Friday, January 10, 2014

Poseidon (O2)

Poseidon, along with his brothers and sisters, is one of the gods of Mount Olympus. Poseidon is the son of Cronus and Rhea. Cronus was the Titan god remembered for swallowing his children after each one was born. He did this because he received prophesy of one of his children taking over his throne. In the majority of Greek myth, Zeus was seen as the child Rhea saved when she gave Cronus a rock to swallow instead of Zeus. In other myths, Poseidon was also seen as one of the two gods who helped to save Olympus. In the types of myths where Poseidon was saved, it was told that Poseidon’s mother, Rhea, gave Cronus a black foal to save her son.
 Poseidon was the brother of his five siblings, Demeter, Zeus, Hades, Hera, and Hestia. His grandparents were Gaea, the earth goddess, and Uranus. Poseidon, Zeus, and Hades took over, Zeus with the sky, Hades with the underworld, and Poseidon with the seas.
Poseidon is the god of, besides the sea, horses and earthquakes. He was believed to have an underwater palace, in which he lived. He was rewarded with being the god of all of the salt and fresh water, horses, and earthquakes after him and his family destroyed Cronus. Zeus was given the heavens and the role as the ruler of all of the Olympians and Hades was given the underworld.

The Greeks believed that Poseidon and the goddess of wisdom, Athena, were competing to be the patron god of Athens. To win against Athena, Poseidon struck the Acropolis with his trident causing spring water to emerge. Athena created an olive tree and the people of Athens thought that this was more useful for the people and declared Athena there patron goddess. The people had to make sure that they honored Poseidon so that he would relinquish his power on Athens.

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