OCEANUS
the god of the river Oceanus, by which, according to the most ancient notions of the Greeks, the whole earth was surrounded. An account of this river belongs to mythical geography, and we shall here confine ourselves to describing the place which Oceanus holds in the ancient cosmogony.
In the Homeric poems he appears as a mighty god, who yields to none save Zeus. (II. xiv. 245, xx. 7, xxi. 195.) Homer does not mention his parentage, but calls Tethys his wife, by whom he had three daughters, Thetis, Eurynome and Perse.
His palace is placed somewhere in the west (II. xiv. 303), and there he and Tethys brought up Hera, who was conveyed to them at the time when Zeus was engaged in the struggle with the Titans. Hesiod calls Oceanus a son of Uranus and Gaea, the eldest of the Titans, and the husband of Tethys, by whom he begot 3000 rivers, and as many Oceanides, of whom Hesiod mentions only the eldest. This poet (Theogony of Hesiod 282) also speaks of sources of Oceanus, Representations of the god are seen on imperial coins of Tyre and Alexandria.
From Smith's Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and MythologyFrom Plinius Secundus. The Historie of the World. Book VII
The discoverie of the yron and steele mines, as also the working in them, was the invention (as Hesiodus saith) of those in Creet, who were called Dactyli Idæi. Likewise of silver, Erichthonius the Athenian beareth the name, or (after some) Aeacus. The gold mines, together with the melting and trying thereof, Cadmus the Phœnician first found out neere the montaine Pangæus: but there be that give the praise hereof to Thoas and Aeaclis in Panchaia: or els to Sol the sonne of Oceanus, unto whom Gellius attributeth the invention of Physicke, and making honny. Midacritus was the first man that brought lead out of the Island Cassiteris. And the Cyclopes invented first the yron-smiths forge. Corabus the Athenian devised the potters craft, shewing how to cast earthen vessels in moulds, and bake them in furnaces. And therin, Anacharsis the Scythian, or after some, Hyperbios the Corinthian, invented the cast of turning the roundell or globe. Carpenters art was the invention of Dædalus, as also the tooles thereto belonging, to wit, the saw, the chip, axe, and hatchet, the plumbe line, the augoer and wimble, the strong glew, as also fish-glew, and stone-Saudre.
From Chaos came forth Erebus and black Night; but of Night were born Aether and Day, whom she conceived and bare from union in love with Erebus. And Earth first bare starry Heaven, equal to herself, to cover her on every side, and to be an ever-sure abiding-place for the blessed gods. And she brought forth long Hills, graceful haunts of the goddess-Nymphs who dwell amongst the glens of the hills. She bare also the fruitless deep with his raging swell, Pontus, without sweet union of love. But afterwards she lay with Heaven and bare deep-swirling Oceanus, Coeus and Crius and Hyperion and Iapetus, Theia and Rhea, Themis and Mnemosyne and gold-crowned Phoebe and lovely Tethys. After them was born Cronos the wily, youngest and most terrible of her children, and he hated his lusty sire.
From Description of Greece by Pausanias Book 2
[2.1.1] The Corinthian land is a portion of the Argive, and is named after Corinthus. That Corinthus was a son of Zeus I have never known anybody say seriously except the majority of the Corinthians. Eumelus, the son of Amphilytus,(8th cent. B.C.) of the family called Bacchidae, who is said to have composed the epic poem, says in his Corinthian History (if indeed the history be his) that Ephyra, the daughter of Oceanus, dwelt first in this land; that afterwards Marathon, the son of Epopeus, the son of Aloeus, the son of Helius (Sun), fleeing from the lawless violence of his father migrated to the sea coast of Attica; that on the death of Epopeus he came to Peloponnesus, divided his kingdom among his sons, and returned to Attica; and that Asopia was renamed after Sicyon, and Ephyraea after Corinthus.
From Dialogues of Plato Timaeus
The knowledge of the other gods is beyond us, and we can only accept the traditions of the ancients, who were the children of the gods, as they said; for surely they must have known their own ancestors. Although they give no proof, we must believe them as is customary. They tell us that Oceanus and Tethys were the children of Earth and Heaven; that Phoreys, Cronos, and Rhea came in the next generation, and were followed by Zeus and Here, whose brothers and children are known to everybody.
From The Argonautica by Apollonius Rhodius
(1) And here an inner-court was built, and round it were many well-fitted doors and chambers here and there, and all along on each side was a richly-wrought gallery. And on both sides loftier buildings stood obliquely. In one, which was the loftiest, lordly Aeetes dwelt with his queen; and in another dwelt Apsyrtus, son of Aeetes, whom a Caucasian nymph, Asterodeia, bare before he made Eidyia his wedded wife, the youngest daughter of Tethys and Oceanus. And the sons of the Colchians called him by the new name of Phaethon, because he outshone all the youths
