Eidothea is a sea goddess in Greek Mythology.
Genealogy and Family[]
She is the daughter of the Nereid, Psamathe and the sea god Proteus. According to Euripides' Helen, she had a brother named Theoclymenos. Her maternal grandparents are Nereus and Doris and paternal grandparents are Poseidon and possibly Princess Phoenice of Phoenicia.
Story[]
According to Homer's The Odyssey, when Menelaus was returning home from Troy, his fleet was becalmed on the island of Pharos near Egypt. Eidothea took pity on the hero and told him how he might capture her father and force him to reveal prophecies which would enable his escape from the island.
According to the play, Helen by Euripides, which tells a different version to Helen of Troy's story, Eidothea was a Princess of Egypt and the sister of Prince Theoclymenos. Her brother wished to marry Helen of Troy, but Eidothea instead sided with Helen's decision not to marry Prince Theoclymenos, and this made him want to kill Eidothea however before she could be executed the Dioscuri (brothers of Helen) intervened and saved her life.
Role and Significance[]
As a Nereid, Eidothea would have been in charge of taking care of her stream; preventing it from polluting or drying up or else she would die.
Trivia[]
Eidothea is spelt Ειδοθεα in Greek and means 'knowing goddess'.
She was also called Eido/Ειδω for short, which simply means 'knowing' or 'shapely'
Another name for her was Theonoe meaning 'intelligent goddess' which is spelt Θεονοη in Greek.