Greek Mythology >> Greek Gods >> Primordial Gods >> Sea Gods >> Pontus (Pontos)


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Sea (pontos)

Pontus the Sea | Greco-Roman mosaic | Bardo Museum, Tunis
Pontus the Sea, Greco-Roman mosaic, Bardo Museum

PONTOS (Pontus) was the primordial god (protogenos) of the sea. He was the sea itself, not merely its resident deity, who was born from earth at the dawn of creation.

Pontos and Gaia (Gaea, the Earth) were parents of the ancient deities known as the Old Men of the Sea. By Thalassa, his watery female counterpart, he was the father of fish and other sea creatures. Poseidon, king of the sea, wed Pontos' eldest granddaughter Amphitrite.

In Greco-Roman mosaics Pontos is depicted as a giant head with a watery-gray beard and crab-claw horns rising from the sea. However, in most mosaic art, Okeanos (Oceanus) supercedes him as the sea personified.





[1.2] THAUMAS (by Gaia) (Hyginus Preface)



Source: Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology.


Perseus, Andromeda and Pontus the Sea | Greco-Roman mosaic C3rd A.D. | Bardo National Museum, Tunis
Perseus, Andromeda and Pontus the Sea, Greco-Roman mosaic C3rd A.D., Bardo National Museum

"The holy race of the deathless gods who are for ever, those that were born of Gaia (Gaea, Earth) and starry Ouranos (Uranus, Heaven) and gloomy Nyx (Night) and them that briny Pontos (Pontus, Sea) did rear."

Hesiod, Theogony 126 ff :

Hesiod, Theogony 233 ff :
"And Pontos (Pontus, 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 Phorkys (Phorcys), being mated with Gaia (Gaea, Earth), and fair-cheeked Keto (Ceto) and Eurybia who has a heart of flint within her."

"Aigaion (Aegaeon) was the son of Gaia (Gaea) and Pontos (Pontus) and, having his dwelling in the sea, was an ally of the Titanes (Titans)."

"The four famous Telkhines (Telchines), Aktaios (Actaeus), Megalesios (Megalesius), Ormenos (Ormenus) and Lykos (Lycus), whom Bakkhylides (Bacchylides) calls the children of Nemesis and Tartaros but some others the children of Ge (Gaea) and Pontos (Pontus)."

"[The Titan Prometheus calls upon all of creation to witness his torment :] ‘O you bright sky of heaven (dios aithêr), you swift-winged breezes (takhypteroi pnoiai), you river-waters (pêgai potamôn), and infinite laughter of the waves of sea (pontos), O universal mother Earth (panmêtôr gê), and you, all-seeing orb of the sun (panoptês kyklos hêlios), to you I call! See what I, a god, endure from the gods.’"

Aeschylus, Prometheus Bound 431 ff :
"[Okeanos (Oceanus) addresses the tormented Titan Prometheus :] ‘The waves of the sea (pontos) utter a cry as they fall, the deep laments, the black abyss of Aides [Haides] rumbles in response, and the streams of pure-flowing rivers (potamoi) lament your piteous pain.’"

"The children of Pontos (Pontus) and Ge (Gaea) were Phorkos (Phorcus), Thaumas, Nereus, Eurybia, and Keto (Ceto)."


"[From a description of an ancient Greek painting :] The Argo is cutting its way through the midst of the surging Pontos (Pontus) [i.e. the Black Sea] and Orpheus is beguiling the sea by his singing, moreover Pontos listens and is calm under the spell of his song." [N.B. Pontos was personified in the painting.]

"From Aether (Light) and Terra (Earth) [Gaia] [were born various Daimones] . . .
From Pontos (Sea) and Mare (Sea) [Thalassa] [were born] : the tribe of fishes (piscium genera) . . .

Thumbnail Head of Pontus, Erotes

Z35.7 Head of Pontus, Erotes

Greco-Roman Utica Floor Mosaic A.D.

Thumbnail Pontus, Perseus, Andromeda

Z47.9 Pontus & Perseus

Greco-Roman Bardo Mosaic C3rd A.D.





A complete bibliography of the translations quoted on this page.