Greek

Tap or drag

Greek

Poseidon

The Lord of the Seas

Domain: Oceans & Earthquakes
Alignment: Chaotic Neutral
Element: Water
Relics of Power: Trident of Atlantis

Speak with Poseidon

The full Codex

5 sections of this entry are open to everyone: the summary, the people, the symbols, the lineage and the sources. The other 9 (Name and epithets, In the ancient sources, The myths, Worship and archaeology, How the god was depicted, What scholars debate, After antiquity, Did you know?, Codex relic) are part of the full Codex: PRO opens the whole study of all 500 deities, and without a subscription you can read one full entry a day, just like in the app.

See PRO Get the app

The People

People

Ancient Greeks

Region

Greece & the Mediterranean

Period

8th c. BC – 4th c. AD

The Olympian gods were worshipped by the city-states of ancient Greece, from Athens to Sparta, which raised them temples such as the Parthenon. Reigning atop Mount Olympus, they presided over every aspect of life and were celebrated in festivals like the Olympic Games. Homer and Hesiod fixed their myths, which shaped all of Western culture.

The Olympic Games were held every four years in honor of Zeus, and the Panathenaea celebrated Athena in Athens. The Eleusinian Mysteries initiated the faithful into the secrets of Demeter and Persephone, while crowds consulted Apollo's oracle at Delphi.

At a glance

Poseidon is the Greek god of the seas, maritime storms, earthquakes, and horses. Born to Cronus and Rhea, he obtained dominion over the waters when the universe was allotted by drawing lots with his brothers Zeus and Hades. Worshipped since the Mycenaean era, his impetuous temperament and his trident govern both the fury of ocean waves and the violent shaking of dry land.

19 min read · Reviewed on October 2, 2026 · How we research

Sacred symbols

Trident, horse, dolphin and bull

Family

Parents

Cronus Rhea

Siblings

Hestia Demeter Hera Hades Zeus

Poseidon

Unions

Amphitrite DemeterMedusaGaia

Children

TritonPolyphemusPegasusChrysaorTheseus

Genealogy according to Hesíodo, Teogonia 453–458 e 930–933; Homero, Odisseia 11.235–259

Sources and further reading

Primary sources

Hesiod / Hesiod, Teogonia / Theogony. translation: H. G. Evelyn-White, Loeb, 1914. read
Homero / Homer, Iliad / Iliad. translation: A. T. Murray, Loeb, 1924. read
Homero / Homer, Odisseia / Odyssey. translation: A. T. Murray, Loeb, 1919. read
Pausanias / Pausanias, Description of Greece / Description of Greece 1.1–16. translation: W. H. S. Jones, Loeb, 1918–1935. read
Pausanias / Pausanias, Description of Greece / Description of Greece 1.17–29. translation: W. H. S. Jones, Loeb, 1918–1935. read
Pausanias / Pausanias, Description of Greece / Description of Greece 2.1–14. translation: W. H. S. Jones, Loeb, 1918–1935. read
Pausanias / Pausanias, Description of Greece / Description of Greece 7.17–27. translation: W. H. S. Jones, Loeb, 1918–1935. read
Pausanias / Pausanias, Description of Greece / Description of Greece 8.1–16. translation: W. H. S. Jones, Loeb, 1918–1935. read
Pausanias / Pausanias, Description of Greece / Description of Greece 8.17–35. translation: W. H. S. Jones, Loeb, 1918–1935. read
Pausanias / Pausanias, Description of Greece / Description of Greece 9.23–40. translation: W. H. S. Jones, Loeb, 1918–1935. read
Pseudo-Apolodoro / Pseudo-Apollodorus, Library / Library, book 1. translation: James George Frazer, Loeb, 1921. read
Pseudo-Apolodoro / Pseudo-Apollodorus, Library / Library, book 2. translation: James George Frazer, Loeb, 1921. read
Pseudo-Apolodoro / Pseudo-Apollodorus, Library / Library, book 3. translation: James George Frazer, Loeb, 1921. read
Homero / Homer, Homeric Hymn to Poseidon / Homeric Hymn to Poseidon 22. translation: H. G. Evelyn-White, Loeb 1914. read
Bacchylides / Bacchylides, Ditirambos / Dithyrambs 17. translation: Perseus Digital Library, text and English translation. read

Studies

Walter Burkert, Greek Religion. Harvard University Press, 1985.
Timothy Gantz, Early Greek Myth: A Guide to Literary and Artistic Sources. Johns Hopkins University Press, 1993.
Lewis Richard Farnell, The Cults of the Greek States (Vol. 4: Poseidon). Clarendon Press, Oxford, 1907.
Dora Katsonopoulou; Steven Soter, Submergence and uplift of settlements in the area of Helike, Greece, from the Early Bronze Age to late antiquity. Geoarchaeology 26(4), 2011. open
Theoi Project, Poseidon. Aaron J. Atsma, 2000–2017. open
Wikipedia contributors, Helike; Isthmia (sanctuary); Temple of Poseidon, Sounion; Kalaureia; Cape Tainaron; Poseidon of Milos; Neptunalia; Fountain of Neptune, Bologna; Neptune (planet). Wikimedia Foundation (entries consulted on 14/10/2026), 2026. open

Name and epithets

The Greek theonym Ποσειδῶν (Poseidôn; Doric dialect Ποτειδάν, Poteidán) has no secure etymology. One widely cited proposal analyses it as a compound of *pótis ("lord", "master", "husband") and a second element *dā-, oft…

In the ancient sources

Homer, Iliad, 8th c. BC. The descent from Samothrace to Aegae in four strides, the speech on the division of the world by lot, the wall built for Laomedon at Troy, and the bull offered to the lord of Helice.

The myths

The contest for the city that became Athens. The account assembled by Apollodorus says that, when the gods resolved to take possession of cities, Poseidon was the first to reach Attica and, with a blow of his trident on…

Worship and archaeology

Poseidon’s cult is attested in coastal, island, and inland sanctuaries across the Greek world. At the Isthmus of Corinth, the Isthmian games were celebrated in his sanctuary (2.1.7; 2.2.2).

How the god was depicted

Ancient sources describe Poseidon’s image through attributes and scenes. In the Iliad he drives over the waves in a chariot with two bronze-hoofed horses with flowing golden manes, grasping a well-wrought whip of gold;…

What scholars debate

Primordial nature: master of the earth or ruler of the sea?. Poseidon’s name appears on Mycenaean Linear B tablets from Pylos and Knossos, and scholars have long debated which sphere was original to him.

After antiquity

In Roman religion, Poseidon was identified with Neptune (Neptunus), honoured as a god of waters at the Neptunalia, an archaic summer festival celebrated in the heat and drought and probably held on 23 July (Varro, De li…

Did you know?

In the Argive tradition recorded by Pausanias, the Argives of old cast horses adorned with bridles into Dine, a stream of fresh water rising out of the sea by the place called Genethlium in Argolis, as an offering to Po…

Codex relic

Trident of Atlantis. A solid gold trident capable of cleaving dry land and summoning whirlpools.

The rest of this scroll is sealed

The legends, the myth, the cult and relics are part of the full Codex. You can open 1 full entry for free every day; to open all 500 deities with no limits and no ads, subscribe to Codex PRO.

See Codex PRO Get it on Google Play