Cox, George - Aryan Mythology Vol 2.pdf

TOSEIDOX THE HORSE-TAMER. 26 1
and at Helike, spots where the billows curl and dash upon CHAP,
the shore. 1 But in the city on the banks of Kephisos he en- ._ / .
counters a mightier rival ; and here he fails to give his name
to it, although in one version he shows his power and his
beneficence by striking his trident into the rock of the
Akropolis and causing the waters to leap forth. In her
turn Athene produces the olive, and this is adjudged to be
the better gift for men. Poseidon here acts in strict ac-
cordance with the meaning of his name ; but it is not easy
to see on what grounds the claims of Athene are allowed
precedence, and hence we may suppose that the more
genuine form of this myth is to be found in the other
version which makes Poseidon call forth from the earth not
a well but a horse.
That Poseidon should become the lord and tamer of the Poseidon
horse was a necessary result as soon as his empire was *^L .
definitely limited to the sea. As the rays of the sun became
the Harits and Rohits, his gleaming steeds, so the
curling waves with their white crests would be the fiowino-maned
horses of the sea-king. Thus he ascends his chariot
at Aigai, and his steeds with golden hair streaming from
their shoulders speed across the waters. Pound him play
the monsters of the deep, and the sea in her gladness makes
a path for her lord. 2 In the myth which traces the name of
the [iEgean] Aigaian sea, to the goat. 3 which is said to have
sprung from its surface, we have a story which might have
made Poseidon the goatherd, whose goats leap from rock to
rock as the waves toss to and fro in the sea. But it failed
to take root, probably because such names as Aigialos,
the shore where the sea breaks, retained their meaning too
clearly. There was nothing to prevent the other association,
and thus Poseidon became especially the god who
bestowed on man the horse, and by teaching them how to
tame and use it fostered the art of war and the love of
1
' iEg?e unci Helike bedeuten eigent-
2
II. xiii. 23-30.
lich das Meer oder die Meereskiiste,
wo sichdie Wogen brechen.' Preller, Gr.
8 rb juei/ Alycuov ir4\ayos ol jiev anb
ttjs irepl Kdvas alybs iirwuv/jiov ysyovivai
Myth. i. 443. Thus the name Helikon (paaiv, ol Se airb rijs Kopvcrr'nxs ttjs
denotes the upward curling or spouting Alyairjs bvoixa^ofxivns • Soli. Apollon. i.
of the water when the soil is dinted by 11. 65.' Preller Gr. Myth, i. 44.3.
the hoof of Pegasos.