POSEIDON
Real Name:
Occupation:
God of the sea, storm and earthquakes, patron god of sailors and sea-farers,
tutelary god of Corinth and Atlantis
Legal Status:
Identity: The general populace of Earth is unaware of the existence of Poseidon except as a mythological character.
Other Aliases:
Neptune (Roman name), Nethuns (Etruscan names), Seidon Reason, Poseidon Aegaeus
(mortal aliases)
Place of Birth:
Marital Status: Married
Known Relatives:
Cronus (father), Rhea (mother), Oceanus, Nereus, Proteus, Phorcys (uncles),
Tethys, Ceto, Dione
(aunts), Zeus,
Hades, Chiron (brothers), Hera,
Demeter,
Hestia (sisters), Amphitrite (wife), Triton, Polyphemus,
Arion, Percy
Jackson (sons), Theseus, Antaeus,
Orion, Nauplius (sons, deceased), Despoena, Charybdis,
Rhode, Benthescyme, Holly Seacrest (daughters), Hercules,
Hephaestus,
Apollo, Ares, Hermes,
Dionysus (nephews), Artemis,
Athena, Aphrodite,
Discord, Eileithyia, Hebe, Helen,
Pandia, Persephone
(nieces), Ariel, Aquata, Krista, Katrina, Kadela, Katana, Hydra, Pallas
(deceased) (grand-daughters), Ouranus (grandfather), Gaea
(grandmother),
Group Affiliations: The Gods of Olympus
Base of Operations:
Aegae, formerly Mediterranean Atlantis and Olympus
First Appearance: Flash Comics #9 (historical), Tales to Astonish #70 (modern)
History: Poseidon is the son of Cronus, god of earth, and his wife, Rhea. Cronus and Rhea were of a race of extra-dimensional race of beings known as the Titans, off-spring of the sky-god Ouranus and the primeval earth-goddess Gaea, who ruled most of Ancient Greece and were worshipped as gods by mortal man. (Ouranus and Cronus are not to be confused with the Eternals Uranos and Chronos, the latter of whom is also known as Kronos). Cronus overthrew his father's rule by fatally wounding him. The dying Ouranus prophesied that Cronus would likewise be overthrown by one of his own children. As a result, upon the birth of each of his children, Cronus had the child imprisoned in Tartarus, the most dismal section of the underworld known as Hades. The off-spring he sent there were Hestia, Hades, Poseidon, Hera and Demeter. (Later, legends erroneously claimed that Cronus had had actually swallowed his children and that they remained alive inside him until released by Zeus.)
While it is generally believed that Poseidon was one of the children who were imprisoned by Cronus, later legends claim Rhea had actually hid him among flocks of sheep grazing near Mantineia in the area that is now modern Greece. She then gave Cronus a young foal in Poseidon's place. Cronus accepted the deception without question since he had had another son, Chiron, born out of wedlock who was a centaur.
Poseidon was nursed by Capheira, a minor goddess, at Rhodes and raised by mysterious gods known as the Telchines who taught him in the use of his mystical powers and granted him his trident, a gift from the Cabeiri. Poseidon also married Cleito, the daughter of Evenor, King of Atlantis (modern Santorini), and became heir to the throne of Atlantis. He and Cleito had several sons who divided Atlantis up amongst themselves. Poseidon became patron god of Atlantis, but his sons used their power to try and conquer as much as Europe and Northern Africa as possible. Atlantis was finally destroyed by an earthquake which broke their control over much of the region. Poseidon reputedly transformed many of the Atlanteans into mer-men so they could survive as Atlantis sunk into the sea. These mer-men reputedly intermingled and mated with members of the Homo mermani, a evolutionary off-shoot of humanity possibly created by Deviant or Inhuman scientists. Collectively, they became known as Atlanteans after the Pre-Cataclysmic realm of Atlantis whose survivors had founded the Mediterranean Atlantis of King Evenor.
After reaching adulthood, Zeus came to him for help in to enlist allies to claim Olympus. They freed their siblings along with the Cyclopes and Hecatocheiroi who Cronus had kept imprisoned in Tartarus and with the help of a few Titans not loyal to Cronus, they attacked Olympus in a war that lasted ten years. Cronus was reported as killed in the war, but he fled west and ruled parts of Italy under the name Saturn.
Poseidon, Zeus and their brother Hades then cast lots to equally divide regions of the world for themselves. Poseidon acquired the sea with Zeus claiming the heavens, Hades taking the underworld and earth as neutral ground. Poseidon established rule of the sea from the underwater realm of Aegae, named for a mortal city sacred to him. He rarely traveled to Olympus. Although he had many female lovers, Poseidon pursued the sea-goddess Amphitrite, daughter of the first sea-god Nereus, but she fled from him and only promised to wed him after taking advice from Delphyne, another sea-goddess. Poseidon and Amphitrite had a son named Triton and two daughters, Rhode and Benthescyme.
