Pontus (mythology)
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In Greek mythology, Pontus or Pontos (Πόντος) (English translation: "sea") was an ancient, pre-Olympian sea-god, one of the protogenoi, the "first-born". Pontus was the son of Gaia and according to the Greek poet Hesiod brought forth without coupling.[1] For Hesiod, Pontus seems little more than a personification of the sea, ho pontos, "the Road", by which Hellenes signified the Mediterranean Sea.[2] With Gaia, he was the father of Nereus (the Old Man of the Sea), of Thaumas (the awe-striking "wonder" of the Sea, embodiment of the sea's dangerous aspects), of Phorcys and his sister-consort Ceto, and of the "Strong Goddess" Eurybia. With the sea goddess Thalassa (whose own name simply means "sea" but is derived from a pre-Greek root), he fathered the Telchines and all sea life.[1][3][4][5][6]
In a Roman sculpture of the 2nd century AD, Pontus, rising from seaweed, grasps a rudder with his right hand and leans on the prow of a ship. He wears a mural crown, and accompanies Fortuna, whose draperies appear at the left, as twin patron deities of the Black Sea port of Tomis in Moesia.
[edit] Classical Literature
She [Gaia] bore also the fruitless deep with his raging swell, Pontus, without sweet union of love.
— Hesiod, Theogony (130)[1]
And Sea begat Nereus, the eldest of his children, who is true and lies not: and men call him the Old Man because he is trusty and gentle and does not forget the laws of righteousness, but thinks just and kindly thoughts. And yet again he got great Thaumas and proud Phorcys, being mated with Earth, and fair-cheeked Ceto and Eurybia who has a heart of flint within her.
— Hesiod, Theogony (231-239)[1]
[edit] References
- ^ a b c d Evelyn-White, Hugh G. Ed. (1914). The Homeric Hymns and Homerica with an English Translation. London: William Heinemann Ltd.
- ^ The Black Sea was the Greeks' ho pontos euxeinos, the "sea that welcomes strangers"
- ^ Atsma, Aaron J.. "Theoi Project: Pontus". Theoi Project. http://www.theoi.com/Protogenos/Pontos.html. Retrieved 2 July 2011.
- ^ Rengel, Marian (2009). Greek and Roman Mythology A to Z. Infobase Publishing. pp. 119. ISBN 1604134127, 9781604134124.
- ^ Morford, Mark P. O. (1999). Classical Mythology. New York: Oxford University Press. pp. 98, 103. ISBN 0195143388, 9780195143386.
- ^ Turner, Patricia (2001). Dictionary of Ancient Deities. Oxford University Press. pp. 387. ISBN 0195145046, 9780195145045.
[edit] See also
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