According to the World History Encyclopedia, in addition to being the protective deities of the various elements of nature, the nymphs are frequently depicted in art and story as making up the entourages of various gods of nature and fertility, including most prominently Apollo, Dionysus, Pan, and especially Artemis. Artemis in particular was singled out as the divine protector of all nymphs, and her hunting party was made up of wood and water nymphs who, like her, were dedicated to preserving their chastity. Theoi explains that Poseidon was generally seen in the company of Nereids, Hecate with the Lampades, and Persephone with a group of Oceanids called the Leimonids.
Perhaps the most notable divine retinue, however, is that of Dionysus, which as the Encyclopedia Mythica explains contained way more than just nymphs, including Sileni, Pans, centaurs, and wild animals like tigers and panthers. But his most notable followers were the Maenads — also called Bacchae, Bacchantes, Bassarides, and a host of other names — who served as his female attendants, typically characterized by their wild nature, thrashing about in the grip of wine-fueled madness and wielding thyrsi, the holy pine cone-tipped, ivy-entwined staff of Dionysus. These maenads could be Dryads, Naiads, or Oreads, or even human women, such as Agave, the mother of the Theban king Pentheus, who ripped her own son to pieces in bacchic fury when he outlawed the worship of Dionysus in Thebes.
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