Poseidon
And His Temple at Sounion Poseidon, or his Roman name, Neptune, is the brother to the legendary Zeus, and is second only to him. His temple rests at the highest point of the land on Cape Sounion. How it was built, and why is as incredible as the mighty power of Poseidon himself. When you looks into the temple, and into the waters surrounding the land, you can�t help but witness the power of this mighty god. In its pillars you see the illusion of a wall, but no wall is there. The emotion he had power over is evident in the way of how this particular spot at the southern tip of Attica. Such an isolated place, and Poseidon was pleased with his location. It is a place to sit and marvel at the structure, to revel in its solemn peace and remember.
The mysteries of this great water God are very straightforward�he liked things done his own way so that he always had the upper hand. This was done in one of two ways: the out in the open way, where there was no trickery involved, or the much easier way of deception, power, and illusion. He was not to let himself lose power to anyone nor anything. Firmness in the tides of the water is his way now, and will be forever.
The Legend of Poseidon is one of thinking the strategy through and to use other people to get what you want. Poseidon knew what his goal was and how his brother, whom he saw as foolish, would go about declaring their power.
The origin of Poseidon and the Greek story of creation, started with Gaia's son, Uranus, who was the sky. The two had children of two different races. First came the Cyclops, who had only one eye in the middle of the forehead. Uranus thought they were ugly and after treating them cruelly and had the three Cyclops banished to the Underworld. The second race to be born were the Titans, later, they would become the first gods and goddesses.
Gaia would not forgive her Uranus for mistreating and banishing her first children, and encouraged the Titans to overthrow Uranus in a rebel attack led by Cronos. When the Titans did attack, Cronos took a sickle to Uranus and took power from him. Three drops of Uranus' blood fell on the earth and formed the Furies, creatures with a dog's head and bat's wings. These were the spirits of revenge and justice who hounded murderers, especially those who killed a relative. Another drop fell into the sea, creating foam, which the goddess Aprodite was born.
Cronos then married his sister, Rhea, and became King of the Titans. Cronos had been warned that one of his own five children would kill him. So as the babies were born, he swallowed each one. To save her sixth child, Rhea tricked Cronos into swallowing a stone wrapped in baby's clothing and hid the child among the nymph. This child was called Zeus. When Zeus grew up, he returned home in disguise and slipped a potion into Cronos' drink, making him choke. The children he had swallowed were coughed out, whole and safe. They were his daughters Hestia, Demeter, and Hera, and sons Pluto and Poseidon.

A fierce battle then took place. Zeus freed the Cyclops who made thunderbolts for him to hurl. They also made a forked trident for Poseidon and a helmet that made its wearer invisible for Pluto. But, most of the Titans and giants sided with Cronos. After an intense struggle, the younger gods were victorious. The rebellious Titans were then banished; this is when Atlas was made to hold up the heavens as a punishment.
After Cronos was killed, his children Zeus, Hades, and Poseidon, threw dice for a piece of their Father�s empire they wanted. Zeus, the youngest, won and therefor chose first. He chose the sky because it was high. Poseidon laughed silently because he knew the sky was empty. Poseidon chose next and claimed the sea. Hades, who was always unlucky, got the underworld. The earth was held as a commonwealth, and left to the goddesses to manage.
Poseidon, pleased with his kingdom, left Olympus, and set out to build a huge palace underwater. He needed a queen, and chose Thetis, the water nymph. It was prophesied that any son of Thetis would turn out to be more powerful then his father and Poseidon went elsewhere to plant his seed. The prophecy eventually turned true, as her son was Achilles, who was more powerful then his father Peleus. Poseidon eventually chose another Nymph named Amphitrite who he had three children with. His sons were named Theseus and Triton. At one time, Amphitrite got so jealous of Poseidon�s affairs; she turned into a monster with 12 feet and 6 heads. To appease her rage, he thought up the dolphin, and gave it to her as a gift. At one time, Poseidon claimed Attica for himself, and thrust his trident into the side of the hill where the Acropolis still stands, and a spring of salt water spouted. But the people of Athens did not want to belong to the King of the sea. They were afraid of Poseidon, who was known to seize the youth of a town when he was in the mood. So they prayed to be put under the protection of another god. Athena heard their prayers. She came down and planted an olive tree on the side of the spring. Poseidon was outraged. He created a storm with his mighty fury, and blew a fishing fleet off the sea. He challenged Athena to a combat, and threatened to make a tidal wave to break over the city if she refused. Athena accepted. Zeus heard the sound of quarreling. He came down and decreed a truce. Then all the gods sat in a council to hear the claims. After hearing Athena and Poseidon, the voted to award the city to Athena because her olive tree was a better gift. How ironic that from after then, Athenians was often unfortunate in their sea battles. Could it be that they were not battling just a fleet of ships, but also a god.The pagans needed these myths and legends to explain the ways things happen that they could not comprehend. But, by word of mouth, many of these legends were slightly changed no doubt to make them more interesting. Some of the legends are completely different, indicating that the stories probably grew far apart from one another. Others may not even agree with one another, such as this one�
Poseidon loved Demeter, and pursued her intensely whenever he could. He cornered her, finally, one hot afternoon in a valley, and demanded that she love him. She didn't know what to do and he was so huge, so implacable, and so persistent.
Finally, Demeter said, 		The Legend of Poseidon
The Temple of Poseidon

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