Oceanus' consort is his sister Tethys, and from their union came the ocean nymphs, also known as the three-thousand Oceanids, and all the rivers of the world, fountains, and lakes. From Cronus, of the race of Titans, the Olympian gods have their birth, and Hera mentions twice in ''Iliad'' book XIV her intended journey "to the ends of the generous earth on a visit to Oceanus, whence the gods have risen, and Tethys our mother who brought me up kindly in their own house."

In most variations of the war between the Titans and the Olympians, or Titanomachy, Oceanus, along with Prometheus and Themis, did not take the side of his fellow Titans against the Olympians, but instead withdrew from the conflict. In most variations of this myth, Oceanus also refused to side with Cronus in the latter's revolt against their father, Uranus.

Excerpts from Hesiod and Homer

In the ''Iliad'', the rich iconography of Achilles' shield, which was fashioned by Hephaestus, is enclosed, as the world itself was believed to be, by Oceanus:

When Odysseus and Nestor walk together along the shore of the sounding sea (''Iliad'' IX.182) their prayers are addressed "to the great Sea-god who girdles the world." It is to Oceanus, not to Poseidon, that their thoughts are directed.

Invoked in passing by poets and figured as the father of rivers and streams, thus the progenitor of river gods, Oceanus appears only once in myth, as a representative of the archaic world that Heracles constantly threatened and bested. Heracles forced the loan from Helios of his golden bowl, in order to cross the wide expanse of the Ocean on his trip to the Hesperides. When Oceanus tossed the bowl, Heracles threatened him and stilled his waves. The journey of Heracles in the sun-bowl upon Oceanus was a favored theme among painters of Attic pottery.

In cosmography

Oceanus appears in Hellenic cosmography as well as myth. Cartographers continued to represent the encircling equatorial stream much as it had appeared on Achilles' shield.

Though Herodotus was skeptical about the physical existence of Oceanus, he rejected snowmelt as a cause of the annual flood of the Nile river; according to his translator and interpreter, Livio Catullo Stecchini, he left unsettled the question of an equatorial Nile, since the geography of Sub-Saharan Africa was unknown to him.

Apollonius of Rhodes calls the lower Danube the ''Keras Okeanoio'' (Gulf or Horn of Oceanus) in ''Argonautica'' (IV. 282).

''Accion'' (Ocean) in the fourth century Gaulish Latin of Rufus Avienus', ''Ora maritima'', was applied to great lakes.

Both Homer (''Odyssey'', XII. 1) and Hesiod (''Theogonia'', v.242. 959) refer to ''Okeanos Potamos'', the "Ocean Stream",

Hecateus of Abdera writes that the Oceanus of the Hyperboreans is neither the Arctic Ocean nor Western Ocean, but the sea located to the north of the ancient Greek world, called "the most admirable of all seas" by Herodotus (lib. IV 85), called the "immense sea" by Pomponius Mela (lib. I. c. 19) and by Dionysius Periegetes (''Orbis Descriptio'', v. 165), and which is named ''Mare majus'' on medieval geographic maps.

At the end of the ''Okeanos Potamos'', is the holy island of Alba (Leuke, Pytho Nisi, Isle of Snakes), sacred to the Pelasgian (and later, Greek) Apollo, greeting the sun rising in the east. Hecateus of Abdera refers to Apollo's island from the region of the Hyperboreans, in the Oceanus. It was on Leuke, in one version of his legend, that the hero Achilles, in a hilly tumulus, was buried (to this day, one of the mouths of the Danube is called Chilia). Leto, the Hyperborean goddess after nine days and nine nights of labour on the island of Delos (Pelasgian for hill, related to tell) "gave birth to the great god of the antique light" (Pseudo-Apollodorus, ''Bibliotheca'', I. 4.1). Old Romanian folk songs sing of a white monastery on a white island with nine priests, nine singers, nine altars, on a part of the Black Sea known as the White Sea.

Argive genealogy in Greek mythology

See also

References

Sources

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Category:Greek gods Category:Greek mythology Category:Greek loanwords Category:Sea and river gods Category:Titans Category:Offspring of Gaia Category:Greek sea gods

David Arkenstone is an American New Age musician. His music is primarily instrumental, with occasional vocalizations. He was born in Chicago, Illinois on July 1, 1952. He has three children—Quillon, Dashiell and Valinor—with his first wife, Julie. His second wife was Diane Arkenstone, also a musician.

Biography

Arkenstone went solo and found his own sound in New Age music. Arkenstone says that has been greatly aided by technology: "Technology has produced some wonderful tools for making music. The computer allows me to fully orchestrate my pieces and really fine tune them." His music is primarily instrumental. His albums, often fantasy themed, often come packaged with literature and art. He worked with fantasy novel writer Mercedes Lackey on a few of his albums. Arkenstone and his ex-wife, Diane, created their own record label called Neo Pacifica. In addition to releasing their own music on the label, they have included other bands such as Earth Trybe, Enaid, and the Marquis Ensemble.

He has also composed music for television; channels such as the History Channel, the Discovery Channel and NBC Sports include his music. He has also written music for trailers and some of his works were used as film soundtracks. His music also features on computer games such as ''World of Warcraft'', ''Lands of Lore 2'' and ''3'', ''Blade Runner'', ''Earth and Beyond'', and ''Emperor: Battle for Dune''; he also features on ''20 Years of Narada Piano''. Additionally, he wrote the original score for the independent film ''PRISM''.

Arkenstone earned three Grammy nominations for his work: ''In the Wake of the Wind'' in 1992, ''Citizen of the World'' in 2000, and ''Atlantis'' in 2004.

Arkenstone has learned to play a large variety of musical instruments including the bouzouki, mandolin, guitar, bass guitar, harp, cello, flute, electronic keyboards, piano, Turkish saz, pennywhistle, melodica and pan pipes. He also plays drums and percussion and has performed some vocalizations on his albums.

Arkenstone is also involved in the band Troika; their sound is similar to his solo work. The band members like to remain anonymous, although the compositions are credited to Arkenstone.

His theme "The Journey Begins / Kyla's Ride" was used for the FIFA World Cup France '98 broadcastings intro by the Mexican television network TV Azteca.

He recently signed with Domo Records and re-released the album ''Echoes of Light and Shadow'' in 2010.

Arkenstone was a member of the composing team who developed the music for Blizzard Activision's World of Warcraft videogame's Cataclysm expansion. Along with Arkenstone, the team consists of Derek Duke, Glenn Stafford, and Neal Acree.

Discography

References

External links

Category:New Age musicians Category:Living people Category:Narada Productions artists Category:1952 births Category:Windham Hill Records artists