La Fábula de Polifemo y Galatea
La Fábula de Polifemo y Galatea, or the Polifemo, is a literary work written by Spanish poet Luis de Góngora y Argote. The poem, though borrowing from prior literary sources of Greek and Roman Antiquity, attempts to go beyond the established versions of the myth by reconfiguring the narrative structure handed down by Ovid. Through the incorporation of innovative poetic techniques, Góngora advances the background story of Acis and Galatea’s infatuation as well as the jealousy of the Cyclops Polyphemus; the Polifemo was completed in manuscript form in 1613 and was subsequently published in 1627 after Góngora’s death. The work is traditionally regarded as one of Góngora’s most lofty poetic endeavors and is arguably his finest artistic achievement along with the Soledades; the Polifemo, in sum, realizes the final stage of Góngora’s sophisticated poetic style, which developed over the course of his career. In addition to the Soledades and other works, the Polifemo demonstrates the fullest extent of Góngora’s accentuated and impressionistic poetic style known as culteranismo.
As made evident in the opening of the poem, the Polifemo was dedicated to the Count of Niebla, a Castilian nobleman renowned for his generous patronage of 17th century Spain’s most preeminent artists. The work’s predominant themes and competition, reflect the actual competitive environment and worldly aspirations that drove 17th-century poets such as Góngora to cultivate and display their artistic ingenuity. Góngora wrote his Polifemo in honor of Luis Carillo y Sotomayor's Fabula de Acis y Galatea, a contemporary poem depicting the same mythological account. Additionally, the poem of Carillo y Sotomayor was in deed dedicated to the same Count of Niebla. Luis Carrillo y Sotomayor was both Góngora’s friend and a fellow “culteranist” poet who died at the age of 27 in 1610, three years before Góngora's Polifemo was completed; the premature death of a promising pupil in a sense prompted the creation of the Polifemo. The Polifemo is unprecedented for Góngora in terms of its length, its florid style, its ingenio.
Regarding its literary form, the poem develops in a manner, distinctively unmindful of the mediating artistic clarity outlined in Aristotle’s PoeticsContemporary critics such as Luis Carrillo y Sotomayor would come to see these Aristotelian precepts as artistically stifling. In his Libro de la Erudición Poética, Carillo formally denounces both clarity and straightforwardness when such artistic ideals placed parameters on poetic expression in an effort to make "oneself intelligible to the half-educated." Though culteranismo maintained this elitist and aristocratic quality well after Carillo's death, this haughty comment on the part of Góngora's pupil was a jibe at Góngora's fiercest critics whose periodic vitriol sought to discredit the artist and his work. This fundamental debate between artistic clarity, lyricism and free expression first outlined in the Poetics of Aristotle and debated in the literary circles of posterity would never cease to divide artists throughout the modern era. Culteranismo, fond of playful obscurity, has incurred the disdain of several critics for its liberal artistic outlooks, which critics lampooned as frivolous and pedantic.
The primacy of ingenio contradicted the claims of more traditional critics who sought to tame instinct by imposing a rigorous aesthetic framework of poetic regulations derived from the ancients in order to establish a more coherent dialogue with the audience or reader. Critics such as Juan Martínez de Jáuregui y Aguilar and Francisco de Quevedo, for reasons related to their obscure lyricism, saw culternanist poets as affected and purposefully obscure with the intention of masking poetic mediocrity with ornate phraseology. Regardless of the charges levied against his style, Góngora would remain one of the most influential poets of the Spanish Baroque and would influence in turn the styles of his most malicious critics; the sophisticated metaphors displayed in the Polifemo would inspire French symbolists such as Paul Verlaine as well as modern Spanish poets such as Federico García Lorca and fellow members of the Generation of'27. Culteranismo has always retained a arcane and esoteric quality throughout the centuries which would inform the mystical nostalgia definitive to the poetry of other 20th century modernist poets.
