Poseidon

GREEK MYTHOLOGY
Poseidon, in ancient Greek religion, god of the sea (and of water generally),
earthquakes, and horses. He is distinguished from Pontus, the personification of the sea
and the oldest Greek divinity of the waters. The name Poseidon means either “husband
of the earth” or “lord of the earth.” Traditionally, he was a son of Cronus (the youngest
of the 12 Titans) and of Cronus’s sister and consort Rhea, a fertility goddess. Poseidon
was a brother of Zeus, the sky god and chief deity of ancient Greece, and of Hades, god
of the underworld. When the three brothers deposed their father, the kingdom of the sea
fell by lot to Poseidon. His weapon and main symbol was the trident, perhaps once
a fish spear. According to the Greek poet Hesiod, Poseidon’s trident, like Zeus’s
thunderbolt and Hades’ helmet, was fashioned by the three Cyclopes.
ruins of a temple of Poseidon

As the god of earthquakes, Poseidon was also connected to dry land, and many of his
oldest places of worship in Greece were inland, though these were sometimes centred on
pools and streams or otherwise associated with water. In this aspect, he was known
as enosichthon and ennosigaios (“earth-shaker”) and was worshipped
as asphalios (“stabilizer”). As the god of horses, Poseidon is thought likely to have been
introduced to Greece by the earliest Hellenes, who also introduced the first horses to the
country about the 2nd century BCE. Poseidon himself fathered many horses, best known
of which was the winged horse Pegasus by the Gorgon Medusa.
BRITANNICA QUIZ
Ancient Greek Gods and Demigods Quiz
Who is the god of the orderly universe and time, who swallowed his children to
prevent them from overthrowing him? Who is the queen of heaven, whom Zeus
seduced in the form of a cuckoo? Test your knowledge. Take the quiz.
Poseidon
Poseidon came into conflict with a variety of figures in land disputes. Notable among
these was a contest for sovereignty over Attica, which he lost to the goddess Athena.
Despite losing, Poseidon was also worshipped there, particularly at Colonus (as hippios,
“of horses”).
Poseidon’s offspring were myriad. He was the father of Pelias and Neleus by Tyro, the
daughter of Salmoneus, and thus became the divine ancestor of the royal families
of Thessaly and Messenia. Many of his sons became rulers in other parts of the ancient
Greek world. Otherwise he had many monstrous offspring, including giants and savage
creatures, such as Orion, Antaeus, and Polyphemus. Progenitor of many, with several
consorts, Poseidon also was married to the Oceanid Amphitrite, with whom he also had
multiple offspring, including the sea creature Triton.
Amphitrite and Poseidon in a chariot drawn by Tritons
The chief festival in Poseidon’s honour was the Isthmia, the scene of famous athletic
contests (including horse races), celebrated in alternate years near the Isthmus of
Corinth. His character as a sea god eventually became his most prominent in art, and he
was represented with the attributes of the trident, the dolphin, and the tuna. The
Romans, ignoring his other aspects, identified him with Neptune as sea god.
The Editors of Encyclopaedia BritannicaThis article was most recently revised and updated
by Alicja Zelazko.
Athena
 Introduction & Top Questions
Fast Facts
 2-Min Summary
 Related Content
 Quizzes
Media
 Images
More
 More Articles On This Topic

 Contributors
 Article History
HomePhilosophy & ReligionAncient Religions & Mythology
Athena
Greek mythology
Print Cite Share Feedback
Alternate titles: Athene, Pallas

By The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica • Last Updated: Aug 16, 2022 • Edit History
Top Questions
Who was Athena?

How was Athena born?
How is Athena usually portrayed?
What is Athena's animal symbol?
What was Athena's role in the Iliad?
Summary
Read a brief summary of this topic
relief of the Pensive Athena

