Proteus in the ancient sources

Ancient Sources / Figures / Proteus

28 passages from 14 ancient authors that tell of Proteus, in the original with English translation, author by author in the order the Greeks read them. Proteus was a primordial deity in Greek mythology, protector of the seas, rivers and other bodies of water. He was one of the figures that Homer calle... For the story in one place, read our article on Proteus.

Homer (3)

Homer, Odyssey 4.306–424Menelaus in Egypt: Eidothea and ProteusIn the morning Menelaus asks Telemachus why he has come, and Telemachus tells him of the suitors. Menelaus tells how he was becalmed for twenty days on the island of Pharos off Egypt, where the sea-nymph Eidothea took pity on him and told him how to catch her father Proteus, the Old Man of the Sea. She tells him to hide with three companions under seal-skins on the shore.
Homer, Odyssey 4.425–624Menelaus seizes ProteusProteus comes up from the sea at midday to count his seals and lie down to sleep, and Menelaus and his men leap on him. The old man changes into a lion, a snake, a leopard, a boar, water and a tree, but they hold him fast until he tells Menelaus what the gods require. He tells of the deaths of Ajax and Agamemnon, and that Odysseus is held by Calypso on her island. Menelaus returns home and offers Telemachus horses, but Telemachus asks for a gift that can be stored, since Ithaca has no meadows.
Homer, Odyssey 17.1–183Telemachus returns to the townAt dawn Telemachus takes his spear and goes to the town, telling Eumaeus to bring the stranger to beg there. Eurycleia and the maids greet him with tears, and Penelope throws her arms round her son and begs him to tell what he has learned of his father. He tells her of Nestor and Menelaus, and of what Menelaus heard from Proteus, and the seer Theoclymenus tells her that Odysseus is already in Ithaca.

Aeschylus (1)

Aeschylus, Fragments 115–135Prometheus the Fire-Kindler to the Archer-MaidensThe Prometheus Fire-Kindler warns of the sharp, scorching blast of a fire, and the Fire-Bearer praises silence and speech at the right time. The Proteus, Women of Salamis, Sisyphus, Sphinx, Telephus and the Archer-Maidens add short passages: the wish for a mantle like the heavens, the bronze tub with its lion-base, the garland for the stranger, and the lines on Actaeon, whom his own dogs destroyed.

Euripides (5)

Euripides, Helen 1–67Prologue: Helen at the tomb of Proteus in EgyptHelen tells how Proteus' son Theoclymenus and daughter Theonoe rule Egypt, and she recounts the judgment of Paris. Hera made a phantom in her likeness for Paris, while Hermes hid the real Helen in a cloud and set her down in the house of Proteus. Since Proteus died, his son has wanted to marry her, and she sits as a suppliant at his tomb, keeping herself for Menelaus.
Euripides, Helen 437–475Third episode: the Old Woman turns Menelaus awayAn Old Woman at the gate orders Menelaus away, since her master kills Greeks. In answer to his questions she tells him that the land is Egypt and the king is Theoclymenus, son of Proteus. She then says that Helen, daughter of Zeus, is in the house, and he asks whether his wife was taken from the cave.
Euripides, Helen 894–946Fifth episode: Helen's plea to TheonoeHelen falls at Theonoe's knees and begs her not to tell her brother of Menelaus' return. She appeals to the justice of Proteus, to whom Hermes entrusted her, and to the god who hates robbery. She says that a child of a good father should resemble him.
Euripides, Helen 947–997Fifth episode: Menelaus' plea and threatMenelaus says that he will not weep at Theonoe's knees, but asks her to restore his wife. He calls on Proteus and on Hades to give Helen back. He says that if she refuses he is bound by oath to fight her brother, or to kill Helen and himself on the tomb.
Euripides, Helen 998–1029Fifth episode: Theonoe decides to keep their secretTheonoe says that she is inclined to piety and will not dishonor her father's name or please her brother at the cost of justice. She votes on Hera's side and says that Proteus would have given Helen back. She promises to keep silent and tells them to pray to Kypris and Hera for their return.

Aristophanes (1)

Aristophanes, Thesmophoriazusae 846–1000Episode: the Helen parody and a choral hymnLeft under the guard of the woman Critylla, Mnesilochus decides to act the part of Helen from Euripides' Helen, and Euripides arrives as Menelaus. Critylla sees through the performance and drives Euripides off, and a Policeman has Mnesilochus tied to a plank under the guard of a Scythian archer. The chorus then sing a hymn to the gods of the festival.

