Odysseus (Ch 20)

Etymology: Unknown. Ep. Polytropos "of many twists and turns".
Origin: King of Ithica, husband of Penelope, father of Telemachus. Son of Laertes and Anticlia.
Claim to Fame: Cunning, Trojan Horse, Katabasis (mortal descent into hell)
Literature: Vergil's Aeneid, Homer's Odyssey, Homer's Illiad

Nostos ("Homecoming")

After 10 years of fighting at Troy alongside Achilles, it takes him 10 years to return home to Ithaca to his faithful wife and growing son.

1. Cicones, Thracian tribe allied with the Trojans
Odysseus sacks the city of the Cicones at Ismarus, but spares Apollo's priest Maron in exchange for 12 amphorae of wine. Six men from each of his ships are slaughtered as reinforcements arrive and they must flee.

2. Lotus-Eaters, North Africa
As they were rounding the tip of the Peloponnesus, the wind blows them off course to the land of the lotus-eaters, where one taste of their fruit is to attain blissful, apathetic oblivion. Odysseus resists the temptations to be relieved of all wants, desires, and passions in life through eternal sleep, and forces his men back to the ships to continue on home.

3. Polyphemus, one-eyed giant, son of Poseidon
Odysseus is captured by the giant Polyphemus, who kills and eats his six of his men before imprisoning them in his cave. They drug him with the 12 amphorae of wine, and while he is sleeping Odysseus blinds him with a burning stick, whispering to him that his name is "nobody" so the other cyclopes could not charge him. To escape, Odysseus and his surviving crew tie themselves to the bellies of the giant's sheep, so when he took them out to graze the prisoners were left undiscovered. As they sail away, Odysseus accidentally reveals his name, earning the wrath of Poseidon by the wrongdoing of his son.

4. Aeolus, keeper of the winds
They stop of the island of Aeolus, and befriend its inhabitant so that he gives Odysseus a leather bag containing the winds that will blow them home safely. Unfortunately just as they are almost in view of Ithaca Odysseus falls asleep and the mischievous crew open the bag, blowing them all back to Aeolus' island. This time, they cannot convince Aeolus to aid them again, so they turn to the seas once more.

5. Laestrygones, cannibalistic tribe
Captured by cannibals, 11 of Odysseus' 12 ships are destroyed and the men are devoured. Odysseus and his own ship's crew is all that remains.

6. Circe, sorceress, daughter of Helius. Island of Aeaea.
Odysseus and his crew are welcomed by Circe, and while he stays behind with the ship, they are all transformed into swine. Hermes intervenes, giving Odysseus the herb "moly" (antidote to her witchcraft), and Odysseus seduces Circe into transforming his men back into humans and letting them go. He first convinces her to reveal the means by which he can learn how to get home, several warnings for the jounrey ahead, and attains instructions to perform Nekuia ("spirit summoning") to consult the spirit of the dead seer Tiresias.

7. Katabasis, kata "down" + basis "going" (Homer's Odyssey Book 11, "Book of the Dead")
In the far west, Odysseus performs the rituals of Nekuia to summon the spirit of Tiresias. As instructed by Circe, Odysseus sacrificed an unfertile heifer and black sheep as well as pour a libation of honey, wine, milk, water, and blood to replenish the dead and convince Erebus to release several shades:
- Anticlia (mother), who died of a broken heart waiting for her son. Odysseus attempts three times to embrace her, but passes through her shade
- Elpenor (comrade at arms), who died of a drunken escapade and was left unburied and unwept. Cursed for 100 years.
- Achilles (comrade at arms), who died of Paris' divine arrow, asserts "it's better a slave on earth than King of the Dead"
- Ajax (comrade at arms), who died of suicide at the incomprehension of losing a wager to Odysseus, turns his back and refuses to speak.
- Tiresias (seer), who died of old age, is given blood in exchange for the knowledge that will return Odysseus alone to Ithica, where he must face Penelope's suitors before he can attain his rightful place.

8. Sirens, women who lure ships to rocks said to hold intellectual/sexual secrets = femme fatale
Eager to hear their song, Odysseus orders his men to tie him to the mast of the ship (by no means untie him) and plug their own ears with wax so they can safely pass. Like Prometheus, Odysseus succeeds in overcoming temptation with foresight.

9. Scylla and Charybdis, straits of Messina (Sicily and Italy)
To negotiate the violent rocks and whirlpools, Odysseus adheres to the side of the strait associated with Scylla. Six of his men are consumed by her. They also pass safely through Planctae ("clashing rocks"), the Mediterranean Sea/ Black Sea passage connection.

