Poseidon's Role In Ancient Greek Religion

What if all the world’s seas, rivers, bays, and oceans were controlled by one god? Ancient Greeks believed that they were and that all of the forces of nature were controlled by the gods. Altogether, there were thousands of gods that the Greeks believed controlled the world in which they lived, and that they had to keep happy or suffer the consequences ("Poseidon," Ancient). Certain gods of the ancient Greek religion though, out of both fear and respect, were more important to the Greeks than others. Poseidon, god of the seas, was the most important god to the ancient Greeks because he controlled the seas and Greeks relied on the water for survival; and as a result he was feared due to his temper, but the Greeks would pray to him and build

Being viewed as a very ill-tempered and violent old man, who could quickly go from calm to steaming with rage, it made sense that Poseidon would be the cause of these many disasters. Another way to look at this is that because the sea was so dangerous and unpredictable the Greeks developed their view of Poseidon to be that of an ill-tempered old man who was so quick to anger. Most commonly, he was known to cause terrible storms and massive tidal waves to plague the Greeks when he was displeased with them ("Poseidon," Ancient). Another devastating disaster, believed to be caused by Poseidon, was earthquakes, giving him the additional title “Earth-Shaker”, but still this was not the limit of his destructive power. With his trident, he could easily send an island back beneath the waves, along with all of its inhabitants; or destroy whole cities with violent floods ("Poseidon," UXL). Some may say that Zeus with his mighty thunder bolts was superior to Poseidon and his trident, but in reality, the Greeks were a people dependent on the sea and therefore at the mercy of Poseidon. However powerful Zeus, along with his lighting was, Poseidon’s storms and waves were far more terrifying to a sailor, who spent his life living off the sea. With the Greeks, it can be seen that power, respect, and worship are often gained through means of fear. Poseidon, in being

Greeks were bound, to at some time, sail the dangerous seas, such as the Aegean or Mediterranean, and they would hope that their many prayers to Poseidon would keep them safe on their voyages in his domain. According to Greek myths, Poseidon had been the ruler of the seas ever since the world was divided between him and his two brothers, Zeus and Hades, and himself. Because he was the ruler of the seas it was a simple task for him to sink any ship and sailors that he disliked, with a tidal wave or a storm ("Poseidon," UXL). Greek sailors believed that this horrifying idea could have happened and to prevent it they would constantly pray to Poseidon to keep them safe at sea. Even survivors of shipwrecks, which were believed to be caused by Poseidon, made sacrifices to him and gave him thanks for sparing their lives since they feared risking his anger further ("Poseidon," Greenhaven). It was viewed as wise to never get on Poseidon's bad side, even if he had killed all of one’s friends, because he was famous for anger and vengeance. Examples of this are found in The Odyssey, where for ten long years Poseidon plagues Odysseus with violent storms slowing down his journey home tremendously, just because he blinded Polyphemus the cyclops, who was Poseidon’s son. Similar to Polyphemus, Poseidon is responsible for the birth of many mythical monsters that terrorized Greek sailors and travelers for