The brothers drew lots at random, and with his draw Poseidon gained control of the seas, as well as all waters. When war broke out, Poseidon threw his considerable might behind the Achaeans—the coalition of Greeks who sallied forth to crush Troy.
At a critical moment in the battle, when the Achaeans seemed near defeat at the hands of the attacking Trojans, Poseidon raced to the battlefield and assumed the form of the prophet Calchas. He did so in order to avoid the detection of Zeus, who had ordered the gods to stay out of the affair. Down Poseidon dove and yoked his bronze-hoofed horses Onto his battle-car, his pair that raced the wind With their golden manes streaming behind them, And strapping the golden armor around his body, Seized his whip that coils lithe and gold And boarded his chariot launching up and out, Skimming the waves, and over the swells they came, Dolphins leaving their lairs to sport across his wake, Leaping left and right--well they knew their lord.
And the sea heaved with joy, cleaving a path for him And the team flew on in a blurring burst of speed. Even the mighty Agamemnon was shaken; he proposed a retreat so that the Achaeans might regain their strength.
Once again, Poseidon intervened—this time with the help from Hera, who distracted Zeus with her feminine charms and lured him into a deep slumber. Seizing the moment, Poseidon revealed himself and led his troops in a terrific assault that left Hector wounded and the Achaeans ascendant. When Zeus finally awoke to the sound of Poseidon bellowing in fury from the battlefield, he ordered the disobedient sea god to retreat from the battle immediately.
Poseidon conceded—not out of fear for Zeus, he assured the other gods, but because of his enormous respect for the Father of Olympus. After Troy had been brought to ruin, Poseidon focused his seemingly inexhaustible rage on Odysseus, the great hero whose long journey home was immortalized in the Odyssey. Though Odysseus had fought on the side of the Achaeans, he and his crew happened to land on an island inhabited by Polyphemus, a Cyclops and son of Poseidon.
When Polyphemus began eating members of the crew, Odysseus and his few remaining men devised a plan to blind the creature. Using great cunning, they tricked the massive creature into drinking himself into a stupor and blinded him when he was inebriated.
Truly, there would be no Odyssey without Poseidon. At one point, Poseidon sent a storm to shipwreck Odysseus as he was leaving the island of Calypso; the sea god would later lure Odysseus into range of his child, the maelstrom-producing sea monster Charybdis.
Thanks to his central role in the Homeric epics, Poseidon has maintained a lively presence in contemporary popular culture. There have been many film and television versions of the Iliad and the Odyssey , and Poseidon has almost always played a key role within them. Poseidon is the god of the sea. He has two brothers named Hades, the god of the underworld, and Zeus, the almighty god of the earth.
He carries a trident, which is his main weapon, and is said to be the inventor of horses. Poseidon was known to be a very jealous man and one day decided that he would like to be appreciated by the people of land, too. Poseidon knew that the city of Athens, Greece had been trying to decide which god they should build their temple for.
Thinking that he deserved this honor, Poseidon told the people of Athens that he would be their protector and they should worship him. Coincidentally, Athena, the goddess of war, had decided the same thing. The people of Athens knew how dangerous it could be if they angered or disappointed one of these gods, so they tried their best to stay out of it.
Finally, Athena suggested that they have a competition. Each god was to give a gift to the people of Athens, and the people would decide which gift they liked better.
Poseidon agreed to this, but the people of Athens were still nervous about the idea, for they did not want to upset either god. The cookie is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Performance". It does not store any personal data.
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