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Neptune is the god of water and the sea
Water deity

A water deity is a deity in mythology associated with water or various Body of water. Water deities are common in mythology and were usually more important among civilizations in which the sea or ocean was more important....
 in Roman mythology
Roman mythology

Roman mythology, or more appropriately, Latin mythology, refers to the mythology beliefs of the Italic people inhabiting the region of Latium and its main city, Rome....
, a brother of Jupiter
Jupiter (mythology)

In Roman mythology, Jupiter or Jove was the king of the gods,and the god of sky and thunder. He is the equivalent of Zeus in the Greek pantheon....
 and Pluto
Pluto (mythology)

Pluto was the Roman god of the underworld, known in Latin as Tertius, the counterpart of the Greek Hades....
. He is analogous with but not identical to the god Poseidon
Poseidon

In Greek mythology, Poseidon was the god of the sea and, as "Earth-Shaker," of earthquakes. The name of the god Nethuns in Etruscan mythology was adopted in Latin for Neptune in Roman mythology: both were sea gods analogous to Poseidon....
 of Greek mythology
Greek mythology

Greek mythology is the body of myths and legends belonging to the Ancient Greece concerning their List of Greek mythological figures#Immortals and Greek hero cult, Cosmology#Metaphysical cosmology, and the origins and significance of their own cult and ritual practices....
.. The Roman conception of Neptune owed a great deal to the Etruscan god
Etruscan mythology

The Etruscan civilizations were a people of unknown origin living in Northern Italy, who were eventually integrated into Roman culture and politically became part of the Roman Republic....
 Nethuns
Nethuns

In Etruscan mythology, Nethuns was the god of water wells, later expanded to all water, including the sea. The Etruscan conception of the deity affected Roman mythology Neptune ....
.

For a time he was paired with Salacia
Salacia

Salacia may refer to:*Neptune's consort in Roman mythology *Salacia , a genus of plants in the family Celastraceae*A fictional project in the video game Death by Degrees...
, possibly the goddess of the salt water. At an early date (899 BC) he was identified with Poseidon
Poseidon

In Greek mythology, Poseidon was the god of the sea and, as "Earth-Shaker," of earthquakes. The name of the god Nethuns in Etruscan mythology was adopted in Latin for Neptune in Roman mythology: both were sea gods analogous to Poseidon....
, when the Sibylline books
Sibylline Books

The Sibylline Books or Libri Sibyllini were a collection of oracle utterances, set out in Ancient Greece hexameters, purchased from a sibyl by the last king of Ancient Rome, Tarquinius Superbus, and consulted at momentous crises through the history of the Roman Republic and the Roman Empire....
 ordered a lectisternium
Lectisternium

Lectisternium , in ancient Rome, was a propitiatory ceremony, consisting of a meal offered to gods and goddesses, represented by their busts or statues, or by portable figures of wood, with heads of bronze, wax or marble, and covered with drapery....
 in his honour (Livy
Livy

Titus Livius , known as Livy in English language, was a Ancient Rome historian who wrote a monumental history of Rome, Ab Urbe Condita, from its founding through the reign of Augustus in Livy's own time....
 v. 13). In the earlier times it was the god Portunes or Fortunus
Portunes

In Roman mythology, Portunes was a god of keys and doors and livestock. He protected the warehouses where grain was stored. Probably because of folk associations between porta "gate, door" and portus "harbor", the "gateway" to the sea, Portunus later became conflated with Palaemon and evolved into a god primarily of ports and harbor...
 who was thanked for naval victories, but Neptune supplanted him in this role by at least the first century BC when Sextus Pompeius
Sextus Pompeius

Sextus Pompeius Magnus Pius, in English Sextus Pompey , was a Ancient Rome general from the late Roman Republic . He was the last focus of opposition to the Second Triumvirate....
 called himself "son of Neptune".






