God of the seas Poseidon: main myths about him. Poseidon - mythology, what did Poseidon patronize? Who is Poseidon and what does he do?

With whom he shared dominion over the world.

His consorts are called Beroia, Livia and Callirhoe, the most famous being his consort Amphitrite. Poseidon turned his beloved Kenida, daughter Elata, into a man. His lovers are also called Skilla, Alope, Ephra and Fia, Poseidon turned into a bull for Arna, into a horse for Demeter, into the river god Enipeus for Ifimedea, into a ram for Theophanes, into a bird for Medusa the Gorgon, into a dolphin for Melanophia.

With Amphitrite, they live in a luxurious palace at the bottom of the sea near the city of Aigi, in the region of Achaia, on the northern coast of the Peloponnese Peninsula, surrounded by Nereids, hippocamps and other inhabitants of the sea. From her he has a son, Triton, the ruler of the depths of the sea.

Poseidon is the father of many children, and all of them are elemental, terrible and monstrous. These are the giants Sarpedon, Orion and Aloada, the king of the Bebriks, the fist fighter Amik - from the nymph Melia ("ash"), the giant Antaeus - from Gaia-Earth, the cyclops Polyphemus, the king Busiris, who lulls all strangers, the robbers Kerkion and Skiron; from the Gorgon Medusa he has Chrysaor (“golden sword”) and Pegasus. Demeter in the form of Erinyes gave birth to the horse Areyon from Poseidon, which complements the information about the zoomorphic essence of Poseidon. He sent a beautiful bull, his own hypostasis, from the sea to Crete, which, together with Pasiphae, gave birth to the Minotaur. However, there were weak attempts to connect Poseidon with the heroic world, although here too Poseidon appears in the guise of the water element. Taking the form of a river god, Poseidon married Tyro, who gave birth to Pelias and Neleus, the father of the wise Nestor.

His sons are called the hero Bellerophon from Eurymede or Eurynome, Procrustes and Proteus. He is also called the father of the sea deity Glaucus, the Theban king Lycus, the god of threshed grain Aloe, possibly king Augeas and many other characters in Greek mythology.

Poseidon is considered the divine father of Theseus, the son of the Athenian king Aegeus. Proving his divine origin, Theseus threw himself into the sea to get the golden ring thrown there by Minos, got it from Amphitrite and returned victorious. It is Theseus who kills the Minotaur - also the son of Poseidon, only monstrous. Among the Argonauts there are the sons of Poseidon - Euphem, Ergin and Ankey, who, however, do not play a significant role in the campaign.

The archaic features of the Olympian Poseidon are expressed in his violent temper and attempts to maintain his independence. Forced to acknowledge the primacy of Zeus, he considers himself his equal. Poseidon participates in a rebellion against Zeus (either with Hera and Apollo, or with Hera and Athena), who is saved from his bonds by Thetis. He, in alliance with Hera, taking advantage of Zeus's dream, helps the Achaeans, provoking the wrath of the Thunderer, and threatens him with irreconcilable enmity.

Poseidon comes to the aid of the Achaeans with a sword like lightning, leading their army. After a conspiracy against Zeus, Poseidon is sent into the service of man as punishment. According to another version, Poseidon and Apollo wanted to test how far Laomedont would go in his arrogance. So Poseidon and Apollo surrounded Troy with a giant wall. But they destroyed it after they did not receive the agreed payment from the king of Troy, Laomedon. Poseidon, in anger, sent a sea monster to Troy, which devastated the shores until Hercules killed it and saved Laomedont’s daughter, Hesione. Continuing to take revenge on the Trojans, Poseidon takes the side of the Achaeans in the Trojan War.

He alone goes against the decision of the Olympians to return Odysseus home, hating him for blinding Polyphemus, although Zeus is sure that Poseidon cannot argue with all the immortals and act autocratically. However, Poseidon does not calm down and sends a terrible storm to Odysseus, breaking his raft and stirring up the sea, clouds and winds with his trident. Poseidon furiously acts with his trident, wanting to either raise a storm or destroy one of the heroes. He breaks the rock and destroys Ajax Oilidas for his impious boasting.

