Amphitrite Goddess

Amphitrite is a female deity in ancient Greek mythology; she was a goddess of the sea and wife of Poseidon who fell in love with her after saw her dancing and singing with her sisters. Firstly, she refused to marry him, but he sends a dolphin to convince her, and Amphitrite changed her mind. As a reward for help, Poseidon placed the image of the dolphin in the sky, creating constellation Delphinus. Her equivalent in Roman mythology was Salacia, the goddess of salt water. She is not commonly known today, but in the ancient times, she was very popular. Before she was described in Homer’s epics, she was well known in northern regions of Africa and the Capsian culture. According to Hesiod's Theogony, her father was Nereus, and her mother was Doris, but according to the Bibliotheca, she is a daughter of Oceanus and Tethys. She has 50 (or 100) sisters.

Some people called her the personification of saltwater. Perse, wife of Helios, the sun god was Amphitrite’s sister. She had a son and a daughter. Son Triton was a merman and daughter Rhode. Homer described Amphitrite in his epics. She did not have many supernatural powers like Poseidon. Rather than that, she had an extensive knowledge of herbs. One of the herbs that she uses transform her into a big and hideous monster.

Amphitrite appears at the Apollo birth with the goddesses Rhea, Dione, Themis, and Ichnaea. Amphitrite was portrayed in both ancient and post-Renaissance paintings riding the chariot with Poseidon. Those chariots are drawn by sea horses. She has nets in her hair and queenly dress. Tritons and Nereids are always by her side.

Amphitrite’s name is a derivation from the Greek words amphis and tris which means “the surrounding third”. In the same manner, her son’s Triton name could be translated “of the third”. From all of this, we can jump to the conclusion that “the third” means the sea and no one knows the reason why.

Amphitrite's nature was very good and calm but also very jealous and vengeful. Poseidon was truly in love with Amphitrite when the two get married but, as the time has passed, he slowly returned to the old way of womanizing which makes Amphitrite very jealous. One time she transforms the woman that Poseidon was attracted to into a hideous monster by throwing a particular herb into the well where she bathed. After that, she was stealing sailors from their ship and eating them from a cliff.

Amphitrite's legacy is quite significant: there are a lot of things that were named after her. There are seven ships in British Royal Navy, one ship in Royal Netherlands Navy and three ships in United States Navy which were named after Amphitrite. There is an asteroid named 29 Amphitrite. Image of Amphitrite was used on Australian’s postage stamp in 1936. Her name can often be found in poetry, as a synonym for the sea (Thalassa).