Nilus or Neilos (Ancient Greek: Νεῖλος) or Nileus (Latin: Nileus) was the son of Oceanus and Tethys in Greek mythology. He was the god of the Nile river and was father to several children, including Memphis. He was the first king of Egypt.
Mythology[]
Family[]
Nilus was one of 3,000 river gods children of the Titans Oceanus and his sister-wife Tethys.[1] He was father to several children, of these included Memphis[2] (mother of Libya by Epaphus a king of Egypt).
His granddaughter Libya in turn became mother to Belus and Agenor. These sons then married (presumably) younger daughters of Nilus named Achiroe[2] and presumably Telephassa, respectively.
A daughter Chione[3] was said to be borne to Nilus and Callirhoe, an Oceanid, his sister. His other children include: Argiope,[4] Anippe,[5] Eurryroe, Europa[6] and Thebe.[7]
According to Ovid, a man named Nilus in Cepheus' court boasted that his descent, being a son of 'seven-folded' Nile, while fighting Perseus, as he shown his shield to him bearing those seven mouths of the river on it, he was turned to stone by Medusa's gaze. Ovid says he is false in his claims.[8]
Egyptian Deities[]
According to Diodorus, the Egyptians consider the river Nile to be the world-encircling river Oceanus, on which also their gods were born.[9] As such, many important Egyptian deities were seen as the children of Nilus when they were syncretized by the Greeks and Romans. The accounts of Cicero and Ampelius describe such genealogies.
As King[]
Diodorus Siculus in his Bibliotheca HIstorica, has accounts of which many are euhemerized. In his first book concerning Egypt, he lists many rulers of Egypt among which is named Nileus, who Diodorus says is what the river is named after, before which is called Aegyptus.
God of the River Nile[]
A Roman Fresco showing Isis receiving Io, being carried by a Potamoi (possibly Nilus); south wall of Ekklesiasterion, Temple of Isis (Pompeii). 63 AD
Constellation Eridanus[]
According to Hyginus in his Astronomica, the constellation Eridanus, instead of it being a representation of the eponymous god Eridanus was instead, some called, to be the Nile (or the Oceanus river). The reason for this was the 'great length and usefulness of that River' and also how below that constellation is a star named Canopus, which is also the name for an island in the Nile river.[10]
Iconography[]
He is mostly depicted as the usual depiction of a Potamoi, that being reclined on the floor and carrying a cornucopia, symbolizing the river's bounty. With his specific symbols, one of which is the statue displayed in the Temple of Isis and Serapis in Rome, he is depicted as reclining on a Sphinx while small cherubs/daemons crawl over him, symbolizing the people of Egypt or perhaps his descendants.
A Roman fresco shows him carrying Io to Egypt and Isis greeting Io with Harpocrates and her clergy. Symbolizing the syncretism of Io and Isis.
Euthenia was associated with Nilus, the Greek god of the Nile, and was syncretized with the Egyptian goddess Isis as Nilus was syncretized with Osiris.
| Preceded by: None (Title created) |
King of Egypt Mythic |
Succeeded by Psammetichus or Telegonus |
References[]
- ↑ Hesiod, Theogony 338 & 366–370; Hyginus, Fabulae Preface 5
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 Apollodorus, 2.1.4
- ↑ Servius, Commentary on Virgil's Aeneid 4.250
- ↑ Gantz, p. 208; Pherecydes fr. 21 Fowler (2000), p. 289 = FGrHist 3 F 21 = Scholia on Apollonius Rhodius, 3.1177-87f; Scholia on Euripides, Phoenissae 5
- ↑ Plutarch, Parallela minora 38 with Agatho the Samian as the authority
- ↑ Tzetzes, Chiliades 7.37 p. 368-371
- ↑ Scholia ad Homer, Iliad 9.383
- ↑ Ovid, Metamorphoses 5. 187
- ↑ Diodorus Siculus, Bibliotheca Historica Bk 1 12.6
- ↑ Hyginus, Astronomica 2.32.1
| River deities of Greek mythology | |
|---|---|
| River gods | Achelous • Acheron • Alpheus • Asopus • Axius • Borysthenes • Cebren • Chremetes • Cocytus • Enipeus • Eridanus • Erymanthus • Euphrates • Eurotas • Ganges • Haliacmon • Hydaspes • Inachus • Indus • Istros • Lethe • Maeander • Nilus • Pactolus • Peneus • Pyriphlegethon • Scamander • Simoeis • Strymon • Tanais • Tigris |