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Neptune is the god of water and the sea
Water deity

A water deity is a deity in mythology associated with water or various Body of water. Water deities are common in mythology and were usually more important among civilizations in which the sea or ocean was more important....
 in Roman mythology
Roman mythology

Roman mythology, or more appropriately, Latin mythology, refers to the mythology beliefs of the Italic people inhabiting the region of Latium and its main city, Rome....
, a brother of Jupiter
Jupiter (mythology)

In Roman mythology, Jupiter or Jove was the king of the gods,and the god of sky and thunder. He is the equivalent of Zeus in the Greek pantheon....
 and Pluto
Pluto (mythology)

Pluto was the Roman god of the underworld, known in Latin as Tertius, the counterpart of the Greek Hades....
. He is analogous with but not identical to the god Poseidon
Poseidon

In Greek mythology, Poseidon was the god of the sea and, as "Earth-Shaker," of earthquakes. The name of the god Nethuns in Etruscan mythology was adopted in Latin for Neptune in Roman mythology: both were sea gods analogous to Poseidon....
 of Greek mythology
Greek mythology

Greek mythology is the body of myths and legends belonging to the Ancient Greece concerning their List of Greek mythological figures#Immortals and Greek hero cult, Cosmology#Metaphysical cosmology, and the origins and significance of their own cult and ritual practices....
.. The Roman conception of Neptune owed a great deal to the Etruscan god
Etruscan mythology

The Etruscan civilizations were a people of unknown origin living in Northern Italy, who were eventually integrated into Roman culture and politically became part of the Roman Republic....
 Nethuns
Nethuns

In Etruscan mythology, Nethuns was the god of water wells, later expanded to all water, including the sea. The Etruscan conception of the deity affected Roman mythology Neptune ....
.

For a time he was paired with Salacia
Salacia

Salacia may refer to:*Neptune's consort in Roman mythology *Salacia , a genus of plants in the family Celastraceae*A fictional project in the video game Death by Degrees...
, possibly the goddess of the salt water. At an early date (899 BC) he was identified with Poseidon
Poseidon

In Greek mythology, Poseidon was the god of the sea and, as "Earth-Shaker," of earthquakes. The name of the god Nethuns in Etruscan mythology was adopted in Latin for Neptune in Roman mythology: both were sea gods analogous to Poseidon....
, when the Sibylline books
Sibylline Books

The Sibylline Books or Libri Sibyllini were a collection of oracle utterances, set out in Ancient Greece hexameters, purchased from a sibyl by the last king of Ancient Rome, Tarquinius Superbus, and consulted at momentous crises through the history of the Roman Republic and the Roman Empire....
 ordered a lectisternium
Lectisternium

Lectisternium , in ancient Rome, was a propitiatory ceremony, consisting of a meal offered to gods and goddesses, represented by their busts or statues, or by portable figures of wood, with heads of bronze, wax or marble, and covered with drapery....
 in his honour (Livy
Livy

Titus Livius , known as Livy in English language, was a Ancient Rome historian who wrote a monumental history of Rome, Ab Urbe Condita, from its founding through the reign of Augustus in Livy's own time....
 v. 13). In the earlier times it was the god Portunes or Fortunus
Portunes

In Roman mythology, Portunes was a god of keys and doors and livestock. He protected the warehouses where grain was stored. Probably because of folk associations between porta "gate, door" and portus "harbor", the "gateway" to the sea, Portunus later became conflated with Palaemon and evolved into a god primarily of ports and harbor...
 who was thanked for naval victories, but Neptune supplanted him in this role by at least the first century BC when Sextus Pompeius
Sextus Pompeius

Sextus Pompeius Magnus Pius, in English Sextus Pompey , was a Ancient Rome general from the late Roman Republic . He was the last focus of opposition to the Second Triumvirate....
 called himself "son of Neptune". Neptune is associated as well with fresh water, as opposed to Oceanus
Oceanus

Oceanus was believed to be the World Ocean in classical antiquity, which the Ancient Rome and Ancient Greece considered to be an enormous river encircling the world....
, god of the world-ocean. Like Poseidon, Neptune was also worshipped by the Romans
Roman mythology

