'god of Nysa.' Apollodorus seems to be following Pherecydes, who relates how the infant Dionysus, god of the grapevine, was nursed by the rain-nymphs, the Hyades at Nysa. The Anatolian Hittites ' name for themselves in their own language ("Nesili") was "Nesi," however. The Hittites' influence on early Greek culture is