It is unlikely that Poseidon can be considered the founder and defender of policies. He disputed the Corinthian region with the god Helios, but the hundred-armed giant Briareus, who acted as an arbiter, awarded Poseidon only the Isthmus isthmus (between the Peloponnese and Central Greece), and gave Helios the city of Corinth with its citadel. Poseidon also argued with Athena for Troezen. Zeus decided to divide this city between the two of them. Poseidon unsuccessfully tried to wrest the islands of Aegina and Naxos from Zeus and Dionysus. He wanted to take Argolis from Hera, but the Thunderer referred the dispute to the decision of the first inhabitant of this area, Phoroneus, and the gods of the rivers Inachus, Cephisus and Asterion. When they spoke out in favor of Hera, an angry Poseidon dried up the three above-mentioned rivers. He sued Apollo and Delphi and also lost this lawsuit.

Name, epithets and character

Poseidon's name can be understood in its Dorian form as "spouse of the earth" or "lord of the waters" (Poteidan, pot = pos "spouse" and da = ga "earth" or potei "lord", daon "watery", "water-born").

The anger of this god is fierce, as is his element. With unrelenting anger, he persecutes those who insult him. His main feature is imperiousness, indestructible and stormy strength, which manifests itself inseparably from his royal grandeur.

Poseidon's epithets are “earth shaker”, “earth ruler”. On the other hand, the most ancient Poseidon is associated with the Indo-European zoomorphic demon of fertility, who appeared in the guise of a horse or a bull, and thus becomes closer to the inexhaustible generative power of the earth’s bowels, and therefore to the water element.

The generally accepted epithet of Poseidon is Pelagius, which means “sea.” Other epithets of Poseidon: Crenuchus “holder of the source”; Nymphagetus “driver of the nymphs,” since he was in a marriage union with many nymphs. Strabo reports that the Rhodians, after an earthquake near the island of Thera, erected a temple to Poseidon Asphalia - “the bestower of security.” Poseidon was revered throughout Greece as well as Phythalmios, along with Dionysus Dendrite, “the tree one,” and the pine tree was dedicated to both of them.

The cult of Poseidon Hippias, the “horse”, is predominantly Thessalian. It was he, according to legend, who created the horse and taught him to ride it. In Argos there was a temple of Poseidon Proclistius - “causing a flood” in memory of the dispute between Hera and Poseidon, when Poseidon, rejected by the Argives, sent the sea to Argolis. On the acropolis near the sanctuary of Erechtheus, a source of brackish water was revered, allegedly knocked out by the trident of Poseidon. In Trezna, despite the defeat of Poseidon by the “mighty” Athena, Poseidon the “king” is revered. There is also the temple of Poseidon Phythalmia in memory of the infertility sent by Poseidon to the earth, saturated with sea salt, and the mercy of Poseidon, who stopped his anger. The cult of Poseidon is everywhere associated with the disasters that accompanied his anger, which was then replaced by forgiveness.

In Roman mythology it is identified with Neptune. Among the Philistines, Poseidon was partly identified with Dagon.

Cult and symbols

In early Greek mythology, before becoming the lord of the sea, Poseidon was a chthonic deity - associated with the underworld. He brought death and caused earthquakes. Then the cult of Poseidon was close to the cult of Hades and had a dual nature: Poseidon simultaneously sent terrible natural disasters to people, but was also a benefactor, by whose mercy the spring waters fertilize the fields. Pointing to the unusually close connection between the cult of Poseidon and horses, some researchers believed that he himself was only a development of the archaic totem of the deified horse. But this opinion is hardly fair. Totemism was practically unknown in ancient Greece. The “horse element” in the myths about Poseidon most likely only more clearly emphasized the unusual, superhuman powers that this god controls.

The cult of Poseidon was widespread throughout Ancient Greece, mainly in the coastal part and on the islands; The Peloponnese was especially rich in places of his veneration - the Ionians revered him as the patron saint of their tribe.

