The Greek Ancient Myths

Ιn the Greek Ancient myths we can usually find the value of the life-giving power and the great influence of the water element on the life and religion of people. When the three twelve gods, Zeus, Poseidon and Hades shared the world among themselves, it fell on Zeus to be the ruler of the sky, Hades of the underworld and Poseidon of the sea.
With his trident he agitated the sea, sank the ships and calmed it down again and gave peacefulness and joy to the sailors, who were crossing the seas.
Being the god of the sea, Poseidon can travel on his gold chariot through the waves without even being wet. At the same time dolphins come up to the surface from the bottom of the sea, bounding with joy around their god’s chariot.
According to the Greek myths the Greeks believed that Poseidon was responsible for a series of geological and other similar phenomena like:

a) the formation of the earth’s surface with mountains, valleys, islands, channels. So Poseidon cuts pieces from the land and creates Sardinia, Evia, Cyprus, the channel of Corinth.

b) The earthquakes, the cracks of the earth, the landslides and the disasters. So when Poseidon walks, the mountains are trembling, when he shakes the Earth he causes a sensation of terror and the underworld and the underworld appear.

c) “The water systems” and the passages on the surface of the earth and under it, the rivers, the springs, the lakes, the floods.
So Poseidon with his trident makes the cracks on the rocks and springs gush out, such as on the rock of the Acropolis in Athens after a quarrel with Athena, in Argolida for Amymone’s sake, he floods places like Thriasio Field in Attica and places in Ethiopia and Troy, he dries up the river Inachos or he appears himself in the form of the river.

d) The world of the sea with the untamed and terrifying powers for man and unpredictable dangers for the navigation. So Poseidon is raised by a daughter of the Ocean, he pairs off with Thetis, who is a sea spirit and he is married to Nireas’ daughter, Amphitrite and rewards the dolphin which helped to this union, he has a lot of the descendants who are all sea spirits, he saves Orestis on the sea, and harasses Ulysses who blinded Cyclops’ son, Polyphemus.
All these myths show that the Greeks’ misfortunes at sea are the result of the God’s rage for actions which are against his will.
In the age long imagination the waters gush out from the depths of the earth as well as the rapid streams of the rivers and the waves of the sea are combined with horses and bulls, animals which are characterized by dash. In this way the horse and the bull are always present in the myth and the worship of Poseidon.
So according to the myths Poseidon is born in the form of a foal, is transformed into a horse, becomes the father of uncontrollable horses, like Pegasus. For this reason Poseidon lets a bull come out of the waves which causes great trouble to the Cretans and the Athenians and gets involved in the life of Minos and Minotaur.
Due to the relationship between Poseidon and the sea we can easily explain the importance of the dolphin and the sea monsters in the myths about the god. The former is related to good news and the latter to floods and disasters.
Both from Poseidon’s sea personality and his being responsible for disasters, his relation to the Lost Atlantis city can be clearly explained.

The Sea Monsters

Long before Poseidon became the master of the sea, in the imagination of the Greeks there had been many sea sprits, males such as Nireas, Triton, Proteus and females like Thetis, Leucothea, Scylla and Charybdis.
The main common characteristics among there ancient sea spirits are the following:

• Τhey knew the depths and the secrets of the sea
• They could predict the future and
• They had the magic power to be transformed into animals, plants, natural phenomena like wind, water and fire.

All these sea spirits were very popular and filled the fishermen and sailors with awe. As there was no scientific knowledge about navigation, the sailors begged these spirits to help them by sharing their wisdom and magic power with them so that they could predict the weather conditions at distant seas and avoid any possible dangers during their voyage.

Among the water spirits Proteus is of great importance in the cosmogonic myth which leads to the scientific thought. As well as his name Proteus which means “The First” that is “The Firstly Born” and his great ability to be transformed into any form he liked, reveal an age-old cosmogonic perception on the “first” form in the genetic procedure of the world.
This form has born all the other forms the world consists of, that is the first form of matter which has its own transformations and these transformations result in all the other forms of the world.
The authenticity of this cosmogonic perception on the form of Proteus is based in the idea of the genetic power of water.

