrays Laman and Lemuel in a negative light in order to solidify his purpose of showing the Lord’s deliverance. Nephi rarely talks about Laman and Lemuel individually, and hardly mentions Sam—possibly an attempt to greater emphasize Laman and Lemuel. Robert A. Rees agrees concerning Nephi's rhetorical purposes, stating that Nephi is deliberately shaping the reading experience. He argues that Nephi brings his first-person biases into the narrative, making it difficult for his readers to have an impartial perspective. In Claudia L. Bushman's view, Nephi emphasizes different aspects of the narrative more than others, which impacts the reader experience. According to Hardy, however, Nephi’s motives are not only religious but also political. Latter-day Saint lawyer Nathan B. Oman explains that legal issues are woven into Nephi's narrative, especially those that concern his brothers.
Fenton argues that Nephi did not write the Book of Mormon for the Nephites, as implied by his inclusion of his dream about their destruction. Nephi was well-versed in Jewish scripture and could read and write in Egyptian. His teaching style has been described as "frank, direct, and even blunt." At the same time, Rees suggests that Nephi may have drawn inspiration for his writing style from passages found in the brass plates. Allusions to the Exodus are deliberate throughout Nephi's record, Michael Austin explains. Hardy notes several parallels between Nephi and Joseph: both are younger, favored sons whose older brothers resent him and attempt to murder him. Both escape death and later save their families from starvation. Contrasting the stories, Hardy finds that Joseph's story has more emotional range, whereas Nephi's narrative is limited to his "one-sided narrative." Bushman also notices that Nephi relies very little on the experiences of the other members of his travel party.
Writing in in 1969, Robert E. Nichols noticed similarities between Nephi and a writing style from the heroic age. As evidence, Nichols draws parallels between the narrative's emphasis on Nephi's strength and manly skills and Beowulf's great strength and skills in "Beowulf". In this reading, Nephi's beot, or ritual boast, is found in the famous passage where he says he will "go and do the things which the Lord hath commanded," and his brothers become his band of warriors.
Nephi's legacy.
The first major figure in the Book of Mormon, Nephi is regarded by members of the Latter Day Saint Movement as a prophet, political leader, and record keeper. Bergin points out that Nephi shares some semblance to Moses, such as being a colonial leader. Riess also points out similarities between the two, such as their both receiving commandments from the Lord atop a mountain. A number of individuals throughout the Book of Mormon were named after Nephi, including all of the kings in the early Nephite civilization. Additionally, his people referred to themselves as "Nephites"–a name that followed them through the entire 1000-year history given in the Book of Mormon. Nephi is also the name of a city in Utah.
Etymology of "Nephi".
The origin of the name "Nephi" is uncertain and disputed. Based on a non-Latter-day Saint or secular perspective, hypotheses for the name's origin include:
Latter-day Saint scholar John Gee theorizes that Nephi is a Hebrew form of the Egyptian name "Nfr". In Phoenician and Aramaic inscriptions of Egyptian names containing "nfr", the "nfr" element is rendered "npy", and the closely related Hebrew language would presumably transcribe the name the same way.
Nephi in Latter-day Saint literature.
Orrin R. Wilcox writes about the journey of Nephi's family in verse form, telling it from Nephi's perspective. In two of the poems Wilcox shares the story of why Nephi's family left Jerusalem, then describes the family relationships. "I was built large in stature / And my brothers did defy," he explains. Wilcox continues to contrast Nephi with Laman and Lemuel, specifically discussing their attitudes about leaving Jerusalem. Later, he writes about obtaining the brass plates and visiting Ishmael's family. When he writes about the brass plates, Wilcox explores the feelings and actions of Nephi as he kills Laban and brings Zoram with him.
In her collection "Book of Mormon and Other Poems," Latter-day Saint poet Mildred Hunt includes a poem that tells of the retrieval of Ishmael's daughters in an allegory of gardeners coming to select beautiful willow and cypress trees for their homes, where the trees represent Ishmael's daughters and the gardeners represent the sons of Lehi. She spends most of the poem describing the grace and beauty of the trees; in the last stanza, however, she tells how their father let the four gardeners select their trees of choice. In her poetry she also explores how Nephi may have felt at various points in his life, including an inference of what successes he may have experienced: "How thankful and how pleased, Nephi, were you / When that first harvest gilt the wilderness."
An emeritus English professor at Pepperdine University and Latter-day Saint, Michael R. Collings wrote a book entitled "The Nephiad". This epic-style work retells parts of the life of Nephi, from Lehi's revelation to leave Jerusalem to Nephi's vision of Jesus Christ, with some creative imagination. Collings describes Nephi's vision of the Americas at the time of Jesus' death as follows: "This Nephi saw, and fain would turn away / Tormented eyes from scenes calamitous / ...Tempests, floods, and quakings o'er the Land / With fracturing force disrupted Spring-smooth soils."
References.
