Jump to content

Amphitrite: Difference between revisions

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Content deleted Content added
References: Add Hesiod
m Comma
Tags: Visual edit Mobile edit Mobile web edit Advanced mobile edit
(19 intermediate revisions by 13 users not shown)
Line 8: Line 8:
| alt =
| alt =
| caption = ''Amphitrite'' with downturned trident, by [[François Théodore Devaulx]] (1866)
| caption = ''Amphitrite'' with downturned trident, by [[François Théodore Devaulx]] (1866)
| god_of = {{unbulleted list|Queen of the sea|Goddess of the sea}}
| god_of = {{unbulleted list|Queen of the [[sea]]|Goddess of the sea}}
| member_of = the [[Nereids]]
| abode = [[Mount Olympus]], or the sea
| abode = [[Mount Olympus]], or the sea
| symbol = Trident, dolphin, seal
| symbol = Trident, dolphin, seal
| consort = [[Poseidon]]
| consort = [[Poseidon]]
| parents = [[Nereus]] and [[Doris (mythology)|Doris]], {{small|or}} [[Oceanus]] and [[Tethys (mythology)|Tethys]]
| parents = [[Nereus]] and [[Doris (mythology)|Doris]], {{small|or}} [[Oceanus]] and [[Tethys (mythology)|Tethys]]
| siblings = The [[Nereid]]s {{small|or}} the [[Oceanids]]
| siblings = [[Nerites (mythology)|Nerites]] and the [[Nereid]]s {{small|or}} the [[Potamoi]] and the [[Oceanids]]
| children = [[Triton (mythology)|Triton]]<br />[[Rhodos]]<br />[[Benthesikyme]]
| children = [[Triton (mythology)|Triton]], [[Rhodos]], [[Benthesikyme]]
| mount =
| mount =
| Roman_equivalent = [[Salacia (mythology)|Salacia]]
| roman_equivalent = [[Salacia]]
}}
}}
{{Ancient Greek religion}}
{{Ancient Greek religion}}
In ancient [[Greek mythology]], '''Amphitrite''' ({{IPAc-en|æ|m|f|ɪ|ˈ|t|r|aɪ|t|iː}}; {{lang-grc-gre|Ἀμφιτρίτη|Amphitrítē}}) was the goddess of the sea, the queen of the sea, and her consort is [[Poseidon]].<ref>Compare the North Syrian [[Atargatis]].</ref> She was a daughter of [[Nereus]] and [[Doris (mythology)|Doris]] (or [[Oceanus]] and [[Tethys (mythology)|Tethys]]).<ref name=":0">Roman, L., & Roman, M. (2010). {{Google books|tOgWfjNIxoMC|Encyclopedia of Greek and Roman mythology.|page=58}} </ref> Under the influence of the [[Olympian pantheon]], she became the consort of Poseidon and was later used as a symbolic representation of the sea. Her [[Interpretatio graeca#Interpretatio romana|Roman counterpart]] is [[Salacia (mythology)|Salacia]], a comparatively minor figure, and the goddess of saltwater.<ref>''Sel'', "salt"; "…Salacia, the folds of her garment sagging with fish" ([[Apuleius]], ''[[The Golden Ass]]'' 4.31).</ref>
In ancient [[Greek mythology]], '''Amphitrite''' ({{IPAc-en|æ|m|f|ɪ|ˈ|t|r|aɪ|t|iː}}; {{lang-grc|{{linktext|Ἀμφιτρίτη}}|Amphitrítē}}) was the goddess of the sea, the queen of the sea, and her consort is [[Poseidon]].<ref>Compare the North Syrian [[Atargatis]].</ref> She was a daughter of [[Nereus]] and [[Doris (mythology)|Doris]] (or [[Oceanus]] and [[Tethys (mythology)|Tethys]]).<ref name=":0">Roman, L., & Roman, M. (2010). {{Google books|tOgWfjNIxoMC|Encyclopedia of Greek and Roman mythology.|page=58}} </ref> Under the influence of the [[Olympian pantheon]], she became the consort of Poseidon and was later used as a symbolic representation of the sea. Her [[Interpretatio graeca#Interpretatio romana|Roman counterpart]] is [[Salacia (mythology)|Salacia]], a comparatively minor figure, and the goddess of saltwater.{{secondary source needed|date=February 2024}}<ref>''Sel'', "salt"; "…Salacia, the folds of her garment sagging with fish" ([[Apuleius]], ''[[The Golden Ass]]'' 4.31).</ref>


