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Poseidon

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This article is about the Greek god. For other uses, see Poseidon (disambiguation).
"Earth Shaker" redirects here. For the video game, see Earth Shaker (video game).

Poseidon
God of the sea, earthquakes, soil, storms, and horses
0036MAN Poseidon.jpg
Poseidon from Milos, 2nd century BC (National Archaeological Museum of Athens)
Abode Mount Olympus, or the Sea
Symbol Trident, fish, dolphin, horse and bull
Personal information
Consort Amphitrite, Aphrodite, Demeter, and various others
Children Theseus, Triton, Polyphemus, Orion, Belus, Agenor, Neleus,
Atlas (the first king of Atlantis)
Parents Cronus and Rhea
Siblings Hades, Demeter, Hestia, Hera, Zeus, Chiron
Roman equivalent Neptune
Part of a series on
Ancient Greek religion
Laurel wreath
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Poseidon (/pəˈsaɪdən, pɒ-, poʊ-/;[1] Greek: Ποσειδῶν, pronounced [pose͜edɔ́͜ɔn]) was one of the Twelve Olympians in ancient Greek religion and myth. He was god of the Sea and other waters; of earthquakes; and of horses.[2] In pre-Olympian Bronze Age Greece, he was venerated as a chief deity at Pylos and Thebes.[2]

Poseidon was protector of seafarers, and of many Hellenic cities and colonies. In Homer's Iliad, Poseidon supports the Greeks against the Trojans during the Trojan War. In the Odyssey, during the sea-voyage from Troy back home to Ithaca, the Greek hero Odysseus provokes Poseidon's fury by blinding his son the Cyclops Polyphemus, resulting in Poseidon punishing him with storms, the complete loss of his ship and companions, and a ten-year delay. Poseidon is also the subject of a Homeric hymn. In Plato's Timaeus and Critias, the island of Atlantis was Poseidon's domain.[3][4][5] His Roman equivalent is Neptune.

Etymology

The earliest attested occurrence of the name, written in Linear B, is 𐀡𐀮𐀆𐀃 Po-se-da-o or 𐀡𐀮𐀆𐀺𐀚 Po-se-da-wo-ne, which correspond to Ποσειδάων (Poseidaōn) and Ποσειδάϝονος (Poseidawonos) in Mycenean Greek; in Homeric Greek it appears as Ποσειδάων (Poseidaōn); in Aeolic as Ποτειδάων (Poteidaōn); and in Doric as Ποτειδάν (Poteidan), Ποτειδάων (Poteidaōn), and Ποτειδᾶς (Poteidas).[6] The form Ποτειδάϝων (Poteidawon) appears in Corinth.[7] A common epithet of Poseidon is Ἐνοσίχθων Enosichthon, "Earth-shaker", an epithet which is also identified in Linear B, as 𐀁𐀚𐀯𐀅𐀃𐀚, E-ne-si-da-o-ne,[8] This recalls his later epithets Ennosidas and Ennosigaios indicating the chthonic nature of Poseidon.[9]

The origins of the name "Poseidon" are unclear. One theory breaks it down into an element meaning "husband" or "lord" (Greek πόσις (posis), from PIE *pótis) and another element meaning "earth" (δᾶ (da), Doric for γῆ (gē)), producing something like lord or spouse of Da, i.e. of the earth; this would link him with Demeter, "Earth-mother".[10] Walter Burkert finds that "the second element da- remains hopelessly ambiguous" and finds a "husband of Earth" reading "quite impossible to prove."[2]

Another theory interprets the second element as related to the word *δᾶϝον dâwon, "water"; this would make *Posei-dawōn into the master of waters.[11] There is also the possibility that the word has Pre-Greek origin.[12] Plato in his dialogue Cratylus gives two alternative etymologies: either the sea restrained Poseidon when walking as a "foot-bond" (ποσίδεσμον), or he "knew many things" (πολλά εἰδότος or πολλά εἰδῶν).[13]

Bronze Age Greece

Poseidon, Paella Museum
Poseidon in Kadriorg Palace, Tallinn

Linear B (Mycenean Greek) inscriptions

If surviving Linear B clay tablets can be trusted, the name po-se-da-wo-ne ("Poseidon") occurs with greater frequency than does di-u-ja ("Zeus"). A feminine variant, po-se-de-ia, is also found, indicating a lost consort goddess, in effect the precursor of Amphitrite. Poseidon carries frequently the title wa-na-ka (wanax) in Linear B inscriptions, as king of the underworld. The chthonic nature of Poseidon-Wanax is also indicated by his title E-ne-si-da-o-ne in Mycenean Knossos and Pylos,[8] a powerful attribute (earthquakes had accompanied the collapse of the Minoan palace-culture). In the cave of Amnisos (Crete) Enesidaon is related with the cult of Eileithyia, the goddess of childbirth.[14] She was related with the annual birth of the divine child.[15] During the Bronze Age, a goddess of nature, dominated both in Minoan and Mycenean cult, and Wanax (wa-na-ka) was her male companion (paredros) in Mycenean cult.[16] It is possible that Demeter appears as Da-ma-te in a Linear B inscription (PN EN 609), however the interpretetion is still under dispute.[17]

