hellenic period: Hymns to Poseidon

I) THE HOMERIC HYMNS

"I begin to sing about Poseidon, the great god, mover of the earth and fruitless sea, god of the deep who is also lord of Helikon and wide Aigai. O Ennosigaios (Shaker of the Earth), to be a tamer of horses and a saviour of ships! Hail Poseidon Gaienokhos (Holder of the Earth), dark-haired lord! O blessed one, be kindly in heart and help those who voyage in ships!" - Homeric Hymn 22 to Poseidon

II) THE ORPHIC HYMNS

"Hear, Poseidon, ruler of the sea profound, whose liquid grasp begirds the solid ground; who, at the bottom of the stormy main, dark and deep-bosomed holdest they watery reign. Thy awful hand the brazen trident bears, and sea’s utmost bound thy will reveres. Thee I invoke, whose steeds the foam divide, from whose dark locks the briny waters glide; shoe voice, loud sounding through the roaring deep, drives all its billows in a raging heap; when fiercely riding through the boiling sea, thy hoarse command the trembling waves obey. Earth-shaking, dark-haired God, the liquid plains, the third division, fate to thee ordains. ‘Tis thine, cerulean daimon, to survey, well-pleased, the monsters of the ocean play. Confirm earth’s basis, and with prosperous gales waft ships along, and swell the spacious sails; add gentle peace, and fair-haired health beside, and pour abundance in a blameless tide." - Orphic Hymn 17 to Poseidon

III) OTHER HYMNS

"Arion [the poet rescued by a dolphin] wrote a hymn of thanks to Poseidon that bears witness to the dolphin’s love of music and is a kind of payment of the reward due to them also for having saved his life. This is the hymn: ‘Highest of the gods, lord of the sea, Poseidon of the golden trident, earth-shaker in the swelling brine, around thee the finny monsters (theres) in a ring swim and dance, with nimble flingings of their feet leaping lightly, snub-nosed hounds with bristling neck, swift runners, music-loving dolphins, sea-nurslings of the Nereis maids divine, whom Amphitrite bore, even they that carried me, a wanderer on the Sikelian main, to the headland of Tainarion in Pelops’ land, mounting me upon their humped backs as they clove the furrow of Nereus’ plain, a path untrodden, when deceitful men had cast me from their sea-faring hollow ship in to the purple swell of sea." - Aelian, On Animals 12.45