Poseidon, also known as Earthshaker, Seabluehair, Dark-haired One and in latin term as Neptune

AESCHYLUS, PROMETHEUS BOUND, translated by H. W. SMYTH

[PROMETHEUS] ...Such an adversary is he now preparing despite himself, a prodigy irresistible, even one who shall discover a flame mightier than the lightning and a deafening crash to outroar the thunder; a prodigy who shall shiver the trident, Poseidon's spear, that scourge of the sea and shaker of the land.

APOLLONIUS RHODIUS, ARGONAUTICA, Book 1, translated by R. C. SEATON

[5] Such was the oracle that Pelias heard, that a hateful doom awaited him to be slain at the prompting of the man whom he should see coming forth from the people with but one sandal. And no long time after, in accordance with that true report, Jason crossed the stream of wintry Anaurus on foot, and saved one sandal from the mire, but the other he left in the depths held back by the flood. And straightway he came to Pelias to share the banquet which the king was offering to his father Poseidon and the rest of the gods, though he paid no honour to Pelasgian Hera.

[133] Next to him came a scion of the race of divine Danaus, Nauplius. He was the son of Clytonaeus son of Naubolus; Naubolus was son of Lernus; Lernus we know was the son of Proetus son of Nauplius; and once Amymone daughter of Danaus, wedded to Poseidon, bare Nauplius, who surpassed all men in naval skill.

[156] And with them Neleian Periclymenus set out to come, eldest of all the sons of godlike Neleus who were born at Pylos; Poseidon had given him boundless strength and granted him that whatever shape he should crave during the fight, that he should take in the stress of battle.

[179] After them from Taenarus came Euphemus whom, most swift-footed of men, Europe, daughter of mighty Tityos, bare to Poseidon.

[185] Yea, and two other sons of Poseidon came; one Erginus, who left the citadel of glorious Miletus, the other proud Ancaeus, who left Parthenia, the seat of Imbrasion Hera; both boasted their skill in seacraft and in war.

APOLLONIUS RHODIUS, ARGONAUTICA, Book 2, translated by R. C. SEATON

[864] And in their sorrow they would have stayed from going further had not Hera kindled exceeding courage in Ancaeus, whom near the waters of Imbrasus Astypalaea bore to Poseidon;

APOLLONIUS RHODIUS, ARGONAUTICA, Book 3, translated by R. C. SEATON

[1238] And as Poseidon rides, mounted in his chariot, to the Isthmian contest or to Taenarus, or to Lerna's water, or through the grove of Hyantian Onchestus, and thereafter passes even to Calaureia with his steeds, and the Haemonian rock, or well-wooded Geraestus; even so was Aeetes, lord of the Colchians, to behold.

CLAUDIAN, PROSERPINE, Book 1, translated by M. PLATNAUER

[102] Amphitrite, daughter of Nereus, holds Neptune in her sea-grey embrace

CLAUDIAN, PROSERPINE, Book 2, translated by M. PLATNAUER

[171] Sicily’s caverns thundered, Lipare’s isle was confounded, Vulcan left his forge in amaze and the Cyclops let drop their thunderbolts in fear. The pent-up denizens of the frozen Alps heard the uproar and he who then swam thy wave, father Tiber, thy brows not as yet graced with the crown of Italy’s triumphs; there heard it he who rows his bark down Padus’ stream. So when the rock-encircled lake, ere Peneus’ wave rolled seaward, covered all Thessaly and allowed not its submerged fields to be tilled, Neptune smote the imprisoning mountain with his trident. Then did the peak of Ossa, riven with the mighty flow, spring apart from snowy Olympus; a passage was made and the waters were released, whereby the sea won back her feeding streams and the husbandman his fields.

CALLIMACHUS, HYMNS, hymn to Demeter, translated by A. W. MAIR

[96] And Triopas himself laid hands on his grey hairs, calling on Poseidon, who heeded not, with such words as these: “False father, behold this the third generation of thy sons – if I am son of thee and of Canace, daughter of Aeolus, and this hapless child is mine.

CLEMENT, EXHORTATION, Book 2, translated by G. W. BUTTERWORTH

Now listen to the loves of these gods of yours; to the extraordinary tales of their incontinence; to their wounds, imprisonments, fits of laughter, conflicts, and periods of servitude. Listen, too, to their revels, their embraces, their tears, passions and dissolute pleasures. Call Poseidon, and the band of maidens corrupted by him, Amphitrite, Amymone, Alope, Melanippe, Alcyone, Hippothoë, Chione, and the thousands of others. Yet in spite of this great number, the passions of your Poseidon were still unsatisfied.

It would seem natural, therefore, for gods like these of yours to be slaves, since they have become slaves of their passions. What is more, even before the time of the Helots, as they were called among the Lacedaemonians, Apollo bowed beneath the yoke of slavery to Admetus in Pherae, and Heracles to Omphale in Sardis. Poseidon and Apollo were serfs to Laomedon, Apollo, like a worthless servant, not having been able, I suppose, to obtain the gift of freedom from his former master. It was then that these two gods built the walls of Ilium for their Phrygian lord.

CLEMENT, RECOGNITIONS, Book 10, translated by R. T. SMITH

Chapter [18] - Family of Saturn - But of these six males, the one who is called Saturn received in marriage Rhea, and having been warned by a certain oracle that he who should be born of her should be more powerful than himself, and should drive him from his kingdom, he determined to devour all the sons that should be born to him. First, then, there is born to him a son called Aides, who amongst us is called Orcus; and him, for the reason we have just stated, he took and devoured. After him he begot a second son, called Neptune; and him he devoured in like manner.

Chapter [19] - Destinies of Three brothers - But when he understood from the lessening of her belly that her child was born, he demanded it, that he might devour it; then Rhea presented him with a large stone, and told him that that was what she had brought forth. And he took it, and swallowed it; and the stone, when it was devoured, pushed and drove forth those sons whom he had formerly swallowed. Therefore Orcus, coming forth first, descended, and occupies the lower, that is, the infernal regions. The second, being above him-he whom they call Neptune, is thrust forth upon the waters. The third, who survived by the artifice of his mother Rhea, she put upon a she-goat and sent into heaven.

COLLUTHUS, RAPE OF HELEN, translated by A. W. MAIR

[278] So, yearning for Paris, spake the lady of sweet voice. And he opened honeyed speech and answered her: If haply thou hast heard of a town in the bounds of Phrygia, even Ilios, whereof Poseidon built the towers and Apollo: if thou hast haply heard of a very wealthy king in Troy, sprung from the fruitful race of Cronus: thence am I a prince and pursue all the works of my race. I, lady, am the dear son of Priam rich in gold, of the lineage of Dardanus am I, and Dardanus was the son of Zeus. And the gods from Olympus, companioning with men, oft-tines became his servants, albeit they were immortal: of whom Poseidon with Apollo built the shining walls of our fatherland.

DIODORUS SICULUS, LIBRARY OF HISTORY, Book 4, translated by C. H. OLDFATHER

[4.59.1] But since we have set forth the facts concerning Heracles and his descendants, it will be appropriate in this connexion to speak of Theseus, since he emulated the Labours of Heracles. Theseus, then, was born of Aethra, the daughter of Pittheus, and Poseidon,...

[4.67.2] Before the period in which these things took place, Boeotus, the son of Arnê and Poseidon,...

[4.68.3] As for Tyro, who was still a virgin when this took place, Poseidon lay with her and begat two sons, Pelias and Neleus.

[4.72.3] Corcyra was carried off by Poseidon to the island which was named Corcyra after her; and to her and Poseidon was born Phaeax, from whom the Phaeacians afterwards received the name they bear.

[4.72.4] Salamis was seized by Poseidon and taken to the island which was named Salamis after her; and she lay with Poseidon and bore Cychreus, who became king of this island and acquired fame by reason of his slaying a snake of huge size which was destroying the inhabitants of the island.

[4.77.2] In explanation of this the myths offer the following account: Before this time it had been the custom of Minos annually to dedicate to Poseidon the fairest bull born in his herds and to sacrifice it to the god; but at the time in question there was born a bull of extraordinary beauty and he sacrificed another from among those which were inferior, whereupon Poseidon, becoming angry at Minos, caused his wife Pasiphaê to become enamoured of the bull.

DIODORUS SICULUS, LIBRARY OF HISTORY, Book 6, translated by C. H. OLDFATHER

[6.1.9] There were born to him by his wife Hestia two sons, Titan and Cronus, and two daughters, Rhea and Demeter. Cronus became king after Uranus, and marrying Rhea he begat Zeus and Hera and Poseidon. And Zeus on succeeding to the kingship, married Hera and Demeter and Themis, and by them he had children, the Curetes by the first named, Persephonê by the second, and Athena by the third.

[6.3] Diodorus says, following the account preserved in the myths, that Xanthus and Balius were formerly Titans and had come to the aid of Zeus, Xanthus as a companion of Poseidon and Balius of Zeus; and in the battle they asked that their shape might be changed, since they were ashamed to be seen by their brethren the Titans, and their request was granted; and it was these horses which were given to Peleus. This explains, Diodorus says, why Xanthus is able to prophesy his death to Achilleus.

FULGENTIUS, MYTHOLOGIES, Book 1, translated by L. G. WHITBREAD

[1.4] The third element, of water, they explained as Neptune, whom in Greek they also call Poseidon, for pion idonan, which in Latin we call making shapes, for the reason that only this element makes for itself shapes of what things are in store, something which is possible for no other of the four elements. He is depicted carrying a trident because his watery office is discharged in triple strength – that is, mobility, productiveness, and importance for drinking. They assign to this Neptune as wife Amphitrite (in Greek we call amphi all around), because water is confined by all three elements, that is, both in the sky, in its atmosphere and clouds, and on earth – for instance, springs and wells.

HESIOD, CATALOGUE OF WOMEN, translated by H. G. EVELYN-WHITE

Fragment [6] Scholiast on Apollonius Rhodius, Arg. i. 482:
Aloiadae. Hesiod said that they were sons of Aloeus, -- called so after him, -- and of Iphimedea, but in reality sons of Poseidon and Iphimedea, and that Alus a city of Aetolia was founded by their father.

Fragment [7] Berlin Papyri, No. 7497; Oxyrhynchus Papyri, 421:
...So she[Eurynome] lay in the arms of Poseidon and bare in the house of Glaucus blameless Bellerophon, surpassing all men in . . . over the boundless sea...

Fragment [9] Scholiast Ven. on Homer, Il. xi. 750:
The two sons of Actor and Molione... Hesiod has given their descent by calling them after Actor and Molione; but their father was Poseidon.

Fragment [10] Scholiast on Apollonius Rhodius, Arg. i. 156:
But Hesiod says that he changed himself in one of his wonted shapes and perched on the yoke-boss of Heracles' horses, meaning to fight with the hero; but that Heracles, secretly instructed by Athena, wounded him mortally with an arrow. And he says as follows: ` . . . and lordly Periclymenus. Happy he! For earth-shaking Poseidon gave him all manner of gifts. At one time he would appear among birds, an eagle; and again at another he would be an ant, a marvel to see; and then a shining swarm of bees; and again at another time a dread relentless snake. And he possessed all manner of gifts which cannot he told, and these then ensnared him through the devising of Athene.'

Fragment [13] Scholiast on Homer, Od. xii. 69:
Tyro the daughter of Salmoneus, having two sons by Poseidon, Neleus and Pelias, married Cretheus, and had by him three sons, Aeson, Pheres and Amythaon.

Fragment [40] Oxyrhynchus Papyri 1358 fr. 2 (3rd cent. A.D.):
...All these are the offspring of the lord, the Loud-thunderer. Round about all these (the Sons of Boreas) sped in darting flight . . . of the well-horsed Hyperboreans -- whom Earth the all-nourishing bare far off by the tumbling streams of deep-flowing Eridanus . . . of amber, feeding her wide-scattered offspring -- and about the steep Fawn mountain and rugged Etna to the isle Ortygia and the people sprung from Laestrygon who was the son of wide-reigning Poseidon. Twice ranged the Sons of Boreas along this coast and wheeled round and about yearning to catch the Harpies, while they strove to escape and avoid them. And they sped to the tribe of the haughty Cephallenians, the people of patient-souled Odysseus whom in aftertime Calypso the queenly nymph detained for Poseidon...

Eustathius, Hom. 13. 44. sq:
Butes, it is said, was a son of Poseidon: so Hesiod in the Catalogue.

Tzetzes, Schol. in Exeg. Iliad. 126:
`...Ileus whom the lord Apollo, son of Zeus, loved. And he named him by his name, because he found a nymph complaisant and was joined with her in sweet love, on that day when Poseidon and Apollo raised high the wall of the well-built city.'

HESIOD, FRAGMENTS, translated by H. G. EVELYN-WHITE

Pseudo-Eratosthenes, Catast. fr. xxxii:
Orion -- Hesiod says that he was the son of Euryale, the daughter of Minos, and of Poseidon, and that there was given him as a gift the power of walking upon the waves as though upon land.

