Amphitrite

Goddess of the sea, queen of the sea, and the wife of Poseidon.

“To Nereus and rich-haired Doris, daughter of Okeanos (Oceanus), there were born in the barren sea daughters greatly beautiful even among goddesses.”

Hesiod

Amphitrite was a child of Nereus and Doris, the eldest of their fifty daughters, and reputed to be the most beautiful of them all.

Poseidon chose her from among her sisters as the Nereids performed a dance on the isle of Naxos. Refusing his offer of marriage, and wishing to preserve her virginity, she fled to the farthest reaches of the Mediterranean Sea, all the way to the Atlas mountains. However her disappearance only caused Poseidon to become more infatuated with her, and so the new ruler of the seas sent out aquatic creatures to find the hidden Amphitrite and return her to him. Among them was the sea god Delphin, a daimon of Poseidon’s court who took the form of a dolphin.

Upon his discovery of her hiding place, Delphin convinced her of all the positive elements that could come from marriage to Poseidon. Her was so eloquent in his words, that Amphritrite eventually agreed, and became Poseidon’s wife and queen of the Sea.

As a reward for Delphin’s help, Poseidon created the Delphinus constellation.

Amphitrite’s offspring included seals and dolphins. She also bred sea monsters and her great waves crashed against the rocks, putting sailors at risk. Amphitrite would bear Poseidon several children, including Triton, a sea god who acted as the messenger for his father, Rhode, the goddess nymph of Rhodes, Bentheseicyme, the Greek goddess of waves, and Cymopoleia, the goddess of storm waves.

“A ruining storm maddens along the wide gulfs of the deep, and moans Amphitrite (the Sea-queen) with her anguished waves which sweep from every hand, uptowering like precipiced mountains, while the bitter squall, ceaselessly veering, shrieks across the sea.”

Quintus Smyrnaeus

It is said that her voice alone can calm Poseidon in his most vicious fits of rage.

When Poseidon showed some attachment to Scylla, Amphitrite’s jealousy was sparked to such a degree that she begged her son Triton to punish the woman, and thereby her rival was mutated into a monster with six heads and twelve feet.

Amphitrite also appears in some tales of Theseus:

When Minos doubted the divine parentage of Theseus, Amphitrite was said to have presented her husband’s son with a crown.

Additionally, in the tale of the Argonauts, Amphitrite sent one of the horses who pulled Poseidon’s chariot, to help move the Argo.