Poseidon was the God of the Seas, son of Cronus and Rhea. After the fall of the Titans, Zeus, Poseidon and Hades sat around a table, a decided who should rule over which domain. They played a game of dice, and the winner would get his choice of Heaven, the Ocean, or the Underworld. Zeus won the first game, and he chose the Heavens as his domain. Poseidon won the second game, and he chose the sea, which is what he wanted. This left Hades with the dismal Underworld, where the souls of the dead go when their time on earth is up.
Poseidon ruled over every creature that lived in the ocean, or sailed on it. His symbol of authority was the trident, which was forged by the Cyclopses. With this, he could raise tidal waves, and summon storms on the sea. Whenever he would slam the end of the trident into the ground, an earthquake would tear through the land, devastating entire cities. Before sailors would leave port, they would always pray to Poseidon for fair weather and safe voyage across the sea. Sacrifices may have been made as well, in the case of large fleets sailing, in which case, a priest of Poseidon would be aboard as a “good luck charm”. Savage storms and earthquakes were often signs of Poseidon’s anger, and people would do whatever they thought was necessary to appease his anger, which usually took the form of human sacrifice.
Poseidon took the sea nymph Amphitrite as his wife. Together, they had a son named Triton. Triton had the head and torso of a man and the tail of a fish from the waist down. He was given control of the waves by his father, and would summon them with his conch shell. He would rise to the surface and blow into his shell; the sound would summon waves large enough to destroy entire cities. Triton would ride on the backs of dolphins, and travel with a group of sea nymphs, or Nereids. He would rarely have anything to do with his father, often being in another ocean entirely, far away from Poseidon.
Zeus’ unfaithfulness was not a trait unique to him, as Poseidon would often seduce other Goddesses and mortals. Amphitrite was a jealous woman, and with the power she was given as Queen of the Seas, she would punish the women just as Hera would, but only if she found out about it. A classic case of Poseidon’s escapades was with the gorgon Medusa. Medusa was a daughter of Ceto and Phorcys, and was born as a triplet with the two other gorgon sisters. Medusa was very beautiful, with a long fiery mane of red hair. Men everywhere wooed her, and would lavish her with the most exquisite gifts, but she was always indifferent. Her sisters, however, were ugly hags with brass wings; huge yellow tusks jutting out of their mouths, and snakes for hair. Any creature setting eyes upon them would turn to stone on the spot. The three sisters were born in the sea, and were all excellent swimmers, they also inherited the ability to breathe underwater from their mother. Medusa was swimming through the ocean one day, when she passed by Poseidon, and he immediately fell in love with her. He pursued her, and began to woo her. Medusa slowly fell in love with Poseidon, but she was afraid of Amphitrite finding out about them, and being punished by the jealous Queen. Poseidon took her to a large temple in Athens where Ampitrite would never find them, and there he seduced her. The temple was a shrine to Athena, Poseidon’s niece and bitter enemy. When Athena found out what the couple had done in her temple, she cast a terrible curse at Medusa, turning her into a beast akin to her sisters. With this curse, Medusa was unable to give birth to Poseidon’s children, which she was now carrying, and she fled to an island far off from any civilization with her two sisters, where they lived the rest of their days.
There was also a time when Poseidon fell in love with his sister Demeter. He would constantly search her out, and once he found her, he would actively pursue her. She would change her form in order to escape him; changing from snakes to birds to insects. She finally assumed the form of a mare, and Poseidon a stallion. He cornered her in a mountain valley, and there she told him that she would be his, but he first had to make her the most beautiful animal that the world has ever seen as a gift. Poseidon agreed to these terms, and returned to his palace and set to work on her gift. He tried several times to create beautiful creatures, but every attempt was failed. These ‘mistakes’ were carelessly released in the ocean; these were sea horses, manta rays, and the hammerhead shark. Finally, he remembered back to the forms that he and Demeter had assumed when they last met. Going from what he remembered, he created the horse. This was the most beautiful creature by far, and he was so pleased with it, that he forgot about Demeter altogether (which was her intention), and made himself an entire team of horses to draw his chariot.
On another occasion, Poseidon had seduced a beautiful sea nymph named Scylla. This is one occasion where Amphitrite found out what had happened, and worked her magic on Scylla. She turned Scylla into a creature with eight tentacles, each of them ending with a human hand. She had three heads, each mouth filled with razor teeth and an insatiable thirst for human blood. For legs she had dogs, which would also give the warning that the monster was near. Any sailor about to be overtaken by Scylla would hear the whimpering of puppies, and then see her tentacles wrapping around his body and plucking him off of his feet into her mouth. Scylla posed a danger to all sailors, so to protect them, Poseidon condemned her to a small cave on the straight where Sicily meets Greece. There she would squat in her cave, and wait for any passers-by to provide her with a meal. On the other die of this straight was the monster Charybdis, who had once been a sea nymph as well. She would ride the waves with Triton, and engulf more and more land for Poseidon’s kingdom. Zeus didn’t like this, and in order to stop her, her changed her into an enormous balloon like creature. Three times a day, she would drink the tides, and spew them forth again, causing the destruction of anything passing through the straight at the time.
He had several other children with other Goddesses and mortals. Some of these children were, Orion, the renowned hunter, and the only man that Artemis (Goddess of the Hunt) was able to love. From his father, he received the gift of being able to walk over water as if it were solid land. Theseus, who slew the Minotaur on the island of Crete with the help of the Cretan Princess, Ariadne. Polyphemus, the Cyclops blinded by Odysseus after the Battle of Troy. Pegasus, which was born from the blood of Medusa as it hit the ground when she was beheaded by Perseus. The Golden Knight, who was also born from the blood of Medusa along with Pegasus.
