Glaucus
A mortal fisherman who became an immortal sea god after eating a magical herb.
The Myth of Glaucus
Glaucus was a Boeotian fisherman who noticed that fish laid on a certain herb sprang back to life and leapt into the sea. Tasting the herb himself, he was seized by an irresistible desire for the ocean and transformed into a sea god — human above the waist, fish-tailed below, with seaweed hair and barnacle-covered skin. He fell in love with the beautiful nymph Scylla and begged Circe for a love potion. But Circe desired Glaucus for herself, and when he rejected her, she poisoned the waters where Scylla bathed, transforming the girl into the terrifying six-headed monster that haunted the strait near Charybdis. Glaucus mourned Scylla forever. He possessed the gift of prophecy and appeared to Jason and the Argonauts during their voyage.
Symbols
Fun Fact
Glaucus gave prophecies to sailors and was said to visit every coast once a year — fishermen across the Mediterranean claimed sightings well into the Roman period.
Explore Further
Glaucus the Sea God
⚡ godsea
Mortal fisherman who ate a magical herb, became immortal, and transformed into a blue-green sea deity.
Glaucus of Anthedon
🐉 creaturesea,transformation
A mortal fisherman who accidentally ate a magical herb and was transformed into an immortal sea deity, growing fish's scales and a tail, destined to roam the seas forever.
Anthedon
🏛 placegeography
A small Boeotian coastal town where the fisherman Glaucus ate a magical herb and became a sea deity.
Proteus
⚡ godShape-shifting seer of the sea
Proteus knew all things but only spoke if held through shape-shifts.
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.
Amphitrite
⚡ godGoddess-queen of the seas
Amphitrite co-ruled the oceans with Poseidon.
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.
Leucothea
⚡ godsea, rescue
Sea goddess who rescued drowning sailors, formerly the mortal princess Ino.
Melicertes
⚡ godsea
Son of Ino who was transformed into the marine god Palaemon after his mother leaped with him into the sea.
Euphemus
🗡 herosea
Argonaut and son of Poseidon who could walk on water and was prophesied to be the ancestor of Cyrene's founders.
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.
Scylla
🐉 creaturetransformation
Beautiful nymph transformed into a six-headed sea monster by Circe's poison, eternally lurking in a strait opposite Charybdis.