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| Greek deities series |
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| Water deities |
| Waternymphs |
Theancient Greeks had numerouswater deities. The philosopherPlato once remarked[1] that the Greek people were like frogs sitting around a pond—their many cities hugging close to theMediterranean coastline from theHellenic homeland toAsia Minor,Libya,Sicily, andsouthern Italy. Thus, they venerated a rich variety of water divinities. The range of Greek water deities of the classical era range from primordial powers and anOlympian on the one hand, toheroized mortals,chthonicnymphs,trickster-figures, and monsters on the other.
Oceanus[2] andTethys are the father and mother of the gods in theIliad while in the seventh century BC theSpartan poetAlcman made thenereidThetis ademiurge-figure.Orpheus's song in Book I of theArgonautica hymnsEurynome, a daughter of Oceanus, as first queen of the gods and as wife ofOphion, first king of the gods.[3]
Thepre-Socratic cosmogony ofThales, who made water the firstelement, may be seen as a natural outgrowth of this poetic thinking.
The primacy of water gods is reminiscent of, and may even have been influenced by,ancient Near Easternmythology - whereTiamat (salt water) andApsu (fresh water) are the first gods of theEnuma Elish, and where the Spirit of God is said to have "hovered over the waters" inGenesis.
Pontus is the primordial deity of the sea.
Poseidon,[4] as god of the sea, was an important Olympian power; he was the chief patron ofCorinth, many cities ofMagna Graecia, and also ofPlato's legendaryAtlantis. He controls the oceans and the seas,[5] and he also createdhorses. As such, he was intimately connected with the pre-historic office of king - whose chief emblem of power and primary sacrificial animal was thehorse. Thus, on theMyceneanLinear B tablets found atPylos, the name Poseidon[6] occurs frequently in connection with thewanax ("king"), whose power and wealth were increasingly maritime rather than equestrian in nature. Surprisingly, Poseidon's name is found with greater frequency than that ofZeus, and is commonly linked (often in a secondary role) withDemeter. Poseidon[7] is a brother ofZeus along withHades and his father wasCronus, the leader of the Titans.
When the office ofwanax disappeared during theGreek Dark Ages, the link between Poseidon and the kingship was largely, although not entirely, forgotten. In classicalAthens, Poseidon was remembered as both the opponent and doublet ofErechtheus, the first king of Athens. Erechtheus was given ahero-cult at his tomb under the titlePoseidon Erechtheus.
In another possible echo of this archaic association, the chief ritual of Atlantis, according toPlato'sCritias, was a nocturnal horse-sacrifice offered to Poseidon[8] by the kings of the mythical island power.
In keeping with the mythic equation between horsemanship and seamanship, the equestrian heroesCastor and Pollux were invoked by sailors against shipwreck. Ancient Greeks interpreted the phenomenon now calledSt. Elmo's Fire as the visible presence of the two brothers.
Several types of water deities conform to a single type: that of Homer'shalios geron or Old Man of the Sea:Nereus,Proteus,Glaucus andPhorkys. These water deities are not as powerful asPoseidon, the main god of the oceans and seas. Each is a shape-shifter, a prophet, and the father of either radiantly beautiful nymphs or hideous monsters (or both, in the case of Phorkys). Nymphs and monsters blur, forHesiod relates that Phorcys was wed to the "beautiful-cheeked"Ceto, whose name is merely the feminine of the monstrousCetus, to whomAndromeda was due to be sacrificed. Each appearance in myth tends to emphasize a different aspect of the archetype: Proteus and Nereus as shape-shifters and tricksters, Phorcys as a father of monsters, Nereus and Glaucus for truth-telling, Nereus for the beauty of his daughters.
Each one of these Old Men is the father or grandfather of many nymphs and/or monsters, who often bear names that are either metaphorical (Thetis, "establishment";Telesto, "success") or geographical (Rhode from "Rhodes";Nilos, "Nile"). Each cluster of Old Man and daughters is therefore a kind ofpantheon in miniature, each one a different possible configuration of the spiritual, moral and physical world writ small – and writ around the sea.
The tantalizing figure of thehalios geron has been a favorite of scholarship. The Old Men have been seen as everything from survivals of oldAegean gods who presided over the waves beforePoseidon (Kerenyi) to embodiments of archaic speculation on the relation oftruth to cunningintelligence (Detienne).
Homer'sOdyssey contains a haunting description of a cave of theNereids onIthaca, close by a harbor sacred toPhorcys. TheNeoplatonist philosopherPorphyry read this passage as an allegory of the whole universe – and he may not have been far off the mark.
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Thus CapeTanaerum, the point at which mainland Greece juts most sharply into theMediterranean, was at once an important sailor's landmark, a shrine ofPoseidon, and the point at whichOrpheus andHeracles were said to have enteredHades.
This motif is apparent in the paradoxical festivals of the shadowy sea-deityLeucothea ("white goddess"), celebrated in many cities throughout the Greek world. Identifying her with the drownedheroineIno, worshippers would offer sacrifice while engaged in frenzied mourning. The philosopherXenophanes[9] once remarked that if Leucothea were a goddess, one should not lament her; if she were mortal, one should not sacrifice to her.
At the same time, man's (always partial) mastery over the dangerous sea was one of the most potent marks of human skill and achievement. This theme is exemplified in the second choral ode ofSophocles'sAntigone:
Certain water divinities are thus intimately bound up with the practice of human skill. TheTelchines, for example, were a class of half-human, half-fish or dolphin water daemons said to have been the first inhabitants ofRhodes. These beings were at once revered for theirmetalwork and reviled for their death-dealing power of theevil eye. InAeschylus'sPrometheus Bound, the imprisoned craftsman is aided by the daughters ofOcean; andHephaestus had his forge on "sea-girtLemnos".
The nexus of sea, otherworld and craft is most strikingly embodied in theCabeiri ofSamothrace, who simultaneously oversaw salvation fromshipwreck, metalcraft, andmystery-rites.
InHomer's heavily maritimeOdyssey,Poseidon rather thanZeus is the primary mover of events.
Although the sea-nymphThetis appears only at the beginning and end of theIliad, being absent for much of the middle, she is a surprisingly powerful and nearly omniscient figure when she is present. She is easily able to sway the will ofZeus, and to turn all the forges ofHephaestus to her purposes. Her prophecy ofAchilles' fate bespeaks a degree of foreknowledge not available to most other gods in the epic.
In classical art the fish-tailed merman with coiling tail was a popular subject, usually portrayed writhing in the wrestling grasp of Heracles. A similar wrestling scene shows Peleus and Thetis, often accompanied by a host of small animal icons representing her metamorphoses.
InHellenistic art, the theme of themarine thiasos or "assembly of sea-gods" became a favorite of sculptors, allowing them to show off their skill in depicting flowing movement and aquiline grace in a way that land-based subjects did not.
In Roman times with the construction of bath houses throughout the empire, mosaic art achieved primacy in the depiction of water deities. Foremost of these were scenes of the Triumph of Poseidon (or Neptune), riding in a chariot drawn by Hippocamps and attended by a host of water deities and fish-tailed beasts. Large mosaic scenes also portrayed rows of sea-gods and nymphs arranged in a coiling procession of intertwined fish-tails. Other scenes show the birth ofAphrodite, often raised in a conch shell by a pair of sea centaurs, and accompanied by fishing Erotes (winged love gods). It was in this medium that most of the obscure maritime gods of Homer and Hesiod finally received standardised representation and attributes.
