Potamoi

Nilus, the *potamos* of the Nile River, depicted in a Coptic tapestry

The Potamoi (Ancient Greek: Ποταμοί, romanized: Potamoí, lit. 'Rivers') are the gods of rivers and streams of the earth in Greek mythology.

Mythology

The river gods were the 3000 sons of the great earth-encircling river Oceanus and his wife Tethys and the brothers of the Oceanids.^[1] They were also the fathers of the Naiads^{[citation needed]} and Potamides.^[2] The river gods were depicted in one of three forms: a man-headed bull, a bull-headed man with the body of a serpent-like fish from the waist down, or as a reclining man with an arm resting upon an amphora jug pouring water.^{[citation needed]}

Notable river gods include:

Achelous, the god of the Achelous River, the largest river in Greece, who gave his daughter in marriage to Alcmaeon,^[3] and was defeated by Heracles in a wrestling contest for the right to marry Deianira.^[4]
Alpheus, who fell in love with the nymph Arethusa, pursuing her to Syracuse, where she was transformed into a spring by Artemis.^[5]
Asopus, father of many naiads. His daughter Aegina was carried off to the island Aegina by Zeus. Another daughter, Sinope, tricked three amorous gods into leaving her virginity intact.
Inachus, the first king of Argos and progenitor of the Argive line through his son Argus.
Nilus, Egyptian river god and the father of numerous daughters who mingled with the descendants of Inachus, forming a dynasty of kings in Egypt, Libya, Arabia and Ethiopia.
Peneus, river god of Thessaly flowing from the foot of Pindus. He was the father of Daphne and Stilbe, love interests of the god Apollo.
Scamander, who fought on the side of the Trojans during the Trojan War, and was offended when Achilles polluted his waters with a large number of Trojan corpses. In response, he overflowed his banks, nearly drowning Achilles.^[6]

Ancient Greek poet Hesiod mentioned several river gods by name, along with their origen story, in Theogonia^[7] ("the birth of the gods"):

And Tethys bare to Ocean eddying rivers, Nilus, and Alpheus, and deep-swirling Eridanus, Strymon, and Meander, and the fair stream of Ister, and Phasis, and Rhesus, and the silver eddies of Achelous, Nessus, and Rhodius, Haliacmon, and Heptaporus, Granicus, and Aesepus, and holy Simois, and Peneus, and Hermus, and Caicus fair stream, and great Sangarius, Ladon, Parthenius, Euenus, Ardescus, and divine Scamander. — Theogony, Hesiod. Translated by Hugh G. Evelyn-White (1914)^[8]^[9]

List of Potamoi

The following are the sons of Oceanus and Tethys:^[10]


