Pontus (mythology)


In Greek mythology, Pontus was an ancient, pre-Olympian sea-god, one of the Greek primordial deities. Pontus was Gaia's son and has no father; according to the Greek poet Hesiod, he was born without coupling, though according to Hyginus, Pontus is the son of Aether and Gaia.

Mythology

For Hesiod, Pontus seems little more than a personification of the sea, ho pontos by which Hellenes signified the Mediterranean Sea. With his mother, Gaia, he fathered Nereus, Thaumas, Phorcys and his sister-consort Ceto, and the "Strong Goddess" Eurybia. With the sea goddess Thalassa, he fathered the Telchines and all sea life.
In a Roman sculpture of the 2nd century AD, Pontus, rising from seaweed, grasps a rudder with his right hand and leans on the prow of a ship. He wears a mural crown, and accompanies Fortuna, whose draperies appear at the left, as twin patron deities of the Black Sea port of Tomis in Moesia.

Family tree

Hesiod

Hyginus