Further to Poseidon
A horse god? As god of horses, Poseidon often adopted the shape of a
steed. It is not certain that he was in this form when he wooed
Medusa. But when Perseus later killed the Gorgon, the winged horse
Pegasus sprang from her severed neck.
At one point he desired Demeter. To put him off Demeter asked him to
make the most beautiful animal that the world had ever seen. To
impress her Poseidon created the first horse.
The contestation between Athena and Poseidon is also found in Troizen
as well as Athens. These are active seizmic zones, and it seems
to refer to Poseidon's character as Earth Shaker (which possibly
preceeded his atribution as God of the Sea). There is also the story
of his and Her's plotting to replace Zeus (Greek Mythographers use
this to suggest that Zeus in fact displaced Hera and Poseidon from an
earlier pre-eminence).
Poseidon has especial connections with both Crete and Atlantis.
Plato
c;laimed he was the progenator of the Atlantian kings via Cleito.
Minos of Crete asked Poseidon for a Bull to sacrifice to the God.
When delivered, Minos welched on his promise, with the result that
Poseidon organised for Minos's wife to conceive an unhealthy
infatuation for the God. The Minotaur was the result. Theseus
(another "Son of Poseidon") was associated with the slaying of the
Minotaur. There seems to be a connection of Poseidon here that has
been overlaid by later Ionic edition. Some have argued that this myth
contains a distorted memory of Cretian Bull Jumping.
Regards
John
>
> Poseidon's association with the Sea has been suggested by many to
be
> Homeric. Prior to that he seems to have been very much a "land"
> divinity. His epithet as "Earth Shaker", his association with
Bulls
> and Horses, are memories of a time before the was "demoted" to God
of
> the Sea. There is a memory of this in the strggle between Athena
> and Poseidon over which god would be the titulary divinity of
> Athens (a conflict which Athena won). Some students of mythology
> suggest that he was demoted to second rank in the Olympian pantheon
> by
> the coming of Zeus, and before that he was the supreme divinity.
It
> would be important for you to check the literature on this before
> pushing him too hard to be purely a maritime divinity.
>
> Regards
>
> John
> > >I mean: the "mix" of IE *Nepot with an obscure *Sidaon or
Tsidaon.
> >
> > Okay, here's a second attempt... How about:
> >
> > *Potis-Da:nuom "Master of the Waters" (?)
> >
> > The last word is *da:nu + the plural genitive. Everyone like?
> >
> > - gLeN
> >
>
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