In Linear B inscriptions found at Pylos, E-ne-si-da-o-ne is related with Poseidon, and Si-to Po-tini-ja is probably related with Demeter.[18] Tablets from Pylos record sacrificial goods destined for "the Two Queens and Poseidon" ("to the Two Queens and the King": wa-na-soi, wa-na-ka-te). The "Two Queens" may be related with Demeter and Persephone, or their precursors, goddesses who were not associated with Poseidon in later periods.[19]

Arcadian myths

The illuminating exception is the archaic and localised myth of the stallion Poseidon and mare Demeter at Phigalia in isolated and conservative Arcadia, noted by Pausanias (2nd century AD) as having fallen into desuetude; the stallion Poseidon pursues the mare-Demeter, and from the union she bears the horse Arion, and a daughter (Despoina), who obviously had the shape of a mare too. The violated Demeter was Demeter Erinys (furious) .[20] In Arcadia, Demeter's mare-form was worshiped into historical times. Her xoanon of Phigaleia shows how the local cult interpreted her, as goddess of nature. A Medusa type with a horse's head with snaky hair, holding a dove and a dolphin, probably representing her power over air and water.[21]

Origins

Poseidon and Athena battle for control of Athens by Benvenuto Tisi (1512)

It seems that the Arcadian myth is related with the first Greek speaking people who entered the region during the Bronze Age. (Linear B represents an archaic Greek dialect). Their religious beliefs were mixed with the beliefs of the indigenous population. It is possible that the Greeks did not bring with them other gods except Zeus, Eos, and the Dioskouroi. The horse (numina) was related with the liquid element, and with the underworld. Poseidon appears as a beast (horse), which is the river spirit of the underworld, as it usually happens in northern-European folklore, and not unusually in Greece.[22][23] Poseidon “Wanax”, is the male companion (paredros) of the goddess of nature. In the relative Minoan myth, Pasiphaë is mating with the white bull, and she bears the hybrid creature Minotaur.[24] The Bull was the old pre-Olympian Poseidon.[25] The goddess of nature and her paredros survived in the Eleusinian cult, where the following words were uttered : " Mighty Potnia bore a strong son"[26]

In the heavily sea-dependent Mycenaean culture, there is not sufficient evidence that Poseidon was connected with the sea. We do not know if "Posedeia" was a sea-goddess. Homer and Hesiod suggest that Poseidon became lord of the sea following the defeat of his father Kronos, when the world was divided by lot among his three sons; Zeus was given the sky, Hades the underworld, and Poseidon the sea, with the Earth and Mount Olympus belonging to all three.[2][27] Given Poseidon's connection with horses as well as the sea, and the landlocked situation of the likely Indo-European homeland, Nobuo Komita has proposed that Poseidon was originally an aristocratic Indo-European horse-god who was then assimilated to Near Eastern aquatic deities when the basis of the Greek livelihood shifted from the land to the sea, or a god of fresh waters who was assigned a secondary role as god of the sea, where he overwhelmed the original Aegean sea deities such as Proteus and Nereus.[28] Conversely, Walter Burkert suggests that the Hellene cult worship of Poseidon as a horse god may be connected to the introduction of the horse and war-chariot from Anatolia to Greece around 1600 BC.[2]

It is almost sure that once Poseidon was worshiped as a horse, and this is evident by his cult in Peloponnesos. However he was originally a god of the waters, and therefore he became the "earth-shaker", because the Greeks believed that the cause of the earthquakes was the erosion of the rocks by the waters, by the rivers who they saw to disappear into the earth and then to burst out again. This is what the natural philosophers Thales, Anaximenes and Aristotle believed, which could not be different from the folklore belief.[29] Later, when the Myceneans travelled along the sea, he was assigned a role as god of the sea.

In any case, the early importance of Poseidon can still be glimpsed in Homer's Odyssey, where Poseidon rather than Zeus is the major mover of events. In Homer, Poseidon is the master of the sea.[30]

Worship of Poseidon

Poseidon holding a trident. Corinthian plaque, 550-525 BC. From Penteskouphia.

