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Destinations Guide

AEGEAN SEA, Open sea (pelagos), GREECE


Information on the area


Homeric world (47)

Gods & demigods

Aegaeon

Aegaeon (Aigaion), a son of Uranus by Gaea. Aegaeon and his brothers Gyges and Cottus are known under the name of the Uranids (Hes. Theog. 502, &c.), and are described as huge monsters with a hundred arms (hekatoncheires) and fifty heads (Apollod. i. 1.1; Hes. Theog. 149, &c.). Most writers mention the third Uranid under the name of Briareus instead of Aegaeon, which is explained in a passage of Homer (Il. i. 403, §c.), who says that men called him Aegaeon, but the gods Briareus. On one occasion when the Olympian gods were about to put Zeus in chains, Thetis called in the assistance of Aegaeon, who compelled the gods to desist from their intention (Hom. Il. i. 398, &c.). According to Hesiod (Theog. 154, &c. 617, &c.), Aegaeon and his brothers were hated by Uranus from the time of their birth, in consequence of which they were concealed in the depth of the earth, where they remained until the Titans began their war against Zeus. On the advice of Gaea Zeus delivered the Uranids from their prison, that they might assist him. The hundred-armed giants conquered the Titans by hurling at them three hundred rocks at once, and secured the victory to Zeus, who thrust the Titans into Tartarus and placed the Hecatoncheires at its gates, or, according to others, in the depth of the ocean to guard them (Hes. Theog. 617, &c. 815, &c.). According to a legend in Pansanias (ii. 1.6, ii. 4.7), Briareus was chosen as arbitrator in the dispute between Poseidon and Helios, and adjudged the Isthmus to the former and the Acrocorinthus to the latter. The Scholiast on Apollonius Rhodius (i. 1165) represents Aegaeon as a son of Gaea and Pontus and as living as a marine god in the Aegean sea. Ovid (Met. ii. 10) and Philostratus (Vit. Apollon. iv. 6) like-wise regard him as a marine god, while Virgil (Aen. x. 565) reckons him among the giants who stormed Olympus, and Callimachus (Hymn. in Del. 141, &c.), regarding him in the same light, places him under mount Aetna. The Scholiast on Theocritus (Idyll. i. 65) calls Briareus one of the Cyclops. The opinion which regards Aegaeon and his brothers as only personifications of the extraordinary powers of nature, such as are manifested in the violent commotions of the earth, as earth-quakes, volcanic eruptions and the like, seems to explain best the various accounts about them.

This text is from: A dictionary of Greek and Roman biography and mythology, 1873 (ed. William Smith). Cited Sep 2005 from The Perseus Project URL below, which contains interesting hyperlinks


Nereus & Doris

God of the sea, son of Pontus and Gaea, father of the Nereids. Many ancient writers call him great prophet and wise old man, who revealed to Heracles, where the golden apples of the Hesperides were. In Homer his name is not mentioned but he is called "old man of the sea" (Il. 18.141).

Nereus, the eldest son of Pontus and Gaea, husband of Doris, daughter of Oceanus, father of fifty (according to a later account, a hundred) beautiful sea-nymphs, the Nereids. He is described as a venerable old man, of a kindly disposition towards mortals, and as dwelling in a resplendent cave in the depths of the Aegean. Like all gods of water, he had the gift of prophecy and of transforming himself into any shape he chose to assume. He was represented as an old man with the leaves of sea-weed for hair and a sceptre or trident. His daughters were likewise benevolent beings, well disposed to mortals (Il.xviii. 141; Odyss. xxiv. 58). The myths related of Nereus strongly suggest those told of Glaucus and Proteus.

Doris, a daughter of Oceanus and Thetis, and the wife of her brother Nereus, by whom she became the mother of the Nereides. (Apollod. i. 2.2; Hesiod. Theog. 240, &c.; Ov. Met. ii. 269). The Latin poets sometimes use the name of this marine divinity for the sea itself. (Virg. Eclog. x. 5). One of Doris's daughters, or the Nereides, likewise bore the name of Doris. (Hom. Il. xviii. 45)

Nymphs

Nereids

The daughters of Nereus and Doris, who were 50 or 100 in number (Il. 18.52).

