Galaxy/The codex of Psamathe

A Nereid, one of the fifty daughters of Nereus the Old Man of the Sea, loved by Aeacus and mother of Phocus.1

I

Hesiod counts Psamathe among the fifty daughters born to blameless Nereus, the Old Man of the Sea — "Psamathe of charming figure" set amid her shining sisters of the deep.2

II

Apollodorus likewise lists her with the Nereids, the sea-daughters of Nereus and Doris.3

III

Hesiod tells that Psamathe the fair goddess was loved by Aeacus through golden Aphrodite, and bore him Phocus.4

IV

Apollodorus gives the courtship its struggle: Aeacus lay with Psamathe, daughter of Nereus, who turned herself into a seal to escape his embraces, yet still she bore the son Phocus.5

V

When Phocus came to grief at the hands of his half-brothers, his Nereid mother's wrath fell on Peleus. She sent a monstrous wolf to ravage his cattle along the Trachinian shore; deaf to Peleus' own entreaties, she yielded her anger only when her sister Thetis interceded for her afflicted husband, and the beast was at last turned to marble.6

VI

Apollonius records the brothers' fate plainly: the sons of Aeacus, having in their folly slain their brother Phocus, settled far from Aegina in exile — Telamon making his home on the Attic island, Peleus departing for Phthia.7

the spine ignites as you read · hover a bond on the card — every mention of them lights in the story

BEYOND THE POETS

How the centuries since have seen Psamathe — art, artifacts and echoes.

Psamathe
Psamathe fleeing among the Nereids (detail of the seizure of Thetis by Peleus)
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