In ancient Greek mythology, Amphitrite (Ἀμφιτρίτη) was a sea-
goddess and wife of Poseidon.[1] Under the influence of the
Olympian pantheon, she became merely the consort of Poseidon,
and was further diminished by poets to a symbolic
representation of the sea. In Roman mythology, the consort of
Neptune, a comparatively minor figure, was Salacia, the
goddess of saltwater.[2] Amphitrite was a daughter of Nereus
and Doris (and thus a Nereid), according to Hesiod's Theogony,
but of Oceanus and Tethys (and thus an Oceanid), according to
Apollodorus, who actually lists her among both of the
Nereids[3] and the Oceanids.[4] Others called her the
personification of the sea itself. Amphitrite's offspring
included seals[5] and dolphins.[6] Poseidon and Amphitrite had
a son, Triton who was a merman, and a daughter, Rhode (if this
Rhode was not actually fathered by Poseidon on Halia or was
not the daughter of Asopus as others claim). Apollodorus
(3.15.4) also mentions a daughter of Poseidon and Amphitrite
named Benthesikyme...
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（Ἀμφιτρίτη), according to Hesiod (Hes. Th. 243) and
Apollodorus (1.2.7) a Nereid, though in other places
Apollodorus (1.2.2, 1.4.6) calls her an Oceanid. She is
represented as the wife of Poseidon and the goddess of the
sea (the Mediterranean), and she is therefore a kind of
female Poseidon. In the Homeric poems she does not occur as
a goddess, and Amphitrite is merely the name of the sea. The
most ancient passages in which she occurs as a real goddess
is that of Hesiod above referred to and the Homeric hymn on
the Delian Apollo (94), where she is represented as having
been present at the birth of Apollo. When Poseidon sued for
her hand, she fled to Atlas, but her lover sent spies after
her, and among them one Delphinus, who brought about the
marriage between her and Poseidon, and the grateful god
rewarded his service by placing him among the stars.
(Eratosth. Catast. 31; Hygin. Poet. Astr. 2.17.) When
afterwards Poseidon shewed some attachment to Scylla,
Amphitrite's jealousy was excited to such a degree, that she
threw some magic herbs into the well in which Scylla used to
bathe, and thereby changed her rival into a monster with six
heads and twelve feet. (Tzetz. ad Lycoph. 45, 649.) She
became by Poseidon the mother of Triton, Rhode, or Rhodos,
and Benthesicyme. (Hesiod. Theoy. 930, &c.; Apollod. 1.4.6;
3.15.4.) Later poets regard Amphitrite as the goddess of the
sea in general, or the ocean. (Eur. Cycl. 702; Ov. Met.
1.14.) Amphitrite was frequently represented in ancient
works of art; her figure resembled that of Aphrodite, but
she was usually distinguished from her by a sort of net
which kept her hair together, and by the claws of a crab on
her forehead. She was sometimes represented as riding on
marine animals, and sometimes as drawn by them. The temple
of Poseidon on the Corinthian isthmus contained a statue of
Amphitrite (Paus. 2.1.7), and her figure appeared among the
relief ornaments of the temple of Apollo at Amyclae
(3.19.4). on the throne of the Olympian Zeus, and in other
places. (5.2.3, comp. 1.17.3, 5.26.2.) We still possess a
considerable number of representations of Amphitrite. A
colossal statue of her exists in the Villa Albani, and she
frequently appears on coins of Syracuse. The most beautiful
specimen extant is that on the arch of Augustus at Rimini.
(Winckelmann, Alte Denkmäler, 1.36; Hirt, Mythol.
Bilderbuch, ii. p. 159.) - A Dictionary of Greek and Roman
biography and mythology, William Smith, Ed.
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