OCEANUS FIGURES IN ANTIQUE ART

River or sea gods forms a wide community in greece mythology. one of the oldest gods of this community is oceanus. this mythological figure was depicted in various branches of art from the archaic period to late roman period. although he is depicted with a few examples in the archaic and hellenistic period, there are lots of examples especially in coins, sarcophagi and mosaics in the roman period. in turkey oceanus figures appear in roman mosaics of antiocheia (antakya) and zeugma. in these mosaics he is usually in the form of busts located in the center of mosaics and depicted with his wife tethys and several of mythological creatures around them. the aim of this paper is to study oceanus figures in the light of specific examples selected from archaic, hellenistic and roman periods with a historical perspective.