{{short description|Nurse of Hera and Dionysus}} {{for|the island once called Macris|Euboea}}{{for|the island of Attica|Makronisos}} {{Infobox deity | type = Greek | name = Macris | image = | caption = | deity_of = Eponym of Macris | abode = Euboea, later Corfu | symbol = | consort = | parents = Aristaeus | siblings = Actaeon }}
In Greek mythology, '''Macris''' ({{langx|grc|Μακρἰς|Makrís|long}} a reference to the elongated shape of Euboea) also called '''Nysa''' ({{langx|grc|Νύσα|Núsa}}), is a daughter of Aristaeus who reared the goddess Hera in her youth, before incurring the wrath of the goddess and being banished by her.
== Family == Macris was a daughter of Aristaeus, a rustic god and son of Apollo. She was also called Nysa.<ref name="dio"/>
== Mythology == Macris became the nursemaid of the young goddess Hera, who was brought up in Euboea, an island off the coast of Boeotia. One day Hera was carried off by her brother Zeus who concealed themselves in Mount Cithaeron.{{sfn|Gifford|1903|page=[https://archive.org/details/eusebius-preparation-for-the-gospel-full-work-gifford-1903-trans/page/91/mode/2up 92]}} Macris crossed over the mainland looking for her young ward, but when she attempted to search the place and in particularly the spot the two were hiding, the mountain king-god Cithaeron prevented her from doing so, lying that Zeus was taking his pleasure with Leto there, so Macris went away and Hera escaped discovery. Later Hera shared an altar with Leto in gratitude.<ref>Plutarch frag. [https://www.loebclassics.com/view/plutarch-moralia_fragments_other_named_works_lives/1969/pb_LCL429.289.xml 157.3] [= ''FGrHist'' 388 F1 = Eusebius, ''Praeparatio evangelica'' 3.1.3].</ref>
Some time later, Hermes or Zeus himself took the infant Dionysus and brought him to Macris, who nursed him and fed him honey.<ref name="dio">Diodorus Siculus [https://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Diodorus_Siculus/3E*.html#70 3.70.1]</ref> As punishment, Hera exiled Macris who fled to the island of Corcyra,<ref name="ar2">Apollonius of Rhodes, ''Argonautica'' [https://www.loebclassics.com/view/apollonius_rhodes-argonautica/2009/pb_LCL001.421.xml 4.1135]</ref> where Demeter taught the Titans the art of agriculture for Macris' sake.<ref>Apollonius of Rhodes, ''Argonautica'' [https://www.loebclassics.com/view/apollonius_rhodes-argonautica/2009/pb_LCL001.371.xml 4.540], [https://www.loebclassics.com/view/apollonius_rhodes-argonautica/2009/pb_LCL001.409.xml 4.990]</ref> The island was called Macris ("long") after her,<ref>Scholiast on Apollonius Rhodius 1131</ref> and the cave she chose to dwell in later beheld the wedding and consummation of Jason and Medea, so it was called ''Medea's Cave'' thereafter.<ref name="ar2"/>
Macris, along with the rest of Dionysus' retinue, is said to have lamented Lycurgus' violent rejection and expulsion of Dionysus and his rites from Thrace.<ref>Nonnus, ''Dionysiaca'' [https://archive.org/details/dionysiaca02nonnuoft/page/160/mode/2up? 21.193]</ref>
== Symbolism == The island of Euboea was sacred to Hera, and thus one of the several—but far from only—places that claimed to be the site of Zeus and Hera's first prenuptial union.{{sfn|Hard|2004|page=[https://archive.org/details/routledgehandboo0000hard/page/136/mode/2up 137]}}
== See also == {{portal|Mythology|Ancient Greece}}
Other nurses in Greek mythology:
== References == {{reflist}}
== Bibliography == * Apollonius of Rhodes, ''Argonautica'', edited and translated by William H. Race, Loeb Classical Library No. 1, Cambridge, Massachusetts, Harvard University Press, 2009. {{ISBN|978-0-674-99630-4}}. [https://www.loebclassics.com/view/LCL001/2009/volume.xml Online version at Harvard University Press]. * Diodorus Siculus, ''Library of History, Volume III: Books 4.59-8'', translated by C. H. Oldfather, Loeb Classical Library No. 340. Cambridge, Massachusetts, Harvard University Press, 1939. {{ISBN|978-0-674-99375-4}}. [https://www.loebclassics.com/view/LCL340/1939/volume.xml Online version at Harvard University Press]. [http://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Diodorus_Siculus/home.html Online version by Bill Thayer]. * {{cite book | last = Gifford | first = E. H. | date = 1903 | title = Eusebii Pamphyli Evangelicae Praeparationis | volume = III | publisher = Oxford, E. Typographeo Academico | url = https://archive.org/details/eusebius-preparation-for-the-gospel-full-work-gifford-1903-trans/mode/2up?view=theater}} * {{cite book | last = Hard | first = Robin | title = The Routledge Handbook of Greek Mythology: Based on H. J. Rose's "Handbook of Greek Mythology" | publisher = Routledge | date = 2004 | isbn = 9780415186360 | url = https://archive.org/details/routledgehandboo0000hard/}} * Nonnus, ''Dionysiaca''; translated by Rouse, W H D, II Books XVI-XXXV. Loeb Classical Library No. 345, Cambridge, Massachusetts, Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann Ltd. 1940. [https://archive.org/stream/dionysiaca02nonnuoft/ Internet Archive.] * Plutarch, ''Moralia'', Volume XV: Fragments. Translated by F. H. Sandbach. Loeb Classical Library 429. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1969. [https://www.loebclassics.com/view/LCL429/1969/volume.xml Available at Loeb Digital Library.]
== External links == * [https://www.theoi.com/Nymphe/NympheMakris.html MACRIS on the Theoi Project.]
Category:Nursemaids in Greek mythology Category:Mythology of Dionysus Category:Characters in the Argonautica Category:Deeds of Demeter Category:Deeds of Hera Category:Corcyraean mythology Category:Mythological Euboeans