Glaucus the Sea God
Mortal fisherman who ate a magical herb, became immortal, and transformed into a blue-green sea deity.
The Myth of Glaucus the Sea God
He ate grass that made fish come back to life — then jumped into the sea and became a god. Glaucus was an ordinary fisherman who noticed that his catch, when placed on a certain herb, revived and leaped back into the water. He ate the herb himself and was seized by an irresistible urge to enter the sea. Oceanus and Tethys purified him, and he emerged as a blue-green merman with a fish tail. He fell in love with Scylla, but when he asked Circe for a love potion, Circe's jealousy destroyed Scylla instead. The Argonauts encountered him as a prophetic sea-spirit. His transformation from mortal to god is one of the few successful apotheoses in myth.
Parents
Anthedon
Symbols
Fun Fact
Glaucus is one of the extremely rare mortals in Greek myth who achieves full divine status without dying first.
Explore Further
Glaucus
⚡ godsea, prophecy
A mortal fisherman who became an immortal sea god after eating a magical herb.
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.
Melicertes
⚡ godsea
Son of Ino who was transformed into the marine god Palaemon after his mother leaped with him into the sea.
Proteus
⚡ godShape-shifting seer of the sea
Proteus knew all things but only spoke if held through shape-shifts.
Leucothea
⚡ godsea, rescue
Sea goddess who rescued drowning sailors, formerly the mortal princess Ino.
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.
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.
Neptune
⚡ godSea, earthquakes, horses
Roman god of the sea and freshwater, identified with the Greek Poseidon but originally a deity of springs and rivers
Palaemon
⚡ godharbours, sailors
God of harbours and patron of the Isthmian Games, originally the mortal child Melicertes.
Alcyone
🗡 heroLove, transformation, birds
Queen of Trachis who was transformed into a kingfisher bird alongside her devoted husband Ceyx
Amphitrite
⚡ godGoddess-queen of the seas
Amphitrite co-ruled the oceans with Poseidon.