10. Cattle of Thrinacia, island of Helius
Warned by Circe not to touch the cattle, Odysseus's crew disobeys, earning the wrath of Helius as enacted by Zeus's thunderbolt. Everyone drowns but Odysseus, who avoids Charybdis, clinging to the wreckage of his ship.

11. Calypso ("concealer"), sea-nymph and daughter of Atlas

Imprisons Odysseus on the island of Ogygia for 7 years. Although she nourishes him back to health as well as promises him immortality, Odysseus cannot justify (a) not returning to his family and kingdom, and (b) having his name left unspoken due to his concealment. He petitions Zeus, who sends Hermes to sanction his release.

12. Phaeacians, peaceful seafaring tribe, Scheria

Odysseus' raft is shipwrecked by Poseidon near the isle of the Scheria but Leucothea and Athena help him ashore. He is discovered by the princess Nausicaa, daughter of Alcinous and Arete, who earns his stays at their court through the retelling of his adventures. He shows prowess in a number of contests, and is sent home to Ithica with magical intervention.

Poseidon, angered by the Phaeacian's intervention, turns their ships to stone.

Arrival at Ithica

Since Telemachus is too young to be eligible for the throne, Peripheron Penelope ("circumspect") is harassed by a number of suitors intending to steal it from Odysseus.

- Telemacheus travels to Pylos to visit King Nestor, and Sparta to visit King Menalaus, to discover whether Odysseus still lives.
- Meanwhile, Penelope promises she shall pick a suitor once she is finished weaving her husbands shround (each night she undoes the days work to start over in the morning)

Disguised as a begger, Athena directs Odysseus to Eumaeus, the swine herd who kept Odysseus' faithful dog, Argus. The dog recognises his master and drops dead, affirming his identity as the lost king to Eumaeus and Telemachus. Similarly, an old nurse of his (Euryclea, characterized by her gashed thigh) washes his feet as a charity to a beggar, but upon recognizing them, she recognizes her king.

He arranges a meeting with Penelope on the claim he has seen Odysseus, dropping hints at his true identity by commenting on the fact she is not wearing a certain brooch (a gift from Odysseus, long ago).
In response to her suspicion of the stranger at court Penelope arranges an archery contest for the suitors, whereby they must string her husbands bow and shoot through 12 axeheads. Each one fails, until the beggar is given a turn, whereby Odysseus enacts his vengeance through his dramatic reveal.

• Father and son slaughters Antinoos (main suitor) and the rest, sparing only Medon (herald) and Phemius (bard). 
• The 12 Servant-girls that taunted the beggar at court as well as slept with the suitors were charged with cleaning up the bloodshed, then were hanged for their disloyalty. 
• Goat-herd Melanthius was mutilated and killed for violating Xenia.

Having been sent away during the bloodshed, Penelope enacts one last test for the stranger by asking Nurse Euryclea to move her marriage bed, which only few know that it is actually hand-carved out of a living, rooted olive tree. Odysseus' outrage at this order confirms his identity as it is a secret symbol of their tryst. Athena then consummates Odysseus's return and he obtains his rightful place as ruler of Ithica.

Trojan Saga, pt. III (Ch 19)

Post-Iliad Events

Penthesilea, Queen of the Amazons, comes to fight for the Trojans but is defeated by Achilles and stripped of her armour. Upon realizing she is a woman, Achilles is smitten, and falls in love with her as he kills her. For this unrequited love, he is jibed by Thersites (Greek joker figure) as being "the ugliest man in Troy". After slaying the joker, a fellow soldier, he must withdraw to Lesbos for blood purification before returning to battle.

Achilles is finally slain by Paris's arrow, guided by Apollo, which punctures his moral heel. Achilles' corpse and armour is fought for by Ajax the Greater and is recovered back to the Achaean camp, where the ghost of Achilles demands the sacrifice of Priam's daughter Polyxena.

Odysseus and Ajax fight over armour, which is eventually arbitrated over by Athena and a Greek jury. Odysseus wins the arms due to cunning, as he blackmails a group of terrorized Trojan prisoners into testifying to his might. Ajax goes insane with incomprehension, and slaughters a flock of sheep under the disillusion they are the jury of Greek leaders. After realizing his "failure as a hero" he commits suicide by falling upon his own sword. The death of Ajax the Greater is a symbol of the end of the "old hero". The last of his kind, he represents a nation of heroes that relied on brute strength over cunning and wiles. From his blood, a hyacinth sprouts, honoring the passing of his spirit.
Odysseus concludes that "we who live are nothing more than ghosts and weightless shades", implying that no matter how great and mighty you are, you will inevitable be levelled by your mortality.

