Prayer to Poseidon, Amphitrite, Nereids
Poseidon · Amphitrite · Nereids
Highest of the gods, lord of the sea, Poseidon of the golden trident, earth-shaker in the swelling brine, around thee the finny monsters 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 Nereid 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 into the purple swell of sea.
Fons · Source
AuthorArion (preserved by Aelian)
WorkAelian, On Animals
Section12.45
Periodarchaic Greek (preserved by Aelian, 2nd-3rd c. AD)
Occasionthanksgiving hymn of the poet Arion to Poseidon — composed after the dolphins rescued him at Cape Taenarum from the murderous sailors who had thrown him into the sea
Classificatio · Taxonomy
Culturegreek
Formhymn
DeitiesPoseidon, Amphitrite, Nereids
Functionsthanksgiving · praise
Spheremaritime