Temples of Poseidon were most often erected on capes, isthmuses and coastal cities. The cult of Poseion in Thessaly was probably associated with the religious beliefs of one of the pre-Indo-European tribes of Hellas - the Minyans, who from ancient times were known as excellent horsemen and sailors. The cities of Nauplia, Troezen, Kalavria and a number of others united into the so-called Poseidonian amphictyony (political union). On the Asia Minor cape in Mycale there was a temple of Poseidon, common to 12 Ionian cities. On the Athenian acropolis they showed a source, carved, according to legend, from a rock by the trident of Poseidon during his dispute with Athena for supremacy over Attica.

With the settlement of Greek tribes on the islands, Poseidon began to be identified not only with the moisture that gives life to the earth, but also with the expanses of the sea. According to A.F. Losev, the oldest idea of ​​Poseidon is associated with the fertility of the earth, saturated with moisture, he notes:

“Olympic Poseidon is inextricably linked precisely with the sea element, having retained as rudiments epithets indicating a former connection with the earth, myths about the zoomorphic hypostases of Poseidon - a horse and a bull, and legends about Poseidon, with his trident, knocking out fresh moisture from the earth from springs.”

From Lubker's dictionary: "In ancient Pelasgian times, Poseidon was not only the god of the sea, but also the god of all waters common on and around the earth; he gives rise to springs, rivers and lakes. Therefore, he was also the feeder and fertilizer of the plant kingdom and stood close to Demeter." In Lübker, among other things, it is noted as embracing and holding the earth, and as an oscillator of the earth, it produces earthquakes (since it was believed that earthquakes occur from the action of water penetrating into caves and earthly depressions).

The Trident of Poseidon is a kind of ancient fetish endowed with magical powers; it replaces Poseidon with the lightning of Zeus, although, according to some information, the god originally wore a simple fishing spear instead. But it was quite enough for Poseidon to hit the Phaeacian ship with his palm firmly in order to turn it into a rock and squeeze this rock into the seabed. Poseidon does not live on Olympus, owning his own luxurious palace at the bottom of the sea in Aegae. Leaving his palace, Poseidon, according to the Hellenes, rode in golden clothes on a chariot drawn by golden-maned horses with bronze hooves. The dark blue stormy wave of the sea is Poseidon himself, constantly called “blue-haired”, “dark-haired”. The appearance of Poseidon is terrible, powerful and elemental. The forests tremble under his feet. He reaches his palace in Aeghi by taking three or four steps from the Thracian mountains.

In addition to the horse, the dolphin and the bull, in particular the black one, were considered sacred animals of Poseidon, and the pine tree was considered a sacred tree.

In honor of Poseidon, the Isthmian Games were held with equestrian lists. The Attic set of myths about Theseus (the founder of the Isthmian Games) was closely related to the cult of Poseidon. According to a number of researchers, the legendary father of Theseus, the Athenian king Aegeus, was none other than the heroized Poseidon. Bull sacrifices were also held in honor of Poseidon.

Influence on culture and art

An interesting drawing by Anton Losenko “Neptune on the Waters”. The basis for the drawing was an episode from Virgil’s Aeneid. The goddess Juno, wanting to take revenge on the Trojans, sent a storm to the seas. But Neptune did not tolerate such interference in his domain and pacified the waves. The walls of Troy depicted in the background make it possible to connect the scene with a literary source and determine the iconographic type of the composition - “Neptune pacifies the waves”, or “Neptune’s wrath”.

The XXII hymn of Homer and the XVII Orphic hymn are dedicated to Poseidon. He is the protagonist of Euripides' tragedy "The Trojan Women" and Aristophanes' comedy "The Birds".

Ancient Greek artists depicted Poseidon as a man of regal appearance, with a thick beard and hair. In frescoes, vase paintings and statues, his right foot usually stands on a dolphin or rock, or Poseidon rides accompanied by sea monsters on a chariot, bull or horse. His face usually expresses anger and excitement (as opposed to the Olympian calm of Zeus).

Poseidon in modern times

The lunar crater "Poseidon" in the Mare Serenity is named after Poseidon.

The name "Poseidon" can be found in the titles of disaster films, for example the 2006 American disaster film "Poseidon". Also, the American writer Rick Riordan wrote a series of fantasy novels about Percy Jackson under the general title “Percy Jackson and the Olympians,” where the main character, a modern teenager, learns that he is the son of Poseidon.

