Pontus (mythology)

Template:Infobox deity Template:Sidebar In Greek mythology, Pontus (Template:IPAc-en; Template:Langx)<ref>Ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *pont-eh₁-, *pn̩t-h₁, "path" (see Template:Cite book)</ref> 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,<ref name=Evelyn-White>Template:Cite book</ref> though according to Hyginus, Pontus is the son of Aether and Gaia.<ref name=":0">Hyginus, Fabulae Preface</ref>

Mythology

For Hesiod, Pontus seems little more than a personification of the sea, ho póntos (Template:Langx), by which Hellenes signified the Mediterranean Sea.<ref>The Black Sea was the Greeks' ho pontos euxeinos, the "sea that welcomes strangers".</ref> 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.<ref>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.</ref> With the sea goddess Thalassa (whose own name simply means "sea" but is derived from a Pre-Greek root), he fathered all sea life.<ref name="Evelyn-White" /><ref name="Rengel">Template:Cite book</ref><ref name="Morford">Template:Cite book</ref><ref name="Turner">Template:Cite book</ref>

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

File:ConstantaPontos.JPG

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.{{#if:|{{#if:|}}

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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.{{#if:|{{#if:|}}

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Hyginus

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See also

• List of water deities
• Pontus (region)

References

• Gantz, Timothy, Early Greek Myth: A Guide to Literary and Artistic Sources, Johns Hopkins University Press, 1996, Two volumes: Template:ISBN (Vol. 1), Template:ISBN (Vol. 2).
• Grimal, Pierre, The Dictionary of Classical Mythology, Wiley-Blackwell, 1996. Template:ISBN.
• 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.