Amphitrite (Greek: Ἀμφιτρίτη) is the Olympian Goddess of the Sea and wife of Poseidon.
Greek Mythology[]
Amphitrite (/æmfɪˈtraɪtiː/; Greek: Ἀμφιτρίτη, translit. Amphitrítē) was the goddess of the sea, the queen of the sea, and her consort is Poseidon. She was a daughter of Nereus and Doris (or Oceanus and Tethys). Under the influence of the Olympian pantheon, she became the consort of Poseidon and was later used as a symbolic representation of the sea. Her Roman counterpart is Salacia, a comparatively minor figure, and the goddess of saltwater.
According to Hesiod's Theogony, Amphitrite was one of the Nereid daughters of Nereus and Doris. The mythographer Apollodorus, however, lists her among both the Nereids, as well as the Oceanids, the daughters of Oceanus and Tethys.
Amphitrite's offspring included seals and dolphins. She also bred sea monsters and her great waves crashed against the rocks, putting sailors at risk. Poseidon and Amphitrite had a son, Triton who was a merman, and a daughter, Rhodos (if this Rhodos was not actually fathered by Poseidon on Halia or was not the daughter of Asopus as others claim). According to the mythographer Apollodorus, Benthesikyme was the daughter of Poseidon and Amphitrite.
When Poseidon desired to marry her, Amphitrite, wanting to protect "her virginity", fled to the Atlas mountains. Poseidon sent many creatures to find her. A dolphin came across Amphitrite and convinced her to marry Poseidon. As a reward for the dolphin's help, Poseidon created the Delphinus constellation. Eustathius said that Poseidon first saw her dancing at Naxos among the other Nereids, and carried her off. But in another version of the myth, she fled from his advances to Atlas, at the farthest ends of the sea; there the dolphin of Poseidon sought her through the islands of the sea, and finding her, spoke persuasively on behalf of Poseidon, if we may believe Hyginus and was rewarded by being placed among the stars as the constellation Delphinus.
Amphitrite is not fully personified in the Homeric epics: "out on the open sea, in Amphitrite's breakers" (Odyssey iii.101), "moaning Amphitrite" nourishes fishes "in numbers past all counting" (Odyssey xii.119). She shares her Homeric epithet Halosydne (Greek: Ἁλοσύδνη, translit. Halosúdnē, lit. "sea-nourished") with Thetis. In some sense, the sea-nymphs are doublets. 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 later poets, Amphitrite became simply a metaphor for the sea: Euripides, in Cyclops (702) and Ovid, Metamorphoses, (i.14).
In the God of War Series[]
God of War[]
Deep inside Pandora's Temple, there is a chamber dedicated to her as part of the Challenge of Poseidon. A large statue of her holding a trident adorns the chamber.
Trivia[]
- Amphitrite is often confused for Poseidon's Princess, a mortal slave of the Sea-God in God of War III.
- She is one of the Oceanids, beautiful daughters of Oceanus and Tethys. One of her more prominent sisters was Metis, the first wife of Zeus.
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