Proteus
Encyclopedia
In Greek mythology
, Proteus (Πρωτεύς) is an early sea-god, one of several deities whom Homer
calls the "Old Man of the Sea
", whose name suggests the "first" (from Greek
"πρῶτος" - protos, "first"), as protogonos (πρωτόγονος) is the "primordial" or the "firstborn". He became the son of Poseidon
in the Olympian theogony (Odyssey iv. 432), or of Nereus
and Doris
, or of Oceanus
and a Naiad, and was made the herdsman of Poseidon's seal
s, the great bull seal at the center of the harem. He can foretell the future, but, in a mytheme
familiar from several cultures, will change his shape to avoid having to; he will answer only to someone who is capable of capturing him. From this feature of Proteus comes the adjective
protean, with the general meaning of "versatile", "mutable", "capable of assuming many forms". "Protean" has positive connotations of flexibility, versatility and adaptability. The earliest attested form of the name is the Mycenaean Greek 𐀡𐀫𐀳𐀄 po-ro-te-u, written in Linear B
syllabic script.
According to Homer
(Odyssey
iv:412), the sandy island of Pharos
situated off the coast of the Nile Delta
was the home of Proteus, the oracular Old Man of the Sea and herdsman of the sea-beasts. In the Odyssey, Menelaus
relates to Telemachus
that he had been becalmed here on his journey home from the Trojan War
. He learned from Proteus' daughter, Eidothea ("the very image of the Goddess"), that if he could capture her father he could force him to reveal which of the gods he had offended, and how he could propitiate them and return home. Proteus emerged from the sea to sleep among his colony of seals, but Menelaus was successful in holding him, though Proteus took the forms of a lion, a serpent
, a leopard, a pig, even of water or a tree. Proteus then answered truthfully, further informing Menelaus that his brother Agamemnon
had been murdered on his return home, that Ajax the Lesser
had been shipwrecked and killed, and that Odysseus
was stranded on Calypso
's Isle Ogygia
.
According to Virgil
in the fourth Georgic
, at one time the bees of Aristaeus
, son of Apollo, all died of a disease. Aristaeus went to his mother, Cyrene
, for help; she told him that Proteus could tell him how to prevent another such disaster, but would do so only if compelled. Aristaeus had to seize Proteus and hold him, no matter what he would change into. Aristeus did so, and Proteus eventually gave up and told him to sacrifice 12 animals to the gods, leave the corpses in the place of sacrifice, and return three days later. When Aristaeus returned after the three days he found in one of the carcasses a swarm of bees, which he took to his apiary
. The bees were never again troubled by disease.
The children of Proteus, besides Eidothea, include Polygonus and Telegonus, who both challenged Heracles
and were killed, one of Heracles' many successful encounters with representatives of the pre-Olympian world order.
(iv.430ff) Menelaus wrestles with "Proteus of Egypt, the immortal old man of the sea who never lies, who sounds the deep in all its depths, Poseidon's servant" (Robert Fagles
's translation). Proteus of Egypt is mentioned in an alternate version of the story of Helen of Troy in the tragedy Helen of Euripides
(produced in 412 BC). The often unconventional playwright introduces a "real" Helen and a "phantom" Helen (who caused the Trojan War
), and gives a backstory that makes the father of his character Theoclymenus
, Proteus, a king in Egypt who had been wed to a Nereid
Psamathe
. In keeping with one of his themes in Helen, Euripides mentions in passing Eido ("image"), another unseen daughter of the king. The play's king (never seen) is only marginally related to the "Old Man of the Sea" and should not be confused with the sea god Proteus.
At Pharos
—in Hellenistic times the site of the Lighthouse of Alexandria
, (in modern Greek the word still has the meaning "lighthouse)—a king of Egypt named Proteus welcomed Dionysus
in the young god's wanderings.
A further Proteus occurs in Greek myth, as one of the fifty sons of King Aegyptus
.
was a painter, sculptor, scientist and designer of fortifications: his career was "protean".
Proteus syndrome
is the name given to the deforming disease that may have afflicted Joseph Merrick
, "The Elephant Man". Although difficult to differentiate from severe neurofibromatosis
, there have been about 100 cases of Proteus syndrome over the last few decades.
The Proteus phenomenon is a bias observed in scientific publications where controversial studies, i.e. studies whose findings are in extreme contradiction with another study, are more likely to be published early.