Poseidon was a major civic god of several cities: in Athens, he was second only to Athena in importance, while in Corinth and many cities of Magna Graecia he was the chief god of the polis.[2]

In his benign aspect, Poseidon was seen as creating new islands and offering calm seas. When offended or ignored, he supposedly struck the ground with his trident and caused chaotic springs, earthquakes, drownings and shipwrecks. Sailors prayed to Poseidon for a safe voyage, sometimes drowning horses as a sacrifice;[citation needed] in this way, according to a fragmentary papyrus, Alexander the Great paused at the Syrian seashore before the climactic battle of Issus, and resorted to prayers, "invoking Poseidon the sea-god, for whom he ordered a four-horse chariot to be cast into the waves."[31]

According to Pausanias, Poseidon was one of the caretakers of the oracle at Delphi before Olympian Apollo took it over. Apollo and Poseidon worked closely in many realms: in colonization, for example, Delphic Apollo provided the authorization to go out and settle, while Poseidon watched over the colonists on their way, and provided the lustral water for the foundation-sacrifice. Xenophon's Anabasis describes a group of Spartan soldiers in 400–399 BC singing to Poseidon a paean—a kind of hymn normally sung for Apollo.

Like Dionysus, who inflamed the maenads, Poseidon also caused certain forms of mental disturbance. A Hippocratic text of ca 400 BC, On the Sacred Disease[32] says that he was blamed for certain types of epilepsy.

Epithets

Dionysus, Plato, or Poseidon sculpture excavated at the Villa of the Papyri.

Poseidon was known in various guises, denoted by epithets. In the town of Aegae in Euboea, he was known as Poseidon Aegaeus and had a magnificent temple upon a hill.[33][34][35] Poseidon also had a close association with horses, known under the epithet Poseidon Hippios, usually in Arcadia. He is more often regarded as the tamer of horses, but in some myths he is their father, either by spilling his seed upon a rock or by mating with a creature who then gave birth to the first horse.[2] He was closely related with the springs, and with the strike of his trident, he created springs. Many springs like Hippocrene and Aganippe in Helikon are related with the word horse (hippos). (also Glukippe, Hyperippe).[36] In the historical period, Poseidon was often referred to by the epithets Enosichthon, Seisichthon and Ennosigaios, and Γαιήοχος Gaiēochos all meaning "earth-shaker" and referring to his role in causing earthquakes.

Some other epithets of Poseidon are:[37]

  • "Asphaleios", (ασφάλεια:safety), as protector from the earthquakes.
  • "Helikonios", (Ελικώνιος) related with the mountain Helikon.
  • "Tavreios", (Ταύρειος: related with the bull). There was a fest "Tavreia" in Ephesos.
  • "Petraios" (Πετραίος: related with rocks) in Thessaly. He hit a rock, and the horse "Skyphios" appeared.
  • "Epoptis"(επόπτης: supervisor) in Megalopolis
  • "Pelagios" in Ionia.
  • Phykios" ( Φύκιος: related with seaweeds) in Mykonos.
  • "Phytalmios" ( Φυτάλμιος) related with the vegetation in Troizen, Megara, Rhodes.
  • Epithets related with the genealogy trees: "Patrigenios", "Genethlios", "Genesios", "Pater", "Phratrios".
  • "Epactaeus", meaning "god worshipped on the coast", in Samos.<ef> Leonhard Schmitz (1870). "Epactaeus". In Smith, William. Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology. </ref>

Mythology

Andrea Doria as Neptune, by Angelo Bronzino.

Birth

Poseidon was the second son of titans Cronus and Rhea. In most accounts he is swallowed by Cronus at birth but later saved, with his other brothers and sisters, by Zeus. However, in some versions of the story, he, like his brother Zeus, did not share the fate of his other brother and sisters who were eaten by Cronus. He was saved by his mother Rhea, who concealed him among a flock of lambs and pretended to have given birth to a colt, which she gave to Cronus to devour.[38]

According to John Tzetzes[39] the kourotrophos, or nurse of Poseidon was Arne, who denied knowing where he was, when Cronus came searching; according to Diodorus Siculus[40] Poseidon was raised by the Telchines on Rhodes, just as Zeus was raised by the Korybantes on Crete.

According to a single reference in the Iliad, when the world was divided by lot in three, Zeus received the sky, Hades the underworld and Poseidon the sea. In the Odyssey (v.398), Poseidon has a home in Aegae.

