Poseidon

oseidon was the ruler of the sea, he gained the rank or rating as ruler of the waves, by drawing lots at a Council Meeting of the Gods, at which Zeus took the upper world for himself, and gave the under world to his other brother, Hades.

Poseidon was also brother to Demeter, Hera and Hestia and second only to Zeus in eminence. His nereid wife was Amphitrite, a daughter of Nereus and Doris, and the granddaughter of the titan Oceanus.

Poseidon was a son of Cronus and Rhea and had a splendid palace beneath the sea, but he was more often to be found on Olympus. Storm and calm were under his control. All Aegean seamen revered him. When Poseidon drove his golden chariot over the waters, the thunder of the waves sank into stillness, and tranquil peace followed his smooth-rolling wheels. He is commonly known as the "earth-shaker", and was always shown carrying his trident (a 3 pronged spear) with which he would shake and shatter anything he pleased.

Poseidon gave man the first horse and is usually associated with the horse and he taught man how to tame and ride the horse. It is said that the horse was invented after a dispute with Athene over the honour of the naming of the capital of Attica. The gods decreed that the city would be named after the god that gave mankind the most useful gift. Poseidon struck the ground with his trident, and from the place where it struck, sprang forth a horse. Athene created the olive tree, and, the judges voting in her favour gave the city the name of Athenae or Athens.

Poseidon liked horses so much, that during the chase of Demeter, where she turned herself into a mare in order to escape his unwelcome attentions, he turned himself into one too, and by her was the father of Arion, the horse with the gift of speech.

By Amphitrite	Triton	Half man, half fish
	Rhode	From whom the island of Rhodes gets its name
	Benthesicyma	The wife of Endius, who brought up Eumolpus, Poseidon’s son by Chione, because Chione was afraid to acknowledge her motherhood.
By Chione	Eumolpus
By Gaea	Antaeus	The mighty wrestler who was thrown and killed by Heracles
By Medusa a gorgon	Chrysaor	The father of Geryon, the three headed monster
	Echidna	The mother of monsters as ugly as herself
	Pegasus	The winged horse of The Muses who produced the fountains of Hippocrene by stamping on the ground with his hoof
By Thoosa a daughter of Phorcys	Polyphemus	The Cyclops who was blinded by Odysseus in his one and only eye, an act for which the monarch of the sea kept Odysseus from his home for ten years
By Aethra daughter of Pittheus, the King of Troezen	Theseus	One of the demi-gods
By Demeter, his sister	Arion	A horse gifted with the power of speech

Countless other children, by many wives, both divine and earthly, are also credited to him.

With Apollo, Poseidon built the walls of Troy for King Laomedon. When Laomedon not only refused to make payment for two horses that had been agreed upon, but dismissed the gods with threats and insults, Poseidon punished him by sending a sea monster to Troy who would have eaten the king’s beautiful daughter, Hesione, if Heracles had not happened to come that way in time to save her. Poseidon’s hatred of the Trojans and his siding with the Greeks during the Trojan War are easily understood. Although Poseidon favoured the Greeks, he hated Odysseus personally for what he did to his man-eating monster of a son, Polyphemus.