Name of river	River god	Sources							Location	Son of Oceanus and Tethys
Name of river	River god	Hes.	Ovid	Apol.	Plut.	Hyg.	Pau.	Others	Location	Son of Oceanus and Tethys
Achelous or Akheloios	✓	✓	✓	✓	✓	✓	✓	Homer, Sophocles, Euripides, Callimachus, Apollonius Rhodius, Diodorus Siculus, Statius, Hyginus, Plato, Aristotle	Aetolia	✓
Acheron	✓		✓	✓					Underworld and Thesprotia	*presumably
Acis	Changed into a river		✓						Sicily	son of Pan and nymph Symaethis
Acragas	?^{[citation needed]}								Sicily
Aeas	✓		✓						Epirus	*
Aegaeus	✓							Apollonius	Scheria (Corcyra)	*
Aesar	✓							Strabo	Tyrrhenia or Etruria	*
Aesepus	✓	✓							Troad	✓
Almo	✓		✓						Latium	*
Alpheus	✓	✓	✓		✓	✓	✓		Arcadia	✓
Amnisos	✓							Apollonius, Callimachus	Crete	*
Amphrysos	✓		✓						Thessaly	*
Anapus	✓		✓					Nonnus	Sicily	*
Anauros	?^{[citation needed]}								Thessaly
Anigros	✓							Strabo	Elis	*
Apidanus	✓		✓						Thessaly	*
Arar	River named after				✓				Gallia Celtica (Celtic Gaul)
Araxes	River named after				✓				Armenia	son of Pylus
Ardescus	✓	✓							Thrace	✓
Arnos	✓							Strabo	Etruria	*
Ascanius	✓					✓		Antoninus	Mysia	*
Asopus	✓			✓			✓		Boeotia and Argos	✓; some accounts, son of Zeus and Eurynome or Poseidon and either Pero or Celusa
Asterion	✓						✓		Argos	*
Axenus or Axius	✓					✓			Paeonia and Macedonia	✓
Baphyras	?^{[citation needed]}								Pieria
Borysthenes	✓							Antoninus	Scythia	*
Brychon	✓							Lycophron	Chersonnese	*
Caanthus	✓						✓			✓
Caicinus	✓						✓		Bruttium	*
Caicus	✓	✓			✓				Teuthrania, Mysia	✓
Cayster	✓						✓		Lydia	*
Cebren	✓		✓	✓				Parthenius	Troad	*
Cephissus	✓		✓	✓		✓	✓		Phocis, Attica, Argos	✓
Chremetes	✓							Nonnus	Libya	*
Cladeus	?^{[citation needed]}					✓			Elis	*
Clitumnus	?^{[citation needed]}								Umbria	*
Cocytus	✓							Oppian	Underworld and Thesprotia	*
Cratais	✓^{[citation needed]}					✓				*
Crinisus	✓					✓		Virgil, Lycophron, Servius, Aelian	Sicily	*
Cydnos	✓							Nonnus	Cilicia	*
Cytheros	?^{[citation needed]}						✓		Elis	*
Elisson	?^{[citation needed]}							Statius	Achaea	*
Enipeus	✓		✓	✓					Thessaly	*
Erasinus	✓						✓		Argos	*
Eridanus	✓	✓				✓			Attica	✓
Eridanus	✓	✓						Virgil, Nonnus	Hyperborea,	✓
Erymanthus	✓						✓	Aelian	Attica	*
Euphrates	✓				✓	✓			Assyria	✓
Eurotas	✓ River named after			✓	✓		✓		Laconia	son of Lelex and Cleocharia or of Myles
Evenus or	✓	✓		✓	✓				Aetolia	✓ ; some accounts, a mortal son of Ares and either Demodice or Stratonice who flung himself to the river Lycormas
Lycormas	✓			✓	✓				Aetolia
Ganges	✓		✓		✓				India	*
Granicus	✓	✓	✓						Troad	✓
Haliacmon	✓	✓							Macedonia	✓
Halys	✓							Apollonius, Valerius Flaccus	Paphlygonia and Pontos	*
Hebrus	✓				✓			Lucian	Ciconia, Thrace	*
Heptaporus	✓	✓							Troad	✓
Hermus	✓	✓							Lydia	*
Hydaspes	✓				✓			Nonnus	India	✓; son of Thaumas and Electra
Ilissos	✓							Plato	Attica	*
Imbrasos	✓							Athenaeus	Samos	*
Inachus	✓			✓	✓	✓	✓		Argos	✓
Indus	✓				✓	✓			India or Caria	✓
Inopos	✓							Callimachus	Delos	*
Ismenus	✓				✓	✓			Boeotia	✓
Istrus or Ister	✓	✓							Scythia	✓
Ladon	✓	✓		✓			✓		Arcadia	✓
Lamos	✓							Nonnus	Cilicia or Boeotia	✓
Marsyas	River named after				✓				Phrygia	a satyr; son of Hyagnis and either Olympus or Oeagrus
Maeander	✓	✓	✓		✓	✓	✓		Caria	✓
Meles	✓							Hellanicus, Eugaeon	Lydia	*
Mincius	✓							Virgil	Gallia, Italy	*
Nestos or Nessus	✓	✓							Bistonia, Thrace	✓
Nilus	✓	✓		✓	✓	✓			Egypt	✓
Numicius	✓		✓						Latium, Italy	*
Nymphaeus	?^{[citation needed]}							Quintus Smyrnaeus	Bithynia and Paphlagonia
Orontes	✓					✓			Syria	✓
Pactolus	✓				✓			Nonnus	Lydia	*
Parthenius	✓	✓							Paphlagonia	✓
Phasis	✓	✓			✓				Colchis	✓
Phlegethon or Pyriphlegethon	✓							Virgil, Statius	Underworld	son of Cocytus
Phyllis	✓							Apollonius	Thynia, Anatolia	*
Peneus	✓	✓	✓				✓		Thessaly	✓
Pleistos	✓							Apollonius	Phocis	*
Porpax	✓							Aelian	Sicily	*
Rhesus	✓	✓							Rhesus (Ancient Greek: Ῥῆσος / Rhẽsos, Latin; Rhesus) was a river in Bithynia,^[11] Troad, Anatolia (modern-day Hisarlik, Çanakkale, Turkey).^[12] Per the Barrington Atlas, the Rhesus is likely Karaath Çay, a tributary of the Biga Çayı (known to antiquity as the Granicus).^[13] The Rhesus is alternately called the Rhedas, and was said to flow into the "Thracian Bosphorus at Chalcedon."^[14]	✓
Rhine	✓							Nonnus	Switzerland/Germany/France/Netherlands	*
Rhodius	✓	✓							Troad	✓
Rhyndacus	✓							Nonnus	Phrygia and Bithynia	*
Sangarius or Sagaris	✓	✓		✓	✓				Phrygia	✓
Satnioeis	?^{[citation needed]}							Homer	Troad
Scamander	✓	✓		✓	✓	✓			Troad	✓
Selemnus	?^{[citation needed]}						✓		Achaea
Simoeis	✓	✓		✓		✓		✓	Troad	✓
Spercheus	✓			✓					Malis
Strymon	✓	✓		✓	✓	✓			Edonia, Thrace	✓
Symaethus	✓		✓						Sicily	*
Tanais	✓				✓	✓			Scythia	✓
Telmessus	✓							Aelian	Sicily	*
Termessus	✓						✓		Boeotia	*
Thermodon	✓				✓	✓			Pontos and Assyria	✓
Tiberinus	✓							Virgil	Latium, Italy	*
Tigris	✓				✓	✓			Assyria	✓
Titaressus^[15]	?							Homer, Strabo, Seneca	Thessaly
TOTAL	89	26	18	17	26	22	18			40 (+50*)