HESIOD, THEOGONY, translated by H. G. EVELYN-WHITE

[270] And again, Ceto bare to Phorcys the fair-cheeked Graiae, sisters grey from their birth: and both deathless gods and men who walk on earth call them Graiae, Pemphredo well-clad, and saffron-robed Enyo, and the Gorgons who dwell beyond glorious Ocean in the frontier land towards Night where are the clear-voiced Hesperides, Sthenno, and Euryale, and Medusa who suffered a woeful fate: she was mortal, but the two were undying and grew not old. With her lay the Dark-haired One[Poseidon] in a soft meadow amid spring flowers. And when Perseus cut off her head, there sprang forth great Chrysaor and the horse Pegasus who is so called because he was born near the springs (pegae) of Ocean;

[727] There by the counsel of Zeus who drives the clouds the Titan gods are hidden under misty gloom, in a dank place where are the ends of the huge earth. And they may not go out; for Poseidon fixed gates of bronze upon it, and a wall runs all round it on every side.

[930] And of Amphitrite and the loud-roaring Earth-Shaker was born great, wide-ruling Triton, and he owns the depths of the sea, living with his dear mother and the lord his father in their golden house, an awful god.

[453] But Rhea was subject in love to Cronos and bare splendid children, Hestia,18 Demeter, and gold-shod Hera and strong Hades, pitiless in heart, who dwells under the earth, and the loud-crashing Earth-Shaker, and wise Zeus, father of gods and men, by whose thunder the wide earth is shaken.

HOMER, ILIAD, Book 1, translated by IAN JOHNSTON

[440] For often I have heard you boast in father's house that you alone of all the deathless gods saved Zeus of the dark clouds from disgraceful ruin, when other Olympians came to tie him up, Hera, Pallas Athena, and Poseidon.

[574] Peneleus, Leitus, and Arcesilaus led the Boeotians, with Clonius and Prothoenor. Their men came from Hyria, rocky Aulis, Schoenus, Scolus, mountainous Eteonus, Thespeia, Graia, spacious Mycalassus, men holding Harma, Eilesium, Erythrae; men holding Eleon, Hyle, Peteon, Ocalea, the well-built fortress Medeon, Copae, Eutresis, Thisbe, city full of doves; men from Coronea, grassy Haliartus; men from Plataea, Glisas, those who held fortified Lower Thebe and sacred Onchestus, with Poseidon's splendid grove; men from Arne, land rich in grapes, Midea, sacred Nisa, and distant Anthedon.

HOMER, ILIAD, Book 7, translated by IAN JOHNSTON

[518] Earthshaker Poseidon was the first to speak: “Father Zeus, will any mortal man on boundless earth, after this event, inform gods of his plans, of his intentions? Don't you see that long-haired Achaeans have built a new wall to protect their ships, dug a ditch around it, and yet have made no splendid sacrifice to us, the gods? The fame of this wall will reach everywhere, as far as light of dawn. People will forget that wall which Phoebus Apollo and myself worked hard to build for heroic Laomedon.”

HOMER, ILIAD, Book 8, translated by IAN JOHNSTON

[231] Then she[Hera] spoke out to great god Poseidon: “Alas, great Earthshaker, don't you feel any anguish in your heart, as Danaans are destroyed? After all, they bring you presents, many pleasing gifts, to Helice and Aegae. Don't you want them to win? Now, if all those of us who protect Danaans were to agree to drive the Trojans back, we'd leave wide-seeing Zeus up there by himself, sulking where he sits alone on Ida” Mighty Earthshaker Poseidon, very angry, answered Hera: “Hera, you fearless talker, What are you saying? That's not what I want, the rest of us to war on Zeus, son of Cronos. For he is much more powerful than us.”

HOMER, ILIAD, Book 11, translated by IAN JOHNSTON

[861] And I'd have slaughtered both the Molines, Actor's descendants, but their father, the wide-ruling shaker of the earth, Poseidon, with a thick concealing mist let them escape.

HOMER, ILIAD, Book 12, translated by IAN JOHNSTON

[1] Thus, as Patroclus, Menoetius' fine son, looked after wounded Eurypylus in his hut, Trojans and Achaeans kept fighting on in clusters. The Danaan ditch and the high broad wall weren't going to hold out long.

[14] But after so many of the finest Trojans died, many Achaeans, too, though many did survive, in the war's tenth year, Priam's city was destroyed. When Achaeans sailed back to their dear native land, then Poseidon and Apollo planned to erase that wall, by stirring up the raging power of all rivers flowing from Mount Ida to the sea—Rhesus, Heptaporus, Caresus, Rhodius, Granicus, Aesepus, the sacred Scamander and Simoeis, where many ox-hide shields and helmets had fallen in the dust, along with a race of people half-divine. Phoebus Apollo merged the mouths of all these rivers, then for nine days drove the flood against the rampart.

[27] Zeus brought constant rain to wash the wall away into the sea more quickly. And Poseidon, too, the Earthshaker himself, holding his trident, led the work, his waves eroding all foundations, wood and stone Achaeans had worked so hard to set there. He smoothed the shores of the fast-flowing Hellespont, covering huge beaches once again with sand. The wall gone, he changed the rivers, so they flowed on as before, their lovely waters in their customary channels. All this Apollo and Poseidon would do later on.

HOMER, ILIAD, Book 13, translated by IAN JOHNSTON

[8] Zeus no longer turned his radiant eyes toward Troy, for in his heart he did not believe a single one of the immortal gods would move to give assistance to the Trojans or Danaans. But mighty Earthshaker Poseidon was keeping watch. High on the tallest crest of wooded Samothrace he sat looking down upon the war going on. From that point, Mount Ida was clearly visible, Priam's city, too, and the Achaean ships. He'd come up from the sea and seated himself there, pitying Achaeans, as Trojans beat them back, and nursing a powerful anger against Zeus. Poseidon came down quickly from that rocky peak, moving swiftly on his feet. Mountain peaks and woods trembled under Poseidon's immortal stride. He took three paces—with the fourth he reached his goal, Aegae, where his famous palace had been built of eternal gold and marble deep within the sea. Going inside, he harnessed to his chariot swift bronze-hooved horses with flowing golden manes. Dressed in gold, he took his well-made golden whip, climbed in the chariot, then set off across the waves.

[29] From the depths, sea creatures played around him everywhere, acknowledging their king. The joyful ocean parted. He sped on quickly, keeping the bronze axle dry. The prancing horses carried him to the Achaean ships. Half-way between Tenedos and rocky Imbros, a wide cavern sits deep within the sea. In that spot, Earthshaker Poseidon reined in his horses, freed them from the chariot, and threw down ambrosia, food for them to eat. Around their feet he placed golden hobbles which they could not slip or break, so they'd remain secure there till their lord's return. Then Poseidon moved on to the Achaean camp.

[42] At that point, Trojans, like some fire or windstorm, marched behind Hector, son of Priam, in a mass, shouting and screaming with excitement, hoping to seize Achaean ships and kill the best men there. But Poseidon, who encircles and shakes the earth, roused the Argives, once he'd moved up from the sea. Taking on the shape and tireless voice of Calchas, he first spoke to the Ajaxes, both keen to fight. “You Ajaxes, you must save Achaean troops. Think of your fighting power, not cold flight. In other places, I don't fear the Trojans, whose powerful arms have brought hordes of them across our wall. For well-armed Achaeans will check them all. But I fear them here, where we may experience disaster, because of Hector, who leads their charge. He's like a man possessed, a blazing fire, as if he were a son of mighty Zeus. But perhaps some god will inspire the hearts in both your chests, so you two can stand firm. You could get other men to do the same. Hector may be keen, but you could push him back from our swift ships, even if Zeus himself is driving him ahead.” Poseidon finished speaking. Then, the shaker and encircler of the earth touched both men with his staff, infusing them with power, strengthening their legs and upper arms. Then Poseidon left. Just as a swift-winged hawk takes off while hovering above some high sheer rock, swooping down over the plain to hunt another bird—that how Earthshaker Poseidon went off then.

[93] As the two Ajaxes talked like this to one another, relishing the warlike spirit the god had put into their hearts, the Encircler of the Earth was encouraging Achaeans at the rear, those whose spirits were recovering by the swift ships, their limbs exhausted from their anguishing ordeals, their hearts weighed down with sorrow at the sight of Trojan soldiers coming over their great wall. When they saw that, their eyes shed tears—they thought they'd not escape destruction. Earthshaker Poseidon moved round with ease, bringing strength into the ranks. He moved first to encourage Teucer and Leïtus, then brave Peneleous, Thoas, Deïpyrus, then Meriones and Antilochus, both skilled in war shouts. He spoke to them—his words had wings: “Shame on you Argives, nothing but young boys! I'm counting on your strength to save our ships. If you're holding back in this grim fight, then now's the day the Trojans overcome us......By rousing men this way, Earthshaker Poseidon pushed Achaeans into action. Round both Ajaxes soldiers made a stand and strongly held their ground.

[241] At that point, Poseidon, angry that his grandson Amphimachus had died in that harsh fight, went through Achaea's huts and ships, rousing Achaeans, planning trouble for the Trojans. He met the famous spearman Idomeneus coming from a comrade who'd just left the fight. A sharp bronze blow had struck him in the knee. His companions brought him in. Idomeneus, having issued his instructions to the healers, was going to his hut, still eager to fight on. The mighty Earthshaker spoke to him, making his voice sound like Thoas, son of Andraemon...”...Having said this, Poseidon went away, a god among the toiling men, and Idomeneus went into his well-made hut, strapped fine armour round his body, took two spears and then strode out, looking like a lightning bolt which Cronos' son grips in his hand and hurls down from bright Olympus, revealing in its dazzling flash a sign for mortal men, that's how, as he moved, bronze glinted on his chest.

[408] Then two mighty sons of Cronos, at cross purposes, made painful trouble for those mortal warriors. Zeus wanted victory for Hector and his Trojans, to give swift Achilles glory—not that he wished Achaea's army to be totally destroyed in front of Troy, but he did want to honour Thetis, and her great-hearted son, as well, Achilles. But Poseidon moved around among the Argives, urging action, coming out in secret from the sea, angry that Trojans were destroying Achaeans, and incensed at Zeus. Both gods had a common father— the same family, too—but Zeus was older and more wise. So Poseidon avoided giving any overt help. He did his work in secret through the army, in human form, urging men to fight.

[511] Now at Idomeneus’ hands Poseidon slaughtered Alcathous. The god cast a spell—he covered his bright eyes and froze his glistening limbs, so he couldn't flee or dodge the spear, but stood there, motionless, like a pillar or some high leafy tree.

[646] Antilochus jumped on him and began to strip the armour on his shoulders. But he kept his eyes alert, for he was surrounded, with Trojan men on every side, thrusting their spears at his broad shining shield. But their ruthless bronze could not scratch the tender skin behind that shield, for Earthshaker Poseidon was guarding Nestor's son, even in that hail of spears......As Antilochus went through that crowd of men, he was observed by Adamas, son of Asius, who charged close in—his sharp bronze spear struck the middle of his shield. But dark-haired Poseidon, unwilling to concede Antilochus’ life, made the spear point fail—so part of it got stuck in Antilochus' shield, like the charred end of a stick, and half fell on the ground.

HOMER, ILIAD, Book 14, translated by IAN JOHNSTON

[178] Poseidon said these words, then, as he raced off to the plain, let out a mighty roar—as loud as the din from nine or ten thousand men when on a battleground they first clash with Ares. That's how loud the sound was which came out then from powerful Earthshaker's chest, infusing great strength in each man's heart to keep on going, to fight on there and not to pause for rest.

[420] Sweet Sleep rushed to the Achaean ships, to inform Poseidon, the Encircler and Shaker of the Earth. Coming up to him, Sleep spoke—his words had wings: “Poseidon, you could now assist the Argives quite readily and give them glory, if only for a while—Zeus is fast asleep. I’ve covered him with a delicious sleep. Hera has seduced him on a bed of love.”

[446] Poseidon spoke. The soldiers heard him and obeyed. The kings themselves, though wounded, organized the men—Agamemnon, Diomedes, and Odysseus. Moving among the warriors, they supervised the exchange of weapons. The best men put on the best equipment, the worst men got the worst. Once their bodies were encased in gleaming bronze, they marched out. Earthshaker Poseidon led them, gripping in his powerful fist a fearful sword, with a long edge, like a lightning bolt, which no man in grim battle could withstand—his fear would hold him back. On the other side, glorious Hector organized his men. Then he and dark-haired Poseidon launched the fight, the most destructive moments of that battle, one commanding Trojans, the other leading Argives.

HOMER, ILIAD, Book 15, translated by IAN JOHNSTON

[1] Trojans, in full retreat, passed the wall and ditch, with many slaughtered by Danaans. Then they stopped, regrouping by their chariots, pale with fear, terrified. At that point Zeus, lying on the peaks of Ida alongside Hera of the golden throne, woke up. He stood up quickly, looked at Trojans and Achaeans, saw Trojans running off with Argives driving them from the back, among them god Poseidon.

[57] The father of gods and men smiled and then replied— his words had wings: “Ox-eyed queen Hera, if from now on you and I were of one mind, as you took your seat among immortals, then, no matter how much Poseidon's views differed from our own, he'd quickly bring them into line with yours and mine. If you're being frank, speaking the truth, go now to that group of gods, and order Iris to come here with Apollo, the famous archer, so she may visit bronze-armed Achaean soldiers and instruct lord Poseidon to stop fighting and return to his own house.