<templatestyles src="Reflist/styles.css" />

Nephele
Greek goddess of hospitality
In Greek and Roman mythology, Nephele (; ; corresponding to Latin "nebula") is the name of two figures associated with clouds, sometimes confused with each other, who figures respectively in the stories of Ixion and in the story of Phrixus and Helle.
Mythology.
The transformed cloud.
Greek myth has it that Nephele is the cloud whom Zeus created in the image of Hera to trick Ixion to test his integrity after he displayed his lust for Hera during a feast as a guest of Zeus. Ixion's restraint failed him, and he assaulted Nephele, eventually fathering the Centaurs (through Imbros or Centauros).
The Oceanid.
Nephele is also the name of the Oceanid who married Athamas, and had twins, a son, Phrixus, and a daughter, Helle. Athamas then divorced her for Ino, who hatched a devious plot to get rid of the twins, roasting all the town's crop seeds so they would not grow. The local farmers, frightened of famine, asked a nearby oracle for assistance. Ino bribed the men sent to the oracle to lie and tell the others that the oracle required the sacrifice of Phrixus. Before he was killed though, Phrixus and Helle were rescued by a flying golden ram sent by their natural mother Nephele.
Phrixus and Helle were instructed to not look down to Earth for the duration of their flight. Helle, though, did look down, and fell off the ram into the Hellespont (which was named after her, meaning "Sea of Helle") and drowned. Phrixus survived all the way to Colchis, where King Aeëtes took him in and treated him kindly, giving Phrixus his daughter, Chalciope, in marriage. In gratitude, Phrixus gave the king the Golden Fleece of the Golden Ram, which Aeëtes hung in a tree in his kingdom. The Golden Fleece would later be taken by Jason and his Argonauts.
Notes.
<templatestyles src="Reflist/styles.css" />

Thalia (nymph)
Nymph, daughter of Hephaestus
In Greek mythology, Thalia or Thaleia ( or ; "Tháleia", "the joyous, the abundance", from / thállein, "to flourish, to be green") was a nymph daughter of Hephaestus, and the mother of the Palici.
Mythology.
Macrobius's "Saturnales" (song V) states how Zeus made love to her near the river Symethe on Sicily. She buried herself in the ground to avoid Hera's jealousy. Her twin children, the Palici, were thus born under the earth, though other authors make the Palici the sons of Hephaestus or Adranus.

Neleus
Figure from Greek mythology
Neleus (; ) was a mythological king of Pylos. In some accounts, he was also counted as an Argonaut instead of his son, Nestor.
Family.
Neleus was the son of Poseidon and Tyro, and brother of Pelias. According to Pausanias, Neleus was the son of Cretheus, King of Iolcus, who was himself a son of Aeolus.
With Chloris, Neleus was the father of Pero, Periclymenus, Alastor, Chromius, Asterius, Deimachus, Epilaus, Eurybius, Eurymenes, Evagoras, Phrasius, Pylaon, Taurus and Nestor. Some say that Chloris was mother only of three of Neleus' sons (Nestor, Periclymenus and Chromius), whereas the rest were his children by different women, but other accounts explicitly disagree with the statement. Otherwise, the mother of Nestor was called Polymede.
Mythology.
Tyro was married to Cretheus (with whom she had three sons, Aeson, Pheres, and Amythaon), though she loved Enipeus, a river god. She pursued Enipeus, who refused her advances. One day, Poseidon, filled with lust for Tyro, disguised himself as Enipeus. From their union were born Pelias and Neleus, twin boys. Tyro exposed her sons on a mountain, but they were found and raised by a maid.
When they reached adulthood, Pelias and Neleus found their mother Tyro and then killed her stepmother, Sidero, for having mistreated her. Sidero tried to hide in a temple to Hera but Pelias killed her anyway, earning himself Hera's undying hatred. Neleus and Pelias then fought for the crown, and Neleus was banished to Messenia. There he was welcomed by his cousin Aphareus who gave him the maritime part of the land where he settled and established his palace. Neleus eventually became King of Pylos.
Heracles later asked Neleus to cleanse him of the blood-debt he gained by killing his own wife and children, but was refused. In retaliation, he killed Neleus and his sons, except for Nestor.
Notes.
<templatestyles src="Reflist/styles.css" />

Naphtali
Biblical figure and the sixth son of Jacob through his concubine Bilhah
According to the Book of Genesis, Naphtali (; Hebrew: ,  ',  ', "my struggle") was the sixth son of Jacob, the second of his two sons with Bilhah. He was the founder of the Israelite tribe of Naphtali.
Some biblical commentators have suggested that the name "Naphtali" may refer to the struggle between Rachel and Leah for the favours of Jacob. Bilhah was the handmaid of Rachel, who was infertile at the time, and had persuaded Jacob to have a child with Bilhah as a proxy for having one with herself.
Biblical references.
According to the Targum Pseudo-Jonathan, Naphtali was a swift runner, though this appears to have been inferred from the Blessing of Jacob, which equates Naphtali to a hind. However, Biblical scholars believe this to actually be a description of the tribe of Naphtali.