The three conditions foreseen by Helenus, the Trojan seer, are met by the Achaean army:

• Neoptolemus, the son of Achilles, is recovered. He brutally slaughters Priam at an altar.
• The Paladium, the wooden figure of Pallas, friend of Athena, is stolen by Odysseus disguised as a beggar.
• The Bow of Heracles is recovered from Philoctetes in Lemnos.

As such, Odysseus commands Epeus to build a giant wooden horse. While the Greeks feign retreat by sailing away behind the island of Tenedos, they leave behind Sinon, who pretends he's escaped from becoming a Greek human sacrifice. Sinon explains that the horse is an offering to Athena, and is built so large that the Trojans will not be able to fit it inside their walls, but the Trojans tear down their own gates in order to capture it.

The Trojans are warned twice: once by Cassandra, daughter of Prium suffering a curse from Apollo, and the other by Laocoon, who declares Sinon a liar and the horse a ruse. He hurls a spear into the side of the horse and hears the rattling of soldiers' armour, which is miraculously drowned out by the sudden appearance of two sea serpents that drag him and his two children into the sea.

With the city penetrated, the Achaeans mercilessly ransack Troy. Euripedes' Trojan Women, as well as other Greek literary works, depict the Post-Iliad as a powerful anti-war tragedy, as seen through the eyes of prisoner women (Hecuba, Cassandra, Andromache).

• Ajax the Lesser, son of Oileus, attempts to rape Cassandra at the temple of Athena, ensuring his death on the way home. Cassandra herself is taken as concubine to Agamemnon, as told in Aeschylus' Agamemnon.
• Odysseus hurls Hectors son Astyanax from the walls of Troy, before his mother's eyes, because "only a fool kills a father and allows his son to live. Andromache herself is taken as a concubine.

As told in Vergil's Aeneid, Aeneas (Aphrodite + Anchises) is visited upon by Hector's ghost, is told to escape far away, to a land where he is the eventual founder of Rome.

The Trojan Saga, pt. II (Ch 19)

Homer's Iliad Proper

Wrath of Achilles (Book I)
The Trojan priest of Apollo Chryses attempts to ransom his daughter from her position as concubine at Agamemnon's court, but because she is considered part of the 'spoils of war', his wish is refused. In despair Chryses calls upon Apollo to punish the hubristic king, and a plague of arrows is launched against the Achaeans, decimating the army's beasts and men.
Calchas, seer of Sparta, protected by Achilles, prophetizes she must be returned, but Agamemnon demands compensation in the form of Achilles's concubine, Burseis. Achilles nearly slaughters the entire court but is held back by Athena, who reimburses his loss with an alliance to the Gods and the promise of a 10-fold reward. Achilles takes his leave with these words of warning to Agamemnon: "You will tear your heart, angry that you did not honor the best of the Achaeans". He withdraws from fighting as Burseis is taken from him, and as a result the Trojans gain the upper hand in the battle.
He is consoled by Thetis, who appeals to Zeus and binds him to his oath that (a) Achilles is granted honor, and (b) the Trojans will succeed while Achilles is absent from war.

The Trojans (Book VI)
Achilles nemesis, Hector (son of Priam, brother of Paris), awaits in Troy at the head of his army. Although his wife Andromache, and his newborn son Astyanax, plead with Hector not to go to battle (and inevitably widowing her) but he refuses to violate the warrior ethos. Even though he knows his struggle will be a lost cause, he cannot bear the public shame of being seen as a coward.

