- For the polychaete worm genus, see Orseis (polychaete).
In
Greek mythology,
Orseis (; ) was the water-nymph (
Naiad) of a spring in
Thessalia,
Greece, and the mythical ancestor of the
Greeks. It is uncertain whether she was believed to be the daughter of
Oceanus or the river-god of Thessalia, Peneios. There is even a possibility that she was the daughter of
Zeus and
Deino the
Graeae. According to the
Library, Orseis married
Hellen, son of
Deucalion and
Pyrrha and brother of
Pandora, the legendary eponymous ancestor of the Greeks. Their sons,
Dorus,
Xuthus, and
Aeolus, according to
Hesiod's
Eoiae or
Catalogue of Women together with the sons of Pandora,
Graecus,
Magnetas and
Makedon with Zeus, became the founders of the seven primordial tribes of Hellas (
Graecians,
Magnetes,
Makedones,
Dorians,
Achaeans,
Ionians, and
Aeolians).
