In Greek mythology, Psamathe (Ancient Greek: Ψαμάθη) is a Nereid, one of the fifty daughters of the sea god Nereus and the Oceanid Doris. By Aeacus, king of Aegina, she became the mother of Phocus; according to a later tradition she afterward married Proteus, king of Egypt. When Phocus was killed by his half-brothers Peleus and Telamon, Psamathe sent a giant wolf against Peleus's herds in revenge.
Adapted from Wikipedia, "Psamathe (Nereid)" · CC BY-SA 4.0
I.Family
Psamathe is one of the fifty Nereids, daughters of Nereus and Doris. By Aeacus, the king of Aegina, she is the mother of a son, Phocus.
She is later the wife of Proteus, king of Egypt, by whom she has a son, Theoclymenus, and a daughter, Eido (later known as Theonoe).
II.Mythology
There are two myths which involve Psamathe. The first is the story of her violation by Aeacus. Upon his advances, she transforms herself into a seal in an attempt to escape. She is unsuccessful, however, and from their union is born Phocus, whose name (phoke, meaning "seal") recalls his mother's metamorphosis.
Peleus and Telamon are the sons of Aeacus by his wife Endeis. The two of them kill their half-brother Phocus, and they are subsequently exiled from Aegina by their father. The second story which features Psamathe involves her sending of a wolf against the herds of Peleus, out of revenge for her son's death. After the wolf eats part of Peleus's herd, it is turned to stone by either Psamathe herself, or her sister Thetis.
III.Sources
The earliest mention of Psamathe is in Hesiod's Theogony (c. 730–700 BC), where she appears in the catalogue of Nereids as "Psamathe of charming figure" and "the fair goddess," and is named as the mother of Phocus by Aeacus. Pindar (c. 518–438 BC) calls her "Psamatheia" and says that she bore Phocus by the seashore.
Euripides, in his Helen (c. 412 BC), gives a markedly different account in which, after leaving Aeacus, she becomes the wife of Proteus in Egypt, bearing him Theoclymenus and Eido (later Theonoe). The seal-transformation motif is preserved by Apollodorus (1st–2nd century AD) and by a scholiast on Euripides's Andromache.
The wolf myth survives in several versions. Ovid's Metamorphoses (c. 8 AD) gives the most elaborate, with Psamathe sending a monstrous wolf against Peleus's herds, the beast eventually being turned to stone through the intervention of Thetis. Antoninus Liberalis offers a briefer account attributed to Nicander, in which a "divine will" petrifies the wolf, and Lycophron together with John Tzetzes likewise reference the episode with varying details about who works the transformation. In the much later Dionysiaca of Nonnus (5th century AD), Psamathe pleads with Zeus during the conflict between Poseidon and Dionysus.
IV.Iconography
Psamathe is depicted on a number of Attic vases dating from the late fifth century BC. Her iconography is typical for a Nereid: she appears in such scenes as the wrestling match between Peleus and Thetis, and the conveyance of the weapons and armour of Achilles, where she is among the Nereids carrying his arms while riding on a dolphin.