Poseidon is one of the Greek Gods. He is the God of Sea, Storms, Earthquakes and horses.
Poseidon was the son of Cronos and Rhea.
Cronos is the youngest and the leader of the Titans, the ancient Gods of the Greeks. The Titans are the first generation of offspring of Gaia who is Mother Earth and Uranus who is Father Sky.
In certain Greek myths, it is believed that Rhea is the daughter of Oceanus and Tethys. Oceanus is the God of River Gods and he is believed to be the river surrounding the earth.
Zeus is sometimes considered as the youngest of the Greek Gods, but it is believed that he was the one who overthrew Cronos and the other Titans in a huge war.
After the war with the Titans, Zeus shared the world with his brothers. Zeus got the sky, Poseidon got the sea and Hades got the underworld.
Athena is a powerful Greek Goddess. She is the daughter of Zeus, the chief of all the Greek Gods. She is the Goddess of wisdom, strategic warfare, justice and law. She is also the protector of the city of Athens.
Athena is believed to have been born directly from Zeus’s forehead. She was born without a mother in some myths. She was born fully grown and with a powerful armour. Though there were some beliefs that Zeus did not like Athena because it was believed that she would overthrow him, eventually Athena became Zeus’s favourite daughter.
It was at that time that there lived a king called Cecrops.
Cecrops was born directly from the earth and he was a great ruler for his people. He was so good that the place that he ruled flourished and prospered at a tremendous rate. Even the Greek Gods noticed the city which was ruled by Cecrops.
Therefore at this time, Athena and Poseidon both wanted to bring the city ruled by Cecrops under their control.
Zeus looked at the two Gods and realized that a war between the two Gods could spell destruction and wanted to solve the issue amicably. He wanted the two Gods to create something for the people in the kingdom ruled by Cecrops. Looking at the two creations, the people of the kingdom could themselves decide about who could be their patron God.
So a competition between the two Gods was organized at the Acropolis.
Poseidon struck his trident on the Acropolis and supposedly created an underground sea and from there seawater sprang out in the city.
This was the gift of Poseidon to the people. (It is sometimes believed that Poseidon gifted a horse to the people in the city.)
Using her spear, Athena on the other hand, created a fully grown olive tree to the city. The fruits of the tree were nutritious to the people and the wood of the tree was very strong.
The people of the city were very impressed with Athena’s gift and they named her as the victor of the competition.
That was how Athena became the patron Goddess of the city.
That was also when the kingdom ruled by Cecrops was renamed after its patron Goddess and the city was called Athens.
Following this, Poseidon was furious with the people of Athens and he flooded Thriasia with water and put the city of Attika under the sea.
Subsequently, in the Acropolis there was a beautiful building called Erectheum.
This building is unique because though the Acropolis and the entire city was under the patronage of Athena, the place at Erectheum was half in the honour of Poseidon and half in the honour of Athena.
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