The twin giants later killed each other in a hunting “accident” orchestrated by Artemis and Apollo (see The A Team: Olympians All). Just because they could, they heaped Pelion, Ossa, and Olympus on top of one another, nearly reaching heaven itself. Otus and Ephialtes, already 50 feet tall at age nine, literally moved mountains. He changed himself into a stallion and mated with her in an Arcadian pasture. When Demeter, overwhelmed by the loss of her daughter Persephone, attempted to escape her brother's attentions by becoming a mare, Poseidon was not fooled.To mate with Theophane, whom he had changed into a ewe in order to hide her from her many suitors, he transformed himself into a ram.The enraged goddess punished Medusa by turning her into a Gorgon (see The Model Hero: Perseus). Unfortunately, he chose as the setting for this seduction one of Athena's temples. He appeared to the maiden Medusa as a bird.Like most sea gods, Poseidon had the power to transform his shape, and often did so in order to complete a seduction:
He, too, had numerous affairs with goddesses, nymphs, and mortals. Like his brother Zeus, Poseidon was not exactly the poster boy for fidelity. (The god later showed his gratitude by placing his messenger's image in the sky as a constellation: the Dolphin.) One of these, Delphinus, argued so persuasively for his master that he broke down Amphitrite's resistance. Poseidon refused to give up, sending messengers after her to plead his case. Yet Amphitrite scorned the god's advances and fled to the Atlas Mountains. Poseidon courted Amphitrite, one of the Nereids (daughters of Nereus, the Old Man of the Sea). And all Athenians continued to honor both Poseidon and Athena on the Acropolis. It ended the practice of men carrying on their mothers' names. The city denied the women of Athens the right to vote. The Athenians adopted several measures to appease Poseidon's wrath. In a fury, Poseidon flooded the Attic plain. (Hades, as was his custom, did not attend the Olympian hearing.) The five goddesses, however, all sided with Athena, giving her the right to the land by virtue of her greater gift to the city. That left four other gods, all of whom voted for Poseidon. Wishing to remain neutral and above the fray, Zeus did not vote. Poseidon challenged her to combat, but Zeus intervened and put the matter before a divine tribunal. But Athena later planted the first olive tree beside this well and claimed the city as her own. Poseidon claimed the land by plunging his trident into the ground of the Acropolis and creating a salt-water spring.
The most famous of these patronage disputes was the fight over Athens. Poseidon lost both disputes and had to settle for the patronage of various islands and seaports. He contested the patronage of Argos with Hera and the patronage of Corinth with Helius. Poseidon argued more over city patronage than any other Olympian. His subordinate position to Zeus made him sensitive about his other rights. Perhaps for this reason, Poseidon lived not in Olympus, but in an underwater palace off the eastern coast of Greece. He sometimes resented the greater dominion of Zeus. Mythmakers often depicted Poseidon as gruff and quick to anger. Poseidon's domain actually extended beyond the oceans to include freshwater rivers, even though the river gods were the sons of Oceanus and Tethys. Poseidon, who won the right to rule the seas, was also the god of horses and of earthquakes. For just as Zeus ruled the sky, Poseidon was lord of the seas and Hades the supreme authority in the dark Underworld. Though not as powerful as their younger brother, Poseidon and Hades could claim to equal his status.
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