Editing Oceanus (section)

==Geography==
[[File:Naples Archaeology Museum (5914746240).jpg|thumb|upright=1.2|River Divinity, second century AD, [[Farnese collection]], [[Naples National Archaeological Museum]]]]

Although sometimes treated as a person (such as Oceanus visiting Prometheus in Aeschylus' ''[[Prometheus Bound]]'', see above) Oceanus is more usually considered to be a place,<ref>Gantz, p. 28.</ref> that is, as the great world-encircling river.<ref>Hard, pp. [https://books.google.com/books?id=r1Y3xZWVlnIC&pg=PA36 36], [https://books.google.com/books?id=r1Y3xZWVlnIC&pg=PA40 40]; Gantz, p. 27; West 1966, p. 201 on line 133.</ref> Twice Hesiod calls Oceanus "the perfect river" (''τελήεντος ποταμοῖο''),<ref>[[Hesiod]], ''[[Theogony]]'' [http://data.perseus.org/citations/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0020.tlg001.perseus-eng1:240-269 242], [http://data.perseus.org/citations/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0020.tlg001.perseus-eng1:938-962 959].</ref> and Homer refers to the "stream of the river Oceanus" (''ποταμοῖο λίπεν ῥόον Ὠκεανοῖο'').<ref>[[Homer]], ''[[Iliad]]'' [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0136%3Abook%3D12%3Acard%3D1 12.1].</ref> Both Hesiod and Homer call Oceanus "backflowing" (''ἀψορρόου''), since, as the great stream encircles the earth, it flows back into itself.<ref>[[LSJ]] [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.04.0057%3Aentry%3Da)yo%2Frroos s.v. ἀψόρροος]; [[Hesiod]], ''[[Theogony]]'' [http://data.perseus.org/citations/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0020.tlg001.perseus-eng1:767-806 767]; [[Homer]], ''[[Iliad]]'' [http://data.perseus.org/citations/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0012.tlg001.perseus-eng1:18.388-18.427 18.399], ''[[Odyssey]]'' [http://data.perseus.org/citations/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0012.tlg002.perseus-eng1:20.44-20.90 20.65].</ref> Hesiod also calls Oceanus "deep-swirling" (''βαθυδίνης''),<ref>[[LSJ]] s.v. [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.04.0057%3Aentry%3Dbaqudi%2Fnhs1 βαθυδίνης], [[Hesiod]], ''[[Theogony]]'' [http://data.perseus.org/citations/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0020.tlg001.perseus-eng1:104–138 133].</ref> while Homer calls him "deep-flowing" (''βαθυρρόου'').<ref>[[LSJ]] s.v. [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.04.0057%3Aentry%3Dbaqu%2Frroos βαθυρρόου]; [[Homer]], ''[[Iliad]]'' [http://data.perseus.org/citations/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0012.tlg001.perseus-eng1:7.398-7.441 7.422] = ''[[Odyssey]]'' [http://data.perseus.org/citations/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0012.tlg002.perseus-eng1:19.405-19.454 19.434].</ref> [[Homer]] says that Oceanus "bounds the Earth",<ref>[[Homer]], ''[[Odyssey]]'' [http://data.perseus.org/citations/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0012.tlg002.perseus-eng1:11.1-11.50 11.13].</ref> and Oceanus was depicted on the [[shield of Achilles]], encircling its rim,<ref>Gantz, p. 27; [[Homer]], ''[[Iliad]]'' [http://data.perseus.org/citations/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0012.tlg001.perseus-eng1:18.590 18.607&ndash;608].</ref> and so also on the shield of Heracles.<ref>[[Hesiod]], ''[[Shield of Heracles]]'' [http://data.perseus.org/citations/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0020.tlg003.perseus-eng1:280-326 314&ndash;317].</ref>

Both Hesiod and Homer locate Oceanus at the ends of the earth, near Tartarus, in the ''Theogony'',<ref>Gantz, p. 27; [[Hesiod]], ''[[Theogony]]'' [http://data.perseus.org/citations/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0020.tlg001.perseus-eng1:729-766 729&ndash;792].</ref> or near [[Elysium]], in the ''Iliad'',<ref>[[Homer]], ''[[Iliad]]'' [http://data.perseus.org/citations/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0012.tlg001.perseus-eng1:14.193-14.241 14.200&ndash;201], [http://data.perseus.org/citations/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0012.tlg002.perseus-eng1:4.554-4.592 4.563&ndash;568].</ref> and in the ''Odyssey'', has to be crossed in order to reach the "dank house of [[Hades]]".<ref>Gantz, pp. 27, 123, 124; [[Homer]], ''[[Odyssey]]'' [http://data.perseus.org/citations/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0012.tlg002.perseus-eng1:10.503-10.545 10.508&ndash;512], [http://data.perseus.org/citations/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0012.tlg002.perseus-eng1:11.1-11.50 11.13&ndash;22].</ref> And for both Hesiod and Homer, Oceanus seems to have marked a boundary beyond which the cosmos became more fantastical.<ref>As [[George M. A. Hanfmann]], ''[[Oxford Classical Dictionary]]'' s.v. Oceanus, p. 744, puts it: "the land where reality ends and everything is fabulous".</ref> The ''[[Theogony]]'' has such fabulous creatures as the [[Hesperides]], with their golden apples, the three-headed giant [[Geryon]], and the snake-haired [[Gorgons]], all residing "beyond glorious Ocean".<ref>[[Hesiod]], ''[[Theogony]]'' [http://data.perseus.org/citations/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0020.tlg001.perseus-eng1:207-239 215&ndash;216] (Hesperides), [http://data.perseus.org/citations/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0020.tlg001.perseus-eng1:270-303 287&ndash;299] (Geryon), [http://data.perseus.org/citations/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0020.tlg001.perseus-eng1:270-303 274] (Gorgons).</ref> While Homer located such exotic tribes as the [[Cimmerians]], the [[Aethiopia]]ns, and the [[Pygmy (Greek mythology)|Pygmies]] as living nearby Oceanus.<ref>Cimmerians: ''[[Odyssey]]'' [http://data.perseus.org/citations/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0012.tlg002.perseus-eng1:11.1-11.50 11.13&ndash;14]; Aethiopians:  ''[[Iliad]]'' [http://data.perseus.org/citations/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0012.tlg001.perseus-eng1:23.192-23.225 23.205&ndash;206], ''[[Odyssey]]'' [http://data.perseus.org/citations/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0012.tlg002.perseus-eng1:1.1-1.43 1.22&ndash;24]  (since Oceanus is where the sun, Helios Hyperion, rises and sets); Pygmies: ''[[Iliad]]'' [http://data.perseus.org/citations/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0012.tlg001.perseus-eng1:3.1-3.37 1.5&ndash;6].</ref>

