Nereus

Nereus is the “Old Man of the Sea” of Greek mythology, a gentle and truthful sea god, the son of Pontus and Gaia and the father of the fifty Nereids by Doris. In the myths he is best known as the sea god who, when seized and held fast, will tell a hero what he needs to know. Heracles forced him to reveal the way to the apples of the Hesperides.

The Origins and Family of Nereus

Parentage and Lineage

Hesiod says that Pontus (Sea) begot Nereus, “true and lying not,” and calls him the eldest of Pontus’ children. Men call him the Old Man because he is trusty and gentle, does not forget the laws of righteousness, and thinks just and kindly thoughts (Hesiod, Theogony 233–236). Pontus then begot Thaumas, Phorcys and Ceto with Gaia, and Eurybia (Theogony 237–239). Apollodorus gives the same parentage and lists Phorcys, Thaumas, Nereus, Eurybia and Ceto as the children of Pontus and Gaia (Apollodorus, Library 1.2.6). The sources do not call Nereus a Titan.

Consort and Offspring

Nereus’ wife was Doris, a daughter of Oceanus, and their children were the Nereids (Hesiod, Theogony 240–242; Apollodorus, Library 1.2.7). Hesiod names fifty daughters of “blameless Nereus” and ends his catalogue by saying so (Theogony 243–264). Homer gives another list of Nereids, who gather round Thetis in the depths of the sea when she hears Achilles cry out for Patroclus (Iliad 18.35–51). Several of them matter in other myths:

• Thetis married the mortal Peleus and bore Achilles (Hesiod, Theogony 1006–1007; Apollodorus, Library 3.13.5).
• Amphitrite was the wife of Poseidon and mother of Triton (Hesiod, Theogony 243, 930–933).
• Psamathe was loved by Aeacus and bore Phocus (Hesiod, Theogony 1003–1005; Apollodorus, Library 3.12.6).
• Galatea is named among the Nereids by both Hesiod and Homer (Theogony 250; Iliad 18.45).

Attributes and Abilities

Wisdom and Prophecy

Hesiod’s Nereus is trustworthy before he is anything else: he is called nemertes, “unerring” or truthful, and gentle (Theogony 233–236). Hesiod does not describe him as a prophet. That role belongs to the stories in which a hero grips him and makes him speak, as in Apollodorus’ account of Heracles below.

Shape-shifting Powers

When Heracles seized him, Nereus turned himself into all kinds of shapes, but the hero kept his hold and bound him (Apollodorus, Library 2.5.11). The Odyssey gives the same pattern to another sea elder, Proteus, who tries every form that creeps on the earth, and water and fire, while Menelaus and his men hold on until the old god returns to his true shape and answers (Homer, Odyssey 4.384–424, 4.454–461).

Encounters with Heroes

Heracles and the Quest for the Golden Apples

For his eleventh labour Heracles was sent to fetch the golden apples of the Hesperides and did not know where they were. Apollodorus says that he went on foot through Illyria to the river Eridanus, where the nymphs, daughters of Zeus and Themis, showed him Nereus. Heracles seized the god while he slept; Nereus changed into every kind of shape, but Heracles bound him and did not let him go until he had told him where the apples and the Hesperides were (Apollodorus, Library 2.5.11). Apollodorus places the apples on Atlas among the Hyperboreans, not in Libya.

Nereus and the Nereids in Epic

Nereus himself seldom appears in the narrative of epic. Homer mentions him only as “the old man” who is the father of Thetis: she sits beside him in the depths when Achilles prays to her, and she sends her sisters to visit him in the sea while she goes to Olympus to ask Hephaestus for armour (Iliad 1.357–358; 18.138–144). The Nereids appear in the Argonautica when Hera has them draw the Argo through the Wandering Rocks, with Thetis steering at the rudder (Apollonius, Argonautica 4.930–938). When a sea god appears to the Argonauts at Lake Tritonis in Libya, Jason prays to him as Triton, Phorcys or Nereus, the god whom the daughters of the sea call by name (Apollonius, Argonautica 4.1597–1600).

Nereus and Other Sea Gods

Nereus vs. Proteus

Both Nereus and Proteus are called “old men of the sea.” Homer’s Proteus is an immortal Egyptian sea elder, truthful, who knows the depths of the whole sea and serves Poseidon (Odyssey 4.384–386). Nereus is the son of Pontus and the father of the Nereids. Both are caught, bound and questioned by a hero, but the sources keep them apart.

Cult

The ancient texts are far more concerned with the Nereids than with Nereus in matters of worship. Pausanias describes a sacred precinct of the daughters of Nereus near the shore at Cardamyle in Laconia, where they were said to have come up from the sea to see Pyrrhus, the son of Achilles, on his way to Sparta (Pausanias, Description of Greece 3.26.7).

Nereus Sources

Hesiod, Theogony 233–264, 930–933, 1003–1007; Homer, Iliad 1.357–358, 18.35–51, 18.138–144; Homer, Odyssey 4.384–461; Apollodorus, Library 1.2.6–7, 2.5.11, 3.12.6, 3.13.5; Apollonius of Rhodes, Argonautica 4.930–938, 4.1597–1600; Pausanias, Description of Greece 3.26.7.

See Also: Nereids, Doris, Thetis, Heracles, Proteus, Pontus, Amphitrite