Poseidon

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Poseidon

In Greek mythology

Greek mythology

Greek mythology is the body of myths and legends belonging to the Ancient Greece concerning their List of Greek mythological figures#Immortals and Greek hero cult, Cosmology#Metaphysical cosmology, and the origins and significance of their own cult and ritual practices....
, Poseidon (Greek

Greek language

Greek is an Indo-European languages native to the southern Balkan peninsula, the language of the Greek people. It forms an independent branch within Indo-European....
: ; Latin: Neptunus
Neptune (mythology)

Neptune is the Water deity in Roman mythology, a brother of Jupiter and Pluto . He is analogous with but not identical to the god Poseidon of Greek mythology.....
) was the god of the sea

SEA

See also: Sea and seasThe three-letter acronym SEA may refer to:People/organizations/businesses*Scientists and Engineers for America, a pro-science political advocacy group....
and, as "Earth-Shaker," of earthquake

Earthquake

An earthquake is the result of a sudden release of energy in the Earth's crust that creates seismic waves. Earthquakes are recorded with a seismometer, also known as a seismograph....
s. The name of the god Nethuns

Nethuns

In Etruscan mythology, Nethuns was the god of water wells, later expanded to all water, including the sea. The Etruscan conception of the deity affected Roman mythology Neptune ....
in Etruscan

Etruscan mythology

The Etruscan civilizations were a people of unknown origin living in Northern Italy, who were eventually integrated into Roman culture and politically became part of the Roman Republic....
was adopted in Latin for Neptune

Neptune (mythology)

Neptune is the Water deity in Roman mythology, a brother of Jupiter and Pluto . He is analogous with but not identical to the god Poseidon of Greek mythology.....
in Roman mythology

Roman mythology

Roman mythology, or more appropriately, Latin mythology, refers to the mythology beliefs of the Italic people inhabiting the region of Latium and its main city, Rome....
: both were sea gods analogous to Poseidon. Linear B

Linear B

Linear B is a script that was used for writing Mycenaean language, an early form of Greek language. It predated the Greek alphabet by several centuries and seems to have died out with the fall of Mycenaean Greece civilization....
tablets show that Poseidon was venerated at Pylos

Pylos

This article is about the Greek geographical feature and town. For the mythological figure see Pylus . For board game see Pylos .Pylos, or P?los , is a large bay and a town on the west coast of the Peloponnese, in the district of Messenia in southern Greece....
and Thebes

Thebes, Greece

Thebes is a city in Greece, situated to the north of the Cithaeron range, which divides Boeotia from Attica, Greece, and on the southern edge of the Boeotian plain....
in pre-Olympian Bronze Age Greece, but he was integrated into the Olympian gods as the brother of Zeus

Zeus

Hades

Hades refers both to the ancient Greek underworld, the abode of Hades, and to the god of the underworld. Hades in Homer referred just to the god; the genitive case , Haidou, was an elision to denote locality: "[the house/dominion] of Hades"....
.
Worship of Poseidon
Poseidon was a major civic god of several cities: in Athens

History of Athens

The History of Athens is one of the longest of any city in Europe and in the world. Athens has been continuously inhabited for over 4,500 years, becoming the leading city of Ancient Greece in the first millennium BC; its cultural achievements during the 5th century BC laid the foundations of western culture....
, he was second only to Athena

Athena

In Greek mythology, Athena is the shrewd companion of Hero and the goddess of Hero endeavour. She is the virgin patron of Athens, which built the Parthenon to worship her....
in importance; while in Corinth

Corinth

Corinth, or Korinth Corinth is now the capital of the Prefectures of Greece of Corinthia. The city is surrounded by the coastal townlets of Lechaio, Isthmia, Kechries, and the inland townlets of Examilia and the archaeological site....
and many cities of Magna Graecia

Magna Graecia

Magna Graecia is the name of the area in Southern Italy and Sicily that was Colonies in antiquity#Greek colonies by Greek settlers in the eighth century BC, who brought with them the lasting imprint of their Hellenic civilization....
he was the chief god of the polis

Polis

A polis -- plural: poleis --is a city, a city-state and also citizenship and body of citizens. When used to describe Classical Athens and its contemporaries, polis is often translated as "city-state."...
. In his benign aspect, Poseidon was seen as creating new island

Island

An island or isle is any piece of land that is surrounded by water. Very small islands such as emergent land features on atolls are called islets....
s and offering calm seas.

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Argive genealogy in Greek mythology

Worship of Poseidon

Poseidon was a major civic god of several cities: in Athens

History of Athens

Athena

Corinth

Magna Graecia

Polis

Island

An island or isle is any piece of land that is surrounded by water. Very small islands such as emergent land features on atolls are called islets....
s and offering calm seas. When offended or ignored, he supposedly struck the ground with his trident

Trident

A trident , also called a leister or gig, is a three-tine spear. It is used for spear fishing and was formerly also a military weapon....
and caused chaotic

Chaos

Chaos typically refers to unpredictability, and is the antithesis of cosmos.The word did not mean "disorder" in classical-period ancient Greece....
springs, earthquake

Earthquake

Ship

A ship is a large watercraft that floats on water. Ships are generally distinguished from boats based on size. Ships may be found on lakes, seas, and rivers and they allow for a variety of activities, such as the ferry or cargo ships, fishing, cruise ship, Coast guard, and warship....
wrecks. Sailors prayed to Poseidon for a safe voyage, sometimes drowning horses as a sacrifice.

