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'Nympholepsy' - being seized by a nymph or goddess - is a fairly common topos in Ancient Greek poetry, often representing the moment of poetic inspiration. It can also have a religious dimension, as an encounter with the divine that leads to the establishment of cult where the event occurred. In this wide-ranging study Corinne Ondine Pache examines the intersection of these two aspects. She begins with Hesiod's evocation of the Muses at the end of the Theogony , and moves on to the archaeological evidence for cult sites. Later chapters examine further literary references, considering the Homeric Hymns and the Odyssey , and the Hellenistic poet Theocritus, as well as focusing on the theme of love between a goddess and a mortal and the influence of this on civic religion.