[219] The famous Earthshaker, enraged, replied: “It's unjust! He may be best, but he speaks too proudly, if he restrains me by force against my will, for I'm as worthy of respect as he is. We are three brothers, sons of Cronos, born from Rhea—Zeus, myself, and Hades, third brother, ruler of the dead. The whole world was divided in three parts, and each of us received one share. Once the lots were shaken, I won the blue-gray sea as mine to live in for ever. Hades got the gloomy darkness, Zeus wide heaven, with the upper air and clouds. But earth and high Olympus still remained to all of us in common. So I won't go. I won't follow Zeus' will. Let him stay, for all his strength, happy with his third. Let him not try to scare me with the power of his hands, as if I were some coward. It would be better if he'd use his threats, his bluster, on those sons and daughters which he himself produced. They, at least, will have to listen to his orders.” Swift Iris, with feet like the wind, replied: “Dark-haired Earthshaker, is that the message I'm to take from you to Zeus, these harsh, defiant words? Or will you change your mind? For the finest hearts can change. The Furies, as you know, always serve the elder one.” Earthshaker Poseidon then said: “Goddess Iris, what you say is right. It's commendable when a messenger understands things well. But this business brings harsh pain into my heart, my spirit, when the deity whose share is the same as mine and who's been given a common destiny, wants to abuse me with angry words. However, for now I'll concede, for all my indignation.

[266] Cloud-gatherer Zeus then spoke to Apollo: “Dear Phoebus, go down to bronze-armed Hector. Poseidon, who encircles and shakes the earth, has gone back to the sacred sea and thus avoided my harsh anger. If he'd fought it out with me, others would certainly have heard about it, even gods below, down there with Cronos. But for me this is much better, and for him, too, that before we came to blows he backed off, away from my hands, despite his anger.

HOMER, ILIAD, Book 20, translated by IAN JOHNSTON

[14] The gods gathered there in Zeus' house. Poseidon also answered Themis' summons, coming from the sea to join them. He sat in the middle of them all, asking about Zeus' purposes: “Lord of bright lightning, why have you called gods to this assembly? Are you concerned for Trojans and Achaeans? Right now their fight is close to flaring up into a total war.” Cloud-gatherer Zeus then said to Poseidon in reply: “You understand, Earthshaker, the plans here in my chest, the reasons why I've summoned you. Yes, I am concerned for them. Though they are being destroyed, I'll stay here, sitting on a ridge of Mount Olympus. From here I'll look on to my heart's content. But all the rest of you can go away to join Trojans and Achaeans, helping either side, as your spirits each dictate.

[66] From on high, the father of gods and men thundered ominously, while Poseidon shook the vast earth under them and lofty mountain crests. All the lower slopes of Ida, with its many springs, trembled, as did the peaks, the Trojan city, and Achaean ships. Under the earth, the king of the dead, Aidoneus, was terrified. He leapt up from his throne afraid and shouting, frightened that Earthshaker Poseidon would split up the earth above him and reveal to gods and men the dark and dreadful habitations of the dead, which even gods detest, so massive was the shock when gods collided in that war, with Poseidon matched against Apollo with his feathered arrows, glittery eyed Athena going against a mighty god, Ares Enyalius, and Hera against Artemis, with her golden arrows, goddess of the noisy hunt, sister of Apollo, god who shoots from far away

[342] With that rock Aeneas would have struck Achilles, as he charged at him, on his helmet or the shield which had rescued him from death, and then Achilles in close combat with his sword would have taken Aeneas' life,had not the Earthshaker Poseidon been paying attention....Earthshaker Poseidon went down into the battle, among the flying spears and came right to the place where Aeneas stood with glorious Achilles. At once he cast a dense mist on Achilles' eyes, pulled the ash spear of Peleus' son out of the shield of brave Aeneas and set it at Achilles' feet. Poseidon then raised Aeneas up, swinging him far above the ground. Aeneas soared high up,above the many ranks of warriors and chariots, flying from Poseidon's hand, and then came down on the fringes of that battle, where the Caucones were arming for the fight.

HOMER, ILIAD, Book 21, translated by IAN JOHNSTON

[522] Then the mighty Earthshaker spoke to Apollo: “Phoebus, why do we two stand aloof? That's not right, now that others have begun. It would be shameful if we both went back to Olympus, to Zeus' bronze-floored home, without a fight. Since you're the younger one, you must begin. It's not fair play if I do, since I'm your elder and I thus know more. How foolish you are with your thoughtless heart! Don't you recall the trouble we two had around Troy, just the pair of us alone, with no other gods, that time when Zeus made us come here to work for a whole year at a fixed wage for proud king Laomedon? He was our master and told us what to do. I built the Trojans a wide and splendid wall around their city, to make it impregnable. You, Phoebus, worked with his cattle herds, taking his shambling bent-horned livestock through Ida's wooded spurs and valleys. When the joyful season stopped our working there, that despicable Laomedon robbed us. He kept our wages and sent us off with threats. He promised he'd tie up your hands and feet, then in some distant island sell you as a slave. He said he'd slice off both our ears with bronze. We came back really angry in our hearts, enraged about those promised wages he'd withheld. That's the man whose people you're now keen to favour. You don't join us, so we destroy these arrogant Trojans once and for all, along with all their children and their honourable wives as well.” Lord Apollo, who shoots from far, answered Poseidon: “Earthshaker, you'd never call me prudent, if I fought with you over human beings—those pitiful creatures are like the leaves, now full of blazing life, eating nourishment the earth provides, then fading into death. No, let's quickly end our quarrel, leaving these mortal men to fight amongst themselves.” Saying this, he turned away, thinking it shameful to fight in battle against his father's brother.

HOMER, ILIAD, Book 23, translated by IAN JOHNSTON

[323] Then Achilles stood up and spoke directly to the Argives: “Sons of Atreus, you other well-armed Achaean warriors, these prizes lie set out here for a contest among the charioteers. If Achaeans were now hosting these games for someone else, then I myself would surely win first prize and take it to my hut, since, as you know, my horses are far better than the rest, for they're immortal, Poseidon's gift to Peleus, my father, who gave them to me.

[362] He was a noble son of proud king Nestor, son of Neleus. Swift-footed horses bred at Pylos pulled his chariot. His father came up to him to give him practical advice, a wise man speaking to one who could appreciate another's skill: “Antilochus, you may still be quite young, but Zeus and Poseidon have been fond of you. They've taught you all sorts of things with horses, so there's no need to issue you instructions...

HOMER, ODYSSEY, Book 1, translated by IAN JOHNSTON

[24] The gods pitied Odysseus, all except Poseidon, who kept up his anger against godlike Odysseus and did not relent until he reached his native land. But at that moment, Poseidon was among the Ethiopians, a long way off, those same Ethiopians, the most remote of people, who live divided in two different groups, one where Hyperion goes down, the other where he rises. Poseidon went there to receive a sacrificial offering to him— bulls and rams—and was sitting at a banquet, enjoying himself.

[90] But Earthshaker Poseidon is a stubborn god, constantly enraged about the Cyclops, the one whose eye Odysseus destroyed, godlike Polyphemus, the mightiest of all the Cyclopes. Thoosa bore him, a nymph, a daughter of that Phorcys who commands the restless sea. Poseidon, down in those hollow caves, had sex with her. That’s the reason Earthshaker Poseidon makes Odysseus wander from his country.

HOMER, ODYSSEY, Book 4, translated by IAN JOHNSTON

[686] There is one leader held back by the sea somewhere, but still alive. Ajax perished among his long-oared ships at Gyrae Poseidon first propelled his boat against huge rocks, then saved him from the sea. Although Athena hated him, he'd have been saved, if he'd not grown insanely foolish— he stated he had managed to escape the sea's huge depths, in spite of all the gods. Poseidon heard him make this boastful claim. Immediately those mighty hands of his picked up his trident and then brought it down on that rock at Gyrae, splitting it apart. One piece stayed in place—the other one sheared off and fell into the sea, the part where Ajax sat when his mind first became so utterly deluded. He fell down into the endless surging waves and died by swallowing salt water.

HOMER, ODYSSEY, Book 5, translated by IAN JOHNSTON

[344] But at that moment, the mighty Earthshaker, returning from the Ethiopians, saw him from the distant mountains of the Solymi. Poseidon watched Odysseus sailing on the sea, and his spirit grew enraged. He shook his head and spoke to his own heart: “Something's wrong The gods must have changed what they were planning for Odysseus, while I've been far away among the Ethiopians. For now, he's hard by the land of the Phaeacians, where he'll escape the great extremes of sorrow which have come over him—so Fate ordains. But still, even now I think I'll push him so he gets his fill of troubles.” Poseidon spoke. Then he drove the clouds together, seized his trident, and shook up the sea. He brought on stormy blasts from every kind of wind, concealing land and sea with clouds, so darkness fell from heaven. East Wind clashed with South Wind, while West Wind, raging in a storm, smashed into North Wind, born in the upper sky, as it pushed a massive wave.

[450] As his mind and heart were thinking about this, Earthshaker Poseidon set in motion a monstrous, menacing, and terrifying wave, arching high above his head, and drove it at him. Just as a storm wind scatters dry straw in a heap, blowing pieces here and there in all directions—that's how that wave split the long planks on the raft.

HOMER, ODYSSEY, Book 7, translated by IAN JOHNSTON

[64] Originally, Nausithous was born to the Earthshaker, Poseidon, and to Periboea, loveliest of women, youngest daughter to great-hearted Eurymedon, once king of the rebellious Giants.

HOMER, ODYSSEY, Book 8, translated by IAN JOHNSTON

[400] But this binding snare will confine them here, until her father gives back all those presents, courting gifts I gave him for that shameless bitch— a lovely daughter but a sex-crazed wife.” Hephaestus finished. God gathered at the bronze-floored house. Earthshaker Poseidon came, and Hermes, too, the god of luck. And archer lord Apollo came. But female goddesses were all far too ashamed and stayed at home. So the gods, givers of good things, stood in the doorway, looking at the artful work of ingenious Hephaestus. They began to laugh— an irrepressible laughter then pealed out among the blessed gods.

[432] At Hermes' words, laughter arose from the immortal deities. But Poseidon did not laugh. He kept requesting Hephaestus, the celebrated master artisan, to set Ares free. When he talked to him, his words had wings: “Set him loose. I promise he will pay you everything, as you are asking, all he truly owes, in the presence of immortal gods.” The famous lame god then replied: “Poseidon, Shaker of the Earth, do not ask me this. It's a nasty thing to accept a pledge made for a nasty rogue. What if Ares escapes his chains, avoids the debt, and leaves—how then among all these immortal gods do I hold you in chains?” Earthshaker Poseidon then answered him and said: “Hephaestus, if indeed Ares does not discharge his debt and runs away, I'll pay you in person.” Then the celebrated crippled god replied: “It would be inappropriate for me to refuse to take your word.” After saying this,powerful Hephaestus then untied the netting. Once they'd been released from their strong chains, both gods jumped up immediately—Ares went off to Thrace,..

HOMER, ODYSSEY, Book 11, translated by IAN JOHNSTON

[291] “There I saw high-born Tyro first of all, daughter, she said, of noble Samoneus, and wife of Cretheus, son of Aeolus. She'd loved the river god Enipeus, most beautiful by far of all the streams that flow on earth. She used to stroll along beside the lovely waters of Enipeus. But the Encircler and Shaker of the Earth, taking on the form of Enipeus. lay with her in the foaming river mouth. A high dark wave rose arching over them, like a mountain, keeping them concealed, the mortal woman and the god. Poseidon removed the virgin's belt and made her sleep. After he'd finished having sex with her, the god then held her by the hand and said: ‘Woman, be happy about making love. Before the year goes by, you'll be giving birth to marvelous children, for a god's embrace does not lack power. Take good care of them, and raise them well. But now you must go home. Hold your tongue, and don't tell anyone. Know that I am Earthshaker Poseidon.’ “That said, he plunged into the surging sea. Tyro conceived and then gave birth to sons, Pelias and Neleus, and they became two stalwart followers of mighty Zeus.

[385] “After Leda, I saw Iphimedea, wife of Aloeus. Poseidon, she said, had made love to her, and she'd had two sons, godlike Otus and famed Ephialtes.

HOMER, ODYSSEY, Book 13, translated by IAN JOHNSTON

[175] Earthshaker Poseidon then answered Zeus: “Lord of the Dark Cloud, I would have quickly done as you've just said, but I was afraid you might be angry, and that I wanted to avoid. But now, I wish to strike at those Phaeacians, at their splendid ship, as it sails back home, after its trip across the misty seas, so they will stop and never more provide an escort carrying human beings. Then all around their city I'll throw up a massive mountain range.” Cloud-gatherer Zeus then answered him and said: “Brother, listen now to what my heart thinks best—when all of them are in the city looking out, as that boat speeds on her way, then turn her into stone close to the shore, a rock that looks just like some fast ship, so all men will be amazed. Then raise a massive mountain round their town.” When Earthshaker Poseidon heard these words, he left and went to Scheria, home of the Phaeacians. There he waited. As their sea-faring ship approached, moving quickly on her course, Earthshaker came up and turned it into stone. With the palm of his hand he hit it once and from below froze it in place.

HOMERIC HYMNS, Hymn to Pythian Apollo, translated by H. G. EVELYN-WHITE

[229] And further still you went, O far-shooting Apollo, and came to Onchestus, Poseidon's bright grove: there the new-broken cold distressed with drawing the trim chariot gets spirit again, and the skilled driver springs from his car and goes on his way.