(1560–1605) wrote of the shape-changing sea-god who, because of his relationship to the sea, is both a symbol of the unconscious as well as the perfection of the art. Alluding to the scintilla, the spark from ‘the light of nature’ and symbol of the anima mundi
", Khunrath in Gnostic vein stated of the Protean element Mercury
The poet John Milton
was also aware of the association of Proteus with the Hermetic art of alchemy
. In Paradise Lost
(III.603–06) he wrote of the alchemists who sought the philosopher's stone
In his discourse The Garden of Cyrus
(1658) Milton's contemporary Sir Thomas Browne
, pursuing the figure of the quincunx
, queried
Shakespeare uses the image of Proteus to establish the character of his great royal villain Richard III
in the play Henry VI, Part Three
, the prequel to his play Richard III
. In Act III, Scene ii, Richard (not yet the king), boasts:
Shakespeare also names one of the main characters of his play The Two Gentlemen of Verona
Proteus. This character is inconstant in his affections. In the finale of the play when his deceptions have been unraveled and he is face to face with his friend Valentine and original love Julia, Proteus says:
In 1807, William Wordsworth
finished his sonnet
on the theme of a modernity deadened to Nature
, which opens "The world is too much with us
", with a sense of nostalgia for the lost richness of a world numinous with deities:
In modern times, the Swiss psychologist Carl Jung
defined the mythological figure of Proteus as a personification of the unconscious, who, because of his gift of prophecy and shape-changing has much in common with the central but elusive figure of alchemy, Mercurius
.
Proteus is the name of the submarine in the original story by Otto Klement and Jay Lewis Bixby that was made into a movie, Fantastic Voyage
, and a book by Isaac Asimov. Both came out in 1966.
John Barth
's novelette "Menelaiad" in Lost in the Funhouse
is build around a battle between Proteus and Menelaus
. It is told as a multiply-nested frame tale, and the narrators bleed into each other as the battle undermines their identities.
The alien character of Prot in the book trilogy by Gene Brewer
and played by Kevin Spacey
in the movie K-PAX
, like Proteus was said to embody, was a modernized "shape shifter" and magical type of advanced mystical ET who "walked in" to humanoid bodies, and shared wisdom and insights into the human condition.
Greek mythology
Greek mythology is the body of myths and legends belonging to the ancient Greeks, concerning their gods and heroes, the nature of the world, and the origins and significance of their own cult and ritual practices. They were a part of religion in ancient Greece...
, Proteus (Πρωτεύς) is an early sea-god, one of several deities whom Homer
Homer
In the Western classical tradition Homer , is the author of the Iliad and the Odyssey, and is revered as the greatest ancient Greek epic poet. These epics lie at the beginning of the Western canon of literature, and have had an enormous influence on the history of literature.When he lived is...
calls the "Old Man of the Sea
Old Man of the Sea
In Greek mythology, the Old Man of the Sea was a primordial figure who could be identified as any of several water-gods, generally Nereus or Prothacular, but also Tritonylors, Pontus, Phorcys or Glaucus...
", whose name suggests the "first" (from Greek
Greek language
Greek is an independent branch of the Indo-European family of languages. Native to the southern Balkans, it has the longest documented history of any Indo-European language, spanning 34 centuries of written records. Its writing system has been the Greek alphabet for the majority of its history;...
"πρῶτος" - protos, "first"), as protogonos (πρωτόγονος) is the "primordial" or the "firstborn". He became the son of Poseidon
Poseidon
Poseidon was the god of the sea, and, as "Earth-Shaker," of the earthquakes in Greek mythology. The name of the sea-god Nethuns in Etruscan was adopted in Latin for Neptune in Roman mythology: both were sea gods analogous to Poseidon...
in the Olympian theogony (Odyssey iv. 432), or of Nereus
Nereus
In Greek mythology, Nereus was the eldest son of Pontus and Gaia , a Titan who with Doris fathered the Nereids, with whom Nereus lived in the Aegean Sea. In the Iliad the Old Man of the Sea is the father of Nereids, though Nereus is not directly named...
and Doris
Doris (mythology)
Doris , an Oceanid, was a sea nymph in Greek mythology, whose name represented the bounty of the sea. She was the daughter of Oceanus and Tethys and the wife of Nereus. She was also aunt to Atlas, the titan who was made to carry the sky upon his shoulders, whose mother Clymene was a sister of Doris...
