Poseidon - The Lesser Share
Poseidon is defeated by the other gods
Perhaps the first challenge was when Hera, Athena, and Poseidon rebelled against Zeus. The uprising was squelched when the nymph Thetis freed the king of the gods and summoned the hundred-handed Hecatoncheire Briareus to defend him.
Poseidon and Zeus both lost in their contest for this same Thetis. Achilles' mother was handed over to the mortal Peleus because the divine brothers feared a prophecy concerning her child.
When the three brothers divided up the world, they apportioned the sky, water, and underworld, but not the land. The land was, therefore, a continuing source of conflict. Poseidon wishing to be honored as widely as possible, set down his trident in Attica before Athena had even seen it. But did he win the patronage of its chief city? No! The gods ruled that Athena's late bequest of the olive tree was a better contribution than the salt spring Poseidon's trident had released and so, they awarded it to her. In her honor the city was named Athens.
Hera won in the competition over Argos. In this case, Poseidon didn't just meekly submit to a second, inferior temple but dried up the waters; sometimes he flooded Argolis.
More of This Feature
• Poseidon - The Lesser Share - Intro.• Poseidon's Defeats Among the Gods
• Poseidon and the Heroes
• Poseidon and the Heroes
• Poseidon in Art
Related Resources
• Odysseus• Olympians - Emergence
• (Carlos Parada) Poseidon
