Psamathe (Nereid)

Psamathe, detail of a vase depicting the struggle between Peleus and Thetis. Psamathe is among the Nereids fleeing from the couple.^[1]

In

Phocus. When Phocus is killed by his half-brothers Peleus and Telamon

, Psamathe sends a giant wolf at Peleus' herd.

Family

Psamathe is one of the fifty

Theoclymenos, and a daughter, Eido (later known as Theonoe).^[4]

Mythology

There are two myths which involve Psamathe. The first is the story of her violation by Aeacus. Upon his advances, she transforms herself into a seal in an attempt to escape. She is unsuccessful, however, and from their union is born Phocus, whose name (phoke meaning "seal") recalls his mother's metamorphosis.[5]

Endeis.^[6] The two of them kill their half-brother Phocus,^[7] and they are subsequently exiled from Aegina by their father.^[8] The second story which features Psamathe involves her sending of a wolf at the herds of Peleus, out of revenge for her son's death. After the wolf eats part of Peleus' herd, it is turned to stone by either Psamathe herself, or her sister Thetis.^[9]

Sources

Psamathe is first mentioned in

Theoclymenos and Eido (the latter of which is later known as Theonoe).^[12]

The myth of Psmathe's transformation into a seal comes from the mythographer

Hellenistic poet Lycophron (born 330–325 BC), in his Alexandra: "... the Wolf that devoured the atonement and was turned to stone ...".^[19] The byzantine poet John Tzetzes (c. 1110–1180), in his commentary on Lycophron's Alexandra, presents a version of the story in which Psamathe sends the wolf, but does not transform it herself; instead it is Thetis who turns it to stone.^[20]

Psamathe also appears in book 43 of Nonnus's Dionysiaca (c. fifth century AD), during the fight between Poseidon and Dionysus, where, from the beach, she pleads to Zeus to end the battle.^[21]

Iconography

Psamathe is depicted on a number of Attic vases dating from the late fifth century BC.^[22] The iconography of Psamathe is typical for a Nereid,^[23] and she is depicted in such scenes as the fight between Peleus and Thetis,^[24] and the transportation of the weapons and armour of Achilles, where she is among the Nereids carrying his weaponry while riding on a dolphin.^[25]

Genealogy

Psamathe's family tree

Doris

Aeacus^[26]

PSAMATHE

Notes

^ LIMC 8059 (Psamathe 1).
^ March, s.v. Psamathe (1), p. 340. Both Hesiod (Theogony 240–62) and Apollodorus (1.2.7) include Psamathe in their list of fifty Nereids, and she is similarly referred to as the "daughter of Nereus" in Hesiod, Theogony 1003–5; Apollodorus, 3.12.6; Nicander apud Antoninus Liberalis, 38. Psamathe is one of the few Nereids of individual note, along with Amphitrite, Thetis, and Galatea (Gantz, p. 16; Caldwell, p. 44 on lines 243–64; Szabados, p. 568).
FGrHist 145 F6 = 289 F4]; Scholia on Euripides' Andromache 687 (Dindorf, pp. 178–9). Similarly: Pindar, Nemean 5.12 (pp. 50, 51); Pausanias, 2.29.9
.

Brill's New Pauly, s.v. Psamathe (1); March, s.vv. Eidothea, p. 142, Psamathe (1), p. 340; Tripp, s.vv. Proteus (2), p. 502, Psamathe, p. 503
.

Brill's New Pauly, s.v. Psamathe (1) point out the similarity of Psamathe's violation by Aeacus to the assault of another Nereid, Thetis, by Peleus
, Aeacus' son.

^ Hard, p. 531.

BNJ, commentary on 289 F4; see also Gantz, pp. 222–3; Hard, p. 531; Frazer, n. 14 to 3.16.2
.

^ Gantz, pp. 223; Hard, p. 531.

Nicander apud Antoninus Liberalis, 38
.

^ Hesiod, Theogony 240–62 ("charming figure", listed as a Nereid), 1003–5 ("fair goddess", mother of Phocus).

^ Pindar, Nemean 5.12 (pp. 50, 51).

^ Euripides, Helen, 6–13.

BNJ, commentary on 289 F4; Gantz, p. 220; Apollodorus, 3.12.6; Scholia on Euripides' Andromache 687 (Dindorf, pp. 178–9)
.

