NEPTUNE, in pagan worship, the god of the sea, was the son of Saturn and Vesta or Ops, and the brother of Jupiter and Pluto. He assisted Jupiter in his expeditions, for which reason that god, when he attained the supreme power, assigned to him the sea and the islands as his empire. He was, however, expelled from heaven along with Apollo, for conspiring against Jupiter; and after this event both were employed by Laomedon, king of Phrygia, in building the walls of Troy; but that prince having dismissed Neptune without a reward, the latter in revenge sent a sea-monster to lay waste the country. He is said to have been the original inventor of horsemanship and chariot racing, on which account Mithridates king of Pontus threw chariots drawn by four horses into the sea in honour of this god, and the Romans had horse-races in the circus during his festival, when all other horses left working, and the mules were adorned with wreaths of flowers. In a contest with Mi-
Neptune's Isles
Nereus
nerva he produced a horse by striking the earth with his trident; and on another occasion, in a trial of skill with Minerva and Vulcan, he produced a bull, for which reason that animal was sacrificed to him. His favourite wife was Amphitrite, whom he long courted in vain, till sending a dolphin to intercede for him, he met with success, and the dolphin was rewarded by being placed amongst the stars. Besides Amphitrite, he had two other wives; one of whom was called Salasia, from the salt water, and the other Venilia, from the ebbing and flowing of the tides. He had likewise many concubines, by whom he had a great number of children. He is represented with black hair, and a garment of an azure or sea-green, holding his trident in his hand, seated in a large shell drawn by sea-horses, and attended by the sea-gods Palemon, Glaucus, and Phorcys, and the goddesses Thetis, Melita, and Panopea, with a long train of tritons and sea-nymphs. This deity was known in Egypt by the name of Canobus or Canopus, and was worshipped as the nunmen aquarum, or spirit of the Nile.
NEPTUNE'S ISLES, a cluster of low islands situated on the south coast of New Holland, at the entrance into Spencer's Gulf.