Poseidon often came at odds over acquiring the worship rights over various cities in Greece. He confronted the sun god Helios over worship rights to Corinth and had the dispute arbitrated by Briareus, one of the Hecatocheiroi. He divided the city between them with Helios gaining the heights and Poseidon the isthmus. Both Poseidon and Hera clashed over Argos, but when the river-gods Inachos, Cephissus and Asterius awarded it to Hera, Poseidon dried up their river-beds. Although he shared Troezen with Athena, they clashed over rights to Attica. In order to woo King Cecrops, they each presented him a gift for worship rights to the city. Poseidon gave Cecrops a spring which turned out full of undrinkable sea water and Athena gave King Cecrops an olive tree. Preferring the tree, King Cecrops awarded Athena worship rights to Attica, which he renamed Athens in Athena's honor. Poseidon then set a flood to destroy the city out of anger, but Cecrops survived the disaster and called himself Erechtheus afterward. (Chronologically, this flood occurs at the same time as the flood of Deucalion and the destruction of Mediterranean Atlantis.)
Despite being married, Poseidon had numerous extra-marital affairs and several children out of wedlock. Two goddesses named Euryale and Medusa, gave him giant sons named Orion and Chrysaor, respectively, but Athena cursed them with hideous features and they became Gorgons. Poseidon and Medusa's last off-spring, the Pegasus was not conceived till years later. Poseidon also seduced his sister, Demeter, during her depression over the absence of Persephone and she gave birth to Arion, the horse-god, and Despoena, the fruit-goddess. With Libya, a grand-daughter of Zeus, Poseidon became ancestor of the ruling families of Crete, Argos and Thebes. He seduced Gaea and fathered Antaeus and Charybdis. The Thessalian princess Tyro gave birth by Poseidon to Neleus and Peleus, the latter of whom seized Iolcus from his half-brother, Aeson, father of Jason of the Argonauts. Poseidon also reputedly fathered the hero Theseus, who claimed Athens by birthright through his stepfather, Aegeus.
Poseidon often became short-tempered with several mortal kings who tested his patience and generosity. When King Minos of Crete tried to get his favor by promising to sacrifice a white bull to him, Poseidon provided Minos with a white bull which Minos did not own. When Minos kept the prized bull instead of sacrificing it, Poseidon had his wife, Pasiphae, fall in love with it in an experience that lead to the birth of the Minotaur killed by Theseus.
Both Poseidon and Zeus pursued the sea-goddess, Thetis, but Themis, a Titaness, warned them that any son born to Thetis would raise up and overthrow his father. They instead married her off to Zeus's mortal son, Peleus, who became father of Achilles. As a wedding gift, Poseidon gave Peleus man-eating mares named Xanthus and Balius, whom Achilles later acquired and used in war against Troy.
Poseidon's enmity for the city of Troy began during the reign of King Laomedon. Demanding monthly sacrifices to a sea serpent, Poseidon's curse was foiled by Hercules, but Poseidon still showed his distaste of the Trojans by backing the Greeks during the Trojan War. When Zeus forbade the Olympian Gods from getting involved in the war, Poseidon, Hera and Athena briefly captured Zeus to distract him from their agendas, but Briareus freed him and Zeus confined Poseidon to Olympus afterward to remove him from Troy.
When Odysseus credited himself for defeating the Trojans, Poseidon exacted a curse on him to never return him to Ithaca. The curse was further compounded when Odysseus blinded Poseidon's son, the Cyclops, Polyphemus. Although the other gods petitioned Poseidon to lessen his curse on Odysseus, he did not revoke his curse until after the Phaeacians, a mortal tribe sacred to Poseidon, helped Odysseus to return to Ithaca.
After the Trojan War, a refugee from Troy named Aeneas conquered Latium and renamed it Alba Longa, which was one of the cities absorbed into what is modern day Rome. Under the Roman Empire, Poseidon was named Neptune.
By the fall of the Roman Empire, Zeus had allowed worship of the Olympian Gods to fall into decline after discovering that the Romans were persecuting Christians. Zeus even manipulated prophecies concerning the birth of Livia, the daughter of the warrior-goddess, Xena, and the demise of the gods of Olympus. Xena slew several of the Olympians, including Poseidon, Discord, Artemis and Athena, but Zeus had spells into effect that restored all the slain gods back to life. From behind the facade of their deaths, the Olympians stopped trafficking with mortals. Although no longer worshipped by humanity, Poseidon is still the patron-god for the underwater denizens of Atlantis.
