The Poseidon/Amphitrite masterpost šš¬š“
I think i'm starting to understand what bugs me the most about this usual representation of "Poseidon and Amphitrite are Zeus and Hera 2.0" i sometimes see.
When i say Zeus/Hera 2.0 i mean that Amphitrite and Poseidon have been written to follow the same patterns many re-tellers write Zeus and Hera with. Which are:
1. The husband is a huge asshole who does not care about the feelings of his wife and will keep on cheating over and over again
2. The wife is a perfect victim who does not deserve any of this and would be so much happier if she found a way to get a divorce
This tropes are already annoying with Zeus and Hera. So imagine how much MORE ANNOYING they are for Poseidon and Amphitrite. I won't go into details why this trope does not quite fit the complicated relationship of Zeus and Hera, as that has been discussed before and in better language by moots of mine.
However, i will discusse why this tropes don't fit Poseidon and Amphitrite neither. Alright? Here we go!
1. Making the wife nothing but a flawless, helpless victim.
This is the cardinal sin many writers commit when writing Hera. She is "Flawless" she can't do no wrong. Everything is Zeus fault and she only needs to get away from him as quickly as possible.
This is wrong for a variety of reasons. To begin with, Hera has always being known as a very easy to anger person and the punishments she lays out to woman in particular are the reason many forget she is the actual goddess of women and protector of such. Even then, i can see that mistake as an honest one.
But for Amphitrite? I hate this trope even more. Because if writers are at least willing to make Hera strong enough to talk back to Zeus.... They will make instead an Amphitrite who is weak and docile.
"Oh Amphitrite never complains about Poseidon's lovers. She couldn't even if she wanted to! She prefers to not look at it. She prefers to ignore it. She prefers to act like she is not married to Poseidon at all. Because if she talked back, what do you think Poseidon would do to her? That horrible god. Poor, poor Amphitrite, trapped in a loveless marriage where Poseidon deems her as nothing but a side piece."
I hate this. I hate it. 1000 years of jail for this representation of Amphitrite.
Barely anything in the myths even suggests that Poseidon is a bad husband. Almost NOTHING.
Let's start with a review of myths and interpretations of them, shall we?
The Triumph of Neptune; Museum of Art, Philadelphia
This painting depicts the most well known myth of this two, their marriage. Below are some texts that explain the events of it.
Granted, you have one of them where is said Poseidon took Amphitrite agaisnt her will.
But now, the version that most people know and usually accept is the one where the dolphin convinced Amphitrite through words that she should marry Poseidon. This is the version that most people will tell you.
So before you want to come at me with a "Gotcha!!! Their marriage is toxic! There's a version where Poseidon sexualy assaults her!!" Im going to stop your horses and remind you that there's almost no version of the Rape of Persephone where Hades didn't kidnapped her against her will. Meanwhile, Poseidon was guilty of having a dolphin wingman at best, so?
There are versions that say Poseidon fell in love almost instantly when he saw Amphitrite dancing along her sisters and i think that's adorable. He saw the woman of his dreams dancing freely along his sisters and without a care and fell in love on the spot. This man...
They get married! And Poseidon and Amphitrite become the rulers of the sea.
I beg you to understand something important. This two lovebirds are almost ALWAYS worshipped together.
Poseidon is the god of the Sea and Amphitrite is the Sea Itself. So of course their worship overlaps in a way that is seen rarely in other gods. Hades and Persephone come close as they are also another couple who are rarely worshipped separated.
In other words. This two fishy lovers are a package deal. You can't separate them. They are glued together like a barnacle in the back of a whale.
This is a trend that follows in a lot of their artistic representations, as they are mostly depicted together and i kid you not, almost all this paintings have the most soft looking Poseidon's i've ever seen.
Those are the eyes of a man that' completely smitten for his wife. I love how the erotes are flying around in some of this paintings btw. They are there FOR A REASON.
Not to mention that it wasn't weird for Amphitrite to also carry the trident so, to a certain point, their ruling of the sea is a work of equeals more than Poseidon being the only one ruling.
The Nereids, along with Amphy, is clear that they hold good part of power over the sea and the sea creatures. Not just Poseidon! They are a team in an out.