Notes

^ Hesiod, Theogony 337–345, 366–370.
^ Rose, Herbert J. (1957); p 25.
^ Apollodorus, 3.7.5.
^ Apollodorus, 1.8.1, 2.7.5.
^ Smith, "Alpheius".
^ Homer, Iliad 20.74, 21.211 ff..
^ θεογονία. Liddell, Henry George; Scott, Robert; A Greek–English Lexicon at the Perseus Project
^ The Theogony. Translated by Evelyn-White, Hugh G. 1914. ISBN 978-1-4209-0525-0. OCLC 1289856352.
^ Hesiod (1914). Hesiod, Homeric Hymns, Epic Cycle, Homerica. Vol. 57. H G. Loeb Classical Library. London: William Heinemann.
^ Hesiod, Theogony 334; Pseudo-Plutarch, De fluviis; Hyginus, Fabulae Preface
^ William Smith; William Wayte; G. E. Marindin (1890). "Rhesus". Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities. Albemarle Street, London: John Murray. Retrieved 2023-01-23 – via www.perseus.tufts.edu.
^ Homer (2011). "12". The Iliad of Homer. Richmond Lattimore, Richard P. Martin. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. ISBN 978-0-226-47048-1. OCLC 704121276. [After the Greeks had departed from Troy :] Poseidon and Apollon took counsel to wreck the wall [of the Greeks], letting loose the strength of rivers upon it, all the rivers that run to the sea from the mountains of Ida, Rhesos (Rhesus) and Heptaporos, Karesos (Caresus) and Rhodios, Grenikos (Granicus) and Aisepos (Aesepus), and immortal Skamandros (Scamander) and Simoeis (. . .).
^ Huxley, George (2002). "Review of Parthenius of Nicaea. The poetical fragments and the ᾽Ερωτικὰ Παθήματα". Hermathena (172): 110–117. ISSN 0018-0750. JSTOR 23041295.
^ A Classical Manual: Being a Mythological, Historical, and Geographical Commentary on Pope's Homer and Dryden's Aeneid of Virgil. London: J. Murray. 1833. p. 216 – via Google Books.
^ Homer,Iliad

