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Glaucus, a MythSource painting
Greek

Glaucus

Glaucus Pontius · Glaucus Marinus · Glaucus Of Anthedon

01Identity

Glaucus in Greek tradition

Circe transformed Scylla as revenge after Glaucus refused her love, poisoning the pool where the nymph rested with herbs and a spell. Glaucus is a Greek sea deity associated with fishermen, fishing, sailors, seafaring and prophecy, remembered earlier as the fisherman of Anthedon. When Scylla entered the water, barking creatures fastened themselves to her hindquarters, beginning the transformation later described as a many-headed monster beside the passage near Charybdis.

Top questions

The quick answers

  • Who is Glaucus?

    Glaucus is a Greek deity associated with the sea, fishing and fishermen, prophecy, sailors and seafaring.
    Source

    Source

    • Bullfinch Mythology - The Age of Fable
    • Dictionary of Mythology
    • The Greek Myths

  • What is Glaucus the god of?

    the sea, fishing and fishermen, prophecy, sailors and seafaring
    Source

    Source

    • Bullfinch Mythology - The Age of Fable
    • Dictionary of Mythology

  • What family links are recorded for Glaucus?

    Father: Anthedon, Mother: Alcyone, 1 child.
02Family

Glaucus’s family, at a glance

Parents above, children below, and the figure’s consorts named in between, the same family data as the fact box, laid out as a chart instead of a field list.

AnthedonPolybus of SicyonPoseidonAlcyoneEuboeanaiad
Glaucus
Deiphobe
03The names

The names Glaucus answers to

Glaucus Pontius

Glaucus of the sea

SourceThe Greek Myths

Glaucus Marinus

The marine or sea Glaucus

SourceDictionary of Mythology

Glaucus of Anthedon

The fisherman from Anthedon who became a sea god

SourceBullfinch Mythology - The Age of Fable

Glaucus the Fisherman

Glaucus before his transformation into a sea deity

SourceBullfinch Mythology - The Age of Fable

04The myths

The myths of Glaucus

2 myths, each traced to its primary text and corpus sources.

Glaucus Pursues Scylla

Glaucus, once a fisherman from Euboea and now a god of the sea, swam through the Tyrrhenian Sea after passing Aetna, the pasture of the Cyclopes, Zancle, Rhegion, and the rough waters between Italy and Sicily. He reached the grassy hills where Circe’s high palace stood. The palace was filled with many kinds of beasts. Glaucus greeted Circe, received her welcome, and asked for her help. He had fallen in love with Scylla, a beautiful sea nymph, and wished to win her affection.

Circe answered that he should seek someone whose desire matched his own. She said that he was worthy of love and should not doubt the power of his beauty. She offered herself to him as a goddess skilled in herbs and spells. Glaucus did not abandon his desire for Scylla. Circe then turned against her rival. She gathered poisonous plants and prepared a pool where Scylla often rested when the sun stood highest in the sky.

The pool lay beneath a curved shelter. Circe polluted its water with her poisons, scattered the juice of venomous herbs through it, and muttered a dark charm nine times. When Scylla came to the pool and waded into it up to her waist, she saw barking creatures clinging to her hind parts. At first, she believed that the dogs were separate from her body. She recoiled and rebuked them, fearing that they would bite her. Each time she tried to escape them, they remained attached.

Scylla’s change left her with monstrous forms joined to her body. Later accounts describe her as a sea monster with six heads, twelve dangling feet, and three rows of sharp teeth. They also place her in a cave beside the sea route near Charybdis, where sailors feared passing her. Another account says that Poseidon first changed the drowning Scylla into a sea nymph, after which Amphitrite transformed her into a monster. Earlier writers instead treated Scylla as monstrous by birth.

Glaucus Pursues Scylla, a MythSource painting of the scene

In the modern world

No modern rework confirmed yet.

2 sources· checked 2026-08-19

  1. 1Shakespeare's Ovid, being Arthur Golding's translation of the MetamorphosesT1
  2. 2Ovid, MetamorphosesT1

    Quote

    “Circe poisons the pool where Scylla bathes, causing barking dogs to grow from the nymph’s body when she enters the water.”

    Ovid, Metamorphoses

Circe Transforms Scylla

Glaucus, an Euboean fisherman recently changed into a sea god, crossed the Tyrrhenian Sea after passing Mount Etna, the pasture of the Cyclopes, Zancle, Rhegium, and the rough sea between Italy and Sicily. He reached the grassy hills and the high palace of Circe, where many different beasts lay. After she welcomed him, he asked her to ease the love he felt for Scylla.

Circe told Glaucus to seek someone whose desire matched his own. She offered herself to him and promised to use her herbs and spells for his sake. Glaucus did not return her love. His desire remained fixed on Scylla. Circe’s anger grew, since she was easily moved to passion and could use both charms and herbs.

Near the place where Scylla rested stood a small pool, curved like a bow. She went there when the sun was highest and the heat drove her from the sea and air. Circe polluted the water before Scylla arrived. She scattered the juice of poisonous plants through it, then murmured a dark spell nine times with her enchanted mouth.

Scylla waded into the pool as far as her waist. At once she saw barking creatures fastened to her hindquarters. At first, she did not understand that they were joined to her body. She recoiled and tried to drive them away, fearing that the eager dogs would bite her. The more she avoided them, the more firmly they remained attached. The transformation had begun, and Scylla became the monster remembered in later accounts. She was described as a beautiful nymph above the waist, with ravening wolves below it, while other accounts gave her six heads and sharp teeth.

Circe Transforms Scylla, a MythSource painting of the scene

In the modern world

No modern rework confirmed yet.

2 sources· checked 2026-08-19

  1. 1Shakespeare's Ovid, being Arthur Golding's translation of the MetamorphosesT1
  2. 2Ovid, MetamorphosesT1

    Quote

    “When Scylla wades into the poisoned pool, barking dogs appear attached to her hindquarters despite her attempts to flee them.”

    Ovid, Metamorphoses

Also appears in

The myths across MythSource where Glaucus features, each on that figure’s page.

The film

The Underdrawing video on Glaucus embeds here once it publishes.

Continue the road

More of Glaucus’s family, sourced

PoseidonFather