Proteus

Related Topics:
Proteus :: Proteus_Syndrome :: Proteus_2000

This article is about Proteus in Greek mythology. For other meanings see Proteus (disambiguation).

In Greek mythology, Proteus is an early sea-god, one of several deities whom Homer calls the "Old Man of the Sea"See also Nereus and Phorkys, whose name suggests the "first", as protogonos is the "firstborn". He became the son of Poseidon in the Olympian theogony (Odyssey iv. 432), or of Nereus and Doris, or of Oceanus and a Naiad, and was made the herdsman of Poseidon's seals, the great bull seal at the center of the harem. He can foretell the future, but, in a mytheme familiar from several cultures, will change his shape to avoid having to; he will answer only to someone who is capable of capturing him. From this feature of Proteus comes the adjective protean, with the general meaning of "versatile", "mutable", "capable of assuming many forms": "Protean" has positive connotations of flexibility, versatility and adaptablity.

The myth of Proteus

According to Homer (Odyssey iv:412), the sandy island of Pharos situated off the coast of the Nile Delta was the home of Proteus, the oracular Old Man of the Sea and herdsman of the sea-beasts. In the Odyssey, Menelaus relates to Telemachus that he had been becalmed here on his journey home from the Trojan War. He learned from Proteus' daughter, Eidothea ("the very image of the Goddess"), that if he could capture her father he could force him to reveal which of the gods he had offended, and how he could propitiate them and return home. Proteus emerged from the sea to sleep among his colony of seals, but Menelaus was successful at holding him, though Proteus took the forms of a lion, a serpent, a leopard, a pig, even of water and a tree. Proteus then answered truthfully, further informing Menelaus that his brother Agamemnon had been murdered on his return home, that Ajax the Lesser had been shipwrecked and killed, and that Odysseus was stranded on Calypso's Isle.

Another story tells that at one time the bees of Aristaeus, son of Apollo, all died of a disease. Aristaeus went to his mother, Cyrene, for help; she told him that Proteus could tell him how to prevent another such disaster, but would do so only if compelled. Aristeus had to seize Proteus and hold him, no matter what he would change into. Aristeus did so, and Proteus eventually gave up and told him to sacrifice 12 animals to the gods, leave the corpses in the place of sacrifice, and return three days later. When Aristaeus returned after the three days he found in one of the carcasses a swarm of bees, which he took to his apiary. The bees were never again troubled by disease.

The children of Proteus include besides Eidothea, Polygonos and Telegonos, who both challenged Heracles and were defeated and killed, one of Heracles' many successful encounters with representatives of the pre-Olympian world order.

Main article Proteus of Egypt.

In the Odyssey (iv.430ff) Menelaus wrestles with "Proteus of Egypt, the immortal old man of the sea who never lies, who sounds the deep in all its depths, Poseidon's servant" (Robert Fagles' translation). Proteus of Egypt, is mentioned in an alternate version of the story of Helen in Euripides' tragedy Helen (produced in 412). The often unconventional playwright introduces a "real" Helen and a "phantom" Helen (who caused the Trojan War), and gives a backstory that makes the father of his character Theoclymenus, Proteus, a king in Egypt who had been wed to a Nereid Psamathe. In keeping with one of his themes in Helen, Euripides mentions in passing Eido ("image"), another unseen daughter of the king. Euripides' king (never seen) is only marginally related to the "Old Man of the Sea" ^* andshould not be confused with the sea god Proteus.

At Pharos—in Hellenistic times the site of the Lighthouse of Alexandria—a king of Egypt named Proteus welcomed Dionysus in the young god's wanderings.

A further Proteus occurs in Greek myth, as one of the fifty sons of King Aegyptus.

"Proteus" and "protean" in English

From his transforming nature, and mutifarious aspects comes our adjective "protean". A "protean career" would embrace many human concerns. For example, Leonardo da Vinci was a painter, a sculptor, a scientist, a designer of fortifications: his career was "protean".

The very variable plant genus Protea is named after Proteus.

