According to Homer's Odyssey (4:412), Proteus, the "Old Man of the Sea," lived on the island of Pharos (famous for its Alexandria lighthouse) off the coast of the Nile Delta, taming the beasts of the sea for a living. In a scene from the Odyssey, Menelaos tells a visiting Telemachus about his experiences on Pharos. His ship was forced to stagnate on the island because he had angered the gods before returning from Troy. There he met Eidothea, the daughter of Proteus, who told him that if he could capture her father, he would be able to force the latter to tell him the reason for his predicament, and would also be able to learn what would happen in the future. Every day at noon, Proteus would emerge from the sea and drive the seals into a cavern on the island for a siesta; Eidothea taught him how to subdue his father and gave him some seal skins to use as camouflage, and he and a few of his men blended in with the seals. When Proteus fell into a deep sleep, he suddenly jumped up and strangled the fickle deity, and whether he turned into a lion or a snake, a leopard, a pig, or even a tree or running water, he just wouldn't let go. At last Proteus surrendered and revealed to him the information he sought, telling him that he had offended the gods by failing to sacrifice to them before he set out on his voyage; and foretelling that his brother Agamemnon would be murdered on his return home by his wife's paramour, Aegisthus; that young Aias had met with a shipwreck and had already perished; and that Odysseus had been stranded on the island of Calypso.
Another story tells of Apollo's son Aristeos, whose bees all fell ill and died one day, and who found his mother, Xilani, for help. She told him that Proteus could teach him how to deal with the disease, but that he would only reveal the secret if he was forced to. Aristeos captured Proteus in the same way that Menelaos did and forced him to reveal the secret: that 12 animals should be sacrificed to the gods, their bones left in the temple, and returned after three days. When Aristeos returned after three days, he found a colony of bees arising from one of the skeletons and took it back to his hive. These bees were never again infested with disease.
Proteus was descended from Eudothea (an image of the goddess), Polygonos, and Telegonos, the latter two of whom challenged Heracles and both lost their lives. The name of Proteus' wife is not known; it is thought that she was called Torone.