HOMERIC HYMNS, Hymn to Aphrodite, translated by H. G. EVELYN-WHITE

[20] Nor yet does the pure maiden Hestia love Aphrodite's works. She was the first-born child of wily Cronos and youngest too, by will of Zeus who holds the aegis, -- a queenly maid whom both Poseidon and Apollo sought to wed. But she was wholly unwilling, nay, stubbornly refused; and touching the head of father Zeus who holds the aegis, she, that fair goddess, sware a great oath which has in truth been fulfilled, that she would be a maiden all her days.

HOMERIC HYMNS, Hymn to Poseidon, translated by H. G. EVELYN-WHITE

[1] I begin to sing about Poseidon, the great god, mover of the earth and fruitless sea, god of the deep who is also lord of Helicon and wide Aegae. A two-fold office the gods allotted you, O Shaker of the Earth, to be a tamer of horses and a saviour of ships! Hail, Poseidon, Holder of the Earth, dark-haired lord! O blessed one, be kindly in heart and help those who voyage in ships!

HYGINUS, ASTRONOMICA, translated by MARY GRANT

[2.18] This sign Aratus and many others have called Pegasus, offspring of Neptune and the Gorgon Medusa, who on Helicon, a mountain of Boeotia, opened up a spring by striking the rock with his hoof.

[2.20] This is thought to be the ram which carried Phrixus and Helle thought the Hellespont. Hesiod and Pherecydes say that it had a fleece of gold; about his we shall speak at greater length elsewhere. Many have said that Helle fell into the Hellespont, was embraced by Neptune, and bore Paeon, or, as some say, Edonus.

[2.21] The Pleiades are called seven in number, but only six can be seen. This reason has been advanced, that of the seven, six mated with immortals (three with Jove, two with Neptune, and one with Mars); the seventh was said to have been the wife of Sisyphus. From Electra and Jove, Dardanus was born; from Maia and Jove, Mercury; from Taygete and Jove, Ladedaemon; from Alcyone and Neptune, Hyrieus; from Celaeno and Neptune, Lycus and Nycteus.

[2.22] These stars many astronomers have called Castor and Pollux. They say that of all brothers they were the most affectionate, not striving in rivalry for the leadership, nor acting without previous consultation. As a reward for their services of friendship, Jupiter is thought to have put them in the sky as well-known stars. Neptune, with like intention, has rewarded them for he gave them horses to ride, and power to aid shipwrecked men.

[2.31] Whale. With regard to the Sea-Monster, they say that it was sent by Neptune to kill Andromeda, about whom we have already spoken. But because it was killed by Perseus, on account of its huge size and his valour it was placed amongst the constellations.

[2.34] Hesiod calls him the son of Neptune by Euryale, daughter of Minos. He had the ability of running over the waves as if on land, just as it is said that Iphiclus could run over standing grain and not bruise it.

HYGINUS, FABULAE, translated by MARY GRANT

From Saturn and Ops, Vesta, Ceres, Iuno, Jupiter, Pluto, Neptune.

From Neptune and Amphitrite, Triton.

From Neptune and Medusa, the horse Pegasus.

Fable [10] - CHLORIS - Chloris was the only daughter of Niobe and Amphion who survived. Neleus, Hippocoon’s son, married her, and she bore to him twelve sons. When Hercules was besieging Pylus he slew Neleus and ten of his sons, but the eleventh, Periclymenus, was changed to an eagle by the favour of Neptune, his grandfather, and escaped death.

Fable [14] - ARGONAUTS - This Caeneus, son of Elatus, a Magnesian, proved that in no way could the Centaurs wound him with steel, but they did so with trunks of trees sharpened to a point. Some say that he was once a woman, and in answer to her petition, Neptune for her favors granted that she be turned into a man, and be invulnerable to any blow.... Nauplius, son of Neptune and Amymone, daughter of Danaus, an Argive....Euphemus, son of Neptune and Europe, daughter of Tityus, a Taenarian. It is said he could run over water with dry feet....A second Ancaeus, son of Neptune by Althaea, daughter of Thestius, from the island Imbrasus, which was called Parthenia but is now called Samos....Erginus, son of Neptune, from Miletus; some say son of Periclymenus, from Orchomenus.

Fable [17] - AMYCUS - Amycus, son of Neptune and Melie, king of Bebrycia, compelled whoever came to his kingdom to contend with him in boxing, and slew the vanquished. When he had challenged the Argonauts to a boxing match, Pollux fought with him and killed him.

Fable [31] - HERACLES - He killed Lycus, son of Neptune, because he was planning to kill his wife Megara, daughter of Creon, and their sons Therimachus and Ophites.

Fable [37] - AETHRA - Neptune and Aegeus, son of Pandion, one night in the shrine of Minerva both lay with Aethra, daughter of Pittheus. Neptune conceded the child to Aegeus. Now he, on the point of returning to Athens from Troezene, put his sword under a stone, and told Aethra that when the boy could lift the stone and take his father’s sword, she should send him to him. He would recognize his son by that. And so later Aethra bore Theseus.

Fable [38] - THESEUS - He slew Corynetes, son of Neptune, by force of arms....He killed Procrustes, son of Neptune.

Fable [46] - ERECHTHEUS - Erechtheus, son of Pandion, had four daughters who promised each other that if one met death, the others would kill themselves. Eumolpus, son of Neptune, came to attack Athens because he said the Attic land was his father’s. When he and his army were defeated and he was slain by the Athenians, Neptune demanded that Erechtheus’ daughter be sacrificed to him so that Erechtheus would not rejoice at his son’s death. And so when Chthonia, his daughter, had been sacrifided, the others in accordance with their oaths killed themselves. Erechtheus himself at Neptune’s request was smitten with a thunderbolt by Jove.

Fable [47] - HIPPOLYTHUS - Phaedra , daughter of Minos and wife of Theseus, loved her stepson Hippolytus. When she could not bend him to her desire, she sent a letter to her husband saying that she had been attacked by Hippolytus, and slew herself by hanging. Theseus, when he heard this, ordered his son to leave the city and prayed Neptune his father for his son’s death. And so when Hippolytus was driving his team of horses, a bull suddenly appeared from the sea. The horses, terrified at its bellowing, dragged Hippolytus, rending him limb from limb, and caused his death.

Fable [56] - BUSIRIS - In Egypt in the land of Busiris, son of Neptune, when there was a famine, and Egypt had been parched for nine years, the king summoned augurs from Greece. Thrasius, his brother Pygmalion’s son, announced that rains would come if a foreigner were sacrificed, and proved his words when he himself was sacrificed.

Fable [89] - LAOMEDON - Neptune and Apollo are said to have built a wall around Troy. King Laomedon vowed that he would sacrifice to them from his flocks whatever should be born that year in his kingdom. This vow he defaulted on through avarice. Other writers say that he promised too little. Because of this Neptune sent a sea-monster to plague Troy, and for this reason the king sent to Apollo for advice. Apollo angrily replied that if Trojan maidens were bound and offered to the monster, there would be an end to the plague. When many girls had been devoured, and the lot fell on Hesione, and she was bound to the rocks, Hercules and Telamon came there, the Argonauts being on their way to Colchis, and killed the monster.

Fable [125] - ODYSSEY - ...Wandering from this, his comrades lost in the shipwreck, he swam to the island of Aeaea, where the nymph Calypso, daughter of Atlas, lived. She enamoured of the handsome form of Ulysses, kept him a whole year, and was unwilling to release him until Mercury, by Jove’s command, bade her release him. When a raft had been made there, Calypso sent him off with an abundance of provisions, but Neptune shattered the raft with his waves because he had blinded his son, the Cyclops...

Fable [139] - CURETES - After Opis had borne Jove by Saturn, Juno asked her to give him to her, since Saturn and cast Orcus under Tartarus, and Neptune under the sea, because he knew that his son would rob him of the kingdom...

Fable [140] - PYTHON - ...But by order of Jove the wind Aquilo carried Latona away, and bore her to Neptune. He protected her, but in order not to make voice Juno’s decree, he took her to the island Ortygia, and covered the island with waves. When Python did not find her, he returned to Parnassus. But Neptune brought the island of Ortygia up to a higher position; it was later called the island of Delos. There Latona, clinging to an olive tree, bore Apollo and Diana, to whom Vulcan gave arrows as gifts...

Fable [150] - SONS OF POSEIDON - Boeotus and Hellen by Antiopa, daughter of Aeolus. Agenor and Belus by Libye, daughter of Epaphus. Bellerophon by Eurynome, daughter of Nysus. Leuconoe by Themisto, daughter of Hypseus. Hyrieus by Alcyone, daughter of Atlas. Abas by Arethusa, daughter of Nereus. [*Ephoceus by Alcyone, daughter of Atlas.] [Belus.] Actor . . . Dictys by Agamede, daughter of Augeas. Evadne by *Lena, daughter of Leucippus. Megareus by Oenope, daughter of Epopeus. Cygnus by Calyce, daughter of Hecato. Periclymenus and Ancaeus by Astypale, daughter of Phoenix. Neleus and Pelias by Tyro, daughter of Salmoneus. Eupemus and Lycus and Nycteus by Celaeno, daughter of *Ergeus. Peleus *Arprites. Antaeus . . .Eumolpus by Chiona, daughter of Aquilo . . . by Amymone . . . likewise Cyclops Polyphemus . . . *Metus by Melite, daughter of Busiris.

Fable [164] - CONTEST FOR ATHENS - When there was a contest between Neptune and Minerva as to who should be the first to found a town in the Attic land, they took Jove as judge. Minerva won because she first planted the olive in that land, said to be there to this day. But Neptune, in anger, wanted to have the sea flood that land. Mercury, at Jove’s command, forbade his doing that. And so Minerva in her own name founded Athens, a town said to be the first established in the world.

Fable [169] - AMYMONE - When Amymone, daughter of Danaus, was eagerly hunting in the woods, she struck a satyr with her dart. He wanted to ravish her, but she begged the aid of Neptune. When Neptune came there, he drove away the satyr, and lay with her himself. From this embrace Nauplius was born. At the place where this occurred, Neptune is said to have struck the earth with his trident. Water flowed out, called the Fountain of Lerna and the Amymonian River.

Fable [186] - MELANIPPE - Neptune seduced Melanippe, a very beautiful girl, daughter of Desmontes or as other poets say, of Aeolus, and begat by her two sons. When Desmontes found this out, he blinded Melanippe, and shut her in a prison, with commands that only scant food and water be given to her, and that the children be thrown to wild beasts. When thy had been thrown out, a cow in milk came to the children and offered them her udders, and cowherds, seeing this, took he children to rear. In the meantime Metapontus, King of Icaria, demanded of his wife Theano that she bear children to him, or leave the kingdom. She, in fear, sent to the shepherds asking them to find a child she could present to the king. They sent her the two babies they had found, and she presented them to king Metapontus as her own. Theano later bore two sons to Metapontus. Since, however, Metapontus, was exceedingly fond of the first two, because they were very handsome, Theano sought to get rid of them and save the kingdom for her own sons. A day came when Metapontus went out to perform sacrifices to Diana Metapontina, and Theano, seizing the opportunity, revealed to her sons that the older boys wee not her own. “So, when they go out to hunt, kill them with hunting knives.” When they had gone out in the mountains, at their mother’s instructions, they started fighting. But with the aid of Neptune, Neptune’s sons overcame them and killed them. When their bodies wee borne into the palace, Theano killed herself with a hunting knife. The avengers, Boeotus and Aeolus, fled to the shepherds where they had been reared, and there Neptune revealed to them that they were his sons and that their mother was held in custody. They went to Desmontes, killed him, and freed their mother, whose sight Neptune restore. Her sons brought her to Icaria to King Metapontus, and revealed Theano’s treachery to him. After this, Metapontus married Melanippe, and adopted the two as his sons. In Propontis they founded towns called by their names - Boeotus, Boeotia, and Aeolus, Aeolia.

Fable [187] - ALOPE - Since Alope, daughter of Cercyon, was very beautiful, Neptune embraced her, and from this embrace she bore a child which she gave to her nurse to expose, since she did not know its father. When the child was exposed, a mare came and furnished it milk. A certain shepherd, following the mare, saw the child and took it up. When he had taken it home, clothed in its royal garments, a fellow shepherd asked that it be given to him. The first gave it without the garments, and when strife rose between them, the one who had taken the child demanding signs it was free-born, but the other refusing to give them, they came to King Cercyon and presented their arguments. The on who had taken the child again demanded the garments, and when they were brought, Cercyon knew that they were taken from the garments of his daughter. Alope’s nurse, in fear, revealed to the King that the child was Alope’s, and he ordered that his daughter be imprisoned and slain, and the child exposed. Again the mare fed it; shepherds again found the child, and took him up, and reared him, feeling that he was being guarded by the will of the gods. They gave him the name Hippothous. When Theseus was journeying from Troezene, he killed Cercyon; Hippothous, however, came to Theseus and asked for his father’s kingdom. Theseus willingly gave it to him when he learned he was the son of Neptune, from whom he claimed his own birth. The body of Alope Neptune turned into a fountain, called by the name Alope.

Fable [188] - THEOPHANE - Theophane, a most beautiful maiden, was the daughter of Bisaltes. When many suitors sought her from her father, Neptune carried her off and took her to the island of Crumissa. When the suitors knew she was staying there, they secured a ship and hastened to Crumissa. To deceive them, Neptune changed Theophane into a very beautiful ewe, himself into a ram, and the citizens of Curmissa into cattle. When the suitors came there and found no human beings, they began to slaughter the herds and use them for food. Neptunus saw that the men who had been changed to cattle were being destroyed, and changed the suitors into wolves. He himself, in ram form, lay with Theophane, and from this union was born the golden-fleeced ram which carried Phrixus to Colchis, and whose fleece, hung in the grove of Mars, Jason took away.