==Family==
==Family==

According to [[Hesiod]]'s ''[[Theogony]]'', Amphitrite was one of the [[Nereid]] daughters of [[Nereus]] and [[Doris (mythology)|Doris]]. The mythographer [[Bibliotheca (Pseudo-Apollodorus)|Apollodorus]], however, lists her among both the Nereids, as well as the [[Oceanids]], the daughters of [[Oceanus]] and [[Tethys (mythology)|Tethys]].<ref>[[Bibliotheca (Pseudo-Apollodorus)|Apollodorus]], [http://data.perseus.org/citations/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0548.tlg001.perseus-eng1:1.2.2 1.2.2], [http://data.perseus.org/citations/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0548.tlg001.perseus-eng1:1.2.7 1.2.7], [http://data.perseus.org/citations/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0548.tlg001.perseus-eng1:1.4.5 1.4.5].</ref>
According to [[Hesiod]]'s ''[[Theogony]]'', Amphitrite was one of the [[Nereid]] daughters of [[Nereus]] and [[Doris (mythology)|Doris]]. The mythographer [[Bibliotheca (Pseudo-Apollodorus)|Apollodorus]], however, lists her among both the Nereids, as well as the [[Oceanids]], the daughters of [[Oceanus]] and [[Tethys (mythology)|Tethys]].<ref>[[Bibliotheca (Pseudo-Apollodorus)|Apollodorus]], [http://data.perseus.org/citations/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0548.tlg001.perseus-eng1:1.2.2 1.2.2], [http://data.perseus.org/citations/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0548.tlg001.perseus-eng1:1.2.7 1.2.7], [http://data.perseus.org/citations/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0548.tlg001.perseus-eng1:1.4.5 1.4.5].</ref>


Amphitrite's offspring included seals<ref>"''…A throng of seals, the brood of lovely Halosydne.''" (Homer, ''[[Odyssey]]'' iv.404).</ref> and dolphins.<ref>[[Claudius Aelianus|Aelian]], ''On Animals'' (12.45) ascribed to [[Arion]] a line "Music-loving dolphins, sea-nurslings of the Nereis maids divine, whom Amphitrite bore."</ref> She also bred sea monsters and her great waves crashed against the rocks, putting sailors at risk.<ref name=":0" /> Poseidon and Amphitrite had a son, [[Triton (mythology)|Triton]] who was a merman, and a daughter, [[Rhodos]] (if this Rhodos was not actually fathered by Poseidon on [[Halia of Rhodes|Halia]] or was not the daughter of [[Asopus]] as others claim). According to the mythographer [[Bibliotheca (Pseudo-Apollodorus)|Apollodorus]], [[Benthesikyme]] was the daughter of Poseidon and Amphitrite.<ref>Hard, [https://books.google.com/books?id=r1Y3xZWVlnIC&pg=PA105 p. 105]; [[Bibliotheca (Pseudo-Apollodorus)|Apollodorus]], [http://data.perseus.org/citations/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0548.tlg001.perseus-eng1:3.15.4 3.15.4].</ref>
Amphitrite's offspring included seals<ref>"''…A throng of seals, the brood of lovely Halosydne.''" (Homer, ''[[Odyssey]]'' iv.404).</ref> and dolphins.<ref>[[Claudius Aelianus|Aelian]], ''On Animals'' (12.45) ascribed to [[Arion]] a line "Music-loving dolphins, sea-nurslings of the Nereis maids divine, whom Amphitrite bore."</ref> She also bred sea monsters and her great waves crashed against the rocks, putting sailors at risk.<ref name=":0" /> Poseidon and Amphitrite had a son, [[Triton (mythology)|Triton]], who was a merman, and a daughter, [[Rhodos]] (if this Rhodos was not actually fathered by Poseidon on [[Halia of Rhodes|Halia]] or was not the daughter of [[Asopus]] as others claim). According to the mythographer [[Bibliotheca (Pseudo-Apollodorus)|Apollodorus]], [[Benthesikyme]] was the daughter of Poseidon and Amphitrite.<ref>Hard, [https://books.google.com/books?id=r1Y3xZWVlnIC&pg=PA105 p. 105]; [[Bibliotheca (Pseudo-Apollodorus)|Apollodorus]], [http://data.perseus.org/citations/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0548.tlg001.perseus-eng1:3.15.4 3.15.4].</ref>