Amphinome

A Nereid (Il. 18.44).

Amphitrite

A Nereid, that, according to posterior myths, was wife of Poseidon and mother of Triton (Od. 5.422, 12.60 & 97). The poet calls her "daughter of the sea" (Od. 4.404).

Amphithoe

A Nereid (Il. 18.42).

Apseudes

A Nereid (Il. 10.513).

Glauce

A Nereid (Il. 18.39).

Glauce, (Glauke). One of the Nereides, the name Glauce being only a personification of the color of the sea.

Dexamene

A Nereid (Il. 18.44).

Dynamene

A Nereid (Il. 18.43).

Dynamene: Perseus Encyclopedia

Doris

A Nereid (Il. 18.45). Daughter of Nereus & Doris.

Doto

A Nereid (Il. 18.43).

Doto: Perseus Encyclopedia

Thaleia

A Nereid (Il. 18.39).

Thoe

A Nereid (Il. 18.40).

Ianassa

A Nereid (Il. 18.47).

Ianeira

A Nereid (Il. 18.47).

Clymene

A Nereid (Il. 18.47).

Cymodoce

A Nereid (Il. 18.39).

Cymothoe

A Nereid (Il. 18.41).

   Cymothoe (Kumothoe). One of the Nereides, represented by Vergil as assisting the Trojans, with Triton, after the storm with which Aeolus, at the request of Iuno, had afflicted the fleet.

Cymothoe : Perseus Encyclopedia

Limnoreia

A Nereid (Il. 18.41).

Melite

A Nereid (Il. 18.42).

Melite. A nymph, one of the Nereides, a daughter of Nereus and Doris.

Nemertes

A Nereid (Il. 18.46).

Nesaea

A Nereid (Il. 18.40).

Perseus Project

Agave

She was one of the daughters of Nereus and Doris mentioned by Homer (Il. 18.42).

Halie (Halia, Haliae)

One of the Nereides (Hom. Il. xviii. 42; Apollod. i. 2.6); but the plural, Haliae, is used as a name for marine nymphs in general. (Soph. Philoct. 1470; Callim. Hymn. in Dian. 13.)

Amatheia

A Nereid (Il. 18.48).

Proto

A Nereid (Il. 18.43).

Perseus Project

Pherousa

A Nereid (Il. 18.43).

Orithyia

A Nereid (Il. 18.48).

Speio

A Nereid (Il. 18.40).

Cymothoe : Perseus Encyclopedia

Mythology (5)

Historic figures

Aegeus

Aege

Queen of the mythical people of Amazon of Libya.

Nymphs

Glauconome

Glauconome, (Glaukonome), one of the daughters of Nereus. (Hes. Theog. 256; Apollod. i. 2.7.)

Halimede

Halimede, one of the Nereides. (Hes. Theog. 25; Apollod. i. 2.6.)

Personifications

Galene

Galene, a personification of the calm sea, and perhaps identical with Galateia, one of the Nereides, is called by Hesiod (Theog. 244) a daughter of Nereus and Doris.

Ancient literary sources (1)

Perseus Encyclopedia

Information about the place (4)

Harpers Dictionary of Classical Antiquities

Aegaeum Mare

   The part of the Mediterranean Sea now called the Archipelago. It was bounded on the north by Thrace and Macedonia, on the west by Greece, and on the east by Asia Minor. It contains in its southern part two groups of islands--the Cyclades, which were separated from the coasts of Attica and Peloponnesus by the Myrtoan Sea, and the Sporades, lying off the coasts of Caria and Ionia. The part of the Aegaean which washed the Sporades was called the Icarian Sea, from the island Icaria, one of the Sporades.