One of the main Olympian gods, ruler of the seas, brother of Zeus and the god of the underworld Hades, Poseidon (in Roman Neptune), unlike other gods, lived not on Olympus, but deep underwater. He had a luxurious palace at the bottom of the sea, from which he rode out in his chariot drawn by long-maned horses. He was armed with a trident, and as soon as he moved it, the waves rose, and the stronger the movement of his hand, the more formidable and dangerous the sea became. Poseidon had a violent temper, and although he recognized the primacy of Zeus, he was always ready to compete with him for primacy on Olympus.

Poseidon had a wife, Amphitrite, the daughter of the prophetic sea elder Nereus. According to one version, Poseidon kidnapped her. He saw Amphitrite on the shore of the island of Naxos, where she and other Nereid sisters danced in circles, and was captivated by her beauty. He wanted to sneak up, grab her and take her away in a chariot, but the nimble Nereid managed to dodge his embrace and took refuge in one of the caves of the gray titan Ocean. There she was given refuge by another titan, Atlas, who held the vault of heaven on his shoulders.

Poseidon looked everywhere for Amphitrite, but could not find it. And then he sent the ubiquitous dolphin to find the fugitive. The dolphin swam through different seas and finally discovered a cave where the Nereid was hiding. Poseidon went in the indicated direction, found a cave, grabbed Amphitrite, took her to his palace and married her.

The obstinate Amphitrite could not resist such an onslaught and became his obedient and faithful wife. They had a son, Triton, a sea deity. Unlike his father, Triton did not have great powers; he did not have a chariot, but only a horn made from a shell. From his father he learned to summon storms. If Triton blew his horn, the waves rose and the sea became menacing.

Poseidon loved to show Triton and all the other sea deities his strength and power. He rode out of the underwater palace in his chariot, drove the horses, and the waves parted before him. He was always accompanied by frolicking dolphins, various fish scurried around his chariot, behind which a wide foamy trail remained. Poseidon liked to raise waves, to cause a storm. He swung his trident furiously, the waves grew higher and higher and crashed onto the shore with great force. It seemed that the sea would overflow its shores. The sea vessels had a bad time; many could not withstand the fight against the elements. But Poseidon didn’t notice anything or anyone, he was having fun, riding the waves, making noise, admiring the white foam and the play of dolphins. When he got tired of this activity, he used the same trident to calm the waves.

When the sea became quiet, beautiful Nereids, daughters of Nereus, patroness of sailors, appeared from the waves. They swam out of the depths of the sea, came ashore and started dancing in circles. Everything in nature calmed down. And Poseidon also surfaced from the depths and watched with pleasure the dances of the daughters of the elder Nereus. And he rejoiced that he had a son, the new ruler of the sea elements.

In ancient Greek mythology, the god of the seas, the son of the Titan Kronos and the Titanide Rhea, brother of Zeus, Hades, Hera, Demeter and Hestia. The main feature that distinguishes Poseidon in myths is authority, indestructible and stormy power, which manifests itself inseparably from his royal greatness. The wrath of this god is fierce, as is his element; with inexorable anger he persecutes those who insult him. Translated from ancient Greek, his name means “Earth Shaker.” In the depictions of ancient works of art, his face mostly bore an expression of excitement and anger, in contrast to the Olympian calm of Zeus.

