Artwork: Zeus of Artemision (also called Poseidon)

Artist / Origin: Unknown Artist, Greece

Region: Europe
Date: ca. 460 BCE
Material: Bronze
Medium: Sculpture
Dimensions: H: approx. 7 ft. (2.1 m.)
Location: National Archaeological Museum, Athens, Greece

Created: (ca. 480–300 BCE)

SIGNIFICANCE AND CONTRIBUTION

Poseidon, in ancient Greek religion, God of the sea (and of water generally), earthquakes, and
horses. He is distinguished from Pontus, the personification of the sea and the oldest Greek divinity
of the waters. The name Poseidon means either “husband of the earth” or “lord of the earth.” As the
god of earthquakes, Poseidon was also connected to dry land, and many of his oldest places of
worship in Greece were inland, though these were sometimes centred on pools and streams or
otherwise associated with water. In this aspect, he was known
as enosichthon and ennosigaios (“earth-shaker”) and was worshipped as asphalios (“stabilizer”). As
the god of horses, Poseidon is thought likely to have been introduced to Greece by the earliest
Hellenes, who also introduced the first horses to the country about the 2nd century BCE. Poseidon
himself fathered many horses, best known of which was the winged horse Pegasus by
the Gorgon Medusa.