Poseidon, Loves of. The sea-god Poseidon was married to the Nereid Amphitrite, by whom he fathered Triton. An avid lover, he seduced numerous other females. He vied with Zeus for possession of the Nereid Thetis, but they both relinquished her to the mortal Peleus. With Gaia, Poseidon fathered the giant Antaeus, and with the sea-nymph Thoosa he produced the Cyclops Polyphemus. He violated the Gorgon Medusa, who bore him the winged horse Pegasus and the giant Chrysaor. The Troezen princess Aethra was said to have received both Poseidon and the Athenian king Aegeus on the same night, making her son, Theseus, the offspring of both a god and a mortal. Poseidon was also called the father of Orion by the Gorgon Euryale and of Bellerophon by Eurymede, wife of King Glaucus of Corinth.

    Like Zeus, the sea-god frequently changed his shape to effect his conquests. When Demeter (Ceres) tried to escape him by disguising herself as a mare, he turned himself into a stallion; this mating produced the magical horse Arion. According to Ovid, Poseidon assumed the shape of the river-god Enipeus in order to ravish Enipeus’s admirer Tyro; in the form of a ram he impregnated Theophane, who gave birth to the ram whose golden fleece became the object of the Argonautic quest; as a dolphin he mated with Melantho, and as a bull with Iphimedia, who produced the giants Ephialtes and Otus.

    When Poseidon caused a drought in Argolis, Amymone, one of the Danaïds, was sent to search for water. She was attacked by a satyr, but Poseidon appeared and threw his trident at the satyr, who fled; the weapon lodged in a rock. The sea-god himself ravished Amymone, but before leaving her he caused fresh water to gush from the rock where the trident had pierced it, creating a spring that thereafter was called Amymone.

    The god raped Caenis, a beautiful Lapith woman, to whom he promised any favor. She asked to be turned into a man who would be invulnerable in battle. Her wish was granted and she became Caeneus, a warrior who distinguished himself in the battle between the Lapiths and the centaurs.

    In the course of his tale of Apollo and Coronis, Ovid recounts the story of another maiden, daughter of Coroneus of Phocis. Fleeing from Poseidon’s advances, this maiden prayed to Athena (Minerva), who changed her into a bird who flew away from her pursuer’s clutches and became a companion of the goddess. Because of similar elements in the two accounts, they have sometimes been confused in postclassical treatments.

   

    Classical Sources. Homer, Odyssey 1.68—72, n.235ff. Hesiod, Theogony 268-81. Ovid, Metamorphoses 2.574—90, 6.115-20, 12.172—216, 12.468—537. Apollodorus, Biblioteca 1.7.3—4, 1.9.8, 2.4.5, 3.10.1, 3.15.4-6. Hyginus, Fabulae 169, 169A, 186-88, 238, 242. Lucian, Dialogues of the Sea Gods 8, “Triton and Poseidon,” 13, “Enipeus and Poseidon.”

   

    See also Amphitrite; Medusa; Thetis, General List.