Amphitrite in the ancient sources

Ancient Sources / Figures / Amphitrite

6 passages from 6 ancient authors that tell of Amphitrite, in the original with English translation, author by author in the order the Greeks read them. Amphitrite was one of the sea nymphs Nereids, fifty sisters in total and daughters of Nereus and Doris. She was the wife of Poseidon and had two child... For the story in one place, read our article on Amphitrite.

Hesiod (1)

Hesiod, Theogony 210–264Night's children, Strife's children and the Nereids (210-264)Night bears Doom, Fate and Death, Sleep and the tribe of Dreams, and then Blame, Woe, the Hesperides, the Fates and Nemesis; Strife in turn bears Toil, Forgetfulness, Famine and other sorrows. Pontus begets Nereus, the truthful Old Man of the Sea, and then Thaumas, Phorcys, Ceto and Eurybia; Nereus and Doris have fifty daughters, whom the section names.

Homer (1)

Homer, Odyssey 12.1–141Circe's counselAfter they leave the river of Ocean and return to Aeaea, Odysseus buries Elpenor, and Circe comes to them with food and wine. She tells him in private of the dangers ahead: the Sirens, whom they must pass with their ears stopped with wax, and the wandering rocks. She describes Scylla and Charybdis, and tells him to choose Scylla's side, and to leave the cattle of the Sun untouched.

Apollodorus (1)

Apollodorus, The Library (Bibliotheca), with the Epitome 1.4.1–5Leto, Apollo and Artemis; Python, Marsyas and OrionAsteria flees Zeus and becomes the island Delos, where the hunted Leto bears Artemis and then Apollo. Apollo takes over the oracle at Delphi by killing the snake Python, kills Tityus for assaulting Leto, and has Marsyas flayed after a musical contest. Artemis kills Orion on Delos, and two reasons are given, a challenge at quoits or violence against the Hyperborean maiden Opis; the section ends with Poseidon's children by Amphitrite.

Apollonius Rhodius (1)

Apollonius Rhodius, Argonautica 4.1228–1392Storm and the Libyan SyrtisA storm drives Argo into the shallows of the Libyan Syrtis, where the heroes despair of ever sailing out. The heroines of Libya tell Jason to repay their mother, a sea-horse appears, and Peleus understands that they must carry Argo overland; the heroes carry her on their shoulders for twelve days to Lake Triton.

Pausanias (1)

Pausanias, Description of Greece 2.1.1–9Isthmus of Corinth: early Corinth, the robbers of Theseus and the temple of PoseidonPausanias opens the Corinthian book with the origins of Corinth, the Roman destruction by Mummius and the later refoundation. He notes Cromyon and the sow Phaea, the pine-tree and altar of Melicertes, and the robber Sinis killed by Theseus, and discusses attempts to cut through the Isthmus. He then describes the sanctuary of Poseidon, its theatre and stadium, the statue groups given by Herodes and the Nereids.

Bacchylides (1)

Bacchylides, Dithyrambs 17.1–132Dithyramb 17: Theseus and MinosA ship bears Theseus and fourteen Athenian youths and maidens to Crete, where Minos lays a hand on a maiden and Theseus rebukes him. Minos asks Zeus for a sign and challenges Theseus to bring back his gold ring from the sea. Theseus dives, is carried by dolphins to the hall of his father Poseidon and robed by Amphitrite, and comes back unwetted to the ship while the Athenians sing a paean.