Scylla and Charybdis

Leaving the island of Circe, Odysseus, listens to her advice about the rest of his trip. He will pass through huge stones, steep rocks where not even a bird can fly through, no ship could ever avoid sinking with all hands on board in the inferno of the waves and flames.
There are two reefs. One of them reaches the sky and black clouds cover its peak. In the middle of this reef there is a cave where Scylla lives. It is a roaring monster with twelve feet up in the air, six necks each of them of different length with awful heads at the end. Each mouth has three jaws which look like death.
Hidden in the Cave she catches dolphins, dogfish and other sea monsters with her deadly jaws. She also catches as many sailors as her heads from the passing ships.
The other reef is a wild fig tree and Charybdis is sitting under it vomiting black water. Three times a day she slurps all the water and three times she vomits it again. If, by any chance, someone is around when she slurps the water, it is sure that he can’t escape even if Poseidon himself would like to save him.
The passage of Scylla and Charybdis is located either at Bosporus or outside the Mediterranean near the Canary Islands, but most people claim that it is the Straight of Sicily.

Αn episode from Odyssey

(This text is studied and analyzed by the students in the Ancient Greek class of our Lyceum. Here is its English translation by Samuel Butler)

Book 5
...[282] But lord Poseidon, who was returning from the Ethiopians, caught sight of Odysseus a long way off, from the mountains of the Solymi. He could see him sailing upon the sea, and it made him very angry, so he wagged his head and muttered to himself, saying, heavens, so the gods have been changing their minds about Odysseus while I was away in Ethiopia, and now he is close to the land of the Phaeacians, where it is decreed that he shall escape from the calamities that have befallen him. Still, he shall have plenty of hardship yet before he has done with it."
[291] Thereon he gathered his clouds together, grasped his trident, stirred it round in the sea, and roused the rage of every wind that blows till earth, sea, and sky were hidden in cloud, and night sprang forth out of the heavens. Winds from East, South, North, and West fell upon him all at the same time, and a tremendous sea got up, so that Odysseus’ heart began to fail him. "Alas," he said to himself in his dismay, "what ever will become of me? I am afraid Calypso was right when she said I should have trouble by sea before I got back home. It is all coming true. How black is Zeus making heaven with his clouds, and what a sea the winds are raising from every quarter at once. I am now safe to perish. Blest and thrice blest were those Danaans who fell before Troy in the cause of [kharis] the sons of Atreus. Would that had been killed on the day when the Trojans were pressing me so sorely about the dead body of Achilles, for then I should have had due burial and the Achaeans would have honored my name [kleos]; but now it seems that I shall come to a most pitiable end."
[313] As he spoke a sea broke over him with such terrific fury that the raft reeled again, and he was carried overboard a long way off. He let go the helm, and the force of the wind was so great that it broke the mast half way up, and both sail and yard went over into the sea. For a long time Odysseus was under water, and it was all he could do to rise to the surface again, for the clothes Calypso had given him weighed him down; but at last he got his head above water and spat out the bitter brine that was running down his face in streams. In spite of all this, however, he did not lose sight of his raft, but swam as fast as he could towards it, got hold of it, and climbed on board again so as to escape drowning. The sea took the raft and tossed it about as Autumn winds whirl thistledown round and round upon a road. (It was as though the South, North, East, and West winds were all at once tossing it back and forth.)

[333] When he was in this plight, Ino daughter of Cadmus, also called Leukothea, saw him. She had formerly been a mere mortal, but had been since raised to the rank of a marine goddess. Seeing in what great distress Odysseus now was, she had compassion upon him, and, rising like a sea-gull from the waves, took her seat upon the raft.
[339] "My poor good man," said she, "why is Poseidon so furiously angry with you? He is giving you a great deal of trouble, but for all his bluster he will not kill you. You seem to be a sensible person, do then as I bid you; strip, leave your raft to drive before the wind, and swim to the Phaeacian coast where better luck awaits you. And here, take my veil and put it round your chest; it is enchanted, and you can come to no harm so long as you wear it. As soon as you touch land take it off, throw it back as far as you can into the sea, and then go away again." With these words she took off her veil and gave it him. Then she dived down again like a sea-gull and vanished beneath the seething dark waters...

(This is a work of the Greek school of Ioannina)