The Odyssey Poseidon Quotes

"And now for his blinded son the earthquake god –
though he won’t quite kill Odysseus –
drives him far off course from native land.
But come, all of us here put heads together now,
work out his journey home so Odysseus can return.
Lord Poseidon, I trust, will let his anger go.
How can he stand his ground against the will
of all the gods at once – one god alone?"

– Homer

The Odyssey, Book 1, lines 88-95. The fate of Odysseus is being controlled by a vengeful Poseidon, angered at the blinding of his son, Zeus acknowledges. The father of the gods decides to intervene to allow Odysseus to return home.

As the sun sprang up, leaving the brilliant waters in its wake,
climbing the bronze sky to shower light on immortal gods
and mortal men across the plowlands ripe with grain
the ship pulled into Pylos, Neleus’ storied citadel,
where the people lined the beaches,
sacrificing sleek black bulls to Poseidon,
god of the sea-blue mane who shakes the earth.
They sat in nine divisions, each five hundred strong,
each division offering up nine bulls, and while the people
tasted the innards, burned the thighbones for the god.

– Homer

The Odyssey, Book 3, lines 1-10. Telemachus arrives in Pylos, the land ruled by Nestor. He finds that the people are sacrificing bulls both to honor god of the sea Poseidon and to feed the people. Homer gives us a beautiful description of the ship pulling into the harbor at dawn to witness the religious rite.

At once she prayed intensely to Poseidon:
"Hear me, Sea-lord, you who embrace the earth –
don’t deny our wishes, bring our prayers to pass!
First, then, to Nestor and all his sons grant glory.
Then to all these Pylians, for their splendid rites
grant a reward that warms their gracious hearts.
And last, Poseidon, grant Telemachus and myself
safe passage home, the mission accomplished
that sped us here in our rapid black ship."

– Homer

The Odyssey, Book 3, lines 61-69. Prompted by Nestor’s son Pisistratus, Athena prays to Poseidon to honor Nestor and his sons. It is ironic that Athena prays to Poseidon. For she is working against the god who is punishing Odysseus, by giving advice to Odysseus’ son Telemachus.

"Ajax, now, went down with his long-oared fleet.
First Poseidon drove him onto the cliffs of Gyrae,
looming cliffs, then saved him from the breakers
he’d have escaped his doom, too, despite Athena’s hate,
if he hadn’t flung that brazen boast, the mad blind fool.
‘In the teeth of the gods,’ he bragged, ‘I have escaped
the ocean’s sheer abyss!’ Poseidon heard that frantic vaunt
and the god grasped his trident in both his massive hands
and struck the Gyraean headland, hacked the rock in two,
and the giant stump stood fast but the jagged spur
where Ajax perched at first, the raving madman –
toppling into the sea, it plunged him down, down
in the vast, seething depths. And so he died,
having drunk his fill of brine."

– Homer

The Odyssey, Book 4, lines 560-573. Proteus the sea god and seer speaks to Menelaus about the death of Little Ajax (also known as Ajax the Lesser). We hear how Ajax was doomed by his excessive pride. He angered Poseidon with his boast "in the teeth of the gods…I have escaped the ocean’s sheer abyss." So the god of the sea drowned him for his hubris. Proteus’ story refers to Little Ajax, son of Oileus, not to be confused with Telamon’s son, Great Ajax, who killed himself after the fall of Troy. The story goes that Little Ajax tried to rape King Priam’s daughter Cassandra in the temple of Athena, where she took refuge. When the Achaeans failed to punish him, Athena had wind storms blow him off course on his way home. Having almost reached home, Poseidon killed Little Ajax.

"Outrageous! Look how the gods have changed their minds
about Odysseus – while I was off with my Ethiopians.
Just look at him there, nearing Phaeacia’s shores
where he’s fated to escape his noose of pain
that’s held him until now."