==Mythology==
==Mythology==
Line 32: Line 32:
[[File:Amphitrite Penteskouphia Louvre MNC208.jpg|thumb|left|Amphitrite ("Aphirita") bearing a [[trident]] on a ''[[pinax]]'' from [[Corinth]] (575–550 BC).<ref>{{cite book|last=Ogden |first=Daniel |author-link=<!--Daniel Ogden--> |translator-last=Raffan |translator-first=John |translator-link=<!--John Raffan--> |title=The Legend of Seleucus |publisher=Cambridge University Press |year=2017|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=-M8oDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA41 |page=41, note 64|isbn=978-1-107-16478-9}}</ref>]]
[[File:Amphitrite Penteskouphia Louvre MNC208.jpg|thumb|left|Amphitrite ("Aphirita") bearing a [[trident]] on a ''[[pinax]]'' from [[Corinth]] (575–550 BC).<ref>{{cite book|last=Ogden |first=Daniel |author-link=<!--Daniel Ogden--> |translator-last=Raffan |translator-first=John |translator-link=<!--John Raffan--> |title=The Legend of Seleucus |publisher=Cambridge University Press |year=2017|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=-M8oDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA41 |page=41, note 64|isbn=978-1-107-16478-9}}</ref>]]


When Poseidon desired to marry her, Amphitrite, wanting to protect "her virginity", fled to the [[Atlas mountains]]. Poseidon sent many creatures to find her. A [[dolphin ]] came across Amphitrite and convinced her to marry Poseidon. As a reward for the dolphin's help, Poseidon created the [[Delphinus]] constellation.<ref>[[Gaius Julius Hyginus]], ''[[De Astronomica]]'' [https://topostext.org/work/207#2.17.1 2.17.1]</ref>
When Poseidon desired to marry her, Amphitrite, wanting to protect her virginity, fled to the [[Atlas Mountains]]. Poseidon sent many creatures to find her. A [[dolphin ]] came across Amphitrite and convinced her to marry Poseidon. As a reward for the dolphin's help, Poseidon created the [[Delphinus]] constellation.<ref>[[Gaius Julius Hyginus]], ''[[De Astronomica]]'' [https://topostext.org/work/207#2.17.1 2.17.1]</ref>