According to Pausanias

Pausanias (geographer)

Pausanias was a Roman Greece traveller and geographer of the 2nd century AD, who lived in the times of Hadrian, Antoninus Pius and Marcus Aurelius....
, Poseidon was one of the caretakers of the oracle at Delphi before Olympian Apollo

Apollo

In Greek mythology and Roman mythology, Apollo , is one of the most important and many-sided of the Twelve Olympians. The ideal of the kouros , Apollo has been variously recognized as a god of light and the sun; truth and prophecy; archery; medicine and healing; music, poetry, and the arts; and more....
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

Holy Water

Holy Water is a studio album by hard rock band Bad Company, with Brian Howe in place of Paul Rodgers as lead vocalist, released in June of 1990 ....
for the foundation-sacrifice. Xenophon

Xenophon

Xenophon , son of Gryllus, of the deme Erchia of Athens, also known as Xenophon of Athens and Xenophon of Thebes, was a soldier, mercenary and a contemporary and admirer of Socrates....
's Anabasis

Anabasis (Xenophon)

Anabasis is the most famous work of the Ancient Greece professional soldier and writer Xenophon. The journey it narrates is his best known accomplishment and "one of the great adventures in human history," as Will Durant expressed the common assessment....
describes a group of Sparta

Sparta

Sparta was a city-state in ancient Greece, situated on the Eurotas River in the southern part of the Peloponnese. From circa 650 BC it rose to become the dominant military power in the region and as such was recognized as the overall leader of the combined Greek forces during the Greco-Persian Wars....
n soldiers in 400-399 BCE singing to Poseidon a paean

Paean

Paean is a term used to describe a type of triumphal or grateful song, usually choral though sometimes individual. It comes from the ancient Greek pa??? "song of triumph, any solemn song or chant" and it was also used as the name for the physician of the Greek gods and as an epithet of Apollo....
- a kind of hymn normally sung for Apollo.

Like Dionysus

Dionysus

In classical mythology, Dionysus or Dionysos , is the God of wine, the inspirer of ritual madness and ecstasy, and a major figure of Greek mythology, and one of the twelve Olympians, among whom Greek mythology treated Dionysus as a late arrival....
, who inflamed the maenads, Poseidon also caused certain forms of mental disturbance. A Hippocratic

Hippocrates

Hippocrates of Cos II or Hippokrates of Kos - ancient Greek: ; Hippokr?tes was an Ancient Greece physician of the Age of Pericles, and was considered one of the most outstanding figures in the history of medicine....
text of ca 400 BCE, On the Sacred Disease says that he was blamed for certain types of epilepsy.

Bronze Age Greece

The name seems to rather transparently stem from Greek

Greek language

Greek is an Indo-European languages native to the southern Balkan peninsula, the language of the Greek people. It forms an independent branch within Indo-European....
pósis "lord, husband" with a less-transparent -don element, perhaps from dea, "goddess'. If surviving Linear B

Linear B

Clay tablet

In ancient times, small tablets made out of clay were used as a writing medium.From the 4th millennium BCE in the Sumerian, Babylonian, Assyrian and Hittites civilisations of the Mesopotamia region, Cuneiform characters were imprinted on a wet clay tablet with a stylus often made of reed....
s 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 a precursor of Amphitrite

Amphitrite

In ancient Greek mythology, Amphitrite was a sea-goddess. Under the influence of the Olympian pantheon, she became merely the consort of Poseidon, and was further diminished by poets to a symbolic representation of the sea....
. Tablets from Pylos record sacrificial goods destined for "the Two Queens and Poseidon" and to "the Two Queens and the King". The most obvious identification for the "Two Queens" is with Demeter

Demeter

File:Demeter in horse chariot w daughter kore 83d40m wikiC Tempio Y di Selinunte sec VIa.JPGDemeter , in Greek mythology, is the Goddess of cereal and fertility, the pure....
and Persephone

Persephone

In Greek mythology, Persephone was the embodiment of the Earth's fertility at the same time that she was the Queen of the Greek Underworld, the kore , and the parthenogenesis daughter of Demeter and, in later Classical myths, a daughter of Demeter and Zeus....
, or their precursors, goddesses who were not associated with Poseidon in later periods. Poseidon is already identified as "Earth-Shaker"— E-NE-SI-DA-O-NE— in Mycenaean Knossos

Knossos

Knossos , also known as the Knossos Palace is the largest Bronze Age archaeological site on Crete and probably the ceremonial and political center of the Minoan civilization and culture....
, a powerful attribute where earthquakes had accompanied the collapse of the Minoan palace-culture

Minoan civilization

The Minoan civilization was a Bronze Age civilization which arose on the island of Crete. The Minoan culture flourished from approximately 27th century BC to 1450 BC; afterwards, Mycenaean Greece culture became dominant at Minoan sites in Crete....
. In the heavily sea-dependent Mycenean culture, no connection between Poseidon and the sea has yet surfaced; among the Olympians it was determined by lot that he should rule over the sea (Hesiod, Theogony 456): the god preceded his realm.

