Poseidon
Lord of the seas and brother of Zeus. Poseidon's moods shaped the oceans — calm seas for those who pleased him, devastating storms for those who did not.
The Myth of Poseidon
Poseidon was one of six children of Kronos and Rhea, freed during the Titanomachy. When Zeus, Poseidon, and Hades divided the cosmos, Poseidon received the seas. He dwelt in an ocean-floor palace with his queen Amphitrite and their son Triton. Poseidon was volatile and proud. He competed with Athena for Athens, losing when her olive tree was judged more useful than his salt spring. He punished Odysseus with a decade of storms for blinding his son Polyphemus. When Medusa was violated in his temple, from her severed neck sprang Pegasus, Poseidon's offspring. He fathered Theseus, hero of Athens, and built the walls of Troy alongside Apollo, only to be cheated by King Laomedon. Sailors feared his trident, which summoned earthquakes and shipwrecks. His rivalry with Zeus simmered beneath Olympian politics, and the monsters Scylla and Charybdis were said to reflect his wrath.
Parents
Kronos and Rhea
Children
Polyphemus, Triton, Theseus, Orion, Pegasus
Symbols
Fun Fact
Ancient Greeks believed earthquakes happened when Poseidon struck the ground with his trident in anger.
Explore Further
Poseidon
⚡ godGod of the sea, earthquakes, and horses
Poseidon was the god of the sea and earthquakes whose moods determined whether sailors lived or died — and whose grudge against Odysseus drove the Odyssey.
Amphitrite
⚡ godGoddess-queen of the seas
Amphitrite co-ruled the oceans with Poseidon.
God of the Sea
💭 conceptSea, storms, earthquakes, horses
Poseidon, brother of Zeus, commands the oceans and all waters beneath the sky.
Neptune
⚡ godSea, earthquakes, horses
Roman god of the sea and freshwater, identified with the Greek Poseidon but originally a deity of springs and rivers
Nereus
⚡ godThe Old Man of the Sea
Nereus was the ancient, benevolent sea god known as the Old Man of the Sea — truthful, wise, gentle, and father of the fifty Nereids.
Aphrodite
⚡ godGoddess of love, beauty, desire
Goddess of love and beauty, born from the sea foam. Aphrodite's power to inspire desire was so great that even the gods were not immune.
Phorcydes
🐉 creaturesea creatures
The monstrous children of Phorcys and Ceto, including the Gorgons, Graeae, and other terrors
Leucothea
⚡ godsea, rescue
Sea goddess who rescued drowning sailors, formerly the mortal princess Ino.
Zeus
⚡ godKing of the gods, sky, thunder, lightning, law, order
Supreme ruler of the Olympian gods and lord of the sky. Zeus overthrew his father Kronos and divided the world among his brothers.
Glaucus
⚡ godsea, prophecy
A mortal fisherman who became an immortal sea god after eating a magical herb.
Euphemus
🗡 herosea
Argonaut and son of Poseidon who could walk on water and was prophesied to be the ancestor of Cyrene's founders.
Trojan Cetus
🐉 creaturesea monsters
A sea monster sent by Poseidon to ravage Troy, fought by Heracles in exchange for divine horses