Lampades

In Greek mythology, the Lampads or Lampades (Ancient Greek: Λαμπάδες, from Ancient Greek: λαμπάς, romanized: lampás, lit. 'torch')^[1] are torch-bearing nymphs who follow the goddess Hecate.

Sources

According to a scholium on Homer's Iliad, the Lampades are among the types of nymphs mentioned by the lyric poet Alcman (fl. seventh century BC); the scholiast describes them as the nymphs "who carry torches and lights with Hecate",^[2] a description which Timothy Gantz claims was probably a creation of the scholiast, rather than of Alcman or another writer.^[3] According to Claude Calame, the scholium's connection of these nymphs with Hecate is likely related to the common association of the goddess with torches.^[4]

In Greek hexameters from Selinus dating to the fourth century BC, there is mention of "goddesses, bright with torches",^[5] which Sarah Iles Johnston interprets as referring to the Lampades, pointing to their attestation as torch-carrying goddesses, and their association with Hecate, who is mentioned immediately after these figures in the text.^[6]