Phorkys

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Phorkys (center) on a Roman mosaic in the Bardo National Museum

Phorkys ( ancient Greek Φόρκυς ) is a sea ​​god portrayed as an old man in Greek mythology , according to Karl Kerényi an "age of the sea" like his brother Nereus .

He is the son of another ancient sea god, Pontus , and the earth goddess Gaia and thus also a brother of Eurybia , Keto and Thaumas . According to the Orphics , along with Kronos and Rhea, he is one of the oldest descendants of Oceanus and Thetis .

He is mainly famous for his monstrous offspring, which he sired with his sister, the sea ​​monster Keto . To them belonged the Gorgons and the Graien as well as Echidna and Ladon , the monster Scylla , the Hesperides and the nymph Thoosa , the mother of Polyphemus , whose son he according to other traditions - and here with another and younger sea god as father, namely Poseidon - is also again.

As with the triad Tethys , Thetis and Eurynome and other mythical figures such as Hecate and Styx , it is not clear here whether Phorkys, Proteus and Nereus are not names for a single god in its different forms.

Several places were named after him, for example the port in Ithaca .

literature

• Leo Bloch : Phorkys 1) . In: Wilhelm Heinrich Roscher (Hrsg.): Detailed lexicon of Greek and Roman mythology . Volume 3.2, Leipzig 1909, Sp. 2431-2435 ( digitized version ).

Web links

• Phorkys in the Theoi Project