Demeter and Poseidon's names are linked in one Pylos tablet, where they appear as PO-SE-DA-WO-NE and DA, referred to by the epithets Enosichthon, Seischthon and Ennosigaios, all meaning "earth-shaker" and referring to his role in causing earthquakes.

Poseidon in myth

Birth and triumph over Cronus

Neptune Adam 1725 La County Museum California

Poseidon was a son of Cronus

Cronus

Cronus or Kronos, , was the leader and the youngest of the first generation of Titan , divine descendants of Gaia , the earth, and Uranus , the sky....
and Rhea

Rhea (mythology)

This page is about the Greek mythological figure. For the bird, see Rhea .Rhea was the Titan daughter of Ouranos , the sky, and Gaia , the earth, in Classical Greece mythology....
. In most accounts he is swallowed by Cronus at birth but later saved

Cronus

Cronus or Kronos, , was the leader and the youngest of the first generation of Titan , divine descendants of Gaia , the earth, and Uranus , the sky....
, with his other brothers and sisters, by Zeus

Zeus

Zeus in Greek mythology is the king of the gods, the ruler of Mount Olympus and the god of the sky father and List of thunder gods. His symbols are the thunderbolt, eagle, bull , and oak....
.

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. According to John Tzetzes

John Tzetzes

John Tzetzes , was a Byzantine Empire poet and grammarian, known to have lived at Constantinople during the 12th century.Tzetzes was Georgians on his mother's side ....
the kourotrophos, or nurse of Poseidon was Arne, who denied knowing where he was, when Cronus came searching; according to Diodorus Siculus

Diodorus Siculus

Diodorus Siculus , was a Roman Greece historian who flourished in the 1st century BC. According to Diodorus' own work, he was born at Agira in Sicily ....
Poseidon was raised by the Telchines

Telchines

In Greek mythology, the Telchines were the original inhabitants of the island of Rhodes, and were known in Crete and Cyprus. They were regarded as excellent metallurgists....
on Rhodes

Rhodes

Rhodes is a Greece List of islands of Greece approximately southwest of Turkey in eastern Aegean Sea. It is the largest of the Dodecanese islands in terms of both land area and population, with a population of 117,007 of which 53,709 resided in the Rhodes capital city of the island....
, just as Zeus

Zeus

Korybantes

The Korybantes were the crested dancers who worshiped the Phrygian goddess Cybele with drumming and dancing. They are also called the Kurbantes in Phrygia, and Corybants in an older English language transcription....
on Crete

Crete

Crete is the largest of the Greek islands and the List of islands in the Mediterranean largest island in the Mediterranean Sea at 8,336 km? ....
.

According to a single reference in the Iliad
ILiad

The iLiad is an electronic handheld device, or e-book device, which can be used for document reading and editing. Like the Sony Reader or Amazon Kindle, the iLiad makes use of an electronic paper display....
, when the world was divided by lot in three, Zeus

Zeus

Hades

Underworld

In the study of mythology and religion, the underworld is a generic term approximately equivalent to the lay term afterlife, referring to any place to which newly the dead souls go....
and Poseidon the sea.

The foundation of Athens

Athena became the patron goddess of the city of Athens

Athens

Athens , the Capital and largest city of Greece, dominates the Attica periphery; as one of the List of cities by time of continuous habitation, its recorded history spans around 3,400 years....
after a competition with Poseidon. Yet Poseidon remained a numinous presence on the Acropolis

Acropolis

Acropolis literally means city on the edge . For purposes of defense, early settlers naturally chose elevated ground, frequently a hill with precipitous sides....
in the form of his surrogate, Erechtheus

Erechtheus

Erechtheus in Greek mythology was the name of an archaic king of Athens, the re-founder of the polis and a double at Athens for Poseidon, as "Poseidon Erechtheus"....
. At the dissolution festival at the end of the year in the Athenian calendar, the Skira

Skira

The festival of the Skira or Skirophoria in the Attic calendar, closely associated with the Thesmophoria, marked the dissolution of the old year in May/June....
, the priests of Athena and the priest of Poseidon would process under canopies

Baldachin

A baldachin, or baldaquin , is a canopy of state over an altar or throne. It had its beginnings as a cloth canopy, but in other cases it is a sturdy, permanent Architecture feature, particularly over high altars in cathedrals, where such a structure may be called a ciborium when it is sufficiently architectural in...
to Eleusis. 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, whereas Athena offered them an olive tree.