When the Olympian gods defeated Kronos, the three brothers - Zeus, Hades and Poseidon - divided the world among themselves. They drew lots to make sure everything was fair. Poseidon received the kingdom of the sea, and Zeus received the earth and sky and became the supreme god. Poseidon did not like this situation very much. He was the elder brother and believed that supremacy in the world of gods should belong to him. He publicly called Zeus an invader and did not want to obey him at all. Together with Hera and Athena, they plotted against Zeus, and tied him so tightly that the supreme god could not move. And if it weren’t for the help of Zeus’s beloved, the sea goddess Thetis, who brought the hundred-armed hecantocheir Briareus from Tartarus to help her beloved, it is still unknown who would have been the supreme god.
Zeus ordered the gates of Olympus to be closed in front of Poseidon and threatened with lightning if he dared to appear on the threshold of heaven. To earn forgiveness, Poseidon was forced to go into exile among the people and work for ten years as a simple mason for the king of Troy, Laomedont, building fortress walls. Laomedont promised payment for the work, but when everything was finished, he did not want to pay. Then Poseidon sent a sea monster to the city, devouring people.
After finishing the work, Poseidon's punishment ended. Zeus allowed himself to be persuaded and allowed Poseidon to return to the palace of the gods.
Now Poseidon could get married, and he wanted it so much, because the god of the seas was in love.
Who was his chosen one?
And he met her on the island of Naxos at a reception hosted by the old god of water Ocean. His daughters danced after the feast, and among them the most beautiful was the bright-eyed Amphitrite. Poseidon asked her father for her hand in marriage and received consent, but the daughter did not agree, because Poseidon disgusted her. The God of the Seas was not ugly, but could not be considered the ideal of beauty, despite his powerful physique. He had wild, tousled hair, dark skin, an always damp beard, full of silt, and ominously burning eyes under bushy eyebrows evoked fear in the girl’s timid heart.
Poseidon returned saddened to his deserted palace in the depths of the sea. Then a dolphin, the wisest creature of all that inhabited the sea, swam up to him and promised to settle everything. He appeared to Amphitrite the next day and spoke about the vast possessions of the omnipotent owner of the water element, which seem to have no boundaries, about his boundless riches, about the amazing inhabitants of the sea who would lie at her feet and give her honor as their queen:
“He lives in a blue palace with a roof made of shells. At low tide they open up, and then the pearls contained in them are visible. Fresh flowers grow on the walls, and fish peer into the amber windows. In the garden, sapphire and red trees bear golden fruit. The algae extends over the surface of the waves so that the light passing through them sparkles with all the colors of the rainbow. Among the coral branches, lost starfish scatter a faint flickering light. Spiders rush quickly on their long-legged legs, sea lilies grow from the bottom of the sea like small palm trees with many leaves. Glassy sponges look like small dwarfs with large gray beards, and when a line of luminous cephalopods swims by, blue, red and white balls rain down from above in an amazing play of colors, falling like a rain of multi-colored stars. When the sea is calm, the sun can be seen from the depths, like the open bowl of a large purple flower.”
Amphitrite thought... Then she asked more about this and that, and a few days later she sat down as the queen of the sea on the emerald throne next to Poseidon.

Amphitrite's life truly became luxurious. The wonderful palace of Poseidon stood deep in the depths of the sea. Sea waves roar high above the palace. Amphitrite, who settled in the palace, was surrounded by such a magnificent courtyard, which even the queen of heaven, Hera, did not have. All her sisters, the Oceanids, the daughters of the Ocean, have now gathered here. And there were three thousand of them. When the Oceanids swam near the queen’s chariot, the waves were covered with white foam, as if all the silver clouds had fallen from the sky to the ground. She was served by Nereids, and there were fifty of them. These deities entertained the hostess with singing and invited her to dance. But it was not fitting for the queen to dance, and she only sat on some rock, surrounded by Nereids, and they, lying at her feet, combed their green hair.
Then their father Nereus came out of the crystal palace and told amazing stories about the times when the gods were not yet in the world. Meanwhile, newts with fish tails, naughty sea pranksters, frightened the nymphs with creaking music on hollowed out shells, interfering with Nereus’ story. In the evening, Poseidon arrived and took his wife to Olympus, where they, in the circle of the highest gods, sat down at the banquet table.

Poseidon rules over the sea. Sitting in his palace in the depths of the sea, he knows everything that happens on the moving surface. When he rushes across the sea in his chariot drawn by wondrous horses, then the ever-noisy waves part and make way for the ruler of the seas. When the winds unwisely whip up the waves, Poseidon appears, and with one look from his dark eyes he calms them, and drives the unruly storm away. When Poseidon waves his formidable trident, then sea waves, covered with white crests of foam, rise like mountains, and a fierce storm rages on the sea. Then the sea waves crash noisily against the coastal rocks and shake the earth. With his trident, he raises ships that have run aground or stuck between rocks, and sends fast currents to the shipwrecked, which carry them to safe places.

