Poseidon of Melos
Ancient Greek Mythology, Religion, Art
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Poseidon is normally depicted with a beard and he commonly carries a trident which he used to split rocks or cause earthquakes. It is also common for him to appear with a dolphin, as with this marble statue created around 130 BCE on the island of Melos. Sometimes the dolphin or dolphins are pulling him along in a shell-chariot.
Hear, Poseidon, ruler of the sea profound, whose liquid grasp begirds the solid ground; who, at the bottom of the stormy main, dark and deep-bosomed holdest they watery reign. Thy awful hand the brazen trident bears, and sea's utmost bound thy will reveres. Thee I invoke, whose steeds the foam divide, from whose dark locks the briny waters glide; shoe voice, loud sounding through the roaring deep, drives all its billows in a raging heap; when fiercely riding through the boiling sea, thy hoarse command the trembling waves obey. Earth-shaking, dark-haired God, the liquid plains, the third division, fate to thee ordains. 'Tis thine, cerulean daimon, to survey, well-pleased, the monsters of the ocean play. Confirm earth's basis, and with prosperous gales waft ships along, and swell the spacious sails; add gentle peace, and fair-haired health beside, and pour abundance in a blameless tide. Orphic Hymn 17 to Poseidon
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