Along with conceptismo, culteranismo defined Spanish Baroque Poetry. Culteranismo, as a 17th-century artistic movement, sought to elevate pure ingenio over the ideal of imitatio, a tendency that dominated Renaissance poetry; the ambiguity of culternanists would continue to incur criticism from more conservative Spanish poets and thinkers for centuries. The Polifemo is composed of 63 stanzas. In its entirety, the Polifemo comprises 504 lines. Throughout the poem there is an abundance of poetic correspondences, which contrast with the abstruse quality of the cultismos themselves. Additionally, the ornamentality and detail of the work is further complicated by a profuse usage of classical symbolism and external referencing. A cultismo, though intuited as an umbrella term for a particular display of culteranismo, can be thought of as a poetic device that abandons the precision of
Twelve Olympians
In ancient Greek religion and mythology, the twelve Olympians are the major deities of the Greek pantheon considered to be Zeus, Poseidon, Athena, Artemis, Aphrodite, Hephaestus and either Hestia or Dionysus. They were called Olympians. Although Hades was a major ancient Greek god, was the brother of the first generation of Olympians, he resided in the underworld, far from Olympus, thus was not considered to be one of the Olympians. Besides the twelve Olympians, there were many other cultic groupings of twelve gods; the Olympians were a race of deities consisting of a third and fourth generation of immortal beings, worshipped as the principal gods of the Greek pantheon and so named because of their residency atop Mount Olympus. They gained their supremacy in a ten-year-long war of gods, in which Zeus led his siblings to victory over the previous generation of ruling gods, the Titans, they were a family of gods, the most important consisting of the first generation of Olympians, offspring of the Titans Cronus and Rhea: Zeus, Hera and Hestia, along with the principal offspring of Zeus: Athena, Artemis, Aphrodite, Hephaestus and Dionysus.
Although Hades was a major deity in the Greek pantheon, was the brother of Zeus and the other first generation of Olympians, his realm was far away from Olympus in the underworld, thus he was not considered to be one of the Olympians. Olympic gods can be contrasted to chthonic gods including Hades, by mode of sacrifice, the latter receiving sacrifices in a bothros or megaron rather than at an altar; the canonical number of Olympian gods was twelve, but besides the principal Olympians listed above, there were many other residents of Olympus, who thus might be called Olympians. Heracles became a resident of Olympus after his apotheosis and married another Olympian resident Hebe; some others who might be considered Olympians, include the Muses, the Graces, Dione, the Horae, Ganymede. Besides the twelve Olympians, there were many other various cultic groupings of twelve gods throughout ancient Greece; the earliest evidence of Greek religious practice involving twelve gods comes no earlier than the late sixth century BC.
According to Thucydides, an altar of the twelve gods was established in the agora of Athens by the archon Pisistratus, in c. 522 BC. The altar became the central point from which distances from Athens were measured and a place of supplication and refuge. Olympia also had an early tradition of twelve gods; the Homeric Hymn to Hermes has the god Hermes divide a sacrifice of two cows he has stolen from Apollo, into twelve parts, on the banks of the river Alpheius: "Next glad-hearted Hermes dragged the rich meats he had prepared and put them on a smooth, flat stone, divided them into twelve portions distributed by lot, making each portion wholly honorable."Pindar, in an ode written to be sung at Olympia c. 480 BC, has Heracles sacrificing, alongside the Alpheius, to the "twelve ruling gods": "He enclosed the Altis all around and marked it off in the open, he made the encircling area a resting-place for feasting, honoring the stream of the Alpheus along with the twelve ruling gods."Another of Pindar's Olympian odes mentions "six double altars".
Herodorus of Heraclea has Heracles founding a shrine at Olympia, with six pairs of gods, each pair sharing a single altar. Many other places had cults of the twelve gods, including Delos, Magnesia on the Maeander, Leontinoi in Sicily; as with the twelve Olympians, although the number of gods was fixed at twelve, the membership varied. While the majority of the gods included as members of these other cults of twelve gods were Olympians, non-Olympians were sometimes included. For example, Herodorus of Heraclea identified the six pairs of gods at Olympia as: Zeus and Poseidon and Athena, Hermes and Apollo, the Graces and Dionysus and Alpheus, Cronus and Rhea, thus while this list includes the eight Olympians: Zeus, Hera, Hermes, Apollo and Dionysus, it contains three clear non-Olympians: the Titan parents of the first generation of Olympians and Rhea, the river god Alpheius, with the status of the Graces being unclear. Plato connected "twelve gods" with the twelve months, implies that he considered Pluto one of the twelve in proposing that the final month be devoted to him and the spirits of the dead.