Ovid (3)

Ovid, Metamorphoses 8.721–884Erysichthon and FamineAchelous goes on with his tales, and tells how Erysichthon, who scorns the gods, cuts down the sacred oak of Demeter (Ceres), and its dryad dies, prophesying his punishment. Demeter sends Famine, who breathes on him as he sleeps, and he grows insatiably hungry and eats everything he has, and sells his daughter Mestra. Mestra is freed by Poseidon (Neptune) and can change her shape, so that her father sells her again and again, until in the end he eats his own limbs. Achelous ends by speaking of his own changes and the horn he has lost.
Ovid, Metamorphoses 11.194–265Laomedon and Hesione; Peleus and ThetisApollo and Poseidon (Neptune) build the walls of Troy for King Laomedon, who cheats them of their pay, and Poseidon sends a sea-monster, to which Hesione is exposed, until Heracles (Hercules) saves her. Laomedon again breaks his word, and Heracles takes the city. Peleus marries the sea-goddess Thetis after he holds her through all her changes of shape, and she bears Achilles.
Ovid, Fasti 1.337–456Fasti 1: The first animal sacrifices; Priapus and LotisOvid describes early offerings of spelt and salt, then tells why animals came to be sacrificed: the sow to Demeter (Ceres), the goat to Dionysus (Bacchus), and the ox and sheep, with the story of Aristaeus, his bees and Proteus. At a feast of Bacchus, Priapus creeps toward the sleeping nymph Lotis, and Silenus' ass brays and wakes her, so the ass is sacrificed. The section ends with birds killed for the gods.

Quintus Smyrnaeus (1)

Quintus Smyrnaeus, The Fall of Troy (Posthomerica) 3.293–421Aias and Odysseus rescue Achilles' bodyAias fights on beside Odysseus, who kills Maenalus, Atymnius and Proteus and is wounded by Alcon, whom he kills. When Paris draws his bow on Aias, Aias strikes his helmet with a stone, and Paris is carried off to Troy behind Hector's horses. Aias drives the rest of the Trojans into the city and then strides back across a plain covered with the dead, and the kings bring Achilles' body to his tent, where the army wails for him.

Nonnus of Panopolis (3)

Nonnus of Panopolis, Dionysiaca 1.0–133Book 1: Invocation; Zeus carries Europa across the seaThe poet asks the Muse to tell of the twice-born Dionysos and calls for the wand, cymbals and fawnskin of his rites, picturing Proteus's many shapes as the god's. Zeus, as a bull, carries Europa over the sea while Eros drives him and the sea-gods marvel. The girl cries out to the shores, to her father and to Boreas.
Nonnus of Panopolis, Dionysiaca 43.225–306Book 43: Proteus, Nereus and the Rivers join the frayProteus, ringed by the Indian soldiers, changes into a panther, a tree, a serpent, a lion, a boar and water to slip their grasp. Nereus leads his daughters into the fight, sea creatures and the Nereids join, and the seas and straits roll against one another. The Rivers come to the aid of Dionysos while Melicertes thrusts at him with his trident.
Nonnus of Panopolis, Dionysiaca 21.240–345Book 21: Deriades' answer; Dionysos returns; the ambush at the HydaspesDeriades rejects the offer, saying that he honours only Earth and Water, and sends the envoy back with a written challenge. Dionysos, restored to his followers, learns from Proteus what has happened in Arabia, reads the tablet and orders ships built for an attack by sea. Deriades divides his army across the river Hydaspes and hides an ambush in a thick wood.

Conon (1)

Conon, Narrations 28.1–36.1Tenes, Tereus and the Spartan colonistsTenes' axe, the wanderings of the Magnesians and the punished negligence of Peithenius open the section. Tereus' crime against Philomela and the adventures of Proteus in Thrace follow, then Branchus of Didyma, the theft of the Palladion and the shepherd rescued by vultures. The Spartan colonists who founded Melos and settled Gortyn close it.

Herodotus (2)

Herodotus, Histories 2.112–115Helen in Egypt: Proteus and AlexanderThe priests say that the next king was Proteus of Memphis, whose enclosure holds a temple of the foreign Aphrodite. Alexander, carrying off Helen, was driven by winds to the Canobic mouth, where his own attendants took refuge at the temple of Heracles and accused him. Thonis sent him to Memphis. Proteus rebuked him for wronging his host, and kept Helen and the wealth for Menelaos, ordering Alexander out of Egypt within three days.
Herodotus, Histories 2.116–120Homer, the Trojan war and the truth about HelenThe writer says Homer knew this story but preferred another, as shown by his lines on Alexander's wanderings to Sidon and Polydamna's drugs. He argues the Cyprian Epic cannot be Homer's. The priests say the Teucrians always swore that Helen was in Egypt, and the Hellenes, after taking the city, sent Menelaos to Proteus, who restored her, but Menelaos then sacrificed two native children and fled to Libya. The writer adds that Priam would have given Helen up.

