Ocyrhoë (Samian nymph)

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Ocyrhoë is a young, beautiful Samian nymph, daughter of the river-god Imbrasus and the nymph Chesias. Her beauty was said to be a gift from the Horae. Apollo fell in love with her and tried to abduct her. To escape, Ocyrhoë asked her father’s old friend Pompilus, a ferryman, to take her back to Samos. Pompilus agreed and they set out, but Apollo waited on the shore and seized Ocyrhoë. When Pompilus tried to intervene, the boat was turned to stone and he himself was transformed into a pilot fish. The tale is linked to Apollonius of Rhodes and is mentioned by Athenaeus and Claudius Aelianus, from the 2nd century BC.

In Samian worship, Chesias and Imbrasia were epithets for Artemis and Hera, the island’s patron goddesses. A shrine to Apollo Nymphegetes, leader of the nymphs, and to the nymphs stood near the source of the Imbrasus river. The story blends myth with romantic adventure, and its themes—an unwilling maiden pursued by a god, a sea voyage, and magical transformations—are typical of Greek romance, with Miletus and Samos as common settings.