^ Ovid's description of the wolf is at Metamorphoses 11.365–73 (pp. 146, 147)

^ Paschalis, p. 163–164; Ovid, Metamorphoses 11.346–81 (pp. 144–7).

^ Paschalis, p. 164; Ovid, Metamorphoses 11.392–8 (pp. 148, 149).

^ Paschalis, p. 164; Ovid, Metamorphoses 11.398–406 (pp. 148, 149).

Nicander apud Antoninus Liberalis, 38
.

^ Gantz, p. 227; Lycophron, 901–902 (pp. 568, 569).

Tzetzes on Lycophron, 175 (pp. 432–47)
.

^ Nonnus, Dionysiaca 43.356–72 (pp. 290–3).

^ Szabados, p. 568.

^ Szabados, p. 568.

Beazley Archive, 213890; Newton, p. 3; LIMC 12127 (Psamathe 8)
.

^ LIMC 387 (Psamathe 2); Richter, p. 175; LIMC 10251 (Psamathe 3). In LIMC Psamathe 2 she is depicted carrying an Attic helmet, while in LIMC Psamathe 3 she holds the helmet of Achilles.

^ For more detailed charts of Aeacus' genealogy, see Hard, p. 711, table 18 and Grimal, p. 550, table 30.

References

ISBN 978-0-415-06896-3. Online version at ToposText
.

ISBN 978-0-674-99135-4. Online version at Harvard University Press. Online version at the Perseus Digital Library
.

Brill’s New Pauly: Encyclopaedia of the Ancient World. Antiquity, Volume 11, Phi-Prok, editors: Hubert Cancik, Helmuth Schneider,
ISBN 978-90-04-14216-9. Online version at Brill
.

Brill’s New Pauly: Encyclopaedia of the Ancient World. Antiquity, Volume 12, Prol-Sar, editors: Hubert Cancik, Helmuth Schneider,
ISBN 978-90-04-14217-6. Online version at Brill
.

Caldwell, Richard, Hesiod's Theogony, Focus Publishing/R. Pullins Company (June 1, 1987).
ISBN 978-0-941051-00-2. Internet Archive
.

Dindorf, Karl Wilhelm, Scholia Graeca in Euripidis tragoedias, Volume IV, Oxford, E Typographeo Clarendoniano, 1863. Google Books.

Euripides, Helen, translated by E. P. Coleridge in The Complete Greek Drama, edited by Whitney J. Oates and Eugene O'Neill, Jr., Volume 2, New York, Random House, 1938. Online version at the Perseus Digital Library.

ISBN 978-0-520-04091-5. Google Books
.

Frazer, James G., Apollodorus. The Library, Volume I: Books 1-3.9,
ISBN 978-0-674-99135-4. Online version at Harvard University Press. Online version at the Perseus Digital Library
.

ISBN 978-0-8018-5362-3
(Vol. 2).

Grimal, Pierre, The Dictionary of Classical Mythology, Wiley-Blackwell, 1996.
ISBN 978-0-631-20102-1. Internet Archive
.

Hard, Robin, The Routledge Handbook of Greek Mythology: Based on H.J. Rose's "Handbook of Greek Mythology", Psychology Press, 2004.
ISBN 978-0-415-18636-0. Google Books
.

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. Internet Archive.

Larson, Jennifer, Greek Nymphs: Myth, Cult, Lore, Oxford University Press, 2001.
ISBN 978-0-19-512294-7
.

Lycophron, Alexandra in Callimachus and Lycophron, with an English translation by A. W. Mair; Aratus, with an English translation by G. R. Mair, London: W. Heinemann, New York: G. P. Putnam, 1921. Online version at Harvard University Press. Internet Archive.

March, Jenny, Cassell's Dictionary of Classical Mythology, Cassell & Co., 2001.
ISBN 0-304-35788-X. Internet Archive
.

Newton, Charles Thomas, "The Camirus Vase", in The Fine Arts Quarterly Review, Vol. 2, pp. 1–8. Google Books.

ISBN 978-0-674-99393-8. Online version at Harvard University Press. Internet Archive (1940, reprinted 1942)
.

ISBN 978-0-674-99047-0. Online version at Harvard University Press
.

Paschalis, Michael, "Narratives of amor, arma and armenta in Ovid’s Metamorphoses", in Trends in Classics, Vol. 12, No. 1, pp. 154–171. Online version at De Gruyter.