– Homer

The Odyssey, Book 5, lines 317-319. An angry Poseidon hates Odysseus for blinding his son and wants to continue punishing him. He is outraged that the other gods have allowed the Greek hero leave Calypso’s island and escape his fate there. When it comes to the administration of divine justice, the gods are not always at one. A metaphor in this passage compares Odysseus’ entrapment on Calypso’s island to a noose tied around his neck.

"I’ll give that man his swamping fill of trouble!"
With that he rammed the clouds together – both hands
clutching his trident – churned the waves into chaos, whipping
all the gales from every quarter, shrouding over in thunderheads
the earth and sea at once – and night swept down from the sky –
East and South Winds clashed and the raging West and North,
sprung from the heavens, roiled heaving breakers up –
and Odysseus’ knees quaked, his spirit too.

– Homer

The Odyssey, Book 5, lines 320-327. The fate of Odysseus and his hope of returning home appears to be very much in the hands of the gods. While he escapes Calypso’s island with the support of Athena and Zeus, an angry Poseidon is bent on making his journey as difficult as possible. He whips up a storm which drive him off course. In this passage the winds are personified, as they clash and rage and roil up the sea.

She pitied Odysseus, tossed, tormented so –
she broke from the waves like a shearwater on the wing,
lit on the wreck and asked him kindly, "Ah poor man,
why is the god of earthquakes so dead set against you?
Strewing your way with such a crop of troubles!
But he can’t destroy you, not for all his anger.
Just do as I say. You seem no fool to me.
Strip off those clothes and leave your craft
for the winds to hurl, and swim for it now, you must,
strike out with your arms for landfall there,
Phaeacian land where destined safety waits.
Here, take this scarf,
tie it around your waist – it is immortal.
Nothing to fear now, neither pain nor death."

– Homer

The Odyssey, Book 5, lines 370-383. Poseidon may have condemned Odysseus to an additional ten years suffering at sea, but his fate has attracted the attention of the other gods who want to help him. Ino, as sea deity Leucothea, makes a dramatic appearance to save Odysseus from drowning in a violent sea whipped up by Poseidon. In a bird simile she is compared to a "shearwater on the wing." She tells Odysseus to abandon his raft and take her immortal scarf.

Poseidon god of the earthquake launched a colossal wave,
terrible, murderous, arching over him, pounding down on him,
hard as a windstorm blasting piles of dry parched chaff,
scattering flying husks – so the long planks of his boat
were scattered far and wide.

– Homer

The Odyssey, Book 5, lines 403-407. A huge wave launched by powerful god Poseidon beats down on Odysseus’ raft and shatters it, scattering the long planks. An extended simile makes a comparison to a windstorm blowing dry chaff in all directions.

But Zeus’s daughter Athena countered him at once.
The rest of the winds she stopped right in their tracks,
commanding them all to hush now, go to sleep.
All but the boisterous North – she whipped him up
and the goddess beat the breakers flat before Odysseus,
dear to Zeus, so he could reach the Phaeacians,
mingle with men who love their long oars
and escape his death at last.

– Homer

The Odyssey, Book 5, lines 421-428. Athena’s status as daughter of Zeus allows her to oppose Poseidon and get away with it. After Poseidon launches a huge wave and wrecks Odysseus’ raft, she calms down the winds and sea to help Odysseus survive. This is an example of Athena’s feminine power and strength coming to the rescue once again for Odysseus.

"But tell me, where did you moor your sturdy ship
when you arrived? Up the coast or close in?
I’d just like to know."
So he laid his trap
but he never caught me, no, wise to the world
I shot back in my crafty way, "My ship?
Poseidon god of the earthquake smashed my ship,
he drove it against the rocks at your island’s far cape,
he dashed it against a cliff as the winds rode us in.
I and the men you see escaped a sudden death."

– Homer

The Odyssey, Book 9, lines 314-322. When Polyphemus attempts to be clever with Odysseus, trying to find out where he moored his ship, Olysseus is one step ahead. Instead of falling for the trap, Odysseus lies and says that his ship was smashed by Poseidon. The cunning Odysseus realizes that Polyphemus probably intends to destroy his ship.

