We almost always hearabout Poseidon, god of the Sea and brother of the great Zeus, almostnever mention is made of his beautiful wife Anifitre, the only and sovereign queen of the Sea as well as owner of the Mediterranean Sea.
Anifrite which means “thethird that surrounds the sea” as the ancient Greeks believed that theworld was surrounded by a river god called Oceanus, is one of the 50 Nymphs (Nereid) daughter of the God Nereus called “the old manof the sea” and of Doride daughter of the Titan Oceanus. Nymfein Greek means “young girl” and all the Nereids werebeautiful girls who loved to live in the midst of nature andrepresented the life force.
Always elegant in longtunics, some supple with a very long life, some immortals wereconsidered semi-divinities and are distinguished according to theplace where they lived. Just to have a broader overview, we canidentify them in: Nereid the Nymphs of the sea, the Potamidi Nymphsof the rivers, the Napee Nymphs of the woods, the Naides Nymphs ofspring waters, the Oradi Nymphs of the mountains and caves, theLimniadi Nymphs of the lakes, the Hamadryas tree Nymphs, the Dryadsforest Nymphs, the Hyades and the Pleiades star Nymphs, practicallyeverything that Mother Nature has given to living beings.
They loved music anddance and were adored in the Greek world just like the Goddesses butonly with offers always strictly private, not with celebrations,based on garlands of flowers, milk, honey and oil, all in any case tobe able to have their benevolence .
The Nereids togetherwith their parents Nereus and Doris, lived in the depths of the seain caves covered with gold and loved to play with the waves, comingto the surface riding marine animals only to help sailors indifficulty.
Legend has it that oneday the beautiful Anifrite danced with her sisters on theNaxos island and Poseidon passing by ‘saw her and fell in love’ immediatelyfor her delicate beauty superior to that of her sisters and the graceof her movements . Without delay they approached her ‘asking to marryher, but Anifrite by nature very shy and reserved was frightened’ bythrowing herself into the abyss and swimming up to the western edgeof the world where Atlas was holding up the vault of heaven to hide.Poseidon faced with the refusal became even more mad with love forher and unleashed all the sea creatures to find her including the GodDelphinius who managed to track her down and with eloquent words toconvince her to accept the proposal of the God of the Sea underliningthat from their union she would certainly have had the greatestbenefits. Anifrite listened to Delphinius and returned to Poseidonwho made her wife and queen consort of the Sea.
From their union threechildren were born, Triton who played his inseparable instrument withthe horn of the shell to calm the storms as well as to announce thearrival of his father. He is remembered above all for having helpedJason and the Argonauts find the right route to return home. Theshape of him is half human in the upper part and in the shape of afish in the lower part with green colored skin a sort of “littlemermaid”. The second daughter was Rhode with whom Helios fell inlove and gave him the current island of Rhodes, and finallyBentesicima the Goddess of the waves.
We also find Anifrite fromthe story of Theseus when Minos King of Crete asked the boy toactually demonstrate his heroism and that he was actually the son ofPoseidon. Minos threw a ring into the sea asking Theseus to find itand bring it back to him. The marine creatures devoted to Anifriteand the God Poseidon did it for him and the Queen of the Sea hostedhim in her underwater palace where she gave him a gold crown thatTheseus gave to Ariadne, daughter of Minos as a wedding gift. Anothercurious legend instead is linked to Anifitre, that of the nymphScylla. Poseidon, like his brother Zeus, was very sensitive to femalecharms and during his life he repeatedly cheated on his wife,generating a myriad of children and fueling his wife’s jealousy. Oneday the beautiful Nymph Scylla daughter of Hecate and Forcis madePoseidon lose his head, who absolutely wanted her. Amphitrite askedCirca a sorceress (daughter of Helios) for advice on how to defeather rival. Approximately he gave her a concoction of magical herbsthat had to be dissolved in the waters where the beautiful Scillausually used to bathe precisely between the coast of Calabria and theStrait of Messina. As the nymph submerged, she was transformed into aterrible monster with twelve feet and six long necks with heads fromwhose mouths came terrifying sounds. From that moment Scilla hid in acave on the Calabrian coast right in front of the Sicilian coastwhere there was another monster Charybdis daughter of Gea andPoseidon thus making the strait a real nightmare for sailors who hadto avoid ending up in the vortex created by Cariddi and consequentmeal for Scilla.
Anifrite is oftendepicted alongside her husband the God Poseidon on a chariot pulledby tritons and real and imaginary sea creatures. A little-knowngoddess but who holds great power and deserves to be remembered forher greatness and her love for the sea, a gift that we should respectand safeguard unconditionally.
Contact Us
Fill out the form and we will get back to you as soon as possible with a free quote