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{{Short description|Ancient Greek god of the sea, earthquakes, and horses}}
{{about|the Greek god}}
{{redirect|Earth Shaker|other uses}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=October 2019}}
{{Infobox deity
| type=Greek
| name=Poseidon
| image=Statue of Poseidon NAMA 235 (DerHexer), part 2.JPG
| alt=
| caption=The [[Poseidon of Melos]], a statue of Poseidon found in [[Milos]] in 1877
| god_of={{unbulleted list|King of the sea|God of the sea, storms, earthquakes, and horses}}
| member_of=the [[twelve Olympians]]
| abode=[[Mount Olympus]], or the sea
| symbol=[[Trident of Poseidon|Trident]], fish, dolphin, horse, bull
| consort=[[Amphitrite]]
| parents=[[Cronus]] and [[Rhea (mythology)|Rhea]]
| siblings=[[Hades]], [[Demeter]], [[Hestia]], [[Hera]], [[Zeus]]
| mount=
| Roman_equivalent=[[Neptune (mythology)|Neptune]]
}}
{{Special characters}}
{{Ancient Greek religion}}
[[File:Poseidon enthroned De Ridder 418 CdM Paris.jpg|thumb|right|280px|Poseidon greeting Theseus (on the right). Detail, Attic red-figured calyx-krater by Syriscos Painter, 450-500BC from Agrigento. [[BnF Museum]] (Cabinet des médailles), Paris]]
'''Poseidon''' ({{IPAc-en|p|ə|ˈ|s|aɪ|d|ən|,_|p|ɒ|-|,_|p|oʊ|-}};{{refn|{{Citation |last=Jones |first=Daniel |author-link=Daniel Jones (phonetician) |title=English Pronouncing Dictionary |editor=Peter Roach |editor2=James Hartmann |editor3=Jane Setter |place=Cambridge |publisher=Cambridge University Press |orig-year=1917 |year=2003 |isbn=978-3-12-539683-8 }}}} {{langx|grc|[[wikt:Ποσειδῶν|Ποσειδῶν]]}}) is one of the [[twelve Olympians]] in [[religion in ancient Greece|ancient Greek religion]] and [[Greek mythology|mythology]], presiding over the sea, storms, earthquakes and horses.<ref name="Burkert1985Poseidon">Burkert 1985, [https://archive.org/details/greekreligion0000burk/page/136/mode/2up?view=theater pp. 136–139].</ref> He was the protector of seafarers and the guardian of many Hellenic cities and colonies. In pre-Olympian [[Bronze Age Greece]], Poseidon was venerated as a chief deity at [[Pylos]] and [[Thebes, Greece|Thebes]], with the cult title "earth shaker";<ref name="Burkert1985Poseidon" /> in the myths of isolated [[Arcadia (region)|Arcadia]], he is related to [[Demeter]] and [[Persephone]] and was venerated as a horse, and as a god of the waters.<ref name="Nilsson450">Seneca quaest. Nat. VI 6 :Nilsson Vol I p.450</ref> Poseidon maintained both associations among most Greeks: he was regarded as the tamer or father of horses,<ref name="Burkert1985Poseidon" /> who, with a strike of his trident, created springs (the terms for horses and springs are related in the Greek language).<ref name="Nilsson Vol I p.450">Nilsson Vol I p.450</ref> His [[Interpretatio graeca|Roman equivalent]] is [[Neptune (mythology)|Neptune]].
[[Homer]] and [[Hesiod]] suggest that Poseidon became lord of the sea when, following the overthrow of his father [[Cronus]], the world was divided [[Drawing lots (decision making)|by lot]] among Cronus' three sons; Zeus was given the sky, Hades the underworld, and Poseidon the sea, with the Earth and Mount Olympus belonging to all three.<ref name=Burkert1985Poseidon /><ref name="Hesiod, Theogony 456">Hesiod, ''Theogony'' [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0130%3Acard%3D453 456].</ref> In [[Plato]]'s ''Timaeus'' and ''Critias'', the legendary island of [[Atlantis]] was Poseidon's ___domain.<ref name="Plato1971Penguin">{{cite book |last=Plato |author-link=Plato |url=https://archive.org/details/timaeuscritias00plat/page/167 |title=Timaeus and Critias |publisher=[[Penguin Books Ltd]]. |year=1971 |isbn=9780140442618 |___location=London, England |pages=[https://archive.org/details/timaeuscritias00plat/page/167 167] |url-access=registration}}</ref><ref name="ReferenceB">''Timaeus'' 24e–25a, [[Robert Gregg Bury|R. G. Bury]] translation (Loeb Classical Library).</ref><ref name="ReferenceC">Also it has been interpreted that Plato or someone before him in the chain of the oral or written tradition of the report accidentally changed the very similar Greek words for "bigger than" ("meson") and "between" ("mezon") – {{cite book |last=Luce |first=J.V. |title=The End of Atlantis – New Light on an Old Legend |publisher=Thames and Hudson |year=1969 |___location=London |page=224}}</ref> In [[Homer]]'s ''[[Iliad]]'', Poseidon supports the Greeks against the Trojans during the [[Trojan War]], in the ''[[Odyssey]]'', during the sea-voyage from Troy back home to [[Homer's Ithaca|Ithaca]], the Greek hero [[Odysseus]] provokes Poseidon's fury by blinding his son, the [[Cyclopes|Cyclops]] [[Polyphemus]], resulting in Poseidon punishing him with storms, causing the complete loss of his ship and numerous of his companions, and delaying his return by ten years.
Poseidon is famous for his contests with other deities for winning the patronage of the city. According to legend, Athena became the patron goddess of the city of [[Athens]] after a competition with Poseidon, though he remained on the [[Acropolis]] in the form of his surrogate, [[Erechtheus]]. After the fight, Poseidon sent a monstrous flood to the [[Attica (region)|Attic plain]] to punish the Athenians for not choosing him.<ref name="Burkert 1983, pp. 149, 157">Burkert 1983, pp. 149, 157.</ref> In similar competitions with other deities in different cities, he causes devastating floods when he loses. Poseidon is a horrifying and avenging god and must be honoured even when he is not the patron deity of the city.<ref name=Hard>Hard, "Greek mythology", p.100-103 [https://books.google.com/books?id=r1Y3xZWVlnIC&pg=PA101 Hard p.100-103]</ref>
Some scholars suggested that Poseidon was probably a [[Pelasgians|Pelasgian]] god<ref name=Smith>[http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.04.0104:entry=poseidon-bio-1 Smith Poseidon]</ref> or a god of the [[Minyans]].<ref name=FarnellIV>Farnell Cults IV S.1ff</ref> However it is possible that Poseidon, like [[Zeus]], was a common god of all [[Greeks]] from the beginning.<ref name=Geschichte>NiLsson, ''Geschichte'', 446-448</ref>
== Etymology ==
The earliest attested occurrence of the name, written in [[Linear B]], is {{lang|gmy|{{script|Linb|𐀡𐀮𐀅𐀃}}}} ''Po-se-da-o'' or {{lang|gmy|{{script|Linb|𐀡𐀮𐀅𐀺𐀚}}}} ''Po-se-da-wo-ne'',<ref name=Posedao>Minoan.Deaditerranean [https://web.archive.org/web/20160318115428/http://minoan.deaditerranean.com/resources/linear-b-sign-groups/po/po-se-da-o/ po-se-da-o]</ref> which correspond to {{lang|grc|Ποσειδάων}} (''Poseidaōn'') and {{lang|grc|Ποσειδάϝoνος}} (''Poseidawοnos'') in [[Mycenean Greek]]; in [[Homeric Greek]], it appears as {{lang|grc|Ποσιδάων}} (''Posidaōn''); in [[Aeolic Greek|Aeolic]], as {{lang|grc|Ποτε(ι)δάων}} (''Pote(i)daōn''); in [[Doric Greek|Doric]], as {{lang|grc|Ποτειδάν}} (''Poteidan'') and {{lang|grc|Ποτειδᾶς}} (''Poteidas''); in [[Arcadocypriot Greek|Arcadic]], as {{lang|grc|Ποσoιδᾱν}} (''Posoidan''). In inscriptions with [[Laconia|Laconic]] style from [[Taenarum (town)|Tainaron]], [[Helos]] and [[Thuria (Messenia)|Thuria]] as {{lang|grc|Ποὁιδάν}} (''Pohoidan''), indicating that the [[Dorians]] took the name from the older population.<ref name=Poseidawn>Nilsson,''Geschichte'' Vol I, 444-445</ref> The form {{lang|grc|Ποτειδάϝων}} (''Poteidawōn'') appears in Corinth.<ref name=LSJ_Poseidon>{{cite web|author=Liddell & Scott |work=[[A Greek-English Lexicon]] |url=https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.04.0057%3Aentry%3D*poseidw%3Dn |title=Ποσειδῶν |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121009114528/http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text? |archive-date=9 October 2012}}</ref>
The origins of the name "Poseidon" are unclear and the possible etymologies are contradictive among the scholars. One theory breaks it down into an element meaning "husband" or "lord" (Greek {{lang|grc|πόσις}} (''posis''), from [[PIE]] ''*pótis'') and another element meaning "earth" ''({{lang|grc|δᾶ}}'' (''da''), Doric for {{lang|grc|γῆ}} (''gē'')), producing something like lord or spouse of ''Da'', i.e. of the earth; this would link him with [[Demeter]], "Earth-mother".<ref>Pierre Chantraine ''Dictionnaire etymologique de la langue grecque'' Paris 1974–1980 4th s.v.; Lorenzo Rocci ''Vocabolario Greco-Italiano'' Milano, Roma, Napoli 1943 (1970) s.v.</ref> [[Walter Burkert|Burkert]] finds that "the second element ''δᾶ-'' remains hopelessly ambiguous" and finds a "husband of Earth" reading "quite impossible to prove".<ref name=Burkert1985Poseidon/> According to [[Robert S. P. Beekes|Beekes]] in ''Etymological Dictionary of Greek'', "there is no indication that ''δᾶ'' means 'earth'",<ref>[[R. S. P. Beekes|Beekes]]. ''Etymological Dictionary of Greek'', Brill, 2009, p. 324</ref> although the root ''da'' appears in the [[Linear B]] inscription ''E-ne-si-da-o-ne'', "earth-shaker".<ref name="Burkert1985Poseidon" /><ref>[http://www.csun.edu/~hcfll004/mycen.html Adams, John Paul, ''Mycenean divinities''] – List of handouts for California State University Classics 315. Retrieved 7 March 2011.</ref>
Another theory interprets the second element as related to the (presumed) Doric word *δᾶϝον ''dâwon'', "water", Proto-Indo-European ''*dah₂-'' "water" or ''*dʰenh₂-'' "to run, flow", Sanskrit दन् ''dā́-nu-'' "fluid, drop, dew" and names of rivers such as [[Danube]] (< ''*Danuvius'') or [[Don (river)|Don]]. This would make *''Posei-dawōn'' into the master of waters.<ref>Michael Janda, pp. 256–258.</ref><ref name=Poseidawn/>
[[Plato]] in his dialogue [[Cratylus (dialogue)|Cratylus]] gives two traditional etymologies: either the sea restrained Poseidon when walking as a "foot-bond" (ποσίδεσμον), or he "knew many things" (πολλά εἰδότος or πολλά εἰδῶν).<ref>Plato, ''[[Cratylus (dialogue)|Cratylus]]'', 402d–402e</ref>
[[Robert S. P. Beekes|Beekes]] suggests that the word has probably a [[Pre-Greek]] origin.<ref>Beekes, ''Etymological Dictionary of Greek'', p. 324.</ref> The original form was probably the [[Mycenean Greek]] {{lang|grc|Ποτ(σ)ειδάϝων}} (''Pot(s)eidawōn''). "The intervocalic aspiration suggests a Pre-Greek (Pelasgian) origin rather than an Indoeuropean one".<ref>van der Toorn, Karel; Becking, Bob; van der Horst, Pieter Willem (1999), Dictionary of Deities and Demons in the Bible (second ed.), Grand Rapids, Michigan: William B. Eerdman's Publishing Company, {{ISBN|0-8028-2491-9}}: [https://books.google.com/books?id=yCkRz5pfxz0C] p.659</ref>
==Bronze Age Greece==
===Linear B (Mycenean Greek) inscriptions===
If surviving Linear B [[clay tablet]]s can be trusted, the
names ''po-se-da-wo-ne'' and ''Po-se-da-o'' ("Poseidon")<ref name=Posedao/> occur 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 the precursor of [[Amphitrite]].{{original research inline|date=February 2025}}
Poseidon was the chief god at [[Pylos]]. The title ''wa-na-ka'' appears in the inscriptions. Poseidon was identified with ''wanax'' from the [[Homer]]ic era to classical Greece. ([[anax]]). The title didn't mean only king, but also protector. ''Wanax'' had chthonic aspects, and he was closely associated with Poseidon, who had the title "Lord of the Underworld". The chthonic nature of Poseidon is also indicated by his title ''E-ne-si-da-o-ne'' (Earth-shaker) in Mycenean [[Knossos]] and [[Pylos]]. Through [[Homer]] the epithet was also used in classical Greece. (ennosigaios, ennosidas).{{sfn|Dietrich|2004|pages=180-185}}
''[[Potnia|Po-tini-ja]]'' ([[potnia]]: lady or mistress) was the chief goddess at [[Pylos]] and she was closely associated with Poseidon. She was the Mycenean goddess of nature and Poseidon—''Wanax'' is one from the gods who may be considered her "male paredros". The ''earth shaker'' received offerings in the cave of the goddess of childbirth [[Eileithyia]] at [[Amnisos]] in [[Crete]]. Poseidon is allied with ''Potnia'' and the divine child.{{sfn|Dietrich|2004|pages=175–180, 220}}
''Wa-na-ssa'' ([[anassa]]:queen or lady) appears in the inscriptions usually in plural. (Wa-na-ssoi). The dual number is common in [[Indo-European studies|Indoeuropean]] grammar (usually for chthonic deities like the [[Erinyes]]) and the duality was used for [[Demeter]] and [[Persephone]] in classical Greece (the double named goddesses).<ref name=Stallmith>A.B. Stallmith in GRBS 18(2008) p.117,119, "The name of Demeter Thesmophoros".[https://www.researchgate.net/publication/228370663_The_Name_of_Demeter_Thesmophoros/fulltext/0000835a0cf23f86393d507b/The-Name-of-Demeter-Thesmophoros.pdf p.116]</ref><ref name=Mylonas1>Mylonas, "Mycenean age", p.159: "Wa-na-ssoi, wa-na-ka-te, (to the two queens and the king). Wanax is best suited to Poseidon, the special divinity of Pylos. The identity of the two divinities addressed as wanassoi, is uncertain"</ref> ''Potnia'' and ''wanassa'' refer to identical deities or two aspects of the same deity.{{sfn|Dietrich|2004|pages=180-185}}
''E-ri-nu'' ([[Erinys]]) is attested in the inscriptions.<ref>Chadwick, [https://archive.org/details/mycenaeanworld00chad/page/98 p. 98].</ref> In some ancient cults ''Erinys'' is related to Poseidon and her name is an epithet of [[Demeter]].<ref name =Farnell/>
It is possible that Demeter appears as ''Da-ma-te'' in a Linear B inscription (PN EN 609), however the interpretation is still under dispute.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Ventris |first1=Michael |last2=Chadwick |first2=John |title=Documents in Mycenean Greek |date=21 May 2015 |page=242 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=978-1-107-50341-0 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=AkgPCAAAQBAJ}}</ref>{{sfn|Dietrich|2004|page=172 n. 218}} ''Si-to [[Potnia|Po-tini-ja]]'' is probably related with Demeter as goddess of grain.<ref name= Mylonas2>Mylonas, "Mycenean age", p. 159-161.</ref>
Tablets from Pylos record sacrificial goods destined for "the Two ladies and the Lord" (or "to the Two Queens and the King": ''wa-na-soi'', ''wa-na-ka-te''). ''Wa-na-ssoi'' may be related with [[Demeter]] and [[Persephone]], or their precursors, goddesses who were not associated with Poseidon in later periods.<ref name=Potniai>"In Greek popular religion, the chthonic ''Potniai'' (''Wanassoi'') and the ''Erinyes'' are closely related to the Eleusinian Demeter":Dietrich, p.179-180 [https://books.google.com/books?id=TZVsDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA189 The origins of Greek religion 189-190]</ref><ref name=Mylonas1/>
===Mycenean cult===
During the [[Mycenean Greece|Mycenean]] period, the ancestral male gods of the Myceneans were probably not represented in human forms, and the information given by the tablets found at [[Pylos]] and [[Knossos]] is insufficient.<ref name=Mylonas2/> Poseidon was the chief deity at [[Pylos]] and [[Thebes, Greece|Thebes]]. He is identified with [[Anax]] and he carried the title "Master of the Underworld".{{citation needed|date=August 2024}} Anax had probably a cult associated with the protection of the palace.{{sfn|Dietrich|2004|pages=180-185}} In [[Acrocorinth]] he was worshipped as ''Poseidon Anax'' during the Mycenean age.{{sfn|Dietrich|2004|pages=175–180}} In the city there was the famous spring [[Peirene (fountain)|Peirene]] which in a myth is related to the winged horse [[Pegasus]].<ref name=Geschichte2>Nilsson, "Geschicte", p.449,450</ref> In [[Attica]] there was a cult of ''Anax heroes'' who was connected to Poseidon.{{sfn|Dietrich|2004|pages=175–180}} A cult title of Poseidon was "earth-shaker" and in [[Knossos]] he was worshipped together with the goddess [[Eleithyia]] who was related to the annual birth of the divine child.{{sfn|Dietrich|2004|pages=175–180}} [[Potnia]] was the Mycenean goddess of nature and she was the consort of Poseidon at Pylos. She is mentioned together with [[bucranium|bucrania]] in decorated jugs and he was associated with the animals and especially to the bull.{{sfn|Dietrich|2004|pages=180-185}} In Athens Poseidon was an inland god who created the salt-sea ''Erecthēιs'' ({{lang|grc|Ερεχθηίς}}), "sea of Erechtheus". In Acropolis his cult was superimposed on the cult of the local ancestral figure [[Erechtheus]].<ref name=Burkert1985Poseidon /> In Athens and [[Asine]] he was worshipped in the house of the king during the Mycenean period.<ref name=Geschichte2/> The bull was the favourite animal for sacrifices and it seems that horses were rarely used during the burial of the Mycenean leaders.<ref name=Mylonas2/>
===Arcadian myths===
[[File:Poseidon pursuing Met 41.162.139.jpg|thumb|left|220px|Poseidon pursuing a woman, probably by [[Achilles Painter|Achilleus painter]], 480-450BC. [[Metropolitan Museum of Art]], Manhattan NY]]
In the [[Arcadia (region)|Arcadian]] myths, Poseidon is related to [[Demeter]] and [[Despoina]] (another name of ''Kore- Persephone'') and he was worshipped with the surname ''Hippios'' in many Arcadian cities.<ref name=Hard/> At [[Thelpusa]] and [[Phigalia]] there were sister worships which are very important for the study of primitive religions. In these cults Demeter and Poseidon were chthonic divinities of the underworld.<ref name=Farnell>[https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.56574/page/49/mode/2up Farnell Cults III, 50-55]</ref>
Near [[Thelpusa]] the river [[Ladon (river)|Ladon]] descended to the sunctuary of Demeter ''[[Erinys]]'' (Demeter-Fury). During her wandering in search of her daughter Demeter changed into a mare to avoid Poseidon. Poseidon took the form of a stallion and after their mating she gave birth to a daughter whose name was not allowed to be told to the unitiated and a horse called [[Arion (horse)|Arion]] (very swift). Her daughter obviously had the shape of a mare too. At first Demeter became angry and she was given the surname [[Erinys]] (fury) by the Thelpusians.<ref name=Farnell/><ref name=Hard/> The [[Erinyes]] were deities of vengeance, and ''Erinys'' had a similar function with the goddess [[Dike (mythology)|Dike]] (Justice).<ref name=Bowra>Bowra,"The Greek experience", p.67-121</ref> In the very old myth of Thelpusa Demeter-Erinys and Poseidon are divinities of the underworld in a pre-mythic period. Poseidon appears as a horse. In [[Greeks|Greek]] folklore the horses had chthonic associations and it was believed that they could create springs.<ref name=Hard/> In [[Europe]]an folklore the water-creatures or water-spirits appear with the shape of a horse or a bull. In Greece the river god [[Achelous|Acheloos]] is represented like a bull or a man-bull.<ref name=Grimm>Nilsson, "Geschichte" Vol I, 450 and 450A4: J.Grimm, "Deutsche Mythology": Horse and springs, horse as a water-spirit</ref> Many people when sacrificed to Demeter should make a premilinary sacrifice to Acheloos <ref name=Farnell/>
At [[Phigalia]] Demeter had a sanctuary in a cavern and she was given the surname ''Melaina'' (black). The goddess was related to the black undeworld. In a similar myth Poseidon appears as horse and Demeter gives birth to a daughter whose name was not allowed to be told to the unitiated (At [[Lycosura]] her daughter was called [[Despoina]]). Demeter angry with Poseidon put on a black dressing and shut herself in the cavern. When the fruits of the earth were perished, [[Zeus]] sent the [[Moirai]] to Demeter who listened to them and led aside her wrath. In this cult we have traces of a very old cult of Demeter and Poseidon as deities of the underworld.<ref name=Farnell/>
[[File:Bayreuth Hofgarten Neues Schloss, Neptun-Poseidon (Original, Orangerie), 11.07.08.jpg|thumb|right|Statue of Poseidon in Germany by Johann David Räntz and Lorenz Wilhelm Räntz (1760).]]
