Editing Amphitrite

{{Short description|Queen of the sea and wife of Poseidon in Greek mythology}}
{{Other uses}}
{{distinguish|Aphrodite}}
{{Infobox deity
| type = Greek
| name = Amphitrite
| image = Amphitrite Devaulx cour Carree Louvre.jpg
| alt = 
| caption = ''Amphitrite'' with downturned trident, by [[François Théodore Devaulx]] (1866)
| god_of = {{unbulleted list|Queen of the [[sea]]|Goddess of the sea}}
| member_of = the [[Nereids]]
| abode = [[Mount Olympus]], or the sea
| symbol = Trident, dolphin, seal
| consort = [[Poseidon]]
| parents = [[Nereus]] and [[Doris (Oceanid)|Doris]], {{small|or}} [[Oceanus]] and [[Tethys (mythology)|Tethys]]
| siblings = [[Nerites (mythology)|Nerites]] and the [[Nereid]]s {{small|or}} the [[River gods (Greek mythology)|river gods]] and the [[Oceanids]]
| children = [[Triton (mythology)|Triton]], [[Rhodos]], [[Benthesikyme]]
| mount = 
}}
{{Ancient Greek religion}}
{{Greek deities (water)}}

In ancient [[Greek mythology]], '''Amphitrite''' ({{IPAc-en|æ|m|f|ɪ|ˈ|t|r|aɪ|t|iː}}; {{langx|grc|{{linktext|Ἀμφιτρίτη}}|Amphitrítē}}) was the goddess of the sea, the queen of the sea, and her consort is [[Poseidon]]. She was a daughter of [[Nereus]] and [[Doris (Oceanid)|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.{{cn|date=December 2024}}

==Family==
According to [[Hesiod]]'s ''[[Theogony]]'', Amphitrite was one of the 50 [[Nereid]] daughters of [[Nereus]] and [[Doris (Oceanid)|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>

==Mythology==
[[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 astronomia]]'' [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]; [[Gaius Julius Hyginus|Hyginus]], ''Poetical Astronomy'', ii.17, .132.</ref>

Amphitrite is not fully personified in the [[Odyssey|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<!--is this the exact line number? pls check and delete this notice-->). She shares her [[Homer]]ic epithet ''Halosydne'' ({{langx|grc|Ἁλοσύδνη|Halosúdnē|sea-nourished}})<ref>[http://www.vollmer-mythologie.de/halosydne/ Wilhelm Vollmer, ''Wörterbuch der Mythologie'', 3rd ed. 1874]</ref> with [[Thetis]].<ref>''[[Odyssey]]'' iv.404 (Amphitrite), and ''[[Iliad]]'', xx.207.</ref> 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 (poem)|Metamorphoses]]'', (i.14).

==Representation and cult==
Though Amphitrite does not figure in Greek ''[[Cult (religion)|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 (mythology)|Dione]] and [[Rhea (mythology)|Rhea]] and [[Ichnaea]] and [[Themis]] and loud-moaning Amphitrite"; more recent translators<ref>E.g. Jules Cashford, Susan C. Shelmerdine, Apostolos N. Athanassakis.</ref> 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]."<ref>Harrison, "Notes Archaeological and Mythological on Bacchylides" ''The Classical Review'' '''12'''.1 (February 1898, pp. 85–86), p. 86.</ref>

Amphitrite, "the third one who encircles [the sea]",<ref>[[Robert Graves]]. ''[[The Greek Myths]] (1960)''</ref> 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 (geographer)|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 [[Nereid]]s 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 (''[[hippocamp]]s'') or other fabulous creatures of the deep, and attended by [[Triton (god)|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.<ref>{{Cite web |title=AMPHITRITE - Greek Goddess & Nereid Queen of the Sea |url=https://www.theoi.com/Pontios/Amphitrite.html |access-date=2023-03-15 |website=www.theoi.com}}</ref>

<gallery widths="200" heights="200">
File:Theseus Athena Amphitrite Louvre G104.jpg|Theseus and Amphitrite clasp hands, with Athena looking on ([[red-figure pottery|red-figure cup]] by [[Euphronios]] and [[Onesimos (vase painter)|Onesimos]], 500–490 BC)
File:Sea thiasos Amphitrite Poseidon Glyptothek Munich 239 front n3.jpg|Sea [[thiasos]] depicting the wedding of [[Poseidon]] and Amphitrite, from the [[Altar of Domitius Ahenobarbus]] in the [[Campus Martius|Field of Mars]], [[bas-relief]], [[Roman Republic]], 2nd century BC
File:Affreschi romani - nettuno anfitrine - pompei.JPG|Poseidon and Amphitrite. Ancient Roman fresco (50-79 AD), [[Pompeii]], [[Italy]].
File:JacobdeGheynII-NeptuneandAmphitrite.jpg|''Neptune and Amphitrite'' by [[Jacob de Gheyn II]] (latter 16th-century)
File:Mosaic of Neptune and Amphitrite.jpg|A [[Roman mosaic]] on a wall in the House of Neptune and Amphitrite, [[Herculaneum]], Italy
File:Nicolas Poussin, French - The Birth of Venus - Google Art Project.jpg|''The Triumph of Neptune'' by [[Nicolas Poussin]], showing Amphitrite ''[[velificans]]'' (1634)
File:Mosaique de sol avec le triomphe de Neptune et son épouse Amphitrite (Louvre, Ma 1880)1.jpg|''Triumph of Poseidon and Amphitrite'' showing the couple [[thiasos#Other thiasoi|in procession]], detail of a vast [[Roman mosaic|mosaic]] from [[Cirta]], [[Africa (Roman province)|Roman Africa]] ({{circa|315–325 AD}}, now at the [[Louvre]])
File:Giovanni Battista Crosato, The Triumph of Amphitrite, 1745-1750, NGA 80940.jpg|Drawing of Amphitrite sitting in a sea shell surrounded by her subjects. The Triumph of Amphitrite by [[Giovanni Battista Crosato]] (1745–1750). Held at the [[National Gallery of Art]].
</gallery>

==Legacy==
<!-- Deleted image removed: [[File: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]]]] -->
[[File:Amphitrite Australiastamp.jpg|thumb|246px|Amphitrite on 1936 [[Australia]]n stamp commemorating completion of submarine telephone cable to [[Tasmania]]]]
* [[terebellidae|Amphitrite]] is the name of a genus of the worm family ''[[Terebellidae]]''.
* In poetry, Amphitrite's name is often used for the sea, as a synonym of [[Thalassa (mythology)|Thalassa]].
* Seven ships of the [[Royal Navy]] were named [[HMS Amphitrite|HMS ''Amphitrite'']]
* {{ship||Amphitrite|1802 ship}}, which wrecked in 1833 with heavy loss of life while transporting convicts to New South Wales
* Three ships of the [[United States Navy]] were named [[USS Amphitrite|USS ''Amphitrite'']].
* 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]].
*A statue of Amphitrite stands at the United States Merchant Marine Academy in Kings Point, NY

== Notes ==
{{Reflist|30em}}

== 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].
* 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].
*{{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}}

==External links==
{{Commons category|Amphitrite}}
{{wiktionary|Amphitrite}}
* [https://iconographic.warburg.sas.ac.uk/category/vpc-taxonomy-000278 Warburg Institute Iconographic Database (images of Amphitrite)]

{{Greek religion}}
{{Greek mythology (deities)}}

{{Authority control}}

[[Category:Nereids]]
[[Category:Oceanids]]
[[Category:Queens in Greek mythology]]
[[Category:Sea and river goddesses]]
[[Category:Women of Poseidon]]