Editing Poseidon (section)

==== Foundation of Athens ====
[[File:Athena Poseidon Cdm Paris DeRidder222.jpg|thumb|left|220px|Poseidon (right) and [[Athena]] (identified with inscriptions). Black-figure vaise painting by [[Amasis Painter]], 540 BC. [[BnF Museum]] (Cabinet des médailles), Paris]]

Athena became the patron goddess of the city of [[Athens]] after a competition with Poseidon. Yet Poseidon remained a [[numinous]] presence on the [[Acropolis]] in the form of his surrogate, [[Erechtheus]].<ref name=Burkert1985Poseidon /> At the dissolution festival at the end of the year in the Athenian calendar, the [[Skira]], the priests of Athena and the priest of Poseidon would process [[Baldachin|under canopies]] to [[Eleusis]].<ref>Burkert 1983, pp. 143–149.</ref> 

They agreed that each would give the Athenians one gift and the Athenians would choose whichever gift they preferred. Poseidon struck the ground with his trident and a spring sprang up; the water was salty and not very useful, but represented his true gift - the access to trade. Athens at its height was a significant sea power, defeating the [[Achaemenid Empire|Persian]] fleet at the [[Battle of Salamis]].{{sfn|Graves|1960|page=62}} 

For her part, Athena offered an [[Olive|olive tree]]. The Athenians or their king, [[Cecrops I|Cecrops]], accepted the olive tree and along with it Athena as their patron, for the olive tree brought wood, [[olive oil|oil]] and food. After the fight, infuriated at his loss, Poseidon sent a monstrous flood to the Attic Plain, to punish the Athenians for not choosing him. The depression made by Poseidon's trident and filled with salt water was surrounded by the northern hall of the [[Erechtheum]], remaining open to the air.

[[File:Athena Poseidon Louvre CA7426.jpg|thumb|right|220px|Athena and Poseidon, Faliscan red-figure volute-krater, by Nazzano Painter, 360 BC. [[Louvre]], Paris.]]

[[Walter Burkert|Burkert]] noted :"In [[Cult (religion)|cult]], Poseidon was identified with Erechtheus" and "the myth turns this into a temporal-causal sequence: in his anger at losing, Poseidon led his son [[Eumolpus]] against Athens and killed Erectheus."<ref name="Burkert 1983, pp. 149, 157"/>

It was also said that Poseidon in his anger over his defeat sent one of his sons, [[Halirrhothius]], to cut down Athena's tree gift. But as Halirrhothius swung his axe, he missed his aim and it fell in himself, killing him instantly. Poseidon in fury accused Ares of murder, and the matter was eventually settled on the [[Areopagus]] ("hill of Ares") in favour of Ares, which was thereafter named after the event.<ref>[[Maurus Servius Honoratus|Servius]] ''On Virgil's Georgics'' [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A2007.01.0092%3Abook%3D1%3Acommline%3D18 1.18]; [[scholia]] on [[Aristophanes]]'s ''[[The Clouds|Clouds]]'' 1005</ref>{{sfn|Wunder|1855|page=[https://books.google.com/books?id=4grgAAAAMAAJ&pg=RA2-PA100, note on verse 703]}} In other versions, Halirrhothius raped [[Alcippe (mythology)|Alcippe]], Ares's daughter, so Ares slew him. Poseidon was enraged over the murder of his son, and Ares was thus held in hold, which eventually acquitted him.<ref>[[Bibliotheca (Pseudo-Apollodorus)|Apollodorus]], [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Apollod.+3.14.2&fromdoc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0022:book=3:chapter=14&highlight=Euryte 3.14.2]</ref>

The contest of Athena and Poseidon was the subject of the reliefs on the [[Pediments of the Parthenon#Western Pediment|western pediment]] of the [[Parthenon]], the first sight that greeted the arriving visitor.

This myth is construed by [[Robert Graves]] and others as reflecting a clash between the inhabitants during Mycenaean times and newer immigrants. Athens at its height was a significant sea power, at one point defeating the [[Iran|Persian]] fleet at [[Salamis Island]] in a sea battle.