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Running Head:

Poseidon: The Greek Lord of the Sea

Author's Name

Lincoln Charter School

Date the Paper is Due

Your Instructors Name

Honors World History or World History (not both)

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The white crests of the ocean waves made a resounding crash on the shoreline of Ancient

Greece. The Greeks believed that a god was responsible for this, and that god was Poseidon.

Poseidon was one of the most influential gods in all of . He is one of the main twelve gods on . Poseidon, the Olympian god, reigned over all seas, as well as storms, earthquakes, and horses, and all of these were believed to be under his control.

There is much dispute as to how Poseidon came about. The popular belief is that his mother, the Titan , saved him from death. For example, “he was saved by his mother Rhea, who concealed him among a flock of lambs and pretended to have given birth to a colt, which was devoured by ” (“Poseidon”, 2012). He had three sisters and two brothers: the goddess of agriculture, the goddess of marriage, the goddess of the hearth and the home, the god of the sky, and the ruler of the Underworld.

One thing that Poseidon was not well known for was the naming of . became the goddess in this city because she and Poseidon were in a competition, and she won.

The challenge was to give these people a gift, one each, and then they would get to choose which one they liked better. Poseidon created a spring, but the water was salty, but Athena made the olive tree, and the Athenians chose her. In anger of his loss, he sent a giant flood to the city in order to rebuke the Athenians for selecting Athena. But what is interesting is the fact that Athens was a major sea power during its peak, and this was probably a result of Poseidon and Athena working together, according to the Greeks.

When Poseidon and rebelled against Zeus, were briefly mortal and sent to Tory to build walls. The king of Troy at the time, Laomedon, told them that they would be rewarded.

They never were, so Poseidon, before the took place, sent a monster, what we refer Poseidon 3 to now as the , to attack the Trojans. Hercules ended up defeating this monster during his

Twelve Labors. Eventually, Poseidon and Athena worked out their differences, and both helped

Athens. Poseidon controlled the sea, but Athena built the first ship to sail on it. Poseidon was the god of horses, but Athena also built the chariot. These two instances are good examples of how the gods worked together.

Poseidon had many important sons and daughters as well, such as the renowned killer of the Minotaur, . He also had nonhuman children. For instance, “One of the most notorious love affairs of Poseidon involves his sister, Demeter. Poseidon pursued Demeter and to avoid him she turned herself into a mare. In his lust for her, Poseidon transformed himself into a stallion and captured her. Their procreation resulted in a horse, Arion” (Sellers, 2003). Arion, even though he was a horse, was capable of human speech.

The at supposedly recites Apollo's visions. Before Apollo took over control of the Oracle, this power rested with Poseidon. An example of this is Xenophon's

Anabasis. In this book, some Spartans worship Poseidon by a means that was only used to praise

Apollo, which was a type of song called a . Poseidon had many other roles before others took them over.

Amphitrite was the goddess of the sea, and she was also the wife of Poseidon. She was born as the daughter of , and she was a Nereid as well as an Oceanid. She also has an important legacy on today. There were at least ten ships in various navies, such as the British

Royal Navy, the United States Navy, and the Australian Navy, that were all name after this goddess. In addition, she appeared when Apollo was born.

Another fascinating aspect of Poseidon was the way that the Ancient Greeks worshiped Poseidon 4 him. There were various festivals that worshiped him, but the most prominent aspect of praising

Poseidon was the many massive temples built in his honor. An example of one of these temples was the Sanctuary of Poseidon at Sounion. It featured at least eighteen immense columns, and the ruins show that number still standing. This was a popular way for the Greeks to worship all of their gods. There are other examples of these immense, columned, marble temples such as the

Parthenon, and the Pantheon that were created to praise other or multiple gods.

The has become a symbol of Poseidon over the centuries. In Ancient Greece, the trident was used for spear fishing and also as a weapon, and it was very powerful. To clarify,

“His weapon is a trident, which can shake the earth, and shatter any object” (“Poseidon”, n.d.).

In their alphabet, the Greeks have a letter called Psi that looks similar to a trident. The trident was useful on a battlefield as well. It was known for being able to reach a long way, and since the prongs could catch another fighter's weapon and disarm them. The Romans had a type of gladiator game that involved catching a prisoner in a net and killing them with a trident.

Poseidon had many uses for his trident. He summoned tidal waves and tsunamis with it, created the first horse out of sea foam with it, and also struck the ground with it to create a spring in

Athens as stated before.

Poseidon was a very influential god that affected many things in relation to the sea, horses, and earthquakes. He had many children, such as Theseus and Arion. He had many temples dedicated to him, and he once cared for the Oracle at Delphi. He worked with Athena to create many powerful weapons of war, even though he didn't have Athens named after him. He was once punished by Zeus and built Troy's walls, but he regained his power and resumed the task of ruling over the sea. Altogether, Poseidon was an influence on anything that was in his Poseidon 5 domain, and he kept power over the Greek waters, protecting them from anything that could do them harm.

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References

Wikipedia. (2012, October 3). Poseidon. Retrieved November 1, 2012, from http://en.wikipedia.

org/wiki/Poseidon

GreekMythology.com. Poseidon. Olympians. Retrieved November 1, 2012, from http://www.

greek mythology.com/Olympians/Poseidon/poseidon.html

Sellers, P. (2003, November 25). Poseidon. Encyclopedia Mythica. Retrieved November 1, 2012,

from http://www.pantheon.org/articles/p/poseidon.html