Dictionary Of God And Godedesses

250 Posis Dascirca AD 400. SYNONYMS Poseidaon (Mycenaean);Poteidan (Dorian).CENTER(S) OF CULT Cape Sunium [southernGreece]; Pylos [Crete]; Mount Mykale[Turkey]; early sanctuary on the island ofKalauria; otherwise widespread through areasof Greco-Roman influence, particularly atBerytus [Syria].ART REFERENCES sculpture, plaques, coins, etc.LITERARY SOURCES Iliad (Homer); Theogony(Hesiod), etc.Poseidon is perceived as a sea god, one of thethree sons of KRONOS and RHEA. His brothers areZEUS and HADES. He is the father of Theseuswho became king of Athens, and is also linkedwith the ancestral king of the city, Erechtheus,whom he supposedly rammed into the ground.Among his other sons are Neleus, king of Pylos,and Pelias of Iolkos in Thessaly. He is also, by tradition,the father of the ancestors of the Aeolianand Boeotian races.The horse is sacred to him and he is said tohave inseminated the ground from which wasconceived the first horse. Poseidon’s chief consortis AMPHITRITE, but other consorts emphasize theaffinity with horses. They include the infamousGorgon, Medusa, from whose dead body camethe winged horse Pegasus and the warriorChrysaor. A liaison with the goddess ERINYS producedanother fabulous winged horse, Areon. Ina parallel legend Areon’s mother is DEMETERwhile in the guise of a mare.Poseidon appears never to have been envisagedin youthful form, but always as an elderly, beardeddeity who carries the emblem of a trident harpoon.According to tradition, Zeus took the sky, Poseidonthe sea, and Hades the underworld, while theearth was shared between all three. Poseidon wasa popular oracular deity, suggested in one legend tobe the first keeper of Delphi. Another oracle atCape Tainaron is dedicated to Poseidon.There exist ruins of a striking Poseidon sanctuary,constructed of white marble, on the cliffs ofCape Sunium at the extreme southern tip ofGreece, past which all ships sail when making forAthens. Regattas were held there in honor of thegod and he was particularly invoked during thetuna-hunting season which was conducted usingtraditional trident harpoons.On Argos horses were sacrificed to Poseidon,drowned in a whirlpool, while on Pylos and elsewherehe received the offering of slaughteredbulls.Posis DasSky god. Greek. In pre-Hellenic times the consortof the earth mother GAIA. One of the primordialpartnership identified in Theogony(Hesiod). He later becomes syncretized withZEUS.PothosPrimordial being. Phoenician (Hellenic). Accordingto the cosmogony, he is desire, and consortswith OMICHLE, darkness, to engender out ofchaos the spiritual force Aer, and its living physicalmanifestation Aura.PotinaMinor goddess. Roman. Associated with the safedrinking ability of infants.PoxlomGod of disease. Mayan (Tzeltal Indian, classicalMesoamerican) [Mexico]. Apparently perceivedas a star in the sky or a ball of fire. He may also bedepicted as a fertility god shelling maize or as afisherman, doctor, musician or hunter. An imageof the god was discovered in the Christian church