Editing Poseidon (section)

==Origins==
[[File:Neptuno colosal (Museo del Prado) 01.jpg|thumb|left|250px| Colossal-type statue of Poseidon-Neptune, probably sculpted in a workshop in Aphrodisias (Asia Minor). It was at [[Melicertes|Palaemon's]] sanctuary in [[Isthmia (sanctuary)|Isthmia]], where it was described by Pausanias. [[Museo del Prado|Prado Museum]], Madrid]]

During the [[Mycenean Greece|Mycenean]] period Poseidon was worshipped in several regions in Greece. At [[Pylos]] and some other cities he was a god of the underworld (Lord of the Underworld) and his cult was related to the protection of the palace. He carried the title [[anax]], king or protector. His consort [[potnia]], lady or mistress, was the Mycenean goddess of nature. Her main aspects were birth and vegetation.{{sfn|Dietrich|2004|pages=180-185}} Poseidon had the title "Enesidaon" (earth-shaker) and in [[Crete]] he was associated with the goddess of childbirth [[Eleithyia]]. Through [[Homer]] the [[Mycenean Greece|Mycenean]] titles were also used in classical Greece with similar meaning. He was identified with ''anax'' and he carried the epithets "Ennosigaios" and "Ennosidas" (earth-shaker). ''Potnia'' was a title which accompanied female goddesses.{{sfn|Dietrich|2004|pages=175–185}} The goddess of nature survived in the [[Eleusinian mysteries|Eleusinian cult]], where the following words were uttered: "Mighty Potnia bore a strong son".{{sfn|Dietrich|2004|page=167}} In the heavily sea-dependent Mycenaean culture, there is not sufficient evidence that Poseidon was connected with the sea; it is unclear whether "Posedeia" was a sea-goddess. The Greeks invaders came from far inland and they were not familiarized with the sea.<ref name=Hard1>Hard,"Greek mythology", p. 99 [https://books.google.com/books?id=r1Y3xZWVlnIC&pg=PA99 p.99]</ref>

In the primitive [[Boeotia]]n and [[Arcadia (region)|Arcadian]] myths Poseidon, the god of the underworld, appears as a horse and he is mating with the earth goddess.<ref name=Farnellwatergod/> The earth goddess is called [[Erinyes|Erinys]] or [[Demeter]] and she gives birth to the fabulous horse [[Arion (horse)|Arion]] and the unnamed daughter [[Despoina]], which is another name of [[Persephone]].<ref name=Hard/> The horse represents the divine spirit ([[numen]]) and is related to the liquid element and the underworld.<ref name=Schachermeyer>F.Schachermeyer: Poseidon und die Entstehung des Griechischen Gotter glaubens :Nilsson p 444</ref> In Greek folklore the horse is associated with the underworld and it was believed that it had the ability to create springs.<ref name=Hard/> In the [[Europe]]an folklore the water-spirit appears with the shape of a horse or a bull. In Greece the river god [[Achelous|Acheloos]] is represented as a bull or a man-bull.<ref name=Grimm/> [[Walter Burkert|Burkert]] suggests that the [[Hellenes|Hellenic]] cult of Poseidon as a horse god may be connected to the introduction of the horse and war-chariot from Anatolia to Greece around 1600 BC.<ref name="Burkert1985Poseidon"/>

In the Boeotian myth Poseidon is the water-god and ''Erinys'' is a goddess of the underworld.<ref name=Farnellwatergod/>
She is probably the personification of a revenging earth spirit<ref name=Erinys/><ref>Chadwick, [https://archive.org/details/mycenaeanworld00chad/page/98 p. 98]</ref> and it seems that she had a similar function with the goddess [[Dike (mythology)|Dike]] (Justice).<ref name=Bowra/> At the spring "Tilpousa" she gives birth to Arion. In the Arcadian myth Poseidon ''Hippios'' (horse) is mating with the mare-Demeter. At [[Thelpousa]] ''Demeter-[[Erinys]]'' gives birth to Arion and to an unnamable daughter who has the shape of a mare. In some neighbour cults the daughter was called [[Despoina]] (mistress), which is another name of [[Persephone]].<ref name=Hard/> The theriomorphic form of gods seems to be local in Arcadia in an old religion associated with [[xoanon|xoana]].<ref name=Stallmith/>
[[File:Poseidon Dionysos Zeus neck-amphora Nationalmuseet.jpg|thumb|right|360px|From left to right: Poseidon, Dionysos, Zeus. Black figured neck-amphora, 540 BC. [[National Museum of Denmark]], Copenhagen]]

According to some theories Poseidon was a [[Pelasgians|Pelasgian]] god or a god of the [[Minyans]]. Traditionally the Minyans are considered Pelasgians and they lived in [[Thessaly]] and [[Boeotia]]. In Thessaly ([[Pelasgiotis]]) there was a close relation to the horses. Poseidon created the first horse ''Skyphios'' hitting a rock with his trident and managed in the same way to drain the valley of Tempe.<ref name=Geschichte/> The Thessalians were famous charioteers.<ref>Jeffery, "The city states", p.72:"The proud title ''dikaios'' (the Just) in Thessaly was borne by a good brood-mare of Pharsalus, whose foals all resembled their sires."</ref> Some of the oldest Greek myths appear in Boeotia. In ancient cults Poseidon was worshipped as a horse. The horse Arion was a sire of Poseidon-horse with [[Erinys]] and the winged horse [[Pegasus]] a sire of Poseidon foaled by Medousa.<ref name=Hard/> At [[Onchestos]] he had an old famous festival which included horseracing.<ref name=Hard/> However it is possible that Poseidon like [[Zeus]] was a common god of all Greeks from the beginning.<ref name=Geschichte/>

