Unchanged by any teller — how the centuries since have seen Poseidon.
The gallery
Poseidon of Melos
Unknown (Hellenistic), c. 125–100 BC
Hellenistic marble statue of Poseidon found on the island of Melos, now in the National Archaeological Museum, Athens. The sea god stands in a commanding pose, his raised right hand once gripping a trident, with a dolphin at his feet supporting the figure.
Neptune and Triton
Gian Lorenzo Bernini, 1622–1623
Early marble group by Gian Lorenzo Bernini, carved to crown a garden fountain in Rome and now in the Victoria and Albert Museum, London. Neptune thrusts his trident downward to command the waters while the young Triton crouches between his legs, blowing a conch shell.
On screen
Clash of the Titans
Desmond Davis
Harryhausen's sea god looses the Kraken at Zeus' command — Poseidon as the hand that opens the deep, even when the thunderbolt gives the order.
The Odyssey
Andrei Konchalovsky
Konchalovsky's miniseries keeps Poseidon as Odysseus' implacable enemy: the blinded Cyclops' father who will not forgive, and will not let the sea go still.
Immortals
Tarsem Singh
Tarsem's pantheon brings Poseidon into the melee against the Titans — trident and seafoam in a fight choreographed like a Renaissance fresco come loose.
In play
Hades
Supergiant Games
Poseidon's boons in Supergiant's roguelike are all knockback and surf — the earth-shaker as a splash of force that clears a room.
Percy Jackson & the Olympians
Rick Riordan
Riordan's demigod series makes Poseidon the absent father of its hero: the sea god's claim on Percy is the secret that opens Camp Half-Blood and a generation's gateway into Greek myth.