Poseidon.
POSEIDON. Son of the Titans Cronus and Rhea, Poseidon was the Greek god of earthquakes, water, and especially the sea. His wife was the Nereid Amphitrite; their son was the merman Triton. A deity native to Greece, Poseidon was worshiped as early as the Mycenaean period (c. 1580—1120 bce), as attested by his appearance on Linear B tablets at Pylos. Poseidon’s cult as a sea-god was widespread; major centers of worship included Potidaea (Chal-cidice), Poseidonia (southern Italy), Isthmia (on the isthmus of Corinth, where the Isthmian games were held in his honor), and Sunium, on the southern tip of Attica, where a temple of the fifth century bce dedicated to him is still a landmark. He was credited with the power to hold up the earth, andto shake it violently enough to cause its destruction.
    Although not the center of an elaborate mythology, Poseidon figured in a number of important tales. The sea became Poseidon’s domain when, after the defeat of Cronus and the Titans by the Olympians, Poseidon and his brothers Zeus (Jupiter) and Hades (Pluto) drew lots for the universe. During the Trojan War, Poseidon supported the Greeks because he had been cheated by the Trojan king Laomedon. Afterward, however, he sought to destroy the Greek hero Odysseus, who had blinded his son, Polyphemus, and he saved the Trojan prince Aeneas from the storm that nearly destroyed his fleet.
    When he contested with Athena (Minerva) for control of Attica, the goddess’s gift of an olive tree was preferred by the Athenians over the salt spring Poseidon produced on the Acropolis. (In the Roman version of this tale, Poseidon’s gift was the horse.) Despite his loss in that contest, he was worshiped as Poseidon Erechtheus in Athens and was sometimes called the father of the Athenian hero Theseus.
    Poseidon was also said to have been the father of Pegasus by Medusa and of Arion by Demeter; his association with these magical horses was related to his power as the creator or tamer of horses. The cult of Poseidon Hippius (Poseidon of Horses) flourished and may have been connected to the introduction of horses and chariots from Anatolia to Greece in the second millennium bce. The sea-god was also associated with bulls, which were often sacrificed to him; the white bull that enamored Minos’s wife Pasiphaë was a gift from Poseidon.
    A popular subject in classical art, Poseidon was often represented as a fierce, bearded figure holding his most famous attribute, the trident, and accompanied by sea creatures such as fish or dolphins. He was usually depicted naked, although in Archaic renderings he appeared robed. Without his attributes, images of Poseidon may be difficult to distinguish from those of Zeus, as reflected in the controversy surrounding the identification of the monumental bronze figure found in a shipwreck off the coast of Cape Artemisium.
    Neptune, the ancient Italian god of the water, took on the attributes of a sea deity under Greek influence. He became closely identified with Poseidon, both as a sea-god and as a deity of horses; in this latter role, he was worshiped as Neptunus Equester.
    In Renaissance Europe, Poseidon/Neptune was claimed as an allegorical patron of the great maritime powers—especially Venice and Holland, and later England—and was so celebrated in masques, music, and painting. He figures prominendy in depictions of the sea-triumphs of his consort Amphitrite, and sometimes in those celebrating the birth of Aphrodite (Venus). He is also commonly seen representing Water in allegories of the four elements.
    
     Listings are arranged under Poseidon-General List and The Loves of Poseidon
    
     See also Aeneas, Storm; Amphitrite; Aphrodite, Birth, Aphrodite, Girdle; Athamas and Ino; Athena, Contest with Poseidon; Gods and Goddesses; Laomedon; Medusa; Minos; Odysseus; Pasiphaë; Phaedra; Thetis; Triton; Trojan War, General List.