Poseidon

The tale of Poseidon

Poseidon was one of the children Cronus swallowed at birth, and one of those Zeus freed and led against the Titans. When the war was won, the three brothers drew lots for the world. Hades drew the underworld, Zeus drew the sky, and Poseidon drew the sea: every ocean, river and spring, and the earth that rests on the water.

He lives in a golden palace at the bottom of the sea. He drives a chariot pulled by horses with golden manes, and the waves smooth themselves before it while sea creatures leap around him. His weapon is the trident, a three-pronged spear made by the Cyclopes. With it he raises storms or calms them, splits rocks, and makes springs of water burst from the ground. When he is angry he strikes the earth, and the land shakes. That is why the Greeks called him Earth-Shaker.

Lord of horses

Poseidon also created the horse. In one story he made the first horse from the foam of a breaking wave. Sailors prayed to him for a safe voyage, and horsemen for a fast race. Many of his children were wild and strange: the Cyclops Polyphemus, the winged horse Pegasus, born from Medusa, and the giant hunter Orion.

The anger of the sea

Poseidon is proud and quick to anger, and he holds a grudge for years. When he lost the contest for Athens to Athena's olive tree, he flooded the plain around the city. When Odysseus blinded his son Polyphemus, Poseidon kept him from home for ten years with storms and shipwrecks. And when King Minos of Crete kept the beautiful white bull Poseidon had sent him to sacrifice, the god cursed the king's wife to fall in love with it. Their child was the Minotaur.

As the game's Poseidon says, whoever builds a city on his coast should not forget whose coast it is.

Poseidon in Battle of Myths

Poseidon is a cost 5 Greek mage and guardian. His ability, Tidal Wave, crashes a great wave over his target and every enemy near it, dealing magic damage and chilling them, while Poseidon gains a shield. With every Greek hero he shares Glory: whenever an enemy falls, the Greeks grow stronger and heal.

Did you know?

• The Romans knew him as Neptune, the name of the eighth planet.
• His temple at Cape Sounion, on a cliff at the tip of Attica, still stands above the sea where sailors once saw it as their first sight of home.
• The ancient Isthmian Games near Corinth were held in his honour.