LUCIAN, DIALOGS OF THE SEA GODS, translated by H. W. & F. G. FOWLER

CYCLOPS AND POSEIDON

CYCLOPS - Only look, father, what that cursed stranger has been doing to me! He made me drunk, and set upon me whilst I was asleep, and blinded me.

POSEIDON - Who has dared to do this?

CYCLOPS - He called himself 'Noman' at first: but when he had got safely out of range, he said his name was Odysseus.

POSEIDON - I know—the Ithacan; on his way back from Troy. But how did he come to do such a thing? He is not distinguished for courage.

CYCLOPS - When I got back from the pasture, I caught a lot of the fellows in my cave. Evidently they had designs upon the sheep: because when I had blocked up my doorway (I have a great big stone for that), and kindled a fire, with a tree that I had brought home from the mountain,--there they were trying to hide themselves. I saw they were robbers, so I caught a few of them, and ate them of course, and then that scoundrel of a Noman, or Odysseus, whichever it is, gave me something to drink, with a drug in it; it tasted and smelt very good, but it was villanously heady stuff; it made everything spin round; even the cave seemed to be turning upside down, and I simply didn't know where I was; and finally I fell off to sleep. And then he sharpened that stake, and made it hot in the fire, and blinded me in my sleep; and blind I have been ever since, father.

POSEIDON - You must have slept pretty soundly, my boy, or you would have jumped up in the middle of it. Well, and how did Odysseus get off? He couldn't move that stone away, I know.

CYCLOPS - I took that away myself, so as to catch him as he went out. I sat down in the doorway, and felt about for him with my hands. I just let the sheep go out to pasture, and told the ram everything I wanted done.

POSEIDON - Ah! and they slipped out under the sheep? But you should have set the other Cyclopes on to him.

CYCLOPS - I did call them, and they came: but when they asked me who it was that was playing tricks with me, I said `Noman'; and then they thought I was mad, and went off home again. The villain! that name of his was just a trick! And what I minded most was the way in which he made game of my misfortune: `Not even Papa can put this right,' he said.

POSEIDON - Never mind, my boy; I will be even with him. I may not be able to cure blindness, but he shall know that I have something to say to mariners. He is not home yet.

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POSEIDON AND ALPHEUS(river God)

POSEIDON - What is the meaning of this, Alpheus? unlike others, when you take your plunge you do not mingle with the brine as a river should; you do not put an end to your labours by dispersing; you hold together through the sea, keep your current fresh, and hurry along in all your original purity; you dive down to strange depths like a gull or a heron; I suppose you will come to the top again and show yourself somewhere or other.

ALPHEUS - Do not press me, Posidon; a love affair; and many is the time you have been in love yourself.

POSEIDON - Woman, nymph, or Nereid?

ALPHEUS - All wrong; she is a fountain.

POSEIDON - A fountain? and where does she flow?

ALPHEUS - She is an islander—in Sicily. Her name is Arethusa.

POSEIDON - Ah, I commend your taste. She is pellucid, and bubbles up in perfect purity; the water as bright over her pebbles as if it were a mass of silver.

ALPHEUS - You know my fountain, Posidon, and no mistake. It is to her that I go.

POSEIDON - Go, then; and may the course of love run smooth! But pray where did you meet her? Arcadia and Syracuse, you know!

ALPHEUS - I am in a hurry; you are detaining me, with these superfluous questions.

POSEIDON - Ah, so I am. Be off to your beloved, rise from the sea, mingle your channels and be one water.

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POSEIDON AND THE DOLPHINS

POSEIDON - Well done, Dolphins!—humane as ever. Not content with your former exploit, when Ino leapt with Melicertes from the Scironian cliff, and you picked the boy up and conveyed him to the Isthmus, one of you swims from Methymna to Taenarum with this musician on his back, mantle and lyre and all. Those sailors had almost had their wicked will of him; but you were not going to stand that.

DOLPHIN - You need not be surprised to find us doing a good turn to a man, Posidon; we were men before we were fishes.

POSEIDON - Yes; I think it was too bad of Dionysus to celebrate his victory by such a transformation scene; he might have been content with adding you to the roll of his subjects.—Well, Dolphin, tell me all about Arion.

DOLPHIN - From what I can gather, Periander was very fond of him, and was always sending for him to perform; till Arion grew quite rich at his expense, and thought he would take a trip to Methymna, and show off his wealth at home. He took ship accordingly; but it was with a crew of rogues. He had made no secret of the gold and silver he had with him; and when they were in mid Aegean, the sailors rose against him. As I was swimming alongside, I heard all that went on. `Since your minds are made up,' says Arion, `at least let me get my mantle on, and sing my own dirge; and then I will throw myself into the sea of my own accord.'—The sailors agreed. He threw his minstrel's cloak about him, and sang a most sweet melody; and then he let himself drop into the water, never doubting but that his last moment had come. But I caught him up on my back, and swam to shore with him at Taenarum.

POSEIDON - I am glad to find you a patron of the arts. This was handsome pay for a song.

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POSEIDON, AMPHITRITE AND THE NEREIDS

POSEIDON - The strait where the child fell shall be called Hellespont after her. And as for her body, you Nereids shall take it to the Troad to be buried by the inhabitants.

AMPHITRITE - Oh no, Posidon. Let her grave be the sea which bears her name. We are so sorry for her; that step-mother's treatment of her was shocking.

POSEIDON - No, my dear, that may not be. And indeed it is not desirable that she should lie here under the sand; her grave shall be in the Troad, as I said, or in the Chersonese. It will be no small consolation to her that Ino will have the same fate before long. She will be chased by Athamas from the top of Cithaeron down the ridge which runs into the sea, and there plunge in with her son in her arms. But her we must rescue, to please Dionysus; Ino was his nurse and suckled him, you know.

AMPHITRITE - Rescue a wicked creature like her?

POSEIDON - Well, we do not want to disoblige Dionysus.

NEREIDS - I wonder what made the poor child fall off the ram; her brother Phrixus held on all right.

POSEIDON - Of course he did; a lusty youth equal to the flight; but it was all too strange for her; sitting on that queer mount, looking down on yawning space, terrified, overpowered by the heat, giddy with the speed, she lost her hold on the ram's horns, and down she came into the sea.

NEREIDS - Surely her mother Nephele should have broken her fall.

POSEIDON - I dare say; but Fate is a great deal too strong for Nephele.

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TRITON, POSEIDON AND AMYMONE

TRITON - Posidon, there is such a pretty girl coming to Lerna for water every day; I don't know that I ever saw a prettier.

POSEIDON - What is she, a lady? or a mere water-carrier?

TRITON - Oh no; she is one of the fifty daughters of that Egyptian king. Her name is Amymone; I asked about that and her family. Danaus understands discipline; he is bringing them up to do everything for themselves; they have to fetch water, and make themselves generally useful.

POSEIDON - And does she come all that way by herself, from Argos to Lerna?

TRITON - Yes; and Argos, you know, is a thirsty place; she is always having to get water.

POSEIDON - Triton, this is most exciting. We must go and see her.

TRITON - Very well. It is just her time now; I reckon she will be about half-way to Lerna.

POSEIDON - Bring out the chariot, then. Or no; it takes such a time getting it ready, and putting the horses to. Just fetch me out a good fast dolphin; that will be quickest.

TRITON - Here is a racer for you.

POSEIDON - Good; now let us be off. You swim alongside.—Here we are at Lerna. I'll lie in ambush hereabouts; and you keep a look-out. When you see her coming—

TRITON - Here she comes.

POSEIDON - A charming child; the dawn of loveliness. We must carry her off.

AMYMONE - Villain! where are you taking me to? You are a kidnapper. I know who sent you—my uncle Aegyptus. I shall call my father.

TRITON - Hush, Amymone; it is Posidon.

AMYMONE - Posidon? What do you mean? Unhand me, villain! would you drag me into the sea? Help, help, I shall sink and be drowned.

POSEIDON - Don't be frightened; no harm shall be done to you. Come, you shall have a fountain called after you; it shall spring up in this very place, near the waves; I will strike the rock with my trident.—Think how nice it will be being dead, and not having to carry water any more, like all your sisters.

NONNUS, DIONYSIACA, Book 1, translated by W. H. D. ROUSE

[58] If you saw her you would think it was Thetis perhaps, or Galateia, or Earthshaker’s bedfellow(Amphitrite), or Aphrodite seated on Triton’s neck.

[118] “But how came you to have dealings with a maid? Do bulls also go mad with love, and ravish women? Has Poseidon played a trick, and ravished a girl under the shape of a horned bull like a river-god? Has he woven another plot to follow the bedding of Tyro, just as he did the other day, when the watery paramour came trickling up with counterfeit ripples like a bastard Enipeus?”

NONNUS, DIONYSIACA, Book 2, translated by W. H. D. ROUSE

[122] I will plunge into the briny deep – what is marriage to me? – Yet in the sea, Earthshaker chased Asterië in the madness of his passion.

[403] Aye, and from Typhaon’s hands were showered volleys against the unwearied thunderbolts of Zeus. Some shots went past Selene’s car, and scored through the invisible footprints of her moving bulls; others whirling through the air with sharp whiz, the winds blew away by counterblasts. Many a stray shot from the invulnerable thunderbolts of Zeus fell into the welcoming hand of Poseidon, unsparing of his earthpiercing trident’s point; old Nereus brought the brine-soaked bolts to the ford of the Cronian Sea, and dedicated them as an offering to Zeus.

NONNUS, DIONYSIACA, Book 3, translated by W. H. D. ROUSE

[358] Have a heart to endure in exile the unbending shackle of necessity, and feed the prevailing hope which foreruns things to come, if Io with the first seed has rooted your race, if you have got from Libya Poseidon’s blood in your family.

NONNUS, DIONYSIACA, Book 6, translated by W. H. D. ROUSE

[366] His tale was not yet ended, when fear conquered his voice. Then also Deucalion passed over the mounting flood, to navigate far out of reach on a sky-traversing voyage; and the course of his ark selfguided selfmoving, without sheet and without harbour, scored the stormy waters.

[371] Then the whole frame of the universe would have been unframed, then all-breeding Time would have dissolved the whole structure of the unsown generations of mankind: but by the divine ordination of Zeus, Poseidon Seabluehair with earthsplitting trident split the midmost peak of the Thessalian mountain, and dug a cleft through it by which the water ran sparkling down. Earth shook off the stormy flood which travelled so high, and showed herself risen again; the streams were driven into the deep hollows and the cliffs were laid bare. The sun poured his thirsty rays on the wet face of earth, and dried it; the water grew thick under the hotter beams, and he mud was dried again as before. Cities were fashioned by men with better skill and established upon stone foundations, palaces were built, and the streets of the new-founded cities were made strong for later generations of men. Nature laughed once more; the air once more was paddled by the wings of birds that flew in the winds.

NONNUS, DIONYSIACA, Book 8, translated by W. H. D. ROUSE

[235] “If Seabluehair(Poseidon) went womanmad and forced you, preferring you to Melanippe the sage, sung by the poet, let him make merry in full view, and plant the prongs of his trident as a bridal gift before the gates of Cadmos; so let him bestow the same honour beside snakecherishing Dirce, as he gave to lionbreeding Lerna in the Argive country as a mark of his marriage with Amymone, where the place of the Lernaian nymph still bears the trident’s name. But why do I call you the bedfellow of Earthshaker? What tokens have you of Poseidon’s bed? Tyro was embraced in a flood by watery hands, when counterfeit Enipeus came with his deceitful bubbling stream.

NONNUS, DIONYSIACA, Book 10, translated by W. H. D. ROUSE

[120] She spoke, and with trembling feet sprang into the sea, swiftly diving with her son. Seabluehair opened his arms to receive Leucothea, and took her into the divine company in the deep waters. She helps ever sine the seamen who lose their way, and now she is Ino of the Sea, a Nereïd who has charge of untumultuous calm.

NONNUS, DIONYSIACA, Book 11, translated by W. H. D. ROUSE

[140] Glaucos’s horses went mad and threw him out on the ground. Quickwing Pegasos threw Bellerophontes and sent him headlong down from the sky, although he was of the seed of the Earthshaker and the horse himself shared the kindred blood of Poseidon.

NONNUS, DIONYSIACA, Book 13, translated by W. H. D. ROUSE

[49] Yet I will loudly name their leaders, and I will call to my aid Homer, the one great harbour of language undefiled, since mariners lost astray call on Seabluehair to save them from their wandering ways.

NONNUS, DIONYSIACA, Book 14, translated by W. H. D. ROUSE

[36] The spiteful Telchines came also to the Indian War, gathering out of the cavernous deeps of the sea. Lycos came, shaking with his long arm a very long spear; Scelmis came, following Damnameneus, guiding the seachariot of his father Poseidon.

