Pontus: 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea

Pontus, the Sea,  by me.

I dived deep into the caverns of libraries and the internet, but didn't find much to say about this god. (Sad truth is that there are certain gods who were not very popular, you won’t find anything written about them aside from their names. Imagination becomes the key, my dears.)

BTW, thanks to Jules Verne for the inspiration of the title. Bless your soul.

Back to Pontus, he was not the most famous of the sea gods; but that does not mean that he is not a deity worth taking note of.

The Biggest Fish in the Pond

If you’re thinking that Pontus is just some old fishy god indistinguishable from other mermen of myths and folk tales, well, think again.

He was actually pretty much exactly the one referred to in this song:

Yes. Although it might not seem very much like it, Pontus was the most powerful of all the Sea Lords, since he was LITERALLY the spirit or the Essence of the actual sea, rather than just being another briny deity.

In addition to that, the old chap was said to have the Black Sea as his home. There he warmly received his guests and often hosted pool parties. The place was then called by the Greeks as Euxeinos Pontos, literally the “Hospitable Sea.” You may read about the country called Pontus which grew in its shores later.

Ichthyologic genealogy. Disclaimer: This part is about Pontus’ family; not the Aquatic Ape Theory.

Pontus was one of the earliest figures in the Greek’s version of creation. We might as well call him the ‘Early Fish’ of mythology, as early bird might sound offensive to him. He was the first (or second, I’m not really sure) son of Mother Gaea, the ever fecund goddess of the Earth.

By her (this is considered VERY scandalous in modern times), Pontus sired a whole host of marine deities. This account is beautifully told in Hesiod’s Theogony:

And Pontus begat Nereus, the eldest of his children, who is true and lies not: and men call him the Old Man because he is trusty and gentle and does not forget the laws of righteousness, but thinks just and kindly thoughts. And yet again he got great Thaumas and proud Phorcys, being mated with Earth, and fair-cheeked Ceto and Eurybia who has a heart of flint within her.

Thanks Theoi Project for that one!

Now THESE are his babies (!?). Thanks Source!

Yet again, being his mother’s lover did not seem right for Pontus. So he got a mate of his own, the oh-so-cool mermaid goddess, Thalassa. Joined together in wedlock, they became the very first rulers of the Sea. The two became the parents of all the fishes and other creatures of the sea (which are a whole lot of creatures!).

Among their children, the most notable were the Telchines – nine dog-headed, flipper-handed daemons whose existence is a great mystery to many. (I’m really interested with this bunch, and I’m planning to put an article about them. But they’re not one of the top priorities right now).

Undersea Politics. As I was researching about Pontus, I was struck by this title given to him by a website called That’s Greece. There, he was called:

The forsaken master of the oceans* 

*Oceans here are used to refer to all the world’s largest bodies of salt water. It does not refer to MY invented realm of Ocean, the kingdom of freshwater.

Unfortunately, not much was said as to why he was called such. I was a little disappointed because the title Forsaken Master could have said much in itself but needed a lot backing up to support its point. And so, as the storyteller that I consider myself to be, I came up with a story explaining this title.

BEWARE: The following story is PURELY MADE UP STORY by me. I’ve got no classical reference for this one.

In the creation of the universe, each of the Protogenoi represented a specific element or realm that make up a part of the entire cosmos. In this guise, Pontus embodied the seawater, whereas Hydros, an older Protogenoi, represented freshwater. They existed independently from each other.

Early on, Pontus ruled the Sea (the saltwater kingdom) from his palace in the Black Sea with his counterpart, the goddess Thalassa, and his children with Gaea: Nereus, Thaumas, Phorcys, Ceto and Eurybia. They exercised autonomous power over all the sea life; until Cronus ascended the throne of Othrys. Peace-loving (or a coward, I must say) as he had always been, Pontus decided not to anger Cronus and readily agreed for the Sea to become one of Cronus’ tributary kingdoms. This had earned him the favor of the Titan king, who let him govern the entire briny territory in his behalf. The two eventually became good friends. Pontus even helped Cronus imprison his young son Poseidon within his dominion.

As it turned out, Pontus was also one of those old men who always looked forward to having grandchildren. And so, he betrothed his eldest son, Nereus, to the Ocean nymph Doris; promising a share of his territory (read: his Essence!) to Doris’ parents, Oceanus and Tethys. Unknown to him, the Titan couple was not in good terms with Cronus. This predicament had earned him the king’s wrath at the start of the Titanomachy. Cronus seized his remaining Essence and used it as a weapon – his body melting away with sea water. 

Triumph of Neptune and Amphitrite
by Frans Francken

After the Titanomachy, Pontus (or his Essence) became the power and domain of Poseidon; just as Aether and Uranus became Zeus’s.

The Land of the 'Sea': Pontus in History

On being the “Hospitable Sea,” Pontus even allowed for the establishment of overseas colonies by the Greeks. Hence, the founding of the country of Pontus. According to Wikipedia:

Pontus (Greek: PontoV, “sea”, Turkish: Pontus) is a historical designation for a region on the southern coast of the Black Sea, located in modern-day northeastern Turkey. The name was applied to the coastal region in antiquity by the Greeks who colonized the area… Having originally no specific name, the region east of the river Halys was spoken of as the country en Pontoi en Pontoi, “on the [Euxeinos] Pontos”, and hence acquired the name of Pontus…

(For more info regarding Pontus the country, click here.)

Rumors even had it that Amasia, the capital city of the Amazons – that all-female tribe of warlike chicks who gave us Wonder Woman – was located in this country. Oh yes, c’mon.