Embassy to Achilles (Book IX)
Agamemnon sends three heroes to nurse Achilles pride and convince him to return to battle: Odysseus (for guile), Phoenix (for wisdom), and Ajax the Greater, son of Telamon (for strength).
Achilles hubristically rejects Odysseus, despite being amply compensated for his humiliation (all spoils of victory, his concubine returned untouched, as well as 20 of the finest Trojan women), claiming that he will not submit to a bribe from a cowardly ruler.
He then more sensitively rejects his old tutor, Phoenix, who attempts to play upon his sentiments of honor and dishonor.
He finally rejects Ajax, who bluntly states the warrior code and finds it hard to believe Achilles will not fight simply for a girl.
Meanwhile, Patrocles (Achilles long time friend and training partner) begs Achilles that take action against Hector, who is burning the Greek ships. He dons Achilles' armour, and is warned not to fight Hector one on one. The ruse works and the tides turn against the Trojans, until Patrocles goes one step too far and is wounded, revealing his identity. Hector slays him and strips him of his armour (highest indignity).
Achilles is shocked back into action and vows vengeance upon Hector, despite being aware of his imminent (but glorified) death. He ends his quarrel with Agamemnon, stating he fights for Patrocles and no one else. Thetis brings Achilles new armour and a new shield (depiction of war on one side, peace on the other) fashioned by Hephaestus on Mt. Olympus, which become a symbolic talisman on the battlefield.

Hector vs. Achilles (Book XXII)
Achilles faces Hector alone on the battlefield, two men who have accepted their fates. Hector loses courage and attempts to flee, and he is chased by Achilles three times around the walls of Troy until Athena intervenes. Hector is tricked into thinking he has backup against Achilles, but Athena (disguised as a trojan) disappears when his back is turned. At this cowardice, Apollo removes his backing from Troy, and Athena asserts her psychostasic alliance with Achilles ("while humans weigh lives, the Gods weigh souls and cities").
Hector appeals to Achilles humility by asking for proper burial rites for the loser, but Achilles shows no mercy, slaughters Hector, and drags his corpse behind his chariot around Troy and back to the camp (Unpunished hubrisic action #3)
After defeating, defiling, and kidnapping Hector's corpse, Achilles sleeps over it, having it renewed by Apollo each day for fresh dishonour. He celebrates Patroclus's death with funeral games, and by sacrificing 12 Trojan youth (Unpunished hubris #4). Thetis, seeing this excessive disrespect for the dead, appeals to Zeus, to takes action so Achilles will relent.
One night, guided by Hermes, Prium sneaks into the Greek camp and begs for Hectors body as a father. Faced by the slayer of his children, he ransoms his son from the warrior and is able to return home.

The Burial of Hector (XXIV)
The Iliad ends with Hector's proper burial at Troy.
"No human action is without grief... some were driven through cruel misery by divine intention, based on luck and not discretion."

The Trojan Saga, pt I (Ch 19)

Overview

The Trojan War spanned 10 years of fighting and skirmishing between the Greeks and the Trojans, and is reflected in the quarrelling of allied Gods and Goddesses. What begins as a war over the abduction of Helen continues as an excuse for political advancement, whereby the Greeks seek to assert their dominance over the Romans.

Key Concepts

Warrior Pride

• Arete, "excellence": the pursuit of physical and intellectual dominance
• Time, "face": honor of a warrior, his reputation
• Kleos, "glory": the essence of being a victor, and history is written by those who win.

Loyalty: the wives of Agamemnon and Odysseus contrast the virtue of loyalty and are rewarded by their own fate and the fate of their kingdom.

War Precedents

1. Leda, wife of Tindareus (King of Sparta) is visited upon by Zeus (disguised as a swan). She gives birth to two eggs, four kids: Polydeuces/Pollux + Helen, Castor + Clytemnestra.
- The Dioscuri ("sons of Zeus"): Pollux (immortal) and Castor (mortal), grow up to join Jason and the argonauts. In a violent storm, flames flicker from the brother's heads ("Castor and Pollux", "St. Elmos Fire") and the storms seize immediately in the face of their divinity. Castor, however, is later killed in a fight, and is avenged by his brother Pollux who splits his immortality (one brother occupies the underworld, while the other is above, they alternate each day)
- Tyndareus, in a position where his daughter is desired by countless suitors of significant political clout, asks Odysseus to solve his daughter's betrothal in exchange for the hand of Penelope. Odysseus asserts that (1) all suitors must abide by Tyndareus's decision, (2) all must vow for her vengeance if she is ever abducted, and (3) Menalaus, King of Sparta, would be the best protectorate and husband.

2. Hecuba, wife of Priam (King of Troy), has a dream of a fire-brand that destroys Troy, and subsequently gives birth to it. In fear of her nation, she abandons the infant Paris on the side of Mt. Ida where he is discovered and raised by a shepard.

3. At the wedding of Peleus and Thetis (neriad), the Gods in attendance are thrown into discord by the appearance of Eris ("strife"), who throws a golden apple among the goddesses inscribed with "to the fairest". Zeus chooses the Paris, handsome son of Priam, to make a ruling between Hera, Athena, and Aphrodite, who respectively bribe him with power, military prowess, and Helen.
Naturally, Paris ascertains that Aphrodite is the fairest of them all.

