The reign of Nereus/Noah is replaced by Zeus-religion
Fig. 28
In Figure 29, below, a different vase-artist depicts the same idea a different way. The nude Herakles, brandishing his club in his right hand, comes astride Nereus and grasps his neck with his left hand. He is bringing the momentum of Nereus to a halt, and by extension, he is bringing the rule of Nereus/Noah to an end, replacing it with Zeus-religion. Behind Nereus, Poseidon, a “brother” of Zeus, steps up and replaces the “Wet One” as god of the sea. Herakles may as well be saying, “Hold it, Nereus, your reign is over. Poseidon is in charge now.”
Fig. 29
On Figure 28 (top), an artist painted Nereus carrying the trident to let us know that to begin with, it was his symbol of power. In Figure 29, above, the Greek god Poseidon has now taken it for himself. We’ll see in subsequent chapters that the theme of Greek gods and heroes taking what belongs to Nereus/Noah continues: Zeus will take his scepter, Athena will take his cloak, and Poseidon and the Zeus-worshipper, Peleus, will take his daughters.
Fig. 30
There is another way the artists used Herakles to express the idea that Nereus/Noah lost his power to the Greek religious system. In order to show Nereus losing his authority, artists created a figure who came to be known as Triton (Fig. 30). Triton represents Nereus himself at the height of his powers. Basically, the artists created two different images for Nereus, one which represented his authority, and the other which represented the helpless and usurped old man himself. Using these two related images, the artists could picture the authority of Nereus/Noah being wrestled away without showing any harm coming to the Old Man of the Sea.
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