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Andrea Doria as Neptune by Agnolo Bronzino : a potent allegory of Genoa's hegemony in the Tyrrhenian Sea In Greek Mythology, Poseidon was the god of the sea, known to the Romans as Neptune, and to the Etruscans as Nethuns. He was also the god of earthquakes and horses.
Benthesikyme was sometimes mentioned as his sister.In the heavily sea-dependent Mycenean culture, Poseidon's importance dwarfed that of Zeus, if the extant Linear BLinear B is the script that was used for writing Mycenaean, an early form of the Greek language. It occurrs primarily on tablets dated from the 14th and 13th centuries BC. The script was derived from an earlier script ( Linear A) used for writing the Mino tablets can be trusted. The name PO-SE-DA-WO-NE (Poseidon) occurs with greater frequency than does DI-U-JA (Zeus). A feminine variant, PO-SE-DE-IA, is also found, indicating the existence of a now-forgotten goddess to match the god. Tablets from Pylos record sacrificial goods destined for "the Two Queens and Poseidon" and to "the Two Queens and the King", compounding the mystery further. The most obvious identification for the "Two Queens" is with DemeterDemeter (or Demetra (DEH-MEH-ter) ("goddess mother" or " barley mother") is the Greek goddess of agriculture, the pure nourisher of youth and the green earth, the health-giving cycle of life and death, and preserver of marriage and the sacred law. She is and PersephoneIn Greek mythology, Persephone ("per-SE-fo-neh") was the queen of the Underworld, the Kore or maiden, daughter of Demeter. Persephone ("she who destroys the light") is her name in the Ionic Greek of epic literature. In other dialects she was known under v (or some predecessors thereof), who are not associated with Poseidon in historical times.
Indo-European is originally a linguistic term, referring to the Indo-European language family. By extension, it became a collective name for cultures and religions associated with these languages. Hypothetically, these cultures arose from the expansion of in derivation. The first half means "lord" (or "husband"). The second half may come from the same root *deiwo- "god, sky, shining" that also yield " Zeus" and the "De-" in " DemeterDemeter (or Demetra (DEH-MEH-ter) ("goddess mother" or " barley mother") is the Greek goddess of agriculture, the pure nourisher of youth and the green earth, the health-giving cycle of life and death, and preserver of marriage and the sacred law. She is"; others have interpreted it as "earth", although this view has lost some favor among linguists. Given Poseidon's connection with horses as well as the sea, and the landlocked situation of the likely Indo-European homeland, some scholars have proposed that Poseidon was originally an aristocratic horse-god who was then assimilated to Near Eastern aquatic deities when the basis of the Greek livelihood shifted from the land to the sea.In any case, the early all-importance of Poseidon can still be glimpsed in HomerFor other uses, see Homer (disambiguation). Homer ( Greek Ὅμηρος Hómēros was a legendary (or perhaps mythical) early Greek poet traditionally credited with authorship of the major Greek epics Iliad a's OdysseyFor the cable TV channel formerly called Odyssey, see the Hallmark Channel. The Odyssey is the second of the two great Greek epic poems ascribed to Homer, the first being the Iliad''. The book follows the events of the voyage of Odysseus, king of Ithaca,, where Poseidon rather than Zeus is the major mover of events.