InGreek mythology,Pothos (Ancient Greek:Πόθος,lit. 'yearning, desire') is the personification of erotic desire.^[1] He is one of deities who accompaniesAphrodite, alongsideEros andHimeros.^[2]

According to Jan Bažant, the use of "desire" in afragment ofArchilochus (7th century BC) may refer to the personification of the word.^[3] Pothos first appears clearly personified inAeschylus (6th to 5th centuries BC), where he andPeitho are described as children and attendent of Aphrodite.^[4] InSophocles (5th century BC), he appears to be the personification of the yearning for someone who is not present.^[5]Euripides'sBacchae (5th century BC) associates him withDionysus, as a god pertaining to ecstasy and pleasure.^[6] In hisSymposium,Plato (5th to 4th centuries BC) describes him as the child ofEros.^[7] In theDionysiaca ofNonnus (6th century AD), Pothos is described as the son ofZephyrus andIris.^[8]

Pothos does not appear in any mythological stories.^[9]

In the temple ofAphrodite atMegara, there was a sculpture that represented Pothos together withEros and Himeros which has been credited toScopas.^[10]

According toHenning Börm, an "association of death" is indicated by the use of thePothos flower to adorn graves in ancient times.^[11] InSyrian sources, he is described as the offspring ofCronus andAstarte.^[12]

• Bažant, Jan, "Pothos", inLexicon Iconographicum Mythologiae Classicae (LIMC). VII.1: Oidipous – Theseus, Zurich and Munich, Artemis Verlag, 1994.ISBN 3760887511.Internet Archive.
• Grimal, Pierre,The Dictionary of Classical Mythology, Malden, Oxford, and Carlton, Blackwell Publishing, 1986.ISBN 0631201025.Internet Archive.
• Hanfmann, George M. A., John Richard Thornhill Pollard, and Karim Arafatin, "Eros", inOxford Classical Dictionary, edited byTim Whitmarsh, New York, Oxford University Press, 2015.ISBN 9780199381135.
• Hard, Robin,The Routledge Handbook of Greek Mythology: Based on H.J. Rose's "Handbook of Greek Mythology", London and New York, Routledge, 2004.ISBN 020344633X.doi:10.4324/9780203446331.

• "Pothos", inRealencyclopädie der classischen Altertumswissenschaft, Band XXII, Halbband 1, Stuttgart, J. B. Metzler, 1953.Wikisource.

• Personifications in Greek mythology
• Greek gods
• Children of Aphrodite
• Greek love and lust gods

• Articles with short description
• Short description matches Wikidata
• Articles containing Ancient Greek (to 1453)-language text