Notes on Poseidon

 

Poseidon seated on a throne with young woman and young man. Part of the John Ruskin Collection, Ashmolean Museum, Oxford U.K.

 

Poseidon is the second son born to Cronos and Rhea, he is then swallowed by Cronos after his birth and is rescued later by his younger brother Zeus.  Though he is older than Zeus, because of his “rebirth” from the stomach of Cronos he is considered younger than Zeus in the realms of Greek Mythology (Trzaskoma, Stephen M., Smith, R. Scott, and Brunet, Stephen. 18)

 

Poseidon and Hades ally with their brother Zeus in the war of the Gods against the Titans.

 

Poseidon is given command of all waters, seas, rivers and lakes unlike his predecessors Oceanus and Tethys who each have dominion over salt water or fresh water.

 

Poseidon wins dominion over all waters when he draws lots for the realm of the waters or the underworld.  In some legends he and Hades draw straws others say Zeus held a pebble in each hand, a Sapphire for the waters and Jet for the underworld.  Poseidon chose the hand holding the Sapphire (Fry, 2017).

 

Poseidon received his weapon and symbol the Trident from his imprisoned uncles, the Cyclopaes. The Trident was a three-pronged fishing spear.  Smashing the Trident on the ground in anger allowed Poseidon to create earthquakes, raise tidal waves and storms at sea. The Trident may show the symbolic aspect of the importance of the number three to the Ancient Greeks.

 

Poseidon’s main centers of worship where in coastal cities of Greece, the Greek Islands such as Kos his main center of worship was in the region of the city of Corinth.   The Greeks celebrated the Pythian Games at Delphi in his honor every three years.

 

Among the animals thought to represent Poseidon were the Dolphin, the Sea Horse (this can be depicted as a hippocampus which is an animal with a horse’s head and a fish’s body), and the horse.  Pine trees were also sacred to him.

 

He is considered to have been the creator of the first horse.  Legend of his love for Demeter talks of him creating the horse from sea foam, or alternatively pursuing Demeter who transformed herself into a mare, Poseidon in turn transformed into a stallion and mated with her.  Their offspring were the horses (Fry, 2017).

 

Poseidon was the father of Triton, half man, half fish.

 

Poseidon played a major role in the legend of the Gorgon Medusa.  Medusa was a beautiful Priestess of the Goddess Athena.  Poseidon “raped” or “seduced” Medusa in the Temple of Athena.  As punishment Athena turned Medusa into the fearsome monster with boar’s tusks, writhing snakes for hair and the ability to turn humans to stone with one glance.  Medusa was killed in battle by Perseus when he chopped off her head. Pegasus, the winged horse, then sprang from the stump of Medusa’s neck, a child of the violated priestess and Poseidon (Haynes, 2021).

 

Poseidon and Apollo are credited with building the walls of the City of Troy on the coast of Asia Minor.  When finished King Theodon refused to honor his agreement to pay the Gods for their labors. Apollo rained plague arrows upon the city, while Poseidon sent a sea dragon to blockade the cities sea trade (Schwab, 174).

 

Ironically, after creating the cities walls and a long war with the Greeks, the breach in the cities defenses is made when the Greeks build a great horse, under the direction of Odysseus.  Given that the horse is linked with Poseidon, a God they have already crossed, the Trojans take the Greek offering inside the city wall, where Odysseus and a band of Greek warriors wait until nightfall, leaving the body of the horse they unlock the gates of the city to allow the massed Greek army to enter and destroy the city.

 

Poseidon takes a personal dislike to Odysseus and causes him great tribulations on his return to his homeland of Ithaca.  Recounted in the Odyssey.

 

Poseidon is the father of Polyphemus, a cyclops whom Odysseus blinds. Polyphemus calls upon his father to punish Odysseus (Schwab, 232).

 

A foundation myth of the City of Athens has the founding fathers calling on both Athena and Poseidon to bless the city with a gift.  Athena gives the city the gift of an olive tree, useful as fuel, its lumber makes building ships and homes easier and oil is a trade good.   Poseidon strikes a rock within the city and a spring gush forth, sadly the water is salty and cannot be used for practical reasons.  The city therefore is named Athens in honor of the gifts the Goddess bestowed (Fry, 2017).

 

Poseidon plays a major role in the Greek great flood myth.  Zeus, angry at men for their troublesomeness, decides to clear the worlds of men and women. Zeus strikes the Earth with thunderbolts and his brother commands rivers to flood, earthquakes and tidal waves and finally the sea to inundate the land.  With all the land flooded only one man and one woman live (Fry, 2017). 

 

 

 

 

 

Works Cited

Bineteau, P. Print of the Decoration on a Greek Crater, showing Poseidon with a Young Man and a Young Woman. Circa 1857, Ashmolean Museum, Oxford. http://ruskin.ashmolean.org/object/WA.RS.REF.185.b

Fry, Stephen. Mythos. San Francisco, Chronicle Books. 2017Amazon Link

Haynes, Natalie. Medusa. BBC podcast. May 18, 2021. https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m000w4s2

Schwab, Gustav. Gods and Heroes of Ancient Greece. New York, Pantheon Books. 1946 Amazon Link

Trzaskoma, Stephen M., Smith, R. Scott, and Brunet, Stephen. Anthology of Classical Myth: Primary Sources in Translation. Indianapolis, Hackett Publishing. 2016.   Amazonn link