The Roman poet Ennius gives the Roman equivalents as six male-female complements, preserving the place of Vesta, who played a crucial role in Roman religion as a state goddess maintained by the Vestals. There is no single canonical list of the twelve Olympian gods; the thirteen gods and goddesses most considered to be one of the twelve Olympians are listed below. Most listings include either one or the other of the following deities as one of the twelve Olympians. Notes^ Romans associated Phoebus with Helios and the sun itself, they used the Greek name Apollon in a Latinized form Apollo.^ According to an alternate version of her birth, Aphrodite was born of Uranus, Zeus' grandfather, after Cronus threw his castrated genitals into the sea. This supports the etymology of her name, "foam-born"; as such, Aphrodite would belong to the same generation as Cronus, Zeus' father, would be Zeus' aunt
Polyphemus
Polyphemus is the giant son of Poseidon and Thoosa in Greek mythology, one of the Cyclopes described in Homer's Odyssey. His name means "abounding in songs and legends". Polyphemus first appears as a savage man-eating giant in the ninth book of the Odyssey; some Classical writers link his name with the nymph Galatea and present him in a different light. In Homer's epic, Odysseus lands on the island of the Cyclops during his journey home from the Trojan War and, together with some of his men, enters a cave filled with provisions; when the giant Polyphemus returns home with his flocks, he blocks the entrance with a great stone and, scoffing at the usual custom of hospitality, eats two of the men. Next morning, the giant leaves the cave to graze his sheep. After the giant returns in the evening and eats two more of the men, Odysseus offers Polyphemus some strong and undiluted wine given to him earlier on his journey. Drunk and unwary Odysseus his name, promising him a guest-gift if he answers. Odysseus tells him "Οὖτις", which means "nobody" and Polyphemus promises to eat this "Nobody" last of all.
With that, he falls into a drunken sleep. Odysseus had meanwhile drives it into Polyphemus' eye; when Polyphemus shouts for help from his fellow giants, saying that "Nobody" has hurt him, they think Polyphemus is being afflicted by divine power and recommend prayer as the answer. In the morning, the blind Cyclops lets the sheep out to graze, feeling their backs to ensure that the men are not escaping; however and his men have tied themselves to the undersides of the animals and so get away. As he sails off with his men, Odysseus boastfully reveals his real name, an act of hubris, to cause problems for him later. Polyphemus prays to his father, for revenge and casts huge rocks towards the ship, which Odysseus escapes; the story reappears in Classical literature. In Cyclops, the 5th century BC play by Euripides, a chorus of satyrs offers comic relief from the grisly story of how Polyphemus is punished for his impious behaviour in not respecting the rites of hospitality. In his Latin epic, Virgil describes how Aeneas observes blind Polyphemus as he leads his flocks down to the sea.
They have encountered Achaemenides, who re-tells the story of how Odysseus and his men escaped, leaving him behind. The giant is described as using a "lopped pine tree" as a walking staff. Once Polyphemus reaches the sea, he groans painfully. Achaemenides is taken aboard Aeneas’ vessel and they cast off with Polyphemus in chase, his great roar of frustration brings the rest of the Cyclopes down to the shore as Aeneas draws away in fear. Julien d'Huy speculates. Elements of the story of Odysseus and Polyphemus are recognizable in the folklore of many other European groups. Wilhelm Grimm collected versions in Serbian, Estonian, Finnish and German. Versions in Basque, Lithuanian, Gascon and Celtic are known; the vivid nature of the Polyphemus episode made it a favorite theme of ancient Greek painted pottery, on which the scenes most illustrated are the blinding of the Cyclops and the ruse by which Odysseus and his men escape. One such episode, on a vase featuring the hero carried beneath a sheep, was used on a 27 drachma Greek postage stamp in 1983.
The blinding was depicted in life-size sculpture, including a giant Polyphemus, in the Sperlonga sculptures made for the Emperor Tiberius. This may be an interpretation of an existing composition, was repeated in variations in Imperial palaces by Claudius, Nero and at Hadrian's Villa. Of the European painters of the subject, the Flemish Jacob Jordaens depicted Odysseus escaping from the cave of Polyphemus in 1635 and others chose the dramatic scene of the giant casting boulders at the escaping ship. In Guido Reni's painting of 1639/40, the furious giant is tugging a boulder from the cliff as Odysseus and his men row out to the ship far below. Polyphemus is portrayed, as it happens, with two empty eye sockets and his damaged eye located in the middle on his forehead; this convention goes back to Greek statuary and painting and is reproduced in Johann Heinrich Wilhelm Tischbein's 1802 head and shoulders portrait of the giant. Arnold Bocklin pictures the giant as standing on rocks onshore and swinging one of them back as the men row over a surging wave, while Polyphemus is standing at the top of a cliff in Jean-Léon Gérôme's painting of 1902.