4. When Paris abducts Helen and returns to Troy, all Greek heroes are ordered to assembly at Aulis - only Odysseus is reluctant and momentarily feigns madness. The seer Calchas of Sparta prophetizes Troy cannot be taken without Achilles. The seer Helenus of Troy prophetizes Troy cannot be captured without the aid of Heracles' bow.

5. Meanwhile, Thetis attempts to make Achilles immortal.

• Like Diamophoon, Thetis makes like Demeter and attempts to burn away the mortal flesh of an ambrosia-anointed Achilles. Once she reaches his heel, however, she is stopped by Peleus.
• Or, she dips Achilles by his heel into the River Styx.

He is mentored alongside Patrocles by the centaur Chiron on Mt. Pelion, until Thetis learns of the prophecy he will either live his life short and glorious, or long and unremarkable. She responds by hiding Achilles on the Cycladid island Scyros, and disguising him by concealing him in women's clothing.
His cover is blown, however, when Odysseus calls the young men of the island to arms.
He leaves behind a wife, Deidamia, and son, Neoptolemus (a.k.a. Pyrrhus) in order to go to war with the Achaens.

6. As the armada at Aulis is completed, King Agamemnon learns he must sacrifice his daughter Iphigenia to appease Artemis and gain favourable winds. He deceives the young girl by saying she is about to marry Achilles, but before she is about to be executed, Artemis substitutes a young doe and whisks her off to the land of the Taurians.

7. On the way to Troy, Philoctetes (holder of Heracles' bow) is bitten in the foot by a snake. The wound rots to give off a powerful enough stench he is dropped off, with bow and arrows, on the island of Lemnos. He is later rescued and the bow is what eventually kills Paris.

Hades (Ch 15)

Etymology and Epithets
     (g.) Hades, "unseen", "invisible"
     (l.) Pluto or Dis/Dives, "wealth" (referring to underground metals), "the enricher"
     (l.) Orcus, "confining place"
     Zeus Katachtonius (kata "under" + cthon "earth"), "underground Zeus"
     Polyxenos, "host to many"
     Polydegmon, "receiver of many"
     Erebus, "Darkness"
Domain: Underworld.
Genealogy: Cronus + Rhea, Brother to Zeus
Claim to Fame: God of Death and the Underworld, Abductor of Persephone/Proserpina, General Hardass.
Iconography: Rooster? Anything death related...
Literature: Homer's Odyssey, Book 11 (Nekuia/Book of the Dead/Spirit Summoning), Plato's The Republic (Myth of Er, Book 10), Hesiod's Isle of the Blessed, Vergil's Aeneid (Book 6)

The Greek View of Death: When psyche ("breath"/"soul"),  anima ("soul"/"spirit"), or anemos ("wind") is separated from the soma/corpus ("body"). Literally, when one breathes his/her last. If it is the breath that contains the soul, it can live on in spirit once set free from the body.

Homer's Odyssey (Nekuia, Book 11)

Katabasis ("descent into the underworld") occurs at the farthest reaches of Oceanus, where the sun [literally] sets on living souls. A summoning of spirits requires a libation of milk, honey, wine, water, blood and an animal sacrifice to rehydrate the shades of the dead.
As stated by the shade of Achilles when visited by Odysseus, a common Greek view was that it was better to be a slave on earth than the King of the Dead; Aristophanes furthered the idea that the best thing one could wish for is to never have been born at all; and Milton stated in Paradise Lost that it is better to reign in hell than serve in heaven.

Plato's Republic (Myth of Er, Book 10)

One's morality among the living earns proportional punishment and/or reward in the afterlife. Once dead, one's soul serves a quantified sentence whereby they can negotiate the circles of hell based on deed.
Metempsychosis, the transmigration of souls, implies that one has the opportunity to choose a new life after sentence is served out. Souls are reincarnated after drinking from the River Lethe ("forgetfulness")

Vergil's Aeneid (Book 6)

