Pontus (mythology)

This article is about the Greek god. For the geographic location, see Pontus.

Pontos Depiction In Tomis

In Greek mythology, Pontus (or Pontos (Πόντος), English translation: "sea") was an ancient, pre-Olympian sea-god, one of the protogenoi, the "first-born". Pontos was the son of Gaia, the Earth: Hesiod says that Gaia brought forth Pontos out of herself, without coupling. For Hesiod, Pontos seems little more than a personification of the sea, ho pontos, "the Road", by which Hellenes signified the Mediterranean Sea. With Gaia, he was the father of Nereus (the Old Man of the Sea), of Thaumas (the awe-striking "wonder" of the Sea, embodiment of the sea's dangerous aspects), of Phorcys and his sister-consort Ceto, and of the "Strong Goddess" Eurybia. With Thalassa (whose own name simply means "sea" but is derived from a pre-Greek root), he was the father of the Telchines. Compare the sea-Titan Oceanus, the Ocean-Stream that girdled the earth, who was more vividly realized than Pontus among the Hellenes.

External links

• Theoi Project: Pontos