Arethusa
Ἀρέθουσα
(Ἀρέθουσα), one of the Nereids (Hygin. Praef. p. 9, ed. Staveren; Verg. G. 4.344), and the nymph of the famous well Arethusa in the island of Ortygia near Syracuse. [ALPHEIUS.] Virgil (Eclog. 4.1, 10.1) reckons her among the Sicilian nymphs, and as the divinity who inspired pastoral poetry. The Syracusans represented on many of their coins the head of Arethusa surrounded by dolphins. (Rasche, Lex. Numism. 1.1, p. 107.) One of the Hesperides likewise bore the name of Arethusa. (Apollod. 2.5.11.)
From William Smith (ed.), Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology. Text provided under a CC BY-SA license by Perseus Digital Library, http://www.perseus.tufts.edu, with funding from the National Endowment for the Humanities and Tufts University. Data accessed from https://github.com/PerseusDL/canonical-pdlrefwk/ on 17 October 2026.