Eidothea was the daughter of Proteus. In Odyssey 4, she took pity on Menelaus stranded on Pharos and revealed how to ambush and capture her father among his seals to compel his prophecy.
Proteus served Poseidon as herdsman of the god's sea creatures, tending his flocks of seals on the island of Pharos near the mouth of the Nile.
In Virgil's Georgics 4, Aristaeus captured the shape-shifting Proteus on Pharos and held him through his transformations until the sea god revealed that the nymphs had destroyed Aristaeus's bees as punishment for Eurydice's death.
In Euripides' Helen, Proteus was king of Egypt who sheltered the real Helen during the Trojan War after Hermes brought her there. A phantom Helen went to Troy in her place, and Proteus guarded her honor until his death.
In Euripides' Helen, Hera orchestrated a plan to deceive Paris by sending a phantom Helen to Troy while the real Helen was hidden with Proteus in Egypt, thwarting Aphrodite's promise to Paris.
In Euripides' Helen, Hermes brought the real Helen to Proteus in Egypt at Hera's command, entrusting her to the sea god's protection while a phantom took her place at Troy.
In Odyssey 4, Menelaus captured Proteus on the island of Pharos by ambushing him among his seals at midday. He held the shape-shifting god through transformations into a lion, serpent, leopard, boar, water, and tree until Proteus yielded and prophesied Menelaus's route home.
In some traditions, Proteus advised Peleus on how to capture the shape-shifting sea nymph Thetis by holding her fast through her transformations, a feat that mirrored the method others used to capture Proteus himself.
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