Lucian of Samosata (2)

Lucian of Samosata, Dialogues of the Sea-Gods 1.1–4.3Doris and Galatea; the Cyclops; Alpheus; Menelaus and ProteusDoris teases Galatea about her one-eyed lover, the Cyclops Polyphemus, while Galatea retorts that Doris has no lover at all. The blinded Cyclops complains to Posidon of Odysseus, who called himself Noman, and Posidon promises that the Ithacan will meet trouble at sea. Posidon wonders why the river Alpheus does not mingle with the brine, and Menelaus doubts that Proteus really changes shape.
Lucian of Samosata, On the Dance 17–34The dance among the Indians, Egyptians and Greeks; tragedy and comedyLycinus shows that the Indians greet the sun with dance and that the Egyptian Proteus was a dancer, and he describes the Roman Salii. He quotes Homer, Hesiod and the example of Socrates in praise of dancing, and answers Crato's praise of tragedy and comedy by comparing the masks and dances of each with the dancer's. He ends by explaining why he has left so much unsaid.

Orpheus (attributed) (1)

Orpheus (attributed), Orphic Hymns 22–26Hymns 22-26: the Sea (Tethys), Nereus, the Nereids, Proteus, the EarthThese hymns descend into the sea. Tethys is called on as the sea-goddess with sea-blue eyes, Nereus as the keeper of the roots of Ocean, the Nereids as the nymphs who sport in the waves, and Proteus as the god who holds the keys of the deep. The group closes with the Earth, honoured as the source of gods and men and endowed with fertile force.

Plato (1)

Plato, Republic 380a–383cBook II: God does not change and does not deceiveSocrates says that stories which make Athena and Zeus responsible for the breaking of the truce by Pandarus, or which say that the gods send evil to men, as the words of Aeschylus do, must not be told. He argues that the god, being perfect, does not change his shape, since anything that changes does so for the worse, and so the stories of gods in disguise, of Proteus and Thetis and of Hera collecting alms, are not to be allowed. He also says that a god does not lie, in word or in deed, and that the veritable lie, a lie in the soul about the most important things, is hated by gods and men. The stories of Zeus sending a false dream to Agamemnon and of Apollo, in Aeschylus, promising Thetis a happy fate for her child are therefore to be rejected.

Strabo (1)

Strabo, Geography 1.2.31–32The wanderings of MenelausStrabo examines the voyage of Menelaus through Cyprus, Phoenicia, Egypt, Ethiopia and Libya, asking who the Ethiopians, Sidonians and Erembi were. He rejects ideas of a canal or a sea passage across the isthmus and of a circumnavigation, saying Menelaus gathered wealth from kings and was delayed by storms. He cites Proteus' prophecy of the Elysian fields and says Menelaus and Odysseus (Ulysses) are credited with places they only touched.

Virgil (3)

Virgil, Georgics 4.386–452Aristaeus captures ProteusTaking the leaping flame as an omen, Cyrene tells Aristaeus of Proteus, a seer in the Carpathian waters of Poseidon (Neptune) who knows past, present and future. He must seize and bind Proteus, who will answer only by force and will turn into a boar, tigress, dragon, lioness, fire and water. She anoints her son with ambrosial dew and hides him in the cave at noon. Aristaeus leaps on Proteus and fetters him, and when the changes fail Proteus resumes his shape and begins to speak the fates.
Virgil, Georgics 4.528–566The sacrifice of Aristaeus; the poet's farewellProteus plunges into the sea, and Cyrene tells Aristaeus that the nymphs, companions of Eurydice, sent the plague and must be appeased. He must sacrifice four bulls and four heifers at four altars, then after nine days send poppies and a black sheep to Orpheus and a calf to Eurydice. Aristaeus does so, and bees swarm from the carcasses and cluster in a tree. The poet closes by saying he sang of farming while Caesar waged war by the Euphrates, and names himself Virgil.
Virgil, Georgics 4.453–527Orpheus and EurydiceProteus says Orpheus, grieving for his bride Eurydice, is the cause of the plague. Eurydice died when a water-snake lay in the grass as she fled, and Orpheus went down to the palace of Hades (Dis), where his song stilled the shades, Cerberus and the Eumenides. He led her up but looked back at the threshold of day, and she vanished. He mourned for months, and the Ciconian women tore him apart, and his head still called her name down the Hebrus.