He stands poised, having thrown one stone, which misses the ship. The reason for his rage is depicted in Ulysses Deriding Polyphemus. Here the ship sails forward; the giant himself is an indistinct shape distinguished from the woods and smoky atmosphere high above. Although there are some earlier references to the story of the love of Polyphemus for the sea-nymph Galatea and her preference for the human shepherd Acis, the best known source is a lost play by Philoxenus of Cythera, of which a few fragments and several accounts are left. Dating from about 400 BC, it links the love story to the arrival of Odysseus and, according to ancient sources, had a witty contemporary subtext. Philoxenos had had an affair with the mistress of Dionysius I of Syracuse and as a consequence was condemned to work in the stone quarries. Here he is supposed to have composed The Cyclops, with the tyrant cast in the role of the giant, while the successful lovers are the poet and his Galatea; the Hellenistic poet Theocritus painted a more sympath
Amphitrite
In ancient Greek mythology, Amphitrite was a sea goddess and wife of Poseidon and the queen of the sea. Under the influence of the Olympian pantheon, she became the consort of Poseidon and was further diminished by poets to a symbolic representation of the sea. In Roman mythology, the consort of Neptune, a comparatively minor figure, was Salacia, the goddess of saltwater. Amphitrite was a daughter of Nereus and Doris, according to Hesiod's Theogony, but of Oceanus and Tethys, according to the Bibliotheca, which lists her among both the Nereids and the Oceanids. Others called her the personification of the sea itself. Amphitrite's offspring included dolphins. Poseidon and Amphitrite had a son, Triton, a merman, a daughter, Rhodos. Bibliotheca mentions a daughter of Poseidon and Amphitrite named Benthesikyme. Amphitrite is not personified in the Homeric epics: "out on the open sea, in Amphitrite's breakers", "moaning Amphitrite" nourishes fishes "in numbers past all counting", she shares her Homeric epithet Halosydne with Thetis in some sense.
Though Amphitrite does not figure in Greek cultus, at an archaic stage she was of outstanding importance, for in the Homeric Hymn to Delian Apollo, she appears at the birthing of Apollo among, in Hugh G. Evelyn-White's translation, "all the chiefest of the goddesses and Rhea and Ichnaea and Themis and loud-moaning Amphitrite. Theseus in the submarine halls of his father Poseidon saw the daughters of Nereus dancing with liquid feet, "august, ox-eyed Amphitrite", who wreathed him with her wedding wreath, according to a fragment of Bacchylides. Jane Ellen Harrison recognized in the poetic treatment an authentic echo of Amphitrite's early importance: "It would have been much simpler for Poseidon to recognize his own son... the myth belongs to that early stratum of mythology when Poseidon was not yet god of the sea, or, at least, no-wise supreme there—Amphitrite and the Nereids ruled there, with their servants the Tritons. So late as the Iliad Amphitrite is not yet'Neptuni uxor'" ". Amphitrite, "the third one who encircles ", was so confined in her authority to the sea and the creatures in it that she was never associated with her husband, either for purposes of worship or in works of art, except when he was to be distinctly regarded as the god who controlled the sea.
An exception may be the cult image of Amphitrite that Pausanias saw in the temple of Poseidon at the Isthmus of Corinth. Pindar, in his sixth Olympian Ode, recognized Poseidon's role as "great god of the sea, husband of Amphitrite, goddess of the golden spindle." For poets, Amphitrite became a metaphor for the sea: Euripides, in Cyclops and Ovid, Metamorphoses. Eustathius said that Poseidon first saw her dancing at Naxos among the other Nereids, carried her off, but in another version of the myth, she fled from his advances to Atlas, at the farthest ends of the sea. In the arts of vase-painting and mosaic, Amphitrite was distinguishable from the other Nereids only by her queenly attributes. In works of art, both ancient ones and post-Renaissance paintings, Amphitrite is represented either enthroned beside Poseidon or driving with him in a chariot drawn by sea-horses or other fabulous creatures of the deep, attended by Tritons and Nereids, she has nets in her hair. The pincers of a crab are sometimes shown attached to her temples.
