Neptune reigns in the city of
Bristol.
In Greek mythology, Poseidon (Greek:
Ποσειδῶν; Latin: Neptūnus) was the god of the sea, as well as of horses and, as "Earth-Shaker," of earthquakes. 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. Graffiti show that Poseidon was venerated in Bronze Age
Greece, but as he was integrated into the Olympian gods. Poseidon is the brother
of Zeus and Hades and has many children. There is a Homeric hymn to Poseidon, who was the protector of many Hellenic cities, though he lost the contest for
Athens to Athena.
Role in society
Temple of Poseidon at Ak Sounion Greece.
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.
Sailors prayed to Poseidon for a safe voyage, sometimes drowning horses as a sacrifice. 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.
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, Apollo
provided the authorization to go out and settle from Delphi, 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 singing to Poseidon a paean - a kind of hymn normally sung for Apollo.
Like Dionysus and the Maenads, Poseidon also caused certain
forms of mental disturbance. One Hippocratic text says that he was blamed for certain types
of epilepsy.[1]
Bronze Age Greece
The name seems to rather transparently stem from Greek pósis "lord, husband"
and Indo-European *don "flowing water". 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 a precursor of Amphitrite. 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 and Persephone, 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 [2], a powerful attribute where earthquakes
had accompanied the collapse of the Minoan palace-culture. 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.
Role in myth
Birth and triumph over Cronus
Mosaic from
Herculaneum depicting Neptune and Amphitrite
Poseidon was a son of Cronus and Rhea. In most
accounts, he is swallowed by Cronus at birth. 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 is said to have fed a baby
horse to Cronus, serving the same purpose as the rock in Zeus's case.
In some variants, Poseidon was raised by the Telchines on Rhodes, just as Zeus was raised by the Korybantes on Crete.
When the world was divided in three, Zeus received the sky, Hades
the underworld and Poseidon the sea.
The foundation of Athens
Athena became the patron goddess of the city of Athens after a competition with Poseidon. 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 sprung up; the water was salty and not very useful, 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. This is thought to remember 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 fleet at Salamis Island in a sea battle. Another version of the
myth says that Poseidon gave horses to Athens.
The wall at Troy
Poseidon and Apollo, having offended Zeus, were sent to serve
King Laomedon. 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 (it was later killed by Heracles).
Consorts/children
His wife was Amphitrite, a nymph and ancient sea-goddess,
daughter of Nereus and Doris.
Poseidon was the father of many heroes. He is thought to have raped Aethra thus fathering 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 had an affair with Alope, his
granddaughter through Cercyon, 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 sex with Caeneus, Poseidon fulfilled her request and changed her into a man.
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. With Medusa, Poseidon had
sexual intercourse on the floor of a temple to Athena. Medusa was changed into a monster. When she was later beheaded by the
hero Perseus, Chrysaor and Pegasus emerged from her neck. There is also Triton, the
merman; Polyphemus, the cyclops; and Oto and Ephialtae, the giants.
Gill, N.S. (2007). Mates and Children of Poseidon (English). Retrieved on 2007-02-05.
Epithets
Poseidon bore the epithet Aegaeus, derived from the town of Aegae in Euboea, near which he had a magnificent temple upon a hill.[3][4][5]
Literature and art
The Neptun brunnen fountain in
Berlin
In Greek art, Poseidon rides a chariot was pulled by a
hippocampus or 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 due to the latter's having blinded the god's son 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[6], and specificies his twofold nature as an Olympian: "a tamer of horses and a
saviour of ships."
In contemprorary culture
In Percy Jackson & The Olympians ,by Rick Riordan, the main character Perseus Jackson is a son of Poseidon (making him a demigod)
"King" Neptune appears as the ruler of the sea, from cans of tuna to The
Spongebob Squarepants Movie. Disney animators have portrayed Neptune as a fishman, mistaking him for Typhon, in the 1997 animated Hercules.
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, Odyssey, 11.567 (7th c. BC); Pindar, Olympian Odes, 1 (476 BC); Euripides, Orestes, 12-16
(408 BC); Apollodorus, Epitomes 2: 1-9 (140 BC); Ovid,
Metamorphoses, VI: 213, 458 (AD 8); Hyginus, Fables, 82: Tantalus;
83: Pelops (1st c. AD); Pausanias, 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, Olympian Ode, I (476 BC); Sophocles, (1) Electra, 504 (430 - 415 BC) & (2) Oenomaus, Fr. 433 (408 BC);
Euripides, Orestes, 1024-1062 (408 BC); Apollodorus, Epitomes 2, 1-9 (140 BC); Diodorus Siculus,
Histories, 4.73 (1st c. BC); Hyginus, Fables, 84: Oinomaus; Poetic
Astronomy, ii (1st c. AD); Pausanias, 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 |
Notes
References
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