In another Arcadian myth when [[Rhea (mythology)|Rhea]] had given birth to Poseidon, she told [[Cronus]] that she had given birth to a horse, and gave him a foal to swallow instead of the child.<ref name=Hard/><ref>[http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Paus.+8.8.2&fromdoc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0160 Pausanias 8.8.2]</ref> In the [[Homer]]ic Hymn Demeter puts a dark mourning robe around her shoulders as a sign of her sorrow.<ref name=Farnell/> Demeter's mare-form was worshipped into historical times. The [[xoanon]] of ''Melaina ''at Phigalia shows how the local cult interpreted her, as goddess of nature. A [[Medusa]] type with a horse's head with snaky hair, holding a dove and a dolphin, probably representing her power over air and water.<ref>L. H. Jeffery (1976). ''Archaic Greece: The Greek city states c.800-500 B.C'' (Ernest Benn Limited) p 23 {{ISBN|0-510-03271-0}}</ref>
===Boeotian myths===
The myth of Poseidon appearing as a horse and mating with Demeter was not localized in Arcadia. At [[Haliartos]] in [[Boeotia]] near [[Thebes, Greece|Thebes]] Poseidon appears as stallion. He mates with [[Erinys]] near the spring of ''Tilpousa'' and she gives birth to the faboulous horse [[Arion (horse)|Arion]].<ref name=Hard/> At Tilpusa we have a very old cult of the chthonic deities ''Erinys'' and Poseidon. The water-god Poseidon<ref name=Farnellwatergod >Farnell CultsIII,53 [https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.56574/page/53/mode/2up Farnell CultsIII, 53]</ref> appears as a horse which seems to represent the water-spirit <ref name=Grimm/> and ''Erinys'' is probably the personification of a revenging earth-spirit.<ref name=Erinys>Nilsson "Geschichte", Vol I, p.100-101</ref><ref name=Bowra/> From earlier times at [[Delphi]] Poseidon was joined in a religious union with the earth-goddess [[Gaia|Ge]]. She is represented as a snake which is a form of the earth-spirit.<ref name=Farnellwatergod/>
In the [[Theogony]] of [[Hesiod]] Poseidon once slept with the monstrous [[Medousa]] near the mountain [[Mount Helicon|Helikon]]. She conceived the winged horse [[Pegasus]] who sprang out of her body when Perseus cut off her head. Pegasus stuck the ground with his hoof and created the famous spring [[Hippocrene]] near Helikon.<ref name=Hard/>
[[Praxidice|Praxidicai]] were female deities of judicial punishment worshipped in the region of Haliartos in the historical times. Ttheir origin is probably the same with ''Erinys''. Their images depicted only the heads of the goddesses probably a representation of the earth goddess emerging from the ground.<ref name=Farnell/> [[Praxidice]] is and epithet of [[Persephone]] in the [[Orphism (religion)|Orphic Hymn]]. Persephone is sometimes depicted with her head emerging from the ground.<ref>Burkert, "Greek religion", p.42</ref><ref>Nilsson, "Geschichte" Vol I, p.472: "Anodos of Pherephata", Tables 39,1 and 39,2</ref>
==Origins==
[[File:Neptuno colosal (Museo del Prado) 01.jpg|thumb|left|250px| Colossal-type statue of Poseidon-Neptune, probably sculpted in a workshop in Aphrodisias (Asia Minor). It was at [[Melicertes|Palaemon's]] sanctuary in [[Isthmia (sanctuary)|Isthmia]], where it was described by Pausanias. [[Museo del Prado|Prado Museum]], Madrid]]
During the [[Mycenean Greece|Mycenean]] period Poseidon was worshipped in several regions in Greece. At [[Pylos]] and some other cities he was a god of the underworld (Lord of the Underworld) and his cult was related to the protection of the palace. He carried the title [[anax]], king or protector. His consort [[potnia]], lady or mistress, was the Mycenean goddess of nature. Her main aspects were birth and vegetation.{{sfn|Dietrich|2004|pages=180-185}} Poseidon had the title "Enesidaon" (earth-shaker) and in [[Crete]] he was associated with the goddess of childbirth [[Eleithyia]]. Through [[Homer]] the [[Mycenean Greece|Mycenean]] titles were also used in classical Greece with similar meaning. He was identified with ''anax'' and he carried the epithets "Ennosigaios" and "Ennosidas" (earth-shaker). ''Potnia'' was a title which accompanied female goddesses.{{sfn|Dietrich|2004|pages=175–185}} The goddess of nature survived in the [[Eleusinian mysteries|Eleusinian cult]], where the following words were uttered: "Mighty Potnia bore a strong son".{{sfn|Dietrich|2004|page=167}} In the heavily sea-dependent Mycenaean culture, there is not sufficient evidence that Poseidon was connected with the sea; it is unclear whether "Posedeia" was a sea-goddess. The Greeks invaders came from far inland and they were not familiarized with the sea.<ref name=Hard1>Hard,"Greek mythology", p. 99 [https://books.google.com/books?id=r1Y3xZWVlnIC&pg=PA99 p.99]</ref>
In the primitive [[Boeotia]]n and [[Arcadia (region)|Arcadian]] myths Poseidon, the god of the underworld, appears as a horse and he is mating with the earth goddess.<ref name=Farnellwatergod/> The earth goddess is called [[Erinyes|Erinys]] or [[Demeter]] and she gives birth to the fabulous horse [[Arion (horse)|Arion]] and the unnamed daughter [[Despoina]], which is another name of [[Persephone]].<ref name=Hard/> The horse represents the divine spirit ([[numen]]) and is related to the liquid element and the underworld.<ref name=Schachermeyer>F.Schachermeyer: Poseidon und die Entstehung des Griechischen Gotter glaubens :Nilsson p 444</ref> In Greek folklore the horse is associated with the underworld and it was believed that it had the ability to create springs.<ref name=Hard/> In the [[Europe]]an folklore the water-spirit appears with the shape of a horse or a bull. In Greece the river god [[Achelous|Acheloos]] is represented as a bull or a man-bull.<ref name=Grimm/> [[Walter Burkert|Burkert]] suggests that the [[Hellenes|Hellenic]] cult of Poseidon as a horse god may be connected to the introduction of the horse and war-chariot from Anatolia to Greece around 1600 BC.<ref name="Burkert1985Poseidon"/>
In the Boeotian myth Poseidon is the water-god and ''Erinys'' is a goddess of the underworld.<ref name=Farnellwatergod/>
She is probably the personification of a revenging earth spirit<ref name=Erinys/><ref>Chadwick, [https://archive.org/details/mycenaeanworld00chad/page/98 p. 98]</ref> and it seems that she had a similar function with the goddess [[Dike (mythology)|Dike]] (Justice).<ref name=Bowra/> At the spring "Tilpousa" she gives birth to Arion. In the Arcadian myth Poseidon ''Hippios'' (horse) is mating with the mare-Demeter. At [[Thelpousa]] ''Demeter-[[Erinys]]'' gives birth to Arion and to an unnamable daughter who has the shape of a mare. In some neighbour cults the daughter was called [[Despoina]] (mistress), which is another name of [[Persephone]].<ref name=Hard/> The theriomorphic form of gods seems to be local in Arcadia in an old religion associated with [[xoanon|xoana]].<ref name=Stallmith/>
[[File:Poseidon Dionysos Zeus neck-amphora Nationalmuseet.jpg|thumb|right|360px|From left to right: Poseidon, Dionysos, Zeus. Black figured neck-amphora, 540 BC. [[National Museum of Denmark]], Copenhagen]]
According to some theories Poseidon was a [[Pelasgians|Pelasgian]] god or a god of the [[Minyans]]. Traditionally the Minyans are considered Pelasgians and they lived in [[Thessaly]] and [[Boeotia]]. In Thessaly ([[Pelasgiotis]]) there was a close relation to the horses. Poseidon created the first horse ''Skyphios'' hitting a rock with his trident and managed in the same way to drain the valley of Tempe.<ref name=Geschichte/> The Thessalians were famous charioteers.<ref>Jeffery, "The city states", p.72:"The proud title ''dikaios'' (the Just) in Thessaly was borne by a good brood-mare of Pharsalus, whose foals all resembled their sires."</ref> Some of the oldest Greek myths appear in Boeotia. In ancient cults Poseidon was worshipped as a horse. The horse Arion was a sire of Poseidon-horse with [[Erinys]] and the winged horse [[Pegasus]] a sire of Poseidon foaled by Medousa.<ref name=Hard/> At [[Onchestos]] he had an old famous festival which included horseracing.<ref name=Hard/> However it is possible that Poseidon like [[Zeus]] was a common god of all Greeks from the beginning.<ref name=Geschichte/>
It is possible that the Greeks did not bring with them other gods except Zeus, [[Eos]], and the [[Dioskouroi]].<ref name=Schachermeyer/> The Pelasgian god probably represented the fertilising power of water, and then he was he was considered god of the sea. As the sea encircles and holds the earth in its position, Poseidon is the god who holds the earth and who has the ability to shake the earth.<ref>"gaiaochos ennosigaios": holder of the earth earthshaker: [http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.04.0104:entry=poseidon-bio-1 Smith Poseidon]</ref> The primeval water who encircled the earth ( [[Oceanus]]) is the origin of all rivers and springs. They are children of Oceanus and [[Tethys (mythology)|Tethys]].<ref name=Geschichte2/>
[[Lewis Richard Farnell|Farnell]] suggested that Poseidon was originally the god of the Minyans who occupied Thessaly and Boeotia. There is a similarity between the Boeotian and Arcadian myths and especially between the myths which represent the god of the waters Poseidon as a horse.<ref name=Farnellwatergod/> The mythical horse Arion appears in both regions. The offspring of Poseidon winged horse Pegasus creates famous springs near [[Mount Helicon|Helikon]] and at [[Troizen]]. Some springs of Poseidon have similar names in Boeotia and [[Peloponnese]].<ref name=Geschichte/><ref name="FarnellIV" /> It is possible that the name of Poseidon ''Helikonios'' in Boeotia whose fest included horseracing derives from the mountain [[Mount Helicon|Helikon]]. The [[Minyans]] had trade contacts with Mycenean [[Pylos]] and the [[Achaea]]ns adopted the cult of Poseidon ''Helikonios''. The cult spread in Peloponnese and then to [[Ionia]] when the Achaeans migrated to [[Asia Minor]].<ref name=Geschichte/><ref name=FarnellIV/>
[[File:Dionysos Ariadne gods Louvre G41.jpg|thumb|left|340px|Hermes, Dionysos, Ariadne and Poseidon (Amphitrite is depicted on side B.). Detail from the belly of an Attic red-figure hydria, ca. 510 BC–500 BC. [[Louvre]], Paris]]
[[Martin P. Nilsson|Nilsson]] suggested that Poseidon was probably a common god of all Greeks from the beginning. The Greeks occupied Thessaly, Boeotia and Peloponnese during the Bronze Age. In all these regions Poseidon was the god of the horses. The origin of his cult was Peloponnese and he was the inland god of the Achaeans, the god of the "horses" and the "earthquakes". When the Achaeans migrated to [[Ionia]] there was a transition to regarding Poseidon as the god of the sea because the Ionians were sea-dependent.<ref name=Geschichte2/> With no doubt he was originally the god of the waters. The Greeks believed that the cause of the earthquakes was the erosion of the rocks by the waters, by the rivers in Peloponnese which they saw to disappear into the earth and then to burst out again. The god of the waters became the "earth-shaker".<ref name=Geschichte2/><ref>[[Iliad]] 13.43: "Poseidawn gaiaochos ennosigaios " (carrying the earth, earthshaker) [http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:abo:tlg,0012,001:13:43&lang=original Iliad 13.43]</ref> This is what the natural philosophers [[Thales]] [[Anaximenes of Miletus|Anaximenes]] and [[Aristotle]] believed and could not be different from the folk belief.
<ref>Nilsson ,"Geschicte", Vol I, p.450 : a)Thales: Plutarch, plac.phil. p. 896 C, b)Anaximenes-Aristotle:Aristotle, Meteorogica 27 p. 365 . All Inform. by Seneca quest. nat. VI 6;10;20</ref> In the Greek legends [[Arethusa (nymph)|Arethusa]] and the river [[Alpheus (deity)|Alpheus]] traversed underground under the sea and reappeared at [[Ortygia]].<ref>Pindar, Pyth, II v,7:Nilsson, "Geschichte", Vol I, p.492.</ref><ref>[http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0160%3Abook%3D5%3Achapter%3D7%3Asection%3D3 Pausanias 5.7.3]</ref>
In any case, the early importance of Poseidon can still be glimpsed in Homer's ''[[Odyssey]]'', where Poseidon rather than Zeus is the major mover of events. In Homer, Poseidon is the master of the sea.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.crystalinks.com/poseidon.html |title=Poseidon – God of the Sea |website=www.crystalinks.com |access-date=2017-11-06 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171111162224/http://www.crystalinks.com/poseidon.html |archive-date=11 November 2017 |url-status=live }}</ref> He is described as a majestic, scary, and avenging monarch of the sea.<ref name=Hard1/>
==Cult==
[[File:God of Cape Artemision 01.JPG|thumb|300px|[[Artemision Bronze]], bronze statue probably of Poseidon, [[Severe style]] 480-440 BC. The statue was possibly a thank offering to the god after the battle of Artemision (480 BC).<ref name=Artemision>"In 480 BC a great storm at Magnesia and then at Artemision heavily damaged the Persian fleet. After the war the Greeks gave to Poseidon the epithet ''soter'' (savior). The ''agalma'' found near Artemision was probably a thank offering dedicated to Poseidon-''Soter'' (saviοr)" : Burkert, "Greek religion" [https://archive.org/details/greekreligion0000burk/page/136/mode/2up?view=theater p.137]</ref>[[National Archaeological Museum Athens]].]]
:I begin to sing about Poseidon, the great god,
:mover of the earth and fruitless sea
:god of the deep who is also lord of Helicon <ref>Helikonios, ({{lang|grc|Ελικώνιος}}): The word may mean, "god of the eddying waves" :Nilsson, Geschichte. p.447 A6</ref> and wide Aegae.
:A two-fold office the gods allotted you,
:O Shaker of the Earth, to be a tamer of horses
:and a saviour of ships!
:Hail, Poseidon, Holder of the Earth, dark-haired lord!
:O blessed one, be kindly in heart
:and help those who voyage in ships!
:(Homeric Hymn to Poseidon)<ref>The Homeric Hymns and Homerica with an English Translation by Hugh G. Evelyn-White. Homeric Hymns. Cambridge, MA., Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann Ltd. 1914.[https://archive.org/details/greekreligion0000burk/page/136/mode/2up?view=theater Homeric Hymn to Poseidon]</ref>
The worship of Poseidon was extended all over Greece and southern [[Italy]], but he was specially honoured in Peloponnese which is called "the residence of Poseidon" and in the [[Ionia|Ionic]] cities.<ref name=Smith/> The significance of his cult is indicated by the names of cities like [[Potidaea|Poteidaia]] in the [[Chalkidiki]] peninsula and ''Poseidonia'' ([[Paestum]]), a Greek colony in Italy.<ref name="Burkert1985Poseidon"/> ''Poseidion'' is a frequent Greek placename along coastlines and the name of a Greek colony at the [[Syria]]n coast.<ref>[https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0060.tlg001.perseus-grc2:19.79 Diodorus 19.79.1]</ref>
In [[Ionia]] his cult was introduced by Achaean colonists from Greece in the 11th century BC. Traditionally the colonists came from [[Pylos]] where Poseidon was the principal god of the city. The god had a famous temple near the mountain [[Mycale]].<ref name=Burkert1985Poseidon/> The month [[Attic calendar|Poseidaon]] is the month of the winter-storms. The name of the month was used in Ionic territories, in Athens, in the islands of the [[Aegean Sea|Aegean]] and in the cities of Asia Minor. At [[Lesbos]] and [[Epidauros]] the month was called ''Poseidios''. During this month Poseidon was worshipped as the "master of the sea" in a bright cult.<ref name=Geschichte/>
[[File:Athena Painter - ABV extra - Poseidon on hippocamp - Oxford AM 1889-1011 - 01.jpg|thumb|right|210px|Poseidon with trident on hippocamp (sea-horse). Athenian black-figure white-ground pottery lekythos ca. 500-480 BC, by [[Athena Painter]]. [[Ashmolean Museum]], Oxford ]]
Poseidon was a major civic god of several cities: in [[History of Athens|Athens]], he was second only to [[Athena]] in importance, while in [[Ancient Corinth|Corinth]] and many cities of [[Ionia]] and [[Magna Graecia]] he was the chief god of the [[polis]].<ref name=Burkert1985Poseidon /> Many fests of Poseidon included athletic competitions and horseracing.
In Corinth his cult was related to the [[Isthmian games]].<ref name="Burkert1985Poseidon"/> In [[Arcadia (region)|Arcadia]] his cult was related to the games "Hippocrateia" and at Sparta he had a temple near an [[Hippodrome]]. In [[Onchestos]] of [[Boeotia]] horseracing was a part of the athletic games in honour of the god.<ref name=Hard/><ref name=Geschichte/>
Poseidon was considered a symbol of unity. The [[Panionia]] the festival of all Ionians near [[Mycale]] were celebrated in honour of Poseidon ''Helikonios'' and was the place of meeting of the [[Ionian League]].<ref name=Helikonios>"The form is the same with [[Mount Helicon|Helikon]]. Traditionally the adjective derives from the town [[Helike]] of [[Achaea]] . However it is possible that it derives from "helix" (twisted, spiral) and Poseidon would be the "god of the eddying waves"":Nilsson, "Geschichte, p.447 A6</ref><ref name=Jeffery208>Jeffery, ''The city states'', p.208</ref> He was the patron god of the [[Amphictiony]] of [[Kalaureia]]. At [[Onchestos]] of [[Boeotia]] he was worshipped as Poseidon ''Helikonios''. His sanctuary became the place of meeting of the second [[Boeotian league]].<ref name=Geschichte/><ref name=Iliad>[http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Hom.%20Il.%202.506&lang=original Iliad 2.506]</ref> At [[Helike]] of Achaea there was the famous temple of Poseidon ''Helikonios'', which was the place of meeting of the [[Achaean League]].<ref name="Katsonopoulou2002a">{{cite journal | last=Katsonopoulou | first=Dora | year=2002 | title=Helike and her Territory in Historical Times | journal=Pallα as | volume=58 | pages=175–182 | issn =0031-0387 }}</ref>
The "master of the sea" creates
clouds and storms, but he is also the protector of the sailors. He has the ability to calm the sea for a good voyage and save those who are in danger.<ref name=Smith/> He was worshipped with the surname "savior" as the protector of the seafarers and the fishermen.<ref name=Artemision/> He is the "earthshaker", however he is also the protector against the earthquakes. In some cults he was worshipped as the "bringer of safety" or "protector of the house and the foundations".
<ref name=Geschichte/>
The god was considered the creator of the first horse, and it was believed that he taught men the art of taming horses. He was depicted on horseback, or riding in a chariot drawn by two or four horses.<ref name=Smith/> He had a lot of temples in Arcadia, with the surname ''Hippios'' (of the horse) and he was also transformed into a horse to seduce [[Demeter]].<ref name=Geschichte/>
[[File:Poseidon with fish Nationalmuseet 13407.jpg|thumb|left|300px|Poseidon with a trident and a fish. Tondo of an Attic red-figured kylix, 520-510 BC, from Etruria.[[National Museum of Denmark]], Copenhagen.]]
Being the god of waters, Poseidon is related to the primeval water which encircles the earth ([[Oceanus]]),<ref name=Smith/> who is the father of all rivers and springs. He can create springs with the strike of his trident.<ref name="Burkert1985Poseidon"/> He was worshipped as "ruler of the springs" and "leader of the nymphs" <ref>Nilsson, "Geschichte" p.450 A4.</ref> In Thessaly it was believed that he drained the area cutting the rocks of [[Vale of Tempe|Tempe]] with his trident.<ref name="Burkert1985Poseidon"/><ref>[https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/morph?l=petrai%2Fos&la=greek#lexicon πετραῖος]</ref> In Greek folklore the horse can also create springs .<ref name=Hard/>
As god of the sea Poseidon was also god of fishing and especially of sea-fishing. Tuna was offered to him by the fishermen during the festal meal for the protection of the nets .<ref name="Burkert1985Poseidon"/> Tuna and later dolphin was his attribute. He was worshipped in many islands and cities by the coast. At [[Corfu|Corcyra]] a roaring bull near the sea-shore quaranteed a good fishing.<ref name=Geschichte1/> The devastating storm of Poseidon is related to fishermen and they poured drink offerings to Poseidon -''savior'' into the sea.<ref name=Artemision/> The god of inland waters is very close to vegetation and Poseidon was worshipped in many cities as god of vegetation. [[Haloa]] in Athens was a fest of vegetation. The ''Protrygaia'', a wine-fest seem to belong to [[Dionysus]] and Poseidon.<ref name=Geschichte1>Nilsson, ''Geschichte'', 449-452</ref>
In several cities Poseidon was worshipped in relation to the genealogy and the [[phratry]].<ref name=Burkert1985Poseidon/> At [[Tinos]] he was worshipped as a healer-god, probably a forerunner of the famous [[Our Lady of Tinos|Evangelistria]].<ref name=Geschichte1/>
The bull is related to Poseidon mainly in Ionia. The sacrifice of a bull offered to Poseidon is mentioned by [[Homer]] in an Ionic festival ([[Panionium|Panionia]]).<ref name=Homer>[http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Hom.+Il.+20.404&fromdoc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0134 Iliad 20.404]</ref><ref name=Geschichte1/> The sacrifices offered to Poseidon consisted of black and white bulls which were killed or thrown into the sea. Boars and rams were also used and in [[Argolis]] horses were thrown into a well as a sacrifice to him.<ref>[http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Paus.+8.7.2&fromdoc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0160 Pausanias 8.7.2]</ref><ref name=Smith/>
[[File:Poseidon Polybotes Cdm Paris 573.jpg|thumb|right|300px|A scene from the [[Gigantomachy]]: Poseidon fights [[Polybotes]]. The god broke off a piece of the island of [[Kos]] called [[Nisyros]], and threw it on top of the giant.<ref name="10.5.16">[[Strabo]], [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Strab.+10.5.16 10.5.16]. The mention of a millstone, in the poem fragment by Alcman (mentioned above) may be an early reference to the island of Nisyros, see Hanfmann 1937, pp. 476; Vian and Moore 1988, p. 192.</ref> Tondo of an Attic red-figure kylix, ca. 475-470 BC. Painter of the Paris Gigantomachy (eponymous vase), circle of the [[Brygos Painter]] found in Vulci [[BnF Museum]] (Cabinet des médailles), Paris .]]
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, [[earthquake]]s, drownings and [[ship]]wrecks.
