Tales Of The Sea

Triton was the son of Poseidon and his wife Amphitrite, and it was said that he was able to calm the waves of the sea by blowing through a conch shell horn. Before embarking on his quest for the golden fleece, Jason paid a visit to the Delphic Oracle. The priestess gave to him two massive tripods along with instructions that they be carried along on the trip to Colchis. During the course of their journey, the Argonauts found themselves stranded in Libya near the edge of Lake Tritonius. Realizing the danger of their situation, Orpheus advised Jason to offer one of the tripods to the native gods in hopes of persuading them to come to their aid.

Jason did as he was told, and in an instant he and his shipmates were greeted by the god Triton. Without uttering a word, the sea deity reached over and quickly removed the tripod from his hands.

An Argonaut by the name of Euphemus blocked the god's way and politely asked if he would be so kind as to direct the crew of lost sailors to the Mediterranean Sea.

Triton pointed in the direction of the Tacapae River, and then without explanation went on to hand Euphemus a clump of earth. This was interpreted by all present as an invitation to move forward and colonize Libya.

The crew sacrificed a sheep to Triton as a gesture of thanks and with that the god latched himself onto the keel of the Argo and smoothly pulled her into the blue waters of the Mediterranean. Before departing, Triton finally broke his silence, leaving the sailors with a mysterious prediction.

The god promised that when a descendent of a particular Argonaut should seize and remove the tripod from his temple, a hundred Greek cities would rise around Lake Tritonius.

It is said that some native Libyans overheard these words and in order to protect their land, hid the tripod deep underneath the surrounding sand. This has successfully prevented Triton's prophecy from coming true even to this very day.

Nereus

Nereus was an ancient sea god who was the son of Pontus and Gaia. Because of his kind and just nature, he was often fondly referred to as the Old Man of the Sea. Like other sea deities, Nereus was known to have prophetic powers and could easily change his shape at will. He fathered the fifty Nereids with Doris, the daughter of Oceanus and Tethys.

Of the fifty, only three; Thetis, Psamathe and Galatea have stories written soley about themselves. Casseopeia, the proud wife of King Cepheus of Joppa highly insulted the Nereids by stating that the beauty of her daughter Andromeda well surpassed their own.

The nymphs complained to Poseidon, who as punishment for the queen's boastful comments, sent a huge sea monster to ravage the land. To read more about the story of Andromeda please visit my page on the adventures of Perseus.

There came a time when Nereus ran into a problem with the hero Heracles. It seems that for his eleventh labor Heracles was commissioned by Eurytheus to travel to the Garden of the Hesperides and retrieve the golden apples from the daughters of Atlas. Because he did not know the exact location of the garden, Heracles decided to seek out the all knowing Nereus for help.

The hero traveled to the banks of the Po and was directed by the river nymphs to the place where the old man could be found sleeping.

Heracles immediately placed Nereus in his firm grasp, refusing to release him until the god disclosed the secret of capturing the fruit of gold. Nereus tried to escape by changing into many different shapes, but all his attempts were in vain.

Seeing that the Heracles was not going to losen his grip, Nereus finally gave in and advised the hero not to pick the apples himself, but to send Atlas in his place.

Just as Nereus predicted, Atlas was more than willing to help. As Heracles bent over to receive the weight of the heavens upon his own shoulders, the Titan quickly walked off towards the garden enjoying his new found freedom.

After a short time, he returned carrying with him the prized fruits which he had received from his daughters. Not wanting to resume his punishment Atlas offered to take the apples to Eurystheus himself, if only Heracles would agree to hold up the heavens for a few months longer.

Fortunately for Heracles, Nereus had warned him against making any deals with the Titan. Pretending to agree, the hero asked Atlas to do him the favor of supporting the weight just long enough for him to place a cushion on his head.

The unsuspecting Titan agreed and set the apples on the ground before positioning the heavens upon his shoulders once again. With that Heracles picked up the basket and went on his way, leaving Atlas forever a slave to his own fate.

The Sirens

The Sirens were bird-like women whose beautiful songs were known for luring sailores to their death. Their origins are rather vague, but one tale does tell us they were once the attendents of Persephone before her abduction by Hades. This version states they were transformed into these winged creatures by Demeter as a punishment for not coming to the aid of her daughter. Another account tells us that the girls were given wings as gifts from the gods, in order to help them search for the lost maiden. Though Homer only speaks of two Sirens, they are traditionally represented as being three in number, and were said to live near the Italian coast on an island named Anthemoessa.

As passing ships approached the island, it was the Siren's practice to raise their sweet voices in song. The sailors would become so entranced by the hypnotic music that they would loose all recollection of their former lives.

Here they would stay, contentedly wasting away on the shore, until all that remained of them were their sun bleached bones. Jason and his men were able to safely avoid the Siren's spell thanks to the sounds of Orpheus and his lyre. The minstreal was able to drown out the deadly voices for everyone, except for an Argonaut by the name of Butes.

It only took a few notes of the haunting melody before Butes dove into the sea and swim to the island. Fortunately for him, his life was spared when Aphrodite intervened and came to his rescue. Later, when Odysseus was returning home from the Trojan War, he managed to avoid the deadly sounds of the Sirens by listening to the advice of his mistress Circe . He filled the ears of his crew with wax to prevent them from hearing and then instructed the men to tie him tightly to the mast of the ship. This allowed Odysseus to safely listen to the enchanting songs while protecting the lives of his crew.

Because the Sirens were destined to die if and when any sailor made it past their grasp unharmed, it was said that after the passage of Odysseus they threw themselves into the sea and died.

Medea's Lair Of Greek Mythology © 1999-2009.