Page:Greek and Roman Mythology.djvu/70

56 GREEK AND ROMAN MYTHOLOGY 73. As all springs and rivers flow from Oceanus, so Poseidon is the ruler of them all, evidently because it was supposed that they had a subterranean connection with the sea, which embraces all the land (Gaieochos) and penetrates it. Earthquakes were thought to be caused by these subterranean waters, and Poseidon was therefore called the earth-shaker (Ennosigaios). So he was worshiped in many inland localities also, where inland lakes, rapid rivers, or earthquakes, seemed to prove the presence of his power, as was the case in Boeotia, Thessaly, and Arcadia. Yet, since he thus represented the fructifying moisture emanating from springs and rivers, he became also the protector of plant growth (Phytalmios), and therefore was associated with Demeter. 74. The animal usually sacrificed to Poseidon, which was likewise his symbol, was the horse ; and so he rides along over the sea in a chariot drawn by dark horses with golden manes, whenever he commands the waves and winds. In the form of a horse (P. Hippios) he begot Arion, the battle horse of Adrastus, from an Erinys or Harpy, or by a thrust of his trident caused him to spring forth from a rock, just as in a similar manner in the contest with Athena he called into being a salt spring on the Acropolis of Athens. 75. Besides the horse, the bull (representing the wild might of the waves), and, in sharp contrast, the dolphin, which appears chiefly when the sea is quiet, are sacred and dear to Poseidon. In art, Poseidon is represented as similar to Zeus, only there appears in the features of the former less of the lofty repose than of the powerful might which the nature of his being calls for. Usually