The sea, the earth and man, thrown onto the expanses of water in a fragile shell, tremble before his anger, and he even remembers a tiny bird - a kingfisher. Warm, gentle days come after the November slush, precisely when the female kingfisher incubates eggs in a floating nest. Poseidon, for the sake of her peace, smooths the waves and pacifies the winds. And then the ships, delayed at foreign piers by bad weather, return home.
Poseidon repaired, in addition to the sea, coasts, islands and piers. He dug the earth deeply with his terrible trident, creating inlets and channels. Earthquakes were manifestations of his anger. More than once Poseidon tried to subjugate territories and cities on land to his power.

The dispute between Poseidon and Pallas Athena over Attica is especially famous. Both wanted to patronize this land and its main city. It was agreed that the one who presents the best gift to the city will be awarded this honor. Poseidon uses a trident to knock out a source of salt water from a rock, but not fresh water, which is so necessary in an arid country. Athena grew an olive tree on the rocks of the Acropolis, the nurse of the people of Attica. The decision in favor of Athena was made by the Athenian kings Kekrops and Kranai (according to another version, they themselves

Poseidon is one of the most important gods on Olympus; he is considered the ruler of the sea. Poseidon is the god of the seas, born from Kronos and Rhea, and is the blood brother of Zeus and Hades. By the will of the cast of lots, at the moment of sharing power over the world, he received his destiny, which became the sea.

Who is Poseidon?

Poseidon, whom the Romans call Neptune, was the Greek god of the seas. In existing images, he is presented as a powerful and stern man with a beard and holding a trident. If you carefully examine the portraits, you will find a strong resemblance to Zeus.

Despite being identified with the kingdom of the seas, Poseidon is associated with natural disasters on earth, such as earthquakes. He has a second name - Earth Shaker. The symbols of the animal world for the king are the horse and the bull.

The trait that most conveys the character of the ruler of the seas is a stormy temperament. Poseidon is characterized by irritability, cruelty and vindictiveness, so during periods of his anger a storm, tempest or tornado may begin.

However, the magic trident helped in controlling the elements. If there was a storm at sea, one swing of a magic object - and the sea became absolutely calm.

The sea king rode across the sea in a chariot of unprecedented beauty.

The Lord of the Seas and his beloved women

The first woman Poseidon desired was Thetis, the sea goddess. But Prometheus said that when a child is born, he will be more majestic than his father. And so it happened, Thetis conceived from a mortal and gave birth to the great Greek hero Achilles.

The wife of the god of the seas was Amphitrite, who for a long time rejected his advances. After the rape, she fled to the mountains, where a dolphin found her and persuaded her to marry the ruler. Poseidon highly appreciated these efforts and laid out the image of a dolphin in the sky with stars.

Poseidon was known as a depraved god, and Amphitrite as a jealous and cruel wife. Many women paid for their relationship with her husband. Medusa turned into a monster with dozens of snakes on her head, and Scylla became a barking monster with 6 heads and three rows of large teeth.

After meeting with Demeter, who was looking for her daughter Persephone in all cities, the god of the sea desired her, but was refused. Fleeing from Poseidon, the woman turned into a horse and tried to hide among a massive gathering of animals. But the ruler made a different decision: he turned himself into a stallion, found Demeter and took her by force.

Poseidon and his offspring

The sea goddess gave birth to Poseidon a son and two daughters. Besides them, there are other sons of Poseidon, among whom are many monsters, giants who destroy everything around them, as well as other evil and unbridled descendants. Children often helped their father. The sons of Poseidon adopted cruelty and vindictiveness from him.

Odysseus, who blinded the one-eyed Cyclops named Polyphemus, was pursued by the ruler all his life, since the monster was his child.

Poseidon had countless children with various women, be they mortals or nymphs. Some of Poseidon's sons became famous Argonauts.

Triton, son of Poseidon and Amphitrite

What was the name of Poseidon's son? The Nereid Amphitrite gave birth to Triton, who became the god of Lake Tritonia, located in Libya. It was there that the ship of the traveling Argonauts ended up. Triton helped them return to the sea, and also gave them a handful of land, which would later become the island of Callista.

History of Aginor

In Greek mythology, Aginor is the son of Poseidon, born into the world thanks to a nymph named Livia. Having matured, he married Telefassa, who bore him three sons and a daughter named Europa.