References

Apollodorus, Apollodorus, The Library, with an English Translation by Sir James George Frazer, F.B.A., F.R.S. in 2 Volumes. Cambridge, Massachusetts, Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann Ltd. 1921. Online version at the Perseus Digital Library.
Hesiod, Theogony, in The Homeric Hymns and Homerica with an English Translation by Hugh G. Evelyn-White, Cambridge, Massachusetts., Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann Ltd. 1914. Online version at the Perseus Digital Library.
Homer, The Iliad with an English Translation by A.T. Murray, Ph.D. in two volumes. Cambridge, Massachusetts., Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann, Ltd. 1924. Online version at the Perseus Digital Library.
Hyginus, Gaius Julius, Astronomica, in The Myths of Hyginus, edited and translated by Mary A. Grant, Lawrence: University of Kansas Press, 1960.
Smith, William; Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology, London (1873).
Rose, Herbert J. ; Gods and heroes of the Greeks, London (1957).

External links

"Potamoi" at Theoi.com

[1] Hesiod, Theogony 337–345, 366–370.

[2] Rose, Herbert J. (1957); p 25.

[3] Apollodorus, 3.7.5.

[4] Apollodorus, 1.8.1, 2.7.5.

[5] Smith, "Alpheius".

[6] Homer, Iliad 20.74, 21.211 ff..

[7] θεογονία. Liddell, Henry George; Scott, Robert; A Greek–English Lexicon at the Perseus Project

[8] The Theogony. Translated by Evelyn-White, Hugh G. 1914. ISBN 978-1-4209-0525-0. OCLC 1289856352.

[9] Hesiod (1914). Hesiod, Homeric Hymns, Epic Cycle, Homerica. Vol. 57. H G. Loeb Classical Library. London: William Heinemann.

[10] Hesiod, Theogony 334; Pseudo-Plutarch, De fluviis; Hyginus, Fabulae Preface

[11] William Smith; William Wayte; G. E. Marindin (1890). "Rhesus". Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities. Albemarle Street, London: John Murray. Retrieved 2023-01-23 – via www.perseus.tufts.edu.

[12] Homer (2011). "12". The Iliad of Homer. Richmond Lattimore, Richard P. Martin. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. ISBN 978-0-226-47048-1. OCLC 704121276. [After the Greeks had departed from Troy :] Poseidon and Apollon took counsel to wreck the wall [of the Greeks], letting loose the strength of rivers upon it, all the rivers that run to the sea from the mountains of Ida, Rhesos (Rhesus) and Heptaporos, Karesos (Caresus) and Rhodios, Grenikos (Granicus) and Aisepos (Aesepus), and immortal Skamandros (Scamander) and Simoeis (. . .).

[13] Huxley, George (2002). "Review of Parthenius of Nicaea. The poetical fragments and the ᾽Ερωτικὰ Παθήματα". Hermathena (172): 110–117. ISSN 0018-0750. JSTOR 23041295.

[14] A Classical Manual: Being a Mythological, Historical, and Geographical Commentary on Pope's Homer and Dryden's Aeneid of Virgil. London: J. Murray. 1833. p. 216 – via Google Books.

[15] Homer,Iliad

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