Which starts our next point:
3. Opposites that complement each other.
Amphitrite is usually reffered as the calm waters. She, as a nereid, is a goddess that's meant to represent the good things of the sea. It's prosperity, fertility, and beauty.
While Poseidon tends to represent the more harsh parts of the sea. The drowning and sinking of ships, for example.
Yet this doesn't mean they are foils. Not quite. Not in the same way Hera and Zeus are foils to each other.
The sea is a complex ecosystem. The water needs moments of calm of course. Is in calm waters that fishes will breed and lay their eggs. And where babies will grow up before they can deal with the most turbulent parts of the sea. But if the water stays still for too long it runs the danger of lossing it's oxygen. Therefore, many sea creatures would die if the seas didn't had tides and violent movements that keep the balance of nutrients and oxygen somewhat equilibrated.
You see where i'm going? Poseidon and Amphitrite are not an "Evil vs Good" thing. They are more a "Fire and Water" Fire is not inheritly evil, neither is water. And sure, they both are complete opposites but you need both of them for there to be life on earth.
You sometimes need low tides or high tides. You can't be lacking of any of the two! Else the sea would just be a big fucking lake. And it wouldn't have as half of the biodiversity it holds!
The Meta Meaning of Poseidon and Amphitrite's relationship is soooooo yummy and interesting for this. They NEED to be with each other or else life in the ocean wouldn't function the way it should!
Other meaning that i personally love is that Poseidon is not indigenous to the sea the same way Amphitrite is. Poseidon got the sea as realm after the division of the three brothers.
Poseidon is, therefore, an excellent metaphor for sailors, or any men that works in the sea. Something that is so foreign to him, this is not his habitat. Yet he can't help but feel drawn to it, to love it and embrace it.
The SailorĆSiren vibes are OFF THE CHARTS with this two and i LOVE IT.
4. The Elephant in the room; Poseidon's infidelities.
I know, i know. "Boku, Poseidon is still an unloyal husband! Therefore, he is bad"
Sit done my little reader. I'm not done yet! Because here goes this:
And i'm not saying it in the way that Amphitrite swallows down Poseidon's infidelities and says nothing to keep peace.
She quite literally DOES. NOT. CARE.
More often than not, Amphitrite doesn't seem troubled with Poseidon's flings. Not in the way Hera does. There is only one instance of this happening and it's the myth of Scylla.
Yet, people prefer to use Circe as the perpatrator of Scylla's curse instead of Amphitrite. So very little people know about this one-off incident that doesn't seem to line up with Amphitrites personality.
A more well known myth of Amphitrite is the one where she does the complete opposite of a Hera and helps out one of Poseidon's bastards.
Text and visual representations of Amphitrite, Athena and Theseus.
Amphitrite is also said to be mother of plenty sea creatures, without mentioning the father. Derive whatever headcannons you want from that. After all, like Aphrodite (a goddess that shared lots of similarities with Amphitrite) Amphitrite was the fertility of the sea. She pretty much is meant to represent the way in which sea animals pop out kids by the dozen (Like Aphrodite lol).
So i'm not saying they have a sort of open relationship going on but.... that does seem to be more plaussible than "Amphitrite is Hera but with even less power over her situation, poor her"
Amphitrite is not a meek girl. People subestimate just how much power she holds as goddess of the sea and direct daughter of Nereus (the ruler of the sea before Poseidon got the realm).
This idea that Poseidon never cares about her or has her in second place is just a way to demonize him the same way people demonize Zeus because "This male gods never care about women".
But remember, Amphitrite had to be convinced through words to accept Poseidon's proposal. Poseidon then threw a big party, he created Paxos for her (I wish i could show you guys but i reached limit of photos :c but in short. Local leyend says Poseidon created a whole island to celebrate his marriage with Amphitrite, this was the place of their honeymoon!)
And there's barely mentions of Poseidon making her sad or misserable (Unlike Zeus and Hades who are well known for their certain behaviours towards their wives. Practically chaining Hera to the sky and Hades idea of a first date being kidnapping at 100 miles per hour)
This is not to say they can't be complex. They can have problems, discussions even!
But i see barely any of them being about Poseidon's infidelities.
I feel any problem they could have would arrise more likely due to Poseidon's temper that Amphitrite is known to calm down.
Other than that, please make them sickenly in love, pretty please.
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