Proteus
（
Πρωτεύς). The prophetic old man of the sea, described in
the earliest legends as a subject of Poseidon, whose flocks (the seals) he tended. According
to Homer, he resided in the island of Pharos at a distance of one day's sail from the river
Aegyptus (i. e. the Nile); whereas Vergil places his residence in the island of Carpathos
between Crete and Rhodes. At mid-day Proteus rose from the sea, and slept in the shadow of the
rocks of the coast, with the sea-monsters lying around him. Any one wishing to learn from him
the future was obliged to catch hold of him at that time; as soon as he was seized he assumed
every possible shape in order to escape the necessity of prophesying; but whenever he saw that
his endeavours were of no avail he resumed his usual form, and told the truth. After finishing
his prophecy he returned into the sea (
Odyss. iv. 351). Homer ascribes to him a
daughter Idothea. Another set of traditions describes Proteus as a son of Poseidon and as a
king of Egypt, who had two sons—Telegonus and Polygonus or Tmolus. His Egyptian name
is said to have been Cetes, for which the Greeks substituted that of Proteus. His wife is
called Psamathé or Toroné, and, besides the above-mentioned sons,
Theoclymenus and Theonoë are likewise called his children. He is said to have
hospitably received Dionysus during his wanderings. Hermes brought to him Helen after her
abduction; or, according to others, Proteus himself took her from Paris, gave to the lover a
phantom, and restored the true Helen to Menelaüs after his return
from Troy (
Herod.ii. 112Herod., 118;
Diod.i. 62).