Naphtali is listed in Deuteronomy 34.2 when God takes Moses up to the mountain of Nebo and shows him the extent of the land which he had promised to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. See article on Tribe of Simeon for a map of the twelve tribes of Israel.
Family.
According to , Naphtali had four sons: Jahzeel, Guni, Jezer, and Shillem. The name of his wife/wives are not given. He and his family migrated to Egypt, with the rest of the clan, where they remained until the Exodus.
According to the apocryphal "Testament of the Twelve Patriarchs", he died at age 137 and was buried in Egypt.
Testament of Naphtali.
In this apocryphal material, Naphtali gave his sons no commandment except regarding the fear of God, that they should serve Him and follow after Him, also admonished them not to join themselves unto the sons of Joseph but join the sons of Levi and Judah. He also had a vision about the division of tribes of Israel and told to them that Abraham was chosen by God for his faith.

Neptune (mythology)
Roman god of freshwater and the sea
Neptune ( ) is the god of freshwater and the sea in the Roman religion. He is the counterpart of the Greek god Poseidon. In the Greek-inspired tradition, he is a brother of Jupiter and Pluto, with whom he presides over the realms of heaven, the earthly world (including the underworld), and the seas. Salacia is his wife.
Depictions of Neptune in Roman mosaics, especially those in North Africa, were influenced by Hellenistic conventions. He was likely associated with freshwater springs before the sea; his festival, "Neptunalia", took place on July 23, during the peak of summer when water was scarcest. Like Poseidon, he was also worshipped by the Romans as a god of horses, "Neptunus equestris," who was also a patron of horse-racing.
Worship.
The theology of Neptune is limited by his close identification with the Greek god Poseidon, one of many members of the Greek pantheon whose theology was later tied to a Roman deity. The "lectisternium" of 399 BC indicated that the Greek figures of Poseidon, Artemis, and Heracles had been introduced and worshipped in Rome as Neptune, Diana, and Hercules. It has been speculated that Neptune has been conflated with a Proto-Indo-European freshwater deity; since the Indo-Europeans lived inland and had little direct knowledge of the sea, the Romans may have reused the theology of a previous freshwater god in their worship of Neptune. Servius explicitly names Neptune as the god of rivers, springs, and waters; he may parallel the Irish god Nechtan, master of rivers and wells. This is in contrast to Poseidon, who was primarily a god of the sea.
Neptune has been associated with a number of other Roman deities. By the first century BC, he had supplanted Portunus as the god of naval victories; Sextus Pompeius called himself the "son of Neptune". For a time, Neptune was paired in his dominion of the sea with Salacia, the goddess of saltwater. Neptune was considered the legendary progenitor god of the Falisci (who called themselves "Neptunia proles"), joining Mars, Janus, Saturn, and Jupiter as the deific father of a Latin tribe.
Neptunalia.
Neptunalia, the Roman festival of Neptune, was held at the height of summer (typically on July 23). The date of the festival and the construction of tree-branch shelters suggest that Neptune was a god of water sources in times of drought and heat. The most ancient Roman calendar set the "feriae" of Neptunus on July 23, between the Lucaria festival of the grove and the Furrinalia festival of July 25. All three festivals were connected to water during the period of summer heat ("canicula") and drought, when freshwater sources were lowest.
It has been speculated that the three festivals fall in a logical order. The "Lucaria" was devoted to clearing overgrown bushes and uprooting and burning excess vegetation. Neptunalia followed, devoted to conservation and the draining of superficial waters. These culminated in the "Furrinalia", sacred to Furrina (the goddess of springs and wells).
Neptunalia was spent under branch huts in a woods between the Tiber and the Via Salaria, with participants drinking spring water and wine to escape the heat. It was a time of merrymaking, when men and women could mix without the usual Roman societal constraints. There is an added context of agricultural fertility in the festival, since Neptune received the sacrifice of a bull.
Temples.
Neptune had only one temple in Rome. It stood near the Circus Flaminius, the Roman racetrack in the southern part of the Campus Martius, and dates back to at least 206 BC. The temple was restored out by Gnaeus Domitius Ahenobarbus c. 40 BC, an event depicted on a coin struck by the consul. Within the temple was a sculpture of a marine group by Scopas Minor. The Basilica Neptuni was later built on the Campus Martius, and was dedicated by Agrippa in honor of the naval victory of Actium. This basilica supplanted the older temple, which had replaced an ancient altar.
Sacrifices.
Neptune is one of only four Roman gods to whom it was considered appropriate to sacrifice a bull. The other three were Apollo, Mars, and Jupiter, although Vulcan has also been depicted with the offering of a red bull and a red-bull calf. If an incorrect offering was presented, either inadvertently or due to necessity, additional propitiation was required to avoid divine retribution. This type of offering implied a stricter connection between the deity and the world.
Paredrae.
