Phorcys

Phorcys (also spelled Phorcus or Phorkys) was an ancient sea god in Greek mythology, a son of Pontus (the Sea) and Gaia (the Earth). With his sister and wife Ceto he fathered the Graeae, the Gorgons and a serpent that guarded golden apples at the edge of the world, which is why he is remembered as the father of sea-born monsters. Homer calls him an “old man of the sea”.

Phorcys’s Role and Significance

Phorcys’s Name

The Greek forms are Phorkys and Phorkos, which Latin writers rendered Phorcus. Ancient authors also use the adjective “Phorcides” (“Phorcys’ daughters”) for his daughters, the Graeae (Aeschylus, Prometheus Bound 794–796). Pindar speaks of the “monstrous race of Phorcus” when he tells how Perseus brought darkness upon it (Pythian 12.13).

Phorcys’s Roles and Epithets

Homer twice gives Phorcys the title “old man of the sea” (halios geron), a title he shares with Nereus and Proteus. On Ithaca, Odysseus is set ashore at “the harbor of Phorcys, the old man of the sea”, a bay between two headlands (Odyssey 13.96–112), and Athena names the same harbor when she shows him that he is home (Odyssey 13.345). Homer also says Phorcys “rules over the unresting sea” and is the father of the nymph Thoosa (Odyssey 1.71–72). Beyond this, the early poets say almost nothing about what he did himself; he is known through his family.

Phorcys’s Biography

Origins and Lineage

Hesiod makes Phorcys a son of Pontus and Gaia, and brother of Nereus, Thaumas, Eurybia and Ceto (Theogony 233–239). Apollodorus gives the same five children of Pontus and Earth (Library 1.2.6). Phorcys is therefore a brother of Nereus, the Old Man of the Sea of the Nereids, and the two should not be confused.

Marriage to Ceto

Phorcys’s wife was his sister Ceto, another child of Pontus and Gaia. Hesiod says that Ceto bore children to Phorcys and ends the list with the words “this is the offspring of Ceto and Phorcys” (Theogony 270–336).

Progeny of Phorcys

Hesiod lists these children of Phorcys and Ceto:

• The Graeae (Graiai), grey-haired from birth, named Pemphredo and Enyo (Theogony 270–273). Apollodorus adds a third, Dino (Library 2.4.2).
• The Gorgons Stheno, Euryale and Medusa, who live beyond Ocean near the Hesperides. Medusa alone was mortal. Poseidon lay with her, and when Perseus cut off her head, Chrysaor and the horse Pegasus sprang from it (Theogony 274–286).
• The youngest child, a terrible serpent that guards the golden apples in a hidden place at the edge of the dark earth (Theogony 333–336). Later writers identify the Hesperides’ dragon differently; Apollodorus makes it a child of Typhon and Echidna (Library 2.5.11).

Other sources give Phorcys further children. The nymph Thoosa, mother of the Cyclops Polyphemus by Poseidon, is his daughter (Odyssey 1.71–73). Apollodorus mentions a version in which the monster Scylla is the daughter of Crataeis and either Trienus or Phorcus (Epitome 7.20); Homer names only her mother Crataeis (Odyssey 12.124).

Not every monster listed with this family belongs to it. Hesiod discusses Echidna after the Gorgons, but Apollodorus calls her a child of Tartarus and Earth (Library 2.1.2), and neither Hesiod nor Apollodorus counts Charybdis among the children of Phorcys.

Phorcys and the Perseus Myth

The daughters of Phorcys play a part in the story of Perseus. To reach the Gorgon Medusa, Perseus first went to the Graeae, who shared a single eye and a single tooth, took the eye from them, and returned it only after they told him the way to the nymphs who owned the winged sandals, the wallet and the cap of Hades. He then killed Medusa while she slept, guided by Athena and Hermes (Apollodorus, Library 2.4.2–3). The story of Perseus and Medusa is told on their own pages.

A Different Phorcys

Homer also names a Phorcys who led the Phrygians to Troy with Ascanius (Iliad 2.862). He is a mortal and has nothing to do with the sea god.

Phorcys Sources

Hesiod, Theogony 233–239, 270–286, 333–336; Homer, Odyssey 1.71–73, 12.124, 13.96–112, 13.345, and Iliad 2.862; Pindar, Pythian 12.13; Aeschylus, Prometheus Bound 794–796; Apollodorus, Library 1.2.6, 2.1.2, 2.4.2–3, 2.5.11, and Epitome 7.20.

See Also: Pontus, Gaea, Ceto, Nereus, Thaumas, Eurybia, Gorgons, Medusa, Graeae, Perseus