Nēreus

, a deity of the sea, son of Ocean us and Terra. He married Doris, by whom he had 50 daughters, called the Nereides. See: Nereides . Nereus was generally represented as an old man with a long flowing beard, and hair of an azure colour. The chief place of his residence was in the Ægean sea, where he was surrounded by his daughters, who often danced in choruses round him. He had the gift of prophecy, and informed those that consulted him with the different fates that attended them. He acquainted Paris with the consequences of his elopement with Helen; and it was by his directions that Hercules obtained the golden apples of the Hesperides. But the sea-god often evaded the importunities of inquirers by a uming different shapes, and totally escaping from their grasp. The word Nereus is often taken for the sea itself. Nereus is sometimes called the most ancient of all the gods. Hesiod , Theogony .— Hyginus. — Homer , Iliad , bk. 18 .— Apollo dor us. — Orpheus , Argonautic a .— Horace , bk. 1 , ode 13.— Euripi des , I phi gene i a .