[52] Battalions of Cyclopians came like a flood. In battle, these with weaponless hands cast hills for their stony spears, and their shields were cliffs; a peak from some mountain-ravine was their crested helmet, Sicilian sparks were their fiery arrows. They went into battle holding burning brands and blazing with light from the forge they knew so well – Brontes and Steropes, Euryalos and Elatreus, Arges and Trachios and proud Halimedes. One alone was left behind from the war, Polyphemos, tall as the clouds, so mighty and so great, the Earthshaker’s own son; he was kept in his placee by another love, dearer than war, under the watery ways, for he had seen Galateia half-hidden, and made the neighbouring sea resound as he pouredc out his love for a maiden in the wooing tones of his pipes.

ORPHIC HYMNS, Hymn to Neptune, translated by T. TAYLOR

The Fumigation from Myrrh
Hear, Neptune [Poseidon], ruler of the sea profound, whose liquid grasp begirts the solid ground;
Who, at the bottom of the stormy main, dark and deep-bosom'd, hold'st thy wat'ry reign;
Thy awful hand the brazen trident bears, and ocean's utmost bound, thy will reveres:
Thee I invoke, whose steeds the foam divide, from whose dark locks the briny waters glide;
Whose voice loud founding thro' the roaring deep, drives all its billows, in a raging heap;
When fiercely riding thro' the boiling sea, thy hoarse command the trembling waves obey.
Earth shaking, dark-hair'd God, the liquid plains (the third division) Fate to thee ordains,
'Tis thine, cærulian dæmon, to survey well pleas'd the monsters of the ocean play,
Confirm earth's basis, and with prosp'rous gales waft ships along, and swell the spacious sails;
Add gentle Peace, and fair-hair'd Health beside, and pour abundance in a blameless tide.

OVID, FASTI, Book 4, translated by J. G. FRAZER

IV. NON. 2nd - [165] When the night has passed, and the sky has just begun to blush, and dew-besprinkled birds are twittering plaintively, and the wayfarer, who all night long has waked, lays down his half-burnt torch, and the swain goes forth to his accustomed toil, the Pleiads will commence to lighten the burden that rests on their father’s shoulders; seven are they usually called, but six they usually are; whether it be that six of the sisters were embraced by gods (for they say that Sterope lay with Mars, Alcyone and fair Celaeno with Neptune, and Maia, Electra, and Taygete with Jupiter); the seventh, Merope, was married to a mortal man, to Sisyphus, and she repents of it, and from shame at the deed she alone of the sisters hides herself; or whether it be that Electra could not, brook to behold the fall of Troy, and so covered her eyes with her hand.

OVID, HEROIDES, translated by G. SHOWERMAN

Chapter [19] - [127] This place, such as ‘tis now, is aught but friendly to tender maids; by these waters Helle perished, by them my own affliction comes. Yet, Neptune, wert thou mindful of thine own heart’s flames, thou oughtst let no love be hindered by the winds – if neither Amymone, nor Tyro much bepraised for beauty, are stories idly charged to thee, nor shining Alcyone, and Calyce, child of Hecataeon, nor Medusa when her locks were not yet twined with snakes, nor golden-haired Laodice and Celaeno taken to the skies, nor those whose names I mind me of having read. These, surely, Neptune, and many more, the poets say in their songs have mingled their soft embraces with thine own. Why, then, dost thou, who hast felt so many times the power of love, close up with whirling storm the way we have learned to know? Spare us, impetuous one, and mingle thy battles out upon the open deep! These waters, that separate two lands, are scant. It befits thee, who art mighty, either to toss about the mighty keel, or to be fierce even with entire fleets; ‘tis shame for he god of the great sea to terrify a swimming youth – that glory is less than should come from troubling any pond. Noble he is, to be sure, and of famous stock, but he does not trace his line from the Ulysses thou dost not trust. Have mercy on him, and save us both! It is he who swims, but he limbs of Leander and all my hopes hang on the selfsame wave.

OVID, METAMORPHOSES, Book 1, translated by B. MORE

[274] The wrath of Jove was not content with powers that emanate from Heaven; he brought to aid his azure brother, lord of flowing waves, who called upon the Rivers and the Streams: and when they entered his impearled abode, Neptune, their ancient ruler, thus began; “A long appeal is needless; pour ye forth in rage of power; open up your fountains; rush over obstacles; let every stream pour forth in boundless floods.” Thus he commands, and none dissenting all the River Gods return, and opening up their fountains roll tumultuous to the deep unfruitful sea.

[283] And Neptune with his trident smote the Earth, which trembling with unwonted throes heaved up the sources of her waters bare; and through her open plains the rapid rivers rushed resistless, onward bearing the waving grain, the budding groves, the houses, sheep and men,—and holy temples, and their sacred urns. The mansions that remained, resisting vast and total ruin, deepening waves concealed and whelmed their tottering turrets in the flood and whirling gulf. And now one vast expanse, the land and sea were mingled in the waste of endless waves—a sea without a shore(The Great Flood).

OVID, METAMORPHOSES, Book 4, translated by B. MORE

[581] Venus takes pity on her guiltless child, unfortunate grand-daughter, and begins to soothe her uncle Neptune with these words;—“O Neptune, ruler of the deep, to whom, next to the Power in Heaven, was given sway, consider my request! Open thy heart to my descendants, which thine eyes behold, tossed on the wild Ionian Sea! I do implore thee, remember they are thy true Deities—are thine as well as mine—for it is known my birth was from the white foam of thy sea;—a truth made certain by my Grecian name.” Neptune regards her prayer: he takes from them their mortal dross: he clothes in majesty, and hallows their appearance. Even their names and forms are altered; Melicerta, changed, is now Palaemon called, and Ino, changed, Leucothoe called, are known as Deities. When her Sidonian attendants traced fresh footprints to the last verge of the rock, and found no further vestige, they declared her dead, nor had they any doubt of it.

OVID, METAMORPHOSES, Book 6, translated by B. MORE

[70] Minerva worked the Athenian Hill of Mars, where ancient Cecrops built his citadel, and showed the old contention for the name it should be given.—Twelve celestial Gods surrounded Jupiter, on lofty thrones; and all their features were so nicely drawn, that each could be distinguished.—Jupiter appeared as monarch of those judging Gods. There Neptune, guardian of the sea, was shown contending with Minerva. As he struck the Rock with his long trident, a wild horse sprang forth which he bequeathed to man. He claimed his right to name the city for that gift. And then she wove a portrait of herself, bearing a shield, and in her hand a lance, sharp-pointed, and a helmet on her head—her breast well-guarded by her Aegis: there she struck her spear into the fertile earth, from which a branch of olive seemed to sprout, pale with new clustered fruits.—And those twelve Gods, appeared to judge, that olive as a gift surpassed the horse which Neptune gave to man.

[115] And in her web, Arachne wove the scenes of Neptune:—who was shown first as a bull, when he was deep in love with virgin Arne then as Enipeus when the giant twins, Aloidae, were begot; and as the ram that gambolled with Bisaltis; as a horse loved by the fruitful Ceres, golden haired, all-bounteous mother of the yellow grain; and as the bird that hovered round snake-haired Medusa, mother of the winged horse; and as the dolphin, sporting with the Nymph, Melantho.—All of these were woven true to life, in proper shades.

OVID, METAMORPHOSES, Book 8, translated by B. MORE

[590] But yet beyond you can observe how one most beautiful of all is far withdrawn; and this which most delights me, mariners have Perimela named. She was so fair that I deprived her of a precious wealth. And when Hippodamas, her father, knew, enraged he pushed her, heavy then with child, forth from a rock into the cruel sea, where she must perish,—but I rescued her; and as I bore her on my swimming tide, I called on Neptune, ruler of the deep, `O Trident-wielder, you who are preferred next to the god most mighty! who by lot obtained the empire of the flowing deep, to which all sacred rivers flow and end; come here, O Neptune, and with gracious will grant my desire;—I injured her I save;—but if Hippodamas, her father, when he knew my love, had been both kind and just, if he had not been so unnatural, he would have pitied and forgiven her. Ah, Neptune, I beseech you, grant your power may find a place of safety for this Nymph, abandoned to the deep waves by her sire. Or if that cannot be, let her whom I embrace to show my love, let her become a place of safety.’ Instantly to me the King of Ocean moved his mighty head, and all the deep waves quivered in response. The Nymph, afraid, still struggled in the deep, and as she swam I touched her throbbing breast; and as I felt her bosom, trembling still, I thought her soft flesh was becoming hard; for even then, new earth enclosed her form; and as I prayed to Neptune, earth encased her floating limbs;—and on her changing form the heavy soil of that fair island grew.”

[843] And after Famine through his(Erysichthon's) gluttony at last had wasted his ancestral wealth his raging hunger suffered no decline, and his insatiate gluttony increased. When all his wealth at last was eaten up, his daughter(Mestra), worthy of a fate more kind, alone was left to him and her he sold. Descendant of a noble race, the girl refusing to be purchased as a slave, then hastened to the near shore of the sea, and as she stretched her arms above the waves, implored kind Neptune with her tears, `Oh, you who have deprived me of virginity, deliver me from such a master's power!' Although the master, seeking her, had seen her only at that moment, Neptune changed her quickly from a woman to a man, by giving her the features of a man and garments proper to a fisher-man: and there she stood. He even looked at her and cried out, `Hey, there! Expert of the rod! While you are casting forth the bit of brass, concealed so deftly in its tiny bait,—gods-willing! let the sea be smooth for you, and let the foolish fishes swimming up, never know danger till they snap the hook! Now tell me where is she, who only now, in tattered garment and wind-twisted hair, was standing on this shore—for I am sure I saw her standing on this shore, although no footstep shows her flight.” By this assured the favor of the god protected her; delighted to be questioned of herself, she said, “No matter who you are, excuse me. So busy have I been at catching fish, I have not had the time to move my eyes from this pool; and that you may be assured I only tell the truth, may Neptune, God of ocean witness it, I have not seen a man where I am standing on this shore—myself excepted—not a woman has stood here.” Her master could not doubt it, and deceived retraced his footsteps from the sandy shore. As soon as he had disappeared, her form unchanged, was given back to her.

OVID, METAMORPHOSES, Book 10, translated by B. MORE

[600] Not frightened by the fate of those young men, he stood up boldly in the midst of all; and fixing his strong eyes upon the maiden, said: `Where is the glory in an easy victory over such weaklings? Try your fate with me! If fortune fail to favor you, how could it shame you to be conquered by a man? Megareus of Onchestus is my father, his grandsire, Neptune, god of all the seas. I am descendant of the King of Waves: and add to this, my name for manly worth has not disgraced the fame of my descent.

OVID, METAMORPHOSES, Book 11, translated by B. MORE

[194] His vengence now complete, Latona's son borne through the liquid air, departed from Tmolus, and then rested on the land of Laomedon, this side the narrow sea dividing Phrygia from the land of Thrace. The promontory of Sigaeum right and on the left Rhoetaeum loftily arose; and at that place an ancient altar had been dedicated to great Jove, the god Panomphaean. And near that place he saw laomedon, beginning then to build the walls of famous Troy. He was convinced the task exceeded all the power of man, requiring great resource. Together with the trident-bearing father of the deep, he assumed a mortal form: and those two gods agreed to labor for a sum of gold and built the mighty wall. But that false king refused all payment, adding perjury to his false bargaining. Neptune, enraged, said, “You shall not escape your punishment.” And he drove all his waters high upon the shores of Troy—built there through perfidy. The sad land seemed a sea: the hard-earned wealth of all its farmers was destroyed and overwhelmed by furious waves. This awful punishment was not enough. The daughter of the king was soon required as food for a sea-monster—. Hesione was chained to rugged rocks.

OVID, METAMORPHOSES, Book 12, translated by B. MORE

[73] The Sigean shores grew red with death-blood: Cygnus, Neptune's son there slew a thousand men: for which, in wrath, Achilles pressed his rapid chariot straight through the Trojan army; making a lane with his great spear, shaped from a Pelion tree.

[189] The daughter of Elatus, Caenis, was remarkable for charm—most beautiful of all Thessalian maidens—many sighed for her in vain through all the neighboring towns and yours, Achilles, for that was her home. But Peleus did not try to win her love, for he was either married at that time to your dear mother, or was pledged to her. Caenis never became the willing bride of any suitor; but report declares, while she was walking on a lonely shore, the god of ocean saw and ravished her. And in the joy of that love Neptune said, `Request of me whatever you desire, and nothing shall deny your dearest wish!’—the story tells us that he made this pledge. And Caenis said to Neptune, `The great wrong, which I have suffered from you justifies the wonderful request that I must make; I ask that I may never suffer such an injury again. Grant I may be no longer woman, and I'll ask no more.’ While she was speaking to him, the last words of her strange prayer were uttered in so deep, in such a manly tone, it seemed indeed they must be from a man.—That was a fact: Neptune not only had allowed her prayer but made the new man proof against all wounds of spear or sword. Rejoicing in the gift he went his way as Caeneus Atracides, spent years in every manful exercise, and roamed the plains of northern Thessaly.

[552] But there were twelve of us, the sons of Neleus and all warrior youths, and all those twelve but me alone he killed. Ten of them met the common fate of war, but sadder was the death of Periclymenus. Neptune, the founder of my family, had granted him a power to assume whatever shape he chose, and when he wished to lay that shape aside. When he, in vain, had been transformed to many other shapes he turned into the form of that bird, which is wont to carry in his crooked talons the forked lightnings, favorite bird of Jove. With wings and crooked bill and sharp-hooked talons, he assailed and tore the face of Hercules. But, when he soared away on eagle wings up to the clouds and hovered, poised in air, that hero aimed his too unerring bow and hit him where the new wing joined his side.