"Paredrae" are entities who accompany a god, representing the fundamental aspects (or powers) of that god. With Hellenic influence, these "paredrae" came to be considered separate deities and consorts of their associated god. Earlier folk belief might have also identified "paredrae" as consorts of their god.
Salacia and Venilia have been discussed by ancient and modern scholars. Varro connects Salacia to "salum" (sea), and Venilia to "ventus" (wind). Festus attributed to Salacia the motion of the sea. Venilia brought waves to the shore, and Salacia caused their retreat out to sea. They were examined by the Christian philosopher St. Augustine, who devoted a chapter of "De Civitate Dei" to ridiculing inconsistencies in the theological definition of the entities; since Salacia personified the deep sea, Augustine wondered how she could also be the retreating waves (since waves are a surface phenomenon). He wrote elsewhere that Venilia would be the "hope that comes", an aspect (or power) of Jupiter understood as "anima mundi".
Servius, in his commentary on the "Aeneid", wrote about Salacia and Venilia in V 724: ""(Venus) dicitur et Salacia, quae proprie meretricum dea appellata est a veteribus""; "(Venus) is also called Salacia, who was particularly named goddess of prostitutes by the ancient". Elsewhere, he wrote that Salacia and Venilia are the same entity.
Among modern scholars, Dumézil and his followers Bloch and Schilling centre their interpretation of Neptune on the direct, concrete, limited value and functions of water. Salacia would represent the forceful, violent aspect of gushing and overflowing water and Venilia the tranquil, gentle aspect of still (or slowly-flowing) water. According to Dumézil, Neptune's two "paredrae" (Salacia and Venilia) represent the overpowering and tranquil aspects of water, natural and domesticated: Salacia the gushing, overbearing waters, and Venilia the still (or quietly-flowing) waters.
Preller, Fowler, Petersmann and Takács attribute to the theology of Neptune broader significance as a god of universal worldly fertility, particularly relevant to agriculture and human reproduction. They interpret Salacia as personifying lust, and Venilia as related to "venia": ingratiating attraction, connected with love and the desire for reproduction. Ludwig Preller cited a significant aspect of Venilia; she was recorded in the "indigitamenta" as a deity of longing or desire. According to Preller, this would explain a theonym similar to that of Venus. Other data seem to agree; Salacia would parallel Thetis as the mother of Achilles, and Venilia would be the mother of Turnus and Iuturna by Daunus (king of the Rutulians). According to another source, Venilia would be the partner of Janus, with whom she mothered the nymph Canens (loved by Picus). These mythical data underline the reproductive function envisaged in the figures of Neptune's "paredrae", particularly that of Venilia, in childbirth and motherhood. A legendary king Venulus was remembered at Tibur and Lavinium.
Neptunus equestris.
Before Poseidon was known as the god of the sea, he was connected to the horse and may have originally been depicted in equine form. This connection reflects the violent and brutal nature of Poseidon the earth-shaker, the linkage of horses and springs, and the animal's psychopompous character. Neptune, in contrast, has no such direct connection with horses. The Roman deity Consus was associated with the horse, and his underground altar was in the valley of the Circus Maximus at the foot of the Palatine (the site of horse races). On the summer Consualia (August 21) it was customary to bring horses and mules, crowned with flowers, in procession and then hold equine races in the Circus. The festival also traditionally reenacted the abduction of the Sabine (and Latin) women, reflecting the sexual license characteristic of such festivals. On that day, the Flamen Quirinalis and the Vestal Virgins made sacrifices on the underground altar of Consus. The proximity of the two Consualia to the Opiconsivia (the latter were four days later, the winter festival on December 19) indicates the relationship between the two deities pertaining to agriculture. According to Dumézil, the horse has a much-different symbolic value in the theologies of Poseidon and Consus. Tertullian ("De Spectaculis" V 7) wrote that according to Roman tradition, Consus was the god who advised Romulus on the abduction of the Sabines.
Perhaps influenced by Poseidon Ίππιος, Consus (whose festival included horse races) was reinterpreted as "Neptunus equestris"; for his underground altar, he was identified with Poseidon Ένοσίχθων. The etymology of "Poseidon", derived from "Posis" (lord or husband) and "De" (grain or earth) may have contributed to the identification of Consus with Neptune. His arcane cult, which required the unearthing of the altar, indicate the deity's antiquity and chthonic nature. From Augustine ("De Civitate Dei" IV 8, about the role of Tutilina in assuring the safety of stored grain), Dumézil interprets its name as deriving from "condere" (to hide or store) as a verbal noun similar to Sancus and Janus: the god of stored grains. A direct identification of Consus with Poseidon is hindered by the fact that Poseidon is nowhere worshipped at underground shrines or altars.
Martianus Capella places Neptune and Consus together in region X of Heaven, possibly following an old "interpretatio graeca" of Consus or reflecting an Etruscan idea of a chthonic Neptune apparent in the recommendation of the "De Haruspicum Responso" for propitiating Neptune for the cracking sounds heard underground in the "ager latiniensis". The Etruscans were also fond of horse races.