"Hear me –
Poseidon, god of the sea-blue mane who rocks the earth!
If I really am your son and you claim to be my father –
come, grant that Odysseus, raider of cities,
Laertes’ son who makes his home in Ithaca,
never reaches home. Or if he’s fated to see
his people once again and reach his well-built house
and his own native country, let him come home late
and come a broken man – all shipmates lost,
alone in a stranger’s ship –
and let him find a world of pain at home!"
So he prayed
and the god of the sea-blue mane, Poseidon, heard his prayer.

– Homer

The Odyssey, Book 9, lines 585-596. Polyphemus prays to his father Poseidon for justice after Odysseus blinds him. His powwerful prayer sets up Odysseus’ fate of suffering for many more years to come. The powerful god of the sea, in revenge for wounding his son, curses Odysseus to endure an additional ten years at sea before he finally returns to his homeland.

"A sweet smooth journey home, renowned Odysseus,
that is what you seek
but a god will make it hard for you – I know –
you will never escape the one who shakes the earth,
quaking with anger at you still, still enraged
because you blinded the Cyclops, his dear son."

– Homer

The Odyssey, Book 11, lines 111-116. Prophet Tiresias warns Odysseus that Poseidon will make his journey home to Ithaca difficult, because he blinded the god’s son Polyphemus. His prophecy foreshadows the misfortunes and pain that Odysseus has yet to face.

"But once you have killed those suitors in your halls –
by stealth or in open fight with slashing bronze –
go forth once more, you must…
carry your well-planed oar until you come
to a race of people who know nothing of the sea,
whose food is never seasoned with salt, strangers all
to ships with their crimson prows and long slim oars,
wings that make ships fly. And here is your sign –
unmistakable, clear, so clear you cannot miss it:
When another traveler falls in with you and calls
that weight across your shoulder a fan to winnow grain,
then plant your bladed, balanced oar in the earth
and sacrifice fine beasts to the lord god of the sea,
Poseidon – a ram, a bull and a ramping wild boar –
then journey home and render noble offerings up
to the deathless gods who rule the vaulting skies,
to all the gods in order.
And at last your own death will steal upon you…
a gentle, painless death, far from the sea it comes
to take you down, borne down with the years in ripe old age
with all your people there in blessed peace around you.
All that I have told you will come true."

– Homer

The Odyssey, Book 11, lines 136-157. Odysseus that he has one last journey to make before he dies a gentle death in his old age, Tiresias prophesies. After arriving home and killing the suitors, Odysseus must journey to a race of people who don’t know the sea, plant his oar in the earth, and sacrifice a ram, bull and wild boar to Poseidon. Then he must return home and honor all the gods with offerings. This would be seen as atonement by Odysseus for having blinded the sea god’s son. This passage foreshadows the deaths of the suitors.

"Atop it a great fig-tree rises, shaggy with leaves,
beneath it awesome Charybdis gulps the dark water down.
Three times a day she vomits it up, three times she gulps it down,
that terror! Don’t be there when the whirlpool swallows down –
not even the earthquake god could save you from disaster."

– Homer

The Odyssey, Book 12, lines 114-118. Odysseus will pass by the fearsome Charybdis on his voyage home to Ithaca, Circe prophesies. She describes the giant whirlpool, warning him to stay clear of this powerful female monster. She says with some irony that if Odysseus’ ship is swallowed by Charybdis, not even the mighty Poseidon will be able to save him. Considering how much Odysseus has angered the sea god, there is little chance that he would ever help him.

"I will lose all my honor now
among the immortals, now there are mortal men
who show me no respect – Phaeacians, too,
born of my own loins! I said myself
that Odysseus would suffer long and hard
before he made it home, but I never dreamed
of blocking his return, not absolutely at least,
once you had pledged your word and bowed your head.
But now they’ve swept him across the sea in their swift ship,
they’ve set him down in Ithaca, sound asleep, and loaded the man
with boundless gifts – bronze and hoards of gold and robes –
aye, more plunder than he could ever have won from Troy."