Foundation of Athens

The Dispute of Minerva and Neptune by René-Antoine Houasse (circa 1689 or 1706)

Athena became the patron goddess of the city of Athens after a competition with Poseidon. Yet Poseidon remained a numinous presence on the Acropolis in the form of his surrogate, Erechtheus.[2] At the dissolution festival at the end of the year in the Athenian calendar, the Skira, the priests of Athena and the priest of Poseidon would process under canopies to Eleusis.[41] They agreed that each would give the Athenians one gift and the Athenians would choose whichever gift they preferred. Poseidon struck the ground with his trident and a spring sprang up; the water was salty and not very useful,[42] whereas Athena offered them an olive tree.

The Athenians or their king, Cecrops, accepted the olive tree and along with it Athena as their patron, for the olive tree brought wood, oil and food. After the fight, infuriated at his loss, Poseidon sent a monstrous flood to the Attic Plain, to punish the Athenians for not choosing him. The depression made by Poseidon's trident and filled with salt water was surrounded by the northern hall of the Erechtheum, remaining open to the air. "In cult, Poseidon was identified with Erechtheus," Walter Burkert noted; "the myth turns this into a temporal-causal sequence: in his anger at losing, Poseidon led his son Eumolpus against Athens and killed Erectheus."[43]

Temple of Poseidon at Cape Sounion, ca 440 BC

The contest of Athena and Poseidon was the subject of the reliefs on the western pediment of the Parthenon, the first sight that greeted the arriving visitor.

This myth is construed by Robert Graves and others as reflecting a clash between the inhabitants during Mycenaean times and newer immigrants. Athens at its height was a significant sea power, at one point defeating the Persian fleet at Salamis Island in a sea battle.

Walls of Troy

Poseidon and Apollo, having offended Zeus by their rebellion in Hera's scheme, were temporarily stripped of their divine authority and sent to serve King Laomedon of Troy. He had them build huge walls around the city and promised to reward them well, a promise he then refused to fulfill. In vengeance, before the Trojan War, Poseidon sent a sea monster to attack Troy. The monster was later killed by Heracles.

Consorts and children

Poseidon on an Attic kalyx krater (detail), first half of the 5th century BC.

Poseidon was said to have had many lovers of both sexes (see expandable list below). His consort was Amphitrite, a nymph and ancient sea-goddess, daughter of Nereus and Doris. Together they had a son named Triton, a merman.

Poseidon was the father of many heroes. He is thought to have fathered the famed Theseus.

A mortal woman named Tyro was married to Cretheus (with whom she had one son, Aeson), but loved Enipeus, a river god. She pursued Enipeus, who refused her advances. One day, Poseidon, filled with lust for Tyro, disguised himself as Enipeus, and from their union were born the heroes Pelias and Neleus, twin boys. Poseidon also had an affair with Alope, his granddaughter through Cercyon, his son and King of Eleusis, begetting the Attic hero Hippothoon. Cercyon had his daughter buried alive but Poseidon turned her into the spring, Alope, near Eleusis.

Poseidon rescued Amymone from a lecherous satyr and then fathered a child, Nauplius, by her.

After having raped Caeneus, Poseidon fulfilled her request and changed her into a male warrior.

A mortal woman named Cleito once lived on an isolated island; Poseidon fell in love with the human mortal and created a dwelling sanctuary at the top of a hill near the middle of the island and surrounded the dwelling with rings of water and land to protect her. She gave birth to five sets of twin boys; the firstborn, Atlas, became the first ruler of Atlantis.[3][4][5]

Not all of Poseidon's children were human. In an archaic myth, Poseidon once pursued Demeter. She spurned his advances, turning herself into a mare so that she could hide in a herd of horses; he saw through the deception and became a stallion and captured her. Their child was a horse, Arion, which was capable of human speech. Poseidon also had sexual intercourse with Medusa on the floor of a temple to Athena.[44][45] Medusa was then changed into a monster by Athena.[46][45] When she was later beheaded by the hero Perseus, Chrysaor and Pegasus emerged from her neck.