The Athenians (or their king, Cecrops

Cecrops

This name may refer to two Greek mythology King of Athens Athens:* Cecrops I* Cecrops IIIt more often refers to Cecrops I, who was the better known....
) accepted the olive tree and along with it Athena as their patron, for the olive tree brought wood

Wood

Wood is an organic material; in the strict sense wood is produced as secondary xylem in the stems of woody plants, notably trees but also shrubs, etc....
, oil

Olive oil

Olive oil is a fruit oil obtained from the olive , a traditional tree crop of the Mediterranean Basin. The wild olive tree originated in Anatolia and spread from there as far as southern Africa, Australia, Japan and China....
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

Erechtheum

The Erechtheum is an ancient Greek temple on the north side of the Acropolis, Athens of Athens in Greece....
, remaining open to the air. "In cult, Poseidon was identified with Erechtheus," Walter Burkert

Walter Burkert

Walter Burkert , a scholar of Greek mythology and Cult , is an emeritus professor of classics at the University of Zurich, Switzerland, and also has taught in the United Kingdom and the United States....
noted. "the myth turns this into a temporal-causal sequence: in his anger at losing, Poseidon led his son Eumolpus

Eumolpus

In Greek mythology, Eumolpus was the son of Poseidon and Chione. According to Apollodorus, Chione, daughter of Boreas and Oreithyia, pregnant with Eumolpus by Poseidon, was frightened of her father's reaction so she threw the baby into the ocean....
against Athens and killed Erectheus."

The contest of Athena and Poseidon was the subject of the reliefs on the western pediment of the Parthenon

Parthenon

The Parthenon is a Greek temple of the Greek gods Athena, built in the 5th century BC on the Acropolis of Athens. It is the most important surviving building of Classical Greece, generally considered to be the culmination of the development of the Doric order....
, the first sight that greeted the arriving visitor.

This myth is construed by Robert Graves

Robert Graves

Robert Ranke Graves was an England poet, translator and novelist. During his long life, he produced more than 140 works. He was the son of the Anglo-Irish writer Alfred Perceval Graves and Amalie von Ranke, a niece of the famous German historian Leopold von Ranke....
and others as reflecting a clash between the inhabitants during Mycenaean times and newer immigrants. It is interesting to note that Athens at its height was a significant sea power, at one point defeating the Persian

Iran

Iran , officially the Islamic Republic of Iran and formerly known internationally as Persian Empire until 1935, is a country in Central Eurasia, located on the northeastern shore of the Persian Gulf and the southern shore of the Caspian Sea....
fleet at Salamis Island

Salamis Island

Salamis is the largest Greece island in the Saronic Gulf, about 1 nautical mile off-coast from Piraeus and about 16 km west of Athens. Due to its roughly crescent shape, the island is also locally known as Koulouri, after the koulouri....
in a sea battle.

The walls of Troy

Poseidon and Apollo, having offended Zeus, were sent to serve King Laomedon

Laomedon

In Greek mythology, Laomedon was a Troy king, son of Ilus, brother of Ganymede and father of Priam, Astyoche, Lampus, Hicetaon, Clytius, Cilla , Proclia, Aethilla, Clytodora, and Hesione....
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

Trojan War

In Greek mythology, the Trojan War was waged against the city of Troy by the Achaeans after Paris of Troy stole Helen from her husband Menelaus, the king of Sparta....
, Poseidon sent a sea monster to attack Troy (it was later killed by Perseus

Perseus

Perseus , the legendary founder of Mycenae and of the Mycenae there, was the first of the mythic heroes of Greek mythology whose exploits in defeating various archaic monsters provided the founding myths in the cult of the Twelve Olympians....
).

Consorts/children

His consort was Amphitrite

Amphitrite

Nymph

In Greek mythology, a nymph is any member of a large class of mythological entities in human form. They were typically associated with a particular location or landform....
and ancient sea-goddess, daughter of Nereus

Nereus

Nereus , in Greek Mythology, was the eldest son of Pontus and Gaia , a Titan who fathered the Nereids, with whom Nereus lived in the Aegean Sea....
and Doris

Doris

Doris may refer to:...
.

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

Theseus

For other uses, see Theseus Theseus was a legendary king of Athens, son of Aethra , and fathered by Aegeus and Poseidon, with whom Aethra lay in one night....
.

A mortal woman named Tyro

Tyro

In Greek mythology, Tyro was the daughter of Salmoneus and mother of Pelias and Neleus. Her father, Salmoneus, was the brother of Athamus and Sisyphus....
was married to Cretheus

Cretheus

In Greek mythology, Cretheus, or Kretheus was the king and founder of Iolcus, the son of Aeolus and Enarete. His wives were Sidero, Tyro and either Demodice or Biadice....
(with whom she had one son, Aeson

Aeson

In Greek mythology, Aeson or Aison was the son of Tyro and Cretheus, who also had his brothers Pheres and Amythaon. Aeson was the father of Jason and Promachus with Polymede, the daughter of Autolycus....
) but loved Enipeus

Enipeus

In Greek mythology, Enipeus was a river god, son of Oceanus and Tethys . Enipeus was loved by a mortal woman named Tyro, who was married to a mortal man named Cretheus....
, a river

River

A river is a natural stream of water, usually freshwater, flowing toward an ocean, a lake, or another stream. In some cases a river flows into the ground or dries up completely before reaching another body of water....
god

God

God is a deity in theism and deism religions and other belief systems, representing either the sole deity in monotheism, or a principal deity in polytheism....
. 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

Pelias

Pelias was king of Iolcus in Greek mythology, the son of Tyro, daughter of Aleus, and of either Poseidon or Cretheus. His wife is recorded as either Anaxibia, daughter of Bias , or Phylomache, daughter of Amphion....
and Neleus

