Euphemus
Argonaut and son of Poseidon who could walk on water and was prophesied to be the ancestor of Cyrene's founders.
The Legend of Euphemus
He could walk on the surface of the sea without getting wet. Poseidon gave this gift to his son Euphemus, making him the most spectacular of the Argonauts after Heracles. During the voyage, the sea god Triton gave Euphemus a clod of Libyan earth as a guest-gift. Medea later prophesied that if the clod were planted in the earth, Euphemus's descendants would rule Libya. He accidentally dropped it in the sea near Thera (Santorini), delaying the prophecy by generations — but eventually his descendant Battus founded Cyrene, fulfilling it. Pindar tells this story in his fourth Pythian Ode, one of the longest choral poems to survive.
Parents
Poseidon, Europa
Symbols
Fun Fact
Euphemus's dropped clod of earth was said to have become the island of Thera (Santorini).
Explore Further
Asterion
🗡 heroRiver heritage, Argonaut voyage
Argonaut from Thessaly who was the son of a river god and sailed to Colchis with Jason
Arion
🗡 heroPoet saved by dolphins
Arion was a legendary poet and musician whose life was saved by a dolphin when pirates forced him to jump overboard.
Poseidon
⚡ godGod of the sea, earthquakes, and horses
Poseidon was the god of the sea and earthquakes whose moods determined whether sailors lived or died — and whose grudge against Odysseus drove the Odyssey.
Glaucus
⚡ godsea, prophecy
A mortal fisherman who became an immortal sea god after eating a magical herb.
Butes
🗡 heroBeekeeping, Resistance, Sirens
Argonaut and Athenian hero who alone leaped toward the Sirens and was saved by Aphrodite.
Triton
⚡ godMerman herald of the sea
Triton was the merman son of Poseidon and Amphitrite, who calmed or stirred the waves with his conch-shell trumpet.
Nereus
⚡ godThe Old Man of the Sea
Nereus was the ancient, benevolent sea god known as the Old Man of the Sea — truthful, wise, gentle, and father of the fifty Nereids.
Aegeus
🗡 herotragedy
King of Athens and father of Theseus who threw himself into the sea when he saw black sails, believing his son was dead.
Poseidon
⚡ godGod of the sea, earthquakes, horses
Lord of the seas and brother of Zeus. Poseidon's moods shaped the oceans — calm seas for those who pleased him, devastating storms for those who did not.
Phanus
🗡 heroWine, Dionysian heritage
Son of Dionysus who sailed with the Argonauts as a representative of the god of wine's lineage
Nausithous
🗡 heroNone recorded
Founder and first king of the Phaeacians on the island of Scheria
Tiphys
🗡 heroNavigation, seamanship
Original helmsman of the Argo whose skill guided the ship through the Clashing Rocks