Basic Information / General Synopsis:
It has already been told how, when all
the resources had failed which the Titans could bring to bear for the
restoration of Kronos to the throne, the government of the world was
divided by lot among his three sons, Zeus, Poseidon, and Hades. To Zeus
fell, besides a general supremacy, the control of the heavens; and we have
seen how he and his consort Her, representing the phenomena of that
region, were conceived as divine persons possessed of a character and
performing actions such as were suggested by those phenomena. To Poseidon
fell the control of the element of water, and he in like manner was
conceived as a god, in whose character and actions were reflected the
phenomena of that element, whether as broad navigable sea, or as the cloud
which gives fertility to the earth, growth to the grain and vine, or as
the fountain which refreshes man, cattle, and horses. A suitable symbol of
his power, therefore, was the horse, admirably adapted as it is both for
labour and battle, whilst its swift springing movement compares finely
with the advance of a foaming wave of the sea. “He yokes to the chariot,”
sings Homer in the Iliad, “his swift steeds, with feet of brass and manes
of fold, and himself, clad in gold, drives over the waves. The beasts of
the sea sport round him, leaving their lurking places, for they know him
to be their lord. The sea rejoices and makes way for him. His horses speed
lightly, and never a drop touches the brazen axle.”
It may have been illustrate a tendency of the sea to encroach in many
places on the coast, as well as to show the importance attached to a good
supply of water, that they myth originated which tells us of the dispute
between Poseidon and Athene for the sovereignty of the soil of Attika. To
settle the dispute, it was agreed by the gods that whichever of the two
should perform the greatest wonder, and at the same time confer the most
useful gift on the land, would be entitled to rule over it. With a stroke
of his trident Poseidon caused a brackish spring to well up on the
Acropolis of Athens, a rock 400 feet high, and previously altogether
without water. But Athene in her turn caused the first olive tree to grow
from the same bare rock, and since that was deemed the greatest benefit
that could be bestowed, obtained for all time sovereignty of the land,
which Poseidon thereupon spitefully inundated.
A similar dispute, and ending also unfavourably for him, was that which he
had with Hera concerning the district of Argos. But in this case his
indignation took the opposite course of causing a perpetual drought. Other
incidents of the same nature were his disputes with Helios for the
possession of Corinth, with Zeus for Ægina, with Dionysos for Naxos, and
with Apollo for Delphi. The most obvious illustrations, however, of the
encroaching tendency of the sea are the monsters which Poseidon sent to
lay waste coast lands, such as those which Hesione and Andromeda were
offered to appease.
In the Iliad Poseidon appears only in his capacity of ruler of the sea,
inhabiting a brilliant palace in its depths, traversing its surface in a
chariot, or stirring the powerful billows till the earth shakes as they
crash upon the shore. This limitation of his functions, though possibly to
be accounted for by the nature of the poem, is remarkable for this reason,
that among the earliest myths associated with his worship are those in
which he is represented in connection with well-watered plains and
valleys. In the neighbourhood of Lerna, in the parched district of Argos,
he had struck the earth with his trident, and caused three springs to well
up for love of Amymone, whom he found in distress, because she could not
obtain the water which her father Danaos had sent her to fetch. In
Thessaly a stroke of his trident had broken through the high mountains,
which formerly shut in the whole country and caused it to be frequently
flooded with water. By that stroke he formed the pleasant vale of Tempe,
through which the water collecting from the hills might flow away. A
district well supplied with water was favourable to pasture and the
rearing of horses, and in this way the horse came to be doubly his symbol,
as god of the water of the sea and on the land. In Arcadia, with its
mountainous land and find streams and valleys, he was worshipped side by
side with Demeter, with whom, it was believed, he begat that winged and
wonderfully fleet horse Arion. In Bœotia, where he was also worshipped,
the mother of Arion was said to have been Erinys, to whom he had appeared
in the form of a horse. With Medusa he became the father of the winged
horse Pegasos, which was watered at springs by Nymphs, and appeared to
poets as they symbol of poetic inspiration. And again, as an instance of
his double capacity as a god of the sea and pasture streams, the ram, with
the golden fleece for which the Argonauts sailed, was said to have been
his offspring by Theophane, who had been changed into a lamb. Chief among
his other offspring were, on the one hand, the giant Antaeos, who derived
from his mother Earth a strength which made him invincible, till Herakles
lifting him in the air overpowered him, and the Kyklops, Polyphemos; on
the other hand, Pelias, who sent out the Argonauts, and Neleus the father
of Nestor.
To return to the instances of rebellious conduct on the part of Poseidon,
it appears that after the conclusion of the war with the Giants a
disagreement arose between him and Zeus, the result of which was that
Poseidon was suspended for a period of a year from the control of the sea,
and was further obliged during the time to serve, along with Apollo,
Laomedon the King of Troy, and to help to build the walls of that city.
