in Pagan mythology, the son of Coelus and Terra, the husband of Thetis, and the father of the rivers and fountains, called Oceanides. The ancients called him the father of all things, imagining that he was produced by Humidity, which, according to Thales, was the first principle from which every thing was produced. Homer represents Juno visiting him at the remotest limits of the earth, and acknowledging him and Thetis as the parents of the gods. He was represented with a bull's head, as an emblem of the rage and bellowing of the ocean when agitated by a storm.

According to Homer, he was the father even of all the gods, and on that account he received frequent visits from them. He is often, indeed almost always, represented as an old man with a long flowing beard, and fitting upon the waves of the sea. He often holds a pike in his hand, while fish under sail appear at a distance, or a sea monster stands near him. Oceanus presided over every part of the sea, and even the rivers were subjected to his power. The ancients were superstitious in their worship of him, and revered with great solemnity a deity to whose care they intrusted themselves when going on any voyage.