MarciaW

==**//Poseidon the god of the sea He is however, also associated with Earthquakes, and is known as the creator of horses. Poseidon was one of the original six Olympians that ruled the world, and is brother of Zeus, and Hades. Zeus was the ruler of the sky and Hades had dominion of the Underworld. Poseidon trident was given to him by the Cyclopes, just as Zeus got a Lightning bolts //** **//and Hades got a helmet. The trident gave Poseidon the power to command the waves, cause storms, shake the earth, sink boats or cause springs to flow.//** **//Similarly, Nereus, the Old Man of the Sea, wasn't really considered on a par with Poseidon.//**



=//He known to drive his chariot through the waves in unquestioned dominance. Poseidon had married Nereus's daughter, the sea-nymph Amphitrite. In dividing heaven, the watery realm and the subterranean land of the dead, the Olympians agreed that the earth itself would be ruled jointly, with Zeus as king. This led to a number of territorial disputes among the gods. The god demonstrated his power and benevolence by striking the Acropolis with his three-pronged spear, which caused a spring of salt water to emerge. The people of Athens were careful, all the same, to honor Poseidon as well (as soon as his anger calmed down and he withdrew the flood of seawater with which he ravaged the land after his loss in the contest with Athena). Poseidon was father of the hero Theseus, although the mortal Aegeus also claimed this distinction.Thus he became king of Athens by virtue of being Aegeus's son, but availed himself of Poseidon's parentage in facing a challenge handed him by King Minos of Crete. This monarch threw his signet ring into the depths of the sea and dared Theseus to retrieve it. The hero dove beneath the waves and not only found the ring but was given a crown by Poseidon's wife,Amphitrite. Because Odysseus blinded the Cyclops Polyphemus, who was Poseidon's son, the god not only delayed the hero's homeward return from the Trojan War but caused him to face enormous perils. At one point he whipped up the sea with his trident and caused a storm so severe that Odysseus was shipwrecked.// = ==//Poseidon similarly cursed the wife of King Minos. Minos had proved his divine right to rule Crete by calling on Poseidon to send a bull from the sea, which the king promised to sacrifice. //==