Pontus (mythology)

Pontus
Pontus
Personification of the Sea
	Pontus in an ancient Roman mosaic, Tunisia[citation needed]
Genealogy
Parents	Gaia
Siblings	Uranus, Ourea
Consort	Gaia, Thalassa
Offspring	Nereus, Thaumas, Phorcys, Ceto, Eurybia

In Greek mythology, Pontus (/ˈpɒntəs/; Ancient Greek: Πόντος, romanized: Póntos, lit. 'Sea')^[1] was an ancient, pre-Olympian sea-god, one of the Greek primordial deities. Pontus was Gaia's son and has no father; according to the Greek poet Hesiod, he was born without coupling,^[2] though according to Hyginus, Pontus is the son of Aether and Gaia.^[3]

Mythology

For Hesiod, Pontus seems little more than a personification of the sea, ho póntos (Ancient Greek: ὁ Πόντος), by which Hellenes signified the Mediterranean Sea.^[4] After the castration of his brother Uranus, Pontus, with his mother Gaia, fathered Nereus (the Old Man of the Sea), Thaumas (the awe-striking "wonder" of the Sea, embodiment of the sea's dangerous aspects), Phorcys and his sister-consort Ceto, and the "Strong Goddess" Eurybia.^[5] With the sea goddess Thalassa (whose own name simply means "sea" but is derived from a Pre-Greek root), he fathered all sea life.^[2]^[6]^[7]^[8]

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.

Sources

Statue of Pontus (2nd century CE, Constanța History and Archaeology Museum)

Hesiod

She [Gaia] bore also the fruitless deep with his raging swell, Pontus, without sweet union of love.

— Hesiod, Theogony (130)^[2]

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)^[2]

Hyginus

From Aether and Earth [i.e. Gaia]: Grief, Deceit, Wrath, Lamentation, Falsehood, Oath, Vengeance, Intemperance, Altercation, Forgetfulness, Sloth, Fear, Pride, Incest, Combat, Ocean, Themis, Tartarus, Pontus; and the Titans, Briareus, Gyges, Steropes, Atlas, Hyperion, and Polus, Saturn, Ops, Moneta, Dione; and three Furies – namely, Alecto, Megaera, Tisiphone.^[3]

Notes

^ Ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *pont-eh₁-, *pn̩t-h₁, "path" (see Beekes, R. S. P. (2009). Etymological Dictionary of Greek. Brill. p. 1221.)
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d Evelyn-White, Hugh G. Ed. (1914). The Homeric Hymns and Homerica with an English Translation. London: William Heinemann Ltd.
^ ^a ^b Hyginus, Fabulae Preface
^ The Black Sea was the Greeks' ho pontos euxeinos, the "sea that welcomes strangers".
^ Hesiod, Theogony 233–239; Gantz, p. 16; Grimal, s.v. Pontus. For a genealogical table of the descendants of Gaia and Pontus, see Gantz, p. 805.
^ Rengel, Marian (2009). Greek and Roman Mythology A to Z. Infobase Publishing. p. 119. ISBN 9781604134124.
^ Morford, Mark P. O. (1999). Classical Mythology. New York: Oxford University Press. pp. 98, 103. ISBN 9780195143386.
^ Turner, Patricia (2001). Dictionary of Ancient Deities. Oxford University Press. p. 387. ISBN 9780195145045.

References

Gantz, Timothy, Early Greek Myth: A Guide to Literary and Artistic Sources, Johns Hopkins University Press, 1996, Two volumes: ISBN 978-0-8018-5360-9 (Vol. 1), ISBN 978-0-8018-5362-3 (Vol. 2).
Grimal, Pierre, The Dictionary of Classical Mythology, Wiley-Blackwell, 1996. ISBN 978-0-631-20102-1.
Gaius Julius Hyginus, Fabulae from The Myths of Hyginus translated and edited by Mary Grant. University of Kansas Publications in Humanistic Studies. Online version at the Topos Text Project.
Hesiod, Theogony from The Homeric Hymns and Homerica with an English Translation by Hugh G. Evelyn-White, Cambridge, MA.,Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann Ltd. 1914. Online version at the Perseus Digital Library. Greek text available from the same website.

[1] Ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *pont-eh₁-, *pn̩t-h₁, "path" (see Beekes, R. S. P. (2009). Etymological Dictionary of Greek. Brill. p. 1221.)

[Evelyn-White-2] Evelyn-White, Hugh G. Ed. (1914). The Homeric Hymns and Homerica with an English Translation. London: William Heinemann Ltd.

[:0-3] Hyginus, Fabulae Preface

[4] The Black Sea was the Greeks' ho pontos euxeinos, the "sea that welcomes strangers".

[5] Hesiod, Theogony 233–239; Gantz, p. 16; Grimal, s.v. Pontus. For a genealogical table of the descendants of Gaia and Pontus, see Gantz, p. 805.

[Rengel-6] Rengel, Marian (2009). Greek and Roman Mythology A to Z. Infobase Publishing. p. 119. ISBN 9781604134124.

[Morford-7] Morford, Mark P. O. (1999). Classical Mythology. New York: Oxford University Press. pp. 98, 103. ISBN 9780195143386.

[Turner-8] Turner, Patricia (2001). Dictionary of Ancient Deities. Oxford University Press. p. 387. ISBN 9780195145045.

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