His other children include Polyphemus (the cyclops) and, finally, Alebion and Bergion and Otos and Ephialtae (the giants).[44]

List of Poseidon's consorts and children

Sea thiasos depicting the wedding of Poseidon and Amphitrite, from the Altar of Domitius Ahenobarbus in the Field of Mars, bas-relief, Roman Republic, 2nd century BC
Triumph of Poseidon and Amphitrite showing the couple in procession, detail of a vast mosaic from Cirta, Roman Africa (ca. 315–325 AD, now at the Louvre)

Female lovers and offspring

  1. Amphitrite
    1. Triton
    2. Benthesikyme
    3. Rhodos (according to Apollodorus, but see below)
  2. Aphrodite
    1. Rhodos (according to Herodorus of Heraclea, but see above)
    2. Herophile the Sibyl (possibly)
  3. Demeter
    1. Despoina
    2. Areion, the talking horse
  4. Gaea
    1. Antaeus
    2. Charybdis
  5. Aba, nymph
    1. Ergiscus[47]
  6. Agamede
    1. Dictys
  7. Aethra
    1. Theseus
  8. Alistra[48]
    1. Ogygus
  9. Alcyone
    1. Aethusa
    2. Hyrieus
    3. Hyperenor
    4. Hyperes
    5. Anthas
  10. Alope
    1. Hippothoon
  11. Amphimedusa, Danaid
    1. Erythras
  12. Amymone
    1. Nauplius
  13. Arene
    1. Idas (possibly)
  14. Arne / Melanippe
    1. Aeolus
    2. Boeotus
  15. Arethusa
    1. Abas
  16. Ascre
    1. Oeoclus[49]
  17. Astypalaea
    1. Ancaeus
    2. Eurypylus king of Kos
  18. Beroe (daughter of Aphrodite)
  19. Boudeia / Bouzyge
    1. Erginus
  20. Caenis
  21. Calchinia
    1. Peratus
  22. Canace
    1. Hopleus
    2. Nireus
    3. Aloeus
    4. Epopeus
    5. Triopas
  23. Celaeno (Pleiad or daughter of Ergeus)
    1. Lycus
    2. Nycteus
    3. Eurypylus (Eurytus) of Cyrene
    4. Lycaon
  24. Celaeno, Danaid
    1. Celaenus
  25. Cerebia[50]
    1. Dictys
    2. Polydectes
  26. Ceroessa
    1. Byzas
  27. Cleodora
    1. Parnassus
  28. Chione
    1. Eumolpus
  29. Chrysogeneia
    1. Chryses, father of Minyas
  30. Corcyra, nymph
    1. Phaeax
  31. Coronis
  32. Diopatra, nymph of Mount Othrys
  33. Euryale, daughter of Minos
    1. Orion (possibly)
  34. Eurycyda
    1. Eleius
  35. Eurynome (Eurymede), daughter of Nisos
    1. Bellerophon
  36. Euryte / Bathycleia
    1. Halirrhothius
  37. Halia
    1. Rhode (possibly)
    2. six sons
  38. Harpale / Scamandrodice / Calyce
    1. Cycnus
  39. Helle
    1. Almops
    2. Edonus
    3. Paion
  40. Hermippe
    1. Minyas (possibly)
  41. Hippothoe
    1. Taphius
  42. Iphimedeia
    1. The Aloadae
  43. Laodice[51]
  44. Larissa
    1. Achaeus
    2. Pelasgus
    3. Pythius
  45. Leis, daughter of Orus
    1. Altephus[52]
  46. Libya
    1. Agenor
    2. Belus
    3. Lelex
  47. Lysianassa / Anippe
    1. Busiris
  48. Mecionice / Europa, daughter of Tityos
    1. Euphemus, Argonaut
  49. Medusa
    1. Pegasus
    2. Chrysaor
  50. Melantheia, daughter of Alpheus
    1. Eirene
  51. Melantho (daughter of Deucalion)
    1. Delphus
  52. Melia
    1. Amycus
    2. Mygdon
  53. Melissa, daughter of Epidamnus
    1. Dyrrhachius[53]
  54. Mestra
  55. Mideia
    1. Aspledon
  56. Molione
    1. The Molionides
  57. Mytilene
    1. Myton[54]
  58. Oenope
    1. Megareus of Onchestus (possibly)
  59. Olbia, nymph
    1. Astacus[55]
  60. Ossa
    1. Sithon (possibly)
  61. Peirene
    1. Cenchrias
    2. Leches
  62. Periboea
    1. Nausithous
  63. Pero, nymph / Kelousa, nymph
    1. Asopus (possibly)
  64. Pitane, nymph / Lena
    1. Euadne
  65. Phoenice
    1. Torone[56]
  66. Pronoe, daughter of Asopus
    1. Phocus
  67. Rhode[57]
    1. Ialysus
    2. Cameirus
    3. Lindus
  68. Rhodope, daughter of Strymon
    1. Athos[58]
  69. Salamis, daughter of Asopus
    1. Cychreus
  70. Satyria, nymph of Taras
    1. Taras (eponym of the location)[59]
  71. Syme
    1. Chthonius
  72. Themisto
    1. Leucon (possibly)
  73. Theophane
    1. The Ram of the Golden Fleece
  74. Thyia
  75. Tyro
    1. Pelias
    2. Neleus
  76. Thoosa
    1. Polyphemus
  77. Daughter of Amphictyon, unnamed
    1. Cercyon
  78. Nymph of Chios, unnamed
    1. Chios
  79. Nymph of Chios, unnamed (another one)
    1. Melas
    2. Agelus
    3. Malina
  80. Unknown consorts
    1. Amphimarus[60]
    2. Amyrus, eponym of a river in Thessaly[61]
    3. Aon, eponym of Aonia[62]
    4. Astraeus and Alcippe of Mysia[63]
    5. Calaurus[64]
    6. Caucon or Glaucon[65]
    7. Corynetes (possibly)
    8. Cymopoleia
    9. Cromus (eponym of Crommyon)[66]
    10. Geren, eponym of a town or village Geren on Lesbos[67]
    11. Dicaeus, eponym of Dicaea, a city in Thrace[68]
    12. Euseirus (father of Cerambus)
    13. Ialebion (Alebion) and Dercynus (Bergion) of Liguria[69]
    14. Laestrygon, eponym of the Laestrygonians
    15. Lamus, king of the Laestrygonians
    16. Lotis (possibly)
    17. Messapus
    18. Onchestus[70]
    19. Ourea[71]
    20. Palaestinus[72]
    21. Phineus[73]
    22. Phorbas of Acarnania
    23. Poltys
    24. Procrustes
    25. Proteus
    26. Sarpedon of Ainos
    27. Sciron
    28. Syleus
    29. Taenarus (possibly)

