The son of the Titans Cronus (pronounced KROH-nuhs) and Rhea (pronounced REE-uh), Poseidon was swallowed at birth by his father. He was saved by his brother Zeus (pronounced ZOOS), who tricked Cronus into taking a potion that caused him to vomit up Poseidon and the other siblings—Hades (pronounced HAY-deez), Demeter (pronounced di-MEE-ter), Hera (pronounced HAIR-uh), and Hestia (pronounced HESS-tee-uh). Poseidon later joined Zeus and Hades in overthrowing Cronus, and the three brothers then divided the universe among themselves. Zeus received the sky, Hades ruled the underworld or land of the dead, and Poseidon became god of the seas.
Although Zeus was king of the gods, Poseidon often asserted his independence. Once he even plotted with the goddesses Hera and Athena (pronounced uh-THEE-nuh) to overthrow Zeus. Together they managed to put Zeus in chains. However, the sea goddess Thetis (pronounced THEE-tis) saved Zeus by bringing a giant from Tartarus (pronounced TAR-tur-uhs)—a realm beneath the underworld—to release the king of the gods from his chains. As punishment for this rebellion, Zeus made Poseidon serve as a slave to King Laomedon (pronounced lay-OM-uh-don) of Troy for a year. During this time,
Poseidon helped build great walls around the city. When the king refused to pay for this work, Poseidon took revenge by siding with the Greeks against Troy in the Trojan War.
Love, Life, and Children Poseidon had a turbulent love life and fathered many children, including a number of monsters and sea creatures. With his wife, the sea nymph Amphitrite (pronounced am-fi-TRY-tee), he had three offspring. One of the children, Triton (pronounced TRY-tun), was a sea god and a merman (male version of a mermaid) who resembled a human above the waist and a fish from the waist down.
Poseidon had children with other partners as well. After seducing his sister Demeter while disguised as a horse, he had two children: the divine horse Arion (pronounced uh-RYE-uhn) and a daughter Despina (pronounced des-PEE-nuh). Medusa (pronounced meh-DOO-suh) is also sometimes mentioned as a lover of Poseidon. According to myth, Medusa was once a beautiful woman, and Poseidon seduced her inside one of the goddess Athena’s temples. Athena, angered by this sign of disrespect, transformed Medusa into a hideous Gorgon. The two children ofPoseidon and Medusa were born from the blood spilled when the hero Perseus (pronounced PUR-see-uhs) cut off Medusa’s head. These two children were the winged horse Pegasus (pronounced PEG-uh-suhs), and a son named Chrysaor (pronounced kree-SAY-ohr). Through his son Chrysaor, Poseidon became ancestor to some ofthe most fearsome monsters in Greek mythology, including the three-headed hound Cerberus (pronounced SUR-ber-uhs), the Hydra (pronounced HYE-druh), the Nemean (pronounced ni-MEE-uhn) Lion, and the Sphinx.
Gaia (pronounced GAY-uh), the earth, bore Poseidon two children: Antaeus (pronounced an-TEE-uhs), a giant, and Charybdis (pronounced kuh-RIB-dis), a sea monster that almost destroyed Odysseus (pronounced oh-DIS-ee-uhs) during his journey home after the Trojan War. Another giant offspring of Poseidon—the one-eyed Cyclops Polyphemus (pronounced pol-uh-FEE-muhs)—also threatened Odysseus on his voyage home. When Odysseus blinded the giant, he became a target of Poseidon’s hatred.
When Poseidon tried to seduce the beautiful sea nymph Scylla (pronounced SIL-uh), his wife Amphitrite became jealous and transformed her into a horrible sea monster with six dog-heads. Like Cha-rybdis, Scylla terrorized sailors, and she devoured several of Odysseus’s companions.
Poseidon was the god of the seas in Greek mythology. The Romans called him Neptune. PURESTOCK/GETTY IMAGES.
Among Poseidon’s other children were the evil Cercyon (pronounced SUR-see-on) and Sciron (pronounced SKEE-ron), normal-sized offspring who threatened and killed travelers in Greece, and the giant Amycus (pronounced AM-i-kuhs), who forced people to fight with him and then killed them. Various ordinary mortals also claimed Poseidon as their father, including the famous Greek hero Theseus (pronounced THEE-see-uhs).
Poseidon's Quarrels Poseidon had numerous quarrels with other gods. One of his most famous disputes involved the goddess Athena. Both Poseidon and Athena claimed the region of Attica (pronounced AT-i-kuh) and its capital city as their own. A contest was held to see which god could give Athens the best gift; whoever won would have the capital city named after them. Athena created an olive tree; Poseidon produced a saltwater spring (or, in some versions, the first horse). When the citizens judged Athena’s gift to be superior, the angry Poseidon flooded the surrounding plain.
Poseidon also quarreled with the sun god Helios (pronounced HEE-lee-ohs) over control of the Greek city of Corinth. The giant Briareus (pronounced bry-AHR-ee-uhs) settled the argument by giving the hill overlooking the city to Helios and the surrounding land to Poseidon. Satisfied with this decision, Poseidon caused no problems for the people of Corinth.
Another ofPoseidon’s famous quarrels was with Minos (pronounced MYE-nuhs), the king of Crete (pronounced KREET). Minos asked Poseidon to send him a bull that he could sacrifice to the god. Poseidon sent such a magnificent bull that the king decided to keep it for himself instead of sacrificing it. Furious, Poseidon caused Minos’s wife, Pasiphae (pronounced pa-SIF-ah-ee), to fall in love with the bull and to give birth to the Minotaur (pronounced MIN-uh-tawr), a monstrous beast that had the body of a man and the head of a bull.
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