Neleus

Neleus was the son of Poseidon and Tyro, brother of Pelias. Tyro was married to Cretheus but loved Enipeus, a river god. She pursued Enipeus, who refused her advances....
, twin boys. Poseidon also had an affair with Alope

Alope

For other uses see Alope In Greek mythology, Alop? was a mortal woman, daughter of Cercyon. Poseidon had an affair with Alope, his granddaughter through Cercyon, begetting Hippothoon....
, his granddaughter through Cercyon

Cercyon

Cercyon - ?e????? was a figure in Greek mythology. He was the King of Eleusis, and a very strong man. He was the son of Poseidon and one of the daughters of Amphictyon, or of Branchus and the nymph Argiope, or of Hephaestus....
, begetting the Attic hero Hippothoon

Hippothoon

Hippothoon or Hippothous is a figure in Greek mythology, often described as the King of Eleusis after the death of Cercyon; however, Theseus was sometimes said to have taken the throne from Cercyon after his death....
. Cercyon had his daughter buried alive but Poseidon turned her into the spring, Alope, near Eleusis.

Poseidon rescued Amymone

Amymone

In Greek mythology, Amymone was a daughter of Danaus. As the "blameless" Danaid, her name identifies her as, perhaps, identical to Hypermnestra , also the one Danaid who did not assassinate her Egyptian husband on their wedding night, as her 49 sisters did....
from a lecherous satyr

Satyr

In Greek mythology, satyrs are a troop of male companions of Pan and Dionysus ? "satyresses" were a late invention of poets ? that roamed the woods and mountains....
and then fathered a child, Nauplius

Nauplius (mythology)

In Greek mythology, Nauplius was the name of two characters, one descended from the other. The name may originally have been applied to one character, the founder of the city of Nauplia in Argolis....
, by her.

After having raped Caeneus

Caeneus

In Greek mythology, Caeneus was a Lapith hero and originally a Thessaly woman, Caenis....
, Poseidon fulfilled her request and changed her into a male warrior.

Not all of Poseidon's children were human. In an archaic myth, Poseidon once pursued Demeter

Demeter

File:Demeter in horse chariot w daughter kore 83d40m wikiC Tempio Y di Selinunte sec VIa.JPGDemeter , in Greek mythology, is the Goddess of cereal and fertility, the pure....
. She spurned his advances, turning herself into a mare

Mare (horse)

A mare is an adult female horse or other equidae.Most of the time, a mare is a female horse over the age of three, and a filly is a female horse age three and younger....
so that she could hide in a herd of horses; he saw through the deception and became a stallion

Horse

The horse is a hoofed mammal, a subspecies of one of seven extant species of the family Equidae. The horse has evolution of the horse over the past 45 to 55 million years from a small multi-toed creature into the large, odd-toed ungulate animal of today....
and captured

Rape

Rape, also referred to as sexual assault, is an assault by a person involving sexual intercourse with or sexual penetration of another person without that person's consent....
her. Their child was a horse

Horse

Arion (mythology)

In Greek mythology, Areion or Arion is a divinely-bred, extremely swift immortal horse which, according to the Latin poet Sextus Propertius, was endowed with spoken language....
, which was capable of human speech. Poseidon also had sexual intercourse with Medusa

Medusa

In Greek mythology, Medusa was a gorgon, a chthonic female monster; gazing upon her would turn onlookers to stone. She was beheaded by the hero Perseus, who thereafter used her head as a weapon until giving it to the goddess Athena to place on her Aegis....
on the floor of a temple to Athena

Athena

In Greek mythology, Athena is the shrewd companion of Hero and the goddess of Hero endeavour. She is the virgin patron of Athens, which built the Parthenon to worship her....
.

Medusa was then changed into a monster

Monster

A monster is any of a large number of legendary creatures which usually appear in, legend, or horror fiction. The word originates from the ancient Latin :la:monstrum, meaning "omen", from the root of :wikt:monere and also meaning "prodigy" or "miracle"....
by Athena

Athena

Perseus

Chrysaor

In Greek mythology, Chrysaor , the brother of Pegasus, was often depicted as a young man, the son of Poseidon and Medusa . Chrysaor and his brother, the winged horse Pegasus, were not born until Perseus chopped off Medusa's head....
and Pegasus

Pegasus

In Greek mythology, Pegasus was a winged horse sired by Poseidon, in his role as horse-god, and foaled by the Gorgon Medusa....
emerged from her neck. There is also Triton

Triton (mythology)

Triton is a mythological Greek mythology, the messenger of the deep. He is the son of Poseidon, god of the sea, and Amphitrite, goddess of the sea....
, the merman

Merman

Mermen are mythical male legendary creatures who are human from the waist up and fish-like from the waist down. They are less commonly known than their female counterparts, mermaids....
; Polyphemus

Polyphemus

Polyphemus , the gigantic one-eyed son of Poseidon and Thoosa, is a character in Greek mythology, one of the Cyclops. His name means "famous". Polyphemus plays a pivotal role in Homer's Odyssey....
, the cyclops

Cyclops

In Greek mythology and later Roman mythology, a cyclops , is a member of a primordial race of giant , each with a single eye in the middle of its forehead....
; and Oto and Ephialtae

Aloadae

File:Gustave_Dor?_-_Dante_Alighieri_-_Inferno_-_Plate_65_.jpgIn Greek mythology, the Aloadae were Otus and Ephialtes , sons of Iphimedeia, queen of Aloeus, by Poseidon, whom she induced to make her pregnant by going to the seashore and disporting herself in the surf or scooping seawater into her bosom....
, the giants

Giant (mythology)

The mythology and legends of many different cultures include monsters of human appearance but prodigious size and strength. "Giant" is the English word commonly used for such beings, derived from one of the most famed examples: the gigantes of Greek mythology....
.

