Melite was one of the naiads, daughter of the river god Aegaeus, and one of the many loves of Zeus

Zeus

In the ancient Greek religion, Zeus was the "Father of Gods and men" who ruled the Olympians of Mount Olympus as a father ruled the family. He was the god of sky and thunder in Greek mythology. His Roman counterpart is Jupiter and his Etruscan counterpart is Tinia.Zeus was the child of Cronus...

 and his son Hercules

Hercules

Hercules is the Roman name for Greek demigod Heracles, son of Zeus , and the mortal Alcmene...

. Given the choice, she chose Hercules over Zeus who went off in search of other pursuits. She gave birth to Hercules's sons Hyllus

Hyllus

In Greek mythology, Hyllus was the son of Heracles and Deianira, husband of Iole, nursed by Abia....

 and/or Hylas

Hylas

In Greek mythology, Hylas was the son of King Theiodamas of the Dryopians. Roman sources such as Ovid state that Hylas' father was Hercules and his mother was the nymph Melite, or that his mother was the wife of Theiodamas, whose adulterous affair with Heracles caused the war between him and her...

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Hercules tried to find refuge on the mythical island of Scheria

Scheria

Scheria –also known as Scherie or Phaeacia– was a geographical region in Greek mythology, first mentioned in Homer's Odyssey as the home of the Phaiakians and the last destination of Odysseus before returning home to Ithaca.-Odysseus meets Nausikaa:In the Odyssey, after Odysseus sails...

, widely considered to be the island of Corfu

Corfu

Corfu is a Greek island in the Ionian Sea. It is the second largest of the Ionian Islands, and, including its small satellite islands, forms the edge of the northwestern frontier of Greece. The island is part of the Corfu regional unit, and is administered as a single municipality. The...

 in modern Greece, after fighting a war he had caused. He decided to rest near a lake. This lake happened to be the place in which Melite and her sisters were currently residing. When Melite saw Hercules she hid him away from her siblings in a deeper and darker part of the lake where she had sex with him. The two then traveled to another part of the island and stayed there until Melite gave birth to her twins, who they named Hylas and Hyllus.

Zeus was in a rage over her choice of a mortal over him, and so he appealed to her father who would not let her have anymore children with Hercules or any sexual contact whatsoever. Hercules promptly left Melite for other mortals. She was one of the women who were there mourning the death of Hercules.

Melite was also the name of one of the Nereids

Nereids

In Greek mythology, the Nereids are sea nymphs, the fifty daughters of Nereus and Doris, sisters to Nerites. They often accompany Poseidon and can be friendly and helpful to sailors fighting perilous storms. They are particularly associated with the Aegean Sea, where they dwelt with their father...

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