In Greek mythology, Proteus ( /ˈproʊtiəs,ˈproʊt.juːs/ PROH-tee-əs, PROHT-yooss; Ancient Greek : Πρωτεύς, romanized: Prōteús, lit. 'first') was an ancient Egyptian king who was associated with the island of Pharos, his residence in Homer's Odyssey . Virgil, however, instead of Pharos, mentions the island of Carpathos, between Crete and Rhodes. [1] [2] This Greek island is the closest to Pharos geographically.
'Proteus' may be based on one of the titles of the Egyptian king, pꜣ-rwtj , signifying the "high doors" (cf. Sublime Porte ) of the temple. [3]
Proteus also seems to have been associated with Thrace, and legends portray him as coming from Thrace to Egypt, or as going from Egypt to Thrace. [4]
There's also some sort of association of Proteus with the island of Lemnos, close to Thrace.
Herodotus invoked Proteus in his telling of the story of Helen of Troy. In Book II of The History , the story is told of how Proteus rose to the throne of Egypt out of Memphis, succeeding Pheron as king. He was later succeeded by Rhampsinitus (Ramesses III, as he was known by the Egyptians). When Paris stole Helen from Sparta, winds blew him off his intended course and he found himself in Egypt. Upon their arrival, Paris and his servants discovered a temple, in which the slaves realized it would be profitable for them to take refuge. Thus, they deserted Paris, informing the authorities of his numerous wrongdoings. Word of Paris' crimes reached Proteus, who then requested Paris be brought forth for inquiry. Proteus asked Paris for the details of his journey, ultimately concluding that despite his anger and Paris' terrible actions, he cannot kill a man who is a stranger from another land. Instead of death as Paris' punishment, Proteus took Helen from Paris and seized the treasure stolen from Menelaus, intending to return both Helen and the treasure to Menelaus, to whom they were rightfully due. Proteus then urged Paris to leave Egypt. [5]
Herodotus also makes references to Homer's Iliad and Odyssey , claiming Homer must have been aware of this version of events despite using the more common story.
Another take on this story is presented in the tragedy Helen by Euripides. In Euripides' version, Hera had Helen taken to Egypt by Hermes, and she created a phantom replacement of Helen which Paris takes to Troy. The play takes place when Menelaus arrives at Egypt after the war. Here Proteus had safeguarded Helen throughout the Trojan War, but is dead before the play begins. It opens with Helen visiting his tomb. According to Euripides, Proteus was married to the Nereid Psamathe, had a son Theoclymenos, and a daughter Theonoe who was a gifted seer. Theoclymenos became the new king of Egypt after Proteus and had intentions of marrying Helen.
In the tale which Menelaus recites to Telemachus, Menelaus mentions being stranded on the island called Pharos. It is here after 20 days that he is approached by the goddess Eidothea, daughter of Proteus, the first minister of Poseidon. In this meeting she asks why Menelaus willingly stays on the island, to which he replies "Whichever of the divinities you are, let me tell you that I am not here of my own free will, I seem to have angered a god but which one I do not know, tell me now since gods are all knowing to whom I have displeased". Eidothea explains that it was Proteus who keeps him ashore. She hatches a plan which allows Menelaus to escape from the island, which includes the ambush of Proteus - who is described as being able to change his shape into various animals, plants, and substances. [6]
Proteus is briefly mentioned in several of Plato's dialogues. In the dialogue Euthydemus, Proteus is referred to by Socrates as an Egyptian wizard who can wear different external images. Socrates uses the story of Proteus to illustrate that just as he was able to deceive others by changing himself into different images, so can persons be deceptive in speech. [7] The same analogy is repeated in the dialogue Ion. [8]
In Greek mythology, Agamemnon was a king of Mycenae who commanded the Achaeans during the Trojan War. He was the son of King Atreus and Queen Aerope, the brother of Menelaus, the husband of Clytemnestra, and the father of Iphigenia, Iphianassa, Electra, Laodike, Orestes and Chrysothemis. Legends make him the king of Mycenae or Argos, thought to be different names for the same area. Agamemnon was killed upon his return from Troy by Clytemnestra, or in an older version of the story, by Clytemnestra's lover Aegisthus.
In Greek mythology, the Nereids or Nereides are sea nymphs, the 50 daughters of the 'Old Man of the Sea' Nereus and the Oceanid Doris, sisters to their brother Nerites. They often accompany Poseidon, the god of the sea, and can be friendly and helpful to sailors.
In Greek mythology, Proteus is an early prophetic sea god or god of rivers and oceanic bodies of water, one of several deities whom Homer calls the "Old Man of the Sea". Some who ascribe a specific domain to Proteus call him the god of "elusive sea change", which suggests the changeable nature of the sea or the liquid quality of water. He can foretell the future, but, in a mytheme familiar to several cultures, will change his shape to avoid doing so; he answers only to those who are capable of capturing him. From this feature of Proteus comes the adjective protean, meaning "versatile", "mutable", or "capable of assuming many forms". "Protean" has positive connotations of flexibility, versatility and adaptability.