Sailors prayed to Poseidon for a safe voyage, sometimes drowning horses as a sacrifice; in this way, according to a fragmentary [[papyrus]], [[Alexander the Great]] paused at the Syrian seashore before the climactic [[battle of Issus]], and resorted to prayers, "invoking Poseidon the sea-god, for whom he ordered a [[Quadriga|four-horse chariot]] to be cast into the waves".<ref>[[Karl Wilhelm Ludwig Müller]]'s ed. Papyrus Oxyrrhincus ''Fragmenta Historicorum Graecorum'' 148, 44, col. 2; quoted by Robin Lane Fox, ''Alexander the Great'' (1973) 1986:168 and note. Alexander also invoked other sea deities: [[Thetis]], mother of his hero [[Achilles]], [[Nereus]] and the [[Nereid]]s</ref>
According to [[Pausanias (geographer)|Pausanias]], Poseidon was one of the caretakers of the [[Delphic oracle|oracle at Delphi]] before Olympian [[Apollo]] took it over. 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 [[holy water|lustral water]] for the foundation-sacrifice. At one time Delphi belonged to him in common with Ge, but Apollo gave him the psychopompeion [[Kalaureia]] as a compensation for it.<ref name=Smith/><ref>[http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Paus.+2.33.2&fromdoc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0160 Pausanias 2.33.2]</ref>
[[Xenophon]]'s [[Anabasis (Xenophon)|''Anabasis'']] describes a group of [[Sparta]]n soldiers in 400–399 BC singing to Poseidon a [[paean]]—a kind of hymn normally sung for Apollo. Like [[Dionysus]], who inflamed the [[maenad]]s, Poseidon also caused certain forms of mental disturbance. A [[Hippocrates|Hippocratic]] text of ca 400 BC, ''On the Sacred Disease''<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://classics.mit.edu/Hippocrates/sacred.html |title=(Hippocrates), ''On the Sacred Disease'', Francis Adams, tr. |access-date=22 December 2007 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110524210044/http://classics.mit.edu/Hippocrates/sacred.html |archive-date=24 May 2011 |url-status=live }}</ref> says that he was blamed for certain types of epilepsy.
Poseidon is still worshipped today in modern [[Hellenism (religion)|Hellenic]] religion, among other Greek gods. The worship of Greek gods has been recognized by the Greek government since 2017.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Brunwasser |first1=Matthew |title=The Greeks Who Worship Ancient Gods |url=https://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-22972610 |access-date=July 24, 2020 |agency=[[BBC]] |date=June 20, 2013}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |last1=Souli |first1=Sarah |title=Greece's Old Gods Are Ready for Your Sacrifice |url=https://theoutline.com/post/2843/hellenism-legalized-greece?zd=1&zi=rnorsdnx |website=[[The Outline (website)|The Outline]] |access-date=July 24, 2020 |date=January 4, 2018}}</ref>
=== Epithets and attributes===
[[File:Poszeidón Epoptész.png|thumb|left|280px|Poseidon Epoptes]]
Poseidon had a variety of roles, duties and attributes. He is a separate deity from the oldest Greek god of the sea [[Pontus (mythology)|Pontus]]. In Athens his name is superimposed οn the name of the non-Greek god [[Erechtheus]] {{lang|grc|Ἑρεχθεύς}} (''Poseidon Erechtheus'').<ref>Walter Burkert (Peter Bing, tr.) ''Homo Necans'' 1983, p. 149 gives references for this observation</ref><ref>{{cite web| url=https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/morph?l=erexqe%2Fus&la=greek#lexicon| title=Ἑρεχθεύς}}</ref>
In the [[Iliad]], he is the lord of the sea and his golden palace is built in Aegai, in the depth of the sea.<ref>[https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Hom.+Il.+13.21&fromdoc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0134 Iliad 13.21] Nilsson Vol I p.446</ref> His significance is indicated by his titles ''Eurykreion'' ({{lang|grc|Εὐρυκρείων}}) "wide-ruling", an epithet also applied to [[Agamemnon]]<ref>{{cite web| url=https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Hom.%20Il.%2011.751&lang=original| title=Iliad 10.751}}</ref><ref>{{cite web| url=https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/morph?l=eu%29rukreiwn&la=greek#lexicon| title=Εὐρυκρείων}}</ref> and ''Helikonios anax'' ({{lang|grc|Ἑλικώνιος ἄναξ}}), "lord of [[Helicon (mountain)|Helicon]] or Helike" <ref>[https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:abo:tlg,0012,001:20:404&lang=original Iliad 20.404].</ref> In Helike of Achaia he was specially honoured.<ref>{{cite web| url=https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/morph?l=%28Elikw%2Fnios&la=greek#lexicon| title=Ἑλικώνιος}}</ref> ''Anax'' is identified in Mycenaean Greek ([[Linear B]]) as ''wa-na-ka'', a title of Poseidon as king of the underworld. [[Aeschylus]] uses also the epithet ''anax'' <ref>{{cite web| url=https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:abo:tlg,0085,004:131&lang=original| title=Seven against Thebes 131}}</ref> and [[Pindar]] the epithet ''Eurymedon'' ({{lang|grc|Εὐρυμέδων}}) "widely ruling".<ref>{{cite web| url=https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.04.0072%3Aentry%3Deu)rume%2Fdwn| title=εὐρυμέδων }}</ref>
[[File:DSC00363_-_Mosaico_delle_stagioni_(epoca_romana)_-_Foto_G._Dall'Orto.jpg|alt=See caption|thumb|right|280px|Poseidon- Neptune Detail from the "Mosaic of the Seasons", from the Roman era. [[Regional Archeological Museum Antonio Salinas]], [[Palermo]]).]]
Some of the epithets (or adjectives) applied to him like ''Enosigaios'' ({{lang|grc|Ἐνοσίγαιος}}), ''Enosichthon'' ({{lang|grc|Ἐνοσίχθων}}) (Homer) and ''Ennosidas'' ({{lang|grc|Ἐννοσίδας}}) (Pindar), mean "earth shaker".<ref name= Dietrich>Diedrich [https://books.google.com/books?id=rgWHB3QMB3sC&pg=185 p. 185 n. 305]</ref> These epithets indicate his [[chthonic]] nature, and have an older evidence of use, as it is identified in Linear B, as {{lang|gmy|𐀁𐀚𐀯𐀅𐀃𐀚}}, ''E-ne-si-da-o-ne''.<ref name=Earth_shaker>{{cite web |url=http://www.csun.edu/~hcfll004/mycen.html |title=Mycenaean Divinities |access-date=2 September 2006 |work=List of Handouts for Classics 315 |first=John Paul |last=Adams |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181001091024/http://www.csun.edu/~hcfll004/mycen.html |archive-date=1 October 2018 |url-status=live }}</ref> Other epithets that relate him with the earthquakes are ''Gaieochos'' ({{lang|grc|Γαιήοχος}}) <ref>{{cite web| url=https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.04.0057%3Aentry%3Dgaih%2Foxos| title=Γαιήοχος}}</ref> and ''Seisichthon'' ({{lang|grc|Σεισίχθων}}) <ref>{{LSJ|seisi/xqwn|σεισίχθων}}</ref>
The god who causes the earthquakes is also the protector against them, and he had the epithets ''Themeliouchos'' ({{lang|grc|Θεμελιούχος}}) "upholding the foundations",<ref>{{cite web| url=https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/morph?l=qemeliou/xos&la=greek#lexicon| title=θεμελιούχος}}</ref> ''[[Asphaleius|Asphaleios]]'' ({{lang|grc|Ἀσφάλειος}}) "securer, protector" <ref>{{cite web| url=https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/morph?l=asfa%2Fleios&la=greek#lexicon| title=ἀσφάλειος.}}</ref> with a temple at [[Tainaron]].<ref>{{cite web| url=https://www.cs.uky.edu/~raphael/sol/sol-entries/tau/206| title=Suda, tau, 206}}</ref> Pausanias describes a sanctuary of Poseidon near Sparta beside the shrine of Alcon, where he had the surname ''Domatites'' ({{lang|grc|Δωματίτης}}), "of the house"<ref>{{cite web| url=https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/morph?l=dwmati%2Fths&la=greek#lexicon| title=δωματίτης}}</ref><ref>Pausanias, [http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text? doc=Paus.+3.14.7&fromdoc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0160:book=:chapter=&highlight=Poseidon3.14.7 3.14.7]</ref>
[[File:Pelike, red figure, 440-430 BC, Poseidon surprises Anymone, AM Agrigento, 121098.jpg|thumb|left|230px|Poseidon surprises Anymone near a spring. Attic pelike in red figure, circle of the [[Polygnotus]] Painter, 440-430 BC. Archaeological Museum of [[Agrigento]]]]
Homer uses for Poseidon the title ''Kyanochaites'' ({{lang|grc|Κυανοχαίτης}}), "dark-haired, dark blue of the sea".<ref>{{LSJ|kuanoxai/ths|Κυανοχαίτης}}</ref><ref>{{cite web| url=https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0134%3Abook%3D20%3Acard%3D144| title=Iliad 20.144}}</ref> Epithets like ''Pelagios'' ({{lang|grc|Πελάγιος}}) "of the open sea",<ref>{{LSJ|pela/gios|πελάγιος}}</ref><ref>Nilsson Vol I p.449</ref> ''Aegeus'' ({{lang|grc|Αἰγαίος}}), "of the high sea" <ref>{{cite web| url=https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/morph?l=aigai%2Fos&la=greek#lexicon| title=Aἰγαίος}}</ref> in the town of [[Aegae (Euboea)|Aegae]] in [[Euboea]], where he had a magnificent temple upon a hill,<ref>[[Strabo]], ix. p. 405</ref><ref>[[Virgil]], ''[[Aeneid]]'' iii. 74, where [[Maurus Servius Honoratus|Servius]] erroneously derives the name from the [[Aegean Sea]]</ref><ref>{{cite book |last=Schmitz |first=Leonhard |contribution=Aegaeus |editor-last=Smith |editor-first=William |title=Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology |volume=1 |page=24 |place=Boston |publisher=Little, Brown, and Company |year=1867 |contribution-url= http://www.ancientlibrary.com/smith-bio/0033.html |title-link=Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology }}</ref> ''Pontomedon'' ({{lang|grc|Ποντομέδων}}),<ref>{{LSJ|pontome/dwn|ποντομέδων}}</ref>" lord of the sea" (Pindar, [[Aeschylus]]) and ''Kymothales'' ({{lang|grc|Κυμοθαλής}}), "abounding with waves",<ref>{{cite web| url=https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/morph?l=kumoqalh%2Fs&la=greek#lexicon| title=κυμοθαλής}}</ref> indicate that Poseidon was regarded as holding sway over the sea.<ref name=smith-steven/> Other epithets that relate him with the sea are, ''Porthmios'' ({{lang|grc|Πόρθμιος}}), "of strait, narrow sea" at [[Karpathos]],<ref>{{cite web| url=https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/morph?l=po%2Frqmios&la=greek#lexicon| title=πόρθμιος}}</ref> ''[[Epactaeus]]'' ({{lang|grc|Ἐπακταῖος}}) "god worshipped on the coast", in [[Samos]],<ref>{{Cite DGRBM|author=Leonhard Schmitz |title=Epactaeus |url= https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.04.0104:entry=epactaeus-bio-1&highlight=epactaeus |short=}}</ref> ''Alidoupos'', ({{lang|grc|Ἀλίδουπος}}) "sea resounding".<ref>{{cite web| url=https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/morph?l=)ali/doupos&la=greek#lexicon| title=Ἀλίδουπος}}</ref> The master of the sea who can cause devastating storms is also the protector of seafarers and he was given the epithet ''sōtēr'' ({{lang|grc|Σωτήρ}}), "savior".<ref name=Artemision/>
His symbol is the trident and he has the epithet ''Eutriaina'' ({{lang|grc|Εὐτρίαινα}}), "with goodly trident" (Pindar).<ref>{{cite web| url=https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/morph?l=eutri/aina&la=greek#Perseus:text:1999.04.0057:entry=eu)tri/aina-contents| title=εὐτρίαινα}}</ref> The god of the sea is also the god of fishing, and [[tuna]] was his attribute. At [[Lampsacus]] they offered fishes to Poseidon and he had the epithet ''phytalmios'' ({{lang|grc|φυτάλμιος}}) <ref name=Nilsson451>Nilsson Vol I p.451,452</ref> His epithet ''Phykios'' ({{lang|grc|Φύκιος}}), "god of seaweeds" at [[Mykonos]],<ref>{{LSJ|fu/kios|φύκιος}}</ref> seems to be related with fishing. He had a fest where women were not allowed, with special offers also to ''Poseidon Temenites'' ({{lang|grc|Τεμενίτης}}) "related to an official ___domain ".<ref>{{cite web| url=https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.04.0057%3Aentry%3Dtemeni%2Fths| title=Τεμενίτης}}</ref> At the same day they made offers to ''Demeter Chloe'' therefore Poseidon was the promotor of vegetation. He had the epithet ''phytalmios'' ({{lang|grc|φυτάλμιος}}) at [[Myconos]], [[Troizen]], [[Megara]] and [[Rhodes]], comparable with ''Ptorthios'' ({{lang|grc|Πτόρθιος}}) at [[Chalcis]].<ref name=Nilsson451/><ref>{{LSJ|futa/lmios|φυτάλμιος}}</ref><ref>{{LSJ|pto/rqios| πτόρθιος}}.</ref>
[[File:Poseidon Polybotes Louvre F226.jpg|thumb|right|240px|Poseidon fighting the Giant Polybotes. Attic black-figure neck amphora by [[Swing Painter]], 540-530 BC, ca. 540 BC–530 BC. [[Louvre]], Paris.]]
Poseidon had a close association with horses. He is known under the epithet ''Hippios'' ({{lang|grc|Ἵππειος}}), "of a horse or horses" usually in Arcadia. He had temples at [[Lycosura]], [[Mantineia]], [[Methydrium]], [[Pheneos]], Pallandion.<ref>{{cite web| url=https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/morph?l=)/ippeios&la=greek#lexicon| title=ἲππειος}}</ref><ref>Nilsson Vol I p.448</ref>
At Lycosura he is related with the cult of Despoina.<ref>Pausanias [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/cgi-bin/ptext?lookup=Paus.+8.37.1 8.37.9–10]</ref> The modern sanctuary near [[Mantineia]] was built by Emperor [[Hadrian]].<ref>{{cite web| url=https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0160%3Abook%3D8%3Achapter%3D10%3Asection%3D2| title=Pausanias 8.10.3}}</ref> In Athens on the hill of horses there was the altar of '' Poseidon Hippios'' and ''Athena Hippia''. The temple of Poseidon was destroyed by Antigonus when he attacked Attica.<ref>{{cite web| url=https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0160%3Abook%3D1%3Achapter%3D30%3Asection%3D4| title=Pausanias 1.30.4}}</ref> He is usually the tamer of horses (''Damaios'',{{lang|grc|Δαμαίος}} at Corinth),<ref>{{cite web| url=https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/morph?l=damai%2Fos&la=greek#Perseus:text:1999.04.0057:entry=*damai=os-contents| title=Δαμαῖος}}</ref> and the tender of horses ''Hippokourios'' {{lang|grc|Ἱπποκούριος}}) at Sparta, where he had a sanctuary near the sanctuary of ''Artemis Aiginea''.<ref>{{cite web| url=https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0160%3Abook%3D3%3Achapter%3D14%3Asection%3D2| title=Pausanias 3.14.2}}</ref><ref>{{cite web| url=https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/morph?l=ippokou/rios&la=greek#lexicon| title=Ἱπποκούριος}}</ref> In some myths he is the father of horses, either by spilling his seed upon a rock or by mating with a creature who then gave birth to the first horse.<ref name="Burkert1985Poseidon" /> In Thessaly he had the title ''Petraios'' {{lang|grc|Πετραἵος}}, "of the rocks".<ref>{{cite web| url=https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/morph?l=petrai%2Fos&la=greek#lexicon| title=Πετραῖος}}</ref> He hit a rock and the first horse "Skyphios" appeared.<ref>Nilsson Vol I p. 447</ref> He was closely related with the springs, and with the strike of his trident, he created springs. He had the epithets ''Krenouchos'' ({{lang|grc|Κρηνούχος}}), "ruling over springs",<ref>{{cite web| url=https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/morph?l=krhnou/xos&la=greek#lexicon| title=κρηνούχος}}</ref> and ''nymphagetes'' ({{lang|grc|Νυμφαγέτης}}) "leader of the nymphs" <ref>" Oceanus is the primeval water, the origin of all springs and rivers" : Nilsson Vol I p.450</ref> On the Acropolis of Athens he created the saltspring ''Sea of Erechtheus'' ({{lang|grc|Ἐρεχθηίς θάλασσα}}).<ref>{{cite web| url=https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Apollod.+3.14.1&fromdoc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0022:book=3:chapter=14&highlight=Erechtheis| title=Apollodorus 3.14.1}}</ref> Many springs like [[Hippocrene]] and Aganippe in Helikon are related with the word horse (hippos). (also Glukippe, Hyperippe). He is the father of Pegasus, whose name is derived from {{lang|grc|πηγή}}, (''pēgē'') "spring".<ref>Nilsson Vol I p.450-451</ref>
[[File:Poseidon Penteskouphia Louvre CA452.jpg|thumb|left|240px|Poseidon carrying a trident. Corinthian plate 550-525 BC, from Pentescouphia, [[Louvre]]]]
Epithets like ''Genesios'' {{lang|grc|Γενέσιος}} at [[Lerna]]<ref>{{LSJ|gene/sios|γενέσιος}}</ref><ref>{{cite web| url=https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0160%3Abook%3D2%3Achapter%3D38%3Asection%3D4| title=Pausanias 2.38.4}}</ref> ''Genethlios'' ({{lang|grc|Γενέθλιος}}) "of the race or family" <ref>{{LSJ|gene/qlios|γενέθλιος}}</ref> ''Phratrios'' ({{lang|grc|Φράτριος}}) "of the brotherhood",<ref>{{cite web| url=https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.04.0057%3Aentry%3Dfra%2Ftrios| title=φράτριος}}</ref> and ''Patrigenios'' ({{lang|grc|Πατριγένειος}}) <ref>Nilsson Vol I p.452</ref> indicate his relation with the genealogy trees and the brotherhood.
Other epithets of Poseidon in local cults are ''Epoptes'' ({{lang|grc|Ἐπόπτης}}), "overseer, watcher" at Megalopolis,<ref>{{cite web| url=https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/morph?l=e%29po%2Fpths&la=greek#lexicon| title=ἐπόπτης}}</ref> ''Empylios'' ({{lang|grc|Ἐμπύλιος}}), "at the gate " at [[Thebes, Greece|Thebes]],<ref>{{cite web| url=https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/morph?l=)empu/lios&la=greek#lexicon| title=ἐμπύλιος}}</ref> ''Kronios'' ({{lang|grc|Κρόνιος }})<ref>{{cite web| url=https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/morph?l=kro%2Fnios&la=greek#lexicon| title=Κρόνιος}}</ref> (Pindar) and ''semnos'' ({{lang|grc|σεμνός}}), "august, holy"<ref>{{cite web| url=https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/morph?l=semno%2Fs&la=greek#lexicon| title=σεμνός }}</ref> ([[Sophocles]]).
Some of Poseidon's epithets are related to festivals and athletic games including racing. At Corinth the [[Isthmian games]] was an athletic and music festival in honour of the god who had the epithet ''Isthmios'' ({{lang|grc|Ἴσθμιος}}). At Sparta there was the race ''in Gaiaochō''. ({{lang|grc|ἐν Γαιαόχῳ}}) <ref>[https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0160%3Abook%3D3%3Achapter%3D21%3Asection%3D8 Pausanias 3.21.8].</ref><ref name="Nilsson447">Nilsson Vol I p.446- 448</ref> Poseidon ''Gaiēochos'' ({{lang|grc|Γαιήοχος}}) had a temple near the city beside an [[Hippodrome]].<ref>contest at Sparta : [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.04.0057%3Aentry%3Dgaih%2Foxos Γαάοχοι]</ref> At [[Mantineia]] and Pallandion in Arcadia the ''Hippokrateia'' ({{lang|grc|Ἱπποκράτεια}}) were athletic games in honour of Poseidon ''Hippeios'' ({{lang|grc|Ιππειος}}). At [[Ephesus]] there was a fest "Tavria" and he had the epithet ''Taureios'' ({{lang|grc|Tαύρειος}}), "related with the bull".<ref>{{LSJ|tau/reios|ταύρειος}}</ref><ref name=Nilsson447/>
===Festivals===
[[File:Terracotta amphora (jar) MET DP117049.jpg|thumb|right|270px| Poseidon and [[Nike (mythology)|Nike]] (victory). Terracotta Attic amphora by the Syracuse Painter, one of the last to decorate an amphora, 470-460 BC. [[Metropolitan Museum of Art]], Manhattan, NY]]
Many festivals all over Greece, in the Ionic cities and in Italy were celebrated in honour of Poseidon.
*[[Corinth]]: The [[Panhellenic]] [[Isthmian Games]] were celebrated in honour of Poseidon. His sanctuary is to be seen in the context of the position of Corinth controlling the sea.<ref name=Burkert1985Poseidon/> The festival included athletic and musical competitions and horseracing. Traditionally the games were established in the Bronze Age over the dead prince [[Palaimon]].<ref>Jeffery, ''The city states'', p.152</ref>
*[[Athens]]: Poseidon had a fest in the month [[Attic calendar|Poseidaon]]. He was worshipped as the "master of the sea".<ref name=Geschichte/>
*Athens: [[Haloa]] was a fest of vegetation. The wine- fest ''Protrygaia'' belonged to [[Dionysus]] and to Poseidon as a god of vegetation.<ref name=Geschichte1/>
*[[Mycale]] in [[Ionia]]: Mycale was a promontory, between [[Samos]] and [[Miletus]]. The representatives of twelve cities ([[Ionian dodecapolis|dodekapolis]]) celebrated the [[Panionium|Panionia]] (of all the Ionians), a festival of ''Poseidon Helikonios''.<ref name=Helikonios/> Traditionally the first settlers landed in this place. The temple became the meeting place of the Ionian League).<ref name=Jeffery208/> Homer describes the sacrifice of a bull to Poseidon, during the festival.<ref name=Geschichte1/>
*[[Ephesus]] in Ionia. The relation of Poseidon with the bull is stronger in Ionia. The fest ''Tauria'' was celebrated in honour of Poseidon ''Taureios'' and the capbearers were called ''tauroi'' (bulls).<ref name=Geschichte1/>
*[[Kalaureia]]: Poseidon was the patron god of the [[Amphictiony]] of Kalaureia. The festival was celebrated in honour of the god. The famous temple was the meeting place of the representatives of the members (Amphiktiones).<ref>Thomas Kelly, "The Calaurian Amphictiony" ''American Journal of Archaeology'' '''70'''.2 (April 1966:113–121).</ref>
*[[Tainaron]]: The famous festival ''Tainaria'' was celebrated in honour of Poseidon. The participants were called ''Tainarioi''.<ref>[https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/morph?l=tainaron&la=greek#lexicon Ταιναρον]</ref> The sacred sanctuary of the god was built in a cave in the Tainaron peninsula.<ref name="Temple of Poseidon Tainaron">[https://tainaron-blue.com/the-temple-of-poseidon/ Temple of Poseidon Tainaron]</ref> A filial cult existed in Sparta.<ref name=Geschichte/>
[[File:Poseidon Louvre G377.jpg|thumb|left|240px|Libation scene: Poseidon seated on a chair, wearing a chiton and a himation, holding a trident and a phiale.450-440 BC red-figure Attic amphora.[[Louvre]]]]
*[[Onchestos]] in [[Boeotia]]. Poseidon had a famous temple praised by Homer in the [[Catalogue of Ships]],<ref name=Iliad/> with the surname ''Helikonios''. It became the place of meeting of the second [[Boeotian league]]. The peculiar fest included horseracing.<ref name=Geschichte/> At the beginning of the race the charioteers jumped down and made a prayer to Poseidon to protect them if the chariot would fall in the sacred grove.<ref name=Hard/>
*[[Sparta]]; Poseidon was worshipped with the surname ''Gaiaochos'' (carrying the earth or moving under the earth). There was the race ''Gaiaochoi'' and the temple was built beside an [[Hippodrome]].<ref name=Geschichte/>
*[[Helike]] in Achaea: The city is mentioned in [[Homer]]s [[Catalogue of Ships]].<ref>[http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Hom.+Il.+2.575&fromdoc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0134 Iliad 2.575]</ref> The temple and the festival of Poseidon ''Helikonios'' was [[Panhellenic]]. It was the place of meeting of the [[Achaean League]].The city was destroyed by a tsunami in 370 BC.<ref name="Katsonopoulou2002a"/>
*[[Epidauros]]: A fest in the month ''Poseidios'' was celebrated in honour of Poseidon. He was worshipped as the "master of the sea".<ref name=Geschichte/>
*[[Helos]] : The fest ''Pohoidaia'' was celebrated in honour of Poseidon. The festival included athletic games and competitions.<ref name=Geschichte/>
*[[Thuria (Messenia)|Thuria]]: The fest ''Pohoidaia'' was celebrated in honour of Poseidon. It included athletic games and competitions.<ref name=Geschichte/>
[[File:Sozopol Archaeological Museum IMG 4149.JPG|thumb|right|240px|[[Sozopol]] Archaeological Museum. Poseidon in the middle.]]