ISBN 978-0-674-99104-0. Online version at Harvard University Press. Online version at the Perseus Digital Library
.

ISBN 978-0-674-99534-5. Online version at Harvard University Press
.

ISBN 978-0-674-99336-5. Online version at Harvard University Press
.

Richter, Gisela M. A., Red-Figured Athenian Vases in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Volume I, Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1936. Google Books.

Szabados, Anne-Violaine, "Psamathe", in ISBN 3-7608-8751-1. Internet Archive
.

Tripp, Edward, Crowell's Handbook of Classical Mythology, Thomas Y. Crowell Co; First edition (June 1970).
ISBN 0-690-22608-X. Internet Archive
.

Tzetzes, John, Scolia eis Lycophroon, edited by Christian Gottfried Müller, Sumtibus F.C.G. Vogelii, 1811. Internet Archive.

Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Psamathe_(Nereid)&oldid=1205965915"

[1] LIMC 8059 (Psamathe 1).

[2] March, s.v. Psamathe (1), p. 340. Both Hesiod (Theogony 240–62) and Apollodorus (1.2.7) include Psamathe in their list of fifty Nereids, and she is similarly referred to as the "daughter of Nereus" in Hesiod, Theogony 1003–5; Apollodorus, 3.12.6; Nicander apud Antoninus Liberalis, 38. Psamathe is one of the few Nereids of individual note, along with Amphitrite, Thetis, and Galatea (Gantz, p. 16; Caldwell, p. 44 on lines 243–64; Szabados, p. 568).

[3] FGrHist 145 F6 = 289 F4]; Scholia on Euripides' Andromache 687 (Dindorf, pp. 178–9). Similarly: Pindar, Nemean 5.12 (pp. 50, 51); Pausanias, 2.29.9
.

[4] Brill's New Pauly, s.v. Psamathe (1); March, s.vv. Eidothea, p. 142, Psamathe (1), p. 340; Tripp, s.vv. Proteus (2), p. 502, Psamathe, p. 503
.

[5] Brill's New Pauly, s.v. Psamathe (1) point out the similarity of Psamathe's violation by Aeacus to the assault of another Nereid, Thetis, by Peleus
, Aeacus' son.

[6] Hard, p. 531.

[7] BNJ, commentary on 289 F4; see also Gantz, pp. 222–3; Hard, p. 531; Frazer, n. 14 to 3.16.2
.

[8] Gantz, pp. 223; Hard, p. 531.

[9] Nicander apud Antoninus Liberalis, 38
.

[10] Hesiod, Theogony 240–62 ("charming figure", listed as a Nereid), 1003–5 ("fair goddess", mother of Phocus).

[11] Pindar, Nemean 5.12 (pp. 50, 51).

[12] Euripides, Helen, 6–13.

[13] BNJ, commentary on 289 F4; Gantz, p. 220; Apollodorus, 3.12.6; Scholia on Euripides' Andromache 687 (Dindorf, pp. 178–9)
.

[14] Ovid's description of the wolf is at Metamorphoses 11.365–73 (pp. 146, 147)

[15] Paschalis, p. 163–164; Ovid, Metamorphoses 11.346–81 (pp. 144–7).

[16] Paschalis, p. 164; Ovid, Metamorphoses 11.392–8 (pp. 148, 149).

[17] Paschalis, p. 164; Ovid, Metamorphoses 11.398–406 (pp. 148, 149).

[18] Nicander apud Antoninus Liberalis, 38
.

[19] Gantz, p. 227; Lycophron, 901–902 (pp. 568, 569).

[20] Tzetzes on Lycophron, 175 (pp. 432–47)
.

[21] Nonnus, Dionysiaca 43.356–72 (pp. 290–3).

[22] Szabados, p. 568.

[23] Szabados, p. 568.

[24] Beazley Archive, 213890; Newton, p. 3; LIMC 12127 (Psamathe 8)
.

[25] LIMC 387 (Psamathe 2); Richter, p. 175; LIMC 10251 (Psamathe 3). In LIMC Psamathe 2 she is depicted carrying an Attic helmet, while in LIMC Psamathe 3 she holds the helmet of Achilles.

[26] For more detailed charts of Aeacus' genealogy, see Hard, p. 711, table 18 and Grimal, p. 550, table 30.

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