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Poseidon the god of the sea was powerful, decisive, competitive, and dignified. It is very important to stay on his good side. He is moody, irascible, quick to take offense, and makes a hobby out of taking his revenge out on those who angered him. Although many myths portray Poseidon as an evil and uncaring god, he was also a deity who made the land fertile by providing its life-giving moisture and ensured the safety of the sailors who tilled the sea. Poseidon’s name meant "Husband of the Earth", and as a consort to the Titan Great Goddess Gaia (Mother Earth), Poseidon was originally worshipped as a fertility god. Poseidon had 2 sisters and 3 brothers which were Hestia, Demeter, Hera, Hades and Zeus. Their father was the Titan god Cronus who swallowed them to prevent a prophecy but, Zeus saved his brothers and sisters. After Poseidon and his brothers and sisters defeated the Titans and dethroned their father Cronus they all took what realm they wanted to rule.Poseidon won the oceans, Zeus got the heavens, and Hades drew the Underworld.They agree to all share the power over the earth, though the greatest responsibility for it went to Poseidon. Zeus was the supreme ruler.Poseidon at once began building a magnificent underwater palace and outfitted its stables with golden-maned white horses that would draw his golden chariot seas.His special weapon was the trident (a three-pronged spear) that is his most renowned symbol. Zeus proved to be an impetuous and arrogant ruler, and everyone was displeased with his performance. Poseidon and recruited others managed to capture and immobilize Zeus, but he quickly managed to escape and foil their plot. For punishment Poseidon was banished from his home. He and Apollo were sentenced to a year of manual labor building the great wall around Troy while working disguised as a mortals. The king of Troy had promised to pay the gods with vines of gold when the wall was finished but he failed to. At this Poseidon became infuriated and sent a sea monster to punish the city, but the monster was killed by Heracles (Hercules). Poseidon could hold a grudge for a long time. During the Trojan War Poseidon was delighted to fight on the side of the Greeks.



Poseidon was an honorable god; if he gave his word he meant it and kept it. He couldn’t rely on those who didn’t keep their word. When the king of Crete asked for a gift from Poseidon, a fine bull to sacrifice, Poseidon generously sent him the very finest from his herd, so fine in fact that King Minos decided to keep it himself instead of sacrificing it. Poseidon became angry because he sent the bull for sacrifice. So out of the anger Poseidon caused the king's wife to fall in love with the bull. The eventual outcome of their love affair was the birth of a child, half-bull and half-human called the Minotaur. Poseidon was always looking to expand his domain. Consequently he was often quarrelling and competing with the other Olympians. He never really won these disputes.One of the greatest disputes where when Poseidon and Goddess Athena were into it over who would rule the city Athens. It was decided that there would be a competition and the one who gave the finest present to the people of the city would win. Poseidon stuck his trident (spear) into a rock, which split open and began to spill out water. Athena gave them an olive tree. Unfortunately for Poseidon the spring water was brackish and not much use, so Athena won. Angry with the citizens’ decision, Poseidon flooded the plains surrounding the city. Poseidon had many more disputes over land with Goddess Hera, and many others.



Poseidon and his relationships with women was not a pretty picture. As a fertility god, Poseidon was every bit as lusty and sexually insatiable as his brother Zeus, if not more so. Poseidon and his brother Zeus both had numerous affairs and a great number of children resulted from their liaisons, but there was a small difference. When Poseidon’s brother Zeus desired a woman he usually made an effort to seduce her, either by courting her affection or by trickery. Poseidon, however, always used physical force to get his way he also used his powers. Poseidon's spear symbolized his instinctual, primal, sexual energy and ability to impregnate women. Poseidon was unsuccessful in his attempt to impregnate the virgin goddess Athena the “Greek goddess of war” who was able to physically repel him. When he attempted he spilt his semen on the ground and a child grew from it. Athena graciously agreed to provide a home for the child. Poseidon found love in the willing arms of the beautiful Medusa. They made love in the temple of Athena. Athena became furious over the defilement of her temple, turned Medusa into a hideous monster with snakes in place of her hair. The most infamous of Poseidon's rapes was when he pursued the goddess Demeter when she was distraught and full of grief, searching for her daughter who had just been abducted. She changed herself into a mare and hidden inside a herd of horses to escape his unwanted advances, Poseidon simply transformed himself into a stallion and mounted her. Poseidon did manage to fall in love. As he watched the sea goddess Amphitrite dancing something stirred in him not just the usual sexual urges, but something else as well, something sensitive and tender. Never having learned any other way to approach a woman he desired, he used his usual way. The devastated Amphitrite fled and hid herself from him at the bottom of the sea. Poseidon suddenly realized that he had lost something truly special, the opportunity for union with a woman that was more than just physical. Even though he searched everywhere, he could not find her anywhere, and he was filled with sadness and a great sense of loss. Delphinus (Dolphin) Poseidon’s friend, volunteered to find her and plead Poseidon's case. And he succeeded, convincing Amphitrite of Poseidon's love and wish to make her his wife and the Queen of the Seas. Amphitrite was touched and returned with the Dolphin. Amphitrite eventually, bore two kids of Poseidon. His son Triton rode with him in his chariot across the seas, trumpeting a sea shell to announce Poseidon's arrival wherever they went. Unfortunately, Poseidon soon returned to his womanizing, and there are many legends of the vengeance Amphitrite wreaked upon Poseidon's girlfriends. Jealous of Poseidon's attraction to the lovely Scylla, Amphitrite threw magical herbs into the water while Scylla was bathing, turning her into a hideous sea-monster with six heads, three rows of teeth, and 12 feet. Scylla was consigned to eat sailors off their ships for her meals, and was greatly feared by all sea-going men. Although most of the stories portray Poseidon as bad God that just take revenge, he obviously had a peaceful side as well. He offered protection to sailors, dried up lakes and rivers when needed to reclaim land for the building of cities, and continued to bless the land with fertile soil so that crops could grow. Ancient mariners would pray and make offerings to the Greek god Poseidon, hoping to insure a safe and profitable journey. However difficult and tumultuous Poseidon might have been, he reminds us to stay connected to the deep emotional and instinctual parts of our selves or even painful it might be. So other stories portray Poseidon as a rapist, evil, and a bad god but he actually has another side.



[|The Symbols of the Greek God Poseidon• Trident (three-pronged spear) • Horse (stallion) • White pine tree • Earthquakes • Bull • Oceans and seas• Springs(underground water) • Dolphin • Sea monsters • Tidal waves]

9) Computer Aided Drowning Detection. Has to do with swimming pools. So, there’s a connection between them.

10) D'Aulaire's Book of Greek Myths is a book of all the gods in Greece. Poseidon, Zeus, Hades and others.

11) I respect Poseidon to a certain extent. Have to respect the fact that he watch over sailors and is a fertility God. He didn’t any other way to approach women so he did what he knew. Its also not good to just impregnate women. I don’t think I would be friends with Poseidon. Couldn’t be around a person like that.