Etruria.
The Etruscan name of Neptune is Nethuns. It had been believed that Neptune derived from Etruscan, but this view has been disputed. Nethuns was apparently important to the Etruscans. His name is found in two places on the Liver of Piacenza: on the outer rim of section seven, and on the gallbladder of section 28. This last location aligns with Pliny the Elder's belief that the gallbladder was sacred to Neptune. The name "Nethuns" occurs eight times in columns VII, IX, and XI of the "Liber Linteus".
On a mirror from Tuscania (E. S. 1. 76), Nethuns is represented talking to Uśil (the sun) and Thesan (the goddess of dawn). Nethuns is seated on the left, holding a double-ended trident in his right hand and with his left arm raised as if giving instructions. Uśil is standing in the centre, holding Aplu's bow in his right hand. Thesan is on the right, with her right hand on Uśil's shoulder; both are listening intently to Nethuns' words. The identification of Uśil with Aplu (and his association with Nethuns) is emphasised by an anguiped demon holding two dolphins on an exergue. The scene highlights the identities and association of Nethuns and Aplu (here identified as Uśil) as main deities of the worldly realm and the life cycle. Thesan and Uśil-Aplu, who has been identified with Śuri (Soranus Pater, the underworld sun god) clarify the transience of earthly life.
Neptune is a god of fertility, including human fertility. According to Stephen Weinstock, Jupiter is present in each of the first three regions with different aspects related to each region; Neptune should have been in the second region, and Pluto in the third. The reason for Neptune's displacement to region X is unclear. It is consistent with the collocation in the third quadrant of the deities related to the human world.
Etruscan Penates.
Arnobius provides information about the theology of Neptune. Neptune and Apollo were considered Etruscan Penates, and the deities were credited with giving Ilium its walls. In another tradition based on the same source, the Etruscan Penates were Fortuna, Ceres, Genius Iovialis and Pales.
Etymology.
The etymology of the Latin "Neptunus" is unclear and disputed. The ancient grammarian Varro derived the name from "nuptus" ("covering", "opertio"), alluding to "nuptiae" ("the marriage of Heaven and Earth").
Among modern scholars, Paul Kretschmer proposed a derivation from the Indo-European "*neptu-" ("moist substance"). Raymond Bloch similarly theorised that it might be an adjectival form ("-no") of "*nuptu-" ("he who is moist").
Georges Dumézil said that words deriving from the root "*nep-" are not attested in Indo-European languages other than Vedic Sanskrit and Avestan. He proposed an etymology which joins "Neptunus" with the Indian and Iranian theonyms Apam Napat and Apam Napá and the Old Irish theonym Nechtan, all meaning "descendant of the waters". Using a comparative approach, the Indo-Iranian, Avestan and Irish figures have common features with the Roman legends about Neptune. Dumézil proposed to derive the nouns from the Indo-European root "népōts-" ("descendant, sister's son"). His former student, Indo-Europeanist Jaan Puhvel, theorises that the name might have meant "child ("neve", nephew) of the water" as part of an Indo-European fire-in-water myth.
A different etymology, grounded in the legendary history of Latium and Etruria, was proposed by the 19th-century scholars Ludwig Preller, Karl Otfried Müller and Wilhelm Deeke. The name of the Etruscan deity Nethuns or Nethunus ("NÈDVNVZ") would be an adjectival form of the toponym Nepe(t) or Nepete (present-day Nepi), near Falerii. The district was traditionally connected to the cult of Neptune, and Messapus and Halesus (the eponymous hero of Falerii) were believed to be his sons. Messapus led the Falisci (and others) to war in the "Aeneid". Nepi and Falerii have been known since antiquity for the quality of their meadow springwater. "Nepet" might be considered a hydronymic toponym of pre-Indo-European origin from a noun meaning "damp wide valley, plain", a cognate of the proto-Greek "νάπη" ("wooded vale, chasm").
Fertility deity and divine ancestor.
In lectures delivered during the 1990s, German scholar Hubert Petersmann proposed an etymology from the Indo-European root "*nebh-" ("damp, wet") with the suffix "-tu" (for an abstract verbal noun) and the adjectival suffix "-no" (domain of activity). The root "*nebh-" gives the Sanskrit "nābhah", Hittite "nepis", Latin "nubs", "nebula", German "Nebel", and the Slavic "nebo". The concept would be close to that expressed in the name of the Greek god "Όυράνος" ("Uranus"), derived from the root "*h2wórso-" ("to water or irrigate") and "*h2worsó-" ("the irrigator").