One day Zeus kidnapped a young girl, and the inconsolable father sent all his sons after her, ordering them not to return without their sister. After a long time, the sons of Poseidon realized that their search was in vain, and settled in different areas. The places got their names based on their names. They became Phenicia, Cadmea and Cilicia.

Perseus, ancestor of Hercules

The question often arises: Perseus is the son of Zeus or Poseidon, since according to some legends the data differs.

Perseus, according to Greek mythology, is the ancestor of Hercules, as well as the fruit of the love of Zeus and the daughter of King Argos Danae.

The king of the Argive state was predicted that he would be killed by his own grandson. Fearing that his daughter might give birth to a grandson, her father locked her in an underground house built of hard rocks. However, the thunderer Zeus, using lightning, was able to destroy the structure and took Danae as his wife. Soon they had a son, whose name was Perseus. The Argive king, having learned about the birth of his grandson, hastened to get rid of Perseus and his daughter, throwing them in a box into the sea. An old fisherman caught them and freed them from captivity. Many years passed, Perseus grew into a handsome man and had many adventures during his life. Returning to his hometown, he became king of Argos, since his grandfather, afraid of retribution, fled. The prediction came true during the holiday. During the competition, the young man did not calculate the force of throwing a bronze disk, which flew over the entire arena and hit the old king, who secretly came to the stadium.

The inhabitants of Ancient Greece greatly revered the ruler of the sea and, in order to achieve maximum favor, tried to bring as many victims as possible to the deity, plunging them into the abyss. This ritual was very important for the population of the country, since their financial situation depended on whether merchant ships would sail by sea.

Therefore, before going out to the open sea, travelers paid tribute to Poseidon.

Type and attributes of the god Poseidon. - Sea monsters of Greek myths. - Death of Hippolytus. - Horses of the god Poseidon. - Dolphins in mythology. - God Poseidon and the giants. - Poseidon and Amphitrite. - Nereids. - Newts.

Type and attributes of the god Poseidon

Water was personified by many deities in the myths of ancient Greece. In addition to the Ocean, the father of all rivers, there were also gods of salt and fresh waters.

Poseidon(in ancient Greek), or Neptune(in Latin), son of Kronos, brother of Zeus, was considered the god of the sea kingdom.

The god Poseidon (Neptune) inspired great fear in everyone, because all vibrations of the soil were attributed to Poseidon, and when an earthquake began, sacrifices were made to the god Poseidon. It was enough for Poseidon to hit the ground with his trident for it to open up and shake.

Poseidon (Neptune) was recognized and revered as a mighty and strong god by all sailors and merchants who erected altars to him and turned to him with prayers so that the god Poseidon would grant their ships a happy passage without storms and would patronize the success of their trade.

One Orphic hymn (i.e. attributed to Orpheus) glorifies Poseidon and his power in these terms: “Hear me, Poseidon, whose hair is damp from the salty waves of the sea, Poseidon, armed with a sharp trident, drawn by fleet-footed horses, you who dwell forever in immeasurable depths of the sea, king of the waters, you, surrounding and crowding the earth with roaring waters, you, scattering the foam of the sea into the distance, you, ruling among the waves with your fast quadriga (chariot drawn by four), you, azure god, appointed by fate to rule the sea kingdom, you , loving your flocks covered with scales and the salty waters of the ocean, stop at the shore, grant a fair wind to our ships and add to it for our sake peace, security and the golden gifts of wealth ”(Orpheus).

In terms of type, the sea god Poseidon (Neptune) differs from Zeus (Jupiter) in restlessness of movements, disheveled hair and a wild appearance, more consistent with the wildness and turbulence of the sea. The trident, the main attribute of the god Poseidon, is nothing more than a harpoon used in catching sharks and whales. Therefore, the god Poseidon was considered the patron saint of fishermen.

The antique figurine depicts the god Poseidon with a trident in one hand and a dolphin in the other.

Sea monsters of Greek myths

On many ancient bas-reliefs, the god Poseidon appears accompanied by a whole retinue of mythological sea monsters.

