The Power Of Poseidon

Ancient Greece was overseen by many gods and goddesses, but there were few gods that held more power than other. Poseidon was one of those gods and he was the god of water, earthquakes and horses. Through his abilities he was capable of doing extraordinary things. We are fortunate enough to some of that power has been recorded and displayed through various art and stories. Poseidon’s power and will was very prominent in ancient Greece through various forms of art, epics, and other oral stories.

There are many forms of art, but I will be focusing on the sculptures and architecture. These two forms of art portray Poseidon very well. First I’ll explain his power through sculptures. There are tons of sculptures of Poseidon, but there are a few

Poseidon played a big role in various forms of literature. There are two mainstream pieces of literature, which are Homers epics The Iliad and The Odyssey. The Odyssey is an epic about the famous Greek king of Ithaca Odysseus, and his struggle to get home that lasted ten years after the Trojan War. Through those ten years he battled many mythological creatures and faces the power of the gods numerous times. He faces the power of Poseidon specifically several times throughout the epic. Homer records Poseidon causing mayhem with his power saying, “he rammed the clouds together- both hands clutching his trident –churned the waves into chaos, whipping all the gales from every quarter, shrouding over in thunderheads” (161). In these lines we are able to picture the power of Poseidon by him being able to turn calm seas to stormy disaster with ease. There is another time in the epic where Poseidon’s power is displayed. When Odysseus is given a ride back to Ithaca on a phaeacian cutter or ship Poseidon becomes engaged. In the words of Homer, “the earthquake god with one flat stroke of his hand struck her to stone, rooted her to the ocean floor and made for open sea” (291). It isn’t very hard to recognize Poseidon’s power through this quote. He turned a ship to stone with a wave of his hand I would not want to anger or disrespects this