Pontus (mythology)

Genealogy

Pontus is the Greek personification of the sea. He does not appear in any mythological stories, and in literature is attested solely in a genealogical context. In the Theogony of the poet Hesiod, who dates to the 8th or 7th century BC, Pontus is the offspring of Gaia (the personification of the Earth), produced without the aid of a father. With Gaia, he becomes the progenitor of a family that includes mostly beings connected with the sea and various monsters; the latter group are made descendants of Pontus owing to their terrible nature, which requires that they be made genealogically distant from the main divine family of the Olympians. The offspring of Pontus and Gaia are: Nereus and Phorcys, both of whom are sea gods; Ceto, a sea monster; and Eurybia and Thaumas. According to Martin Litchfield West, it appears that all of these children dwell in the sea. They are interpreted by Francisco Díez de Velasco as representing the two dimensions of the sea which sailors would have experienced early on in the archaic period (c. 800–480 BC): Nereus stands for the "favourable" sea, and Phorcys, Ceto, and Eurybia for that which is "monstrous".

The Titanomachy was a lost epic poem composed in the late 7th century BC or afterwards, sometimes attributed in antiquity to the Corinthian poet Eumelus. A fragment of the poem attested that it described Pontus and Gaia as the parents of Aigaion, who was said to have battled alongside the Titans in the Titanomachy (the war between the Titans and the Olympians, the younger generation of gods).

The Bibliotheca of Apollodorus, a mythological handbook probably composed in the 1st or 2nd century AD, provides Pontus with, by Gaia, the same brood of five children as the Theogony. In the Fabulae, a Latin mythological handbook attributed to Hyginus and probably dating to around the 2nd century AD, Pontus is said to be the offspring of Gaia and Aether (the personification of the Upper Sky). The poem also names his consort as Mare ('The sea'); according to Simon Hornblower, this figure is Thalassa, or "the sea under yet other names". With Mare, he is the progenitor of all fish. According to the 12th-century AD Byzantine poet John Tzetzes, some ancient authors described the Telchines as the offspring of Pontus and Gaia.

Iconography

Alongside various other cosmogonic figures, Pontus is depicted on a Roman polychrome mosaic from Mérida, Spain, dating to around the latter half of the 2nd century or the early 3rd century AD. He is located on the work's most damaged section, and only certain parts of the body survive, including his feet (which are bare), one of his legs, and one hand. He is accompanied by an inscription of his name, and is situated in the lowest area of the mosaic, which is also inhabited by Oceanus and other marine figures. According to Díez de Velasco, in this mosaic Pontus represents the "navigable sea"; he is wholly favourable, the sea "tamed by the power of Rome".

A Roman marble statue dating to the 2nd century AD depicts Pontus and the goddess Fortuna as the patron gods of the city of Tomis (modern-day Constanța, Romania), along the west coast of the Black Sea. He is portrayed as much smaller than Fortuna, and is located beside her legs. According to Zdravko Dimitrov, the statue's stonemasonry displays Anatolian influence.