Amphitrite is the name of a genus of the worm family Terebellidae. In poetry, Amphitrite's name is used for the sea, as a synonym of Thalassa. Seven ships of the Royal Navy were named HMS Amphitrite Amphitrite, which wrecked in 1833 with heavy loss of life while transporting convicts to New South Wales At least one ship of the Royal Netherlands Navy was named HM Amphitrite. Three ships of the United States Navy were named USS Amphitrite. An asteroid, 29 Amphitrite, is named for her; the figure of Amphitrite plays a role in the 1918 Spanish novel Mare Nostrum by Vicente Blasco Ibáñez and its 1926 film adaptation. In 1936 Australia used an image of Amphitrite on a postage stamp as a classical allusion for the submarine communications cable across Bass Strait from Apollo Bay, Victoria to Stanley, Tasmania; the name of the former Greek Royal Yacht. Amphitrite Pool, a shallow ceremonial pool on the grounds of the United States Merchant Marine Academy at Kings Point, New York contains a statue of Amphitrite.
When First Classmen are taking their Third Mate or Third Assistant Engineer License Examinations, it is considered good luck if they bounce a coin off Amphitrite into a seashell at her feet. Smith, William. "Amphitri'te", "Halosydne. Warburg Institute Iconographic Database
Asclepius
Asclepius or Hepius is a hero and god of medicine in ancient Greek religion and mythology. He is the son of Apollo. Asclepius represents the healing aspect of the medical arts, he was associated with the Egyptian Imhotep. He was one of Apollo's sons, sharing with Apollo the epithet Paean; the rod of Asclepius, a snake-entwined staff, remains a symbol of medicine today. Those physicians and attendants who served this god were known as the Therapeutae of Asclepius; the etymology of the name is unknown. In his revised version of Frisk's Griechisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, R. S. P. Beekes gives this summary of the different attempts: "H. Grégoire in Asklépios, Apollon Smintheus et Rudra 1949, explains the name as'the mole-hero', connecting σκάλοψ, ἀσπάλαξ'mole' and refers to the resemblance of the Tholos in Epidauros and the building of a mole, but the variants of Asklepios and those of the word for'mole' do not agree. The name is typical for Pre-Greek words. I think that the -σ- renders an original affricate, lost before the -γ-.
Szemerényi's etymology from Hitt. assula-'well-being' and piya-'give' cannot be correct, as it does not explain the velar."Beekes suggested a Pre-Greek proto-form *Atyklap-. Asclepius was the son of Apollo, either by Coronis, daughter of Phlegyas or by Arsinoe, daughter of Leucippus of Messenia, he was the brother of Eriopis. Asclepius was married to Epione, with whom he had five daughters: Hygieia, Aceso and Aegle, three sons: Machaon and Telesphoros, he sired a son, with Aristodama. He was the son of Apollo and, according to the earliest accounts, a mortal woman named Coronis, his mother was killed by Artemis for being unfaithful to Apollo and was laid out on a funeral pyre to be consumed, but Apollo rescued the child, cutting him from Coronis's womb. According to an alternate tradition, Asclepius was born in the temple of Apollo, with Lachesis acting as a midwife and Apollo relieving the pains of Coronis. Apollo named the rescued baby Asclepius and reared him for a while and taught him a many things about medicine.
However, Asclepius had his formal education under the centaur Chiron who instructed him in the art of medicine. It is said that in return for some kindness rendered by Asclepius, a snake licked Asclepius's ears clean and taught him secret knowledge. Asclepius bore. Other version states that when Asclepius was commanded to restore the life of Glaucus, he was confined in a secret prison. While pondering on what he should do, a snake crept near his staff. Lost in his thoughts, Asclepius unknowingly killed it by hitting it again with his staff. Another snake came there with a herb in its mouth, placed it on the head of dead snake, which soon came back to life. Seeing this, Asclepius used the same herb, brought Glaucus back. A species of non-venomous pan-Mediterranean serpent, the Aesculapian snake is named for the god, he was called Hepius but received his popular name of Asclepius after he cured Ascles, ruler of Epidaurus who suffered an incurable ailment in his eyes. Asclepius became so proficient as a healer that he surpassed his father, Apollo.
