Dryope (oaken face) In Greek mythology, a name for various women. According to the Homeric Hymn to Pan (attributed to Homer but not by him), one, a nymph of Arcadia, was the mother of Pan by Hermes. In Ovid’s Metamorphoses (book 9) Dryope was a woman married to Andraemon, and she was raped by Apollo. The god first appeared as a turtle that Dryope picked up, but suddenly it was transformed into a serpent, which frightened the hamadryads who were companions of Dryope. Apollo then appeared in his human form and seduced Dryope. Their child was Amphisusus. When a year old the child was transformed, along with Dryope, into a lotus as a punishment for picking flowers from a tree that was the name of the nymph Lotis. Another Dryope was a nymph, mother of Tarquitus by Faunus in Vergil’s Aeneid (book 10). Dryope was also the name of a woman of Lemnos whose shape the goddess Aphrodite assumed to persuade the women on the island to murder all of the men.
SOURCE:
Encyclopedia of World Mythology and Legend, Third Edition – Written by Anthony S. Mercatante & James R. Dow
– Copyright © 2009 by Anthony S. Mercatante