Epithets

Poseidon was known in various guises, denoted by epithets. In the town of Aegae in Euboea

Euboea

For the Greek mythology figure, see Euboea Euboea is the second largest of the Greece Aegean Islands and the second largest List of islands of Greece overall in area and population, after Crete....
, he was known as Poseidon Aegaeus and had a magnificent temple upon a hill. Poseidon also had a close association with horses, known under the epithet Poseidon Hippios.

Poseidon in literature and art

In Greek art

Greek art

Greece has a rich and varied artistic history spanning some 5000 years. It began in the Cycladic and Minoan civilization prehistorical civilization, and gave birth to Classicism in the ancient period ....
, Poseidon rides a chariot

Chariot

The chariot is the earliest and simplest type of carriage, used in both peace and war as the chief vehicle of many ancient peoples. Chariots were built in Mesopotamia by the Mesopotamians as early as 3000 BC and in China during the 2nd millennium BC....
that was pulled by a hippocampus or by horses that could ride on the sea. He was associated with dolphin

Dolphin

File:Bottlenose_Dolphin_KSC04pd0178.jpgDolphins are marine mammals that are closely related to whales and porpoises. There are almost forty species of dolphin in seventeen genus....
s and three-pronged fish

Fish

A fish is any marine biology vertebrate animal that is typically ectothermic , covered with scale , and equipped with two sets of paired fins and several unpaired fins....
spear

Spear

A spear is a pole weapon consisting of a shaft, usually of wood, with a sharpened head. The head may be simply the sharpened end of the shaft itself, as is the case with bamboo spears, or it may be of another material fastened to the shaft, such as obsidian, iron or bronze....
s (trident

Trident

A trident , also called a leister or gig, is a three-tine spear. It is used for spear fishing and was formerly also a military weapon....
s). He lived in a palace on the ocean

Ocean

An ocean is a major body of Seawater, and a principal component of the hydrosphere. Approximately 71% of the Earth's surface is covered by ocean, a World Ocean that is customarily divided into several principal oceans and smaller seas....
floor, made of coral

Coral

Corals are marine organisms from the class Anthozoa and exist as small sea anemone?like polyps, typically in colonies of many identical individuals....
and gem

Gem

Gem generally refers to a gemstone, a cut rock or mineralGem can also refer to:...
s.

In the Iliad
ILiad

The iLiad is an electronic handheld device, or e-book device, which can be used for document reading and editing. Like the Sony Reader or Amazon Kindle, the iLiad makes use of an electronic paper display....
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

Aeneas

This article is about the Roman hero. For other uses, see Aeneas .In Greco-Roman mythology, Aeneas was a Troy hero, the son of prince Anchises and the goddess Venus_....
after the Trojan prince is laid low by Achilles

Achilles

In Greek mythology, Achilles was a Greeks hero of the Trojan War, the central character and the greatest warrior of Homer's Iliad, which takes for its theme ; the Wrath of Achilles....
.

In the Odyssey
Odyssey

The Odyssey is one of two major ancient Hellenic civilization epic poetrys attributed to Homer. It is, in part, a sequel to the Iliad, the other work traditionally ascribed to Homer....
, Poseidon is notable for his hatred of Odysseus

Odysseus

Odysseus or Ulysses , in Greek mythology , was a legendary Greeks king of Ithaca and the hero of Homer's Epic poetry, the Odyssey. Odysseus also plays a key role in Homer's Iliad and other works in the Epic Cycle....
due to the latter's having blinded the god's son, the cyclops

Cyclops

In Greek mythology and later Roman mythology, a cyclops , is a member of a primordial race of giant , each with a single eye in the middle of its forehead....
Polyphemus

Polyphemus

Ithaca

Ithaca or Ithaka is an island in the Ionian Sea, in Greece, with an area of 118 km? and three thousand inhabitants. It is an independent Communities and Municipalities of Greece of the prefecture of Kefalonia and Ithaka Prefecture, and lies off the northeast coast of Kefalonia....
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
Aeneid

The Aeneid is a Latin Epic poetry written by Virgil in the late 1st century BC that tells the legendary story of Aeneas, a Troy who traveled to Italy, where he became the ancestor of the Rome....
, Neptune is still resentful of the wandering Trojans, but is not as vindictive as Juno

Juno (mythology)

File:Juno sospita pushkin.jpgJuno was an Roman religion, the protector and special counselor of the state. She is a daughter of Saturn and sister of the chief god Jupiter and the mother of Juventas, Mars , and Vulcan ....
, 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, and specificies his twofold nature as an Olympian: "a tamer of horses and a saviour of ships."

