Proteus
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Name origin
Proteus' name suggests the "first" (from Greek "πρῶτος" prōtos, "first"), as prōtogonos (πρωτόγονος) is the "primordial" or the "firstborn". It is not certain to what this refers, but in myths where he is the son of Poseidon, it possibly refers to his being Poseidon's eldest son, older than Poseidon's other son, the sea-god Triton. The first attestation of the name is in Mycenaean Greek, although it is not certain whether it refers to the god or just a person; the attested form, in Linear B, is 𐀡𐀫𐀳𐀄, po-ro-te-u.[3][4][5]
Family
Proteus was generally regarded as the son of the sea-god Poseidon[6] and Phoenice,[7] a daughter of King Phoenix of Phoenicia.[8]
The children of Proteus by
Mythology
Proteus, prophetic sea-god
According to
According to Virgil in the fourth Georgic, at one time the bees of Aristaeus, son of Apollo, all died of a disease. Aristaeus went to his mother, Cyrene, for help; she told him that Proteus could tell him how to prevent another such disaster, but would do so only if compelled. Aristaeus had to seize Proteus and hold him, no matter what he would change into. Aristaeus did so, and Proteus eventually gave up and told him that the bees' death was a punishment for causing the death of Eurydice. To make amends, Aristaeus needed to sacrifice 12 animals to the gods, leave the carcasses in the place of sacrifice, and return three days later. He followed these instructions, and upon returning, he found in one of the carcasses a swarm of bees which he took to his apiary. The bees were never again troubled by disease.
There are also legends concerning Apollonius of Tyana that say Proteus incarnated himself as the 1st-century philosopher. These legends are mentioned in the 3rd-century biographical work Life of Apollonius of Tyana.
Proteus, king of Egypt
In the
At Pharos a king of Egypt named Proteus welcomed the young god Dionysus in his wanderings.[19] In Hellenistic times, Pharos was the site of the Lighthouse of Alexandria, one of the seven wonders of the ancient world.[20]
Cultural references
Proteus as a cultural reference has been used in various contexts with different nuances according to each of the aspects of the myth: a shepherd of sea-creatures, a prophet who does not reveal their knowledge, a shape-changing god, the power to transform matter, or the primary matter that can become different materials. The adjective protean has come to mean versatile, ever-changing, or varied in nature.[21]
In alchemy and psychology
The German mystical alchemist Heinrich Khunrath wrote of the shape-changing sea-god who, because of his relationship to the sea, is both a symbol of the unconscious as well as the perfection of the art. Alluding to the scintilla, the spark from ‘the light of nature’ and symbol of the anima mundi, Khunrath in Gnostic vein stated of the Protean element Mercury:
our Catholick Mercury, by virtue of his universal fiery spark of the light of nature, is beyond doubt Proteus, the sea god of the ancient pagan sages, who hath the key to the sea and ... power over all things.
— Von Hyleanischen Chaos,better source needed]
In modern times, the Swiss psychologist Carl Jung defined the mythological figure of Proteus as a personification of the unconscious, who, because of his gift of prophecy and shape-changing, has much in common with the central but elusive figure of alchemy, Mercurius.
In literature
The poet John Milton, aware of the association of Proteus with the Hermetic art of alchemy, wrote in Paradise Lost of alchemists who sought the philosopher's stone:
In vain, though by their powerful Art they bind
Volatile Hermes, and call up unbound
In various shapes old Proteus from the Sea,
Drain'd through a Limbec to his native form.— John Milton, Paradise Lost, III.603–06
Shakespeare uses the image of Proteus to establish the character of his great royal villain Richard III in the play Henry VI, Part Three, in which the future usurper boasts:
I can add colours to the chameleon,
Change shapes with Proteus for advantages,
And set the murderous Machiavel to school.
Can I do this, and cannot get a crown?
Tut, were it farther off, I'll pluck it down.— William Shakespeare, Henry VI, Part Three, Act III, Scene ii
Shakespeare also names one of the main characters of his play The Two Gentlemen of Verona Proteus.
In 1807,
James Joyce's Ulysses[23] uses Protean transformations of matter in time for self-exploration. "Proteus" is the title provided for the third chapter in the Linati schema for Ulysses.
Gallery
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Thetis and Proteus by Noël Le Mire
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Menelaus and Proteus by Giulio Bonasone
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Seagod Proteus by Philips Galle
See also
- Proteus in popular culture
- USS Proteus
- HMS Proteus
- Oresteia, section Proteus
Notes
- ^ "Proteus". Random House Webster's Unabridged Dictionary.
- ^ See also Nereus and Phorcys
- ISBN 2-7475-2742-5. At Google Books.