[[Eustathius of Thessalonica|Eustathius]] said that Poseidon first saw her dancing at [[Naxos, Greece|Naxos]] among the other Nereids,<ref>[[Eustathius of Thessalonica]], ''Commentary on Odyssey'' 3.91.1458, line 40.</ref> and carried her off.<ref>The ''Wedding of Neptune and Ampitrite'' provided a subject to [[Poussin]]; the painting is at Philadelphia.</ref> But in another version of the myth, she fled from his advances to [[Atlas (mythology)|Atlas]],<ref>''ad Atlante'', in Hyginus' words.</ref> at the farthest ends of the sea; there the dolphin of Poseidon sought her through the islands of the sea, and finding her, spoke persuasively on behalf of Poseidon, if we may believe Hyginus<ref>"''…qui pervagatus insulas, aliquando ad virginem pervenit, eique persuasit ut nuberet Neptuno…''" [[Oppian]]'s ''Halieutica'' I.383–92 is a parallel passage.</ref> and was rewarded by being placed among the stars as the constellation [[Delphinus]].<ref>''[[Catasterismi]]'', [https://books.google.com/books?id=0EoZAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA158 31]; [[Hyginus]], ''Poetical Astronomy'', ii.17, .132.</ref>
[[Eustathius of Thessalonica|Eustathius]] said that Poseidon first saw her dancing at [[Naxos, Greece|Naxos]] among the other Nereids,<ref>[[Eustathius of Thessalonica]], ''Commentary on Odyssey'' 3.91.1458, line 40.</ref> and carried her off.<ref>The ''Wedding of Neptune and Ampitrite'' provided a subject to [[Poussin]]; the painting is at Philadelphia.</ref> But in another version of the myth, she fled from his advances to [[Atlas (mythology)|Atlas]],<ref>''ad Atlante'', in Hyginus' words.</ref> at the farthest ends of the sea; there the dolphin of Poseidon sought her through the islands of the sea, and finding her, spoke persuasively on behalf of Poseidon, if we may believe Hyginus<ref>"''…qui pervagatus insulas, aliquando ad virginem pervenit, eique persuasit ut nuberet Neptuno…''" [[Oppian]]'s ''Halieutica'' I.383–92 is a parallel passage.</ref> and was rewarded by being placed among the stars as the constellation [[Delphinus]].<ref>''[[Catasterismi]]'', [https://books.google.com/books?id=0EoZAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA158 31]; [[Hyginus]], ''Poetical Astronomy'', ii.17, .132.</ref>
Line 58: Line 58:
</gallery>
</gallery>


==Legacy==
==Amphitrite legacy==
<!-- Deleted image removed: [[Image:Shrine of Amphitrite at USMM Kings Point Academy.gif|right|thumb|Cadets paying a traditional visit to Amphitrite at [[United States Merchant Marine Academy|U.S. Merchant Marine Academy Kings Point]]]] -->
<!-- Deleted image removed: [[Image:Shrine of Amphitrite at USMM Kings Point Academy.gif|right|thumb|Cadets paying a traditional visit to Amphitrite at [[United States Merchant Marine Academy|U.S. Merchant Marine Academy Kings Point]]]] -->
[[Image:Amphitrite Australiastamp.jpg|thumb|246px|Amphitrite on 1936 [[Australia]]n stamp commemorating completion of submarine telephone cable to [[Tasmania]]]]
[[Image:Amphitrite Australiastamp.jpg|thumb|246px|Amphitrite on 1936 [[Australia]]n stamp commemorating completion of submarine telephone cable to [[Tasmania]]]]
Line 68: Line 68:
* An asteroid, [[29 Amphitrite]], is named for her.
* An asteroid, [[29 Amphitrite]], is named for her.
* In 1936, Australia used an image of Amphitrite on a [[postage stamp]] as a [[classical antiquity|classical]] [[allusion]] for the [[submarine communications cable]] across [[Bass Strait]] from [[Apollo Bay, Victoria]] to [[Stanley, Tasmania]].
* In 1936, Australia used an image of Amphitrite on a [[postage stamp]] as a [[classical antiquity|classical]] [[allusion]] for the [[submarine communications cable]] across [[Bass Strait]] from [[Apollo Bay, Victoria]] to [[Stanley, Tasmania]].
*A statue of Amphitrite stands at the United States Merchant Marine Academy in Kings Point, NY