*[[Mantineia]] in Arcadia: Poseidon was worshipped with the surname ''Hippios'' (of the horse). The fest included the athletic games ''Hippokrateia''. The temple was holy and the entrance into the cella was not allowed.<ref name=Geschichte/>
* Pallandion in Arcadia : Poseidon had the epithet ''Hippios'' (of the horse) and the fest included the athletic games ''Hippokrateia''.<ref name=Geschichte/>
*[[Thronium (Locris)|Thronium]]: Thronium was the chief city of Ancient [[Locris]] and is mentioned by [[Homer]] in the [[Catalogue of Ships]].<ref>[http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Hom.+Il.+2.533&fromdoc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0134 Iliad 2.533]</ref> The name of a month in the city was ''Hippios''.<ref>[https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/morph?l=(ippei/os&la=greek#lexicon ιππειος]</ref>
* [[Lesbos]]: A festival in the month ''Poseidios'' was celebrated in honour of Poseidon. He was worshipped as the "master of the sea".<ref name=Geschichte/>
* [[Myconos]]: In a fest he was worshipped as a god of fishing and women were not allowed. '' Chloe'' ([[Demeter]]) received offerings in the same fest, indicating that Poseidon was also god of vegetation.<ref name=Geschichte1/>
* [[Tinos]]: A great fest called ''Poseidonia'' was celebrated in honour of Poseidon. The temple included great banquet halls, indicating the large number of the participants.<ref>[https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:abo:tlg,0099,001:10:5:11&lang=original Strabo 10.5.11]</ref> Poseidon was worshipped as a healer-god.<ref name=Geschichte1/>
==Temples of Poseidon==
[[File:Archaic Temple at Isthmia, Greece.jpg|thumb|right|380px|Archaic Temple of Poseidon at [[Isthmia (ancient city)|Isthmia]], Greece (Assumed reconstruction)]]
The [[Corinth]]ians are considered to be the inventors of the [[Doric order]]. However Corinth was completely destroyed and rebuilt and there is not sufficient evidence for the existence of earliest [[Doric order|Doric]] Greek temples in the city.<ref>N.Spivey (1997), ''Greek art'', Phaidon Press Limited, p. 61.</ref> A building constructed in early 7th century BC c.690-650 BC at [[Isthmia (sanctuary)|Isthmia]] near [[Corinth]] which was later dedicated to Poseidon, is considered a pioneering building featuring Doric architecture.<ref name=Gebhard77>Gebhard, Elizabeth R. and Hemans, Frederick P. University of Chicago Excavations at Isthmia, 1989: I. ''Hesperia'', Volume 61, Number 1 (January 1992), pp. 1–77, page 25.</ref> It seems that the first temple with pure Doric elements was built with the aid of Corinthians at [[Thermon]] in [[Aetolia]] in the middle of 7th century BC century. c.640-630 BC. It was a [[peripteros|peripteral]] narrow wooden structure dedicated to [[Apollo]],<ref>N.Spivey, p.111-112</ref> It measured 12.13 X38.23 m at the [[stylobate]] and the number of [[pteron]] columns was 5X15.<ref>Robertson (1945), ''Greek and Roman architecture'', pp. 66,324</ref>
In the earlier temples the [[peripteros|peripteral]] colonnade is treated with a freedom unknown to later Doric architects. This is in part an especially western feature (in [[Italy]]) because the hexastyle scheme was adopted<ref>Robertson, p.73</ref> as in the temple of Poseidon at [[Taranto]] and the second temple of [[Hera]] at [[Paestum]] (traditionally named temple of Poseidon). In the earlier temples where the number of the columns in the [[porch]] is odd, so are the columns of the [[pteron]] [[facade]]. In such temples the side [[pteron|ptera]] are approximately the width of one or two [[intercolumniation]]s.<ref>[[Thermon]]: one column in the porch, five columns on the facade. "Basilica" ([[Paestum]]): three columns on the potch, nine columns in the pteron facade :Robertson, p.73</ref> In the hexastyle scheme like the temple of Poseidon at [[Sounion]], there are normally two or four columns in the porch and the side ptera are approximately the width of one intercolumniation.<ref>[[Paestum]], second temple of [[Hera]]: two columns in the porch. [[Sounion]]: two columns in the porch.</ref> In Doric early work the distance between column and column differs on the fronts and on the flanks<ref name=Robertson75>Robertson, p.75</ref> and this can be observed in the temple of Poseidon at [[Kalaureia]] and in ''Basilica'' at [[Paestum]]. After the 6th century the rule in Doric is an approximate equality of intercolumniations<ref name=Robertson75/> and it can be observed in the temple of Poseidon at [[Sounion]], where there is a slight difference.
* [[Temple of Isthmia|Isthmia]]. The temple dedicated later to the god Poseidon was probably built in early 7th century BC c.690-650 BC in the city [[Isthmia (ancient city)|Isthmia]] near [[Corinth]] and it had a wooden [[peristyle]]. The building was completely destroyed in 470 BC and it seems that it was one of the pioneering buildings featuring Doric architecture.<ref name=Gebhard77/> The ground plan showed a temple that was of epic proportions for its time and of a layout that was almost entirely new,<ref>Salmon, J. B. 1984. ''Wealthy Corinth: A History of the City to 338 BC.'' Oxford: Clarendon Press, page 61.</ref> however there was no evidence for the employment of the Doric style as it was suggested <ref>Gebhard, Elizabeth on 'The Evolution of a Pan-Hellenic Sanctuary: From Archaeology towards History at Isthmia.' pp. 154–177 in: Marinatos, Nanno (ed.) and Hägg, Robin (ed.). 1993. ''Greek Sanctuaries: New Approaches.'' London: Routledge, page 160.</ref>
[[File:Plan of the Temple of Poseidon at Paestum.png|thumb|left|150px|Plan of the second temple of [[Hera]], [[Paestum]] (traditionally temple of Poseidon)]]
* [[Paestum]], on the west coast of [[Italy]] near [[Naples]]. The Greek name of the city was Poseidonia. The Doric temple was built in the early 6th century BC and it was believed that it was a temple of Poseidon. Traditionally this name is associated with the 5th century BC temple at Paestum, however recent excavations indicate that both temples were dedicated to [[Hera]]. The so-called ''Basilica'' measured 24,5 X54,3 m at the [[stylobate]] and the number of [[pteron]] columns was 9x18.<ref>Robertson pp.75-76,325</ref> The temple is wider than most Greek temples it had two doors. This may indicate a dual dedication of the temple.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.paestum.org.uk/temples/basilica/ |title="The early temple of Hera, known as the 'Basilica'" |access-date=2016-02-26 |archive-date=2019-03-07 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190307173816/http://www.paestum.org.uk/temples/basilica/ |url-status=dead }}</ref>
*A Doric temple the so-called temple of Poseidon was built in the first half of the 5th century BC and is usually placed later than [[Parthenon]]. The temple measured 24,3 X 60,00 m at the [[stylobate]]. It was an hexastyle structure and the number of [[pteron]] columns was 6X14.<ref>Robertson, pp. 136,327</ref> The temple was also used to worship [[Zeus]] and another deity, whose identity is unknown.
[[File:Sounionplan.jpg|thumb|right|140px|[[Sounion]]plan-Temple of Poseidon]]
*[[Temple of Poseidon (Taranto)|Taranto]], a city of [[Magna Graecia]] in [[Italy]]. Τhe temple of Poseidon was a perpiteral [[Doric order|Doric]] temple, however its exact plan cannot be outlined. It was probably built in the 6th century BC and it seems that the number of [[pteron]] columns was 6X13. The interval of the remaining columns is 3.72 m, indicating that the maximum dimensions of the temple at the [[stylobate]] could be 22,32X 47,46 m.
* [[Sounion]] in [[Attica]]. The first temple of Poseidon (formerly called temple of Athena) was built in 490 BC and it was destroyed by the Persians before completion. It measured 13,12 X30,34 m at the [[stylobate]] and the number of [[pteron]] columns was 6X13. There is a slight difference between the front and back intercolumniations and those of the flanks. There was probably a double row of inner columns. (close wall, engaged). The [[cella]] with porches and adyta measured c.9.00 X21,20m <ref name=Robertson327>Robertson, p. 327</ref>
*The second temple was built in 425 BC and it was modelled on its predecessor. It measured 13.48 X 31.15 m at the [[stylobate]] and the number of [[pteron]] columns was 6X13. An [[Ionia|Ionic]] frieze carried across pteron and continued round interior of each end of pteron.<ref>Robertson, pp. 115,328</ref> The cella with porches and adyta measured c.9.00 X21,20m.<ref name=Robertson327/> The temple probably contained, at one end facing the entrance, a colossal, bronze statue of Poseidon.<ref>W. Burkert, ''Greek Religion'' (1987).</ref>
[[File:Architectural Terracotta Sanctuary of Poseidon Kalaureia 1.JPG|thumb|left|240px|Architectural Terracotta Sanctuary of Poseidon [[Kalaureia]]]]
*[[Kalaureia]], an island close to the coast of [[Troezen]] in the [[Peloponnese]], part of the modern island-pair [[Poros]]. Early roof tiles from c.650 BC suggest the existence of a precursor to the Late Archaic temple of Poseidon. This Doric temple was probably built in the middle of the 6th century BC, constructed mainly of [[poros stone]]. It measured 14,50 X27,00 m at the [[stylobate]] and the number of the pteron columns was 6X12. Both front and back intercolumniations were wider than those on the flanks. The building was surrounded by a low wall with the main entrance on the east side.<ref>{{Cite web|title=KalaureiaKalaureia, Poros (1894 and 1997– ongoing) - Kalaureia, Poros (1894 and 1997– ongoing)|url=https://www.sia.gr/en/articles.php?tid=329|access-date=2021-11-19|website=Swedish Institute at Athens|language=en}}</ref>
[[File:Temple of Poseidon, Hermione (14125507562).jpg|thumb|right|240px|Temple of Poseidon, [[Hermione (Argolis)|Hermione]]]]
*[[Hermione (Argolis)|Hermione]] in [[Argolis]].The most remarkable temple in the time of Pausanias was the temple of Poseidon.<ref>[http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Paus.+2.34.10&fromdoc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0160 Pausanias 2.34.10]</ref> The temple was built in the Late archaic-Early classical period, in the late 6th century BC. It was completely destroyed and its foundations at the peninsula of ''Bisti'' (Poseidio) indicate that the temple measured approximately 15,00 X30,00 m at the [[stylobate]].<ref>[https://www.sia.gr/el/sx_PrintPage.php?tid=446 Swedish Institute p.446]</ref>
*[[Temple of Poseidon (Tainaron)|Tainaron]] .The sacred sanctuary of Poseidon was built in a cave at the Tainaron peninsula. The path to the interior, carved into the rock, was preparing him who wanted to get into the psychopompeion. It also functioned as a necromancy and oneiromancy temple. The temple was also established as a place for persecuted who fled there for protection.<ref name="Temple of Poseidon Tainaron"/>
*[[Tinos]], an island of [[Cyclades]]. The temple of Poseidon and [[Amphitrite]] was built near a beach of the island, in the 4th century BC (Hellenistic period). It was a peripteral [[Doric order|Doric]] temple, which was reconstructed in the 3rd century BC. The temple was made of local marble and had some representations of the god's symbols, such as dolphins and the trident.<ref>[https://www.greeka.com/cyclades/tinos/sightseeing/sanctuary-poseidon/ Temple of Poseidon Tinos]</ref>
==Mythology==
=== Birth ===
[[File:Mosaique de Neptune au musée de Sousse, septembre 2013.jpg|thumb|left|340px| Poseidon-Neptune and triumphal chariot with a pair of sea-horses (Hippocamps). Mosaic, 3rd century. [[Sousse Archaeological Museum]], Medina, Tunesia]]
In the standard version, Poseidon was born to the [[Titans]] [[Cronus]] and [[Rhea (mythology)|Rhea]], the fifth child out of six, born after [[Hestia]], [[Demeter]], [[Hera]] and [[Hades]] in that order.<ref>[[Hesiod]], ''[[Theogony]]'' [http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0130%3Acard%3D453 453-455]; Hard, [https://books.google.com/books?id=r1Y3xZWVlnIC&pg=PA67 p. 67].</ref> Because Poseidon's father was afraid that one of his children would overthrow him like he had done to his own father, Cronus devoured each infant as soon as they were born. Poseidon was the last one to suffer this fate before Rhea decided to deceive Cronus and whisk the sixth child, [[Zeus]], away to safety, after offering Cronus a rock wrapped in a blanket to eat.{{sfn|Hard|2004|page=[https://books.google.com/books?id=r1Y3xZWVlnIC&pg=PA68 68]}} Once Zeus was grown, he gave his father a powerful emetic that made him gorge up the children he had eaten. The five children emerged from their father's belly in reverse order, making Poseidon both the second youngest child and the second oldest at the same time. Armed with a trident forged for him by the [[Cyclopes]], Poseidon with his siblings and other divine allies defeated the Titans and became rulers in their place.{{sfn|Grimal|1987|loc=s.v. [https://archive.org/details/dictionaryofclas00grim/page/115/mode/2up?view=theater Cronus]}} According to [[Homer]] and Apollodorus, Zeus, Poseidon and the third brother [[Hades]] then divided the world between them by drawing lots; Zeus got the sky, Poseidon the sea, and Hades the Underworld.<ref>Homer, ''Iliad'' [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0134%3Abook%3D15%3Acard%3D184 15.184-93] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190511082132/http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text? |date=11 May 2019 }})</ref>
[[File:Andrea Doria as Neptun by Angelo Bronzino.jpg|thumb|right|220px|''[[Andrea Doria as Neptune]]'', by [[Angelo Bronzino]] .1540-1530, [[Pinacoteca di Brera]], Milan]]
In a rarer - and later- version, Poseidon avoided being devoured by his father as his mother Rhea saved him in the same manner she did Zeus, by offering Cronus a foal instead, claiming she had given birth to a horse instead of a god, while she had actually laid the child in a flock.<ref name="ReferenceA">In the 2nd century AD, a well with the name of ''Arne'', the "lamb's well", in the neighbourhood of [[Mantineia]] in [[Arcadia (ancient region)|Arcadia]], where old traditions lingered, was shown to [[Pausanias (geographer)|Pausanias]]. (Pausanias, [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text.jsp?doc=Paus.+.8.8.2&fromdoc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0160 8.8.2])</ref> Rhea entrusted her infant to a spring nymph. When Cronus demanded the child, the nymph Arne<ref>[[John Tzetzes|Tzetzes]] ad [[Lycophron]] 644</ref> denied having him, and her spring thereafter was called [[Arne (daughter of Aeolus)|Arne]] (which bears resemblance to the Greek word for 'deny').{{sfn|Kerenyi|1951|page=[https://archive.org/details/in.gov.ignca.7346/page/n205/mode/2up?view=theater 182]}}
In another tale, Rhea gave Poseidon to the [[Telchines]], ancient inhabitants of the island of [[Rhodes]];<ref>[[Diodorus Siculus]], [https://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Diodorus_Siculus/5D*.html 5.55]</ref> [[Capheira]], an [[Oceanid]] nymph, became the young god's nurse.{{sfn|Grimal|1987|pages=[https://archive.org/details/dictionaryofclas00grim/page/387/mode/2up?view=theater 387-388]}} As Poseidon grew, he fell in love with [[Halia of Rhodes|Halia]], the beautiful sister of the Telchines, and fathered six sons and one daughter, [[Rhodos]], on her.{{sfn|Kerenyi|1951|pages=[https://archive.org/details/in.gov.ignca.7346/page/n207/mode/2up?view=theater 183-184]}}{{sfn|Grimal|1987|pages=[https://archive.org/details/dictionaryofclas00grim/page/387/mode/2up?view=theater 387-388]}} By that time [[Aphrodite]], the goddess of love, had been born and risen from the sea, and attempted to make a stop at Rhodes on her way to [[Cyprus]]. Poseidon and Halia's sons denied her hospitality, so Aphrodite cursed them to fall in love and rape Halia. After they had done so, Poseidon made them sink below the sea.{{sfn|Kerenyi|1951|pages=[https://archive.org/details/in.gov.ignca.7346/page/n207/mode/2up?view=theater 183-184]}}
In Homer's ''[[Odyssey]]'', Poseidon has a home in ''[[Aegae (Achaea)|Aegae]]''.<ref>Homer, ''[[Odyssey]]'' [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0136%3Abook%3D5%3Acard%3D365 5.380]</ref>
===Minor myths===
Poseidon broke off a piece of the island of [[Kos]] called [[Nisyros]], and threw it on top of [[Polybotes]] ([[Strabo]] also relates the story of Polybotes buried under Nisyros but adds that some say Polybotes lies under Kos instead).<ref name="10.5.16"/>
=== City patronage ===
==== Foundation of Athens ====
[[File:Athena Poseidon Cdm Paris DeRidder222.jpg|thumb|left|220px|Poseidon (right) and [[Athena]] (identified with inscriptions). Black-figure vaise painting by [[Amasis Painter]], 540 BC. [[BnF Museum]] (Cabinet des médailles), Paris]]
Athena became the patron goddess of the city of [[Athens]] after a competition with Poseidon. Yet Poseidon remained a [[numinous]] presence on the [[Acropolis]] in the form of his surrogate, [[Erechtheus]].<ref name=Burkert1985Poseidon /> At the dissolution festival at the end of the year in the Athenian calendar, the [[Skira]], the priests of Athena and the priest of Poseidon would process [[Baldachin|under canopies]] to [[Eleusis]].<ref>Burkert 1983, pp. 143–149.</ref>
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 sprang up; the water was salty and not very useful, but represented his true gift - the access to trade. Athens at its height was a significant sea power, defeating the [[Achaemenid Empire|Persian]] fleet at the [[Battle of Salamis]].{{sfn|Graves|1960|page=62}}
For her part, Athena offered an [[Olive|olive tree]]. The Athenians or their king, [[Cecrops I|Cecrops]], accepted the olive tree and along with it Athena as their patron, for the olive tree brought wood, [[olive oil|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. The depression made by Poseidon's trident and filled with salt water was surrounded by the northern hall of the [[Erechtheum]], remaining open to the air.
[[File:Athena Poseidon Louvre CA7426.jpg|thumb|right|220px|Athena and Poseidon, Faliscan red-figure volute-krater, by Nazzano Painter, 360 BC. [[Louvre]], Paris.]]
[[Walter Burkert|Burkert]] noted :"In [[Cult (religion)|cult]], Poseidon was identified with Erechtheus" and "the myth turns this into a temporal-causal sequence: in his anger at losing, Poseidon led his son [[Eumolpus]] against Athens and killed Erectheus."<ref name="Burkert 1983, pp. 149, 157"/>
It was also said that Poseidon in his anger over his defeat sent one of his sons, [[Halirrhothius]], to cut down Athena's tree gift. But as Halirrhothius swung his axe, he missed his aim and it fell in himself, killing him instantly. Poseidon in fury accused Ares of murder, and the matter was eventually settled on the [[Areopagus]] ("hill of Ares") in favour of Ares, which was thereafter named after the event.<ref>[[Maurus Servius Honoratus|Servius]] ''On Virgil's Georgics'' [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A2007.01.0092%3Abook%3D1%3Acommline%3D18 1.18]; [[scholia]] on [[Aristophanes]]'s ''[[The Clouds|Clouds]]'' 1005</ref>{{sfn|Wunder|1855|page=[https://books.google.com/books?id=4grgAAAAMAAJ&pg=RA2-PA100, note on verse 703]}} In other versions, Halirrhothius raped [[Alcippe (mythology)|Alcippe]], Ares's daughter, so Ares slew him. Poseidon was enraged over the murder of his son, and Ares was thus held in hold, which eventually acquitted him.<ref>[[Bibliotheca (Pseudo-Apollodorus)|Apollodorus]], [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Apollod.+3.14.2&fromdoc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0022:book=3:chapter=14&highlight=Euryte 3.14.2]</ref>
The contest of Athena and Poseidon was the subject of the reliefs on the [[Pediments of the Parthenon#Western Pediment|western pediment]] of the [[Parthenon]], the first sight that greeted the arriving visitor.
This myth is construed by [[Robert Graves]] and others as reflecting a clash between the inhabitants during Mycenaean times and newer immigrants. Athens at its height was a significant sea power, at one point defeating the [[Iran|Persian]] fleet at [[Salamis Island]] in a sea battle.
