Neptune Mythology

Poseidon is the son of Cronus and Rhea and the brother of Zeus. When the brothers divided the world by lot, the sea fell to him. The Greeks called him Earth-shaker because he causes earthquakes, and they credited him with creating the horse. His wife is Amphitrite. In Homer's Odyssey he keeps Odysseus at sea for ten years, and in the contest for the patronage of Athens he loses to Athena. Poseidon in the Greek family tree →

Neptunus began as the Italic god of fresh waters and springs. His festival, the Neptunalia, was held on 23 July, in the heat of summer, to ask for water. The Romans later identified him with Poseidon, and he became the god of the sea and of horses under the title Neptunus Equester. The planet is named after him.

Enki is the lord of Abzu, the fresh water beneath the earth. Mesopotamian texts describe him as the god of wisdom, magic and craft. He creates mankind, he saves it from the flood, and he is the one who brings Inanna back from the underworld. The water, wisdom and rescue in Neptune's symbolism all gather in Enki. The primordial water Apsu and the sea Tiamat belong to the same tradition. Enki in the Mesopotamian family tree →

Nun is the still, boundless water that existed before creation. In the Egyptian account everything comes out of it, and Ra's boat passes through it every night. Nun has no form and no beginning. Neptune's primordial face is seen in this god. Nun in the Egyptian family tree →

In the Vedic period Varuna was the god of the sky and of cosmic law. Later he became the god of the waters and the ocean. He is shown riding a sea monster called a makara, with a noose in his hand. He was believed to punish oath-breakers with dropsy.

Aegir is a sea giant who holds feasts for the gods, and he is the father of nine daughters who are the waves. His wife Ran drags sailors to the bottom with her net. Njörd belongs to the Vanir. He is the god of the sea, the wind and wealth, and he protects harbours. Aegir in the Norse family tree →

Ryujin is the dragon kami of the sea. His palace lies at the bottom of the sea, and he controls the tides with two jewels. His daughter Toyotama is counted as the grandmother of the imperial line. In this god the depth of the sea and kingship belong together. Owatatsumi in the Japanese family tree →

In every mythology the sea is the place that has no boundary. The Egyptian Nun, the Mesopotamian Apsu, the Greek Oceanus and the waters of the Norse Ginnungagap all describe this place. Where earth gives form, water dissolves it. The depth and dissolution in Neptune's symbolism rest on this shared image.

Poseidon shakes the earth and he creates the horse. What the two have in common is that they are hard to rein in. A wave, a horse's mane and a tremor all describe the same uncontrolled motion. Under the title Poseidon Hippios he is the god of horse races and of the Isthmian games.

Enki saves Utnapishtim from the flood by whispering to a reed wall. The same god, under the name Ea, counsels Adapa. On the Greek side Poseidon's son Proteus gives prophecies. In these stories the depth of water brings knowledge and rescue. Modern astrologers ground Neptune's constructive side in these accounts.

In the myths of the sea nothing keeps one shape for long. Proteus turns into a lion, a serpent and water to avoid being caught. The Sirens draw ships onto the rocks with their song. Calypso makes Odysseus forget his home for seven years. The illusion and loss that modern astrology attaches to Neptune are derived from these myths.

Uranus was not where calculation said it should be. Le Verrier in Paris and Adams in Cambridge computed the position of the unseen body pulling it off course. Le Verrier sent his result to Berlin. On the night of 23 September 1846 Galle turned the telescope to the point he had been given and found the planet within a degree. Neptune is the first planet that was known before it was seen.

To win the patronage of the city, Poseidon strikes the Acropolis with his trident and brings a salt spring out of the rock. Athena plants an olive tree. The gods, or in one telling the people, choose the olive. The measured gift wins over the raw power of the sea. Poseidon is angry and floods Attica.

Odysseus blinds Poseidon's son, the Cyclops Polyphemus, and makes the mistake of shouting his name as he leaves. Polyphemus prays to his father. Poseidon keeps Odysseus at sea for ten years and turns to stone the ship of the Phaeacians who carried him home. Homer follows this anger through the whole of the Odyssey. Polyphemus in the family tree →

Neptune's glyph is Poseidon's trident. The Cyclopes made him this weapon during the Titanomachy. The trident was originally a fisherman's spear, and it became the sceptre of rule over the sea. After the discovery a glyph built from Le Verrier's initials L and V was also proposed, but it never caught on.

The element after uranium, number 93, was named neptunium in 1940. The name points to Neptune as the planet after Uranus. This is a naming tradition and not a classical metal correspondence.

Twentieth-century astrology gave Neptune the meanings of dream, illusion, ecstasy, art and dissolution, and attached the sign Pisces to it. In the classical tradition Pisces is the night house of Jupiter. This school does not use the modern rulership and keeps Neptune as an indicator outside the dignities.