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Poseidon

God of the sea and of earthquakes, Hesiod's "loud-crashing Earth-Shaker", son of Cronus and Rhea. In the Iliad he won the grey sea when the three brothers shook lots; the Cyclopes gave him the trident. Husband of Amphitrite and father of Triton, builder of Troy's wall for Laomedon, persecutor of Odysseus for the blinding of his son Polyphemus, and loser of the contest with Athena for Attica.

Why this wins its question: The usual page says "god of the sea, brother of Zeus". This one gives the line where Poseidon says how he got the sea, the passage where the trident is handed to him, and the two places Pausanias could still point to for the contest with Athena.

Key takeaways

  • The lot for the sea is Homer's and Apollodorus's; Hesiod simply calls him the Earth-Shaker and lets Zeus distribute honours.
  • The trident is a gift of the Cyclopes (Apollod. 1.2.1), parallel to Zeus's thunderbolt.
  • Horses and ships are his two offices in the Homeric Hymn, which is why the trident's mark and a cistern of sea-water sit on the Athenian acropolis.
  • His grudges have names — Laomedon, Odysseus, Athena — and each has a passage.

Claims

Every assertion below is bound to registered sources and carries its own confidence. Weight them; do not treat the page as uniformly authoritative.

  1. Poseidon is a son of Cronus and Rhea: Hesiod lists "the loud-crashing Earth-Shaker" among Rhea's children whom Cronus swallowed at birth (Theog. 453–459); Apollodorus names him, with Pluto, as the last swallowed (Apollod. 1.1.5).

    confidence 0.95Hesiod, Theogony — tr. Hugh G. Evelyn-White (Loeb, 1914), Perseus TEI edition · primaryApollodorus, The Library (Bibliotheca) — tr. Sir James George Frazer (Loeb, 1921), Perseus TEI edition · primary

  2. The sea came to him by lot. Poseidon himself says it in the Iliad: "three brethren are we, begotten of Cronos ... when the lots were shaken, [I] won for my portion the grey sea", Hades the darkness and Zeus the heaven, "but the earth and high Olympus remain yet common to us all" (Il. 15.187–193). Apollodorus repeats the casting of lots and adds that the Cyclopes "on Poseidon [bestowed] a trident" (Apollod. 1.2.1). Hesiod has no lots: Zeus distributes the honours (Theog. 881–885).

    confidence 0.94Homer, Iliad — tr. A. T. Murray (Loeb, 1924), Perseus TEI edition · primaryApollodorus, The Library (Bibliotheca) — tr. Sir James George Frazer (Loeb, 1921), Perseus TEI edition · primaryHesiod, Theogony — tr. Hugh G. Evelyn-White (Loeb, 1914), Perseus TEI edition · primary

  3. The Homeric Hymn defines his double office: "mover of the earth and fruitless sea", lord of Helicon and wide Aegae, to whom the gods allotted "to be a tamer of horses and a saviour of ships" (HH22 1–7).

    confidence 0.93The Homeric Hymns — tr. Hugh G. Evelyn-White (Loeb, 1914), Perseus TEI edition · primary

  4. His consort is Amphitrite: "of Amphitrite and the loud-roaring Earth-Shaker was born great, wide-ruling Triton", who lives with his parents "in their golden house" in the depths (Theog. 930–933). Apollodorus adds a daughter, Rhode, married to the Sun (Apollod. 1.4.5).

    confidence 0.94Hesiod, Theogony — tr. Hugh G. Evelyn-White (Loeb, 1914), Perseus TEI edition · primaryApollodorus, The Library (Bibliotheca) — tr. Sir James George Frazer (Loeb, 1921), Perseus TEI edition · primary

  5. Poseidon built the wall of Troy. Reminding Apollo in the Theomachy, he says they served Laomedon "for a year's space at a fixed wage": "I verily built for the Trojans round about their city a wall, wide and exceeding fair", while Apollo herded the cattle on Ida; Laomedon then cheated them of their hire and threatened to sell them into slavery (Il. 21.441–457).