Proteus syndrome is the name given to the deforming disease that afflicted the elephant man. Although difficult to differentiate from severe neurofibromatosis, there have been several reported cases of Proteus syndrome over the last few decades.

Proteus in literature and psychology

The German mystical alchemist Heinrich Khunrath (1560-1605) wrote of the shape-changing sea-god who, because of his relationship to the sea, is both a symbol of the unconscious as well as the perfection of the art. Alluding to the scintilla, the spark from ‘the light of nature’ and symbol of the anima mundi , Khunrath in Gnostic vein stated of the Protean element Mercury

''our Catholick Mercury, by virtue of his universal fiery spark of the light of nature, is beyond doubt Proteus, the sea god of the ancient pagan sages, who hath the key to the sea and ....power over all things”.

(from Von Hyleanischen Chaos cited in Carl Jung, vol.14:50)

The poet John Milton was also aware of the association of Proteus with the Hermetic art of alchemy. In Paradise Lost (III.603-06) he wrote of the alchemists who sought the philosopher's stone

''In vain, though by their powerful Art they bind

''Volatile Hermes, and call up unbound

''In various shapes old Proteus from the Sea,

Drain'd through a Limbec to his native form.

In his discourse The Garden of Cyrus (1658) Milton's contemporary Sir Thomas Browne, pursuing the figure of the quincunx, queried

Why Proteus in Homer the Symbole of the first matter, before he settled himself in the midst of his Sea-Monsters, doth place them out by fives?

In 1807 William Wordsworth finished his sonnet on the theme of a modernity deadened to Nature, which opens "The world is too much with us", with a sense of nostalgia for the lost richness of a world numinous with deities:

''...I'd rather be

''A Pagan suckled in a creed outworn;

''So might I, standing on this pleasant lea,

''Have glimpses that would make me less forlorn;

''Have sight of Proteus rising from the sea. ^*

Or hear old Triton blow his wreathèd horn.

In modern times the Swiss pyschologist Carl Jung defined the mythological figure of Proteus as a personification of the unconscious, who, because of his gift of prophecy and shape-changing has much in common with the central but elusive figure of alchemy, Mercurius.

"Proteus" in modern fiction

In James Joyce's Ulysses (novel), Chapter 3 uses Protean transformations of matter in time for self exploration.

The term "Proteus" and "vombis" also were used in a James Blish short story about a race of alien beings who could change shape at will, but were not as malevolent as The Thing written about by John W. Campbell.

In the film Fantastic Voyage , Proteus is the apt name for the experimental submarine which is shrunk to sub-cellular size, and injected into a dying scientist to save his life.

In the role-playing games the Masquerade and the Requiem, vampires of the Gangrel clan may possess a disclipline named Protean that allows them to transform into bats and such.

Kurt Vonnegut's novel Player Piano revolves around the actions of Paul Proteus, a manager of a machine works in New York. Paul's life mirrors Proteus in that he must change his "shape" (character) to find his place in a machine-controlled society with which he is out of sympathy.

In the Film "Lost in Space", "Proteus" is the name of the space ship that is sent to look for the Robinson Family in an alternate time. The ship is subsequently destroyed.

In another Film, "Demon Seed", the "evil" computer program is named "Proteus"

In Craig Thomas' novel Sea Leopard, the British submarine is named HMS Proteus.

In Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix , the 'Protean' Charm is a complex spell used by Hermione Granger to manipulate the numbers on wizard money, to notify classmates of the time and date of secret meetings.

"Proteus" in gaming

PROTEUS is also the name of a cross-genre roleplaying game. PROTEUS is a freely downloadable game available through base113 Games^*. The game focuses on characters with incredible mental powers, Psionics. PROTEUS was a project to artificially create such people for military purposes. The name of the Greek god was chosen to reflect both the fact that these individuals are extremely adaptable and that they are among the first of their kind.

Notes

References

Karl Kerenyi, The Gods of the Greeks
Robert Graves, The Greek Myths

Sea and river gods | Greek gods | Shapeshifting