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; on which that god, when he arrived at the supreme power, assigned him the sea and the islands for his empire. He was, however, expelled from heaven with Apollo, for conspiring against Jupiter, when they were both employed by Laomedon king of Phrygia in building the walls of Troy; but that prince dismissing Neptune without a reward, he sent a sea-monster to lay waste the country, on which he was obliged to expose his daughter Hesione. He is said to have been the first 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 instituted horse-races in the circus at his festival, during which all other horses left working, and the mules were adorned with wreaths of flowers.

In a contest with Minerva he produced a horse by striking the earth with his trident; and on another occasion, in a trial of skill with Minerva and Vulcan, produced a bull, whence that animal was sacrificed to him. His favourite wife was Amphitrite, whom he long courted in vain, till sending the dolphin to intercede for him, he met with success; on which he rewarded the dolphin by placing him among the stars. Nereids He had also two other wives, one of whom was called Salacia, from the salt water; 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, with a garment of an azure or sea-green, holding his trident in his hand, and seated in a large shell drawn by sea-horses, attended by the sea-gods Palemon, Glaucus, and Phorcys, and the sea goddesses Thetis, Melita, and Panopae, and a long train of tritons and sea-nymphs.