Oceanus was also viewed as a liminal deity—one who marked the boundary between the living and the dead, as well as the seas and heavens. “Oceanus.” Mythopedia. Internet Classics Archive. These children, who were known collectively as the Oceanids, were largely sea nymphs.

He was often likened to a great river that spanned the entirety of the known world. Accessed on January 31, 2020. http://classics.mit.edu/Homer/odyssey.html. Oceanus was famously memorialized as the focal point of the Trevi Fountain in Rome. The Sea Nymphs were each responsible for a separate body of water. She then began to meddle in the Trojan War, which Zeus had expressly forbidden. Written by GreekBoston.com in Greek Mythology Oceanus personified the sea. Oceanus was mentioned in both the Iliad and the Odyssey, though he does not appear as an active character in either. Check out its History, Representation and Myth below. Hera’s words revealed much about Oceanus’s mythic standing: Hera told her a lying tale and said, ‘I want you to endow me with some of those fascinating charms, the spells of which bring all things mortal and immortal to your feet. Translated by Samuel Butler. At the time, the Greeks looked at the sea as an incredibly large river that surrounded the known world. Another passage found Odysseus in the waters of Oceanus, where he encountered the Cimmerians: All day long her sails were full as she held her course over the sea, but when the sun went down and darkness was over all the earth, we got into the deep waters of the river Oceanus, where lie the land and city of the Cimmerians who live enshrouded in mist and darkness which the rays of the sun never pierce neither at his rising nor as he goes down again out of the heavens, but the poor wretches live in one long melancholy night. To contrast that Poseidon, who was the god of the sea during Olympian rule, ruled over the Mediterranean Sea. Retrieved from https://mythopedia.com/greek-mythology/titans/oceanus/. Many of Oceanus’s children became significant figures in Greek mythology, including Metis, who mated with Zeus and conceived the goddess Athena. :Ōkeanós), in Greek mythology, is the firstborn son of Uranus (Heaven) and Gaia (Earth), therefore the eldest of the titans. Okeanos (Ancient Greek: Ὠκεανός) was a son of Gaea and Ouranos. Internet Classics Archive. While Poseidon was the god who was able to control the sea, Oceanus was actually looked at as the deity that physically represented the sea.

These included the Titans—Coeus, Crius, Hyperion, Iapetus, Thea, Themis, Mnemosyne, Phoebe and Rhea, Tethys, and Cronus—as well as the one-eyed Cyclopes and the Hecatoncheires, monsters with a hundred hands each. In the Iliad, Hera wove a complex lie involving Oceanus and Tethys in order to distract the gods from her interventions in the Trojan War. Among the Titan’s other significant children were Thetis, who married the mortal hero Peleus and gave birth to the mighty Achilles; Amphitrite, the consort of the sea god Poseidon; Dione, a lover of Zeus; Clymene, a lover of Iapetus; and Pleione, wife of the Titan Atlas and mother of the Pleiades. When we got there we beached the ship, took the sheep out of her, and went along by the waters of Oceanus till we came to the place of which Circe had told us.3. Oceanus took his sister Tethys as his lover, and together, they had over three thousand children. With the help of Aphrodite’s charmed girdle, Hera seduced Zeus and had Hypnos, the god of sleep, put him into a deep slumber. ↩, Homer, Odyssey, translated by Samuel Butler, Book XX. Athena was the Greek Goddess of wisdom and in Roman mythology she was also called Minerva. The Titans were eventually overthrown by the Olympian gods and goddesses. The first born son of the primordial deities Gaia and Uranus, Oceanus had many siblings. He was the son of Nix (goddess of nightfall), one of the most relevant deities in this Mythology. There is a key difference between Poseidon and Oceanus. He was mentioned in the Homeric epics, though his exact personality remained relatively obscure. Accessed January 30, 2020. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oceanus. As you can see, Oceanus was definitely portrayed as a gentle soul who managed to stay out of two major conflicts involving the gods and goddesses. As mentioned above, Oceanus was one of the Titan gods. Oceanus in particular stayed away from the conflict and decided not to take sides. (n.d.). Apel, Thomas. However, there is a lot more to it than that. She first approached Aphrodite, the goddess of erotic love, with the intention of borrowing her girdle, able to make its wearer irresistible to males both mortal and divine. She was often compared to the Primordial Titan Gaia. “Oceanus.” Wikipedia. Comments Off on The Greek Mythological Story of Oceanus. Both always in contrast, just like Yin-Yang in Taoism, check out more about this God below. It is said that Oceanus was the son of Uranus, the god of the sky, and Gaia, the goddess of the earth. For example, in Homer's Iliad, he is noted as being the father of all gods and all things. In fact, the English word, Ocean, is derived from Oceanus, and this initially came about because of what he represented. He is the Titan of the sea and all water boundaries. He also didn’t take sides when Cronus, Oceanus’ brother, revolted against their father, Uranus.