– Homer

The Odyssey, Book 13, lines 145-150. Poseidon complains to Zeus that the Phaeacians have swept Odysseus across the sea to Ithaca in their ship and lavished him with gifts. The sea god is worried that he will lose honor and respect with the other gods. Odysseus was meant to suffer long and hard before returning home for his crime of blinding Poseidon’s son, he believes.

"Incredible," Zeus who marshals the thunderheads replied.
"Earth-shaker, you with your massive power, why moaning so?
The gods don’t disrespect you. What a stir there’d be
if they flung abuse at the oldest, noblest of them all.
Those mortals? If any man, so lost in his strength
and prowess, pays you no respect – just pay him back.
The power is always yours.
Do what you like. Whatever warms your heart."

– Homer

The Odyssey, Book 13, lines 158-165. Zeus tells Poseidon that he can do whatever he wishes to punish the Phaeacians for disrespecting him by helping Odysseus. The Greek hero injured Poseidon’s son Polyphemus and should not have been given passage home by the Phaeacians, Podeidon believes.

"Hurry, friends, do as I say, let us all comply:
stop our convoys home for every castaway
chancing on our city! As for Poseidon,
sacrifice twelve bulls to the god at once –
the pick of the herds. Perhaps he’ll pity us,
pile no looming mountain ridge around our port."

– Homer

The Odyssey, Book 13, lines 203-208. King Alcinous calls for his people to make a sacrifice to Poseidon to appease the sea god. Poseidon has turned their ship to stone, and Alcinous wants to stop the god blocking their harbor’s access to the sea by piling a mountain around it, as forecast in a prophecy.

"I never had doubts myself, no, I knew down deep
that you would return at last, with all your shipmates lost.
I could not bring myself to fight my Father’s brother,
Poseidon, quaking with anger at you, still enraged
because you blinded the Cyclops, his dear son."

– Homer

The Odyssey, Book 13, lines 386-390. Athena explains to Odysseus why she did not help him sooner during his travels after Troy. She was fearful of inciting her father’s brother Poseidon, when he flew into a rage after Odysseus blinded his son Polyphemus.

The more she spoke, the more a deep desire for tears
welled up inside his breast – he wept as he held the wife
he loved, the soul of loyalty, in his arms at last.
Joy, warm as the joy that shipwrecked sailors feel
when they catch sight of land – Poseidon has struck
their well-rigged ship on the open sea with gale winds
and crushing walls of waves, and only a few escape, swimming,
struggling out of the frothing surf to reach the shore,
their bodies crusted with salt but buoyed up with joy
as they plant their feet on solid ground again,
spared a deadly fate. So joyous now to her
the sight of her husband, vivid in her gaze,
that her white arms, embracing his neck
would never for a moment let him go.

– Homer

The Odyssey, Book 23, lines 259-272. There are tears of happiness as Odysseus and Penelope, the very "soul of loyalty," hold each other like they will never let go. The joy of Odysseus’ homecoming and reunion with his wife is compared in a Homeric simile to that of a sailor shipwrecked by Poseidon who manages to swim safely to shore.

"Dear woman…we have still not reached the end
of all our trials. One more labor lies in store –
boundless, laden with danger, great and long,
and I must brave it out from start to finish.
So the ghost of Tiresias prophesied to me,
the day that I went down to the House of Death
to learn our best route home, my comrades’ and my own.
But come, let’s go to bed, dear woman – at long last
delight in sleep, delight in each other, come!"

– Homer

The Odyssey, Book 23, lines 282-290. As Odysseus and Penelope retire to their marriage bed, after his twenty-year absence from it, he tells of one more trial to be endured. He is referring to Tiresias’ prophecy of a sacrifice he must make to Poseidon for the hurt Odysseus caused the sea god’s son Polyphemus.
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