In Homer, [[Helios]] the sun, rises from Oceanus in the east,<ref>[[Homer]], ''[[Iliad]]'' [http://data.perseus.org/citations/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0012.tlg001.perseus-eng1:7.398-7.441 7.421&ndash;422], = ''[[Odyssey]]'' [http://data.perseus.org/citations/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0012.tlg002.perseus-eng1:19.405-19.454 19.433&ndash;434].</ref> and at the end of the day sinks back into Oceanus in the west,<ref>[[Homer]], ''[[Iliad]]'' [http://data.perseus.org/citations/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0012.tlg001.perseus-eng1:8.469-8.511 8.485], [http://data.perseus.org/citations/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0012.tlg001.perseus-eng1:18.219-18.242 18.239&ndash;240].</ref> and the stars bathe in the "stream of Ocean".<ref>[[Homer]], ''[[Iliad]]'' [http://data.perseus.org/citations/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0012.tlg001.perseus-eng1:5.1-5.42 5.5&ndash;6], [http://data.perseus.org/citations/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0012.tlg001.perseus-eng1:18.462-18.489 18.485&ndash;489]. Compare with [[Homer]], ''[[Iliad]]'' [http://data.perseus.org/citations/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0012.tlg001.perseus-eng1:23.192-23.225 23.205] which has [[Iris (mythology)|Iris]], the personification of the rainbow, say "I must go back unto the streams of Oceanus".</ref> According to later sources, after setting, Helios sails back along Oceanus during the night from west to east.<ref>Gantz, pp. 27, 30.</ref>

Just as Oceanus the god was the father of the river gods, Oceanus the river was said to be the source of all other rivers, and in fact all sources of water, both salt and fresh.<ref>Hard, [https://books.google.com/books?id=r1Y3xZWVlnIC&pg=PA36 p. 36]; Gantz, p. 27.</ref> According to Homer, from Oceanus "all rivers flow and every sea, and all the springs and deep wells".<ref>[[Homer]], ''[[Iliad]]'' [http://data.perseus.org/citations/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0012.tlg001.perseus-eng1:21.161-21.199 21.195&ndash;197].</ref> Being the source of rivers and springs would seem logically to require that Oceanus was himself a freshwater river, and so different from the salt sea, and in fact Hesiod seems to distinguish between Oceanus and [[Pontus (mythology)|Pontus]], the personification of the sea.<ref>West 1966, p. 201 on line 133.</ref> However elsewhere the distinction between fresh and salt water seems not to apply. For example, in Hesiod [[Nereus]] and [[Thaumus]], both sons of Pontus, marry daughters of Oceanus, and in Homer (who makes no mention of Pontus), [[Thetis]], the daughter of Nereus, and [[Eurynome]] the daughter of Oceanus, live together.<ref>Gantz, p. 27; [[Homer]], ''[[Iliad]]'' [http://data.perseus.org/citations/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0012.tlg001.perseus-eng1:18.388-18.427 398&ndash;399].</ref> In any case, Oceanus can also to be identified with the sea.<ref>West 1966, p. 201 on line 133.</ref>

The concept of the surrounding Ocean, as expressed by Homer and Hesiod, remained in common use throughout antiquity. The Roman geographer [[Pomponius Mela]] said that the inhabited earth ‘is entirely surrounded by the Ocean, from which it receives four seas’.<ref>[[Pomponius Mela]], ''De situ orbis'', [https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=mdp.39015042048507&view=1up&seq=46 1.5].</ref>  These four seas were the [[Caspian Sea]], the [[Persian Gulf]], the [[Red Sea|Arabian Gulf]], and the [[Mediterranean Sea]]. However increasing knowledge of the seas led to modifications in this view. The Greek geographer [[Ptolemy]] identified various different oceans.<ref>William Smith (ed.), ''[[Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography]]'', 'Atlanticum Mare', at [http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.04.0064:id=atlanticum-mare-geo Perseus].</ref> One of these, the Western Ocean (the [[Atlantic Ocean]]) was often called simply ‘the Ocean’, for instance by [[Julius Caesar]].<ref>[[Julius Caesar]], [[De Bello Gallico]], [https://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Caesar/Gallic_War/3*.html#7 3.7].</ref>