, or of Oceanus
Oceanus
Oceanus ; , Ōkeanós) was a pseudo-geographical feature in classical antiquity, believed by the ancient Greeks and Romans to be the world-ocean, an enormous river encircling the world....
and a Naiad, and was made the herdsman of Poseidon's seal
Pinniped
Pinnipeds or fin-footed mammals are a widely distributed and diverse group of semiaquatic marine mammals comprising the families Odobenidae , Otariidae , and Phocidae .-Overview: Pinnipeds are typically sleek-bodied and barrel-shaped...
s, the great bull seal at the center of the harem. He can foretell the future, but, in a mytheme
Mytheme
In the study of mythology, a mytheme is the essential kernel of a myth—an irreducible, unchanging element, a minimal unit that is always found shared with other, related mythemes and reassembled in various ways—"bundled" was Claude Lévi-Strauss's image— or linked in more...
familiar from several cultures, will change his shape to avoid having to; he will answer only to someone who is capable of capturing him. From this feature of Proteus comes the adjective
Adjective
In grammar, an adjective is a 'describing' word; the main syntactic role of which is to qualify a noun or noun phrase, giving more information about the object signified....
protean, with the general meaning of "versatile", "mutable", "capable of assuming many forms". "Protean" has positive connotations of flexibility, versatility and adaptability. The earliest attested form of the name is the Mycenaean Greek 𐀡𐀫𐀳𐀄 po-ro-te-u, written in Linear B
Linear B
Linear B is a syllabic script that was used for writing Mycenaean Greek, an early form of Greek. It pre-dated the Greek alphabet by several centuries and seems to have died out with the fall of Mycenaean civilization...
syllabic script.
The myth of Proteus
Homer
In the Western classical tradition Homer , is the author of the Iliad and the Odyssey, and is revered as the greatest ancient Greek epic poet. These epics lie at the beginning of the Western canon of literature, and have had an enormous influence on the history of literature.When he lived is...
(Odyssey
Odyssey
The Odyssey is one of two major ancient Greek epic poems attributed to Homer. It is, in part, a sequel to the Iliad, the other work ascribed to Homer. The poem is fundamental to the modern Western canon, and is the second—the Iliad being the first—extant work of Western literature...
iv:412), the sandy island of Pharos
Pharos
Pharos may refer to:Lighthouses:* The Pharos of Alexandria, a tower built on the island of Pharos that became one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World* The Pharos, either of two Roman lighthouses built at Dubris...
situated off the coast of the Nile Delta
Nile Delta
The Nile Delta is the delta formed in Northern Egypt where the Nile River spreads out and drains into the Mediterranean Sea. It is one of the world's largest river deltas—from Alexandria in the west to Port Said in the east, it covers some 240 km of Mediterranean coastline—and is a rich...
was the home of Proteus, the oracular Old Man of the Sea and herdsman of the sea-beasts. In the Odyssey, Menelaus
Menelaus
Menelaus may refer to;*Menelaus, one of the two most known Atrides, a king of Sparta and son of Atreus and Aerope*Menelaus on the Moon, named after Menelaus of Alexandria.*Menelaus , brother of Ptolemy I Soter...
relates to Telemachus
Telemachus
Telemachus is a figure in Greek mythology, the son of Odysseus and Penelope, and a central character in Homer's Odyssey. The first four books in particular focus on Telemachus' journeys in search of news about his father, who has been away at war...
that he had been becalmed here on his journey home from the Trojan War
Trojan War
In Greek mythology, the Trojan War was waged against the city of Troy by the Achaeans after Paris of Troy took Helen from her husband Menelaus, the king of Sparta. The war is among the most important events in Greek mythology and was narrated in many works of Greek literature, including the Iliad...
. He learned from Proteus' daughter, Eidothea ("the very image of the Goddess"), that if he could capture her father he could force him to reveal which of the gods he had offended, and how he could propitiate them and return home. Proteus emerged from the sea to sleep among his colony of seals, but Menelaus was successful in holding him, though Proteus took the forms of a lion, a serpent
Serpent (symbolism)
Serpent in Latin means: Rory Collins :&, in turn, from the Biblical Hebrew word of: "saraf" with root letters of: which refers to something burning-as, the pain of poisonous snake's bite was likened to internal burning.This word is commonly used in a specifically mythic or religious context,...
, a leopard, a pig, even of water or a tree. Proteus then answered truthfully, further informing Menelaus that his brother Agamemnon
Agamemnon
In Greek mythology, Agamemnon was the son of King Atreus and Queen Aerope of Mycenae, the brother of Menelaus, the husband of Clytemnestra, and the father of Electra and Orestes. Mythical legends make him the king of Mycenae or Argos, thought to be different names for the same area...
had been murdered on his return home, that Ajax the Lesser
Ajax the Lesser
Ajax was a Greek mythological hero, son of Oileus, the king of Locris. He was called the "lesser" or "Locrian" Ajax, to distinguish him from Ajax the Great, son of Telamon. He was the leader of the Locrian contingent during the Trojan War. He is a significant figure in Homer's Iliad and is also...
had been shipwrecked and killed, and that Odysseus
Odysseus
Odysseus or Ulysses was a legendary Greek king of Ithaca and the hero of Homer's epic poem the Odyssey. Odysseus also plays a key role in Homer's Iliad and other works in the Epic Cycle....
was stranded on Calypso
Calypso (mythology)
Calypso was a nymph in Greek mythology, who lived on the island of Ogygia, where she detained Odysseus for a number of years. She is generally said to be the daughter of the Titan Atlas....