Petersmann proposes a different interpretation of Neptune's theology. Developing his understanding of the theonym as rooted in the Indo-European "*nebh", he writes that the god would be an ancient deity of the cloudy, rainy sky in company with (and in opposition to) Zeus/Jupiter, the god of clear skies. Similar to Caelus, he would be the father of all earthly things through the fertilising power of rain. The "hieros gamos" of Neptune and Earth is reflected in Virgil's "Aeneid" V 14 ("pater Neptunus"). Neptune's power would be reflected by Salacia, one of his "paredrae", who also denotes the overcast sky. His other "paredra", Venilia, is associated with the wind as well as the sea. The theonym Venilia may be rooted in "*venilis", a postulated adjective deriving from the IE root "*ven(h)" ("to love or desire") in the Sanskrit "vánati, vanóti" ("he loves"), German "Wonne", and the Latin Venus, "venia". Neptune's dual nature is found in Catullus 31. 3: "uterque Neptunus".
According to Petersmann, the ancient Indo-Europeans also venerated a god of wetness as the generator of life; this is indicated by the Hittite theonyms "nepišaš (D)IŠKURaš" or "nepišaš (D)Tarhunnaš" ("lord of sky wet"), the sovereign of Earth and humanity. Although this function was transferred to Zeus/Jupiter (the sovereigns of weather), the old function survived in literature: the "Aeneid" V 13-14 reads, "Heu, quianam tanti cinxerunt aethera nimbi?/ quidve, pater Neptune, paras?" ("What, why have so many clouds enringed the sky? What are you preparing, father Neptune?") The indispensability of water and its connection to reproduction are universally known.
Müller and Deeke interpreted Neptune's theology as a divine ancestor of the Latin Faliscans: the father of Messapus and Halesus, their heroic founders. William Warde Fowler considered Salacia the personification of the virile potency which generated a Latin people, parallel with Mars, Saturn, Janus and Jupiter.
Depictions in art.
Etruscan representations of Neptune are rare but significant. The oldest may be a fourth-century BC carved carnelian scarab from Vulci of Nethuns kicking a rock and creating a spring (Paris: Bibliothèque Nationale, Cabinet des Medailles. Another Etruscan artifact ("Nethunus", from the Luynes collection) depicts the god causing a horse to spring from the earth with a blow of his trident.
A late-fourth-century bronze mirror in the Vatican Museums (Museo Gregoriano Etrusco: C.S.E. Vaticano 1.5a) depicts Neptune with Amymone (daughter of Danaus), whom he saves from assault by a satyr and teaches the art of creating springs. On a bronze mirror from Tuscania dated to 350 BC, also in the Vatican Museums (Museo Gregoriano Etrusco E. S. 1. 76), Nethuns is talking to Usil and Thesan. He holds a double-ended trident, suggesting that he might be able wield lightning bolts.
References.
<templatestyles src="Reflist/styles.css" />

Nephté
Nephté is an opera by the French composer Jean-Baptiste Lemoyne, first performed at the Académie Royale de Musique (the Paris Opéra) on 15 December 1789. It takes the form of a "tragédie lyrique" in three acts. The libretto, by François-Benoît Hoffman, is set in Ancient Egypt but is based on the story of Camma, Queen of Galatia taken from the ancient historian Plutarch.
The plot concerns Nephté, Queen of Egypt, whose husband King Séthos has been murdered by his brother Pharès. The widowed queen seeks revenge with the help of the high priest Amédès. However, Pharès has the support of the army and aims to take the throne and to marry Nephté himself. He also threatens the life of Nephté's son. Eventually, Nephté agrees to marry Pharès but she poisons the wedding cup, killing both the usurper and herself and allowing her son to succeed to the throne as king of Egypt.
Background and composition.
Libretto.
Camma in Plutarch.
Hoffman based "Nephté" on the story of Camma, Queen of Galatia, which occurs in Plutarch's essay "Virtues in Women" Hoffman summarised Plutarch thus:
"Camma, daughter of Leonorius, married Silatus, King of Galatia. Sinorix, Silatus' kinsman, had him assassinated so he could seize his crown and his wife. As he was loved by the soldiers, he took the throne with ease; but Camma continued to maintain an inflexible resistance to him. Finally, the queen, abandoned by everyone, threatened by Sinorix, little respected by her rebellious people, was forced to give her hand in marriage to the murderer of her husband. But, faithful to her previous vows, and preserving in her heart as much love for Sinatus as horror for his murderer, she poisoned the wedding cup, and died with the usurper."
Thomas Corneille's "Camma, Reine de Galatie".
In his preface to the printed libretto, Hoffman noted that the story had been used before on the French stage. In 1661, Thomas Corneille (brother of the more famous Pierre) had presented his tragedy "Camma, Reine de Galatie". However, Hoffman avoided using Corneille because, to suit the fashion of the times, Corneille had introduced love interest to the plot. The widowed queen is not devoted to her dead husband but in love with a young prince she wishes to make king in the usurper's place. Hoffman writes that he had preferred to "preserve the historical episode in all its purity", refusing such additions.
The Egyptian setting.