This text is cited Oct 2002 from The Perseus Project URL below, which contains interesting hyperlinks


Perseus Project index

Aegean Sea

Total results on 5/6/2001: 368 for Aegean, 102 for Aegean Sea.

Commercial WebSites

Greek & Roman Geography (ed. William Smith)

Aegaeum Mare

  Aegaeum Mare (to Aigaion phelagos, Herod. iv. 85; Aesch. Agam. 659; Strab. passion; or simply to Aigaion, Herod. vii. 55 ; ho Aigaios phelagos, Herod. ii. 97), the part of the Mediterranean now called the Archipelago, and by the Turks the White Sea, to distinguish it from the Black Sea. It was bounded on the N. by Macedonia and Thrace, on the W. by Greece and on the E. by Asia Minor. At its NE. corner it was connected with the Pro-pontis by the Hellespont. [Hellespontus] Its extent was differently estimated by the ancient writers; but the name was generally applied to the whole sea as far S. as the islands of Crete and Rhodes. Its name was variously derived by the ancient grammarians, either from the town of Aegae in Euboea; or from Aegeus, the father of Theseus, who threw himself into it; or from Aegaea, the queen of the Amazons, who perished there; or from Aegaeon, who was represented as a marine god living in the sea; or, lastly, from aighis, a squall, on account of its storms. Its real etymology is uncertain. Its navigation was dangerous to ancient navigators on account of its numerous islands and rocks, which occasion eddies of wind and a confused sea, and also on account of the Etesian or northerly winds, which blow with great fury, especially about the equinoxes. To the storms of the Aegaean the poets frequently allude. Thus Horace (Carm. ii. 16): Otium dives rogat in patenti prensus Aegaeo; and Virgil (Aen. xii. 365): Ac velut Edoni Boreae cum spirits alto insonat Aegaeo. The Aegaean contained numerous islands. Of these the most numerous were in the southern part of the sea; they were divided into two principal groups, the Cyclades, lying off the coasts of Attica and Peloponnesus, and the Sporades, lying along the coasts of Caria aud Ionia. [Cyclades; Sporades.] In the northern part of the sea were the larger islands of Euboea, Thasos and Samothrace, and off the coast of Asia those of Samos, Chios and Lesbos.
The Aegaean sea was divided into:
  1. Mare Thracium (ho Xrl+elxlos phontos, Hom. Il. xxiii. 230; to Xrel+klon phelagos, Herod. vii. 176; comp. Soph. Oed. R. 197), the northern part of the Aegaean, washing the shores of Thrace and Macedonia, and extending as far S. as the northern coast of the island of Euboea.
  2. Mare Myrtoum (Hor. Carm. i. 1. 14; to Murtoon phelagos), the part of the Aegaean S. of Euboea, Attica and Argolis, which derived its name from the small island Myrtus, though others suppose it to come from Myrtilus, whom Pelops threw into this sea, or from the maiden Myrto. Pliny (iv. 11. s. 18) makes the Myrtoan sea a part of the Aegaean; but Strabo (pp. 124, 323) distinguishes between the two, representing the Aegaean as terminating at the promontory Sunium in Attica.
  3. Mare Icarium (Hor. Carm. i. 1. 15; Ikharlos phontos, Hom. Il. ii. 145; Ikharlon phelagos, Herod. vi. 95), the SE. part of the Aegaean along the coasts of Caria and Ionia, which derived its name from the island of Icaria, though according to tradition it was so called from Icarus, the son of Daedalus, having fallen into it.
  4. Mare Creticum (to Kretlkon phelagos, Thuc.iv.53), the most southerly part of the Aegaean, N. of the island of Crete. Strabo (l. c.), however, makes this sea, as well as the Myrtoan and Icarian, distinct from the Aegaean

This text is from: Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography (1854) (ed. William Smith, LLD). Cited July 2004 from The Perseus Project URL below, which contains interesting hyperlinks


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