A mixture of Greco-roman myth, religion, and philosophy follows the founder of Rome on his katabasis to illustrate hell.
     Aeneus, son of Aphrodite and Anchises, is ordered to escape the burning Troy and find the new civilization in the west known as Rome. To glimpse a prophecy of the future of his creation, which will outlive him, he descends into hell with the assistance of Cumaen Sybil. Equipped with the Golden Bough sacred to Proserpina, the two offer libations to gain entrance to the opening of the Underworld at the sulphuric Lake Avernus ("birdless") at Cumae. They then meets a series of mythological figures and places:
1. Personified Abstractions (ie. Grief, Cares, Old Age, Worry)
2. Monsters of the Deep (ie. Scylla, Gorgon, Harpies, Chimera)
3. River Acheron ("sorrowful"), which marks the boundary of Hades' realm
4. Charon, Ferryman of the Dead, who mans the only crossing (later traditions they cross the River Styx, "hate"). Golden bough serves as a golden ticket.
5. Cerberus, three-headed hell hound positioned at the far side of the river (no one gets out). Is drugged by meal and honey to allow passage.
6. Thanatos ("death") and Hypnos ("sleep"), winged psychopompous figures.
7. Fork in the road:
     I. Tartarus (left fork): place of punishment for sinners.
     - Surrounded by the flaming River Phlegethon
     - Guarded by the Fury Tisiphone ("punisher")
     - Jury of Rhadamanthus, Minos, and Aeacus.
     II. Elesium (right fork) or the Elysian Fields: Reserved for the age of heroes, a paradise realm.
     - Reserved for pure souls, or those that have paid their sentence.
     - Purification ritual of 1000 years completes the circle of time before transmigration.

Sinners

Tityus: tried to rape Leto, mother of Artemis and Apollo. Eternal punishment of having his liver (seat of passion) devoured by vultures daily, only to have it regenerated the next morning.
Tantalus: fed his own son to feasting gods. Eternal punishment of insatiable hunger and thirst while being neck deep in water with sustenance just out of reach.
Sisyphus: cheats Thanatos by chaining him up when he is being claimed, orders wife not to perform burial rights. Eternal punishment of insurmountable task of pushing a boulder to the top of an incline, only to have it fall back again.
Ixion: lusted after Hera, raped Zeus's prototype Nephele Hera ("cloud Hera") but spills his seed on the ground (= birth of Centaurus, father of Centaurs). Eternal punishment of being bound to a rotating wheel of fire.
The Danaids (50 daughters of Danaus, King of Argos): married their cousins, 49 of them which murdered them on their wedding night (except Hypermnestra). Eternally punished of filling leaky water jars (symbolizing impotence, cannot hold seed).

Poseidon (Ch 7)

Etymology and Epithets:
     (g.) Poseidon, Posis "husband" + don... da "of Da" (ie. Consort of Earth mother), or Posis "to drink"
     (l.) Neptune
     "Earth Shaker", "Earth Holder"
     Potamos ("river"), associated with the I.E. God of Freshwater, who attains domain over salt water
     as they migrated to the coast.
     Hippios, "horsey" another I.E. association with riding-cultures. Horses drowned in his honor.
Domain: The sea. Tectonic plates.
Genealogy: Cronus + Rhea. Brother of Zeus.
Claim to Fame: God of the sea, horse riding, earthquakes, irregular temperaments.
Iconography: trident, waves, fish, horses, ships
Literature: Ovid's Metamorphosis

Myth

I. Poseidon Erechtheum ("original soil"): Despite losing the contest for patronage for Athens (See Athena), Poseidon is appeased by the citizens (in fear or appreciation, we'll never know) and a temple is built in his honor on the grounds of the Parthanon. The Erechtheum is characterized by its Carytid statues, beautiful women holding various items of symbolic significance, which serve the same function as columns.

II. Hippios and Demeter: In Arcadia it was rumored that Poseidon pursued his own sister, Demeter, who sought to escape him by disguising herself as a mare. Poseidon transformed into a stallion, and the magical steed Arion is born.
Similar origins for the mythological creature Pegasus as well, as Poseidon entered another tryst with Medusa to the same outcome.

III. Amphitrite: Poseidon took Amphitrite as his wife and had a son Triton. While daddy acts up to bring storms to sink ships, Triton blows his conch shell to calm the seas.
Amphitrite herself works hard to keep her marriage monogamous, and Poseidon is kept on a short leash.
Scylla (daughter of Phorcys), an object of Poseidon's desire is transformed into a monster whose lower half is ringed by dogs. She flees to the straits of Messina, where her and Charybdis (daughter of Poseidon and Gaia), a vicious whirlpool that spews three times a day, work to make sailors lives miserable.

IV. Odysseus: See Odysseus for details on Poseidon's pursuit of this wily hero.