The Trojan War was a legendary conflict in Greek mythology that took place around the 12th or 13th century BC. The war was waged by the Achaeans (Greeks) against the city of Troy after Paris of Troy took Helen from her husband Menelaus, king of Sparta. The war is one of the most important events in Greek mythology, and it has been narrated through many works of Greek literature, most notably Homer's Iliad. The core of the Iliad describes a period of four days and two nights in the tenth year of the decade-long siege of Troy; the Odyssey describes the journey home of Odysseus, one of the war's heroes. Other parts of the war are described in a cycle of epic poems, which have survived through fragments. Episodes from the war provided material for Greek tragedy and other works of Greek literature, and for Roman poets including Virgil and Ovid.
In Greek mythology, Menelaus was a Greek king of Mycenaean (pre-Dorian) Sparta. According to the Iliad, the Trojan war began as a result of Menelaus's wife, Helen, fleeing to Troy with the Trojan prince Paris. Menelaus was a central figure in the Trojan War, leading the Spartan contingent of the Greek army, under his elder brother Agamemnon, king of Mycenae. Prominent in both the Iliad and Odyssey, Menelaus was also popular in Greek vase painting and Greek tragedy, the latter more as a hero of the Trojan War than as a member of the doomed House of Atreus.
Helen, also known as Helen of Troy, Helen of Argos, or Helen of Sparta, and in Latin as Helena, was a figure in Greek mythology said to have been the most beautiful woman in the world. She was believed to have been the daughter of Zeus and Leda or Nemesis, and the sister of Clytemnestra, Castor, Pollux, Philonoe, Phoebe and Timandra. She was married to King Menelaus of Sparta "who became by her the father of Hermione, and, according to others, of Nicostratus also." Her abduction by Paris of Troy was the most immediate cause of the Trojan War.
Agenor was in Greek mythology and history a Phoenician king of Tyre or Sidon. The Greek historian Herodotus, born in the city of Halicarnassus under the Achaemenid Empire, estimated that Agenor lived either 1000 or 1600 years prior to his visit to Tyre in 450 BC at the end of the Greco-Persian Wars. He was said to have reigned in that city for 63 years.
In Greek mythology, Aerope was a Cretan princess as the daughter of Catreus, king of Crete. She was the sister of Clymene, Apemosyne and Althaemenes. After an oracle said he would be killed by one of his children, Catreus gave Aerope to Nauplius to be sold abroad. Nauplius spared her, and she became the wife of Atreus or Pleisthenes. By most accounts, she is the mother of Agamemnon and Menelaus. While the wife of Atreus, she became the lover of his brother Thyestes, and gave Thyestes the golden lamb that allowed him to become king of Mycenae.
In Greek mythology, Tyndareus was a Spartan king.
In Greek mythology, Pleisthenes or Plisthenes, is the name of several members of the house of Tantalus, the most important being a son of Atreus, said to be the father of Agamemnon and Menelaus. Although these two brothers are usually considered to be the sons of Atreus himself, according to some accounts, Pleisthenes was their father, but he died, and Agamemnon and Menelaus were adopted by their grandfather Atreus.
In Greek mythology, Helenus was a gentle and clever seer. He was also a Trojan prince as the son of King Priam and Queen Hecuba of Troy, and the twin brother of the prophetess Cassandra. He was also called Scamandrios, and was a lover of Apollo.
In Greek mythology, Deiphobus was a son of Priam and Hecuba. He was a prince of Troy, and the greatest of Priam's sons after Hector and Paris. Deiphobus killed four men of fame in the Trojan War.
In Greek antiquity, Hermione was the daughter of Menelaus, king of Sparta, and his wife, Helen of Troy. Prior to the Trojan War, Hermione had been betrothed by Tyndareus, her grandfather, to her cousin Orestes, son of her uncle, Agamemnon. She was just nine years old when Paris, son of the Trojan king Priam, arrived to abduct her mother, Helen.
Palamedes was a Euboean prince, son of King Nauplius in Greek mythology. He joined the rest of the Greeks in the expedition against Troy. He was associated with the invention of dice, numbers, and letters.
In Greek mythology, Antenor was a counselor to King Priam of Troy during the events of the Trojan War.
In Greek mythology, Acamas or Akamas was a hero in the Trojan War.
In Greek mythology, the name Clymene or Klymene may refer to:
In Greek mythology, Theonoe is a character in Athenian playwright Euripides' play Helen. She is presented as the daughter of the Egyptian king, Proteus, and the Nereid Psamathe. She was the sister of Theoclymenus, the current king of Egypt. Her name means "divine wisdom," coming from theós 'god' and nóos or noûs 'mind.' Theonoe's earlier name was Eido (Eidothea).
In Greek mythology, Eidothea or Idothea was the name of the following women:
In Greek mythology, Scamandrius is a Trojan warrior who fought in the Trojan war and was slain by Menelaus in battle. He appears in the Iliad, the 8th-century BC epic poem written by Homer.