In contemporary culture

The image of Poseidon or Neptune is widely used in European culture as symbolic of the ocean and waters generally, and hence occurs as a decorative sculpture on many fountains, and monuments in ancient seaports.

"King" Neptune appears as the ruler of the sea, from cans of tuna to The Spongebob Squarepants Movie
The SpongeBob SquarePants Movie

The SpongeBob SquarePants Movie is a 2004 in film feature film based on Nickelodeon 's TV series SpongeBob SquarePants, released on November 19, 2004....
. Disney animators have portrayed Neptune as a fish-man, mistaking him for Triton

Tritón

Trit?n is a Mexico magazine dedicated to news, books and information on swimming, diving and water polo....
, in the 1997 animated Hercules
Hercules (1997 film)

Hercules is a United States animated feature film, produced by Walt Disney Feature Animation and released on June 27, 1997 by Walt Disney Pictures....
. In Percy Jackson & The Olympians, by Rick Riordan

Rick Riordan

Rick Riordan author from Texas of the Percy Jackson and the Olympians series. He also wrote the Tres Navarre mystery series for adults and helped to edit Demigods and Monsters, a collection of essays on the topic of his Percy Jackson series....
, the main character Perseus Jackson is a son of Poseidon (making him a demigod

Demigod

The term "demigod", meaning "half-god", is used to describe mythological figures whose one parent was a god and whose other parent was human. Demi-gods include the Celtic hero C?chulainn, Gilgamesh, and Heracles....
).

Age of Mythology
Age of Mythology

Age of Mythology , is a mythology-based, real-time strategy Personal computer game developed by Ensemble Studios and published by Microsoft Game Studios....
In the Age Of Mythology Game's Campaign Poseidon is seduced by the power the Titan Kronos promises him in return to setting him free. Poseidon then aids one of his cyclops children Gargarenses in freeing the Titan. They are eventually through mortal means, discovered by Zeus who after the plan is foiled chains Poseidon in Tartarus for his betrayal.

In Marvel Comics

Marvel Comics

Marvel Comics is an American comic book and related media company owned by Marvel Publishing, Inc., a subsidiary of Marvel Entertainment, Inc. Marvel counts among as its List of Marvel Comics characters such well-known properties as Captain America, the Fantastic Four, the Hulk , Iron Man, Spider-Man, the X-Men, and many others....
, Poseidon (more frequently referred to as "Neptune") is the patron deity of Namor the Sub-Mariner, and his undersea kingdom of Atlantis

Atlantis

Atlantis is a legendary island first mentioned in Plato's dialogues Timaeus and Critias .In Plato's account, Atlantis was a naval power lying "in front of the Pillars of Hercules" that conquered many parts of Western Europe and Africa 9,000 years before the time of Solon, or approximately 9600 BC....
.

In Masami Kurumada

Masami Kurumada

is a Japanese people mangaka and writer, known for specializing in fighting manga featuring bishonen. He is famous as the creator/author of popular manga, such as Ring ni Kakero, Fuuma no Kojirou, Saint Seiya and B't X....
's manga

Manga

, , are comics and print cartoons , in the Japanese language and conforming to the style developed in Japan in the late 20th century. In their modern form, manga date from shortly after World War II, but they have a long, complex pre-history in earlier Japanese art....
Saint Seiya
Saint Seiya

, also known as Knights of the Zodiac, is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Masami Kurumada, and later adapted to anime....
, the Poseidon war is the second story arc. Poseidon incarnates in the body of the young Julian Solo

Poseidon (Saint Seiya)

The Greek god is one of the main antagonists in the Manga Saint Seiya, authored by Masami Kurumada, that was later adapted to Anime. He was created by Kurumada based on the mythologic persona of the same name....
and plots to get rid of humans to purify the earth. He's defeated by Athena

Athena (Saint Seiya)

The Greek goddess Athena is one of the main characters in the Manga Saint Seiya, authored by Masami Kurumada, and later adapted to Anime. A character with a substantial importance in the universe of Saint Seiya, she was created by Kurumada based on the mythologic persona of the same name....
and her Bronze Saints and sealed back to sleep again, although he awakens one more time to help her defeat Hades

Hades (Saint Seiya)

is a List of Greek mythological figures and serves as the primary antagonist in the last story arc of the Saint Seiya manga written and illustrated by Masami Kurumada, later adapted to anime....
. He's set to make an appearance in the prequel Lost Canvas

Saint Seiya: The Lost Canvas

is an ongoing manga by Japanese author Shiori Teshirogi, a derivative work based on the famous manga, Saint Seiya, which was created, written and illustrated by Japanese author Masami Kurumada....
, after Athena sends two of her saints to Bluegard, where he was once sealed and is kept and guarded, to ask for his help in the war against Hades

Hades (Saint Seiya)

Game

A game is a structured wiktionary:activity, usually undertaken for enjoyment and sometimes used as an educational tool. Games are distinct from Manual labour, which is usually carried out for wiktionary:remuneration, and from art, which is more concerned with the expression of ideas....
, Golden Sun: The Lost Age

Golden Sun: The Lost Age

Golden Sun: The Lost Age, released in Japan as is the second installment of a series of console role-playing game video games developed by Camelot Software Planning and published by Nintendo....
, Poseidon lives in the center of an ocean, guarding the fabled city of Lemuria

Lemuria

Lemuria may refer to:*Lemuria , in Roman religion, Lemuria is a feast during which the unwholesome and malevolent spectres of the restless dead were propitiated....
. He has apparently gone mad, due to the Lighthouses' recent lightings.

