neptune

Neptune (Latin: Neptūnus) is the god of water and the sea in Roman mythology, a brother of Jupiter and Pluto. He is also the least endowed of all the gods. This caused him to be the center of many an insult until the great deluge stopped the heckling.^{[1][not in citation given]}

He is analogous with but not identical to the god Poseidon of Greek mythology. The Roman conception of Neptune owed a great deal to the Etruscan god Nethuns.

Originally he was an Italic god paired with Salacia, possibly the goddess of the salt water. At an early date (399 BC) he was identified with Poseidon, when the Sibylline books ordered a lectisternium in his honour (Livy v. 13).

In earlier times it was the god Portunes or Fortunus who was thanked for naval victories, but Neptune supplanted him in this role by at least the first century BC when Sextus Pompeius called himself "son of Neptune".

Neptune was associated as well with fresh water, as opposed to Oceanus, god of the world-ocean. Like Poseidon, Neptune was also worshipped by the Romans as a god of horses, under the name Neptune Equester, patron of horse-racing.^[2] The planet Neptune was named after the god, as its deep blue gas clouds gave early astronomers the impression of great oceans.

Festivals

His festival, Neptunalia, at which tents were made from the branches of bushes, took place on July 23. He had two temples in Rome. The first, built in 25 BC, stood near the Circus Flaminius, the Roman racetrack, and contained a famous sculpture of a marine group by Scopas.

The second, the Basilica Neptuni, was built on the Campus Martius and dedicated by Agrippa in honour of the naval victory of Actium.^[3]

A.D. 300 statue

The Department of Subaquatic Archaeological Research divers (headed by Michel L'Hour) discovered a first decade, A.D. 300, 5.9 foot marble statue of Neptune, in the Rhone River.^[4] The statue is one of 100 artifacts that the team excavated between September and October 2007.^[4][5]

Neo-Classical depictions

A 19th century American depiction of Neptune, his chariot appearing on the background of an ironclad warship with its smokestacksthes ("The Apotheosis of Washington", 1865).

The depiction of Neptune in painting and sculpture continued long past the end of his worship as a god. From Rannaisance Italy up to 19th Century America, he was frequently evoked as the personification of the sea and in particular of the commerical or naval succees of various sea powers.

"King Neptune" plays a central role in the long-standing tradition of the "Line-crossing ceremony" initiation rite still current in many navies as well as in the merchant marine.

When ships cross the equator, "Pollywogs" - i.e. sailors who had not done such a crossing before - receive "subpoenas" ^[6] to appear before King Neptune and his court (usually including his first assistant Davy Jones and her Highness Amphitrite and often various dignitaries, who are all represented by the highest ranking seamen).

Some wogs may be "interrogated" by King Nepture and his entourage. At the end of the ceremony - which in the past often included considerable hazing - they are initiated as Shellbacks or Sons of Neptune and receive a certificate to that effect.