In Plato's myth of Atlantis, Poseidon consorted with Cleito, daughter of the autochthons Evenor and Leucippe, and had by her ten sons: Ampheres, Atlas, Autochthon, Azaes, Diaprepes, Elasippus, Euaemon, Eumelus (Gadeirus), Mestor, Mneseus.[74]

Male lovers

Genealogy

Poseidon's family tree [76]
UranusGaia
Uranus' genitalsCronusRhea
ZeusHeraPOSEIDONHadesDemeterHestia
    a [77]
     b [78]
AresHephaestus
Metis
Athena [79]
Leto
ApolloArtemis
Maia
Hermes
Semele
Dionysus
Dione
    a [80]     b [81]
Aphrodite

In literature and art

Neptune and Amphitrite by Jacob de Gheyn II (late 1500s)

In Greek art, Poseidon rides a chariot that was pulled by a hippocampus or by horses that could ride on the sea. He was associated with dolphins and three-pronged fish spears (tridents). He lived in a palace on the ocean floor, made of coral and gems.

In the Iliad Poseidon favors the Greeks, and on several occasion takes an active part in the battle against the Trojan forces. However, in Book XX he rescues Aeneas after the Trojan prince is laid low by Achilles.

In the Odyssey, Poseidon is notable for his hatred of Odysseus who blinded the god's son, the cyclops Polyphemus. The enmity of Poseidon prevents Odysseus's return home to Ithaca for many years. Odysseus is even told, notwithstanding his ultimate safe return, that to placate the wrath of Poseidon will require one more voyage on his part.

In the Aeneid, Neptune is still resentful of the wandering Trojans, but is not as vindictive as Juno, and in Book I he rescues the Trojan fleet from the goddess's attempts to wreck it, although his primary motivation for doing this is his annoyance at Juno's having intruded into his domain.

A hymn to Poseidon included among the Homeric Hymns is a brief invocation, a seven-line introduction that addresses the god as both "mover of the earth and barren sea, god of the deep who is also lord of Helicon and wide Aegae,[82] and specifies his twofold nature as an Olympian: "a tamer of horses and a saviour of ships."

Poseidon appears in Percy Jackson and the Olympians as the father of Percy Jackson and Tyson the Cyclops. He also appears in the ABC television series Once Upon a Time as the guest star of the second half of season four played by Ernie Hudson.[83] In this version, Poseidon is portrayed as the father of the Sea Witch Ursula.

