In Greek mythology, Nereus ( NEER-ee-əs; Ancient Greek: Νηρεύς, romanized: Nēreús) was the eldest son of Pontus (the Sea) and Gaia (the Earth). Nereus and Doris became the parents of 50 daughters (the Nereids) and a son (Nerites), with whom Nereus lived in the Aegean Sea.
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Name
The name Nereus is absent from Homer's epics; the god's name in the Iliad is the descriptive ἅλιος γέρων 'Old Man of the Sea', and in the Odyssey the combination of ἅλιος γέρων and Πρωτεύς 'Proteus'. Besides Nereus and Proteus, the descriptive "Old Man of the Sea" was used for other water deities in Greek mythology who share several traits, among them Phorcys, Glaucus, and perhaps Triton. It is suggested that the "Old Man of the Sea" had at one time played a cosmogonic role comparable to that of Oceanus and could have received different names in different places. It is not known whether the name Nereus was known to Homer or not, but the name of the Nereids is attested before it and can be found in the Iliad. Since Nereus only has relevance as the father of the Nereids, it has been suggested that his name could actually be derived from that of his daughters; while the derivation of the Nereids from Nereus, as a patronymic, has also been suggested. According to Martin Litchfield West (1966), Nereus is much less important than his daughters, mentioning that Herodotus offered "the Nereids, not Nereus, as an example of a divine name not derived from Egypt".
In Hesiod's Theogony, where the name was first attested, Nereus is presented in immediate juxtaposition to Eris, and this extends to their children. First of all, there exists a feminine-masculine opposition. Eris is the youngest child of Nyx and the only one for whom children are mentioned, while Nereus is Pontus' oldest son and, again, is granted the most attention. Hesiod chooses verbs and adjectives to describe Nereus in juxtaposition to Eris' children, such as ἀ-ψευδέα 'does-not-lie' and ἀ-ληθέα 'does-not-forget', as opposed to Ψευδέα 'Lies' and Λήθη 'Forgetfulness'. This has prompted scholars to propose a derivation from Ἔρις Eris 'Discord' with the negative prefix νη‑ ne‑ added to it; namely, Ne-Eris 'Not-Discord', which evolved to Νηρεύς (< νη-ερ(ι)-ευς). Furthermore, Hesiod plays with the verbal likeness between Nereus and his last daughter Νημερτής Nemertes 'Unerring', whose name also bears the negative prefix νη‑.