Some say that the building of the walls was voluntary on the part of both
gods, and was done to test the character of Laomedon, who afterwards
refused to give Poseidon the reward agreed upon. Angry at this, the god
devastated the land by a flood, and sent a sea-monster, to appease which
Laomedon was driven to offer his daughter Hesione as a sacrifice. Herakles,
however, set the maiden free and slew the monster. Thus defeated, Poseidon
relented none of his indignation towards the Trojans, and would have done
them much injury in after times, when there were at war with the Greeks,
but for the interference of Zeus.
Though worshipped generally throughout Greece, it was in the seaport towns
that the most remarkable zeal was displayed to obtain his favour. Temples
in his honour, sanctuaries, and public rejoicings were to be met with in
Thessaly, Bœotia, Arcadia, at Aegae, and Helike, on the coast of Achaea,
at Pylos in Messenia, at Elis, in the island of Samos, at Corinth, Nauplia,
Troezen, in the islands of Kalauria, Eubœa, Skyros, and Tenos, at Mycale,
Taenarum, Athens, and on the Isthmus – that belt of land which connects
the Peloponnesos with the rest of Greece. In the island of Tenos an annual
festival was held in his honour, at which he was worshipped in the
character of physician. People crowded to the festival from neighbouring
islands, and spent the time in banquets, sacrifice, and common council.
But chief of all the gatherings in his honour was that held on the Isthmus
of Corinth in the autumn, twice in each Olympiad – a festival which had
been established by Theseus, and in reputation stood next to the Olympian
games, like them also serving the purpose of maintaining among the Greeks
of distant regions of the consciousness of their common origin. The
Corinthians had the right of arranging and managing them, the Athenians
having also certain privileges. It was in his double capacity of ruler of
the sea and as the first to train and employ horses that the honours of
this festival were paid to him. His temple, with other sanctuaries, stood
in a pine grove, a wreath from which was the prize awarded to the victors.
The prize had originally been a wreath of parsley. In this sacred pine
grove was to be seen the Argo, the ship of the argonauts, dedicated to
Poseidon as a memorial of the earliest enterprise at sea; and there also
stood the colossal bronze statue of the god, which the Greeks raised to
commemorate the splendid naval victory gained over the Persians at
Salamis. Horses and bulls were sacrificed to him, the method of performing
the sacrifice being to throw them into the sea. It was the practice of
fortunate survivors of shipwreck to hang up some memento of their safety
in one of his temples.
The Romans, living mostly as herdsmen and farmers in early times, had
little occasion to propitiate the god of the sea, and it was probably,
therefore, rather as the father of streams that they erected a temple to
Neptunus in the Campus Martius, and held a festival to his honour attended
with games, feasting, and enjoyment like that of a fair. (e)
Between Zeus and Poseidon there is, in
works of art, such likeness as would be expected between two brothers. But
Poseidon is by far the more powerful of the two physically – his build,
like that of Herakles, expressing the greatest conceivable strength. But,
unlike Herakles, his attitudes and especially his head, are those of a
god, not of an athlete. His features, one by one, resemble those of Zeus,
but his hair, instead of springing from his brow, falls in think masses
over the temples, and is matted from the water. His attributes are a
trident and dolphin. Possibly the sacred figures of him in his temples
represented him seated on a throne, on promontories and in harbours, to
secure his favour, he was always standing wearing only a slight scarf,
which concealed none of his powerful form, holding out a dolphin in his
left, and the trident in his right hand, often with one foot raised on the
prow of a vessel. In works of art not connected directly with his worship
he was figured (as on plate v.) traversing the sea in a car drawn by
Hippocamps, or other fabulous creatures of the sea. In one of the
pediments of the Parthenon the disputes between him and Athene was
represented. (e)
Poseidon is the Greek God of the Sea. He is
the lord and ruler of the Sea (the Mediterranean) and the
Friendly Sea (The Euxine, now called the Black Sea). He
rules over the oceans, seas, underground rivers and is the
creator of earthquakes. He travels through the sea on a
chariot pulled by golden sea horses. His is almost always
portrayed with his trident, which he uses to stir up storms for
mortals who displease him. For those who have earned his
favor, he sends favorable winds and calm seas. Poseidon
married Amphitrite and had a merman son, Triton. He had
numerous affairs which also produced offspring. One such
affair, with Medusa, produced Pegasus, the winged horse.
Another affair, with Demeter, produced Areon, another
fabled steed. An affair with Gaia produced Charybdis, the
whirlpool in the Strait of Messina. When Poseidon
attempted to seduce the nymph Scylla, his wife turned her into a
sea monster. Scylla and Charybdis became one of the most
dangerous hazards faced by Odysseus as well as Jason and the
Argonauts.
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