Athena, also spelled Athene, in Greek religion, the city protectress, goddess of war,
handicraft, and practical reason, identified by the Romans with Minerva. She was
essentially urban and civilized, the antithesis in many respects of Artemis, goddess of
the outdoors. Athena was probably a pre-Hellenic goddess and was later taken over by
the Greeks. Yet the Greek economy, unlike that of the Minoans, was largely military, so
that Athena, while retaining her earlier domestic functions, became a goddess of war.
She was the daughter of Zeus, produced without a mother, so that she emerged full-
grown from his forehead. There was an alternative story that Zeus swallowed Metis, the
goddess of counsel, while she was pregnant with Athena, so that Athena finally emerged
from Zeus. Being the favourite child of Zeus, she had great power.
BRITANNICA QUIZ
Oh My Heavens: A Quiz
Greek gods and goddesses could be many things, but they were never boring.
Athena’s association with the acropolises of various Greek cities probably stemmed from
the location of the kings’ palaces there. She was thought to have had neither consort nor
offspring. She may not have been described as a virgin originally, but virginity was
attributed to her very early and was the basis for the interpretation of her
epithets Pallas and Parthenos. As a war goddess Athena could not be dominated by
other goddesses, such as Aphrodite, and as a palace goddess she could not be violated.
In Homer’s Iliad, Athena, as a war goddess, inspires and fights alongside the Greek
heroes; her aid is synonymous with military prowess. Also in the Iliad, Zeus, the chief
god, specifically assigns the sphere of war to Ares, the god of war, and Athena.
Athena’s moral and military superiority to Ares derives in part from the fact that she
represents the intellectual and civilized side of war and the virtues of justice and skill,
whereas Ares represents mere blood lust. Her superiority also derives in part from the
vastly greater variety and importance of her functions and from the patriotism
of Homer’s predecessors, Ares being of foreign origin. In the Iliad, Athena is the divine
form of the heroic, martial ideal: she personifies excellence in close combat, victory, and
glory. The qualities that lead to victory are found on the aegis, or breastplate, that
Athena wears when she goes to war: fear, strife, defense, and assault. Athena appears in
Homer’s Odyssey as the tutelary deity of Odysseus, and myths from later sources
portray her similarly as helper of Perseus and Heracles (Hercules). As the guardian of
the welfare of kings, Athena became the goddess of good counsel, of prudent restraint
and practical insight, as well as of war.
Parthenon
In post-Mycenaean times the city, especially its citadel, replaced the palace as Athena’s
domain. She was widely worshipped, but in modern times she is associated primarily
with Athens, to which she gave her name. Her emergence there as city goddess, Athena
Polias (“Athena, Guardian of the City”), accompanied the ancient city-state’s transition
from monarchy to democracy. She was associated with birds, particularly the owl, which
became famous as the city’s own symbol, and with the snake. Her birth and her contest
with Poseidon, the sea god, for the suzerainty of the city were depicted on the pediments
of the Parthenon, and the great festival of the Panathenaea, in July, was a celebration of
her birthday. She was also worshipped in many other cities, notably in Sparta.
Athena became the goddess of crafts and skilled peacetime pursuits in general. She was
particularly known as the patroness of spinning and weaving. That she ultimately
became allegorized to personify wisdom and righteousness was a natural development
of her patronage of skill.
Get a Britannica Premium subscription and gain access to exclusive content.Subscribe

Now
Athena Parthenos
Athena was customarily portrayed wearing body armour and a helmet and carrying a
shield and a lance. Two Athenians, the sculptor Phidias and the playwright Aeschylus,
contributed significantly to the cultural dissemination of Athena’s image. She inspired
three of Phidias’s sculptural masterpieces, including the massive chryselephantine (gold
and ivory) statue of Athena Parthenos once housed in the Parthenon; and in Aeschylus’s
dramatic tragedy Eumenides she founded the Areopagus (Athens’s aristocratic council),
and, by breaking a deadlock of the judges in favour of Orestes, the defendant, she set the
precedent that a tied vote signified acquittal.
The Editors of Encyclopaedia BritannicaThis article was most recently revised and updated
by Adam Augustyn.
Load Next Page
Amphitrite was one of the sea nymphs Nereids, fifty sisters in total and
daughters of Nereus and Doris. She was the wife of Poseidon and had two
children with him; a son named Triton, a merman; and Rhode. Amphitrite also
gave birth to other children, such as seals and dolphins. Initially, she was
considered an important deity, as mentioned in the Homeric Hymn, when she
was present at the birth of Apollo, alongside Dione, Rhea and Themis.
Gradually, she became less important and in the end, the poets used her name
as a mere representation of the sea. Her Roman counterpart was Salacia, the
goddess of saltwater.

Poseidon

Uploaded by

Copyright:

Available Formats

Poseidon

Uploaded by

Document Information

Original Title

Copyright

Available Formats

Share this document

Share or Embed Document

Sharing Options

Did you find this document useful?

Is this content inappropriate?

Copyright:

Available Formats

Poseidon

Uploaded by

Copyright:

Available Formats

GREEK MYTHOLOGY

ruins of a temple of Poseidon

 Introduction & Top Questions

 More Articles On This Topic

HomePhilosophy & ReligionAncient Religions & Mythology

Alternate titles: Athene, Pallas

Who was Athena?

Read a brief summary of this topic

relief of the Pensive Athena

Get a Britannica Premium subscription and gain access to exclusive content.Subscribe

You might also like