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Nerites - The Sea Snail - Greek Mythology

Just as the Nereids Nerites as well is described as a youth with a stunning beauty who protects the sea and the life in it. but it should be noted that Nerites does not appear in epic poems written by Greek poets but only survived in sailors' folklore. So many of the stories related to this sea god has been lost in time and even the ones that did survive have being subjected to many variations.

Many of the folklore describe Nerites as once the fastest creature in the sea. It is said that all living creatures in the ocean admired the sea god not only for his beauty but also for his speed. But because of the Olympian gods this beautiful god ended up being a sea snail.

Nerites Family

As for the stories of Greek mythology the primordial sea god Nereus together with his consort Doris gave birth to the famous 50 sea nymphs called the Nereids. Other than the 50 nereids Nereus and Doris also gave birth to Nerites who is mentioned as their youngest and only son of Nereus.

Like his 50 Nereids sisters Nerites also believed to live with his parents in his father's silver palace.

Nereites Turned Into A Snail

Nereites and Aphrodite

When Aphrodite was newly born she became a pupil of the primordial sea god Nereus. During her time learning from Nereus she lived together with Nereus’s family and befriended Nerites. Aphrodite lived with them for years until her powers grew.

Soon after her followers started to increase she ascended from the sea to Olympus to join the other Greek gods. At this point Aphrodite was well attached to Nerites and wanted him to move with her to Olympus. Even though Aphrodite managed to persuade Zeus to allow Nerites to ascend to Olympus Nerites refuse to leave his family in the ocean.

With intention to persuade Nerites she promised him wings if he agrees to go to Olympus with her. Nerites still refuse. Angered by him Aphrodite transformed him into a sea snail and later gave the wings to her son Eros.

Nerites and Helios

A different variation of the story describes that the transformation of Nerites into a sea snail had nothing to do with Aphrodite but with Helios.

As for these stories Poseidon the sea god and Nerites were lovers. Because of his love for Nerites Poseidon granted him speed so he could swim faster than any other creature in the sea. Their mutual love gave birth to Anteros who is the god of mutual love. Because of his speed Nerites became the charioteer of Poseidon as well.

Helios the god of the sun grew jealous of Nerites on seeing him. Different stories describe different reasons for Helios’ jealousy. As for some it was the speed of Nerites that made the sun god jealous of him. He wanted Nerites to ride the skies with him with his speed instead of being Poseidon’s charioteer.

Another reason is the love shared by Poseidon and Nerites and Helios wanted Nerites to be his lover. Other stories describe that it was the rivalry between Poseidon and Helios that made him transform Nerites into a snail.

There is also a belief that it was Nerites pride that angered the sun god. As for these stories Nerites challenged Helios to a race. Helios was angered by his arrogance and took part in the race with him. But Helios won the race and as punishment for challenging the sun god Helios transformed Nerites into a snail. Regardless of the reason as for these stories it was Helios who transformed the beautiful young god into a snail and not Aphrodite.

Both Aphrodite and Helios

There is also a legend that combines both these stories where both Aphrodite and Helios are responsible for the transformation of Nerites into a sea snail. As for them Aphrodite first fell in love with Nerites and wanted him to ascend with her to Mount Olympus. When Nerites refused Aphrodite turned him into a snail.

The Nereids saw what happened and took Nerites to Poseidon and plead to revert back the curse. Poseidon who always favored the Nereids granted their wish and transformed him back into his beautiful self. On seeing Nerites Poseidon fell in love with him and asked him to become his male consort.

Nerite agreed and so Poseidon gifted him the power of speed.

Later Helios grew jealous of Poseidon and Nerites and wanted Nerites to be his consort. When Nerites again refuse to leave the sea Helios transformed him into a sea snail.

Because Nerites was transformed twice Poseidon was unable to transform him back to his true self and so Nerites ended up becoming a sea snail.

Final Say

Because Nerites was not a popular god among Greek scholars many of his stories remained in folklore. Because of this reason many of the stories related to Nerites did not survive.

But it clearly suggests that Nerites played an important role especially in his own family because he was the only male child born to the primordial sea god.

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