GRECIAN MYTHOLOGY. 95 
According to the older style of representation, Poseidon appears dressed 
in a long garment, holding in one hand the trident, in the other the dolphin, 
both prime attributes (pl. 22, fig. 4); in later times either wholly nude 
(ig. 6), or partly covered (jig. 5). On an ancient Greek coin (pi. 21, fig. 11) 
he is seen holding the trident in the attitude of hurling it. The inscription 
marks it as the currency of Pastum, a Greek town in Laconia. Not 
unfrequently we see him riding on a car without wheels, drawn by héppo- 
camps (sea horses). A highly finished engraving of this sort, representing 
the triumph of Poseidon and Amphitrite, is given in pl. 23, fig. 20. 
They are riding over the sea, surrounded by Wereides, Dolphins, and 
Tritons. Mounted upon his car, which is drawn by four hippocamps, 
Poseidon moves majestically over the waters, holding the trident in the 
left hand and the reins in the right. He looks benignantly on Amphitrite, 
who is conveyed by dolphins, and employs her hands in holding the reins 
and one end of a veil. One nereid sits on her right side, supporting her 
uplifted arm; another is seen on the left holding the other end of the veil 
and guiding one of the dolphins. Joyous tritons surround them on all 
sides, blowing in their ocean shells; and Cupids or genii are lying or 
sitting upon dolphins. Further off appear other nereides or sea gods who 
regard Poseidon as their sovereign, while Cupids hover above the scene, 
strewing flowers or shooting love arrows. 
Amphitrite, as intimated above, was the wife of Poseidon. She was 
the daughter of Oceanos and Tethys. During the war of the Titans Poseidon 
had signalized his hostility to her race, and remembering this fact, she 
spurned his first efforts to woo her, flying from his presence, and hiding 
herself among the sea weeds. A dolphin pointed out to him the place of 
her concealment. Pursuing her thither he renewed his addresses, and 
succeeded in overcoming her objections to the union, and in gratitude 
placed the dolphin among the constellations. Amphitrite, now queen of 
the sea, lived with her husband in a golden palace at the bottom of the 
Eubeean strait. 
Poseidon, like his relation Zeus, proved unfaithful to his spouse; indeed 
the myths make him the more gallant of the two. 
The most celebrated among his favorites was the fountain nymph 
Amymone, for whose sake he watered the thirsty plains of Avgolzs, a fountain 
being opened on the spot where the god first saw her. The interview is 
represented on a coin (pl. 23, fig. 4). Poseidon stands before Amymone 
in the act of declaring his love, with his right foot on a stone, his right 
hand on his knee, and the left placed on his back; while she holds a pitcher 
in the right hand, and covers her eyes with the left, her half-averted face 
and abashed look marking her inward agitation upon the question of 
rejecting or accepting his proposal. 
It is remarkable that notwithstanding Poseidon’s posterity displayed a 
wild ungovernable propensity, they should nevertheless furnish so many 
heroes and founders of states and cities. Among these we mention only 
Taras, who appears on a Tarentinian coin (pl. 21, fig. 10) riding on a 
dolphin, holding a trident and a statue of victory. He was founder and 
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