Image: Wikimedia Commons

Proteus

Sea divinity in Greek mythology

EntityGreek water deities water deityQ191481

Instance of: Greek water deities
, water deity

Overview

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia · Read full article · Text CC BY-SA 4.0

In Greek mythology, Proteus is an early prophetic sea god or god of rivers and oceanic bodies of water, one of several deities whom Homer calls the "Old Man of the Sea". Because Proteus was a shape-shifter, modern scholars often view him as the physical embodiment of the ocean's constantly changing nature. He can foretell the future, but, in a mytheme familiar to several cultures, will change his shape to avoid doing so; he answers only to those who are capable of capturing him. From this feature of Proteus comes the adjective protean, meaning "versatile", "mutable", or "capable of assuming many forms". "Protean" has positive connotations of flexibility, versatility and adaptability.

Overview

All data

55 statements · 7% with external sources · numbers in brackets are citations

Sex or gender: male
Father: Poseidon
Child: Idotea
Cabeiro
Telegonus
Tmolus
Polygonus
Positions held: mythological king of Egypt
Said to be the same as: Proteus of Egypt
Spouse: Psamathe
Torone
Anchinoe
1
Sources
1.Stated in Ethnica of Stephanus
View statement on Wikidata ↗
Native label: Πρωτέας
Residence: Karpathos statement disputed by: Pauly–Wissowa
Pharos

On other databases

36 identifiers linking Proteus across the web's reference databases

Data quality

statements

externally sourced

Source last edited September 12, 2026. AIDb refreshes this page daily.

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AIDb. (2026). Proteus (Q191481). Retrieved from https://aidb.si/e/proteus-Q191481