Greetings fans of Greek and Roman mythology! After having recently written about the Olympians Zeus, Hera, and Demeter, with a serpentine digression upon Medusa, I will now return to the Olympian god Poseidon, brother of Zeus, Hades, Demeter, Hera, and Hestia. Poseidon helped the gods win the Titanomachy, or war between the gods and the Titans, with his great trident, or fabulous three-pronged fork, which could whip up huge storms on the sea, earthquakes on land (Poseidon was known as "Earth Shaker"), and make huge rifts in the land into which the sea flowed. After the god's victory, he drew the second best straw and became lord of all the oceans on the planet. In Greek mythology, all rivers had their own god, who could take human form at will, and, of course, father children (for instance, Nike, the goddess of victory, was the child of the Titan Pallas and the river Styx), but Poseidon was the chief god of the big waters.
Poseidon rode about on the ocean's and sea's waves in a great chariot drawn by hippocampi, or half-horse, half-fish. He would wield his great trident above his head, and his son Triton would blow upon a huge conch shell to announce the arrival of his great father so that mere mortals might prepare for his awesome sight upon their shores.
Poseidon, besides being the god of the sea, was also god of horses and earthquakes. His wife was generally considered to be the nymph Amphitrite, with whom he fathered Triton, his primary son. To the Athenians, Poseidon was only considered to be second of the great Olympians to Athena herself, who gave the city of Athens its name. At one time there had been a contest between Poseidon and Athena as to who should be the tutelary, or protective deity, of Athens; Poseidon offered a spring of water, which unfortunately was salty, whereas Athena offered the olive tree. One can easily see why Poseidon lost!
Poseidon was the father of some rather unseemly children. He was the father of Polyphemus, the great Cyclops that so troubled Odysseus and his men until Odysseus tricked him by blinding him (more of that in a future post). He was the father of Pegasus and the giant Chrysaor, who sprung forth from the neck of Medusa after the hero Perseus cut off her head. He was also the father of the only other winged horse in mythology, Arion (Arion's mother was none other than Demeter!). Some sources claim that he was the father of Theseus, but most claim that Aegeus was his father (whose name gave rise to the Aegean Sea). The giants Otus and Ephialtes were also his children.
**Mythology Book Corner** How can one not read the last of the Percy Jackson and the Olympians books, appropriately entitled The Last Olympian? Or, for that matter, own all five of them, which are available in a boxed set? Truly they are fantastic reads, probably the best fiction that incorporates Greek mythology within them. I save this dedication to the post on Poseidon, since Percy Jackson was, after all, the son of the god Poseidon. Note that Perseus, however (which sounds like Percy), the great hero that slew Medusa, was the son of Zeus.
Interested in improving your vocabulary? Find out how the Greek and Latin languages gave rise to most of the English language at www.wordempire.com.
My next post will focus upon the goddess Artemis.
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