== Notes ==
== Notes ==
Line 74: Line 75:
== References ==
== References ==
* [[Bibliotheca (Pseudo-Apollodorus)|Apollodorus]], ''Apollodorus, The Library, with an English Translation by Sir James George Frazer, F.B.A., F.R.S. in 2 Volumes'', Cambridge, Massachusetts, [[Harvard University Press]]; London, William Heinemann Ltd., 1921. {{ISBN|0-674-99135-4}}. [http://data.perseus.org/texts/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0548.tlg001.perseus-eng1 Online version at the Perseus Digital Library].
* [[Bibliotheca (Pseudo-Apollodorus)|Apollodorus]], ''Apollodorus, The Library, with an English Translation by Sir James George Frazer, F.B.A., F.R.S. in 2 Volumes'', Cambridge, Massachusetts, [[Harvard University Press]]; London, William Heinemann Ltd., 1921. {{ISBN|0-674-99135-4}}. [http://data.perseus.org/texts/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0548.tlg001.perseus-eng1 Online version at the Perseus Digital Library].
* Hard, Robin, ''The Routledge Handbook of Greek Mythology: Based on H.J. Rose's "Handbook of Greek Mythology"'', Psychology Press, 2004. {{ISBN|978-0-415-18636-0}}. [https://books.google.com/books?id=r1Y3xZWVlnIC&printsec=frontcover Google Books].
* Hard, Robin, ''The Routledge Handbook of Greek Mythology: Based on H.J. Rose's "Handbook of Greek Mythology"'', Psychology Press, 2004. {{ISBN|978-0-415-18636-0}}. [https://books.google.com/books?id=r1Y3xZWVlnIC Google Books].
* [[Hesiod]], ''[[Theogony]]'', in ''The Homeric Hymns and Homerica with an English Translation by Hugh G. Evelyn-White'', Cambridge, Massachusetts, [[Harvard University Press]]; London, William Heinemann Ltd., 1914. [http://data.perseus.org/texts/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0020.tlg001.perseus-eng1 Online version at the Perseus Digital Library]. [https://archive.org/details/hesiodhomerichym00hesiuoft/page/78/mode/2up?view=theater Internet Archive].
* [[Hesiod]], ''[[Theogony]]'', in ''The Homeric Hymns and Homerica with an English Translation by Hugh G. Evelyn-White'', Cambridge, Massachusetts, [[Harvard University Press]]; London, William Heinemann Ltd., 1914. [http://data.perseus.org/texts/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0020.tlg001.perseus-eng1 Online version at the Perseus Digital Library]. [https://archive.org/details/hesiodhomerichym00hesiuoft/page/78/mode/2up?view=theater Internet Archive].
*{{cite book|last=Smith|first=William|author-link=William Smith (lexicographer)|date=1873|title=[[Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology]]|url=|location=London|publisher=|page=|isbn=}} {{cite web|url=https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.04.0104%3Aalphabetic+letter%3DA%3Aentry+group%3D20%3Aentry%3Damphitrite-bio-1|publisher=|title=Amphitri'te}} and {{cite web|url=https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.04.0104%3Aalphabetic+letter%3DH%3Aentry+group%3D1%3Aentry%3Dhalosydne-bio-1|publisher=|title=Halosydne}}
*{{cite book|last=Smith|first=William|author-link=William Smith (lexicographer)|date=1873|title=[[Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology]]|url=|location=London|publisher=|page=|isbn=}} {{cite web|url=https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.04.0104%3Aalphabetic+letter%3DA%3Aentry+group%3D20%3Aentry%3Damphitrite-bio-1|publisher=|title=Amphitri'te}} and {{cite web|url=https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.04.0104%3Aalphabetic+letter%3DH%3Aentry+group%3D1%3Aentry%3Dhalosydne-bio-1|publisher=|title=Halosydne}}
Line 81: Line 82:
{{Commons category|Amphitrite}}
{{Commons category|Amphitrite}}
{{wiktionary|Amphitrite}}
{{wiktionary|Amphitrite}}
* [http://warburg.sas.ac.uk/vpc/VPC_search/subcats.php?cat_1=5&cat_2=451 Warburg Institute Iconographic Database] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141223082319/http://warburg.sas.ac.uk/vpc/VPC_search/subcats.php?cat_1=5&cat_2=451 |date=2014-12-23 }} (c. 130 images of Amphitrite)
* [https://iconographic.warburg.sas.ac.uk/category/vpc-taxonomy-000278 Warburg Institute Iconographic Database (images of Amphitrite)]