==== Others ====
[[File:Villa Carmiano Triclinio 1 (cropped).jpg|thumb|Poseidon and [[Amymone]], fresco in [[Stabiae]], Italy, 1st century AD]]
The Corinthians had a similar story to the foundations of Athens, about their own city [[Ancient Corinth|Corinth]]. According to the myth, [[Helios]] and Poseidon clashed, both desiring to make the city their own. Their dispute was brought to one of the [[Hecatoncheires]], Briareos, an elder god, who was thus tasked to settle the fight between the two gods. Briareus decided to award the [[Acrocorinth]] to Helios, while to Poseidon he gave the [[isthmus of Corinth]].<ref name=":p215">Fowler 1988, p. 98 n. 5; Pausanias, [http://data.perseus.org/citations/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0525.tlg001.perseus-eng1:2.1.6 2.1.6] & [http://data.perseus.org/citations/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0525.tlg001.perseus-eng1:2.4.6 2.4.6]</ref> In this tale, Helios and Poseidon are supposed to represent fire versus water.<ref>[[Dio Chrysostom]], ''Discourses'' [https://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Dio_Chrysostom/Discourses/37*.html#p13 37.11–12]</ref> Helios, as the sun god, received the area that is closest to the sky, while Poseidon, who is the sea god, got the isthmus by the sea.<ref>Grummond and Ridgway, p. [https://books.google.com/books?id=sKT6M2rdN9gC&pg=PA69 69], "Helios' higher position would correspond to the sun's ___location in the sky versus Poseidon's lower venue in the sea, opposite [[Demeter]] on land."</ref>
At another time, Poseidon came to an agreement with the goddess [[Leto]] that he would give her the island of Delos, the birthplace of her twins [[Artemis]] and [[Apollo]], in exchange for the island of [[Kalaureia|Calauria]]; he also exchanged [[Delphi]] for [[Taenarum]] with Apollo. A temple of Poseidon stood at Calauria during ancient times.<ref>[[Strabo]], ''[[Geographica]]'' [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0239%3Abook%3D8%3Achapter%3D6%3Asection%3D14 8.6.14]</ref>
Poseidon came to dispute with his sister Hera over the city of [[Argos, Peloponnese|Argos]]. A local king was chosen to settle the matter, [[Phoroneus]], and he decided to award the city to Hera, who then became its patron goddess.{{sfn|O'Brien|1993|page=[https://books.google.com/books?id=a77yKM26GfYC&pg=PA144 144]}} Poseidon was enraged, and sent a drought to plague the city. One day, as an Argive woman named [[Amymone]] went out in search of water, came upon a [[satyr]] who tried to rape her. Amymone prayed to Poseidon for help, and he scared the satyr away with his trident.{{sfn|Grimal|1987|page=[https://archive.org/details/dictionaryofclas00grim/page/39/mode/2up?view=theater 40]}} After Poseidon rescued Amymone from the lecherous satyr he fathered a child on her, [[Nauplius (mythology)|Nauplius]].<ref>[[Gaius Julius Hyginus|Hyginus]], ''[[Fabulae]]'' [https://topostext.org/work/206#169 169].</ref>
=== Theseus ===
[[File:Getty Villa - Collection (5304703605).jpg|thumb|left|190px| Poseidon and Theseus (on the left). Storage jar 470BC. [[J. Paul Getty Museum]], Malibu, California]]
Poseidon fathered the hero [[Theseus]] with the [[Troezen]]ian princess [[Aethra (mother of Theseus)|Aethra]]. Theseus was also said to be the son of [[Aegeus]], the king of Athens, who slept with Aethra on the very same night. Thus Theseus's origins included both the human and the divine element.{{sfn|Grimal|1987|page=[https://archive.org/details/dictionaryofclas00grim/page/445/mode/2up?view=theater 446]}}{{sfn|Walker|1995|page=[https://books.google.com/books?id=qiNwJ_s2_dAC&pg=PA85 85]}}
Meanwhile, in [[Crete]], Zeus's son [[Minos]] asked for Poseidon's help in order to certify his claim on the throne of Crete. Poseidon offered Minos a splendid white bull, with the understanding that he was to sacrifice the bull to Poseidon later. The Cretans were so impressed with the bull and the divine sign itself that Minos was declared king of Crete.{{sfn|Grimal|1987|page=[https://archive.org/details/dictionaryofclas00grim/page/291/mode/2up?view=theater 291]}}{{sfn|Hard|2004|page=[https://books.google.com/books?id=r1Y3xZWVlnIC&pg=PA67 67]}} But wishing to keep the beautiful animal for himself, Minos instead sacrificed an ordinary bull to the sea-god instead of the agreed upon one.{{sfn|Hard|2004|page=[https://books.google.com/books?id=r1Y3xZWVlnIC&pg=PA67 67]}}
Poseidon, enraged, caused Minos's wife, [[Pasiphae]], to fall in love with the bull; their coupling produced the [[Minotaur]], a half-bull half-human creature who fed on human flesh.{{sfn|Grimal|1987|page=[https://archive.org/details/dictionaryofclas00grim/page/291/mode/2up?view=theater 291]}}{{sfn|Hard|2004|page= [https://books.google.com/books?id=r1Y3xZWVlnIC&pg=PA67 67]}} Minos concealed him within the labyrinth built by [[Daedalus]], and fed to him Athenian men and women he forced Aegeus to send him over.{{sfn|Hard|2004|page=[https://books.google.com/books?id=r1Y3xZWVlnIC&pg=PA68 68]}}
Once Theseus was grown up and recognized by Aegeus as his son, he decided to end the bloody tax Athens had to pay to Crete once and for all, and volunteered to set sail to Crete along with the other Athenian youths who had been chosen to be devoured by the Minotaur.{{sfn|Rose|1974|page=[https://archive.org/details/godsheroesofgree0000rose_j8e9/page/82/mode/2up?view=theater 82]}}
Once he arrived in Crete, Minos insulted Theseus and insisted he was no son of Poseidon; to demonstrate so, he threw his own ring in to the sea, and commanded Theseus to retrieve it, expecting he would not be able to do so.{{sfn|Ogden|2017|page=[https://books.google.com/books?id=-M8oDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA41 41]}} Theseus immediately dove in after it.
[[File:Gaziantep Zeugma museum Daedalus and Icarus mosaic in 2019 4054.jpg|thumb|upright=1.6|[[Pasiphae]] seated on a throne receives the wooden cow from [[Daidalos]]. Eros plays with the head of the crafted cow. Roman Mosaic, from Zeugma, Commagene. [[Zeugma Mosaic Museum]], Gaziantep, Turkey]]
Dolphins then came as guides and escorted him to the halls of Poseidon's palace, where he was warmly welcomed.{{sfn|Williams|Clare|2022|pages=[https://books.google.com/books?id=8W6cEAAAQBAJ&pg=PA161 160-161]}} He received the ring, and in addition a purple wedding cloak and a crown from the [[Nereids|Nereid]] [[Amphitrite]], to prove his words. Theseus then emerged from the sea and gave the ring to Minos.{{sfn|Williams|Clare|2022|page=[https://books.google.com/books?id=8W6cEAAAQBAJ&pg=PA162 162]}} Theseus killed the Minotaur, and in time succeeded his father Aegeus as king of Athens. By an Amazon he had a son, [[Hippolytus of Athens|Hippolytus]], while his wife [[Phaedra (mythology)|Phaedra]] (Minos' daughter) gave him two sons.
At some point, Poseidon promised three favours to Theseus, and he called upon Poseidon to fulfill one of those when Phaedra falsely accused Hippolytus of forcing himself on her.{{sfn|Williams|Clare|2022|page=[https://books.google.com/books?id=8W6cEAAAQBAJ&pg=PA139 139]}} Theseus, not knowing the truth, asked his father to destroy Hippolytus; Poseidon granted his son's wish, and as Hippolytus was driving by the sea, Poseidon sent a terrifying sea monster to spook the man's horses, which then dragged him to his death.{{sfn|Williams|Clare|2022|page=[https://books.google.com/books?id=8W6cEAAAQBAJ&pg=PA139 139]}}{{sfn|Walker|1995|page=[https://books.google.com/books?id=qiNwJ_s2_dAC&pg=PA114 114]}}
=== Walls of Troy ===
Poseidon and Apollo, having offended Zeus by their rebellion in Hera's scheme, were temporarily stripped of their divine authority and sent to serve King [[Laomedon]] of Troy. He had them build huge walls around the city and promised to reward them with his immortal horses, a promise he then refused to fulfill. In vengeance, before the [[Trojan War]], Poseidon sent a sea monster to attack Troy. The monster was later killed by [[Heracles]].<ref>{{Cite book |last=Ogden |first=Daniel |url= |title=The Oxford Handbook of Heracles |date=2021 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=978-0-19-065098-8 |pages=210 |language=en}}</ref>
=== Consort, lovers and children ===
[[File:Sea thiasos Amphitrite Poseidon Glyptothek Munich 239 front n3.jpg|thumb|left|300px|Sea [[thiasos]] depicting the wedding of Poseidon and [[Amphitrite]], from the [[Altar of Domitius Ahenobarbus]] in the [[Campus Martius|Field of Mars]], [[bas-relief]], [[Roman Republic]], 2nd century BC]]
Poseidon was said to have had many lovers of both sexes. His consort was [[Amphitrite]], an ancient sea-goddess and nymph, daughter of [[Nereus]] and [[Doris (Oceanid)|Doris]]. In one account, attributed to [[Eratosthenes]], Poseidon wished to wed Amphitrite, but she fled from him and hid with [[Atlas (mythology)|Atlas]]. Poseidon sent out many to find her, and it was a dolphin who tracked her down. The dolphin persuaded Amphitrite to accept Poseidon as her husband, and eventually took charge of their wedding. Poseidon then put him [[Delphinus|among the stars]] as a reward for his good services.<ref>[[Gaius Julius Hyginus|Hyginus]], ''Astronomica'' [https://topostext.org/work/207#2.17.1 2.17.1]</ref> [[Oppian]] says that the dolphin betrayed Amphitrite's whereabouts to Poseidon, and he carried off Amphitrite against her will to marry her.<ref>[[Oppian]], ''Halieutica'' [https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.233333/page/n323/mode/2up?view=theater 1.38]</ref> Together they had a son named [[Triton (mythology)|Triton]], a [[merman]].<ref>[[Hesiod]], ''[[Theogony]]'' [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0130%3Acard%3D901 930–933]</ref>
A mortal woman named [[Cleito]] once lived on an isolated island; Poseidon fell in love with the [[human]] mortal and created a dwelling [[sanctuary]] at the top of a hill near the middle of the [[island]] and surrounded the dwelling with rings of water and land to protect her. She gave birth to five sets of twin boys; the firstborn, [[Atlas (mythology)#King of Atlantis|Atlas]], became the first ruler of [[Atlantis]].<ref name="Plato1971Penguin" /><ref name="ReferenceB" /><ref name="ReferenceC" />
Poseidon had an affair with [[Alope]], his granddaughter through [[Cercyon of Eleusis|Cercyon]], his son and King of [[Eleusina|Eleusis]], begetting [[Hippothoon]]. Cercyon had his daughter buried alive but Poseidon turned her into the local spring.<ref>Hard, [https://books.google.com/books?id=r1Y3xZWVlnIC&pg=PA344 p. 344]</ref>
[[File:Herculaneum (39517858542).jpg|thumb|right|320px| Poseidon-Neptune and Amphitrite. Roman Mosaic 1st century AD. House of Neptune, Herculanum. [[Metropolitan City of Naples]]]]
Poseidon was the father of many heroes. He is thought to have fathered the famed [[Theseus]], [[Bellerophon]], [[Alebion]] and [[Bergion]]. Not all of Poseidon's children were human, though. His other children include the [[giant (mythology)|giants]] [[Aloadae|Otos and Ephialtae]][[Polyphemus]] (the [[Cyclopes|Cyclops]]) and, finally, [[Amycus]] was the son of Poseidon and the [[Bithynia]]n [[nymph]] [[Melia (consort of Poseidon)|Melia]].<ref>[[Apollonius of Rhodes|Apollonius Rhodius]], 2.1 ff. & 2.94 ff. with [[scholia]]</ref> The philosopher [[Plato]] was held by his fellow ancient Greeks to have traced his descent to the sea-God Poseidon through his father [[Ariston of Athens|Ariston]] and his mythic predecessors the demigod kings [[Codrus]] and [[Melanthus]].<ref>Great Books of the Western World, Plato's Dialogues. Biographical Note</ref><ref>Diogenes Laertius Plato 1</ref>
Poseidon engaged in homesexual relationships as welll. He took the young [[Nerites (mythology)|Nerites]], the son of [[Nereus]] and [[Doris (Oceanid)|Doris]] (and thus brother to Amphitrite) as a lover. Nerites was also Poseidon's charioteer, and impressed all marine creatures with his speed. But one day the sun god, Helios, turned Nerites into a shellfish. [[Claudius Aelianus|Aelian]], who recorded this tale as told by mariners, says it is not clear why Helios did this, but theorizes he might have been offended somehow, or that he and Poseidon were rivals in love, and Helios wanted Nerites to travel among the constellations instead of the sea-monsters. From the love between Poseidon and Nerites was born [[Anteros]], mutual love.<ref name="Nerites">{{Cite web |title=Aelian : On Animals, 14 |url=http://www.attalus.org/translate/animals14.html#28 |access-date=2023-01-11 |website=www.attalus.org}}</ref>
Other male lovers of Poseidon included [[Pelops]] and [[Patroclus]].<ref>[[Ptolemy Hephaestion]], ''New History'', 1 in [[Photius]], 190</ref>
==== Rape and assault victims ====
[[File:Lakonian Black-Figure Kylix; detached fragments.jpg|thumb|left|240px|Bellerehron spears [[Chimera (mythology)|Chimera]] from underneath, while Pegasus strikes the monster with his hooves. Laconian Black Figure Kylix attributed to Boreads Painter, 570–565 B.C. [[J. Paul Getty Museum]] Malibu, California.]]
In an archaic myth, Poseidon once pursued [[Demeter]]. She spurned his advances, turning herself into a [[Mare (horse)|mare]] so that she could hide in a herd of horses; he saw through the deception and became a [[Horse|stallion]], captured and [[rape]]d her.<ref>[[Pausanias (geographer)|Pausanias]], [http://data.perseus.org/citations/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0525.tlg001.perseus-eng1:8.25.5 8.25.5]</ref> Their child was a [[horse]], Arion, which was capable of human speech.<ref>[[Pausanias (geographer)|Pausanias]], [http://data.perseus.org/citations/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0525.tlg001.perseus-eng1:8.25.7 8.25.7]</ref>
According to [[Hesiod]]'s ''[[Theogony]]'', Poseidon "lay down in a soft meadow among spring flowers" with the [[Gorgon]] [[Medusa]] and two offspring, the winged horse [[Pegasus]] and the warrior [[Chrysaor]], were born when the hero [[Perseus]] cut off Medusa's head.<ref>''Theogony'' 270–281 (Most, [https://www.loebclassics.com/view/hesiod-theogony/2018/pb_LCL057.25.xml pp. 24, 25]), where Poseidon is referred to as the "dark-haired one".</ref>[[Ovid]] however says that Medusa was originally a very beautiful maiden whom Poseidon raped inside the temple of Athena. Athena, furious over the sacrilege, changed the beautiful girl into a monster.<ref>[[Ovid]], ''[[Metamorphoses]]'' [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.02.0028%3Abook%3D4%3Acard%3D706 4.794–803]</ref> Elsewhere in the ''[[Metamorphoses]]'', Ovid says that Poseidon seduced Medusa in the form of a bird.<ref>[[Ovid]], ''[[Metamorphoses]]'' [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.02.0028%3Abook%3D6%3Acard%3D87 6.134]</ref>
When Zeus fell in love and pursued the goddess [[Asteria]], she transformed into a quail and flung herself into the sea to escape being raped by him. Poseidon then, equally rapacious, picked up the chase where Zeus had left it and chased Asteria with the aim to force himself on her, so Asteria had to transform for a second time to save herself, this time into a small rocky island named [[Delos]].<ref>{{cite book |last1=Kramer Richards |first1=Arlene |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=VUdaDwAAQBAJ |title=Myths of Mighty Women: Their Application in Psychoanalytic Psychotherapy |last2=Spira |first2=Lucille |date=2015 |publisher=Karnac Books Ltd. |isbn=9781782203049 |___location=New York, NY |page=[https://books.google.com/books?id=VUdaDwAAQBAJ&pg=PT80 80]}}</ref>[[File:Lattanzio Gambara (c. 1530-Brescia 1574) - Neptune and Caenis - RCIN 401218 - Royal Collection.jpg|thumb|right|260px|Lattanzio Gambara (c. 1530-Brescia 1574) - Poseidon-Neptune and Caenis]]One day, Poseidon spotted [[Caeneus|Caenis]] walking by the seashore, caught her and raped her. Having enjoyed her greatly, he offered her a wish, any wish. Traumatized, Caenis wished to be transformed into a man, so that she would never experience assault again. Poseidon fulfilled her request and [[transsexualism|changed her into a male warrior]], who then took the name Caeneus.<ref>[[Ovid]], ''[[Metamorphoses]]'' [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.02.0028%3Abook%3D12%3Acard%3D146 12.195-199]; [[Bibliotheca (Pseudo-Apollodorus)|Apollodorus]], [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0022%3Atext%3DEpitome%3Abook%3DE%3Achapter%3D1%3Asection%3D22 Epitome.1.22]</ref>
A mortal woman named [[Tyro]] was married to [[Cretheus]] (with whom she had one son, [[Aeson]]), but loved [[Enipeus (mythology)|Enipeus]], a [[Water deity|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.<ref>Smith, [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.04.0104%3Aalphabetic+letter%3DT%3Aentry+group%3D26%3Aentry%3Dtyro-bio-1 s.v. Tyro]</ref>
Another time Poseidon once fell in love with a Phocian woman, [[Corone (crow)|Corone]], the daughter of [[Coronaeus]] as she was walking along the shore. He attempted to court her, but she rejected him, and ran away. Poseidon then chased her down with the aim to rape her. Athena, witnessing all that, took pity in the girl and changed her into a crow.<ref>[[Ovid]], ''[[Metamorphoses]]'' 2.569-88</ref>
==== List of offspring and their mothers ====
The following is a list of Poseidon's offspring, by various mothers. Beside each offspring, the earliest source to record the parentage is given, along with the century to which the source (in some cases approximately) dates.
<div style=display:inline-table>
{| class="wikitable sortable mw-collapsible mw-collapsed"
! scope="col" style="width: 100pt;" | Offspring
! scope="col" style="width: 95pt;" | Mother
! scope="col" style="width: 55pt;" | Source
! scope="col" style="width: 70pt;" | Date
! class="unsortable" scope="col" style="width: 10pt;" |
|-
| [[Triton (mythology)|Triton]]
| rowspan="3" | [[Amphitrite]]
| [[Hesiod|Hes.]] ''[[Theogony|Theog.]]''
| data-sort-value=1 | 8th cent. BC
| <ref>Hard, p. 105; [[Hesiod]], ''[[Theogony]]'' [http://data.perseus.org/citations/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0020.tlg001.perseus-eng1:901-937 930–933].</ref>
|-
| [[Benthesikyme|Benthesicyme]]
| [[Bibliotheca (Pseudo-Apollodorus)|Apollod.]]
| data-sort-value=18 | 1st/2nd cent. AD
| <ref>Hard, p. 105; [[Bibliotheca (Pseudo-Apollodorus)|Apollodorus]], [http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Apollod.+3.15.4&fromdoc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0022:boo=0:chapter=0&highlight=Benthesicyme 3.15.4].</ref>
|-
| [[Rhodos]]
| [[Bibliotheca (Pseudo-Apollodorus)|Apollod.]]
| data-sort-value=18 | 1st/2nd cent. AD
| <ref>''Brill's New Pauly'', s.v. Amphitrite; [[Bibliotheca (Pseudo-Apollodorus)|Apollodorus]], [http://data.perseus.org/citations/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0548.tlg001.perseus-eng1:1.4.5 1.4.5].</ref>
|-
| [[Antaeus]]
| rowspan="2" | [[Gaia]]
| [[Bibliotheca (Pseudo-Apollodorus)|Apollod.]]
| data-sort-value=18 | 1st/2nd cent. AD
| <ref>Smith, [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.04.0104:entry=antaeus-bio-1&highlight=antaeus s.v. Antaeus]; [[Bibliotheca (Pseudo-Apollodorus)|Apollodorus]], [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Apollod.+2.5.11&fromdoc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0022:boo=0:chapter=0&highlight=Antaeus 2.5.11].</ref>
|-
| [[Charybdis]]
| [[Maurus Servius Honoratus|Servius]]
| data-sort-value=24 | 4th/5th cent. AD
| <ref>''[[Pauly-Wissowa|RE]]'' [https://de.wikisource.org/wiki/RE:Charybdis s.v. Charybdis]; [[Maurus Servius Honoratus|Servius]], ''Commentary on [[Virgil]]'s [[Aeneid]]'' [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.02.0053%3Abook%3D3%3Acommline%3D420 3.420].</ref>
|-
| [[Despoina]]
| rowspan="2" | [[Demeter]]
| [[Pausanias (geographer)|Paus.]]
| data-sort-value=19 | 2nd cent. AD
| <ref>Hard, p. 102; [[Pausanias (geographer)|Pausanias]], [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Paus.+8.25.7&fromdoc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0160 8.25.7], [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Paus.+8.42.1&fromdoc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0160 8.42.1].</ref>
|-
| [[Arion (mythology)|Arion]]
| [[Bibliotheca (Pseudo-Apollodorus)|Apollod.]]
| data-sort-value=18 | 1st/2nd cent. AD
| <ref>Hard, p. 101; [[Bibliotheca (Pseudo-Apollodorus)|Apollodorus]], [http://data.perseus.org/citations/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0548.tlg001.perseus-eng1:3.6.8 3.6.8]; [[Pausanias (geographer)|Pausanias]], [http://data.perseus.org/citations/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0525.tlg001.perseus-eng1:8.25.5 8.25.5], [http://data.perseus.org/citations/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0525.tlg001.perseus-eng1:8.25.7 8.25.7].</ref>
|-
| [[Rhodos]]
| [[Aphrodite]]
| [[Herodorus]]
| data-sort-value=50 |
| <ref>Fowler 2013, [https://books.google.com/books?id=scd8AQAAQBAJ&pg=PA591 p. 591]; [[Herodorus]], [https://books.google.com/books?id=j0nRE4C2WBgC&pg=PA253 fr. 62 Fowler, p. 253] [= Scholia on [[Pindar]], ''Olympian'' 7.24–5].</ref>
|-
| [[Pegasus]], [[Chrysaor]]
| [[Medusa]]
| [[Bibliotheca (Pseudo-Apollodorus)|Apollod.]]
