Nereus

Statue of Nereo found in Carmona (Sevilla).

In Greek mythology, Nereus (in Greek Νηρεύς or Νηρηος, «wet or damp») was an ancient and benevolent sea god. It is said that he was the largest of the five Pontids, that is, sons of Ponto —the primordial god of the sea— whom he fathered cohabiting with Gaea.The Orphics say that he was the oldest of the sea gods and that he possesses the foundations of the element itself.The truth is that He had power over the waves of the seas since he is linked to the eddies that occur during storms. (Γερων Ἁλιος; Gerôn Halios), renowned for being a good adviser with wise words. It is not for nothing that Pausanias tells us that the Giteatas —inhabitants of the Laconian town of Gito— worship Nereus only with the name of Anciano and they also say that he lives in the sea. The same author tells us that Homer was the first to use this name in the Iliad in the words of Thetis. Thetis herself learned from her father Nereus of the decree of the Fates about her son Achilles: that one of two things had been assigned to him, either a long and inglorious life or else to become glorious only to die prematurely.

Nereo was known for his truthfulness and virtue, namely:

Ponto begat the sincere and truthful Nereo, the eldest of his children. Besides, he They call Old, because it is trustworthy and gentle, and never forgets what is right, but the thoughts of their mind are benign and upright.

Hesiod, Theogony 233

As for their marriage and offspring, Theogony tells us that "adorable and divine daughters were born in the barren sea of Nereus and fair-haired Doris, daughter of Oceanus." These fifty nymphs from salt water they are known, as is fame, as the Nereids. It is said that Poseidon was his son-in-law, since he was married to Amphitrite, one of the Nereids. Theonoé —daughter of the Nereid Psámate—, had the divine knowledge of all things present and to come, a gift inherited from his grandfather Nereo. Another author tells us that Nereo and Doris were also parents, in addition to their daughters, to a man of attractive beauty, Nerites, who ended up transformed into a shellfish. Yet another version tells us that Nereus was the father, without specifying the consort, of another minor sea god, in this case Glaucus. Or Glaucus himself was not the son of Nereus but was a spokesman who transmitted Nereus's wise words.

Late authors imagined his mansions under the waters of the Aegean Sea, in a dark and silvery cave, always accompanied by his daughters, who entertained him with their songs and dances. Nereus was, like many deities Marinas, skilled with the power of shapeshifting, compared in skill to Proteus himself. Nereus also intervenes in some of the feats of the hard-working Heracles. Some say that Heracles hurried through Illyria to the river Eridano and arrived before the nymphs, daughters of Zeus and Themis. These directed him to Nereus, whom Heracles seized while he slept and, although the god took all kinds of forms, tied him up and did not let go until he learned from him where the Hesperides and their apples were. Others say that Heracles received the Helios's golden cloak, in which he traveled the seas, from the hands of Nereus himself.

Nereo was represented as an old man carrying a staff and accompanied by the Nereids. He was sometimes shown with a serpentine fish tail for legs but, unlike the fish-tailed gods Achelous and Triton, Nereus was always shown wearing a chiton and carrying his staff. Virgil would add the trident to these attributes, thus identifying himself with the god Neptune, a later representation of the sea.