Asclepius was therefore able to evade death and to bring others back to life from the brink of death and beyond. This caused an influx of human beings and Zeus resorted to killing him to maintain balance in the numbers of the human population. At some point, Asclepius was among those. Asclepius once started bringing back to life the dead people like Tyndareus, Glaucus, Hymenaeus and others. Others say he brought Hippolytus back from the dead on Artemis' request, accepted gold for it. However, Hades accused Asclepius for stealing his subjects and complianed to his brother Zeus about it. According to others, Zeus was afraid that Asclepius would teach the art of resurrection to other humans as well.. So he killed Asclepius with his thunderbolt; this angered Apollo. For this act, Zeus banished Apollo from Olympus and commanded Apollo to serve Admetus, King of Thessaly for a year. After Asclepius's death, Zeus placed his body among the stars as the constellation Ophiuchus. However, upon Apollo's request, Zeus resurrected Asclepius as a god and gave him a place on Olympus.
The most ancient and the most prominent asclepeion according to the geographer of the 1st century BC, was situated in Trikala. One of the most famous temples of Asclepius was at Epidaurus in north-eastern Peloponnese, dated to the fourth century BC. Another famous asclepeion was built a century later
Acireale
Acireale is a coastal city and comune in the north-east of the Metropolitan City of Catania, southern Italy, at the foot of Mount Etna, on the coast facing the Ionian Sea. It is home to numerous churches, including the Neo-Gothic St. Peter's Basilica, St. Sebastian's Basilica in the Sicilian Baroque style, the 17th century Acireale Cathedral, a seminary, for the training of priests. Acireale is noted for its art and paintings: the oldest academy in Sicily, the "Accademia dei Dafnici e degli Zelanti", is located here. According to tradition, the city's origins trace back to Xiphonia, a mysterious Greek city now disappeared. In Roman times, there existed another Greek town, involved in the Punic Wars. In Ovid's Metamorphoses, there is a great love between Ā́cis, the spirit of the Ā́cis River, Galatea the sea-nymph. According to mythology, the tears of Galatea after the death of Ā́cis gave birth to the Ā́cis River, Fiume di Jaci, flowing past Acireale; the Romans called the town Acium, it was on the main road from Catana to Tauromenium.
In the Middle Ages, the town expanded around the castle, known as Jachium under the Byzantines, as Al-Yāj under the Arabs, as Aquilia. In 1169, a huge earthquake scattered the population of the mainland, divided between the numerous boroughs of Aci. Another Aquilia was founded in the late 14th century further north, creating the nucleus of the modern city; the only remains of the medieval Aquilia Nova is the Gothic-Lombard-styled portal of the church of Saint Anthony. In the 16th century, Emperor Charles V freed the city from feudal ties, creating it as a Crown commune. In the late 16th century, the town had between 7,000 inhabitants; the most ancient document mentioning the Carnival of Acireale dates to 1594. The town received numerous new edifices. Acireale was nearly destroyed by an earthquake in 1693, which halted its economic growth. During the Expedition of the Thousand, which freed Sicily from the Kingdom of Naples, Acireale was the first town to rebel against the Bourbons. In 1941, it was bombed by the Allies.
The church of San Biagio in Acireale contains some of the relics of the Venerable Gabriele Allegra, who had entered the Franciscan seminary in 1918. Villa Belvedere and Parco delle Terme, two large public parks and "La Timpa", a beautiful natural reserve overlooking the Ionian Sea, offer great nature sights. Piazza Duomo, with its St. Peter's Basilica, is in the main square of the city. There are many beautiful historic Baroque buildings in town, such as Palazzo Pennisi and Palazzo Modò, which date from the 17th century, Palazzo Musmeci dating from the 18th century; the commercial city center is located in the streets including and adjacent to Corso Umberto and Corso Italia, which are the city's principal thoroughfares. The Fortezza del Tocco, a 16th-century fort, has been converted to a nature reserve. Acireale houses floats parades during the carnival season. Acireale is twinned with: Mar del Plata, Argentina Viareggio, Italy Nantes, France Site about Carnival of Acireale
Glaucus
In Greek mythology, Glaucus was a Greek prophetic sea-god, born mortal and turned immortal upon eating a magical herb. It was believed that he came to the rescue of sailors and fishermen in storms, having earlier earned a living from the sea himself. Glaucus's parentage is different in Nereus; the story of Glaucus's deification was dealt with in detail by Ovid in Metamorphoses and referenced by many other authors. According to Ovid, Glaucus began his life as a mortal fisherman living in the Boeotian city of Anthedon, he discovered by accident a magical herb which could bring the fish he caught back to life, decided to try eating it. The herb made him immortal, but caused him to grow fins instead of arms and a fish's tail instead of legs, forcing him to dwell forever in the sea. Glaucus was upset by this side-effect, but Oceanus and Tethys received him well and he was accepted among the deities of the sea, learning from them the art of prophecy. John Tzetzes adds to the above story that Glaucus became "immortal, but not immune to aging".