Poseidon's son, Triton, previously a ruler of Libya, became ruler over the fish-tailed merfolk of Earth from the underwater realm of Tritonis, a sunken remnant of Mediterranean Atlantis. Triton has been several times challenged for control over the city by the sea-goddess Scylla who even ransomed Triton's daughter, Ariel, but Poseidon has several times come to the aide of his son. In the early Nineteenth Century, one such event was haphazardly documented by legends and lore collected by Hans Christian Andersen as inspiration for his story, "The Little Mermaid."
In modern years, Poseidon has had very little to do with human beings, primarily over the pollution and irreverence to the seas by mortal man, but he is known to still sire mortal children out of wedlock, such as the psychic Holly Seacrest of Miami, Florida and the young adventurer Percy Jackson of New York City. Poseidon has since come to the aide of Zeus in affairs concerning threats to Olympus. After Hercules was beaten into submission by the Masters of Evil, Poseidon begrudgingly surrendered Namor the Submariner and Ruler of Atlantis to Hades as Zeus held trial over the Avengers over the injuries to Hercules. After Hercules swore he was responsible for his own injuries, Zeus was forced to realize that the gods were not infallible and ordered all of the Olympians to cut their ties to Earth. This revelation was especially severe to Poseidon as it involved removing his connection to Percy and Holly during their formative years.
Poseidon has also shown favor to several of the members of the
Earth's superhuman community, particularly Arthur Curry, better known as
Aqua-Man of
the Justice League of America, who rules over the last known survivors of the
Pre-Cataclysmic continent of Atlantis. When
Triton irrationally attacked Aqua-Man over jealousy for his father's attention, 
Poseidon interceded and revealed to him the folly of his misconception. Poseidon
has also closely watched over Percy from afar, protecting him in his adventures
from Medusa
and a Cult of Lotus-Eaters.
Height: 6' 3"
Weight: 625 lbs.
Eyes: Green
Hair: White, formerly Brown
Strength Level: Poseidon possesses superhuman strength enabling him to
lift (press) almost 70 tons under optimal conditions. Underwater, he has much
greater strength and can lift (press) almost 100 tons.
Known Superhuman Powers: Poseidon possesses the conventional physical attributes
of the Olympian gods. Like all Olympians, he is immortal: he has not aged since
reaching adulthood and cannot die by any conventional means. He is immune to all
Earthly diseases and is resistant to conventional injury. If he were somehow
wounded, his godly life force would enable him to recover with superhuman speed. It
would take an injury of such magnitude that it dispersed a major portion of his
bodily molecules to cause him a physical death. Even then, it might be possible for
a god of significant power, such as Zeus or for a number of
Olympian gods of equal power working together to revive him. Poseidon also possesses
superhuman strength and his Olympian metabolism provides him with far greater than
human endurance in all physical activities. (Olympian flesh and bone is about three
times as dense as similar human tissue, contributing to the Olympians' superhuman
strength and weight.)
Poseidon has vast mystical powers to control elemental energies over any other god with the obvious exception of gods like Zeus, Odin or Vishnu. He has powers common to all gods such as the ability to change his shape and form, to teleport vast distances or cross dimensional planes as when he travels from Earth to Olympus. He can also change and augment the properties of people and objects. He can control the elements of storm and create lightning bolts, but no where on a scale as far as Zeus. Poseidon's control over the ocean is almost equal to Zeus's control over the weather. Poseidon can stir up and control vast tidal waves of hurricane force and command the essence and forces of the ocean itself to the extent that it will reflect his temperament. When he is angry, it can broil with hurricane force, but when Poseidon is calm, it can be peaceful and serene.
Poseidon can also command and control the creatures that live
in the sea from fish, octopi, jellyfish, sharks and whales to the modern
descendants of sea serpents from the earth's primeval past (plesiosaurs). He
also has mystical traits that allow him to live and breathe underwater indefinitely
without physical adaptations such as gills or fins. He has absolute control over
sea water and can cast his face and image from tidal waves. In ancient times, he
often appeared to mortals as a vast twenty-foot tall figure composed from
seawater.
Weapons: Poseidon's primary weapon is a silver three-pronged staff known
as his trident. Imbued with the full might of his power, Poseidon can channel
his power through it, use it to direct the accuracy of his spells or to change
from his godly reverence into mortal attire by stamping the ground. When
augmented with his own personal powers, it can be used to conjure earthquakes
and tsunami-size storms. The energies inherent in the staff can allow just about
anyone with mystical potential to increase their power to a level equal to
Poseidon.
Transportation/Pets: Poseidon sometimes rides Hippocampus, a creature
resembling a giant sea horse, or a horse with the mutated capacity of a
fish.
Comments: This bio of Poseidon
involves his appearances in the Marvel Universe, the DC Universe, Rift-Worlds,
Disney continuity, Legendary Journeys and the Percy Jackson series.
Clarifications: Poseidon is not to be
confused with:
Last updated: 12/24/11