Narrations

Neptune's fountain in Prešov, Slovakia.
Poseidon myths as told by story tellers

Bibliography of reconstruction:

  • Homer, Odyssey, 11.567 (7th century BC)
  • Pindar, Olympian Odes, 1 (476 BC)
  • Euripides, Orestes, 12–16 (408 BC)
  • Bibliotheca Epitome 2: 1–9 (140 BC)
  • Ovid, Metamorphoses, VI: 213, 458 (AD 8);
  • Hyginus, Fables, 82: Tantalus; 83: Pelops (1st century AD)
  • Pausanias, Description of Greece, 2.22.3 (AD 160 – 176)

Bibliography of reconstruction:

Gallery

See also

Notes

  1. ^ Jones, Daniel (2003) [1917], Peter Roach, James Hartmann and Jane Setter, eds., English Pronouncing Dictionary, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, ISBN 3-12-539683-2 
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h Burkert 1985, pp. 136–139.
  3. ^ a b Plato (1971). Timaeus and Critias. London, England: Penguin Books Ltd. p. 167. ISBN 9780140442618. 
  4. ^ a b Timaeus 24e–25a, R. G. Bury translation (Loeb Classical Library).
  5. ^ a b Also it has been interpreted that Plato or someone before him in the chain of the oral or written tradition of the report accidentally changed the very similar Greek words for "bigger than" ("meson") and "between" ("mezon") – Luce, J.V. (1969). The End of Atlantis – New Light on an Old Legend. London: Thames and Hudson. p. 224. 
  6. ^ Martin Nilsson (1967). Die Geschichte der Griechische Religion. Erster Band. Verlag C. H. Beck. p. 444.
  7. ^ Liddell & Scott, A Greek-English Lexicon, Ποσειδῶν.
  8. ^ a b Adams, Professor John Paul. "Mycenaean Divinities". List of Handouts for Classics 315. Retrieved 2 September 2006. 
  9. ^ Ennosidas (Pindar), Ennosigaios (Homer): Dietrich, p. 185 n. 305.
  10. ^ Pierre Chantraine Dictionnaire etymologique de la langue grecque Paris 1974-1980 4th s.v.; Lorenzo Rocci Vocabolario Greco-Italiano Milano, Roma, Napoli 1943 (1970) s.v.
  11. ^ Martin Nilsson, p. 417, p. 445
  12. ^ R. S. P. Beekes. Etymological Dictionary of Greek, Brill, 2009, p. 324 (s.v. "Δημήτηρ").
  13. ^ Plato, Cratylus, 402d–402e
  14. ^ Dietrich, pp. 220–221.
  15. ^ Dietrich, p. 109.
  16. ^ Dietrich, p. 181.
  17. ^ Ventris/Chadwick,Documents in Mycenean Greek p. 242; Dietrich, p. 172, n. 218.
  18. ^ George Mylonas (1966), Mycenae and the Mycenean world. p.159. Princeton University Press
  19. ^ "Wa-na-ssoi, wa-na-ka-te, (to the two queens and the king). Wanax (Greek : Αναξ) is best suited to Poseidon, the special divinity of Pylos. The identity of the two divinities addressed as wanassoi, is uncertain ": George Mylonas (1966) Mycenae and the Mycenean age p. 159 .Princeton University Press
  20. ^ Pausanias VIII 23. 5; Raymond Bloch "Quelques remarques sur Poseidon, Neptunus et Nethuns" in Comptes-rendus des séances de l' Académie des Inscriptions et Belles-Letres 2 1981 p. 345.
  21. ^ L. H. Jeffery (1976). Archaic Greece: The Greek city states c.800-500 B.C (Ernest Benn Limited) p 23 ISBN 0-510-03271-0
  22. ^ F.Schachermeyer: Poseidon und die Entstehung des Griechischen Gotter glaubens :Nilsson p 444
  23. ^ The river god Acheloos is represented as a bull
  24. ^ Pseudo-Apollodorus, Bibliotheke 3.1.4
  25. ^ Ruck and Staples 1994:213.
  26. ^ Dietrich, p. 167.
  27. ^ Hesiod, Theogony 456.
  28. ^ Komita, "Poseidon the horse-god and the early Indo-Europeans", Research Reports of Ikutoku Tech. University, 1985[permanent dead link]; Komita, "The Indo-European attribute of Poseidon was a water-god", Research Reports of the Kanagawa Institute of Technology, 1990.[permanent dead link]
  29. ^ Seneca quaest. Nat. VI 6 :Nilsson Vol I p.450
  30. ^ "Poseidon - God of the Sea - Crystalinks". www.crystalinks.com. Retrieved 2017-11-06. 
