When offended or ignored, he supposedly struck the ground with his trident and caused chaotic springs, earthquakes, drownings and shipwrecks. In his benign aspect, Poseidon was seen as creating new islands and offering calm seas. Poseidon was a major civic god of several cities: in Athens, he was second only to Athena in importance, while in Corinth and many cities of Magna Graecia he was the chief god of the polis. Athena kept Athens, and ever since then, the olive branch is a universal symbol of peace. Cecrops, the first king of Athens, decided that Athena’s gift was more useful since it gave fruit, wood, and oil. To prove this, he struck his trident into a rock, creating a seawater stream which welled up in the Temple of Erechtheion on the north side of the Acropolis. Once, he even wanted to obtain Athens from Athena, claiming that the city would have much more benefit from him than her. The god of the sea was also greedy – especially when it came to earthly kingdoms. And, mad at him for blinding his son Polyphemus, he had a decade-long feud with one of the greatest Greek heroes, Odysseus. The monster was later killed by Heracles.Įven so, the narcissist that he was, Poseidon destroyed the fortifications built by the Greeks, firmly believing that his walls are the only buildings of the type worthy to remain. In vengeance, before the Trojan War, Poseidon sent a sea monster to attack Troy. He had them build huge walls around the city and promised to reward them well, a promise he then refused to fulfill. 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. "In cult, Poseidon was identified with Erechtheus," Walter Burkert noted "the myth turns this into a temporal-causal sequence: in his anger at losing, Poseidon led his son Eumolpus against Athens and killed Erectheus." 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. 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 Athenians or their king, Cecrops, accepted the olive tree and along with it Athena as their patron, for the olive tree brought wood, oil and food. Poseidon struck the ground with his trident and a spring sprang up the water was salty and not very useful, whereas Athena offered them an olive tree. They agreed that each would give the Athenians one gift and the Athenians would choose whichever gift they preferred. 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 under canopies to Eleusis. Yet Poseidon remained a numinous presence on the Acropolis in the form of his surrogate, Erechtheus. Zeus drew the skies, Hades the underworld, and Poseidon the seas.Īthena became the patron goddess of the city of Athens after a competition with Poseidon. In most accounts he is swallowed by Cronus at birth and is later saved, along with his other brothers and sisters, by Zeus.Īfter the gods defeated the Titans, the world was divided into three and Zeus, Hades and Poseidon drew straws to decide which they would rule. Poseidon was the second son of the Titans Cronus and Rhea.
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