The major change Hoffman made was to alter the names and setting. He moved the scene of the action to ancient Egypt (in "mythological times")"to introduce new costumes and new manners to the stage of the Opéra." Plutarch's Camma is renamed Nephté, Sinatus becomes Séthos and Sinorix becomes Pharès. Hoffman writes that he had not invented the name "Nephté". Citing the German theologian and antiquarian Paul Ernst Jablonski, he says that "Nephté" is a conflation of two Egyptian gods, Neith (the equivalent of the Roman Minerva) and Ptah (the Roman Vulcan), signifying "wisdom" and "courage". Hoffman was also struck by the similarities between the plot of the opera and the Egyptian myth of Isis and Osiris. The goddess Isis "was always faithful to Osiris, her brother and husband; she took vengeance on Typhon, Osiris' murderer, and saved the crown for her son Horus."
From the Dutch scholar Cornelius de Pauw, Hoffman took the idea that it was forbidden for women to inherit the throne of Egypt, an important plot point in the opera. He also researched details of Egyptian funerary rites in Herodotus and Diodorus Siculus.
Lemoyne and the Opéra management.
Lemoyne spent a long time working on the score. There are references to its composition as early as November 1787. Antoine Dauvergne, of the Opéra management, complained that Lemoyne and his pupil, the leading soprano Antoinette Saint-Huberty, only liked operas with "plots concerning incest, poison or assassinations". The response of the Opéra committee to "Nephté" was more positive, their report describing the work as "one of the darkest and most beautiful, both in its libretto and its score."
Scenery.
Hoffman also used his research into Egyptian history to provide detailed descriptions for the scenery, which was designed by Pierre-Adrien Pâris. Hoffman printed one such description in the stage directions for Act 1 of "Nephté":
"The whole of the right-hand side of the theatre should represent an arid mountain, beneath which twelve crypts or sepulchral grottoes have been carved out of the rock. Each of these grottoes contains the tomb of one of the kings of Egypt and each is lit by a funeral lamp. Séthos' tomb is the first and appears the newest to be built. Four priests, robed in linen, are sitting on four stones placed at the four corners of the tomb. The left-hand side is occupied by the façade of the palace of Memphis. At the far edge of the mountain rises the Great Temple of Osiris (or the Sun), of which only the doors are visible. This temple occupies only part of the background so that in the gap between it and the caves we can see in the distance some of the fertile fields which border the Nile, and one of the pyramids, whose top is lost on the horizon. An avenue of colossal sphinxes leads from the temple to the palace portico. The space remaining between the sphinxes and the caves is planted with cypress trees. Day has not yet broken and the theatre seems illuminated only by the light from the funeral lamps."
Performance history.
"Nephté" was first performed at the Académie Royale de Musique (the Paris Opéra) on 15 December 1789. The young soprano Madame Maillard took the title role, replacing Lemoyne's protégée Antoinette Saint-Huberty. According to some sources, the premiere was so successful, Lemoyne was called onto the stage after the final curtain, the first time this had happened in the history of the Opéra. "Nephté" ran for 39 performances, the last given on 18 March 1792. Hoffman angrily claimed that the withdrawal of the work was to prevent him receiving the pension which would have been his due had it reached 40 performances. In support of Hoffman's argument is the fact that the season did not end until 27 March, allowing time for another staging. Hoffman had also dedicated the libretto to Antoinette Saint-Huberty, who was disliked by the Opéra management, and had refused to add dance "divertissements" to "Nephté" on artistic grounds, against the recommendations of the Opéra board. On the other hand, ticket receipts had recently been falling off as the opera was losing popularity in spite of the good press it enjoyed.
Reception.
Reviews were generally favourable, with praise for the music, the scenery and the singing of Maillard and Lainez. The "Correspondence littéraire" was more guarded, liking some aspects, but finding the work too static and emotionally uniform. It suggested this might have been remedied had Nephté's motivation been changed: instead of guessing Pharès' guilt almost from the beginning, she might have only slowly come to realise the truth, possibly after being infatuated with the usurper. Other critics complained about the lack of the dance —customary in French opera—, which in their opinion made the work monotonous. In a later assessment, Jean-François de La Harpe criticised the music for being "harsh and loud, with the exception of a few pieces, as one would expect from a disciple of Gluck."
The work.
"Nephté" appeared when the French musical world was still divided between the supporters of two foreign composers who had made their mark on Paris in the 1770s: the German Christoph Willibald Gluck, famous for his operatic reforms, and Niccolò Piccinni, representative of the Italian school. This caused difficulties for native French composers, such as Lemoyne, who found it hard to devise a style of their own. Lemoyne had promoted himself as a member of the Gluckist camp with his first opera for Paris, "Électre", in 1782. However, it failed and Gluck refused to accept Lemoyne as his disciple, so for his next work, "Phèdre" (1786), Lemoyne tried a more Italianate style in the manner of Piccinni. "Nephté" was regarded as an opera in the Gluckian vein, with its emphasis on "majesty and sobriety" and its simple, direct plot (there are only four main characters). It was dedicated to Gluck's champion, Queen Marie-Antoinette. On the other hand, some features, such as the lavish and exotic scenery were not part of the Gluckian aesthetic.
