Neptune (mythology) - Modern Culture

Modern Culture

• "King Neptune" plays a central role in the long-standing tradition of the "Line-crossing ceremony" initiation rite still current in many navies, coast guards, and merchant fleets. When ships cross the equator, "Pollywogs" (sailors who have not done such a crossing before) receive "subpoenas" to appear before and Her Highness Amphitrite and often various dignitaries, who are all represented by the highest-ranking seamen). Some Pollywogs may be "interrogated" by King Nepture and his entourage. At the end of the ceremony — which in the past often included considerable hazing — they are initiated as Shellbacks or Sons of Neptune and receive a certificate to that effect.
• In Rick Riordan's The Son of Neptune, Percy Jackson is referred to the "Son of Neptune" at Camp Jupiter although he is really the son of the Greek counterpart, Poseidon.