Definition: Amalthea was a Greek nymph or naiad and the foster mother of Zeus on Mt. Ida in Crete, in Greek mythology. Amalthea gathered corybantes around her to make noise to disguise the sound of a crying infant so that Zeus could not be found by his father Cronus.
Amalthea is sometimes represented as a goat, one of whose horns Zeus broke off and in recompense gave Amalthea a never-empty horn of plenty. Alternately, Amalthea fed the young Zeus from the horn. Amalthea may have been the daughter of Oceanus. The skin of Amalthea or a goat may have provided the aegis of Zeus (or Athena), although another version has the god using the head of Medusa as the centerpiece on his shield.
Alternate Spellings: Amaltheia
