Kymopoleiawas a sea-nymph daughter of the god Poseidon and his wife Amphitrite and the wife of the hundred-handed, storm-giant Briareos. She was the goddess of the violent storm waves generated by her husband.
Amphitrite was the goddess-queen of the sea, wife of Poseidon, and eldest of the fifty Nereides. She was the female personification of the sea and mother of fish, seals and dolphins. When Poseidon first sought Amphitrite’s hand in marriage, she fled his advances, and hid herself away near Atlas in the Ocean stream at the far ends of the earth. The dolphin-god Delphin eventually tracked her down and persuaded her to return to wed the sea-king. Amphitrite was depicted as a young woman usually riding beside her husband in a chariot drawn by fish-tailed horses or hippocamps.
TheNereids were fifty sea-nymph daughters of Nereus the old man of the sea. They were goddesses of the sea’s rich bounty and protectors of sailors and fishermen, coming to the aid of those in distress. Individually they represented various facets of the sea from the salty brine, to the sea foam, sand, rocks, waves and currents, as well as the various skills possessed by seamen. They were depicted in ancient art as beautiful, young maidens, sometimes running with small dolphins or fish in their hands, or else riding on the backs of dolphins, hippocamps and other sea creatures.
Thalassa was the primordial goddess of the sea and the daughter of Aither (Light) and Hemera (Day). Mingled with Pontos, her male counterpart, she produced the fish and other sea creatures. Thalassa was the literal body of the sea and in the fables of Aesop, manifests as a woman formed of sea-water rising from her native element. Thalassa is depicted in Greco-Roman mosaics as a matronly woman, half-submerged in the sea, with crab-claw horns, seaweed for clothes, and a ship’s oar in her hand.
Leukothea was a sea goddess who came to the aid of sailors in distress. She was once a mortal princess named Ino, a daughter of King Kadmos of Thebes. She and her husband Athamas incurred the wrath of Hera when they fostered the infant god Dionysos. As punishment the goddess drove Athamas into a murderous rage and he slew his eldest child. Ino then grapped the other, and in her flight leapt off a cliff into the sea. The pair were welcomed into the company of the sea-gods and renamed Leukothea and Palaimon. Leukothea later came to the aid of Odysseus when his raft had been destroyed by Poseidon, and wrapped him in the safety of her floating veil.
This painting dates from back in January, and is part of a commissioned set that features the mothers of Classical heroes.
Thetis is a sea nymph who was forcibly married to a mortal, Peleus. She’s most famous for rendering her son, Achilles, nearly invulnerable. In the most common version of the story, Thetis dipped the infant Achilles in the waters of the Styx, protecting all parts of him but his heel. In another version, she passed him through the fire at night to burn away his immortality.
She also came to her son after the death of his beloved Patroclus. While Achilles sat wrapped in mourning, Thetis convinced Hephaestus to make him a shield and set of divinely protected armor - the armor he wore to defeat the Trojan Hector.
In Archaic Greece, Thetis may have been a goddess worshipped in her own right. One fragment identifies her as the creator of the universe, and some writings suggest her worship persisted into the historical period.
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Ran, Seaborne Lady Mother, Protector, Provider, Muse
Hail, Lady of the Northern Seas, Whose hair lies in all the waving weed In all the shoreline waters. In stillness you calm the fury of my soul In darkness you sing me to sleep with your waves In moonlight you dance temptations rival beneath Mani’s beguiling gaze
Hail, wife of Aegir, mother of the Nine, Goddess of the salt waters, Mother of plankton, mother of barracudas, Mother of great and branching coral reefs, Mother of anglerfish and anemones Your power humbles me Your beauty awe’s me Your secrets beckon me Your spirit embraces me
Hail, Lady who challenges us to see That Nature is not under our control, That we are only a small part of the world, And that we must not be too arrogant, That we are flesh and flesh can drown. Dangerous in motion, safety when at peace Your power lies hidden behind cove, harbor and reef Tendrils of magic, like seaweed you wind Siren song to your children you weave, twist and twine. Hail, Lady of ocean’s bounty And ocean’s cold destructiveness, And may we come to appreciate your realm Before you take it from us forever. Your bosom my shelter, my comfort, my grave For all this I praise you, Fair Ran of the waves.