's Isle Ogygia
Ogygia
Ogygia , is an island mentioned in Homer's Odyssey, Book V, as the home of the nymph Calypso, the daughter of the Titan Atlas, also known as Atlantis in ancient Greek. In Homer's Odyssey Calypso detained Odysseus on Ogygia for 7 years and kept him from returning to his home of Ithaca, wanting to...
.
According to Virgil
Virgil
Publius Vergilius Maro, usually called Virgil or Vergil in English , was an ancient Roman poet of the Augustan period. He is known for three major works of Latin literature, the Eclogues , the Georgics, and the epic Aeneid...
in the fourth Georgic
Georgics
The Georgics is a poem in four books, likely published in 29 BC. It is the second major work by the Latin poet Virgil, following his Eclogues and preceding the Aeneid. It is a poem that draws on many prior sources and influenced many later authors from antiquity to the present...
, at one time the bees of Aristaeus
Aristaeus
A minor god in Greek mythology, which we read largely through Athenian writers, Aristaeus or Aristaios , "ever close follower of the flocks", was the culture hero credited with the discovery of many useful arts, including bee-keeping; he was the son of Apollo and the huntress Cyrene...
, son of Apollo, all died of a disease. Aristaeus went to his mother, Cyrene
Cyrene (mythology)
In Greek mythology, as recorded in Pindar's 9th Pythian ode, Cyrene was the daughter of Hypseus, King of the Lapiths. When a lion attacked her father's sheep, Cyrene wrestled with the lion. Apollo, who was present, immediately fell in love with her and kidnapped her. He took her to North...
, for help; she told him that Proteus could tell him how to prevent another such disaster, but would do so only if compelled. Aristaeus had to seize Proteus and hold him, no matter what he would change into. Aristeus did so, and Proteus eventually gave up and told him to sacrifice 12 animals to the gods, leave the corpses in the place of sacrifice, and return three days later. When Aristaeus returned after the three days he found in one of the carcasses a swarm of bees, which he took to his apiary
Apiary
An apiary is a place where beehives of honey bees are kept. Traditionally beekeepers paid land rent in honey for the use of small parcels. Some farmers will provide free apiary sites, because they need pollination, and farmers who need many hives often pay for them to be moved to the crops when...
. The bees were never again troubled by disease.
The children of Proteus, besides Eidothea, include Polygonus and Telegonus, who both challenged Heracles
Heracles
Heracles ,born Alcaeus or Alcides , was a divine hero in Greek mythology, the son of Zeus and Alcmene, foster son of Amphitryon and great-grandson of Perseus...
and were killed, one of Heracles' many successful encounters with representatives of the pre-Olympian world order.
Proteus of Egypt
In the OdysseyOdyssey
The Odyssey is one of two major ancient Greek epic poems attributed to Homer. It is, in part, a sequel to the Iliad, the other work ascribed to Homer. The poem is fundamental to the modern Western canon, and is the second—the Iliad being the first—extant work of Western literature...
(iv.430ff) Menelaus wrestles with "Proteus of Egypt, the immortal old man of the sea who never lies, who sounds the deep in all its depths, Poseidon's servant" (Robert Fagles
Robert Fagles
Robert Fagles was an American professor, poet, and academic, best known for his many translations of ancient Greek classics, especially his acclaimed translations of the epic poems of Homer...
's translation). Proteus of Egypt is mentioned in an alternate version of the story of Helen of Troy in the tragedy Helen of Euripides
Euripides
Euripides was one of the three great tragedians of classical Athens, the other two being Aeschylus and Sophocles. Some ancient scholars attributed ninety-five plays to him but according to the Suda it was ninety-two at most...
(produced in 412 BC). The often unconventional playwright introduces a "real" Helen and a "phantom" Helen (who caused the Trojan War
Trojan War
In Greek mythology, the Trojan War was waged against the city of Troy by the Achaeans after Paris of Troy took Helen from her husband Menelaus, the king of Sparta. The war is among the most important events in Greek mythology and was narrated in many works of Greek literature, including the Iliad...