"Nephté" was premiered towards the beginning of the French Revolution. The exotic subject was seemingly at a safe remove from the political situation of 1789, but the scholar Mark Darlow believes that the opera's themes of royal legitimacy and usurpation and concern for the future survival of a dynasty would have had contemporary resonance.
Synopsis.
"Setting: the palace of the Kings of Memphis"
Act 1.
"Scene: the tombs of the kings of Egypt"

It is just before dawn. Four priests are mourning the death of King Séthos. They wish he had died an honourable death in battle, but the terrible truth is that he was murdered by the brother he loved. Dawn breaks as Queen Nephté arrives with her young son to pay tribute to her dead husband. Nephté says that it is only the thought of her child which keeps her alive, otherwise life is barren for her without Séthos. She asks the priests to reveal who killed him. When the arrival of her brother-in-law Pharès is announced, the priests are horrified and Nephté begins to suspect he is the murderer. Pharès tries to flatter Nephté. He also claims it was Séthos' dying wish that he should become her new husband. Nephté admits this is true but she thinks it wrong to talk of marriage while Séthos is still unavenged. However, Pharès seems reluctant to search for the assassin, but at Nephté's insistence he finally agrees to swear on his brother's tomb that he will bring the criminal to justice. The priests are shocked at this sacrilege. After Pharès has left, the chief priest Amédès reveals what Nephté has suspected: Pharès is the killer. Nephté demands vengeance, but she also fears for her son's safety. Amédès agrees to hide the boy among the tombs. He says it will be difficult to get revenge because Pharès is both respected and feared by the Egyptians. The temple opens as the statesmen and common people arrive for Séthos' funeral rites. The temple girls reveal that Sethos is now an immortal in heaven. Nephté implores the Egyptians to avenge her husband. They swear on the altar to do so. Amédès says he will reveal the murderer's name that evening.
Act 2.
"Scene: the palace hall with the throne of the kings of Egypt"

Pharès is angry that Amédès might reveal his guilt. Chemmis says that the people still love him and to cement his position as new king, he should be crowned and marry Nephté that very day. But Pharès suggests that he will only be safe when Amédès is dead and Chemmis promises to kill him if he reveals the secret. The statesmen, heads of the army and soldiers march in. Pharès tells them that the peoples of Asia are in revolt against Egypt after Séthos' death; it is vital that Egypt has a commander for its army. The soldiers acclaim Pharès as their new general. Their shouts of congratulation are interrupted by the arrival of Nephté. Nephté is outraged at Pharès' behaviour but says that Amédès will soon reveal the killer's name. The soldiers, who have not heard this conversation, urge Pharès and Nephté to marry. Pharès asks where Nephté's son is; he should be brought up in the palace in the view of his people. He sends soldiers to search for the boy. He leaves with the soldiers, promising them that the military campaign will begin at dawn. Alone with her waiting women, Nephté says she can see no escape from her predicament: if she seeks revenge, her son's life will be in danger; if she does not, justice will not be done and she will be a criminal. Her waiting women try to comfort her, but Nephté asks to be alone. Amédès now enters, shadowed by Chemmis. Amédès tells Nephté he is in danger and the gods seem to have abandoned them, but the priests will defend her son to the death. Chemmis emerges and threatens Amédès but the priest says he is willing to sacrifice his life. However, Nephté vows to die in his place to secure revenge for her husband. News comes that the soldiers have found her son's hiding place. The people arrive and beg Nephté to marry Pharès. Nephté finally agrees.In an aside, she reveals she has a secret plan.
Act 3.
"Scene: the Temple of Osiris (or the Sun), with an altar in the middle"

Nephté enters alone and calls on the gods to help her carry out her plan. Soon she will die but her son will be saved. She reveals nothing of this to Amédès, who is amazed she has agreed to marry Pharès. Amédès is prepared to risk his life by naming Pharès as the murderer rather than let the wedding go ahead. The priests, soldiers and people enter for the ceremony. Nephté sees her son amid the procession. Pharès is pleased to find Nephté already at the temple; she promises to be faithful to him unto death. The ceremony takes place and Nephté and Pharès both drink from the wedding cup. In an aside, Nephté reveals she has poisoned it. Amédès enters and announces that Séthos' murderer is Pharès. Amédès is about to stab Pharès when Nephté halts him. She tells everyone Séthos is already avenged: she has poisoned Pharès and herself. The enraged Pharès is led away to die offstage. Nephté dies after she has had her son proclaimed the new king of Egypt.
References.
<templatestyles src="Reflist/styles.css" />

Nicesipolis
Wife or concubine of king Philip II of Macedon
Nicesipolis or Nicasipolis of Pherae ( "Nikesipolis"), was a Thessalian woman, native of the city Pherae, wife or concubine of king Philip II