| data-sort-value=18 | 1st/2nd cent. AD
| <ref>Smith, [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.04.0104:entry=chrysaor-bio-1&highlight=chrysaor s.v. Chrysaor]; [[Bibliotheca (Pseudo-Apollodorus)|Apollodorus]], [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0022%3Atext%3DLibrary%3Abook%3D2%3Achapter%3D4%3Asection%3D2 2.4.2].</ref>
|-
| [[Ergiscus]]
| [[Aba (nymph)|Aba]]
| ''[[Suda]]''
| data-sort-value=35 | 10th cent. AD
| <ref>''[[Suda]]'' [https://www.cs.uky.edu/~raphael/sol/sol-entries/epsilon/2906 ε 2906].</ref>
|-
| [[Aethusa]]
| rowspan="5" | [[Alcyone (Pleiades)|Alcyone]]
| [[Bibliotheca (Pseudo-Apollodorus)|Apollod.]]
| data-sort-value=18 | 1st/2nd cent. AD
| <ref>Hard, p. 717; [[Bibliotheca (Pseudo-Apollodorus)|Apollodorus]], [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0022%3Atext%3DLibrary%3Abook%3D3%3Achapter%3D10%3Asection%3D1 3.10.1], [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0022%3Atext%3DLibrary%3Abook%3D3%3Achapter%3D10%3Asection%3D3 3.10.3].</ref>
|-
| [[Hyrieus]]
| [[Bibliotheca (Pseudo-Apollodorus)|Apollod.]]
| data-sort-value=18 | 1st/2nd cent. AD
| <ref name="3.10.1">[[Bibliotheca (Pseudo-Apollodorus)|Apollodorus]], [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0022%3Atext%3DLibrary%3Abook%3D3%3Achapter%3D10%3Asection%3D1 3.10.1].</ref>
|-
| [[Hyperenor]]
| [[Bibliotheca (Pseudo-Apollodorus)|Apollod.]]
| data-sort-value=18 | 1st/2nd cent. AD
| <ref name="3.10.1"/>
|-
| [[Hyperes]]
| [[Pausanias (geographer)|Paus.]]
| data-sort-value=19 | 2nd cent. AD
| <ref>[[Pausanias (geographer)|Pausanias]], [http://data.perseus.org/citations/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0525.tlg001.perseus-eng1:2.30.8 2.30.8].</ref>
|-
| [[Anthas]]
| [[Pausanias (geographer)|Paus.]]
| data-sort-value=19 | 2nd cent. AD
| <ref name=":07">[[Pausanias (geographer)|Pausanias]], [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Paus.+9.22.5&fromdoc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0160 9.22.5].</ref>
|-
| [[Abas (mythology)|Abas]]
| [[Arethusa (Boeotia)|Arethusa]]
| [[Gaius Julius Hyginus|Hyg.]] ''[[Fabulae|Fab.]]''
| data-sort-value=17 | 1st cent. AD
| <ref>Grimal, s.v. Abas (1), p. 1; [[Gaius Julius Hyginus|Hyginus]], ''[[Fabulae]]'' [https://topostext.org/work/206#157 157].</ref>
|-
| rowspan="2" | [[Halirrhothius]]
| [[Bathycleia]]
| Schol. [[Pindar|Pind.]]
| data-sort-value=50 |
| <ref>''[[Pauly-Wissowa|RE]]'', [https://de.wikisource.org/wiki/RE:Bathykleia s.v. Bathykleia]; Scholia on [[Pindar]], ''Olympian'' 10.83.</ref>
|-
| [[Euryte]]
| [[Bibliotheca (Pseudo-Apollodorus)|Apollod.]]
| data-sort-value=18 | 1st/2nd cent. AD
| <ref>Smith, [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.04.0104:entry=halirrhothius-bio-1&highlight=euryte s.v. Euryte]; [[Bibliotheca (Pseudo-Apollodorus)|Apollodorus]], [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0022%3Atext%3DLibrary%3Abook%3D3%3Achapter%3D14%3Asection%3D2 3.14.2].</ref>
|-
| [[Golden Fleece|Chrysomallus]]
| [[Theophane]]
|
| data-sort-value=50 |
| <ref>[[Gaius Julius Hyginus|Hyginus]], ''[[Fabulae]]'' [https://topostext.org/work/206#188 188].</ref>
|-
| [[Minyas (mythology)|Minyas]]
| [[Callirhoe (mythology)|Callirhoe]]
| [[Tzetzes]]
| data-sort-value=39 | 12th cent. AD
| <ref>Smith, [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.04.0104%3Aalphabetic+letter%3DC%3Aentry+group%3D6%3Aentry%3Dcallirrhoe-bio-1 s.v. Callirhoe (1)]; [[Tzetzes]] on [[Lycophron]], 875.</ref>
|-
| [[Lycus (mythology)|Lycus]], [[Nycteus]], [[Eurypylus of Cyrene|Eurypylus]]
| [[Celaeno]]
|
| data-sort-value=50 |
| <ref>Parada, s.v. Celaeno (2).</ref>
|-
| rowspan="2" | [[Asopus]]
| [[Celusa]]
| [[Pausanias (geographer)|Paus.]]
| data-sort-value=19 | 2nd cent. AD
| <ref>[[Pausanias (geographer)|Pausanias]], [http://data.perseus.org/citations/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0525.tlg001.perseus-eng1:2.12.4 2.12.4].</ref>
|-
| [[Pero (mythology)|Pero]]
| [[Bibliotheca (Pseudo-Apollodorus)|Apollod.]]
| data-sort-value=18 | 1st/2nd cent. AD
| <ref>[[Bibliotheca (Pseudo-Apollodorus)|Apollodorus]], [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0022%3Atext%3DLibrary%3Abook%3D3%3Achapter%3D12%3Asection%3D6 3.12.6].</ref>
|-
| [[Parnassus (mythology)|Parnassus]]
| [[Cleodora (nymph)|Cleodora]]
| [[Pausanias (geographer)|Paus.]]
| data-sort-value=19 | 2nd cent. AD
| <ref>[[Pausanias (geographer)|Pausanias]], [http://data.perseus.org/citations/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0525.tlg001.perseus-eng1:10.6.1 10.6.1].</ref>
|-
| [[Eumolpus]]
| [[Chione (daughter of Boreas)|Chione]]
| [[Bibliotheca (Pseudo-Apollodorus)|Apollod.]]
| data-sort-value=18 | 1st/2nd cent. AD
| <ref>[[Bibliotheca (Pseudo-Apollodorus)|Apollodorus]], [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Apollod.+3.15.4 3.15.4].</ref>
|-
| [[Phaeax (mythology)|Phaeax]]
| [[Korkyra (mythology)|Corcyra]]
| [[Diodorus Siculus|Diod. Sic.]]
| data-sort-value=15 | 1st cent. BC
| <ref>[[Diodorus Siculus]], [https://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Diodorus_Siculus/4D*.html#72.3 4.72.3].</ref>
|-
| [[Rhodos]], six sons
| [[Halia of Rhodes|Halia]]
| [[Diodorus Siculus|Diod. Sic.]]
| data-sort-value=15 | 1st cent. BC
| <ref name=":02">[[Diodorus Siculus]], [https://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Diodorus_Siculus/5D*.html#55 5.55.4].</ref>
|-
| [[Eirene (daughter of Poseidon)|Eirene]]
| [[Melantheia]]
| [[Plutarch]]
| data-sort-value=18 | 1st/2nd cent. AD
| <ref>[[Plutarch]], ''Quaestiones Graecae'' [http://data.perseus.org/citations/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0007.tlg084b.perseus-eng1:19 19].</ref>
|-
| [[Amykos]]
| [[Melia (consort of Poseidon)|Melia]]
| [[Eustathius of Thessalonica|Eustathius]]
| data-sort-value=39 | 12th cent. AD
| <ref>''Brill's New Pauly'', s.v. Amycus (1).</ref>
|-
| [[Aspledon]]
| [[Mideia]]
| [[Pausanias (geographer)|Paus.]]
| data-sort-value=19 | 2nd cent. AD
| <ref>Parada, s.v. Mideia, p. 120; [[Pausanias (geographer)|Pausanias]], [http://data.perseus.org/citations/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0525.tlg001.perseus-eng1:9.38.9 9.38.9].</ref>
|-
| [[Astacus (mythology)|Astacus]]
| [[Olbia (mythology)|Olbia]]
| [[Arrian]]
| data-sort-value=19 | 2nd cent. AD
| <ref>Smith, [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.04.0104:entry=astacus-bio-1&highlight=astacus s.v. Astacus]; [[Arrian]], ''apud.'' [[Stephanus of Byzantium]], s.v. Astakos.</ref>
|-
| [[Cenchrias]], [[Lekhes]]
| [[Pirene (nymph)|Peirene]]
| [[Pausanias (geographer)|Paus.]]
| data-sort-value=19 | 2nd cent. AD
| <ref>[[Pausanias (geographer)|Pausanias]], [http://data.perseus.org/citations/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0525.tlg001.perseus-eng1:2.2.3 2.2.3].</ref>
|-
| [[Evadne]]
| [[Pitane (nymph)|Pitane]]
| [[Pindar]]
| data-sort-value=7 | 5th cent. BC
| <ref>[[Pindar]], ''Olympian'' [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0162%3Abook%3DO.%3Apoem%3D6 6.28–30].</ref>
|-
| [[Phocus]]
| [[Pronoe]]
| Schol. ''[[Iliad|Il.]]''
| data-sort-value=50 |
| <ref name=":06">''[[Pauly-Wissowa|RE]]'', [https://de.wikisource.org/wiki/RE:Pronoe_4 s.v. Pronoe (4)]; Scholia on [[Homer]], ''[[Iliad]]'' 2.517.</ref>
|-
| [[Athos (mythology)|Athos]]
| [[Rhodope (mythology)|Rhodope]]
| Schol. [[Theocritus|Theoc.]]
| data-sort-value=50 |
| <ref>Larson, [https://books.google.com/books?id=wNgJCAAAQBAJ&pg=PA173 p. 173]; Scholia on [[Theocritus]], ''Idylls'' 7.76.</ref>
|-
| [[Cychreus (mythology)|Cychreus]]
| [[Salamis (mythology)|Salamis]]
| [[Diodorus Siculus|Diod. Sic.]]
| data-sort-value=15 | 1st cent. BC
| <ref>[[Diodorus Siculus]], [https://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Diodorus_Siculus/4D*.html#72.4 4.72.4].</ref>
|-
| [[Taras (mythology)|Taras]]
| Unnamed nymph
| [[Pausanias (geographer)|Paus.]]
| data-sort-value=19 | 2nd cent. AD
| <ref>Smith, [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.04.0104:entry=taras-bio-1&highlight=taras s.v. Taras]; [[Pausanias (geographer)|Pausanias]], [http://data.perseus.org/citations/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0525.tlg001.perseus-eng1:10.10.8 10.10.8].</ref>
|-
| [[Polyphemus]]
| [[Thoosa]]
| [[Homer|Hom.]] ''[[Odyssey|Ody.]]''
| data-sort-value=1 | 8th century BC
| <ref>[[Homer]], ''[[Odyssey]]'' [http://data.perseus.org/citations/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0012.tlg002.perseus-eng1:1.44-1.79 1.70–73].</ref>
|-
| [[Chios (mythology)|Chios]]
| Unnamed nymph
| [[Pausanias (geographer)|Paus.]]
| data-sort-value=19 | 2nd cent. AD
| <ref name="7.4.8">[[Pausanias (geographer)|Pausanias]], [http://data.perseus.org/citations/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0525.tlg001.perseus-eng1:7.4.8 7.4.8].</ref>
|-
| [[Agelus]], [[Melas (mythology)|Melas]]
| Unnamed nymph
| [[Pausanias (geographer)|Paus.]]
| data-sort-value=19 | 2nd cent. AD
| <ref name="7.4.8"/>
|-
| [[Belus (Egyptian)|Belus]], [[Dictys]], [[Actor (mythology)|Actor]]
| [[Agamede]]
| [[Gaius Julius Hyginus|Hyg.]] ''[[Fabulae|Fab.]]''
| data-sort-value=17 | 1st cent. AD
| <ref>Smith, [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.04.0104%3Aalphabetic+letter%3DA%3Aentry+group%3D8%3Aentry%3Dagamede-bio-1 s.v. Agamede]; [[Gaius Julius Hyginus|Hyginus]], ''[[Fabulae]]'' [https://topostext.org/work/206#157 157].</ref>
|-
| [[Theseus]]
| [[Aethra (mythology)|Aethra]]
|
| data-sort-value=50 |
| <ref>''Brill's New Pauly'', s.v. Aethra.</ref>
|-
| [[Ogyges]]
| [[Alistra (mythology)|Alistra]]
|
| data-sort-value=50 |
| <ref>[[Tzetzes]] on [[Lycophron]], 1206.{{primary source inline|date=October 2024}}</ref>
|-
| [[Hippothoon]]
| [[Alope]]
| [[Gaius Julius Hyginus|Hyg.]] ''[[Fabulae|Fab.]]''
| data-sort-value=17 | 1st cent. AD
| <ref>''Brill's New Pauly'', s.v. Hippothoon; [[Gaius Julius Hyginus|Hyginus]], ''[[Fabulae]]'' [https://topostext.org/work/206#187 187].</ref>
|-
| [[Erythras]]
| [[Danaïdes|Amphimedusa]]
| Schol. ''[[Iliad|Il.]]''
| data-sort-value=50 |
| <ref>''[[Pauly-Wissowa|RE]]'', [https://de.wikisource.org/wiki/RE:Erythras_2 s.v. Erythras (2)]; Scholia on [[Homer]], ''[[Iliad]]'' 2.499.</ref>
|-
| [[Nauplius (mythology)|Nauplius]]
| [[Amymone]]
| [[Apollonius of Rhodes|Ap. Rhod.]]
| data-sort-value=11 | 3rd cent. BC
| <ref>[[Apollonius of Rhodes]], ''[[Argonautica]]'' [https://archive.org/details/argonautica00apoluoft/page/10/mode/2up?view=theater 1.133–139]; [[Bibliotheca (Pseudo-Apollodorus)|Apollodorus]], [http://data.perseus.org/citations/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0548.tlg001.perseus-eng1:2.1.5 2.1.5], [http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0022%3Atext%3DLibrary%3Abook%3D2%3Achapter%3D7%3Asection%3D4 2.7.4]; [[Gaius Julius Hyginus|Hyginus]], ''[[Fabulae]]'' [https://topostext.org/work/206#14 14], [https://topostext.org/work/206#169 169].</ref>
|-
| rowspan="2" | [[Busiris (king of Egypt)|Busiris]]
| [[Anippe (mythology)|Anippe]]
| [[Plutarch]]
| data-sort-value=18 | 1st/2nd cent. AD
| <ref>[[Plutarch]], ''Parallela minora'' [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Plut.+Para.+38&fromdoc=Perseus%3Atext%3A2008.01.0220 38].</ref>
|-
| [[Lysianassa]]
| [[Bibliotheca (Pseudo-Apollodorus)|Apollod.]]
| data-sort-value=18 | 1st/2nd cent. AD
| <ref>Smith, [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.04.0104:entry=busiris-bio-1&highlight=busiris s.v. Busiris]; [[Bibliotheca (Pseudo-Apollodorus)|Apollodorus]], [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0022%3Atext%3DLibrary%3Abook%3D2%3Achapter%3D5%3Asection%3D11 2.5.11].</ref>
|-
| [[Idas]]
| [[Arene (Greek myth)|Arene]]
| [[Bibliotheca (Pseudo-Apollodorus)|Apollod.]]
| data-sort-value=18 | 1st/2nd cent. AD
| <ref>[[Bibliotheca (Pseudo-Apollodorus)|Apollodorus]], [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0022%3Atext%3DLibrary%3Abook%3D3%3Achapter%3D10%3Asection%3D3#note5 3.10.3].</ref>
|-
| rowspan="2" | [[Aeolus (son of Poseidon)|Aeolus]]
| [[Antiope (Greek myth)|Antiope]]
|
| data-sort-value=50 |
| <ref>[[Gaius Julius Hyginus|Hyginus]], ''[[Fabulae]]'' [https://topostext.org/work/206#157 157].</ref>
|-
| [[Melanippe]]
|
| data-sort-value=50 |
| <ref name="auto">[[Gaius Julius Hyginus|Hyginus]], ''[[Fabulae]]'' [https://topostext.org/work/206#186 186].</ref>
|-
| rowspan="2" | [[Boeotus (son of Poseidon)|Boeotus]]
| [[Arne (daughter of Aeolus)|Arne]]
| [[Diodorus Siculus|Diod. Sic.]]
| data-sort-value=15 | 1st cent. BC
| <ref>[[Diodorus Siculus]], [https://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Diodorus_Siculus/4D*.html#67.3 4.67.3].</ref>
|-
| [[Melanippe]]
|
| data-sort-value=50 |
| <ref name="auto" />
|-
| [[Oeoclus]]
| [[Ascre (mythology)|Ascra]]
| [[Pausanias (geographer)|Paus.]]
| data-sort-value=19 | 2nd cent. AD
| <ref>[[Pausanias (geographer)|Pausanias]], [http://data.perseus.org/citations/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0525.tlg001.perseus-eng1:9.29.1 9.29.1].</ref>
|-
| [[Ancaeus (son of Poseidon)|Ancaeus]]
| rowspan="2" | [[Astypalaea]]
| [[Pausanias (geographer)|Paus.]]
| data-sort-value=19 | 2nd cent. AD
| <ref>[[Pausanias (geographer)|Pausanias]], [http://data.perseus.org/citations/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0525.tlg001.perseus-eng1:7.4.1 7.4.1].</ref>
|-
| [[Eurypylus (king of Cos)|Eurypylus]]
| [[Bibliotheca (Pseudo-Apollodorus)|Apollod.]]
| data-sort-value=18 | 1st/2nd cent. AD
| <ref>[[Bibliotheca (Pseudo-Apollodorus)|Apollodorus]], [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0022%3Atext%3DLibrary%3Abook%3D2%3Achapter%3D7%3Asection%3D1 2.7.1].</ref>
|-
| [[Peratus]]
| [[Calchinia]]
| [[Pausanias (geographer)|Paus.]]
| data-sort-value=19 | 2nd cent. AD
| <ref>[[Pausanias (geographer)|Pausanias]], [http://data.perseus.org/citations/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0525.tlg001.perseus-eng1:2.5.7 2.5.7].</ref>
|-
| rowspan="3" | [[Cycnus of Kolonai|Cycnus]]
| [[Calyce (mythology)|Calyce]]
| [[Gaius Julius Hyginus|Hyg.]] ''[[Fabulae|Fab.]]''
| data-sort-value=17 | 1st cent. AD
| <ref>Grimal, s.v. Cycnus (2), p. 119; [[Gaius Julius Hyginus|Hyginus]], ''[[Fabulae]]'' [https://topostext.org/work/206#157 157].</ref>
|-
| [[Harpale (mythology)|Harpale]]
| Schol. [[Pindar|Pind.]]
| data-sort-value=50 |
| <ref>Smith, [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.04.0104:entry=cycnus-bio-2&highlight=harpale s.v. Harpale]; Scholia on [[Pindar]], ''Olympian'' 2.147.</ref>
|-
| [[Scamandrodice (mythology)|Scamandrodice]]
| [[Tzetzes]]
| data-sort-value=39 | 12th cent. AD
| <ref>Smith, [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.04.0104:entry=cycnus-bio-2&highlight=harpale s.v. Harpale]; [[Tzetzes]] on [[Lycophron]], 232.</ref>
|-
| [[Aloeus]], [[Epopeus]], [[Hopleus]], [[Nireus (mythology)|Nireus]], [[Triopas]]
| [[Canace]]
| [[Bibliotheca (Pseudo-Apollodorus)|Apollod.]]
| data-sort-value=18 | 1st/2nd cent. AD
| <ref>[[Bibliotheca (Pseudo-Apollodorus)|Apollodorus]], [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Apollod.+1.7.4&fromdoc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0022:book=1:chapter=7&highlight=Canace 1.7.4].</ref>
|-
| [[Celaenus (mythology)|Celaenus]]
| [[Celaeno]]
| [[Strabo]]
| data-sort-value=17 | 1st cent. AD
| <ref>[[Strabo]], ''[[Geographica]]'' [http://data.perseus.org/citations/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0099.tlg001.perseus-eng1:12.8.18 12.8.18].</ref>
|-
| [[Dictys]], [[Polydectes]]
| [[Cerebia]]
| [[Tzetzes]]
| data-sort-value=39 | 12th cent. AD
| <ref>''Brill's New Pauly'', s.v. Cerebia; [[Tzetzes]] on [[Lycophron]], 838.</ref>
|-
| [[Byzas]]
| [[Ceroessa]]
| [[Stephanus of Byzantium|Steph. Byz.]]
| data-sort-value=27 | 6th cent. AD
| <ref>Smith, [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.04.0104:entry=byzas-bio-1 s.v. Byzas]; [[Stephanus of Byzantium]], s.v. Byzantion.</ref>
|-
| [[Chryses (mythology)|Chryses]]
| [[Chrysogeneia]]
| [[Pausanias (geographer)|Paus.]]
| data-sort-value=19 | 2nd cent. AD
| <ref>[[Pausanias (geographer)|Pausanias]], [http://data.perseus.org/citations/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0525.tlg001.perseus-eng1:9.36.4 9.36.4].</ref>
|-
| [[Minyas (mythology)|Minyas]]
| [[Chrysogeneia]]
| Schol. [[Apollonius of Rhodes|Ap. Rh.]]