{{Greek religion}}
{{Greek religion}}

Revision as of 02:11, 16 July 2024

Amphitrite
  • Queen of the sea
  • Goddess of the sea
Member of the Nereids
Amphitrite with downturned trident, by François Théodore Devaulx (1866)
AbodeMount Olympus, or the sea
SymbolTrident, dolphin, seal
Genealogy
ParentsNereus and Doris, or Oceanus and Tethys
SiblingsNerites and the Nereids or the Potamoi and the Oceanids
ConsortPoseidon
ChildrenTriton, Rhodos, Benthesikyme
Equivalents
RomanSalacia

In ancient Greek mythology, Amphitrite (/æmfɪˈtrt/; Ancient Greek: Ἀμφιτρίτη, romanizedAmphitrítē) was the goddess of the sea, the queen of the sea, and her consort is Poseidon.[1] She was a daughter of Nereus and Doris (or Oceanus and Tethys).[2] Under the influence of the Olympian pantheon, she became the consort of Poseidon and was later used as a symbolic representation of the sea. Her Roman counterpart is Salacia, a comparatively minor figure, and the goddess of saltwater.[non-primary source needed][3]

Family

According to Hesiod's Theogony, Amphitrite was one of the Nereid daughters of Nereus and Doris. The mythographer Apollodorus, however, lists her among both the Nereids, as well as the Oceanids, the daughters of Oceanus and Tethys.[4]

Amphitrite's offspring included seals[5] and dolphins.[6] She also bred sea monsters and her great waves crashed against the rocks, putting sailors at risk.[2] Poseidon and Amphitrite had a son, Triton, who was a merman, and a daughter, Rhodos (if this Rhodos was not actually fathered by Poseidon on Halia or was not the daughter of Asopus as others claim). According to the mythographer Apollodorus, Benthesikyme was the daughter of Poseidon and Amphitrite.[7]

Mythology

Amphitrite ("Aphirita") bearing a trident on a pinax from Corinth (575–550 BC).[8]

When Poseidon desired to marry her, Amphitrite, wanting to protect her virginity, fled to the Atlas Mountains. Poseidon sent many creatures to find her. A dolphin came across Amphitrite and convinced her to marry Poseidon. As a reward for the dolphin's help, Poseidon created the Delphinus constellation.[9]

Eustathius said that Poseidon first saw her dancing at Naxos among the other Nereids,[10] and carried her off.[11] But in another version of the myth, she fled from his advances to Atlas,[12] at the farthest ends of the sea; there the dolphin of Poseidon sought her through the islands of the sea, and finding her, spoke persuasively on behalf of Poseidon, if we may believe Hyginus[13] and was rewarded by being placed among the stars as the constellation Delphinus.[14]

Amphitrite is not fully personified in the Homeric epics: "out on the open sea, in Amphitrite's breakers" (Odyssey iii.101), "moaning Amphitrite" nourishes fishes "in numbers past all counting" (Odyssey xii.119). She shares her Homeric epithet Halosydne (Greek: Ἁλοσύδνη, translit. Halosúdnē, lit. "sea-nourished")[15] with Thetis.[16] In some sense, the sea-nymphs are doublets.

Pindar, in his sixth Olympian Ode, recognized Poseidon's role as "great god of the sea, husband of Amphitrite, goddess of the golden spindle." For later poets, Amphitrite became simply a metaphor for the sea: Euripides, in Cyclops (702) and Ovid, Metamorphoses, (i.14).