- ^ "The Linear B Word po-ro-te-u". Palaeolexicon. Word study tool of ancient languages.
- ^ "po-ro-te-u". Deaditerranean: Minoan Linear A & Mycenaean Linear B. Archived from the original on 2012-08-18. Retrieved 2014-03-08.
- ^ Apollodorus, 2.5.9; Lycophron, 112
- ^ Stephanus of Byzantium, s.v. Torōnē
- ^ Scholia on Euripides, Phoenissae 5
- ^ Apollodorus, 2.5.9; Tzetzes, Chilliades 2.320
- ^ Scholia on Euripides, Hecuba 3; Pherecydes, fr. 136 (Fowler 2013, p. 42)
- ^ Euripides, Helen 7 ff.
- ^ Homer, Odyssey 4.360 ff.
- ^ Zenodotus in scholia on Homer, Odyssey 4.366
- ^ Strabo, 10.321 citing Pherecydes
- ^ Scholia on Apollonius of Rhodes, Argonautica 1.929 (ed. Wendel)
- ^ Scholia on Homer, Iliad 9.383
- ^ Pseudo-Clement, Recognitions 10.21
- ^ Euripides. "Helen". Archived 2005-03-01 at the Wayback Machine. Nottingham University.
- ^ Graves, Robert (2012). The Greek Myths. New York: Penguin – via Google Books.
- ^ Wilson, Nigel (2006). Encyclopedia of Ancient Greece. New York: Routledge. p. 36 – via Google Books.
- ^ "protean". Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary. Retrieved 2023-03-27.
- ^ "Wordsworth". Archived 2006-06-23 at the Wayback Machine.
- ^ Joyce, James. "Chapter 3". Ulysses. Archived from the original on 2008-12-03. Retrieved 2018-11-05 – via Readprint.com.
References
- Apollodorus, The Library with an English Translation by Sir James George Frazer, F.B.A., F.R.S. in 2 Volumes, Cambridge, MA, Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann Ltd. 1921. ISBN 0-674-99135-4. Online version at the Perseus Digital Library. Greek text available from the same website.
- Euripides, The Complete Greek Drama, edited by Whitney J. Oates and Eugene O'Neill, Jr. in two volumes. 2. Helen, translated by Robert Potter. New York. Random House. 1938. Online version at the Perseus Digital Library.
- Euripides, Euripidis Fabulae. vol. 3. Gilbert Murray. Oxford. Clarendon Press, Oxford. 1913. Greek text available at the Perseus Digital Library.
- ISBN 978-0143106715
- Graves, Robert, The Greek Myths: The Complete and Definitive Edition. Penguin Books Limited. 2017. ISBN 978-0-241-98338-6, 024198338X
- .
- Kerényi, Carl, The Gods of the Greeks, Thames and Hudson, London, 1951.
- Lycophron, The Alexandra translated by Alexander William Mair. Loeb Classical Library Volume 129. London: William Heinemann, 1921. Online version at the Topos Text Project.
- Lycophron, Alexandra translated by A.W. Mair. London: William Heinemann; New York: G.P. Putnam's Sons. 1921. Greek text available at the Perseus Digital Library.
- E. Prioux, «Géographie symbolique des errances de Protée: un mythe et sa relecture politique à l’époque impériale», in A. Rolet (dir.), Protée en trompe-l'œil. Genèse et survivances d'un mythe, d'Homère à Bouchardon (Paris, P.U.R., 2009), p. 139-164 (Interférences).
- Ante-Nicene Library Volume 8, translated by Smith, Rev. Thomas. T. & T. Clark, Edinburgh. 1867. Online version at theio.com
- A. Scuderi, Il paradosso di Proteo. Storia di una rappresentazione culturale da Omero al postumano, Carocci, Collana Lingue e letterature n.147, Roma, 2012. ISBN 9788843067190
- Sherwood Fox, William (1916), "Greek and Roman", The Mythology of All Races, vol. 1
- Stephanus of Byzantium, Stephani Byzantii Ethnicorum quae supersunt, edited by August Meineike (1790-1870), published 1849. A few entries from this important ancient handbook of place names have been translated by Brady Kiesling. Online version at the Topos Text Project.
- Strabo, The Geography of Strabo. Edition by H.L. Jones. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press; London: William Heinemann, Ltd. 1924. Online version at the Perseus Digital Library.
- Strabo, Geographica edited by A. Meineke. Leipzig: Teubner. 1877. Greek text available at the Perseus Digital Library.
- Tzetzes, John, Book of Histories, Book II-IV translated by Gary Berkowitz from the original Greek of T. Kiessling's edition of 1826. Online version at theio.com
External links
- Media related to Proteus (sea-god) at Wikimedia Commons
- The dictionary definition of Proteus at Wiktionary