| data-sort-value=50 |
| <ref>''[[Pauly-Wissowa|RE]]'', [https://de.wikisource.org/wiki/RE:Chrysogeneia s.v. Chrysogeneia]; Scholia on [[Apollonius of Rhodes]], 3.1094.</ref>
|-
| [[Phaunos]]
| [[Circe]]
| [[Nonnus]]
| data-sort-value=21 | 5th cent. AD
| <ref>[[Nonnus]], ''[[Dionysiaca]]'' [https://www.loebclassics.com/view/nonnos-dionysiaca/1940/pb_LCL344.453.xml 13.328–30, with note h].</ref>
|-
| [[Atlas (mythology)|Atlas]], [[Eumelus]], [[Ampheres]], [[Euaemon]], [[Mneseus (mythology)|Mneseus]], [[Autochthon (Atlantis)|Autochthon]], [[Elasippus (mythology)|Elasippus]], [[Mestor]], [[Azaes]], [[Diaprepes (mythology)|Diaprepes]]
| [[Cleito (mythology)|Cleito]]
| [[Plato]]
| data-sort-value=9 | 4th cent. BC
| <ref>[[Plato]], ''[[Critias]]'' [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Plat.+Criti.+113d&fromdoc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0180 113–114c].</ref>
|-
| [[Scylla]]
| [[Crataeis]]
|
| data-sort-value=50 |
| <ref>Smith, [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.04.0104:entry=scylla-bio-1&highlight=crataeis s.v. Scylla (1)].</ref>
|-
| rowspan="3" | [[Euphemus]]
| [[Doris (Greek myth)|Doris]]
| [[Tzetzes]]
| data-sort-value=39 | 12th cent. AD
| <ref>''[[Pauly-Wissowa|RE]]'', [https://de.wikisource.org/wiki/RE:Euphemos_2 s.v. Euphemos (2)]; [[Tzetzes]] on [[Lycophron]], 886.</ref>
|-
| [[Europa (Greek myth)|Europa]]
| [[Pindar]]
| data-sort-value=7 | 5th cent. BC
| <ref>[[Pindar]], ''Pythian'' [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0162%3Abook%3DP.%3Apoem%3D4 4.45]; [[Gaius Julius Hyginus|Hyginus]], ''[[Fabulae]]'' [https://topostext.org/work/206#14 14].</ref>
|-
| [[Mecionice]]
| [[Hesiod|Hes.]] ''[[Catalogue of Women|Cat.]]''
| data-sort-value=5 | 6th cent. BC
| <ref>''Brill's New Pauly'', s.v. Euphemus; [[Hesiod]], ''[[Catalogue of Women]]'' [https://www.loebclassics.com/view/hesiod-other_fragments/2018/pb_LCL503.299.xml fr. 191 Most pp. 298–301].</ref>
|-
| [[Orion (mythology)|Orion]]
| [[Euryale]]
| [[Bibliotheca (Pseudo-Apollodorus)|Apollod.]]
| data-sort-value=18 | 1st/2nd cent. AD
| <ref>[[Bibliotheca (Pseudo-Apollodorus)|Apollodorus]], [http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0022%3Atext%3DLibrary%3Abook%3D1%3Achapter%3D4%3Asection%3D3 1.4.3].</ref>
|-
| rowspan="3" | [[Minyas (mythology)|Minyas]]
| [[Euryanassa]]
| [[Hesiod|Hes.]] ''[[Catalogue of Women|Cat.]]''
| data-sort-value=5 | 6th cent. BC
| <ref>[[Hesiod]], ''[[Catalogue of Women]]'' [https://www.loebclassics.com/view/hesiod-catalogue_women/2018/pb_LCL503.137.xml fr. 61 Most, pp. 136, 137] [= Scholia on [[Homer]], ''[[Odyssey]]'' 11.326].</ref>
|-
| [[Hermippe]]
|
| data-sort-value=50 |
| <ref>[[Scholia]] on [[Apollonius Rhodius]], ''Argonautica'' 1.230-3b{{primary source inline|date=October 2024}}</ref>
|-
| [[Tritogeneia (mythology)|Tritogeneia]]
|
| data-sort-value=50 |
| <ref>[[Scholia]] on [[Pindar]], ''[[Pindar's First Pythian Ode|Pythian Odes]]'' 4.122{{primary source inline|date=October 2024}}</ref>
|-
| rowspan="2" | [[Eleius]]
| [[Eurycyda]]
| [[Pausanias (geographer)|Paus.]]
| data-sort-value=19 | 2nd cent. AD
| <ref>[[Pausanias (geographer)|Pausanias]], [http://data.perseus.org/citations/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0525.tlg001.perseus-eng1:5.1.8 5.1.8].</ref>
|-
| [[Eurypyle]]
| [[Conon (mythographer)|Conon]]
| data-sort-value=16 | 1st cent. BC/AD
| <ref>[[Conon (mythographer)|Conon]], ''Narrations'' [https://topostext.org/work/489#14 14].</ref>
|-
| [[Almops]]
| rowspan="2" | [[Helle (mythology)|Helle]]
| [[Stephanus of Byzantium|Steph. Byz.]]
| data-sort-value=27 | 6th cent. AD
| <ref>[[Stephanus of Byzantium]], [https://topostext.org/work/241#A76.16 s.v. Almopia].</ref>
|-
| [[Edonus]] or [[Paeon (myth)|Paion]]
| ''[[Catasterismi|Catast.]]''
| data-sort-value=50 |
| <ref>Pseudo-Eratosthenes, ''[[Catasterismi]]'' [https://books.google.com/books?id=4Sp8CaA5HI0C&pg=PA43 19 (Condos, p. 43)]; [[Gaius Julius Hyginus|Hyginus]], ''[[De astronomia]]'' [https://topostext.org/work/207#2.20.1 2.20.1].</ref>
|-
| [[Taphius]]
| [[Hippothoe]]
| [[Bibliotheca (Pseudo-Apollodorus)|Apollod.]]
| data-sort-value=18 | 1st/2nd cent. AD
| <ref>[[Bibliotheca (Pseudo-Apollodorus)|Apollodorus]], [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Apollod.+2.4.5&fromdoc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0022:book=2:chapter=4&highlight=Taphius 2.4.5].</ref>
|-
| The [[Aloadae]]
| rowspan="2" | [[Iphimedeia]]
| [[Homer|Hom.]] ''[[Odyssey|Ody.]]''
| data-sort-value=1 | 8th century BC
| <ref>[[Homer]], ''[[Odyssey]]'' [http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Hom.+Od.+11.271&fromdoc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0136:book=:chapter=&highlight=Otus 11.305–8].</ref>
|-
| [[Sciron]]
| [[Bibliotheca (Pseudo-Apollodorus)|Apollod.]]
| data-sort-value=18 | 1st/2nd cent. AD
| <ref>Tripp, s.v. Sceiron or Sciron (1), p. 522; [[Bibliotheca (Pseudo-Apollodorus)|Apollodorus]], [http://data.perseus.org/citations/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0548.tlg002.perseus-eng1:e.1.2 E.1.2].</ref>
|-
| [[Achaeus (son of Poseidon)|Achaeus]], [[Pelasgus of Argos|Pelasgus]], [[Phthius of Argos|Pythius]]
| [[Larissa (mythology)|Larissa]]
| [[Dionysius of Halicarnassus|Dion. Hal.]]
| data-sort-value=15 | 1st cent. BC
| <ref>[[Dionysius of Halicarnassus]], ''[[Roman Antiquities]]'' [https://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Dionysius_of_Halicarnassus/1B*.html#17.3 1.17.3].</ref>
|-
| [[Althepus (mythology)|Althepus]]
| [[Leis (mythology)|Leis]]
| [[Pausanias (geographer)|Paus.]]
| data-sort-value=19 | 2nd cent. AD
| <ref>[[Pausanias (geographer)|Pausanias]], [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0160%3Abook%3D2%3Achapter%3D30%3Asection%3D5 2.30.5].</ref>
|-
| [[Agenor]], [[Belus (Egyptian)|Belus]]
| rowspan="2" | [[Libya of Egypt|Libya]]
| [[Bibliotheca (Pseudo-Apollodorus)|Apollod.]]
| data-sort-value=18 | 1st/2nd cent. AD
| <ref>[[Bibliotheca (Pseudo-Apollodorus)|Apollodorus]], [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Apollod.+2.1.4&fromdoc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0022 2.1.4].</ref>
|-
| [[Lelex (king of Sparta)|Lelex]]
| [[Pausanias (geographer)|Paus.]]
| data-sort-value=19 | 2nd cent. AD
| <ref>[[Pausanias (geographer)|Pausanias]], [http://data.perseus.org/citations/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0525.tlg001.perseus-eng1:1.44.3 1.44.3].</ref>
|-
| [[Delphus]]
| [[Melantho]]
| [[Tzetzes]]
| data-sort-value=39 | 12th cent. AD
| <ref>Smith, [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.04.0104:entry=delphus-bio-1&highlight=delphus s.v. Delphus]; [[Tzetzes]] on [[Lycophron]], 208.</ref>
|-
| [[Dyrrhachius]]
| [[Melissa (mythology)|Melissa]]
| [[Stephanus of Byzantium|Steph. Byz.]]
| data-sort-value=27 | 6th cent. AD
| <ref>[[Stephanus of Byzantium]], [https://topostext.org/work/241#D243.3 s.v. Dyrrhachion].</ref>
|-
| [[Eurytus and Cteatus]]
| [[Molione (mythology)|Molione]]
| [[Bibliotheca (Pseudo-Apollodorus)|Apollod.]]
| data-sort-value=18 | 1st/2nd cent. AD
| <ref>[[Bibliotheca (Pseudo-Apollodorus)|Apollodorus]], [http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Apollod.+2.7.2&fromdoc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0022:boo=0:chapter=0&highlight=Molione 2.7.2].</ref>
|-
| [[Myton (mythology)|Myton]]
| [[Mytilene (mythology)|Mytilene]]
| [[Stephanus of Byzantium|Steph. Byz.]]
| data-sort-value=27 | 6th cent. AD
| <ref>Smith, [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.04.0104:entry=mytileie-bio-1&highlight=myton s.v. Mytileie]; [[Stephanus of Byzantium]], s.v. Mytilene.</ref>
|-
| [[Megareus of Onchestus|Megareus]]
| [[Oenope]]
| [[Gaius Julius Hyginus|Hyg.]] ''[[Fabulae|Fab.]]''
| data-sort-value=17 | 1st cent. AD
| <ref>Smith, [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.04.0104:entry=megareus-bio-1&highlight=megareus s.v. Megareus]; [[Gaius Julius Hyginus|Hyginus]], ''[[Fabulae]]'' [https://topostext.org/work/206#157 157].</ref>
|-
| [[Sithon (mythology)|Sithon]]
| [[Ossa (mythology)|Ossa]]
| [[Conon (mythographer)|Conon]]
| data-sort-value=16 | 1st cent. BC/AD
| <ref>[[Conon (mythographer)|Conon]], ''Narrations'' [https://topostext.org/work/489#10 10].</ref>
|-
| [[Nausithous]]
| [[Periboea]]
| [[Homer|Hom.]] ''[[Odyssey|Ody.]]''
| data-sort-value=1 | 8th century BC
| <ref>[[Homer]], ''[[Odyssey]]'' [http://data.perseus.org/citations/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0012.tlg002.perseus-eng1:7.37-7.76 7.56–57].</ref>
|-
| [[Torone (mythology)|Torone]]
| [[Phoenice (mythology)|Phoenice]]
| [[Stephanus of Byzantium|Steph. Byz.]]
| data-sort-value=27 | 6th cent. AD
| <ref>[[Stephanus of Byzantium]], [https://topostext.org/work/241#T629.10 s.v. Torone].</ref>
|-
| [[Cameirus (mythology)|Cameirus]], [[Ialysos (mythology)|Ialysus]], [[Lindus (mythology)|Lindus]]
| Rhode
|
| data-sort-value=50 |
| <ref>[[Tzetzes]] on [[Lycophron]], 923.{{primary source inline|date=October 2024}}</ref>
|-
| [[Chthonius]]
| [[Syme (mythology)|Syme]]
| [[Diodorus Siculus|Diod. Sic.]]
| data-sort-value=15 | 1st cent. BC
| <ref>[[Diodorus Siculus]], [https://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Diodorus_Siculus/5D*.html#53.1 5.53.1].</ref>
|-
| [[Leucon]]
| [[Themisto]]
| [[Gaius Julius Hyginus|Hyg.]] ''[[Fabulae|Fab.]]''
| data-sort-value=17 | 1st cent. AD
| <ref>Smith, [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.04.0104:entry=leucon-bio-1&highlight=leucon%2Cposeidon s.v. Leucon]; [[Gaius Julius Hyginus|Hyginus]], ''[[Fabulae]]'' [https://topostext.org/work/206#157 157].</ref>
|-
| [[Pelias]], [[Neleus]]
| [[Tyro]]
| [[Bibliotheca (Pseudo-Apollodorus)|Apollod.]]
| data-sort-value=18 | 1st/2nd cent. AD
| <ref>[[Bibliotheca (Pseudo-Apollodorus)|Apollodorus]], [http://data.perseus.org/citations/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0548.tlg001.perseus-eng1:1.9.8 1.9.8].</ref>
|-
| [[Cercyon of Eleusis|Cercyon]]
| Daughter of [[Amphictyon]]
| [[Pausanias (geographer)|Paus.]]
| data-sort-value=19 | 2nd cent. AD
| <ref>[[Pausanias (geographer)|Pausanias]], [http://data.perseus.org/citations/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0525.tlg001.perseus-eng1:1.14.3 1.14.3].</ref>
|-
| [[Alebion]], [[Derycnus]]
| rowspan="39" | ''No mother mentioned''
| [[Bibliotheca (Pseudo-Apollodorus)|Apollod.]]
| data-sort-value=18 | 1st/2nd cent. AD
| <ref>[[Bibliotheca (Pseudo-Apollodorus)|Apollodorus]], [http://data.perseus.org/citations/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0548.tlg001.perseus-eng1:2.5.10 2.5.10].</ref>
|-
| [[Dicaeus (mythology)|Dicaeus]]
| [[Stephanus of Byzantium|Steph. Byz.]]
| data-sort-value=27 | 6th cent. AD
| <ref>Smith, [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.04.0104:entry=dicaeus-bio-1&highlight=dicaeus s.v. Dicaeus]; [[Stephanus of Byzantium]], [https://topostext.org/work/241#D230.14 s.v. Dikaia].</ref>
|-
| [[Syleus (mythology)|Syleus]]
| [[Conon (mythographer)|Conon]]
| data-sort-value=16 | 1st cent. BC/AD
| <ref>[[Conon]], ''Narrations'' [https://topostext.org/work/489#17 17].</ref>
|-
| [[Sarpedon]], [[Poltys]]
| [[Bibliotheca (Pseudo-Apollodorus)|Apollod.]]
| data-sort-value=18 | 1st/2nd cent. AD
| <ref name="Apollodorus, 2.5.9">[[Bibliotheca (Pseudo-Apollodorus)|Apollodorus]], [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0022%3Atext%3DLibrary%3Abook%3D2%3Achapter%3D5%3Asection%3D9 2.5.9].</ref>
|-
| [[Amphimarus]]
| [[Pausanias (geographer)|Paus.]]
| data-sort-value=19 | 2nd cent. AD
| <ref>[[Pausanias (geographer)|Pausanias]], [http://data.perseus.org/citations/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0525.tlg001.perseus-eng1:9.29.6 9.29.6].</ref>
|-
| [[Amyrus (Greek myth)|Amyrus]]
|
| data-sort-value=50 |
| <ref>Scholia on [[Apollonius of Rhodes]], ''[[Argonautica]]'' 1.596.{{primary source inline|date=October 2024}}</ref>
|-
| [[Aon (mythology)|Aon]]
| Schol. [[Statius|Stat.]]
| data-sort-value=50 |
| <ref>''Brill's New Pauly'', s.v. Aonia; Scholia on [[Statius]], ''[[Thebaid (Latin poem)|Thebaid]]'' 1.34.</ref>
|-
| [[Astraeus (mythology)|Astraeus]]
| [[Pseudo-Plutarch|Ps.-Plut.]] ''[[De fluviis|Fluv.]]''
| data-sort-value=19 | 2nd cent. AD
| <ref>[[Pseudo-Plutarch]], ''[[De fluviis]]'' [http://data.perseus.org/citations/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0094.tlg001.perseus-eng1:21 21].</ref>
|-
| [[Augeas]]
| [[Bibliotheca (Pseudo-Apollodorus)|Apollod.]]
| data-sort-value=18 | 1st/2nd cent. AD
| <ref>[[Bibliotheca (Pseudo-Apollodorus)|Apollodorus]], [http://data.perseus.org/citations/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0548.tlg001.perseus-eng1:2.5.5 2.5.5].</ref>
|-
| [[Calaurus]]
| [[Stephanus of Byzantium|Steph. Byz.]]
| data-sort-value=27 | 6th cent. AD
| <ref>[[Stephanus of Byzantium]], [https://topostext.org/work/241#K347.25 s.v. Kalaureia].</ref>
|-
| [[Caucon]]
| [[Claudius Aelianus|Aelian]]
| data-sort-value=21 | 3rd cent. AD
| <ref>''Brill's New Pauly'', s.v. Caucon; [[Claudius Aelianus|Aelian]], ''Varia Historia'' 1.24.</ref>
|-
| [[Cromus (mythology)|Cromus]]
| [[Pausanias (geographer)|Paus.]]
| data-sort-value=19 | 2nd cent. AD
| <ref>[[Pausanias (geographer)|Pausanias]], [http://data.perseus.org/citations/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0525.tlg001.perseus-eng1:2.1.3 2.1.3].</ref>
|-
| [[Kymopoleia]]
| [[Hesiod|Hes.]] ''[[Theogony|Theog.]]''
| data-sort-value=1 | 8th cent. BC
| <ref>[[Hesiod]], ''[[Theogony]]'' [https://www.loebclassics.com/view/hesiod-theogony/2018/pb_LCL057.69.xml 817–819 (Most, pp. 68, 69)].</ref>
|-
| [[Erginus]]
| [[Apollonius of Rhodes|Ap. Rhod.]]
| data-sort-value=11 | 3rd cent. BC
| <ref>[[Apollonius of Rhodes]], ''[[Argonautica]]'' [https://archive.org/details/argonautica00apoluoft/page/14/mode/2up?view=theater 1.185].</ref>
|-
| [[Eryx (mythology)|Eryx]]
| [[Bibliotheca (Pseudo-Apollodorus)|Apollod.]]
| data-sort-value=18 | 1st/2nd cent. AD
| <ref>[[Bibliotheca (Pseudo-Apollodorus)|Apollodorus]], [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Apollod.+2.5.10&fromdoc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0022 2.5.10].</ref>
|-
| [[Euseirus]]
| [[Antoninus Liberalis|Ant. Lib.]]
| data-sort-value=20 | 2nd/3rd cent. AD
| <ref>[[Antoninus Liberalis]], [https://topostext.org/work/216#22 22].</ref>
|-
| [[Geren (mythology)|Geren]]
| [[Stephanus of Byzantium|Steph. Byz.]]
| data-sort-value=27 | 6th cent. AD
| <ref>''[[Pauly-Wissowa|RE]]'', [https://de.wikisource.org/wiki/RE:Geren_1 s.v. Geren (1)]; [[Stephanus of Byzantium]], [https://topostext.org/work/241#G205.3 s.v. Geren].</ref>
|-
| [[Lamia]]
| [[Pausanias (geographer)|Paus.]]
| data-sort-value=19 | 2nd cent. AD
| <ref>[[Pausanias (geographer)|Pausanias]], [http://data.perseus.org/citations/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0525.tlg001.perseus-eng1:10.12.1 10.12.1].</ref>
|-
| [[Lamus (mythology)|Lamus]]
|
| data-sort-value=50 |
| <ref>''Brill's New Pauly'', s.v. Lamus (1).</ref>
|-
| [[Onchestos (mythology)|Onchestus]]
| [[Pausanias (geographer)|Paus.]]
| data-sort-value=19 | 2nd cent. AD
| <ref>[[Pausanias (geographer)|Pausanias]], [http://data.perseus.org/citations/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0525.tlg001.perseus-eng1:9.26.5 9.26.5].</ref>
|-
| [[Palaestinus]]
| [[Pseudo-Plutarch|Ps.-Plut.]] ''[[De fluviis|Fluv.]]''
| data-sort-value=19 | 2nd cent. AD
| <ref>Smith, [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.04.0104:entry=palaestinus-bio-1&highlight=palaestinus s.v. Palaestinus]; [[Pseudo-Plutarch]], ''[[De fluviis]]'' [http://data.perseus.org/citations/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0094.tlg001.perseus-eng1:11 11].</ref>
|-
| [[Phineus]]
| [[Bibliotheca (Pseudo-Apollodorus)|Apollod.]]
| data-sort-value=18 | 1st/2nd cent. AD
| <ref>[[Bibliotheca (Pseudo-Apollodorus)|Apollodorus]], [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0022%3Atext%3DLibrary%3Abook%3D1%3Achapter%3D9%3Asection%3D21 1.9.21].</ref>
|-
| [[Phorbas]]
| ''[[Suda]]''
| data-sort-value=35 | 10th cent. AD
| <ref>''[[Suda]]'' [https://www.cs.uky.edu/~raphael/sol/sol-entries/phi/584 φ 584].</ref>
|-
| [[Taenarus (mythology)|Taenarus]]
|
| data-sort-value=50 |
| <ref>Scholia on Apollonius Rhodius, ''Argonautica'' 1.179{{primary source inline|date=October 2024}}</ref>
|-
| [[Thasus]]
| [[Bibliotheca (Pseudo-Apollodorus)|Apollod.]]
| data-sort-value=18 | 1st/2nd cent. AD
| <ref name=":04">[[Bibliotheca (Pseudo-Apollodorus)|Apollodorus]], [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Apollod.+3.1.1&fromdoc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0022:book=3:chapter=1&highlight=Thasus 3.1.1].</ref>
|-
| [[Thessalus]]
|
| data-sort-value=50 |
| <ref>Scholia on Pindar, ''[[Pindar's First Olympian Ode|Olympian Odes]]'' 14.5{{primary source inline|date=October 2024}}</ref>
|-
| [[Dorus (Deucalionid)|Dorus]]
| [[Maurus Servius Honoratus|Servius]]
| data-sort-value=24 | 4th/5th cent. AD
| <ref>Smith, [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.04.0104:entry=dorus-bio-1&highlight=dorus s.v. Dorus]; [[Servius (grammarian)|Servius]] on [[Virgil]], ''[[Aeneid]]'' [http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Serv.+A.+2.27&fromdoc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.02.0053:book=:chapter=&highlight=Dorus 2.27].</ref>
|-
| [[Laocoön]]
| [[Tzetzes]]
| data-sort-value=39 | 12th cent. AD
| <ref>''Brill's New Pauly'', s.v. Laocoon.</ref>
|-
| Damnameneus
| [[Nonnus]]
| data-sort-value=25 | 5th cent. AD
| <ref>[[Nonnus]], ''[[Dionysiaca]]'' [https://www.loebclassics.com/view/nonnos-dionysiaca/1940/pb_LCL344.475.xml 14.39–40, pp. 474, 475].</ref>
|-
| [[Bellerophon]]
|
| data-sort-value=50 |
| <ref>''Brill's New Pauly'', s.v. Bellerophontes, Bellerophon.</ref>
|-
| [[Proteus]]
| [[Bibliotheca (Pseudo-Apollodorus)|Apollod.]]
| data-sort-value=18 | 1st/2nd cent. AD
| <ref>[[Bibliotheca (Pseudo-Apollodorus)|Bibliotheca]], [http://data.perseus.org/citations/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0548.tlg001.perseus-eng1:2.5.9 2.5.9].</ref>
|}
</div>
==Genealogy ==
{{Family tree of the Olympians|title=Poseidon's family tree|collapsed=yes|cap_pose=y}}
== In literature and art ==
[[File:Neptune - Joseph Kuhn-Régnier.jpg|thumb|left|200px|Poseidon and Amphitryte - Joseph Kuhn-Régnier]]
In [[Greek art]], Poseidon lives in a palace on the [[ocean]] floor, made of [[coral]] and [[Gemstone|gem]]s. He rides a [[chariot]] that is pulled by a [[Hippocampus (mythology)|hippocampus]] or by horses that could ride on the sea. He was associated with [[dolphin]]s and three-pronged [[fish]] [[spear]]s ([[trident]]s).
