Poseidon Greek Mythology

'Immortals' wields swords, sandals and sexiness

Alliances are all the rage in Hollywood. You've got the X-Men , Fast Five 's rogue band of motorists and the orally fixated kids from Twilight 's team Edward and team Jacob.

Now comes Immortals , which plans to corner the market on Greek gods. And beefcake.

The film, due Nov. 11, touts itself as an Avengers for the historical set, an all-star lineup of mythological icons including Zeus, Poseidon, Apollo and King Hyperion.

Just don't compare it to a comic book movie.

"They're going a little haywire with the whole comic book thing," says Stephen Dorff , who plays Stavros in the picture, directed by Tarsem Singh ( The Cell ). "Maybe that's what the kids like, but this is more grounded. We're not running around in those ridiculous costumes."

If anything, Immortals celebrates exhibitionism. Singh asked his actors, which include Henry Cavill as Theseus, Mickey Rourke as the evil King Hyperion and Freida Pinto ( Slumdog Millionaire ) as Phaedra, to hit the gym and watch the sweets for the film, which features scantily clad physiques straight from 300 .

Set after the mythic Greek struggle between the gods and titans, Immortals tells the story of Hyperion, mad with power, declaring war on humanity and amassing an all-star team of irritable immortals. Mankind is no match until Theseus steps up as a ringer for team human.

Dorff says Immortals will shed the pretension of "fancy accents and standing in front of a lot of green screens, which I've never been a big fan of. There are big sets, real props. If you look at Star Wars , the characters are laid out kind of like that. And I get to be Han Solo."

Still, best not to get too deep, even in Greek mythology, he says.

"This is 300 meets Gladiator ," he says. "It's an ab-fest.

Greek Mythology Gods and Goddesses | Poseidon God of the Sea

Poseidon is most famous as the god of the seas. He is a very moody god. If he is in a good mood he keeps the seas calm and even creates new islands in the sea.

When he is in a bad mood, he gets angry and strikes the ground with his trident to create disturbance in the seas, drown ships and sailors, cause earth quakes etc.

This is the reason why the Greek sailors pray to the god Poseidon for a safe voyage on sea.

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There is an example of his actions based on good and bad moods in the story of Atlantis. Atlantis is a city that Poseidon created when he was feeling good for his bride Cleito.

Atlantis is a series of beautiful islands Poseidon had created. This city was full of riches, sunshine, minerals, fruits and vegetables. There was no problem for people living in this city.

Men lived there happily. The islands of Atlantis were ruled by wise kings who maintained peace and prosperity.

With time people in Atlantis grew lazy and greedy. They fought among each other for more richness and possession of power. This made the god Poseidon very angry.

He quickly sent huge tidal waves of water on these islands as punishment to their people. The water waves drowned these islands completely into the ocean from where they were actually created.

This is how the god of the seas, Poseidon, works based on his mood. He helps sailors for a safe journey across the seas when he feels good. He sends tidal waves and causes earth quakes with his trident’s power when he feels bad. He really was the god of mood!

The Routledge handbook of Greek mythology, based on H.J. Rose's "Handbook of Greek mythology

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