), and gives a backstory that makes the father of his character Theoclymenus
Theoclymenus
In Greek mythology, Theoclymenus , son of Polypheides, was a prophet from Argos, who, in the Odyssey, had been taken from that city after killing one of his relatives being captured by pirates. He fled to Pylos and sought refuge aboard the ship of Telemachus, who had come to inquire about the fate...
, Proteus, a king in Egypt who had been wed to a Nereid
Nereids
In Greek mythology, the Nereids are sea nymphs, the fifty daughters of Nereus and Doris, sisters to Nerites. They often accompany Poseidon and can be friendly and helpful to sailors fighting perilous storms. They are particularly associated with the Aegean Sea, where they dwelt with their father...
Psamathe
Psamathe
Psamathe was a Nereid in Greek mythology, i.e., one of the fifty daughters of Nereus and Doris. The goddess of sand beaches, Psamathe was the wife of Proteus and the mother of Phocus by Aeacus....
. In keeping with one of his themes in Helen, Euripides mentions in passing Eido ("image"), another unseen daughter of the king. The play's king (never seen) is only marginally related to the "Old Man of the Sea" and should not be confused with the sea god Proteus.
At Pharos
Pharos
Pharos may refer to:Lighthouses:* The Pharos of Alexandria, a tower built on the island of Pharos that became one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World* The Pharos, either of two Roman lighthouses built at Dubris...
—in Hellenistic times the site of the Lighthouse of Alexandria
Lighthouse of Alexandria
The Lighthouse of Alexandria, also known as the Pharos of Alexandria , was a tower built between 280 and 247 BC on the island of Pharos at Alexandria, Egypt...
, (in modern Greek the word still has the meaning "lighthouse)—a king of Egypt named Proteus welcomed Dionysus
Dionysus
Dionysus was the god of the grape harvest, winemaking and wine, of ritual madness and ecstasy in Greek mythology. His name in Linear B tablets shows he was worshipped from c. 1500—1100 BC by Mycenean Greeks: other traces of Dionysian-type cult have been found in ancient Minoan Crete...
in the young god's wanderings.
A further Proteus occurs in Greek myth, as one of the fifty sons of King Aegyptus
Aegyptus
- Aegyptus, King of Egypt and Arabia :In Greek mythology, Aegyptus is a descendant of the heifer maiden, Io, and the river-god Nilus, and was a king in Egypt. Aegyptos was the son of Belus and Achiroe, a naiad daughter of Nile. Aegyptus fathered fifty sons, who were all but one murdered by the...
.
Biology
Many organisms in biology take their name from Proteus. These include:- Two generaGenusIn biology, a genus is a low-level taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of living and fossil organisms, which is an example of definition by genus and differentia...
of organisms have the name Proteus:- ProteusProteus (bacterium)Proteus is a genus of Gram-negative Proteobacteria.-Clinical significance:Three species—P. vulgaris, P. mirabilis, and P. penneri—are opportunistic human pathogens. Proteus includes pathogens responsible for many human urinary tract infections. P. mirabilis causes wound and urinary...
is a bacteriaBacteriaBacteria are a large domain of prokaryotic microorganisms. Typically a few micrometres in length, bacteria have a wide range of shapes, ranging from spheres to rods and spirals...
l genus within the medically important group of EnterobacteriaceaeEnterobacteriaceaeThe Enterobacteriaceae is a large family of bacteria that includes many of the more familiar pathogens, such as Salmonella, Escherichia coli, Yersinia pestis, Klebsiella and Shigella. This family is the only representative in the order Enterobacteriales of the class Gammaproteobacteria in the...
. SpeciesSpeciesIn biology, a species is one of the basic units of biological classification and a taxonomic rank. A species is often defined as a group of organisms capable of interbreeding and producing fertile offspring. While in many cases this definition is adequate, more precise or differing measures are...
most commonly associated with clinical disease are Proteus mirabilisProteus mirabilisProteus mirabilis is a Gram-negative, facultatively anaerobic, rod shaped bacterium. It shows swarming motility, and urease activity. P. mirabilis causes 90% of all Proteus infections in humans.-Diagnosis:...
, Proteus vulgarisProteus vulgarisProteus vulgaris is a rod-shaped, Gram negative bacterium that inhabits the intestinal tracts of humans and animals. It can be found in soil, water and fecal matter. It is grouped with the enterobacteriaceae and is an opportunistic pathogen of humans...
and Proteus penneriProteus penneriProteus penneri is a Gram-negative, facultatively anaerobic, rod shaped bacterium. The species was formerly called Proteus vulgaris indole negative or P. vulgaris biogroup 1 but was found to be genetically distinct from P. vulgaris. P. penneri is a cause of nosocomial...