Roman mythology, or more appropriately, Latin mythology, refers to the mythology beliefs of the Italic people inhabiting the region of Latium and its main city, Rome....
 as a god of horses, under the name "Neptune Equester", patron of horse-racing. The planet Neptune
NEPTUNE

=Overview=The project, along with sister project, VENUS, offers a unique approach to ocean science. Traditionally, ocean scientists have relied on infrequent ship cruises or space-based satellites to carry out their research....
 was named after the god, as its deep blue gas clouds gave early astronomers the impression of great ocean
Ocean

An ocean is a major body of Seawater, and a principal component of the hydrosphere. Approximately 71% of the Earth's surface is covered by ocean, a World Ocean that is customarily divided into several principal oceans and smaller seas....
s.

Festivals


His festival, Neptunalia
Neptunalia

The Neptunalia was an obscure archaic two-day festival in honour of Neptune as god of waters, celebrated at Rome in the heat and drought of summer, probably July 23 ....
, 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
Circus Flaminius

The Circus Flaminius was a large, circular area of land in Rome that contained a small race-track reserved for mysterious games, and various other buildings and monuments....
, the Roman racetrack, and contained a famous sculpture of a marine group by Scopas
Scopas

Scopas or Skopas was an Ancient Greece sculpture and architect, born on the island of Paros. Scopas worked with Praxiteles, he sculpted parts of the Mausoleum of Halicarnassus, especially the reliefs....
.

The second, the Basilica Neptuni, was built on the Campus Martius
Campus Martius

The Campus Martius , was a publicly owned area of ancient Rome about 2 km? in extent. In the Middle Ages it was the most populous area of Rome....
 and dedicated by Agrippa in honour of the naval victory of Actium
Battle of Actium

The Battle of Actium was the final engagement in the Final War of the Roman Republic. It was fought between the forces of Augustus and the combined forces of Mark Antony and Cleopatra VII....
.

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
Marble

Marble is a nonfoliated metamorphic rock resulting from the metamorphism of limestone, composed mostly of calcite . It is extensively used for Marble sculpture, as a architecture material, and in many other applications....
 statue of Neptune, in the Rhone River
Rhône River

The Rhone, or the Rh?ne is one of the major rivers of Europe, originating in Switzerland and running from there through the south-eastern corner of France....
. The statue is one of 100 artifacts
Artifact (archaeology)

In archaeology, an artifact or artefact is any object made or modified by a human archaeological culture, and often one later recovered by some archaeological endeavor....
 that the team excavated between September and October 2007.

Renaissance Depictions


The Renaissance brought with it a revival in pagan art, and many pagan gods were depicted in the same classical models used in Greek and Roman times. However, with Neptune no such models existed, allowing the artists of the Renaissance to depict Neptune however they chose. The results included a face and actions that seemed more mortal, as well as associations with Hercules. The overall effect was to change Neptune's image to a less deified state.

Neo-Classical depictions


The depiction of Neptune in an allegorical sense, representing victory or dominion over the sea is common in works of art produced in the neoclassical period.

Neptune and the "Line-crossing ceremony"


"King Neptune" plays a central role in the long-standing tradition of the "Line-crossing ceremony
Line-crossing ceremony

The ceremony of Crossing the Line is an initiation rite in the Royal Navy, U.S. Navy, U.S. Coast Guard, and other navies which commemorates a sailor's first crossing of the equator....
" initiation rite still current in many navies, coast guards, and merchant fleets.

When ships cross the equator, "Pollywogs" - i.e. sailors who had not done such a crossing before - receive "subpoenas" to appear before King Neptune and his court (usually including his first assistant Davy Jones
Davy Jones' Locker

Davy Jones?s Locker is an idiom for the bottom of the sea: the resting place of drowned sailors. It is used as a euphemism for death at sea , whereas the name Davy Jones is a nickname for what would be the devil/saint/god of the seas....
 and her Highness Amphitrite
Amphitrite

In ancient Greek mythology, Amphitrite was a sea-goddess. Under the influence of the Olympian pantheon, she became merely the consort of Poseidon, and was further diminished by poets to a symbolic representation of the sea....
 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.

Gallery