Zeus Poseidon Hades Story

Surf and Turf: The Brothers of Zeus

Turf Wars

It is at this point in the story that Demeter realizes her full strength. As a means of regaining her daughter from Hades, she exploits her power of fertility and stops the seasons. This turns the earth into a barren wasteland. Reluctant to see the planet he shepherds wither away, Zeus pleads with Demeter to make the earth abundant once again.

His subordinate position to Zeus made him sensitive about his other rights. Poseidon argued more over city patronage than any other Olympian. He contested the patronage of Argos with Hera and the patronage of Corinth with Helius. Poseidon lost both disputes and had to settle for the patronage of various islands and seaports. Ragnarok clicker save editor.

In a fury, Poseidon flooded the Attic plain. The Athenians adopted several measures to appease Poseidon's wrath. The city denied the women of Athens the right to vote. It ended the practice of men carrying on their mothers' names. And all Athenians continued to honor both Poseidon and Athena on the Acropolis.

Poseidon courted Amphitrite, one of the Nereids (daughters of Nereus, the Old Man of the Sea). Yet Amphitrite scorned the god's advances and fled to the Atlas Mountains. Poseidon refused to give up, sending messengers after her to plead his case. One of these, Delphinus, argued so persuasively for his master that he broke down Amphitrite's resistance. She agreed to marry Poseidon. (The god later showed his gratitude by placing his messenger's image in the sky as a constellation: the Dolphin.)

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  • He appeared to the maiden Medusa as a bird. Unfortunately, he chose as the setting for this seduction one of Athena's temples. The enraged goddess punished Medusa by turning her into a Gorgon (see The Model Hero: Perseus).
  • To mate with Theophane, whom he had changed into a ewe in order to hide her from her many suitors, he transformed himself into a ram.
  • When Demeter, overwhelmed by the loss of her daughter Persephone, attempted to escape her brother's attentions by becoming a mare, Poseidon was not fooled. He changed himself into a stallion and mated with her in an Arcadian pasture.

    • What a Life!

    Otus and Ephialtes, already 50 feet tall at age nine, literally moved mountains. Just because they could, they heaped Pelion, Ossa, and Olympus on top of one another, nearly reaching heaven itself. The twin giants later killed each other in a hunting “accident” orchestrated by Artemis and Apollo (see The A Team: Olympians All).

  • Medusa's children were the winged horse Pegasus and the giant warrior Chrysaor.
  • His union with Theophane produced the famous Golden-Fleeced ram (see Crimes of Passion: Jason, Medea, and the Argonauts).
  • Demeter had two children by him: the nymph Despoena and a wild horse named Arion.
  • Many of his children were giants, including Chrysaor, the Cyclops Polyphemus, and the trouble-making brothers Otus and Ephialtes.

    • Perhaps because he mated with a goddess in that form, the horse became sacred to Poseidon. Some storytellers insisted he invented the horse by smashing his trident down upon a rock. In any case, it is said that he invented horse racing and perhaps the bridle as well. Wherever he went, he rode in a gold chariot drawn by two magnificent white horses with golden manes and brass hooves.

    Hades, who by chance won dominion over the Underworld, soon came to prefer the darkness of his own domain to any other place on Earth or in heaven. For the most part, he remained out of touch with both Olympus and Earth, learning of events there only when someone invoked his name in oaths or curses. He seldom met with the other gods and goddesses on Olympus. And unless moved by lust, he rarely left the Underworld for the common ground of Earth.

    Logos

    Hades was originally the name only of the ruler of the Underworld, rather than the place itself. Homer, among others, began referring to the Underworld as the “House of Hades.” In time, the “house” was omitted and the Underworld itself became known as Hades.

    For this reason, men feared and loathed the fierce lord of the Underworld. Indeed, he became so closely associated with the darkness and horror of the Underworld that the place itself eventually came to be called simply Hades.

    © 2004 by Kevin Osborn and Dana L. Burgess, Ph.D. All rights reserved including the right of reproduction in whole or in part in any form. Used by arrangement with Alpha Books, a member of Penguin Group (USA) Inc.

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