Telphousa

Telphousa is a name that appears in ancient Greek mythology and geography, associated with a water-nymph and with sacred springs and sanctuaries. In myth, Telphousa is a spring-nymph who dwells by a spring and provides guidance to travelers. One well-known episode features her counseling Oedipus on his journey, a narrative that has been discussed in the context of Greek sacred geography and the way place and myth intersect in ancient storytelling. The encounter illustrates how nymphs могли be linked to specific landscapes and travel routes in Greek myth.

Beyond the myth, Telphousa also designated several springs or sanctuaries in the classical landscape of central Greece. The toponym appears at multiple sites identified by scholars with springs connected to nymph cults, often in regions such as Phocis and Boeotia near routes to Delphi. The available literary and inscriptional evidence is fragmentary and overlapping, so the precise identification of the original Telphousa site remains uncertain, and later periods continued to reuse the name for different places.

The figure and the place named Telphousa reflect broader Greek religious and literary ideas about sacred springs, divine guardianship, and the way geography shaped myth and worship. The name persists in modern toponyms and in scholarly discussions of Greek mythic geography and Oedipus tradition.

See also: Oedipus myth; Greek naiads; springs in Greek religion.