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{{Short description|River gods in Greek mythology}}{{other uses}}{{Greek myth (aquatic nymphs)}}File:Бог реки Нил коптская ткань IV В.jpg|thumb|Nilus, the potamos of the Nile River, depicted in a Coptic tapestry]]The Potamoi () 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.Hesiod, Theogony 337–345, 366–370. They were also the fathers of the Naiads.{{Citation needed|date=August 2016}} 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|date=August 2016}}Notable river gods include:

• Achelous, the god of the Achelous River, the largest river in Greece, who gave his daughter in marriage to Alcmaeon,Apollodorus, 3.7.5. and was defeated by Heracles in a wrestling contest for the right to marry Deianira.Apollodorus, 1.8.1, 2.7.5.
• Alpheus, who fell in love with the nymph Arethusa, pursuing her to Syracuse, where she was transformed into a spring by Artemis.Smith, "Alpheius".
• 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 the a large number of Trojan corpses. In response, he overflowed his banks, nearly drowning Achilles.Homer, Iliad 20.74, 21.211 ff..

Ancient Greek poet Hesiod mentioned several river gods by name, along with their origin story, in Theogoniaθεογονία. Liddell, Henry George; Scott, Robert; A Greek–English Lexicon at the Perseus Project ("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)BOOK,weblink The Theogony, 1914, 978-1-4209-0525-0, en, Evelyn-White, Hugh G., 1289856352, BOOK, Hesiod,weblink Hesiod, Homeric Hymns, Epic Cycle, Homerica., William Heinemann, H G. Loeb Classical Library, 1914, 57, London,

List of Potamoi

The following are the sons of Oceanus and Tethys:Hesiod, Theogony 334; Pseudo-Plutarch, De fluviis; Hyginus, Fabulae Preface{| class="wikitable sortable"|+! rowspan="2" |Name of river! rowspan="2" |River god! colspan="7" |Sources! rowspan="2" |Location! rowspan="2" |Son of Oceanus and Tethys!Hes.!Ovid!Apol.!Plut.!Hyg.!Pau.!Others|Achelous or Akheloios|✓|✓|✓|✓|✓|✓|✓|''Homer, Sophocles, Euripides, Callimachus, Apollonius Rhodius, Diodorus Siculus, Statius, Hyginus, Plato, Aristotle|Aetolia|✓|Acheron|✓||✓|✓|||||Underworld and Thesprotia|*presumably

Acis and Galatea>Acis|Changed into a river||✓||||||Sicily|son of Pan and nymph Symaethis

Acragas (mythology)>Acragas	date=April 2017}}||||||||Sicily|

|Aeas|✓||✓||||||Epirus|*

Aegaeus (mythology)>Aegaeus|✓|||||||Apollonius|Scheria (Corcyra)|*

Aesar (mythology)>Aesar|✓|||||||Strabo|Tyrrhenia or Etruria|*

|Aesepus|✓|✓|||||||Troad|✓

Almo (god)>Almo|✓||✓||||||Latium|*

Alpheus (mythology)>Alpheus|✓|✓|✓||✓|✓|✓||Arcadia|✓

Amnisos (mythology)>Amnisos|✓|||||||Apollonius, Callimachus|Crete|*

|Amphrysos|✓||✓||||||Thessaly|*|Anapus|✓||✓|||||Nonnus|Sicily|*

Anauros (mythology)>Anauros	date=April 2017}}||||||||Thessaly|

Anigros (mythology)>Anigros|✓|||||||Strabo|Elis|*

|Apidanus|✓||✓||||||Thessaly|*

Saone>Arar|River named after||||✓||||Gallia Celtica (Celtic Gaul)|

Aras (river)>Araxes|River named after||||✓||||Armenia|son of Pylus

|Ardescus|✓|✓|||||||Thrace|✓

Arnos (mythology)>Arnos|✓|||||||Strabo|Etruria|*

Ascanius (disambiguation)>Ascanius|✓|||||✓||Antoninus|Mysia|*

|Asopus|✓|||✓|||✓||Boeotia and Argos|✓; some accounts, son of Zeus and Eurynome or Poseidon and either Pero or Celusa