Decorative art of recent centuries often depicts the god Neptune in fountains. Raphael depicted Neptune on a chariot drawn by sea horses.

At the bottom of the sea, according to ancient mythology, lived sea monsters that obeyed the god Poseidon and appeared on the surface of the sea waves at his command.

Death of Hippolytus

At the request of the hero Theseus, the god Poseidon summoned a monster, which caused the death of Hippolytus.

The young man Hippolytus was the son of Theseus and the queen of the Amazons. Sullen by nature, Hippolytus loved nothing more than hunting, and loudly expressed his contempt for women, never worshiped the goddess Aphrodite and brought all his sacrifices to the altar of the goddess Artemis. The angry Aphrodite decided to take revenge for such neglect. The goddess Aphrodite instilled in Hippolytus's stepmother Phaedra a mad love for Hippolytus. But Hippolytus turned away with disgust from his stepmother, who slandered Hippolyte to his father for this. Considering him guilty, Theseus called upon him the wrath of the god Poseidon, and Poseidon ordered the sea monster to appear on the surface of the water, while Hippolytus rode up to the sea in a chariot. Frightened by the monster, the horses overturned the chariot, and Hippolytus died.

This ancient Greek myth served as the plot for one of Racine's most famous tragedies - "Phaedra".

Horses of the god Poseidon

The usual residence of the god Poseidon is his sea palace in the Aegean Sea. The fleet-footed sea horses of Poseidon are also there, and as soon as the god Poseidon wishes to appear on the surface of the water, he sits in his quadriga, drawn by four horses with fish tails covered with scales.

Animals dedicated to the god Poseidon were the horse and the dolphin.

Dolphins in mythology

The dolphin rendered a great service to the sea god, for which he received the honor of serving in ancient mythology as one of the distinctive attributes of the god Poseidon (Neptune). One day, when the god Poseidon, seduced by the beautiful Amphitrite, one of the Nereids, was chasing her, she hid from him in the palace of the Ocean, and the dolphin revealed to the loving Poseidon the place where this palace was located, and Poseidon kidnapped Amphitrite, who became his wife and mistress of the seas .

Dolphins are depicted in many monuments of art from antiquity and modern times. Dolphins always participate in the retinue of Amphitrite and Aphrodite, as well as in the triumph of Galatea.

God Poseidon and the giants

According to the myths of ancient Greece, the god Poseidon greatly helped Zeus in the fight against the giants (Giants). Poseidon destroyed the giants by throwing entire rocks on them.

An antique vase depicts the death of Ephialtes, one of the giants: Ephialtes falls, struck down by Poseidon, who dropped a huge rock on him.

Poseidon and Amphitrite

Many ancient bas-reliefs depict the triumphal procession of Amphitrite, who became the queen of the seas. They usually depict Nereids sitting on sea monsters in the form of tigresses, gigantic rams and sea bulls.

Amphitrite herself, surrounded by this retinue, sits on a bull, the body of which ends in a fish tail, which is how it differs from the bull of Europe. On one antique cameo, Amphitrite is accompanied by winged cupids.

The same ancient plot served as the theme for numerous paintings, of which the most famous are paintings by Titian, Rubens, Lemoine and Natoire.

Nereids

Nereids- daughter of Nereus, who personified the Aegean Sea. The main duty of the Nereids was that they accompanied the shadows of the dead to the Isles of Grace, which is why their images are often found on sarcophagi and other tombstones, and the Nereids, like Poseidon, have the gift of prediction.

Tritons

From the union of the god Poseidon (eptune) with Amphitrite, Tritons and Tritonids were born. These are deities whose body with a human head ends in a forked fish tail. Mythological Tritons are often depicted sitting on blue horses, which have claws instead of hooves.

In recent works of art, Tritons are usually depicted blowing huge sea shells instead of trumpets.

Artists of later times often confused Tritonides with Sirens. According to mythology, they differ sharply from each other: in the Sirens, the female body ends in a bird’s tail, and in the Tritonids, it ends in a fish’s tail.

ZAUMNIK.RU, Egor A. Polikarpov - scientific editing, scientific proofreading, design, selection of illustrations, additions, explanations, translations from Latin and ancient Greek; all rights reserved.