Representation and cult

Though Amphitrite does not figure in Greek cultus, at an archaic stage she was of outstanding importance, for in the Homeric Hymn to Delian Apollo, she appears at the birthing of Apollo among, in Hugh G. Evelyn-White's translation, "all the chiefest of the goddesses, Dione and Rhea and Ichnaea and Themis and loud-moaning Amphitrite"; more recent translators[17] are unanimous in rendering "Ichnaean Themis" rather than treating "Ichnae" as a separate identity. Theseus in the submarine halls of his father Poseidon saw the daughters of Nereus dancing with liquid feet, and "august, ox-eyed Amphitrite", who wreathed him with her wedding wreath, according to a fragment of Bacchylides. Jane Ellen Harrison recognized in the poetic treatment an authentic echo of Amphitrite's early importance: "It would have been much simpler for Poseidon to recognize his own son… the myth belongs to that early stratum of mythology when Poseidon was not yet god of the sea, or, at least, no-wise supreme there—Amphitrite and the Nereids ruled there, with their servants the Tritons. Even so late as the Iliad Amphitrite is not yet 'Neptuni uxor' [Neptune's wife]."[18]

Amphitrite, "the third one who encircles [the sea]",[19] was so entirely confined in her authority to the sea and the creatures in it that she was almost never associated with her husband, either for purposes of worship or in works of art, except when he was to be distinctly regarded as the god who controlled the sea. An exception may be the cult image of Amphitrite that Pausanias saw in the temple of Poseidon at the Isthmus of Corinth (ii.1.7).

In the arts of vase-painting and mosaic, Amphitrite was distinguishable from the other Nereids only by her queenly attributes. In works of art, both ancient ones and post-Renaissance paintings, Amphitrite is represented either enthroned beside Poseidon or driving with him in a chariot drawn by sea-horses (hippocamps) or other fabulous creatures of the deep, and attended by Tritons and Nereids. She is dressed in queenly robes and has nets in her hair. The pincers of a crab are sometimes shown attached to her temples.[20]

Legacy

Amphitrite on 1936 Australian stamp commemorating completion of submarine telephone cable to Tasmania

Notes

  1. ^ Compare the North Syrian Atargatis.
  2. ^ a b Roman, L., & Roman, M. (2010). Encyclopedia of Greek and Roman mythology., p. 58, at Google Books
  3. ^ Sel, "salt"; "…Salacia, the folds of her garment sagging with fish" (Apuleius, The Golden Ass 4.31).
  4. ^ Apollodorus, 1.2.2, 1.2.7, 1.4.5.
  5. ^ "…A throng of seals, the brood of lovely Halosydne." (Homer, Odyssey iv.404).
  6. ^ Aelian, On Animals (12.45) ascribed to Arion a line "Music-loving dolphins, sea-nurslings of the Nereis maids divine, whom Amphitrite bore."
  7. ^ Hard, p. 105; Apollodorus, 3.15.4.
  8. ^ Ogden, Daniel (2017). The Legend of Seleucus. Translated by Raffan, John. Cambridge University Press. p. 41, note 64. ISBN 978-1-107-16478-9.
  9. ^ Gaius Julius Hyginus, De Astronomica 2.17.1
  10. ^ Eustathius of Thessalonica, Commentary on Odyssey 3.91.1458, line 40.
  11. ^ The Wedding of Neptune and Ampitrite provided a subject to Poussin; the painting is at Philadelphia.
  12. ^ ad Atlante, in Hyginus' words.
  13. ^ "…qui pervagatus insulas, aliquando ad virginem pervenit, eique persuasit ut nuberet Neptuno…" Oppian's Halieutica I.383–92 is a parallel passage.
  14. ^ Catasterismi, 31; Hyginus, Poetical Astronomy, ii.17, .132.
  15. ^ Wilhelm Vollmer, Wörterbuch der Mythologie, 3rd ed. 1874
  16. ^ Odyssey iv.404 (Amphitrite), and Iliad, xx.207.
  17. ^ E.g. Jules Cashford, Susan C. Shelmerdine, Apostolos N. Athanassakis.
  18. ^ Harrison, "Notes Archaeological and Mythological on Bacchylides" The Classical Review 12.1 (February 1898, pp. 85–86), p. 86.
  19. ^ Robert Graves. The Greek Myths (1960)
  20. ^ "AMPHITRITE - Greek Goddess & Nereid Queen of the Sea". www.theoi.com. Retrieved 2023-03-15.

References