Source-groundedThe Odyssey
All entities

Animal · Collective

Proteus’s seals

Published entity metadata

Read-only identity and editorial metadata.

Canonical name
Proteus’s seals
Disambiguator
None
Kind
Animal
Scope
Collective
Editorial note
No editorial note published.

Aliases

1

Halosydne’s chickens

Alternative name · Remembered

Location presence

Phase 6 currently covers 24 processed books.

1
sea cave where Proteus sleeps1 observation
·Hypothetical

Idothea says Proteus’s seals will sleep around him in the sea cave.

See evidence text
“‘‘Stranger,’ said she, ‘I will make it all quite clear to you. About the time when the sun shall have reached mid heaven, the old man of the sea comes up from under the waves, heralded by the West wind that furs the water over his head. As soon as he has come up he lies down, and goes to sleep in a great sea cave, where the seals—Halosydne’s chickens as they call them—come up also from the grey sea, and go to sleep in shoals all round him; and a very strong and fish-like smell do they bring with them. {44} Early to-morrow morning I will take you to this place and will lay you in ambush. Pick out, therefore, the three best men you have in your fleet, and I will tell you all the tricks that the old man will play you.”

Claims

3
·Reported

Proteus’s seals rise from the grey sea, sleep in shoals around him, and carry a powerful fish-like smell.

See evidence text
“the seals—Halosydne’s chickens as they call them—come up also from the grey sea, and go to sleep in shoals all round him; and a very strong and fish-like smell do they bring with them”
·Hypothetical

Proteus is expected to count and tally his seals before sleeping among them.

See evidence text
“First he will look over all his seals, and count them; then, when he has seen them and tallied them on his five fingers, he will go to sleep among them”
·Remembered

Proteus’s seals come ashore in hundreds to bask and are counted before he sleeps.

See evidence text
“watching the seals come up in hundreds to bask upon the sea shore, till at noon the old man of the sea came up too, and when he had found his fat seals he went over them and counted them”

Additional evidence

Evidence records not already represented by a claim.

1
·Remembered
“all his seals”

Passage preview

Book 4 · Passage 34

‘‘Stranger,’ said she, ‘I will make it all quite clear to you. About the time when the sun shall have reached mid heaven, the old man of the sea comes up from under the waves, heralded by the West wind that furs the water over his head. As soon as he has come up he lies down, and goes to sleep in a great sea cave, where the seals—Halosydne’s chickens as they call them—come up also from the grey sea, and go to sleep in shoals all round him; and a very strong and fish-like smell do they bring with them. {44} Early to-morrow morning I will take you to this place and will lay you in ambush. Pick out, therefore, the three best men you have in your fleet, and I will tell you all the tricks that the old man will play you.