  31. ^ Papyrus Oxyrrhincus FGH 148, 44, col. 2; quoted by Robin Lane Fox, Alexander the Great (1973) 1986:168 and note. Alexander also invoked other sea deities: Thetis, mother of his hero Achilles, Nereus and the Nereids
  32. ^ (Hippocrates), On the Sacred Disease, Francis Adams, tr.
  33. ^ Strabo, ix. p. 405
  34. ^ Virgil, Aeneid iii. 74, where Servius erroneously derives the name from the Aegean Sea
  35. ^ Schmitz, Leonhard (1867). "Aegaeus". In Smith, William. Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology. 1. Boston. p. 24. 
  36. ^ Nildsson Vol I p.450
  37. ^ Nilsson, Vol I pp. 446-450
  38. ^ In the 2nd century AD, a well with the name of Arne, the "lamb's well", in the neighbourhood of Mantineia in Arcadia, where old traditions lingered, was shown to Pausanias. (Pausanias viii.8.2.)
  39. ^ Tzetzes, ad Lycophron 644.
  40. ^ Diodorus, v. 55.
  41. ^ Burkert 1983, pp. 143–149.
  42. ^ Another version of the myth says that Poseidon gave horses to Athens.[citation needed]
  43. ^ Burkert 1983, pp. 149, 157.
  44. ^ a b Gill, N.S. (2007). "Mates and Children of Poseidon". Retrieved 5 February 2007. 
  45. ^ a b Seelig 2002, p. 895-911.
  46. ^ Philip Freeman (2013). Oh My Gods: A Modern Retelling of Greek and Roman Myths. p. 30. ISBN 9781451609981. 
  47. ^ Suda s. v. Ergiske
  48. ^ Tzetzes on Lycophron, 1206
  49. ^ Pausanias, Description of Greece, 9. 29. 1
  50. ^ Tzetzes on Lycophron, 838
  51. ^ Ovid, Heroides, 18 (19). 135
  52. ^ Pausanias, Description of Greece, 2. 30. 5
  53. ^ Stephanus of Byzantium s. v. Dyrrhakhion
  54. ^ Stephanus of Byzantium s. v. Mytilene
  55. ^ Stephanus of Byzantium, s. v. Astakos, with a reference to Arrian
  56. ^ Stephanus of Byzantium s. v. Torōnē
  57. ^ Tzetzes on Lycophron, 923
  58. ^ Scholia on Theocritus, Idyll 7. 76
  59. ^ Probus on Virgil's Georgics, 2. 197
  60. ^ Pausanias, Description of Greece, 9. 29. 5
  61. ^ Scholia on Apollonius Rhodius, Argonautica, 1. 596
  62. ^ Scholia on Statius, Thebaid, 1. 34
  63. ^ Pseudo-Plutarch, On Rivers, 21. 1
  64. ^ Stephanus of Byzantium s. v. Kalaureia
  65. ^ Aelian, Various Histories, 1. 24
  66. ^ Pausanias, Description of Greece, 2. 1. 3
  67. ^ Stephanus of Byzantium s. v. Gerēn
  68. ^ Stephanus of Byzantium s. v. Dikaia
  69. ^ Bibliotheca 2. 5. 10
  70. ^ Pausanias, Description of Greece, 9. 26. 5
  71. ^ Hyginus, Fabulae, 161
  72. ^ Pseudo-Plutarch, On Rivers, 11. 1
  73. ^ Pseudo-Apollodorus. Bibliotheca, Book 1.9.21
  74. ^ Plato, Critias, 114c
  75. ^ Ptolemy Hephaestion, New History, 1 in Photius, 190
  76. ^ This chart is based upon Hesiod's Theogony, unless otherwise noted.
  77. ^ According to Homer, Iliad 1.570–579, 14.338, Odyssey 8.312, Hephaestus was apparently the son of Hera and Zeus, see Gantz, p. 74.
  78. ^ According to Hesiod, Theogony 927–929, Hephaestus was produced by Hera alone, with no father, see Gantz, p. 74.
  79. ^ According to Hesiod, Theogony 886–890, of Zeus' children by his seven wives, Athena was the first to be conceived, but the last to be born; Zeus impregnated Metis then swallowed her, later Zeus himself gave birth to Athena "from his head", see Gantz, pp. 51–52, 83–84.
  80. ^ According to Hesiod, Theogony 183–200, Aphrodite was born from Uranus' severed genitals, see Gantz, pp. 99–100.
  81. ^ According to Homer, Aphrodite was the daughter of Zeus (Iliad 3.374, 20.105; Odyssey 8.308, 320) and Dione (Iliad 5.370–71), see Gantz, pp. 99–100.
  82. ^ The ancient palace-city that was replaced by Vergina
  83. ^ Andreeva, Nellie (December 19, 2014). "Ernie Hudson To Play Poseidon On 'Once Upon a Time'". Deadline Hollywood. Retrieved December 20, 2014. 

References

External links

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