NEPTUNE/POSEIDON

 NEPTUNE/POSEIDON

"And the day wore on, and still Olney listened to rumours of old times and far places, and heard how the Kings of Atlantis fought with the slippery blasphemies that wriggled out of rifts in ocean’s floor, and how the pillared and weedy temple of Poseidonis is still glimpsed at midnight by lost ships, who know by its sight that they are lost."

"Trident-bearing Neptune was there, and sportive tritons and fantastic nereids, and upon dolphins’ backs was balanced a vast crenulate shell wherein rode the grey and awful form of primal Nodens, Lord of the Great Abyss."

H.P. Lovecraft, The Strange High House In the Mist

"The symbol of Poseidon's power was the trident, or a spear with three points, with which he used to shatter rocks, to call forth or subdue storms, to shake the earth, and the like."

"His figure does not present the majestic calm which characterises his brother Zeus; but as the state of the sea is varying, so also is the god represented sometimes in violent agitation, and sometimes in a state of repose. It must be observed that the Romans identified Poseidon with their own Neptunus, and that accordingly the attributes belonging to the former are constantly transferred by the Latin poets to the latter."

William Smith, Dictionary Of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology  

"Highest of the gods, lord of the sea, Poseidon of the golden trident, earth-shaker in the swelling brine, around thee the finny monsters in a ring swim and dance, with nimble flingings of their feet leaping lightly, snub-nosed hounds with bristling neck, swift runners, music-loving dolphins, sea-nurslings of the Nereis (Nereid) maids divine, whom Amphitrite bore, even they that carried me, a wanderer on the Sikelian main, to the headland of Tainarion in Pelops' land, mounting me upon their humped backs as they clove the furrow of Nereus' plain, a path untrodden, when deceitful men had cast me from their sea-faring hollow ship in to the purple swell of sea."

Aelian, On Animals  

NODENS

NODENS

"Trident-bearing Neptune was there, and sportive tritons and fantastic nereids, and upon dolphins’ backs was balanced a vast crenulate shell wherein rode the grey and awful form of primal Nodens, Lord of the Great Abyss. And the conches of the tritons gave weird blasts, and the nereids made strange sounds by striking on the grotesque resonant shells of unknown lurkers in black sea-caves. Then hoary Nodens reached forth a wizened hand and helped Olney and his host into the vast shell, whereat the conches and the gongs set up a wild and awesome clamour."

H.P. Lovecraft, The Strange High House In the Mist 

"Its former importance in British tradition has, however, been confirmed by the discovery at Lydney Park in Gloucestershire of the remains of a Romano-British temple containing dedications to a god Nodons (or Nodens), whos name correspondes etymologically to Nuadha and Nudd."

"The obvious syncretism of the Lydney Park cult makes it difficult to asses the significance of the objects found there. Thus some of them would suggest that the god has strong aquatic associations, and yet these are not noticeably reflected."
Proinsias Mac Cana, Celtic Mythology

"No physical depiction of Nodons survives, but votive plaques at the shrine appear to show a man hooking a fish."
James MacKillop, Dictionary Of Celtic Mythology

"During the Roman era, a large Romano-Celtic temple was built to honor Nodons on the banks of the Severn river. The temple was situated at the site of an ancient earthwork, and the symbolism inside it-which included the sun, water and dogs-seems to underscore his role as a healer."
Sharon Paice Macleod, Celtic Myth and Religion

FAIRY

FAIRY
 "When tales fly thick in the grottoes of tritons, and conches in seaweed cities blow wild tunes learned from the Elder Ones, then great eager mists flock to heaven laden with lore, and oceanward eyes on the rocks see only a mystic whiteness, as if the cliff’s rim were the rim of all earth, and the solemn bells of buoys tolled free in the aether of faery."
 
"Ironic humour dragged down all the twilight minarets he reared, and the earthy fear of improbability blasted all the delicate and amazing flowers in his faery gardens."
H.P. Lovecraft, The Strange High House In the Mist

"There is a long tradition in myth and legend of these diminutive enchanting spirits throughout Europe and the Middle East, althought they figure less in other countries of the world. The Fairies may vary in their appare and abodes but in general they resemble tiny humans."

 Carol Rose, Spirits, Fairies, Leprechauns and Goblins

 

NEREID

NEREID

"Trident-bearing Neptune was there, and sportive tritons and fantastic nereids, and upon dolphins’ backs was balanced a vast crenulate shell wherein rode the grey and awful form of primal Nodens, Lord of the Great Abyss. And the conches of the tritons gave weird blasts, and the nereids made strange sounds by striking on the grotesque resonant shells of unknown lurkers in black sea-caves"
H.P. Lovecraft, The Strange High House In the Mist

"Opiate oceans poured there, litten by suns that the eye may never behold and having in their whirlpools strange dolphins and sea-nymphs of unrememberable deeps."
H.P. Lovecraft, Azathoth

"Nereids-Sea nymphs of the Mediterranean: the fifty granddaughters of Pontus the sea god and Gaea the earth mother. They have some relationship to the mermaids of other seas and oceans, and like them are extremely beautiful, but they do not have fishtails."
Michael Page & Robert Ingpen, Encyclopedia Of Things That Never Were

UNKNOWN LURKER

UNKNOWN LURKER

"And the conches of the tritons gave weird blasts, and the nereids made strange sounds by striking on the grotesque resonant shells of unknown lurkers in black sea-caves."

H.P. Lovecraft, The Strange High House In the Mist

TRITON

TRITON

"And the conches of the tritons gave weird blasts, and the nereids made strange sounds by striking on the grotesque resonant shells of unknown lurkers in black sea-caves."

H.P. Lovecraft, The Strange High House In the Mist

"This Is the name of a merman and, later, a class of mermen in the classical mythology of Greece and Rome."

"The Tritons are the sons of Neptune/ Poseidon and Amphitrite and are described as having humanoid bodies covered in scales with tails like those of a dolphin. Their heads have matted green or yellow hair, with gills behind their pointed ears, and their wide mouths have huge, fang-like teeth."

Carol Rose, Giants Monsters and Dragons