Asterion (god)>Asterion|✓||||||✓||Argos|*

Axenus (mythology)>Axenus or Axius|✓|||||✓|||Paeonia and Macedonia|✓

|Baphyras

date=April 2017}}||||||||Pieria|

|Borysthenes|✓|||||||Antoninus|Scythia|*|Brychon|✓|||||||Lycophron|Chersonnese|*|Caanthus|✓||||||✓|||✓

Caicinus (mythology)>Caicinus|✓||||||✓||Bruttium|*

|Caicus|✓|✓|||✓||||Teuthrania, Mysia|✓|Cayster|✓||||||✓||Lydia|*|Cebren|✓||✓|✓||||Parthenius|Troad|*

Cephissus (mythology)>Cephissus|✓||✓|✓||✓|✓||Phocis, Attica, Argos|✓

|Chremetes|✓|||||||Nonnus|Libya|*|Cladeus

date=April 2017}}|||||✓|||Elis|*

|Clitumnus

date=April 2017}}||||||||Umbria|*

|Cocytus|✓|||||||Oppian|Underworld and Thesprotia|*

Cratais (mythology)>Cratais	date=April 2017}}|||||✓||||*

|Crinisus|✓|||||✓||Virgil, Lycophron, Servius, Aelian|Sicily|*|Cydnos|✓|||||||Nonnus|Cilicia|*|Cytheros

date=April 2017}}||||||✓||Elis|*

Elisson (mythology)>Elisson	date=April 2017}}|||||||Statius|Achaea|*

Enipeus (mythology)>Enipeus|✓||✓|✓|||||Thessaly|*

Erasinus (mythology)>Erasinus|✓||||||✓||Argos|*

Eridanos (Athens)>Eridanus|✓|✓||||✓|||Attica|✓

Eridanos (river of Hades)>Eridanus|✓|✓||||||Virgil, Nonnus|Hyperborea,|✓

Erymanthus (person)>Erymanthus|✓||||||✓|Aelian|Attica|*

|Euphrates|✓||||✓|✓|||Assyria|✓|Eurotas|✓ River named after|||✓|✓||✓||Laconia|son of Lelex and Cleocharia or of Myles

Evenus (mythology)>Evenus or	✓|✓|	✓	✓|||	Aetolia	✓ ; some accounts, a mortal son of Ares and either Demodice or Stratonice who flung himself to the river Lycormas

|Lycormas||||||Ganges|✓||✓||✓||||India|*

Granicus River>Granicus|✓|✓|✓||||||Troad|✓

|Haliacmon|✓|✓|||||||Macedonia|✓

Halys (mythology)>Halys|✓|||||||Apollonius, Valerius Flaccus|Paphlygonia and Pontos|*

Maritsa>Hebrus|✓||||✓|||Lucian|Ciconia, Thrace|*

|Heptaporus|✓|✓|||||||Troad|✓|Hermus|✓|✓|||||||Lydia|*|Hydaspes|✓||||✓|||Nonnus|India

Thaumas and Electra (Oceanid)>Electra

|Ilissos|✓|||||||Plato|Attica|*|Imbrasos|✓|||||||Athenaeus|Samos|*|Inachus|✓|||✓|✓|✓|✓||Argos|✓|Indus|✓||||✓|✓|||India or Caria|✓|Inopos|✓|||||||Callimachus|Delos|*|Ismenus|✓||||✓|✓|||Boeotia|✓

Istrus (mythology)>Istrus or Ister|✓|✓|||||||Scythia|✓

Ladon River>Ladon|✓|✓||✓|||✓||Arcadia|✓

Lamus (mythology)>Lamos|✓|||||||Nonnus|Cilicia or Boeotia|✓

|Marsyas|River named after||||✓||||Phrygia|a satyr; son of Hyagnis and either Olympus or Oeagrus