PAUSANIAS, DESCRIPTIONS OF GREECE, Book 1, translated by W. H. S. JONES

[1.30.4] In this part of the country is seen the tower of Timon, the only man to see that there is no way to be happy except to shun other men. There is also pointed out a place called the Hill of Horses, the first point in Attica, they say, that Oedipus reached – this account too differs from that given by Homer, but it is nevertheless current tradition – and an altar to Poseidon, Horse God, and to Athena, Horse Goddess, and a chapel to the heroes Peirithous and Theseus, Oedipus and Adrastus. The grove and temple of Poseidon were burnt by Antigonus when he invaded Attica, who at other times also ravaged the land of the Athenians.

[1.38.2] ...This Eumolpus they say came from Thrace, being the son of Poseidon and Chione.

[1.39.3] After the graves of the Argives is the tomb of Alope, who, legend says, being mother of Hippothoon by Poseidon was on this spot put to death by her father Cercyon...

[1.39.5] In this way the Megarians changed their customs and dialect and became Dorians, and they say that the city received its name when Car the son of Phoroneus was king in this land. It was then they say that sanctuaries of Demeter were first made by them, and then that men used the name Megara (Chambers). This is their history according to the Megarians themselves. But the Boeotians declare that Megareus, son of Poseidon, who dwelt in Onchestus, came with an army of Boeotians to help Nisus wage the war against Minos; that falling in the battle he was buried on the spot, and the city was named Megara from him, having previously been called Nisa.

[1.44.3] ...Below the citadel near the sea is the tomb of Lelex, who they say arrived from Egypt and became king, being the son of Poseidon and of Libya, daughter of Epphus.

PAUSANIAS, DESCRIPTIONS OF GREECE, Book 2, translated by W. H. S. JONES

[2.1.3] In the Corinthian territory is also the place called Cromyon from Cromus the son of Poseidon...

[2.1.7] Worth seeing here are a theater and a white-marble race-course. Within the sanctuary of the god stand on the one side portrait statues of athletes who have won victories at the Isthmian games, on the other side pine trees growing in a row, the greater number of them rising up straight. On the temple, which is not very large, stand bronze Tritons. In the fore-temple are images, two of Poseidon, a third of Amphitrite, and a Sea, which also is of bronze. The offerings inside were dedicated in our time by Herodes the Athenian, four horses, gilded except for the hoofs, which are of ivory,

[2.2.3] The names of the Corinthian harbors were given them by Leches and Cenchrias, said to be the children of Poseidon...

[2.12.4] ...While he was king, Asopus, said to be the son of Celusa and Poseidon, discovered for him the water of the river which the present inhabitants call after him Asopus...

[2.30.5] ...Now, in my opinion, Orus is an Egyptian name and utterly un-Greek; but they assert that he became their king, and that the land was called Oraea after him and that Althepus, the son of Poseidon and of Leis, the daughter of Orus, inheriting the kingdom after Orus, named the land Althepia.

[2.30.6] During his reign, they say, Athena and Poseidon disputed about the land, and after disputing held it in common, as Zeus commanded them to do. For this reason they worship both Athena, whom they name both Polias (Urban) and Sthenias (Strong), and also Poseidon, under the surname of King. And moreover their old coins have as device a trident and a face of Athena.

[2.30.8] They know nothing of the later kings down to Hyperes and Anthas. These they assert to be sons of Poseidon and of Alcyone, daughter of Atlas, adding that they founded in the country the cities of Hyperea and Anthea; Aetius, however, the son of Anthas, on inheriting the kingdoms of his father and of his uncle, named one of the cities Poseidonias. When Troezen and Pittheus came to Aetius there were three kings instead of one, but the sons of Pelops enjoyed the balance of power.

[2.32.8] Outside the wall there is also a sanctuary of Poseidon Nurturer (Phytalmios). For they say that, being wroth with them, Poseidon smote the land(Troezen) with barrenness, brine (halme) reaching the seeds and the roots of the plants (phyta), until, appeased by sacrifices and prayers, he ceased to send up the brine upon the earth.

[2.33.1] ...In obedience forsooth to a dream from Athena, Aethra crossed over into the island with libations for Sphaerus. After she had crossed, Poseidon is said to have had intercourse with her here.

[2.33.2] Calaurea, they say, was sacred to Apollo of old, at the time when Delphi was sacred to Poseidon. Legend adds that the two gods exchanged the two places. They still say this, and quote an oracle:–

Delos and Calaurea alike thou lovest to dwell in,
Pytho, too, the holy, and Taenarum swept by the high winds.
At any rate, there is a holy sanctuary of Poseidon here, and it is served by a maiden priestess until she reaches an age fit for marriage.

[2.38.2] Fifty stades, I conjecture, from Temenium is Nauplia, which at the present day is uninhabited; its founder was Nauplius, reputed to be a son of Poseidon and Amymone. Of the walls, too, ruins still remain and in Nauplia are a sanctuary of Poseidon, harbors, and a spring called Canathus. Here, say the Argives, Hera bathes every year and recovers her maidenhood.

PAUSANIAS, DESCRIPTIONS OF GREECE, Book 5, translated by W. H. S. JONES

[5.1.8] ...But the kingdom of the Epeans fell to Eleius, the son of Eurycyda, daughter of Endymion and, believe the tale who will, of Poseidon. It was Eleius who gave the inhabitants their present name of Eleans in place of Epeans...

PAUSANIAS, DESCRIPTIONS OF GREECE, Book 6, translated by W. H. S. JONES

[6.20.18] A man of Egypt said that Pelops received something from Amphion the Theban and buried it where is what they call Taraxippus, adding that it was the buried thing which frightened the mares of Oenomaus, as well as those of every charioteer since. This Egyptian thought that Amphion and the Thracian Orpheus were clever magicians, and that it was through their enchantments that the beasts came to Orpheus, and the stones came to Amphion for the building of the wall. The most probable of the stories in my opinion makes Taraxippus a surname of Horse Poseidon.

PAUSANIAS, DESCRIPTIONS OF GREECE, Book 10, translated by W. H. S. JONES

[10.5.6] There is extant among the Greeks an hexameter poem, the name of which is Eumolpia, and it is assigned to Musaeus, son of Antiophemus. In it the poet states that the oracle belonged to Poseidon and Earth in common; that Earth gave her oracles herself, but Poseidon used Pyrcon as his mouthpiece in giving responses. The verses are these:–

Forthwith the voice of the Earth-goddess uttered a wise word,
And with her Pyrcon, servant of the renowned Earth-shaker. [Musaeus], Eumolpia
They say that afterwards Earth gave her share to Themis, who gave it to Apollo as a gift. It is said that he gave to Poseidon Calaureia, that lies off Troezen, in exchange for his oracle.

[10.6.1] VI. They say that the oldest city was founded here by Parnassus, a son of Cleodora, a nymph. Like the other heroes, as they are called, he had two fathers; one they say was the god Poseidon, the human father being Cleopompus. After this Parnassus were named, they say, both the mountain and also the Parnassian glen. Augury from flying birds was, it is said, a discovery of Parnassus.

[10.10.8] As her tears fell in showers, and she wetted the head of Phalanthus, he realized the meaning of the oracle, for his wife's name was Aethra. And so on that night he took from the barbarians Tarentum, the largest and most prosperous city on the coast. They say that Taras the hero was a son of Poseidon by a nymph of the country, and that after this hero were named both the city and the river. For the river, just like the city, is called Taras.

[10.14.1] XIV. The axes were dedicated by Periclytus, son of Euthymachus, a man of Tenedos, and allude to an old story. Cycnus, they say, was a son of Poseidon, and ruled as king in Colonae, a city in the Troad situated opposite the island Leucophrys.

[10.29.5] Both the Greeks and the Egyptians have many legends about Dionysus. Underneath Phaedra is Chloris leaning against the knees of Thyia. He will not be mistaken who says that all during the lives of these women they remained friends. For Chloris came from Orchomenus in Boeotia, and the other was a daughter of Castalius from Parnassus. Other authorities have told their history, how that Thyia had connection with Poseidon, and how Chloris wedded Neleus, son of Poseidon.

PHILOSTRATUS THE YOUNGER, IMAGINES, translated by A. FAIRBANKS

IMAGINE [9] - The man mounted on a four-horse chariot who is setting out to drive across the mainland, wearing an upright tiara and Lydian dress, is Pelops, I believe, a “bold charioteer” it is fair to call him. For he once guided this chariot even across the sea, doubtless because it was the gift of Poseidon, speeding over the back of the clam sea on the very edge of the wheel and keeping the axle unwetted....

PLUTARCH, LIFE OF THESEUS, translated by B. PERRIN

During the rest of the time, then, Aethra kept his true birth concealed from Theseus, and a report was spread abroad by Pittheus that he was begotten by Poseidon. For Poseidon is highly honored by the people of Troezen, and he is the patron god of their city; to him they offer first fruits in sacrifice, and they have his trident as an emblem on their coinage....He also instituted the games here, in emulation of Heracles, being ambitious that as the Hellenes, by that hero's appointment, celebrated Olympian games in honor of Zeus, so by his own appointment they should celebrate Isthmian games in honor of Poseidon.

PLUTARCH, PARALEL STORIES, translated by F. C. BABBITT

Chapter [34] - Theseus, who was actually the son of Poseidon, begat a son Hippolytus from Hippolytê the Amazon and took a second wife, Phaedra, the daughter of Minos, who thus became a stepmother. Phaedra fell in love with her stepson, and sent her nurse to him; but he left Athens and, coming to Troezen, devoted himself to hunting. But when the wanton woman failed to obtain her cherished desire, she indited a false letter against the chaste youth and ended her life with a halter. Theseus believed the letter and asked from Poseidon the destruction of Hippolytus as fulfilment of one of the three wishes which he had as a concession from Poseidon. The god sent a bull to confront Hippolytus as he was driving along the shore in his chariot and terrified the horses, which crushed Hippolytus.

Chapter [38] - Busiris, the son of Poseidon and Anippê, daughter of the Nile, with treacherous hospitality was wont to sacrifice such persons as passed his way. But there came upon him vengeance for those that had perished by his hand.

QUINTUS SMYRNAEUS, FALL OF TROY, Book 9, translated by A. S. WAY

[315] Then, eager for the Trojans' help, swooped down out of Olympus, cloaked about with clouds, the son of Leto. Mighty rushing winds bare him in golden armour clad; and gleamed with lightning-splendour of his descent the long highways of air. His quiver clashed; loud rang the welkin; earth re-echoed, as he set his tireless feet by Xanthus. Pealed his shout dreadly, with courage filling them of Troy, scaring their foes from biding the red fray. But of all this the mighty Shaker of Earth was ware: he breathed into the fainting Greeks fierce valour, and the fight waxed murderous through those Immortals' clashing wills. Then died hosts numberless on either side. In wrath Apollo thought to smite Achilles' son in the same place where erst he smote his sire; but birds of boding screamed to left, to stay his mood, and other signs from heaven were sent; yet was his wrath not minded to obey those portents. Swiftly drew Earth-shaker nigh in mist celestial cloaked: about his feet quaked the dark earth as came the Sea-king on. Then, to stay Phoebus' hand, he cried to him: Refrain thy wrath: Achilles' giant son slay not! Olympus' Lord himself shall be wroth for his death, and bitter grief shall light on me and all the Sea-gods, as erstwhile for Achilles' sake. Nay, get thee back to heights celestial, lest thou kindle me to wrath, and so I cleave a sudden chasm in earth, and Ilium and all her walls go down to darkness. Thine own soul were vexed thereat. Then, overawed by the brother of his sire, and fearing for Troy's fate and for her folk, to heaven went back Apollo, to the sea Poseidon. But the sons of men fought on, and slew; and Strife incarnate gloating watched.

QUINTUS SMYRNAEUS, FALL OF TROY, Book 14, translated by A. S. WAY

[664] So found they each his several evil fate, some whelmed beneath broad-rushing billows, some wretchedly perishing with their shattered ships by Nauplius' devising on the rocks. Wroth for that son whom they had done to death, he; when the storm rose and the Argives died, rejoiced amid his sorrow, seeing a God gave to his hands revenge, which now he wreaked upon the host he hated, as o'er the deep they tossed sore-harassed. To his sea-god sire he prayed that all might perish, ships and men whelmed in the deep. Poseidon heard his prayer, and on the dark surge swept them nigh his land. He, like a harbour-warder, lifted high a blazing torch, and so by guile he trapped the Achaean men, who deemed that they had won a sheltering haven: but sharp reefs and crags gave awful welcome unto ships and men, who, dashed to pieces on the cruel rocks in the black night, crowned ills with direr ills. Some few escaped, by a God or Power unseen plucked from death's hand. Athena now rejoiced her heart within, and now was racked with fears for prudent-souled Odysseus; for his weird was through Poseidon's wrath to suffer woes full many.

[659] But Earth-shaker's jealousy now burned against those long walls and towers uppiled by the strong Argives for a fence against the Trojans' battle-onset. Swiftly then he swelled to overbrimming all the sea that rolls from Euxine down to Hellespont, and hurled it on the shore of Troy: and Zeus, for a grace unto the glorious Shaker of Earth, poured rain from heaven: withal Far-darter bare in that great work his part; from Ida's heights into one channel led he all her streams, and flooded the Achaeans' work. The sea dashed o'er it, and the roaring torrents still rushed on it, swollen by the rains of Zeus; and the dark surge of the wide-moaning sea still hurled them back from mingling with the deep, till all the Danaan walls were blotted out beneath their desolating flood. Then earth was by Poseidon chasm-cleft: up rushed deluge of water, slime and sand, while quaked Sigeum with the mighty shock, and roared the beach and the foundations of the land Dardanian. So vanished, whelmed from sight, that mighty rampart. Earth asunder yawned, and all sank down, and only sand was seen, when back the sea rolled, o'er the beach outspread far down the heavy-booming shore.