. Proteus species are notorious in medical microbiological laboratories because of their rapid swarming growth on commonly used agar plateAgar plateAn agar plate is a Petri dish that contains a growth medium used to culture microorganisms or small plants like the moss Physcomitrella patens.Selective growth compounds may also be added to the media, such as antibiotics....
s. Noteworthy is the ability of these species to inhibit growth of unrelated strains resulting in a macroscopically visible line of reduced bacterial growth where two swarming strains intersect. This line is named Dienes line after its discoverer Louis Dienes. - Proteus, an amphibian genus within the family Proteidae, consisting of a single species Proteus anguinus with two subspeciesSubspeciesSubspecies in biological classification, is either a taxonomic rank subordinate to species, ora taxonomic unit in that rank . A subspecies cannot be recognized in isolation: a species will either be recognized as having no subspecies at all or two or more, never just one...
Proteus anguinus anguinus Laurenti 1768, Proteus anguinus parkelj SketBoris SketBoris Sket is a Slovene zoologist.Sket obtained his doctorate at the University of Ljubljana in 1961 and became a research assistant at the former Natural sciences faculty. In 1965, he became an invertebrate zoology professor at the Biotechnical faculty in Ljubljana and remained at this position...
& Arnzten 1994.
- Proteus
- The most representative species of the genus AmoebaAmoebaAmoeba is a genus of Protozoa.History=The amoeba was first discovered by August Johann Rösel von Rosenhof in 1757. Early naturalists referred to Amoeba as the Proteus animalcule after the Greek god Proteus, who could change his shape...
named Amoeba proteusAmoeba proteusAmoeba proteus, previously Chaos diffluens, is an amoeba closely related to the Giant Amoebae.This small protozoan uses tentacular protuberances called pseudopodia to move and phagocytose smaller unicellular organisms, which are enveloped inside the cell's cytoplasm in a food vacuole, where they...
. - The bacterial phylum ProteobacteriaProteobacteriaThe Proteobacteria are a major group of bacteria. They include a wide variety of pathogens, such as Escherichia, Salmonella, Vibrio, Helicobacter, and many other notable genera....
. - The genus ProteaProteaProtea is both the botanical name and the English common name of a genus of flowering plants, sometimes also called sugarbushes.-Etymology:...
, endemic to the Cape Floral Kingdom, are named in honour of the god for the wide variety of forms that their blossoms present.
"Proteus" and "protean" in English
From his transforming nature, and multifarious aspects comes our adjective "protean". A "protean career" would embrace many human concerns. For example, Leonardo da VinciLeonardo da Vinci
Leonardo di ser Piero da Vinci was an Italian Renaissance polymath: painter, sculptor, architect, musician, scientist, mathematician, engineer, inventor, anatomist, geologist, cartographer, botanist and writer whose genius, perhaps more than that of any other figure, epitomized the Renaissance...
was a painter, sculptor, scientist and designer of fortifications: his career was "protean".
Proteus syndrome
Proteus syndrome
Proteus syndrome, also known as Wiedemann's syndrome , is a congenital disorder that causes skin overgrowth and atypical bone development, often accompanied by tumors over half the body....
is the name given to the deforming disease that may have afflicted Joseph Merrick
Joseph Merrick
Joseph Carey Merrick , sometimes incorrectly referred to as John Merrick, was an English man with severe deformities who was exhibited as a human curiosity named the Elephant Man. He became well known in London society after he went to live at the London Hospital...
, "The Elephant Man". Although difficult to differentiate from severe neurofibromatosis
Neurofibromatosis
Neurofibromatosis is a genetically-inherited disorder in which the nerve tissue grows tumors that may be benign or may cause serious damage by compressing nerves and other tissues...
, there have been about 100 cases of Proteus syndrome over the last few decades.
The Proteus phenomenon is a bias observed in scientific publications where controversial studies, i.e. studies whose findings are in extreme contradiction with another study, are more likely to be published early.
Proteus in literature and psychology
The German mystical alchemist Heinrich KhunrathHeinrich Khunrath
Heinrich Khunrath , or Dr. Henricus Khunrath as he was also called, was a physician, hermetic philosopher, and alchemist...
(1560–1605) wrote of the shape-changing sea-god who, because of his relationship to the sea, is both a symbol of the unconscious as well as the perfection of the art. Alluding to the scintilla, the spark from ‘the light of nature’ and symbol of the anima mundi
Anima Mundi
Anima mundī is Latin meaning "the soul of the world" which can refer to:*Anima mundi, the soul of the world*Anima Mundi , a 1991 documentary film directed by Godfrey Reggio*Anima Mundi , a Brazilian video and film festival...