It is possible that the Greeks did not bring with them other gods except Zeus, [[Eos]], and the [[Dioskouroi]].<ref name=Schachermeyer/> The Pelasgian god probably represented the fertilising power of water, and then he was he was considered god of the sea. As the sea encircles and holds the earth in its position, Poseidon is the god who holds the earth and who has the ability to shake the earth.<ref>"gaiaochos ennosigaios": holder of the earth earthshaker: [http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.04.0104:entry=poseidon-bio-1 Smith Poseidon]</ref> The primeval water who encircled the earth ( [[Oceanus]]) is the origin of all rivers and springs. They are children of Oceanus and [[Tethys (mythology)|Tethys]].<ref name=Geschichte2/>

[[Lewis Richard Farnell|Farnell]] suggested that Poseidon was originally the god of the Minyans who occupied Thessaly and Boeotia. There is a similarity between the Boeotian and Arcadian myths and especially between the myths which represent the god of the waters Poseidon as a horse.<ref name=Farnellwatergod/> The mythical horse Arion appears in both regions. The offspring of Poseidon winged horse Pegasus creates famous springs near [[Mount Helicon|Helikon]] and at [[Troizen]]. Some springs of Poseidon have similar names in Boeotia and [[Peloponnese]].<ref name=Geschichte/><ref name="FarnellIV" /> It is possible that the name of Poseidon ''Helikonios'' in Boeotia whose fest included horseracing derives from the mountain [[Mount Helicon|Helikon]]. The [[Minyans]] had trade contacts with Mycenean [[Pylos]] and the [[Achaea]]ns adopted the cult of Poseidon ''Helikonios''. The cult spread in Peloponnese and then to [[Ionia]] when the Achaeans migrated to [[Asia Minor]].<ref name=Geschichte/><ref name=FarnellIV/>
[[File:Dionysos Ariadne gods Louvre G41.jpg|thumb|left|340px|Hermes, Dionysos, Ariadne and Poseidon (Amphitrite is depicted on side B.). Detail from the belly of an Attic red-figure hydria, ca. 510 BC–500 BC. [[Louvre]], Paris]]

[[Martin P. Nilsson|Nilsson]] suggested that Poseidon was probably a common god of all Greeks from the beginning. The Greeks occupied Thessaly, Boeotia and Peloponnese during the Bronze Age. In all these regions Poseidon was the god of the horses. The origin of his cult was Peloponnese and he was the inland god of the Achaeans, the god of the "horses" and the "earthquakes". When the Achaeans migrated to [[Ionia]] there was a transition to regarding Poseidon as the god of the sea because the Ionians were sea-dependent.<ref name=Geschichte2/> With no doubt he was originally the god of the waters. The Greeks believed that the cause of the earthquakes was the erosion of the rocks by the waters, by the rivers in Peloponnese which they saw to disappear into the earth and then to burst out again. The god of the waters became the "earth-shaker".<ref name=Geschichte2/><ref>[[Iliad]] 13.43: "Poseidawn gaiaochos ennosigaios " (carrying the earth, earthshaker) [http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:abo:tlg,0012,001:13:43&lang=original Iliad 13.43]</ref> This is what the natural philosophers [[Thales]] [[Anaximenes of Miletus|Anaximenes]] and [[Aristotle]] believed and could not be different from the folk belief. 
<ref>Nilsson ,"Geschicte", Vol I, p.450 : a)Thales: Plutarch, plac.phil. p. 896 C, b)Anaximenes-Aristotle:Aristotle, Meteorogica 27 p. 365 . All Inform. by Seneca quest. nat. VI 6;10;20</ref> In the Greek legends [[Arethusa (mythology)|Arethusa]] and the river [[Alpheus (deity)|Alpheus]] traversed underground under the sea and reappeared at [[Ortygia]].<ref>Pindar, Pyth, II v,7:Nilsson, "Geschichte", Vol I, p.492.</ref><ref>[http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0160%3Abook%3D5%3Achapter%3D7%3Asection%3D3 Pausanias 5.7.3]</ref>

In any case, the early importance of Poseidon can still be glimpsed in Homer's ''[[Odyssey]]'', where Poseidon rather than Zeus is the major mover of events. In Homer, Poseidon is the master of the sea.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.crystalinks.com/poseidon.html |title=Poseidon – God of the Sea |website=www.crystalinks.com |access-date=2017-11-06 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171111162224/http://www.crystalinks.com/poseidon.html |archive-date=11 November 2017 |url-status=live }}</ref> He is described as a majestic, scary, and avenging monarch of the sea.<ref name=Hard1/>