Who is Amphitrite?

By: Lyric Coleman

Hey, hey! In today's section we’ll be talking about Amphitrite, who is mainly known as Poseidon's wife. Amphitrite is the queen of the sea and the eldest of fifty Nereides (also spelled Nereides) who were beautiful sea nymphs.  She is the female personification of the sea and the loud-moaning mother of fish, seals, and dolphins. According to Hesiod in his “Theogony” Amphitrite is the daughter of Nereus, a sea god who was often referred to as the “old man of the sea” and Doris, and Oceanid who was the daughter of Oceanus. Worldhistory.org says that Amphitrite often resembles Aphrodite in many ancient works of art but was incredibly identifiable by a crab claw on her forehead (which resembles a helmet), and a golden net she wore in her hair. Her Roman form is known as “Salacia”, who is goddess of the springs. In Homeric Poems, Amphitrite was known as “the sea.”

Amphirite drawn by Visual Arts major, Yalianis Martinez Diaz

Poseidon had first seen Amphitrite while performing a dance with her sisters on the isle of Naxos. According to Britannica.com and Theoi.com, Poseidon had wanted to take her hand in marriage, but she refused and ran to Atlas where she hid in the ocean streams. Poseidon had sent Delphin, the dolphin-god, to retrieve her to become his wife. When Amphitrite was returned, she had become Poseidon's wife and Delphin was rewarded by being made into a constellation. 

Amphitrites’ name is possibly taken from the Greek words “amphis”  and “tris” which means “the surrounding third.”  Amphitrites’ son, Triton was similarly named “of the third”  since he was third of the sea. In works of mosaic art, she was either enthroned at the side of Poseidon or driving with him in a chariot by sea horses or other sea creatures. In a Greek vase painting, she was depicted as a young woman with her hand often raised in a pinching gesture. In other paintings she would be holding a fish.