", Khunrath in Gnostic vein stated of the Protean element Mercury
our Catholick Mercury, by virtue of his universal fiery spark of the light of nature, is beyond doubt Proteus, the sea god of the ancient pagan sages, who hath the key to the sea and …power over all things. Von Hyleanischen Chaos| in Carl JungCarl JungCarl Gustav Jung was a Swiss psychiatrist and the founder of Analytical Psychology. Jung is considered the first modern psychiatrist to view the human psyche as "by nature religious" and make it the focus of exploration. Jung is one of the best known researchers in the field of dream analysis and...
, vol. 14:50
The poet John Milton
John Milton
John Milton was an English poet, polemicist, a scholarly man of letters, and a civil servant for the Commonwealth of England under Oliver Cromwell...
was also aware of the association of Proteus with the Hermetic art of alchemy
Alchemy
Alchemy is an influential philosophical tradition whose early practitioners’ claims to profound powers were known from antiquity. The defining objectives of alchemy are varied; these include the creation of the fabled philosopher's stone possessing powers including the capability of turning base...
. In Paradise Lost
Paradise Lost
Paradise Lost is an epic poem in blank verse by the 17th-century English poet John Milton. It was originally published in 1667 in ten books, with a total of over ten thousand individual lines of verse...
(III.603–06) he wrote of the alchemists who sought the philosopher's stone
Philosopher's stone
The philosopher's stone is a legendary alchemical substance said to be capable of turning base metals into gold or silver. It was also sometimes believed to be an elixir of life, useful for rejuvenation and possibly for achieving immortality. For many centuries, it was the most sought-after goal...
- In vain, though by their powerful Art they bind
- Volatile HermesHermesHermes is the great messenger of the gods in Greek mythology and a guide to the Underworld. Hermes was born on Mount Kyllini in Arcadia. An Olympian god, he is also the patron of boundaries and of the travelers who cross them, of shepherds and cowherds, of the cunning of thieves, of orators and...
, and call up unbound - In various shapes old Proteus from the Sea,
- Drain'd through a LimbecAlembicAn alembic is an alchemical still consisting of two vessels connected by a tube...
to his native form.
In his discourse The Garden of Cyrus
The Garden of Cyrus
The Garden of Cyrus or The Quincunciall Lozenge, or Network Plantations of the Ancients, naturally, artificially, mystically considered is a Discourse written by Sir Thomas Browne. It was first published in 1658, along with its diptych companion, Urn-Burial...
(1658) Milton's contemporary Sir Thomas Browne
Thomas Browne
Sir Thomas Browne was an English author of varied works which reveal his wide learning in diverse fields including medicine, religion, science and the esoteric....
, pursuing the figure of the quincunx
Quincunx
A quincunx is a geometric pattern consisting of five points arranged in a cross, that is five coplanar points, four of them forming a square or rectangle and a fifth at its center...
, queried
Why Proteus in Homer the Symbole of the first matter, before he settled himself in the midst of his Sea-Monsters, doth place them out by fives?
Shakespeare uses the image of Proteus to establish the character of his great royal villain Richard III
Richard III of England
Richard III was King of England for two years, from 1483 until his death in 1485 during the Battle of Bosworth Field. He was the last king of the House of York and the last of the Plantagenet dynasty...
in the play Henry VI, Part Three
Henry VI, part 3
Henry VI, Part 3 or The Third Part of Henry the Sixt is a history play by William Shakespeare believed to have been written in 1591, and set during the lifetime of King Henry VI of England...
, the prequel to his play Richard III
Richard III (play)
Richard III is a history play by William Shakespeare, believed to have been written in approximately 1591. It depicts the Machiavellian rise to power and subsequent short reign of Richard III of England. The play is grouped among the histories in the First Folio and is most often classified...
. In Act III, Scene ii, Richard (not yet the king), boasts:
- I can add colors to the chameleon,
- Change shapes with Proteus for advantages,
- And set the murderous Machiavel to school.
- Can I do this, and cannot get a crown?
- Tut, were it farther off, I'll pluck it down.
Shakespeare also names one of the main characters of his play The Two Gentlemen of Verona
The Two Gentlemen of Verona
The Two Gentlemen of Verona is a comedy by William Shakespeare, believed to have been written in 1590 or 1591. It is considered by some to be Shakespeare's first play, and is often seen as his first tentative steps in laying out some of the themes and tropes with which he would later deal in more...
Proteus. This character is inconstant in his affections. In the finale of the play when his deceptions have been unraveled and he is face to face with his friend Valentine and original love Julia, Proteus says:
- O Heaven, were man
- but constant, he were perfect: that one error
- fills him with faults; makes him run through all sins
- Inconstancy falls off, ere it begins.