A hymn to Poseidon included among the [[Homeric Hymn]]s 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 [[Mount Helicon]] and wide [[Aegospotami|Aegae]],<ref>The ancient palace-city that was replaced by [[Vergina]]</ref> and specifies his twofold nature as an Olympian: "a tamer of horses and a saviour of ships".
In the ''[[Iliad]],'' Poseidon favors the Greeks, and on several occasions 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]].[[File:JacobdeGheynII-NeptuneandAmphitrite.jpg|thumb|right|220px|''Neptune and Amphitrite'' by [[Jacob de Gheyn II]] (late 1500s)]]In the ''[[Odyssey]]'', Poseidon is notable for his hatred of [[Odysseus]] who blinded the sea-god's son, the [[Cyclopes|Cyclops]] [[Polyphemus]], resulting in Poseidon punishing him with storms, causing the complete loss of his ship and his numerous of his companions. The enmity of Poseidon prevents Odysseus's return home to [[Homer's Ithaca|Ithaca]] for ten 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. After Odysseus left the island of [[Calypso (mythology)|Calypso]], Poseidon, in anger, let loose all four of the [[Anemoi]] to cause a storm and raise great waves in order to attempt to drown him.{{sfn|Hard|2004|page=[https://books.google.com/books?id=r1Y3xZWVlnIC&pg=PA100 100]}}
In the ''[[Aeneid]]'', Neptune is still resentful of the wandering Trojans, but is not as vindictive as [[Juno (mythology)|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.
==In modern culture==
[[File:Jason and the Argonauts (1963) Poseidon.png|thumb|Poseidon as portrayed in the 1963 film ''[[Jason and the Argonauts (1963 film)|Jason and the Argonauts]]'']]
Due to his status as a Greek god, Poseidon has made multiple appearances in [[Modernity|modern]] and [[popular culture]].
Poseidon appeared in the 1963 film [[Jason and the Argonauts (1963 film)|''Jason and the Argonauts'']].<ref>{{Citation |last=Chaffey |first=Don |title=Jason and the Argonauts |date=1963-06-19 |url=https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0057197/ |type=Action, Adventure, Family |access-date=2023-09-18 |others=Todd Armstrong, Nancy Kovack, Gary Raymond |publisher=Charles H. Schneer Productions}}</ref>
Poseidon appears in the ''[[Percy Jackson & the Olympians]]'' novel series, where he is the father of the demigod protagonist Percy Jackson. In the first film adaptation, ''[[Percy Jackson & the Olympians: The Lightning Thief]]'', he is portrayed by [[Kevin McKidd]].<ref>{{Citation |last=Columbus |first=Chris |title=Percy Jackson & the Olympians: The Lightning Thief |date=2010-02-12 |url=https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0814255/ |type=Adventure, Family, Fantasy |publisher=Fox 2000 Pictures, 1492 Pictures, Sunswept Entertainment |access-date=2022-09-10}}</ref><ref>{{Citation |last=Freudenthal |first=Thor |title=Percy Jackson: Sea of Monsters |date=2013-08-07 |url=https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1854564/ |type=Adventure, Family, Fantasy |publisher=Fox 2000 Pictures, TSG Entertainment, Sunswept Entertainment |access-date=2022-09-10}}</ref>
Poseidon has made multiple appearances in video games, such as in ''[[God of War III|God of War 3]]'' by [[Sony Interactive Entertainment|Sony]]. In the game, Poseidon appears as a [[Boss (video games)|boss]] for the player to defeat.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2020-04-10 |title=God Of War: 15 Gods Kratos Took Down & How He Did It |url=https://www.thegamer.com/god-war-gods-kratos-killed-how-murdered-them/ |access-date=2022-04-14 |website=TheGamer |language=en-US}}</ref> In the video game [[Hades (video game)|''Hades'']], he is a character who will grant "boons".<ref>{{Cite web |last=Plante |first=Corey |title=1 single boon in 'Hades' transforms Excalibur into the ultimate weapon |url=https://www.inverse.com/gaming/hades-excalibur-build-hoarding-slash |access-date=2023-01-11 |website=Inverse |date=17 October 2020 |language=en}}</ref>
==Narrations==
[[File:Neptúnova fontána.jpg|thumb|right|upright|Neptune's fountain in [[Prešov]], [[Slovakia]].]]
<!-- If you update this list, please keep it in chronological order, oldest first; see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Manual_of_Style/Lists_of_works#Ordering . If you add an author, title, or reference, please make sure they aren't already in the list. -->
The following is a (non-exhaustive) list of [[Post-classical history|pre-modern]] tellings and retellings of myths relating to Poseidon:
*[[Homer]], ''Odyssey,'' 11.567 (7th century BC)
*[[Pindar]], ''Olympian Odes,'' 1 (476 BC)
*[[Sophocles]], ''Electra,'' 504 (430 – 415 BC) & ''Oenomaus,'' Fr. 433 (408 BC)
*[[Euripides]], ''Orestes,'' 12–16, 1024-1062 (408 BC)
*''[[Bibliotheca (Pseudo-Apollodorus)|Bibliotheca]]'' ''Epitome'' 2: 1–9 (140 BC)
*[[Diodorus Siculus]], ''Histories,'' 4.73 (1st century BC)
*[[Ovid]], ''Metamorphoses,'' VI: 213, 458 (AD 8);
*[[Gaius Julius Hyginus|Hyginus]], ''Fables,'' 82: Tantalus, 83: Pelops, 84: Oenomaus & ''Poetic Astronomy,'' ii (1st century AD)
*[[Pausanias (geographer)|Pausanias]], ''Description of Greece,'' 2.22.3, 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. 200 – 245)
*[[First Vatican Mythographer]], 22: Myrtilus; Atreus et Thyestes
*[[Second Vatican Mythographer]], 146: Oenomaus
== Gallery ==
=== Paintings ===
<gallery mode="packed-hover">
File:Poseidon Penteskouphia Louvre CA452.jpg|Poseidon holding a [[trident]]. Corinthian plaque, 550-525 BC. From Penteskouphia.
File:Poseidon enthroned De Ridder 418 CdM Paris n2.jpg|Poseidon on an Attic [[Krater|kalyx krater]] (detail), first half of the 5th century BC.
File:Affreschi romani - nettuno anfitrine - pompei.JPG|Poseidon and Amphitrite. Ancient Roman fresco (50-79 AD), [[Pompeii]], [[Italy]].
File:Mosaique de sol avec le triomphe de Neptune et son épouse Amphitrite (Louvre, Ma 1880)1.jpg|''Triumph of Poseidon and [[Amphitrite]]'' showing the couple [[Thiasos#Other thiasoi|in procession]], detail of a vast [[Roman mosaic|mosaic]] from [[Cirta]], [[Africa (Roman province)|Roman Africa]] (ca. 315–325 AD, now at the [[Louvre]])
File:Poseidon and Athena battle for control of Athens - Benvenuto Tisi da Garofalo (1512).jpg|''Poseidon and [[Athena]] battle for control of Athens'' by [[Benvenuto Tisi]](1512)
</gallery>
==
<gallery mode="packed">
File:MillesPoseidon.jpg|Poseidon statue in [[Gothenburg]], [[Sweden]].
File:Neptun v prešovskej fontane.jpg|Poseidon statue in [[Prešov]], [[Slovakia]]
File:Poseidon.statue.arp.500pix.jpg|Poseidon statue in [[Bristol]], [[England]].
File:Neptun brunnen1.jpg|The ''[[Neptunbrunnen (Berlin)|Neptunbrunnen]]'' fountain in [[Berlin]]
File:Poseidon sculpture Copenhagen 2005.jpg|Poseidon sculpture in [[Copenhagen]], [[Denmark]]
</gallery>
==
{{Portal|Ancient Greece|Myths|Religion}}
*[[Amphitrite]]
*[[Despoina]]
*[[Demeter]]
*[[Erechtheus]]
*[[Family tree of the Greek gods]]
*[[Ionian League]]
*[[Panionium]] – Ionian festival to Poseidon
*[[Trident of Poseidon]]
*[[Linear B]]
== Notes ==
{{Reflist|30em|refs=
<ref name=smith-steven>{{citation|last=Smith|first=>Steven D. |title=Art, Nature, Power: Garden Epigrams from Nero to Heraclius |editor1=Maria Kanellou |editor2=Ivana Petrovic |editor3=Chris Carey |editor-link3=Chris Carey |work=Greek Epigram from the Hellenistic to the Early Byzantine Era |publisher=Oxford University Press |year=2019 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=St-RDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA348 |pages=348 |isbn=978-0-192-57379-7}}</ref>
}}
== References ==
{{refbegin|30em}}
* [[Bibliotheca (Pseudo-Apollodorus)|Apollodorus]], ''Apollodorus, The Library, with an English Translation by Sir James George Frazer, F.B.A., F.R.S. in 2 Volumes.'' Cambridge, Massachusetts, [[Harvard University Press]]; London, William Heinemann Ltd. 1921. {{ISBN|0-674-99135-4}}. [http://data.perseus.org/texts/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0548.tlg001.perseus-eng1 Online version at the Perseus Digital Library].
* [[Apollonius of Rhodes]], ''Apollonius Rhodius: the Argonautica'', translated by Robert Cooper Seaton, W. Heinemann, 1912. [http://www.archive.org/stream/argonautica00apoluoft#page/n5/mode/2up Internet Archive].
* [[Walter Burkert|Burkert, Walter]] (1983), ''Homo Necans'', University of California Press, Berkeley and Los Angeles. 1983. {{ISBN|978-0-520-05875-0}}.
* [[Walter Burkert|Burkert, Walter]] (1985), ''Greek Religion'', Wiley-Blackwell 1985. {{ISBN|978-0-631-15624-6}}. [https://archive.org/details/greekreligion0000burk/page/n3/mode/2up?view=theater Internet Archive].
* {{cite book |last=Dietrich |first=Bernard Clive |title=The Origins of Greek Religion |publisher=Bristol Phoenix Press |date=2004 |isbn=978-1-904675-31-0 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=rgWHB3QMB3sC}}
* [[Diodorus Siculus]], ''Library of History, Volume III: Books 4.59-8'', translated by [[Charles Henry Oldfather|C. H. Oldfather]], [[Loeb Classical Library]] No. 340. Cambridge, Massachusetts, [[Harvard University Press]], 1939. {{ISBN|978-0-674-99375-4}}. [https://www.loebclassics.com/view/LCL340/1939/volume.xml Online version at Harvard University Press]. [http://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Diodorus_Siculus/home.html Online version by Bill Thayer].
* [[Dionysius of Halicarnassus]]. ''Roman Antiquities, Volume I: Books 1–2'', translated by Earnest Cary. [[Loeb Classical Library]] No. 319. Cambridge, Massachusetts, [[Harvard University Press]], 1937. [https://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Dionysius_of_Halicarnassus/home.html Online version by Bill Thayer]. [https://www.loebclassics.com/view/LCL319/1937/volume.xml Online version at Harvard University Press].
* [[Robert Fowler (academic)|Fowler, R. L.]] (2000), ''Early Greek Mythography: Volume 1: Text and Introduction'', Oxford University Press, 2000. {{ISBN|978-0198147404}}. [https://books.google.com/books?id=j0nRE4C2WBgC&printsec=frontcover Google Books].
* [[Robert Fowler (academic)|Fowler, R. L.]] (2013), ''Early Greek Mythography: Volume 2: Commentary'', Oxford University Press, 2013. {{ISBN|978-0-198-14741-1}}. [https://books.google.com/books?id=scd8AQAAQBAJ&printsec=frontcover Google Books].
* Gantz, Timothy, ''Early Greek Myth: A Guide to Literary and Artistic Sources'', Johns Hopkins University Press, 1996, Two volumes: {{ISBN|978-0-8018-5360-9}} (Vol. 1), {{ISBN|978-0-8018-5362-3}} (Vol. 2).
* {{cite book | author-link=Pierre Grimal | last=Grimal | first=Pierre | title=The Dictionary of Classical Mythology | date=1987 | publisher=Wiley-Blackwell | isbn=0-631-13209-0 | url=https://archive.org/details/dictionaryofclas00grim/mode/2up?view=theater | ___location=New York, USA | translator=A. R. Maxwell-Hyslop}}
* ''Halieutica'' in ''[[Oppian]], [[Colluthus]], [[Tryphiodorus]]. Oppian, Colluthus, and Tryphiodorus. Translated by A. W. Mair, edited by [[W. H. D. Rouse]]''. [[Loeb Classical Library]] 219. Cambridge, MA: [[Harvard University Press]], 1928.
* {{cite book | last=Hard | first=Robin | title=The Routledge Handbook of Greek Mythology: Based on H.J. Rose's "Handbook of Greek Mythology" | publisher=[[Psychology Press]] | date=2004 | isbn=9780415186360 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=r1Y3xZWVlnIC}}
* [[Hesiod]], ''[[Theogony]]'', in ''The Homeric Hymns and Homerica with an English Translation by Hugh G. Evelyn-White'', Cambridge, Massachusetts., Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann Ltd. 1914. [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0130%3Acard%3D1 Online version at the Perseus Digital Library].
* [[Homer]], ''The Iliad with an English Translation by A.T. Murray, PhD in two volumes''. Cambridge, Massachusetts., Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann, Ltd. 1924. [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0134%3Abook%3D1%3Acard%3D1 Online version at the Perseus Digital Library].
* [[Homer]]; ''The Odyssey with an English Translation by A.T. Murray, PH.D. in two volumes''. Cambridge, Massachusetts., Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann, Ltd. 1919. [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0136%3Abook%3D1%3Acard%3D1 Online version at the Perseus Digital Library].
* [[Gaius Julius Hyginus|Hyginus, Gaius Julius]], ''[[De astronomia]]'', in ''The Myths of Hyginus'', edited and translated by Mary A. Grant, Lawrence: University of Kansas Press, 1960. [https://topostext.org/work/207 Online version at ToposText].
* [[Gaius Julius Hyginus|Hyginus, Gaius Julius]], ''[[Fabulae]]'', in ''The Myths of Hyginus'', edited and translated by Mary A. Grant, Lawrence: University of Kansas Press, 1960. [https://topostext.org/work/206 Online version at ToposText].
* Janda, Michael, ''Eleusis. Das indogermanische Erbe der Mysterien'', Innsbruck 2000, pp. 256–258 (Innsbrucker Beiträge zur Sprachwissenschaft, vol. 96)
* {{cite web |last=Jenks |first=Kathleen |publisher=Myth*ing links |title=Mythic themes clustered around Poseidon/Neptune |date=April 2003 |url= http://www.mythinglinks.org/euro~west~greece~Poseidon.html |access-date=13 January 2007 |url-status=dead |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20060927081133/http://www.mythinglinks.org/euro~west~greece~Poseidon.html |archive-date=27 September 2006 |df=dmy-all}}
* {{cite book | title=The Gods of the Greeks | date=1951 | publisher=Thames and Hudson | ___location=[[London]], UK | author-link=Károly Kerényi | first=Karl | last=Kerenyi | url=https://archive.org/details/in.gov.ignca.7346/mode/2up?view=theater}}
* [[Glenn W. Most|Most, G.W.]], ''Hesiod, Theogony, Works and Days, Testimonia,'' Edited and translated by Glenn W. Most, [[Loeb Classical Library]] No. 57, Cambridge, Massachusetts, [[Harvard University Press]], 2018. {{ISBN|978-0-674-99720-2}}. [https://www.loebclassics.com/view/LCL057/2018/volume.xml Online version at Harvard University Press].
* {{cite book | title=The Transformation of Hera: A Study of Ritual, Hero, and the Goddess in the Iliad | first=Joan V. | last=O'Brien | publisher=Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, Inc. | ___location=Maryland, USA | date=1993 | isbn=0-8476-7807-5 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=a77yKM26GfYC}}
* {{cite book | title=The Legend of Seleucus: Kingship, Narrative and Mythmaking in the Ancient World | first=Daniel | last=Ogden | publisher=[[Cambridge University Press]] | date=April 7, 2017 | isbn=978-1-107-16478-9 | ___location=Cambridge, United Kingdom | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=-M8oDwAAQBAJ}}
* [[Ovid]], ''[[Heroides]]'' in ''Heroides. Amores.'' Translated by Grant Showerman. Revised by G. P. Goold. [[Loeb Classical Library]] No. 41. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press, 1977. {{ISBN|978-0-674-99045-6}}. [https://www.loebclassics.com/view/LCL041/1914/volume.xml Online version at Harvard University Press].
* [[Ovid]], ''[[Metamorphoses]]'', Brookes More, Boston, Cornhill Publishing Co. 1922. [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.02.0028%3Abook%3D1%3Acard%3D1 Online version at the Perseus Digital Library].
* Parada, Carlos, ''Genealogical Guide to Greek Mythology'', Jonsered, Paul Åströms Förlag, 1993. {{ISBN|978-91-7081-062-6}}.
* [[Pausanias (geographer)|Pausanias]], ''Pausanias Description of Greece with an English Translation by W.H.S. Jones, Litt.D., and H.A. Ormerod, M.A., in 4 Volumes.'' Cambridge, Massachusetts, Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann Ltd. 1918. [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Paus.+1.1.1 Online version at the Perseus Digital Library].
* [[Plato]], ''[[Cratylus (dialogue)|Cratylus]]'' in ''Plato in Twelve Volumes'', Vol. 12 translated by Harold N. Fowler, Cambridge, Massachusetts, Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann Ltd. 1925. [http://data.perseus.org/citations/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0059.tlg005.perseus-eng1:383a Online version at the Perseus Digital Library].
* [[Plato]], ''[[Critias (dialogue)|Critias]]'' in ''Plato in Twelve Volumes'', Vol. 9 translated by W.R.M. Lamb, Cambridge, Massachusetts, Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann Ltd. 1925. [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0180%3Atext%3DCriti.%3Asection%3D106a Online version at the Perseus Digital Library].
* {{cite book | title=Gods and heroes of the Greeks | last=Rose | first=Herbert Jennings | author-link=H. J. Rose | date=1974 | ___location=London, UK | publisher=Methuen & Co. Ltd. | isbn=0-450-02187-4 | url=https://archive.org/details/godsheroesofgree0000rose_j8e9/mode/2up?view=theater}}
* {{citation|last=Seelig|first=Beth J.|date=August 2002|title=The Rape of Medusa in the Temple of Athena: Aspects of Triangulation in the Girl|journal=The International Journal of Psychoanalysis|volume=83|issue=4|pages=895–911|doi=10.1516/3NLL-UG13-TP2J-927M|pmid=12204171|s2cid=28961886}}
* [[Servius the Grammarian|Servius]], ''Servii grammatici qui feruntur in Vergilii carmina commentarii'', Volume I, edited by Georgius Thilo and Hermannus Hagen, [[Bibliotheca Teubneriana]], Leipzig, Teubner, 1881. [https://archive.org/details/invergiliicarmin01servuoft/page/n3/mode/2up?view=theater Internet Archive]. [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Serv.+A.+1.pr Online version at the Perseus Digital Library].
* [[William Smith (lexicographer)|Smith, William]], ''[[Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology]]'', London (1873). [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3atext%3a1999.04.0104 Online version at the Perseus Digital Library].
* [[Strabo]], [[Geographica|''Geography'']], Editors, H.C. Hamilton, Esq., W. Falconer, M.A., London. George Bell & Sons. 1903. [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0239%3Abook%3Dnotice Online version at the Perseus Digital Library].
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* [[John Tzetzes|Tzetzes, John]], ''Scolia eis Lycophroon'', edited by Christian Gottfried Müller, Sumtibus F.C.G. Vogelii, 1811. [https://archive.org/stream/isaakioukaiiann00mlgoog#page/n5/mode/2up Internet Archive].
* [[Virgil]], ''[[Aeneid]]'', Theodore C. Williams. trans. Boston. Houghton Mifflin Co. 1910. [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.02.0054%3Abook%3D1%3Acard%3D1 Online version at the Perseus Digital Library].
* {{cite book | title=Theseus and Athens | first=Henry John | last=Walker | publisher=[[Oxford University Press]] | ___location=Oxford, New York | date=January 19, 1995 | isbn=0-19-508908-1 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=qiNwJ_s2_dAC}}
* {{cite book | title=The Ancient Sea: The Utopian and Catastrophic in Classical Narratives and their Reception | first1=Hamish | last1=Williams |editor1-link=Hamish Williams | first2=Ross | last2=Clare | publisher=[[Liverpool University Press]] | ___location=Liverpool, UK | date=November 17, 2022 | isbn=978-1-80207-760-5 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=8W6cEAAAQBAJ}}
* {{cite book | last=Wunder | first=Eduard | title=Sophocles' Oedipus rex, Oedipus Colonaeus, Electra, Antigone | volume=I | ___location=London | publisher=Williams and Norgate | date=1855 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=4grgAAAAMAAJ}}
{{refend}}
==External links==
* {{Commons-inline}}
*[http://www.theoi.com/Olympios/Poseidon.html Theoi.com: Poseidon]
*[http://www.
*[http://www.csun.edu/~hcfll004/mycen.html Gods found in Mycenaean Greece
* [https://iconographic.warburg.sas.ac.uk/category/vpc-taxonomy-000153 The Warburg Institute Iconographic Database (images of Poseidon)]
{{Twelve Olympians}}
{{Greek religion}}
{{Greek mythology (deities)}}
{{Authority control}}
[[Category:
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