The word νυμφαῖον/nymphaîon is first attested in the 4th cent. BC, on Delos (IG XI,2,144, A l. 91). It originally designated a sanctuary of the nymphs. A nymphaeum is first attested in Itanus on Crete in the 3rd cent. BC together with a water reservoir (ILS 9458). The Latinised form nymphaeum is first found in Pomponius Mela (first half of the 1st cent. AD, Mela 2,3), for a nymph sanctuary in Chersonessus. Conversely, Plinius (HN 35,151) used the word nymphaeum to describe a we…
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Nielsen, Inge (Hamburg),
Olshausen, Eckart (Stuttgart),
Zahrnt, Michael (Kiel),
Strobel, Karl (Klagenfurt),
von Bredow, Iris (Bietigheim-Bissingen) and
Cabanes, Pierre (Clermont-Ferrand),
“Nymphaeum”, in:
Brill’s New Pauly, Antiquity volumes edited by: Hubert Cancik and , Helmuth Schneider, English Edition by: Christine F. Salazar, Classical Tradition volumes edited by: Manfred Landfester, English Edition by: Francis G. Gentry.
Consulted online on 23 September 2020 <http://dx.doi.org/10.1163/1574-9347_bnp_brill0900100>