SENECA, MEDEA, translated by F. J. MILLER

[634] Alcides laid low the sons of Aquilo, he slew Neptune’s son(Periclymenus) wont to take upon him countless shapes; but he himself, after establishing peace on land and sea, after opening up the kingdoms of savage Dis, laid him down, living, on burning Oeta, and gave his body to the devouring flames, consumed by the wasting of the double blood, his wife’s offering.

SENECA, PHAEDRA, translated by F. J. MILLER

[945] [THESEUS to POSEIDON.] Now fulfil the sad boon, O ruler of the sea! Let Hippolytus see the bright day no more, and in youth pass to the ghosts that are wrathful with his sire. Now bring aid, which my soul abhors, O father, to thy son; never should I squander this last boon of thine, did not great ills o’erwhelm; in depths of Tartarus, in presence of dread Dis, and imminent menace of hell’s lord, I was sparing of this prayer. Keep now thy promised faith. Father, dost thou delay? Why are thy waves yet silent? Now veil the night with dark clouds driven by the winds; snatch stars and sky from sight; pour forth the deep; and, rising high, summon the floods from Ocean’s self.

SENECA, TROADES, translated by F. J. MILLER

[180] Forth leaped the mighty shade of the Thessalian chief, such shape as when practising for thy fate, O Troy, he laid low the Thracian20 arms, or smote the son(Cycnus) of Neptune with white plumes gleaming; or when, amidst the ranks raging in furious battle, he choked rivers with corpses, and Xanthus, seeking his way, wandered slowly along with bloody stream; or when he stood in his proud car victorious, plying the reins and dragging Hector – and Troy.

STATIUS, THEBAID, Book 6, translated by J. H. MOZLEY

[281] Elsewhere triumphant in his car Pelops handles the reins of Neptune, and Myrtilos the charioteer grasps at the bounding wheels, as the swift axle leaves him far and farther behind.

[301] Before the rest Arion, marked by his mane of fiery red, is led forth. Neptune, if the fame of olden time be true, was his sire; he first is said to have hurt his young mouth with the bit and tamed him on the sand of the sea-shore, sparing the lash; for insatiable was his eagerness to run, and he was capricious as a winter sea.

STATIUS, THEBAID, Book 7, translated by J. H. MOZLEY

[808] Whether the earth, labouring with imprisoned blasts, expelled the pent-up fury of the raging wind, or whether hidden waters ate away and wore down and sapped the crumbling soil, or the fabric of the rolling sky flung that way its weight, or Neptune’s trident moved all the ocean and flung too vast a sea upon the shore, or whether that uproar was a tribute to the seer, or Earth threatened the brothers – lo! in a gaping chasm the ground yawns sheer and deep, and stars and shades feel mutual terror.

STATIUS, THEBAID, Book 12, translated by J. H. MOZLEY

[664] But from afar Theseus, son of Neptune, dwarfs the ranks with his huge shield, and bears upon its boss the hundred cities and hundred walls of Crete, the prelude to his own renown, and himself in the windings of the monstrous cave twisting the shaggy neck of the struggling bull, and binding him fast with sinewy arms and grip of either hand, and avoiding the horns with head drawn back.

TRYPHIODORUS, TAKING OF ILIOS, translated A. W. MAIR

[328] But they haled forward; and the long way waxed heavy, torn with rivers and not like plain lands. And the flashing horse followed them unto the altars dear to Ares, glorying exceedingly; and Athena set her might thereto, laying her heavy hands on the newly carven thighs of the horse. So it sped beyond overtaking, and ran on swifter than an arrow, following the Trojans with lightly prancing feet, until it reached the Dardan gates. And for its coming the folding doors were straitened. But Hera set it free once more to run its course, withdrawing the doors before it, while from the towers Poseidon with his trident drave back the posts of the opening gates.

[527] So the ships, swifter than the speedy winds, with obedient rush sailed unto Ilios by the help of Poseidon. And there the foot soldiers went in front, while the horsemen fell behind, in order that the horses might not rouse the people of Troy by their loud neighing.

[566]And on the acropolis grey-eyed Athena uttered her voice and shook her aegis, the shield of Zeus; and the sky trembled as Hera bestirred her, and the heavy earth rang as it was shaken by the three-toothed spear of Poseidon.

VALERIUS FLACCUS, ARGONAUTICA, Book 1, translated by J. H. MOZLEY

[362] Here too Iphitus, son of Naubolus, rises to strike the curling waves, here Neptune’s son cleaves his father’s sea, even Euphemus who dwells in Psamathe, washed with the sounding waters, and ever yawning Taenarus, and from the sandy shores of Pella Deucalion of the unerring javelin

[414] So too Erginus, offspring of Neptune, comes down with a light heart to the waters;

[639] Now the East wind lashes and turns the ship this way and that; now the South wine roaring with the West carries it along: all round the waters boil, when suddenly Neptune armed with his three-pronged spear raised his dark-blue head from the depths. “This ship,” said he, “let Pallas and my sister, softening my heart with their tears, save from me; yea, let the vessels come from Pharos and from Tyre, and think they are but doing what is lawful. O many are the sails that I shall see ere long torn away by the South winds, and the waves ringing with cries of affliction! Neither my son Orion nor the Bull fierce with his train of Pleiads is the cause of this strange form of death. Thou, Argo, thou hast devised death for unhappy nations, and thou, Tiphys, never henceforth doest deserve that any mother pray that thou mayest find peace in Elysium and among the spirits of the holy dead.

VALERIUS FLACCUS, ARGONAUTICA, Book 2, translated by J. H. MOZLEY

[24] Typhoeus lies crushed beneath Sicilian soil. Men say that as he fled, blasting forth accursed fires from his breast, Neptune grasped him by the hair, and bore him out to see and entangled him in the waters, and as the bloody mass rose again and again, churning the waves with serpent limbs, took him far away to the Sicilian waters and down upon his head placed all Aetna with her cities

[474] Fortune deserted the home of Laomedon. First of all there fell a sickness and the temperate airs were driven from the clear sky; the country blazed with pyre rivalling pyre, when there burst forth a roar, and waves that made all Ida’s forests with their lairs shudder. Lo! of a sudden there rose from the sea a beast, of monstrous bulk; not by any mountain, not by the sea we know couldst thou measure it. A band of young maidens is sacrificed to its rage amid the tears and embraces of their parents. This the lot, this doth horned Ammon command – that a maiden’s life and her body that drew death’s lot be doomed; ‘tis I whom the cruel urn condemns to the rocks. But oh! if once again Heaven inclines to the Phrygians, and if thou art he whose coming augury and Heaven’s omens promised, he for whom my father now feeds snow-white horses in the pasture of his vow, the pledged reward for saving my life, say Yea and rescue both me and wasted Troy from the dragon, for so thou canst; since never did I behold do broad a breast while Neptune was raising the walls to meet the stars, nor had Apollo such mighty shoulders or such a quiver.” The place lent strength to her words, the doleful aspect too of the captive shore, the funeral pyres and the sky that brooded o’er the city; even such to his pitying eyes had seemed the path to Nemea and Erymanthus and Lerna’s poisoned meres.

[497] Meanwhile far off Neptune gave the signal, and at the same moment a roar came from the gulf, the dragon’s home, and the curse of Sigeum drove the waters on a heap, while its flashing eyes flicker beneath a blue-grey film, and a sound of thunder shakes the maw circled with a triple row of fangs, as it s tail reaches backward over the sea it has covered, and the proud neck sweeps the streaming coils onward. The burden of its thousand folds is upon the waters, and they lap its flanks and move with it, while the storm makes drives it speeding forward to the terror-stricken shores. Not so mighty are the billows when the sea comes in beneath the cloud-compelling South wind, not so fiercely exults the South-west wind upon the main, nor Orion when grasping his father’s reins he heaves the sea with the snorting of his two-hooved horses.

VALERIUS FLACCUS, ARGONAUTICA, Book 4, translated by J. H. MOZLEY

[99] Next open out the shores of the Bebrycian realm, a land of fertile soil and a good friend to sturdy bulls. Amycus was its king, and trusting to his destiny and power divine they girded not their homes with walls nor observed conditions of treaties or laws that constrain peaceful minds. Even as the wild Cyclopes in Aetna’s caverns watch the straits during stormy nights, should any vessel driven by fierce south winds draw nigh, bringing thee, Polyphemus, grim fodder and wretched victims for thy feasting, so look they forth and speed every way to drag captive bodies to their king. Them doth the cruel monarch himself on the rocky verge of a sacrificial ridge, that looms above mid-sea, take and hurl down in offering to his father Neptune; but should the men be of finer build, then he bids them take arms and meet him with the gauntlets; that for the hapless men is the fairest doom of death.

[147] Soon Amycus will come bidding you raise the dread gauntlets aloft and striking the clouds with overtopping head. In such wise rages he, deemed Neptune’s son, against voyagers continually, and them that lack valour to match his he stations like sluggish bulls at the cruel altars of the gods, only that he may wet his weapons in the wretches’ brains.

VALERIUS FLACCUS, ARGONAUTICA, Book 5, translated by J. H. MOZLEY

[162] There is a crash, as though Jupiter had risen in might and overthrown the citadels of heaven, or Neptune’s arm had rocked the foundations of the world.

VIRGIL, AENEID, Book 1, translated by H. R. FAIRCLOUGH

[124] Meanwhile Neptune saw the sea in turmoil of wild uproar, the storm let loose and the still waters seething up from their lowest depths. Greatly troubled was he, and gazing out over the deep he raised a composed countenance above the water’s surface. He sees Aeneas’ fleet scattered over all the sea, the Trojans overwhelmed by the waves and by the falling heavens, nor did Juno’s wiles and wrath escape her brother’s eye. East Wind and West he calls before him, then speaks thus: “Has pride in your birth so gained control of you? Do you now dare, winds, without command of mine, to mingle earth and sky, and raise confusion thus? Whom I –! But better it is to clam the troubled waves: hereafter with another penalty shall you pay me for your crimes. Speed your flight and bear this word to your king; not to him, but to me were given by lot the lordship of the sea and the dread trident. He holds the savage rocks, home of you and yours, East Wind; in that hall let Aeolus lord it and rule within the barred prison of the winds.”

[142] Thus he speaks, and swifter than his word he clams the swollen seas, puts to flight the gathered clouds, and brings back the sun. Cymothoë and Triton with common effort thrust the ships from the sharp rock; the god himself levers them up with his trident, opens the vast quicksands, allays the flood, and on light wheels glides over the topmost waters. And as, when ofttimes in a great nation tumult has risen, the base rabble rage angrily, and now brands and stones fly, madness lending arms; then, if perchance they set eyes on a man honoured for noble character and service, they are silent and stand by with attentive ears; with speech he sways their passion and soothes their breasts: just so, all the roar of ocean sank, soon as the Sire, looking forth upon the waters and driving under a clear sky, guides his steeds and, flying onward, gives reins to his willing car.

VIRGIL, AENEID, Book 2, translated by H. R. FAIRCLOUGH

[600] All these the Greek lines compass round on every side, and did not my love prevent it, by now the flames would have swept them away and the hostile sword would have drunk their blood. Know that it is not the hated face of the Laconian woman, daughter of Tyndareus, it is not Paris that is to blame; but the gods, the relentless gods, overturn this wealth and make Troy topple from her pinnacle. Behold – for all the cloud, which now, drawn over your sight, dulls your mortal vision and with dank pall enshrouds you, I will tear away; fear no commands of your mother nor refuse to obey her counsels – here, where you see shattered piles and rocks torn from rocks, and smoke eddying up mixed with dust, Neptune shakes the walls and foundations that his mighty trident has upheaved, and uproots all the city from her base. Here Juno, fiercest of all, is foremost to hold the Scaean gates and, girt with steel, furiously calls from the ships her allied band . . . Now on the highest towers – turn and see – Tritonian Pallas is planted, gleaming with storm cloud and grim Gorgon.

VIRGIL, AENEID, Book 3, translated by H. R. FAIRCLOUGH

[69] “Then, as soon as we can trust the main, and the winds give us seas at peace, and the soft-whispering South calls to the deep, my comrades launch the ships and crowd the shores. We put out from port, and lands and towns fade from view. In mid-sea lies a holy land [Delos], most dear to the mother of the Nereids and Aegean Neptune, which, as it wandered round coasts and shores, the grateful archer god bound fast, to lofty Myconos and Gyaros, suffering it to lie unmoved, defying the winds.

VIRGIL, AENEID, Book 7, translated by H. R. FAIRCLOUGH

[20] But lest the good Trojans should suffer such monstrous fate, should enter the haven or draw near the cursed shore, Neptune filled their sails with favouring winds, and gave them escape, and bore them past the s eething - shallows.

[691] But Messapus, tamer of horses, the seed of Neptune, whom none may lay low with fire or steel suddenly calls to arms tribes long mext and bands unused to war, and again grasps the sword.