In the Xena:Warrior Princess episode "Motherhood", Poseidon is the first God killed by Xena, when she is given the power to kill Gods.

Sound and images

Poseidon myths as told by story tellers
1. Poseidon and Pelops, part I, (integral to Tantalus myth), read by Timothy Carter
Bibliography of reconstruction: Homer Homer Homer is traditionally held to be the author of the ancient Greek language epic poems the Iliad and the Odyssey, as well as of the Homeric Hymns.... , Odyssey, 11.567 (7th c. BC); Pindar Pindar Pindar , was an Ancient Greek Lyric poetry poet.Of the canonical nine lyric poets of ancient Greece, Pindar is the one whose work is by far the best preserved, and critics in antiquity tended to regard him as the greatest.... , Olympian Odes, 1 (476 BC); Euripides Euripides Euripides was the last of the three great tragedy of classical Athens . Ancient scholars thought that Euripides had written ninety-five plays, although four of those were probably written by Critias.... , Orestes, 12-16 (408 BC); Apollodorus Apollodorus Apollodorus of Athens son of Asclepiades, was a Greeks scholar and grammarian. He was a pupil of Diogenes of Babylon, Panaetius, and the grammarian Aristarchus of Samothrace.... , Epitomes 2: 1-9 (140 BC); Ovid Ovid Publius Ovidius Naso was a Roman Empire poet known as Ovid to the English language-speaking world, who wrote about love, seduction, and Roman mythology transformation.... , Metamorphoses, VI: 213, 458 (AD 8); Hyginus Gaius Julius Hyginus Gaius Julius Hyginus was a Latin author, though whether a native of Spain or of Alexandria it is not clear, a pupil of the famous Alexander Cornelius, and a freedman of Caesar Augustus, by whom he was made superintendent of the Palatine library, according to Suetonius' minor works, De Grammaticis, 20.... , Fables, 82: Tantalus; 83: Pelops (1st c. AD); Pausanias Pausanias (geographer) Pausanias was a Roman Greece traveller and geographer of the 2nd century AD, who lived in the times of Hadrian, Antoninus Pius and Marcus Aurelius.... , Description of Greece, 2.22.3 (AD 160 - 176)
2. Poseidon and Pelops, part II (Integral to the myth of Pelops and Hippodameia), read by Timothy Carter
Bibliography of reconstruction: Pindar Pindar Pindar , was an Ancient Greek Lyric poetry poet.Of the canonical nine lyric poets of ancient Greece, Pindar is the one whose work is by far the best preserved, and critics in antiquity tended to regard him as the greatest.... , Olympian Ode, I (476 BC); Sophocles Sophocles Sophocles was the second of the three classical Greece tragedy whose work has survived. His first plays were written later than those of Aeschylus and earlier than those of Euripides.... , (1) Electra, 504 (430 - 415 BC) & (2) Oenomaus, Fr. 433 (408 BC); Euripides Euripides Euripides was the last of the three great tragedy of classical Athens . Ancient scholars thought that Euripides had written ninety-five plays, although four of those were probably written by Critias.... , Orestes, 1024-1062 (408 BC); Apollodorus Apollodorus Apollodorus of Athens son of Asclepiades, was a Greeks scholar and grammarian. He was a pupil of Diogenes of Babylon, Panaetius, and the grammarian Aristarchus of Samothrace.... , Epitomes 2, 1-9 (140 BC); Diodorus Siculus Diodorus Siculus Diodorus Siculus , was a Roman Greece historian who flourished in the 1st century BC. According to Diodorus' own work, he was born at Agira in Sicily .... , Histories, 4.73 (1st c. BC); Hyginus Gaius Julius Hyginus Gaius Julius Hyginus was a Latin author, though whether a native of Spain or of Alexandria it is not clear, a pupil of the famous Alexander Cornelius, and a freedman of Caesar Augustus, by whom he was made superintendent of the Palatine library, according to Suetonius' minor works, De Grammaticis, 20.... , Fables, 84: Oinomaus; Poetic Astronomy, ii (1st c. AD); Pausanias Pausanias (geographer) Pausanias was a Roman Greece traveller and geographer of the 2nd century AD, who lived in the times of Hadrian, Antoninus Pius and Marcus Aurelius.... , Description of Greece, 5.1.3 - 7; 5.13.1; 6.21.9; 8.14.10 - 11 (c. AD 160 - 176); Philostratus the Elder Imagines, I.30: Pelops (AD 170 - 245); Philostratus the Younger, Imagines, 9: Pelops (c. AD 200 - 245); First Vatican Mythographer, 22: Myrtilus; Atreus et Thyestes; Second Vatican Mythographer, 146: Oenomaus