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Divine Lineage
An Attic red-figure vase by Myson showing Herakles breaking into the household of Nereus.

Sea

Nereus

ΝηρεύςRoman: Nereus

The old man of the sea, who cannot lie and will not hold still.

Attic red-figure vase, Myson — Staatliche Antikensammlungen, Munich AS 8762

2
epithets
0
cult sites
1
offspring
0
unions
1
recorded birth

Vitals

Kind
Minor god
Generation
1
Domains
the truthful sea, prophecy, shape-changing
Accent
Sea — salt and fresh water, the swell, the river
Sacred symbols
the fish tail, the changing shape, the sceptre of the deep
Principal cult sites
No cult attested

What they were called

  • ἀψευδής

    unlying

  • γέρων ἅλιος

    the old man of the sea

Lineage

See in the tree

Offspring in this roster

ChildAmphitrite

Notable myths

  1. Held Through Every Shape

    Herakles could not find the golden apples and was told to ask the old man of the sea. He came on Nereus asleep, seized him and did not let go while Nereus turned into water and fire and a series of animals in his hands. When the changes ran out, Nereus told him the way.

    Apollodorus, Bibliotheca 2.5.11

The account

Hesiod introduces Nereus as the eldest son of Pontos and calls him unlying and truthful, and says he is named the old man because he is unfailing and gentle and does not forget what is right but knows just and kindly counsels. That is an unusually warm character note in a poem that mostly lists names. With the Okeanid Doris he fathers the fifty Nereids, sea-nymphs who include Thetis and Amphitrite, so most of the friendly powers in the water descend from him. His prophetic gift comes with the standard sea-god condition: he knows the answer and he will change into fire, water and every kind of beast rather than give it. Herakles, needing directions to the garden of the Hesperides, caught him asleep and held on through every transformation until he gave up and talked. In art he is bearded and often has a fish's tail, and by the classical period Poseidon has taken over most of what he used to be.

Ancient sources

  • Hesiod, Theogony 233-239
  • Apollodorus, Bibliotheca 2.5.11

Where a line reference is not given, the work is cited without one rather than guessed at.

Image credit

Title
Myson - ARV 239 14bis - Herakles destroying the household of Nereus - München AS 8762 - 07
Artist
ArchaiOptix
Date
Unknown
Licence
CC BY-SA 4.0
Source
Wikimedia Commons file page