Oceanus

Titan and god of the river Oceanus (Ocean). Oceanus was the eldest son of Uranus and Gaea. The river Oceanus was said to flow in a circular stream around the earth, which was conceived of as a flat disk.

Oceanus married his sister Tethys. All of his sons became river-gods. Oceanus was said to have had three thousand daughters, who were known as the Oceanids.

Oceanus was the only son of Uranus (as a Titan) who did not join his brothers in the war against Zeus and his brothers (the Olympians). During the war, Hera was left in the care of Oceanus and his wife.

See Creation, Theogony of Hesiod.

According to Homer and Apollonius of Rhodes, Oceanus was older than the Titans. To Homer, the gods arose from the primeval river Ocean. He was the oldest of all the gods and had the distinction of being the father of the gods. See Homeric Creation.

However, according to Apollonius' Argonautica, the Creator goddess Eurynome sprang from the Ocean, very much like Hesiod's Aphrodite did. See also Eurynome and Ophion in the Creation page.