Meander (mythology)>Maeander|✓|✓|✓||✓|✓|✓||Caria|✓

Meles (mythology)>Meles|✓|||||||Hellanicus, Eugaeon|Lydia|*

Mincius (mythology)>Mincius|✓|||||||Virgil|Gallia, Italy|*

Nestos (river)>Nestos or Nessus|✓|✓|||||||Bistonia, Thrace|✓

Nilus (mythology)>Nilus|✓|✓||✓|✓|✓|||Egypt|✓

|Numicius|✓||✓||||||Latium, Italy|*|Nymphaeus

date=April 2017}}|||||||Quintus Smyrnaeus|Bithynia and Paphlagonia|

Orontes (mythology)>Orontes|✓|||||✓|||Syria|✓

|Pactolus|✓||||✓|||Nonnus|Lydia|*

Parthenius (mythology)>Parthenius|✓|✓|||||||Paphlagonia|✓

Phasis (mythology)>Phasis|✓|✓|||✓||||Colchis|✓

|Phlegethon or Pyriphlegethon|✓|||||||Virgil, Statius|Underworld|son of Cocytus

Phyllis (river god)>Phyllis|✓|||||||Apollonius|Thynia, Anatolia|*

|Peneus|✓|✓|✓||||✓||Thessaly|✓

Pleistos (mythology)>Pleistos|✓|||||||Apollonius|Phocis|*

Porpax (mythology)>Porpax|✓|||||||Aelian|Sicily|*

Rhesus (mythology)>Rhesus|✓|✓||||||

Rhesus (Ancient Greek: Ῥῆσος / Rhẽsos, Latin; Rhesus) was a river in Bithynia,RHESUS

TITLE=DICTIONARY OF GREEK AND ROMAN ANTIQUITIES

AUTHOR2=WILLIAM WAYTE

LOCATION=ALBEMARLE STREET, LONDON

YEAR=1890

VIA=WWW.PERSEUS.TUFTS.EDU, Troad, Anatolia (modern-day Hisarlik, Çanakkale Province

, Turkey).HOMER

DATE=2011

OTHERS=RICHMOND LATTIMORE, RICHARD P. MARTIN

LOCATION=CHICAGO

OCLC=704121276

Barrington Atlas, the Rhesus is likely Karaath Çay, a tributary of the Biga Çayı (known to antiquity as the Granicus).HUXLEY

DATE=2002

JOURNAL=HERMATHENA

PAGES=110–117

ISSN=0018-0750, The Rhesus is alternately called the Rhedas, and was said to flow into the "Thracians

Bosporus>Bosphorus at Chalcedon."HTTPS://BOOKS.GOOGLE.COM/BOOKS?ID=AHBTAEKPFNMC&DQ=RHESUS+RIVER+GOD&PG=PA681 >TITLE=A CLASSICAL MANUAL: BEING A MYTHOLOGICAL, HISTORICAL, AND GEOGRAPHICAL COMMENTARY ON POPE'S HOMER AND DRYDEN'S AENEID OF VIRGIL

PUBLISHER=J. MURRAY

PAGE=216

VIA=GOOGLE BOOKS, |✓

|Rhine|✓|||||||Nonnus|Switzerland/Germany/France/Netherlands|*

Rhodius (mythology)>Rhodius|✓|✓|||||||Troad|✓

|Rhyndacus|✓|||||||Nonnus|Phrygia and Bithynia|*

Sangarius (mythology)>Sangarius or Sagaris|✓|✓||✓|✓||||Phrygia|✓

|Satnioeis

date=April 2017}}|||||||Homer|Troad|

|Scamander|✓|✓||✓|✓|✓|||Troad|✓

Selemnus (mythology)>Selemnus	date=April 2017}}||||||✓||Achaea|

|Simoeis|✓|✓||✓||✓||✓|Troad|✓

Spercheios>Spercheus|✓|||✓|||||Malis|

Strymon (mythology)>Strymon|✓|✓||✓|✓|✓|||Edonia, Thrace|✓

|Symaethus|✓||✓||||||Sicily|*|Tanais|✓||||✓|✓|||Scythia|✓

Telmessus (mythology)>Telmessus|✓|||||||Aelian|Sicily|*

|Termessus|✓||||||✓||Boeotia|*|Thermodon|✓||||✓|✓|||Pontos and Assyria|✓

Tiberinus (god)>Tiberinus|✓|||||||Virgil|Latium, Italy|*

|Tigris|✓||||✓|✓|||Assyria|✓|TitaressusHomer,Iliad|?|||||||Homer, Strabo, Seneca|Thessaly|!TOTAL!89!26!18!17!26!22!18!!!40 (+50*)

See also

• List of Oceanids
• Potamides (river nymphs)

Notes

{{reflist}}

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).

External links

• "Potamoi" at Theoi.com

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