Lotis (mythology)
Nymph who escaped Priapus by turning into a lotus.
Lotis was a nymph in Greek mythology, known from the writings of Ovid. She is notable for being the intended victim of an attempted rape by the god Priapus, an episode that appears in Ovid's Fasti and Metamorphoses.
Quick Facts
- Deity of
- Lotus-nymph
- Member of
- Nereids
- Abode
- Dryopia
- Consort
- Priapus (wooer)
- Parents
- Nereus
Facts from the source article.
Mythology
In Ovid's Fasti, during the Liberalia festival, Priapus attempted to rape the sleeping nymph Lotis. She was awakened by a sudden cry from Silenus's donkey and fled, leaving Priapus embarrassed as others woke and saw his intentions. In Ovid's Metamorphoses, Lotis escaped Priapus by being changed into a lotus, either a plant or the lotus tree. Later, Dryope picked a flower from that tree and was transformed into a black poplar. This narrative also appears in Servius.
Analysis
The identity of the lotus into which Lotis turned has been debated. Ovid describes it as having reddish-purple flowers and growing near water. The Indian lotus and the water lily have both been proposed but also rejected by some scholars, who note that these plants grow in water rather than near it. Counter-arguments point out that both plants root in shallow water and do not grow deeper than eight feet. Servius writes that Lotis became the tree.
In art
The story does not appear in ancient Greek vase-painting and only occasionally in later art. Priapus and Lotis appear in the right foreground of The Feast of the Gods by Giovanni Bellini, in an engraving by Giovanni Battista Palumba, and in a drawing by Parmigianino. Bellini depicts Priapus's aroused state under his clothes; Palumba shows it openly, as Parmigianino originally did, though that detail was later altered. Some artworks depict Lotis as a tree.
More in Metamorphoses Into Trees in Greek Mythology
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