Zeus became the god of the sky, Hades the god of the underworld, and Poseidon the god of the sea. Poseidon became the god of the sea after drawings straws to divide the world between himself and his two brothers Zeus and Hades. In this article we are going to answer the question: Why is Poseidon the god of the sea? He is unmistakable, holding his signature three-pronged trident, and known for his moody temperament. There is also Triton, the merman Polyphemus, the cyclops and Oto and Ephialtae, the giants.In Greek mythology, Poseidon is the god of the sea. When she was later beheaded by the hero Perseus, Chrysaor and Pegasus emerged from her neck. Medusa was then changed into a monster by Athena. Poseidon also had sexual intercourse with Medusa on the floor of a temple to Athena. Their child was a horse, Arion, which was capable of human speech. 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. In an archaic myth, Poseidon once pursued Demeter. Not all of Poseidon's children were human. Poseidon rescued Amymone from a lecherous satyr and then fathered a child, Nauplius, by her.Īfter having raped Caeneus, Poseidon fulfilled her request and changed her into a male warrior. Cercyon had his daughter buried alive but Poseidon turned her into the spring, Alope, near Eleusis. Poseidon also had an affair with Alope, his granddaughter through Cercyon, begetting the Attic hero Hippothoon. 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. She pursued Enipeus, who refused her advances. His consort was Amphitrite, a nymph and ancient sea-goddess, daughter of Nereus and Doris.Ī mortal woman named Tyro was married to Cretheus (with whom she had one son, Aeson) but loved Enipeus, a river god. In vengeance, before the Trojan War, Poseidon sent a sea monster to attack Troy (it was later killed by Heracles).
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He had them build huge walls around the city and promised to reward them well, a promise he then refused to full fill. Poseidon and Apollo, having offended Zeus, were sent to serve King Laomedon of Troy. In the Odyssey (v.398), Poseidon has a home in Aegae. Poseidon was raised by the Telchines on Rhodes, just as Zeus was raised by the Korybantes on Crete.Īccording 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. 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. 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. In most accounts he is swallowed by Cronus at birth but later saved, with his other brothers and sisters, by Zeus. Xenophon's Anabasis describes a group of Spartan soldiers in 400–399 BCE singing to Poseidon a paean - a kind of hymn normally sung for Apollo. 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. Sailors prayed to Poseidon for a safe voyage, sometimes drowning horses as a sacrifice.Īccording to Pausanias, Poseidon was one of the caretakers of the oracle at Delphi before Olympian Apollo took it over. When offended or ignored, he supposedly struck the ground with his trident and caused chaotic springs, earthquakes, drowning and shipwrecks. In his benign aspect, Poseidon was seen as creating new islands and offering calm seas. 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. The name of the sea-god Nethuns in Etruscan was adopted in Latin for Neptune in Roman mythology: both were sea gods analogous to Poseidon. Poseidon (Latin: Neptunus) was the god of the sea and, as "Earth-Shaker," of earthquakes in Greek mythology.
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