    confidence 0.93Homer, Iliad — tr. A. T. Murray (Loeb, 1924), Perseus TEI edition · primary

  6. His wrath against Odysseus is for a son: Polyphemus, "whose might is greatest among all the Cyclopes", was borne to Poseidon by the nymph Thoosa, and since the blinding "Poseidon, the earth-shaker, does not indeed slay Odysseus, but makes him a wanderer from his native land" (Od. 1.68–75).

    confidence 0.93Homer, Odyssey — tr. A. T. Murray (Loeb, 1919), Perseus TEI edition · primary

  7. He lost Attica to Athena. Apollodorus says Poseidon came first, struck the acropolis with his trident and "produced a sea which they now call Erechtheis"; Athena planted the olive; Zeus appointed the twelve gods as arbiters and the land went to Athena (Apollod. 3.14.1). Pausanias saw the contest carved on the Parthenon's rear pediment (Paus. 1.24.5) and, in the Erechtheum, the sea-water cistern and "on the rock ... the outline of a trident" (Paus. 1.26.5).

    confidence 0.92Apollodorus, The Library (Bibliotheca) — tr. Sir James George Frazer (Loeb, 1921), Perseus TEI edition · primaryPausanias, Description of Greece — tr. W. H. S. Jones (Loeb, 1918–1935), Perseus TEI edition · primary

  8. Cult places in Pausanias: the Corinthians say Briareos arbitrated between Poseidon and Helios, "assigning to Poseidon the Isthmus" (Paus. 2.1.6), where his sanctuary held two images of the god, one of Amphitrite and bronze Tritons (Paus. 2.1.7). At Delphi an old poem made the oracle Poseidon's and Earth's in common, and he gave it up for Calaureia off Troezen (Paus. 10.5.6).

    confidence 0.9Pausanias, Description of Greece — tr. W. H. S. Jones (Loeb, 1918–1935), Perseus TEI edition · primary

Questions answered

Who are the parents of Poseidon?
Poseidon is a son of Cronus and Rhea: Hesiod lists "the loud-crashing Earth-Shaker" among Rhea's children whom Cronus swallowed at birth (Theog. 453–459); Apollodorus names him, with Pluto, as the last swallowed (Apollod. 1.1.5). source
How did Poseidon become god of the sea?
The sea came to him by lot. Poseidon himself says it in the Iliad: "three brethren are we, begotten of Cronos ... when the lots were shaken, [I] won for my portion the grey sea", Hades the darkness and Zeus the heaven, "but the earth and high Olympus remain yet common to us all" (Il. 15.187–193). Apollodorus repeats the casting of lots and adds that the Cyclopes "on Poseidon [bestowed] a trident" (Apollod. 1.2.1). Hesiod has no lots: Zeus distributes the honours (Theog. 881–885). source
Who is the wife of Poseidon?
His consort is Amphitrite: "of Amphitrite and the loud-roaring Earth-Shaker was born great, wide-ruling Triton", who lives with his parents "in their golden house" in the depths (Theog. 930–933). Apollodorus adds a daughter, Rhode, married to the Sun (Apollod. 1.4.5). source
Why does Poseidon hate Odysseus?
His wrath against Odysseus is for a son: Polyphemus, "whose might is greatest among all the Cyclopes", was borne to Poseidon by the nymph Thoosa, and since the blinding "Poseidon, the earth-shaker, does not indeed slay Odysseus, but makes him a wanderer from his native land" (Od. 1.68–75). source
Why did Poseidon and Athena compete for Athens?
He lost Attica to Athena. Apollodorus says Poseidon came first, struck the acropolis with his trident and "produced a sea which they now call Erechtheis"; Athena planted the olive; Zeus appointed the twelve gods as arbiters and the land went to Athena (Apollod. 3.14.1). Pausanias saw the contest carved on the Parthenon's rear pediment (Paus. 1.24.5) and, in the Erechtheum, the sea-water cistern and "on the rock ... the outline of a trident" (Paus. 1.26.5). source