ANFITRITE ("ΑΜΦΙΠΡΊΤΗ")

AMPHITRITE ("Αμφιτρίτη"). — Greek divinity of the sea. The name must be identical with that of other marine beings in which the element *trit-* appears; etymologies from the Greek for “current,” “mobile” are unsatisfactory, and so some consider A. a pre-Greek, perhaps Minoan, divinity. She is not mentioned in the *Iliad*, but only in the *Odyssey*, where she is little characterized. Hesiod makes her a Nereid, wife of Poseidon and mother of Triton and Rhodos. Poseidon is said to have carried her off at Naxos, or, according to another version, she fled to the depths of the sea and was brought back to Poseidon by a dolphin. To Theseus she gave a golden crown, which helped him to escape from the labyrinth. According to other late sources A. would be an Oceanid. She was worshipped at Tenos, Mykonos, and the Isthmus of Corinth, but always together with Poseidon. She was depicted in a chariot drawn by sea creatures.