Poseidon

Poseidon holding his trident

Poseidon was the son of Cronus and Rhea and he was raised by the Telchines who lived in the island where Rhea hid the newly born Poseidon in order to save him from Cronus who would eat him as he used to do with his children. The Thelvhines who were specialists in crafts making, constructed the trident of Poseidon. Once having grown up, the god fell in love with a Teilchinian woman named Alia. Poseidon coupled with Alia and they gave birth to six boys and one girl. The island of the Teilchines was named after the daughter of Alia and Poseidon, who was called Rhodes.

Officially, Poseidon was married with Amphitrite with whom he lived in his palace which was located in the sea. Poseidon and Aphitrite had one son called Triton who was half a man and half a fish. However, Poseidon used to be a women pursuer, just like his brother Zeus. His love affairs resulted to the birth of new children.

Illegal love affairs

The illegal couplings of Poseidon include that with his sister, Demeter. A horse was born by the goddess after that mating which was named Arion. Poseidon was said to have been planning to offer Demeter a dolphin that would symbolize his love for her. Yet, he decided to offer the dolphin to Amphitrite in order to avoid her jealousy. After that, he had to deal with Demeter’s anger, who had lost her gift, so Poseidon was obliged to do something special for her. He was trying again and again to create a very beautiful creature but he made several unsuccessful tries which resulted in a donkey, then a camel, a giraffe, an hippopotamus and a zebra. Finally, he created a very beautiful horse for Demeter who was impressed by the gift and forgave him.

Apart from Demeter, Poseidon was engaged in a love affair with Iphimedeia. However, in that case it was Iphimedeia who had fallen in love with Poseidon and chased him. She wanted to couple with the God and give birth to his children, so she used to dive in the sea in order to meet him. Poseidon transformed himself to a river (Enipeus river) and appeared to Iphimedeia with whom he fathered two giants named Otos and Ephialtes.

A gorgon named Medusa was also a mistress of Poseidon and they gave birth to Pegasus, the winged horse, who sprouted out Medusa’s head along with Chrysaor when Perseus cut her head.

Poseidon had also coupled with the goddess Aphrodite and their son was the king of Sicily, Erykas.

The lord of the Sea

As the lord of the Sea, he had a palace in it but he also shared the palace of Olympus with his brothers. What is more, he was considered to be the God who ruled the earthquake, often named as “earth-shaker”. According to the ancient Greeks, when Poseidon was angry, he thumped his trident on the ground and this caused earthquakes and huge waves. His mood affected the sea and when it was waved they used to accredit it to the hot tempered Poseidon. At the same time, he was the God who protected fishermen, so sacrifices were made to him by sailors before their voyages in order to gain Poseidon’s grace for a safe voyage. Travelers had also to offer Poseidon sacrifices so as to ensure a safe journey.

Poseidon and the Minotaur

Theseus killing the Minotaur

The King Minos, before taking on the throne, prayed to Poseidon to send him a white bull as sign that the Gods would approve him as the King of Crete instead of his brother. He also promised to sacrifice the bull in favor of Poseidon. When a beautiful white bull emerged from the sea, Minos was amazingly impressed by its beauty and he decided to keep the animal for himself. So, he sacrificed the best animal of his herd instead of the bull yet Poseidon considered that Minos had deceived him and punished him by making his wife, Pasiphae, fall in love with the bull!
Pasiphae asked the famous architect Daedalus to make a wooden cow for her, that she would use as a decoy to fool the bull in order to make love with it. After this coupling, Pasiphae gave birth to a creature that had a bull’s head and tail as well as a human corps. I
n fact, it was a dangerous monster, named Minotaur. Minos was advised by Delpi Oracle to put the monster in a building from where it could not escape. Then, Minos asked Daedalus to construct a labyrinth and locked Minotaur in it.
However, Minotaur had to be fed with seven young men and seven young girls who were sent from Athens annually, after a tribute that had been made between Crete and Athens. The cause of the tribute derived from the death of Minos’s son, Androgeos who had been killed by Athenians after his success in the Panathinaea.
Minos made war against the Athenians in order to punish them and after his victory he obliged them to send the young people for the Minotaur.
The son of the King of Athens, Theseus, decided o be one of the fourteen youths that would be sent to Minotaur but he intended to kill the monster. He managed to do it as well as to escape from the labyrinth, assisted by Ariadne, Minos’s daughter who fell in love with him and gave him a clew that helped him find the way back to the exit of the labyrinth.