In an alternate, non-extant version cited in Athenaeus, Glaucus chased a hare on Mount Oreia until the animal fell down dead carried his prey to a spring and rubbed it with a bunch of grass, growing about. The herb brought the hare back to life. Glaucus tasted it himself and fell into a state of "divine madness", in which state Zeus made him fling himself into the stormy sea. Athenaeus informs that in yet another version followed by Possis of Magnesia, Glaucus was the builder and the pilot of Argo. During a naval battle between the Argonauts and the Etruscans, he fell into the sea and by the will of Zeus became a sea god. Alexander of Aetolia, cited in Athenaeus, related that the magical herb grew on the island Thrinacia sacred to Helios and served as a remedy against fatigue for the sun god's horses. Aeschrion of Samos informed that it was known as the "dog's-tooth" and was believed to have been sowed by Cronus. Athenaeus, referring to Aristotle's non-extant Constitution of Delos, related that Glaucus settled in Delos together with the Nereids and would give prophecies to whoever asked for them.
He mentions, this time with reference to Nicander, that Apollo was believed to have learned the art of prophecy from Glaucus. An encounter of Glaucus with the Argonauts was described by Diodorus Siculus and Philostratus the Elder; when the Argonauts were caught in a storm, Orpheus addressed the Cabeiroi with prayer. He followed the Argo for two days and prophesied to Heracles and the Dioscuri their future adventures and eventual deification, he addressed other members of the crew individually as well noting that he was sent to them thanks to Orpheus's prayer, instructing them to further pray to the Cabeiroi. In Apollonius Rhodius's version, Glaucus appeared at the point when Telamon quarreled with Jason over Heracles and Polyphemus being left behind on the coast of Bithynia where Hylas had been lost. Glaucus reconciled the two by letting them know that it had been ordained for Heracles to return to Eurystheus's court and complete his Twelve Labours, for Polyphemus to found Cius, while Hylas had been abducted by a nymph and married her.
Cf. above for the version that made Glaucus an Argonaut himself. In Euripides's play Orestes, Glaucus appeared in front of Menelaus on the latter's voyage home, announcing to him the death of his brother Agamemnon by the hand of Clytaemnestra. According to Ovid and Hyginus, Glaucus fell in love with the beautiful nymph Scylla and wanted her for his wife, but she was appalled by his fish-like features and fled onto land when he tried to approach her, he asked the witch Circe for a potion to make Scylla fall in love with him, but Circe fell in love with him instead. She tried to win his heart with her most passionate and loving words, telling him to scorn Scylla and stay with her, but he replied that trees would grow on the ocean floor and seaweed would grow on the highest mountain before he would stop loving Scylla. In her anger, Circe poisoned the pool where Scylla bathed, transforming her into a terrible monster with twelve feet and six heads. Euanthes and Theolytus of Methymna recorded an affair between Glaucus and Ariadne: according to Athenaeus who cites these authors, Glaucus seduced Ariadne as she was abandoned by Theseus on Dia.
Dionysus fought Glaucus over Ariadne and overpowered him, binding his hands and feet with grape vines. According to Mnaseas, again cited in Athenaeus, Glaucus abducted Syme on a journey back from Asia, had the island Syme named after her. Glaucus was reported to have had male lovers as well: Nicander in Europia mentioned Nereus as one, while Hedylus of Samos wrote that it was out of love for Melicertes that Glaucus threw himself into the sea, yet according to Nicanor of Cyrene's Change of Names and the deified Melicertes were one and the same. It is not known if Glaucus had any children, but Pausanias mentions Glaucus of Carystus as an alleged descendant of Glaucus the sea god. Virgil seems to indicate Deiphobe, as a daughter of Glaucus. Aeschylus wrote. A work entitled Glaucus
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This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Smith, William, ed. (1870). "Acis". Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology.
