InGreek andRoman mythology,Phasis (Ancient Greek:Φᾶσις,romanized: Phâsis) is one of the numerous river-gods, deities presiding over rivers. He is the personification of the river Phasis, now known as theRioni, the principal river of the kingdom ofColchis in the southeasternCaucasus. Tales related to Phasis survive in the works of late-antiquity authors.
InHesiod'sTheogony, Phasis is one of the three hundred divine river-gods,[1] sons of theTitansOceanus andTethys,[2] although in other authors he is the son of the sun-godHelios by the OceanidOcyrrhoë.[3][4] The third-century BC Greek historianMnaseas wrote that Phasis was the father ofColchus, who gave his name to the Colchians.[5]
In a pseudo-Plutarchic work[7] that might have been paradoxographical or parodic in nature,[8] Phasis the son of Helios caught his mother Ocyrrhoë in bed with another man, and in anger he killed her.[9] He was then pursued by theFuries for his matricide, and driven mad by their pursuit, he flung himself into the river Arcturus (“bear-guard”), which was called Phasis after him thereafter.[3]
As a river, at some point he was strongly infatuated with a Colchian huntress,Aea. He chased the girl relentlessly in frenzied desire as she shot arrows against him in vain, but her stamina soon failed her. Phasis caught up with her and bound her beneath his waves.[10] The implication is that Aea eventually turned into Aea, the mythic island whereAeëtes lived.[11][12] The incident was later depicted in the halls ofAeëtes's palace inColchis.[13]
Once they reached the northeastern coast ofAsia Minor and the Caucasus, theArgonauts rowed up the river Phasis to reach their destination of Colchis and theGolden fleece.[14]
During the archaic era, Aea was seen as a mythical island in the eastern edge of the world, where Aeëtes' city Colchis stood. Better understanding of theBlack Sea geography resulted in Aea (and also the town Phasis, on the banks of the homonymous river, and seat of king Aeëtes[15]) being shifted to the river that is now Rioni, and thus connecting it with the sea.[16]
In a way, Phasis' rape of Aea invokes parallels with the encounter ofMedea andJason themselves, as Jason takes Medea away from her father and they consumate their union in the same island as another nymph was raped by a river god.[17] Furthermore, Jason's speech to Medea parallelisesOvid's rendition of theHermaphroditus andSalmacis story, which involved the imagery of violence in the water.[17]
Dräger, Paul (October 1, 2006)."Phasis". In Cancik, Hubert; Schneider, Helmuth (eds.).Brill's New Pauly. Translated by Christine F. Salazar. Trier: Brill Reference Online.ISSN1574-9347. RetrievedSeptember 13, 2025.
Plutarch,De fluviis in Plutarch'sMorals, translated from the Greek by several hands. Corrected and revised by. William W. Goodwin, PH. D. Boston. Little, Brown, and Company. Cambridge. Press Of John Wilson and son. 1874. 5Available at Perseus Digital Library.
