The ancient Greeks had a large number of
sea deities. The philosopher
Plato once remarked that the Greek people were like frogs sitting around a pond—their many cities hugging close to the
Mediterranean coastline from the
Hellenic homeland to
Asia Minor,
Libya,
Sicily and
Southern Italy. Thus, they venerated a rich variety of aquatic divinities. The range of Greek sea gods of the classical era range from primordial powers and an
Olympian on the one hand, to
heroized mortals,
chthonic nymphs,
trickster-figures, and monsters on the other.