Neptune Mythology

Son of Cronus and Rhea, brother of Zeus; he draws the sea by lot. 'Earth-shaker' who makes earthquakes, creator of the horse, husband of Amphitrite. He keeps Odysseus at sea for ten years; he loses Athens to Athena. Poseidon in the Greek family tree →

Originally the Italic god of fresh waters and springs; the Neptunalia of 23 July is celebrated in the heat for water. Later identified with Poseidon he becomes the god of the sea and of horses (Neptunus Equester). The planet is named after him.

Lord of the fresh underground water Abzu; wisdom, magic, craft. He creates mankind, saves it from the flood, brings Inanna back from the underworld. Neptune's face of water, wisdom and rescue. The primordial water Apsu and the sea Tiamat are here too. Enki in the Mesopotamian family tree →

The still, boundless water before creation; everything comes out of it and every night Ra's boat passes through it. Formless, beginningless depth: Neptune's primordial face. Nun in the Egyptian family tree →

In the Vedic period the god of the sky and of cosmic law, later of the waters and the ocean; on a makara (sea monster), noose in hand. He punishes oath-breakers with dropsy.

Aegir the sea giant who feasts the gods, father of nine wave daughters; his wife Ran drags sailors down with her net. Njörd is the Vanir god of sea, wind and wealth, protector of harbours. Aegir in the Norse family tree →

The sea dragon kami; his palace at the bottom of the sea, he rules the tides with two jewels. His daughter Toyotama is the grandmother of the imperial line. Sea depth and kingship. Owatatsumi in the Japanese family tree →

In every mythology the sea is the place without boundary: Nun, Apsu, Oceanus, the waters of Ginnungagap. Against the earth that gives form stands the water that dissolves it. Neptune's name carries this depth.

Poseidon shakes the earth and creates the horse; both are powers hard to rein in. Wave, horse's mane, tremor: uncontrolled motion. Poseidon Hippios is the god of horse races and of the Isthmian games.

Enki saves Utnapishtim from the flood by whispering to a reed wall; Ea counsels Adapa; Poseidon's son Proteus gives prophecies. The depth of water brings knowledge and rescue; Neptune's constructive face.

The sea changes shape: Proteus becomes lion, serpent, water to avoid capture; the Sirens draw ships onto the rocks with song; Calypso makes Odysseus forget for seven years. The illusion and loss modern astrology attaches to Neptune are derived from these myths.

Uranus was not where calculation put it. In Paris Le Verrier and in Cambridge Adams computed the position of the unseen body pulling it off course. Le Verrier wrote to Berlin; on the night of 23 September 1846 Galle turned the telescope to the point named and found the planet within a degree. The first planet known before it was seen.

For the patronage of the city Poseidon strikes the Acropolis with his trident and brings forth a salt spring; Athena plants an olive tree. The gods (or the people) choose the olive. Instead of the power of the sea the gift of measure wins; Poseidon floods Attica in anger.

Odysseus blinds Poseidon's son the Cyclops Polyphemus and makes the mistake of telling his name. Polyphemus prays to his father; Poseidon keeps Odysseus at sea for ten years and turns the Phaeacians' ship to stone. The sea has a long memory. Polyphemus in the family tree →

Neptune's glyph is Poseidon's trident; the Cyclopes make him this weapon in the Titanomachy. The fisherman's spear, the sceptre of sea rule. A glyph made from Le Verrier's initials L-V was also proposed and did not take.

The element after uranium (93) was named neptunium in 1940, just as the planet after Uranus. A naming tradition; not a classical metal correspondence.

20th-century astrology gave Neptune the meanings of dream, illusion, ecstasy, art and dissolution, and the sign Pisces. 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 dignity.