Iliad. Moros was, in Greek Mythology, the Greek God of Luck and Destiny. Oceanus is one of the figures of Greek mythology that are associated with the sea and the ocean. There were thousands of sea nymphs, or Oceanids, and the pair also parented all the bodies of water, such as the rivers, oceans, and lakes, in the world. Check out the fascinating history of this god from Greek Mythology below. Athena was born directly from Zeus' brain and is also her father's most beloved goddess. Hera claimed she wanted to bring it to Tethys, as she and Oceanus had not made love in many ages. Homer. The first son of Gaia and Uranus, Oceanus was a Titan who personified the great seas and oceans. At one point in the epic, he was invoked by Odysseus’s wife Penelope, whose sorrow for her lost husband brought her to the verge of suicide: When she [Penelope] had relieved herself by weeping she prayed to Artemis saying, ‘Great Goddess Diana, daughter of Jove, drive an arrow into my heart and slay me; or let some whirlwind snatch me up and bear me through paths of darkness till it drop me into the mouths of overflowing Oceanus, as it did the daughters of Pandareus.’2. The fountain’s theme is “taming the waters,” and Oceanus’s commanding position makes it clear that it is indeed the mighty Titan who is doing the taming. Learn more. Check out more about this goddess below. Oceanus was closely associated with heavenly bodies. Here are the details of his story: Divine Representation of the Sea. Do You Know How the Athenian Navy Was Formed? Together, they parented several children including the Oceanids, the ocean nymphs, and The Rivers, which were a series of rivers, such as the River Styx, that flowed into the Underworld. However, they didn’t take the side of the Olympians, either. Godchecker guide to Oceanus (also known as Okeanos), the Greek God from Greek mythology. Artemis (Diana in Roman mythology) was one of the most famous Greek Goddess in Greek Mythology. Oceanus was mentioned in the Odyssey as well, though he did not appear as an active character. Both Uranus and Gaia were primordial gods and goddesses who were eventually replaced by the next generation of gods and goddesses, the Titans. Oceanus, Prometheus, and Themis didn’t take the side of the Titans. The sun and its corresponding deity Helios, for instance, departed from the Titan’s body in the morning and settled there at night. Due to its etymological relationship to the word “ocean,” the Titan’s name is still strongly associated with the seas and its waters. It is interesting to note that Tethys didn’t really have a big role in the Greek mythological stories and she also didn’t appear to have an established cult of her own. This parentage made the Oceanids sisters to the 3,000 Potamoi, the river gods of Greek mythology. Hestia was the Greek and Roman Goddess of Home and Hearth and in Greco-Roman Mythology, Hestia was often represented as one of the 12 (in other versions 15) deities of Olympus. Homer, Iliad, translated by Samuel Butler, Book XIV. In other tales, Oceanus was portrayed as the 'origin of everything.' The term may have been derived from the hypothetical Proto-Indo-European o-khei-mno, meaning “lying on.” The Titan was often depicted in a reclining pose that mimicked his literal presence across the world. As an ever-growing archive, our mission is to catalog the world’s mythology on the web for all to enjoy. Designed in the mid-eighteenth century by the Italian architect Nicola Salvi and completed in 1762 by sculptor Guiseppe Pannini, the iconic landmark featured a bearded Oceanus towering over geysers, horses, and sea nymphs. Apel, Thomas. Check out everything about Ares by reading the article. https://mythopedia.com/greek-mythology/titans/oceanus/. Equipped with modern technology, the ship gathered data about the oceans and atmosphere. The Oceanids were the 3,000 daughters of Oceanus, the Titan god of the earth encircling river, and his wife, the Titanide Tethys. Privacy Policy, http://classics.mit.edu/Homer/odyssey.html, http://classics.mit.edu/Homer/iliad.14.xiv.html, http://classics.mit.edu/Homer/odyssey.20.xx.html, https://mythopedia.com/greek-mythology/titans/oceanus/. Rhea – Titan Goddess of Fertility in Greek Mythological. I must go and see them that I may make peace between them; they have been quarrelling, and are so angry that they have not slept with one another this long while; if I can bring them round and restore them to one another’s embraces, they will be grateful to me and love me for ever afterwards.’1. I am going to the world’s end to visit Oceanus (from whom all we gods proceed) and mother Tethys: they received me in their house, took care of me, and brought me up, having taken me over from Rhea when Zeus imprisoned great Cronus in the depths that are under earth and sea. Odyssey. The Titanic Oceans of the World http://classics.mit.edu/Homer/iliad.14.xiv.html. It was Hephaestus who forged the beam of Zeus, Trident of Poseidon and the Helm of Hades.