In 1807, William Wordsworth
William Wordsworth
William Wordsworth was a major English Romantic poet who, with Samuel Taylor Coleridge, helped to launch the Romantic Age in English literature with the 1798 joint publication Lyrical Ballads....
finished his sonnet
Sonnet
A sonnet is one of several forms of poetry that originate in Europe, mainly Provence and Italy. A sonnet commonly has 14 lines. The term "sonnet" derives from the Occitan word sonet and the Italian word sonetto, both meaning "little song" or "little sound"...
on the theme of a modernity deadened to Nature
Nature
Nature, in the broadest sense, is equivalent to the natural world, physical world, or material world. "Nature" refers to the phenomena of the physical world, and also to life in general...
, which opens "The world is too much with us
The world is too much with us
"The World Is Too Much with Us" is a sonnet by the English Romantic poet William Wordsworth. In it, Wordsworth criticizes the world of the First Industrial Revolution for being absorbed in materialism and distancing itself from nature. Composed circa 1802, the poem was first published in Poems, In...
", with a sense of nostalgia for the lost richness of a world numinous with deities:
-
-
- …I'd rather be
-
- A Pagan suckled in a creed outworn;
- So might I, standing on this pleasant lea,
- Have glimpses that would make me less forlorn;
- Have sight of Proteus rising from the sea.
- Or hear old TritonTriton (mythology)Triton is a mythological Greek god, the messenger of the big sea. He is the son of Poseidon, god of the sea, and Amphitrite, goddess of the sea, whose herald he is...
blow his wreathèd horn.
In modern times, the Swiss psychologist Carl Jung
Carl Jung
Carl Gustav Jung was a Swiss psychiatrist and the founder of Analytical Psychology. Jung is considered the first modern psychiatrist to view the human psyche as "by nature religious" and make it the focus of exploration. Jung is one of the best known researchers in the field of dream analysis and...
defined the mythological figure of Proteus as a personification of the unconscious, who, because of his gift of prophecy and shape-changing has much in common with the central but elusive figure of alchemy, Mercurius
Mercurius
Mercurius may refer to:* Mercury or Mercurius* Mercurius , a crater on the Moon* Saint Mercurius* OZ-13MSX2 Mercurius, a mobile suit from New Mobile Report Gundam Wing* Pope John II, whose given name was Mercurius...
.
Proteus is the name of the submarine in the original story by Otto Klement and Jay Lewis Bixby that was made into a movie, Fantastic Voyage
Fantastic Voyage
Fantastic Voyage is a 1966 science fiction film written by Harry Kleiner, based on a story by Otto Klement and Jerome Bixby.Bantam Books obtained the rights for a paperback novelization based on the screenplay and approached Isaac Asimov to write it....
, and a book by Isaac Asimov. Both came out in 1966.
John Barth
John Barth
John Simmons Barth is an American novelist and short-story writer, known for the postmodernist and metafictive quality of his work.-Life:...
's novelette "Menelaiad" in Lost in the Funhouse
Lost in the Funhouse
Lost in the Funhouse is a collection of loosely connected short stories that was originally published by John Barth in 1968. These postmodern stories examine the art of fiction writing, among other things, and seem to undermine the conventional and predictable nature of fiction...
is build around a battle between Proteus and Menelaus
Menelaus
Menelaus may refer to;*Menelaus, one of the two most known Atrides, a king of Sparta and son of Atreus and Aerope*Menelaus on the Moon, named after Menelaus of Alexandria.*Menelaus , brother of Ptolemy I Soter...
. It is told as a multiply-nested frame tale, and the narrators bleed into each other as the battle undermines their identities.
The alien character of Prot in the book trilogy by Gene Brewer
Gene Brewer
Gene Brewer is the author of the K-PAX series of novels: K-PAX, K-PAX II, K-PAX III, K-PAX IV and Prot's Report, a brief natural history of the Earth, which appears in the K-PAX trilogy, an omnibus edition of the first three K-PAX books...
and played by Kevin Spacey
Kevin Spacey
Kevin Spacey, CBE is an American actor, director, screenwriter, producer, and crooner. He grew up in California, and began his career as a stage actor during the 1980s, before being cast in supporting roles in film and television...
in the movie K-PAX
K-PAX
K-PAX is the name of the first novel in the K-PAX series by Gene Brewer and a film based on the series:*K-PAX **K-PAX – film*K-PAX II: On a Beam of Light *K-PAX III: Worlds of Prot...
, like Proteus was said to embody, was a modernized "shape shifter" and magical type of advanced mystical ET who "walked in" to humanoid bodies, and shared wisdom and insights into the human condition.