Psamathe- Greek GodDeity · Nymph"Daughter of Nereus"
Also known as: Psamatheia, Psamathē, and Ψαμάθη
Description
She transformed into a seal to escape Aeacus, but he held her through the change and she bore him a son named Phocus, meaning 'Seal.' When Peleus and Telamon murdered the boy, Psamathe sent a monstrous wolf to ravage Peleus's flocks until her sister Thetis intervened.
Mythology & Lore
The Seal
Psamathe was one of the fifty Nereids, sea-daughters of Nereus and the Oceanid Doris. When Aeacus, king of Aegina and son of Zeus, wanted her for a wife, she fled. She shifted into a seal and dove through the surf. Aeacus seized her and held fast through the transformation. From this forced union she bore a son: Phocus, whose name means 'seal,' after the shape she had worn when he was conceived.
The Murder
Phocus grew into a gifted athlete on Aegina. Aeacus favoured him above Peleus and Telamon, his sons by the mortal Endeis. During an athletic contest, the two half-brothers killed him. In Apollodorus's account, Telamon struck him with a discus; Ovid gives the blow to Peleus. They hid the body in the woods. Aeacus discovered the crime and banished both sons from the island.
The Wolf
Psamathe sent a monstrous wolf from the sea to ravage Peleus's cattle herds across Thessaly. The beast tore through the flocks night after night. No shepherd or hound could bring it down. Peleus appealed to Thetis, his wife and Psamathe's sister. Thetis persuaded Psamathe to relent. Rather than recall the beast, Psamathe turned it to stone where it stood.